{158} You see that he avoids the mention of his own reasons for action,

and takes refuge in those provided by the Amphictyons. Who was it that

helped him to prepare such a case? Who put such pretexts at his

disposal? Who is most to blame for the disasters that have taken place?

Is it not Aeschines? And so, men of Athens, you must not go about

saying that Hellas has suffered such things as these at the hands of

one man.[n] I call Earth and Heaven to witness, that it was at the

hands, not of one man, but of many villains in each State. {159} And of

these Aeschines is one; and, had I to speak the truth without any

reserve, I should not hesitate to describe him as the incarnate curse

of all alike--men, regions or cities--that have been ruined since then.

For he who supplied the seed is responsible for the crop. I wonder that

you did not turn away your eyes at the very sight of him: but a cloud

of darkness seems to hang between you and the truth.

{160} I find that in dealing with the measures taken by Aeschines for

the injury of his country, I have reached the time when I must speak of

my own statesmanship in opposition to these measures; and it is fair

that you should listen to this, for many reasons, but above all because

it will be a shameful thing, if, when I have faced the actual realities

of hard work for you, you will not even suffer the story of them to be

told. {161} For when I saw the Thebans, and (I may almost say)

yourselves as well, being led by the corrupt partisans of Philip in

either State to overlook, without taking a single precaution against

it, the thing which was really dangerous to both peoples and needed

their utmost watchfulness--the unhindered growth of Philip's power;

while, on the contrary, you were quite ready to entertain ill-feeling

and to quarrel with one another; I kept unceasing watch to prevent

this. Nor did I rely only on my own judgement in thinking that this was

what your interest required. {162} I knew that Aristophon, and

afterwards Eubulus, always wished to bring about this friendly union,

and that, often as they opposed one another in other matters, they

always agreed in this. Cunning fox! While they lived, you hung about

them and flattered them; yet now that they are dead, you do not see

that you are attacking them. For your censure of my policy in regard to

Thebes is far more a denunciation of them than of me, since they were

before me in approving of that alliance. {163} But I return to my

previous point--that it was when Aeschines had brought about the war at

Amphissa, and the others, his accomplices, had effectually helped him

to create the ill-feeling against the Thebans, that Philip marched

against us. For it was to render this possible that their attempt to

throw the two cities into collision was made; and had we not roused

ourselves a little before it was too late, we should never have been

able to regain the lost ground; to such a length had these men carried

matters. What the relations between the two peoples already were, you

will know when you have heard these decrees and replies. (_To the

clerk_.) Take these and read them.

{164, 165} [_The decrees are read_.]

{166} (_To the clerk_.) Now read the replies.

{167} [_The replies are read_.]

{168} Having established such relations between the cities, through the

agency of these men, and being elated by these decrees and replies,

Philip came with his army and seized Elateia, thinking that under no

circumstances whatever should we and the Thebans join in unison after

this. And though the commotion which followed in the city is known to

you all, let me relate to you briefly just the bare facts.

{169} It was evening, and one had come to the Prytanes[n] with the news

that Elateia had been taken. Upon this they rose up from supper without

delay; some of them drove the occupants out of the booths in the

market-place and set fire to the wicker-work;[n] others sent for the

generals and summoned the trumpeter; and the city was full of

commotion. On the morrow, at break of day, the Prytanes summoned the

Council to the Council-Chamber, while you made your way to the

Assembly; and before the Council had transacted its business and passed

its draft-resolution,[n] the whole people was seated on the

hill-side.[n] {170} And now, when the Council had arrived, and the

Prytanes had reported the intelligence which they had received, and had

brought forward the messenger, and he had made his statement, the

herald proceeded to ask, 'Who wishes to speak?' But no one came

forward; and though the herald repeated the question many times, still

no one rose, though all the generals were present, and all the orators,

and the voice of their country was calling for some one to speak for

her deliverance. For the voice of the herald, uttered in accordance

with the laws, is rightly to be regarded as the common voice of our

country. {171} And yet, if it was for those to come forward who wished

for the deliverance of the city, all of you and all the other Athenians

would have risen, and proceeded to the platform, for I am certain that

you all wished for her deliverance. If it was for the wealthiest, the

Three Hundred[n] would have risen; and if it was for those who had both

these qualifications--loyalty to the city and wealth--then those would

have risen, who subsequently made those large donations; for it was

loyalty and wealth that led them so to do. {172} But that crisis and

that day called, it seems, not merely for a man of loyalty and wealth,

but for one who had also followed the course of events closely from the

first, and had come to a true conclusion as to the motive and the aim

with which Philip was acting as he was. For no one who was unacquainted

with these, and had not scrutinized them from an early period, was any

the more likely, for all his loyalty and wealth, to know what should be

done, or to be able to advise you. {173} The man who was needed was

found that day in me. I came forward and addressed you in words which I

ask you to listen to with attention, for two reasons--first, because I

would have you realize that I was the only orator or politician who did

not desert his post as a loyal citizen in the hour of danger, but was

found there, speaking and proposing what your need required, in the

midst of the terror; and secondly, because by the expenditure of a

small amount of time, you will be far better qualified for the future

in the whole art of political administration. {174} My words then were

these: 'Those who are unduly disturbed by the idea that Philip can

count upon the support of Thebes do not, I think, understand the

present situation. For I am quite sure that, if this were so, we should

have heard of his being, not at Elateia, but on our own borders. At the

same time, I understand quite well, that he has come to prepare the way

for himself at Thebes. {175} Listen,' I said, 'while I tell you the

true state of affairs. Philip already has at his disposal all the

Thebans whom he could win over either by bribery or by deception; and

those who have resisted him from the first and are opposing him now, he

has no chance of winning. What then is his design and object in seizing

Elateia? He wishes, by making a display of force in their neighbourhood

and bringing up his army, to encourage and embolden his own friends,

and to strike terror into his enemies, that so they may either concede

out of terror what they now refuse, or may be compelled. {176} Now,' I

said, 'if we make up our minds at the present moment to remember any

ill-natured action which the Thebans may have done us, and to distrust

them on the assumption that they are on the side of our enemies, we

shall be doing, in the first place, just what Philip would pray for:

and further, I am afraid that his present opponents may then welcome

him, that all may philippize[n] with one consent, and that he and they

may march to Attica together. If, however, you follow my advice, and

give your minds to the problem before us, instead of to contentious

criticism of anything that I may say, I believe that I shall be able to

win your approval for my proposals, and to dispel the danger which

threatens the city. {177} What then must you do? You must first

moderate your present alarm, and then change your attitude, and be

alarmed, all of you, for the Thebans. They are far more within the

reach of disaster than we: it is they whom the danger threatens first.

Secondly, those who are of military age, with the cavalry, must march

to Eleusis,[n] and let every one see that you yourselves are in arms;

in order that those who sympathize with you in Thebes may be enabled to

speak in defence of the right, with the same freedom that their

opponents enjoy, when they see that, just as those who are trying to

sell their country to Philip have a force ready to help them at

Elateia, so those who would struggle for freedom have you ready at hand

to help them, and to go to their aid, if any one attacks them. {178}

Next I bid you elect ten envoys, and give them full authority, with the

generals, to decide the time of their own journey to Thebes, and to

order the march of the troops. But when the envoys arrive in Thebes,

how do I advise that they should handle the matter? I ask your special

attention to this. They must require nothing of the Thebans--to do so

at such a moment would be shameful; but they must undertake that we

will go to their aid, if they bid us do so, on the ground that they are

in extreme peril, and that we foresee the future better than they; in

order that, if they accept our offer and take our advice, we may have

secured our object, and our action may wear an aspect worthy of this

city; or, if after all we are unsuccessful, the Thebans may have

themselves to blame for any mistakes which they now make, while we

shall have done nothing disgraceful or ignoble.' {179} When I had

spoken these words, and others in the same strain, I left the platform.

All joined in commending these proposals; no one said a word in

opposition; and I did not speak thus, and then fail to move a motion;

nor move a motion, and then fail to serve as envoy; nor serve as envoy,

and then fail to persuade the Thebans. I carried the matter through in

person from beginning to end, and gave myself up unreservedly to meet

the dangers which encompassed the city. (_To the clerk_.) Bring me the

resolution which was then passed.

{180} But now, Aeschines, how would you have me describe your part, and

how mine, that day? Shall I call myself, as you would call me by way of

abuse and disparagement, _Battalus_?[n] and you, no ordinary hero even,

but a real stage-hero, _Cresphontes_ or _Creon_,[n] or--the character

which you cruelly murdered at Collytus[n]--_Oenomaus_? Then I, Battalus

of Paeania, proved myself of more value to my country in that crisis

than Oenomaus of Cothocidae. In fact you were of no service on any

occasion, while I played the part which became a good citizen

throughout. (_To the clerk_.) Read this decree.

