296. Indeed, there is no danger, no danger whatsoever, that requires more anxious vigilance than allowing any man to become stronger than the people. Let no man be delivered, and let no man be destroyed, merely because this man or that so desires; let hem who is delivered or destroyed by the evidence of facts be entitled to receive from this court the verdict that is his due. That is the democratic principle.
296. οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν, οὐκ ἔσθʼ ὅ τι τῶν πάντων μᾶλλον εὐλαβεῖσθαι δεῖ ἢ τὸ μείζω τινὰ τῶν πολλῶν ἐᾶν γίγνεσθαι. μή μοι σῳζέσθω μηδʼ ἀπολλύσθω μηδείς, ἂν ὁ δεῖνα βούληται, ἀλλʼ ὃν ἂν τὰ πεπραγμένα σῴζῃ καὶ τοὐναντίον, τούτῳ τῆς προσηκούσης ψήφου παρʼ ὑμῶν ὑπαρχέτω τυγχάνειν· τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι δημοτικόν.
297. Furthermore, at Athens many men have upon occasion risen to power—the great Callistratus, for instance, Aristophon, Diophantus, and others of earlier date. But what was the field of their supremacy? The popular assembly. In courts of justice no man to this day has ever been superior to the people, or to the laws, or to the judicial oath. Then permit no such superiority to Aeschines today. To enforce the warning that it is better to take those precautions than to be credulous, I will read to you an oracle of the gods,—to whom Athens owes her salvation far more than to her most prominent politicians. Read the oracles. (The Oracles are read) Men of Athens, you hear the admonitions of the gods.
297. ἔτι τοίνυν πολλοὶ παρʼ ὑμῖν ἐπὶ καιρῶν γεγόνασιν ἰσχυροί, Καλλίστρατος, αὖθις Ἀριστοφῶν, Διόφαντος, τούτων ἕτεροι πρότερον. ἀλλὰ ποῦ τούτων ἕκαστος ἐπρώτευεν; ἐν τῷ δήμῳ· ἐν δὲ τοῖς δικαστηρίοις οὐδείς πω μέχρι τῆς τήμερον ἡμέρας ὑμῶν οὐδὲ τῶν νόμων οὐδὲ τῶν ὅρκων κρείττων γέγονεν. μὴ τοίνυν μηδὲ νῦν τοῦτον ἐάσητε. ὅτι γὰρ ταῦτα φυλάττοισθʼ ἂν εἰκότως μᾶλλον ἢ πιστεύοιτε, τῶν θεῶν ὑμῖν μαντείαν ἀναγνώσομαι, οἵπερ ἀεὶ σῴζουσι τὴν πόλιν πολλῷ τῶν προεστηκότων μᾶλλον. λέγε τὰς μαντείας. ΜΑΝΤΕΙΑΙ.
298. If they are addressed to you in time of war, they bid you beware of your commanders, for commanders are the leaders of warfare; if after conclusion of peace, of your statesmen, for they are your leaders, they have your obedience, by them you may haply be deceived. The oracle also bids you keep the commonwealth together, that all may be of one mind, and may not gratify the enemy.
298. ἀκούετʼ, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τῶν θεῶν οἷʼ ὑμῖν προλέγουσιν. εἰ μὲν τοίνυν πολεμούντων ὑμῶν ταῦτʼ ἀνῃρήκασι, τοὺς στρατηγοὺς λέγουσι φυλάττεσθαι· πολέμου γάρ εἰσιν ἡγεμόνες οἱ στρατηγοί· εἰ δὲ πεποιημένων εἰρήνην, τοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς πολιτείας ἐφεστηκότας· οὗτοι γὰρ ἡγοῦνται, τούτοις πείθεσθʼ ὑμεῖς, ὑπὸ τούτων δέος ἐστὶ μὴ παρακρουσθῆτε. καὶ τὴν πόλιν συνέχειν [φησὶν ἐν τῇ μαντείᾳ], ὅπως ἂν μίαν γνώμην ἔχωσιν ἅπαντες καὶ μὴ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ἡδονὴν ποιῶσι.
299. What do you think, men of Athens? Will Philip be gratified by the deliverance or by the punishment of the man who has done all this mischief? By his deliverance surely; but the oracle bids you strive that the enemy shall not rejoice. Therefore, you are all exhorted by Zeus, by Dione, by all the gods, to punish with one mind those who have made themselves the servants of your enemies. There are foes without; there are traitors within. It is the business of foes to give bribes, of traitors to take bribes, and to rescue those who have taken them.
299. πότερʼ οὖν οἴεσθʼ ἄν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τὸν τοσαῦτα κάκʼ εἰργασμένον σωθέντα, ἢ δίκην δόντα, ἡδονὴν Φιλίππῳ ποιῆσαι; ἐγὼ μὲν οἴομαι σωθέντα. φησὶ δέ γʼ ἡ μαντεία δεῖν ὅπως ἂν μὴ χαίρωσιν οἱ ἐχθροὶ ποιεῖν. ἅπασι τοίνυν μιᾷ γνώμῃ παρακελεύεται κολάζειν τοὺς ὑπηρετηκότας τι τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ὁ Ζεύς, ἡ Διώνη, πάντες οἱ θεοί. ἔξωθεν οἱ ἐπιβουλεύοντες, ἔνδοθεν οἱ συμπράττοντες. οὐκοῦν τῶν ἐπιβουλευόντων μὲν ἔργον διδόναι, τῶν συμπραττόντων δὲ λαμβάνειν καὶ τοὺς εἰληφότας ἐκσῴζειν.
300. Moreover, it can be shown by mere human reasoning that it is extremely injurious and dangerous to permit the intimacy of a prominent statesman with men whose purposes are at variance with those of the people. If you will consider by what means Philip acquired his political supremacy and performed his most signal achievements, you will find that it was by buying treachery from willing sellers, and by corrupting leading politicians and stimulating their ambition.
300. ἔτι τοίνυν κἂν ἀπʼ ἀνθρωπίνου λογισμοῦ τοῦτʼ ἴδοι τις, ὅτι πάντων ἐχθρότατον καὶ φοβερώτατον τὸ τὸν προεστηκότʼ ἐᾶν οἰκεῖον γίγνεσθαι τοῖς μὴ τῶν αὐτῶν ἐπιθυμοῦσι τῷ δήμῳ. τίσι γὰρ τῶν πραγμάτων ἐγκρατὴς γέγονεν Φίλιππος ἁπάντων, καὶ τίσιν τὰ μέγιστα κατείργασται τῶν πεπραγμένων, σκέψασθε. τῷ παρὰ τῶν πωλούντων τὰς πράξεις ὠνεῖσθαι, τῷ τοὺς προεστηκότας ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν διαφθείρειν καὶ ἐπαίρειν, τούτοις.
301. Both these practices it is within your power, if you so choose, to frustrate today, if you will first refuse to listen to the defenders of treachery, and prove that they cannot exercise that authority over you of which they boast, and then punish before the eyes of the world the man who has traitorously sold himself.
301. ταῦτα τοίνυν ἐφʼ ὑμῖν ἐστιν ἀμφότερα, ἐὰν βούλησθε, ἀχρεῖα ποιῆσαι τήμερον, ἂν τῶν μὲν μὴ ʼθέλητʼ ἀκούειν τοῖς τοιούτοις συνηγορούντων, ἀλλʼ ἐπιδείξητʼ ἀκύρους ὄντας ὑμῶν (νῦν γάρ φασιν εἶναι κύριοι), τὸν δὲ πεπρακόθʼ ἑαυτὸν κολάσητε, καὶ τοῦθʼ ἅπαντες ἴδωσιν.
302. You have good reason, men of Athens, to be indignant with every man who by such conduct has thrown overboard your allies, your friends, and those opportunities on which, for any nation, success or failure depends, but with no man more fiercely or more righteously than with Aeschines. For a man who once ranged himself with those who distrusted Philip, and made unassisted the first discovery of Philip’s hostility to all Greece, and then became a deserter and a traitor and suddenly appeared as Philip’s champion—does he not deserve a hundred deaths?
