106. I come now to the third period, or rather to that bitterest period of all, in which Demosthenes brought ruin upon our state and upon all Hellas by his impiety toward the shrine at Delphi, and by moving the alliance with Thebes—an unjust alliance and utterly unequal. But I will begin with his sins against the the gods.
106. ἐνταῦθʼ ἤδη τέτακται καὶ ὁ τρίτος τῶν καιρῶν, μᾶλλον δʼ ὁ πάντων πικρότατος χρόνος, ἐν ὧ Δημοσθένης ἀπώλεσε τὰς τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ τῆς πόλεως πράξεις, ἀσεβήσας μὲν εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς, ἄδικον δὲ καὶ οὐδαμῶς ἴσην τὴν πρὸς Θηβαίους συμμαχίαν γράψας. ἄρξομαι δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν εἰς τοὺς πλημμελημάτων λέγειν.
107. There is, fellow citizens, a plain, called the plain of Cirrha, and a harbor, now known as “dedicate and accursed.” This district was once inhabited by the Cirrhaeans and the Cragalidae, most lawless tribes, who repeatedly committed sacrilege against the shrine at Delphi and the votive offerings there, and who transgressed against the Amphictyons also. This conduct exasperated all the Amphictyons, and your ancestors most of all, it is said, and they sought at the shrine of the god an oracle to tell them with what penalty they should visit these men.
107. ἔστι γάρ, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τὸ Κιρραῖον ὠνομασμένον πεδίον καὶ λιμὴν ὁ νῦν ἐξάγιστος καὶ ἐπάρατος ὠνομασμένος. ταύτην ποτὲ τὴν χώραν κατῴκησαν Κιρραῖοι καὶ Κραγαλίδαι, γένη παρανομώτατα, οἳ εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς καὶ περὶ τὰ ἀναθήματα ἠσέβουν, ἐξημάρτανον δὲ καὶ εἰς τοὺς Ἀμφικτύονας. ἀγανακτήσαντες δʼ ἐπὶ τοῖς γιγνομένοις μάλιστα μέν, ὡς λέγονται, οἱ πρόγονοι οἱ ὑμέτεροι, ἔπειτα καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι Ἀμφικτύονες, μαντείαν ἐμαντεύσαντο παρὰ τῷ θεῷ, τίνι χρὴ τιμωρίᾳ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τούτους μετελθεῖν.
108. The Pythia replied that they must fight against the Cirrhaeans and the Cragalidae day and night, bitterly ravage their country, enslave the inhabitants, and dedicate the land to the Pythian Apollo and Artemis and Leto and Athena Pronaea, that for the future it lie entirely uncultivated; that they must not till this land themselves nor permit another. Now when they had received this oracle, the Amphictyons voted, on motion of Solon of Athens, a man able as a law-giver and versed in poetry and philosophy, to march against the accursed men according to the oracle of the god.
108. καὶ αὐτοῖς ἀναιρεῖ ἡ Πυθία πολεμεῖν Κιρραίοις καὶ Κραγαλίδαις πάντʼ ἤματα καὶ πάσας νύκτας, καὶ τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν ἐκπορθήσαντας καὶ αὐτοὺς ἀνδραποδισαμένους ἀναθεῖναι τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι τῷ Πυθίῳ καὶ τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι καὶ τῇ Λητοῖ καὶ Ἀθηνᾷ Προναίᾳ ἐπὶ πάσῃ ἀεργίᾳ, καὶ ταύτην τὴν χώραν μήτʼ αὐτοὺς ἐργάζεσθαι μήτʼ ἄλλον ἐᾶν. λαβόντες δὲ τὸν χρησμὸν τοῦτον οἱ Ἀμφικτύονες ἐψηφίσαντο Σόλωνος εἰπόντος Ἀθηναίου τὴν γνώμην, ἀνδρὸς καὶ νομοθετῆσαι δυνατοῦ καὶ περὶ ποίησιν καὶ φιλοσοφίαν διατετριφότος, ἐπιστρατεύειν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐναγεῖς κατὰ τὴν μαντείαν τοῦ θεοῦ·
109. Collecting a great force of the Amphictyons, they enslaved the men, destroyed their harbor and city, and dedicated their land, as the oracle had commanded. Moreover they swore a mighty oath, that they would not themselves till the sacred land nor let another till it, but that they would go to the aid of the god and the sacred land with hand and foot and voice, and all their might.
109. καὶ συναθροίσαντες δύναμιν πολλὴν τῶν Ἀμφικτυόνων, ἐξηνδραποδίσαντο τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ τὸν λιμένα καὶ τὴν πόλιν αὐτῶν κατέσκαψαν καὶ τὴν χώραν καθιέρωσαν κατὰ τὴν μαντείαν. καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις ὅρκον ὤμοσαν ἰσχυρόν, μήτʼ αὐτοὶ τὴν ἱερὰν γῆν ἐργάσεσθαι μήτʼ ἄλλῳ ἐπιτρέψειν, ἀλλὰ βοηθήσειν τῷ θεῷ καὶ τῇ γῇ τῇ ἱερᾷ καὶ χειρὶ καὶ ποδὶ καὶ φωνῇ καὶ πάσῃ δυνάμει.
110. They were not content with taking this oath, but they added an imprecation and a mighty curse concerning this; for it stands thus written in the curse: “If any one should violate this,” it says, “whether city or private man, or tribe, let them be under the curse,” it says, “of Apollo and Artemis and Leto and Athena Pronaea.”
110. καὶ οὐκ ἀπέχρησεν αὐτοῖς τοῦτον τὸν ὅρκον ὀμόσαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ προστροπὴν καὶ ἀρὰν ἰσχυρὰν ὑπὲρ τούτων ἐποιήσαντο. γέγραπται γὰρ οὕτως ἐν τῇ ἀρᾷ, εἴ τις τάδε, φησί, παραβαίνοι ἢ πόλις ἤ ἰδιώτης ἢ ἔθνος, ἐναγής, φησίν, ἔστω τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος καὶ τῆς Λητοῦς καὶ Ἀθηνᾶς Προναίας.
111. The curse goes on: That their land bear no fruit; that their wives bear children not like those who begat them, but monsters; that their flocks yield not their natural increase; that defeat await them in camp and court and market-place, and that they perish utterly, themselves, their houses, their whole race; “And never,” it says, “may they offer pure sacrifice unto Apollo, nor to Artemis, nor to Leto, nor to Athena Pronaea, and may the gods refuse to accept their offerings.”
111. καὶ ἐπεύχεται αὐτοῖς μήτε γῆν καρποὺς φέρειν, μήτε γυναῖκας τέκνα τίκτειν γονεῦσιν ἐοικότα, ἀλλὰ τέρατα, μήτε βοσκήματα κατὰ φύσιν γονὰς ποιεῖσθαι, ἧτταν δὲ αὐτοῖς εἶναι πολέμου καὶ δικῶν καὶ ἀγορᾶς, καὶ ἐξώλεις εἶναι καὶ αὐτοὺς καὶ οἰκίας καὶ γένος ἐκείνων. καὶ μήποτε, φησίν, ὁσίως θύσειαν τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι μηδὲ τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι μηδὲ τῇ Λητοῖ μηδʼ Ἀθηνᾷ Προναίᾳ, μηδὲ δέξαιντο αὐτοῖς τὰ ἱερά.
112. As a proof of this, let the oracle of the god be read; hear the curse; call to mind the oaths that your fathers swore together with all the other Amphictyons.The Oracle[Ye may not hope to capture town nor tower,Till dark-eyed Amphitrite’s waves shall breakAnd roar against Apollo’s sacred shore.]
112. ὅτι δʼ ἀληθῆ λέγω, ἀνάγνωθι τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ μαντείαν. ἀκούσατε τῆς ἀρᾶς. ἀναμνήσθητε τῶν ὅρκων, οὓς ὑμῶν οἱ πρόγονοι μετὰ τῶν Ἀμφικτυόνων συνώμοσαν.Μαντεία[οὐ πρὶν τῆσδε πόληος ἐρείψετε πύργον ἑλόντες,πρίν γε θεοῦ τεμένει κυανώπιδος Ἀμφιτρίτηςκῦμα ποτικλύζῃ κελαδοῦν ἱεραῖσιν ἐπʼ ἀκταῖς.]υνκνοων Ὅρκοι.
113. The Oaths. The Curse This curse, these oaths, and this oracle stand recorded to this day; yet the Locrians of Amphissa, or rather their leaders, most lawless of men, did till the plain, and they rebuilt the walls of the harbor that was dedicate and accursed, and settled there and collected port-dues from those who sailed into the harbor and of the deputies who came to Delphi they corrupted some with money, one of whom was Demosthenes.
113. Ἀρά ταύτης τῆς ἀρᾶς καὶ τῶν ὅρκων καὶ τῆς μαντείας ἀναγεγραμμένων ἔτι καὶ νῦν, οἱ Λοκροὶ οἱ Ἀμφισσεῖς, μᾶλλον δὲ οἱ προεστηκότες αὐτῶν, ἄνδρες παρανομώτατοι, ἐνηργάζοντο τὸ πεδίον, καὶ τὸν λιμένα τὸν ἐξάγιστον καὶ ἐπάρατον πάλιν ἐτείχισαν καὶ συνῴκισαν, καὶ τέλη τοὺς καταπλέοντας ἐξέλεγον, καὶ τῶν ἀφικνουμένων εἰς Δελφοὺς πυλαγόρων ἐνίους χρήμασι διέφθειρον, ὧν εἷς ἦν Δημοσθένης.
