So while he has broken the general covenant which every

citizen makes with his state, he lays stress on the private

covenant which he made with me, apparently expecting people

to believe that a man who is indifferent to justice in his

dealings with you would have been careful to observe it in

his dealings with me! Why, so universal and impartial was

he in his want of principle that, when he had gone to

Troezen, and the people of Troezen had conferred their

citizenship upon him, he put himself under the directions

of Mnesias of Argos, and having been appointed archon by

his means, expelled the citizens from their own city. They

will prove this to you themselves, since they are living

here in exile. You, gentlemen, gave them an asylum when

they were expelled from their country, you gave them your

citizenship, who shared with them every privilege that you

possess. You remembered the service which they had rendered

to you more than a hundred and fifty years ago, during the

war with Persia, and you recognized the duty of helping in

the hour of their misfortune those who had aided you in the

hour of your peril. But this scoundrel, this deserter from

Athens who had procured admission as a citizen of Troezen,

when once his position was thus secured, cared nothing for

either the State or the welfare of the citizens, but

behaved with the utmost barbarity towards the city which

had granted him its hospitality. . . .[6]

To prove the truth of these assertions the clerk shall read

to you, first, the law which forbids resident aliens to

migrate in time of war; secondly, the evidence of the

Troezenians; and finally the ordinance which these same

Troezenians passed in your honor, in return for which you

gave them asylum here and conferred your citizenship upon

them. Read.

[_The law, the evidence, and the ordinance are read._]

Now take the deposition of his own relative. . . .

You know of what manner he conspired against me, and how he

has been found a traitor against your state; how he

despaired of your safety and abandoned the commonweal in

the hour of danger; and how he has made homeless many of

those to whom he migrated. Will you not then punish this

scoundrel, now that you have him in your power? And for

myself, gentlemen, I implore you not to refuse me your

protection. Reflect that your decision in this case is a

matter of life or death for me, while an adverse verdict

will inflect no very serious loss upon him. . . . Remember,

gentlemen, the oath that you have taken and the laws that

have been read in your ears, and give sentence against him

in accordance with the justice that you have been sworn to

observe.

ISAEUS

Isaeus, the pupil of Isocrates and the teacher of Demosthenes, was

born about 420 B.C., but it is disputed as to whether he was born a

Chalcidian or an Athenian. He is famous for his mastery of

argumentative oratory, and appears to have studied Lysias

attentively, because of the similarity of their styles. Lysias,

however, used closely the divisions of a speech, such as

introduction, argument, and epilogue, whereas Isaeus avoided formal

arrangement of his matter and depended on his argumentative skill for

convincing his hearers. He died about the year 370 B.C. Eleven of his

speeches, dealing mainly with the law of inheritance, have come down

to us.

_Menexenus and Others Against Dicaeogenes and Leochares._

[Dicaeogenes, whose estate was in dispute, had four

sisters, all of whom were married and had issue. When he

died without children, his uncle, Proxenus, produced a will

by which the deceased appeared to have left a third part of

his estate to his cousin, Dicaeogenes. This cousin, not

content with a share, insisted that he had a right to the

whole, and, having set up another will in his own favor,

took possession of the remaining two-thirds of the

property. This belonged to the sisters of the deceased, who

proved the second will to be a forgery; upon this

Dicaeogenes undertook to restore the two-thirds without

diminution, and one Leochares was his surety; but on their

refusal to perform their promise, the nephews of the elder

Dicaeogenes began a suit against them for the performance

of their agreement.]

We had imagined, judges, that all agreements made in court

concerning this dispute would have been specifically

performed; for when Dicaeogenes disclaimed the remaining

two-thirds of this estate, and was bound, together with his

surety, to restore them without any controversy, on the

faith of this assurance we gave a release of our demands;

but now, since he refuses to perform his engagement, we

bring our complaint, conformably to the oath which we have

taken, against both him and his surety, Leochares.

[The Oath]

That we swore truly, both Cephisodotus, who stands near me,

perfectly knows, and the evidence, which we shall adduce,

will clearly demonstrate. Read the depositions.

[Evidence]

You have heard the testimony of these witnesses, and I am

persuaded that even Leochares himself will not venture to

assert that they are perjured; but he will have recourse

perhaps to this defense, that Dicaeogenes has fully

performed his agreement, and that his own office of surety

is completely satisfied. If he allege this, he will speak

untruly and will easily be confuted; for the clerk shall

read to you a schedule of all the effects which

Dicaeogenes, the son of Menexenus, left behind him,

together with an inventory of those which the defendant

unjustly took; and if he affirms that our uncle neither had

them in his lifetime nor left them to us at his death, let

him prove his assertion; or if he insists that the goods

were indeed ours, but that we had them returned to us, let

him call a single witness to that fact; as we have produced

evidence on our part that Dicaeogenes promised to give us

back the two-thirds of what the son of Menexenus possessed,

and that Leochares undertook to see him perform his

promise. This is the ground of our action, and this we have

sworn to be true. Let the oath be read.

[The Oath]

Now, judges, if the defendants intended only to clear

themselves of this charge, what has already been said would

be sufficient to ensure my success; but, since they are

prepared to enter once more into the merits of the question

concerning the inheritance, I am desirous to inform you on

our side of all the transactions in our family; that, being

apprised of the truth, and not deluded by their artifices,

you may give a sentence agreeable to reason and justice.

Menexenus our grandfather had one son named Dicaeogenes,

and four daughters, of whom Polyaratus my father married

one; another was taken by Democles of Phrearrhi; a third by

Cephisophon of Paeania; and the fourth was espoused by

Theopompus the father of Cephisodotus. Our uncle

Dicaeogenes, having sailed to Cnidos in the Parhalian

galley, was slain in a sea fight; and, as he left no

children, Proxenus the defendant's father brought a will to

our parents, in which his son was adopted by the deceased

and appointed heir to a third part of his fortune; this

part our parents, unable at that time to contest the

validity of the will permitted him to take; and each of the

daughters of Menexenus, as we shall prove by the testimony

of persons then present, had a decree for her share of the

residue.

When they had thus divided the inheritance and had bound

themselves by oath to acquiesce in the division, each

person possessed his allotment for twelve years; in which

time, though the courts were frequently open for the

administration of justice, not one of these men thought of

alleging any unfairness in the transaction; until, when the

state was afflicted with troubles and seditions, this

Dicaeogenes was persuaded by Melas the Egyptian, to whom he

used to submit on other occasions, to demand from us all

our uncle's fortune and to assert that he was appointed

heir to the whole.

When he began his litigation we thought he was deprived of

his senses; never imagining that the same man, who at one

time claimed to be heir to a third part, and at another

time an hear to the whole, could gain any credit before

this tribunal; but when we came into court, although we

urged more arguments than our adversary and spoke with

justice on our side, yet we lost our cause; not through any

fault of the jury, but through the villainy of Melas and

his associates, who, taking advantage of the public

disorders, assumed a power of seizing possessions to which

they had no right, by swearing falsely for each other. By

such men, therefore, were the jury deceived; and we,

overcome by this abominable iniquity, were stripped of our

effects; for my father died not long after the trial and

before he could prosecute, as he intended, the perjured

witnesses of his antagonist.

On the very day when Dicaeogenes had thus infamously

prevailed against us, he ejected the daughter of

Cephisophon, the niece of him who left the estate, from the

portion allotted to her; took from the wife of Democles

what her brother had given her as co-heiress; and deprived

both the mother of Cephisodotus and the unfortunate youth

himself of their whole fortune. Of all these he was at the

same time guardian and spoiler, next of kin, and cruelest

enemy; nor did the relation which he bore them excite in

the least degree his compassion; but the unhappy orphans,

deserted and indigent, became destitute even of daily

necessities.

Such was the guardianship of Dicaeogenes their nearest

kinsman! who gave to their avowed foes what their father

Theopompus had left them, illegally possesses himself of

the property which they had from their maternal uncle and

their grandfather; and (what was the most open act of

cruelty) having purchased the house of their father and

demolished it, he dug up the ground on which it stood, and

made that handsome garden for his own house in the city.

Still further; although he receives an annual rent of

eighty minas from the estate of our uncle, yet such are his

insolence and profligacy that he sent my cousin,

Cephisodotus, to Corinth as a service attendant on his

brother Harmodius; and adds to his other injuries this

cruel reproach, that he wears ragged clothes and coarse

buskins; but is not this unjust, since it was his own

violence which reduced the boy to poverty?

On this point enough has been said, I now return to the

narration from which I have thus digressed. Menexenus then,

the son of Cephisophon, and cousin both to this young man

and to me, having a claim to an equal portion of the

inheritance, began a prosecution against those who had

perjured themselves in the former cause, and convicted

Lycon, whom he had first brought to justice, of having

falsely sworn that our uncle appointed this Dicaeogenes

heir to his whole estate; when, therefore, this pretended

heir was disappointed in his hopes of deluding you, he

persuaded Menexenus, who was acting both for our interest

and his own, to make a compromise, which, though I blush to

tell it, his baseness compels me to disclose.

What was their agreement?

That Menexenus should receive a competent share of the

effects on condition of his betraying us, and releasing the

other false witnesses, whom he had not yet convicted; then,

injured by our enemies, and by our friends, we remained

with silent indignation; but you shall hear the whole

transaction from the mouths of witnesses.

