The following is an analysis of the spee_The Public Orations of Demosthenes, volume 2

I. Introduction (§§ 1-8).

II. Defence against charges irrelevant to the indictment (§§ 9-52).

(1) Introduction (§ 9).

(2) Postponement of reply to charges against his private life

(§§ 10, 11).

(3) Reply to charges against his public life (§§ 12-52).

(a) Criticism of Aeschines' method of attack (§§ 12-16).

(b) Reply in reference to the Peace of Philocrates (§§ 17-52).

III. Defence against the indictment itself (§§ 53-125).

(1) Introduction (§§ 53-9).

(2) Defence of his policy B.C. 346-340 (§§ 60-109).

(3) The alleged illegality of crowning him before he had passed

his audit (§§ 110-19).

(4) The alleged illegality of the proclamation in the theatre

(§§ 120, 121).

(5) Conclusion, including criticism of Aeschines' method of attack

(§§ 122-5).

IV. Aeschines' life and character (§§ 126-59).

(1) Introduction (§§ 126-8).

(2) Parentage and early life of Aeschines (§§ 129-31).

(3) Aeschines' connexion with Antiphon, Python, Anaxinus, and

others (§§ 132-8).

(4) Aeschines' part in stirring up the war against Amphissa in

339 (§§ 139-59).

V. Demosthenes' own policy in 339 and 338 (§§ 160-226).

(1) Narrative and defence of the alliance with Thebes (§§ 160-95).

(2) Why did not Aeschines protest at the time? (§§ 196-8).

(3) Defence of his policy as true to the spirit of Athenian history

(§§ 199-210).

(4) Narrative and defence, continued (§§ 211-22).

(5) Further criticism of Aeschines' method of attack (§§ 223-6).

VI. Replies to various arguments of Aeschines (§§ 227-96).

(1) Aeschines' comparison of the inquiry to the examination of

a balance-sheet (§§ 227-31).

(2) A proper inquiry would show that Demosthenes had increased

the resources of Athens (§§ 232-7).

(3) Reply to the charge of saddling Athens with an undue share

of the expense of the war (§§ 238-43).

(4) Reply to the charge of responsibility for the defeat of Chaeroneia

(§§ 244-7).

(5) Vindication of his policy after the battle of Chaeroneia

(§§ 248-51).

(6) Reply to Aeschines' remarks about the harm done to Athens

by Demosthenes' bad fortune (§§ 252-75).

(a) General remarks (§§ 252-5).

(b) The fortune of Demosthenes (§§ 257, 258).

(d) Comparison of the two (§§ 265, 266).

(e) Demosthenes' use of his fortune for purposes of public and

private munificence (§§ 267-9).

(f) Demosthenes not responsible for the misfortunes of Athens

(§§ 270-5).

(7) Reply to Aeschines' warning against Demosthenes' cleverness

(§§ 276-90).

(a) Comparison of the use made of their talents by the two

orators (§§ 276-84).

(b) The choice of Demosthenes, not Aeschines, to deliver the

Funeral Oration (§§ 285-90).

(8) Aeschines' feelings about the defeat of Chaeroneia (§§ 291-3).

(9) The part played by traitors in recent history (§§ 294-6).

VII. Epilogue (§§ 297-324).

(1) Demosthenes' incorruptibility (§§ 297, 298).

(2) Demosthenes' measures for the protection of Athens (§§ 299-305).

(3) Comparison of the services of the two orators to Athens

(§§ 306-13).

(4) Reply to the comparison of Demosthenes with the men of old,

by a final comparison of the two orators (§§ 314-23).

(5) Peroration (§ 324).]

{1} I pray first, men of Athens, to every god and goddess, that the

goodwill, which I ever feel towards this city and towards all of you,

may in equal measure be vouchsafed to me by you at this present trial:

and secondly--a prayer which especially touches yourselves, your

consciences, and your reputation--that the gods may put it into your

minds not to take counsel of my adversary[n] in regard to the spirit in

which you ought to hear me (for that would surely be a cruel thing),

{2} but of the laws and of your oath; wherein besides all other

precepts of justice, this also is written--that you shall listen to

both sides with a like mind. And this means, not only that you should

have formed no prejudice, and should accord equal goodwill to each, but

also that you should give leave to every man who pleads before you to

adopt that order, and make that defence, upon which he has resolved and

fixed his choice.

{3} I am in many respects at a disadvantage in the present controversy,

as compared with Aeschines; and particularly, men of Athens, in two

points of importance. The first is that I am not contending for the

same stake as he. It is not the same thing for me to lose your goodwill

now, as it is for him to fail to win his case; since for me--but I

would say nothing unpleasant [n]* at the opening of my address--I say

only that Aeschines can well afford to risk this attack upon me. The

second disadvantage lies in the natural and universal tendency of

mankind to hear invective and denunciation with pleasure, and to be

offended with those who praise themselves. {4} And of the two courses

in question, that which contributes to men's pleasure has been given to

Aeschines, and that which annoys (I may say) every one is left for me.

If, to avoid giving such annoyance, I say nothing of all that I myself

have done, it will be thought that I am unable to clear myself of the

charges against me, or to show the grounds upon which I claim to

deserve distinction. If, on the other hand, I proceed to speak of my

past acts and my political life, I shall often be compelled to speak of

myself. I will endeavour, then, to do this as modestly as possible; and

for all that the necessities of the case compel me to say, the blame

must in fairness be borne by the prosecutor, who initiated a trial of

such a kind as this.

{5} I think, men of Athens, that you would all admit that this present

trial equally concerns myself and Ctesiphon, and demands no less

earnest attention from me than from him. For while it is a painful and

a grievous thing for a man to be robbed of anything, particularly if it

is at the hands of an enemy that this befalls him, it is especially so,

when he is robbed of your goodwill and kindness, just in proportion as

to win these is the greatest possible gain. {6} And because such is the

issue at stake in the present trial, I request and entreat you all

alike to give me, while I make my defence upon the charges that have

been brought against me, a fair hearing, as you are commanded to do by

the laws--those laws to which their original maker, your well-wisher

and the People's friend, Solon, thought fit to give the sanction not of

enactment only, but also of an oath on the part of those who act as

judges: {7} not because he distrusted you (so at least it seems to me),

but because he saw that a defendant cannot escape from the imputations

and the slanders which fall with special force from the prosecutor,

because he is the first to speak, unless each of you who sit in

judgement, keeping his conscience pure in the sight of God, will

receive the pleadings of the later speaker also with the same favour,

and will thus, because his attention has been given equally and

impartially to both sides, form his decision upon the case in its

entirety.

{8} And now, when I am about, as it seems, to render an account of my

whole private life and public career, I would once more invoke the aid

of the gods; and in the presence of you all I pray, first, that the

goodwill which I ever feel towards this city and towards all of you,

may in equal measure be vouchsafed to me by you at this trial; and

secondly, that whatsoever judgement upon this present suit will conduce

to your public reputation, and the purity of each man's conscience,

that judgement they may put it into all your minds to give.

{9} Now if Aeschines had confined his charges to the subject of the

indictment, I too, in making my defence, would have dealt at once with

the actual resolution of the Council. But since he has devoted no less

a portion of his speech to the relation of other matters, and for the

most part has spoken against me falsely, I think it is necessary, and

at the same time just, that I should deal briefly, men of Athens, with

these, in order that none of you may be led by irrelevant arguments to

listen less favourably to my pleas in answer to the indictment itself.

{10} As for his slanderous vituperation of my private life, mark how

straightforward and how just is the reply that I make. If you know me

as the man that he charged me with being (for my life has been spent

nowhere but in your own midst), do not even suffer me to speak--no, not

though my whole public career has been one of transcendent merit--but

rise and condemn me without delay. But if, in your judgement and

belief, I am a better man than Aeschines, and come of better men; if I

and mine are no worse than any other respectable persons (to use no

offensive expression); then do not trust him even in regard to other

points, for it is plain that all that he said was equally fictitious;

but once more accord to me to-day the goodwill which throughout the

past you have so often displayed towards me in previous trials. {11}

Knave as you are,[n] Aeschines, you were assuredly more fool than

knave, when you thought that I should dismiss all that I had to say

with regard to my past acts and political life, and should turn to meet

the abuse that fell from you. I shall not do so; I am not so

brain-sick; but I will review the falsehoods and the calumnies which

you uttered against my political career; and then, if the court desires

it, I will afterwards refer to the ribald language that has been so

incontinently used.