114. For after he had been elected your deputy, he received two thousand drachmas from the Amphissians, in return for which he was to see that no mention of them should he made in the assembly of the Amphictyons. And it was agreed with him that thereafter twenty minas of the accursed and abominable money should he sent to Athens to him yearly, on condition that he at Athens aid the Amphissians in every way. In consequence of this it has come to pass even more than before, that whatsoever he touches, be it private citizen, or ruler, or democratic state, becomes entangled, every one, in irreparable misfortune.
114. χειροτονηθεὶς γὰρ ὑφʼ ὑμῶν πυλάγορος, λαμβάνει δισχιλίας δραχμὰς παρὰ τῶν Ἀμφισσέων, τοῦ μηδεμίαν μνείαν περὶ αὐτῶν ἐν τοῖς Ἀμφικτύοσι ποιεῖσθαι. διωμολογήθη δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ εἰς τὸν λοιπὸν χρόνον ἀποστέλλεσθαι Ἀθήναζε τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ἑκάστου μνᾶς εἴκοσιν ἐκ τῶν ἐξαγίστων καὶ ἐπαράτων χρημάτων, ἐφʼ ᾧτε βοηθήσει τοῖς Ἀμφισσεῦσιν Ἀθήνησι κατὰ πάντα τρόπον· ὅθεν ἔτι μᾶλλον ἢ πρότερον συμβέβηκεν αὐτῷ, ὅτου ἂν προσάψηται, ἢ ἀνδρὸς ἰδιώτου ἢ δυνάστου ἢ πόλεως δημοκρατουμένης, τούτων ἑκάστους ἀνιάτοις συμφοραῖς περιβάλλειν.
115. Now behold how providence and fortune triumphed over the impiety of the Amphissians. It was in the archonship of Theophrastus; Diognetus of Anaphlystus was our hieromnemon; as pylagori you elected Meidias of Anagyrus, whom you all remember—I wish for many reasons he were still living —and Thrasycles of Oeum; I was the third. But it happened that we were no sooner come to Delphi than Diognetus, the hieromnemon, fell sick with fever; the same misfortune had befallen Meidias already.
115. σκέψασθε δὴ τὸν δαίμονα καὶ τὴν τύχην, ὅσῳ περιεγένετο τῆς τῶν Ἀμφισσέων ἀσεβείας. ἐπὶ γὰρ Θεοφράστου ἄρχοντος, ἱερομνήμονος ὄντος Διογνήτου Ἀναφλυστίου, πυλαγόρους ὑμεῖς εἵλεσθε Μειδίαν τε ἐκεῖνον τὸν Ἀναγυράσιον, ὃν ἐβουλόμην ἂν πολλῶν ἕνεκα ζῆν, καὶ Θρασυκλέα τὸν ἐξ Οἴου, καὶ τρίτον μετὰ τούτων ἐμέ. συνέβη δʼ ἡμῖν ἀρτίως μὲν εἰς Δελφοὺς ἀφῖχθαι, παραχρῆμα δὲ τὸν ἱερομνήμονα Διόγνητον πυρέττειν· τὸ δʼ αὐτὸ τοῦτο συνεπεπτώκει καὶ τῷ Μειδίᾳ. οἱ δʼ ἄλλοι συνεκάθηντο Ἀμφικτύονες.
116. The other Amphictyons took their seats. Now it was reported to us by one and another who wished to show friendship to our city, that the Amphissians, who were at that time dominated by the Thebans and were their abject servants, were in the act of bringing in a resolution against our city, to the effect that the people of Athens be fined fifty talents, because we had affixed gilded shields to the new temple and dedicated them before the temple had been consecrated, and had written the appropriate inscription, “The Athenians, from the Medes and Thebans when they fought against Hellas.” The hieromnemon sent for me and asked me to go into the council and speak to the Amphictyons in behalf of our city—indeed I had already determined of myself so to do.
116. ἐξηγγέλλετο δʼ ἡμῖν παρὰ τῶν βουλομένων εὔνοιαν ἐνδείκνυσθαι τῇ πόλει, ὅτι οἱ Ἀμφισσεῖς ὑποπεπτωκότες τότε καὶ δεινῶς θεραπεύοντες τοὺς Θηβαίους εἰσέφερον δόγμα κατὰ τῆς ἡμετέρας πόλεως, πεντήκοντα ταλάντοις ζημιῶσαι τὸν δῆμον τὸν Ἀθηναίων, ὅτι χρυσᾶς ἀσπίδας ἀνέθεμεν πρὸς τὸν καινὸν νεὼν πρὶν ἐξαρέσασθαι, καὶ ἐπεγράψαμεν τὸ προσῆκον ἐπίγραμμα, Ἀθηναῖοι ἀπὸ Μήδων καὶ Θηβαίων, ὅτε τἀναντία τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐμάχοντο. μεταπεμψάμενος δʼ ἐμὲ ὁ ἱερομνήμων ἠξίου εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὸ συνέδριον καὶ εἰπεῖν τι πρὸς τοὺς Ἀμφικτύονας ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως, καὶ αὐτὸν οὕτω προῃρημένον.
117. When I had entered the council, perhaps a little too impetuously—the other pylagori had withdrawn —and when I was just beginning to speak, one of the Amphissians, a scurrilous fellow, and, as I plainly saw, a man of no education whatever, but perhaps also led on to folly by some divine visitation, cried out, “O Greeks, if you were in your right mind, you would not have so much as named the name of the people of Athens in these sacred days, hut you would have debarred them from the shrine, as men polluted.”
117. ἀρχομένου δέ μου λέγειν καὶ προθυμότερόν πως εἰσεληλυθότος εἰς τὸ συνέδριον, τῶν ἄλλων πυλαγόρων μεθεστηκότων, ἀναβοήσας τις τῶν Ἀμφισσέων, ἄνθρωπος ἀσελγέστατος καὶ ὡς ἐμοὶ ἐφαίνετο οὐδεμιᾶς παιδείας μετεσχηκώς, ἴσως δὲ καὶ δαιμονίου τινὸς ἐξαμαρτάνειν προαγομένου, ἀρχὴν δέ γε, ἔφη, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἕλληνες, εἰ ἐσωφρονεῖτε, οὐδʼ ἂν ὠνομάζετε τοὔνομα τοῦ δήμου τοῦ Ἀθηναίων ἐν ταῖσδε ταῖς ἡμέραις, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἐναγεῖς ἐξείργετʼ ἂν ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ.
118. And at the same time he reminded them of your alliance with the Phocians, proposed by that man whom we used to call “Top-knot”; and he went through a long list of vexatious charges against our city, which angered me almost beyond endurance as I listened to them then, and which it is no pleasure to recall now. For as I listened, I was exasperated as never before in my life. I will pass over the rest of what I said, but this occurred to me, to call attention to the impiety of the Amphissians in relation to the sacred land; and from the very spot where I was standing I pointed it out to the Amphictyons for the plain of Cirrha lies just below the shrine and is clearly visible.
118. ἅμα δὲ ἐμέμνητο τῆς τῶν Θωκέων, συμμαχίας, ἣν ὁ Κρωβύλος ἐκεῖνος ἔγραψε, καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ καὶ δυσχερῆ κατὰ τῆς πόλεως διεξῄει, ἃ ἐγὼ οὔτε τότʼ ἐκαρτέρουν ἁκούων, οὔτε νῦν ἡδέως μέμνημαι αὐτῶν. ἀκούσας δὲ οὕτω παρωξύνθην, ὡς οὐδεπώποτʼ ἐν τῷ ἐμαυτοῦ βίῳ. καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους λόγους ὑπερβήσομαι· ἐπῄει δʼ οὖν μοι ἐπὶ τὴν γνώμην μνησθῆναι τῆς τῶν Ἀμφισσέων περὶ τὴν γῆν τὴν ἱερὰν ἀσεβείας, καὶ αὐτόθεν ἑστηκὼς ἐδείκνυον τοῖς Ἀμφικτύοσιν· ὑπόκειται γὰρ τὸ Κιρραῖον πεδίον τῷ ἱερῷ καὶ ἔστιν εὐσύνοπτον.
119. “You see,” I said, “O Amphictyons, the plain yonder tilled by the Amphissians, and pottery works and farm buildings erected there. You see with your own eyes the dedicated and accursed harbor walled again. You know of your own knowledge, and have no need of other witness, how these men have farmed out port-dues, and how they are making money from the sacred harbor.” At the same time I called for the reading of the oracle of the god, the oath of our fathers, and the curse that was proclaimed. And I made this declaration:
119. ὁρᾶτε, ἔφην ἐγώ, ὦ ἄνδρες τῶν Ἀμφικτύονες, ἐξειργασμένον τουτὶ τὸ πεδίον ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀμφισσέων, καὶ κεραμεῖα ἐνῳκοδομημένα καὶ αὔλια· ὁρᾶτε τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς τὸν ἐξάγιστον καὶ ἐπάρατον λιμένα τετειχισμένον· ἴστε τούτους αὐτοί, καὶ οὐδὲν ἑτέρων δεῖσθε μαρτύρων, τέλη πεπρακότας καὶ χρήματα λαμβάνοντας ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ λιμένος. ἅμα δὲ ἀναγιγνώσκειν ἐκέλευον αὐτοῖς τὴν μαντείαν τοῦ θεοῦ, τὸν ὅρκον τῶν προγόνων, τὴν ἀρὰν τὴν γενομένην, καὶ διωριζόμην ὅτι ἐγὼ μὲν ὑπὲρ τοῦ δήμου τοῦ Ἀθηναίων καὶ τοῦ σώματος καὶ τῶν τέκνων καὶ οἰκίας τῆς ἐμαυτοῦ βοηθῶ κατὰ τὸν ὅρκον καὶ τῷ θεῷ καὶ τῇ γῇ τῇ ἱερᾷ καὶ χειρὶ καὶ ποδὶ καὶ φωνῇ καὶ πᾶσιν οἷς δύναμαι, καὶ τὴν πόλιν τὴν ἡμετέραν τὰ πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς ἀφοσιῶ·
120. “I, in behalf of the people of Athens, in my own behalf, and in behalf of my children and my house, do come to the help of the god and the sacred land according unto the oath, with hand and foot and voice, and all my powers and I purge our city of this impiety. As for you, now make your own decision. The sacred baskets are prepared; the sacrificial victims stand ready at the altars and you are about to pray to the gods for blessings on state and hearth.” “Consider then with what voice, with what spirit, with what countenance, possessed of what effrontery, you will make your supplications, if you let go unpunished these men, who stand under the ban of the curse. For not in riddles, but plainly is written the penalty to be suffered by those who have been guilty of impiety, and for those who have permitted it; and the curse closes with these words: ‘May they who fail to punish them never offer pure sacrifice unto Apollo, nor to Artemis, nor to Leto, nor to Athena Pronaea, and may the gods refuse to accept their offerings.’”