{181-7} [_The decree of Demosthenes is read_.]

{188} This was the first step towards our new relations with Thebes,

and the beginning of a settlement. Up to this time the cities had been

inveigled into mutual hostility, hatred, and mistrust by these men. But

this decree caused the peril that encompassed the city to pass away

like a cloud. It was for an honest citizen, if he had any better plan

than mine, to make it public at the time, instead of attacking me now.

{189} The true counsellor and the dishonest accuser, unlike as they are

in everything, differ most of all in this: the one declares his opinion

before the event, and freely surrenders himself as responsible, to

those who follow his advice, to Fortune, to circumstances, to any

one.[n] The other is silent when he ought to speak, and then carps at

anything untoward that may happen. {190} That crisis, as I have said,

was the opportunity for a man who cared for his country, the

opportunity for honest speaking. But so much further than I need will I

go, that if any one can _now_ point to any better course--or any course

at all except that which I chose--I admit my guilt. If any one has

discovered any course to-day, which would have been for our advantage,

had we followed it at the time, I admit that it ought not to have

escaped me. But if there neither is nor was such a possibility; if even

now, even to-day, no one can mention any such course, what was the

counsellor of the people to do? Had he not to choose the best of the

plans which suggested themselves and were feasible? {191} This I did.

For the herald asked the question, Aeschines, 'Who wishes to speak?'

not 'Who wishes to bring accusations about the past?' nor 'Who wishes

to guarantee the future?' And while you sat speechless in the Assembly

throughout that period, I came forward and spoke. Since, however, you

did not do so then, at least inform us now, and tell us what words,

which should have been upon my lips, were left unspoken, what precious

opportunity, offered to the city, was left unused, by me? What alliance

was there, what course of action, to which I ought, by preference, to

have guided my countrymen?

{192} But with all mankind the past is always dismissed from

consideration, and no one under any circumstances proposes to

deliberate about it. It is the future or the present that make their

call upon a statesman's duty. Now at that time the danger was partly in

the future, and partly already present; and instead of cavilling

disingenuously at the results, consider the principle of my policy

under such circumstances. For in everything the final issue falls out

as Heaven wills; but the principle which he follows itself reveals the

mind of the statesman. {193} Do not, therefore, count it a crime on my

part, that Philip proved victorious in the battle. The issue of that

event lay with God, not with me. But show me that I did not adopt every

expedient that was possible, so far as human reason could calculate;

that I did not carry out my plan honestly and diligently, with

exertions greater than my strength could bear; or that the policy which

I initiated was not honourable, and worthy of Athens, and indeed

necessary: and then denounce me, but not before. {194} But if the

thunderbolt [or the storm] which fell has proved too mighty, not only

for us, but for all the other Hellenes, what are we to do? It is as

though a ship-owner, who had done all that he could to ensure safety,

and had equipped the ship with all that he thought would enable her to

escape destruction, and had then met with a tempest in which the

tackling had been strained or even broken to pieces, were to be held

responsible for the wreck of the vessel. 'Why,' he would say, 'I was

not steering the ship'--just as I was not the general[n]--'I had no

power over Fortune: she had power over everything.' But consider and

observe this point. {195} If it was fated that we should fare as we

did, even when we had the Thebans to help us in the struggle, what must

we have expected, if we had not had even them for our allies, but they

had joined Philip?--and this was the object for which Philip

employed[n] every tone that he could command. And if, when the battle

took place, as it did, three days' march from Attica, the city was

encompassed by such peril and terror, what should we have had to

expect, if this same disaster had occurred anywhere within the borders

of our own country? Do you realize that, as it was, a single day, and a

second, and a third gave us the power to rally, to collect our forces,

to take breath, to do much that made for the deliverance of the city:

but that had it been otherwise--it is not well, however, to speak of

things which we have not had to experience, thanks to the goodwill of

one of the gods, and to the protection which the city obtained for

herself in this alliance, which you denounce.

{196} The whole of this long argument, gentlemen of the jury, is

addressed to yourselves and to the circle of listeners outside the bar;

for to this despicable man it would have been enough to address a

short, plain sentence. If to you alone, Aeschines, the future was

clear, before it came, you should have given warning, when the city was

deliberating upon the subject; but if you had no such foreknowledge,

you have the same ignorance to answer for as others. Why then should

you make these charges against me, any more than I against you? {197}

For I have been a better citizen than you with regard to this very

matter of which I am speaking--I am not as yet talking of anything

else--just in so far as I gave myself up to the policy which all

thought expedient, neither shrinking from nor regarding any personal

risk; while you neither offered any better proposals than mine (for

then they would not have followed mine), nor yet made yourself useful

in advancing mine in any way. What the most worthless of men, the

bitterest enemy of the city, would do, you are found to have done, when

all was over; and at the same time as the irreconcilable enemies of the

city, Aristratus in Naxos, and Aristoleos in Thasos, are bringing the

friends of Athens to trial, Aeschines, in Athens itself, is accusing

Demosthenes. {198} But surely one who treasured up[n] the misfortunes

of the Hellenes, that he might win glory from them for himself,

deserved to perish rather than to stand as the accuser of another; and

one who has profited by the very same crisis as the enemies of the city

cannot possibly be loyal to his country. You prove it, moreover, by the

life you live, the actions you do, the measures you take --and the

measures, too, that you do not take. Is anything being done which seems

advantageous to the city? Aeschines is speechless. Has any obstruction,

any untoward event occurred? There you find Aeschines, like a rupture

or a sprain, which wakes into life, so soon as any trouble overtakes

the body.

{199} But since he bears so hardly upon the results, I desire to say

what may even be a paradox; and let no one, in the name of Heaven, be

amazed at the length to which I go, but give a kindly consideration to

what I say. Even if what was to come was plain to all beforehand; even

if all foreknew it; even if you, Aeschines, had been crying with a loud

voice in warning and protestation--you who uttered not so much as a

sound; even then, I say, it was not right for the city to abandon her

course, if she had any regard for her fame, or for our forefathers, or

for the ages to come. {200} As it is, she is thought, no doubt, to have

failed to secure her object--as happens to all alike, whenever God

wills it: but then, by abandoning in favour of Philip her claim to take

the lead of others, she must have incurred the blame of having betrayed

them all. Had she surrendered without a struggle those claims in

defence of which our forefathers faced every imaginable peril, who

would not have cast scorn upon you, Aeschines--upon you, I say; not, I

trust, upon Athens nor upon me? {201} In God's name, with what faces

should we have looked upon those who came to visit the city, if events

had come round to the same conclusion as they now have--if Philip had

been chosen as commander and lord of all, and we had stood apart, while

others carried on the struggle to prevent these things; and that,

although the city had never yet in time past preferred an inglorious

security to the hazardous vindication of a noble cause? {202} What

Hellene, what foreigner, does not know, that the Thebans, and the

Spartans, who were powerful still earlier, and the Persian king would

all gratefully and gladly have allowed Athens to take what she liked

and keep all that was her own, if she would do the bidding of another,

and let another take the first place in Hellas? {203} But this was not,

it appears, the tradition of the Athenians; it was not tolerable; it

was not in their nature. From the beginning of time no one had ever yet

succeeded in persuading the city to throw in her lot with those who

were strong, but unrighteous in their dealings, and to enjoy the

security of servitude. Throughout all time she has maintained her

perilous struggle for pre-eminence, honour, and glory. {204} And this

policy you look upon as so lofty, so proper to your own national

character, that, of your forefathers also, it is those who have acted

thus that you praise most highly. And naturally. For who would not

admire the courage of those men, who did not fear to leave their

land[n] and their city, and to embark upon their ships, that they might

not do the bidding of another; who chose for their general Themistocles

(who had counselled them thus), and stoned Cyrsilus to death, when he

gave his voice for submission to a master's orders--and not him alone,

for your wives stoned his wife also to death. {205} For the Athenians

of that day did not look for an orator or a general who would enable

them to live in happy servitude; they cared not to live at all, unless

they might live in freedom. For every one of them felt that he had come

into being, not for his father and his mother alone, but also for his

country. And wherein lies the difference? He who thinks he was born for

his parents alone awaits the death which destiny assigns him in the

course of nature: but he who thinks he was born for his country also

will be willing to die, that he may not see her in bondage, and will

look upon the outrages and the indignities that he must needs bear in a

city that is in bondage as more to be dreaded than death.

{206} Now were I attempting to argue that _I_ had induced you to show a

spirit worthy of your forefathers, there is not a man who might not

rebuke me with good reason. But in fact, I am declaring that such

principles as these are your own; I am showing that _before_ my time

the city displayed this spirit, though I claim that I, too, have had

some share, as your servant, in carrying out your policy in detail.

