But indeed what is there moft unexpe6led, and mod incre-
dible, which hath not happened in our Age ?
dible, which hath not happened in our Age ?
Demosthenes - Orations - v2
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? 286 ORATION OF -ffi S C H I N E S
with his Impiety towards the Gods. There is a Plain, Athe-
nians, named Cirrhaeum, and a Port at prefent called the un-
hallowed and accurfed. The Cyrrh^ans and Graugallids for-
merly inhabited this Country ; a barbarous, lawlefs Generation,
who profaned the Temple of Apollo, plundered the confecrated
Ornaments devoted to the God, and violated the Amphictyons,
the Guardians of his Temple. Your Anceftors, as is reported,
with exceeding Indignation, and afterwards the other Amphicly-
ons, refenting thefe Outrages, folemnly confulted the God, what
Vengeance they fhould inflid upon this impious People. The
Pythian Prieftefs anfwered, that they fhould wage War againft
the Cyrrhseans and Graugallidae both Day and Night ; that
when they had ravaged the Country, and enilaved its Inhabi-
tants, they fliould confecrate the Land to Pythian Apollo, Di-
ana, Latona, and Minerva, the Provident, to lie wafte for ever,
and neither cultivate themfelves that Tra6l of Country, nor fuffer
others. Receiving this Oracle the Amphidyons decreed (Solon,
the Athenian, an able Legiflator, nor meanly converfant in
Poetry and Philofophy, having declared his Opinion) that an
Army fliould be raifed againft thefe unhallowed Wretches, in
Obedience to the Oracle. Levying therefore a fufficient Force,
they fold the People to Slavery, blocked up their Ports, rafcd
their City, and confecrated their Lands, as the God had com-
manded. Bcfides they fwore a folemn Oath, neither themfelves
to cultivate this devoted Ground, nor permit any other, but
to aflifh the God, and maintain his Rights in the facred Land,
by
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? AGAINST CTESIPHON. 287
by every pofliblc Effort, and by their united Forces. Nor
were they contented with having fworn this Oath, but added
Curfes to confirm it, and powerful Imprecations. For it is
written thus in the Imprecation. " Whoever violate thefe
*' Engagements, whether City, or private Perfon, or Nation,
*' let them be devoted to Apollo, Diana, Latona, and Minerva,
the Provident. " It imprecates belides, " May their Lands
neither produce Fruit, nor their Wives bear Children, like
" their Fathers, but Monfters; nor their Cattle bring forth their
** Young according to Nature. May they be ever conquered
" in War ; in every Court of Juftice ; in every popular Af-
fembly ; may they perifli even to utter Deftrudlion, them-
felves, their Families, their whole Generation ; may they
never offer an acceptable, holy Sacrifice either to Apollo, Di-
*' ana, Latona, nor Minerva, the Provident. May thefe Dei-
*' ties never accept their Offerings. " To juftify what I affert,
read the Oracle of the God. Hear this Imprecation, and re-
member the Oaths, your Anceftors, and the Amphidyons fo-
lemnly fware.
The Oracle.
To take this Fortrefs all Attempts are vain,
'Till Amphitrite to this hallow'd Fane,
Roll her wild Waves tumultuous o'er the Plain. (16)
The
(16) When the Amphiftyons befieged to the Completion of the Oracle, tocon-
Cirrha, they confulted Apollo upon their fecrate the Cirrhjean Lands, which lay
Siiccefs, and the God returned them this between Delphos and the Sea, to Apollo,
Aofwer, Solon advifed them, in view that the Sea might thus be nearer his
Tctn-
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? 288 ORATION OF iESCHINES
The Oath and Imprecation.
After this Imprecation, thefe Oaths, this Oracle, flill ex-
tant in our public Records, the AmphilTaean Locrians, or the
Perfons rather, who prefidcd in their Councils, Violators of all
Laws, again cultivated this Land : again fortified and inhabited
this unhallowed and accurfed Port ; exacted Cufloms from
whoever failed along their Coafts, and corrupted certain of the
Deputies, who were going to the general Affemblj at Delphos,
one of whom was Demofthenes. He had been appointed by
your Decrees your Deputy at the Council, and received a thou-
fand Drachmas from the Amphiflkans, not to mention them to
the Amphidyons. It was ftipulated befides, that twenty Minae
fhould be fent him hither yearly for ever out of the nefarious
and execrable Cuftoms of their Port, for which, by every poffible
Method, he fliould proted them in Athens. From this im-
pious Corruption it hath appeared, even more remarkably than
formerly, that whenever he hath engaged in the Intereft of
either private Citizen, or Magiftrate, or Republic, he hath in-
volved them in Misfortunes incurable.
Now behold how Fate and Fortune avenged the Sacrilege
of the Amphiffaeans. When Theophraftus was Archon, and
Diognetus
Temple; IW S-ij tJ Tsy-ivu tS 'A- ? j. ^f ^J ^aXacrtra, nntill the Sea wafhed the
woXXuvoi; yBvrjTai yuruv ri QaXxa-dx. Lands, confccratcd to the God, Who-
Pausanias. The Oracle, according to ever would reconcile thefe Differences
Polysnus, declared, that Cirrha fliould fhould conluk Meurfius, upon the Paffa-e
never be taken, ewj oiv 4'<<i;Vtj r^f U^oiq ir^ Polysnus.
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? A G A I N S 1' C T E S I P H O N. 2S9
Diognetus eleded to fuperintend all Affairs of Religion, (17) you
appointed Midias (who, for many Rcafons, I vvifh were ftill alive)
Thrafycles, and me, your Deputies to the Amphidyonic Council.
It happened, a little Time after our Arrival at Dclphos, that
Diognetus fell fick of a Fever, and that Midias v^^as feized with
the fame Diftemper. The other Amphi6lyons however affem-
bled, when we were informed, by Perfons willing to fhew their
Affedion for this Republic, that the Amphiffa^ans, fallen at
that Time under the Power of the Thebans, and held in Vaf-
falage by them, intended to propofe a Decree againft our Com-
monwealth, and to fine the People of Athens fifty Talents, for
dedicating fome golden Shields in a new Temple, before we
had performed the ufual Ceremonies of Confecration, and en-
graving upon them this very proper Infcription. Taken by the
Athenians from the Medes and Thebans, when they
FOUGHT AGAINST THE Greeks. Our Hieroiiinemon fent for
me, and defired me to go into the Aflembly, and plead before
the Amphidyons the Caufe of the Republic, which I had al-
ready determined. But beginning to fpeak, and having entered
the Affembly with a warmer Spirit, increafed even by the Abfence
VOL. JI. P p of
(17) Each of the Amphiflyonic Cities at the Head of all public Ads. As the
fent two Deputies, called Pylagon-E, to prefent Affair was of a religious Nature,
the general Council at Delphos, to whom it was properly the Province of the Hie-
they committed the Care of their civil romnemon to fpeak to it ; but he and
and political Interefts. A third was the other Pylagoras, Thrafycles, being
elefted to fuperintend the Affairs of Re- fick, j^ifchines was defired to defend
ligion. This Minifter, who was called the Caufe of Athens on this Occafion.
Hieromnemon, convoked their Affcm- Tourreil. Portai,.