[Evidence]

Nor did Menexenus lose the reward of his perfidy; for, when

he had dismissed the persons accused, and given up our

cause, we could not recover the promised bribe from his

seducer whose deceit he so highly resented, that he came

over again to our side.

We, therefore, justly thinking that Dicaeogenes had no

right to any part of the inheritance, since his principal

witness had been actually convicted of perjury, claimed the

whole estate as next of kin to the deceased; nor will it be

difficult to prove the justice of our claim; for, since two

wills have been produced, one of an ancient date, and the

other more recent; since by the first, which Proxenus

brought with him, our uncle made the defendant heir to a

third part of his fortune, which will Dicaeogenes himself

prevailed upon the jury to set aside; and since the second,

under which he claims the whole has been proved invalid by

the conviction of the perjured witnesses, who swore to its

validity; since, I say, both will have been shown to be

forged, and no other testament existed, it was impossible

for any man to claim the property as heir by appointment,

but the sisters of the deceased, whose daughters we

married, were entitled to it as heirs by birth.

These reasons induced us to sue for the whole as next of

kin, and each of us claimed a share; but when we were on

the point of taking the usual oaths on both sides, this

Leochares put in a protestation that the inheritance was

not controvertible; to this protestation we took

exceptions, and having begun to prosecute Leochares for

perjury, we discontinued the former case. After we had

appeared in court, and urged the same arguments on which we

have now insisted, and after Leochares had been very

loquacious in making his defense, the judges were of

opinion that he was perjured, and as soon as this appeared

by the number of pellets, which were taken out of the urns,

it is needless to inform you what entreaties he used both

to the court and to us, or what an advantage we might then

have taken; but attend to the argument which we have made,

and upon our consenting that the Archon should mix the

pellets together without counting them, Dicaeogenes

undertook to surrender two-thirds of the inheritance, and

to resign them without any dispute to the sisters of the

deceased, and for the full performance of this undertaking,

Leochares was his surety, together with Mnesiptolemus the

Plotian; all which my witnesses will prove.

[Evidence]

Although we had been thus injured by Leochares, and had it

in our power, after he was convicted of perjury, to mark

him with infamy, yet we consented that judgment should not

be given, and were willing to drop the prosecution upon

condition of recovering our inheritance; but after all this

mildness and forbearance we were deceived, judges, by these

faithless men; for neither has Dicaeogenes restored to us

the two-thirds of his estate, conformably to his agreement

in court; nor will Leochares confess that he was bound for

the performance of that agreement. Now if these promises

had not been made before five hundred jurymen and a crowd

of hearers, one cannot tell how far this denial might have

availed him; but, to show how falsely they speak, I will

call some witnesses who were present both when Dicaeogenes

disclaimed two-thirds of the succession and undertook to

restore them undisputed to the sisters of our uncle, and

when Leochares engaged that he should punctually perform

what he had undertaken; to confirm his evidence, judges, we

entreat you, if any of you were then in court, to recollect

what passed, and, if our allegations are true, to give us

the benefit of your testimony, for, if Dicaeogenes speaks

the truth, what advantage did we reap from gaining the

cause, or what inconvenience did he sustain by losing it?

If, as he asserts, he only disclaimed the two-thirds

without agreeing to restore them unencumbered, what has he

lost by relinquishing his present claim to an estate the

value of which he has received? For he was not in

possession of the two third parts, even before we succeeded

in our suit, but had either sold or mortgaged them; it was

his duty, however, to return the money to the purchasers

and to give us back our share of the land; since it was

with a view to this that we, not relying singly upon his

own engagement, instead upon his finding a surety. Yet,

except two small houses without the walls of the city, and

about sixty acres of land in the plain, we have received no

part of our inheritance; nor did we care to eject the

purchasers of the rest lest we should involve ourselves in

litigation; for when, by the advice of Dicaeogenes, and on

his promise not to oppose our title, we turned Micio out of

a bath which he had purchased, he brought an action against

us and recovered forty minas.

This loss, judges, we incurred through the perfidy of

Dicaeogenes; for we, not imagining that he would recede

from an agreement so solemnly made, assured the court that

we would suffer any evil if Dicaeogenes should warrant the

bath to Micio; not that we depended on his own word, but we

could not conceive that he would betray the sureties who

had undertaken for him; yet this very man, who disavowed

all pretensions to these two-thirds, and even now admits

his disavowal, had the baseness, when he was vouched by

Micio, to acknowledge his warranty; while I, unhappy man,

who had not received a particle of my share, was condemned

to pay forty minas for having ousted a fair purchaser and

left the court oppressed by the insults of this

Dicaeogenes. To prove the transaction I shall call my

witnesses.

[Evidence]

Thus have we been injured, judges, by this man; whilst

Leochares, who was bound for him and has been the cause of

all our misfortunes, is confident enough to deny what has

been proved against him; because his undertaking was not

entered in the register of the court; now, judges, as we

were then in great haste, we had time to enter part only of

what had been agreed on, and took care to provide faithful

witnesses of all the rest; but these men have a convenient

subterfuge: what is advantageous to them they allow to be

valid although it be not written, but deny the validity of

what may be prejudicial to their interests unless it be in

writing; nor am I surprised that they refuse to perform

their verbal promises since they will not act conformably

to their written agreements.

That we speak truly, an undeniable proof shall be produced:

Dicaeogenes gave my sister in marriage with a portion of

forty minas to Protarchides of Potamos; but, instead of

paying her fortune in money he gave her husband a house

which belonged to him in Ceramicus; now she had the same

right with my mother to a share of the estate; when

Dicaeogenes, therefore, had resigned to the women

two-thirds of the inheritance, Leochares told Protarchides

in what manner he had become a surety, and promised in

writing to give him his wife's allotment if he would

surrender to him the house which he had taken instead of

the portion; Protarchides, whose evidence you shall now

hear, consented; but Leochares took possession of his house

and never gave him any part of the allotment.

[Evidence]

As to the repairs of the bath and the expenses of building,

Dicaeogenes has already said, and will probably say again,

that we have not reimbursed him, according to our

engagement, for the sum which he expended on that account,

for which reason he cannot satisfy his creditors nor give

us the shares to which we are entitled. To answer this, I

must inform you that, when we compelled him in open court

to disclaim this part of the inheritance, we permitted him,

by the advice of the jury, to retain the products of the

estate, which he had enjoyed for so long, by way of

compensation for his expense in repairs and for his public

charges; and some time after, not by compulsion, but of our

own free will, we gave him a house in the city, which we

separated from our own estate and added to this third part.

This he had as an additional recompense for the materials

which he had bought for his building; and he sold the house

to Philonicus for fifty minas; nor did we make him this

present as a reward of his probity, but as a proof that our

own relatives, how dishonest soever, are not undervalued by

us for the sake of lucre; and even before, when it was in

our power to take ample revenge of him by depriving him of

all his possession, we could not act with the rigor of

justice, but were contented with obtaining a decree for

part of our own property; whilst he, when he had procured

an unjust advantage over us, plundered us with all possible

violence, and now strives to ruin us, as if we were not his

kinsmen, but his inveterate foes.

We will now produce a striking instance of our candor and

of his knavery. When, in the month of December, judges, the

prosecution against Leochares was carried on with firmness,

both he and Dicaeogenes entreated me to postpone the trial

and refer all matters in dispute to arbitration; to which

proposal, as if we had sustained only a slight injury, we

consented; and four arbitrators were chosen, two by us, and

as many by them; we then swore, in their presence, that we

would abide by their award; and they told us that they

would settle our controversy, if possible, without being

sworn; but that, if they found it impossible to agree, they

would severally declare upon oath what they thought the

merits of the case. After they had interrogated us for a

long time, and inquired minutely into the whole

transaction, Diotamus and Melanopus the two arbitrators,

whom we had brought, expressed their readiness to make

their award, either upon oath or otherwise, according to

their opinion of the truth from the testimony of both

parties; but the other two, whom Leochares had chosen,

refused to join in any award at all; though one of them,

Diopithes, was a kinsman of Leochares, and an enemy to me

on account of some former disputes, and his companion,

Demaratus, was a brother of that Mnesiptolemus whom I

mentioned before as one of the sureties for Dicaeogenes;

these two decided against giving any opinion, although they

had obliged us to swear that we would submit to their

decision.

[Evidence]

It is abominable, then, that Leochares should request you

to pronounce a sentence in his favor which his own

relation, Diopithes, refused to pronounce; and how can you,

judges, with propriety decree for this man, when even his

friends have virtually decreed against him? For all these

reasons I entreat you, unless you think my request

inconsistent with justice, to decide this case against

Leochares.

As for Dicaeogenes, he deserves neither your compassion as

an indigent and unfortunate man, nor your indulgence as a

benefactor in any degree to the state; I shall convince

you, judges, that neither of these characters belongs to

him; shall prove him to be both a wealthy and a profligate

citizen, and shall produce instances of his base conduct

towards his friends, his kinsmen, and the public. First,

though he took from us an estate from which he annually

received eighty minas, and although he enjoyed the profits

of it for ten years, yet he is neither in possession of the

money nor will declare in what manner he has employed it.