120. ὑμεῖς δʼ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν ἤδη βουλεύεσθε. ἐνῆκται μὲν τὰ κανᾶ, παρέστηκε δὲ τὰ θύματα τοῖς βωμοῖς, μέλλετε δʼ αἰτεῖν τοὺς θεοὺς τἀγαθὰ καὶ κοινῇ καὶ ἰδία. σκοπεῖτε δή, ποίᾳ φωνῇ, ποίᾳ ψυχῇ, ποίοις ὄμμασι, τίνα τόλμαν κτησάμενοι τὰς ἱκετείας ποιήσεσθε, τούτους παρέντες ἀτιμωρήτους τοὺς ἐναγεῖς καὶ ταῖς ἀραῖς ἐνόχους. οὐ γὰρ διʼ αἰνιγμῶν, ἀλλʼ ἐναργῶς γέγραπται κατά τε τῶν ἀσεβησάντων, ἃ χρὴ παθεῖν αὐτούς, καὶ κατὰ τῶν ἐπιτρεψάντων, καὶ τελευταῖον ἐν τῇ ἀρᾷ γέγραπται, μηδʼ ὁσίως, φησί, θύσειαν οἱ μὴ τιμωροῦντες τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι μηδὲ τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι μηδὲ τῇ Λητοῖ μηδʼ Ἀθηνᾷ Προναία, μηδὲ δέξαιντο αὐτοῖς τὰ ἱερά.
122. These words I spoke, and many more. And when now I had finished and gone out from the council, there was great outcry and excitement among the Amphictyons, and nothing more was said about the shields that we had dedicated, but from now on the subject was the punishment of the Amphissians. As it was already late in the day, the herald came forward and made proclamation that all the men of Delphi who were of full age, slaves and free men alike, should come at daybreak on the morrow with shovels and mattocks to the place that is there called the Thyteion. And again the same herald proclaimed that all the hieromnemons and the pylagori should come to the same place to the aid of the god and the sacred land; “And whatever city shall fail to appear, shall he debarred from the shrine and shall be impure and under the curse.”
122. ταῦτα καὶ πρὸς τούτοις ἕτερα πολλὰ διεξελθόντος ἐμοῦ, ἐπειδή ποτε ἀπηλλάγην καὶ μετέστην ἐκ τοῦ συνεδρίου, κραυγὴ πολλὴ καὶ θόρυβος ἦν τῶν Ἀμφικτυόνων, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν οὐκέτι περὶ τῶν ἀσπίδων ἃς ἡμεῖς ἀνέθεμεν, ἀλλʼ ἤδη περὶ τῆς τῶν Ἀμφισσέων τιμωρίας. ἤδη δὲ πόρρω τῆς ἡμέρας ὄν, προελθὼν ὁ κῆρυξ ἀνεῖπε, Δελφῶν ὅσοι ἐπὶ δίετες ἡβῶσι, καὶ δούλους καὶ ἐλευθέρους, ἥκειν αὔριον ἅμα τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἔχοντας ἄμας καὶ δικέλλας πρὸς τὸ Θυτεῖον ἐκεῖ καλούμενον· καὶ πάλιν ὁ αὐτὸς κῆρυξ ἀναγορεύει τοὺς ἱερομνήμονας καὶ τοὺς πυλαγόρους ἅπαντας ἥκειν εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν τόπον βοηθήσοντας τῷ θεῷ καὶ τῇ γῇ τῇ ἱερᾷ· ἥτις δʼ ἂν μὴ παρῇ πόλις, εἴρξεται τοῦ ἱεροῦ καὶ ἐναγὴς ἔσται καὶ τῇ ἀρᾷ ἔνοχος.
123. The next morning we came to the designated spot, and descended to the Cirrhaean plain. And when we had despoiled the harbor and burned down the houses, we set out to return. But meanwhile the Locrians of Amphissa, who lived sixty stadia from Delphi, came against us, armed and in full force; and it was only by running that we barely got back to Delphi in safety, for we were in peril of our lives.
123. τῇ δὲ ὑστεραίᾳ ἥκομεν ἕωθεν εἰς τὸν προειρημένον τόπον, καὶ κατέβημεν εἰς τὸ Κιρραῖον πεδίον, καὶ τὸν λιμένα κατασκάψαντες καὶ τὰς οἰκίας ἐμπρήσαντες ἀνεχωροῦμεν. ταῦτα δὲ ἡμῶν πραττόντων οἱ Λοκροὶ οἱ Ἀμφισσεῖς, ἑξήκοντα στάδια ἄπωθεν οἰκοῦντες Δελφῶν, ἦλθον ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς μεθʼ ὅπλων πανδημεί· καὶ εἰ μὴ δρόμῳ μόλις ἐξεφύγομεν εἰς Δελφούς, ἐκινδυνεύσαμεν ἂν ἀπολέσθαι.
124. Now on the next day Cottyphus, the presiding officer, called an “assembly” of the Amphictyons (they call it an “assembly” when not only the pylagori and hieromnemons are called together, but with them those who are sacrificing and consulting the god). Then immediately one charge after another was brought against the Amphissians, and our city was much praised. As the outcome of all that was said, they voted that before the next Pylaea the hieromnemons should assemble at Thermopylae at a time designated, bringing with them a resolution for the punishment of the Amphissians for their sins against the god and the sacred land and the Amphictyons. As proof of what I say, the clerk shall read the decree to you.
124. τῇ δὲ ἐπιούσῃ ἡμέρᾳ Κόττυφος ὁ τὰς γνώμας ἐπιψηφίξων ἐκκλησίαν ἐποίει τῶν Ἀμφικτυόνων· ἐκκλησίαν γὰρ ὀνομάζουσιν, ὅταν τις μὴ μόνον τοὺς πυλαγόρους καὶ τοὺς ἱερομνήμονας συγκαλέσῃ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς θύοντας καὶ τοὺς χρωμένους τῷ θεῷ. ἐνταῦθʼ ἤδη πολλαὶ μὲν τῶν Ἀμφισσέων ἐγίγνοντο κατηγορίαι, πολὺς δʼ ἔπαινος ἦν κατὰ τῆς ἡμετέρας πόλεως· τέλος δὲ παντὸς τοῦ λόγου ψηφίξονται ἥκειν τοὺς ἱερομνήμονας πρὸ τῆς ἐπιούσης πυλαίας ἐν ῥητῷ χρόνῳ εἰς Πύλας, ἔχοντας δόγμα καθʼ ὅ τι δίκας δώσουσιν οἱ Ἀμφισσεῖς ὑπὲρ ὧν εἰς τὸν θεὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν τὴν ἱερὰν καὶ τοὺς Ἁμφικτύονας ἐξήμαρτον. ὅτι δὲ ἀληθῆ λέγω, ἀναγνώσεται τὸ ψήφισμα ὑμῖν ὁ γραμματεύς.
125. Decree Now when we had reported this decree to our senate, and then to the assembly, and when the people had approved our acts, and the whole city was ready to choose the righteous course, and when Demosthenes had spoken in opposition—he was earning his retaining-fee from Amphissa—and when I had clearly convicted him in your presence, thereupon the fellow, unable to frustrate the city by open means, goes into the senate chamber, expels all listeners, and from the secret session brings out a bill to the assembly, taking advantage of the inexperience of the man who made the motion.
125. Ψήφισμα τοῦ δόγματος τούτου ἀποδοθέντος ὑφʼ ἡμῶν ἐν τῇ βουλῇ καὶ πάλιν ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησία, καὶ τὰς πράξεις ἡμῶν ἀποδεξαμένου τοῦ δήμου, καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἁπάσης προαιρουμένης εὐσεβεῖν, καὶ Δημοσθένους ὑπὲρ τοῦ μεσεγγυήματος τοῦ ἐξ Ἀμφίσσης ἀντιλέγοντος, καὶ ἐμοῦ φανερῶς ἐναντίον ὑμῶν ἐξελέγχοντος, ἐπειδὴ ἐκ τοῦ φανεροῦ τὴν πόλιν ἅνθρωπος οὐκ ἐδύνατο σφῆλαι, εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὸ βουλευτήριον καὶ μεταστησάμενος τοὺς ἰδιώτας, ἐκφέρεται προβούλευμα εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, προσλαβὼν τὴν τοῦ γράψαντος ἀπειρίαν·
126. And he managed to have this same bill put to vote in the assembly and passed by the people, at the moment when the assembly was on the point of adjourning, when I had already left the place—for I would never have allowed it—and when most of the people had dispersed. Now the substance of the bill was this: “The hieromnemon of the Athenians,” it says, “and the pylagori who are at the time in office, shall go to Thermopylae and Delphi at the times appointed by our fathers”; fine in sound, shameful in fact; for it prevents attendance on the special meeting at Thermopylae, which had to be held before the date of the regular meeting.