. blies, prefided in them, and put his Name
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? ((
((
290 ORATION OF ^SCHINES
of my Colleagues, an Amphiffaean clamoiiroiifly interrupted me
(a Man moft fhamelefsly impudent, and as appeared to me,
deftitute of all Principles of Humanity, or perhaps impelled by
feme Daemon to commit fuch Extravagance) " It fhould be
*' your principal Concern, O Men of Greece, if you have Wif-
dom, not to let the very Name of the Athenians be pronounced
* during the Days of this Solemnity, but to drive them, as
Wretches impious and profane, out of the Temple. " He then
mentioned our Alliance with the Phocaeahs, which Crobylus
concluded, befides many other Refled:ions moft injurious to
the Republic, which I could then ill endure to hear, nor can now
recolledl without Indignation. Having however heard him,
never in my whole Life was I fo provoked. I fhall pafs over
whatever elfe I faid in my Reply, but it came into my Thoughts
to mention the Sacrilege of the Amphiflaeans committed upon
the confecrated Lands, which from the very Place where I then
ftood, I fhewed to the Amphidyons (for the Cyrrhasan Plain
lies under the Temple, and may be feen from thence at one
View. ) " You behold, Amphidyons, this Plain cultivated by
the AmphifTaeans ; you lee the Potters' Kilns, and Villages
built upon it: you behold with your own Eyes this unhal-
lowed and accurfed Territory fortified : you yourfelves are
" confcious, nor want any other Witneftes, that they have ex-
*' aded Cuftoms, and raifed confiderable Revenues from this
" defccrated Harbour. " At the fame Time, I defired them
to read the Oracle of Apollo, the Oath of their Anceftors, and
the
((
{(
i(
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? AGAINST CTE SIPHON. 291
the Imprecation, with which they confirmed it. I then nofll-
tively protcfted for the whole People of Athens ; for my own
Perfon, and Children and Family, that according to the Te-
nour of the Oath taken by our Anceflors, I would affifl: the
God, maintain his Rights to the ficred Ground, with Hand
and Voice, and every Power I poffelled, and deliver my Re-
public from this religious Obligation to the Deity. " It is yours
to deliberate upon your proper Safety. The Bafkets, in
which are contained the myfterious Rites of our Religon,
'' are already raifed to be carried in Procellion ; the Vidims
" already ftand before the Altar. You are now going to im-
" plore the Gods for every Bleffing, public and private. Con-
<' fider with what Voice, what Spirit, what Look, what
*' Confidence, fhall you make your Supplications, if you fuifer
" thefe Wretches, accurfed, and devoted to the divine Ven-
" geance, to efcape with Impunity. For not in -Enigmas, but
" in the cleareft Expreffion, is it written in the Imprecation
<* with regard to thefe facrilegious, what Punifhment they fhall
" themfelves inevitably fuffer, and what are ordained for them,
" who permit fuch Impiety. May they never perform a plea-
** fing and holy Sacrifice to Apollo, Latona, nor Minerva, the
" Provident, who do not avenge their Divinities. May thefe
" Deities never accept their Offerings. "
Having repeated thefe, and many other Arguments to the
fame Purpofe, I retired from the AffembJy, when much Cla-
P p 2 mour
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? 292 ORATION OF ^SCHINES
moiir and Tumult arofe among the Amphi6lyons, who no lon-
ger debated upon the Shields, we had confecrated, but on the
Puniiliment to be inflided on the Amphiflaeans. When great
Part of the Day was already elapfed, the Herald came forth,
and proclaimed, tliat every Delphian, both Slave and Freeman,
who had attained the Age of twenty Years, (i8) fhould alTem-
ble at firft Appearance of Day with Mattocks and Spades at a
Place called by the Inhabitants the Place of Sacrifice. Again
the Herald proclaimed, that the facred Regifters and the De-
puties fhould affemble at the fame Place to vindicate the God,
and affert the confecrated Glebe ; and that whatever City did
not appear by its Deputies, fhould be driven from the Temple,
and deemed aceurfed and devoted to divine Vengeance.
Early next Morning we went to the Place appointed ; def-
cended to the Cyrrha^an Plain, and, having rafed the Harbour,
and burned the Houfes, we retired. But while we were thus
employed, the Amphiffasan Locrians, who lived about feven
Miles from Delphos, all in Arms, ruflied out upon us, and had
we not by a precipitate Flight, though with utmoft Difficulty,
efcapcd into Delphos, we had been in extreme Danger of being
deftroyed.
(18) In the Original, fuco Tears he- among Men, at wliich Age they are
ycnd their Puberty. The Youth of A- here called forth to vindicate the Ho-
tliens, and probably, from this Pafiage, nour, and recover the Pofleffions of
thofe of Delphos, were not admitted iato Apollo. "Whoever would fee this Sub-
the Clafs of Epheboi or puberes, iiniill jeft treated with great Erudition and
they had coiDpleated their eighteenth Ferfpicuity, fhould confult Corfini dc
Year. Here tht-y continued 'till the f;\ftis Atticis. Dissertatio XL
Age of twenty, when they were enrolled
4
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? AGAINST CTESIPHON. 293
deflroyed. The Day following Cottyphus, M'ho had propofcd
the Refolutions to the Affembly, ordered a general Council lo
be convened. . They call it a general Council, when they fum-
mon not only the Deputies and facred Regiftcrs, but whoever
facrihced together to the God, and confulted his Oracle. Here
many Accufations were laid againft the Amphifllcans, and much
Applaufe was given to your Republic. As the Refult of the
whole Debate, they decreed, that the facred Regifters, fome
Time before their ufual Seafon of meeting at TherrnopylK, fhould
afiemble there upon a ftated Day, and carry with them a
Decree, by which the Amphifikans fhould fuffer the Vengeance
they merited for their Impiety towards the God, their Viola-
tion of the confecrated Glebe, and their Offences againft the
Amphidyons. For the Truth of thefe Aflertions, let the Se-
cretary read the Decree.
The Decree.
When this Decree was reported by us to the Senate, and
afterwards in their Affembly to the People; they approved of
our Conduct, and the whole Republic determined to maintain
with Zeal the Caufe of Religion. Demoflhenes, influenced by
his Compadl with Amphiffa, publicly oppofed your Refolutions,
and I as publicly convided him of Corruption. When he
found it impoffible openly to deceive the Commonwealth, he
went into the Scnate-Houfe, and impofing upon the Simplicity of
fome particular Senators, he carries a Decree into an Affembly
of
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? 294 ORATION OF ^SCHINES
of the People, by taking Advantage of the Inexperience of the
Perfon, who preferred it. He then effedlually managed to get
it confirmed by the Suffrage and Command of the People, when
the AiTembly was abfolutely rifen ; when I had retired (for never
would I have fuffered fnch a Fraud) and when great Numbers
were departed. (19) This was the capital Article of it, that
the facred Regifter of the Athenians, and their future Deputies
for ever fhouid attend the general Council at Thermopyla3 and
Delphos on the Times appointed by our Anceftors. A Claufc,
in Expreffion exceeding fpecious, but in Fadl of moft difinge-
nuous Turpitude ; fince it forbad that Council to meet at Ther-
mopylae, which out of meer NecefTity was appointed to be held
before the ftated Time. Again, in the very fame Decree does
he infert another Claufe more open to Difcovery, but more
malicioufly mifchievous ; that the facred Regifter of the Athe-
nians, and their Deputies for ever fhouid hold no Communion
with thofe of the late Council, neither of Words, nor Deeds ;
neither of Decrees, nor of any Meafures whatever. This Ex-
preffion, " to hold no Communion," what can it mean ? Whe-
ther ffiall I therefore fpeak Truth, or rather what may be moft
pleafurable to hear ? I will fpeak Truth ; for Speeches perpe-
tually formed to Pleafure have abfolutely reduced the Common-
wealth to her prefent Situation, nor do they fuffer us to remem-
ber
(19) To the Authorities produced by Vair, i^ heaucoup s" en ejlans retournez a
Dodor Taylor for the Conftrudlion of leiirs maifons ; and that of Lambinus,
this PalTage, let us add that of Du muUitudine denique ^dimijfa.
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? AGAINST CTESIPHON. ? ^95
bee the Oaths, your Anceftors fwore, nor the Imprecation,
nor tlie Oracle of the God. *
We therefore, Athenians, continued here in Obedience to
your Decree, while the other Amphidlyons aflembled at Ther-
mopyls, excepting thofe of one Republic only, whole Name
I would not wiUingly mention, and may Calamities like to hers,
never happen to any other State of Greece. As foon as they af-
fembled, they decreed to raife an Army againft the Amphifikans,
and chofe Cottyphus, the Pharfalian, their General, who was at
that time Prefident of the Council, while Philip was neither in
Macedonia, nor even Grece, but in Scythia, even in the re-
moteft Part of it. Demofthenes however will immediately with
fpecial Confidence affert, that I encouraged him to invade
Greece. Succeeding in their firft Expedition, the Amphidyons
treated the Amphiffasans with fmgular Moderation, fince for all
their flagrant Adls of Impiety they only fined them in a certain
Sum of Money, and even that Sum they did not exadl imme-
diately, but mentioned a dated Time, when it fliould be pay-
able to the God. The Perfons indeed, guilty of the Sacrilege,
and Authors of the Diforders in Confequenceof them, they ba-
niflied ; and thofe, who from a principle of Religion had a-
bandoned their Country, they 'reftored. Afterwards however
when the Amphiffsans paid not to the God their appointed
Fines ; v/hen they recalled from Exile the Wretches devoted
for Sacrilege, and drove into Banifliment the Perfons, who for
their
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? 296 ORATION OF ^SCHINES
their Piety had been reftored, the Amphidlyons formed an-
other Army againft them, a confiderable Time before Pliih'p
returned from his Expedition againft the Scythians, when in
Truth the Gods themfelves offered us the Command of this re-
ligious War, which the Corruption of Demofthenes hindered
us from accepting.
Did they not foretell ? Did not the very Gods by Signs
and Wonders command us to be cautious, only not fpeaking
to us with human Voices ? Never did I behold a State more
fignally preferved by the Gods, or more effedually deftroyed
by certain of its Orators. Was not the Prodigy, that mani-
fefted itfelf amidft the Celebration of our Myfteries in the fud-
den Death of the initiated, fufficient to bid us be cautious ?
