Delphi Complete Works of Demosthenes

by Demosthenes

  [306] ἐπειδὴ δ᾽ ἀκοῦσαι ὅτι Ἀτρεστίδας παρὰ Φιλίππου τῶν Ὀλυνθίων αἰχμάλωτα δωρειὰν ταῦτ᾽ ἔχων ἀπέρχεται, δεινὸν αὐτῷ τι δόξαι καὶ δακρῦσαι καὶ ὀδύρασθαι τὴν Ἑλλάδα, ὡς κακῶς διάκειται, ἣ τοιαῦτα πάθη περιορᾷ γιγνόμενα. καὶ συνεβούλευεν ὑμῖν πέμπειν τινὰς εἰς Ἀρκαδίαν, οἵτινες κατηγορήσουσι τῶν τὰ Φιλίππου πραττόντων: ἀκούειν γὰρ ἔφη τῶν φίλων, ὡς ἐὰν ἐπιστροφὴν ἡ πόλις ποιήσηται καὶ πρέσβεις πέμψῃ, δίκην ἐκεῖνοι δώσουσιν.

  [306] and when he was told that they were Olynthian captives whom Atrestidas was bringing away with him as a present from Philip, he thought it a terrible business, and burst into tears. Greece, he sorrowfully reflected, is in evil plight indeed, if she permits such cruelties to pass unchecked. He counselled you to send envoys to Arcadia to denounce the persons who were intriguing for Philip; for, he said, he had been informed that, if only Athens would give attention to the matter and send ambassadors, the intriguers would promptly be brought to justice.

  [307] ταῦτα μὲν τοίνυν τότε καὶ μάλ᾽, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, καλὰ καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἄξι᾽ ἐδημηγόρει. ἐπειδὴ δ᾽ ἀφίκετ᾽ εἰς Μακεδονίαν καὶ τὸν ἐχθρὸν εἶδε τὸν αὑτοῦ καὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων, τὸν Φίλιππον, ἆρά γ᾽ ὅμοι᾽ ἢ παραπλήσια τούτοις; πολλοῦ γε καὶ δεῖ, ἀλλὰ μήτε τῶν προγόνων μεμνῆσθαι μήτε τρόπαια λέγειν μήτε βοηθεῖν μηδενί, τῶν τε κελευόντων μετὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων περὶ τῆς πρὸς Φίλιππον εἰρήνης βουλεύεσθαι θαυμάζειν, εἰ περὶ τῶν ὑμετέρων ἰδίων ἄλλον τινὰ δεῖ πεισθῆναι:

  [307] Such was his speech on that occasion; a noble speech, worthy of our Athenian traditions. But after he had visited Macedonia, and beheld his own enemy and the enemy of all Greece, did his language bear the slightest resemblance to those utterances? Not in the least: he bade you not to remember your forefathers, not to talk about trophies, not to carry succor to anybody. As for the people who recommended you to consult the Greeks on the terms of peace with Philip, he was amazed at the suggestion that it was necessary that any foreigner should be convinced when the questions were purely domestic.

  [308] εἶναί τε τὸν Φίλιππον αὐτόν, Ἡράκλεις, Ἑλληνικώτατον ἀνθρώπων, δεινότατον λέγειν, φιλαθηναιότατον: οὕτω δ᾽ ἀτόπους τινὰς ἐν τῇ πόλει καὶ δυσχερεῖς ἀνθρώπους εἶναι ὥστ᾽ οὐκ αἰσχύνεσθαι λοιδορουμένους αὐτῷ καὶ βάρβαρον αὐτὸν ἀποκαλοῦντας. ἔστιν οὖν ὅπως ταῦτ᾽ ἄν, ἐκεῖνα προειρηκώς, ὁ αὐτὸς ἀνὴρ μὴ διαφθαρεὶς ἐτόλμησεν εἰπεῖν; τί δ᾽;

  [308] And as for Philip, — why, good Heavens, he was a Greek of the Greeks, the finest orator and the most thorough — going friend of Athens you could find in the whole world. And yet there were some queer, ill-conditioned fellows in Athens who did not blush to abuse him, and even to call him a barbarian!