It is also worthy of your consideration, that, when he

presided over the games of his tribe at the feast of

Bacchus he obtained only the fourth prize, and was the last

of all in the theatrical exhibitions and the Pyrrhic

dances: these were the only offices that he has served, and

these, too, by compulsion; and see how liberally he behaved

with so large an income! Let me add that in a time of the

greatest public calamity, when so many citizens furnished

vessels of war, he would not equip a single galley at his

own expense, nor even joined with another; whilst others,

whose entire fortune was not equal to his yearly rents,

bore that expensive office with alacrity; he ought to have

remembered that it was not his father who gave him his

estate, but you, judges, who established it by your decree;

so that, even if he had not been a citizen, gratitude

should have prompted him to consult the welfare of the city.

Again, when contributions were continually brought by all

who loved their country, to support the war and provide for

the safety of the state, nothing came from Dicaeogenes;

when Lechaeum indeed was taken, and when he was pressed by

others to contribute, he promised publicly that he would

give three minas, a sum less than that which Cleonymus the

Cretan voluntarily offered; yet even this promise he never

performed; but his name was hung up on the statues of the

Eponymi with an inscription asserting, to his eternal

dishonor, that he had not paid the contribution, which he

promised in public, for his country's service. Who can now

wonder, judges, that he deceived me, a private individual,

when he so notoriously deluded you all in your common

assembly? Of this transaction you shall now hear the proof.

[Evidence]

Such and so splendid have been the services which

Dicaeogenes, possessed of so large a fortune, has performed

for the city! You perceive, too, in what manner he conducts

himself towards his relatives, some of whom he has

deprived, as far as he was able, of their property; others

he has basely neglected, and forced, through the want of

mere necessaries, to enter into the service of some foreign

power. All Athens saw his mother sitting in the temple of

Illithyia, and heard her accuse him of a crime which I

blush to relate, but which he blushed not to commit. As to

his friends, he has now incurred the violent hatred of

Melas the Egyptian, who had been fond of him from his early

youth, by refusing to pay him a sum of money which he had

borrowed; his other companions he had either defrauded of

sums which they lent him, or has failed to perform his

promise of giving them part of his plunder if he succeeded

in his cause.

Yet our ancestors, judges, who first acquired this estate,

and left it to their descendants, conducted all the public

games, contributed liberally toward the expense of the war,

and continually had the command of galleys, which they

equipped: of these noble acts the presents with which they

were able, from what remained of their fortune after their

necessary charges, to decorate the temples, are no less

undeniable proofs, than they are lasting monuments of their

virtue; for they dedicated to Bacchus the tripods which

they won by their magnificence in their games; they gave

new ornaments to the temple of the Pythian Apollo, and

adorned the shrine of the goddess in the citadel, where

they offered the first fruits of their estate, with a great

number, if we consider that they were only private men, of

statues both in brass and stone. They died fighting

resolutely in defense of their country; for Dicaeogenes,

the father of my grandfather, Menexenus, fell at the head

of the Olysian legion in Spartolus; and his son, my uncle,

lost his life at Cnidos, where he commanded the Parhalian

galley.

His estate, O Dicaeogenes, thou hast unjustly seized and

shamefully wasted, and, having converted it into money,

hast the assurance to complain of poverty. How hast thou

spent that money? Not for the use of the state or of your

friends; since it is apparent that no part of it has been

employed for those purposes; not in breeding fine horses,

for thou never wast in possession of a horse worth more

than three minas; not in chariots, for, with so many farms

and so great a fortune, that never hadst a single carriage

even drawn by mules; nor hast thou redeemed any citizen

from captivity; nor hast thou conveyed to the citadel those

statues which Menexenus had order to be made for the price

of three talents, but was prevented by his death from

consecrating in the temple; and, through thy avarice, they

lie to this day in the shop of the statuary; thus hast thou

presumed to claim an estate to which thou hast no color of

right, and hast not restored to the gods the statues, which

were truly their own. On what ground, Dicaeogenes, canst

thou ask the jury to give a sentence in thy favor? Is it

because thou hast frequently served the public offices;

expended large sums of money to make the city more

respectable, and greatly benefited the State by

contributing bountifully towards supporting the war?

Nothing of this sort can be alleged with truth. Is it

because thou art a valiant soldier? But thou never once

could be persuaded to serve in so violent and so formidable

a war, in which even the Olynthians and the islanders lose

their lives with eagerness, since they fight for this

country; while thou, who art a citizen, wouldst never take

arms for the city.

Perhaps the dignity of thy ancestors, who slew the tyrant,

emboldens thee to triumph over us; as for them, indeed, I

honor and applaud them, but cannot think that a spark of

their virtue animates thy bosom; for thou hast preferred

the plunder of our inheritance to the glory of being their

descendant, and wouldst rather be called the son of

Dicaeogenes than of Harmodius; not regarding the right of

being entertained in the Prytaneum, nor setting any value

on the precedence and immunities which the posterity of

those heroes enjoy; yet it was not for noble birth that

Harmonius and Aristogiton were so transcendently honored,

but for their valor and probity; of which thou,

Dicaeogenes, hast not the smallest share.

LYCURGUS

Lycurgus, a pupil both of Plato and Isocrates, was born at Athens

about the year 396 B.C., and died in 323 B.C. During the great

struggle with Philip of Macedon, he allied himself with Demosthenes

and became one of the leaders of the national party. He was a man of

refined and artistic tastes, a patriot, and an orator. Only the

conclusion of his speech is here given.

_Oration Against Leocrates._ Gentlemen, you have heard the

witnesses. It may well be that what I now declare will

rouse your indignation and your scorn of this Leocrates.

Not content to abscond alone with his wretched self and his

money, he must needs drag with him the ancestral faith,

today become your law because your ancestors kept it, the

establishment of the fathers and the heritage of him their

child, drag this to Megara, filch it from the land. He

hallowed not that sacred name of old, would tear it from

its home, make it forsake with him the temples and the

country once its own, as if in the land of the stranger it

could rise again, for him. Athena, with no Athens there! in

Megara! their land and their laws to be here! Why did your

fathers give to the land her name? Because her land was

here. In the name of Athena did they put their trust; she

abandons not her own. Leocrates, recreant to law and

tradition and religion, took from us all, as far as in him

lay, the help that is ours from on high. And not content

with all these grievous wrongs, he took the capital he had

withdrawn here and with it made shipments of grain from

Cleopatra in Epirus into Leucas and from there into

Corinth; this in violation of your law which lays so severe

a penalty on any man of Athens who shall ship grain to any

port but ours. Here then is your man; traitor in war;

lawbreaker in business; false to the faith and the land and

the law. Here he is in your jurisdiction: shall not his

doom be death? shall he not serve warning to others? If

not, then ye must be some listless men, whose wrath no

crime can rouse.

And now in what strains did Homer voice this theme? To your

fathers he was such a noble poet that they passed a law

that at every pan-Athenian festival, as the five years came

round, his epics alone should be delivered; thus bearing

witness to the world of Greece that the greatest of works

were the works for them. A salutary measure. Brevity is the

nature of the law. It may not instruct; it must simply

command. To the poets it must refer the life of man, to

portray the human spirit in its loftiest achievement, and

with the resistless argument of art our souls are swayed.

It is Hector who speaks rousing the Trojans in their

country's name:

When ye have reached the ships, fight onward,

ceaselessly striving:

What though the stroke of fate shall call some

man to his glory?

Where is the sting of death when a hero falls

for his country?

Wife and child and home are safe in the hour

that the Argives

Take to the ships once more and sail for the

land of their fathers.

With strains like these, men of Athens, ringing in the ears

of your sires, they could emulate the deeds of old; rising

to such heights of valor that not for their own native

State alone, but for all Hellas as a common fatherland,

they stood ready to offer up their lives. There on Marathon

they went into line in the face of the barbarians, bore

down all Asia in arms, the stake their lives alone, winning

security for Greece at large; not puffed up with the pride

of renown, but glad their work was worthy of its fame; of

Greece the champions, masters of the heathen worlds;

letting their deeds proclaim aloud with glory. Such was the

strenuous life they led in Athens in the great days of old

that once when the Lacedaemonians, valiant of men, were at

war with the Messinians, the god vouchsafed them a response

that bade them take a leader from our people, and then they

should conquer their enemies. If then divine judgment

declared in favor of our leadership, even for the children

of Hercules, lords for all time in Sparta, are we not

justified in our faith that once Athenian valor was

peerless? Who that is Greek does not know that they took

one Tyrtaeus for their general? And with him they overthrew

their enemies. And when the immediate peril was past, they

(with an admirable wisdom) turned the episode to the

advantage of their youth for all time. For when Tyrtaeus

left them, his elegiacs were still theirs. While other

poets have had no vogue among them, for him their

enthusiasm has been so great that they passed a law that

whenever a campaign was to open, all the man should be

called to the tent of the king to hear the strains of

Tyrtaeus. Nothing else, they thought, could make their men

so ready to lay down their lives for their country. And now

the day is come when we ourselves may need the sound of

those elegiacs which could make their way to the souls of

Spartans:

Blest is the brave: how glorious is his prize,

When at his country's call he dares and dies.

And sad the sight when, envious of the dead,

The man without a country begs his bread.

His poor old parents feebly toil along,

And little children who have done no wrong.

Spurned by the glance he meets at every turn,

He learns how hot the beggar's brand can burn.