126. τὸ δʼ αὐτὸ τοῦτο καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησία διεπράξατο ἐπιψηφισθῆναι καὶ γενέσθαι δήμου ψήφισμα, ἐπʼ ἀναστάσει τῆς ἐκκλησίας οὔσης, ἀπεληλυθότος ἐμοῦ, οὐ γὰρ ἄν ποτε ἐπέτρεψα, καὶ τῶν πολλῶν διαφειμένων· οὗ τὸ κεφάλαιόν ἐστι, τὸν ἱερομνήμονα, φησί, τὸν Ἀθηναίων καὶ τοὺς πυλαγόρους τοὺς ἀεὶ πυλαγοροῦντας πορεύεσθαι εἰς Πύλας καὶ εἰς Δελφοὺς ἐν τοῖς τεταγμένοις χρόνοις ὑπὸ τῶν προγόνων, εὐπρεπῶς γε τῷ ὀνόματι, ἀλλὰ τῷ ἔργῳ αἰσχρῶς· κωλύει γὰρ εἰς τὸν σύλλογον τὸν ἐν Πύλαις ἀπαντᾶν, ὃς ἐξ ἀνάγκης πρὸ τοῦ καθήκοντος ἔμελλε χρόνου γίγνεσθαι.
127. Again in the same decree he writes much more explicitly and malignantly; “The hieromnemon of the Athenians,” he says, “and the pylagori who are at the time in office, shall take no part with those assembled there, in word or deed or decree, or in any act whatsoever.” But what does it mean to “take no part”? Shall I tell you the truth, or what is most agreeable for your ears? I will tell you the truth, for it is the universal habit of speaking to please you that has brought the city to such a pass. It means that you are forbidden to remember the oaths which our fathers swore, or the curse, or the oracle of the god.
127. καὶ πάλιν ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ ψηφίσματι πολὺ καὶ σαφέστερον καὶ πικρότερον γράφει, τὸν ἱερομνήμονα, φησί, τὸν Ἀθηναίων καὶ τοὺς πυλαγόρους τοὺς ἀεὶ πυλαγοροῦντας μὴ μετέχειν τοῖς ἐκεῖσε συλλεγομένοις μήτε λόγου μήτε ἔργου μήτε δόγματος μήτε πράξεως μηδεμιᾶς. τὸ δὲ μὴ μετέχειν τί ἐστι; πότερα τἀληθὲς εἴπω, ἢ τὸ ἥδιστον ἀκοῦσαι; τἀληθὲς ἐρῶ· τὸ γὰρ ἀεὶ πρὸς ἡδονὴν λεγόμενον οὑτωσὶ τὴν πόλιν διατέθηκεν. οὐκ ἐᾷ μεμνῆσθαι τῶν ὅρκων, οὓς ἡμῶν ὤμοσαν οἱ πρόγονοι, οὐδὲ τῆς ἀρᾶς, οὐδὲ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ μαντείας.
128. And so, fellow citizens, we stayed at home because of this decree, while the other Amphictyons assembled at Thermopylae—all but one city, whose name I would not mention; I pray that misfortune like unto hers may come upon no city of Hellas. And when they were assembled they voted to march against the Amphissians. As general they chose Cottyphus of Pharsalus, who was at the time president of the Amphictyons. Philip was not in Macedonia at that time, nor in Hellas, but in Scythia—so far away as that! And yet presently Demosthenes will dare to say that it was I who brought him against Hellas!
128. ἡμεῖς μὲν οὖν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, κατεμείναμεν διὰ τοῦτο τὸ ψήφισμα, οἱ δʼ ἄλλοι Ἀμφικτύονες συνελέγησαν εἰς Πύλας πλὴν μιᾶς πόλεως, ἧς ἐγὼ οὔτʼ ἂν τοὔνομα εἴποιμι, μήθʼ αἱ συμφοραὶ παραπλήσιοι γένοιντο αὐτῆς μηδενὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων. καὶ συνελθόντες ἐψηφίσαντο ἐπιστρατεύειν ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἀμφισσέας, καὶ στρατηγὸν εἵλοντο Κόττυφον τὸν Φαρσάλιον τὸν τότε τὰς γνώμας ἐπιψηφίζοντα, οὐκ ἐπιδημοῦντος ἐν Μακεδονία Φιλίππου, οὐδʼ ἐν τῇ Ἑλλάδι παρόντος, ἀλλʼ ἐν Σκύθαις οὕτω μακρὰν ἀπόντος· ὃν αὐτίκα μάλα τολμήσει λέγειν Δημοσθένης ὡς ἐγὼ ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἐπήγαγον.
129. Now when they had come through the pass in the first expedition, they dealt very leniently with the Amphissians, for as penalty for their monstrous crimes, they laid a money fine upon them, and ordered them to pay it at the temple within a stated time; and they removed the wicked men who were responsible for what had been done, and restored others, whose piety had forced them into exile. But when the Amphissians failed to pay the money to the god, and had restored the guilty men, and banished those righteous men who had been restored by the Amphictyons, under these circumstances at last the second campaign was made, a long time afterward, when Philip had now returned from his Scythian expedition. It was to us that the gods had offered the leadership in the deed of piety, but Demosthenes’ taking of bribes had prevented us.
129. καὶ παρελθόντες τῇ πρώτῃ στρατεία καὶ μάλα μετρίως ἐχρήσαντο τοῖς Ἀμφισσεῦσιν· ἀντὶ γὰρ τῶν μεγίστων ἀδικημάτων χρήμασιν αὐτοὺς ἐζημίωσαν, καὶ ταῦτʼ ἐν ῥητῷ χρόνῳ προεῖπον τῷ θεῷ καταθεῖναι, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἐναγεῖς καὶ τῶν πεπραγμένων αἰτίους μετέστησαν, τοὺς δὲ διʼ εὐσέβειαν φεύγοντας κατήγαγον. ἐπειδὴ δὲ οὔτε τὰ χρήματα ἐξέτινον τῷ θεῷ, τούς τʼ ἐναγεῖς κατήγαγον, καὶ τοὺς εὐσεβεῖς καὶ κατελθόντας διὰ τῶν Ἀμφικτυόνων ἐξέβαλον, οὕτως ἤδη τὴν δευτέραν στρατείαν ἐποιήσαντο, πολλῷ χρόνῳ ὕστερον, ἐπανεληλυθότος Φιλίππου ἐκ τῆς ἐπὶ τοὺς Σκύθας στρατείας, τῶν μὲν θεῶν τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τῆς εὐσεβείας ἡμῖν παραδεδωκότων, τῆς δὲ Δημοσθένους δωροδοκίας ἐμποδὼν γεγενημένης.
130. But did not the gods forewarn us, did they not admonish us, to be on our guard, all but speaking with human voice? No city have I ever seen offered more constant protection by the gods, but more inevitably ruined by certain of its politicians. Was not that portent sufficient which appeared at the Mysteries—the death of the celebrants? In view of this did not Ameiniades warn you to be on your guard, and to send messengers to Delphi to inquire of the god what was to he done? And did not Demosthenes oppose, and say that the Pythia had gone over to Philip? Boor that he was, gorged with his feast of indulgence from you!
130. ἀλλʼ οὐ προύλεγον, οὐ προεσήμαινον οἱ θεοὶ φυλάξασθαι, μόνον γε οὐκ ἀνθρώπων φωνὰς προσκτησάμενοι; οὐδεμίαν τοι πώποτε ἔγωγε μᾶλλον πόλιν ἑώρακα ὑπὸ μὲν τῶν θεῶν σῳζομένην, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν ῥητόρων ἐνίων ἀπολλυμένην. οὐχ ἱκανὸν ἦν τὸ τοῖς μυστηρίοις φανὲν σημεῖον, ἡ τῶν μυστῶν τελευτή; οὐ περὶ τούτων Ἀμεινιάδης μὲν προύλεγεν εὐλαβεῖσθαι καὶ πέμπειν εἰς Δελφοὺς ἐπερησομένους τὸν θεὸν ὅ τι χρὴ πράττειν, Δημοσθένης δὲ ἀντέλεγε, φιλιππίζειν τὴν Πυθίαν φάσκων, ἀπαίδευτος ὢν καὶ ἀπολαύων καὶ ἐμπιμπλάμενος τῆς δεδομένης ὑφʼ ὑμῶν αὐτῷ ἐξουσίας;
131. And did he not at last from smouldering and ill-omened sacrifices send forth our troops into manifest danger? And yet it was but yesterday that he dared to assert that the reason why Philip did not advance against our country was that the omens were not favorable to him. What punishment, then, do you deserve, you curse of Hellas! For if the conqueror refrained from entering the land of the conquered because the omens were not favorable to him, whereas you, ignorant of the future, sent out our troops before the omens were propitious, ought you to be receiving a crown for the misfortunes of the city, or to have been thrust already beyond her borders?