{207} But in denouncing the policy as a whole, in bidding you be harsh

with me, as one who has brought terrors and dangers upon the city, the

prosecutor, in his eagerness to deprive me of my distinction at the

present moment, is trying to rob you of praises that will last

throughout all time. For if you condemn the defendant on the ground

that my policy was not for the best, men will think that your own

judgement has been wrong, and that it was not through the unkindness of

fortune that you suffered what befell you. {208} But it cannot,[n] it

cannot be that you were wrong, men of Athens, when you took upon you

the struggle for freedom and deliverance. No! by those who at Marathon

bore the brunt of the peril--our forefathers. No! by those who at

Plataeae drew up their battle-line, by those who at Salamis, by those

who off Artemisium fought the fight at sea, by the many who lie in the

sepulchres where the People laid them, brave men, all alike deemed

worthy by their country, Aeschines, of the same honour and the same

obsequies--not the successful or the victorious alone! And she acted

justly. For all these have done that which it was the duty of brave men

to do; but their fortune has been that which Heaven assigned to each.

{209} Accursed, poring pedant![n] if you, in your anxiety to deprive me

of the honour and the kindness shown to me by my countrymen, recounted

trophies and battles and deeds of long ago--and of which of them did

this present trial demand the mention?--what spirit was I to take upon

me, when I mounted the platform, I who came forward to advise the city

how she should maintain her pre-eminence? Tell me, third-rate actor!

The spirit of one who would propose things unworthy of this people?

{210} I should indeed have deserved to die! For you too, men of Athens,

ought not to judge private suits and public in the same spirit. The

business transactions of everyday life must be viewed in the light of

the special law and practice associated with each; but the public

policy of statesmen must be judged by the principles that your

forefathers set before them. And if you believe that you should act

worthily of them, then, whenever you come into court to try a public

suit, each of you must imagine that with his staff[n] and his ticket

there is entrusted to him also the spirit of his country.

{211} But I have entered upon the subject of your forefathers'

achievements, and have passed over certain decrees and transactions. I

desire, therefore, to return to the point from which I digressed.

When we came to Thebes, we found envoys there from Philip, and from the

Thessalians and his other allies--our friends in terror, his full of

confidence. And to show you that I am not saying this now to suit my

own purpose, read the letter which we, your envoys, dispatched without

delay. {212} The prosecutor, however, has exercised the art of

misrepresentation to so extravagant a degree, that he attributes to

circumstances, not to me, any satisfactory result that was achieved;

but for everything that fell out otherwise, he lays the blame upon me

and the fortune that attends me. In his eyes, apparently, I, the

counsellor and orator, have no share in the credit for what was

accomplished as the result of oratory and debate; while I must bear the

blame alone for the misfortunes which we suffered in arms, and as a

result of generalship. What more brutal, more damnable

misrepresentation can be conceived? (_To the clerk_.) Read the letter.

[_The letter is read_.]

{213} When they had convened the Assembly, they gave audience to the

other side first, on the ground that they occupied the position of

allies; and these came forward and delivered harangues full of the

praises of Philip and of accusations against yourselves, recalling

everything that you had ever done in opposition to the Thebans. The sum

of it all was that they required the Thebans to show their gratitude

for the benefits which they had received from Philip, and to exact the

penalty for the injuries they had received from you, in whichever way

they preferred--either by letting them march through their country

against you, or by joining them in the invasion of Attica; and they

showed (as they thought) that the result of the course which they

advised would be that the herds and slaves and other valuables of

Attica would find their way into Boeotia; while the result of what (as

they alleged) you were about to propose would be that those of Boeotia

would be plundered in consequence of the war. {214} They said much

more, but all tending to the same effect. As for our reply, I would

give my whole life to tell it you in detail; but I fear lest, now that

those times have gone by, you may feel as if a very deluge[n] had

overwhelmed all, and may regard anything that is said on the subject as

vanity and vexation. But hear at least what we persuaded them to do,

and their answer to us. (_To the clerk_.) Take this and read it.

[_The answer of the Thebans is read_.]

{215} After this they invited and summoned you; you marched; you went

to their aid; and (to pass over the events which intervened) they

received you in so friendly a spirit that while their infantry and

cavalry were encamped outside the walls,[n] they welcomed your troops

into their houses, within the city, among their children and wives, and

all that was most precious to them. Three eulogies did the Thebans

pronounce upon you before the world that day, and those of the most

honourable kind--the first upon your courage, the second upon your

righteousness, the third upon your self-control. For when they chose to

side with you in the struggle, rather than against you, they judged

that your courage was greater, and your requests more righteous, than

Philip's; and when they placed in your power what they and all men

guard most jealously, their children and wives, they showed their

confidence in your self-control. {216} In all these points, men of

Athens, your conduct proved that their judgement had been correct. For

the force came into the city; but no one made a single complaint--not

even an unfounded complaint--against you; so virtuously did you conduct

yourselves. And twice you fought by their side, in the earliest

battles-the battle by the river[n] and the winter-battle[n]--and showed

yourselves, not only irreproachable, but even admirable, in your

discipline, your equipment, and your enthusiasm. These things called

forth expressions of thanks to you from other states, and sacrifices

and processions to the gods from yourselves. {217} And I should like to

ask Aeschines whether, when all this was happening, and the city was

full of pride and joy and thanksgiving, he joined in the sacrifices and

the rejoicing of the multitude, or whether he sat at home grieving and

groaning and angry at the good fortune of his country. If he was

present, and was seen in his place with the rest, surely his present

action is atrocious--nay, even impious--when he asks you, who have

taken an oath by the gods, to vote to-day that those very things were

not excellent, of whose excellence he himself on that day made the gods

his witnesses. If he was not present, then surely he deserves to die

many times, for grieving at the sight of the things which brought

rejoicing to others. (_To the clerk_.) Now read these decrees also.

[_The decrees ordering sacrifices are read_.]

{218} Thus we were occupied at that time with sacrifices, while the

Thebans were reflecting how they had been saved by our help; and those

who, in consequence of my opponents' proceedings, had expected that

they would themselves stand in need of help, found themselves, after

all, helping others, in consequence of the action they took upon my

advice. But what the tone of Philip's utterance was, and how greatly he

was confounded by what had happened, you can learn from his letter,

which he sent to the Peloponnese. (_To the clerk_.) Take these and read

them: (_to the jury_) that you may know what was effected by my

perseverance, by my travels, by the hardships I endured, by all those

decrees of which Aeschines spoke so disparagingly just now.

{219} You have had, as you know, many great and famous orators, men of

Athens, before my time--Callistratus himself, Aristophon, Cephalus,

Thrasybulus, and a vast number of others. Yet not one of these ever

gave himself up entirely to the State for any purpose: the mover of a

decree would not serve as ambassador, the ambassador would not move the

decree. Each left himself, at one and the same time, some respite from

work, and somewhere to lay the blame,[n] in case of accidents. {220}

'Well,' some one may say, 'did _you_ so excel them in force and

boldness, as to do everything yourself?' I do not say that. But so

strong was my conviction of the seriousness of the danger that had

overtaken the city, that I felt that I ought not to give my personal

safety any place whatever in my thoughts; it was enough for a man to do

his duty and to leave nothing undone. {221} And I was convinced with

regard to myself--foolishly perhaps, but still convinced--that no mover

would make a better proposal, no agent would execute it better, no

ambassador would be more eager or more honest in his mission, than I.

For these reasons, I assigned every one of these offices to myself.

(_To the clerk_.) Read Philip's letters.

[_Philip's letters are read_.]

{222} To this condition, Aeschines, was Philip reduced by my

statesmanship. This was the tone of his utterances, though before this

he used to threaten the city with many a bold word. For this I was

deservedly crowned by those here assembled, and though you were

present, you offered no opposition; while Diondas, who indicted the

proposer, did not obtain the necessary fraction of the votes. (_To the

clerk_.) Read me these decrees, (_to the jury)_ which escaped

condemnation, and which Aeschines did not even indict.

[_The decrees are read_.]

{223} These decrees, men of Athens, contain the very same syllables,

the very same words, as those which Aristonicus previously employed in

his proposal, and which Ctesiphon, the defendant, has employed now; and

Aeschines neither prosecuted the proposer of them himself, nor

supported the person who indicted him. Yet surely, if the charges which

he is bringing against me to-day are true, he would have had better

reason then for prosecuting Demomeles (the proposer of the decree) and

Hypereides, than he has for prosecuting Ctesiphon. And why? {224}

Because Ctesiphon can refer you to them--to the decision of the courts,

to the fact that Aeschines himself did not accuse them, though they had

moved exactly what he has moved now, to the prohibition by law of

further prosecution in such cases, and to many other facts: whereas

then the case would have been tried on its merits, before the defendant

had got the advantage of any such precedent. {225} But of course it was

impossible then for Aeschines to act as he has acted now--to select out

of many periods of time long past, and many decrees, matters which no

one either knew or thought would be mentioned to-day; to misrepresent

them, to change the dates, to put false reasons for the actions taken

in place of the true, and so appear to have a case. {226} At the time

this was impossible. Every word spoken then must have been spoken with

the truth in view, at no distance of time from the events, while you

still remembered all the facts and had them practically at your

fingers' ends. For that reason he evaded all investigation at the time;

and he has come before you now, in the belief (I fancy) that you will

make this a contest of oratory, instead of an inquiry into our

political careers, and that it is upon our eloquence, not upon the

interests of the city, that you will decide.

