When I hear of my country's successes, I do not
shudder, and sigh, and hang down my head, like those blasphemers, who traduce Athens,
forgetting that thereby they are traducing themselves; who turn their eyes
abroad, and, when the alien has prospered by the distresses of Greece,
applaud his good fortune, and declare that we must try to preserve it for ever. ~ Demosthenes
Modern Day Translation:
When I hear of my country's successes, I do not
shudder, and sigh, and hang down my head, like those Democrats, who talk down about America,
forgetting that thereby they are talking down about themselves; who turn their eyes
abroad, and, when the illegal alien has prospered by the fleecing of America,
applaud his good fortune, and declare that we must try to preserve it for ever. ~ Translated by Norman E. Hooben
Demosthenes, Speeches 11-20
On the Crown
Let me begin, men of
Athens,
by beseeching all the Powers of Heaven that on this trial I may find in
Athenian hearts such benevolence towards me as I have ever cherished for the
city and the people of
Athens.
My next prayer is for you, and for your conscience and honor. May the gods so
inspire you that the temper with which you listen to my words shall be guided,
not by my adversary-- [2] that would be monstrous indeed!-- but by the
laws and by the judicial oath, by whose terms among other obligations you are
sworn to give to both sides an impartial hearing. The purpose of that oath is,
not only that you shall discard all prejudice, not only that you shall show equal
favor, but also that you shall permit every litigant to dispose and arrange his
topics of defence according to his own discretion and
judgement.
[3] Among many advantages which
Aeschines
holds over me in this contention, there are two, men of
Athens,
of great moment. In the first place, I have a larger stake on the issue; for
the loss of your favor is far more serious to me than the loss of your verdict
to him. For me, indeed--but let me say nothing inauspicious at the outset of my
speech: I will only say that he accuses me at an advantage. Secondly, there is
the natural disposition of mankind to listen readily to obloquy and invective,
and to resent self-laudation. [4] To him the agreeable duty has been
assigned; the part that is almost always offensive remains for me. If as a
safeguard against such offence, I avoid the relation of my own achievements, I
shall seem to be unable to refute the charges alleged against me, or to
establish my claim to any public distinction. Yet, if I address myself to what
I have done, and to the part I have taken in politics, I shall often be obliged
to speak about myself. Well, I will endeavor to do so with all possible
modesty; and let the man who has initiated this controversy bear the blame of
the egoism which the conditions force upon me.
[5] You must all be agreed, men of
Athens,
that in these proceedings I am concerned equally with
Ctesiphon,
and that they require from me no less serious consideration. Any loss,
especially if inflicted by private animosity, is hard to bear; but to lose your
goodwill and kindness is the most painful of all losses, as to gain them is the
best of all acquisitions. [6] Such being the issues at stake, I implore
you all alike to listen to my defence against the accusations laid, in a spirit
of justice. So the laws enjoin--the laws which
Solon,
who first framed them, a good democrat and friend of the people, thought it
right to validate not only by their enactment but by the oath of the jury;
[7] not distrusting you, if I understand him aright, but perceiving that
no defendant can defeat the charges and calumnies which the prosecutor prefers
with the advantage of prior speech, unless every juryman receives with goodwill
the pleas of the second speaker, as an obligation of piety to the gods by whom
he has sworn, and forms no final conclusion upon the whole case until he has
given a fair and impartial hearing to both sides.
[8] It appears that I have today to render account of the whole of my
private life as well as of my public transactions. I must therefore renew my
appeal to the gods; and in your presence I now beseech them, first that I may
find in your hearts such benevolence towards me as I have ever cherished for
Athens,
and secondly that they will guide you to such a
judgement
upon this indictment as shall redound to the good repute of the jury, and to
the good conscience of every several juryman.
[9] If then
Aeschines
had confined his charges to the matters alleged in the prosecution, I should
have immediately addressed my defence to the resolution of the Council; but as
he has wastefully devoted the greater part of his speech to irrelevant topics,
mostly false accusations, I conceive it to be both fair and necessary, men of
Athens,
to say a few words first on those matters, lest any of you, misled by
extraneous arguments, should listen with estrangement to my justification in
respect of the indictment.
[10] To his abusive aspersion of my private life, I have, you will observe,
an honest and straightforward reply. I have never lived anywhere but in your
midst. If then you know my character to be such as he alleges, do not tolerate
my voice, even if all my public conduct has been beyond praise, but rise and
condemn me incontinently. But if, in your
judgement
and to your knowledge, I am a better man and better born than
Aeschines,
if you know me and my family to be, not to put it offensively, as good as the
average of respectable people, then refuse credence to all his assertions, for
clearly they are all fictitious, and treat me today with the same goodwill which
throughout my life you have shown to me in many earlier contentions.
[11] Malicious as you are,
Aeschines,
you were strangely innocent when you imagined that I should turn aside from the
discussion of public transactions to reply to your calumnies. I shall do
nothing of the sort: I am not so infatuated. Your false and invidious charges
against my political life I will examine; but later, if the jury wish to hear
me, I will return to your outrageous ribaldry.
[12] The crimes he has laid to my charge are many, and to some of them the
law has assigned severe and even capital punishment. But the purpose of this
prosecution goes further: it includes private malice and violence, railing and
vituperation, and the like; and yet for none of these accusations, if made
good, is there any power at all in the state to inflict an adequate penalty, or
anything like it. [13] It is not right to debar a man from access to the
Assembly and a fair hearing, still less to do so by way of spite and jealousy.
No, by heavens, men of
Athens,
it is neither just, nor constitutional, nor honest! If he ever saw me
committing crimes against the commonwealth, especially such frightful crimes as
he described just now so dramatically, his duty was to avail himself of the
legal penalties as soon as they were committed, impeaching me, and so putting
me on my trial before the people, if my sins deserved impeachment, or indicting
me for breach of the constitution, if I had proposed illegal measures. For, of
course, if he prosecutes
Ctesiphon
now on my account, it is impossible that he would not have indicted me, with a
certain hope of conviction! [14] Yet if he detected me in any of the acts
which he has recounted to my prejudice, or in any other iniquity, there are
statutes dealing with those offences, punishments, legal processes, trials
involving severe penalties and heavy fines; and any of these proceedings he
might have taken. Had he so acted, had he in that way employed the methods
applicable to my case, his denunciations would have been consistent with his
conduct; [15] but in fact he has deserted the path of right and justice,
he has flinched from the proof of recent guilt, and then, after a long
interval, he makes a hotchpotch of imputation and banter and scurrility, and
stands on a false pretence, denouncing me, but indicting
Ctesiphon.
He sets in the forefront of the controversy his private quarrel with me, in
which he has never confronted me fairly; yet he is avowedly seeking to
disfranchise somebody else. [16] There are many other arguments, men of
Athens,
to be pleaded on Ctesiphon's behalf, but this surely is eminently reasonable,
that the honest course was to fight out our own quarrels by ourselves, not to
turn aside from our antagonism and try to find some one else to injure. That is
carrying iniquity too far!
[17] It is a fair inference that all his accusations are equally dishonest
and untruthful. I wish, however, to examine them one by one, and especially the
falsehoods he told to my discredit about the peace and the embassy, attributing
to me what was really done by himself with the aid of
Philocrates.
It is necessary, men of
Athens,
and not improper, to remind you of the position of affairs in those days, so
that you may consider each transaction with due regard to its occasion.
[18] When the
Phocian
war began--not by my fault, for I was still outside politics--you were at
first disposed to hope that the
Phocians
would escape ruin, although you knew that they were in the wrong, and to exult
over any misfortune that might befall the
Thebans,
with whom you were justly and reasonably indignant because of the immoderate
use they had made of the advantage they gained at
Leuctra.
The
Peloponnesus
was divided. The enemies of the
Lacedaemonians
were not strong enough to destroy them; and the aristocrats whom the
Lacedaemonians
had put into power had lost control of the several states. In those states and
everywhere else there was indiscriminate strife and confusion.
[19] Philip, observing these conditions, which were apparent enough, spent
money freely in bribing traitorous persons in all the cities, and tried to
promote embroilment and disorder. He based his designs on the errors and
follies of others, and the growth of his power was perilous to us all. When it
was evident that the
Thebans,
now fallen from arrogance to disaster, and much distressed by the prolongation
of the war, would be compelled to seek the protection of
Athens,
Philip, to forestall such an appeal and coalition, offered peace to you and
succor to them. [20] Now what contributed to his success, when he found
you ready to fall into his trap almost eagerly, was the baseness, or, if you
prefer the term, the stupidity, or both, of the other
Greek
states. You were fighting a long and incessant war for purposes in which, as
the event has proved, they were all concerned, and yet they helped you neither
with money, nor with men, nor with anything else; and so, in your just and
natural indignation, you readily accepted Philip's suggestion. The peace
conceded to him at that time was due to the causes I have named, and not, as
Aeschines
maliciously insists, to me; and the misdeeds and the corruption of
Aeschines
and his party during that peace will be found, on any honest inquiry, to be the
true cause of our present troubles. [21] These distinctions and
explanations I offer merely for the sake of accuracy; for if you should suppose
that there was any guilt, or ever so much guilt, in that peace-making business,
the suspicion does not concern me. The first man to raise the question of peace
in a speech was
Aristodemus,
the actor, and the man who took up the cue, moved the resolution, and, with
Aeschines,
became Philip's hired agent, was
Philocrates
of
Hagnus--your
confederate,
Aeschines,
not mine, though you lie till you are black in the face. Their supporters in
the debate were
Eubulus
and
Cephisophon--on
whose motives I have at present nothing to say. I never spoke in favor of the
peace. [22] And yet, though the facts are such and demonstrated to be
such, he has the amazing impudence to tell you that I am to blame for the terms
of peace, and that I stopped the city from arranging the terms in conjunction
with a congress of the
Greek
states. Why, you, you--but I can find no epithet bad enough for you--was there
any single occasion when you, having observed me in your presence trying to rob
the state of a negotiation and of an alliance which you have just described as
of the greatest importance, either made any protest, or rose to give the people
any information whatsoever about the proceeding which you now denounce?
[23] Yet if I had really intrigued with Philip to stop a
Panhellenic
coalition, it was your business not to hold your peace, but to cry aloud, to
protest, to inform the people. You did nothing of the sort. No one ever heard
that fine voice of yours. Of course not; for at that time there was no embassy
visiting any of the
Greek
states, but all the states had long ago been sounded, and there is not an
honest word in his whole story. [24] Moreover, his falsehoods are the
worst of slanders upon
Athens.
If at one and the same time you were inviting the
Greeks
to make war and sending envoys to Philip to negotiate peace, you were playing a
part worthy of
Eurybatus1 the impostor,
not of a great city or of honest men. But it is false; it is false! For what
purpose could you have summoned them at that crisis? For peace? They were all
enjoying peace. For war? You were already discussing terms of peace. Therefore
it is clear that I did not promote, and was in no way responsible for, the
original peace, and that all his other calumnies are equally false.
[25] Now observe what policy we severally adopted after the conclusion of
peace. You will thereby ascertain who acted throughout as Philip's agent, and
who served your interests and sought the good of the city. I proposed in the
Council that the ambassadors should sail without delay to any place where they
might learn that Philip was to be found, and there receive from him the oath of
ratification; but in spite of my resolution they refused to go. What was the
reason of that refusal? [26] I will tell you. It suited Philip's purposes
that the interval should be as long, and ours that it should be as short as
possible; for you had suspended all your preparations for war, not merely from
the day of ratification, but from that on which you first began to expect
peace. That was just what Philip was contriving all the time, expecting with
good reason that he would hold safely any Athenian possessions which he might
seize before the ratification, as no one would break the peace to recover them.
[27] Foreseeing that result, and appreciating its importance, I moved that
the embassy should repair to the place where they would find Philip and swear
him in without delay, in order that the oath might be taken while your allies
the
Thracians
were still holding the places about which
Aeschines
was so sarcastic--
Serrium,
Myrtenum,
and
Ergisce--and
that Philip might not get control of
Thrace
by seizing the positions of advantage and so providing himself amply with men
and money for the furtherance of his ulterior designs. [28] That decree
Aeschines
neither cites nor reads; though he mentions to my discredit that I suggested in
Council that the Macedonian ambassadors should be introduced. What ought I to
have done? Objected to the introduction of men who had come expressly to confer
with you? Ordered the lessee not to give them reserved seats in the theatre?
But they could have sat in the threepenny seats, if I had not moved my
resolution. Or was it my business to take care of the public pence, and put up
the state for sale, like
Aeschines
and his friends? Surely not. Please take and read this decree, which the
prosecutor omitted, though he knows it well.
[29] Decree of Demosthenes
[In the archonship of
Mnesiphilus,
on the thirtieth day of
Hecatombaeon,
the tribe Pandionis then holding the presidency,
Demosthenes,
son of
Demosthenes,
of
Paeania,
proposed that, whereas Philip has sent ambassadors and has agreed to articles
of peace, it be resolved by the Council and People of
Athens,
with a view to the ratification of the peace as accepted by vote of the first
Assembly, to choose at once five ambassadors from all the citizens; and that
those so elected repair without delay wheresoever they ascertain Philip to be,
and take and administer to him the oaths with all dispatch according to the
articles agreed on between him and the People of
Athens,
including the allies on either side. The ambassadors chosen were
Eubulus
of
Anaphlystus,
Aeschines
of Cothocidae,
Cephisophon
of
Rhamnus,
Democrates
of
Phlya,
Cleon
of Cothocidae.]
[30] My object in moving this decree was to serve
Athens,
not Philip. Nevertheless these excellent envoys took so little heed of it that
they loitered in
Macedonia
for three whole months, until Philip returned from
Thrace,
having subdued the whole country; though they might have reached the
Hellespont
in ten or perhaps in three or four days, and rescued the outposts by receiving
the oaths of ratification before Philip captured them. He dared not have
touched them in our presence, or we should not have accepted his oath, and so
he would have missed his peace, instead of gaining both his objects--peace and
the strongholds as well.
[31] Such then is the history of the first act of knavery on Philip's part,
and venality on the part of these dishonest men at the time of the embassy. For
that act I avow that I was then, am still, and ever shall be their enemy and
their adversary. I will next exhibit an act of still greater turpitude which
comes next in order of time. [32] When Philip had sworn to the peace,
having first secured
Thrace
because of their disobedience to my decree, he bribed them to postpone our
departure from
Macedonia
until he had made ready for his expedition against the
Phocians.
He was afraid that, if we reported that he intended and was already preparing
to march, you would turn out and sail round with your fleet to
Thermopylae,
and block the passage, as you did before; and his object was that you should
not receive our report until he had reached this side of
Thermopylae
and you were powerless. [33] He was so nervous, and so much worried by the
fear that, in spite of his
Thracian
success, his enterprise would slip from his fingers if you should intervene
before the
Phocians
perished, that he made a new bargain with this vile creature--all by himself
this time, no t in common with his colleagues-- to make that speech and to
render that report to you, by which all was lost. [34] I earnestly beg
you, men of
Athens,
to bear in mind throughout this trial that, if
Aeschines
had not gone outside the articles of indictment in his denunciation of me, I
too would not have digressed; but as he has resorted to every sort of
imputation and slander, I am compelled to reply briefly to all his charges in
turn. [35] What then were the speeches he made at that crisis--the
speeches that brought everything to ruin? He told you that you need not be
excited because Philip had passed
Thermopylae;
that, if only you kept quiet, you would get all you wanted, and would within
two or three days learn that Philip was now the friend of those to whom he came
as enemy, and the enemy of those to whom he came as friend. The bonds of amity,
he declared, with his most impressive eloquence, are fortified not by words but
by community of interest; and it was an interest common to Philip, to the
Phocians,
and to all of you alike, to be quit of the unfeeling and offensive behavior of
the
Thebans.
[36] Some of you were delighted to hear these remarks, for at that time we
all disliked the
Thebans.
What was the result--not the distant, but the immediate result? That the
Phocians
perished and their cities were demolished; that you took his advice and kept
quiet--and before long were carrying in your chattels from the country; and
that
Aeschines
pocketed his fee. A further result was that
Athens
got all the ill will of the
Thebans
and
Thessalians,
and Philip all their gratitude for these transactions. [37] To prove the
truth of these statements, please read the decree of
Callisthenes
and Philip's letter, which will make every point clear.
Decree
[In the archonship of
Mnesiphilus,
at an extraordinary assembly convened by the Generals and the Presidents, with
the approval of the Council, on the twenty-first day of
Maemacterion,
Callisthenes,
son of
Eteonicus
of
Phalerum,
proposed that no Athenian be allowed upon any pretext whatsoever to pass the
night in the country, but only in the City and
Peiraeus,
except those stationed in the garrison; that the latter keep each the post
assigned to him, leaving it neither by day nor by night. [38] Any person
disobeying this decree shall be liable to the statutory penalty for treason,
unless he can prove inability to obey in his own case, such plea of inability
to be judged by the General of the Infantry, the Paymaster-General, and the
Secretary of the Council. All property in the country shall be immediately
removed, if within a radius of 120 furlongs, to the City and
Peiraeus;
if outside this radius, to
Eleusis,
Phyle,
Aphidna,
Rhamnus,
or
Sunium.
Proposed by
Callisthenes
of
Phalerum.]
Was it with such expectation that you made the peace? Were these the
promises of this hireling?
[39] Now read the letter sent to
Athens
afterwards by Philip.
Letter
[Philip, King of
Macedonia,
to the Council and People of
Athens,
greeting. Know that we have passed within the Gates, and have subdued the
district of
Phocis.
We have put garrisons in all the fortified places that surrendered voluntarily;
those that did not obey we have stormed and razed to the ground, selling the
inhabitants into slavery. Hearing that you are actually preparing an expedition
to help them, I have written to you to save you further trouble in this matter.
Your general policy strikes me as unreasonable, to agree to peace, and yet take
the field against me, and that although the
Phocians
were not included in the ill terms upon which we agreed. Therefore if you
decline to abide by your agreements, you will gain no advantage save that of
being the aggressors.]
[40] Though the letter is addressed to you, it contains, as you hear, a
distinct intimation intended for his own allies: “I have done this against the
wishes and the interests of the
Athenians.
Therefore, if you
Thebans
and
Thessalians
are wise, you will treat them as your enemies, and put your confidence in me.”
That is the meaning conveyed, though not in those words. By such delusions he
carried them off their feet so completely that they had no foresight nor any
inkling whatever of the sequel, but allowed him to take control of the whole
business; and that is the real cause of their present distresses. [41] And
the man who was hand-in-glove with Philip, and helped him to win that blind
confidence, who brought lying reports to
Athens
and deluded his fellow-citizens, was this same
Aeschines
who to day bewails the sorrows of the
Thebans
and recites their pitiful story, being himself guilty of those sorrows, guilty
of the distresses of the
Phocians,
guilty of all the sufferings of every nation in
Greece.