{12} The offences charged against me are many; and for some of them the

laws assign heavy and even the most extreme penalties. But I will tell

you what is the motive which animates the present suit. It gives play

to the malice of a personal enemy, to his insolence, his abuse, his

contumelies, and every expression of his hostility: and yet, assuming

that the charges and the imputations which have been made are true, it

does not enable the State[n] to exact a penalty that is adequate, or

nearly adequate, to the offences. {13} For it is not right to seek to

debar another from coming before the people[n] and receiving a hearing,

nor to do so in a spirit of malice and envy. Heaven knows, it is

neither straightforward, nor citizen-like, nor just, men of Athens! If

the crimes by which he saw me injuring the city were of such a

magnitude as he just now so theatrically set forth, he should have had

recourse to the punishments enjoined by the laws at the time of the

crimes themselves. If he saw me so acting as to deserve impeachment, he

should have impeached me, and so brought me to trial before you; if he

saw me proposing illegal measures, he should have indicted me for their

illegality. For surely, if he can prosecute Ctesiphon on my account, he

would not have failed to indict me in person, had he thought that he

could convict me. {14} And further, if he saw me committing any of

those other crimes against you, which he just now slanderously

enumerated, or any other crimes whatsoever, there are laws which deal

with each, and punishments, and lawsuits and judgements involving

penalties that are harsh and severe: to all of these he could have had

recourse; and from the moment when it was seen that he had acted so,

and had conducted his hostilities against me on that plan, his present

accusation of me would have been in line with his past conduct. {15}

But as it is, he has forsaken the straight path of justice; he has

shrunk from all attempts to convict me at the time; and after all these

years, with the imputations, the jests, the invectives, that he has

accumulated, he appears to play his part. So it is, that though his

accusations are against me, it is Ctesiphon that he prosecutes; and

though he sets his quarrel with me in the forefront of the whole suit,

he has never faced me in person to settle the quarrel, and it is

another whom we see him trying to deprive of his civil rights. {16} Yet

surely, besides everything else that may be pleaded on behalf of

Ctesiphon, this, I think, may surely be most reasonably urged--that we

ought in justice to have brought our own quarrel to the test by

ourselves, instead of avoiding all conflict with one another, and

looking for a third party to whom we could do harm. Such iniquity

really passes all bounds.

{17} From this one may see the nature of all his charges alike,

uttered, as they have been, without justice or regard for truth. Yet I

desire also to examine them severally, and more particularly the false

statements which he made against me in regard to the Peace and the

Embassy, when he ascribed to me[n] the things which he himself had done

in conjunction with Philocrates. And here it is necessary, men of

Athens, and perhaps appropriate,[n] that I should remind you of the

state of affairs subsisting during that period, so that you may view

each group of actions in the light of the circumstances of the time.

{18} When the Phocian war had broken out[n] (not through any action of

mine, for I had not yet entered public life), your own attitude, in the

first place, was such, that you wished for the preservation of the

Phocians, although you saw that their actions were unjustifiable; while

you would have been delighted at anything that might happen to the

Thebans, against whom you felt an indignation that was neither

unreasonable nor unfair; for they had not used their good fortune at

Leuctra with moderation. And, in the second place, the Peloponnese was

all disunited: those who detested the Spartans [n] were not strong

enough to annihilate them, and those who had previously governed with

the support of Sparta [n] were no longer able to maintain their control

over their cities; but both these and all the other states were in a

condition of indeterminate strife and confusion. {19} When Philip saw

this (for it was not hard to see), he tried, by dispensing money to the

traitors whom each state contained, to throw them all into collision

and stir up one against another; and thus, amid the blunders and

perversity of others, he was making his own preparations, and growing

great to the danger of all. And when it became clear to all that the

then overbearing (but now unhappy) Thebans, distressed by the length of

the war, would be forced to fly to you for aid,[n] Philip, to prevent

this--to prevent the formation of any union between the cities--made

offers of peace to you, and of assistance to them. {20} Now what was it

that helped him, and enabled him to find in you his almost willing

dupes? It was the baseness (if that is the right name to use), or the

ignorance, or both, of the rest of the Hellenes, who, though you were

engaged in a long and continuous war, and that on behalf of the

interests of all, as has been proved by the event, never assisted you

either with money or with men, or in any other way whatsoever. And in

your just and proper indignation with them, you listened readily to

Philip. It was for these reasons, therefore, and not through any action

of mine, that the Peace which we then conceded was negotiated; and any

one who investigates the matter honestly will find that it is the

crimes and the corrupt practices of these men, in the course of the

negotiations, that are responsible for our position to-day. {21} It is

in the interests of truth that I enter into all these events with this

exactitude and thoroughness; for however strong the appearance of

criminality in these proceedings may be, it has, I imagine, nothing to

do with me. The first man to suggest or mention the Peace was

Aristodemus[n] the actor; and the person who took the matter up and

moved the motion, and sold his services for the purpose, along with

Aeschines, was Philocrates of Hagnus--your partner, Aeschines, not

mine, even if you split your sides with lying; while those who

supported him, from whatever motive (for of that I say nothing at

present), were Eubulus and Cephisophon. I had no part in the matter

anywhere. {22} And yet, although the facts are such as with absolute

truth I am representing them to be, he carried his effrontery so far as

to dare to assert that I was not only responsible for the Peace, but

had also prevented the city from acting in conjunction with a general

assembly of the Hellenes in making it. What? and you--oh! how can one

find a name that can be applied to you?--when you saw me (for you were

there) preventing the city from taking this great step and forming so

grand an alliance as you just now described, did you once raise a

protest or come forward to give information and to set forth the crimes

with which you now charge me? {23} If I had covenanted with Philip for

money that I would prevent the coalition of the Hellenes, your only

course was to refuse to keep silence--to cry aloud, to protest, to

reveal the fact to your fellow countrymen. On no occasion did you do

this: no such utterance of yours was ever heard by any one. In fact

there was no embassy away at the time on a mission to any Hellenic

state; the Hellenes had all long ago been tried and found wanting;[n]

and in all that he has said upon this matter there is not a single

sound word. {24} And, apart from that, his falsehoods involve the

greatest calumnies upon this city. For if you were at one and the same

time convoking the Hellenes with a view to war, and sending ambassadors

yourselves to Philip to discuss peace, it was a deed for a

Eurybatus,[n] not a task for a state or for honest men, that you were

carrying out. But that is not the case; indeed it is not. For what

could possibly have been your object in summoning them at that moment?

Was it with a view to peace? But they all had peace already. Or with a

view to war? But you were yourselves discussing peace. It is therefore

evident that neither was it I that introduced or was responsible for

the Peace in its original shape, nor is one of all the other falsehoods

which he told of me shown to be true.

{25} Again, consider the course of action which, when the city had

concluded the Peace, each of us now chose to adopt. For from this you

will know who it was that co-operated with Philip throughout, and who

it was that acted in your interest and sought the good of the city. As

for me, I proposed, as a member of the Council, that the ambassadors

should sail as quickly as possible to any district in which they should

ascertain Philip to be, and receive his oath from him. {26} But even

when I had carried this resolution, they would not act upon it. What

did this mean, men of Athens? I will inform you. Philip's interest

required that the interval before he took the oath should be as long as

possible; yours, that it should be as short as possible. And why?

Because you broke off all your preparations for the war, not merely

from the day when he took the oath, but from the day when you first

hoped that Peace would be made; and for his part, this was what he was

all along working for; for he thought (and with truth) that whatever

places he could snatch from Athens before he took the oath, would

remain securely his, since no one would break the Peace for their sake.

{27} Foreseeing and calculating upon this, men of Athens, I proposed

this decree--that we should sail to any district in which Philip might

be, and receive his oath as soon as possible, in order that the oaths

might be taken while the Thracians, your allies, were still in

possession of those strongholds[n] of which Aeschines just now spoke

with contempt--Serrhium, Myrtenum, and Ergiske; and that Philip might

not snatch from us the keys of the country and make himself master of

Thrace, nor obtain an abundant supply of money and of soldiers, and so

proceed without difficulty to the prosecution of his further designs.

{28} And now, instead of citing or reading this decree he slanders me

on the ground that I thought fit, as a member of the Council, to

introduce the envoys. But what should I have done? Was I to propose

_not_ to introduce those who had come for the express purpose of

speaking with you? or to order the lessee of the theatre not to assign

them seats? But they would have watched the play from the threepenny

seats,[n] if this decree had not been proposed. Should I have guarded

the interests of the city in petty details, and sold them wholesale, as

my opponents did? Surely not. (_To the clerk_.) Now take this decree,

which the prosecutor passed over, though he knew it well, and read it.