{227} Yes, and he ingeniously suggests that you ought to disregard the

opinion which you had of each of us when you left your homes and came

into court; and that just as, when you draw up an account in the belief

that some one has a balance, you nevertheless give way when you find

that the counters all disappear[n] and leave nothing over, so now you

should give your adhesion to the conclusion which emerges from the

argument. Now observe how inherently rotten everything that springs

from dishonesty seems to be. {228} By his very use of this ingenious

illustration he has confessed that to-day, at all events, our

respective characters are well established--that I am known to speak

for my country's good, and he to speak for Philip. For unless that were

your present conception of each of us, he would not have sought to

change your view. {229} And further, I shall easily show you that it is

not fair of him to ask you to alter this opinion--not by the use of

counters--that is not how a political reckoning is made--but by briefly

recalling each point to you, and treating you who hear me both as

auditors of my account and witnesses to the facts. For that policy of

mine which he denounces caused the Thebans, instead of joining Philip,

as all expected them to do, in the invasion of our country, to range

themselves by our side and stay his progress. {230} It caused the war

to take place not in Attica, but on the confines of Boeotia, eighty

miles from the city. Instead of our being harried and plundered by

freebooters from Euboea, it gave peace to Attica from the side of the

sea throughout the war. Instead of Philip's taking Byzantium and

becoming master of the Hellespont, it caused the Byzantines to join us

in the war against him. {231} Can such achievements, think you, be

reckoned up like counters? Are we to cancel them out,[n] rather than

provide that they shall be remembered for all time? I need not now add

that it fell to others to taste the barbarity which is to be seen in

every case in which Philip got any one finally into his power; while

you reaped (and quite rightly) the fruits of the generosity which he

feigned while he was bringing within his grasp all that remained. But I

pass this over.

{232} Nay, I will not even hesitate to say, that one who wished to

review an orator's career straightforwardly and without

misrepresentation, would not have included in his charges such matters

as you just now spoke of--making up illustrations, and mimicking words

and gestures. Of course the fortune which befell the Hellenes--surely

you see this?--was entirely due to my using this word instead of that,

or waving my hand in one direction rather than the other! {233} He

would have inquired, by reference to the actual facts, what resources

and what forces the city had at her command when I entered political

life; what I subsequently collected for her when I took control; and

what was the condition of our adversaries. Then if I had diminished our

forces, he would have proved that the fault lay at my door; but if I

had greatly increased them, he would have abstained from deliberate

misrepresentation. But since you have avoided such an inquiry, I will

undertake it; and do you, gentlemen, observe whether my argument is

just.

{234} The military resources of the city included the islanders--and

not all, but only the weakest. For neither Chios nor Rhodes nor Corcyra

was with us. Their contribution in money came to 45 talents, and these

had been collected in advance.[n] Infantry and cavalry, besides our

own, we had none. But the circumstance which was most alarming to us

and most favourable to our enemies was that these men had contrived

that all our neighbours should be more inclined to enmity than to

friendship--the Megareans, the Thebans, and the Euboeans. {235} Such

was the position of the city at the time; and what I say admits of no

contradiction. Now consider the position of Philip, with whom our

conflict lay. In the first place, he held absolute sway over his

followers--and this for purposes of war is the greatest of all

advantages. Next, his followers had their weapons in their hands

always. Then he was well off for money, and did whatever he resolved to

do, without giving warning of it by decrees, or debating about it in

public, or being put on trial by dishonest accusers, or defending

himself against indictments for illegality, or being bound to render an

account to any one. He was himself absolute master, commander, and lord

of all. {236} But I who was set to oppose him--for this inquiry too it

is just to make--what had I under my control? Nothing! For, to begin

with, the very right to address you--the only right I had--you extended

to Philip's hirelings in the same measure as to me; and as often as

they defeated me--and this frequently happened, whatever the reason on

each occasion--so often you went away leaving a resolution recorded in

favour of the enemy. {237} But in spite of all these disadvantages, I

won for you the alliance of the Euboeans, Achaeans, Corinthians,

Thebans, Megareans, Leucadians, and Corcyreans, from whom were

collected--apart from their citizen-troops--15,000 mercenaries and

2,000 cavalry. {238} And I instituted a money-contribution, on as large

a scale as I could. But if you refer,[n] Aeschines, to what was fair as

between ourselves and the Thebans or the Byzantines or the Euboeans--if

at this time you talk to us of equal shares--you must be ignorant, in

the first place, of the fact that in former days also, out of those

ships of war, three hundred [n] in all, which fought for the Hellenes,

Athens provided two hundred, and did not think herself unfairly used,

or let herself be seen arraigning those who had counselled her action,

or taking offence at the arrangement. It would have been shameful. No!

men saw her rendering thanks to Heaven, because when a common peril

beset the Hellenes, she had provided double as much as all the rest to

secure the deliverance of all. {239} Moreover, it is but a hollow

benefit that you are conferring upon your countrymen by your dishonest

charges against me. Why do you tell them _now_, what course they ought

to have taken? Why did you not propose such a course at the time (for

you were in Athens, and were present) if it was possible in the midst

of those critical times, when we had to accept, not what we chose, but

what circumstances allowed; since there was one at hand, bidding

against us, and ready to welcome those whom we rejected, and to pay

them into the bargain.

{240} But if I am accused to-day, for what I have actually done, what

if at the time I had haggled over these details, and the other states

had gone off and joined Philip, and he had become master at once of

Euboea and Thebes and Byzantium? What do you think these impious men

would then have done? {241} What would they have said? Would they not

have declared that the states had been surrendered? that they had been

driven away, when they wished to be on your side? 'See,' they would

have said (would they not?), 'he has obtained through the Byzantines

the command of the Hellespont and the control of the corn trade of

Hellas; and through the Thebans a trying border war has been brought

into Attica; and owing to the pirates who sail from Euboea, the sea has

become unnavigable,' and much more in addition. {242} A villainous

thing, men of Athens, is the dishonest accuser always--villainous, and

in every way malignant and fault-finding! Aye, and this miserable

creature is a fox by nature, that has never done anything honest or

gentlemanly--a very tragical ape, a clodhopping Oenomaus, a counterfeit

orator! {243} Where is the profit to your country from your cleverness?

Do you instruct us now about things that are past? It is as though a

doctor, when he was paying his visits to the sick, were to give them no

advice or instructions to enable them to become free from their

illness, but, when one of his patients died and the customary

offerings[n] were being paid him, were to explain, as he followed to

the tomb, 'if this man had done such and such things, he would not have

died.' Crazy fool! Do you tell us this _now_?

{244} Nor again will you find that the defeat--if you exult at it, when

you ought to groan, accursed man!--was determined by anything that was

within my control. Consider the question thus. In no place to which I

was sent by you as ambassador, did I ever come away defeated by the

ambassadors of Philip--not from Thessaly nor from Ambracia, not from

the Illyrians nor from the Thracian princes, not from Byzantium nor

from any other place, nor yet, on the last occasion, from Thebes. But

every place in which his ambassadors were defeated in argument, he

proceeded to attack and subdue by force of arms. {245} Do you then

require those places at _my_ hands? Are you not ashamed to jeer at a

man as a coward, and in the same breath to require him to prove

superior, by his own unaided efforts, to the army of Philip--and that

with no weapons to use but words? For what else was at my disposal? I

could not control the spirit of each soldier, or the fortune of the

combatants, or the generalship displayed, of which, in your perversity,

you demand an account from me. {246} No; but every investigation that

can be made as regards those duties for which an orator should be held

responsible, I bid you make. I crave no mercy. And what are those

duties? To discern events in their beginnings, to foresee what is

coming, and to forewarn others. These things I have done. Again, it is

his duty to reduce to the smallest possible compass, wherever he finds

them, the slowness, the hesitation, the ignorance, the contentiousness,

which are the errors inseparably connected with the constitution of all

city-states; while, on the other hand, he must stimulate men to unity,

friendship, and eagerness to perform their duty. All these things I

have done, and no one can discover any dereliction of duty on my part

at any time. {247} If one were to ask any person whatever, by what

means Philip had accomplished the majority of his successes, every one

would reply that it was by means of his army, and by giving presents

and corrupting those in charge of affairs. Now I had no control or

command of the forces: neither, then, does the responsibility for

anything that was done in that sphere concern me. And further, in the

matter of being or not being corrupted by bribes, I have defeated

Philip. For just as the bidder has conquered one who accepts his money,

if he effects his purchase, so one who refuses to accept it [and is not

corrupted] has conquered the bidder. In all, therefore, in which I am

concerned, the city has suffered no defeat.