Yes,
Aeschines,
beyond a doubt, you are sincerely grieved by that tale of woe, you are wrung
with pity for the poor
Thebans,
you, who hold estates in
Boeotia,
you, who till the farms that once were theirs; it is I who exult--I, who was at
once claimed as a victim by the perpetrator
2 of those
wrongs!
[42] However, I have digressed to topics that will perhaps be more
appropriately discussed later on. I return to my proof that the misdeeds of
these men are the real cause of the present situation.
When you had been deluded by Philip through the agency of the men who took
his pay when on embassy and brought back fictitious reports, and when the unhappy
Phocians
were likewise deluded, and all their cities destroyed, what happened?
[43] Those vile
Thessalians
and those ill-conditioned
Thebans
regarded Philip as their friend, their benefactor, and their deliverer. He was
all in all to them; they would not listen to the voice of any one who spoke ill
of him. You
Athenians,
though suspicious and dissatisfied, observed the terms of peace, for you could
do nothing. The rest of the
Greeks,
though similarly overreached and disappointed, observed the peace; and yet in a
sense the war against them had already begun; [44] for when Philip was
moving hither and thither, subduing
Illyrians
and Triballians, and some
Greeks
as well, when he was gradually getting control of large military resources, and
when certain
Greek
citizens, including
Aeschines,
were availing themselves of the liberty of the peace to visit
Macedonia
and take bribes, all these movements were really acts of war upon the states
against which Philip was making his preparations. That they failed to perceive
it is another story, and does not concern me. [45] My forebodings and
expostulations were unceasing; I uttered them in the Assembly and in every city
to which I was sent. But all the cities were demoralized. The active
politicians were venal and corrupted by the hope of money: the unofficial
classes and the people in general were either blind to the future or ensnared
by the listlessness and
indolence
of their daily life; in all the malady had gone so far that they expected the
danger to descend anywhere but upon themselves, and even hoped to derive their
security at will from the perils of others. [46] In the result, of course,
the excessive and inopportune apathy of the common people has been punished by
the loss of their independence, while their leaders, who fancied they were
selling everything except themselves, discover too late that their own liberty
was the first thing they sold. Instead of the name of trusty friend, in which
they rejoiced when they were taking their bribes, they are dubbed toad-eaters
and scoundrels, and other suitable epithets. What did they expect?
[47] Men of
Athens,
it is not because he wants to do a traitor a good turn that a man spends his
money; nor, when he has once got what he paid for, has he any further use for
the traitor's counsels. Otherwise treason would be the most profitable of all
trades. But it is not so. How could it be? Far from it! As soon as the man who
grasps at power has achieved his purpose, he is the master of those who sold
him his mastery; and then--yes, then!--knowing their baseness, he loathes them,
mistrusts them, and reviles them. [48] Look at these instances, because,
though the right time for action is past, for wise men it is always the right
time to understand history.
Lasthenes
was hailed as friend--until he betrayed
Olynthus;
Timolaus,
until he brought
Thebes
to ruin;
Eudicus
and
Simus
of
Larissa,
until they put
Thessaly
under Philip's heel. Since then the whole world has become crowded with men
exiled, insulted, punished in every conceivable way. What of
Aristratus
at
Sicyon?
or
Perilaus3 at
Megara?
Are they not outcasts? [49] From these examples it may be clearly
discerned that the man who is most vigilant in defence of his country and most
vigorous in his opposition to treason--he is the man,
Aeschines,
who provides you traitors and mercenaries with something that you can betray
for a bribe; and, if you are still secure and still drawing your pay, you owe
this to the great majority of these citizens, and to those who thwarted your
purposes--for your own efforts would long ago have brought you to destruction.
[50] I could say much more about the history of that time, but I suppose
that what has been said is more than enough. My antagonist is to blame, for he
has so bespattered me with the sour dregs of his own knavery and his own
crimes, that I was obliged to clear myself in the eyes of men too young to
remember those transactions. But it has perhaps been wearisome to you, who,
before I said a word, knew all about his venality. [51] However, he calls
it friendship and amity; and only just now he spoke of “the man who taunts me with
the friendship of
Alexander.”
I taunt you with the friendship of Alexander! Where did you get it? How did
you earn it? I am not out of my mind, and I would never call you the friend
either of Philip or Alexander, unless we are to call a harvester or other hired
laborer the friend of the man who pays him for his job. [52] But it is not
so. How could it be? Far from it! I call you Philip's hireling of yesterday,
and Alexander's hireling of today, and so does every man in this Assembly. If
you doubt my word, ask them; or rather I will ask them myself. Come, men of
Athens,
what do you think? Is
Aeschines
Alexander's hireling, or Alexander's friend? You hear what they say.
[53] I propose then at last to come to my defence against the actual
indictment, and to a recital of my public acts, that
Aeschines
may hear from me what he knows perfectly well, the grounds on which I claim
that I deserve even larger rewards than those proposed by the Council. Please
take and read the indictment.
[54] Indictment
[In the archonship of Chaerondas, on the sixth day of
Elaphebolion,
Aeschines,
son of
Atrometus,
of Cothocidae, indicted
Ctesiphon,
son of
Leosthenes,
of
Anaphlystus,
before the
Archon
for a breach of the constitution, in that he proposed an unconstitutional
decree, to wit, that
Demosthenes,
son of
Demosthenes,
of
Paeania
should be crowned with a golden crown, and that proclamation should be made in
the theatre at the Great
Dionysia,
when the new tragedies are produced, that “the People crown
Demosthenes,
son of
Demosthenes,
of
Paeania,
with a golden crown for his merit and for the goodwill which he has constantly
displayed both towards all the
Greeks
and towards the people of
Athens,
and also for his steadfastness, and because he has constantly by word and deed
promoted the best interests of the people, and is forward to do whatever good
he can,” [55] all these proposals being false and unconstitutional,
inasmuch as the laws forbid, first, the entry of false statements in the public
records; secondly, the crowning of one liable to audit (now
Demosthenes
is Commissioner of Fortifications and a trustee of the Theatrical Fund);
thirdly, the proclamation of the crown in the Theatre at the
Dionysia
the day of the new tragedies; but if the crowning is by the Council, it shall
be proclaimed in the
Council-house,
if by the State, in the Assembly on the
Pnyx.
Fine demanded: fifty talents. Witnesses to summons:
Cephisophon,
son of
Cephisophon,
of
Rhamnus,
Cleon,
son of
Cleon,
of Cothocidae.]
[56] These are the clauses of the decree against which this prosecution is
directed; but from these very clauses I hope to prove to your satisfaction that
I have an honest defence to offer. For I will take the charges one by one in
the same order as the prosecutor, without any intentional omission.
[57] Now take first the clause which recites that in word and deed I have
constantly done my best for the common weal, and that I am ever zealous to do
all the good in my power, and which commends me on those grounds. Your
judgement
on that clause must, I take it, depend simply on my public acts, by examining
which you will discover whether
Ctesiphon
has given a true and proper, or a false, description of my conduct.
[58] As for his proposing that a crown should be given to me, and the
decoration proclaimed in the Theatre, without adding the words, “provided he
shall first have rendered his accounts,” I conceive that that also is related
to my public acts, whether I am, or am not, worthy of the crown and of the
proclamation before the people; but I have, however, also to cite the statutes
that authorize such a proposal. In this way, men of
Athens,
I am resolved to offer an honest and straightforward defence. I will proceed at
once to the history of my own actions; [59] and let no one imagine that I
am straying from the indictment if I touch upon Hellenic policy and Hellenic
questions; for by attacking as mendacious that clause of the decree which
alleges that in word and deed I have acted for the common good, it is
Aeschines
who has made a discussion of the whole of my public life necessary and
pertinent to the indictment. Further, out of many spheres of public activity I
chose Hellenic affairs as my province, and therefore I am justified in taking
Hellenic policy as the basis of my demonstration.
[60] Well, I pass by those successes which Philip achieved and maintained
before I became a politician and a public speaker, as I do not think that they
concern me. I will, however, remind you of enterprises of his which were
thwarted after the day on which I entered public life. Of these I will render
an account, premising only that Philip started with this enormous advantage.
[61] In all the
Greek
states--not in some but in every one of them--it chanced that there had sprung
up the most abundant crop of traitorous, venal, and profligate politicians ever
known within the memory of mankind. These persons Philip adopted as his
satellites and accomplices. The disposition of
Greeks
towards one another was already vicious and quarrelsome and he made it worse.
Some he cajoled; some he bribed; some he corrupted in every possible way. He
split them into many factions, although all had one common interest--to thwart
his aggrandizement. [62] Now seeing that all
Greece
was in such a plight, and still unconscious of a gathering and ever-growing
evil, what was the right policy for
Athens
to adopt, and the right action for her to take? That is the question, men of
Athens,
which you ought to consider, and that is the issue on which I ought to be
called to account; for I was the man who took up a firm position in that
department of your public affairs. [63] Was it the duty of our city,
Aeschines,
to abase her pride, to lower her dignity, to rank herself with
Thessalians
and Dolopians, to help Philip to establish his supremacy over
Greece,
to annihilate the glories and the prerogatives of our forefathers? Or, if she
rejected that truly shameful policy, was she to stand by and permit aggressions
which she must have long foreseen, and knew would succeed if none should
intervene? [64] I would now like to ask the man who censures our past
conduct most severely, what party he would have wished our city to join. The
party that shares the guilt of all the disasters and dishonors that have
befallen
Greece,--the
party, as one may say, of the
Thessalians
and their associates? Or that which permitted those disasters in the hope of
selfish gain, the party in which we may include the
Arcadians,
the
Messenians,
and the
Argives?
[65] Why, the fate of many, indeed of all, of those nations is worse than
ours. For if, after his victory, Philip had at once taken himself off, and
relapsed into inactivity, harassing neither his own allies nor any other
Greeks,
there might have been some reason for finding fault with the opponents of his
enterprises; but seeing that, wherever he could, he destroyed the prestige, the
authority, the independence, and even the constitution of every city alike, who
can deny that you chose the most honor able of all policies when you followed
my advice?
[66] To resume my argument: I ask you,
Aeschines,
what was the duty of
Athens
when she perceived that Philip's purpose was to establish a despotic empire
over all
Greece?
What language, what counsels, were incumbent upon an adviser of the people at
Athens,
of all places in the world, when I was conscious that, from the dawn of her
history to the day when I first ascended the tribune, our country had ever
striven for primacy, and honor, and renown, and that to serve an honor able
ambition and the common welfare of
Greece
she had expended her treasure and the lives of her sons far more generously
than any other Hellenic state fighting only for itself; [67] and knowing
as I did that our antagonist Philip himself, contending for empire and supremacy,
had endured the loss of his eye, the fracture of his collar-bone, the
mutilation of his hand and his leg, and was ready to sacrifice to the fortune
of war any and every part of his body, if only the life of the shattered
remnant should be a life of honor and renown? [68] Surely no man will dare
to call it becoming that in a man reared at
Pella,
then a mean and insignificant city, such lofty ambition should be innate as to
covet the dominion of all
Greece,
and admit that aspiration to his soul, while you, natives of
Athens,
observing day by day, in every speech you hear and ill every spectacle you
behold, memorials of the high prowess of your forefathers, should sink to such
cowardice as by a spontaneous, voluntary act to surrender your liberty to a
Philip. [69] No one will make that assertion. The only remaining, and the
necessary, policy was to resist with justice all his unjust designs. That
policy was adopted by you from the start in a spirit that well became you, and
forwarded by me in all my proposals, according to the opportunities of my
public life. I admit the charge. Tell me; what ought I to have done? I put the
question to you,
Aeschines,
dismissing for the moment everything else--
Amphipolis,
Pydna,
Potidaea,
Halonnesus.
I have no recollection of those places. [70]
Serrium,
Doriscus,
the sack of
Peparethus,
and all other injuries of our city--I ignore them utterly. Yet you told us that
I entangled the citizens in a quarrel by my talk about those places, though
every resolution that concerned them was moved by
Eubulus,
or
Aristophon,
or Diopeithes, not by me; only you allege so glibly whatever suits your
purpose! [71] Even now I will not discuss them. But here was a man
annexing
Euboea
and making it a basis of operations against
Attica,
attacking
Megara,
occupying
Oreus,
demolishing
Porthmus,
establishing the tyranny of Philistides at
Oreus
and of
Cleitarchus
at
Eretria,
subjugating the
Hellespont,
besieging
Byzantium,
destroying some of the
Greek
cities, reinstating exiled traitors in others: by these acts was he, or was he
not, committing injustice, breaking treaty, and violating the terms of peace?
Was it, or was it not, right that some man of Grecian race should stand forward
to stop those aggressions? [72] If it was not right, if
Greece
was to present the spectacle, as the phrase goes, of the looting of
Mysia,
4 while
Athenians
still lived and breathed, then I am a busybody, because I spoke of those
matters, and
Athens,
too, is a busybody because she listened to me; and let all her misdeeds and
blunders be charged to my account! But if it was right that some one should
intervene, on whom did the duty fall, if not on the
Athenian
democracy? That then was my policy. I saw a man enslaving all mankind, and
I stood in his way. I never ceased warning you and admonishing you to surrender
nothing.
[73] The peace was broken by Philip, when he seized those merchantmen; not
by
Athens,
Aeschines.
Produce the decrees, and Philip's letter, and read them in their proper order.
They will show who was responsible for each several proceeding.
Decree
[In the archonship of
Neocles,
in the month
Boedromion,
at an extraordinary meeting of the Assembly convened by the Generals,
Eubulus,
son of
Mnesitheus,
of Coprus, proposed that, whereas the generals have announced in the assembly
that the admiral Leodamas and the twenty ships under his command, sent to the
Hellespont
to convoy corn, have been removed to
Macedon
by Philip's officer,
Amyntas,
and are there kept in custody, it shall be the concern of the presidents and of
the generals that the Council be convened and ambassadors chosen to go to
Philip; [74] that on their arrival they shall confer with him about the
seizure of the admiral and the ships and the soldiers, and, if
Amyntas
acted in ignorance, they shall say that the people attach no blame to him; or,
if the admiral was caught exceeding his instructions, that the
Athenians
will investigate the matter, and punish him as his carelessness shall deserve;
if, on the other hand, neither of these suppositions is true, but it was a
deliberate affront on the part either of the officer or of his superior, they
shall state the same, in order that the people, being apprised of it, may decide
what course to take.]
[75] This decree was drawn up by
Eubulus,
not by me; the next in order by
Aristophon;
then we have
Hegesippus,
then
Aristophon
again, then
Philocrates,
then
Cephisophon,
and so on. I proposed no decree dealing with these matters. Go on reading.
Decree
[In the archonship of
Neocles,
on the thirtieth day of
Boedromion,
by sanction of the Council, the Presidents and Generals introduced the report
of the proceedings in the Assembly, to wit, that the People had resolved that
ambassadors be chosen to approach Philip concerning the removal of the vessels,
and instructions be given them in accordance with the decrees of the Assembly.
The following were chosen:
Cephisophon,
son of
Cleon,
of
Anaphlystus,
Democritus,
son of
Demophon,
of
Anagyrus,
Polycritus,
son of Apemantus, of Cothocidae. In the presidence of the tribe Hippothontis,
proposed by
Aristophon,
of
Collytus,
a president.]
[76] As I cite these decrees,
Aeschines,
you must cite some decree by proposing which I became responsible for the war.
But you cannot cite one; if you could, there is no document which you would
have produced more readily just now. Why, even Philip's letter casts no blame
upon me in respect of the war: he imputes it to other men. Read Philip's actual
letter.
[77] Letter
[Philip, King of
Macedonia,
to the Council and People of
Athens,
greeting.--Your ambassadors,
Cephisophon
and
Democritus
and
Polycritus,
visited me and discussed the release of the vessels commanded by Leodamas. Now,
speaking generally, it seems to me that you will be very simple people if you
imagine that I do not know that the vessels were sent ostensibly to convey corn
from the
Hellespont
to
Lemnos,
but really to help the Selymbrians, who are being besieged by me and are not
included in the articles of friendship mutually agreed upon between us.
[78] These instructions were given to the admiral, without the cognizance
of the Athenian People, by certain officials and by others who are now out of
office, but who were anxious by every means in their power to change the
present friendly attitude of the people towards me to one of open hostility,
being indeed much more zealous for this consummation than for the relief of the
Selymbrians. They conceive that such a policy will be a source of income to
themselves; it does not, however, strike me as profitable either for you or for
me. Therefore the vessels now in my harbors I hereby release to you; and for
the future, if, instead of permitting your statesmen to pursue this malicious
policy, you will be good enough to c ensure them, I too will endeavor to
preserve the peace. Farewell.]
[79] In this letter there is no mention of the name of
Demosthenes,
nor any charge against me. Why does he forget my acts, when he blames others?
Because he could not mention me without recalling his own transgressions, on
which I fixed my attention, and which I strove to resist. I began by proposing
the embassy to
Peloponnesus,
when first he tried to get a footing there; then the embassy to
Euboea,
when he was tampering with
Euboea;
then an expedition-- not an embassy--to
Oreus,
and again to
Eretria,
when he had set up tyrants in those cities. [80] Subsequently I dispatched
all those squadrons by which the
Chersonese
was rescued from him, and
Byzantium,
and all our allies. By this policy you gained much glory, receiving
commendations, eulogies, compliments, decorations, and votes of thanks from the
recipients of y our favors. Of the nations that suffered aggression, those who
followed your advice gained their salvation, while those who scorned it have
had many occasions since to remember your warnings, and to acknowledge not only
your goodwill but your sagacity and foresight, for everything has turned out as
you predicted. [81] Now that Philistides would have paid a large sum for
possession of
Oreus,
and
Cleitarchus
for possession of
Eretria,
and Philip himself to get those advantages of position against you, or to
escape conviction in other matters or any inquiry into his wrongdoing in every
quarter, is well known to all--and to no one better than to you,
Aeschines.
[82] For the ambassadors who came here from
Cleitarchus
and Philistides lodged at your house and you entertained them. The government
expelled them as enemies, and as men whose proposals were dishonest and
unacceptable; but to you they were friends. Well, no part of their business was
successful,--you backbiter, who tell me that I hold my tongue with a fee in my
pocket, and cry aloud when I have spent it! That is not your habit; you cry
aloud without ceasing, and nothing will ever stop your mouth,--except perhaps a
sentence of disfranchisement this very day.