His name is shame: the human form divine

Shows in its fall the soul's dishonored shrine.

Deeds in the dust of ages swiftly root,

And children's children reap the bitter fruit.

Strike for our country, comrades: on, ye brave!

Where is the man that dreads a patriot grave?

And ye, my younger brethren, side by side,

Shoulder to shoulder stand, whate'er betide.

The surging thrill ye feel before your foe

Swept o'er your father's heart-strings long ago.

To those whose days are longer in the land

Lend in the pride of youth the helping hand.

For shame to see an old man fall in front

When young men leave him there to bear the brunt:

Low in the dust the hoary hair is trailed;

And last is quenched a soul that never quailed,

Youth in its bloom should pluck the glowing bough

Whose leaves in glory wreathe a hero's brow.

Welcome to man, and fair in woman's eye,

The manly form that living dares to die.

Fate hangs apoise, with gloom and triumph fraught:

Up, hearts! and in the balance count we our lives as

naught.

Noble sentiments, gentlemen, that sway the soul of him that

hath ears to hear. The Spartans could hear them, and

receive such an impulse into manhood that they engaged with

us in a struggle for the hegemony. It was nature's rivalry;

for the noblest achievements have been wrought on either

side. Our ancestors had overthrown the barbarian who had

set the first hostile foot upon Attic soil; in them was

made manifest a manhood that no money could corrupt, a

valor no host countervail. In Thermopylae the

Lacedaemonians made their stand; and though the fate they

met was not like ours, yet there the ideals of human

devotion became reality.

And thus on the borne of life we can see the memorials of

the valor of our race graven with the chisel of truth unto

all Greek blood:

For Theirs:

Go stranger, tell the Spartans where we lie,

True to the land that taught her sons to die.

For Yours:

On Marathon when Athens fought alone,

Down to the dust the golden East was thrown.

These great memories, Athenians, are the glory of the men

who bequeathed them and of Athens the undying renown. Not

in this wise was Leocrates wrought. The fair fame of the

city, flower of the ages, deliberately hath he defiled. If

then he meet death at your hands, all Greece will feel the

abhorrence in which you hold such acts. If not, then are

the fathers of their ancient fame bereft by the same fell

stroke that wounds your brothers in citizenship. They who

revere not the men of old will follow the footsteps of this

man, quick to descry the path that shall lead them to favor

with our enemies, quick to perceive that shamelessness,

treachery, cowardice, need only a verdict from you to prove

their native worth.

One word more and I am done. To your sovereign chastisement

I commit the man who stands for Athenian annihilation. On

your own honor and in the presence of the gods you are to

give Leocrates his due. On the head of the criminal lies

the crime; but in a miscarriage of justice the jurors

delinquent become participant of guilt. Gentlemen, ye cast

the secret ballot now; but be not deceived: not one man

among you can deposit a vote that the eye of heaven does

not see. In my opinion, gentlemen, your verdict today

reaches all the greatest and most fearful crimes at once:

we behold them in the person of Leocrates; treason, for he

abandoned the city to subjugation by the enemy; apostasy,

for he played a coward's part in freedom's cause; sacrilege

for the groves might be felled, the temples razed, as far

as he was concerned; abomination, for the memorials of our

fathers might be swept away and the hallowed observance

abolished; desertion, for the nidering did not report for

duty in the line. Where then is the man who will vote to

clear him? Who is he that will show his sympathy with crime

that shows malice aforethought? Is there a man so bereft of

sense that he will set Leocrates free and so place his own

security at the mercy of men who would abandon him? that

out of pity for Leocrates he will take no pity on himself,

when his choice may mean death at the hands of the foe?

that by extending clemency to a traitor he will lay himself

open to the retribution of heaven?

In support of our country, religion and laws I have pleaded

this case, in righteousness and in fairness, indulging in

no irrelevant abuse of the man and making no charges

extraneous to the case. You must all be convinced that a

vote for the acquittal of Leocrates is a vote for the

conviction of the country; for in the life of nations

subjugation is the death. Here stand the two urns; one for

your undoing, one for your redemption: vote there for the

disruption of the country, vote here for her security and

prosperity. Think, men of Athens: the land and the trees

are pleading, the harbors, the walls are entreating, the

temples and shrines are in prayer. Save them. Make of

Leocrates an example. One final declaration of my

confidence: this pity that fills your hearts for the tears

you look upon can never avail to pervert your loyalty to

the law of the land, your devotion to the people of Athens.

AESCHINES

Aeschines, best known as an opponent of Demosthenes, was, in fact, a

gallant solider, a man of much ability, and a really great orator. He

was born in Attica, 389 B.C., five years before the birth of his

famous rival, and died 314 B.C. His eloquence was of a high order,

but his renown was tarnished by his defeat of Demosthenes in the

contest on the proposition of Ctesiphon that Demosthenes should be

awarded a golden crown for his patriotic services to the state. The

speech delivered by Aeschines on that occasion was in many respects

able, but he committed the grievous error of abusing his adversary

and thus exposing his animosity.

_Against Crowning Demosthenes._ You see, Athenians, what

preparations are on foot, what forces are arrayed, what

appeals to the Assembly are being made by certain persons

to prevent the proper and ordinary course of justice from

having its effect in the city. For myself I came before

you, first, with a firm belief in the immortal gods, next,

with an abiding confidence in the laws and in you,

convinced that intrigues will not more avail with you than

these laws and the cause of justice.

I could indeed have fain desired that both in the Council

of Five Hundred and in the Assembly the presiding officers

had compelled conformity to established rules of debate,

and that the laws had been enforced concerning the orderly

deportment of public speakers which were laid down by

Solon. It should thus have been permitted to the oldest

citizens, as the laws prescribe, to ascend the platform

decorously, and without tumult or annoyance, according to

their experience, express their opinions upon what they

regarded most advantageous to the city. Afterwards, each

citizen in order of seniority should have in turn presented

his independent views upon every question.

In this way it seems to me would the affairs of the city

have been best conducted, and prosecutions have been

reduced within the smallest compass. Since, however, the

old recognized rules of procedure have been swept away, and

certain men recklessly introduce illegal propositions, and

certain others put them to the vote--men who have managed

to secure the presidency, not by just and proper means, but

taking possession of it by contrivance--it is brought to

pass that if any other senator shall succeed in reaching

the first place in due course of law and shall then attempt

to obtain the result of your votes properly, such an one is

denounced and impeached by the men who regard our

government as no longer a common inheritance but as their

own peculiar property. And when in this way, by reducing

private citizens to servitude and by securing absolute

power themselves, they have overthrown established legal

judgments and have passed decrees according to the dictates

of their passions, there shall be heard no longer that most

beautiful and proper invitation of the herald, "Who desires

to express his opinion, of citizens of fifty years of age

and upwards, and afterwards, of all other in rotation?"

Thus neither the laws, nor the senators, nor the

presidents, nor the presiding tribe itself a tenth part of

the city, can control the indecent conduct of these orators.

Such being the case, and such the position in which the

city is placed--and you must be convinced that this is

so,--one part at least of the constitution, if I know

anything of the matter, still survives--the right of

prosecution for proposing unconstitutional measures. Should

you destroy this right, or surrender it to those who will

destroy it, I prophesy that you will have unconsciously

given away to a few men almost our entire form of

government. For you must surely know, Athenians, that but

three forms of government exist, monarchy, oligarchy, and

democracy: the two former are administered according to the

feeling and opinions of those who are at the head of

affairs, but republics repose upon the authority of law.

Let no one of you, therefore, forget, but on the contrary

let him lay it carefully to heart, that when he enters this

tribunal for the trial of such an issue, on that day he is

called upon to cast his vote upon his own right of free

speech. Therefore was it that our old lawgivers placed in

the forefront of the juror's oath these words, "I will

render a verdict according to law," knowing well that when

the laws were jealously observed by the city free

institutions were safe.

Wherefore is it that, bearing these things in mind, you

should hold in abhorrence all who commit unconstitutional

acts, and that you should look upon no infraction of the

constitution as small or unimportant, but treat all as of

the gravest nature. Nor should you suffer any man to

deprive you of this most vital right--neither the

persuasions of the generals who for a long time past have

been at work with certain of our orators to overthrow the

constitution, nor the solicitations of strangers when those

whose administration has been illegal have brought up

hither to screen them from justice--but as each one of you

would blush to quit the ranks in which he was stationed on

the day of battle, so you should now blush at the thought

of abandoning the post in which you are placed by the laws

which are today the guardians of our institutions.

You must further bear in mind that your fellow citizens

have now entrusted to your keeping the city itself in thus

confiding the constitution to your charge; not only those

of them who are here present intent upon the course of this

trial, but those also who are necessarily absent upon their

private business. If, therefore, holding in due regard

these your fellow citizens, and remembering the oaths you

have sworn and the laws you are living under, you should

convict Ctesiphon for having introduced an unconstitutional

bill false in terms and injurious to the city, overturn,

Athenians, such unconstitutional enactments, confirm our

free institutions, and punish the men who have been

advising against the law and against the interests both of

the State and of yourselves. If in this frame of mind you

listen to the words which are about to be spoken, I well

know that your verdict will be in accordance with justice

and right, and that it will redound to the credit of

yourselves and of the whole community.