131. οὐ τὸ τελευταῖον ἀθύτων καὶ ἀκαλλιερήτων ὄντων τῶν ἱερῶν ἐξέπεμψε τοὺς στρατιώτας ἐπὶ τὸν πρόδηλον κίνδυνον; καίτοι πρώην γέ ποτε ἀπετόλμα λέγειν ὅτι παρὰ τοῦτο Φίλιππος οὐκ ἦλθεν ἡμῶν ἐπὶ τὴν χώραν, ὅτι οὐκ ἦν αὐτῷ καλὰ τὰ ἱερά. τίνος οὖν σὺ ζημίας ἄξιος εἶ τυχεῖν, ὦ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἀλειτήριε; εἰ γὰρ ὁ μὲν κρατῶν οὐκ ἦλθεν εἰς τὴν τῶν κρατουμένων χώραν, ὅτι οὐκ ἦν αὐτῷ καλὰ τὰ ἱερά, σὺ δʼ οὐδὲν προειδὼς τῶν μελλόντων ἔσεσθαι, πρὶν καλλιερῆσαι τοὺς στρατιώτας ἐξέπεμψας, πότερα στεφανοῦσθαι σε δεῖ ἐπὶ ταῖς τῆς πόλεως ἀτυχίαις, ἢ ὑπερωρίσθαι;
132. Wherefore what is there, strange and unexpected, that has not happened in our time! For it is not the life of men we have lived, but we were born to be a tale of wonder to posterity. Is not the king of the Persians—he who channelled Athos, he who bridged the Hellespont, he who demanded earth and water of the Greeks, he who dared to write in his letters that he was lord of all men from the rising of the sun unto its setting—is he not struggling now, no longer for lordship over others, but already for his life? And do we not see this glory and the leadership against the Persians bestowed on the same men who liberated the temple of Delphi?
132. τοιγάρτοι τί τῶν ἀνελπίστων καὶ ἀπροσδοκήτων ἐφʼ ἡμῶν οὐ γέγονεν; οὐ γὰρ βίον γε ἡμεῖς ἀνθρώπινον βεβιώκαμεν, ἀλλʼ εἰς παραδοξολογίαν τοῖς μεθʼ ἡμᾶς ἔφυμεν. οὐχ ὁ μὲν τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεύς, ὁ τὸν Ἄθω διορύξας, ὁ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον ζεύξας, ὁ γῆν καὶ ὕδωρ τοὺς Ἕλληνας αἰτῶν, ὁ τολμῶν ἐν ταῖς ἐπιστολαῖς γράφειν, ὅτι δεσπότης ἐστὶν ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων ἀφʼ ἡλίου ἀνιόντος μέχρι δυομένου, νῦν οὐ περὶ τοῦ κύριος ἑτέρων εἶναι διαγωνίζεται, ἀλλʼ ἤδη περὶ τῆς τοῦ σώματος σωτηρίας; καὶ τοὺς αὐτοὺς ὁρῶμεν τῆς τε δόξης ταύτης καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ τὸν Πέρσην ἡγεμονίας ἠξιωμένους, οἳ καὶ τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς ἱερὸν ἠλευθέρωσαν;
133. But Thebes! Thebes, our neighbor, has in one day been swept from the midst of Hellas—even though justly, for her main policy was wrong, yet possessed by an infatuate blindness and folly that were not of men, but a divine visitation. And the wretched Lacedaemonians, who barely touched these acts at their beginning in connection with the seizure of the temple, they who once claimed the right to lead the Greeks, are now about to be sent to Alexander to serve as hostages, and to make an exhibition of their misfortunes —destined, themselves and their country, to suffer whatever may please him; their fate dependent on the mercy of the man who has conquered them after receiving unprovoked injury at their hands.
133. Θῆβαι δέ, Θῆβαι, πόλις ἀστυγείτων, μεθʼ ἡμέραν μίαν ἐκ μέσης τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἀνήρπασται, εἰ καὶ δικαίως, περὶ τῶν ὅλων οὐκ ὀρθῶς βουλευσάμενοι, ἀλλὰ τήν γε θεοβλάβειαν καὶ τὴν ἀφροσύνην οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνως, ἀλλὰ δαιμονίως κτησάμενοι. Λακεδαιμόνιοι δʼ οἱ ταλαίπωροι, προσαψάμενοι μόνον τούτων τῶν πραγμάτων ἐξ ἀρχῆς περὶ τὴν τοῦ ἱεροῦ κατάληψιν, οἱ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ποτὲ ἀξιοῦντες ἡγεμόνες εἶναι, νῦν ὁμηρεύσοντες καὶ τῆς συμφορᾶς ἐπίδειξιν ποιησόμενοι μέλλουσιν ὡς Ἀλέξανδρον ἀναπέμπεσθαι, τοῦτο πεισόμενοι καὶ αὐτοὶ καὶ ἡ πατρίς, ὅ τι ἂν ἐκείνῳ δόξῃ, καὶ ἐν τῇ τοῦ κρατοῦντος καὶ προηδικημένου μετριότητι κριθησόμενοι.
134. And our city, the common refuge of the Greeks, to which in former days used to come the embassies of all Hellas, each city in turn to find safety with us, our city is now no longer contending for the leadership of Hellas, but from this time on for the soil of the fatherland. And this has come upon us from the time when Demosthenes came into political leadership. Well does the poet Hesiod speak concerning such men; for he says somewhere, instructing the people and advising the cities not to take to themselves corrupt politicians—but I will myself recite the verses;
134. ἡ δʼ ἡμετέρα πόλις, ἡ κοινὴ καταφυγὴ τῶν Ἑλλήνων, πρὸς ἣν ἀφικνοῦντο πρότερον ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος αἱ πρεσβεῖαι, κατὰ πόλεις ἕκαστοι παρʼ ἡμῶν τὴν σωτηρίαν εὑρησόμενοι, νῦν οὐκέτι περὶ τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡγεμονίας ἀγωνίζεται, ἀλλʼ ἤδη περὶ τοῦ τῆς πατρίδος ἐδάφους. καὶ ταῦθʼ ἡμῖν συμβέβηκεν ἐξ ὅτου Δημοσθένης πρὸς τὴν πολιτείαν προσελήλυθεν. εὖ γὰρ περὶ τῶν τοιούτων Ἡσίοδος ὁ ποιητὴς ἀποφαίνεται. λέγει γάρ που, παιδεύων τὰ πλήθη καὶ συμβουλεύων ταῖς πόλεσι τοὺς πονηροὺς τῶν δημαγωγῶν μὴ προσδέχεσθαι·
135. for this is the reason, I think, that in our childhood we commit to memory the sentiments of the poets, that when we are men we may make use of them:Ofttimes whole peoples suffer from one man,Whose deeds are sinful, and whose purpose base.From heaven Cromon launches on their headsDire woe of plague and famine joined; and allThe people waste away. Or else he smitesTheir wide-camped host, or wall. Or wrath of ZeusFar-thundering wrecks their ships upon the sea.
135. λέξω δὲ κἀγὼ τὰ ἔπη· διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ οἶμαι παῖδας ὄντας ἡμᾶς τὰς τῶν ποιητῶν γνώμας ἐκμανθάνειν, ἵνʼ ἄνδρες ὄντες αὐταῖς χρώμεθα·πολλάκι δὴ ξύμπασα πόλις κακοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἀπηύρα,ὅς κεν ἀλιτραίνῃ καὶ ἀτάσθαλα μητιάαται.τοῖσιν δʼ οὐρανόθεν μέγʼ ἐπήγαγε πῆμα Κρονίων,λιμὸν ὁμοῦ καὶ λοιμόν, ἀποφθινύθουσι δὲ λαοί·ἢ τῶν γε στρατὸν εὐρὺν ἀπώλεσεν ἢ ὅ γε τεῖχος,ἢ νέας ἐν πόντῳ ἀποτείνυται εὐρύοπα Ζεύς.
136. If you disregard the poet’s meter and examine only his thought, I think this will seem to you to be, not a poem of Hesiod, but an oracle directed against the politics of Demosthenes. For by his politics army and navy and peoples have been utterly destroyed.
136. ἐὰν περιελόντες τοῦ ποιητοῦ τὸ μέτρον τὰς γνώμας ἐξετάζητε, οἶμαι ὑμῖν δόξειν οὐ ποιήματα Ἡσιόδου εἶναι, ἀλλὰ χρησμὸν εἰς τὴν Δημοσθένους πολιτείαν· καὶ γὰρ ναυτικὴ καὶ πεζὴ στρατιὰ καὶ πόλεις ἄρδην εἰσὶν ἀνηρπασμέναι ἐκ τῆς τούτου πολιτείας.
137. I think that not Phrynondas and not Eurybatus, nor any other of the traitors of ancient times ever proved himself such a juggler and cheat as this man, who, oh earth and heaven, oh ye gods and men—if any men of you will listen to the truth—dares to look you in the face and say that Thebes actually made the alliance with you, not because of the crisis, not because of the fear that was impending over them, not because of your reputation, but because of Demosthenes’ declamations!
137. ἀλλʼ οἶμαι οὔτε Φρυνώνδας οὔτε Εὐρύβατος οὔτʼ ἄλλος οὐδεὶς πώποτε τῶν πάλαι πονηρῶν τοιοῦτος μάγος καὶ γόης ἐγένετο, ὅς, ὦ γῆ καὶ θεοὶ καὶ δαίμονες καὶ ἄνθρωποι, ὅσοι βούλεσθε ἀκούειν τἀληθῆ, τολμᾷ λέγειν βλέπων εἰς τὰ πρόσωπα τὰ ὑμέτερα, ὡς ἄρα Θηβαῖοι τὴν συμμαχίαν ὑμῖν ἐποιήσαντο οὐ διὰ τὸν καιρόν, οὐ διὰ τὸν φόβον τὸν περιστάντα αὐτούς, οὐ διὰ τὴν ὑμετέραν δόξαν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὰς Δημοσθένους δημηγορίας.
138. And yet in other days many men who had stood in the closest relations with the Thebans had gone on missions to them; first, Thrasymachus of Collytus, a man trusted in Thebes as no other ever was; again, Thrason of Erchia, proxenus of the Thebans; Leodamas of Acharnae, a speaker no less able than Demosthenes, and more to my taste; Archedemus of Pelekes, a powerful speaker, and one who had met many political dangers for the sake of the Thebans; Aristophon of Azenia, who had long been subject to the charge of having gone over to the Boeotians; Pyrrhandrus of Anaphlystus, who is still living. Yet no one of these was ever able to persuade them to be friends with you. And I know the reason, but because of the present misfortune of Thebes, I have no desire to speak it.