[83] Although at that time you decorated me for my services, although
Aristonicus
drafted the decree in the very same terms that
Ctesiphon
has now used, although the decoration was proclaimed in the theatre, so that
this is the second proclamation of my name there,
Aeschines,
who was present, never opposed the decree, nor did he indict the proposer. Take
and read the decree in question.
[84] Decree
[In the archonship of Chaerondas, son of
Hegemon,
on the twenty-fifth day of
Gamelion,
the tribe Leontis holding the presidency,
Aristonicus
of Phrearrii proposed that, whereas
Demosthenes,
son of
Demosthenes,
of
Paeania,
has conferred many great obligations on the People of
Athens,
and has aided many of the Allies by his decrees both heretofore and upon the
present occasion, and has liberated some of the cities of
Euboea,
and is a constant friend of the Athenian People, and by word and deed does his
utmost in the interests of the
Athenians
themselves as well as of the other
Greeks,
it be resolved by the Council and People of
Athens
to commend
Demosthenes,
son of
Demosthenes,
of
Paeania,
and to crown him with a golden crown, and to proclaim the crown in the Theatre
at the
Dionysia
at the performance of the new tragedies, the proclamation of the crown being
entrusted to the tribe holding the presidency and to the steward of the
festival. Proposed by
Aristonicus
of Phrearrii.]
[85] Is any one of you aware of any dishonor, contempt, or ridicule that has
befallen the city in consequence of that decree, such as he now tells you will
follow, if I am crowned? While acts are still recent and notorious, they are
requited with gratitude, if good, and with punishment, if evil, and from this
decree it appears that I received on that occasion gratitude, not censure nor
punishment.
[86] Therefore, up to the date of those transactions it is shown by common
consent that my conduct was entirely beneficial to the commonwealth. The proofs
are, that my speeches and motions were successful at your deliberations; that
my resolutions were carried into effect; that thereby decorations came to the
city and to all of you as well as to me; and that for these successes you
thanked the gods with sacrifices and processions.
[87] When Philip was driven out of
Euboea
by your arms, and also,--though these men choke themselves with their
denials,--by my policy and my decrees, he cast about for a second plan of
attack against
Athens;
and observing that we consume more imported corn than any other nation, he
proposed to get control of the carrying trade in corn. He advanced towards
Thrace,
and the first thing he did was to claim the help of the
Byzantines
as his allies in the war against you. When they refused, declaring with entire
truth that the terms of alliance included no such obligation, he set up a
stockade against their city, planted artillery, and began a siege. [88] I
will not further ask what was your proper course in those circumstances,--the
answer is too obvious. But who sent reinforcements to the
Byzantines
and delivered them? Who prevented the estrangement of the
Hellespont
at that crisis? You, men of
Athens;
and when I say you, I mean the whole city. Who advised the city, moved the
resolutions, took action, devoted himself wholeheartedly and without stint to
that business? [89] I did; and I need not argue how profitable my policy
was, for you know it by experience. The war in which we then engaged, apart from
the renown it brought to you, made all the necessaries of life more abundant
and cheaper than the peace we now enjoy, the peace which these worthies cherish
to the disadvantage of the city, in view of future expectations! May those
expectations fail! May they share only the blessings for which you men of
honest intent supplicate the gods! And may they never bestow upon you any share
in the principles they have chosen! Now read of the crowns of the
Byzantines
and of the Perinthians, conferred by them upon the city for these services.
[90] Decree
of the Byzantines
[In the recordership of Bosporichus,
Damagetus
proposed in the Assembly, with the sanction of the Council, that, whereas the
Athenian People in former times have been constant friends of the
Byzantines
and of their allies and kinsmen the Perinthians, and have conferred many great
services upon them, and recently, when Philip of
Macedon
attacked their land and city to exterminate the
Byzantines
and Perinthians, burning and devastating the land, they came to our aid with a
hundred and twenty ships and provisions and arms and infantry, and extricated
us from great dangers, and restored our original constitution and our laws and
our sepulchres, [91] it be resolved by the People of
Byzantium
and
Perinthus
to grant to the
Athenians
rights of intermarriage, citizenship, tenure of land and houses, the seat of
honor at the games, access to the Council and the people immediately after the
sacrifices, and immunity from all public services for those who wish to settle
in our city; also to erect three statues, sixteen cubits in height, in the
Bosporeum, representing the People of
Athens
being crowned by the Peoples of
Byzantium
and
Perinthus;
also to send deputations to the
Panhellenic
gatherings, the Isthmian, Nemean, Olympian, and
Pythian
games, and there to proclaim the crown wherewith the Athenian People has
been crowned by us, that the
Greeks
may know the merits of the
Athenians
and the gratitude of the
Byzantines
and the Perinthians.]
[92] Read also of the crowns awarded by the inhabitants of the
Chersonese.
Decree
of the Chersonesites
[The peoples of the
Chersonesus
inhabiting
Sestus,
Elaeus,
Madytus,
and
Alopeconnesus,
do crown the Council and People of
Athens
with a golden crown of sixty talents' value,
5 and erect an
altar to Gratitude and to the People of
Athens,
because they have been a contributory cause of all the greatest blessings to
the peoples of the
Chersonesus,
having rescued them from Philip and restored their fatherland, their laws,
their freedom, and their temples; also in all time to come they will not fail
to be grateful and to do them every service in their power. This decree was
passed in Confederate Council.]
[93] Thus my considered policy was not only successful in delivering the
Chersonese
and
Byzantium,
in preventing the subjugation of the
Hellespont
to Philip, and in bringing distinction to the city, but it exhibited to mankind
the noble spirit of
Athens
and the depravity of Philip. For he, the ally of the
Byzantines,
was besieging them in the sight of all men: could anything be more
discreditable and outrageous? [94] But you, who might with justice have
found fault with them for earlier acts of trespass, so far from being
vindictive and deserting them in their distress, appeared as their deliverers,
and by that conduct won renown,--the goodwill of the whole world. Moreover all
know that you have awarded crowns to many politicians; but no one can name any
man--I mean any statesman or orator--except me, by whose exertions the city
itself has been crowned.
[95] I wish to show you that the attack
Aeschines
made on the
Euboeans
and the
Byzantines
by raking up old stories of their disobliging conduct towards you, was mere
spiteful calumny,--not only because, as I think you all must know, those
stories are false, but because, even if they were entirely true, the merits of
my policy are not affected,--by relating, with due brevity, two or three of the
noble actions of your own commonwealth; for the public conduct of a state, like
the private conduct of a man, should always be guided by its most honor able
traditions. [96] When the
Lacedaemonians,
men of
Athens,
had the supremacy of land and sea, and were holding with governors and
garrisons all the frontiers of
Attica,
Euboea,
Tanagra,
all
Boeotia,
Megara,
Aegina,
Ceos,
and the other islands, for at that time
Athens
had no ships and no walls, you marched out to
Haliartus,
6 and again a
few days later to
Corinth.
The
Athenians
of those days had good reason to bear malice against the Corinthians and the
Thebans
for their conduct during the Decelean War; but they bore no malice whatever.
[97] Yet in making both these expeditions,
Aeschines,
they were not requiting benefits received, and they knew they were taking
risks. They did not use those pleas as excuses for deserting men who had sought
their protection. For the sake of honor and glory they willingly encountered
those perils,--a righteous and a noble resolve! For every man death is the goal
of life, though he keep himself cloistered in his chamber; but it behoves the brave
to set their hands to every noble enterprise, bearing before them the buckler
of hope, and to endure gallantly whatever fate God may allot. [98] So your
forefathers played their part; so also did the elder among yourselves. The
Lacedaemonians
were no friends or benefactors of ours; they had done many grievous wrongs to
our commonwealth; but when the
Thebans,
after their victory at
Leuctra,
threatened to exterminate them, you balked that revenge, without fear of the
prowess and high repute of the
Thebans,
without thought of the past misdeeds of the people for whom you imperilled
yourselves. [99] And so you taught to all
Greece
the lesson that, however gravely a nation may have offended against you, you
keep your resentment for proper occasions, but if ever their life or their
liberty is endangered, you will not indulge your rancor or take your wrongs
into account.
Not only towards the
Lacedaemonians
have you so demeaned yourselves; but when the
Thebans
were trying to annex
Euboea,
you were not indifferent; you did not call to mind the injuries you had
suffered from Themiso and
Theodorus
in the matter of
Oropus;
you carried aid even to them. That was in the early days of the volunteer
trierarchs, of whom I was one; but I say nothing of that now. [100] Your
deliverance of the island was a generous act, but still more generously, when
you had their lives and their cities at your mercy, you restored them honestly
to men who had sinned against you, forgetting your wrongs where you found
yourselves trusted. I pass over
ten
thousand instances I could cite,--battles by sea, expeditions by land,
campaigns of ancient date and of our own times, in all of which
Athens
engaged herself for the freedom and salvation of
Greece.
[101] Having before my eyes the spectacle of a city in all those great
enterprises ready to fight the battles of her neighbors, what advice was I to
give and what policy to urge, when her deliberations in some measure concerned
herself? To bear malice against men who were seeking deliverance? To search for
excuses for deserting the common cause? Should I not have deserved death if
even in word I had sought to tarnish our honor able traditions? In word, I say;
for the deed you would never have done. Of that I am well assured, for if you
so wished, what stood in your way? Was it not in your power? Were not
Aeschines
and his friends there to advise you?
[102] I will now return to my next ensuing public actions; consider them
once again in relation to the best interests of the commonwealth. Observing
that the navy was going to pieces, that the wealthy were let off with trifling
contributions, while citizens of moderate or small means were losing all they
had, and that as a result the government was missing its opportunities, I made
a statute under which I compelled the wealthy to take their fair share of
expense, stopped the oppression of the poor, and, by a measure of great public
benefit, caused your naval preparations to be made in good time.
[103] Being indicted for this measure, I stood my trial before this court
and was acquitted, the prosecutor not getting the fifth part of the votes. Now
how much money do you think the first, second, and third classes of
contributors on the Naval Boards offered me not to propose the measure, or,
failing that, to put it on the list and then drop it on demurrer
7 ?\b It was so
large a sum, men of
Athens,
that I hardly like to name it. [104] It was natural that they should make
this attempt. Under the former statutes they might discharge their public
services in groups of sixteen, spending little or nothing themselves, but
grinding down the needy citizens, whereas by my statute they had to return the
full assessment according to their means, and a man who was formerly one of
sixteen contributors to a single trireme--for they were dropping the term
trierarch and calling themselves contributors-might have to furnish two
complete vessels. They offered any amount to get the new rules abrogated and
escape their just obligation. [105] Read first the decree,.for which I was
indicted and tried, and then the schedules as compiled under the old statute
under my statute.
Decree
[In the archonship of
Polycles,
on the sixteenth of the month
Boëdromion,
the tribe Hippothontis holding the presidency,
Demosthenes,
son of
Demosthenes,
of
Paeania,
introduced a bill to amend the former law constituting the syndicates for the
equipment of triremes. The bill was passed by the Council and the People, and
Patrocles
of
Phlya
indicted
Demosthenes
for a breach of the constitution, and, not obtaining the required proportion of
votes, paid the fee of five hundred drachmas.]
Now read that fine schedule.
Schedule
[The trierarchs to be called up, sixteen for each trireme, from the
associations of joint contributors, from the age of twenty-five to that of
forty, paying equal contributions to the public service.]
[106] Now read for comparison the schedule under my statute.
Schedule
[The trierarchs to be chosen according to the assessment of their property
at ten talents to a trireme; if the property be assessed above that sum, the
public service shall be fixed proportionately up to three triremes and a tender.
The same proportion shall be observed where those whose property is under ten
talents form a syndicate to make up that sum.]
[107] Do you think it was a trifling relief I gave to the poor, or a
trifling sum that the rich would have spent to escape their obligation? I pride
myself not only on my refusal of compromise and on my acquittal, but also on
having enacted a beneficial law and proved it such by experience. During the
whole war, while the squadrons were organized under my regulations, no trierarch
made petition as aggrieved, or appeared as a suppliant in the dockyard temple,
8 or was
imprisoned by the Admiralty, and no ship was either abandoned at sea and lost
to the state, or left in harbor as unseaworthy. [108] Such incidents were
frequent under the old regulations, because the public services fell upon poor
men, and impossible demands were often made. I transferred the naval
obligations from needy to well-to-do people, and so the duty was always
discharged. I also claim credit for the very fact that all the measures I
adopted brought renown and distinction and strength to the city, and that no
measure of mine was invidious, or vexatious, or spiteful, or shabby and
unworthy of
Athens.
[109] You will find that I maintained the same character both in domestic
and in Hellenic policy. At home I never preferred the gratitude of the rich to
the claims of the poor; in foreign affairs I never coveted the gifts and the
friendship of Philip rather than the common interests of all
Greece.
[110] My remaining task, I think, is to speak of the proclamation and of the
audit; for I hope that what I have already said has been sufficient to satisfy
you that my policy was the best, and that I have been the people's friend, and
zealous in your service. Yet I pass by the most important of my public actions,
first, because I conceive that my next duty is to submit my explanations in
respect of the actual charge of illegality, secondly, because, though I say
nothing further about the rest of my policy, your own knowledge will serve my
purpose equally well.
[111] As for
Aeschines'
topsy-turvy miscellany of arguments about the statutes transcribed for
comparison,
9
I vow to Heaven that I do not believe that you understand the greater part of
them, and I am sure they were quite unintelligible to me. I can only offer a
plain, straightforward plea on the rights of the matter. So far from claiming,
as he invidiously suggested just now, that I am not to be called to account, I
fully admit that all my life long I have been accountable for all my official
acts and public counsels; [112] but for the donations that I promised and
gave at my own expense I do say that I am not accountable at any time-- you
hear that,
Aeschines--nor
is any other man, though he be one of the nine archons. Is there any law so
compact of iniquity and illiberality that, when a man out of sheer generosity
has given away his own money, it defrauds him of the gratitude he has earned,
drags him before a set of prying informers, and gives them authority to hold an
audit of his free donations? There is no such law. If he contradicts me, let
him produce the law, and I will be satisfied and hold my peace. [113] But
no, the law does not exist, men of
Athens;
only this man, with his pettifogging spite, because, when I was in charge of
the theatric fund, I added gifts of my own to that fund, says, “
Ctesiphon
gave him a vote of thanks before he had rendered his accounts.” Yes, but the
vote of thanks did not concern the accounts which I had to render; it was for
my own donations, you pettifogger! “But you were also a Commissioner of
Fortifications.” Why, that is how I earned my vote of thanks: I made a present
of the money I had spent, and did not charge it to the public account. The
account requires an audit and checkers; the benefaction deserves gratitude and
formal thanks, and that is the very reason for Ctesiphon's proposition.
[114] That this distinction is recognized both in the statutes and in your
moral feelings I can prove by many instances. Nausicles, for example, has been
repeatedly decorated by you for the money he spent out of his own pocket when
serving as military commander. When
Diotimus,
and on another occasion
Charidemus,
had made a present of shields, they were crowned. Then there is our friend
Neoptolemus,
who has received distinctions for donations given by him as Commissioner for sundry
public works. It would be quite intolerable that it should either be illegal
for a man holding any office to make presents to the government, or that, when
he has made them, instead of receiving thanks, he should be subjected to an
audit. [115] To prove the truth of my statement, please take and read the
actual words of the decrees made in the cases I have cited. Read.
Decree
[Archonship of
Demonicus
of
Phlya,
on the twenty-sixth day of
Boedromion,
with sanction of Council and People:
Callias
of Phrearrii proposed that the Council and People resolve to crown Nausicles,
the commander of the infantry, because, when
Philo,
the official paymaster, was prevented by storms from sailing with pay for the
two thousand Athenian infantry serving in
Imbros
to assist the Athenian residents in that island, he paid them from his private
means, and did not send in a claim to the people; and that the crown be
proclaimed at the
Dionysia
at the performance of the new tragedies.]
[116] Another Decree[Proposed
by
Callias
of Phrearrii, and put to vote by the presidents, with sanction of Council:
that, whereas
Charidemus,
dispatched to
Salamis
in command of the infantry, and
Diotimus,
commanding the cavalry, when in the battle at the river some of the soldiers
had been disarmed by the enemy, did at their own expense arm the younger men
with eight hundred shields, it be resolved by the Council and People to crown
Charidemus
and
Diotimus
with a golden crown, and to proclaim it at the great
Panathenaea
during the gymnastic contest, and at the
Dionysia
at the performance of the new tragedies; and that the proclamation be entrusted
to the judicial archons, the presidents, and the stewards of the festival.]
[117] Every one of the persons mentioned,
Aeschines,
was liable to audit in respect of the office he held, but not of the services
for which he was decorated. It follows that I am not liable; for, surely, I
have the same rights under the same conditions as anybody else! I made
donations. For those donations I am thanked, not being subject to audit for
what I gave. I held office. Yes, and I have submitted to audit for my offices,
though not for my gifts. Ah, but perhaps I was guilty of official misconduct?
Well, the auditors brought me into court--and no complaint from you!
[118] To prove that
Aeschines
himself testifies that I have been crowned for matters in which I was
audit-free, take and read the whole of the decree that was drawn in my favor.
The proof that his prosecution is vindictive will appear from those sentences
in the provisional decree which he has not indicted. Read.
Decree
[In the archonship of
Euthycles,
on the twenty-third day of Pyanepsion, the tribe Oeneis then holding the
presidency,
Ctesiphon,
son of
Leosthenes,
of
Anaphlystus,
proposed that, whereas
Demosthenes,
son of
Demosthenes,
of
Paeania,
having been appointed superintendent of the repair of the fortifications, and
having spent upon the works three talents from his private means, has made the
same a benevolence to the people; and whereas, having been appointed treasurer
of the Theatrical Fund, he gave to the representatives of all the tribes one
hundred minas for sacrifices, it be resolved by the Council and People of
Athens
to commend the said
Demosthenes,
son of
Demosthenes,
of
Paeania,
for his merits and for the generosity which he has constantly displayed on
every occasion towards the People of
Athens,
and to crown him with a golden crown, and to proclaim the crown in the theatre
at the
Dionysia
at the performance of the new tragedies and that the proclamation be entrusted
to the steward of the festival.]
[119] Here, then, are my donations, in the decree--but not in your
indictment. Your prosecution is directed to the rewards which the Council says
that I ought to receive for them. Acceptance of gifts you admit to be legal;
gratitude for gifts you indict for illegality. In Heaven's name, what do we
mean by dishonesty and malignity, if you are not dishonest and malignant?