I have thus far spoken about the general nature of this

prosecution, and, I hope, with sufficient fairness. I now

desire to speak briefly about the laws which have been

passed in regard to persons who are accountable to the

state, against which the decree of Ctesiphon offends.

In former times it happened that men who had exercised the

highest employment and had been entrusted with the

management of the public revenues, although guilty therein

of the grossest corruption, would, by conniving with

certain orators both in the Senate and the General

Assembly, anticipate all examination into their accounts by

means of votes of condemnation and proclamations of thanks

in their behalf. Not only were citizens who attempted to

bring them to justice for the state of their accounts in

this way much perplexed, but the jurors themselves who were

to try the cause were reduced to a grave dilemma. And many

of these officials, although clearly proved to have

embezzled public moneys in the most flagrant way, were yet

permitted to leave the judgment-seat unpunished. And not

unreasonably. For the jurors were ashamed, it seems to me,

that it should appear the same man in the same city, and

perchance in the very same year, who had been proclaimed in

the Assemblies as worthy of being honored with a golden

crown by the people for his virtue and uprightness, should

a short time afterwards be brought to trial, and go forth

from our courts of justice convicted of fraud in his

accounts. So that the jurors were compelled, as it were, to

give their verdict not so much upon the crime which was

proven, as in regard to the honor of the city itself. And

hence it was that one of our lawgivers provided for this

very emergency by propounding a law--and a most admirable

one it was--by which the coronation of all persons liable

to account was distinctly forbidden. Notwithstanding the

passage of this law, evasions of it more efficacious than

the law itself have been invented, in ignorance of which,

unless they be explained to you, you would be entirely

deceived. This decree for the crowning of officials while

they were still liable to account were introduced contrary

to law by men not ill disposed by nature--if any one can be

well-disposed who thus acts illegally--and by way of a

slave to propriety they added to the propositions the

words, "after they shall have rendered a correct account of

their administration." The city, however, was injured in

the same way by this evasion, since the accounting was

equally forestalled by the panegyrics and votes of crowns;

and the propounder of the decree, by thus qualifying it,

admitted to his discredit that at the time of its proposal

he was conscious of an intended infraction of the law. But

this fellow Ctesiphon, men of Athens, at one bound clears

both law and qualification; for by his decree he asks that

Demosthenes, while actually in office, before he has

furnished any explanations or delivered in any accounts,

shall be crowned by the people! . . .

You have just heard, Athenians, that the law directs the

proclamation of one who is crowned by the people to be made

in the Pnyx at an Assembly of the people, and nowhere else.

Ctesiphon, however, not only transgresses the law by

directing it to be done in the theatre, thus changing the

place from that where the Athenians hold their Assembly,

but he commands it to take place, not before the people

alone, but in presence of the assembled Greeks, that they

may see along with us what manner of man it is whom we then

honor. . . .

Since, then, it is directed that those honored with a crown

by the Senate shall be proclaimed in the Senate Chamber,

and those crowned by the people in the Assembly, and it is

interdicted to those crowned by the tribes or demes to be

so proclaimed in the theatre, that no one by mean

solicitations for crowns and proclamations should thereby

obtain a spurious honor, and it is moreover forbidden by

the law that proclamation shall be made by any one unless

by the Senate, the people, the tribes, and the demes; if

all these be excepted, what remains but the case of crowns

conferred by foreign states? That this is manifestly so, I

shall convince you by the laws themselves. . . .

Besides it is enjoined by law that the crown of gold which

shall be proclaimed in the theatre in behalf of any one

shall be taken from him and consecrated to Athens. Who

would dare, however, from this, to accuse the people of

Athens of a sordid economy? Never was there a city, never

an individual, so destitute of generosity, as in the same

moment to proclaim, take away, and consecrate a crown of

their own bestowal! This consecration is doubtless directed

to be made because the crown has been conferred by

strangers, that no man may estimate a foreign honor as of

greater value than his country, and may not be tempted in

consequence to fail in his devotion to her. The crown

conferred by the people and proclaimed in the Assembly is

never consecrated, but on the contrary is permitted to be

enjoyed, not only by its recipient, but by his descendants,

that by preserving this memorial in their family they may

never become ill-disposed to their country. And this is the

reason why the lawmaker has prohibited the proclamation in

the theatre of a crown conferred by strangers unless

authorized by a decree of the people; the foreign city

which may desire so to honor one of your citizens shall

first through an embassy demand it of the people; and thus

he who is crowned shall owe higher debt of gratitude to you

who have permitted the proclamation than to those who have

presented him with the crown itself. . . .

I may here foretell the part that he will play when he sees

that you are in earnest in your endeavor to hold him to his

true course. Ctesiphon will introduce that arch-impostor,

that plunderer of the public, who has cut the constitution

into shreds; the man who can weep more easily than others

laugh, and from whom perjury flows in ready words!

He can, I doubt not, change his tone, and pass from tears

to gross abuse, insult the citizens who are listening

outside, and cry out that the partisans of oligarchical

power, detested by the hand of truth, are pressing round

the prosecutor to support him, while the friends of the

constitution are rallying round the accused. And when he

dares to speak so, answer thus his seditious menaces:

"What, Demosthenes, had the heroes who brought back our

fugitive citizens from Phyle been like you, our democratic

form of government had ceased to exist! Those illustrious

men saved the state exhausted by great civil disorders in

pronouncing that wise and admirable sentence 'oblivion of

all offenses.' But you, more careful of your rounded

periods than of the city's safety, are willing to reopen

all her wounds."

When this perjurer shall seek for credit by taking refuge

in his oaths, remind him that to the foresworn man who asks

belief in them from those he has deceived so often, of two

things one is needful, neither of which exists for

Demosthenes; he must either get new gods, or an audience

not the same. And to his tears and wordy lamentations, when

he shall ask, "Whither shall I fly, Athenians should you

cast me out, I have not where to rest," reply "Where shall

the people seek refuge, Demosthenes; what allies, what

resources, what reserve have you prepared for us? We all

see what you have provided for yourself. When you have left

the city, you shall not stop, as you would seem, to dwell

in Piraeus, but, quickly thence departing, you shall visit

other lands with all the appointments for your journey

provided through your corruption from Persian gold or

public plunder."

But why at all these tears, these cries, this voice of

lamentation? Is it not Ctesiphon who is accused, and even

for him may not the penalty be moderated by you? Thou

pleadest not, Demosthenes, either for thy life, thy

fortune, or thy honor! Why is he then so disquieted? About

crowns of gold and proclamations in the theatre against the

laws: the man who, were the people so insensate or so

forgetful of the present as to wish to crown him in this

time of public distress, should himself step forth and say,

"Men of Athens, while I accept the crown, I disapprove the

proclamation of the honor at a time like this: it should

not be in regard to things for which the state is now

mourning and while it is in the depth of grief." Would not

a man whose life was really upright so speak out; only a

knave who assumes the garb of virtue would talk as you do?

Let none of you, by Hercules, be apprehensive lest this

high-souled citizen, this distinguished warrior, from loss

of this reward should on his return home take his life. The

man who rates so low your consideration as to make a

thousand incisions on that impure and mortgaged head which

Ctesiphon proposes against all law to honor with a crown,

makes money of his wounds by bringing actions for the

effects of his own premeditated blows. Yes, that crown of

his so often battered, that perhaps even now it bears upon

it the marks of Meidias' anger, that crown which brings its

owner in an income, serves both for revenue and head! . . .

And can it be that he whom you have thought worthy by your

decree, of the honor of this crown, is so unknown to the

public which has been so largely benefited by him that you

must procure assistance to speak in his behalf? Ask of the

jurors whether they know Chabrias, Iphicrates and

Timotheus, and learn from them why they have honored and

erected statues to them? Will they not proclaim with one

voice that they rendered honor to Chabrias for his naval

victory near Naxos; to Iphicrates for having cut off a

Spartan corps; to Timotheus for his expedition to Corcyra;

to other heroes for their many glorious achievements? Ask

them now why Demosthenes is to be rewarded. Is it for his

venality, for his cowardice, for his base desertion of his

post in the day of battle? In honoring such an one will you

not dishonor yourselves and the gallant men who have laid

down their lives for you in the field? whose plaintive

remonstrances against the crowing of this man you may

almost seem to hear. Strange, passing strange, does it

seem, Athenians, that you banish from the limits of the

state the stocks and stones the senseless implements which

have unwittingly caused death by casualty; that the hand

which has inflicted the wound of self-destruction is buried

apart from the rest of the body; and that yet you can

render honor to this Demosthenes, by whose counsels this

last fatal expedition in which your troops were slaughtered

and destroyed was planned! The victims of this massacre are

thus insulted, in their graves, and the survivors outraged

and discouraged when they behold the only reward of

patriotic valor to be an unremembered death and a

disregarded memory! And last and most important of all

consequences, what answer shall you make to your children

when they ask you after what examples they shall frame

their lives? Is it not, men of Athens--you know it well--is

it not the palaestra, the seminary, or the study of the

liberal arts alone, which form and educate our youth. Of

vastly greater value are the lessons taught by these honors

publicly conferred. If a man proclaimed and crowned in the

theatre for virtue, courage, and patriotism when his

irregular and vicious life belies the honor, the young who

witness this are perverted and corrupted! In a profligate

and a pander, such as Ctesiphon, sentenced and punished, an

instructive lesson is given to the rising generation. Has a

citizen voted in opposition to justice and propriety, and

does he, on his return to his house, attempt to instruct

his son; disobedience surely follows, and the lesson is

justly looked upon as importunate and out of place.