138. καίτοι πολλὰς μὲν πρότερον πρεσβείας ἐπρέσβευσαν εἰς Θήβας οἱ μάλιστα οἰκείως ἐκείνοις διακείμενοι, πρῶτος μὲν Θρασύβουλος ὁ Κολλυτεύς, ἀνὴρ ἐν Θήβαις πιστευθεὶς ὡς οὐδεὶς ἕτερος, πάλιν Θράσων ὁ Ἑρχιεύς, πρόξενος ὢν Θηβαίοις, Λεωδάμας ὁ Ἀχαρνεύς, οὐχ ἧττον Δημοσθένους λέγειν δυνάμενος, ἀλλʼ ἔμοιγε καὶ ἡδίων, Ἀρχέδημος ὁ Πήληξ, καὶ δυνατὸς εἰπεῖν καὶ πολλὰ κεκινδυνευκὼς ἐν τῇ πολιτείᾳ διὰ Θηβαίους, Ἀριστοφῶν ὁ Ἀζηνιεύς, πλεῖστον χρόνον τὴν τοῦ βοιωτιάζειν ὑπομείνας αἰτίαν, Πύρρανδρος ὁ Ἀναφλύστιος, ὃς ἔτι καὶ νῦν ζῇ. ἀλλʼ ὅμως οὐδεὶς πώποτε αὐτοὺς ἐδυνήθη προτρέψασθαι εἰς τὴν ὑμετέραν φιλίαν. τὸ δʼ αἴτιον οἶδα μέν, λέγειν δʼ οὐδὲν δέομαι διὰ τὰς ἀτυχίας αὐτῶν.
140. But, I think, when Philip had taken Nicaea from them and given it to the Thessalians, and when he was now bringing back again upon Thebes herself through Phocis the same war that he had formerly driven from the borders of Boeotia, and when finally he had seized Elateia and fortified and garrisoned it, then, and not till then, it was, when the peril was laying hold on them, that they sent for the Athenians. You went out and were on the point of marching into Thebes under arms, horse and foot, before ever Demosthenes had moved one single syllable about an alliance.
140. ἀλλʼ οἶμαι, ἐπειδὴ Φίλιππος αὐτῶν ἀφελόμενος Νίκαιαν Θετταλοῖς παρέδωκε, καὶ τὸν πόλεμον, ὃν πρότερον ἐξήλασεν ἐκ τῆς χώρας τῆς Βοιωτῶν, τοῦτον πάλιν τὸν αὐτὸν πόλεμον ἐπῆγε διὰ τῆς Φωκίδος ἐπʼ αὐτὰς τὰς Θήβας, καὶ τὸ τελευταῖον Ἐλάτειαν καταλαβὼν ἐχαράκωσε καὶ φρουρὰν εἰσήγαγεν, ἐνταῦθʼ ἤδη, ἐπεὶ τὸ δεινὸν αὐτῶν ἥπτετο, μετεπέμψαντο Ἀθηναίους, καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐξήλθετε καὶ εἰσῇτε εἰς τὰς Θήβας ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις διεσκευασμένοι, καὶ οἱ πεζοὶ καὶ οἱ ἱππεῖς, πρὶν περὶ συμμαχίας μίαν μόνον συλλαβὴν γράψαι Δημοσθένην.
141. What brought you into Thebes was the crisis and fear and need of alliance, not Demosthenes. For in this whole affair Demosthenes is responsible to you for three most serious mistakes. The first was this: when Philip was nominally making war against you, but really was far more the enemy of Thebes, as the event itself has proved (why need I say more?), Demosthenes concealed these facts, which were so important, and pretending that the alliance was to be brought about, not through the crisis, but through his own negotiations, first he persuaded the people to give up all consideration of the terms of the alliance, and to count themselves fortunate if only it were made; and when he had gained this point he betrayed all Boeotia to the Thebans by writing in the decree, “If any city refuse to follow Thebes, the Athenians shall aid the Boeotians in Thebes,” cheating with words and altering the facts, as he is wont to do; as though, forsooth, when the Boeotians should be suffering in fact, they would be content with Demosthenes’ fine phrases, rather than indignant at the outrageous way in which they had been treated;
141. ὁ δʼ εἰσάγων ἦν ὑμᾶς εἰς τὰς Θήβας καιρὸς καὶ φόβος καὶ χρεία συμμαχίας, ἀλλʼ οὐ Δημοσθένης. ἐπεὶ περὶ γε ταύτας τὰς πράξεις τρία πάντων μέγιστα Δημοσθένης εἰς ὑμᾶς ἐξημάρτηκε, πρῶτον μέν, ὅτι Φιλίππου τῷ μὲν ὀνόματι πολεμοῦντος ὑμῖν, τῷ δʼ ἔργῳ πολὺ μᾶλλον μισοῦντος Θηβαίους, ὡς αὐτὰ τὰ πράγματα δεδήλωκε, καὶ τί δεῖ τὰ πλείω λέγειν; ταῦτα μὲν τὰ τηλικαῦτα τὸ μέγεθος ἀπεκρύψατο, προσποιησάμενος δὲ μέλλειν τὴν συμμαχίαν γενήσεσθαι οὐ διὰ τοὺς καιρούς, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὰς αὑτοῦ πρεσβείας, πρῶτον μὲν συνέπεισε τὸν δῆμον μηκέτι βουλεύεσθαι ἐπὶ τίσι δεῖ ποιεῖσθαι τὴν συμμαχίαν, ἀλλʼ ἀγαπᾶν μόνον εἰ γίγνεται, τοῦτο δὲ προλαβὼν ἔκδοτον μὲν τὴν Βοιωτίαν ἅπασαν ἐποίησε Θηβαίοις, γράψας ἐν τῷ ψηφίσματι, ἐάν τις ἀφιστῆται πόλις ἀπὸ Θηβαίων, βοηθεῖν Ἀθηναίους Βοιωτοῖς τοῖς ἐν Θήβαις, τοῖς ὀνόμασι κλέπτων καὶ μεταφέρων τὰ πράγματα, ὥσπερ εἴωθεν, ὡς τοὺς Βοιωτοὺς ἔργῳ κακῶς πάσχοντας τὴν τῶν ὀνομάτων σύνθεσιν τῶν Δημοσθένους ἀγαπήσοντας, ἀλλʼ οὐ μᾶλλον ἐφʼ οἷς κακῶς ἐπεπόνθεσαν ἀγανακτήσοντας·
143. and, secondly, he laid two thirds of the costs of the war upon you, whose danger was more remote, and only one third on the Thebans (in all this acting for bribes); and the leadership by sea he caused to be shared equally by both; but all the expenditure he laid upon you and the leadership by land, if we are not to talk nonsense, he carried away bodily and handed it over to Thebes. The result was that in all the war that followed, Stratocles, your general, had no authority to plan for the safety of his troops.
143. δεύτερον δὲ τῶν εἰς τὸν πόλεμον ἀναλωμάτων τὰ μὲν δύο μέρη ὑμῖν ἀνέθηκεν, οἷς ἦσαν ἀπωτέρω οἱ κίνδυνοι, τὸ δὲ τρίτον μέρος Θηβαίοις, δωροδοκῶν ἐφʼ ἑκάστοις τούτων, καὶ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τὴν μὲν κατὰ θάλατταν ἐποίησε κοινήν, τὸ δʼ ἀνάλωμα ἴδιον ὑμέτερον, τὴν δὲ κατὰ γῆν, εἰ μὴ δεῖ ληρεῖν, ἄρδην φέρων ἀνέθηκε Θηβαίοις, ὥστε παρὰ τὸν γενόμενον πόλεμον μὴ κύριον γενέσθαι Στρατοκλέα τὸν ὑμέτερον στρατηγὸν βουλεύσασθαι περὶ τῆς τῶν στρατιωτῶν σωτηρίας.
144. And it is not true that in this I alone accuse, while others are silent; nay, I speak, all men blame him, you know the facts—and are not angry! For this is your experience as regards Demosthenes: you have so long been accustomed to hear of his crimes that they no longer surprise you. But it ought not so to be; you ought to be indignant, and to punish him, if the city is to prosper in the future.
144. καὶ ταῦτʼ οὐκ ἐγὼ μὲν κατηγορῶ, ἕτεροι δὲ παραλείπουσιν, ἀλλὰ κἀγὼ λέγω καὶ πάντες ἐπιτιμῶσι καὶ ὑμεῖς σύνιστε—καὶ οὐκ ὀργίζεσθε. ἐκεῖνο γὰρ πεπόνθατε πρὸς Δημοσθένην· συνείθισθε ἤδη τἀδικήματα αὐτοῦ ἀκούειν, ὥστε οὐ θαυμάζετε. δεῖ δὲ οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλʼ ἀγανακτεῖν καὶ τιμωρεῖσθαι, εἰ χρὴ τὰ λοιπὰ τῇ πόλει καλῶς ἔχειν.