Did not Amyniades advife you to a(ft with a religious Cau-
tion, (20) and to fend Perfons to Delphos to confult the God,
in what Manner you fhould proceed ? Did not Demofthenes
oppofe this Advice, declaring the Pythian Prieftefs philippized ;
this ignorant, untaught Demofthenes, exulting even to wanton-
nefs, and inflated with the Power, with which you intrufted
him ? Laftly, when the Sacrifices were unhappily performed
andunpropitious, did he not fend forth our Soldiers to moft ap-
parent Danger, although he before dared to declare, that for
this very Reafon Philip did not invade the Territories of Athens,
becaufe the Entrails of the Vidims did not promife him Succefs ?
What
(20) 'EvKx^iiG-Bai trandated by Budsus, religione teneri.
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? AGAINST CTESIPHON. 297
What Vengeance therefore doft: thou not dcferve, thou Pcft and
ID '
Execration of Greece? If the Conqueror would not make an
Irruption into the Dominions of the conquered, becaufe the
Vidims gave not the happy Omens ol Succefs, fhallyou, unfore-
fjeing in Futurity, who, before infpe6ling whether the Sacri-
fices were acceptable to the Gods, fent forth our Soldiers to the
Slaughter, fhall you be crowned tor the Calamities of the
Republic, or expelled her utmofl; Borders ?
But indeed what is there moft unexpe6led, and mod incre-
dible, which hath not happened in our Age ? We have not
lived the common Life of human Creatures, but were born a
very Paradox in Reafbn to lateft Pofterity. Does not the Per-
fian Monarch, who once opened a Paflage through Mount A-
thos, threw a Bridge over the Hellefpont, demanded Earth and
Water of the Grecians in Acknowledgement of his fovereign
Power over Land and Sea ; who infolently dared to ftyle himfelf
in his Letters, defpotic Mafter of all human Race from the ri-
fing to the fetting Sun; does he not now contend, not to be
Lord of others, but for his own proper Safety ? Do we not
behold the Perfons, who vindicated the Freedom of the Delphic
Temple, now honoured with the very Glories he once pofleffed,
and the fupreme Command of the War againfl: him ? Thebes,
a City upon the Confines of Attica, unhappy Thebes ! was it
not in one Day violently torn out of the midft of Greece ? Al-
though, perhaps, they merited this Chaftifement for not wifely
Vol. IL Q^q and
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? 298 ORATION OF ^SCHINES
and honourably confulting the general Interefts of Greece, yet
they were certainly pofleffed with a Stupidity Tent from God ; an
Infatuation, not of human Weaknefs, but divine Infpiration.
The miferable Lacedsemonians, who had only been lightly con-
cerned at iirft in the Violation of the Temple; who formerly
thought themfelves worthy of being Sovereigns of Greece ; are
they not now fending Hoftages to Alexander to lay before him
a Reprefentation of their Miferies, and obediently fubmit them-
ielves and their Country to whatever he pleafes to command ?
Shall they not be adjudged according to the Mercy of a Con-
queror, whom they have provoked and infulted ? Even our
own Republic, once the common Afylum of the Grecians, that
Republic, to whom Embaflies formerly were fent from all the
States of Greece to folicit her Proted:ion, no longer now contends
for the Sovereignty of Greece, but for her native Soil. All
thefe Calamities have befallen us fince the Time Demofthenes
entered into the Adminiflration ; for Heliod pronounces with
Wifdom upon Men of fuch Principles, when intruding the
People, and directing the Councils of all Republics, he fome-
where advifcs them never to receive thefe impious Demagogues
into their Government. I will repeat his Verfes, for with this
Intention, I imagine, v/hen we are Children we learn by Heart
the Sentences of Poets, that when we are Men we may employ
them in the general Occurrences of Life.
for one Man's Crimes, on many a deftin'd State,
For one Man's Guilt, defcends the wrath of Fate ;
Jove
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? AGAINST C T E S I P H O N. 299
Jove bids the wafting Pcftilence arifc.
Pale Famine rages, and the People dies;
He breaks the Ranks of War, o'erwhelms their Towers,
And the wild Ocean o'er their Navy pours.
If you take away the poetical Meafures of thefe Lines, and ex-
amine attentively their Meaning, I believe they will appear, not
the Verfes of Hefiod, but an oracular Prophecy of Demofthenes
his Adminiftration. For Fleets and Armies and Cities have,
been totally deftroyed by his Adminiftration. ,
I verily think, neither Phrynondas, nor Eurybatus, nor any
other among the moft diftinguiftied Villains of former Ages,
was ever fuch an Impoftor, fuch an errant Jugler in Politics,
as this Demofthenes, (O Earth, and Gods, and Daemons and
Men, whoever are willing to hear Truth) who confidently
looks you in the Face, and dares affirm, that the Thebans en-
tered into an Alliance with you ; neither impelled by the Ne-
ceflity of Conjunctures, nor by the Terrours, that furrounded
them, nor by your Glory, but by the Eloquence of Demofthe-
nes.
Yet many AmbaftTadors have been formerly lent to the The-
bans, and whom they have held in much Efteem and Affection ;
your General Thrafybulus, in whom, of all others, they placed
the higheft Confidence ; Thrafo, whom they received with all
Q^q 2 the
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? 30O ORATION OF ^SCHINES
the Rights of public Hofpitality ; Leodamas, not a lefs power-
ful, and in my Judgement, a fweeter Orator, than Demofthe-
nes ; Archidemus, an able Speaker, and who had expofed him-
felf to very many Dangers in the Courfe of his Adminiftration
by his Zeal for the Thebans ; your favourite Demagogue,
Ariftophon, fo long accufed of being almoft a Boeotian, and the
Orator Pyrander, who is ftill alive. Yet none of them were
ever able to influence that People, and incline them to enter
into your AlHance. The Caufe of their Refufal, I very well
know, but fhall not mention it, out of the Refpe6t I bear to
their Misfortunes. Yet I imagine, when Philip had taken
away Nicasa from them, and ceded it to the Theffalians; when
he had again brought back that very War, which he had him-
fclf originally removed beyond the Frontiers of Bceotia, even
to the Walls of Thebes ; laflly, when he had feized, and for-
tified, and put a Garrifon into Elatasa ; then the Terrours of
their own immediate Danger alarmed them, and they implored
the Succour of Athens. You inftantly took the Field, and
marched in Arms, both Cavalry and Infantry, into Thebes, be-
fore Demoflhenes had written a fingle Syllable upon the Alli-
ance. Thus the Conjundlure itfelf, and its Terrours, and the
Neceflity of your Afliftance, not Demofthenes, or his Eloquence,
introduced you into Thebes. (For in the Tranfadionof this Affair
he committed, with Regard to your Interefts, three very capital
Errours. Fii ft, when Philip carried on only a nominal War againfl:
^? s, and in Reality was animated with a much more violent Refent-
ment
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? AGAINST CTESIPHON. 301
a-nentagainfttheThebans, as the Event hath fincemanifeftly proved
(and is it poflibleto give a ftronger Proof? ) yet this fecret Incli-
' nation of Philip, great and important as it was, Demofthenes
concealed ; and pretending that the Thebans concluded this Al-
liance, not compelled by the Neceflity of their Affairs, but in-
fluenced by his Embaily, he perfuaded the People not to de-
liberate upon the Conditions, but to efteem themfelves extremely
happy, if it could be concluded upon any Conditions. Plaving
gained this Point, he made a voluntary Surrender of all Boeotia
to the Thebans by a Decree, wherein he declared, " that if
" any City revolted from the Thebans, the Athenians would
** allift thofe Boeotians alone, who refided in Thebes. " Thus
did he Ileal away by Words the Reality of Things, and change,
according to his well-wonted Cuftom, their Situation : as if the
Boeotians, in Fad: thus cruelly treated, fhould rather think
themfelves happy in a Compofition of fine Words formed by De-
mofthenes, than exprefs their Refentment for the Injuries they
fuffered.
"^He then impofed two Thirds of the Expence of the War upon
you, from whom theDangerwas certainly more remote, and only
one Third upon the Thebans j, in both Inftances moft fordidly
corrupted. The Command at Sea, it is confeffed, he divided
between you, but appropriated to you alone the Expence. The
Command at Land (not to amufe you with Trifles) he wholly
transferred to the Thebans j fb that during the Courfe of the
? . War,,
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? 302 ORATION OF iESCHINES
War, your General Stratocles never had Authority enough even
to provide for the Safety of your Troops. Nor do I alone ac-
cufe him of thefe Crimes, while others pafs them over unre-
garded. I proclaim them indeed, but all Mankind cenfure them
feverely : you yourfelves are confcious of them, and yet not
angry. Such is the Spirit, with which you are affedted towards
this Demoflhenes ; fo well accuftomed are you to hear his Vil-
lainies, as to hear them without Aftonifhment. You fhould
not, however, be thus infeniible. You fhould fhew your In-
dignation. You fhould punifh and revenge, if you propofe to
enjoy with Honour, what yet remains of the Republic.