302. παντὶ μὲν γὰρ εἰκότως ἂν ὀργισθείητʼ, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τοιαῦτα πεποιηκότι καὶ προδεδωκότι συμμάχους καὶ φίλους καὶ καιρούς, μεθʼ ὧν ἢ καλῶς ἢ κακῶς ἑκάστοις ἔχει τὰ πάντα, οὐ μὴν οὐδενὶ μᾶλλον οὐδὲ δικαιότερον ἢ τούτῳ. ὃς γὰρ ἑαυτὸν τάξας τῶν ἀπιστούντων εἶναι Φιλίππῳ, καὶ μόνος καὶ πρῶτος ἰδὼν ὅτι κοινὸς ἐχθρὸς ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν ἁπάντων τῶν Ἑλλήνων, ηὐτομόλησε καὶ προὔδωκε καὶ γέγονεν ἐξαίφνης ὑπὲρ Φιλίππου, πῶς οὐ πολλάκις οὗτος ἄξιός ἐστʼ ἀπολωλέναι;
303. Yet that such are the facts, he will not be able to deny. For who originally introduced Ischander to you, declaring him to have come as the representative of the Arcadian friends of Athens? Who raised the cry that Philip was forming coalitions in Greece and Peloponnesus while you slept? Who made those long and eloquent speeches, and read the decrees of Miltiades and Themistacles and the oath which our young men take in the temple of Aglaurus?
303. ἀλλὰ μὴν ὅτι ταῦθʼ οὕτως ἔχει, αὐτὸς οὐχ οἷός τʼ ἀντειπεῖν ἔσται. τίς γάρ ἐσθʼ ὁ τὸν Ἴσχανδρον προσάγων ὑμῖν τὸ κατʼ ἀρχάς, ὃν παρὰ τῶν ἐν Ἀρκαδίᾳ φίλων τῇ πόλει δεῦρʼ ἥκειν ἔφη; τίς ὁ συσκευάζεσθαι τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ Πελοπόννησον Φίλιππον βοῶν, ὑμᾶς δὲ καθεύδειν; τίς ὁ τοὺς μακροὺς καὶ καλοὺς λόγους ἐκείνους δημηγορῶν, καὶ τὸ Μιλτιάδου καὶ ⟨τὸ⟩ Θεμιστοκλέους ψήφισμʼ ἀναγιγνώσκων καὶ τὸν ἐν τῷ τῆς Ἀγλαύρου τῶν ἐφήβων ὅρκον;
304. Was it not Aeschines? Who persuaded you to send embassies almost as far as the Red Sea, declaring that Greece was the object of Philip’s designs, and that it was your duty to anticipate the danger and not be disloyal to the Hellenic cause? Was it not Eubulus who proposed the decree, and the defendant Aeschines who went as ambassador to the Peloponnesus? What he said there after his arrival, either in conversation or in public speeches, is best known to himself: what he reported on his return I am sure you have not forgotten.
304. οὐχ οὗτος; τίς ὁ πείσας ὑμᾶς μόνον οὐκ ἐπὶ τὴν ἐρυθρὰν θάλατταν πρεσβείας πέμπειν, ὡς ἐπιβουλευομένης μὲν ὑπὸ Φιλίππου τῆς Ἑλλάδος, ὑμῖν δὲ προσῆκον προορᾶν ταῦτα καὶ μὴ προΐεσθαι τὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων; οὐχ ὁ μὲν γράφων τὸ ψήφισμʼ Εὔβουλος ἦν, ὁ δὲ πρεσβεύων εἰς Πελοπόννησον Αἰσχίνης οὑτοσί; ἐλθὼν δʼ ἐκεῖσε ἅττα μέν ποτε διελέχθη καὶ ἐδημηγόρησεν, αὐτὸς ἂν εἰδείη, ἃ δʼ ἀπήγγειλε πρὸς ὑμᾶς, ὑμεῖς οἶδʼ ὅτι μέμνησθε πάντες.
305. For he made a speech in which he repeatedly called Philip a barbarian and a man of blood. He told you that the Arcadians were delighted to hear that Athens was really waking up and attending to business. He related an incident which, he said, had filled him with deep indignation. On his journey home he had met Atrestidas travelling from Philip’s court with some thirty women and children in his train. He was astonished, and inquired of one of the travellers who the man and his throng of followers were;
305. βάρβαρόν τε γὰρ πολλάκις καὶ ἀλάστορα τὸν Φίλιππον ἀποκαλῶν ἐδημηγόρει, καὶ τοὺς Ἀρκάδας ὑμῖν ἀπήγγελλεν ὡς ἔχαιρον, εἰ προσέχει τοῖς πράγμασιν ἤδη καὶ ἐγείρεται ἡ τῶν Ἀθηναίων πόλις. ὃ δὲ πάντων μάλιστʼ ἀγανακτῆσαι ἔφη· συντυχεῖν γὰρ ἀπιὼν Ἀτρεστίδᾳ παρὰ Φιλίππου πορευομένῳ, καὶ μετʼ αὐτοῦ γύναια καὶ παιδάριʼ ὡς τριάκοντα βαδίζειν, αὐτὸς δὲ θαυμάσας ἐρέσθαι τινὰ τῶν ὁδοιπόρων τίς ἅνθρωπός ἐστι καὶ τίς ὄχλος ὁ μετʼ αὐτοῦ, ἐπειδὴ δʼ ἀκοῦσαι ὅτι Ἀτρεστίδας παρὰ Φιλίππου τῶν Ὀλυνθίων αἰχμάλωτα δωρειὰν ταῦτʼ ἔχων ἀπέρχεται, δεινὸν αὐτῷ τι δόξαι καὶ δακρῦσαι καὶ ὀδύρασθαι τὴν Ἑλλάδα, ὡς κακῶς διάκειται, ἣ τοιαῦτα πάθη περιορᾷ γιγνόμενα.
306. and when he was told that they were Olynthian captives whom Atrestidas was bringing away with him as a present from Philip, he thought it a terrible business, and burst into tears. Greece, he sorrowfully reflected, is in evil plight indeed, if she permits such cruelties to pass unchecked. He counselled you to send envoys to Arcadia to denounce the persons who were intriguing for Philip; for, he said, he had been informed that, if only Athens would give attention to the matter and send ambassadors, the intriguers would promptly be brought to justice.
306. καὶ συνεβούλευεν ὑμῖν πέμπειν τινὰς εἰς Ἀρκαδίαν, οἵτινες κατηγορήσουσι τῶν τὰ Φιλίππου πραττόντων· ἀκούειν γὰρ ἔφη τῶν φίλων, ὡς ἐὰν ἐπιστροφὴν ἡ πόλις ποιήσηται καὶ πρέσβεις πέμψῃ, δίκην ἐκεῖνοι δώσουσιν.
307. Such was his speech on that occasion; a noble speech, worthy of our Athenian traditions. But after he had visited Macedonia, and beheld his own enemy and the enemy of all Greece, did his language bear the slightest resemblance to those utterances? Not in the least: he bade you not to remember your forefathers, not to talk about trophies, not to carry succor to anybody. As for the people who recommended you to consult the Greeks on the terms of peace with Philip, he was amazed at the suggestion that it was necessary that any foreigner should be convinced when the questions were purely domestic.
307. ταῦτα μὲν τοίνυν τότε καὶ μάλʼ, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, καλὰ καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἄξιʼ ἐδημηγόρει. ἐπειδὴ δʼ ἀφίκετʼ εἰς Μακεδονίαν καὶ τὸν ἐχθρὸν εἶδε τὸν αὑτοῦ καὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων, [τὸν Φίλιππον,] ἆρά γʼ ὅμοιʼ ἢ παραπλήσια τούτοις; πολλοῦ γε καὶ δεῖ, ἀλλὰ μήτε τῶν προγόνων μεμνῆσθαι μήτε τρόπαια λέγειν μήτε βοηθεῖν μηδενί, τῶν τε κελευόντων μετὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων περὶ τῆς πρὸς Φίλιππον εἰρήνης βουλεύεσθαι θαυμάζειν, εἰ περὶ τῶν ὑμετέρων ἰδίων ἄλλον τινὰ δεῖ πεισθῆναι·
308. And as for Philip,—why, good Heavens, he was a Greek of the Greeks, the finest orator and the most thorough—going friend of Athens you could find in the whole world. And yet there were some queer, ill-conditioned fellows in Athens who did not blush to abuse him, and even to call him a barbarian!
308. εἶναί τε τὸν Φίλιππον αὐτόν, Ἡράκλεις, Ἑλληνικώτατον ἀνθρώπων, δεινότατον λέγειν, φιλαθηναιότατον· οὕτω δʼ ἀτόπους τινὰς ἐν τῇ πόλει καὶ δυσχερεῖς ἀνθρώπους εἶναι ὥστʼ οὐκ αἰσχύνεσθαι λοιδορουμένους αὐτῷ καὶ βάρβαρον αὐτὸν ἀποκαλοῦντας. ἔστιν οὖν ὅπως ταῦτʼ ἄν, ἐκεῖνα προειρηκώς, ὁ αὐτὸς ἀνὴρ μὴ διαφθαρεὶς ἐτόλμησεν εἰπεῖν; τί δʼ;
309. Is it, then, conceivable that the man who made the earlier of those speeches should also have made the later unless he had been corrupted? Is it possible that the same man who was then inflamed with abhorrence of Atrestidas on account of those Olynthian women and children, should now be content to cooperate with Philocrates, who brought free-born Olynthian ladies to this city for their dishonor? Philocrates is now so notorious for the infamous life he has lived that I need not apply to him any degrading or offensive epithet. When I merely mention that he did bring the ladies, there is not a man in this court, whether on the jury or among the onlookers, who does not know the sequel, and who does not, I am sure, feel compassion for those miserable and unfortunate beings. Yet Aeschines had no compassion for them. He did not shed tears over Greece on their account, indignant that they should suffer outrage in an allied country at the hands of Athenian ambassadors.
