No More Learning

To Virtue and illuftrious Worth decreed ;
Here let our Sons behold their Fathers' Praife,
And for the public Weal with Ardour bleed. -
Upon the Third.
On that fam'd Coaft, where great Atrides bled,
Meneftheus our Athenian Forces led ;
A Chief renown'd, in Homer's facred Page,
To form the Battle, and diredt its Rage.
Thus fam'd in War has Athens ever {hone,
Yet made the various Arts of Peace her o\vn.
T t 2 Is
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? 324 ORATION OF iESCHINES
Is the Name of the Generals infcribed upon any of theie
Mercuries ? No ; that of the People. Approach therefore,
in Imagination, the Portico, for its Paintings called the various,
where you frequently aflemble, and where all the Monuments
of your memorable Adions are depofited. You afk, Athenians,
what I mean by fuch a Propofal ? There the Battle of Marathon
is painted. Who was the Commander in Chief upon that im-
portant Day ? You can all anfwer, Miltiades. Yet his Name
is not written upon the Pidlure. Wherefore ? Did he not
folicit this Reward ? He did folicit, and the People refufed it.
Yet inftead of his Name they permitted him to be drawn the
principal Figure in the Piece, and in an Attitude, that diftin-
guiflied him animating the Soldiers to their Duty. In the
Temple of the Mother of the Gods, near the Senate-Houfe, we
may ftill behold what Rewards you gave the Leaders, who
brought home the People from their Exile in Phyle. Archinus,,
one of thefe Leaders, propofed a Decree, and carried it without
Oppofition, in which he directed, that a thoufand Drachmas
fliould be given to the Perfons, whom he brought home from
Phyle, for Sacrifices and monumental Offerings to the Gods ;
the whole amounting to fomewhat lefs than ten Drachmas, each
Perfon. He then ordered, that they fhould be crowned with
an Olive, not a golden Crown. For in thofe Days a Crown
ol Olive was held in Honour, though now a golden one is de-
fpifed. Nor did he fuffer thefe Crowns to be given without dire
Caution, but direfled the Senate to enquire with their ftri^eft
Care
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? AGAINST CTE SIPHON. 325
Care how many Citizens had been befieged in Phyle, who had
bravely repulfed the Lacedemonians and the thirty Tyrants,
when they attacked that Fortrefs ; not how many had fled
from the Battle of Ch^ronea, upon the Approach of the Enemy,
To prove thefe AfTertions, the Decree fhall be read to you.
The Decree.
Now compare with this Decree, that which Ctefiphon pre-
ferred for crowning Demofthenes, this Author of all our great-
eft Misfortunes.
The Decree.
Bv this Decree the Honours given to thofe, who reftored you
to your Country are wholly defaced. If this be Matter of
Glory, that was full of Turpitude ; if they were juftly rewarded,
this Man is unworthy to be crowned.
But I am informed, Demofthenes will reply, that I deal
unjuftly with him, when I compare his Adions with thofe of
our Anceftors. He will objed:, that Philammon was not crown-
ed in the Olympic Games for vanquifliing Glaucus, the cele-
brated Champion of Antiquity, buthisownperfonal Antagonifts ;
as if we were ignorant, that the Conteft in thefe Games is in-
deed perfonal, but that when we afpire to the Crown of Virtue,
we contend with Virtue herfelf, for whofe fake we are crown-
ed : becaufe the Herald ftiould by no means utter a Falfehood,
when he makes a Proclamation in the Theatre before the gene-
ral
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? 326 ORATION OF ^SCHINES
ral Aflembly of Greece. Do not therefore, Demofthenes, re-
peatedly inform us how far your Adminiftration exceeded that
of Pataecion, but give us fome Inftance of your own manly
Virtue, and then demand thefe Favours from the People. But
that we may not wander too far from the Subjedt, the Secretary
fliall read you the Verfes infcribed to thofe, who reftored the
People to their Country.
Thefe honour'd Wreaths this ancient State beflows.
For when opprefs'd, enflav'd. She bow'd the Head j
Thefe Heroes in her facred Caufe arofe,
Her Chains were broken, and her Tyrants fled.