Pronounce your verdict then, not as simple jurors, but as

guardians of the State, whose decision can be justified in

the eyes of their absent fellow citizens who shall demand a

strict account of it. Know ye not, Athenians, that the

people is judged by the ministers whom it honors; will it

not be disgraceful, then, that you shall be thought to

resemble the baseness of Demosthenes, and not the virtues

of your ancestors?

How, then, is this reproach to be avoided? It must be to

distrusting the men who usurp the character of upright and

patriotic citizens, which their entire conduct gainsays.

Good will and zeal for the public interest can be readily

assumed in name: oftentimes those who have the smallest

pretensions to them by their conduct seize upon and take

refuge behind these honorable titles. When you find, then,

an orator desirous of being crowned by strangers and of

being proclaimed in presence of the Greeks, let him, as the

law requires in other cases, prove the claim which he

asserts by the evidence of a life free from reproach, and a

wise and blameless course. If he be unable to do this, do

not confirm to him the honors which he claims, and try at

least to preserve the remnant of that public authority

which is fast escaping from you. Even now, strange as it

should seem, are not the Senate and the people passed over

and neglected, and despatches and deputations received by

private citizens, not from obscure individuals, but from

the most important personages of Europe and Asia? Far from

denying that for which under our laws the punishment is

death, it is made the subject of open public boast; the

correspondence is exhibited and read; and you are invited

by some to look upon them as the guardians of the

constitution, while others demand to be rewarded as the

saviors of the country. The people, meanwhile, as if struck

with the decrepitude of age and broken down by their

misfortunes, preserve the republic only in name and abandon

to others the reality of authority. You thus retire from

the Assembly, not as from a public deliberation, but as

from an entertainment given at common cost where each guest

carries away with him a share of the remnants of the feast.

That I speak forth the words of truth and soberness,

hearken to which I am about to say.

It distresses me to recur so often to our public

calamities, but when a private citizen undertook to sail

only to Samos to get out of the way, he was condemned to

death on the same day by the Council of Areopagus as a

traitor to his country. Another private citizen, unable to

bear the fear which oppressed him, and sailing in

consequence to Rhodes, was recently denounced for this and

escaped punishment by an equal division of the votes. Had a

single one been cast on the other side, he would have been

either banished or put to death. Compare these instances

with the present one. An orator, the cause of all our

misfortunes, who abandons his post in time of war and flies

from the city, proclaims himself worthy of crowns and

proclamations. Will you not drive such a man from your

midst as the common scourge of Greece; or will you not

rather seize upon and punish him as a piratical braggart

who steers his course through our government by dint of

phrases?

Consider, moreover, the occasion on which you are called

upon to record your verdict. In a few days the Pythian

Games will be celebrated, and the assembled Greeks will all

be reunited in your city. She has already suffered much

disparagement from the policy of Demosthenes: should you

now crown him by your votes you will seem to share the same

opinion as the men who wish to break the common peace. By

adopting the contrary course you will free the state from

any such suspicion.

Let your deliberations, then, be in accord with the

interests of the city: it is for her, and not a foreign

community, you are now to decide. Do not throw away your

honors, but confer them with discernment upon high-minded

citizens and deserving men. Search with both eyes and ears

as to who they are among you who are today standing forth

in Demosthenes' behalf. Are they the companions of his

youth who shared with him the manly toils of the chase or

the robust exercises of the palaestra? No, by the Olympian

Jove, he has passed not his life in hunting the wild boar

or in the preparation of his body for fatigue and hardship,

but in the exercise of chicane at the cost of the substance

of men of wealth!

Examine well his vainglorious boasting when he shall dare

to say that by his embassy he withdrew the Byzantines from

the cause of Philip; that by his eloquence he detached from

him the Acarnanians, and so transported the Thebans as to

confirm them upon your side. He believes indeed that you

have reached such a point of credulity that you are ready

to be persuaded by him of anything he may choose to utter,

as if you had here in your midst the goddess Persuasion

herself, and not an artful demagogue.

And when, at the close of his harangue, Demosthenes shall

invite the partakers of his corruption to press round and

defend him, let there be present in your imagination upon

the platform from which I am now speaking the venerable

forms of the ancient benefactors of the state, arrayed in

all their virtue, to oppose these men's insolence. I see

among them the wise Solon, that upright lawgiver who

founded our popular government upon the soundest principles

of legislation, gently advising you with his native

moderation not to place your oaths and the law under the

control of this man's discourse. And Aristides, by whose

equity the imposts upon the Greeks were regulated, whose

daughters, left in poverty through his incorruptible

integrity, were endowed by the state, Aristides is seen

complaining of this outrage upon justice, and demanding

whether the descendants of the men who fought worthy of

death and actually banished from their city and country

Arthmius the Zelian, then living in their midst and

enjoying the sacred rights of hospitality for merely

bringing Persian gold into Greece, are now going to cover

themselves with disgrace by honoring with a crown of gold

the man who has not simply brought higher the stranger's

money, but is enjoying here the price of his treason. And

Themistocles and the men who fell at Marathon and Plataea,

think you that they are insensible to what is taking place?

Do not their voices cry out from the very tombs in mournful

protests against this perverse rendering of honor to one

who has dared to proclaim his union with the barbarians

against the Greeks?

As for me, O Earth and Sun, O Virtue, and thou,

Intelligence, by whose light we are enabled to discern and

to separate good from evil, as for me, I have directed my

efforts against this wrong. I have lifted up my voice

against this injustice! If I have spoken well and loftily

against this crime, I have spoken as I should have wished;

but if my utterances have been feeble and ill-directed,

still they have been according to the measure of my

strength. It is for you, men of Athens and jurors, to weigh

carefully both what has been spoken and what has been left

unsaid, and to render such a decision as shall not only be

upright but for the advantage of the State.

DEMOSTHENES

Demosthenes, considered the greatest of the Greek orators, and

consequently the greatest orator in the history of the world, as

oratory flourished nowhere as it did in Greece between 500 and 300

B.C., was born about 383 B.C., and died by poison administered to

himself, after being captured by Macedonian troops, 322 B.C.

"He [Demosthenes] seems to have lacked by nature all the physical

qualifications of a great orator, and to have acquired them solely by

indefatigable self-discipline and training. At about the age of

thirty he made his first appearance as a politician; he continued to

practice as a logographer (speech-writer) until he was about forty,

by which time he had made a fortune sufficient to enable him to

devote himself exclusively to political life until he died, at the

age of sixty-one."

Demosthenes studied under Isaeus and profited by the work previously

done by the great rhetoricians and orators, Lysias, Isocrates,

Antiphon, and others. Demosthenes' political morality was of the

highest, and this was one of the main sources of his great strength.

_Speech of Demosthenes in Defense of Ctesiphon, Commonly

known as the "Oration on the Crown."_ I begin, men of

Athens, by praying to every god and goddess that the same

good-will, which I have ever cherished toward the

commonwealth and all of you, may be requited to me on the

present trial. I pray likewise--and this specially concerns

yourselves, your religion, and your honor--that the gods

may put it in your minds not to take counsel of my opponent

touching the manner in which I am to be heard--that would,

indeed, be cruel!--but of the laws and of your oath;

wherein (besides the other obligations) it is prescribed

that you shall hear both sides alike. This means, not only

that you must pass no precondemnation, not only that you

must extend your good-will equally to both, but also that

you must allow the parties to adopt such order and course

of defense as they severally choose and prefer.

Many advantages hath Aeschines over me on this trial; and

two especially, men of Athens. First, my risk in the

contest is not the same. It is assuredly not the same for

me to forfeit your regard, as for my adversary not to

succeed in his indictment. To me--but I will say nothing

untoward at the outset of my address. The prosecution,

however, is play to him. My second disadvantage is, that

natural disposition of mankind to take pleasure in hearing

invective and accusation, and to be annoyed by those who

praise themselves. To Aeschines is assigned the part which

gives pleasure; that which is (I may fairly say) offensive

to all, is left for me. And if, to escape from this, I make

no mention of what I have done, I shall appear to be

without defense against his charges, without proof of my

claims to honor; whereas, if I proceed to give an account

of my conduct and measures, I shall be forced to speak

frequently of myself. I will endeavor then to do so with

all becoming modesty; what I am driven to by the necessity

of the case will be fairly chargeable to my opponent, who

has instituted such a prosecution.

I think, men of the jury, you will all agree that I, as

well as Ctesiphon, am a party to this proceeding, and that

it is a matter of no less concern to me. It is painful and

grievous to be deprived of anything, especially by the act

of one's enemy; but your good-will and affection are the

heaviest loss, precisely as they are the greatest prize to

gain.

Such being the matters at stake in this cause, I conjure

and implore you all alike, to hear my defense to the charge

in that fair manner which the laws prescribe--laws, to

which their author, Solon, a man friendly to you and to

popular rights, thought that validity should be given, not

only by the recording of them, but by the oath of you, the

jurors; not that he distrusted you, as it appears to me,

but, seeing that the charges and calumnies, wherein the

prosecutor is powerful by being the first speaker, cannot

be got over by the defendant, unless each of you jurors,

observing his religious obligation, shall work with like

favor receive the arguments of the last speaker, and lend

an equal and impartial ear to both, before he determines

upon the whole case.