309. ἔσθʼ ὅστις ἂν τὸν Ἀτρεστίδαν τότε μισήσας διὰ τοὺς τῶν Ὀλυνθίων παῖδας καὶ γύναια, ταὐτὰ Φιλοκράτει νῦν πράττειν ὑπέμεινεν, ὃς γυναῖκας ἐλευθέρας τῶν Ὀλυνθίων ἤγαγε δεῦρʼ ἐφʼ ὕβρει, καὶ οὕτως ἐπὶ τῷ βδελυρῶς βεβιωκέναι γιγνώσκεται ὥστε μηδὲν ἔμʼ αἰσχρὸν εἰπεῖν νυνὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ δεῖν μηδὲ δυσχερές, ἀλλὰ τοσοῦτον εἰπόντος μόνον, ὅτι Φιλοκράτης γυναῖκας ἤγαγε, πάντας ὑμᾶς εἰδέναι καὶ τοὺς περιεστηκότας τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα, καὶ ἐλεεῖν εὖ οἶδʼ ὅτι τὰς ἀτυχεῖς καὶ ταλαιπώρους ἀνθρώπους, ἃς οὐκ ἠλέησεν Αἰσχίνης, οὐδʼ ἐδάκρυσεν ἐπὶ ταύταις τὴν Ἑλλάδα, εἰ παρὰ τοῖς συμμάχοις ὑπὸ τῶν πρέσβεων ὑβρίζονται.
310. No; our discredited ambassador will keep all his tears for himself. Very likely he will bring his children into court and put them in a conspicuous position. But do you, gentlemen of the jury, as you look at those children of his, reflect how many children of your own friends and allies are wanderers, roaming the world in beggary, suffering hardships which they owe to this man; and that they deserve your compassion infinitely more than the offspring of a malefactor and a traitor, while, by adding to the treaty of peace the words and to their posterity, he and his friends robbed your own children even of hope. When you witness his tears, remember that you hold in your power a man who bade you send accusers to Arcadia to testify against the agents of Philip.
310. ἀλλʼ ὑπὲρ αὑτοῦ κλαήσει τοῦ τὰ τοιαῦτα πεπρεσβευκότος, καὶ τὰ παιδίʼ ἴσως παράξει κἀναβιβᾶται. ὑμεῖς δʼ ἐνθυμεῖσθʼ, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, πρὸς μὲν τὰ τούτου παιδία, ὅτι πολλῶν συμμάχων ὑμετέρων καὶ φίλων παῖδες ἀλῶνται καὶ πτωχοὶ περιέρχονται δεινὰ πεπονθότες διὰ τοῦτον, οὓς ἐλεεῖν πολλῷ μᾶλλον ὑμῖν ἄξιον ἢ τοὺς τοῦ ἠδικηκότος καὶ προδότου πατρός, καὶ ὅτι τοὺς ὑμετέρους παῖδας οὗτοι, καὶ τοῖς ἐκγόνοις προσγράψαντες ⟨εἰς⟩ τὴν εἰρήνην, καὶ τῶν ἐλπίδων ἀπεστερήκασι· πρὸς δὲ τὰ αὐτοῦ τούτου δάκρυα, ὅτι νῦν ἔχετʼ ἄνθρωπον, ὃς εἰς Ἀρκαδίαν ἐκέλευεν ἐπὶ τοὺς ὑπὲρ Φιλίππου πράττοντας πέμπειν τοὺς κατηγορήσοντας.
311. And so today you have no need to send a mission to Peloponnesus, to make a long journey, or to pay travelling expenses; you have only to advance one by one to this platform, and there cast a just and a righteous vote for your country’s sake against the man who, having at the outset, as I described to you, spoken so eloquently about Marathon and Salamis, about battles and victories, from the moment he set foot on Macedonian soil contradicted his own utterances, forbade you to remember the example of your forefathers, or recall old victories, or carry succor to your friends, or take common counsel with the Greeks, and well-nigh bade you to dismantle the defences of your city.
311. νῦν τοίνυν ὑμᾶς οὐκ εἰς Πελοπόννησον δεῖ πρεσβείαν πέμπειν, οὐδʼ ὁδὸν μακρὰν βαδίσαι, οὐδʼ ἐφόδιʼ ἀναλίσκειν, ἀλλʼ ἄχρι τοῦ βήματος ἐνταυθὶ προσελθόνθʼ ἕκαστον ὑμῶν τὴν ὁσίαν καὶ δικαίαν ψῆφον ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος θέσθαι κατʼ ἀνδρός, ὅς, ὦ γῆ καὶ θεοί, ἐκεῖνʼ ἃ διεξῆλθον ἐν ἀρχῇ δεδημηγορηκώς, τὸν Μαραθῶνα, τὴν Σαλαμῖνα, τὰς μάχας, τὰ τρόπαια, ἐξαίφνης ὡς ἐπέβη Μακεδονίας, πάντα τἀναντία τούτοις, μὴ προγόνων μεμνῆσθαι, μὴ τρόπαια λέγειν, μὴ βοηθεῖν μηδενί, μὴ κοινῇ μετὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων βουλεύεσθαι, μόνον οὐ καθελεῖν τὰ τείχη.
312. No more disgraceful speeches have ever been made in your hearing during the whole course of your history. Lives there a man, Greek or barbarian, so boorish, so unversed in history, or so ill-disposed to our commonwealth that, if he were asked the question, “Tell me, in all the country that we call Greece and inhabit today, is there an acre that would still bear that name, or remain the home of the Greeks who now possess it, if the heroes of Marathon and Salamis, our forefathers, had not in their defence performed those glorious deeds of valor,” is there one man who would not make reply: “No; the whole country would have become the prey of the barbarian invaders”?
312. καίτοι τούτων αἰσχίους λόγοι οὐδένες πώποτʼ ἐν τῷ παντὶ χρόνῳ γεγόνασι παρʼ ὑμῖν. τίς γάρ ἐστιν Ἑλλήνων ἢ βαρβάρων οὕτω σκαιὸς ἢ ἀνήκοος ἢ σφόδρα μισῶν τὴν πόλιν τὴν ἡμετέραν, ὅστις, εἴ τις ἔροιτο, εἰπέ μοι, τῆς νῦν οὔσης Ἑλλάδος ταυτησὶ καὶ οἰκουμένης ἔσθʼ ὅ τι ταύτην ἂν τὴν προσηγορίαν εἶχεν ἢ ᾠκεῖθʼ ὑπὸ τῶν νῦν ἐχόντων Ἑλλήνων, εἰ μὴ τὰς ἀρετὰς ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἐκείνας οἱ Μαραθῶνι κἀν Σαλαμῖνι παρέσχοντο, οἱ ἡμέτεροι πρόγονοι; οὐδʼ ἂν εἷς εὖ οἶδʼ ὅτι φήσειεν, ἀλλὰ πάντα ταῦθʼ ὑπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων ἂν ἑαλωκέναι.
313. Even among your foes there is not a man who would despoil those heroes of their meed of praise and gratitude; and does an Aeschines forbid you, their own descendants, to commemorate their names—all for the sake of his miserable bribes? There are indeed rewards in which the dead have no part or lot; but the praise that waits on glorious achievements is the peculiar guerdon of those who have gloriously died—for then jealousy is no longer their adversary. Let the man who would rob the dead of their reward be stripped of his own honors: that retribution you will levy on him for your forefathers’ sake. By those speeches of yours, you reprobate, you made havoc of our policy, traducing and disparaging with your tongue the achievements of our forefathers.