The Poet fays they were honoured for having deftroyed a Ty-
ranny, that violated the Laws of their Country. For the A-
larm univerfally refounded through the Republic, (33) that the
Conftitution had been ruined by them, who had abolifhed the
Profecutions for propofing new Laws in Contradiction to thofe
already enabled. (34)
My
(^3) "EvavXav, an elegant, and un- oF Expreffion fo remarkable, H^erehat
common Metaphor. Eft autem meta- <<nm etiam turn in auribus at que ammis
phora llimpta ab iis, quibus poft tibiaruni omnium.
Ibnum aures adhuc perfonant. Id eft, (34) TaV_ y^>><p>>? rm '? rx^xvof*uv,
tiotum eft: el inculcatum auribus, ut tibiarum -^>> A? iion laid againft the Perfon, who
/onus. Palmer. // rang in our Ear 3^ propofed a new Law in Oppofition to an
like the Sound of a 'Trumpet, (if indeed "^'^- This Expreffion recurs ib frequent-
axiXog fignifies a Trumpet) would per- ly>> that the Tranflator, apprehenfive it
haps be too bold for a Tranflation. Of "^'S^^ become difguftful to his Readers,
all our Trannators Lambinus alone feems ''^^^ fometimes changed it for any Vio-
to have paid any Attention to a Manner ^'^^^"^ "^ ^^^ ^^^""^ '" general.
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? AGAINST CTESIPHON. 327
My Father, who died at ninety-five Years of Age, and who
had born a confiderable Share in all the DiftrefTcs of the Com-
monwealth ; has often at his Hours of Leifure informed me,
that as foon as the People had refumed the Government, when-
ever an Adlion was brought before the Judges for propofing
new Laws, the Crime appeared equally atrocious, as if they
violated the Laws, already enadled. For what is there more
execrable, than the Man, who either fpeaks or afts in Violation
of the Laws of his Country ? Very different was the Manner
then, as he informed me, of hearing thefe Caufes, from what
is in Prad;ice at prefent. The Judges were far more fevere a-
gainft the Criminals, than even the Accufer himfelf. They
frequently called back the Clerk, and commanded him to read
again and again the Laws, and the Decree, that propofed any
Alteration in them. Nor were they alone condemned, who
thus contradicted any one whole Law, but they, who altered
even a fingle Syllable. But the Procefs in fuch Caufes now is
abfolutely ridiculous. The Clerk reads the Decree, preferred
againft the Laws, while the Judges, as if they heard fome idle
Ballad, or perhaps a Caufe, in which they were wholly uncon-
cerned, engage their Attention to whatever is moft foreign to
the Pleadings. Thus by the Artifices of Demofthenes you
have admitted this fhameful Cuftom into your Courts of Juflice,
and all your judicial Proceedings are totally perverted. The
Prolecutor in Fact becomes Defendant ; the Criminal turns
Profecutor, and the Judges not feldom forget the Caufe, upon
I which.
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? 328 ORATION OF . ESCHINES
which they are to pronounce Judgement. They are therefore
of Neceflity compelled to give Sentence upon Points, which
liave not appeared to them in the Trial, and of which they
confequently cannot ftridlly be Judges. ^If the Criminal con-
defcends to touch upon the Merits of the Caufe, he does not
defend himfelf by proving, that he has not propofed an illegal
Decree, but that others, who have preferred Decrees equally con-
trary to the Laws, have efcaped unpunifhed. Upon this Plea,
I am told, that Ctefiphon is highly confident and affured.
Aristophon had once in your Aflembly the Effrontery to
glory in his having been tried upon feventy-five Indidlments for
illegal Decrees. Not fb the ancient Cephalus, efteemed the
moll zealous Defender of republican Principles. He gloried in
the very oppofite Condudl, when he declared he had written
more Decrees, than ever any other Citizen, and yet had never
been accufed of contradidling any Law. A juft, in my Opini-
on, and a laudable Boaft. For not only they, who had taken
different Parties in the Adminiftration, impeached each other,
but Friends then giccufed Friends, if they were guilty of any
thing injurious to the Republic. You will be convinced by
the following Jnftance. Archinus impeached Thralybulus for
having, in Contradidtion to an exprefs Law, decreed a Crown
to one of thofe, who returned with him from Phyle. Thraly-
bulus was condemned, however recent his good Services, which
his Judges very lightly regarded j becaufe they imagined, that
as
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? AGAINST CTE SIPHON. 329
as he had brought home the People from Phyle, (o he now
intended, by tliis violent Infringement of the Laws, to drive
them again out of their Country.