  [309] ἔσθ᾽ ὅστις ἂν τὸν Ἀτρεστίδαν τότε μισήσας διὰ τοὺς τῶν Ὀλυνθίων παῖδας καὶ γύναια, ταὐτὰ Φιλοκράτει νῦν πράττειν ὑπέμεινεν, ὃς γυναῖκας ἐλευθέρας τῶν Ὀλυνθίων ἤγαγε δεῦρ᾽ ἐφ᾽ ὕβρει, καὶ οὕτως ἐπὶ τῷ βδελυρῶς βεβιωκέναι γιγνώσκεται ὥστε μηδὲν ἔμ᾽ αἰσχρὸν εἰπεῖν νυνὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ δεῖν μηδὲ δυσχερές, ἀλλὰ τοσοῦτον εἰπόντος μόνον, ὅτι Φιλοκράτης γυναῖκας ἤγαγε, πάντας ὑμᾶς εἰδέναι καὶ τοὺς περιεστηκότας τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα, καὶ ἐλεεῖν εὖ οἶδ᾽ ὅτι τὰς ἀτυχεῖς καὶ ταλαιπώρους ἀνθρώπους, ἃς οὐκ ἠλέησεν Αἰσχίνης, οὐδ᾽ ἐδάκρυσεν ἐπὶ ταύταις τὴν Ἑλλάδα, εἰ παρὰ τοῖς συμμάχοις ὑπὸ τῶν πρέσβεων ὑβρίζονται.

  [309] Is it, then, conceivable that the man who made the earlier of those speeches should also have made the later unless he had been corrupted? Is it possible that the same man who was then inflamed with abhorrence of Atrestidas on account of those Olynthian women and children, should now be content to cooperate with Philocrates, who brought free-born Olynthian ladies to this city for their dishonor? Philocrates is now so notorious for the infamous life he has lived that I need not apply to him any degrading or offensive epithet. When I merely mention that he did bring the ladies, there is not a man in this court, whether on the jury or among the onlookers, who does not know the sequel, and who does not, I am sure, feel compassion for those miserable and unfortunate beings. Yet Aeschines had no compassion for them. He did not shed tears over Greece on their account, indignant that they should suffer outrage in an allied country at the hands of Athenian ambassadors.

  [310] ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ αὑτοῦ κλαήσει τοῦ τὰ τοιαῦτα πεπρεσβευκότος, καὶ τὰ παιδί᾽ ἴσως παράξει κἀναβιβᾶται. ὑμεῖς δ᾽ ἐνθυμεῖσθ᾽, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, πρὸς μὲν τὰ τούτου παιδία, ὅτι πολλῶν συμμάχων ὑμετέρων καὶ φίλων παῖδες ἀλῶνται καὶ πτωχοὶ περιέρχονται δεινὰ πεπονθότες διὰ τοῦτον, οὓς ἐλεεῖν πολλῷ μᾶλλον ὑμῖν ἄξιον ἢ τοὺς τοῦ ἠδικηκότος καὶ προδότου πατρός, καὶ ὅτι τοὺς ὑμετέρους παῖδας οὗτοι, ‘καὶ τοῖς ἐκγόνοις’ προσγράψαντες εἰς τὴν εἰρήνην, καὶ τῶν ἐλπίδων ἀπεστερήκασι: πρὸς δὲ τὰ αὐτοῦ τούτου δάκρυα, ὅτι νῦν ἔχετ᾽ ἄνθρωπον, ὃς εἰς Ἀρκαδίαν ἐκέλευεν ἐπὶ τοὺς ὑπὲρ Φιλίππου πράττοντας πέμπειν τοὺς κατηγορήσοντας.

  [310] No; our discredited ambassador will keep all his tears for himself. Very likely he will bring his children into court and put them in a conspicuous position. But do you, gentlemen of the jury, as you look at those children of his, reflect how many children of your own friends and allies are wanderers, roaming the world in beggary, suffering hardships which they owe to this man; and that they deserve your compassion infinitely more than the offspring of a malefactor and a traitor, while, by adding to the treaty of peace the words and to their posterity, he and his friends robbed your own children even of hope. When you witness his tears, remember that you hold in your power a man who bade you send accusers to Arcadia to testify against the agents of Philip.