313. εἶθʼ οὓς μηδὲ τῶν ἐχθρῶν μηδεὶς ἂν τούτων τῶν ἐγκωμίων καὶ τῶν ἐπαίνων ἀποστερήσειε, τούτων Αἰσχίνης ὑμᾶς οὐκ ἐᾷ μεμνῆσθαι, τοὺς ἐξ ἐκείνων, ἵνʼ αὐτὸς ἀργύριον λάβῃ; καὶ μὴν τῶν μὲν ἄλλων ἀγαθῶν οὐ μέτεστι τοῖς τεθνεῶσιν, οἱ δʼ ἐπὶ τοῖς καλῶς πραχθεῖσιν ἔπαινοι τῶν οὕτω τετελευτηκότων ἴδιον κτῆμʼ εἰσίν· οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ φθόνος αὐτοῖς ἔτι τηνικαῦτʼ ἐναντιοῦται. ὧν ἀποστερῶν ἐκείνους οὗτος, αὐτὸς ἂν τῆς ἐπιτιμίας δικαίως νῦν στερηθείη, καὶ ταύτην ὑπὲρ τῶν προγόνων ὑμεῖς δίκην λάβοιτε παρʼ αὐτοῦ. τοιούτοις μέντοι λόγοις, ὦ κακὴ κεφαλή, σὺ τὰ τῶν προγόνων ἔργα συλήσας καὶ διασύρας, τῷ λόγῳ πάντα τὰ πράγματʼ ἀπώλεσας.
314. And from these performances you emerge a land-owner, a person of high consideration! Take another point. Before he did all that mischief to the commonwealth, he used to admit that he had been a clerk; he was grateful to you for his appointments; his demeanor was quite modest. But since he has perpetrated wrongs without number, he has become mightily supercilious. If a man speaks of “Aeschines, the man who was once a clerk,” he makes a private quarrel of it, and talks of defamation of character. Behold him pacing the market-place with the stately stride of Pythocles, his long robe reaching to his ankles, his cheeks puffed out, as who should say, “One of Philip’s most intimate friends, at your service!” He has joined the clique that wants to get rid of democracy,—that regards the established political order as an inconstant wave,—mere midsummer madness. And once he made obeisance to the Rotunda!
314. εἶτα γεωργεῖς ἐκ τούτων καὶ σεμνὸς γέγονας. καὶ γὰρ τοῦτο. πρὸ μὲν τοῦ πάντα κάκʼ εἰργάσθαι τὴν πόλιν ὡμολόγει γεγραμματευκέναι καὶ χάριν ὑμῖν ἔχειν τοῦ χειροτονηθῆναι, καὶ μέτριον παρεῖχεν ἑαυτόν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ μυρίʼ εἴργασται κακά, τὰς ὀφρῦς ἀνέσπακε, κἂν ὁ γεγραμματευκὼς Αἰσχίνης εἴπῃ τις, ἐχθρὸς εὐθέως καὶ κακῶς φησιν ἀκηκοέναι, καὶ διὰ τῆς ἀγορᾶς πορεύεται θοἰμάτιον καθεὶς ἄχρι τῶν σφυρῶν, ἴσα βαίνων Πυθοκλεῖ, τὰς γνάθους φυσῶν, τῶν Φιλίππου ξένων καὶ φίλων εἷς οὗτος ὑμῖν ἤδη, τῶν ἀπαλλαγῆναι τοῦ δήμου βουλομένων καὶ κλύδωνα καὶ μανίαν τὰ καθεστηκότα πράγμαθʼ ἡγουμένων, ὁ τέως προσκυνῶν τὴν θόλον.
315. Now I wish by a brief recapitulation to remind you of the manner in which Philip discomfited your policy with these scoundrels as his confederates. It is well worth while to examine and contemplate the whole imposition. At the outset he was really desirous of peace, for his whole country was overrun by banditti, and his ports were blockaded, so that he got no advantage from all his wealth. Accordingly he sent those envoys who addressed you in his name with so much courtesy—Neoptolemus, Aristodemus, and Ctesiphon.
315. βούλομαι τοίνυν ὑμῖν ἐπανελθεῖν ἐπὶ κεφαλαίων ὃν τρόπον ὑμᾶς κατεπολιτεύσατο Φίλιππος προσλαβὼν τούτους τοὺς θεοῖς ἐχθρούς. πάνυ δʼ ἄξιον ἐξετάσαι καὶ θεάσασθαι τὴν ἀπάτην ὅλην. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς τῆς εἰρήνης ἐπιθυμῶν, διαφορουμένης αὐτοῦ τῆς χώρας ὑπὸ τῶν λῃστῶν καὶ κεκλειμένων τῶν ἐμπορίων, ὥστʼ ἀνόνητον ἐκεῖνον ἁπάντων εἶναι τῶν ἀγαθῶν, τοὺς τὰ φιλάνθρωπα λέγοντας ἐκείνους ἀπέστειλεν ὑπὲρ αὑτοῦ, τὸν Νεοπτόλεμον, τὸν Ἀριστόδημον, τὸν Κτησιφῶντα·
316. But as soon as he was visited by us ambassadors, he promptly took Aeschines into his pay, that he might support and co-operate with the infamous Philocrates, and overpower those of us whose intentions were honest. He then composed a letter to you, as the best means of obtaining the peace he desired.
316. ἐπειδὴ δʼ ἤλθομεν ὡς αὐτὸν ἡμεῖς οἱ πρέσβεις, ἐμισθώσατο μὲν τοῦτον εὐθέως, ὅπως συνερεῖ καὶ συναγωνιεῖται τῷ μιαρῷ Φιλοκράτει καὶ τῶν τὰ δίκαια βουλομένων [ἡμῶν] πράττειν περιέσται, συνέγραψε δʼ ἐπιστολὴν ὡς ὑμᾶς, ᾗ μάλιστʼ ἂν ᾤετο τῆς εἰρήνης τυχεῖν.
317. Even then it was still out of his power to achieve any important result to your disadvantage, unless he should destroy the Phocians. That was no easy task, for, as luck would have it, his affairs had reached a crisis of such a nature that either he could not realize any of his purposes, or else he was obliged to commit falsehood and perjury, with the whole world, both Greek and barbarian, to witness his wickedness.
317. ἦν δʼ οὐδὲν μᾶλλον μέγʼ αὐτῷ καθʼ ὑμῶν οὐδʼ οὕτω πρᾶξαι, εἰ μὴ Φωκέας ἀπολεῖ. τοῦτο δʼ οὐκ ἦν εὔπορον· συνῆκτο γὰρ αὐτῷ τὰ πράγματα, ὥσπερ ἐκ τύχης, εἰς καιρὸν τοιοῦτον, ὥστʼ ἢ μηδὲν ὧν ἐβούλετʼ εἶναι διαπράξασθαι, ἢ ἀνάγκην εἶναι ψεύσασθαι κἀπιορκῆσαι καὶ μάρτυρας τῆς αὑτοῦ κακίας πάντας Ἕλληνας καὶ βαρβάρους ποιήσασθαι.
318. For if he should accept the Phocians as allies, and with your help take the oath of friendship to them, he must at once violate the oaths he had already sworn to the Thessalians and the Thebans, with the latter of whom he had covenanted to help them in the subjugation of Boeotia, and with the former to restore their rights at the Amphictyonic Council. If, on the other hand, he was loth to accept them—and in fact the prospect did not please him—he expected that you would send troops to Thermopylae to stop his passage, as indeed you would have done if you had not been outwitted. In that event, he calculated that he would be unable to get through.
318. εἰ μὲν γὰρ προσδέξαιτο Φωκέας συμμάχους καὶ μεθʼ ὑμῶν τοὺς ὅρκους αὐτοῖς ἀποδοίη, τοὺς πρὸς Θετταλοὺς καὶ Θηβαίους ὅρκους παραβαίνειν εὐθὺς ἀναγκαῖον ἦν, ὧν τοῖς μὲν τὴν Βοιωτίαν συνεξαιρήσειν ὠμωμόκει, τοῖς δὲ τὴν πυλαίαν συγκαταστήσειν· εἰ δὲ μὴ προσδέχοιτο, ὥσπερ οὐ προσίετο, οὐκ ἐάσειν ὑμᾶς παρελθεῖν αὐτὸν ἡγεῖτο, ἀλλὰ βοηθήσειν εἰς Πύλας, ὅπερ, εἰ μὴ παρεκρούσθητε, ἐποιήσατʼ ἄν· εἰ δὲ τοῦτο γένοιτο, οὐκ ἐνεῖναι παρελθεῖν ἐλογίζετο.
319. He did not need any information from others to reach that conclusion. He was himself a sufficient witness, for, after his first defeat of the Phocians and the overthrow of their leader and commander Onomarchus, although no one in the whole world, Greek or barbarian, sent aid to them save you alone, so far from getting through Thermopylae, or accomplishing any of the purposes of the passage, he had been unable even to approach the pass.