Not fuchi^ ourprefent Conduit. Indeed the very contrary
Pradice prevails. Your ableft Generals, and even the Perfons,
who are maintained for their fuperior Virtue at the public Ex-
pence, folicit you to pardon thefe Criminals, when they are
pfofecuted. You may with Juftice charge them with Ingratitude.
For if he, who hath been honoured in a democratical Govern-
ment ; in this Republic, which owes its Being to the Prote6lion
of the Gods, and a due Obfervance of the Laws, dares to pa-
tronize the Violators of thofe Laws, he fubverts that Polity,
from which he received his Honours. What Kind of Defence
therefore may a wife and equitable Citizen be allowed to make
in Favour of the Criminal ? I will inform you. The Day ot
Trial for thefe Caufes is divided into three Parts. The Iirfl; is
given to the Profecutor, to the Laws and the Conititution : the
fecond to the Defendant and his Advocates. It the Criminal be
not acquitted by your firfl Sentence, the third Part is appointed
for his Puniiliment, and the jufl Severity of your Indignation.
Whoever therefore in the Part allotted for his Punifliment in-
treats your Favour, only deprecates the yuilice of your In-
dignation ; but He, who folicits your Suffrages to acquit
the Criminal, folicits you to violate your Oath, to violate the
Laws, to violate the Conftitution. He folicits a Favour, which
Vol. IL U u it
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? 330 ORATION OF ^SCHINES
it is impious to aflc, and impious to grant. Order them
therefore to fufFer you to pronounce Judgement according to
your Laws, and let them then apply for a Mitigation of the
Punifhment. j
As for my own Opinion, Athenians, I could almoft declare,
that in Caufes, at lead of this Kind, you fliould exprefsly for-
bid the Ule of Advocates and Pleaders both to the Profecutor
and Defendant. Becaufe, Juftice is not vague and undeter-
mined. It is bounded by the ' Limits of your Laws. As in
Mechanics, when we defire to know whether a Line be ftraight
or crooked, we bring the Rule, by which they are diftinguifh-
ed ; fo in Trials of this Kind the Rule of Juftice is always
ready for the Proof ; I mean the Table of our Laws, by which
we may difcern the Difagreement between the Decree, and the
Laws it contradidts. If you can demonftrate, Ctefiphon, any
Agreement between them in the prefent Inftance, you may de-
fcend from the Tribunal. Wherefore is it neceffary to invoke
the Afli fiance of Demofthenes ? Yet when you tranfgrefs the
Bounds of a legal Defence, and call this Worker of Iniquity, this
Artificer of Words, to your AfTiftance, you fteal away our At-
tention, you wound the Republic, you fubvert its Democracy.
What Method fliall we End to efcape this Influence of
Words ? " I will inform you. When Ctefiphon comes forward
on the Tribunal, and pompoufly pronounces the Speech De-
cc
2 '^mofthenes
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? AGAINST CTESIPHON. 331
mofthenes hath made ; when he tedioufly confumes your Time,
nor offers one reafonable Argument in his Defence, defire him,
without Noife or Tumult to take this Table of our Laws, and
compare it with his own Decree. If he pretends not to hear
you, determine not to hear Him ; for you do not come hither
to liften to them, who would avoid an equitable Trial, but to
them, who are willing to rely upon the Juftice of their De-
fence. But if he irregularly refufes to plead his own Caufe,
and calls Demofthenes to his Aid, be greatly cautious of admit-
ting this Author of Mifchief, who prefumes, he fliall be able
by the meer Power of Words to fubvert your Laws. When
Cteliphon therefore defires your Leave to call Demofthenes, let
not any Man account it Matter of Merit, to be the firft, who
fhall clamoroufly repeat " Call him ; call him. " For you
call him againft yourfelves ; you call him againft the Laws ;
you call him againft your Democracy.