[120] As for the proclamation in the Theatre, I will not insist that
thousands of names have been a thousand times so proclaimed, nor that I myself
have been crowned again and again before now. But, really now, are you so
unintelligent and blind,
Aeschines,
that you are incapable of reflecting that a crown is equally gratifying to the
person crowned wheresoever it is proclaimed, but that the proclamation is made
in the Theatre merely for the sake of those by whom it is conferred? For the
whole vast audience is stimulated to do service to the commonwealth, and
applauds the exhibition of gratitude rather than the recipient; and that is the
reason why the state has enacted this statute. Please take and read it.
Law
[In cases where crowns are bestowed by any of the townships, the
proclamation of the crown shall be made within the respective townships, unless
the crown is bestowed by the People of
Athens
or by the Council, in which case it shall be lawful to proclaim it in the
Theatre at the
Dionysia.]
[121] You hear,
Aeschines,
how the statute expressly makes an exception: “persons named in any decree of
the Council or the Assembly always excepted. They are to be proclaimed.” Then
why this miserable pettifogging? Why these insincere arguments? Why do you not
try
hellebore
for your complaint? Are you not ashamed to prosecute for spite, not for crime;
misquoting this statute, curtailing that statute, when they ought to be read in
their entirety to a jury sworn to vote according to their direction?
[122] And, while behaving like that, you treat us to your definition of
all the qualities proper to a patriotic politician--as though you had bespoken
a statue according to specification, and it had been delivered without the
qualities specified ! As though talk, not deeds and policy, were the criterion
of patriotism ! And then you raise your voice, like a clown at a carnival,
10 and pelt me
with epithets both decent and obscene, suitable for yourself and your kindred,
but not for me.
[123] Here is another point, men of
Athens.
The difference between railing and accusation I take to be this: accusation
implies crimes punishable by law; railing, such abuse as quarrelsome people
vent upon one another according to their disposition. These law courts, if I am
not mistaken, were built by our ancestors, not that we should convene you here
to listen to us taunting one another with the secret scandal of private life,
but that we should here bring home to the guilty offences against the public
weal. [124]
Aeschines
knows that as well as I do; but he has a keener taste for scurrility than for
accusation. However, even in that respect he deserves to get as good as he
gives. I will come to that presently; meantime I will ask him just one
question. Are we to call you the enemy of
Athens,
Aeschines,
or my enemy? Mine, of course. Yet you let slip your proper opportunities of
bringing me to justice on behalf of the citizens, if I had done wrong, by
audit, by indictment, by any sort of legal procedure; [125] but here,
where I am invulnerable on every ground, by law, by lapse of time, by
limitation, by many earlier judgements covering every point, by default of any
previous conviction for any public offence, here, where the country must take
her share in the repute or disrepute of measures that were approved by the
people, here you have met me face to face. You pose as my enemy; are you sure
you are not the enemy of the people?
[126] A righteous and conscientious verdict is now sufficiently indicated;
but I have still, as it seems--not because I have any taste for railing, but
because of his calumnies--to state the bare necessary facts about
Aeschines,
in return for a great many lies. I must let you know who this man, who starts
on vituperation so glibly--who ridicules certain words of mine though he has
himself said things that every decent man would shrink from uttering--really
is, and what is his parentage. [127] Why, if my calumniator had been
Aeacus,
or
Rhadamanthus,
or
Minos,
instead of a mere scandalmonger, a market-place loafer, a poor devil of a
clerk, he could hardly have used such language, or equipped himself with such
offensive expressions. Hark to his melodramatic bombast: “Oh, Earth! Oh, Sun!
Oh, Virtue,” and all that vaporing; his appeals to “intelligence and education,
whereby we discriminate between things of good and evil report”--for that was
the sort of rubbish you heard him spouting. [128] Virtue! you runagate;
what have you or your family to do with virtue? How do you distinguish between
good and evil report? Where and how did you qualify as a moralist? Where did you
get your right to talk about education? No really educated man would use such
language about himself, but would rather blush to hear it from others; but
people like you, who make stupid pretensions to the culture of which they are
utterly destitute, succeed in disgusting everybody whenever they open their
lips, but never in making the impression they desire.
[129] I am at no loss for information about you and your family; but I am at
a loss where to begin. Shall I relate how your father Tromes was a slave in the
house of Elpias, who kept an elementary school near the Temple of
Theseus,
and how he wore shackles on his legs and a timber collar round his neck? or how
your mother practised daylight nuptials in an outhouse next door to Heros the
bone-setter,
11
and so brought you up to act in tableaux vivants and to excel in minor parts on
the stage? However, everybody knows that without being told by me. Shall I tell
you how
Phormio
the boatswain, a slave of Dio of Phrearrii, uplifted her from that chaste
profession? But I protest that, however well the story becomes you, I am afraid
I may be thought to have chosen topics unbecoming to myself. [130] I will
pass by those early days, and begin with his conduct of his own life; for
indeed it has been no ordinary life, but such as is an abomination to a free
people. Only recently-- recently, do I say? Why it was only the day before
yesterday when he became simultaneously an Athenian and an orator, and, by the
addition of two syllables, transformed his father from Tromes to
Atrometus,
and bestowed upon his mother the high sounding name of Glaucothea, although she
was universally known as the Banshee, a nickname she owed to the pleasing
diversity of her acts and experiences--it can have no other origin.
[131] You were raised from servitude to freedom, and from beggary to
opulence, by the favor of your fellow-citizens, and yet you are so thankless
and ill-conditioned that, instead of showing them your gratitude, you take the
pay of their enemies and conduct political intrigues to their detriment. I will
not deal with speeches which, on a disputable construction, may be called
patriotic, but I will recall to memory acts by which he was proved beyond doubt
to have served your enemies.
[132] You all remember
Antiphon,
the man who was struck off the register, and came back to
Athens
after promising Philip that he would set fire to the dockyard. When I had
caught him in hiding at
Peiraeus,
and brought him before the Assembly, this malignant fellow raised a huge outcry
about my scandalous and undemocratic conduct in assaulting citizens in distress
and breaking into houses without a warrant, and so procured his acquittal.
[133] Had not the Council of the
Areopagus,
becoming aware of the facts, and seeing that you had made a most inopportune
blunder, started further inquiries, arrested the man, and brought him into
court a second time, the vile traitor would have slipped out of your hands and
eluded justice, being smuggled out of the city by our bombastic phrase-monger.
As it was, you put him on the rack and then executed him, and you ought to have
done the same to
Aeschines.
[134] In fact, the Council of the
Areopagus
knew well that
Aeschines
had been to blame throughout this affair, and therefore when, after choosing
him by vote to speak in support of your claims to the Temple at
Delos,
by a misapprehension such as has often been fatal to your public interests, you
invited the cooperation of that Council and gave them full authority, they
promptly rejected him as a traitor, and gave the brief to Hypereides. On this
occasion the ballot was taken at the altar, and not a single vote was cast for
this wretch. [135] To prove the truth of my statement, please call the
witnesses.
Witnesses
[We,
Callias
of
Sunium,
Zeno
of
Phlya,
Cleon
of
Phalerum,
Demonicus
of Marathon, on behalf of all the councillors, bear witness for
Demosthenes
that, when the people elected
Aeschines
state-advocate before the
Amphictyons
in the matter of the temple at
Delos,
we in Council judged Hypereides more worthy to speak on behalf of the state,
and Hypereides was accordingly commissioned.]
[136] Thus by rejecting this man from his spokesmanship, and giving the
appointment to another, the Council branded him as a traitor and an enemy to
the people.
So much for one of his spirited performances. Is it not just like the
charges he brings against me? Now let me remind you of another. Philip had sent
to us
Pytho
of
Byzantium
in company with an embassy representing all his allies, hoping to bring
dishonor upon
Athens
and convict her of injustice.
Pytho
was mightily confident, denouncing you with a full spate of eloquence, but I
did not shrink from the encounter. I stood up and contradicted him, refusing to
surrender the just claims of the commonwealth, and proving that Philip was in
the wrong so conclusively that his own allies rose and admitted I was right;
but
Aeschines
took Philip's side throughout, and bore witness, even false witness, against
his own country.
[137] Nor did that satisfy him. At a later date he was caught again in the
company of the spy Anaxinus at the house of Thraso. Yet a man who secretly met
and conversed with a spy sent by the enemy must have been himself a spy by
disposition and an enemy of his country. To prove the truth of my statement,
please call the witnesses.
Witnesses
[Teledemus, son of
Cleon,
Hypereides, son of
Callaeschrus,
Nicomachus,
son of Diophantus, bear witness for
Demosthenes,
and have taken oath before the Generals that to their knowledge
Aeschines,
son of
Atrometus,
of Cothocidae, comes by night to the house of Thraso and holds communication
with Anaxinus, who has been proved to be a spy from Philip. These depositions
were lodged with
Nicias
on the third day of
Hecatombaeon.]
[138] I omit thousands of stories that I could tell you about him. The fact
is, I could cite many clear instances of his conduct at that time, helping the
enemy and maligning me; only it is not your way to score up such offences for
accurate remembrance and due resentment. You have a vicious habit of allowing
too much indulgence to anyone who chooses by spiteful calumnies to trip up the
heels of a man who gives you good advice. You give away a sound policy in
exchange for the entertainment you derive from invective; and so it is easier
and safer for a public man to serve your enemies and pocket their pay than to
choose and maintain a patriotic attitude.
[139] Though it was a scandalous shame enough, God knows, openly to take
Philip's side against his own country even before the war, make him a present,
if you choose, make him a present of that. But when our merchantmen had been
openly plundered, when the
Chersonese
was being ravaged, when the man was advancing upon
Attica,
when there could no longer be any doubt about the position, but war had already
begun--even after that this malignant mumbler of blank verse can point to no
patriotic act. No profitable proposition, great or small, stands to the credit
of
Aeschines.
If he claims any, let him cite it now, while my
hour-glass12 runs. But
there is none. Now one of two things: either he made no alternative proposal
because he could find no fault with my policy, or he did not disclose his
amendments because his object was the advantage of the enemy.
[140] Did he then refrain from speech as well as from moving resolutions,
when there was any mischief to be done? Why, no one else could get in a word!
Apparently the city could stand, and he could do without detection, almost
anything; but there was one performance of his that really gave the finishing
touch to his earlier efforts. On that he has lavished all his wealth of words,
citing in full the decrees against the Amphissians of
Locri,
in the hope of distorting the truth. But he can never disguise it. No,
Aeschines,
you will never wash out that stain; you cannot talk long enough for that!
[141] In your presence, men of
Athens,
I now invoke all the gods and goddesses whose domain is the land of
Attica.
I invoke also Pythian
Apollo,
the ancestral divinity of this city, and I solemnly beseech them all that, if I
shall speak the truth now, and if I spoke truth to my countrymen when first I
saw this miscreant putting his hand to that transaction--for I knew it, I knew
it instantly--they may grant to me prosperity and salvation. But if with malice
or in the spirit of personal rivalry I lay against him any false charge, I pray
that they may dispossess me of everything that is good.
[142] This imprecation I address to Heaven, and this solemn averment I now
make, because, though I have letters, deposited in the
Record
Office, enabling me to offer absolute proof, and though I am sure that you
have not forgotten the transaction, I am afraid that his ability may be deemed
inadequate for such enormous mischief. That mistake was made before, when by
his false reports he contrived the destruction of the unhappy
Phocians.
[143] The war at
Amphissa,
that is, the war that brought Philip to
Elatea,
and caused the election, as general of the
Amphictyons,
of a man who turned all
Greece
upside down, was due to the machinations of this man. In his own single person
he was the author of all our worst evils. I protested instantly; I raised my
voice in Assembly; I cried aloud, “You are bringing war into
Attica,
Aeschines,
an Amphictyonic war;” but a compact body of men, sitting there under his
direction, would not let me speak, and the rest were merely astonished and
imagined that I was laying an idle charge in private spite. [144] Men of
Athens,
you were not allowed to hear me then; but now you must and shall hear what was
the real nature of that business, what was the purpose of the conspiracy, and
how it was accomplished. You will see how skilfully it was contrived; you will
get the benefit of new insight into your own politics and you will form an idea
of the supreme craftiness of Philip.
[145] For Philip there could be no end or quittance of hostilities with
Athens
unless he should make the
Thebans
and
Thessalians
her enemies. Now, aIthough your commanders were conducting the war against him
without ability and without success, he was vastly distressed both by the
campaign and by the privateers; for he could neither export the products of his
own country, nor import what he needed for himself. [146] At that time he
had no supremacy at sea, nor could he reach
Attica
by land unless the
Thessalians
followed his banner and the
Thebans
gave him free passage. In spite of his successes against the commanders you
sent out, such as they were--I have nothing to say of their failure--he found
himself in trouble by reason of conditions of locality and of the comparative
resources of the two combatants. [147] Now, if he should invite the
Thebans
or the
Thessalians
to take up his private quarrel and march against you, he could expect no
attention; but if he should espouse their joint grievances and be chosen as
their leader, he might hope to succeed by a mixture of deception and persuasion.
Very well; he sets to work--and observe how cleverly he managed it--to throw
the Pylaean Congress into confusion and to implicate the Amphictyonic Council
in warfare, feeling certain that they would immediately beg him to deal with
the situation. [148] If, however, the question should be introduced by any
of the commissioners of religion sent by him or by any allies of his, the
Thebans
and
Thessalians,
as he expected, would be suspicious and all on their guard; but, if the
operator should be an Athenian, representing his opponents, he conceived that
he would easily escape detection. And such was the actual result.
[149] How did he manage it? By hiring
Aeschines.
Nobody, of course, had any inkling; nobody was watching-- according to your
usual custom!
Aeschines
was nominated for the deputation to
Thermopylae;
three or four hands were held up, and he was declared elected. He repaired to
the Council, invested with all the prestige of
Athens,
and at once, putting aside and disregarding everything else, addressed himself
to the business for which he had taken pay. He concocted a plausible speech
about the legendary origin of the consecration of the Cirrhaean territory, and
by this narration induced the commissioners, men unversed in oratory and
unsuspicious of consequences, [150] to vote for a tour of survey of the
land which the Amphissians said they were cultivating because it belonged to
them, while
Aeschines
accused them of intruding on consecrated ground. It is not true that these
Locrians
w ere meditating any suit against
Athens,
or any other action such as he now falsely alleges in excuse. You will find a
proof of his falsehood in this argument:--Of course it was not competent for
the
Locrians
to take proceedings against
Athens
without serving a summons. Well, who served it? From what office was it issued?
Name anyone who knows; point him out. You cannot; it was a false and idle
pretext of yours.
[151] With
Aeschines
as their trusty guide, the
Amphictyons
began their tour of the territory; but the
Locrians
fell upon them, were within an ace of spearing the whole crowd, and did
actually seize and carry off the sacred persons of several commissioners.
Complaints were promptly laid, and so war against the Amphissians was provoked.
At the outset Cottyphus was commander of an army composed of
Amphictyons;
but some divisions never joined, and those who joined did nothing at all. The
persons engaged in the plot, mostly scoundrels of old standing from
Thessaly
and other states, prepared to put the war into Philip's hands at the next
congress. [152] They found a plausible pretext: you must either, they
said, pay contributions to a war-chest, maintain mercenary forces, and levy a
fine on all recusants, or else elect Philip as commander-in-chief: and so, to
cut a long story short, elected he was on this plea. He lost no time, collected
his army, pretended to march to
Cirrha,
and then bade the Cirrhaeans and the
Locrians
alike good-bye and good luck, and seized
Elatea.
[153] When the
Thebans
saw the trick, they promptly changed their minds and joined our side; otherwise
the whole business would have descended upon
Athens
like a torrent from the hills. In fact, the
Thebans
checked him for the moment; and for that relief, men of
Athens,
you have first and chiefly to thank the kindness of some friendly god, but in a
secondary degree, and so far as one man could help, you have to thank me. Hand
me those decrees, with the dates of the several transactions. They will show
you what a mass of trouble this consummate villain provoked; and yet he was
never punished. [154] Please read the decrees.
Resolution of the Amphictyons
[In the
priesthood
of Cleinagoras, at the spring session, it was resolved by the Wardens and the
Assessors of the
Amphictyons,
and by the General Synod of the
Amphictyons,
that, whereas Amphissians are encroaching upon the sacred territory and are
sowing and grazing the same, the Wardens and Assessors shall attend and mark
out the boundaries with pillars, and shall forbid the Amphissians hereafter to
encroach.]
[155] Another Resolution
[In the
priesthood
of Cleinagoras, at the spring session, it was resolved by the Wardens,
Assessors, and General Synod that whereas the Amphissians who have occupied the
sacred territory are tilling and grazing the same, and, when forbidden to do
so, have appeared in arms and resisted the common assembly of the
Greeks
by force, and have actually wounded some of them, the general appointed by some
of the
Amphictyons,
Cottyphus the Arcadian, shall go as an ambassador to Philip of
Macedon
and request him to come to the help of
Apollo
and the
Amphictyons,
that he may not suffer the god to be outraged by the impious Amphissians; he
shall also announce that Philip is appointed General with full powers by the
Greeks
who are members of the Assembly of the
Amphictyons.]
Now read the dates of these transactions. They are all dates at which he was
or spokesman at the Congress of
Thermopylae.
Record
of Dates
[Archonship of Mnesitheides, on the sixteenth of the month
Anthesterion.]
[156] Now hand me the letter which Philip dispatched to his Peloponnesian
allies, when the
Thebans
disobeyed him. Even that letter will give you a clear proof that he was
concealing the true reasons of his enterprise, namely his designs against
Greece,
and especially against
Thebes
and
Athens,
and was only pretending zeal for the national interests as defined by the
Amphictyonic Council. But the man who provided him with that basis of action
and those pretexts was
Aeschines.
Read.
[157] Letter
[Philip, king of
Macedonia,
to the public officers and councillors of the allied
Peloponnesians
and to all his other Allies, greeting. Since the
Ozolian
Locrians, settled at
Amphissa,
are outraging the
temple
of Apollo at
Delphi
and come in arms to plunder the sacred territory, I consent to join you in
helping the god and in punishing those who transgress in any way the principles
of religion. Therefore meet under arms at
Phocis
with forty days' provisions in the next month, styled Lous by us,
Boedromion
by the
Athenians,
and Panemus by the Corinthians. Those who, being pledged to us, do not join us
in full force, we shall treat as punishable. Farewell.]
[158] You see how he avoids personal excuses, and takes shelter in
Amphictyonic reasons. Who gave him his equipment of deceit? Who supplied him
with these pretexts ? Who above all others is to blame for all the ensuing
mischief? Who but
Aeschines?
Then do not go about saying, men of
Athens,
that these disasters were brought upon
Greece
by Philip alone. I solemnly aver that it was not one man, but a gang of
traitors in every state. [159] One of them was
Aeschines;
and, if I am to tell the whole truth without concealment, I will not flinch
from declaring him the evil genius of all the men, all the districts, and all
the cities that have perished. Let the man who sowed the seed bear the guilt of
the harvest. I marvel that you did not avert your faces the moment you set eyes
on him; only, as it seems, there is a cloud of darkness between you and the
truth.