A SECOND Crime he committed, and even more atrocious
than the firft, when he totally robbed the Senate of its Autho-
rity, and the People of their democratical Prerogatives ; and
by a fecret Compact with the Governors of Boeotia, transferred
the Decifion of all Affairs between the Thebans and us to a
Tribunal eftablifhed in the Citadel of Thebes. He then affu-
med a Power fo abfolute, fo tyrannical, as to declare in this
Affembly, that he would go wherever he pleafed Ambaflador of
Athens, even without your Approbation or Confent ; and that
if any of your Generals prefumed to oppofe him, he threatened,
as he had enflaved your civil Magiftrates, and accuftomed them
not to contradid him, fo he would enter a Procefs in the Courts,
upon an Adlion of Merit, (21) in Favour of the oratorial, a-
gainft
(,21) AMK<x<rix. A Law-Term fignifying a Caufe, wherein two or more
3 Perfons
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? AGAINST C T E S I P H O N. 303
gainft the military, Art ; for he boafted, that he himfclf had
rendered you many more valuable Services on that Tribunal,
than you had ever received from your Generals and their Coun-
cils of War.
Being appointed Paymafter of our mercenary Troops he a-
mafled an immenfe Sum by falfe Mufters, by robbing the mi-
litary Cheft, and letting out ten thou fa nd of thofe Troops to
the Amphiflaeans. Even while I called Heaven and Earth to
witnefs againft him, and exclaimed in Bitternefs of Anguifli in
your Aflemblies, he left the Republic defencelefs and expofed
to every Danger, by fuddenly and furreptitioufly ordering them
away. For what, do you imagine, did Philip put up his Vows
to Heaven with greateft Ardour at that Conjundlure ? Was it
not, that he might engage feparately with your national Soldiery,
and feparately with your foreign Troops at Amphiflli, and then
invade the other States of Greece, difpirited and intimidated by fo.
fevere a Blow ? Yet Demofthenes, the Author of all thefe Cala-
mities, is not content with Impunity, but refents his not being
rewarded even with a golden Crown. He deems it not fufflcient.
to be proclaimed in your Prefence, but is grievoufly offended,,
if the Proclamation be not made before all the Grecians. Thus,,
as it often appears, a depraved Nature, when poffeffed of top
much Power, works out the Deftrudlion of a free People.
I SHALL
Perfons contefled, uterutri Jitin munere-y Tranflator ? , diceva voter formar una lite
locove, aut re capeffenda prseferendus, tra I'arte oratoria, e la militare.
Doctor Taylor. Our excellent Italian
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? 304 ORATION OF iESCHINES
I SHALL now proceed to his third Crime, yet more enor-
mous, than any I have mentioned. When Philip by no
Means defpifed the Greeks ; when he was confcious, (for he
did not want Penetration) that he might be obliged to contend,
upon the Hazard of fome few Moments, for all his Conquefts
and PoflefTions ; when for thefe Reafons, he was defirous of
concluding a Peace, and determined to fend an Embafly hither ;
when the Magiftrates of Thebes dreaded their approaching
Danger, and juftly dreaded (for it was not an Orator, who never
made a Campaign, and who deferted from his Rank in the"
Day of Battle, that imprefTed thofe Apprehenfions upon their
Minds, but the Phocasan ten -Year's War taught them an ever-
memorable LefTon of Inftrudion) when Affairs were in this Si-
tuation ; when Demofthenes perceived and fufpedled, that the
Boeotian Governors would make a feparate Peace, and receive
Philip's Gold without him ; efteeming it a Life not worth living,
if he were excluded from any Kind of Corruption, he ftarted
forward in the Affembly, while no Mortal mentioned either our
making, or not making a Peace with Philip, and imagining he
iliould denounce, as with an Herald's Voice, to the Governors
of Boeotia, that they fhould bring him his Proportion of Cor-
ruption, he fwore by the Goddefs Minerva (that Goddefs,
whom, it {eems, Phidias carved for the Profit and Perjuries of
Demofthenes) that if any one mentioned the NecefHty of our
concluding a Peace with Philip, he would that Moment feize
him by the Hair, and drag him to Prifon ; thus imitating the
Admi-
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? AGAINST CTESIPHON. 305
Adminiftration of Cleophon, who in the Laccdcemoniau War
ruined the RepubHc. (22)
When the Theban Magistrates paid but little Attention to
his Menaces, and, that you might turn all your Counfels to
Peace, even countermanded your Troops, already on their
March, he became abfolutely frantick, and mounting the Tri-
bunal called the Magiftrates of Boeotia, Betrayers of Greece,
and declared, he would prefer a ^Decree (he, who never had
Courage to look an Enemy in the Face) for fending an Em-
bafly to Thebes, to demand a Paflage through their Territories
for your Troops in their March againfl: Philip. Covered with
Confufion, and apprehenfive of being really deemed the Be-
(22) Wolfius acknowledges he does
not remember to have read the Name of
Cleophon in any other Author. Tour-
reil afllires us, he has not been able to
find the leaft Trace in Hiftory, the
flighteft Veftige of this pretended Cleo-
phon. He therefore reads Cleon in his
Text, with this French Addition, d'odi-
? ufe memoire. Even Dodlor Taylor fends
his Reader to the laft Oration of iEf-
chines, Page 1S7 of this Tranflation,
as if this pernicious Demagogue were
mentioned in no other Place, "^et Di-
odorus Siculus gives us the Speech he
made againil the Terms of Peace pro-
pofed by the Lacedaemonian AmbafTador.
KXeotpwv, ^zyig-oq u>v tots Syjf^oiyuyog
? |W5T? W^;J-< TOV S^UOV, &C. This
Speech, enflaming and full of Adulation,
Vol. II.
fo totally ruined the Republic, that flie
never was able to recover her former
Greatnefs ; isru^ eTTTxirav rol'; 'okoig,
cog's f^yiKiTi ouv>>(rBoci ttuttotb duTug ynvi-
(Tiug ctvuXaiQsi'v. DiODORUS. Wes-
SELiNG. Lib. 13. Pag. 583.
The Scholiafl: on the Oreftes of Eu-
ripides, Lin. 770 and 900, where the
Poet defcribes a talking, impudent De-
magogue, 'Ai*:^^ Tig xdv^oyXcixra-og, Icr-
Xvuv S^BctTSi, tells us, the Charadlerwas
intended for Cleophon, and that the Cri-
tics, who have applied it to Cleon, arc
miftaken. Ariftophanes alfo mentions
this furious Demagogue, KXeo^uu Ss y-tx,- .
%e(r3w, Ba! Tf<<%o<. Lin. 1580, and the
learned Reader may find in his Scholiafl:
the Circumftances of this Story, though
fomewhat differently told.
R r trayers
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? 3o6 ORATION OF iESCHINES
trayers of Greece, the Boeotians abandoned all Thoughts of
Peace, and precipitately hurried into Preparations for War.
(/Here it may be worthy of your Patience to commemorate
the Fate of thofe brave Men, whom this Demofthenes, in
Contempt of all the holy Rites of Sacrifice, and when
the Vidims gave inaufpicious Omens of Succefs, fent into
apparent Danger, yet dared, with thofe fame Coward Feet,
that ran away from their Poft in the Day of Battle, to ftand
upon the Sepulchre of the Slain, and pronounce a funeral En-
comium on their Valour. O Thou, to great and generous
Actions, of all Mankind moft worthlefs, yet in Words thou
moft aftonifhingly daring, haft thou the Confidence to allert,
in Prefence of this auguft Aflembly, that thou deferveft to be
crowned for the Calamities of thy Country ? Or if he fhould
confidently make the Demand, will you endure it ? And
fhall your Remembrance of their Services, for fo it will appear,
die with the Dead ?
Indulge me yet another Moment with your Attention, and
imagine yourfelves no longer in a Court of Juftice, but in the
Theatre. Imagine you behold the Herald coming forward to-
pronounce the Proclamation for the Crown you have decreed.
Then compute whether the Relations of the Slain will fhed
more Tears over the Tragedies and heroic Misfortunes after-
wards to be reprefented on the Scene, than over this Ingratitude
of
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? AGAINST CTESIPHON. 307
of the Republic ? For not only what Grecian, but even what
human Creature, if ever nurtured to more ingenuous Senti-
ments, would not with Anguifh lament, when he recolleded
in the Theatre this Circumftance alone (though every other
were forgotten) that on a Day like this, and when the Trage-
dians, as at this Moment, were almoft entering on the Stage ;
when the Commonwealth was governed by better Counfels,
and by abler Magiftrates j the Herald advanced, and prefenting
to the Aflembly the Orphans, whofe Fathers had fallen in War,
young Men, richly clothed in complete Armour, pronounced
this nobleft Proclamation, and higheft Incentive to Valour.