As I am, it appears, on this day to render an account both

of my private life and my public measures, I would fain, as

in the outset, call upon the gods to my aid; and in your

presence I implore them, first, that the good-will which I

have ever cherished toward the commonwealth and all of you

may be fully requited to me on the present trial; next,

that they may direct you to such a decision upon this

indictment as will conduce to your common honor, and to the

good conscience of each individual.

Had Aeschines confined his charge to the subject of the

prosecution, I, too, would have proceeded at once to my

justification of the decree. But since he has wasted now

fewer words in the discussion of other matters, in most of

them calumniating me, I deem it both necessary and just,

men of Athens, to begin by shortly adverting to these

points, that none of you may be induced by extraneous

arguments to shut your ears against my defense of the

indictment.

To all his scandalous abuse of my private life, observe my

plain and honest answer. If you know me to be such as he

alleged--for I have lived nowhere else but among you--let

not my voice be heard, however transcendent my

statesmanship! Rise up this instant and condemn me! But if,

in your opinion and judgment, I am far better and of better

descent than my adversary; if (to speak without offense) I

am not inferior, I or mine, to any respectable citizens;

that give no credit to him for his other statements--it is

plain they were all equally fictions--but to me let the

same good-will, which you have uniformly exhibited upon

many former trials, be manifested now. With all your

malice, Aeschines, it was very simple to suppose that I

should turn from the discussion of measures and policy to

notice your scandal. I will do no such thing; I am not so

crazed. Your lies and calumnies about my political life I

will examine forthwith; for that loose ribaldry I shall

have a word hereafter, if the jury desire to hear it.

The crimes whereof I am accused are many and grievous; for

some of them the laws enact heavy--most severe penalties.

The scheme of this present proceeding includes a

combination of spiteful insolence, insult, railing,

aspersion, and everything of the kind; while for the said

charges and accusations, if they were true, the state has

not the means of inflicting an adequate punishment, or

anything like it. For it is not the right to debar another

of access to the people and privilege of speech; moreover,

to do so by way of malice and insult--by Heaven! is neither

honest, nor constitutional, nor just. If the crimes which

he saw me committing against the State were as heinous as

he so tragically gave out, he ought to have enforced the

penalties of the law against them at the time; if he saw me

guilty of an impeachable offense, by impeaching and so

bringing me to trial before you; if moving illegal decrees,

by indicting me for them. For surely if he can prosecute

Ctesiphon on my account, he would not have forborne to

indict me myself, had he thought he could convict me. In

short, whatever else he saw me doing to your prejudice,

whether mentioned or not mentioned in his catalogue of

slander, there are laws for such things, and punishments,

and trials, and judgments, with sharp and severe penalties;

all of which he might have enforced against me: and had he

done so--had he thus pursued the proper method with me, his

charges would have been consistent with his conduct. But

now he has declined the straightforward and just course,

avoided all proofs of guilt at the time, and after this

long interval gets up, to play his part withal, a heap of

accusation, ribaldry, and scandal. Then he arraigns me, but

prosecutes the defendant. His hatred of me he makes the

prominent part of the whole contest; yet, without having

ever met me upon that ground, he openly seeks to deprive a

third party of his privileges. Now, men of Athens, besides

all the other arguments that may be urged in Ctesiphon's

behalf, this, methinks, may very fairly be alleged--that we

should all try our own quarrel by ourselves; not leave our

private dispute, and look what third party we can damage.

That surely were the height of injustice.

It may appear, from what has been said, that all his

charges are alike unjust and unfounded in truth; yet I wish

to examine them separately, and especially his calumnies

about the peace and the embassy, where he attributed to me

the acts of himself and Philocrates. It is necessary also,

and perhaps proper, men of Athens, to remind you how

affairs stood at those times, that you may consider every

single measure in reference to the occasion.

When the Phocian war had broken out--not through me, for I

had not then commenced public life--you were in this

position: you wished the Phocians to be saved, though you

saw they were not acting right; and would have been glad

for the Thebans to suffer anything, with whom for a just

reason you were angry; for they had not borne with

moderation their good fortune at Leuctra. The whole of

Peloponnesus was divided: they that hated the

Lacedaemonians were not powerful enough to destroy them;

and they that ruled before by Spartan influence were not

masters of the states: among them, as among the rest of the

Greeks, there was a sort of unsettled strife and confusion.

Philip, seeing this--it was not difficult to see--lavished

bribes upon the traitors in every state, embroiled and

stirred them all up against each other; and so, by the

errors and follies of the rest, he was strengthening

himself, and growing up to the ruin of all. But when every

one saw that the then overbearing, but now unfortunate,

Thebans, harassed by so long a war, must of necessity have

recourse to you, Philip, to prevent this, and obstruct the

union of the states, offered to you peace, to them succor.

What helped him then almost to surprise you in a voluntary

snare? The cowardice, shall I call it? or ignorance--or

both--of the other Greeks, who while you were waging a long

and incessant war--and that, too, for their common benefit,

as the event has shown--assisted you neither with money nor

men, nor anything else whatsoever. You, being justly and

naturally offended with them, lent a willing ear to Philip.

The peace then granted was through such means brought

about, not through me, as Aeschines calumniously charged.

The criminal and corrupt practice of these men during the

treaty will be found, on fair examination, to be the cause

of our present condition. The whole matter am I for truth's

sake discussing and going through; for, let there appear to

be ever so much criminality in these transactions, it is

surely nothing to me. The first who spoke and mentioned the

subject of peace was Aristodemus the actor; the seconder

and mover, fellow-hireling for that purpose with the

prosecutor, was Philocrates the Agnusian--your associate,

Aeschines, not mine, though you should burst with lying.

Their supporters--from whatever motives--I pass that by for

the present--were Eubulus and Cephisophon. I had nothing to

do with it.

Notwithstanding these facts, which I have stated exactly

according to the truth, he ventured to assert--to such a

pitch of impudence had he come--that I, besides being

author of the peace, had prevented the country making it in

a general council with the Greeks. Why, you--I know not

what name you deserve!--when you saw me robbing the state

of an advantage and connection so important as you

described just now, did you ever express indignation? did

you come forward to punish and proclaim what you now charge

me with? If, indeed, I had been bribed by Philip to prevent

the conjunction of the Greeks, it was your business not to

be silent, but to cry out, to protest, and inform the

people. But you never did so--your voice was never heard to

such a purpose, and no wonder; for at that time no embassy

had been sent to any of the Greeks--they had all been

tested long before; and not a word of truth upon the

subject has Aeschines spoken.

Besides, it is the country that he most traduces by his

falsehoods. For, if you were at the same time calling on

the Greeks to take arms and sending your own ambassadors to

treat with Philip for peace, you were performing the part

of an Eurybatus, not the act of a commonwealth, or of

honest men. But it is false, it is false. For what purpose

could ye have sent for them at that period? For peace? They

all had it. For war? You were yourselves deliberating about

peace. It appears, therefore, I was not the adviser or the

author of the original peace; and none of his other

calumnies against me are shown to be true.

Observe again, after the state had concluded the peace,

what line of conduct each of us adopted. Hence you will

understand who it was that coöperated in everything with

Philip, who that acted in your behalf, and sought the

advantage of the commonwealth.

I moved in the council, that our ambassadors should sail

instantly for whatever place they heard Philip was in, and

receive his oath: they would not, however, notwithstanding

my resolution. What was the effect of this, men of Athens?

I will explain. It was Philip's interest that the interval

before the oaths should be as long as possible; yours, that

it should be as short. Why? Because you discontinued all

your warlike preparations, not only from the day of

swearing peace, but from the day you conceived hopes of it;

a thing which Philip was from the beginning studious to

contrive, believing--rightly enough--that whatever of your

possessions he might take before the oath of ratification

he should hold securely; as none would break the peace on

such account. I, men of Athens, foreseeing and weighing

these consequences, moved the decree, to sail for whatever

place Philip was in, and receive his oath without delay; so

that your allies, the Thracians, might be in possession of

the places which Aeschines ridiculed just now (Serrium,

Myrtium, and Ergisce), at the time of swearing the oaths;

and that Philip might not become master of Thrace by

securing the post of vantage, nor provide himself with

plenty of money and troops to facilitate his further

designs. Yet this decree he neither mentions nor reads; but

reproaches me, because, as Councillor, I thought it proper

to introduce the ambassadors. Why, what should I have done?

Moved not to introduce men who were come for the purpose of

conferring with you? or ordered the Manager not to assign

them places at the theatre? They might have had places for

their two obols, if the resolution had not been moved. Was

it my duty to guard the petty interests of the state, and

have sold our main interests like these men? Surely not.

Take and read me this decree, which the prosecutor, knowing

it well, passed over. Read!