{29} [_The decree of Demosthenes is read_.]

{30} Though I had carried this decree, and was seeking the good not of

Philip, but of the city, these worthy ambassadors paid little heed to

it, but sat idle in Macedonia for three whole months,[n] until Philip

arrived from Thrace, after subduing the whole country; when they might,

within ten days, or equally well[n] within three or four, have reached

the Hellespont, and saved the strongholds, by receiving his oath before

he could seize them. For he would not have touched them when we were

present; or else, if he had done so, we should have refused to

administer the oath to him; and in that case he would have failed to

obtain the Peace: he would not have had both the Peace and the

strongholds as well.

{31} Such was Philip's first act of fraud, during the time of the

Embassy, and the first instance of venality on the part of these wicked

men; and over this I confess that then and now and always I have been

and am at war and at variance with them. Now observe, immediately after

this, a second and even greater piece of villainy. {32} As soon as

Philip had sworn to the Peace, after first gaining possession of Thrace

because these men did not obey my decree, he obtained from them--again

by purchase--the postponement of our departure from Macedonia, until

all should be in readiness for his campaign against the Phocians; in

order that, instead of our bringing home a report of his intentions and

his preparations for the march, which would make you set out and sail

round to Thermopylae with your war-ships as you did before,[n] you

might only hear our report of the facts when he was already on this

side of Thermopylae, and you could do nothing. {33} And Philip was

beset with such fear and such a weight of anxiety, lest in spite of his

occupation of these places, his object should slip from his grasp, if,

before the Phocians were destroyed, you resolved to assist them, that

he hired this despicable creature, not now in company with his

colleagues, but by himself alone, to make to you a statement and a

report of such a character that owing to them all was lost. {34} But I

request and entreat you, men of Athens, to remember throughout this

whole trial, that, had Aeschines made no accusation that was not

included in the indictment, I too would not have said a word that did

not bear upon it; but since he has had recourse to all kinds of

imputation and slander at once, I am compelled also to give a brief

answer to each group of charges. {35} What then were the statements

uttered by him that day, in consequence of which all was lost? 'You

must not be perturbed,' he said, 'at Philip's having crossed to this

side of Thermopylae; for you will get everything that you desire, if

you remain quiet; and within two or three days you will hear that he

has become the friend of those whose enemy he was, and the enemy of

those whose friend he was, when he first came. For,' said he, 'it is

not phrases that confirm friendships' (a finely sententious

expression!) 'but identity of interest; and it is to the interest of

Philip and of the Phocians and of yourselves alike, to be rid of the

heartless and overbearing demeanour of the Thebans.' {36} To these

statements some gave a ready ear, in consequence of the tacit

ill-feeling towards the Thebans at the time. What then followed--and

not after a long interval, but immediately? The Phocians were

overthrown; their cities were razed to the ground; you, who had

believed Aeschines and remained inactive, were soon afterwards bringing

in your effects from the country; while Aeschines received his gold;

and besides all this, the city reaped the ill-will of the Thebans and

Thessalians, while their gratitude for what had been done went to

Philip. {37} To prove that this is so, (_to the clerk_) read me both

the decree of Callisthenes,[n] and Philip's letter. (_To the jury_.)

These two documents together will make all the facts plain. (_To the

clerk_.) Read.

{38} [_The decree of Callisthenes is read_.]

Were these the hopes, on the strength of which you made the Peace? Was

this what this hireling promised you? {39} (_To the clerk_.) Now read

the letter which Philip sent after this.

[_Philip's letter is read_.]

{40} You hear how obviously, in this letter sent to you, Philip is

addressing definite information to his own allies. 'I have done these

things,' he tells them, 'against the will of the Athenians, and to

their annoyance; and so, men of Thebes and Thessaly, if you are wise,

you will regard them as enemies, and will trust me.' He does not write

in those actual terms, but that is what he intends to indicate. By

these means he so carried them away, that they did not foresee or

realize any of the consequences, but allowed him to get everything into

his own power: and that is why, poor men, they have experienced their

present calamities. {41} But the man who helped him to create this

confidence, who co-operated with him, who brought home that false

report and deluded you, he it is who now bewails the sufferings of the

Thebans and enlarges upon their piteousness--he, who is himself the

cause both of these and of the misery in Phocis, and of all the other

evils which the Hellenes have endured. Yes, it is evident that you are

pained at what has come to pass, Aeschines, and that you are sorry for

the Thebans, when you have property in Boeotia[n] and are farming the

land that was theirs; and that I rejoice at it--I, whose surrender was

immediately demanded by the author of the disaster! {42} But I have

digressed into subjects of which it will perhaps be more convenient to

speak presently. I will return to the proofs which show that it is the

crimes of these men that are the cause of our condition to-day.

For when you had been deceived by Philip, through the agency of these

men, who while serving as ambassadors had sold themselves and made a

report in which there was not a word of truth--when the unhappy

Phocians had been deceived and their cities annihilated--what followed?

{43} The despicable Thessalians and the slow-witted Thebans regarded

Philip as their friend, their benefactor, their saviour. Philip was

their all-in-all. They would not even listen to the voice of any one

who wished to express a different opinion. You yourselves, though you

viewed what had been done with suspicion and vexation, nevertheless

kept the Peace; for there was nothing else that you could have done.

And the other Hellenes, who, like yourselves, had been deluded and

disappointed of their hopes,[n] also kept the Peace, and gladly;[n]

since in a sense they also were remotely aimed at by the war. {44} For

when Philip was going about and subduing the Illyrians and Triballi and

some of the Hellenes as well, and bringing many large forces into his

own power, and when some of the members of the several States were

taking advantage of the Peace to travel to Macedonia, and were being

corrupted--Aeschines among them--at such a time all of those whom

Philip had in view in thus making his preparations were really being

attacked by him. {45} Whether they failed to realize it is another

question, which does not concern me. For I was continually uttering

warnings and protests, both in your midst and wherever I was sent. But

the cities were stricken with disease: those who were engaged in

political and practical affairs were taking bribes and being corrupted

by the hope of money; while the mass of private citizens either showed

no foresight, or else were caught by the bait of ease and leisure from

day to day; and all alike had fallen victims to some such delusive

fancy, as that the danger would come upon every one but themselves, and

that through the perils of others they would be able to secure their

own position as they pleased. {46} And so, I suppose, it has come to

pass that the masses have atoned for their great and ill-timed

indifference by the loss of their freedom, while the leaders in

affairs, who fancied that they were selling everything except

themselves, have realized that they had sold themselves first of all.

For instead of being called friends and guest-friends, as they were

called at the time when they were taking their bribes, they now hear

themselves called flatterers, and god-forsaken, and all the other names

that they deserve. {47} For no one, men of Athens, spends his money out

of a desire to benefit the traitor; nor, when once he has secured the

object for which he bargains, does he employ the traitor to advise him

with regard to other objects: if it were so, nothing could be happier

than a traitor. But it is not so, of course. Far from it! When the

aspirant after dominion has gained his object, he is also the master of

those who have sold it to him: and because then he knows their

villainy, he then hates and mistrusts them, and covers them with

insults. {48} For observe--for even if the time of the events is past,

the time for realizing truths like these is ever present to wise men.

Lasthenes[n] was called his 'friend'; but only until he had betrayed

Olynthus. And Timolaus;[n] but only until he had destroyed Thebes. And

Eudicus and Simus[n] of Larissa; but only until they had put Thessaly

in Philip's power. And now, persecuted as they are, and insulted, and

subjected to every kind of misery, the whole inhabited world has become

filled with such men. And what of Aristratus[n] at Sicyon? what of

Perillus[n] at Megara? Are they not outcasts? {49} From these instances

one can see very clearly, that it is he who best protects his own

country and speaks most constantly against such men, that secures for

traitors and hirelings like yourselves, Aeschines, the continuance of

your opportunities for taking bribes. It is the majority of those who

are here, those who resist your will, that you must thank for the fact

that you live and draw your pay; for, left to yourselves, you would

long ago have perished.

{50} There is still much that I might say about the transactions of

that time, but I think that even what I have said is more than enough.