If however you think proper to hear him, at leafl: require of
him to make his Defence in the fame Order I have obferved in
his Accufation. But indeed (that I may engage you to recol-
le6l) what Order have I obferved in accufing him ? I neither
entered, at firft, into his private Life, nor mentioned his pub-
lic Offences, although I might furely find abundant Proofs a-
gainft him, if I be not of all Mankind the fimpleft. ^Eut I
firft laid before you the Laws, which exprefsly forbid Ctefi-
phon to crown the Citizen, who hath not been legally difcharg-
U u 2 ed
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? 332 ORATION OF ^SCHINES
ed from his Office by paffing his Accounts. I then convltfted
him of having decreed a Crown to Demofthenes, who was yet
accountable for his Employment, and even without giving any
fpecious Praetext for his Decree, or inferring the ufual Form,,
*' if he have paiTed his Accounts," but a6Hng through the
whole Affair with an abfolute Contempt both of you, and the
Laws. , I mentioned the Objections he would probably make,
and which I think well deferve to be remembered. I then
/ran over your Proclamation-Laws, in which it is pofitively de-
clared, that the Perfon, whom the People have honoured with
a Crown, fhall not be proclaimed except in their own Allem-
blies. Yet Ctefiphon hath not only violated the Laws them-
felves, but every Circumftance of Time and Place with Regard
to the Proclamation, when he commands it to be made in the
Theatre, not in your Aflembly ; not when the People are
affembling, but when the Tragedians are entering upon the
Stage. I afterwards made fome few Remarks upon his private.
Character, and iniifted more largely upon his public Crimes.
You fbould therefore in Juflice oblige Demofthenes to make
his Defence in the fame Order ; firft, with Regard to the Law,
that obliges Magiflrates to pafs their Accounts of Office ; next,
the Law, that regulates our Proclamations ; and laftly, which
is the capital Article, let him diiprove his being unworthy of
any Reward. If he fhould intreat you to comply with his own
Arrangement of his Oration, and promife at the End of his
Apology
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? AGAINST CTESIPHON. 22>Z
Apology to clear himfelf from the Charge of violating the
Laws, do not comply. Be mod: aflured it is an Artifice to
impofe upon the Court. He never will attempt to vindicate
himfelf from this Charge, and having nothing valid or honefl: to
urge in his Defence, he will engage you, by introducing what-
ever is mod foreign to the Purpofe, to forget the real State of
this Profecution. As therefore in our gymnaftic Exercifes you
behold the Wredlers mutually drugling for Advantage of the
Ground, fo fhould you, as Wreftlcrs for your Country, contend
with him, even the whole Day, for this Advantage of Order.
Suffer him not to wander beyond the Bounds of the Article,
that charges him with the Violation of our Lawsj but fixed
and unmoveable in your Attention compel him, drive him into
the Proofs of his Defence, and heedfully guard all the Windings
of his Difcourfe, by which he intends to efcape. (35)
What Confequences will attend any other Manner of Proceed-
ing, I think myfelf in Juftice bound to foretell. Ctefiphon
will violently introduce this Impodor ; this public Spoiler; this
Deftroyer of our Polity ; who weeps more eafily, than others
laugh, and of all Mankind perjures himfelf with greateft Dex-
terity. Nor fhould I greatly wonder, if he fliould change his
ufual
(35) All the Terms of this Sentence, conjeftural Reading propofed by Doftor
\yKxB-/j^B)/oi, ivs^piuovTig, tiTeXxvvsTe, Markland, ittyiXauvers ng rig th Tr^ay-
eKT^OTTccg, ftrongly exprefs the Ideas of fjcxrog o^ovg, which, befides the Autho-
driving a wild Beaft into the Toils, al- rity of the Italian Trandator quoted by
though not yet underftood in that Senfe Dodor Taylor, is fupported by Du Vair,
by our Tranflators.
They likewife add Ne fermettez point qti'il forte hors de:
much Probability to a very ingenious termes de la trangrejjion d:s loix. .
8
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? ORATION OF iESCHINES
334
ufual Arts of Tears and Perjuries into Calumnies againft our
Audience, and affert, that the Patrons of Oligarchy ; its avow-
ed, acknowledged Patrons, appear in Favour of the Profecutor,
while they, who are zealous for a popular Government, fupport
the accufed. To thefe AlTertions, intended only to divide the
People into Parties and Fadions, return this Anfwer, " If the
" Perfons, who brought home our Citizens from Phyle, had
^' refembled you, Demofthenes, this democratical Form of
*' Government had never been eftablifhed. But they, amidil
<<' the moft dangerous Conjunctures, preferved the Republic by
*' proclaiming that noblefl Sentiment of Wifdom and Huma-
*' nity, A general Indemnity for all past Offences.