THE DECREE

"In the Archonship of Mnesiphilus, on the thirteenth of

Hecatombaeon, in the presidency of the Pandionian tribe,

Demosthenes, son of Demosthenes of Paeania, moved: Whereas,

Philip hath sent ambassadors for peace, and hath agreed

upon articles of treaty, it is resolved by the Council and

people of Athens, in order that the peace voted in the

first assembly may be ratified, to choose forthwith from

the whole body of Athenians five ambassadors; and that the

persons elected do repair, without any delay, wheresoever

they shall ascertain that Philip is, and as speedily as may

be exchange oaths with him, according to the articles

agreed on between him and the Athenian people,

comprehending the allies of either party. For ambassadors

were chosen, Eubulus of Anaphlystus, Aeschines of

Cothocidae, Cephisophon of Rhamnus, Democrates of Phyla,

Cleon of Cothocidae."

Notwithstanding that I had passed this decree for the

advantage of Athens, not that of Philip, our worthy

ambassadors so little regarded it as to sit down in

Macedonia three whole months, until Philip returned from

Thrace after entirely subjugating the country; although

they might in ten days, or rather in three or four, have

reached the Hellespont and saved the fortresses, by

receiving his oath before he reduced them: for he would

never have touched them on our presence, or we should not

have sworn him; and thus he would have lost the peace, and

not have obtained both the peace and the fortresses.

Such was the first trick of Philip, the first corrupt act

of these accursed miscreants, in the embassy: for which I

avow that I was and am and ever will be at war and variance

with them. But mark another and still greater piece of

villainy immediately after. When Philip had sworn to the

peace, having secured Thrace through these men disobeying

my decree, he again bribes them not to leave Macedonia

until he had got all ready for his expedition against the

Phocians. His fear was, if they reported to you his design

and preparation for marching, you might sally forth, sail

round with your galleys to Thermopylae as before, and block

up the strait; his desire, that, the moment you received

the intelligence from them, he should have passed

Thermopylae, and you be unable to do anything. And in such

terror and anxiety was Philip, lest, notwithstanding he had

gained these advantages, if you voted succor before the

destruction of the Phocians, his enterprise should fail, he

hires this despicable fellow, no longer in common with the

other ambassadors, but by himself individually, to make

that statement and report to you, by which everything was

lost.

I conjure and beseech you, men of Athens, throughout the

trial to remember this: that, if Aeschines in his charge

had not travelled out of the indictment, neither would I

have spoken a word irrelevant; but since he has resorted to

every species both of accusation and calumny, it is

necessary for me to reply briefly to each of his charges.

What, then, were the statements made by Aeschines, through

which everything was lost? That you should not be alarmed

by Philip's having passed Thermopylae--that all would be as

you desired, if you kept quiet; and in two or three days

you would hear he as their friend to whom he had come as an

enemy, and their enemy to whom he had come as a friend--it

was not words that cemented attachments (such was his

solemn phrase), but identity of interest; and it was the

interest of all alike, Philip, the Phocians, and you, to be

relieved from the harshness and insolence of the Thebans.

His assertions were heard by some with pleasure, on account

of the hatred which then subsisted against the Thebans. But

what happened directly, almost immediately, afterwards? The

wretched Phocians were destroyed, their cities demolished;

you that kept quiet, and trusted to Aeschines, were shortly

bringing in your effects out of the country, while

Aeschines received gold; and yet more--while you got

nothing but your enmity with the Thebans and Thessalians,

Philip won their gratitude for what he had done. To prove

what I say, read me the decree of Callisthenes, and the

letter of Philip, from both of which these particulars will

be clear to you.

* * * * * * *

These and like measures, Aeschines, are what become an

honorable citizen (by their success--O earth and heaven! we

should have been the greatest of people incontestably, and

deserved to be so: even under their failure the result is

glory, and no one blames Athens or her policy; all condemn

fortune that so ordered things); but never will he desert

the interests of the commonwealth, nor hire himself to her

adversaries, and study the enemy's advantage, instead of

his country's; nor on a man who has courage to advise and

propose measures worthy of the state, and resolution to

persevere in them, will he cast an evil eye, and, if any

one privately offends him, remember and treasure it up; no,

nor keep himself in a criminal and treacherous retirement,

as you so often do. There is indeed a retirement just and

beneficial to the state, such as you, the bulk of my

countrymen, innocently enjoy; that, however, is not the

retirement of Aeschines; far from it. Withdrawing himself

from public life when he pleases (and that is often), he

watches for the moment when you are tired of a constant

speaker, or when some reverse of fortune has befallen you,

or anything untoward has happened (and many are the

casualties of human life); at such a crisis he springs up

an orator, rising from his retreat like a wind; in full

voice, with words and phrases collected, he rolls them out

audibly and breathlessly, to no advantage or good purpose

whatsoever, but to the detriment of some or other of his

fellow-citizens and to the general disgrace.

Yet from this labor and diligence, Aeschines, if it

proceeded from an honest heart, solicitous for your

country's welfare, the fruits should have been rich and

noble and profitable to all--alliances of states, supplies

of money, conveniences of commerce, enactment of useful

laws, opposition to our declared enemies. All such things

were looked for in former times; and many opportunities did

the past afford for a good man and true to show himself;

during which time you are nowhere to be found, neither

first, second, third, fourth, fifth, nor sixth--nor in any

rank at all--certainly in no service by which your country

was exalted. For what alliance has come to the state by

your procurement? What succors, what acquisition of good

will or credit? What embassy or agency is there of yours,

by which the reputation of the country has been increased?

What concern, domestic, Hellenic, or foreign, of which you

have had the management, has improved under it? What

galleys? what ammunition? what arsenals? what repair of

walls? what cavalry? What in the world are you good for?

What assistance in money have you ever given, either to the

rich or the poor, out of public spirit or liberality? None.

But, good sir, if there is nothing of this, there is at all

events zeal and loyalty. Where? when? You infamous fellow!

Even at a time when all who ever spoke upon the platform

gave something for the public safety, and last Aristonicus

gave the sum which he had amassed to retrieve his

franchise, you neither came forward nor contributed a

mite--not from inability--no! for you have inherited above

five talents from Philo, your wife's father, and you had a

subscription of two talents from the chairmen of the Boards

for what you did to cut up the navy law. But, that I may

not go from one thing to another and lose sight of the

question, I pass this by. That it was not poverty prevented

your contributing, already appears: it was, in fact, your

anxiety to do nothing against those to whom your political

life is subservient. On what occasion, then, do you show

your spirit? When do you shine out? When aught is to be

spoken against your countrymen!--then it is you are

splendid in voice, perfect in memory, an admirable actor, a

tragic Theocrines.

You mention the good men of olden times; and you are right

to do so. Yet it is hardly fair, O Athenians, that he

should get the advantage of that respect which you have for

the dead, to compare and contrast me with them--me who am

living among you; for what mortal is ignorant that toward

the living there exists always more or less of ill will,

whereas the dead are no longer hated even by an enemy? Such

being human nature, am I to be tried and judged by the

standard of my predecessors? Heaven forbid! It is not just

or equitable, Aeschines. Let me be compared with you, or

any persons you like of your party who are still alive. And

consider this--whether it is more honorable and better for

the state, that because of the services of a former age,

prodigious though they are beyond all power of expression,

these of the present generation should be unrequited and

spurned, or that all who give proof of their good

intentions should have their share of honor and regard from

the people? Yet indeed--if I must say so much--my politics

and principles, if considered fairly, will be found to

resemble those of the illustrious ancients, and to have had

the same objects in view, while yours resemble those of

their calumniators: for it is certain there were persons in

those times who ran down the living, and praised people

dead and gone, with a malignant purpose like yourself.

Two things, men of Athens, are characteristic of a

well-disposed citizen: so may I speak of myself and give

the least offense: In authority, his constant aim should be

the dignity and pre-eminence of the commonwealth; in all

times and circumstances his spirit should be loyal. This

depends upon nature; power and might upon other things.

Such a spirit, you will find, I have ever sincerely

cherished. Only see, when my person was demanded--when they

brought Amphictyonic suits against me--when they

menaced--when they promised--when they set these miscreants

like wild beasts upon me--never in any way have I abandoned

my affection for you. From the very beginning I chose an

honest and straightforward course in politics, to support

the honor, the power, the glory of my fatherland, these to

exalt, in these to have my being. I do not walk about the

market place gay and cheerful because the stranger has

prospered, holding out my right hand and congratulating

those who I think will report it yonder, and on any news of

our own success shudder and groan and stoop to the earth,

like these impious men, who rail at Athens, as if in so

doing they did not rail at themselves; who look abroad, and

if the foreigner thrives by the distress of Greece, are

thankful for it, and say we should keep him so thriving all

the time.

Never, O ye gods, may those wishes be confirmed by you! If

possible, inspire even in these men a better sense and

feeling! But if they are indeed incurable, destroy them by

themselves; exterminate them on land and sea; and for the

rest of us, grant that we may speedily be released from our

present fears, and enjoy a lasting deliverance.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] It may be doubted whether any compositions which

have ever been produced in the world are equally

perfect in their kind with the great Athenian

orations.--MACAULAY'S ESSAY, _Athenian Orators_

[2] The rest of the column is hopelessly mutilated.

[3] The rest of the column is mutilated.

[4] The remainder of this column and the whole of the

next are either lost or so mutilated as to be

unintelligible.

[5] When the next continuous passage is reached the

speaker has quitted the direct issue and is

attacking the political conduct of his adversary.

[6] Half a column is hopelessly mutilated here.