319. καὶ τοῦτʼ οὐ παρʼ ἄλλων αὐτὸν ἔδει πυθέσθαι, ἀλλʼ αὐτὸς ὑπῆρχε μάρτυς ἑαυτῷ τοῦ πράγματος· ὅτε γὰρ Φωκέας ἐκράτησε τὸ πρῶτον καὶ διέφθειρε τοὺς ξένους αὐτῶν καὶ τὸν ἡγούμενον καὶ στρατηγοῦντʼ Ὀνόμαρχον, τότε τῶν ὄντων ἀνθρώπων ἁπάντων οὐδενός, οὔθʼ Ἕλληνος οὔτε βαρβάρου, Φωκεῦσι βοηθήσαντος πλὴν ὑμῶν, οὐχ ὅπως παρῆλθεν ἢ διεπράξαθʼ ὧν ἐβουλήθη τι παρελθών, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ προσελθεῖν ἐγγὺς ἐδυνήθη.
320. I take it he was perfectly well aware that now, with Thessaly at variance with him—the Pheraeans, for example, refusing to join his following—with the Thebans getting the worst of the war, defeated in an engagement, and a trophy erected at their expense, he would be unable to force the passage if you sent troops to Thermopylae, and that he could not even make the attempt without serious loss unless he should also resort to some trickery. “How, then,” he thought, “shall I escape open falsehood, and attain all my objects without incurring the charge of perjury? Only if I can find Athenians to hood-wink the Athenian people, for then I shall have no share in the ensuing dishonor.”
320. ᾔδει δὴ σαφῶς, οἶμαι, τοῦθʼ ὅτι νῦν, ἡνίκʼ ἐστασίαζε μὲν αὐτῷ τὰ Θετταλῶν, καὶ Φεραῖοι πρῶτον οὐ συνηκολούθουν, ἐκρατοῦντο δὲ Θηβαῖοι καὶ μάχην ἥττηντο καὶ τρόπαιον ἀπʼ αὐτῶν εἱστήκει, οὐκ ἔνεστι παρελθεῖν, εἰ βοηθήσεθʼ ὑμεῖς, οὐδʼ, ἂν ἐπιχειρῇ, χαιρήσει, εἰ μή τις τέχνη προσγενήσεται. πῶς οὖν μήτε ψεύσωμαι φανερῶς, μήτʼ ἐπιορκεῖν δόξας πάνθʼ ἃ βούλομαι διαπράξωμαι; πῶς; οὕτως, ἂν Ἀθηναίων τινὰς εὕρω τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἐξαπατήσοντας· ταύτης γὰρ οὐκέτʼ ἐγὼ τῆς αἰσχύνης κληρονομῶ.
321. Accordingly his envoys warned you that he would not accept the Phocian alliance, but then Aeschines and his friends, taking up the tale, assured the people that, although for the sake of the Thebans and the Thessalians Philip could not with decency accept the alliance, yet if he should become master of the situation, and get his peace, he would thereafter do exactly what we should now ask him to agree to.
321. ἐντεῦθεν οἱ μὲν παρʼ ἐκείνου πρέσβεις προὔλεγον ὑμῖν ὅτι Φωκέας οὐ προσδέχεται Φίλιππος συμμάχους, οὗτοι δʼ ἐκδεχόμενοι τοιαῦτʼ ἐδημηγόρουν, ὡς φανερῶς μὲν οὐχὶ καλῶς ἔχει τῷ Φιλίππῳ προσδέξασθαι τοὺς Φωκέας συμμάχους διὰ τοὺς Θηβαίους καὶ τοὺς Θετταλούς, ἂν δὲ γένηται τῶν πραγμάτων κύριος καὶ τῆς εἰρήνης τύχῃ, ἅπερ ἂν συνθέσθαι νῦν ἀξιώσαιμεν αὐτόν, ταῦτα ποιήσει τότε.
322. So on the strength of these expectations and inducements he obtained his peace, with the Phocians excluded; but it was still necessary to stop the reinforcement of Thermopylae, for which fifty war-galleys were lying at anchor to enable you to check Philip’s advance.
322. τὴν μὲν τοίνυν εἰρήνην ταύταις ταῖς ἐλπίσι καὶ ταῖς ἐπαγωγαῖς εὕροντο παρʼ ὑμῶν ἄνευ Φωκέων· τὴν δὲ βοήθειαν ἔδει κωλῦσαι τὴν εἰς τὰς Πύλας, ἐφʼ ἣν αἱ πεντήκοντα τριήρεις ὅμως ἐφώρμουν, ἵνʼ, εἰ πορεύοιτο Φίλιππος, κωλύοιθʼ ὑμεῖς. πῶς οὖν;
323. How could it be done? What new artifice could he invent for that purpose? Someone must filch your opportunities of action, and surprise you with an unexpected crisis, so that you might lose the power, if not the will, of sending the expedition. That, then, was clearly what these men undertook. As you have often heard, I was unable to get away in time; I had chartered a ship, but was prevented from sailing.
323. τίς τέχνη πάλιν αὖ γενήσεται περὶ ταύτης; τοὺς χρόνους ὑμῶν ἀφελέσθαι καὶ ἐπιστῆσαι τὰ πράγματʼ ἀγαγόντας ἄφνω, ἵνα μηδʼ ἂν βούλησθε δύνησθʼ ἐξελθεῖν. οὐκοῦν τοῦθʼ οὗτοι πράττοντες φαίνονται, ἐγὼ δʼ, ὥσπερ ἀκηκόατʼ ἤδη πολλάκις, οὐχὶ δυνηθεὶς προαπελθεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μισθωσάμενος πλοῖον κατακωλυθεὶς ἐκπλεῦσαι.
324. But it was further necessary that the Phocians should acquire confidence in Philip and make a voluntary surrender, so that no delay should intervene, and no unfriendly resolution come to hand from you. “Very well,” thought Philip, “a report shall be made by the Athenian ambassadors that the Phocians are to be protected; and so, though they persist in mistrusting me, they will deliver themselves into my hands through confidence in the Athenians. We will enlist the sympathy of the Athenian people in the hope that, supposing themselves to have got everything they want, they will pass no obstructive resolution. These men shall carry from us such flattering reports and assurances that, whatsoever may befall, they will make no movement.”
324. ἀλλὰ καὶ πιστεῦσαι Φωκέας ἔδει Φιλίππῳ καὶ ἑκόντας ἑαυτοὺς ἐνδοῦναι, ἵνα μηδεὶς χρόνος ἐγγένηται τοῖς πράγμασι μηδʼ ἐναντίον ἔλθῃ ψήφισμα παρʼ ὑμῶν μηδέν. οὐκοῦν ὡς μὲν οἱ Φωκεῖς σωθήσονται, παρὰ τῶν Ἀθηναίων πρέσβεων ἀπαγγελθήσεται, ὥστε καὶ εἴ τις ἐμοὶ διαπιστεῖ, τούτοις πιστεύσας αὑτὸν ἐγχειριεῖ· τοὺς δʼ Ἀθηναίους αὐτοὺς μεταπεμψόμεθʼ ἡμεῖς, ἵνα πάνθʼ, ὅσʼ ἂν βούλωνται, νομίσαντες ὑπάρχειν σφίσι μηδὲν ἐναντίον ψηφίσωνται· οὗτοι δὲ τοιαῦτʼ ἀπαγγελοῦσι παρʼ ἡμῶν καὶ ὑποσχήσονται ἐξ ὧν μηδʼ ἂν ὁτιοῦν ᾖ κινηθήσονται.
325. In this manner and by the aid of this artifice our ruin was accomplished by men themselves doomed to perdition. For at once, instead of witnessing the restoration of Thespiae and Plataea, you heard of the enslavement of Orchomenus and Coronea. Instead of the humiliation of Thebes and the abasement of her pride and insolence, the walls of your own allies the Phocians were demolished, and demolished by those very Thebans whom Aeschines in his speech had sent to live in scattered villages.
325. τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον καὶ τοιαύταις τέχναις ὑπὸ τῶν κάκιστʼ ἀπολουμένων ἀνθρώπων πάντα τὰ πράγματʼ ἀπώλετο. καὶ γάρ τοι παραχρῆμα, ἀντὶ μὲν τοῦ Θεσπιὰς καὶ Πλαταιὰς ἰδεῖν οἰκιζομένας, Ὀρχομενὸν καὶ Κορώνειαν ἠκούσατʼ ἠνδραποδισμένας, ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ τὰς Θήβας ταπεινὰς γενέσθαι καὶ περιαιρεθῆναι τὴν ὕβριν καὶ τὸ φρόνημα [αὐτῶν], τὰ τῶν συμμάχων τῶν ὑμετέρων [Φωκέων] τείχη κατεσκάπτετο· Θηβαῖοι δʼ ἦσαν οἱ κατασκάπτοντες, οἱ διοικισθέντες ὑπʼ Αἰσχίνου τῷ λόγῳ.