  [311] νῦν τοίνυν ὑμᾶς οὐκ εἰς Πελοπόννησον δεῖ πρεσβείαν πέμπειν, οὐδ᾽ ὁδὸν μακρὰν βαδίσαι, οὐδ᾽ ἐφόδι᾽ ἀναλίσκειν, ἀλλ᾽ ἄχρι τοῦ βήματος ἐνταυθὶ προσελθόνθ᾽ ἕκαστον ὑμῶν τὴν ὁσίαν καὶ δικαίαν ψῆφον ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος θέσθαι κατ᾽ ἀνδρός, ὅς, ὦ γῆ καὶ θεοί, ἐκεῖν᾽ ἃ διεξῆλθον ἐν ἀρχῇ δεδημηγορηκώς, τὸν Μαραθῶνα, τὴν Σαλαμῖνα, τὰς μάχας, τὰ τρόπαια, ἐξαίφνης ὡς ἐπέβη Μακεδονίας, πάντα τἀναντία τούτοις, μ
ὴ προγόνων μεμνῆσθαι, μὴ τρόπαια λέγειν, μὴ βοηθεῖν μηδενί, μὴ κοινῇ μετὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων βουλεύεσθαι, μόνον οὐ καθελεῖν τὰ τείχη.

  [311] And so today you have no need to send a mission to Peloponnesus, to make a long journey, or to pay travelling expenses; you have only to advance one by one to this platform, and there cast a just and a righteous vote for your country’s sake against the man who, having at the outset, as I described to you, spoken so eloquently about Marathon and Salamis, about battles and victories, from the moment he set foot on Macedonian soil contradicted his own utterances, forbade you to remember the example of your forefathers, or recall old victories, or carry succor to your friends, or take common counsel with the Greeks, and well-nigh bade you to dismantle the defences of your city.

  [312] καίτοι τούτων αἰσχίους λόγοι οὐδένες πώποτ᾽ ἐν τῷ παντὶ χρόνῳ γεγόνασι παρ᾽ ὑμῖν. τίς γάρ ἐστιν Ἑλλήνων ἢ βαρβάρων οὕτω σκαιὸς ἢ ἀνήκοος ἢ σφόδρα μισῶν τὴν πόλιν τὴν ἡμετέραν, ὅστις, εἴ τις ἔροιτο, ‘εἰπέ μοι, τῆς νῦν οὔσης Ἑλλάδος ταυτησὶ καὶ οἰκουμένης ἔσθ᾽ ὅ τι ταύτην ἂν τὴν προσηγορίαν εἶχεν ἢ ᾠκεῖθ᾽ ὑπὸ τῶν νῦν ἐχόντων Ἑλλήνων, εἰ μὴ τὰς ἀρετὰς ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἐκείνας οἱ Μαραθῶνι κἀν Σαλαμῖνι παρέσχοντο, οἱ ἡμέτεροι πρόγονοι;’ οὐδ᾽ ἂν εἷς εὖ οἶδ᾽ ὅτι φήσειεν, ἀλλὰ πάντα ταῦθ᾽ ὑπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων ἂν ἑαλωκέναι.

  [312] No more disgraceful speeches have ever been made in your hearing during the whole course of your history. Lives there a man, Greek or barbarian, so boorish, so unversed in history, or so ill-disposed to our commonwealth that, if he were asked the question, “Tell me, in all the country that we call Greece and inhabit today, is there an acre that would still bear that name, or remain the home of the Greeks who now possess it, if the heroes of Marathon and Salamis, our forefathers, had not in their defence performed those glorious deeds of valor,” is there one man who would not make reply: “No; the whole country would have become the prey of the barbarian invaders”?