*' But you tear open the Wounds of your Country, and are more
*' anxious for the Succefs of thefe your daily Declamations,
" than for the Safety of the Commonwealth. "
But when this common Perjurer fhall fly for Refuge to that
Credit generally given to Oaths, defire him to recolledl, that He,
who often perjures himfelf, yet ftill demands to be believed upon
his Oath, fliould undoubtedly have (what undoubtedly Demoft-
henes hath not) either new Gods, or not the fame Audience.
With Regard to his Tears, and that pathetic Tone of Voice,
when he fhall afk you with repeated Vehemence, " Whither
" fhall I fly, Athenians, if you banifh me from this Republic ?
" There is not whither I may diredt my Flight;" objedt in
your Turn, " But the People of Athens ; whither fhall They
'' fly,
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? AGAINST CTESIPHON. 2S5
*' fly, Demofthenes ? To what military Strength of their Al-
" lies? To what Treafurcs ? What Defence have you pro-
" vided for them during your Adminiflration ? How very
" wifely you have confulted your own Safety, we all behold.
" For although you have left Athens, (36) you do not really
" live, as you pretend, in the Pyrseum, but have taken your
" Refidence in that Harbour, for your more eafy Efcape from
" the Vengeance of the Republic. Neither are we ignorant,
** what ample Provifion you have made for your Cowardice
" during your Voyage, in Perfian Gold, and the Treafures,.
" of which you have plundered your Country. "
But indeed why thefe Tears ? Wherefore this Clamour ?
Why this vehement Tone of Voice? Is not Ctefiphon the
Perfon indicHied ? Is not his Fine yet undetermined ? (3 7) Nei-
ther your Fortune, your Life, or Reputation are interefted in
the Trial. But really for what is he thus extremely felicitous ?
For Crowns of Gold, and Proclamations in the Theatre, in di-
red: Violation of our Laws. If the People either abfolutely
frantick, or totally forgetting the prefent unhappy Situation of
their
(^6) It feems Demofthenes had left let us endeavour to give the general Senfe
his ufual Dw'elling in the City, and gone of it, as underftnod by Heraldus, quoted
to live in the Pyrsum -- Front v. -hence by Doclor Taylor. Is net this Lid:Sl-
tberefcre thefe Tears, thefe pathetic Ex- ment one of thofe, in which the Penalty or
ctamaticns upon the Apprehenfion of being Fine is not determined by our Lazvs, and
bani/hed ? You have already left your confeqiiently not to he exaHed with Rigour ?
Country. Tou are ? preparing to fly from is it not finally to be decided by our Judges,
ber for ever. "jaith whom Inter efl and Compaffion may
{ly) Inflead of engaging in the Dif- prevail to moderate the Severity of their
putes of the Learned upon this Paffige, Sentence ?
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? 336 ORATION OF . ^ S C H I N E S
their Country, could at fucli an unfeafonable Time confent to
lionour him with this Grown, it were his Duty to come into the
Afiembly and declare, '' Men of Athens, I receivi, this Crov/n
" with Gratitude, but I cannot approve of the Time, in which
" it is proclaimed. For it were moft unfit, that the Calami-
"" ties, which the Commonwealth has lam. ented with every
" publick Mark of Sorrow and Defpair ; for thefe very Cala-
** mities I fliould be crowned. " Such, in my Judgement,
would be the Language of a Man, who was nurtured in Virtue ;
but your Anfwer, Demofthenes, will be fuch as a Wretch de-
voted, the very Outcaft of Mankind, would pronounce from
his Deteftation of even an Appearance of Virtue.