The blame rests with Aeschines, who has drenched me with the stale

dregs[n] of his own villainy and crime, from which I was compelled to

clear myself in the eyes of those who are too young to remember the

events; though perhaps you who knew, even before I said a single word,

of Aeschines' service as a hireling, may have felt some annoyance as

you listened. {51} He calls it, forsooth, 'friendship' and

'guest-friendship'; and somewhere in his speech just now he used the

expression, 'the man who casts in my teeth my guest-friendship with

Alexander.' _I_ cast in your teeth your guest-friendship with

Alexander? How did you acquire it? How came you to be thought worthy of

it? Never would I call you the guest-friend of Philip or the friend of

Alexander--I am not so insane--unless you are to call harvesters and

other hired servants the friends and guest-friends of those who have

hired them. [But that is not the case, of course. Far from it!] {52}

Nay, I call you the hireling, formerly of Philip, and now of Alexander,

and so do all who are present. If you disbelieve me, ask them--or

rather I will ask them for you. Men of Athens, do you think of

Aeschines as the hireling or as the guest-friend of Alexander? You hear

what they say.

{53} I now wish, without more delay, to make my defence upon the

indictment itself, and to go through my past acts, in order that

Aeschines may hear (though he knows them well) the grounds on which I

claim to have a right both to the gifts which the Council have

proposed, and even to far greater than these. (_To the clerk_.) Now

take the indictment and read it.

{54, 55} [The indictment is read.]

{56} These, men of Athens, are the points in the resolution which the

prosecutor assails; and these very points will, I think, afford me my

first means of proving to you that the defence which I am about to

offer is an absolutely fair one. For I will take the points of the

indictment in the very same order as the prosecutor: I will speak of

each in succession, and will knowingly pass over nothing. {57} Any

decision upon the statement that I 'consistently do and say what is

best for the People, and am eager to do whatever good I can', and upon

the proposal to vote me thanks for this, depends, I consider, upon my

past political career: for it is by an investigation of my career that

either the truth and the propriety, or else the falsehood, of these

statements which Ctesiphon has made about me will be discovered. {58}

Again, the proposal to crown me, without the addition of the clause

'when he has submitted to his examination', and the order to proclaim

the award of the crown in the theatre, must, I imagine, stand or fall

with my political career; for the question is whether I deserve the

crown and the proclamation before my fellow countrymen or not. At the

same time I consider myself further bound to point out to you the laws

under which the defendant's proposal could be made. In this honest and

straightforward manner, men of Athens, I have determined to make my

defence; and now I will proceed to speak of my past actions themselves.

{59} And let no one imagine that I am detaching my argument from its

connexion with the indictment, if I break into a discussion of

international transactions. For it is the prosecutor who, by assailing

the clause of the decree which states that I do and say what is best,

and by indicting it as false, has rendered the discussion of my whole

political career essentially germane to the indictment; and further,

out of the many careers which public life offers, it was the department

of international affairs that I chose; so that I have a right to derive

my proofs also from that department.

{60} I will pass over all that Philip snatched from us and secured, in

the days before I took part in public life as an orator. None of these

losses, I imagine, has anything to do with me. But I will recall to

you, and will render you an account of all that, from the day when I

entered upon this career, he was _prevented_ from taking, when I have

made one remark. {61} Philip, men of Athens, had a great advantage in

his favour. For in the midst of the Hellenic peoples--and not of some

only, but of all alike--there had sprung up a crop of

traitors--corrupt, god-forsaken men--more numerous than they have ever

been within the memory of man. These he took to help and co-operate

with him; and great as the mutual ill-will and dissensions of the

Hellenes already were, he rendered them even worse, by deceiving some,

making presents to others, and corrupting others in every way; and at a

time when all had in reality but one interest--to prevent his becoming

powerful--he divided them into a number of factions. {62} All the

Hellenes then being in this condition, still ignorant of the growing

and accumulating evil, you have to ask yourselves, men of Athens, what

policy and action it was fitting for the city to choose, and to hold me

responsible for this; for the person who assumed that responsibility in

the State was myself. {63} Should she, Aeschines, have sacrificed her

pride and her own dignity? Should she have joined the ranks of the

Thessalians and Dolopes,[n] and helped Philip to acquire the empire of

Hellas, cancelling thereby the noble and righteous deeds of our

forefathers? Or, if she should not have done this (for it would have

been in very truth an atrocious thing), should she have looked on,

while all that she saw would happen, if no one prevented it--all that

she realized, it seems, at a distance--was actually taking place? {64}

Nay, I should be glad to ask to-day the severest critic of my actions,

which party he would have desired the city to join--the party which

shares the responsibility for the misery and disgrace which has fallen

upon the Hellenes (the party of the Thessalians and their supporters,

one may call it), or the party which looked on while these calamities

were taking place, in the hope of gaining some advantage for

themselves--in which we should place the Arcadians and Messenians and

Argives. {65} But even of these, many--nay, all--have in the end fared

worse than we. For if Philip had departed immediately after his

victory, and gone his way; if afterwards he had remained at peace, and

had given no trouble whatever to any of his own allies or of the other

Hellenes; then there would have been some ground for blaming and

accusing those who had opposed his plans. But if he has stripped them

all alike of their dignity, their paramountcy, and their

independence--nay, even of their free constitutions,[n] wherever he

could do so--can it be denied that the policy which you adopted on my

advice was the most glorious policy possible?

{66} But I return to my former point. What was it fitting for the city

to do, Aeschines, when she saw Philip establishing for himself a

despotic sway over the Hellenes? What language should have been used,

what measures proposed, by the adviser of the people at Athens (for

that it was at Athens makes the utmost difference), when I knew that

from the very first, up to the day when I myself ascended the platform,

my country had always contended for pre-eminence, honour, and glory,

and in the cause of honour, and for the interests of all, had

sacrificed more money and lives than any other Hellenic people had

spent for their private ends: {67} when I saw that Philip himself, with

whom our conflict lay, for the sake of empire and absolute power, had

had his eye knocked out, his collar-bone broken, his hand and his leg

maimed, and was ready to resign any part of his body that Fortune chose

to take from him, provided that with what remained he might live in

honour and glory? {68} And surely no one would dare to say that it was

fitting that in one bred at Pella, a place then inglorious and

insignificant, there should have grown up so lofty a spirit that he

aspired after the empire of Hellas, and conceived such a project in his

mind; but that in you, who are Athenians, and who day by day in all

that you hear and see behold the memorials of the gallantry of your

forefathers, such baseness should be found, that you would yield up

your liberty to Philip by your own deliberate offer and deed. {69} No

man would say this. One alternative remained, and that, one which you

were bound to take--that of a righteous resistance to the whole course

of action by which he was doing you injury. You acted thus from the

first, quite rightly and properly; while I helped by my proposals and

advice during the time of my political activity, and I do not deny it.

But what ought I to have done? For the time has come to ask you this,

Aeschines, and to dismiss everything else. {70} Amphipolis, Pydna,

Poteidaea, Halonnesus--all are blotted from my memory. As for Serrhium,

Doriscus, the sack of Peparethus, and all the other injuries inflicted

upon the city, I renounce all knowledge of their ever having

happened--though you actually said that _I_ involved my countrymen in

hostility by talking of these things, when the decrees which deal with

them were the work of Eubulus and Aristophon[n] and Diopeithes,[n] and

not mine at all--so glibly do you assert anything that suits your

purpose! {71} But of this too I say nothing at present. I only ask you

whether Philip, who was appropriating Euboea,[n] and establishing it as

a stronghold to command Attica; who was making an attempt upon Megara,

seizing Oreus, razing the walls of Porthmus, setting up Philistides as

tyrant at Oreus and Cleitarchus at Eretria, bringing the Hellespont

into his own power, besieging Byzantium, destroying some of the cities

of Hellas, and restoring his exiled friends to others--whether he, I

say, in acting thus, was guilty of wrong, violating the truce and

breaking the Peace, or not? Was it fit that one of the Hellenes should

arise to prevent it, or not? {72} If it was not fit--if it was fit that

Hellas should become like the Mysian booty[n] in the proverb before

men's eyes, while the Athenians had life and being, then I have lost my

labour in speaking upon this theme, and the city has lost its labour in

obeying me: then let everything that has been done be counted for a

crime and a blunder, and those my own! But if it was right that one

should arise to prevent it, for whom could the task be more fitting

than for the people of Athens? That then, was the aim of _my_ policy;

and when I saw Philip reducing all mankind to servitude, I opposed him,

and without ceasing warned and exhorted you to make no surrender.

{73} But the Peace, Aeschines, was in reality broken by Philip, when he

seized the corn-ships, not by Athens. (_To the clerk_.) Bring the

decrees themselves, and the letter of Philip, and read them in order.

(_To the jury_.) For they will make it clear who is responsible, and

for what.

{74} [_A decree is read_.]