  [313] εἶθ᾽ οὓς μηδὲ τῶν ἐχθρῶν μηδεὶς ἂν τούτων τῶν ἐγκωμίων καὶ τῶν ἐπαίνων ἀποστερήσειε, τούτων Αἰσχίνης ὑμᾶς οὐκ ἐᾷ μεμνῆσθαι, τοὺς ἐξ ἐκείνων, ἵν᾽ αὐτὸς ἀργύριον λάβῃ; καὶ μὴν τῶν μὲν ἄλλων ἀγαθῶν οὐ μέτεστι τοῖς τεθνεῶσιν, οἱ δ᾽ ἐπὶ τοῖς καλῶς πραχθεῖσιν ἔπαινοι τῶν οὕτω τετελευτηκότων ἴδιον κτῆμ᾽ εἰσίν: οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ φθόνος αὐτοῖς ἔτι τηνικαῦτ᾽ ἐναντιοῦται. ὧν ἀποστερῶν ἐκείνους οὗτος, αὐτὸς ἂν τῆς ἐπιτιμίας δικαίως νῦν στερηθείη, καὶ ταύτην ὑπὲρ τῶν προγόνων ὑμεῖς δίκην λάβοιτε παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ. τοιούτοις μέντοι λόγοις, ὦ κακὴ κεφαλή, σὺ τὰ τῶν προγόνων ἔργα συλήσας καὶ διασύρας, τῷ λόγῳ πάντα τὰ πράγματ᾽ ἀπώλεσας.

  [313] Even among your foes there is not a man who would despoil those heroes of their meed of praise and gratitude; and does an Aeschines forbid you, their own descendants, to commemorate their names — all for the sake of his miserable bribes? There are indeed rewards in which the dead have no part or lot; but the praise that waits on glorious achievements is the peculiar guerdon of those who have gloriously died — for then jealousy is no longer their adversary. Let the man who would rob the dead of their reward be stripped of his own honors: that retribution you will levy on him for your forefathers’ sake. By those speeches of yours, you reprobate, you made havoc of our policy, traducing and disparaging with your tongue the achievements of our forefathers.

  [314] εἶτα γεωργεῖς ἐκ τούτων καὶ σεμνὸς γέγονας. καὶ γὰρ τοῦτο. πρὸ μὲν τοῦ πάντα κάκ᾽ εἰργάσθαι τὴν πόλιν ὡμολόγει γεγραμματευκέναι καὶ χάριν ὑμῖν ἔχειν τοῦ χειροτονηθῆναι, καὶ μέτριον παρεῖχεν ἑαυτόν: ἐπειδὴ δὲ μυρί᾽ εἴργασται κακά, τὰς ὀφρῦς ἀνέσπακε, κἂν ‘ὁ γεγραμματευκὼς Αἰσχίνης’ εἴπῃ τις, ἐχθρὸς εὐθέως καὶ κακῶς φησιν ἀκηκοέναι, καὶ διὰ τῆς ἀγορᾶς πορεύεται θοἰμάτιον καθεὶς ἄχρι τῶν σφυρῶν, ἴσα βαίνων Πυθοκλεῖ, τὰς γνάθους φυσῶν, τῶν Φιλίππου ξένων καὶ φίλων εἷς οὗτος ὑμῖν ἤδη, τῶν ἀπαλλαγῆναι τοῦ δήμου βουλομένων καὶ κλύδωνα καὶ μανίαν τὰ καθεστηκότα πράγμαθ᾽ ἡγουμένων, ὁ τέως προσκυνῶν τὴν θόλον.

  [314] And from these performances you emerge a land-owner, a person of high consideration! Take another point. Before he did all that mischief to the commonwealth, he used to admit that he had been a clerk; he was grateful to you for his appointments; his demeanor was quite modest. But since he has perpetrated wrongs without number, he has become mightily supercilious. If a man speaks of “Aeschines, the man who was once a clerk,” he makes a private quarrel of it, and talks of defamation of character. Behold him pacing the market-place with the stately stride of Pythocles, his long robe reaching to his ankles, his cheeks puffed out, as who should say, “One of Philip’s most intimate friends, at your service!” He has joined the clique that wants to get rid of democracy, — that regards the established political order as an inconstant wave, — mere midsummer madness. And once he made obeisance to the Rotunda!

