Demosthenes

“ If they fail to prove this, you must consider that they are simply setting the city once more upon the same course which has already resulted in the utter ruin of her fortunes. 11 For surely you know that nothing in the world has contributed so much to Philip's successes, as his being always first on the scene of action. With a standing force always about him, and knowing beforehand what he intends to do, he suddenly falls upon whomsoever he pleases: while we wait until we learn that something is happening, and only then, in a turmoil, make our preparations. ”

“ For a city's wealth consists, I imagine, in allies, confidence, loyalty--and of all these you are bankrupt. 67 And because you are indifferent to these advantages, and let them drift away from you, he has become prosperous and powerful, and formidable to all, Hellenes and foreigners alike; while you are deserted and humbled, with a splendid profusion of commodities in your market, and a contemptible lack of all those things with which you should have been provided. ”

“ If we may neither offer resistance, nor yet be suffered to remain at peace, no other compromise [33] is possible. 60 And further, the issues at stake are not for you merely what they are for other states. What Philip desires is not your subjection, but your utter annihilation. For he knows full well that you will never consent to be his slaves, and that even if you were willing, you would not know the way, accustomed as you are to govern; and he knows that you will be able to give him more trouble, if you get the opportunity, than all the rest of the world. ”

“ Against the enemy whom we cannot arrest and render amenable to the laws, it is both right and necessary to maintain a force, to send war-ships, and to contribute war-funds: but against one of ourselves, a decree, an impeachment, a dispatch-boat [20] will answer our purpose. These are the means which sensible men would use: the policy of the other side is the policy of men whose spitefulness [21] is ruining your fortunes. 30 And that there should be some such men, bad though it is, is not the worst. ”

“ First, men of Athens, you must thoroughly make up your minds to the fact that Philip is at war with Athens, and has broken the Peace--you must cease to lay the blame at one another's doors--and that he is evilly-disposed and hostile to the whole city, down to the very ground on which it is built; 40 nay, I will go further--hostile to every single man in the city, even to those who are most sure that they are winning his favour. ”

“ If Philip is remaining inactive, if he is keeping nothing that is ours, in violation of the Peace, if he is not organizing all mankind against us, there is nothing more to be said--we have simply to observe the Peace ”

“ But one who in acting for the best sets himself in many ways against your wishes--who never speaks to please, but always to advise what is best; one who chooses a policy in which more issues must be decided by chance than by calculation, and yet makes himself responsible to you for both--that is the courageous man, 70 and such is the citizen who is of value to his country, rather than those who, to gain an ephemeral popularity, have ruined the supreme interests of the city. ”

“ As the measures of a loyal politician develop, the greatness of his country should develop with them; and it is the thing which is best, not the thing which is easiest, that every speaker should advocate. Nature will find the way to the easiest course unaided. To the best, the words and the guidance of the loyal citizen must show the way. ”

“ But since there are some who are led on to address you, partly out of contentiousness, partly from causes which I need not discuss, it is for you, men of Athens--you, the People--to dismiss all other considerations, and both in the votes that you give and in the measures that you take to attend solely to what you believe to be for the good of the city. 2 Now our present anxiety arises out of affairs in the Chersonese, and the campaign, now in its eleventh month, which Philip is conducting in Thrace. ”

“ From what other source do you imagine that a general can maintain his troops, when he has received nothing from you, and has no resources from which he can pay his men? Will money drop from the sky? Of course not. He subsists upon what he can collect or beg or borrow. 27 The real effect, therefore, of the accusations made against him here, is simply to warn every one that they should refuse to give him anything, since he is to pay the penalty for his very intentions, not to speak of any action that he may have taken or any success that he may have achieved. ”

“ It is the man who is committing acts of war that we need to persuade; for if he is persuaded, you are ready enough. 54 Nor is it the expenditure which is to ensure our preservation that ought to distress us, but the fate which is in prospect for us, if we are not willing to take this action: while the threatened 'plunder of our funds' is to be prevented by the proposal of some safeguard which will render them secure, not by the abandonment of our interests. ”