" Thefe Orphans, whofe Fathers died gallantly in Defence of
" their Country, the People of Athens have educated to this
*' Age, and having now armed them with a complete fuit of
" Armour, they difmifs them, with all good Wiflies of Suc-
" cefs, to purfue their own Fortunes, and invite them to
" contend for the firft Honours of the Republic. "
Thus did the Herald at that Time addrefs the People, but
very different this prefent Proclamation. For having prefented
to them the Perfon, who deprived thefe Orphans of their F a-
thers, what can he fay? What fhall he proclaim ? Although
he pronounce the ftated Terms of your Decree, yet the Turpi-
tude arifing from Truth will not be filent, but will feem to pro-
claim, in dired Oppofition to the Herald's Voice, " The Peo-
" pie of Athens crown this worft bad Man * (if indeed he de-
R r a fervc
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? 3o8 ORATION OF ^SCHINES
ferve the Name of Man) " for his Virtue ; this Coward, this
Deferter of his Poft in Battle, for his Courage. " (23) Do not,
in the Name of Jupiter, and all our other Gods I conjure you,
O Athenians, do not ere? ta Trophy over yourfelves in the Thea-
tre of Bacchus, nor in Prefence of all the Grecian States convidl
the Athenian People of fuch exceeding Folly. Do not oblige the
unhappy Thebans to recolledl their incurable, irreparable Misfor-
tunes, whom this Demofthenes hath driven out of their native
Country, and whom you have received into your City ; whofe
Temples, Houfes, and Sepulchres, his Avarice and the Perfian.
Gold have totally deftroyed^
But fince you were not perfonally prefent, now with the
Eye of Imagination behold their Afflidions. Imagine you fee
their City taken, their Walls in Ruins, their Houfes in Flames,
their Wives and Children dragged into Slavery, their aged Men
and Women, venerably old, thus late unlearning the happy
Leflbns of Liberty, weeping, imploring your CompafHon, not
angry with their Oppreflbrs, but with the Authors of their
Calamities, conjuring you never to crown this Peft of Greece,
but ftudioufly to avoid the Genius and ill Fortune infeparably
attending upon his Perfon. For neither City, nor Citizen,
who
(23) Lambinus and the Oxford Ed i- Courage, this Coward and Deferter of his
tors point this Paflage differently from Pojl in Battle. DoiStor Taylor gives the
Wolfius. Accoixling to their Punftu- Correftion to Dodor Marldand, and re-
ation it may be tranflated ; The People commends it as more expreflive, and
of Athens crown this Man (if indeed he more agreeable to the Vehemence of an
deferve the 'Name of Man) for his Virtue, Orator.
tbii mofi notorious Villainy and for his
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? 286 ORATION OF -ffi S C H I N E S
with his Impiety towards the Gods. There is a Plain, Athe-
nians, named Cirrhaeum, and a Port at prefent called the un-
hallowed and accurfed. The Cyrrh^ans and Graugallids for-
merly inhabited this Country ; a barbarous, lawlefs Generation,
who profaned the Temple of Apollo, plundered the confecrated
Ornaments devoted to the God, and violated the Amphictyons,
the Guardians of his Temple. Your Anceftors, as is reported,
with exceeding Indignation, and afterwards the other Amphicly-
ons, refenting thefe Outrages, folemnly confulted the God, what
Vengeance they fhould inflid upon this impious People. The
Pythian Prieftefs anfwered, that they fhould wage War againft
the Cyrrhseans and Graugallidae both Day and Night ; that
when they had ravaged the Country, and enilaved its Inhabi-
tants, they fliould confecrate the Land to Pythian Apollo, Di-
ana, Latona, and Minerva, the Provident, to lie wafte for ever,
and neither cultivate themfelves that Tra6l of Country, nor fuffer
others. Receiving this Oracle the Amphidyons decreed (Solon,
the Athenian, an able Legiflator, nor meanly converfant in
Poetry and Philofophy, having declared his Opinion) that an
Army fliould be raifed againft thefe unhallowed Wretches, in
Obedience to the Oracle. Levying therefore a fufficient Force,
they fold the People to Slavery, blocked up their Ports, rafcd
their City, and confecrated their Lands, as the God had com-
manded. Bcfides they fwore a folemn Oath, neither themfelves
to cultivate this devoted Ground, nor permit any other, but
to aflifh the God, and maintain his Rights in the facred Land,
by
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? AGAINST CTESIPHON. 287
by every pofliblc Effort, and by their united Forces. Nor
were they contented with having fworn this Oath, but added
Curfes to confirm it, and powerful Imprecations. For it is
written thus in the Imprecation. " Whoever violate thefe
*' Engagements, whether City, or private Perfon, or Nation,
*' let them be devoted to Apollo, Diana, Latona, and Minerva,
the Provident. " It imprecates belides, " May their Lands
neither produce Fruit, nor their Wives bear Children, like
" their Fathers, but Monfters; nor their Cattle bring forth their
** Young according to Nature. May they be ever conquered
" in War ; in every Court of Juftice ; in every popular Af-
fembly ; may they perifli even to utter Deftrudlion, them-
felves, their Families, their whole Generation ; may they
never offer an acceptable, holy Sacrifice either to Apollo, Di-
*' ana, Latona, nor Minerva, the Provident. May thefe Dei-
*' ties never accept their Offerings. " To juftify what I affert,
read the Oracle of the God. Hear this Imprecation, and re-
member the Oaths, your Anceftors, and the Amphidyons fo-
lemnly fware.
The Oracle.
To take this Fortrefs all Attempts are vain,
'Till Amphitrite to this hallow'd Fane,
Roll her wild Waves tumultuous o'er the Plain. (16)
The
(16) When the Amphiftyons befieged to the Completion of the Oracle, tocon-
Cirrha, they confulted Apollo upon their fecrate the Cirrhjean Lands, which lay
Siiccefs, and the God returned them this between Delphos and the Sea, to Apollo,
Aofwer, Solon advifed them, in view that the Sea might thus be nearer his
Tctn-
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? 288 ORATION OF iESCHINES
The Oath and Imprecation.
After this Imprecation, thefe Oaths, this Oracle, flill ex-
tant in our public Records, the AmphilTaean Locrians, or the
Perfons rather, who prefidcd in their Councils, Violators of all
Laws, again cultivated this Land : again fortified and inhabited
this unhallowed and accurfed Port ; exacted Cufloms from
whoever failed along their Coafts, and corrupted certain of the
Deputies, who were going to the general Affemblj at Delphos,
one of whom was Demofthenes. He had been appointed by
your Decrees your Deputy at the Council, and received a thou-
fand Drachmas from the Amphiflkans, not to mention them to
the Amphidyons. It was ftipulated befides, that twenty Minae
fhould be fent him hither yearly for ever out of the nefarious
and execrable Cuftoms of their Port, for which, by every poffible
Method, he fliould proted them in Athens. From this im-
pious Corruption it hath appeared, even more remarkably than
formerly, that whenever he hath engaged in the Intereft of
either private Citizen, or Magiftrate, or Republic, he hath in-
volved them in Misfortunes incurable.
Now behold how Fate and Fortune avenged the Sacrilege
of the Amphiffaeans. When Theophraftus was Archon, and
Diognetus
Temple; IW S-ij tJ Tsy-ivu tS 'A- ? j. ^f ^J ^aXacrtra, nntill the Sea wafhed the
woXXuvoi; yBvrjTai yuruv ri QaXxa-dx. Lands, confccratcd to the God, Who-
Pausanias. The Oracle, according to ever would reconcile thefe Differences
Polysnus, declared, that Cirrha fliould fhould conluk Meurfius, upon the Paffa-e
never be taken, ewj oiv 4'<<i;Vtj r^f U^oiq ir^ Polysnus.
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? A G A I N S 1' C T E S I P H O N. 2S9
Diognetus eleded to fuperintend all Affairs of Religion, (17) you
appointed Midias (who, for many Rcafons, I vvifh were ftill alive)
Thrafycles, and me, your Deputies to the Amphidyonic Council.
It happened, a little Time after our Arrival at Dclphos, that
Diognetus fell fick of a Fever, and that Midias v^^as feized with
the fame Diftemper. The other Amphi6lyons however affem-
bled, when we were informed, by Perfons willing to fhew their
Affedion for this Republic, that the Amphiffa^ans, fallen at
that Time under the Power of the Thebans, and held in Vaf-
falage by them, intended to propofe a Decree againft our Com-
monwealth, and to fine the People of Athens fifty Talents, for
dedicating fome golden Shields in a new Temple, before we
had performed the ufual Ceremonies of Confecration, and en-
graving upon them this very proper Infcription. Taken by the
Athenians from the Medes and Thebans, when they
FOUGHT AGAINST THE Greeks. Our Hieroiiinemon fent for
me, and defired me to go into the Aflembly, and plead before
the Amphidyons the Caufe of the Republic, which I had al-
ready determined. But beginning to fpeak, and having entered
the Affembly with a warmer Spirit, increafed even by the Abfence
VOL. JI. P p of
(17) Each of the Amphiflyonic Cities at the Head of all public Ads. As the
fent two Deputies, called Pylagon-E, to prefent Affair was of a religious Nature,
the general Council at Delphos, to whom it was properly the Province of the Hie-
they committed the Care of their civil romnemon to fpeak to it ; but he and
and political Interefts. A third was the other Pylagoras, Thrafycles, being
elefted to fuperintend the Affairs of Re- fick, j^ifchines was defired to defend
ligion. This Minifter, who was called the Caufe of Athens on this Occafion.
