an army capable of meeting him in the field: we must plunder [Footnote:
Make predatory incursions, as Livy says, "popula bundi magis quam justo
more belli." Jacobs: _den Krieg als Freibeuter fahren_. Another
German: _Streifzuge zu machen_ (guerilla warfare). Leland: "harass
him with depredations." Wilson, an old English translator: "rob and
spoil upon him."] and adopt such kind of warfare at first: our force,
therefore, must not be over-large, (for there is not pay or
subsistence,) nor altogether mean. Citizens I wish to attend and go on
board, because I hear that formerly the state maintained mercenary
troops at Corinth, [Footnote: He alludes to the time when Corinth,
Athens, Thebes, and Argos, were allied against Sparta, and held a
congress at Corinth, B. C. 394. The allies were at first defeated, but
Iphicrates gained some successes, and acquired considerable reputation
by cutting off a small division (_mora_) of Spartan infantry.]
commanded by Polystratus and Iphicrates and Chabrias and some others,
and that you served with them yourselves; and I am told, that these
mercenaries fighting by your side and you by theirs defeated the
Lacedaemonians. But ever since your hirelings have served by themselves,
they have been vanquishing your friends and allies, while your enemies
have become unduly great. Just glancing at the war of our state, they go
off to Artabazus [Footnote: Diodorus relates that Chares, in the Social
war, having no money to pay his troops, was forced to lend them to
Artabazus, then in rebellion against the king of Persia. Chares gained a
victory for the satrap, and received a supply of money. But this led to
a complaint and menace of war by the king, which brought serious
consequences. See the Historical Abstract.] or any where rather, and the
general follows, naturally; for it is impossible to command without
giving pay. What therefore ask I? To remove the excuses both of general
and soldiers, by supplying pay, and attaching native soldiers, as
inspectors of the general's conduct. The way we manage things now is a
mockery. For if you were asked: Are you at peace, Athenians? No, indeed,
you would say; we are at war with Philip. Did you not choose from
yourselves ten captains and generals, and also captains and two generals
[Footnote: There were chosen at Athens every year
Ten generals (one for each tribe), [Greek: _strataegoi_].
Ten captains (one for each tribe), [Greek: _taxiarchoi_].
Two generals of cavalry, [Greek: _ipparchoi_].
Ten cavalry officers (one for each tribe), [Greek: _phularchoi_].
In a regular army of citizens, when each tribe formed its own division,
both of horse and foot, all these generals and officers would he
present. Thus, there were ten generals at Marathon. A change took place
in later times, when the armies were more miscellaneous. Three Athenian
generals were frequently employed, and at a still later period only one.
Demosthenes here touches on a very important matter, which we can well
understand, viz. the necessity of officering the foreign mercenaries
from home.] of horse? How are they employed? Except one man, whom you
commission on service abroad, the rest conduct your processions with the
sacrificers. Like puppet-makers, you elect your infantry and cavalry
officers for the market-place, not for war. Consider, Athenians, should
there not be native captains, a native general of horse, your own
commanders, that the force might really be the state's? Or should your
general of horse sail to Lemnos, [Footnote: To assist at a religious
ceremony held annually at Lemnos, where many Athenians resided.] while
Menelaus commands the cavalry fighting for your possessions? I speak not
as objecting to the man, but he ought to be elected by you, whoever the
person be.
Perhaps you admit the justice of these statements, but wish principally
to hear about the supplies, what they must be and whence procured. I
will satisfy you. Supplies, then, for maintenance, mere rations for
these troops, come to ninety talents and a little more: for ten swift
galleys forty talents, twenty minas a month to every ship; for two
thousand soldiers forty more, that each soldier may receive for rations
ten drachms a month; and for two hundred horsemen, each receiving thirty
drachms a month, twelve talents. [Footnote: As to Athenian money, see
Appendix II.] Should any one think rations for the men a small
provision, he judges erroneously. Furnish that, and I am sure the army
itself will, without injuring any Greek or ally, procure every thing
else from the war, so as to make out their full pay. I am ready to join
the fleet as a volunteer, and submit to any thing, if this be not so.