{75} This decree then was proposed by Eubulus, not by me; and the next

by Aristophon; he is followed first by Hegesippus, and he by Aristophon

again, and then by Philocrates, then by Cephisophon, and then by all of

them. But I proposed no decree upon this subject. (_To the clerk_.)

Read.

[_Decrees are read_.]

{76} As then I point to these decrees, so, Aeschines, do you point to a

decree of any kind, proposed by me, which makes me responsible for the

war. You cannot do so: for had you been able, there is nothing which

you would sooner have produced. Indeed, even Philip himself makes no

charge against me as regards the war, though he complains of others.

(_To the clerk_.) Read Philip's letter itself.

{77, 78} [_Philip's letter is read_.]

{79} In this letter he has nowhere mentioned the name of Demosthenes,

nor made any charge against me. Why is it then that, though he

complains of others, he has not mentioned my own actions? Because, if

he had written anything about me, he must have mentioned his own acts

of wrong; for it was these acts upon which I kept my grip, and these

which I opposed. First of all, when he was trying to steal into the

Peloponnese, I proposed the embassy to the Peloponnese;[n] then, when

he was grasping at Euboea, the embassy to Euboea;[n] then the

expedition--not an embassy any more--to Oreus,[n] and that to Eretria,

when he had established tyrants in those cities. {80} After that I

dispatched all the naval expeditions, in the course of which the

Chersonese and Byzantium and all our allies were saved. In consequence

of this, the noblest rewards at the hands of those who had benefited by

your action became yours--votes of thanks, glory, honours, crowns,

gratitude; while of the victims of his aggression, those who followed

your advice at the time secured their own deliverance, and those who

neglected it had the memory of your warnings constantly in their minds,

and regarded you not merely as their well-wishers, but as men of wisdom

and prophetic insight; for all that you foretold has come to pass. {81}

And further, that Philistides would have given a large sum to retain

Oreus, and Cleitarchus to retain Eretria, and Philip himself, to be

able to count upon the use of these places against you, and to escape

all exposure of his other proceedings and all investigation, by any one

in any place, of his wrongful acts--all this is not unknown to any one,

least of all to you, Aeschines. {82} For the envoys sent at that time

by Cleitarchus and Philistides lodged at your house, when they came

here, and you acted as their patron.[n] Though the city rejected them,

as enemies whose proposals were neither just nor expedient, to you they

were friends. None of their attempts succeeded, slander me though you

may, when you assert that I say nothing when I receive money, but cry

out when I spend it. That, certainly, is not _your_ way: for you cry

out with money in your hands, and will never cease, unless those

present cause you to do so by taking away your civil rights[n] to-day.

{83} Now on that occasion, gentlemen, you crowned me for my conduct.

Aristonicus proposed a decree whose very syllables were identical with

those of Ctesiphon's present proposal; the crown was proclaimed in the

theatre; and this was already the second proclamation[n] in my honour:

and yet Aeschines, though he was there, neither opposed the decree, nor

indicted the mover. (_To the clerk_.) Take this decree also and read it.

{84} [_The decree of Aristonicus is read_.]

{85} Now is any of you aware of any discredit that attached itself to

the city owing to this decree? Did any mockery or ridicule ensue, such

as Aeschines said must follow on the present occasion, if I were

crowned? But surely when proceedings are recent and well known to all,

then it is that, if they are satisfactory, they meet with gratitude,

and if they are otherwise, with punishment. It appears, then, that on

that occasion I met with gratitude, not with blame or punishment.

{86} Thus the fact that, up to the time when these events took place, I

acted throughout as was best for the city, has been acknowledged by the

victory of my advice and my proposals in your deliberations, by the

successful execution of the measures which I proposed, and the award of

crowns in consequence of them to the city and to myself and to all, and

by your celebration of sacrifices to the gods, and processions, in

thankfulness for these blessings.

{87} When Philip had been expelled from Euboea--and while the arms

which expelled him were yours, the statesmanship and the decrees (even

though some of my opponents may split their sides) were mine--he

proceeded to look for some other stronghold from which he could

threaten the city. And seeing that we were more dependent than any

other people upon imported corn, and wishing to get our corn-trade into

his power, he advanced to Thrace. First, he requested the Byzantines,

his own allies, to join him in the war against you; and when they

refused and said (with truth) that they had not made their alliance

with him for such a purpose, he erected a stockade against the city,

brought up his engines, and proceeded to besiege it. {88} I will not

ask again what you ought to have done when this was happening; it is

manifest to all. But who was it that went to the rescue of the

Byzantines, and saved them? Who was it that prevented the Hellespont

from falling into other hands at that time? It was you, men of

Athens--and when I say 'you', I mean this city. And who was it that

spoke and moved resolutions and acted for the city, and gave himself up

unsparingly to the business of the State? It was I. {89} But of the

immense benefit thus conferred upon all, you no longer need words of

mine to tell you, since you have had actual experience of it. For the

war which then ensued, apart from the glorious reputation that it

brought you, kept you supplied with the necessaries of life in greater

plenty and at lower prices than the present Peace, which these worthy

men are guarding to their country's detriment, in their hopes of

something yet to be realized. May those hopes be disappointed! May they

share the fortune which you, who wish for the best, ask of the gods,

rather than cause you to share that upon which their own choice is

fixed! (_To the clerk_.) Read out to the jury the crowns awarded to the

city in consequence of her action by the Byzantines and by the

Perinthians.

{90, 91} [_The decree of the Byzantines is read_.]

{92} Read out also the crowns awarded by the peoples of the Chersonese.

[_The decree of the peoples of the Chersonese is read_.]

{93} Thus the policy which I had adopted was not only successful in

saving the Chersonese and Byzantium, in preventing the Hellespont from

falling at that time into the power of Philip, and in bringing honours

to the city in consequence, but it revealed to the whole world the

noble gallantry of Athens and the baseness of Philip. For all saw that

he, the ally of the Byzantines, was besieging them--what could be more

shameful or revolting? {94} and on the other hand, it was seen that

you, who might fairly have urged many well-founded complaints against

them for their inconsiderate conduct[n] towards you at an earlier

period, not only refused to remember your grudge and to abandon the

victims of aggression, but actually delivered them; and in consequence

of this, you won glory and goodwill on all hands. And further, though

every one knows that you have crowned many public men before now, no

one can name any but myself--that is to say, any public counsellor and

orator--for whose merits the city has received a crown.

{95} In order to prove to you, also, that the slanders which he uttered

against the Euboeans and Byzantines, as he recalled to you any

ill-natured action that they had taken towards you in the past, are

disingenuous calumnies, not only because they are false (for this, I

think, you may all be assumed to know), but also because, however true

they might be, it was still to your advantage to deal with the

political situation as I have done, I desire to describe, and that

briefly, one or two of the noble deeds which this city has done in your

own time. For an individual and a State should strive always, in their

respective spheres, to fashion their future conduct after the highest

examples that their past affords. {96} Thus, men of Athens, at a time

when the Spartans were masters of land and sea,[n] and were retaining

their hold, by means of governors and garrisons, upon the country all

round Attica--Euboea, Tanagra, all Boeotia, Megara, Aegina, Ceos, and

the other islands--and when Athens possessed neither ships nor walls,

you marched forth to Haliartus, and again, not many days later, to

Corinth, though the Athenians of that day might have borne a heavy

grudge against both the Corinthians and the Thebans for the part they

had played in reference to the Deceleian War.[n] {97} But they bore no

such grudge. Far from it! And neither of these actions, Aeschines, was

taken by them to help benefactors; nor was the prospect before them

free from danger. Yet they did not on that account sacrifice those who

fled to them for help. For the sake of glory and honour they were

willing to expose themselves to the danger; and it was a right and a

noble spirit that inspired their counsels. For the life of all men must

end in death, though a man shut himself in a chamber and keep watch;

but brave men must ever set themselves to do that which is noble, with

their joyful hope for their buckler, and whatsoever God gives, must

bear it gallantly. {98} Thus did your forefathers, and thus did the

elder among yourselves: for, although the Spartans were no friends or

benefactors of yours, but had done much grievous wrong to the city,

yet, when the Thebans, after their victory at Leuctra, attempted to

annihilate them, you prevented it, not terrified by the strength or the

reputation which the Thebans then enjoyed, nor reckoning up what the

men had done to you, for whom you were to face this peril. {99} And

thus, as you know, you revealed to all the Hellenes, that whatever

offences may be committed against you, though under all other

circumstances you show your resentment of them, yet if any danger to

life or freedom overtakes the transgressors, you will bear no grudge

and make no reckoning. Nor was it in these instances only that you were

thus disposed. For once more, when the Thebans were appropriating

Euboea,[n] you did not look on while it was done; you did not call to

mind the wrong which had been done to you in the matter of Oropus[n] by

Themison and Theodorus: you helped even these; and it was then that the

city for the first time had voluntary trierarchs, of whom I was one.[n]