Hieromnemon, convoked their Affcm- Tourreil. Portai,.
. blies, prefided in them, and put his Name
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? ((
((
290 ORATION OF ^SCHINES
of my Colleagues, an Amphiffaean clamoiiroiifly interrupted me
(a Man moft fhamelefsly impudent, and as appeared to me,
deftitute of all Principles of Humanity, or perhaps impelled by
feme Daemon to commit fuch Extravagance) " It fhould be
*' your principal Concern, O Men of Greece, if you have Wif-
dom, not to let the very Name of the Athenians be pronounced
* during the Days of this Solemnity, but to drive them, as
Wretches impious and profane, out of the Temple. " He then
mentioned our Alliance with the Phocaeahs, which Crobylus
concluded, befides many other Refled:ions moft injurious to
the Republic, which I could then ill endure to hear, nor can now
recolledl without Indignation. Having however heard him,
never in my whole Life was I fo provoked. I fhall pafs over
whatever elfe I faid in my Reply, but it came into my Thoughts
to mention the Sacrilege of the Amphiflaeans committed upon
the confecrated Lands, which from the very Place where I then
ftood, I fhewed to the Amphidyons (for the Cyrrhasan Plain
lies under the Temple, and may be feen from thence at one
View. ) " You behold, Amphidyons, this Plain cultivated by
the AmphifTaeans ; you lee the Potters' Kilns, and Villages
built upon it: you behold with your own Eyes this unhal-
lowed and accurfed Territory fortified : you yourfelves are
" confcious, nor want any other Witneftes, that they have ex-
*' aded Cuftoms, and raifed confiderable Revenues from this
" defccrated Harbour. " At the fame Time, I defired them
to read the Oracle of Apollo, the Oath of their Anceftors, and
the
((
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? AGAINST CTE SIPHON. 291
the Imprecation, with which they confirmed it. I then nofll-
tively protcfted for the whole People of Athens ; for my own
Perfon, and Children and Family, that according to the Te-
nour of the Oath taken by our Anceflors, I would affifl: the
God, maintain his Rights to the ficred Ground, with Hand
and Voice, and every Power I poffelled, and deliver my Re-
public from this religious Obligation to the Deity. " It is yours
to deliberate upon your proper Safety. The Bafkets, in
which are contained the myfterious Rites of our Religon,
'' are already raifed to be carried in Procellion ; the Vidims
" already ftand before the Altar. You are now going to im-
" plore the Gods for every Bleffing, public and private. Con-
<' fider with what Voice, what Spirit, what Look, what
*' Confidence, fhall you make your Supplications, if you fuifer
" thefe Wretches, accurfed, and devoted to the divine Ven-
" geance, to efcape with Impunity. For not in -Enigmas, but
" in the cleareft Expreffion, is it written in the Imprecation
<* with regard to thefe facrilegious, what Punifhment they fhall
" themfelves inevitably fuffer, and what are ordained for them,
" who permit fuch Impiety. May they never perform a plea-
** fing and holy Sacrifice to Apollo, Latona, nor Minerva, the
" Provident, who do not avenge their Divinities. May thefe
" Deities never accept their Offerings. "
Having repeated thefe, and many other Arguments to the
fame Purpofe, I retired from the AffembJy, when much Cla-
P p 2 mour
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? 292 ORATION OF ^SCHINES
moiir and Tumult arofe among the Amphi6lyons, who no lon-
ger debated upon the Shields, we had confecrated, but on the
Puniiliment to be inflided on the Amphiflaeans. When great
Part of the Day was already elapfed, the Herald came forth,
and proclaimed, tliat every Delphian, both Slave and Freeman,
who had attained the Age of twenty Years, (i8) fhould alTem-
ble at firft Appearance of Day with Mattocks and Spades at a
Place called by the Inhabitants the Place of Sacrifice. Again
the Herald proclaimed, that the facred Regifters and the De-
puties fhould affemble at the fame Place to vindicate the God,
and affert the confecrated Glebe ; and that whatever City did
not appear by its Deputies, fhould be driven from the Temple,
and deemed aceurfed and devoted to divine Vengeance.
Early next Morning we went to the Place appointed ; def-
cended to the Cyrrha^an Plain, and, having rafed the Harbour,
and burned the Houfes, we retired. But while we were thus
employed, the Amphiffasan Locrians, who lived about feven
Miles from Delphos, all in Arms, ruflied out upon us, and had
we not by a precipitate Flight, though with utmoft Difficulty,
efcapcd into Delphos, we had been in extreme Danger of being
deftroyed.
(18) In the Original, fuco Tears he- among Men, at wliich Age they are
ycnd their Puberty. The Youth of A- here called forth to vindicate the Ho-
tliens, and probably, from this Pafiage, nour, and recover the Pofleffions of
thofe of Delphos, were not admitted iato Apollo. "Whoever would fee this Sub-
the Clafs of Epheboi or puberes, iiniill jeft treated with great Erudition and
they had coiDpleated their eighteenth Ferfpicuity, fhould confult Corfini dc
Year. Here tht-y continued 'till the f;\ftis Atticis. Dissertatio XL
Age of twenty, when they were enrolled
4
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? AGAINST CTESIPHON. 293
deflroyed. The Day following Cottyphus, M'ho had propofcd
the Refolutions to the Affembly, ordered a general Council lo
be convened. . They call it a general Council, when they fum-
mon not only the Deputies and facred Regiftcrs, but whoever
facrihced together to the God, and confulted his Oracle. Here
many Accufations were laid againft the Amphifllcans, and much
Applaufe was given to your Republic. As the Refult of the
whole Debate, they decreed, that the facred Regifters, fome
Time before their ufual Seafon of meeting at TherrnopylK, fhould
afiemble there upon a ftated Day, and carry with them a
Decree, by which the Amphifikans fhould fuffer the Vengeance
they merited for their Impiety towards the God, their Viola-
tion of the confecrated Glebe, and their Offences againft the
Amphidyons. For the Truth of thefe Aflertions, let the Se-
cretary read the Decree.
The Decree.
When this Decree was reported by us to the Senate, and
afterwards in their Affembly to the People; they approved of
our Conduct, and the whole Republic determined to maintain
with Zeal the Caufe of Religion. Demoflhenes, influenced by
his Compadl with Amphiffa, publicly oppofed your Refolutions,
and I as publicly convided him of Corruption. When he
found it impoffible openly to deceive the Commonwealth, he
went into the Scnate-Houfe, and impofing upon the Simplicity of
fome particular Senators, he carries a Decree into an Affembly
of
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? 294 ORATION OF ^SCHINES
of the People, by taking Advantage of the Inexperience of the
Perfon, who preferred it. He then effedlually managed to get
it confirmed by the Suffrage and Command of the People, when
the AiTembly was abfolutely rifen ; when I had retired (for never
would I have fuffered fnch a Fraud) and when great Numbers
were departed. (19) This was the capital Article of it, that
the facred Regifter of the Athenians, and their future Deputies
for ever fhouid attend the general Council at Thermopyla3 and
Delphos on the Times appointed by our Anceftors. A Claufc,
in Expreffion exceeding fpecious, but in Fadl of moft difinge-
nuous Turpitude ; fince it forbad that Council to meet at Ther-
mopylae, which out of meer NecefTity was appointed to be held
before the ftated Time. Again, in the very fame Decree does
he infert another Claufe more open to Difcovery, but more
malicioufly mifchievous ; that the facred Regifter of the Athe-
nians, and their Deputies for ever fhouid hold no Communion
with thofe of the late Council, neither of Words, nor Deeds ;
neither of Decrees, nor of any Meafures whatever. This Ex-
preffion, " to hold no Communion," what can it mean ? Whe-
ther ffiall I therefore fpeak Truth, or rather what may be moft
pleafurable to hear ? I will fpeak Truth ; for Speeches perpe-
tually formed to Pleafure have abfolutely reduced the Common-
wealth to her prefent Situation, nor do they fuffer us to remem-
ber
(19) To the Authorities produced by Vair, i^ heaucoup s" en ejlans retournez a
Dodor Taylor for the Conftrudlion of leiirs maifons ; and that of Lambinus,
this PalTage, let us add that of Du muUitudine denique ^dimijfa.