{248} The justification, then, with which I furnished the defendant for

such a motion as he proposed with regard to me, consisted (along with

many other points) of the facts which I have described, and others like

them. I will now proceed to that justification which all of you

supplied. For immediately after the battle, the People, who knew and

had seen all that I did, and now stood in the very midst of the peril

and terror, at a moment when it would not have been surprising if the

majority had shown some harshness towards me--the People, I say, in the

first place carried my proposals for ensuring the safety of the city;

and all the measures undertaken for its protection--the disposition of

the garrisons, the entrenchments, the funds for the

fortifications--were all provided for by decrees which I proposed. And,

in the second place, when the People chose a corn-commissioner, out of

all Athens they elected me. {249} Subsequently all those who were

interested in injuring me combined, and assailed me with indictments,

prosecutions after audit, impeachments, and all such proceedings--not

in their own names at first, but through the agency of men behind whom,

they thought, they would best be screened against recognition. For you

doubtless know and remember that during the early part of that period I

was brought to trial every day; and neither the desperation of

Sosicles, nor the dishonest misrepresentations of Philocrates,[n] nor

the frenzy of Diondas and Melantus, nor any other expedient, was left

untried by them against me. And in all these trials, thanks to the gods

above all, but secondarily to you and the rest of the Athenians, I was

acquitted--and justly; for such a decision is in accordance both with

truth and with the credit of jurors who have taken their oath, and

given a verdict in conformity with it. {250} So whenever I was

impeached, and you absolved me and did not give the prosecutor the

necessary fraction of the votes, you were voting that my policy was the

best. Whenever I was acquitted upon an indictment, it was a proof that

my motion and proposals were according to law. Whenever you set your

seal to my accounts at an audit, you confessed in addition that I had

acted throughout with uprightness and integrity. And this being so,

what epithet was it fitting or just that Ctesiphon should apply to my

actions? Was it not that which he saw applied by the People, and by

juries on their oath, and ratified by Truth in the judgement of all men?

{251} 'Yes,' he replies, 'but Cephalus'[n] boast was a noble one--that

he had never been indicted at all.' True, and a happy thing also it was

for him. But why should one who has often been tried, but has never

been convicted of crime, deserve to incur criticism any the more on

that account? Yet in truth, men of Athens, so far as Aeschines is

concerned, I too can make this noble boast that Cephalus made. For he

has never yet preferred or prosecuted any indictment against me; so

that by you at least, Aeschines, I am admitted to be no worse a citizen

than Cephalus.

{252} His want of feeling and his malignity may be seen in many ways,

and not least in the remarks which he made about fortune. For my part,

I think that, as a rule, when one human being reproaches another with

his fortune, he is a fool. For when he who thinks himself most

prosperous and fancies his fortune most excellent, does not know

whether it will remain so until the evening, how can it be right to

speak of one's fortune, or to taunt another with his? But since

Aeschines adopts a tone of lofty superiority upon this as upon many

other subjects, observe, men of Athens, how much more truthful and more

becoming in a human being my own remarks upon Aeschines' fortune will

be. {253} I believe that the fortune of this city is good; and I see

that the God of Dodona also declares this to you through his oracle.

But I think that the prevailing fortune of mankind as a whole to-day is

grievous and terrible. For what man, Hellene or foreigner, has not

tasted abundance of evil at this present time? {254} Now the fact that

we chose the noblest course, and that we are actually better off than

those Hellenes who expected to live in prosperity if they sacrificed

us, I ascribe to the good fortune of the city. But in so far as we

failed, in so far as everything did not fall out in accordance with our

wishes, I consider that the city has received the share which was due

to us of the fortune of mankind in general. {255} But my personal

fortune, and that of every individual among us, ought, I think, in

fairness to be examined with reference to our personal circumstances.

That is my judgement with regard to fortune, and I believe (as I think

you also do) that my judgement is correct and just. But Aeschines

asserts that my personal fortune has more influence than the fortune of

the city as a community--the insignificant and evil more than the good

and important! How can this be?

{256} If, however, you determine at all costs to scrutinize my fortune,

Aeschines, then compare it with your own; and if you find that mine is

better than yours, then cease to revile it. Examine it, then, from the

very beginning. And, in Heaven's name, let no one condemn me for any

want of good taste. For I neither regard one who speaks insultingly of

poverty, nor one who prides himself on having been brought up in

affluence, as a man of sense. But the slanders and misrepresentations

of this unfeeling man oblige me to enter upon a discussion of this

sort; and I will conduct it with as much moderation as the facts allow.

{257} I then, Aeschines, had the advantage as a boy of attending the

schools which became my position, and of possessing as much as one who

is to do nothing ignoble owing to poverty must possess. When I passed

out of boyhood, my life corresponded with my upbringing--I provided

choruses and equipped warships; I paid the war-tax; I neglected none of

the paths to distinction in public or private life, but gave my

services both to my country and my friends; and when I thought fit to

enter public life, the measures which I decided to adopt were of such a

character that I have been crowned many times both by my country and by

many other Hellenic peoples, while not even you, my enemies, attempt to

say that my choice was not at least an honourable one. {258} Such is

the fortune which has accompanied my life, and though I might say much

more about it, I refrain from doing so, in my anxiety not to annoy any

one by the expression of my pride. And you--the lofty personage, the

despiser of others--what has been your fortune when compared with

this?--the fortune, thanks to which you were brought up as a boy in the

depths of indigence, in close attendance upon the school along with

your father, pounding up the ink, sponging down the forms, sweeping the

attendants' room,[n] occupying the position of a menial, not of a

free-born boy! {259} Then, when you became a man, you used to read out

the books[n] to your mother at her initiations, and help her in the

rest of the hocus-pocus, by night dressing the initiated[n] in

fawnskins, drenching them from the bowl, purifying them and wiping them

down with the clay and the bran, and (when they were purified) bidding

them stand up and say, 'The ill is done, the good begun,' priding

yourself upon raising the shout of joy more loudly than any one had

ever done before--and I can believe it, for, when his voice is so loud,

you dare not imagine that his shout is anything but superlatively fine.

{260} But by day you used to lead those noble companies through the

streets, men crowned with fennel and white poplar,[n] throttling the

puff-adders and waving them over your head, crying out 'Euoe,

Saboe,'[n] and dancing to the tune of 'Hyes Attes, Attes

Hyes'--addressed by the old hags as leader, captain, ivy-bearer,

fan-bearer, and so on; and as the reward of your services getting sops

and twists and barley-bannocks! Who would not congratulate himself with

good reason on such things, and bless his own fortune? {261} But when

you were enrolled among your fellow parishioners,[n] by whatever means

(for of that I say nothing)--when, I say, you _were_ enrolled, you at

once selected the noblest of occupations, that of a clerk and servant

to petty magistrates. {262} And when at length you escaped from this

condition also, after yourself doing all that you impute to others, you

in no way--Heaven knows!--disgraced your previous record by the life

which you subsequently lived; for you hired yourself out to the actors

Simylus and Socrates--the Roarers, they were nicknamed --and played as

a third-rate actor, collecting figs[n] and bunches of grapes and

olives, like a fruiterer gathering from other peoples' farms, and

getting more out of this than out of the dramatic competitions in which

you were competing for your lives; for there was war without truce or

herald between yourselves and the spectators; and the many wounds you

received from them make it natural for you to jeer at the cowardice of

those who have had no such experiences. {263} But I will pass over all

that might be accounted for by your poverty, and proceed to my charges

against your character itself. For you chose a line of political action

(when at length it occurred to you to take up politics too), in

pursuance of which, when your country's fortune was good, you lived the

life of a hare, in fear and trembling, always expecting a thrashing for

the crimes which lay on your conscience; whereas all have seen your

boldness amid the misfortunes of others. {264} But when a man plucks up

courage at the death of a thousand of his fellow citizens, what does he

deserve to suffer at the hands of the living? I have much more to say

about him, but I will leave it unsaid. It is not for me, I think, to

mention lightly all the infamy and disgrace which I could prove to be

connected with him, but only so much as it is not discreditable to

myself to speak of.