Now for the ways and means of the supply, which I demand from you.
[_Statement of ways and means_.]
[Footnote: Here the clerk or secretary reads the scheme drawn up by
Demosthenes, in the preparing of which he was probably assisted by the
financial officers of the state. What follows was according to
Dionysius, spoken at a different time. The curious may consult Leland,
and Jacobs' introduction to his translation.]
This, Athenians, is what we have been able to devise. When you vote upon
the resolutions, pass what you [Footnote: _I. e._ some measure, if
not mine, whereby the war may be waged effectually. The reading of
[Greek: _poiaesate_], adopted by Jacobs after Schaefer, is not in
congruity with the sentence.] approve, that you may oppose Philip, not
only by decrees and letters, but by action also.
I think it will assist your deliberations about the war and the whole
arrangements, to regard the position, Athenians, of the hostile country,
and consider, that Philip by the winds and seasons of the year gets the
start in most of his operations, watching for the trade-winds [Footnote:
The Etesian winds blowing from the northwest in July, which would impede
a voyage from Athens to Macedonia and Thrace.] or the winter to commence
them, when we are unable (he thinks) to reach the spot. On this account,
we must carry on the war not with hasty levies, (or we shall be too late
for every thing,) but with a permanent force and power. You may use as
winter quarters for your troops Lemnos, and Thasus, and Sciathus, and
the islands [Footnote: As Scopelus, Halonnesus, Peparethus, which were
then subject to Athens.] in that neighborhood, which have harbors and
corn and all necessaries for an army. In the season of the year, when it
is easy to put ashore and there is no danger from the winds, they will
easily take their station off the coast itself and at the entrances of
the sea-ports.
How and when to employ the troops, the commander appointed by you will
determine as occasion requires. What you must find, is stated in my
bill. If, men of Athens, you will furnish the supplies which I mention,
and then, after completing your preparations of soldiers, ships,
cavalry, will oblige the entire force by law to remain in the service,
and, while you become your own paymasters and commissaries, demand from
your general an account of his conduct, you will cease to be always
discussing the same questions without forwarding them in the least, and
besides, Athenians, not only will you cut off his greatest revenue--What
is this? He maintains war against you through the resources of your
allies, by his piracies on their navigation--But what next? You will be
out of the reach of injury yourselves: he will not do as in time past,
when falling upon Lemnos and Imbrus he carried off your citizens
captive, seizing the vessels at Geraestus he levied an incalculable sum,
and lastly, made a descent at Marathon and carried off the sacred galley
[Footnote: A ship called Paralus generally used on religious missions or
to carry public dispatches.] from our coast, and you could neither
prevent these things nor send succors by the appointed time. But how is
it, think you, Athenians, that the Panathenaic and Dionysian festivals
[Footnote: The Panathenaic festivals were in honor of Pallas or Athene,
the protectress of Athens, and commemorated also the union of the old
Attic towns under one government. There were two, the greater held every
fourth year, the lesser annually. They were celebrated with sacrifices,
races, gymnastic and musical contests, and various other amusements and
solemnities, among which was the carrying the pictured robe of Pallas to
her temple. The Dionysia, or festival of Bacchus, will be spoken of more
fully hereafter.] take place always at the appointed time, whether
expert or unqualified persons be chosen to conduct either of them,
whereon you expend larger sums than upon any armament, and which are
more numerously attended and magnificent than almost any thing in the
world; while all your armaments are after the time, as that to Methone,
to Pagasae, to Potidaea? Because in the former case every thing is
ordered by law, and each of you knows long before-hand, who is the
choir-master [Footnote: The choregus, or choir-master, of each tribe,
had to defray the expense of the choruses, whether dramatic, lyric, or
musical, which formed part of the entertainment on solemn occasions.