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? AGAINST CTESIPHON. ? ^95
bee the Oaths, your Anceftors fwore, nor the Imprecation,
nor tlie Oracle of the God. *
We therefore, Athenians, continued here in Obedience to
your Decree, while the other Amphidlyons aflembled at Ther-
mopyls, excepting thofe of one Republic only, whole Name
I would not wiUingly mention, and may Calamities like to hers,
never happen to any other State of Greece. As foon as they af-
fembled, they decreed to raife an Army againft the Amphifikans,
and chofe Cottyphus, the Pharfalian, their General, who was at
that time Prefident of the Council, while Philip was neither in
Macedonia, nor even Grece, but in Scythia, even in the re-
moteft Part of it. Demofthenes however will immediately with
fpecial Confidence affert, that I encouraged him to invade
Greece. Succeeding in their firft Expedition, the Amphidyons
treated the Amphiffasans with fmgular Moderation, fince for all
their flagrant Adls of Impiety they only fined them in a certain
Sum of Money, and even that Sum they did not exadl imme-
diately, but mentioned a dated Time, when it fliould be pay-
able to the God. The Perfons indeed, guilty of the Sacrilege,
and Authors of the Diforders in Confequenceof them, they ba-
niflied ; and thofe, who from a principle of Religion had a-
bandoned their Country, they 'reftored. Afterwards however
when the Amphiffsans paid not to the God their appointed
Fines ; v/hen they recalled from Exile the Wretches devoted
for Sacrilege, and drove into Banifliment the Perfons, who for
their
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? 296 ORATION OF ^SCHINES
their Piety had been reftored, the Amphidlyons formed an-
other Army againft them, a confiderable Time before Pliih'p
returned from his Expedition againft the Scythians, when in
Truth the Gods themfelves offered us the Command of this re-
ligious War, which the Corruption of Demofthenes hindered
us from accepting.
Did they not foretell ? Did not the very Gods by Signs
and Wonders command us to be cautious, only not fpeaking
to us with human Voices ? Never did I behold a State more
fignally preferved by the Gods, or more effedually deftroyed
by certain of its Orators. Was not the Prodigy, that mani-
fefted itfelf amidft the Celebration of our Myfteries in the fud-
den Death of the initiated, fufficient to bid us be cautious ?
Did not Amyniades advife you to a(ft with a religious Cau-
tion, (20) and to fend Perfons to Delphos to confult the God,
in what Manner you fhould proceed ? Did not Demofthenes
oppofe this Advice, declaring the Pythian Prieftefs philippized ;
this ignorant, untaught Demofthenes, exulting even to wanton-
nefs, and inflated with the Power, with which you intrufted
him ? Laftly, when the Sacrifices were unhappily performed
andunpropitious, did he not fend forth our Soldiers to moft ap-
parent Danger, although he before dared to declare, that for
this very Reafon Philip did not invade the Territories of Athens,
becaufe the Entrails of the Vidims did not promife him Succefs ?
What
(20) 'EvKx^iiG-Bai trandated by Budsus, religione teneri.
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? AGAINST CTESIPHON. 297
What Vengeance therefore doft: thou not dcferve, thou Pcft and
ID '
Execration of Greece? If the Conqueror would not make an
Irruption into the Dominions of the conquered, becaufe the
Vidims gave not the happy Omens ol Succefs, fhallyou, unfore-
fjeing in Futurity, who, before infpe6ling whether the Sacri-
fices were acceptable to the Gods, fent forth our Soldiers to the
Slaughter, fhall you be crowned tor the Calamities of the
Republic, or expelled her utmofl; Borders ?
But indeed what is there moft unexpe6led, and mod incre-
dible, which hath not happened in our Age ? We have not
lived the common Life of human Creatures, but were born a
very Paradox in Reafbn to lateft Pofterity. Does not the Per-
fian Monarch, who once opened a Paflage through Mount A-
thos, threw a Bridge over the Hellefpont, demanded Earth and
Water of the Grecians in Acknowledgement of his fovereign
Power over Land and Sea ; who infolently dared to ftyle himfelf
in his Letters, defpotic Mafter of all human Race from the ri-
fing to the fetting Sun; does he not now contend, not to be
Lord of others, but for his own proper Safety ? Do we not
behold the Perfons, who vindicated the Freedom of the Delphic
Temple, now honoured with the very Glories he once pofleffed,
and the fupreme Command of the War againfl: him ? Thebes,
a City upon the Confines of Attica, unhappy Thebes ! was it
not in one Day violently torn out of the midft of Greece ? Al-
though, perhaps, they merited this Chaftifement for not wifely
Vol. IL Q^q and
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? 298 ORATION OF ^SCHINES
and honourably confulting the general Interefts of Greece, yet
they were certainly pofleffed with a Stupidity Tent from God ; an
Infatuation, not of human Weaknefs, but divine Infpiration.
The miferable Lacedsemonians, who had only been lightly con-
cerned at iirft in the Violation of the Temple; who formerly
thought themfelves worthy of being Sovereigns of Greece ; are
they not now fending Hoftages to Alexander to lay before him
a Reprefentation of their Miferies, and obediently fubmit them-
ielves and their Country to whatever he pleafes to command ?
Shall they not be adjudged according to the Mercy of a Con-
queror, whom they have provoked and infulted ? Even our
own Republic, once the common Afylum of the Grecians, that
Republic, to whom Embaflies formerly were fent from all the
States of Greece to folicit her Proted:ion, no longer now contends
for the Sovereignty of Greece, but for her native Soil. All
thefe Calamities have befallen us fince the Time Demofthenes
entered into the Adminiflration ; for Heliod pronounces with
Wifdom upon Men of fuch Principles, when intruding the
People, and directing the Councils of all Republics, he fome-
where advifcs them never to receive thefe impious Demagogues
into their Government. I will repeat his Verfes, for with this
Intention, I imagine, v/hen we are Children we learn by Heart
the Sentences of Poets, that when we are Men we may employ
them in the general Occurrences of Life.
for one Man's Crimes, on many a deftin'd State,
For one Man's Guilt, defcends the wrath of Fate ;
Jove
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? AGAINST C T E S I P H O N. 299
Jove bids the wafting Pcftilence arifc.
Pale Famine rages, and the People dies;
He breaks the Ranks of War, o'erwhelms their Towers,
And the wild Ocean o'er their Navy pours.
If you take away the poetical Meafures of thefe Lines, and ex-
amine attentively their Meaning, I believe they will appear, not
the Verfes of Hefiod, but an oracular Prophecy of Demofthenes
his Adminiftration. For Fleets and Armies and Cities have,
been totally deftroyed by his Adminiftration. ,
I verily think, neither Phrynondas, nor Eurybatus, nor any
other among the moft diftinguiftied Villains of former Ages,
was ever fuch an Impoftor, fuch an errant Jugler in Politics,
as this Demofthenes, (O Earth, and Gods, and Daemons and
Men, whoever are willing to hear Truth) who confidently
looks you in the Face, and dares affirm, that the Thebans en-
tered into an Alliance with you ; neither impelled by the Ne-
ceflity of Conjunctures, nor by the Terrours, that furrounded
them, nor by your Glory, but by the Eloquence of Demofthe-
nes.
Yet many AmbaftTadors have been formerly lent to the The-
bans, and whom they have held in much Efteem and Affection ;
your General Thrafybulus, in whom, of all others, they placed
the higheft Confidence ; Thrafo, whom they received with all
Q^q 2 the
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? 30O ORATION OF ^SCHINES
the Rights of public Hofpitality ; Leodamas, not a lefs power-
ful, and in my Judgement, a fweeter Orator, than Demofthe-
nes ; Archidemus, an able Speaker, and who had expofed him-
felf to very many Dangers in the Courfe of his Adminiftration
by his Zeal for the Thebans ; your favourite Demagogue,
Ariftophon, fo long accufed of being almoft a Boeotian, and the
Orator Pyrander, who is ftill alive. Yet none of them were
ever able to influence that People, and incline them to enter
into your AlHance. The Caufe of their Refufal, I very well
know, but fhall not mention it, out of the Refpe6t I bear to
their Misfortunes. Yet I imagine, when Philip had taken
away Nicasa from them, and ceded it to the Theffalians; when
he had again brought back that very War, which he had him-
fclf originally removed beyond the Frontiers of Bceotia, even
to the Walls of Thebes ; laflly, when he had feized, and for-
tified, and put a Garrifon into Elatasa ; then the Terrours of
their own immediate Danger alarmed them, and they implored
the Succour of Athens. You inftantly took the Field, and
marched in Arms, both Cavalry and Infantry, into Thebes, be-
fore Demoflhenes had written a fingle Syllable upon the Alli-
ance. Thus the Conjundlure itfelf, and its Terrours, and the
Neceflity of your Afliftance, not Demofthenes, or his Eloquence,
introduced you into Thebes. (For in the Tranfadionof this Affair
he committed, with Regard to your Interefts, three very capital
Errours. Fii ft, when Philip carried on only a nominal War againfl:
^? s, and in Reality was animated with a much more violent Refent-
ment
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? AGAINST CTESIPHON. 301
a-nentagainfttheThebans, as the Event hath fincemanifeftly proved
(and is it poflibleto give a ftronger Proof? ) yet this fecret Incli-
' nation of Philip, great and important as it was, Demofthenes
concealed ; and pretending that the Thebans concluded this Al-
liance, not compelled by the Neceflity of their Affairs, but in-
fluenced by his Embaily, he perfuaded the People not to de-
liberate upon the Conditions, but to efteem themfelves extremely
happy, if it could be concluded upon any Conditions. Plaving
gained this Point, he made a voluntary Surrender of all Boeotia
to the Thebans by a Decree, wherein he declared, " that if
" any City revolted from the Thebans, the Athenians would
** allift thofe Boeotians alone, who refided in Thebes. " Thus
did he Ileal away by Words the Reality of Things, and change,
according to his well-wonted Cuftom, their Situation : as if the
Boeotians, in Fad: thus cruelly treated, fhould rather think
themfelves happy in a Compofition of fine Words formed by De-
mofthenes, than exprefs their Refentment for the Injuries they
fuffered.