{265} And now review the history of your life and of mine, side by

side--good temperedly, Aeschines, not unkindly: and then ask these

gentlemen which fortune, of the two, each of them would choose. You

taught letters; I attended school. You conducted initiations; I was

initiated. You were a clerk; I a member of the Assembly: you, a

third-rate actor, I a spectator of the play. You used to be driven from

the stage, while I hissed. Your political life has all been lived for

the good of our enemies, mine for the good of my country. {266} To pass

over all besides, even on this very day, I am being examined with

regard to my qualification for a crown--it is already admitted that I

am clear of all crimes; while you have already the reputation of a

dishonest informer, and for you the issue at stake is whether you are

to continue such practices, or to be stopped once for all, through

failing to obtain a fifth part of the votes. A good fortune indeed--can

you not see?--is that which has accompanied your life, that you should

denounce mine!

{267} And now let me read to you the evidence of the public burdens

which I have undertaken; and side by side with them, do you, Aeschines,

read the speeches which you used to murder--

'I leave the abysm of death and gates of gloom,'[n]

and

'Know that I am not fain ill-news to bring';

and 'evil in evil wise',[n] may you be brought to perdition, by the

gods above all, and then by all those here present, villainous citizen,

villainous third-rate actor that you are. (_To the clerk_.) Read the

evidence.

[_The evidence is read_.]

{268} Such was I in my relation to the State. And as to my private

life, unless you all know that I was open-hearted and generous and at

the disposal of all who had need of me, I am silent; I prefer to tell

you nothing, and to produce no evidence whatever, to show whether I

ransomed some from the enemy, or helped others to give their daughters

in marriage, or rendered any such services. {269} For my principle may

perhaps be expressed thus. I think that one who has received a kindness

ought to remember it all his life; but that the doer of the kindness

should forget it once for all; if the former is to behave like a good

man, the latter like one free from all meanness. To be always recalling

and speaking of one's own benefactions is almost like upbraiding the

recipients of them. I will do nothing of the kind, and will not be led

into doing so. Whatever be the opinion that has been formed of me in

these respects, with that I am content.

{270} But I desire to be rid of personal topics, and to say a little

more to you about public affairs. For if, Aeschines, you can mention

one of all those who dwell beneath the sun above us, Hellene or

foreigner, who has not suffered under the absolute sway, first of

Philip, and now of Alexander, so be it! I concede that it is my fortune

or misfortune, whichever you are pleased to call it, that has been to

blame for everything. {271} But if many of those who have never once

even seen me or heard my voice have suffered much and terribly--and not

individuals alone, but whole cities and nations--how much more just and

truthful it is to regard the common fortune (as it seems to be) of all

mankind, and a certain stubborn drift of events in the wrong direction,

as the cause of these sufferings. {272} Such considerations, however,

you discard. You impute the blame to me, whose political life has been

lived among my own fellow countrymen--and that, though you know that

your slander falls in part (if not entirely) upon all of them, and

above all upon yourself. For if, when I took part in the discussion of

public affairs, I had had absolute power, it would have been possible

for all of you, the other orators, to lay the blame on me. {273} But if

you were present at every meeting of the Assembly; if the city always

brought forward questions of policy for public consideration; if at the

time my policy appeared the best to every one, and above all to you

(for it was certainly from no goodwill that you relinquished to me the

hopes, the admiration, the honours, which all attached themselves to my

policy at that time, but obviously because the truth was too strong for

you, and you had nothing better to propose); then surely you are guilty

of monstrous iniquity, in finding fault to-day with a policy, than

which, at the time, you could propose nothing better. {274} Among all

the rest of mankind, I observe that some such principles as the

following have been, as it were, determined and ordained. If a man

commits a deliberate crime, indignation and punishment are ordained

against him. If he commits an involuntary mistake, instead of

punishment, he is to receive pardon. If, without crime or mistake, one

who has given himself up wholly to that which seems to be for the

advantage of all has, in company with all, failed to achieve success,

then it is just, not to reproach or revile such a man, but to

sympathize with him. {275} Moreover, it will be seen that all these

principles are not so ordained in the laws alone. Nature herself has

laid them down in her unwritten law, and in the moral consciousness of

mankind. Aeschines, then, has so far surpassed all mankind in brutality

and in the art of misrepresentation, that he actually denounces me for

things which he himself mentioned under the name of misfortunes.

{276} In addition to everything else, as though he had himself always

spoken straightforwardly and in loyalty, he bade you keep your eyes on

me carefully, and make sure that I did not mislead or deceive you. He

called me 'a clever speaker', 'a wizard', 'a sophist', and so on: just

as if it followed that when a man had the first word and attributed his

own qualities to another, the truth was really as he stated, and his

hearers would not inquire further who he himself was, that said such

things. But I am sure that you all know this man, and are aware that

these qualities belong to him far more than to me. And again, {277} I

am quite sure that my cleverness--yes, let the word pass; though I

observe that the influence of a speaker depends for the most part on

his audience; for in proportion to the welcome and the goodwill which

you accord to each speaker is the credit which he obtains for

wisdom;--I am sure, I say, that if I too possess any such skill, you

will all find it constantly fighting on your behalf in affairs of

State, never in opposition to you, never for private ends; while the

skill of Aeschines, on the contrary, is employed, not only in upholding

the cause of the enemy, but in attacking any one who has annoyed him or

come into collision with him anywhere. He neither employs it uprightly,

nor to promote the interests of the city. {278} For a good and

honourable citizen ought not to require from a jury, who have come into

court to represent the interests of the community, that they shall give

their sanction to his anger, or his enmity, or any other such passion;

nor ought he to come before you to gratify such feelings. It were best

that he had no such passions in his nature at all; but if they are

really inevitable, then he should keep them tame and subdued. Under

what circumstances, then, should a politician and an orator show

passion? {279} When any of the vital interests of his country are at

stake; when it is with its enemies that the People has to deal: those

are the circumstances. For then is the opportunity of a loyal and

gallant citizen. But that when he has never to this day demanded my

punishment, either in the name of the city or in his own, for any

public--nor, I will add, for any private--crime, he should have come

here with a trumped-up charge against the grant of a crown and a vote

of thanks, and should have spent so many words upon it--that is a sign

of personal enmity and jealousy and meanness, not of any good quality.

{280} And that he should further have discarded every form of lawsuit

against myself, and should have come here to-day to attack the

defendant, is the very extremity of baseness. It shows, I think,

Aeschines, that your motive in undertaking this suit was your desire,

not to exact vengeance for any crime, but to give a display of rhetoric

and elocution. Yet it is not his language, Aeschines, that deserves our

esteem in an orator, nor the pitch of his voice, but his choice of the

aims which the people chooses, his hatred or love of those whom his

country loves or hates. {281} He whose heart is so disposed will always

speak with loyal intent; but he who serves those from whom the city

foresees danger to herself, does not ride at the same anchor as the

People, and therefore does not look for safety to the same quarter. But

I do, mark you! For I have made the interests of my countrymen my own,

and have counted nothing as reserved for my own private advantage.

What? {282} You have not done so either? How can that be, when

immediately after the battle you went your way as an ambassador to

Philip, the author of the calamities which befell your country at that

time; and that, despite the fact that until then you always denied this

intimacy[n] with him, as every one knows? But what is meant by a

deceiver of the city? Is it not one who does not say what he thinks?

Upon whom does the herald justly pronounce the curse? Is it not upon

such a man as this? With what greater crime can one charge a man who is

an orator, than that of saying one thing and thinking another? Such a

man you have been found to be. {283} And after this do you open your

mouth, or dare to look this audience in the face? Do you imagine that

they do not know who you are? or that the slumber of forgetfulness has

taken such hold upon them all, that they do not remember the speeches

which you used to deliver during the war, when you declared with

imprecations and oaths that you had nothing to do with Philip, and that

I was bringing this accusation against you, when it was not true, to

satisfy my personal enmity? {284} But so soon as the news of the battle

had come, you thought no more of all this, but at once avowed and

professed that you stood on a footing of friendship and

guest-friendship with him; though these were nothing but your

hireling-service under other names; for upon what honest or equal basis

could Aeschines, the son of Glaucothea the tambourine--player,[n] enjoy

the guest-friendship, or the friendship, or the acquaintance of Philip?

I cannot see. In fact, you had been hired by him to ruin the interests

of these your countrymen. And yet, though your own treason has been so

plainly detected--though you have been an informer against yourself

after the event--you still revile me, and reproach me with crimes of

which, you will find, any one is more guilty than I.

{285} Many a great and noble enterprise, Aeschines, did this city

undertake and succeed in, inspired by me; and she did not forget them.