But I will not speak of this yet. {100} And although to save the island

was itself a noble thing to do, it was a yet nobler thing by far, that

when their lives and their cities were absolutely in your power, you

gave them back, as it was right to do, to the very men who had offended

against you, and made no reckoning, when such trust had been placed in

you, of the wrongs which you had suffered. I pass by the innumerable

instances which I might still give--battles at sea, expeditions [by

land, campaigns] both long ago and now in our day; in all of which the

object of the city has been to defend the freedom and safety of the

other Hellenic peoples. {101} And so, when in all these striking

examples I had beheld the city ever ready to strive in defence of the

interests of others, what was I likely to bid her do, what action was I

likely to recommend to her, when the debate to some extent concerned

her own interests? 'Why,' you would say, 'to remember her grudge

against those who wanted deliverance, and to look for excuses for

sacrificing everything!' And who would not have been justified in

putting me to death, if I had attempted to bring shame upon the city's

high traditions, though it were only by word? The deed itself you would

never have done, I know full well; for had you desired to do it, what

was there to hinder you? Were you not free so to act? Had you not these

men here to propose it?

{102} I wish now to return to the next in succession of my political

acts; and here again you must ask yourselves, what was the best thing

for the city? For, men of Athens, when I saw that your navy was

breaking up, and that, while the rich were obtaining exemption on the

strength of small payments,[n] citizens of moderate or small means were

losing all that they had; and further, that in consequence of these

things the city was always missing her opportunities; I enacted a law

in accordance with which I compelled the former--the rich--to do their

duty fairly; I put an end to the injustice done to the poor, and (what

was the greatest service of all to the State) I caused our preparations

to be made in time. {103} When I was indicted for this, I appeared

before you at the ensuing trial, and was acquitted; the prosecutor

failed to obtain the necessary fraction of the votes. But what sums do

you think the leaders of the Taxation-Boards, or those who stood second

or third, offered me, to induce me, if possible, not to enact the law,

or at least to let it drop and lie under sworn notice of

prosecution?[n] They offered sums so large, men of Athens, that I

should hesitate to mention them to you. It was a natural course for

them to take. {104} For under the former laws it was possible for them

to divide their obligation between sixteen persons, paying little or

nothing themselves, and grinding down their poorer fellow citizens:

while by my law each must pay down a sum calculated in proportion to

his property; and a man came to be charged with two warships, who had

previously been one of sixteen subscribers to a single one (for they

used now to call themselves no longer captains of their ships, but

subscribers). Thus there was nothing that they were not willing to

give, if only the new plan could be brought to nothing, and they could

escape being compelled to do their duty fairly. (_To the clerk_.) {105}

Now read me, first, the decree[n] in accordance with which I had to

meet the indictment; and then the lists of those liable under the

former law, and under my own, respectively. Read.

[_The decree is read_.]

{106} Now produce that noble list.

[_A list is read_.]

Now produce, for comparison with this, the list under my own law.

[_A list is read_.]

Was this, think you, but a trifling assistance which I rendered to the

poor among you? {107} Would the wealthy have spent but a trifling sum

to avoid doing their duty fairly? I am proud not only of having refused

all compromise upon the measure, not only of having been acquitted when

I was indicted, but also of having enacted a law which was beneficial,

and of having given proof of it in practice. For throughout the war the

armaments were equipped under my law, and no trierarch ever laid the

suppliants' branch[n] before you in token of grievance, nor took

sanctuary at Munychia; none was imprisoned by the Admiralty Board; no

warship was abandoned at sea and lost to the State, or left behind here

as unseaworthy. Under the former laws all these things used to happen;

{108} and the reason was that the obligation rested upon the poor, and

in consequence there were many cases of inability to discharge it. I

transferred the duties of the trierarchy from the poor to the rich; and

therefore every duty was properly fulfilled. Aye, and for this very

reason I deserve to receive praise--that I always adopted such

political measures as brought with them accessions of glory and honour

and power to the city. No measure of mine is malicious, harsh, or

unprincipled; none is degrading or unworthy of the city. The same

spirit will be seen both in my domestic and my international policy.

{109} For just as in home affairs I did not set the favour of the rich

above the rights of the many, so in international affairs I did not

embrace the gifts and the friendship of Philip, in preference to the

common interests of all the Hellenes.

It still remains for me, I suppose, to speak about the proclamation,

and about my examination. {110} The statement that I acted for the

best, and that I am loyal to you throughout and eager to do you good

service, I have proved, I think, sufficiently, by what I have said. At

the same time I am passing over the most important parts of my

political life and actions; for I conceive that I ought first to render

to you in their proper order my arguments in regard to the alleged

illegality itself: which done, even if I say nothing about the rest of

my political acts, I can still rely upon that personal knowledge of

them which each of you possesses.

{111} Of the arguments which the prosecutor jumbled together in utter

confusion with reference to the laws accompanying his indictment,[n] I

am quite certain that you could not follow the greater part, nor could

I understand them myself; but I will simply address you

straightforwardly upon the question of right. So far am I from claiming

(as he just now slanderously declared) to be free from the liability to

render an account, that I admit a life-long liability to account for

every part of my administration and policy. {112} But I do not admit

that I am liable for one single day--you hear me, Aeschines?--to

account for what I have given to the People as a free-will offering out

of my private estate; nor is any one else so liable, not even if he is

one of the nine archons. What law is so replete with injustice and

churlishness, that when a man has made a present out of his private

property and done an act of generosity and munificence, it deprives him

of the gratitude due to him, hales him before a court of disingenuous

critics, and sets them to audit accounts of sums which he himself has

given? There is no such law. If the prosecutor asserts that there is,

let him produce it, and I will resign myself and say no more. {113} But

the law does not exist, men of Athens; this is nothing but an

informer's trick on the part of Aeschines, who, because I was

Controller of the Festival Fund when I made this donation, says,

'Ctesiphon proposed a vote of thanks to him when he was still liable to

account.' The vote of thanks was not for any of the things for which I

was liable to account; it was for my voluntary gift, and your charge is

a misrepresentation. 'Yes,' you say, 'but you were also a Commissioner

of Fortifications.' I was, and thanks were rightly accorded me on the

very ground that, instead of charging the sums which I spent, I made a

present of them. A statement of account, it is true, calls for an audit

and scrutineers; but a free gift deserves gratitude and thanks; and

that is why the defendant proposed this motion in my favour. {114} That

this principle is not merely laid down in the laws, but rooted in your

national character, I shall have no difficulty in proving by many

instances. Nausicles,[n] to begin with, has often been crowned by you,

while general, for sacrifices which he had made from his private funds.

Again, when Diotimus[n] gave the shields, and Charidemus[n] afterwards,

they were crowned. And again, Neoptolemus here, while still director of

many public works, has received honours for his voluntary gifts. It

would really be too bad, if any one who held any office must either be

debarred thereby from making a present to the State, or else, instead

of receiving due gratitude, must submit accounts of the sums given.

{115} To prove the truth of my statements, (_to the clerk_) take and

read the actual decrees which were passed in honour of these persons.

Read.

{116} [_Two decrees are read_.]

{117} Each of these persons, Aeschines, was accountable as regards the

office which he held, but not as regards the services for which he was

crowned. Nor am I, therefore; for I presume that I have the same rights

as others with reference to the same matters. I made a voluntary gift.

For this I receive thanks; for I am not liable to account for what I

gave. I was holding office. True, and I have rendered an account of my

official expenditure, but not of what I gave voluntarily. Ah! but I

exercised my office iniquitously! What? and you were there, when the

auditors brought me before them, and did not accuse me?

{118} Now that the court may see that the prosecutor himself bears me

witness that I was crowned for services of which I was not liable to

render an account, (_to the clerk_) take and read the decree which was

proposed in my honour, in its entirety. (_To the jury_.) The points

which he has omitted to indict in the Council's resolution will show

that the charges which he does make are deliberate misrepresentations.

(_To the clerk_.) Read.

[_The decree is read_.]

{119} My donations then, were these, of which you have not made one the

subject of indictment. It is the reward for these, which the Council

states to be my due, that you attack. You admit that it was legal to

accept the gifts offered, and you indict as illegal the return of

gratitude for them. In Heaven's name, what must the perfect scoundrel,

the really heaven-detested, malignant being be like? Must he not be a

man like this?