[160] In dealing with his unpatriotic conduct I have approached the question
of the very different policy pursued by myself. For many reasons you may fairly
be asked to listen to my account of that policy, but chiefly because it would
be discreditable, men of
Athens,
that you should be impatient of the mer e recital of those arduous labors on
your behalf which I had patience to endure. [161] When I saw that the
Thebans,
and perhaps even the
Athenians,
under the influence of the adherents of Philip and the corrupt faction in the
two states, were disregarding a real danger that called for earnest vigilance,
the danger of permitting Philip's aggrandizement, and were taking no single
measure of precaution, but were ready to quarrel and attack each other, I
persistently watched for opportunities of averting that danger, not merely
because my own
judgement
warned me that such solicitude was necessary, [162] but because I knew
that
Aristophon,
and after him
Eubulus,
had always wished to promote a good understanding between
Athens
and
Thebes.
In that regard they were always of one mind, despite their constant
disagreement on other points of policy. While those statesmen were alive,
Aeschines,
you pestered them with your flattery, like the sly fox you are; now they are
dead, you denounce them, unaware that, when you reproach me with a
Theban
policy, your censure does not affect me so much as the men who approved of a
Theban
alliance before I did. But that is a digression. [163] I say that, when
Aeschines
had provoked the war in
Amphissa,
and when his associates had helped him to aggravate our enmity towards
Thebes,
the result was that Philip marched against us, in pursuance of the purpose for
which they had embroiled the states, and that, if we had not roused ourselves a
little just in time, we could never have retrieved our position; so far had
these men carried the quarrel. You will better understand the state of feeling
between the two cities, when you have heard the decrees and the answers sent
thereto. Please take and read these papers.
[164] Decree
[In the archonship of Heropythus, on the twenty-fifth day of the month
Elaphebolion,
the tribe
Erechtheis
then holding the presidency, on the advice of the Council and the Generals:
whereas Philip has captured so me of the cities of our neighbors and is
besieging others, and finally is preparing to advance against
Attica,
ignoring our agreement with him, and is meditating a breach of his oaths and of
the peace, violating all mutual pledges, be it resolved by the Council and
People to send ambassadors to confer with him and to summon him to preserve in
particular his agreement and compact with us, and, failing that, to give the
City time for decision and to conclude an armistice until the month of
Thargelion.
The following members of Council were chosen:
Simus
of
Anagyrus,
Euthydemos of Phylae, Bulagoras of
Alopece.]
[165] Another Decree
[In the archonship of Heropythus, on the thirtieth of the month
Munychion,
on the advice of the Commander-in-chief: whereas Philip aims at setting the
Thebans
at variance with us, and has prepared to march with all his forces to the parts
nearest to
Attica,
violating his existing arrangements with us, be it resolved by the Council and
People to send a herald and ambassadors to request and exhort him to conclude
an armistice, in order that the People may decide according to circumstances;
for even now the People have not decided to send a force if they can obtain
reasonable terms. The following were chosen from the Council:
Nearchus,
son of Sosinomus,
Polycrates,
son of Epiphron; and as herald from the People,
Eunomus
of
Anaphlystus.]
[166] Now read the replies.
Reply to the Athenians
[Philip, King of
Macedonia,
to the Council and People of
Athens,
greeting.--I am not ignorant of the policy which you have adopted towards us
from the first, nor of your efforts to win over the
Thessalians
and
Thebans,
and the
Boeotians
as well. They, however, are wiser, and will not submit their policy to your
dictation, but take their stand upon self-interest. And now you change your
tactics, and send ambassadors with a herald to me, reminding me of our compact
and asking for an armistice, though we have done you no wrong. However, after
hearing your ambassadors, I accede to your request, and am ready to conclude an
armistice, if you will dismiss your evil counsellors, and punish them with
suitable degradation. Farewell.]
[167] Reply to the Thebans
[Philip, King of
Macedonia,
to the Council and People of
Thebes,
greeting.--I have received your letter, in which you renew goodwill and peace
with me. I understand, however, that the
Athenians
are displaying the utmost eagerness in their desire to win your acceptance of
their overtures. Now formerly I used to blame you for a tendency to put faith
in their hopes and to adopt their policy; but now I am glad to learn that you
have preferred to be at peace with me rather than to adopt the opinions of
others. Especially do I commend you for forming a safer
judgement
on these matters and for retaining your goodwill toward us, which I expect will
be of no small advantage to you, if you adhere to this purpose. Farewell.]
[168] Having, through the agency of these men, promoted such relations
between the two cities, and being encouraged by these decrees and these
replies, Philip came with his forces and occupied
Elatea,
imagining that, whatever might happen, you and the
Thebans
would never come to agreement. You all remember the commotion that ensued at
Athens;
nevertheless let me recount some small but essential details.
[169] Evening had already fallen when a messenger arrived bringing to the
presiding councillors
13
the news that
Elatea
had been taken. They were sitting at supper, but they instantly rose from
table, cleared the booths in the marketplace of their occupants, and unfolded
the hurdles,
14
while others summoned the commanders and ordered the attendance of the
trumpeter. The commotion spread through the whole city. At daybreak on the
morrow the presidents summoned the Council to the
Council
House, and the citizens flocked to the place of assembly. Before the
Council could introduce the business and prepare the agenda, the whole body of
citizens had taken their places on the hill. [170] The Council arrived,
the presiding Councillors formally reported the intelligence they had received,
and the courier was introduced. As soon as he had told his tale, the marshal
put the question, Who wishes to speak? No one came forward. The marshal
repeated his question again and again, but still no one rose to speak, although
all the commanders were there, and all the orators, and although the country
with her civic voice was calling for the man who should speak for her
salvation; for we may justly regard the voice, which the crier raises as the
laws direct, as the civic voice of our country. [171] Now had it been the
duty of every man who desired the salvation of
Athens
to come forward, all of you, aye, every Athenian citizen, would have risen in
your places and made your way to the tribune, for that salvation, I am well
assured, was the desire of every heart. If that duty had fallen upon the
wealthy, the Three Hundred would have risen; if upon those who were alike
wealthy and patriotic, the men who thereafter gave those generous donations
which signalized at once their wealth and their patriotism. [172] But, it
seems, the call of the crisis on that momentous day was not only for the
wealthy patriot but for the man who from first to last had closely watched the
sequence of events, and had rightly fathomed the purposes and the desires of
Philip; for anyone who had not grasped those purposes, or had not studied them
long beforehand, however patriotic and however wealthy he might be, was not the
man to appreciate the needs of the hour, or to find any counsel to offer to the
people. [173] On that day, then, the call was manifestly for me. I came
forward and addressed you; and I will now ask your careful attention to the
speech I then made, for two reasons: first, that you may understand that I,
alone among your orators and politicians, did not desert the post of patriotism
in the hour of peril, but approved myself as one who in the midst of panic
could, both in speech and in suggestion, do what duty bade on your behalf; and
secondly, because at the cost of a few minutes of study you may gain experience
which will stand you in good stead for your policy in times to come.
[174] What I said was this. “In my
judgement
the present position of affairs is misunderstood by those who are so much
alarmed by the apprehension that all
Thebes
is at the disposal of Philip. If that were true, I am quite certain that we
should have heard of him not at
Elatea
but on our own frontiers. But I know with certainty that he has come to
complete his preparations at
Thebes.
Let me tell you how he is situated. [175] He has at his command all those
Thebans
whom he was able to win by fraud or corruption; but he cannot by any means
prevail upon those who have resisted him from the first and who are still his
opponents. His present object, and the purpose for which he has occupied
Elatea,
is that, by an exhibit ion of his power in the neighborhood of
Thebes,
and by bringing up armed forces, he may encourage and embolden his friends, and
overawe his adversaries, hoping that the latter will yield to intimidation or
to compulsion and will so concede what at present they refuse. [176] If,”
I added, “at this crisis we are determined to remember all the provocative
dealings of the
Thebans
with us in past time, and to distrust them still on the score of enmity, in the
first place, we shall be acting exactly as Philip would beg us to act; and
secondly, I am afraid that, if his present opponents give him a favorable
reception, and unanimously become Philip's men, both parties will join in an
invasion of
Attica.
If, however, you will listen to my advice, and apply your minds to
consideration, but not to captious criticism, of what I lay before you, I
believe that you will find my proposals acceptable, and that I shall disperse
the perils that overhang our city. [177] Let me then tell you what to do.
In the first place, get rid of your present terror; or rather direct it
elsewhere, and be as frightened as you will for the
Thebans.
They lie nearer to peril; the danger threatens them first. Next, let all men of
military age, and all the cavalry, march out to
Eleusis,
and show the world that you are under arms. Then your partisans at
Thebes
will have equal freedom to speak their minds for righteousness' sake, knowing
that, just as the men who have sold their country to Philip are supported by a
force at
Elatea
ready to come to their aid, so also you are in readiness to help men who are
willing to fight for independence, and will come to their aid, if they are
attacked. [178] In the next place, I would have you appoint ten
ambassadors, and give them authority, in consultation with the military commanders,
to determine the time of the march to
Thebes
and the conduct of the campaign. Now for my advice on the treatment of the
difficulty after the arrival of the ambassadors at
Thebes.
I beg your careful attention to this. Do not ask any favor of the
Thebans:
for that the occasion is not creditable. Pledge yourselves to come to their aid
at their call, on the ground that they are in extremities, and that we have a
clearer foresight of the future than they. And so, if they accept our overtures
and take our advice, we shall have accomplished our desires and have acted on a
principle worthy of our traditions; while, if success does not fall to our lot,
they will have themselves to blame for their immediate blunder, and we shall
have done nothing mean or discreditable.”
[179] In those words, or to that effect, I spoke, and left the tribune. My
speech was universally applauded, and there was no opposition. I did not speak
without moving, nor move without serving as ambassador, nor serve without
convincing the
Thebans.
I went through the whole business from beginning to end, devoting myself
ungrudgingly to your service in face of the perils that encompassed our city.
Please produce the decree made at that time.
[180] What part do you wish me to assign to you,
Aeschines,
and what to myself, in the drama of that great day? Am I to be cast for the
part of Battalus,
15
as you dub me when you scold me so scornfully, and you for no vulgar role but
to play some hero of legendary tragedy,
Cresphontes,
or
Creon,
or, shall we say,
Oenomaus,
whom you once murdered by your bad acting at
Collytus?
Anyhow, on that occasion Battalus of
Paeania
deserved better of his country than
Oenomaus
of Cothocidae. You were utterly useless; I did everything that became a good
citizen. Please read the decree.
[181] Decree of Demosthenes
[In the archonship of Nausicles, the tribe Aeantis then holding the
presidency, on the sixteenth day of
Scirophorion,
Demosthenes,
son of
Demosthenes,
of
Paeania,
proposed that, whereas Philip of
Macedon
is proved in the past to have violated the terms of peace agreed to between him
and the People of
Athens,
disregarding his oaths and the principles of equity as recognized among all the
Greeks:
and whereas he appropriates cities not belonging to him, and has captured in
war some that actually belonged to the
Athenians
without provocation from the Athenian people, and is today making great
advances in violence and cruelty, [182] for of some
Greek
cities he overthrows the constitution, putting a garrison in them, others he
razes to the ground, selling the inhabitants into slavery, others he colonizes
with barbarians instead of
Greeks,
handing over to them the temples and the sepulchres, acting as might be
expected from his nationality and his character and making insolent use of his
present fortune, forgetful of how he rose to greatness unexpectedly from a
small and ordinary beginning; [183] and whereas, so long as the People of
Athens
saw him seizing barbarian states, belonging to themselves alone, they conceived
that their own wrongs were of less account, but now, seeing
Greek
states outraged or wiped out, they consider it a scandal and unworthy of the
reputation of their ancestors to suffer the
Greeks
to he enslaved; [184] therefore be it resolved by the Council and People
of
Athens,
after offering prayers and sacrifices to the gods and heroes who guard the city
and country of the
Athenians,
and after taking into consideration their ancestors' merits, in that they
ranked the preservation of the liberties of
Greece
above the claims of their own state, that two hundred ships be launched, and
that the Admiral sail into the Straits of
Thermopylae,
and that the General and commander of the cavalry march out with the infantry
and cavalry to
Eleusis;
also that ambassadors be sent to the other
Greeks,
but first of all to the
Thebans,
because Philip is nearest to their territory, [185] and exhort them not to
be dismayed at Philip, but to hold fast to their own liberty and the liberty of
the other
Greeks,
assuring them t hat the people of
Athens,
harboring no ill will for previous mutual differences between the states, will
help them with troops, money, ammunition, and arms, knowing that, while it is
an honor able ambition for
Greeks
to dispute with each other for the hegemony, yet to be ruled by a man of alien
race and to be robbed by him of that hegemony is unworthy both of the
reputation of the
Greeks
and of the merits of their ancestors. [186] Furthermore, the People of
Athens
regard the people of
Thebes
as in no way alien either in race or in nationality. They remember the services
rendered by their own ancestors to the ancestors of the
Thebans,
for, when the sons of
Heracles
were dispossessed by the
Peloponnesians
of their paternal dominion, they restored them, overcoming in battle those who
were trying to oppose the descendants of
Heracles;
and we harbored
Oedipus
and his family when they were banished; and many other notable acts of kindness
have we done to the
Thebans.
[187] Therefore now also the people of
Athens
will not desert the cause of
Thebes
and the other
Greeks.
An alliance shall be arranged with them, and rights of intermarriage
established, and oaths exchanged. --Ambassadors appointed:
Demosthenes,
son of
Demosthenes,
of
Paeania,
Hypereides, son of
Cleander,
of
Sphettus,
Mnesitheides, son of
Antiphanes,
of Phrearrii,
Democrates,
son of
Sophilus,
of
Phlya,
Callaeschrus,
son of
Diotimus,
of Cothocidae.]
[188] Such was the first beginning and such the basis of our negotiations
with
Thebes;
the first, I say, for hitherto the two cities had been dragged by these men
into mutual enmity, hatred, and distrust. The decree was made, and the danger
that environed the city passed away like a summer cloud. Then was the time
therefore for an honest man to point, if he could, to a better way; now
cavilling comes too late. [189] That is the salient difference between the
statesman and the charlatan, who are indeed in all respects unlike one another.
The statesman declares his
judgement
before the event, and accepts responsibility to his followers, to fortune, to
the chances of the hour, to every critic of his policy. The charlatan holds his
peace when he ought to speak, and then croaks over any untoward result.
[190] That then, as I said, was the opportunity for any man who cared for
Athens
or for honest discussion. But I will make a large concession. If even now any
man can point to a better way, nay, if any policy whatever, save mine, was even
praticable, I plead guilty. If anyone has now discerned any course which might
have been taken profitably then, I admit that I ought not to have missed it.
But if there is none, if there never was any, if to this very day no one is
able to name any, what was a statesman to do? Surely to choose the best policy
among those that were visible and feasible. [191] That is what I did,
Aeschines,
when the marshal put the question, “Who wishes to speak?” He did not ask, “Who
wishes to rake up old grievances?” or, “Who wishes to be answerable for the
future?” In those days you sat speechless at every assembly; I came forward and
spoke. You had nothing to say then; very well,--show us our duty now. Tell me
what plan I ought to have discovered. Tell me what favorable opportunity was
lost to the state by my default. Tell me of any alliance, or any negotiation,
to which I ought by preference to have introduced the people.
[192] Bygones are bygones, all the world over. No one proposes deliberation
about the past; it is the present and the future that call the statesman to his
post. And at that time, as we all thought, there were future perils and there
were present perils. Look at the policy I chose in the light of those perils;
do not carp at results. The issue depends on the will of a higher Power; the
mind of the statesman is manifested in his policy. [193] You must not
accuse me of crime, because Philip happened to win the battle; for the event
was in God's hands, not mine. Show me that I did not adopt, as far as human
calculation could go, all the measures that were practicable, or that I did not
carry them out with honesty and diligence, and with an industry that overtaxed
my strength; or else show me that the enterprises I initiated were not honor
able, worthy of
Athens,
and inevitable. Prove that, and then denounce me; but not till then.
[194] If the hurricane that burst upon us has been too strong, not for us
alone, but for every Hellenic state,--what then? As if a shipowner, who had
done everything in his power for a prosperous voyage, who had equipped his
craft with every appliance he could think of to ensure her safety, should
encounter a great storm, and then, because his tackle was overstrained or even
shattered, should be accused of the crime of shipwreck! “But,” he might say, “I
was not at the helm”--nor was I in command of the army--“and I could not
control fortune, but fortune controls all.”
[195] Here is another point for your consideration. If we were destined to
disaster when we fought with the
Thebans
at our side, what were we to expect if we had lacked even that alliance, and if
they had joined Philip, a union for which he exerted all his powers of appeal?
And if, after a battle fought three days' march from the frontier, such danger
and such alarm beset the city, what must we have expected after suffering the
same defeat within our own borders? Do you not see that, as it was, one, or
two, or three days gave the city time for resistance, concentration, recovery,
for much that made for deliverance; as it might have been--but I will not
mention an experience that we were spared by divine favor, and by the
protection of that very alliance which you denounce.
[196] Gentlemen of the jury, all this long story is intended for you, and
for that circle of hearers outside the barrier. For this contemptible fellow, I
have a short, plain, and sufficient answer.
Aeschines,
if the future was revealed to you and to nobody else, you should have given us
the benefit of your predictions when we were deliberating; if you had no
foreknowledge, you are open to the charge of ignorance just like the rest of
us. Then what better right have you to denounce me than I to denounce you? [197] In
respect of the business of which I am speaking-- and at present I discuss
nothing else--I am a better citizen than you, in so far as I devoted myself to
a course of action that was unanimously approved, neither shirking nor even
counting any personal danger. You made no more acceptable suggestion, otherwise
mine would not have been adopted; and in carrying out mine you were not of the
slightest use. You are proved after the event to have behaved throughout like a
worthless and most unpatriotic citizen; and now, by a strange coincidence,
those thorough-going enemies of
Athens,
Aristratus
at
Naxos
and
Aristolaus
at
Thasos,
are bringing the friends of
Athens
to trial, while at
Athens
itself
Aeschines
is accusing
Demosthenes.
[198] And yet he who built his reputation on the accumulated misfortunes
of
Greece
deserves rather to perish himself than to prosecute his neighbor; and the man
who has found his profit in the same emergencies as his country's foes can make
no claim to patriotism. You stand revealed in your life and conduct, in your
public performances and also in your public abstinences. A project approved by
the people is going forward.