It is a proof of this, that when, immediately after the event, the

People had to elect one who should pronounce the oration over the dead,

and you were nominated, they did not elect you, for all your fine

voice, nor Demades, who had just negotiated the Peace, nor Hegemon,[n]

nor any other member of your party: they elected me. And when you and

Pythocles[n] came forward in a brutal and shameless fashion, God knows!

and made the same charges against me as you are making again to-day,

and abused me, the People elected me even more decidedly. {286} And the

reason you know well; but I will tell it you nevertheless. They knew

for themselves both the loyalty and zeal which inspired my conduct of

affairs, and the iniquity of yourself and your friends. For what you

denied with oaths when our cause was prosperous, you admitted in the

hour of the city's failure; and those, accordingly, who were only

enabled by the misfortunes of their country to express their views

without fear, they decided to have been enemies of their own for a long

while, though only then did they stand revealed.{287} And further, they

thought that one who was to pronounce an oration over the dead, and to

adorn their valour, should not have come beneath the same roof, nor

shared the same libation,[n] as those who were arrayed against them;

that he should not there join with those who with their own hands had

slain them, in the revel[n] and the triumph-song over the calamities of

the Hellenes, and then come home and receive honour--that he should not

play the mourner over their fate with his voice, but should grieve for

them in his heart. What they required they saw in themselves and in me,

but not in you; and this was why they appointed me, and not any of you.

{288} Nor, when the people acted thus, did the fathers and brothers of

the slain, who were then publicly appointed to conduct the funeral, act

otherwise. For since (in accordance with the ordinary custom) they had

to hold the funeral-feast in the house of the nearest of kin, as it

were, to the slain, they held it at my house, and with reason; for

though by birth each was more nearly akin to his dead than I, yet none

stood nearer to them all in common. For he who had their life and their

success most at heart, had also, when they had suffered what I would

they had not, the greatest share of sorrow for them all.

(_To the clerk _) {289} Read him the epitaph which the city resolved to

inscribe above them at the public cost; (_to Aeschines_) that even by

these very lines, Aeschines, you may know that you are a man destitute

of feeling, a dishonest accuser, an abominable wretch!

_The Inscription_.[n]

These for their country, fighting side by side,

By deeds of arms dispelled the foemen's pride.

heir lives they saved not, bidding Death make clear--

Impartial Judge!--their courage or their fear.

For Greece they fought, lest, 'neath the yoke brought low,

In thraldom she th' oppressor's scorn should know.

Now in the bosom of their fatherland

After their toil they rest--'tis God's command.

'Tis God's alone from failure free to live;[n]

Escape from Fate to no man doth He give.

{290} Do you hear, Aeschines [in these very lines], 'Tis God's alone

from failure free to live'? Not to the statesman has he ascribed the

power to secure success for those who strive, but to the gods. Why

then, accursed man, do you revile _me_, for our failure, in words which

I pray the gods to turn upon the heads of you and yours?

{291} But, even after all the other lying accusations which he has

brought against me, the thing which amazed me most of all, men of

Athens, was that when he mentioned what had befallen the city, he did

not think of it as a loyal and upright citizen would have thought. He

shed no tears; he felt no emotion of sorrow in his heart: he lifted up

his voice, he exulted, he strained his throat, evidently in the belief

that he was accusing me, though in truth he was giving us an

illustration, to his own discredit, of the utter difference between his

feelings and those of others, at the painful events which had taken

place. {292} But surely one who professes, as Aeschines professes now,

to care for the laws and the constitution, ought to show, if nothing

else, at least that he feels the same griefs and the same joys as the

People, and has not, by his political profession, ranged himself on the

side of their opponents. That you have done the latter is manifest

today, when you pretend that the blame for everything is mine, and that

it is through me that the city was plunged in trouble: though it was

not through my statesmanship or my policy, gentlemen, {293} that you

began to help the Hellenes: for were you to grant me this--that it was

through me that you had resisted the dominion which was being

established over the Hellenes--you would have granted me a testimonial

which all those that you have given to others together could not equal.

But neither would I make such an assertion; for it would be unjust to

you; nor, I am sure, would you concede its truth: and if Aeschines were

acting honestly, he would not have been trying to deface and

misrepresent the greatest of your glories, in order to satisfy his

hatred towards me.

{294} But why do I rebuke him for this, when he has made other lying

charges against me, which are more outrageous by far? For when a man

charges me--I call Heaven and Earth to witness!--with philippizing,

what will he not say? By Heracles and all the gods, if one had to

inquire truthfully, setting aside all calumny and all expression of

animosity, who are in reality the men upon whose heads all would

naturally and justly lay the blame for what has taken place, you would

find that it was those in each city who resemble Aeschines, not those

who resemble me. {295} For they, when Philip's power was weak and quite

insignificant--when we repeatedly warned and exhorted you and showed

you what was best--they, to satisfy their own avarice, sacrificed the

interests of the community, each group deceiving and corrupting their

own fellow citizens, until they brought them into bondage. Thus the

Thessalians were treated by Daochus, Cineas, and Thrasydaeus; the

Arcadians by Cercidas, Hieronymus and Eucampidas; the Argives by

Myrtis, Teledamus, and Mnaseas; the Eleans by Euxitheus, Cleotimus and

Aristaechmus; the Messenians by the sons of the godforsaken

Philiadas--Neon and Thrasylochus; the Sicymians by Aristratus and

Epichares; the Corinthians by Deinarchus and Demaretus; the Megareans

by Ptoeodorus, Helixus and Perillus; the Thebans by Timolaus,

Theogeiton, and Anemoetas; the Euboeans by Hipparchus and Sosistratus.

{296} Daylight will fail me before the list of the traitors is

complete. All these, men of Athens, are men who pursue the same designs

in their own cities, as my opponents pursue among you--abominable men,

flatterers, evil spirits, who have hacked the limbs each of his own

fatherland, and like boon companions have pledged away their freedom,

first to Philip and now to Alexander; men whose measure of happiness is

their belly, and their lowest instincts; while as for freedom, and the

refusal to acknowledge any man as lord--the standard and rule of good

to the Hellenes of old--they have flung it to the ground.

{297} Of this shameful and notorious conspiracy and wickedness--or

rather (to speak with all earnestness, men of Athens), of this treason

against the freedom of the Hellenes--Athens has been guiltless in the

eyes of all men, in consequence of my statesmanship, as I have been

guiltless in your eyes. And do you then ask me for what merits I count

myself worthy to receive honour? I tell you that at a time when every

politician in Hellas had been corrupted--beginning with

yourself--[firstly by Philip, and now by Alexander], {298} no

opportunity that offered, no generous language, no grand promises, no

hopes, no fears, nor any other motive, tempted or induced me to betray

one jot of what I believed to be the rights and interests of the city;

nor, of all the counsel that I have given to my fellow countrymen, up

to this day, has any ever been given (as it has by you) with the scales

of the mind inclining to the side of gain, but all out of an upright,

honest, uncorrupted soul. I have taken the lead in greater affairs than

any man of my own time, and my administration has been sound and honest

throughout all. {299} That is why I count myself worthy of honour. But

as for the fortifications and entrenchments, for which you ridiculed

me, I judge them to be deserving, indeed, of gratitude and

commendation--assuredly they are so--but I set them far below my own

political services. Not with stones, nor with bricks, did I fortify

this city. Not such are the works upon which I pride myself most. But

would you inquire honestly wherein my fortifications consist? You will

find them in munitions of war, in cities, in countries, in harbours, in

ships, in horses, and in men ready to defend my fellow countrymen.

{300} These are the defences I have set to protect Attica, so far as by

human calculation it could be done; and with these I have fortified our

whole territory--not the circuit of the Peiraeus or of the city alone.

Nor in fact, did _I _prove inferior to Philip in calculations--far from

it!--or in preparations for war; but the generals of the

confederacy,[n] and their forces, proved inferior to him in fortune.

Where are the proofs of these things? They are clear and manifest. I

bid you consider them.

{301} What was the duty of a loyal citizen--one who was acting with

all forethought and zeal and uprightness for his country's good? Was it

not to make Euboea the bulwark of Attica on the side of the sea, and

Boeotia on that of the mainland, and on that of the regions towards the

Peloponnese, our neighbours[n] in that direction? Was it not to provide

for the corn-trade, and to ensure that it should pass along a

continuously friendly coast all the way to the Peiraeus? {302} Was it

not to preserve the places which were ours--Proconnesus, the

Chersonese, Tenedos--by dispatching expeditions to aid them, and

proposing and moving resolutions accordingly; and to secure the

friendship and alliance of the rest--Byzantium, Tenedos, Euboea? Was it

not to take away the greatest of the resources which the enemy

possessed, and to add what was lacking to those of the city? {303} All

this has been accomplished by my decrees and by the measures which I

have taken; and all these measures, men of Athens, will be found by any

one who will examine them without jealousy, to have been correctly

planned, and executed with entire honesty: the opportunity for each

step was not, you will find, neglected or left unrecognized or thrown

away by me, and nothing was left undone, which it was within the power

and the reasoning capacity of a single man to effect. But if the might

of some Divine Power, or the inferiority of our generals, or the

wickedness of those who were betraying your cities, or all these things

together, continuously injured our whole cause, until they effected its

overthrow, how is Demosthenes at fault? {304} Had there been in each of

the cities of Hellas one man, such as I was, as I stood at my own post

in your midst--nay, if all Thessaly and all Arcadia had each had but

one man animated by the same spirit as myself--not one Hellenic people,

either beyond or on this side of Thermopylae, would have experienced

the evils which they now suffer. {305} All would have been dwelling in

liberty and independence, free from all fears, secure and prosperous,

each in their own land, rendering thanks for all these great blessings

to you and the rest of the Athenian people, through me. But that you

may know that in my anxiety to avoid jealousy, I am using language

which is far from adequate to the actual facts, (_to the clerk_) read

me this; and take and recite the list of the expeditions sent out in

accordance with my decrees.