This was one of the [Greek: _leitourgiai_], or burdensome offices,
to which men of property were liable at Athens, of which we shall see
more in other parts of our author.] of his tribe, who the gymnastic
[Footnote: The gymnasiarch, like the choregus, had a burden imposed on
him by his tribe, to make certain provisions for the gymnasium, public
place or school of exercise. Some of the contests at the festivals being
of a gymnastic nature, such as the Torch-race, it was his duty to make
arrangements for them, and more particularly to select the ablest youths
of the school for performers.] master, when, from whom, and what he is
to receive, and what to do. Nothing there is left unascertained or
undefined: whereas in the business of war and its preparations all is
irregular, unsettled, indefinite. Therefore, no sooner have we heard any
thing, than we appoint ship-captains, dispute with them on the
exchanges, [Footnote: For every ship of war a captain, or trierarch, was
appointed, whose duty it was, not merely to command, but take charge of
the vessel, keep it in repair, and bear the expense (partly or wholly)
of equipping it. In the Peloponnesian war we find the charge laid upon
two joint captains, and afterward it was borne by an association formed
like the Symmoriae of the Property Tax. Demosthenes, when he came to the
head of affairs, introduced some useful reforms in the system of the
Trierarchy.
The exchange, [Greek: _antidosis_], was a stringent but clumsy
contrivance, to enforce the performance of these public duties by
persons capable of bearing them. A party charged might call upon any
other person to take take the office, or exchange estates with him. If
he refused, complaint was made to the magistrate who had cognizance of
the business, and the dispute was judicially heard and decided.] and
consider about ways and means; then it is resolved that resident aliens
and householders [Footnote: Freedmen, who had quitted their masters'
house, and lived independently.] shall embark, then to put yourselves on
board instead: but during these days the objects of our expedition are
lost; for the time of action we waste in preparation, and favorable
moments wait not our evasions and delays. The forces that we imagine we
possess in the mean time, are found, when the crisis comes, utterly
insufficient. And Philip has arrived at such a pitch of arrogance, as to
send the following letter to the Euboeans:
[_The letter is read_.]
Of that which has been read, Athenians, most is true, unhappily true;
perhaps not agreeable to hear. And if what one passes over in speaking,
to avoid offense, one could pass over in reality, it is right to humor
the audience; but if graciousness of speech, where it is out of place,
does harm in action, shameful is it, Athenians, to delude ourselves, and
by putting off every thing unpleasant to miss the time for all
operations, and be unable even to understand, that skillful makers of
war should not follow circumstances, but be in advance of them; that
just as a general may be expected to lead his armies, so are men of
prudent counsel to guide circumstances, in order that their resolutions
may be accomplished, not their motions determined by the event. Yet you,
Athenians, with larger means than any people--ships, infantry, cavalry,
and revenue--have never up to this day made proper use of any of them;
and your war with Philip differs in no respect from the boxing of
barbarians. For among them the party struck feels always for the blow;
[Footnote: Compare Virgil, Aen. ix 577.
Ille manum projecto tegmine demens
Ad vulnus tulit.]
strike him somewhere else, there go his hands again; ward or look in the
face he can not nor will. So you, if you hear of Philip in the
Chersonese, vote to send relief there if at Thermopylae, the same; if
any where else, you run after his heels up and down, and are commanded
by him; no plan have you devised for the war, no circumstance do you see
beforehand, only [Footnote: This loose mode of expression, which is
found in the original, I designedly retain.] when you learn that
something is done, or about to be done. Formerly perhaps this was
allowable: now it is come to a crisis, to be tolerable no longer. And it
seems, men of Athens, as if some god, ashamed for us at our proceedings,
has put this activity into Philip. For had he been willing to remain
quiet in possession of his conquests and prizes, and attempted nothing
further, some of you, I think, would be satisfied with a state of
things, which brands our nation with the shame of cowardice and the
foulest disgrace. But by continually encroaching and grasping after
more, he may possibly rouse you, if you have not altogether despaired. I
marvel, indeed, that none of you, Athenians, notices with concern and
anger, that the beginning of this war was to chastise Philip, the end is
to protect ourselves against his attacks. One thing is clear: he will
not stop, unless some one oppose him. And shall we wait for this? And if
you dispatch empty galleys and hopes from this or that person, think ye
all is well? Shall we not embark? Shall we not sail with at least a part
of our national forces, now though not before? Shall we not make a
descent upon his coast? Where, then, shall we land? some one asks. The
war itself, men of Athens, will discover the rotten parts of his empire,
if we make a trial; but if we sit at home, hearing the orators accuse
and malign one another, no good can ever be achieved. Methinks, where a
portion of our citizens, though not all, are commissioned with the rest,
Heaven blesses, and Fortune aids the struggle: but where you send out a
general and an empty decree and hopes from the hustings, nothing that
you desire is done; your enemies scoff, and your allies die for fear of
such an armament. For it is impossible--ay, impossible, for one man to
execute all your wishes: to promise, [Footnote: Chares is particularly
alluded to. The "promises of Chares" passed into a proverb.] and assert,
and accuse this or that person, is possible; but so your affairs are
ruined. The general commands wretched unpaid hirelings; here are persons
easily found, who tell you lies of his conduct; you vote at random from
what you hear: what then can be expected?