Aeschines
is speechless. A regrettable incident is reported.
Aeschines
is in evidence. He reminds one of an old sprain or fracture: the moment you are
out of health it begins to be active.
[199] As he lays so much stress on results, let me venture on a paradox. If
it seems extravagant, I beg that you will not be surprised, but that you will
still give friendly consideration to what I am saying. Suppose that the future
had been revealed to all of us, that every one had known what would happen, and
that you,
Aeschines,
had predicted and protested, and shouted and stormed--though in fact you never
opened your mouth--even then the city could not have departed from that policy,
if she had any regard for honor, or for our ancestors, or for the days that are
to come. [200] All that can be said now is, that we have failed and that
is the common lot of humanity, if God so wills. But then, if
Athens,
after claiming the primacy of the nations, had run away from her claims, she
would have been held guilty of betraying
Greece
to Philip. If, without striking a blow, she had abandoned the cause for which
our forefathers flinched from no peril, is there a man who would not have spat
in your face? In your face,
Aeschines:
not at
Athens,
not at me! [201] How could we have returned the gaze of visitors to our
city, if the result had been what it is--Philip the chosen lord paramount of
all
Greece--and
if other nations had fought gallantly to avert that calamity without our aid,
although never before in the whole course of history had our city preferred inglorious
security to the perils of a noble cause? [202] There is no man living,
whether
Greek
or barbarian, who does not know that the
Thebans,
or the
Lacedaemonians,
who held supremacy before them,
16 or the king
of
Persia
himself, would cheerfully and gratefully have given
Athens
liberty to keep what she had and to take what she chose, if only she would do
their behest and surrender the primacy of
Greece.
[203] But to the
Athenians
of old, I suppose, such temporizing was forbidden by their heredity, by their
pride, by their very nature. Since the world began, no man has ever prevailed
upon
Athens
to attach herself in the security of servitude to the oppressors of mankind
however formidable: in every generation she has striven without a pause in the
perilous contention for primacy, and honor, and renown. [204] Such
constancy you deem so exemplary, and so congenial to your character, that you
still sing the praises of those of your forefathers by whom it was most
signally displayed. And you are right. Who would not exult in the valor of those
famous men who, rather than yield to a conqueror's behests, left city and
country and made the war-galleys their home; who chose
Themistocles,
the man who gave them that counsel, as their commander, and stoned
Cyrsilus17 to death
for advising obedient submission? Aye, and his wife also was stoned by your
wives. [205] The
Athenians
of that day did not search for a statesman or a commander who should help them
to a servile security: they did not ask to live, unless they could live as free
men. Every man of them thought of himself as one born, not to his father and
his mother alone, but to his country. What is the difference? The man who deems
himself born only to his parents will wait for his natural and destined end;
the son of his country is willing to die rather than see her enslaved, and will
look upon those outrages and indignities, which a commonwealth in subjection is
compelled to endure, as more dreadful than death itself.
[206] If I had attempted to claim that you were first inspired with the
spirit of your forefathers by me, every one would justly rebuke me. But I do
not: I am asserting these principles as your principles; I am showing you that
such was the pride of
Athens
long before my time,--though for myself I do claim some credit for the
administration of particular measures. [207]
Aeschines,
on the other hand, arraigns the whole policy, stirs up your resentment against
me as the author of your terrors and your dangers, and, in his eagerness to
strip me of the distinction of a moment, would rob you of the enduring praises
of posterity. For if you condemn
Ctesiphon
on the ground of my political delinquency, you yourselves will be adjudged as
wrongdoers, not as men who owed the calamities they have suffered to the
unkindness of fortune. [208] But no; you cannot, men of
Athens,
you cannot have done wrongly when you accepted the risks of war for the
redemption and the liberties of mankind; I swear it by our forefathers who bore
the brunt of warfare at Marathon, who stood in array of battle at
Plataea,
who fought in the sea-fights of
Salamis
and
Artemisium,
and by all the brave men who repose in our public sepulchres, buried there by a
country that accounted them all to be alike worthy of the same honor --all, I
say,
Aeschines,
not the successful and the victorious alone. So justice bids: for by all the
duty of brave men was accomplished: their fortune was such as Heaven severally
allotted to them.
[209] And then a disreputable quill-driver like you, wanting to rob me of a
distinction given me by the kindness of my fellow citizens, talked about
victories and battles and ancient deeds of valor, all irrelevant to the present
trial. But I, who came forward to advise my country how to retain her
supremacy--tell me, you third-rate tragedian, in what spirit did it beseem me
to ascend the tribune? As one who should give to the citizens counsel unworthy
of their traditions? [210] I should have deserved death! Men of
Athens,
you jurymen are not to judge public and private causes in the same temper. You
look at contracts of everyday business in the light of relevant statutes and
facts, but at questions of public policy with due regard to the proud
traditions of our forefathers. If you feel bound to act in the spirit of that
dignity, whenever you come into court to give
judgement
on public causes, you must bethink yourselves that with his staff and his badge
every one of you receives in trust the ancient pride of
Athens.
[211] However, in touching upon the achievements of our ancestors, I have
passed by some of my decrees and other measures. I will now therefore return to
the point at which I digressed.
When we reached
Thebes
we found ambassadors from Philip and from the
Thebans
and others of his allies already there, our friends panic-stricken, and his
friends full of confidence. To prove that this is not a statement made today to
serve my own turn, please read the dispatch which the ambassadors sent at the
time. [212] The prosecutor is so extraordinarily malicious that he gives
the credit of any duty successfully performed not to me but to opportunity, but
holds me and my bad luck responsible for everything that miscarried. I am a
speaker and a statesman, yet it would seem that, in his view, I am to have no
credit for the results of the discussion and deliberation, but am solely
responsible for all the misadventures of our arms and of our generalship. Can
you imagine a cruder or more abominable calumny? Read the dispatch.
Letter
[213] When the
Thebans
held their assembly, they introduced Philip's ambassadors first, on the ground
that they were in the position of allies. They came forward and made their
speech, full of eulogy of Philip, and of incrimination of
Athens,
and recalled everything you had ever done in antagonism to
Thebes.
The gist of the speech was that they were to show gratitude to Philip for every
good turn he had done to them, and to punish you for the injuries they had
suffered, in whichever of two ways they chose-- either by giving him a free
passage, or by joining in the invasion of
Attica.
They proved, as they thought, that, if their advice were taken, cattle, slaves,
and other loot from
Attica
would come into
Boeotia,
whereas the result of the proposals they expected from us would be that
Boeotia
would be ravaged by the war. They added many other arguments, all tending to
the same conclusion. [214] I would give my life to recapitulate the reply
that we made: but I am afraid that, as that crisis is long past, and as you may
think that all those transactions are now obliterated as by a flood, you would
regard any discussion of them as useless and vexatious. I will only ask you to
hear how far we prevailed upon them, and what answer they returned. Take and
read this document.
Reply of the Thebans
[215] After that, the
Thebans
invited you to join them. You marched out: you reinforced them. I pass over the
incidents of the march: but their reception of you was so friendly that, while
their own infantry and cavalry lay outside the walls, they gave you access to
their homes, to their citadel, to their wives and children and most precious
possessions. On that day the
Thebans
publicly paid three fine compliments--to your valor, to your righteousness, and
to your sobriety. When they decided to fight on your side rather than against
you, they adjudged you to be braver men than Philip, and your claim to be more
righteous than his; and when they put into your power what they, like all other
men, were most anxious to safeguard, namely their wives and their children, they
exhibited their confidence in your sobriety. [216] And thereby, men of
Athens,
they showed a just appreciation of your character. After the entry of your
soldiers no man ever laid even a groundless complaint against them, so soberly
did you conduct yourselves. Fighting shoulder to shoulder with them in the two
earliest engagements,--the battle by the river, and the winter battle,--you
approved yourselves irreproachable fighters, admirable alike in discipline, in
equipment, and in determination. Your conduct elicited the praises of other
nations, and was acknowledged by yourselves in services of thanksgiving to the
gods. [217] I should like to ask
Aeschines
a question: when all that was going on, when the whole city was a scene of
enthusiasm and rejoicing and thanksgiving, did he take part in the worship and
festivity of the populace, or did he sit still at home, grieving and groaning
and sulking over public successes? If he was present as one of the throng,
surely his behavior is scandalous and even sacrilegious, for after calling the
gods to witness that certain measures were very good, he now asks a jury to
vote that they were very bad--a jury that has sworn by the gods! If he was not
present, he deserves many deaths for shrinking from a sight in which every one
else rejoiced. Please read these decrees.
Decrees appointing a Public
Thanksgiving
[218] So we were engaged in thanksgiving, and the
Thebans
in the deliverance that they owed to us. The situation was reversed, and a
nation that, thanks to the intrigues of
Aeschines
and his party, seemed on the verge of suing for aid, was now giving aid in
pursuance of the advice which you accepted from me. But indeed, what sort of
language Philip gave vent to at that time, and how seriously he was
discomposed, you shall learn from letters sent by him to
Peloponnesus.
Please take and read them, that the jury may learn the real effect of my
perseverance, of my journeys and hardships, and of that profusion of decrees at
which
Aeschines
was just now scoffing.
[219] Men of
Athens,
there have been many great and distinguished orators in your city before my
time,--the famous
Callistratus,
Aristophon,
Cephalus,
Thrasybulus,
and thousands more; but no one of them ever devoted himself to any public
business without intermission; the man who moved a resolution would not go on
embassy, and the man who went on embassy would not move a resolution. Each of
them used to leave himself some leisure, and at the same time some loop-hole,
in case anything happened. [220] “What!” some one may say, “were you so
much stronger and bolder than others that you could do everything by yourself?”
That is not what I mean: but I was so firmly persuaded that the danger which
overhung the city was very serious, that it did not seem to me to leave me any
room for taking my personal safety into account; but a man, I thought, must be
content, without neglecting anything, to do his duty. [221] As for myself,
I was convinced, presumptuously, perhaps, but convinced I was, that there was
no one more competent either to make sound proposals, or to carry them into
effect, or to conduct an embassy diligently and honestly: and therefore I took
my place in every field of action. Read Philip's letters.
Letters
[222] To these straits had my policy,
Aeschines,
reduced Philip: and such was then the language uttered by a man who had
hitherto lifted his voice vauntingly against
Athens.
And for that reason I was deservedly decorated by the citizens. You were
present, but said nothing in opposition; and Diondas, who arraigned the grant,
did not get the fifth part of the votes. Please read the decrees which were
then by that acquittal validated, and which
Aeschines
never even arraigned.
Decrees
[223] These decrees, men of
Athens,
exhibit the same wording and phrasing as those proposed formerly by
Aristonicus,
and now by
Ctesiphon.
Aeschines
did not prosecute them himself, nor did he support the accusation of the man
who did arraign them. And yet if there is any truth in his present
denunciation, he might then have prosecuted Demomeles, the proposer, and
Hypereides, with more reason than
Ctesiphon,
[224] who can refer to these precedents, to the decision of the courts, to
the observation that
Aeschines
himself did not prosecute persons who made the same proposals, to the statutory
prohibition of repeated prosecution in such cases, and so forth; whereas at
that time the issue would have been tried on its merits without such
presumptions. [225] On the other hand, at that time, I imagine, there was
no chance of doing what he does now, when out of a lot of old dates and decrees
he selects for slanderous purposes any that nobody knew beforehand or would
expect to hear cited today, transposes dates, substitutes fictitious reasons
for the true reasons of transactions, and so makes a show of speaking to the
point. [226] That trick was not possible then. All speeches must have been
made on a basis of truth, within a short time of the facts, when the jury still
remembered details and almost knew them by heart. That is why, after shirking
inquiry at the time when the events were recent, he has returned to the issue
today, expecting, I suppose, that you will conduct a forensic competition
rather than an inquiry into political conduct, and that the decision will turn
upon diction rather than sound policy.
[227] Then he resorts to sophistry, and tells you that you must ignore any
opinion of himself and me which you brought with you from home; and that, as,
when you cast up a man ' s accounts, though you anticipate a surplus, you
acquiesce in the result if the totals balance, so you must now accept the
result of the calculation. Every dishonest contrivance, you will observe, is
rotten to the core. [228] By his ingenious apologue he has admitted that
we are both here as acknowledged advocates--I of our country, he of Philip; for
if such had not been the view you take of us, he would not have been at pains
to convert you. [229] I shall prove without difficulty that he has no
right to ask you to reverse that opinion--not by using counters, for political
measures are not to be added up in that fashion, but by reminding you briefly
of the several transactions, and appealing to you who hear me as both the
witnesses and the auditors of my account. We owe it to that policy of mine
which he denounces that, instead of the
Thebans
joining Philip in an invasion of our country, as everyone expected, they fought
by our side and stopped him; [230] that, instead of the seat of war being
in
Attica,
it was seven hundred furlongs away on the far side of
Boeotia;
that, instead of privateers from
Euboea
harrying us,
Attica
was at peace on the sea-frontier throughout the war; and that, instead of Philip
taking
Byzantium
and holding the
Hellespont,
the
Byzantines
fought on our side against him. [231] Do you see any resemblance between
this computation of results and your casting up of counters? Are we to cancel
the gains to balance the losses,
18 instead of
providing that they shall never be forgotten? I need not add that other nations
have had experience of that cruelty which is always observable whenever Philip
has got people under his heel, whereas you have been lucky enough to enjoy the
fruits of that factitious humanity in which he clothed himself with an eye to
the future. But I pass that by.
[232] I will not shrink from observing that any man who wished to bring an
orator to the proof honestly, and not merely to slander him, would never have
laid such charges as you have alleged, inventing analogies, and mimicking my
diction and gestures. The fate of
Greece,
forsooth, depended on whether I used this word or that, or moved my hand this
way or that way! [233] No; he would have considered, in the light of
actual facts, the means and resources possessed by the city when I entered on
administration, and those accumulated by me when at the head of affairs; and
also the condition of our adversaries. If I had impaired our resources, he
would have proved that the fault lay at my door: if I had greatly increased
them, he would have spared his slanders. As you avoided this test, I will apply
it; and the jury will see whether I state the case fairly.
[234] For resources, the city possessed the islanders--but not all, only the
weakest, for neither
Chios,
nor
Rhodes,
nor
Corcyra
was on our side; a subsidy of forty-five talents, all collected in advance; and
not a single private or trooper apart from our own army. But what was most
alarming to us, and advantageous to the enemy,
Aeschines
and his party had made all our neighbors,
Megarians,
Thebans,
and
Euboeans,
more disposed to enmity than to friendship. [235] Such were the means of
the city: and I defy anyone to name anything else. Now consider those of our
antagonist Philip. In the first place, he was the despotic commander of his
adherents: and in war that is the most important of all advantages. Secondly,
they had their weapons constantly in their hands. Then he was well provided
with money: he did whatever he chose, without giving notice by publishing
decrees, or deliberating in public, without fear of prosecution by informers or
indictment for illegal measures. He was responsible to nobody: he was the
absolute autocrat, commander, and master of everybody and everything.
[236] And I, his chosen adversary--it is a fair inquiry--of what was I
master? Of nothing at all! Public speaking was my only privilege: and that you
permitted to Philip's hired servants on the same terms as to me. Whenever they
had the advantage of me--and for one reason or another that often happened--you
laid your plans for the enemy's benefit, and went your ways. [237] In
spite of all these drawbacks, I made alliance for you with
Euboeans,
Achaeans,
Corinthians,
Thebans,
Megarians,
Leucadians,
and
Corcyraeans:
and from those states there was assembled a foreign division of fifteen
thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry, not counting their
citizen-soldiery. I also obtained from them in money the largest subsidy I
could. [238] When you talk about fair terms with the
Thebans,
Aeschines,
or with the
Byzantines
and the
Euboeans,
and raise at this time of day the question of equal contributions, in the first
place, you must be unaware that of that famous fleet of three hundred galleys
that fought for
Greece19 in former
days, our city supplied two hundred; and that she did not show any sign of
complaining that she was unfairly treated, or impeaching the statesmen whose
advice she took, or airing her dissatisfaction. That would have been
discreditable indeed! No, she gave thanks to the gods that, when all the
Greeks
alike were encompassed by a great peril, she had contributed twice as much as
all the rest to the common deliverance. [239] Secondly, when you grumble
at me, you are doing an ill turn to your fellow-citizens. Why do you tell them
today what they ought to have done then? You were in
Athens
and at the Assembly: why did you not offer your suggestions at the time--if
indeed they could possibly be offered during an imminent crisis, when we had to
accept, not all that we wanted, but all that the conditions allowed? There was
a man lying in wait who was bidding against us, and was ready to welcome any
allies we drove away, and pay them into the bargain.
[240] If I am accused today for what was actually done, suppose that, while
I was haggling over nice calculations, these cities had marched off and joined
Philip--suppose he had become suzerain o f
Euboea,
Thebes,
and
Byzantium--
what do you think these unprincipled men would have done or said then?
[241] Would they not have told you that we had made Philip a present of
our allies? That they had been driven away when they wanted to join us? That
through the
Byzantines
he had gained the mastery of the
Hellespont,
and control of the corn-supply of all
Greece?
That by means of the
Thebans
Attica
had become the scene of a distressing war with her own neighbors? That the sea
had become useless for ships because of privateers with
Euboea
for their base? Would they not have made all those complaints, and plenty more?
[242] Oh, men of
Athens,
what a vile monster is the calumniator, gathering malice from everywhere,
always backbiting! But this fellow is by very nature a spiteful animal,
absolutely incapable of honesty or generosity; this monkey of melodrama, this
bumpkin tragedy-king, this pinchbeck orator! What use has all your cleverness
ever been to your country? [243] What! talk about bygones today? It is as
though a physician visiting his patients should never open his mouth, or tell
them how to get rid of their complaint, so long as they are ill; but, as soon
as one of them dies, and the obsequies are celebrated, should follow the corpse
to the grave, and deliver his prescription at last from the tombstone: “If our
departed friend had done this or that, he would never have died!” You lunatic!
what is the use of talking now?
[244] You will find that even our defeat, if this reprobate must needs exult
over what he ought to have deplored, did not fall upon the city through any
fault of mine. Make your reckoning in this way: wherever I was sent as your
representative, I came away undefeated by Philip's ambassador--from
Thessaly,
from
Ambracia,
from the
Illyrians,
from the kings of
Thrace,
from
Byzantium,
from every other place, and finally
from
Thebes; but wherever Philip was beaten in diplomacy, he attacked the place
with an army and conquered it. [245] And for those defeats,
Aeschines,
you call me to account! Are you not ashamed to jeer at a man for cowardice, and
then to require that same man to overcome the whole power of Philip
single-handed, and to do it by mere words? For what else had I at my disposal?