[_The list of expeditions is read]_

{306} These measures, and others like them, Aeschines, were the

measures which it was the duty of a loyal and gallant citizen to take.

If they were successful, it was certain that we should be indisputably

the strongest power, and that with justice as well as in fact: and now

that they have resulted otherwise, we are left with at least an

honourable name. No man casts reproach either upon the city, or upon

the choice which she made: they do but upbraid Fortune, who decided the

issue thus. {307} It was not, God knows, a citizen's duty to abandon

his country's interests, to sell his services to her opponents, and

cherish the opportunities of the enemy instead of those of his country.

Nor was it, on the one hand, to show his malice against the man who had

faced the task of proposing and moving measures worthy of the city, and

persisting in that intention; while, on the other hand, he remembered

and kept his eyes fixed upon any private annoyance which another had

caused him: nor was it to maintain a wicked and festering inactivity,

as you so often do. {308} Assuredly there is an inactivity that is

honest and brings good to the State--the inactivity which you,[n] the

majority of the citizens, observe in all sincerity. But that is not the

inactivity of Aeschines. Far from it! He, on the contrary, retires just

when he chooses, from public life (and he often chooses to do so), that

he may watch for the moment when you will be sated with the continual

speeches of the same adviser, or when fortune has thrown some obstacle

in your path, or some other disagreeable event has happened (for in the

life of man many things are possible); and then, when such an

opportunity comes, suddenly, like a gale of wind, out of his retirement

he comes forth an orator, with his voice in training, and his phrases

and his sentences collected; and these he strings together lucidly,

without pausing for breath, though they bring with them no profit, no

accession of anything good, but only calamity to one or another of his

fellow citizens, and shame to all alike. {309} Surely, Aeschines, if

all this practice and study sprang from an honest heart, resolved to

pursue the interests of your country, the fruits of it should have been

noble and honourable and profitable to all--alliances of cities,

supplies of funds, opening of ports,[n] enactment of beneficial laws,

acts of opposition to our proved enemies. {310} It was for all such

services that men looked in bygone days; and the past has offered, to

any loyal and gallant citizen, abundant opportunities of displaying

them: but nowhere in the ranks of such men will you ever be found to

have stood--not first, nor second, nor third, nor fourth, nor fifth,

nor sixth, nor in any position whatsoever; at least, not in any matters

whereby your country stood to gain. {311} For what alliance has the

city gained by negotiations of yours? What assistance, what fresh

access of goodwill or fame? What diplomatic or administrative action of

yours has brought new dignity to the city? What department of our home

affairs, or our relations with Hellenic and foreign states, over which

you have presided, has shown any improvement? Where are your ships?

Where are your munitions of war? Where are your dockyards? Where are

the walls that you have repaired? Where are your cavalry? Where in the

world _is_ your sphere of usefulness? What pecuniary assistance have

you ever given, as a good and generous fellow citizen,[n] either to

rich or poor? {312} 'But, my good sir, 'you say, 'if I have done none

of these things, I have at least given my loyalty and goodwill.' Where?

When? Why, even at a time when all who ever opened their lips upon the

platform contributed voluntarily to save the city, till, last of all,

Aristonicus gave what he had collected to enable him to regain his

civil rights--even then, most iniquitous of men! you never came forward

or made any contribution whatever: and assuredly it was not from

poverty, when you had inherited more than five talents out of the

estate of your father-in-law Philo, and had received two talents

subscribed by the leaders of the Naval Boards,[n] for your damaging

attack upon my Naval Law.[n] {313} But I will say no more about this,

lest by passing from subject to subject I should break away from the

matter in hand. It is at least plain that your failure to contribute

was not due to your poverty, but to your anxiety to do nothing in

opposition to those whose interest is the guide of your whole public

life. On what occasions, then, do your spirit and your brilliancy show

themselves? When something must be done to injure your fellow

countrymen--then your voice is most glorious, your memory most perfect;

then you are a prince of actors, a Theocrines[n] on the tragic stage!

{314} Again, you have recalled the gallant men of old, and you do well

to do so. Yet it is not just, men of Athens, to take advantage of the

good feeling which you may be relied upon to entertain towards the

dead, in order to examine me before you by their standard, and compare

me, who am still living amongst you, with them. {315} Who in all the

world does not know that against the living there is always more or

less of secret jealousy, while none, not even their enemies, hate the

dead any more? And am I, in spite of this law of nature, to be judged

and examined to-day by the standard of those who were before me? By no

means! It would be neither just nor fair, Aeschines. But let me be

compared with yourself, or with any of those who have adopted the same

policy as yourself, and are still alive. {316} And consider this also.

Which of these alternatives is the more honourable? Which is better for

the city?--that the good services done by men of former

times--tremendous, nay even beyond all description though they may

be--should be made an excuse for exposing to ingratitude and contumely

those that are rendered to the present generation? or that all who act

in loyalty should have a share in the honours and the kindness which

our fellow citizens dispense? {317} Aye, and (if I must say this after

all) the policy and the principles which I have adopted will be found,

if rightly viewed, to resemble and to have the same aims as those of

the men who in that age received praise; while yours resemble those of

the dishonest assailants of such persons in those days. For in their

time also there were obviously persons who disparaged the living and

praised the men of old, acting in the same malicious way as yourself.

{318} Do you say then, that I am in no way like them? But are you like

them, Aeschines? or your brother? or any other orator of the present

day? For my part, I should say, 'None.' Nay, my good sir--to use no

other epithet--compare the living with the living, their

contemporaries, as men do in every other matter, whether they are

comparing poets or choruses or competitors in the games. {319} Because

Philammon was not so powerful as Glaucus of Carystus[n] and some other

athletes of former times, he did not leave Olympia uncrowned: but

because he fought better than all who entered against him, he was

crowned and proclaimed victor. Do you likewise examine me beside the

orators of the day--beside yourself, beside any one in the world that

you choose. {320} I fear no man's rivalry. For, while the city was

still free to choose the best course, and all alike could compete with

one another in loyalty to their country, I was found the best adviser

of them all. It was by my laws, by my decrees, by my diplomacy, that

all was effected. Not one of your party appeared anywhere, unless some

insult was to be offered to your fellow countrymen. But when there

happened, what I would had never happened--when it was not statesmen

that were called to the front, but those who would do the bidding of a

master, those who were anxious to earn wages by injuring their country,

and to flatter a stranger--then, along with every member of your party,

you were found at your post, the grand and resplendent owner of a

stud;[n] while I was weak, I confess, yet more loyal to my fellow

countrymen than you. {321} Two characteristics, men of Athens, a

citizen of a respectable character (for this is perhaps the least

invidious phrase that I can apply to myself) must be able to show: when

he enjoys authority, he must maintain to the end the policy whose aims

are noble action and the pre-eminence of his country: and at all times

and in every phase of fortune he must remain loyal. For this depends

upon his own nature; while his power and his influence are determined

by external causes. And in me, you will find, this loyalty has

persisted unalloyed. For mark this. {322} Not when my surrender was

demanded, not when I was called to account before the Amphictyons, not

in face either of threats or of promises, not when these accursed men

were hounded on against me like wild beasts, have I ever been false to

my loyalty towards you. For from the very first, I chose the straight

and honest path in public life: I chose to foster the honour, the

supremacy, the good name of my country, to seek to enhance them, and to

stand or fall with them. {323} I do not walk through the market,

cheerful and exultant over the success of strangers, holding out my

hand and giving the good tidings to any whom I expect to report my

conduct yonder, but shuddering, groaning, bowing myself to the earth,

when I hear of the city's good fortune, as do these impious men, who

make a mock of the city --not remembering that in so doing they are

mocking themselves--while they direct their gaze abroad, and, whenever

another has gained success through the failure of the Hellenes, belaud

that state of things, and declare that we must see that it endures for

all time.

{324} Never, O all ye gods, may any of you consent to their desire! If

it can be, may you implant even in these men a better mind and heart.

But if they are verily beyond all cure, then bring them and them alone

to utter and early destruction, by land and sea. And to us who remain,

grant the speediest release from the fears that hang over us, and

safety that naught can shake!