How is this to cease, Athenians? When you make the same persons
soldiers, and witnesses of the generals conduct, and judges when they
return home at his audit; [Footnote: The audit or scrutiny of his
conduct which every officer of the republic had to undergo, before a
jury, if necessary, at the end of his administration. In the case of a
general, the scrutiny would be like a court-martial. The Athenian
people, (says Demosthenes,) as represented by the citizen soldiers,
would themselves be witnesses of the general's conduct. These same
soldiers, when they came home, or at least a portion of them, might
serve on the jury; and so the people would be both witnesses and
judges.] so that you may not only hear of your own affairs, but be
present to see them. So disgraceful is our condition now, that every
general is twice or thrice tried [Footnote: Chares was tried several
times. Capital charges were preferred also against Autocles,
Cephisodotus, Leosthenes, Callisthenes.] before you for his life, though
none dares even once to hazard his life against the enemy: they prefer
the death of kidnappers and thieves to that which becomes them; for it
is a malefactor's part to die by sentence of the law, a general's to die
in battle. Among ourselves, some go about and say that Philip is
concerting with the Lacedaemonians the destruction of Thebes and the
dissolution of republics; some, that he has sent envoys to the king;
[Footnote: The king of Persia, generally called _the king_ by the
Greeks.] others, that he is fortifying cities in Illyria: so we wander
about, each inventing stories. For my part, Athenians, by the gods I
believe, that Philip is intoxicated with the magnitude of his exploits,
and has many such dreams in his imagination, seeing the absence of
opponents, and elated by success; but most certainly he has no such plan
of action, as to let the silliest people among us know what his
intentions are; for the silliest are these newsmongers. Let us dismiss
such talk, and remember only that Philip is an enemy, who robs us of our
own and has long insulted us; that wherever we have expected aid from
any quarter, it has been found hostile, and that the future depends on
ourselves, and unless we are willing to fight him there, we shall
perhaps be compelled to fight here. This let us remember, and then we
shall have determined wisely, and have done with idle conjectures. You
need not pry into the future, but assure yourselves it will be
disastrous, unless you attend to your duty, and are willing to act as
becomes you.
As for me, never before have I courted favor, by speaking what I am not
convinced is for your good, and now I have spoken my whole mind frankly
and unreservedly. I could have wished, knowing the advantage of good
counsel to you, I were equally certain of its advantage to the
counselor: so should I have spoken with more satisfaction. Now, with an
uncertainty of the consequence to myself, but with a conviction that you
will benefit by adopting it, I proffer my advice. I trust only, that
what is most for the common benefit will prevail.
THE SECOND PHILIPPIC.
THE ARGUMENT.