Nor, by Hercules, ought we to be alarmed, that this Man
of Magnanimity; this Hero, difiingui/lied in the Science of
War, when difappointed of an Honour, the peculiar Reward
of Valour, fliould return home, and put himfelf to a violent
Death. So ridiculous to Him appears your Ardour for Glory,
that a thoufand Times hath he himfelf covered over with
Wounds his own accurfed Head, (that Head, which is flill
cxpofcd to public Juftice for not having pafTed his Accounts ;
that Head, which Ctefiphon, in Contempt of our Laws, hath
decreed fliali be crowned) and afterwards recovered large Da-
mages, by Adions of Battery, for thofe very Wounds, which
he had moft providently given to Himfelf. Then he hath been
fo buffeted, that I verily believe the Traces of Midias his
Knuckles
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? AGAINST CTESIPHON. 337
Knuckles are ftill confpicuous in his Countenance. For this
Demofthenes hath not an Head upon his Shoulders, but an
Eftate of very ample Revenue. (38)
With Regard to Ctefiphon, the Author of this Decree, I
would willingly mention fome few Particulars. Many others I
fhall pafs over in Silence, that I may try an Experiment, whe-
ther you are able, without any previous Inftrudlion, to diftin-
guifli between thefe two egregious Villains. I fhall only tell
you, what with equal Juftice may be afferted of them both.
They walk about the Forum, conceiving fuch Sentiments of
each other, as are indifputably true, and uttering thofe Senti-
ments in fuch Language, as cannot pofTibly be falfe. Ctefi-
phon fays, he is not alarmed for himfelf (for he hopes he fhall
be thought an infignificant, fimple Fellow) but he acknow-
ledges, that he trembles for the Peculation of Demofthenes
during his Adminiftration, for his total Stupefadion of Spirit,
and his Cowardice in the Day of Battle. As for Demofthenes,
he declares, that when he confiders only his own Concernments
in this Trial, he is extremely confident of Succefs ; but confef^
fes himfelf ftrongly terrified for Ctefiphon's Villainies and Infa-
VoL. IJ. X X my.
(38) One of our Commentators, in a cleaves open Jupiter's Head with his Axe,
Letter to Doftor Taylor, calls this a cold, and fees Minerva ifluing forth, armed
infipid Jeft, and propofes to add Force cap-a-pie, he cries our, Tou have a Camp
and Spirit to it, by reading KetpccXexi'ov ^P"" y? "^' Shoulders, not an Head. But
inftead of -n^ocohv, which he calls a Lucian, it feems, was content with the
Gloflary-Reading, 0\ ;cs(p<<A/>, <<AX<< GloOary of tt. oVo^ov, or was not a. Cri-
^s(p<,Xolm. When Lucian's Vulcan ^'^ '" ^^'^ ^'" ^ ""'"'"'" ? ^' P""ni"g-
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? 338 ORATION OF ^SCHINES
my. You therefore, who are their common Judges, can cer-
tainly never acquit them of thofe Crimes, of which they have
mutually condemned each other.
I SHALL now briefly mention the perfonal Invedives, with
which they purpofe to abufe me. Demofthenes will affirm,,
that the Commonwealth has been fignally indebted to his Ser-
vices, and that I have injured her in a thoufand Inftances ; that
Philip and Alexander, and all the Calamities, they brought
upon the Republic, are to be imputed to me. But fo violent,
it feems, is this Operator of Words, as not to hold it fufficient
to accufe me of Errours, chat I might have pofiibly committed
in my public Miniftry, or in my Speeches, as an Orator, but
calumniates the privacy of my Life, fince I retired from Bufi-
nefs, and impeaches even my Silence. But that no Topic of
Calumny may be ncgle6led, he feverely cenfures the Time I
fpend in converfing with our Youth in their Academies. (39)
Even in the Beginning of his Harangue he reprefents this very
Profecution as criminal, which he pronounces was not under-
taken, out of Zeal for the Public, but to gratiate myfelf with
Alexander by difplaying my Hatred to Demofthenes. Nay, by
the Gods, as I am informed, hedefigns to queftion me, where-
fore I now impeach the whole of his Adminiftration, yet never
oppofed,
(39) Tourreil imagines, that Demoft- their Applaiife for his Eloquence, ^lam
henes ridiculed j^fchines for the Vanity pulchrum digito monftrari & d:cier, hie eft.
of fhcwing himfelf among the young Perhaps, fomething Icfs innocent is iii-
People ia their Exercifes, and foliciting tended.