  [315] βούλομαι τοίνυν ὑμῖν ἐπανελθεῖν ἐπὶ κεφαλαίων ὃν τρόπον ὑμᾶς κατεπολιτεύσατο Φίλιππος προσλαβὼν τούτους τοὺς θεοῖς ἐχθρούς. πάνυ δ᾽ ἄξιον ἐξετάσαι καὶ θεάσασθαι τὴν ἀπάτην ὅλην. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς τῆς εἰρήνης ἐπιθυμῶν, διαφορουμένης αὐτοῦ τῆς χώρας ὑπὸ τῶν λῃστῶν καὶ κεκλειμένων τῶν ἐμπορίων, ὥστ᾽ ἀνόνητον ἐκεῖνον ἁπάντων εἶναι τῶν ἀγαθῶν, τοὺς τὰ φιλάνθρωπα λέγοντας ἐκείνους ἀπέστειλεν ὑπὲρ αὑτοῦ, τὸν Νεοπτόλεμον, τὸν Ἀριστόδημον, τὸν Κτησιφῶντα:

  [315] Now I wish by a brief recapitulation to remind you of the manner in which Philip discomfited your policy with these scoundrels as his confederates. It is well worth while to examine and contemplate the whole imposition. At the outset he was really desirous of peace, for his whole country was overrun by banditti, and his ports were blockaded, so that he got no advantage from all his wealth. Accordingly he sent those envoys who addressed you in his name with so much courtesy — Neoptolemus, Aristodemus, and Ctesiphon.

  [316] ἐπειδὴ δ᾽ ἤλθομεν ὡς αὐτὸν ἡμεῖς οἱ πρέσβεις, ἐμισθώσατο μὲν τοῦτον εὐθέως, ὅπως συνερεῖ καὶ συναγωνιεῖται τῷ μιαρῷ Φιλοκράτει καὶ τῶν τὰ δίκαια βουλομένων ἡμῶν πράττειν περιέσται, συνέγραψε δ᾽ ἐπιστολὴν ὡς ὑμᾶς, ᾗ μάλιστ᾽ ἂν ᾤετο τῆς εἰρήνης τυχεῖν.

  [316] But as soon as he was visited by us ambassadors, he promptly took Aeschines into his pay, that
he might support and co-operate with the infamous Philocrates, and overpower those of us whose intentions were honest. He then composed a letter to you, as the best means of obtaining the peace he desired.

  [317] ἦν δ᾽ οὐδὲν μᾶλλον μέγ᾽ αὐτῷ καθ᾽ ὑμῶν οὐδ᾽ οὕτω πρᾶξαι, εἰ μὴ Φωκέας ἀπολεῖ. τοῦτο δ᾽ οὐκ ἦν εὔπορον: συνῆκτο γὰρ αὐτῷ τὰ πράγματα, ὥσπερ ἐκ τύχης, εἰς καιρὸν τοιοῦτον, ὥστ᾽ ἢ μηδὲν ὧν ἐβούλετ᾽ εἶναι διαπράξασθαι, ἢ ἀνάγκην εἶναι ψεύσασθαι κἀπιορκῆσαι καὶ μάρτυρας τῆς αὑτοῦ κακίας πάντας Ἕλληνας καὶ βαρβάρους ποιήσασθαι.

  [317] Even then it was still out of his power to achieve any important result to your disadvantage, unless he should destroy the Phocians. That was no easy task, for, as luck would have it, his affairs had reached a crisis of such a nature that either he could not realize any of his purposes, or else he was obliged to commit falsehood and perjury, with the whole world, both Greek and barbarian, to witness his wickedness.

  [318] εἰ μὲν γὰρ προσδέξαιτο Φωκέας συμμάχους καὶ μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν τοὺς ὅρκους αὐτοῖς ἀποδοίη, τοὺς πρὸς Θετταλοὺς καὶ Θηβαίους ὅρκους παραβαίνειν εὐθὺς ἀναγκαῖον ἦν, ὧν τοῖς μὲν τὴν Βοιωτίαν συνεξαιρήσειν ὠμωμόκει, τοῖς δὲ τὴν πυλαίαν συγκαταστήσειν: εἰ δὲ μὴ προσδέχοιτο, ὥσπερ οὐ προσίετο, οὐκ ἐάσειν ὑμᾶς παρελθεῖν αὐτὸν ἡγεῖτο, ἀλλὰ βοηθήσειν εἰς Πύλας, ὅπερ, εἰ μὴ παρεκρούσθητε, ἐποιήσατ᾽ ἄν: εἰ δὲ τοῦτο γένοιτο, οὐκ ἐνεῖναι παρελθεῖν ἐλογίζετο.