“ You must yourselves prepare another force to support it: you must help him freely with money, and give him in all other respects your loyal co-operation. 20 If Philip were asked to say whether he would wish these soldiers who are now with Diopeithes--describe them as you will, for I in no way dispute your description--to be prosperous and in high favour with the Athenians, and to be augmented in numbers by the co-operation of the city ”

“ We do not wish to contribute funds, nor to serve with the forces in person; we cannot keep our hands from the public revenues; [12] we do not give the contributions of the allies [13] to Diopeithes, nor do we approve of such supplies as he raises for himself; 22 but we look malignantly at him, we ask whence he gets them, what he intends to do, and every possible question of that kind: and yet we are still not willing to confine ourselves to our own affairs, in consequence of the attitude which we have adopted ”

“ Whenever any question of our relations with Philip arises, at once some one stands up and talks of the blessings of peace, of the difficulty of maintaining a large force, and of designs on the part of certain persons to plunder our funds ”

“ All the commanders who have ever yet sailed from Athens--if I am wrong, I consent to any penalty that you please [14] --take money from the Chians, from the Erythraeans, [15] from any people from whom they can severally get it--I mean, any of the Asiatic settlers who are now in question. 25 Those who have one or two ships take less, those who have a larger force take more. And those who give to them do not give either little or much for nothing ”

“ Consider, in the first place, what is actually occurring at the present moment. 14 He is at present passing the time [6] in Thrace, with a great army under him; and, as we are told by those who are on the spot, [7] he is sending for a large addition to it from Macedonia and Thessaly. Now if he waits for the Etesian winds, [8] and then goes to Byzantium and besieges it, tell me first whether you think that the Byzantines will persist in their present infatuation, [9] and will not call upon you and entreat you to go to their aid? ”

“ Each of these peoples has first reaped some advantage, before falling into those calamities which some of them have already suffered, as all the world knows, and some are destined to suffer whenever their time comes. ”

“ Do any of his critics care about the Hellenes who live in Asia? 28 Were it so, they would be more thoughtful for the rest of mankind than for their own country. And the proposal to send another general to the Hellespont amounts to no more than this. For if Diopeithes is acting outrageously and is driving the vessels to shore, then, gentlemen, one little wax-tablet [18] is enough to put an end to it all: and what the laws command is that for these offences we should impeach the wrong-doers--not that we should keep a watch upon our own forces at such expense and with so many ships. ”

“ Because yours is the one city in the world where men are permitted to speak on behalf of the enemy without fear; because here a man may take bribes, and still address you with impunity, even when you have been robbed of your own. In Olynthus it was only safe to take Philip's side when the people of Olynthus as a whole had shared Philip's favours, and was enjoying the possession of Poteidaea. 65 In Thessaly it was only safe to take Philip's side when the Thessalian commons had shared Philip's favours ”

“ For he knows very well that even if he becomes master of all the rest of the world, he can retain nothing securely, so long as you are a democracy; and that if he chances to stumble anywhere, as may often happen to a man, all the elements which are now forced into union with him will come and take refuge with you. 42 For though you are not yourselves naturally adapted for aggrandizement or the usurpation of empire, you have the art of preventing any other from seizing power and of taking it from him when he has it ”

“ And accordingly, if any one names as the culprit some one whom you know you can arrest in your own midst, you agree and you wish to act; but if one is named whom you must first master by force of arms, if you are to punish him at all, you are at a loss, I fancy, what to do, and you are vexed when this is brought home to you. 33 For your politicians, men of Athens, should have treated you in exactly the opposite way to this ”

“ In Thebes it was not safe, until he had restored Boeotia to Thebes and annihilated the Phocians. 66 But at Athens--though Philip has not only robbed you of Amphipolis and the territory of the Cardians, but has turned Euboea into a fortress overlooking your country, and is now on his way to attack Byzantium--at Athens it _is_ safe to speak in Philip's interest. Aye, and you know that, of such speakers, some who were poor are rapidly growing rich ”

“ But even if this inconsistency is brought home to them, still, we are told, the conduct of the mercenaries in ravaging the Hellespontine country is outrageous, and Diopeithes has no right to drive the vessels to shore, [5] and ought to be stopped. ”