Certainly not the personal courage of each man, not the good fortune of the
troops engaged, not that generalship for which you are unreasonable enough to
hold me responsible. Make as strict an inquiry as you will into everything for
which an orator is responsible; I ask no indulgence. [246] But for what is
he responsible? For discerning the trend of events at the outset, for
forecasting results, for warning others. That I have always done. Further, he
ought to reduce to a minimum those delays and hesitations, those fits of
ignorance and quarrelsomeness, which are the natural and inevitable failings of
all free states, and on the other hand to promote unanimity and friendliness,
and whatever impels a man to do his duty. All that also I have made my
business: and herein no man can find any delinquency on my part. [247] Let
any man you like be asked by what means Philip achieved most of his successes:
the universal reply will be, by his army and by bribing and corrupting
politicians. Well, I had no control or authority over your forces, and
therefore no question of their performances can touch me. Moreover, in the matter
of corruption or purity I have beaten Philip. In bribery, just as the purchaser
has vanquished the seller, whenever the bargain is struck, so the man who
refuses the price and remains incorruptible has vanquished the purchaser.
Therefore, in my person,
Athens
is undefeated.
[248] These, and such as these, with many others are the grounds furnished
by my conduct to justify the proposal of the defendant. I will now mention
grounds furnished by all of you. Immediately after the battle, in the very
midst of danger and alarm, at a time when it would not have been surprising if
most of you had treated me unkindly, the people, with a full knowledge of all
my doings, in the first place, adopted by vote my proposals for the safety of
the city. All those measures of defence--the disposition of outposts, the
entrenchments, the expenditure on the fortifications--were taken on resolutions
moved by me. In the second place, they appointed me Food Controller, selecting
me from the whole body of citizens. [249] Then the men who made it their
business to injure me formed a cabal, and set in motion all the machinery of
indictments, audits, impeachments, and the like--not at first by their own
agency, but employing persons by whom they imagined they would be screened. You
will remember how, during that early period, I was put on my trial every day;
and how the recklessness of
Sosicles,
and the spite of
Philocrates,
and the frenzy of Diondas and Melantus, and everything else, were turned to
account by them for my detriment. Nevertheless, by the favor, first of the
gods, and secondly of you and the rest of the
Athenians,
I came through unscathed. And so I deserved. Yes; that is true, and to the credit
of juries that had taken the oath and gave
judgement
according to their oath. [250] When, on my impeachment, you acquitted me,
and did not give the prosecutors the fifth part of your votes, your verdict
implied approval of my policy. When I was indicted, I satisfied you that my
proposals and my speeches had been constitutional. When you put the seal on my accounts,
you further admitted that I had done my business honestly and without
corruption. That being so, what description could
Ctesiphon
properly and honestly have applied to my conduct, other than that which he had
seen applied by the whole nation and by sworn juries, and confirmed by the
truth in the eyes of all men?
[251] Ah, says he, but look at that glorious boast of
Cephalus--never
once indicted! Yes, glorious, and also lucky. But why should a man who has been
often indicted but never convicted be the more justly open to reproach?
However, men of
Athens,
so far as
Aeschines
is concerned, I can repeat that glorious boast: for he never indicted me or
prosecuted me on indictment; and so, by his own admission, I am no worse a
citizen than
Cephalus.
[252] At every point his morose and spiteful temper is conspicuous, and
especially in what he said about fortune. As a general remark, I must say that
it is a stupid thing for any human being to reproach his brother man on the
score of fortune. Seeing that a man who thinks he is doing very well and
regards himself as highly fortunate, is never certain that his good fortune
will last till the evening, how can it be right to boast about it, or use it to
insult other people? But, since
Aeschines
has treated this topic, like many others, so vaingloriously, I beg you to
observe, men of
Athens,
that my discourse on fortune will be more veracious, and more suitable to a
mere man, than his. [253] I attribute good fortune to our city, and so, I
observe, does the oracle of
Zeus
at
Dodona;
but the present fortune of all mankind I account grievous and distressing. Is
there a man living,
Greek
or barbarian, who has not in these days undergone many evils? [254] I
reckon it as part of the good fortune of
Athens
that she has chosen the noblest policy, and that she is better off than the
Greeks
who expected prosperity from their betrayal of us. If she has been
unsuccessful, if everything has not fallen out as we desired, I regard that as
our appointed share in the general ill-fortune of mankind. [255] My personal
fortune, or that of any man among you, must, I imagine, be estimated in the
light of his private circumstances. That is my view of fortune: a just and
correct view, as it seems to me, and, I think, also to you. But he declares
that a poor, insignificant thing like my individual fortune has been more
powerful than the great and good fortune of
Athens.
Now how is that possible?
[256] If,
Aeschines,
you are determined at all costs to investigate my fortune, compare it with your
own; and, should you find mine to be better than yours, stop your vilification.
Begin your inquiry then at the beginning. And I beg earnestly that no one will
blame me for want of generosity. No sensible man, in my
judgement,
ever turns poverty into a reproach, or prides himself on having been nurtured
in affluence. But I am compelled by this troublesome man's scurrility and
backbiting to deal with these topics; and I will treat them with as much
modesty as the state of the case permits.
[257] In my boyhood,
Aeschines,
I had the advantage of attending respectable schools: and my means were
sufficient for one who was not to be driven by poverty into disreputable
occupations. When I had come of age, my circumstances were in accordance with
my upbringing. I was in a position to provide a chorus, to pay for a
war-galley, and to be assessed to property-tax. I renounced no honor able
ambition either in public or in private life: and rendered good service both to
the commonwealth and to my own friends. When I decided to take part in public
affairs, the political services I chose were such that I was repeatedly
decorated both by my own country and by many other Grecian cities and even my
enemies, such as you, never ventured to say that my choice was other than honor
able. [258] Such has been my fortune throughout my career. I could tell
you more, but I forbear, fearing to weary you with details in which I take some
pride.
But do you--you who are so proud and so contemptuous of others-- compare
your fortune with mine. In your childhood you were reared in abject poverty.
You helped your father in the drudgery of a grammar-school, grinding the ink,
sponging the benches, and sweeping the school-room, holding the position of a
menial, not of a free-born boy. [259] On arriving at manhood you assisted
your mother in her initiations,
20 reading the
service-book while she performed the ritual, and helping generally with the
paraphernalia. At night it was your duty to mix the
libations,
to clothe the catechumens in fawn-skins, to wash their bodies, to scour them
with the loam and the bran, and, when their lustration was duly performed, to
set them on their legs, and give out the hymn:
Here I leave my sins behind,
Here the better way I find; and it was your pride that no one ever emitted
that holy ululation so powerfully as yourself. I can well believe it! When you
hear the stentorian tones of the orator, can you doubt that the ejaculations of
the acolyte were simply magnificent? [260] In day-time you marshalled your
gallant throng of bacchanals through the public streets, their heads garlanded
with fennel and
white
poplar; and, as you went, you squeezed the fat-cheeked snakes, or
brandished them above your head, now shouting your Euoi Saboi! now footing it
to the measure of
Hyes
Attes! Attes
Hyes!--saluted
by all the old women with such proud titles as Master of the Ceremonies,
Fugleman, Ivy-bearer, Fan-carrier; and at last receiving your recompense of
tipsy-cakes, and cracknels, and currant-buns. With such rewards who would not
rejoice greatly, and account himself the favorite of fortune?
[261] After getting yourself enrolled on the register of your parish--no one
knows how you managed it; but let that pass--anyhow, when you were enrolled,
you promptly chose a most gentlemanly occupation, that of clerk and errand-boy
to minor officials. After committing all the offences with which you now
reproach other people, you were relieved of that employment; and I must say
that your subsequent conduct did no discredit to your earlier career.
[262] You entered the service of those famous players
Simylus
and
Socrates,
better known as the Growlers. You played small parts to their lead, picking up
figs and grapes and olives, like an orchard-robbing costermonger, and making a
better living out of those missiles than by all the battles that you fought for
dear life. For there was no truce or armistice in the warfare between you and
your audiences, and your casualties were so heavy, that no wonder you taunt
with cowardice those of us who have no experience of such engagements.
[263] However, passing by things for which your poverty may be blamed, I
will address myself to actual charges against your way of living. When in
course of time it occurred to you to enter public life, you chose such a line
of political action that, so long as the city prospered, you lived the life of
a hare, in fear and trembling and constant expectation of a sound thrashing for
the crimes that burdened your conscience: although, when every one else is in
distress, your confidence is manifest to all men.
21
[264] What treatment does a man, who recovered his high spirits on the
death of a thousand of his fellow-citizens, deserve at the hands of the
survivors? I shall omit a great many other facts that I might relate; for I do
not think that I ought to recount glibly all his discreditable and infamous
qualities, but only such as I may mention without discredit to myself.
[265] And now,
Aeschines,
I beg you to examine in contrast, quietly and without acrimony, the incidents
of our respective careers: and then ask the jury, man by man, whether they
would choose for themselves your fortune or mine. You were an usher, I a pupil;
you were an acolyte, I a candidate; you were clerk-at-the-table, I addressed
the House; you were a player, I a spectator; you were cat-called, I hissed; you
have ever served our enemies, I have served my country. [266] Much I pass
by; but on this very day, I am on proof for the honor of a crown, and
acknowledged to be guiltless; you have already the reputation of an informer,
and the question at hazard for you is, whether you are still to continue in
that trade, or be stopped for ever by getting less than your quota of votes.
And that is the good fortune enjoyed by you, who denounce the shabbiness of
mine!
[267] Let me now read to you the testimony of the public services I have
rendered, and you shall read for comparison some of the blank-verse you used to
make such a hash of:
From gates of gloom and dwellings of the dead,
22
Eur. Hec. 1
or,
Tidings of woe with heavy heart I bear,
Unknown
or,
Oh cruel, cruel fate!
Unknown
Such a fate may the gods first, and the jury afterwards,
allot to you--for your citizenship is as worthless as your mummery. Read the
depositions.Depositions
[268] Such has been my character in public life. In private life, if any of
you are not aware that I have been generous and courteous, and helpful to the
distressed, I do not mention it. I will never say a word, or tender any
evidence about such matters as the captives I have ransomed, or the dowries I
have helped to provide, or any such acts of charity. [269] It is a matter
of principle with me. My view is that the recipient of a benefit ought to
remember it all his life, but that the benefactor ought to put it out of his
mind at once, if the one is to behave decently, and the other with magnanimity.
To remind a man of the good turns you have done to him is very much like a
reproach. Nothing shall induce me to do anything of the sort; but whatever be
my reputation in that respect, I am content.
[270] I have finished with private matters, but I have still some trifling
remarks to offer on public affairs. If you,
Aeschines,
can name any human being,
Greek
or barbarian, on whom yonder sun shines, who has escaped all injury from the
domination, first of Philip, and today of Alexander, so be it: I grant you that
my fortune-- or my misfortune, if you prefer the word--has been the cause of
the whole trouble. [271] But if many people, who have never set eyes on me
or heard the sound of my voice, have been grievously afflicted--I do not mean
as individuals, but whole cities and nations--I say it is vastly more honest
and candid to attribute these calamities to the common fortune of mankind, or
to some distressing and untoward current of events. [272] Yet you dismiss
those causes, and put the blame upon me, who only took part in politics by the
side of my fellow-citizens here, although you must be conscious that a part, if
not the whole, of your invective is addressed to all of them, and particularly
to yourself. If I had held sole and despotic authority when I offered my
counsels, it would have been open to you other orators to incriminate me:
[273] but inasmuch as you were present at every assembly, as the state
proposed a discussion of policy in which every one might join, and as my
measures were approved at the time by every one, and especially by you,--for it
was in no friendly spirit that you allowed me to enjoy all the hopes and
enthusiasm and credit that were attached to my policy, but obviously because
truth was too strong for you, and because you had nothing better to suggest--it
is most iniquitous and outrageous to stigmatize today measures which at the
time you were unable to amend.
[274] Among other people I find this sort of distinction universally
observed.--A man has sinned willfully: he is visited with resentment and
punishment. He has erred unintentionally: pardon takes the place of punishment.
Suppose that he has committed no sin or error at all, but, having devoted
himself to a project approved by all, has, in common with all, failed of
success. In that case he does not deserve reproach or obloquy, but condolence.
[275] This distinction will be found not only embodied in our statutes,
but laid down by nature herself in her unwritten laws and in the moral sense of
the human race. Now
Aeschines
so far surpasses all mankind in savagery and malignity that he turns even
misadventures, which he has himself cited as such, into crimes for which I am
to be denounced.
[276] To crown all--as though all his own speeches had been made in a
disinterested and patriotic spirit--he bids you be on your guard against me,
for fear I should mislead and deceive you, calling me an artful speaker, a
mountebank,
an impostor, and so forth. He seems to think that if a man can only get in the
first blow with epithets that are really applicable to himself, they must be
true, and the audience will make no reflections on the character of the
speaker. [277] But I am sure you all know him well, and will regard those
epithets as more appropriate to him than to me. I am also sure that my
artfulness--well, be it so; although I notice that in general an audience
controls the ability of a speaker, and that his reputation for wisdom depends
upon your acceptance and your discriminating favor. Be that as it may, if I do
possess any skill in speaking, you will all find that that skill has always
been exercised on public concerns and for your advantage, never on private
occasions and to your detriment. On the other hand the ability of
Aeschines
is applied not only to speaking on behalf of your enemies, but to the detriment
of anyone who has annoyed or quarrelled with him. He never uses it honestly or
in the interests of the commonweal. [278] No upright and honor able
citizen must ever expect a jury impanelled in the public service to bolster up
his own resentment or enmity or other passions, nor will he go to law to
gratify them. If possible he will exclude them from his heart: if he cannot
escape them, he will at least cherish them calmly and soberly. In what
circumstances, then, ought a politician or an orator to be vehement? When all
our national interests are imperilled; when the issue lies between the people
and their adversaries. Then such is the part of a chivalrous and patriotic
citizen. [279] But for a man who never once sought to bring me to justice
for any public, nor, I will add, for any private offence, whether for the
city's sake or for his own, to come into court armed with a denunciation of a
crown and of a vote of thanks, and to lavish such a wealth of eloquence on that
plea, is a symptom of a peevish, jealous, small-minded, good-for-nothing
disposition. And the exhibition of his turpitude is complete when he
relinquishes his controversy with me, and directs the whole of his attack upon
the defendant. [280] It really makes me think,
Aeschines,
that you deliberately went to law, not to get satisfaction for any
transgression, but to make a display of your oratory and your vocal powers. But
it is not the diction of an orator,
Aeschines,
or the vigor of his voice that has any value: it is supporting the policy of
the people, and having the same friends and the same enemies as your country.
[281] With such a disposition, a man's speeches will always be patriotic:
but the man who pays court to those from whom the state apprehends danger to
herself, is not riding at the same anchor as the people, and therefore does not
look to the same quarter for his security. I do; mark that! My purposes are my
countrymen's purposes; I have no peculiar or personal end to serve.
[282] Can you say the same? No, indeed! Why, immediately after the battle
you went on embassy to visit Philip, the author of all the recent calamities of
your country, although hitherto you had notoriously declined that employment.
And who is the deceiver of his country? Surely the man who does not say what he
thinks. For whom does the marshal read the commination? For him. What graver
crime can be charged to an orator than that his thoughts and his words do not
tally? In that crime you were detected; [283] and yet you still raise your
voice, and dare to look your fellow citizens in the face! Do you imagine that
they do not know who you are? that they are sunk in such slumber and oblivion
that they do not remember the harangues you made while the war was still going
on, when you protested with oaths and curses that you had no dealings with
Philip-- that I had laid that charge against you out of private malice, and
that it was not true? [284] But no sooner had the news of the battle
reached us than you ignored all your protests, and confessed, or rather
claimed, that you were Philip's friend and Philip's guest--a euphemism for
Philip's hired servant; for with what show of equality or honesty could Philip
possibly be the host or the friend or even the acquaintance of
Aeschines,
son of Glaucothea the tambourinist ? I cannot see: but the truth is, you took
his pay to injure the interests of your countrymen. And yet you, a traitor
publicly convicted on information laid by yourself after the fact, vilify and
reproach me for misfortunes for which you will find I am less responsible than
any other man.
[285] Our city owes to me,
Aeschines,
both the inception and the success of many great and noble enterprises; nor was
she unmindful. It is a proof of her gratitude that, when the people wanted one
who should speak over the bodies of the slain, shortly after the battle, you
were nominated but they did not appoint you, in spite of your beautiful voice,
nor
Demades,
although he had recently arranged the peace, nor
Hegemon,
nor any of your party: they appointed me. Then you came forward, and
Pythocles
with you--and, gracious Heavens! how coarsely and impudently you spoke!--making
the very same charges that you have repeated today; but, for all your scurrility,
they appointed me nevertheless. [286] You know very well why; but you
shall hear the reason again from me. They were conscious both of the patriotism
and energy with which I had conducted their business, and also of the
dishonesty of you and your friends; for, when the city had made a false step,
you had acknowledged relations which you had strenuously denied on oath in the
days of prosperity. They conceived that men who found impunity for their
ambitions in our national calamities had long been their secret, and were now
their declared, enemies. [287] They thought it becoming that the orator
who should speak over the bodies of the slain, and magnify their prowess,
should not be one who had visited the homes and shared the loving cup of their
adversaries; that the man who in
Macedonia
had taken part with their murderers in revels and songs of exultation over the
calamities of
Greece,
should not be chosen for high distinction at
Athens;
and that the chosen speaker should not lament their fate with the feigning
voice of an actor, but express the mourning of his very soul. Such sympathy
they discerned in themselves, and in me; but not in your party; and that is why
they appointed me, and did not appoint you. [288] The sentiments of the
people were shared by those fathers and brothers of the dead who were chosen by
the people to conduct the obsequies. In obedience to the custom that requires
the funeral feast to be held in the home of the nearest relative of the dead,
they ordered it to be held at my house; and with good reason. Each hero had
some kinsman who by the ties of blood stood nearer to himself, but to the whole
company of the fallen no man was nearer of kin than I. When they had met with
their untimely fate, he who was most deeply concerned in their safety and their
success, claimed the chief share in mourning for them all.
[289] Read for his benefit the epitaph, which the state resolved by public
vote to inscribe upon their monument. Even from these verses,
Aeschines,
you may learn something of your own callousness, and malignity, and brutality.
Read.
Epitaph
Here lie the brave, who for their country's right
Drew sword, and put th' insulting foe to flight.
Their lives they spared not, bidding Death decide
Who flinched and lived, and who with courage died.
They fought and fell that
Greece
might still be free,
Nor crouch beneath the yoke of slavery.