2
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? AGAINST CTE SIPHON. 339
oppofed, never accufed him for any fingle Part ; wherefore,
after fo long an Interval, in which I very feldom appeared in
public Bufinefs, I now prefer this Accufation againft him.
But I am neither ambitious of imitating the Converfation of
Demofthenes, nor afliamed of my own. The Speeches I have
made in this Aflembly, I neither wifh unfpoken, nor would ac-
cept of Life upon the Terms of having pronounced his Decla-
mations. The Temperance of my Life, Demofthenes, hath
given and preferved to me, that Silence you calumniate. Con-
tented with my Httle Fortune, I do not fordidly wifli for more.
From thence I am either filent, or I fpeak, as I am influenced
by Judgement or Inclination ; not compelled by the profligate
Expence of luxurious Appetites. But you, I conceive, when
you have received your Price, are moft profoundly fllcnt : when
you have laviflied it away, grow clamorous again. On the con-
trary, you never ipeak, either when, or what you pleafe, but
when and what your Paymafters command. Nor are you a-
fhamed of boafting in your Vanity, what the next, immediate
Hour convidls of Falfehood. Even this Profecution, which you
afllire us was undertaken, not for the Sake of the Common-
wealth, but to ingratiate myfelf with Alexander, was begun
while Philip was yet alive; when Alexander was not yet feated
on the Throne ; before you had feen your Viflons of Paufanias,
or held your nodlurnal Dialogues with Juno and Minerva.
X x 2 How
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? 340 ORATION OF iESCHINES
How then could I have intended this Adulation to Alexander,
unlefs I had feen Vifions, like Demofthenes ?
But you reproach me, for not attending conftantly upon
our public Councils ; for coming only occafionally into our
Aflemblies, and imagine we are ignorant, that you have bor-
rowed this political Sentiment, not from a democratical, but
another Form of Government. For in Oligarchies the Privi-
lege of impeaching a State- Criminal is granted only to the Per-
fons, to whom the Adminifkration is intrufted ; but in a demo-
cratical Conftitution, every Citizen, who pleafes, and at what
Time he pleafes, hath a Right of preferring thefe Indidments.
In Anfwer to his other Objedlion ; to fpeak only upon particu-
lar Occafions is indifputably the Character of a Minifter, who
confiders the juft Importance and Utility of every Conjundure;
but never to let a fingle Day pafs over in Silence, is the certain
Mark of a Mercenary, who fets his Eloquence to Sale, and talks
for his Wages.
If you fly for Refuge to fuch Aflertions as thefe, that you
were never impeached by me before, nor have yet fuffered the
Punifliment due to your Crimes; you muft either imagine your
Audience extremely forgetful, or deceive yourfelf by your own
Sophiftry. For as it is indeed a confiderable Time fmce you
were publicly convided by Me for your impious Negotiations
with the Amphiflbans, and your Peculations in Euboea, you
may
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? AGAINST CTESIPHON. 341
may flatter yourfelf perhaps, that the People no longer remem-
ber them. But what Length of Time can ever hide in Oblivion
your Rapines in our Navy ? When you propofed a Law for
fitting out three hundred Gallies, and perfuadcd the Athenians
to make you chief Diredor of their Marine, I then convided
you of having robbed our Trierarchs of a Sum fufficient to have
equipped fixty-five light armed Gallies, and thus defrauded the
Republic of a greater Fleet, than that with which the Atheni-
ans won the fignal Vidory over the Lacedaemonians, and thcif
Admiral Pollis.
Yet fo ftrongly have you intrenched yourfelf in Calumnies
and Accufations againft the Punifhment you deferve, that there
is lefs Danger for the Criminal, who defends, than for them,
who make the Attack j while by perpetually bringing Alexan-
der and Philip into your Declamations, with abundant Invec-
tives againft them, and by accufing fome of our Citizens of
retarding the Operations of the Commonwealth in her moft
favourable Conjundures, you really loft every then prefent Oc-
cafion of adting, yet with many a vain-glorious Promife for the
future. Laftly, when I had refolved to bring you to a Trial,
did you not contrive to have Anaxinus, a Merchant then pur-
chafing Goods at Olympias, arrefted ? You ordered him to
be put to the Torture, having firft with your own Hand writ-
ten the Decree, that condenuied him to fuffer Death. Yet
with this very Man you lived at Oreumj you eat, you drank,
you
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? 342 ORATION OF . ESCHINES
you poured forth your Libations to the Gods at the fame Table;
you gave him your Hand, that facred Pledge of Friendfhip and
Hofpitality ; yet this very Man you murdered. When I had
convided you of thefe Crimes in Prefence of the whole Atheni-
an People ; when L called you the Murderer of your Hoft,
you denied not the impious Deed, but returned an Anfwer, at
which the People, and the Strangers, who ftood round the Af-
fembly, cried out with Horrour and Indignation. You declared,
you far preferred the facred Rights of Hofpl. ality in Athens, to
the Friendfhip of any foreign Table.