145. But he was guilty of a second and far greater crime; for he stole the senate-house of the city and the democracy outright and carried them off to Thebes, to the Cadmeia, by his agreement with the Boeotarchs for joint control. And he contrived such domination for himself that now he came forward to the platform and declared that he was going as ambassador wherever he chose, whether you sent him or not;
145. δεύτερον δὲ καὶ πολὺ τούτου μεῖζον ἀδίκημα ἠδίκησεν, ὅτι τὸ βουλευτήριον τὸ τῆς πόλεως καὶ τὴν δημοκρατίαν ἄρδην ἔλαθεν ὑφελόμενος, καὶ μετήνεγκεν εἰς Θήβας εἰς τὴν Καδμείαν, τὴν κοινωνίαν τῶν πράξεων τοῖς Βοιωτάρχαις συνθέμενος· καὶ τηλικαύτην αὐτὸς αὐτῷ δυναστείαν κατεσκεύασεν, ὥστʼ ἤδη παριὼν ἐπὶ τὸ βῆμα πρεσβεύσειν μὲν ἔφη ὅποι ἂν αὑτῷ δοκῇ, κἂν ὑμεῖς ἐκπέμπητε, εἰ δέ τις αὐτῷ τῶν στρατηγῶν ἀντείποι, καταδουλούμενος τοὺς ἄρχοντας καὶ συνεθίζων μηδὲν αὑτῷ ἀντιλέγειν, διαδικασίαν ἔφη γράψειν τῷ βήματι πρὸς τὸ στρατήγιον·
146. and, treating your magistrates as his slaves, and teaching them to raise no word of opposition against him, he declared that if any of the generals should oppose him, he would bring suit to settle the claims of the speakers’ platform as against those of the war office; for he said you owed more benefits to him from the platform than to the generals from the war office. And by drawing pay for empty places in the mercenary force, by stealing the pay of the troops, and by hiring out those ten thousand mercenaries to the Amphissians against my repeated protests and complaints in the assembly—when the mercenaries had thus been carried off, he rushed the city all unprepared into the mist of peril.
146. πλείω γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἀγαθὰ ὑφʼ ἑαυτοῦ ἔφη ἀπὸ τοῦ βήματος πεπονθέναι ἢ ὑπὸ τῶν στρατηγῶν ἐκ τοῦ στρατηγίου. μισθοφορῶν δʼ ἐν τῷ ξενικῷ κεναῖς χώραις, καὶ τὰ στρατιωτικὰ χρήματα κλέπτων, καὶ τοὺς μυρίους ξένους ἐκμισθώσας Ἀμφισσεῦσι, πολλὰ διαμαρτυρομένου καὶ σχετλιάζοντος ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις ἐμοῦ, προσέμειξε φέρων ἀναρπασθέντων τῶν ξένων τὸν κίνδυνον ἀπαρασκεύῳ τῇ πόλει.
147. What, think you, would Philip have prayed for at that crisis? Would it not have been that he might in one place fight against the city’s forces, and in another, in Amphissa, against the mercenaries, and thus close his hand upon the Greeks already discouraged by so great a disaster? And Demosthenes, who is responsible for such misfortunes as that, is not content with escaping punishment, but is miserable unless he shall he crowned with a golden crown! Nor is he satisfied that the crown shall be announced in your presence, but if it is not to he proclaimed before the Hellenes, he is miserable over that. So true it seems to be that a wicked nature, when it has laid hold on great license, works out public disaster.
147. τί γὰρ ἂν οἴεσθε Φίλιππον ἐν τοῖς τότε καιροῖς εὔξασθαι; οὐ χωρὶς μὲν πρὸς τὴν πολιτικὴν δύναμιν, χωρὶς δʼ ἐν Ἀμφίσσῃ πρὸς τοὺς ξένους διαγωνίσασθαι, ἀθύμους δὲ τοὺς Ἕλληνας λαβεῖν τηλικαύτης πληγῆς προγεγενημένης; καὶ τηλικούτων κακῶν αἴτιος γενόμενος, Δημοσθένης οὐκ ἀγαπᾷ εἰ μὴ δίκην δέδωκεν, ἀλλʼ εἰ μὴ καὶ χρυσῷ στεφάνῳ στεφανωθήσεται, ἀγανακτεῖ· οὐδʼ ἱκανόν ἐστιν αὐτῷ ἐναντίον ὑμῶν κηρύττεσθαι, ἀλλʼ εἰ μὴ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐναντίον ἀναρρηθήσεται, τοῦτʼ ἀγανακτεῖ. οὕτως ὡς ἔοικε πονηρὰ φύσις, μεγάλης ἐξουσίας ἐπιλαβομένη, δημοσίας ἀπεργάζεται συμφοράς.
148. But the third and greatest of the crimes that I have mentioned is that which I am about to describe. Philip did not despise the Greeks, and he was well aware (for he was not without understanding) that he was about to contend in a little fraction of a day for all that he possessed; for that reason he wished to make peace, and was on the point of sending envoys. The officials at Thebes also were frightened at the impending danger—naturally, for they had no run-away orator and deserter to advise them, but the ten years’ Phocian war had taught them a lesson not to be forgotten. Now when Demosthenes saw that such was the situation, suspecting that the Boeotarchs were about to conclude a separate peace and get gold from Philip without his being in it, and thinking that life was not worth living if he was to be left out of any act of bribery, he jumped up in the assembly, when no man was saying a word either in favour of making peace with Philip or against it; and with the idea of serving a sort of notice on the Boeotarchs that they must turn over to him his share of the gain, he swore by Athena (whose statue, it seems, Pheidias wrought expressly that Demosthenes might have it to perjure himself by and to make profit of) that if any one should say that we ought to make peace with Philip, he would seize him by the hair and drag him to prison—in this imitating the politics of Cleophon, who, they tell us, in the time of the war against the Lacedaemonians, brought ruin to the state.
148. τρίτον δὲ καὶ τῶν προειρημένων μέγιστόν ἐστιν ὃ μέλλω λέγειν. Φιλίππου γὰρ οὐ καταφρονοῦντος τῶν Ἑλλήνων, οὐδʼ ἀγνοοῦντος, οὐ γὰρ ἦν ἀσύνετος, ὅτι περὶ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων ἀγαθῶν ἐν ἡμέρας μικρῷ μέρει διαγωνιεῖται, καὶ διὰ ταῦτα βουλομένου ποιήσασθαι εἰρήνην καὶ πρεσβείας ἀποστέλλειν μέλλοντος, καὶ τῶν ἀρχόντων τῶν ἐν Θήβαις φοβουμένων τὸν ἐπιόντα κίνδυνον—εἰκότως· οὐ γὰρ ῥήτωρ ἀστράτευτος καὶ λιπὼν τὴν τάξιν αὐτοὺς ἐνουθέτησεν, ἀλλʼ ὁ Φωκικὸς πόλεμος δεκέτης γεγονὼς ἀείμνηστον παιδείαν αὐτοὺς ἐπαίδευσε— τούτων ἐχόντων οὕτως αἰσθόμενος Δημοσθένης, καὶ τοὺς Βοιωτάρχας ὑποπτεύσας μέλλειν εἰρήνην ἰδίᾳ ποιεῖσθαι, χρυσίον ἄνευ αὑτοῦ παρὰ Φιλίππου λαβόντας, ἀβίωτον ἡγησάμενος εἶναι εἴ τινος ἀπολειφθήσεται δωροδοκίας, ἀναπηδήσας ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησία, οὐδενὸς ἀνθρώπων λέγοντος οὔθʼ ὡς δεῖ ποιεῖσθαι πρὸς Φίλιππον εἰρήνην οὔθʼ ὡς οὐ δεῖ, ἀλλʼ ὡς ᾤετο κήρυγμά τι τοῦτο τοῖς Βοιωτάρχαις προκηρύττων ἀναφέρειν αὑτῷ τὰ μέρη τῶν λημμάτων, διώμνυτο τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν,
150. But when the officials in Thebes would pay no attention to him, but even turned your soldiers back again when they had marched out, for they wished to give you an opportunity to deliberate concerning peace, then indeed he became frantic, and went forward to the platform and stigmatized the Boeotarchs as traitors to Hellas, and declared that he would move a decree—he, who never looked on the face of an enemy in arms!—that you should send ambassadors to Thebes to ask them to give you free passage through their country for the march against Philip.
150. ἣν ὡς ἔοικε Φειδίας ἐνεργολαβεῖν ἠργάσατο καὶ ἐνεπιορκεῖν Δημοσθένει, ἦ μήν, εἴ τις ἐρεῖ ὡς χρὴ πρὸς Φίλιππον εἰρήνην ποιήσασθαι, ἀπάξειν εἰς τὸ δεσμωτήριον ἐπιλαβόμενος τῶν τριχῶν, ἀπομιμούμενος τὴν Κλεοφῶντος πολιτείαν, ὃς ἐπὶ τοῦ πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους πολέμου, ὡς λέγεται, τὴν πόλιν ἀπώλεσεν. ὡς δʼ οὐ προσεῖχον αὐτῷ οἱ ἄρχοντες οἱ ἐν ταῖς Θήβαις, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας τοὺς ὑμετέρους πάλιν ἀνέστρεψαν ἐξεληλυθότας, ἵνα βουλεύσησθε περὶ τῆς εἰρήνης, ἐνταῦθʼ ἤδη παντάπασιν ἔκφρων ἐγένετο, καὶ παρελθὼν ἐπὶ τὸ βῆμα προδότας τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀπεκάλει τοὺς Βοιωτάρχας, καὶ γράψειν ἔφη ψήφισμα, ὁ τοῖς πολεμίοις οὐδεπώποτʼ ἀντιβλέψας, πέμπειν ὑμᾶς πρέσβεις εἰς Θήβας αἰτήσοντας Θηβαίους δίοδον ἐπὶ Φίλιππον.
151. But the officials in Thebes, ashamed lest they should seem in reality to be traitors to Hellas, turned from the thought of peace, and threw themselves into the war.
151. ὑπεραισχυνθέντες δὲ οἱ ἐν Θήβαις ἄρχοντες, μὴ δόξωσιν ὡς ἀληθῶς εἶναι προδόται τῶν Ἑλλήνων, ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς εἰρήνης ἀπετράποντο, ἐπὶ δὲ τὴν παράταξιν ὥρμησαν.