Zeus
spoke the word of doom; and now they rest
Forspent with toil upon their country's breast.
God errs not, fails not; God alone is great;
But man lies helpless in the hands of fate.
Unknown
[290] Do you hear this admonition, that it is the gods alone who err not and
fail not? It attributes the power of giving success in battle not to the
statesman, but to the gods. Accursed slanderer! why do you revile me for their
death? Why do you utter words which I pray the gods to divert to the undoing of
your children and yourself?
[291] Among all the slanders and lies which he launched against me, men of
Athens,
what amazed me most was that, when he recounted the disasters that befell our
city at that time, his comments were never such as would have been made by an
honest and loyal citizen. He shed no tears; he had no emotion of regret in his
heart; he vociferated, he exulted, he strained his throat. He evidently
supposed himself to be testifying against me, but he was really offering proof
against himself that in all those distressing events he had had no feeling in
common with other citizens. [292] Yet a man who professes such solicitude,
as he has professed today, for our laws and constitution, whatever else he
lacks, ought at least to possess the quality of sympathizing both with the
sorrows and the joys of the common people; and, in choosing his political
principles, he ought not to range himself with their enemies. But that is
clearly what he has done, when he declares that I am responsible for
everything, and that the city has fallen into trouble by my fault.
[293] Your policy of bearing succor to the
Greeks
did not originate in my statesmanship and my principles. If you were to
acknowledge that my influence caused you to resist a despotism that threatened
the ruin of
Greece,
you would bestow on me a favor greater than all the gifts you have ever
conferred on anyone. I do not claim that favor; I cannot claim it without
injustice to you: and I am certain that you will not grant it. If
Aeschines
had acted an honest part, he would never have indulged his spite against me by
impairing and defaming the noblest of your national glories.
[294] But why reproach him for that imputation, when he has uttered
calumnies of far greater audacity? A m an who accuses me of Philippism-- Heaven
and Earth, of what lie is he not capable? I solemnly aver that, if we are to
cast aside lying imputations and spiteful mendacity, and inquire in all
sincerity who really are the men to whom the reproach of all that has befallen
might by general consent be fairly and honestly brought home, you will find
that they are men in the several cities who resemble
Aeschines,
and do not resemble me. [295] At a time when Philip's resources were
feeble and very small indeed, when we were constantly warning, exhorting,
admonishing them for the best, these men flung away their national prosperity
for private and selfish gain; they cajoled and corrupted all the citizens
within their grasp, until they had reduced them to slavery. So the
Thessalians
were treated by Daochus,
Cineas,
Thrasydaus, the
Arcadians
by
Cercidas,
Hieronymus,
Eucampidas,
the
Argives
by
Myrtis,
Teledamus,
Mnaseas,
the Eleians by
Euxitheus,
Cleotimus,
Aristaechmus,
the
Messenians
by the sons of that god-forsaken
Philiades,
Neon and Thrasylochus, the
Sicyonians
by
Aristratus
and Epichares, the Corinthians by
Deinarchus
and Demaretus, the
Megarians
by Ptoeodorus,
Helixus,
Perilaus,
the
Thebans
by
Timolaus,
Theogeiton, Anemoetas, the
Euboeans
by
Hipparchus,
Cleitarchus,
and
Sosistratus.
[296] I could continue this
catalogue
of traitors till the sun sets. Every one of them, men of
Athens,
is a man of the same way of thinking in the politics of his own country as
Aeschines
and his friends are in ours. They too are profligates, sycophants, fiends
incarnate; they have mutilated their own countries; they have pledged away
their liberty in their cups, first to Philip, and now to Alexander. They
measure their happiness by their belly and their baser parts; they have
overthrown for ever that freedom and independence which to the
Greeks
of an earlier age were the very standard and canon of prosperity.
[297] Of this disgraceful and notorious conspiracy, of this wickedness, or
rather, men of
Athens,
if I am to speak without trifling, this betrayal of the liberties of
Greece,
you--thanks to my policy--are guiltless in the eyes of the world, as I am
guiltless in your eyes. And then,
Aeschines,
you ask for what merit I claim distinction! I tell you that, when all the
politicians in
Greece,
starting with you, had been corrupted, first by Philip, and now by Alexander,
[298] neither opportunity, nor civil speeches, nor large promises, nor
hope, nor fear, nor any other inducement, could provoke or suborn me to betray
the just claims and the true interests of my country, as I conceived them; and
that, whatever counsels I have offered to my fellow-citizens here, I have not
offered, like you, as if I were a false balance with a bias in favor of the
vendor. With a soul upright, honest and incorruptible, appointed to the control
of more momentous transactions than any statesman of my time, I have
administered them throughout in all purity and righteousness. [299] On
those grounds I claim this distinction. As for my fortifications, which you
treated so satirically, and my entrenchments, I do, and I must, judge these
things worthy of gratitude and thanks; but I give them a place far removed from
my political achievements. I did not fortify
Athens
with masonry and brickwork: they are not the works on which I chiefly pride myself.
Regard my fortifications as you ought, and you will find armies and cities and
outposts, seaports and ships and horses, and a multitude ready to fight for
their defence. [300] These were the bastions I planted for the protection
of
Attica
so far as it was possible to human forethought; and therewith I fortified, not
the ring-fence of our port and our citadel, but the whole country. Nor was I
beaten by Philip in forethought or in armaments; that is far from the truth.
The generals and the forces of the allies were beaten by his good fortune. Have
I any proofs of my claim? Yes, proofs definite and manifest. I ask you all to
consider them.
[301] What course of action was proper for a patriotic citizen who was
trying to serve his country with all possible prudence and energy and loyalty?
Surely it was to protect
Attica
on the sea-board by
Euboea,
on the inland frontier by
Boeotia,
and on the side towards
Peloponnesus
by our neighbors in that direction; to make provision for the passage of our
corn-supply along friendly coasts all the way to
Peiraeus;
[302] to preserve places already at our disposal, such as
Proconnesus,
Chersonesus,
Tenedos,
by sending succor to them and by suitable speeches and resolutions; to secure
the friendship and alliance of such places as
Byzantium,
Abydos,
and
Euboea;
to destroy the most important of the existing resources of the enemy, and to
make good the deficiencies of our own city. All these purposes were
accomplished by my decrees and my administrative acts. [303] Whoever will
study them, men of
Athens,
without jealousy, will find that they were rightly planned and honestly
executed; that the proper opportunity for each several measure was never
neglected, or ignored, or thrown away by me: and that nothing within the
compass of one man's ability or forethought was left undone. If the superior
power of some deity or of fortune, or the incompetence of commanders, or the
wickedness of traitors, or all these causes combined, vitiated and at last
shattered the whole enterprise,--is
Demosthenes
guilty? [304] If in each of the cities of
Greece
there had been some one man such as I was in my appointed station in your
midst, nay, if
Thessaly
had possessed one man and
Arcadia
one man holding the same sentiments that I held, no Hellenic people beyond or
on this side of
Thermopylae
would have been exposed to their present distresses: [305] they would
still be dwelling prosperously in their own countries, in freedom and
independence, securely and without fear, grateful to you and to all the
Athenians
for the great and manifold blessings they owed to me. To prove that, as a
precaution against envy, I am using words that do less than justice to my
deeds, please take these papers, and read the list of expeditions sent in
pursuance of my decrees.
Number of Expeditions in Aid
[306] It was the duty,
Aeschines,
of an upright and honor able citizen to take these or similar measures. If they
had been successful, we should have been, beyond controversy, the greatest of
nations and a nation that deserved its greatness: and, though they have failed,
there remains the result that our reputation stands high, and that no man can
find fault with
Athens
or her policy, but lays the blame on the fortune that so ordered the issue.
[307] Assuredly it was not the duty of such a citizen to abandon the cause
of his country, to take the hire of her adversaries, to wait on the occasions,
not of
Athens,
but of her enemies. It was not his duty to look with an evil eye upon a man who
had made it his business to support or propose measures worthy of our
traditions, and was resolved to stand by such measures; nor to treasure
vindictively the memory of private annoyances. Nor was it his duty to hold his
peace dishonestly and deceptively, as you so often do. [308] There is,
indeed, a silence that is honest and beneficial to the city, such as is observed
in all simplicity by the majority of you citizens. Not such, but far, far
different, is the silence of
Aeschines.
Withdrawing himself from public life whenever he thinks fit--and that is very
frequently--he lies in wait for the time when you will be weary of the
incessant speaker, or when some unlucky reverse has befallen you, or any of
those vexations that are so frequent in the life of mortal men; and then,
seizing the occasion, he breaks silence and the orator reappears like a sudden
squall, with his voice in fine training; he strings together the words and the
phrases that he has accumulated, emphatically and without a pause; but, alas,
they are all useless, they serve no good purpose, they are directed to the
injury of this or that citizen, and to the discredit of the whole community.
[309] Yet if all that assiduous practice,
Aeschines,
had been conducted in a spirit of honesty and of solicitude for your country's
well-being, it should have yielded a rich and noble harvest for the benefit of
us all--alliances of states, new revenues, development of commerce, useful
legislation, measures of opposition to our avowed enemies. [310] In days
of old all those services afforded the recognized test of statesmanship: and
the time through which you have passed supplied to an upright politician many
opportunities of showing his worth; but among such men you won no position--you
were neither first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, nor anywhere in the
race--at least when the power of your country was to be enlarged.
[311] What alliance does
Athens
owe to your exertions? What auxiliary expedition, what gain of amity or
reputation? What embassy or service, by which the credit of the city has been
raised? What project in domestic, Hellenic, or foreign policy, of which you
took charge, has ever been successful? What war-galleys, or munitions, or
docks, or fortifications, or cavalry, do we owe to you? Of what use in the wide
world are you? What public-spirited assistance have you ever given to rich or
to poor? None whatever. [312] But come, sir, without any of these things a
man may show patriotism and zeal. Where? When? Why, you incorrigible knave,
even at the time when every man who ever spoke from the tribune gave freely to
the national defence, when at last even
Aristonicus
gave the money he had collected to redeem his citizenship, you never came
forward and put your name down for a farthing. And yet you were certainly not
without means, for you had inherited more than five talents from the estate of
your father-in-law
Philo,
and you had a present of two talents, subscribed by the chairmen of the Navy
Boards, as a reward for spoiling the Navy Reform Bill. [313] However, I
will pass that by, for fear I should stray from my immediate purpose by telling
one story after another. It is clear that you refused to contribute, not
because you were poor, but because you were careful not to do anything in
opposition to the party you serve in politics. Then on what occasions are you a
man of spirit? When are you a shining light? Whenever something is to be said
in prejudice of your fellow-citizens; then your voice is magnificent, then your
memory is wonderful; then we hear the great tragedian, the
Theocrines23 of the
legitimate drama.
[314] Then you remind us of the heroes of past generations. Quite right: but
it is not fair, men of
Athens,
to take advantage of the affection you cherish for the departed, and analyze
me, who am still living in your midst, by comparing me with them.
[315] Everybody knows that against the living there is always an
undercurrent of more or less jealousy, while the dead are no longer disliked
even by their enemies. Such is human nature; am I then to be criticized and
canvassed by comparison with my predecessors? Heaven forbid! No,
Aeschines;
that is unfair and unjust: compare me with yourself, or with any living man you
choose, whose principles are identical with yours. [316] Consider this
question: is it more decent and patriotic that for the sake of the services of
men of old times, enormous as they were, nay, great beyond expression, the
services that are now being rendered to the present age should be treated with
ingratitude and vituperation, or that every man who achieves anything in a
spirit of loyalty should receive some share of the respect and consideration of
his fellow-citizens? [317] If I must deal with that subject, I say that,
if my policy and my principles are considered, they will be found to resemble
in spirit and purpose those of the venerated names of antiquity. Yours are like
those of the men who maligned them: for it is certain that, even in their days,
there were men who were always carping at the living and commending the dead--a
spiteful vocation, and just like yours. You tell me I am not at all like those
great men. [318] Are you like them,
Aeschines?
Or your brother? Or any other orator of this generation? In my opinion, none.
Then, my honest friend-- to call you nothing worse--assay a living man by the
standard of living men, men of his own time. That is the test you apply to
everything else--to dramatists, to choruses, to athletes. [319]
Philammon
did not leave
Olympia
without a crown, because he was not so strong as
Glaucus
of
Carystus,
or other bygone champions: he was crowned and proclaimed victor, because he
fought better than the men who entered the ring against him. You must compare me
with the orators of today; with yourself, for instance, or anyone you like: I
exclude none. [320] When the commonwealth was at liberty to choose the
best policy, when there was a competition of patriotism open to all comers, I
made better speeches than any other man, and all business was conducted by my
resolutions, my statutes, my diplomacy. Not one o f you ever put in an
appearance-- except when you must needs fall foul of my measures. But when
certain deplorable events had taken place, and there was a call, not for
counsellors, but for men who would obey orders, who were ready to injure their
country for pay, and willing to truckle to strangers, then you and your party
were at your post, great men with gorgeous equipages.
24 I was
powerless, I admit; but I was still the better patriot.
[321] There are two traits, men of
Athens,
that mark the disposition of the well-meaning citizen;--that is a description I
may apply to myself without offence. When in power, the constant aim of his
policy should be the honor and the ascendancy of his country; and on every
occasion and in all business he should preserve his loyalty. That virtue
depends on his natural disposition: ability and success depend upon other
considerations. [322] Such, you will find, has been my disposition,
abidingly and without alloy. Look at the facts. They demanded that I should be
given up; they arraigned me before the Amphictyonic Council; they tried me with
threats, they tried me with promises; they set these miscreants to worry me
like a pack of wolves; but through it all I never renounced my loyalty to you.
At the very outset of my career I had chosen once for all the path of political
uprightness and integrity, and resolved to support, to magnify, and to
associate myself with the honor, the power, and the glory of my native land.
[323] I do not perambulate the marketplace, gaily exulting in the good
fortune of the alien, holding out my right hand, and telling the glad tidings
to anyone I think likely to send word over yonder. When I hear of my country's
successes, I do not shudder, and sigh, and hang down my head, like those
blasphemers, who traduce
Athens,
forgetting that thereby they are traducing themselves; who turn their eyes
abroad, and, when the alien has prospered by the distresses of
Greece,
applaud his good fortune, and declare that we must try to preserve it for ever.
[324] Never, O ye Powers of Heaven, never vouchsafe to them the fulfillment
of that desire. If it be possible, implant even in them a better purpose and a
better spirit; but, if their malady is incurable, consign them, and them alone,
to utter and untimely destruction by land and sea, and to us who remain grant
speedy deliverance from the terrors that hang over our heads, and a salvation
that shall never fail.
 |
| Collage by Norman E. Hooben |
1 Eurybatus,
of
Ephesus,
a proverbial knave, gave to
Cyrus
military money entrusted to him by
Croesus.
2 the
perpetrator: Alexander, who, in the year 335, destroyed
Thebes,
and then demanded
from
Athens the surrender of
Demosthenes.
See Introd. p. 4.
3 Perilaus:
so MSS. here, and, with variations, in 295; according to
Greek
lexicographers the name was
Perillus.
4 looting
of
Mysia,
by pirates; the proverbial example of cowardly non-resistance.
5 These
can hardly be standard talents. Perhaps they were the later conventional
talents, mentioned by
Philemon,
which were equal to three gold staters or didrachmas (say 4s. 6d.); or perhaps
the
Chersonesus
had an unknown standard of its own; or perhaps the forger of these documents
was generous in disbursing other people's gold.
6 Haliartus,
395 B.C.;
Corinth,
394 B.C.; Decelean war, the last period, 4l3-404, of the
Peloponnesian
war, when the
Spartans
held the fortified position of
Decelea
in
Attica.
7 hupômosia, in general an affidavit to arrest proceedings; here
the oath taken in the Assembly by the party engaging to prosecute the author of
a law or a decree for violation of the constitution. Its effect was to keep the
law in abeyance, at whatever stage it had arrived, until the suit was decided.
8 dockyard
temple: lit.
temple
of (Artemis) Munichia: the “Bluejackets' Church” at
Peiraeus.
9 The
laws alleged to be violated were posted in court side by side with the law or
decree which was the object of the prosecution.
10 like
a clown at a carnival: lit., as from a wagon, in the procession at a Dionysiac
festival, when coarse raillery was customary. A similar expression is used in
Dem. 18.11 and Dem. 18.124.
11 Heros
the bone-setter: this interpretation is doubtful; it assumes (1) identity with
a person called, more respectfully, Heros the physician, in a similar passage
of the speech
On the Embassy, Dem. 19; (2) that
kalamitêsmay mean one who uses splints (
kalamoi). Otherwise: near the shrine (or statue) of the hero
Calamites--
unknown elsewhere, but perhaps identical with the Lycian “Hero Physician.” See
Essay 6. in Goodwin's edition.
12 hour-glass,
the
clepsydra
or
water-clock,
used to measure the time allowed by the court to each speaker.
13 presiding
councillors: the fifty representatives on the Council of that one of the ten
tribes within whose term of administrative duty the meeting fell.
14 unfolded
the hurdles: they were tied together hinge-wise, and, when unfolded, formed
barriers, either to keep out strangers (Dem. 59.90) or to block streets leading
from the marketplace elsewhere than to the
Pnyx,
where the assembly met (Schol. on Aristoph. Ach. 22). Unfolded is a conjectural
reading derived from the scholium cited; but no satisfactory explanation is
forthcoming of the reading of all MSS., set fire to the hurdles.
15 Battalus,
perhaps stammerer, a nickname of the nursery; capable also of an indecent
interpretation, and therefore maliciously revived by
Aeschines.
16 The
Spartan hegemony lasted from 404 to 371, the
Theban
from 371 to 362.
17 stoned
Cyrilus: at
Salamis,
479 B.C., when
Athens
was held by the
Persians;
see Hdt. 9.5, where, however, the name is Lycides. Not 480 B.C., as
Cicero,
Off. 3.11.48, implies; though the rest of the sentence refers to the
conditions of that year.
18 The
metaphors here are taken from calculations on the abacus, where subtraction of
counters from one side of the board would serve instead of addition to the
other. Instead of showing the gains of
Athens
side by side with her losses,
Aeschines
would record only the adverse balance.
19 that
fought for
Greece:
at
Salamis,
480 B.C.
20 in
her initiations: she was an expert in Bacchic or Sabazian rites imported from
Phrygia.
21 Since
the battle of
Chaeronea.
22 Eur.
Hec. 1. The other quotations are unknown.
23 Theocrines,
a notorious informer; prosecuted in a speech attributed to
Demosthenes.
24 To
keep a stud of horses, whether for racing purposes or for use in the cavalry,
was at
Athens
the favorite method for displaying wealth.