326. Instead of the surrender to you of Euboea in exchange for Amphipolis, Philip is establishing positions in Euboea as a base of attack upon you, and is constantly plotting against Geraestus and Megara. Instead of recovering Oropus, we are making an armed expedition to secure Drymus and the district of Panactus, an operation in which we never engaged so long as the Phocians were safe.
326. ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ τὴν Εὔβοιαν ἀντʼ Ἀμφιπόλεως ὑμῖν παραδοθῆναι, ὁρμητήριʼ ἐφʼ ὑμᾶς ἐν Εὐβοίᾳ Φίλιππος προσκατασκευάζεται καὶ Γεραιστῷ καὶ Μεγάροις ἐπιβουλεύων διατελεῖ. ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ τὸν Ὠρωπὸν ὑμῖν ἀποδοθῆναι, περὶ Δρυμοῦ καὶ τῆς πρὸς Πανάκτῳ χώρας μεθʼ ὅπλων ἐξερχόμεθα, ὅ, τέως ἦσαν Φωκεῖς σῷοι, οὐδεπώποτʼ ἐποιήσαμεν.
327. Instead of the re-establishment of ancient rites in the Temple of Apollo, and the restitution of treasure to the god, men who were once Amphictyons are fugitives and exiles, and men who never in all former time were members of it, Macedonians and barbarians, are now forcing their way into the Amphictyonic Council. If anyone says a word about the sacred treasure, he is thrown down the precipice; and Athens is robbed of her precedence in the consultation of the Oracle.
327. ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ τὰ πάτριʼ ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ κατασταθῆναι καὶ τὰ χρήματʼ εἰσπραχθῆναι τῷ θεῷ, οἱ μὲν ὄντες Ἀμφικτύονες φεύγουσι καὶ ἐξελήλανται, καὶ ἀνάστατος αὐτῶν ἡ χώρα γέγονεν, οἱ δʼ οὐπώποτʼ ἐν τῷ πρόσθεν χρόνῳ γενόμενοι Μακεδόνες καὶ βάρβαροι, νῦν Ἀμφικτύονες εἶναι βιάζονται· ἐὰν δέ τις περὶ τῶν ἱερῶν χρημάτων μνησθῇ, κατακρημνίζεται, ἡ πόλις δὲ τὴν προμαντείαν ἀφῄρηται.
328. To Athens the whole business is an insoluble puzzle. Philip has escaped falsehood, and has accomplished all his purposes, while you, after expecting the complete fulfilment, have witnessed the entire disappointment, of your desires. You are nominally at peace; yet peace has brought you greater calamities than war. Meantime these men have made money by your misfortunes, and until today have never been brought to justice.
328. καὶ γέγονεν τὰ πράγματα πάνθʼ ὥσπερ αἴνιγμα τῇ πόλει. ὁ μὲν οὐδὲν ἔψευσται καὶ πάνθʼ ὅσʼ ἐβουλήθη διαπέπρακται, ὑμεῖς δʼ ἅπερ εὔξαισθʼ ἂν ἐλπίσαντες, τἀναντία τούτων ἑοράκατε γιγνόμενα, καὶ δοκεῖτε μὲν εἰρήνην ἄγειν, πεπόνθατε δὲ δεινότερʼ ἢ πολεμοῦντες· οὗτοι δὲ χρήματʼ ἔχουσιν ἐπὶ τούτοις καὶ μέχρι τῆς τήμερον ἡμέρας δίκην οὐ δεδώκασιν.
329. That they have done it all for bribes, and that they have the price of their perfidy in their pockets, has, I suppose, long ago been manifest to you for many reasons; and I am afraid that, contrary to my desire, I may be wearying you by submitting detailed proofs of facts well known to you.
329. ὅτι γὰρ ταῦθʼ ἁπλῶς δεδωροδόκηται καὶ τιμὴν ἔχουσιν ἁπάντων τούτων οὗτοι, πολλαχόθεν μὲν ἔγωγʼ οἶμαι δῆλον ὑμῖν εἶναι πάλαι, καὶ δέδοικα μὴ τοὐναντίον οὗ βούλομαι ποιῶ, σφόδρʼ ἀκριβῶς δεικνύναι πειρώμενος διοχλῶ πάλαι τοῦτʼ αὐτοὺς ὑμᾶς εἰδότας· ὅμως δʼ ἔτι καὶ τόδʼ ἀκούσατε.
330. However, I must ask you to listen to one more argument. Gentlemen of the jury, would you set up in the market-place a statue of any of the ambassadors whom Philip sent? Or would you give to them free maintenance in the Town Hall, or any of the other privileges with which you reward your benefactors? Surely not; but why not? For in you there is no lack of gratitude or justice or kindness. It is, you will say—and it is a fair and honest reply—because they did everything for Philip and nothing for us.
330. ἔσθʼ ὅντινʼ ὑμεῖς, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, τῶν πρέσβεων ὧν ἔπεμψε Φίλιππος χαλκοῦν στήσαιτʼ ἂν ἐν ἀγορᾷ; τί δέ; δοίητʼ ἂν ἐν πρυτανείῳ σίτησιν ἢ ἄλλην τινὰ δωρειάν, αἷς τιμᾶτε τοὺς εὐεργέτας; ἐγὼ μὲν οὐκ οἶμαι. διὰ τί; (οὔτε γὰρ ὑμεῖς γʼ ἀχάριστοί ἐστʼ οὔτʼ ἄδικοι ἄνθρωποι οὔτε κακοί.) ὅτι πάνθʼ ὑπὲρ Φιλίππου καὶ οὐδʼ ὁτιοῦν ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἔπραξαν, εἴποιτʼ ἄν, καὶ ἀληθῆ καὶ δίκαια.
331. Then do you suppose that Philip acts on an entirely different principle from yours, and gives all those handsome presents to Aeschines and his friends because they conducted their mission duly and honestly in your interest? That is not so. You have observed the reception he gave to the envoy Hegesippus and his colleagues. Not to mention other details, he banished by proclamation the Athenian poet Xenocleides for offering them hospitality as fellow-citizens. Such is his behavior towards your representatives when they honestly speak out what they think; those who have sold themselves he treats as he treated Aeschines and his friends. My argument requires no other witnesses and no stronger proofs; nor can anyone erase these proofs from your minds.
331. εἶτʼ οἴεσθʼ ὑμεῖς μὲν οὕτω γιγνώσκειν, τὸν δὲ Φίλιππον οὐχ οὕτω, ἀλλὰ τούτοις διδόναι τηλικαύτας καὶ τοσαύτας δωρειὰς διότι ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν καλῶς καὶ δικαίως ἐπρέσβευσαν; οὐκ ἔστι ταῦτα. τὸν γὰρ Ἡγήσιππον ὁρᾶτε καὶ τοὺς μετʼ αὐτοῦ πρέσβεις πῶς ἐδέξατο. τὰ μὲν ἄλλα σιωπῶ, ἀλλὰ Ξενοκλείδην τουτονὶ τὸν ποιητὴν ἐξεκήρυξεν, ὅτι αὐτοὺς ὑπεδέξατο πολίτας ὄντας. τοῖς μὲν γὰρ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν λέγουσι δικαίως ὅσʼ ἂν φρονῶσι τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον προσφέρεται, τοῖς δὲ πεπρακόσιν αὑτοὺς ὡς τούτοις. ταῦτʼ οὖν μαρτύρων, ταῦτʼ ἐλέγχων τινῶν ἔτι δεῖται μειζόνων; ταῦτʼ ἀφαιρήσεταί τις ὑμῶν;
332. Some one came up to me just now in front of the court, and told me a very odd thing. Aeschines, he said, had prepared himself to denounce the general Chares, hoping to cajole you by his eloquent treatment of that topic. I will not lay too much stress on the observation that, whenever Chares has been brought to trial, he has been found to have acted faithfully and loyally, so far as in him lay, in your interests, though he has often failed of success by the fault of the people who do mischief for money. I will go so far as to grant for argument’s sake that every word Aeschines will utter against him is true. But even on that assumption it is absolutely ridiculous that a man in Chares’ position should be denounced by a man like Aeschines.