{120} But as regards the proclamation in the theatre, I pass by the

fact that ten thousand persons have been thus proclaimed on ten

thousand different occasions, and that my own name has often been so

proclaimed before. But, in Heaven's name, Aeschines, are you so

perverse and stupid, that you cannot grasp the fact that the recipient

of the crown feels the same pride wherever the crown is proclaimed, and

that it is for the benefit of those who confer it that the proclamation

is made in the theatre? For those who hear are stimulated to do good

service to the State, and commend those who return gratitude for such

service even more than they commend the recipient of the crown. That is

why the city has enacted this law. (_To the clerk_.) Take the law

itself and read it.

[_The law is read_.]

{121} Do you hear, Aeschines, the plain words of the law? 'Except such

as the People or the Council shall resolve so to proclaim. But let

these be proclaimed.' Why, wretched man, do you lay this dishonest

charge? Why do you invent false arguments? Why do you not take

hellebore[n] to cure you? What? Are you not ashamed to bring a case

founded upon envy, not upon any crime--to alter some of the laws, and

to leave out parts of others, when they ought surely, in justice, to be

read entire to those who have sworn to give their votes in accordance

with the laws? {122} And then, while you act in this way, you enumerate

the qualities which should be found in a friend of the People, as if

you had contracted for a statue, and discovered on receiving it that it

had not the features required by the contract; or as if a friend of the

People was known by a definition, and not by his works and his

political measures! And you shout out expressions, proper and improper,

like a reveller on a cart[n]--expressions which apply to you and your

house, not to me. I will add this also, men of Athens. {123} The

difference between abuse and accusation is, I imagine, that an

accusation is founded upon crimes, for which the penalties are assigned

by law; abuse, upon such slanders as their own character leads enemies

to utter about one another. And I conceive that our forefathers built

these courts of law, not that we might assemble you here and revile one

another with improper expressions suggested by our adversary's private

life, but that we might convict any one who happens to have committed

some crime against the State. {124} Aeschines knew this as well as I;

and yet he chose to make a ribald attack instead of an accusation. At

the same time, it is not fair that he should go off without getting as

much as he gives, even in this respect; and when I have asked him one

question, I will at once proceed to the attack. Are we to call you,

Aeschines, the enemy of the State, or of myself? Of myself, of course.

What? And when you might have exacted the penalty from me, on behalf of

your fellow countrymen, according to the laws--at public examinations,

by indictment, by all other forms of trial--did you always omit to do

so? {125} And yet to-day, when I am unassailable upon every ground--on

the ground of law, of lapse of time, of the statutable limit,[n] of the

many previous trials which I have undergone upon every charge, without

having once been convicted of any crime against you to this day--and

when the city must necessarily share to a greater or smaller degree in

the glory of acts which were really acts of the people, have you

confronted me upon such an issue as this? Take care lest, while you

profess to be _my_ enemy, you prove to be the enemy of your fellow

countrymen!

{126} Since then I have shown you all what is the vote which religion

and justice demand of you, I am now obliged, it would seem, by the

slanders which he has uttered (though I am no lover of abuse) to reply

to his many falsehoods by saying just what is absolutely necessary

about himself, and showing who he is, and whence he is sprung, that he

so lightly begins to use bad language, pulling to pieces certain

expressions of mine, when he has himself used expressions which any

respectable man would have shrunk from uttering; {127} for if the

accuser were Aeacus or Rhadamanthus or Minos,[n] instead of a

scandal-monger,[n] an old hand in the marketplace,[n] a pestilent

clerk, I do not believe that he would have spoken thus, or produced

such a stock of ponderous phrases, crying aloud, as if he were acting a

tragedy, 'O Earth and Sun and Virtue,'[n] and the like; or again,

invoking 'Wit and Culture, by which things noble and base are discerned

apart'--for, of course, you heard him speaking in this way. {128} Scum

of the earth! What have you or yours to do with virtue? How should

_you_ discern what is noble and what is not? Where and how did you get

your qualification to do so? What right have _you_ to mention culture

anywhere? A man of genuine culture would not only never have asserted

such a thing of himself, but would have blushed to hear another do so:

and those who, like you, fall far short of it, but are tactless enough

to claim it, succeed only in causing distress to their hearers, when

they speak--not in seeming to be what they profess.

{129} But though I am not at a loss to know what to say about you and

yours, I am at a loss to know what to mention first. Shall I tell

first[n] how your father Tromes was a slave in the house of Elpias, who

kept an elementary school near the temple of Theseus, and how he wore

shackles and a wooden halter? Or how your mother, by celebrating her

daylight nuptials in her hut near the shrine of the Hero of the

Lancet,[n] was enabled to rear you, her beautiful statue, the prince of

third-rate actors? But these things are known to all without my telling

them. Shall I tell how Phormio, the ship's piper, the slave of Dion of

Phrearrii, raised her up out of this noble profession? But, before God

and every Heavenly Power, I shudder lest in using expressions which are

fitly applied to you, I may be thought to have chosen a subject upon

which it ill befits myself to speak. {130} So I will pass this by, and

will begin with the acts of his own life; for they were not like any

chance actions,[n] but such as the people curses. For only

lately--lately, do I say? only yesterday or the day before--did he

become at once an Athenian and an orator, and by the addition of two

syllables converted his father from Tromes into Atrometus, and gave his

mother the imposing name of Glaucothea,[n] when every one knows that

she used to be called Empusa[n]--a name which was obviously given her

because there was nothing that she would not do or have done to her;

for how else should she have acquired it? {131} Yet, in spite of this,

you are of so ungrateful and villainous a nature, that though, thanks

to your countrymen, you have risen from slavery to freedom, and from

poverty to wealth, far from feeling gratitude to them, you devote your

political activity to working against them as a hireling. I will pass

over every case in which there is any room for the contention that he

has spoken in the interests of the city, and will remind you of the

acts which he was manifestly proved to have done for the good of her

enemies.

{132} Which of you has not heard of Antiphon,[n] who was struck off the

list of citizens,[n] and came into the city in pursuance of a promise

to Philip that he would burn the dockyards? I found him concealed in

the Peiraeus, and brought him before the Assembly; but the malignant

Aeschines shouted at the top of his voice, that it was atrocious of me,

in a democratic country, to insult a citizen who had met with

misfortune, and to go to men's houses without a decree;[n] and he

obtained his release. {133} And unless the Council of Areopagus had

taken notice of the matter, and, seeing the inopportuneness of the

ignorance which you had shown, had made a further search for the man,

and arrested him, and brought him before you again, a man of that

character would have been snatched out of your hands, and would have

evaded punishment, and been sent out of the country by this pompous

orator. As it was, you tortured and executed him--and so ought you also

to have treated Aeschines. {134} The Council of Areopagus knew the part

which he had played in this affair; and for this reason, when, owing to

the same ignorance which so often leads you to sacrifice the public

interests, you elected him[n] to advocate your claims in regard to the

Temple of Delos, the Council (since you had appointed it to assist you

and entrusted it with full authority to act in the matter) immediately

rejected Aeschines as a traitor, and committed the case to Hypereides.

When the Council took this step, the members took their votes from the

altar,[n] and not one vote was given for this abominable man. {135} To

prove that what I say is true, (_to the clerk_) call the witnesses who

testify to it.

[_The witnesses are called_.]

{136} Thus when the Council rejected him from the office of advocate,

and committed the case to another, it declared at the same time that he

was a traitor, who wished you ill.

Such was one of the public appearances of this fine fellow, and such

its character--so like the acts with which he charges me, is it not?

Now recall a second. For when Philip sent Python of Byzantium,[n] and

with him envoys from all his allies, in the hope of putting the city to

shame and showing her to be in the wrong, I would not give way before

the torrent of insolent rhetoric which Python poured out upon you, but

rose and contradicted him, and would not betray the city's rights, but

proved the iniquity of Philip's actions so manifestly, that even his

own allies rose up and admitted it. But Aeschines supported Python; he

gave testimony in opposition to his country, and that testimony false.

{137} Nor was this sufficient for him; for again after this he was

detected going to meet Anaxinus[n] the spy in the house of Thrason. But

surely one who met the emissary of the enemy alone and conferred with

him, must himself have been already a born spy and an enemy of his

country. To prove the truth of what I say, (_to the clerk_) call the

witnesses to these facts.

[_The witnesses are called_.]