152. Here indeed it is fitting that we should pay the tribute of memory to those brave men whom he, regardless of the smouldering and ill-omened sacrifices, sent forth into manifest danger—he who, when they had fallen, dared to set his cowardly and runaway feet upon their tomb and eulogize the valor of the dead. O man of all mankind most useless for great and serious deeds, but for boldness of words most wonderful, will you presently undertake to look this jury in the face and say that over the disasters of the city you must be crowned? And, gentlemen, if he does, will you endure it? Are we to believe that you and your memory are to die with the dead?
152. ἔνθα δὴ καὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἄξιόν ἐστιν ἐπιμνησθῆναι, οὓς οὗτος ἀθύτων καὶ ἀκαλλιερήτων ὄντων τῶν ἱερῶν ἐκπέμψας ἐπὶ τὸν πρόδηλον κίνδυνον, ἐτόλμησε τοῖς δραπέταις ποσὶ καὶ λελοιπόσι τὴν τάξιν ἀναβὰς ἐπὶ τὸν τάφον τὸν τῶν τελευτησάντων, ἐγκωμιάζειν τὴν ἐκείνων ἀρετήν. ὦ πρὸς μὲν τὰ μεγάλα καὶ σπουδαῖα τῶν ἔργων τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἁπάντων ἀχρηστότατε, πρὸς δὲ τὴν ἐν τοῖς λόγοις τόλμαν θαυμασιώτατε, ἐπιχειρήσεις αὐτίκα μάλα, βλέπων εἰς τὰ τούτων πρόσωπα, λέγειν ὡς δεῖ σε ἐπὶ ταῖς τῆς πόλεως συμφοραῖς στεφανοῦσθαι; ἐὰν δʼ οὗτος λέγῃ, ὑμεῖς ὑπομενεῖτε, καὶ συναποθανεῖται τοῖς τελευτήσασιν ὡς ἔοικε καὶ ἡ ὑμετέρα μνήμη;
153. I ask you to imagine for a little time that you are not in the court-room, but in the theater, and to imagine that you see the herald coming forward to make the proclamation under the decree; consider whether you believe the relatives of the dead will shed more tears over the tragedies and the sufferings of the heroes soon afterward to be presented on the stage, or over the blindness of the city.
153. γένεσθε δή μοι μικρὸν χρόνον τὴν διάνοιαν μὴ ἐν τῷ δικαστηρίῳ, ἀλλʼ ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ, καὶ νομίσαθʼ ὁρᾶν προϊόντα τὸν κήρυκα καὶ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ ψηφίσματος ἀνάρρησιν μέλλουσαν γίγνεσθαι, καὶ λογίσασθε πότερʼ οἴεσθε τοὺς οἰκείους τῶν τελευτησάντων πλείω δάκρυα ἀφήσειν ἐπὶ ταῖς τραγῳδίαις καὶ τοῖς ἡρωικοῖς πάθεσι τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτʼ ἐπεισιοῦσιν, ἢ ἐπὶ τῇ τῆς πόλεως ἀγνωμοσύνῃ.
154. For what Greek, nurtured in freedom, would not mourn as he sat in the theater and recalled this, if nothing more, that once on this day, when as now the tragedies were about to be performed, in a time when the city had better customs and followed better leaders, the herald would come forward and place before you the orphans whose fathers had died in battle, young men clad in the panoply of war; and he would utter that proclamation so honorable and so incentive to valor; “These young men, whose fathers showed themselves brave men and died in war, have been supported by the state until they have come of age and now, clad thus in full armour by their fellow citizens, they are sent out with the prayers of the city, to go each his way and they are invited to seats of honor in the theater.”
154. τίς γὰρ οὐκ ἂν ἀλγήσειεν ἄνθρωπος Ἕλλην καὶ παιδευθεὶς ἐλευθερίως, ἀναμνησθεὶς ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ ἐκεῖνό γε, εἰ μηδὲν ἕτερον, ὅτι ταύτῃ ποτὲ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ μελλόντων ὥσπερ νυνὶ τῶν τραγῳδῶν γίγνεσθαι, ὅτʼ εὐνομεῖτο μᾶλλον ἡ πόλις καὶ βελτίοσι προστάταις ἐχρῆτο, προελθὼν ὁ κῆρυξ καὶ παραστησάμενος τοὺς ὀρφανοὺς ὧν οἱ πατέρες ἦσαν ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ τετελευτηκότες, νεανίσκους πανοπλίᾳ κεκοσμημένους, ἐκήρυττε τὸ κάλλιστον κήρυγμα καὶ προτρεπτικώτατον πρὸς ἀρετήν, ὅτι τούσδε τοὺς νεανίσκους, ὧν οἱ πατέρες ἐτελεύτησαν ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ ἄνδρες ἀγαθοὶ γενόμενοι, μέχρι μὲν ἥβης ὁ δῆμος ἔτρεφε, νυνὶ δὲ καθοπλίσας τῇδε τῇ πανοπλία, ἀφίησιν ἀγαθῇ τύχῃ τρέπεσθαι ἐπὶ τὰ ἑαυτῶν, καὶ καλεῖ εἰς προεδρίαν. τότε μὲν ταῦτʼ ἐκήρυττεν, ἀλλʼ οὐ νῦν, ἀλλὰ παραστησάμενος τὸν τῆς ὀρφανίας τοῖς παισὶν αἴτιον, τί ποτʼ ἀνερεῖ, ἢ τί φθέγξεται;
155. This was the proclamation then, but not today. For when the herald has led forward the man who is responsible for making the children orphans, what will he proclaim? What words will he utter? For if he shall recite the mere dictates of the decree, yet the truth, ashamed, will refuse to be silent, and we shall seem to hear it crying out in words which contradict the voice of the herald, “This man, if man he can be called, the Athenian people crown, the basest— ‘for his virtue’ and ‘for his nobility‘—the coward and deserter.”
155. καὶ γὰρ ἐὰν αὐτὰ διεξίῃ τὰ ἐκ τοῦ Ψηφίσματος προστάγματα, ἀλλʼ οὐ τό γʼ ἐκ τῆς ἀληθείας αἰσχρὸν σιωπήσεται, ἀλλὰ τἀναντία δόξει τῇ τοῦ κήρυκος φωνῇ φθέγγεσθαι, ὅτι τόνδε τὸν ἄνδρα, εἰ δὴ καὶ οὗτος ἀνήρ, στεφανοῖ ὁ δῆμος ὁ Ἀθηναίων ἀρετῆς ἕνεκα—τὸν κάκιστον, καὶ ἀνδραγαθίας ἕνεκα—τὸν ἄνανδρον καὶ λελοιπότα τὴν τάξιν.
156. No! by Zeus and the gods, do not, my fellow citizens, do not, I beseech you, set up in the orchestra of Dionysus a memorial of your own defeat; do not in the presence of the Greeks convict the Athenian people of having lost their reason; do not remind the poor Thebans of their incurable and irreparable disasters, men who, exiled through Demosthenes’ acts, found refuge with you, when their shrines and children and tombs had been destroyed by Demosthenes’ taking of bribes and by the Persian gold. But since you were not present in person, yet in imagination behold their disaster; imagine that you see their city taken, the razing of their walls, the burning of their homes; their women and children led into captivity; their old men, their aged matrons, late in life learning to forget what freedom means; weeping, supplicating you, angry not so much at those who are taking vengeance upon them, as at the men who are responsible for it all and calling on you by no means to crown the curse of Hellas, but rather to guard yourselves against the evil genius and the fate that ever pursue the man.
156. μὴ πρὸς Διὸς καὶ θεῶν, ἱκετεύω ὑμᾶς, ὦ ἄνδρες Αθηναῖοι, μὴ τρόπαιον ἵστατε ἀφʼ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ τοῦ Διονύσου ὀρχήστρᾳ, μηδʼ αἱρεῖτε παρανοίας ἐναντίον τῶν Ἑλλήνων τὸν δῆμον τὸν Ἀθηναίων, μηδʼ ὑπομιμνῄσκετε τῶν ἀνιάτων καὶ ἀνηκέστων κακῶν τοὺς ταλαιπώρους Θηβαίους, οὓς φεύγοντας διὰ τοῦτον ὑποδέδεχθε τῇ πόλει, ὧν ἱερὰ καὶ τέκνα καὶ τάφους ἀπώλεσεν ἡ Δημοσθένους δωροδοκία καὶ τὸ βασιλικὸν χρυσίον· ἀλλʼ ἐπειδὴ τοῖς σώμασιν οὐ παρεγένεσθε, ἀλλὰ ταῖς γε διανοίαις ἀποβλέψατʼ αὐτῶν εἰς τὰς συμφοράς, καὶ νομίσαθʼ ὁρᾶν ἁλισκομένην τὴν πόλιν, τειχῶν κατασκαφάς, ἐμπρήσεις οἰκιῶν, ἀγομένας γυναῖκας καὶ παῖδας εἰς δουλείαν, πρεσβύτας ἀνθρώπους, πρεσβύτιδας γυναῖκας ὀψὲ μεταμανθάνοντας τὴν ἐλευθερίαν, κλαίοντας, ἱκετεύοντας ὑμᾶς, ὀργιζομένους οὐ τοῖς τιμωρουμένοις, ἀλλὰ τοῖς τούτων αἰτίοις, ἐπισκήπτοντας μηδενὶ τρόπῳ τὸν τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἀλειτήριον στεφανοῦν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν δαίμονα καὶ τὴν τύχην τὴν συμπαρακολουθοῦσαν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ φυλάξασθαι.