Soon after the close of the Phocian war, the attention of
Philip was called to Peloponnesus, where the dissensions
between Sparta and her old enemies afforded him an occasion
of interference. The Spartans had never abandoned their right
to the province of Messenia, which had been wrested from them
by Epaminondas; and since Thebes was no longer to be feared,
they seem to have conceived hopes of regaining their lost
power. The Argives and the Arcadians of Megalopolis were in
league with Messenia, but Sparta had her allies in the
Peloponnesus, and even Athens was suspected of favoring her
cause. It does not appear that any open hostilities had taken
place; but about this time the fears of the Messenians induced
them to solicit the alliance of Philip. He willingly promised
them his protection, and sent a body of troops into the
Peninsula. The progress which Macedonian influence was making
there having alarmed the Athenians, they sent Demosthenes with
an embassy to counteract it. He went to Messene and to Argos,
addressed the people, and pointed out the dangers, to which
all Greece was exposed by Philip's ambition. It seems that he
failed in rousing their suspicions, or they were too much
occupied by an immediate peril to heed one that appeared
remote. Philip however resented this proceeding on the part of
the Athenians, and sent an embassy to expostulate with them,
especially on the charge of bad faith and treachery which had
been preferred against him by Demosthenes. Embassadors from
Argos and Messene accompanied those of Macedon, and complained
of the connection that appeared to subsist between Athens
and Lacedaemon, hostile (they thought) to the liberties of
Peloponnesus. In answer to these complaints, Demosthenes
addressed his second Philippic to the Popular Assembly;
repeating the substance of what he had said to the
Peloponnesians, vindicating his own conduct, and denouncing
the Macedonian party at Athens. The embassy led to no immediate
result; but the influence of Demosthenes at home was increased.
In all the speeches, men of Athens, about Philip's measures and
infringements of the peace, I observe that statements made on our behalf
are thought just and generous, [Footnote: _Generous_, as regards
the Greek states, whose independence the Athenians stand up for. This
praise Demosthenes frequently claims for his countrymen, and, compared
with the rest of the Greeks, they deserved it. Leland understood the
word [Greek: _philanthropous_] in the same sense, though he
translates it _humane_. We use the term _philanthropic_ in a
sense not unlike that of the orator; but, as Leland truly observes, "the
distinction of Greek and barbarian precluded the rest of mankind from a
just share in Grecian philanthropy;" and he might have added, that their
notions of slavery were not in accordance with an enlarged humanity.
Therefore, I prefer a word of a less arrogant meaning. Jacobs:
_billig_. Francis: "filled with sentiments of exceeding
moderation."] and all who accuse Philip are heard with approbation; yet
nothing (I may say) that is proper, or for the sake of which the
speeches are worth hearing, is done. To this point are the affairs of
Athens brought, that the more fully and clearly one convicts Philip of
violating the peace with you, and plotting against the whole of Greece,
the more difficult it becomes to advise you how to act. The cause lies
in all of us, Athenians, that, when we ought to oppose an ambitious
power by deeds and actions, not by words, we men of the hustings
[Footnote: Auger has: "nous qui montons a la tribune."] shrink from our
duty of moving and advising, for fear of your displeasure, and only
declaim on the heinousness and atrocity of Philip's conduct; you of the
assembly, though better instructed than Philip to argue justly, or
comprehend the argument of another, to check him in the execution of his
designs are totally unprepared. The result is inevitable, I imagine, and
perhaps just. You each succeed better in what you are busy and earnest
about; Philip in actions, you in words. If you are still satisfied with
using the better arguments, it is an easy matter, and there is no
trouble: but if we are to take measures for the correction of these
evils, to prevent their insensible progress, and the rising up of a
mighty power, against which we could have no defense, then our course of
deliberation is not the same as formerly; the orators, and you that hear
them, must prefer good and salutary counsels to those which are easy and
agreeable.
First, men of Athens, if any one regards without uneasiness the might
and dominion of Philip, and imagines that it threatens no danger to the
state, or that all his preparations are not against you, I marvel, and
would entreat you every one to hear briefly from me the reasons, why I
am led to form a contrary expectation, and wherefore I deem Philip an
enemy; that, if I appear to have the clearer foresight, you may hearken
to me; if they, who have such confidence and trust in Philip, you may
give your adherence to them.