332. εἶπε τοίνυν μοί τις ἄρτι προσελθὼν πρὸ τοῦ δικαστηρίου πρᾶγμα καινότατον πάντων, Χάρητος κατηγορεῖν αὐτὸν παρεσκευάσθαι, καὶ διὰ τούτου τοῦ τρόπου καὶ τούτων τῶν λόγων ἐξαπατήσειν ὑμᾶς ἐλπίζειν. ἐγὼ δʼ ὅτι μὲν πάντα τρόπον κρινόμενος Χάρης εὕρηται πιστῶς καὶ εὐνοϊκῶς, ὅσον ἦν ἐπʼ ἐκείνῳ, πράττων ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν, διὰ τοὺς δʼ ἐπὶ χρήμασι λυμαινομένους τοῖς πράγμασι πολλῶν ὑστερῶν, οὐ σφόδρʼ ἰσχυρίζομαι, ἀλλʼ ὑπερβολὴν ποιήσομαι· ἔστω γὰρ πάντʼ ἀληθῆ λέξειν περὶ αὐτοῦ τουτονί. καὶ οὕτω τοίνυν κομιδῇ γέλως ἐστὶ κατηγορεῖν ἐκείνου τουτονί.
333. Observe that I do not blame Aeschines for any of the misadventures of the war, for which the generals are duly called to account. Nor do I blame him because the city made the peace: so far I acquit him. What then is the basis of my speech and of my indictment? That, when the city was making the peace, he supported Philocrates, and did not support speakers whose proposals were patriotic; that he took bribes; that thereafter, on the later embassy, he deliberately squandered his opportunities; that he deceived the city, and confounded its policy, by suggesting the hope that Philip would satisfy all our desires; and that subsequently, when others warned you to beware of the perpetrator of so many iniquities, he addressed you as his advocate.
333. ἐγὼ γὰρ Αἰσχίνην οὐδενὸς αἰτιῶμαι τῶν ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ πραχθέντων (τούτων γάρ εἰσιν οἱ στρατηγοὶ ὑπεύθυνοι), οὐδὲ τοῦ ποιήσασθαι τὴν πόλιν εἰρήνην, ἀλλʼ ἄχρι τούτου πάντʼ ἀφίημι. τί οὖν λέγω καὶ πόθεν ἄρχομαι κατηγορεῖν; τοῦ ποιουμένης τῆς πόλεως εἰρήνην Φιλοκράτει συνειπεῖν, ἀλλὰ μὴ τοῖς τὰ βέλτιστα γράφουσι, [καὶ] τοῦ δῶρʼ εἰληφέναι, τοῦ μετὰ ταῦτʼ ἐπὶ τῆς ὑστέρας πρεσβείας τοὺς χρόνους κατατρῖψαι καὶ μηδὲν ὧν προσετάξαθʼ ὑμεῖς ποιῆσαι, τοῦ φενακίσαι τὴν πόλιν καὶ παραστήσαντʼ ἐλπίδας, ὡς ὅσα βουλόμεθʼ ἡμεῖς Φίλιππος πράξει, πάντʼ ἀπολωλεκέναι, τοῦ μετὰ ταῦθʼ, ἑτέρων προλεγόντων φυλάττεσθαι τὸν τοσαῦτʼ ἠδικηκότα, τοῦτον ἐκείνῳ συνηγορεῖν.
334. These are my accusations. Do not forget them. For a just and equitable peace I would be grateful; I would have commended and advised you to decorate negotiators who had not first sold themselves and then deceived you with falsehoods. Granted that you were wronged by any commander,—he is not concerned in the present inquiry. Did any commander bring Halus to destruction? or the Phocians? or Doriscus? or Cersobleptes? or the Sacred Mount? or Thermopylae? Was it a commander who gave Philip an open road to Attica through the territory of friends and allies? Who has made Coronea and Orchomenus and Euboea alien ground for us? Who nearly did the same with Megara only yesterday? Who has made the Thebans strong?
334. ταῦτα κατηγορῶ, ταῦτα μέμνησθε, ἐπεὶ δικαίαν εἰρήνην καὶ ἴσην καὶ μηδὲν πεπρακότας ἀνθρώπους μηδὲ ψευσαμένους ὕστερον κἂν ἐπῄνουν καὶ στεφανοῦν ἐκέλευον. στρατηγὸς δʼ εἴ τις ἠδίκηκεν ὑμᾶς, οὐχὶ κοινωνεῖ ταῖς νῦν εὐθύναις. ποῖος γὰρ στρατηγὸς Ἅλον, τίς δὲ Φωκέας ἀπολώλεκε; τίς δὲ Δορίσκον; τίς δὲ Κερσοβλέπτην; τίς δʼ Ἱερὸν ὄρος; τίς δὲ Πύλας; τίς δὲ πεποίηκεν ἄχρι τῆς Ἀττικῆς ὁδὸν διὰ συμμάχων καὶ φίλων εἶναι Φιλίππῳ; τίς δὲ Κορώνειαν, τίς δʼ Ὀρχομενόν, τίς Εὔβοιαν ἀλλοτρίαν;
335. These are enormous losses, but for none of them is any general to blame. Philip does not hold any of these advantages as a concession made with your consent in the terms of peace. We owe them all to these men and to their venality. If, then, Aeschines shirks the issue, if he tries to lead you astray by talking of anything rather than the charges I bring, I will tell you how to receive his irrelevance. “We are not sitting in judgement on any military commander. You are not being tried on the charges you refute. Do not tell us that this man or that man is to blame for the destruction of the Phocians; prove to us that you are not to blame. If Demosthenes committed any crime, why bring it up now? Why did you not lay your complaint at the statutory investigation of his conduct? For that silence alone you deserve your doom.”
335. τίς Μέγαρα πρώην ὀλίγου; τίς Θηβαίους ἰσχυρούς; τούτων γὰρ οὐδὲν τοσούτων καὶ τηλικούτων ὄντων διὰ τοὺς στρατηγοὺς ἀπώλετο, οὐδʼ ἐν τῇ εἰρήνῃ συγχωρηθὲν πεισθέντων ὑμῶν ἔχει Φίλιππος, ἀλλὰ διὰ τούτους ἀπόλωλε καὶ τὴν τούτων δωροδοκίαν. ἂν τοίνυν ταῦτα μὲν φεύγῃ, πλανᾷ δὲ καὶ πάντα μᾶλλον λέγῃ, ἐκείνως αὐτὸν δέχεσθε. οὐ στρατηγῷ δικάζομεν, οὐ περὶ τούτων κρίνει. μὴ λέγʼ εἴ τις αἴτιός ἐστι καὶ ἄλλος τοῦ Φωκέων ὀλέθρου, ἀλλʼ ὡς οὐ σὺ αἴτιος δεῖξον. τί οὖν, εἴ τι Δημοσθένης ἠδίκει, νῦν λέγεις, ἀλλʼ οὐχ ὅτε τὰς εὐθύνας ἐδίδου κατηγόρεις; διʼ αὐτὸ γὰρ εἶ τοῦτʼ ἀπολωλέναι δίκαιος.
336. “You need not tell us that peace is a lovely and profitable thing; for nobody blames you because the city concluded peace. Deny, if you can, that the peace we have is a disgraceful and ignominious peace; deny that after its conclusion we were deceived, and that by that deception all was lost. The blame for all these calamities has been brought home to you. Why do you still speak the praises of the man who inflicted them?” Keep guard over his tricks in that fashion, and he will have nothing to say. He will only aggravate the thunders of his voice, and exhaust himself with his own vociferation.
336. μὴ λέγʼ ὡς καλὸν εἰρήνη, μηδʼ ὡς συμφέρον· οὐδεὶς γὰρ αἰτιᾶταί σε τοῦ ποιήσασθαι τὴν πόλιν εἰρήνην· ἀλλʼ ὡς οὐκ αἰσχρὰ καὶ ἐπονείδιστος, καὶ πόλλʼ ὕστερον ἐξηπατήμεθα, καὶ πάντʼ ἀπώλετο, ταῦτα λέγε. τούτων γὰρ ἁπάντων ἡμῖν αἴτιος σὺ δέδειξαι. καὶ τί δὴ μέχρι νυνὶ τὸν τὰ τοιαῦτα πεποιηκότʼ ἐπαινεῖς; ἂν οὕτω φυλάττητʼ αὐτόν, οὐχ ἕξει τί λέγῃ, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἄλλως ἐνταῦθʼ ἐπαρεῖ τὴν φωνὴν καὶ πεφωνασκηκὼς ἔσται.
337. On that famous voice of his, however, I really must offer some observations. For I am informed that he sets great store thereby, and that he hopes to overawe you by an exhibition of histrionic talent. When he tried to represent the woes of the House of Thyestes, or of the men who fought at Troy, you drove him from the stage with hisses and cat-calls, and came near to pelting him with stones, insomuch that in the end he gave up his profession of actor of small parts; and I think you would be behaving very strangely if now, when he has wrought measurable mischief, not on the stage, but in his dealings with the most momentous affairs of state, you should be favorably impressed by his beautiful voice.