His forged Letters I pafs over in Silence ; his arrefting pre-
tended Spies ; his Inquifitions by Torture for Crimes, that
never were committed ; as if I had formed a Confpiracy to in-
troduce fome Innovations into our Conftitution. Yet he now
intends, as I am informed, to a/k me, what Character would
that Phyfician deferve, who during his Patient's Illnefs refufed
to prefcribe for him, yet after his Death fliould go to his Fu-
neral, and pompoudy difplay to his Relations the Prefcriptions,
which if he had carefully followed, he had recovered his Health?
But you never afk yourfelf, Demofthenes, what Kind of De-
magogue is He, whofe Power confifls in foothing the People
with his Adulation ; who could vilely bai;i:er away thofe criticg. 1
Conjundlures, which might have preferved his Country ; who by
his Calumnies hath deterred every prudent Citizen from giving
his Advice; who after having ignominioully fled from the
Danger
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? AGAINST CTESIPHON. 343
Danger of Battle, and expofed the Republic to Calamities mod
irremediable, now thinks himfelf worthy of being crowned for
his Virtues ; He, who never performed one meritorious A6lion;
He, the fole Caufe ot all our Misfortunes ? Then let him ve-
hemently demand ofthofe, whom by flanderous Accufations he
hath driven from the Adminiflration, at a Time when they might
have preferved the Commonwealth, let him demand, why they
did not oppofe him in thefe pernicious Schemes. They may
return this Anfwcr ; " immediately after the Battle we had not
*' Leifure for your PuniOiment, but were employed in difpatch-
" ing EmbalHes for the Safety of the Republic. " But when
unfatisfied with efcaping with impunity, you claim Rewards
and Honours, making Athens ridiculous in the Eyes of Greece,
I then ftood forth to oppofe ; I then preferred this Indidment.
But, by all the Deities of Olympus, I mofl impatiently rc-
fent his intending, as I am informed, to compare mc, in my
Genius for Eloquence, to the Syrens, by whom their Hearers
are not enchanted only, but deft royed. Thus, whatever Talents
I poffefs from Nature, or have improved by Pradice and Ex-
perience are ever fatal to my Audience. Such Language with
regard to me, I am well aflured, is moft unfit for any Man, to
utter (and furely it is infamous, that an Accufer fhould be un-
able to prove what he aflerts as a Fad) or if ever it were ne-
cefTary, yet it certainly ought not to be the Language of Demoft-
henes. It can be proper only for fome gallant General, who
having
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? 344 ORATION OF ^SCHINES
having performed many fignal Services for his Country, and
being little powerful in his Elocution, envies the Talents of
his Adverfaries. He is confcious of his own Inability to defcribe
with Advantage thofe Adions, he had worthily performed, while
he beholds his Accufer enabled by his Eloquence to convince
his Audience of the Reality of thofe A6lions, which in Truth
he never performed. But when a Man abfolutely compared
of Words ; the Words of Bitternefs, and chofen with exquifite
Curiofity ; that fuch a Man fhould pretend to rely upon an
artlefs Simplicity of fpeaking, ora meer Reprefentation of Fadls,
is it not moft intolerable? A Man, whofe Tongue is his only
Merit. Take that away, the Remainder of him is as worthlefs,
as a tonguelefs Pipe. (40)
I REALLY wonder, Athenians, and would gladly know, up-
on what Motives you will acquit Cteliphon of this Indidlment ?
Becaufe his Decree is agreeable to your Laws ? Nothing was
ever more illegal.