{138} There are still an infinite number of things which I might relate

of him; but I pass them over. For the truth is something like this. I

could still point to many instances in which he was found to be serving

our enemies during that period, and showing his spite against me. But

you do not store such things up in careful remembrance, to visit them

with the indignation which they deserve; but, following a bad custom,

you have given great freedom to any one who wishes to trip up the

proposer of any advantageous measure by dishonest charges--bartering,

as you do, the advantage of the State for the pleasure and

gratification which you derive from invective; and so it is always

easier and safer to be a hireling in the service of the enemy, than a

statesman who has chosen to defend your cause.

{139} To co-operate with Philip before we were openly at war with him

was --I call Earth and Heaven to witness--atrocious enough. How could

it be otherwise--against his own country? Nevertheless, concede him

this, if you will, concede him this. But when the corn-ships had been

openly plundered, and the Chersonese was being ravaged, and the man was

on the march against Attica; when the position of affairs was no longer

in doubt, and war had begun; what action did this malignant mouther of

verses ever do for your good? He can point to none. There is not a

single decree, small or great, with reference to the interests of the

city, standing in the name of Aeschines. If he asserts that there is,

let him produce it in the time allotted to me. But no such decree

exists. In that case, however, only two alternatives are possible:

either he had no fault to find at the time with my policy, and

therefore made no proposal contrary to it; or else he was seeking the

advantage of the enemy, and therefore refrained from bringing forward

any better policy than mine.

{140} Did he then abstain from speaking, as he abstained from proposing

any motion, when any mischief was to be done? On the contrary, no one

else had a chance of speaking. But though, apparently, the city could

endure everything else, and he could do everything else unobserved,

there was one final deed which was the culmination of all that he had

done before. Upon this he expended all that multitude of words, as he

went through the decrees relating to the Amphisseans, in the hope of

distorting the truth. But the truth cannot be distorted. It is

impossible. Never will you wash away the stain of your actions there!

You will not say enough for that!

{141} I call upon all the gods and goddesses who protect this land of

Attica, in the presence of you all, men of Athens; and upon Apollo of

Pytho, the paternal deity[n] of this city, and I pray to them all, that

if I should speak the truth to you--if I spoke it at that very time

without delay, in the presence of the people, when first I saw this

abominable man setting his hand to this business (for I knew it, I knew

it at once),--that then they may give me good fortune and life: but if,

to gratify my hatred or any private quarrel, I am now bringing a false

accusation against this man, then they may take from me the fruition of

every blessing.

{142} Why have I uttered this imprecation with such vehemence and

earnestness? Because, although I have documents, lying in the public

archives, by which I will prove the facts clearly; although I know that

you remember what was done; I have still the fear that he may be

thought too insignificant a man to have done all the evil which he has

wrought--as indeed happened before, when he caused the ruin of the

unhappy Phocians by the false report which he brought home. {143} For

the war at Amphissa, which was the cause of Philip's coming to Elateia,

and of one being chosen[n] commander of the Amphictyons, who overthrew

the fortunes of the Hellenes--_he_ it is who helped to get it up; he,

in his sole person, is to blame for disasters to which no equal can be

found. I protested at the time, and cried out, before the Assembly,

'You are bringing war into Attica, Aeschines--an Amphictyonic War.' But

a packed group of his supporters refused to let me speak, while the

rest were amazed, and imagined that I was bringing a baseless charge

against him, out of personal animosity. {144} But what the true nature

of these proceedings was, men of Athens--why this plan was contrived,

and how it was executed--you must hear from me to-day, since you were

prevented from doing so at the time. You will behold a business

cunningly organized; you will advance greatly in your knowledge of

public affairs; and you will see what cleverness there was in Philip.

{145} Philip had no prospect of seeing the end of the war with you, or

ridding himself of it, unless he could make the Thebans and Thessalians

enemies of Athens. For although the war was being wretchedly and

inefficiently conducted by your generals, he was nevertheless suffering

infinite damage from the war itself and from the freebooters. The

exportation of the produce of his country and the importation of what

he needed were both impossible. {146} Moreover, he was not at that time

superior to you at sea, nor could he reach Attica, if the Thessalians

would not follow him, or the Thebans give him a passage through their

country; and although he was overcoming in the field the generals whom

you sent out, such as they were (for of this I say nothing), he found

himself suffering from the geographical conditions themselves, and from

the nature of the resources[n] which either side possessed. {147} Now

if he tried to encourage either the Thessalians or the Thebans to march

against you in order to further his own quarrel, no one, he thought,

would pay any attention to him; but if he adopted their own common

grounds of action and were chosen commander, he hoped to find it easier

to deceive or to persuade them, as the case might be. What then does he

do? He attempts (and observe with what skill) to stir up an

Amphictyonic War, and a disturbance in connexion with the meeting of

the Council. {148} For he thought that they would at once find that

they needed his help, to deal with these. Now if one of his own or his

allies' representatives on the Council[n] brought the matter forward,

he thought that both the Thebans and the Thessalians would regard the

proceeding with suspicion, and that all would be on their guard: but if

it was an Athenian, sent by you, his adversaries, that did so, he would

easily escape detection--as, in fact, happened. {149}* How then did he

manage this? He hired Aeschines. No one, I suppose, either realized

beforehand what was going on or guarded against it--that is how such

affairs are usually conducted here; Aeschines was nominated a delegate

to the Council; three or four people held up their hands for him, and

he was declared elected. But when, bearing with him the prestige of

this city, he reached the Amphictyons, he dismissed and closed his eyes

to all other considerations, and proceeded to perform the task for

which he had been hired. He composed and recited a story, in attractive

language, of the way in which the Cirrhaean territory had come to be

dedicated; {150} and with this he persuaded the members of the Council,

who were unused to rhetoric and did not foresee what was about to

happen, that they should resolve to make the circuit of the

territory,[n] which the Amphisseans said they were cultivating because

it was their own, while he alleged that it was part of the consecrated

land. The Locrians were not bringing any suit against us, or taking any

such action as (in order to justify himself) he now falsely alleges.

You may know this from the following consideration. It was clearly

impossible[n] for the Locrians to bring a suit against Athens to an

actual issue, without summoning us. Who then served the summons upon

us? Before what authority was it served? Tell us who knows: point to

him. You cannot do so. It was a hollow and a false pretext of which you

thus made a wrongful use. {151} While the Amphictyons were making the

circuit of the territory in accordance with Aeschines' suggestion, the

Locrians fell upon them and came near to shooting them all down with

their spears; some of the members of the Council they even carried off

with them. And now that complaints and hostilities had been stirred up

against the Amphisseans, in consequence of these proceedings, the

command was first held by Cottyphus, and his force was drawn from the

Amphictyonic Powers alone. But since some did not come, and those who

came did nothing, the men who had been suborned for the

purpose--villains of long standing, chosen from the Thessalians and

from the traitors in other States--took steps with a view to entrusting

the affair to Philip, as commander, at the next meeting of the Council.

{152} They had adopted arguments of a persuasive kind. Either, they

said, the Amphictyons must themselves contribute funds, maintain

mercenaries, and fine those who refused to do so; or they must elect

Philip. To make a long story short, the result was that Philip was

appointed. And immediately afterwards, having collected a force and

crossed the Pass, ostensibly on his way to the territory of Cirrha, he

bids a long farewell to the Cirrhaeans and Locrians, and seizes

Elateia. {153} Now if the Thebans had not changed their policy at once,

upon seeing this, and joined us, the trouble would have descended upon

the city in full force, like a torrent in winter. As it was, the

Thebans checked him for the moment; chiefly, men of Athens, through the

goodwill of some Heavenly Power towards us; but secondarily, so far as

it lay in one man's power, through me also. (_To the clerk_.) Now give

me the decrees in question, and the dates of each proceeding; (_to the

jury_) that you may know what trouble this abominable creature stirred

up, unpunished. (_To the clerk_.) Read me the decrees.

{154} [_The decrees of the Amphictyons are read_.]

{155} (_To the clerk_.) Now read the dates of these proceedings. (_To

the jury_.) They are the dates at which Aeschines was delegate to the

Council. (_To the clerk_.) Read.

[_The dates are read_.]

{156} Now give me the letter which Philip sent to his allies in the

Peloponnese, when the Thebans failed to obey his summons. For from

this, too, you may clearly see that he concealed the real reason for

his action--the fact that he was taking measures against Hellas and the

Thebans and yourselves--and pretended to represent the common cause and

the will of the Amphictyons. And the man who provided him with all

these occasions and pretexts was Aeschines. (_To the clerk_.) Read.

{157} [_Philip's letter is read_.]

The following is an analysis of the speech in outline:--