337. καίτοι καὶ περὶ τῆς φωνῆς ἴσως εἰπεῖν ἀνάγκη· πάνυ γὰρ μέγα καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ φρονεῖν αὐτὸν ἀκούω, ὡς καθυποκρινούμενον ὑμᾶς. ἐμοὶ δὲ δοκεῖτʼ ἀτοπώτατον ἁπάντων ἂν ποιῆσαι, εἰ, ὅτε μὲν τὰ Θυέστου καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ Τροίᾳ κάκʼ ἠγωνίζετο, ἐξεβάλλετʼ αὐτὸν καὶ ἐξεσυρίττετʼ ἐκ τῶν θεάτρων καὶ μόνον οὐ κατελεύεθʼ οὕτως ὥστε τελευτῶντα τοῦ τριταγωνιστεῖν ἀποστῆναι, ἐπειδὴ δʼ οὐκ ἐπὶ τῆς σκηνῆς, ἀλλʼ ἐν τοῖς κοινοῖς καὶ μεγίστοις τῆς πόλεως πράγμασι μυρίʼ εἴργασται κακά, τηνικαῦθʼ ὡς καλὸν φθεγγομένῳ προσέχοιτε.
338. No, gentlemen; you must not yield to unworthy emotion. If you are holding an examination for the office of herald, you do well to look for a man with a fine loud voice; but if you are choosing an ambassador or a candidate for public office, you seek an honest man, a man who exhibits a proud spirit as your representative, and a spirit of equality as your fellow-citizen. I, for example, showed no respect for Philip; I kept my respect for the captives, I rescued them, I spared no effort. Aeschines, on the other hand, grovelled at Philip’s feet, sang his Hymn of Victory, and disregards you altogether.
338. μηδαμῶς· μηδὲν ὑμεῖς ἀβέλτερον πάθητε, ἀλλὰ λογίζεσθʼ ὅτι δεῖ κήρυκα μὲν ἂν δοκιμάζητε, εὔφωνον σκοπεῖν, πρεσβευτὴν δὲ καὶ τῶν κοινῶν ἀξιοῦντά τι πράττειν δίκαιον καὶ φρόνημʼ ἔχονθʼ ὑπὲρ μὲν ὑμῶν μέγα, πρὸς δʼ ὑμᾶς ἴσον, ὥσπερ ἐγὼ Φίλιππον μὲν οὐκ ἐθαύμασα, τοὺς δʼ αἰχμαλώτους ἐθαύμασα, ἔσωσα, οὐδὲν ὑπεστειλάμην. οὗτος δʼ ἐκείνου μὲν προὐκαλινδεῖτο, τοὺς παιᾶνας ᾖδεν, ὑμῶν δʼ ὑπερορᾷ.
339. Again, when you observe eloquence, or vocal power, or any such merit, in a right-minded and patriotic speaker, by all means congratulate him and help him to exercise his gift, for you all share in its advantages. But when you find such powers in the possession of a corrupt and evil-minded man, the slave of filthy lucre, discourage him, and listen to him with aversion and animosity; for if knavery enjoys in your eyes the reputation of ability, it becomes a peril to the commonwealth.
339. ἔτι τοίνυν ὅταν μὲν ἴδητε δεινότητʼ ἢ εὐφωνίαν ἤ τι τῶν ἄλλων τῶν τοιούτων ἀγαθῶν ἐπὶ χρηστοῦ καὶ φιλοτίμου γεγενημένον ἀνθρώπου, συγχαίρειν καὶ συνασκεῖν πάντας δεῖ· κοινὸν γὰρ ὑμῖν πᾶσι τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῦτʼ ἀγαθὸν γίγνεται· ὅταν δʼ ἐπὶ δωροδόκου καὶ πονηροῦ καὶ παντὸς ἥττονος λήμματος, ἀποκλείειν καὶ πικρῶς καὶ ἐναντίως ἀκούειν, ὡς πονηρία δυνάμεως δόξαν εὑρομένη παρʼ ὑμῶν ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐστίν.
340. You have before your eyes the dangers with which the city is encompassed as the result of the reputation he has achieved. Now other forms of ability are almost wholly independent of conditions; but the ability of the speaker is paralyzed by the recalcitrance of his audience. Listen to him, then, as to a knave and a bribe-taker, who will have no truthful word to utter.
340. ὁρᾶτε δʼ, ἀφʼ ὧν οὗτος εὐδοκιμεῖ πηλίκα τῇ πόλει περιέστηκε πράγματα. αἱ μὲν τοίνυν ἄλλαι δυνάμεις ἐπιεικῶς εἰσιν αὐτάρκεις, ἡ δὲ τοῦ λέγειν, ἂν τὰ παρʼ ὑμῶν τῶν ἀκουόντων ἀντιστῇ, διακόπτεται. οὕτως οὖν ἀκούετε τούτου ὡς πονηροῦ καὶ δωροδόκου καὶ οὐδʼ ὁτιοῦν ἐροῦντος ἀληθές.
341. Observe in conclusion that, apart from all other reasons, the conviction of this man is eminently desirable in view of your future relations with Philip. For if Philip ever finds himself under the necessity of treating Athens with common justice, he will have to remodel his methods. At present his chosen policy is to cheat the many and court the few; but, when he learns that his favorites have been brought to ruin, he will wish for the future to deal with the many, who are the real masters of our state.
341. ὅτι δʼ οὐ μόνον κατὰ τἄλλα, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ πρὸς αὐτὸν τὸν Φίλιππον πράγματα πανταχῶς συμφέρει τοῦτον ἑαλωκέναι, θεάσασθε. εἴτε γὰρ ἥξει ποτʼ εἰς ἀνάγκην τῶν δικαίων τι ποιεῖν τῇ πόλει, τὸν τρόπον μεταθήσεται· νῦν μὲν γὰρ ᾕρηται τοὺς πολλοὺς ἐξαπατῶν ὀλίγους θεραπεύειν, ἂν δὲ τούτους ἀπολωλότας πύθηται, ὑμῖν τοῖς πολλοῖς καὶ πάντων κυρίοις τὰ λοιπὰ ποιεῖν βουλήσεται.
342. Or if he persists in the lawlessness and the insolence that he displays today, you, by putting these men out of the way, will have delivered Athens from men ready to go to all lengths in his service. For if the fear that they would be called to account did not deter them, what conduct can you expect from them if you should give them a licence to do what they please? Will they not outvie Euthycrates, Lasthenes, and all the traitors of history?
342. εἴτʼ ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ἧσπερ νῦν ἐξουσίας καὶ ἀσελγείας μενεῖ, τοὺς ὁτιοῦν ἂν ἐκείνῳ ποιήσαντας ἀνῃρηκότες ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἔσεσθε, ἂν τούτους ἀνέλητε· οἳ γὰρ οἰόμενοι δίκην ὑφέξειν τοιαῦτʼ ἔπραξαν, τούτους, ἂν τὰ παρʼ ὑμῶν αὐτοῖς ἐφεθῇ, τί οἴεσθε ποιήσειν; ποῖον Εὐθυκράτη, ποῖον Λασθένη, τίνʼ οὐχ ὑπερβαλεῖσθαι προδότην;
343. Every other man will be a worse citizen, when he sees that men who have made traffic of the common interests emerge with wealth and reputation, and with all the advantages of Philip’s friendship, while the lot of those who approved themselves honest men and spent their money in your service is vexation and ill-will, and the enmity of those whom I need not name. Let it not be so! For the sake of your honor, of your religion, of your security, of everything you value, you must not acquit this man. Visit him with exemplary punishment, and let his fate be a warning not to our own citizens alone but to every man who lives in the Hellenic world.
343. τίνα δʼ οὐ πάντων τῶν ἄλλων χείρω πολίτην ὑπάρξειν, ὁρῶντα τοῖς μὲν ἅπαντα πεπρακόσι χρήματα, δόξαν, ἀφορμὴν τὴν Φιλίππου ξενίαν περιοῦσαν, τοῖς δὲ δικαίους τε παρέχουσιν ἑαυτοὺς καὶ προσανηλωκόσι χρήματα πράγματα, ἀπεχθείας, φθόνον περιόντα παρʼ ἐνίων; μηδαμῶς· οὔτε γὰρ πρὸς δόξαν οὔτε πρὸς εὐσέβειαν οὔτε πρὸς ἀσφάλειαν οὔτε πρὸς ἄλλʼ οὐδὲν ὑμῖν συμφέρει τοῦτον ἀφεῖναι, ἀλλὰ τιμωρησαμένους παράδειγμα ποιῆσαι πᾶσι, καὶ τοῖς πολίταις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις Ἕλλησιν.