"^He then impofed two Thirds of the Expence of the War upon
you, from whom theDangerwas certainly more remote, and only
one Third upon the Thebans j, in both Inftances moft fordidly
corrupted. The Command at Sea, it is confeffed, he divided
between you, but appropriated to you alone the Expence. The
Command at Land (not to amufe you with Trifles) he wholly
transferred to the Thebans j fb that during the Courfe of the
? . War,,
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? 302 ORATION OF iESCHINES
War, your General Stratocles never had Authority enough even
to provide for the Safety of your Troops. Nor do I alone ac-
cufe him of thefe Crimes, while others pafs them over unre-
garded. I proclaim them indeed, but all Mankind cenfure them
feverely : you yourfelves are confcious of them, and yet not
angry. Such is the Spirit, with which you are affedted towards
this Demoflhenes ; fo well accuftomed are you to hear his Vil-
lainies, as to hear them without Aftonifhment. You fhould
not, however, be thus infeniible. You fhould fhew your In-
dignation. You fhould punifh and revenge, if you propofe to
enjoy with Honour, what yet remains of the Republic.
A SECOND Crime he committed, and even more atrocious
than the firft, when he totally robbed the Senate of its Autho-
rity, and the People of their democratical Prerogatives ; and
by a fecret Compact with the Governors of Boeotia, transferred
the Decifion of all Affairs between the Thebans and us to a
Tribunal eftablifhed in the Citadel of Thebes. He then affu-
med a Power fo abfolute, fo tyrannical, as to declare in this
Affembly, that he would go wherever he pleafed Ambaflador of
Athens, even without your Approbation or Confent ; and that
if any of your Generals prefumed to oppofe him, he threatened,
as he had enflaved your civil Magiftrates, and accuftomed them
not to contradid him, fo he would enter a Procefs in the Courts,
upon an Adlion of Merit, (21) in Favour of the oratorial, a-
gainft
(,21) AMK<x<rix. A Law-Term fignifying a Caufe, wherein two or more
3 Perfons
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? AGAINST C T E S I P H O N. 303
gainft the military, Art ; for he boafted, that he himfclf had
rendered you many more valuable Services on that Tribunal,
than you had ever received from your Generals and their Coun-
cils of War.
Being appointed Paymafter of our mercenary Troops he a-
mafled an immenfe Sum by falfe Mufters, by robbing the mi-
litary Cheft, and letting out ten thou fa nd of thofe Troops to
the Amphiflaeans. Even while I called Heaven and Earth to
witnefs againft him, and exclaimed in Bitternefs of Anguifli in
your Aflemblies, he left the Republic defencelefs and expofed
to every Danger, by fuddenly and furreptitioufly ordering them
away. For what, do you imagine, did Philip put up his Vows
to Heaven with greateft Ardour at that Conjundlure ? Was it
not, that he might engage feparately with your national Soldiery,
and feparately with your foreign Troops at Amphiflli, and then
invade the other States of Greece, difpirited and intimidated by fo.
fevere a Blow ? Yet Demofthenes, the Author of all thefe Cala-
mities, is not content with Impunity, but refents his not being
rewarded even with a golden Crown. He deems it not fufflcient.
to be proclaimed in your Prefence, but is grievoufly offended,,
if the Proclamation be not made before all the Grecians. Thus,,
as it often appears, a depraved Nature, when poffeffed of top
much Power, works out the Deftrudlion of a free People.
I SHALL
Perfons contefled, uterutri Jitin munere-y Tranflator ? , diceva voter formar una lite
locove, aut re capeffenda prseferendus, tra I'arte oratoria, e la militare.
Doctor Taylor. Our excellent Italian
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? 304 ORATION OF iESCHINES
I SHALL now proceed to his third Crime, yet more enor-
mous, than any I have mentioned. When Philip by no
Means defpifed the Greeks ; when he was confcious, (for he
did not want Penetration) that he might be obliged to contend,
upon the Hazard of fome few Moments, for all his Conquefts
and PoflefTions ; when for thefe Reafons, he was defirous of
concluding a Peace, and determined to fend an Embafly hither ;
when the Magiftrates of Thebes dreaded their approaching
Danger, and juftly dreaded (for it was not an Orator, who never
made a Campaign, and who deferted from his Rank in the"
Day of Battle, that imprefTed thofe Apprehenfions upon their
Minds, but the Phocasan ten -Year's War taught them an ever-
memorable LefTon of Inftrudion) when Affairs were in this Si-
tuation ; when Demofthenes perceived and fufpedled, that the
Boeotian Governors would make a feparate Peace, and receive
Philip's Gold without him ; efteeming it a Life not worth living,
if he were excluded from any Kind of Corruption, he ftarted
forward in the Affembly, while no Mortal mentioned either our
making, or not making a Peace with Philip, and imagining he
iliould denounce, as with an Herald's Voice, to the Governors
of Boeotia, that they fhould bring him his Proportion of Cor-
ruption, he fwore by the Goddefs Minerva (that Goddefs,
whom, it {eems, Phidias carved for the Profit and Perjuries of
Demofthenes) that if any one mentioned the NecefHty of our
concluding a Peace with Philip, he would that Moment feize
him by the Hair, and drag him to Prifon ; thus imitating the
Admi-
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? AGAINST CTESIPHON. 305
Adminiftration of Cleophon, who in the Laccdcemoniau War
ruined the RepubHc. (22)
When the Theban Magistrates paid but little Attention to
his Menaces, and, that you might turn all your Counfels to
Peace, even countermanded your Troops, already on their
March, he became abfolutely frantick, and mounting the Tri-
bunal called the Magiftrates of Boeotia, Betrayers of Greece,
and declared, he would prefer a ^Decree (he, who never had
Courage to look an Enemy in the Face) for fending an Em-
bafly to Thebes, to demand a Paflage through their Territories
for your Troops in their March againfl: Philip. Covered with
Confufion, and apprehenfive of being really deemed the Be-
(22) Wolfius acknowledges he does
not remember to have read the Name of
Cleophon in any other Author. Tour-
reil afllires us, he has not been able to
find the leaft Trace in Hiftory, the
flighteft Veftige of this pretended Cleo-
phon. He therefore reads Cleon in his
Text, with this French Addition, d'odi-
? ufe memoire. Even Dodlor Taylor fends
his Reader to the laft Oration of iEf-
chines, Page 1S7 of this Tranflation,
as if this pernicious Demagogue were
mentioned in no other Place, "^et Di-
odorus Siculus gives us the Speech he
made againil the Terms of Peace pro-
pofed by the Lacedaemonian AmbafTador.
KXeotpwv, ^zyig-oq u>v tots Syjf^oiyuyog
? |W5T? W^;J-< TOV S^UOV, &C. This
Speech, enflaming and full of Adulation,
Vol. II.
fo totally ruined the Republic, that flie
never was able to recover her former
Greatnefs ; isru^ eTTTxirav rol'; 'okoig,
cog's f^yiKiTi ouv>>(rBoci ttuttotb duTug ynvi-
(Tiug ctvuXaiQsi'v. DiODORUS. Wes-
SELiNG. Lib. 13. Pag. 583.
The Scholiafl: on the Oreftes of Eu-
ripides, Lin. 770 and 900, where the
Poet defcribes a talking, impudent De-
magogue, 'Ai*:^^ Tig xdv^oyXcixra-og, Icr-
Xvuv S^BctTSi, tells us, the Charadlerwas
intended for Cleophon, and that the Cri-
tics, who have applied it to Cleon, arc
miftaken. Ariftophanes alfo mentions
this furious Demagogue, KXeo^uu Ss y-tx,- .
%e(r3w, Ba! Tf<<%o<. Lin. 1580, and the
learned Reader may find in his Scholiafl:
the Circumftances of this Story, though
fomewhat differently told.
R r trayers
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? 3o6 ORATION OF iESCHINES
trayers of Greece, the Boeotians abandoned all Thoughts of
Peace, and precipitately hurried into Preparations for War.
(/Here it may be worthy of your Patience to commemorate
the Fate of thofe brave Men, whom this Demofthenes, in
Contempt of all the holy Rites of Sacrifice, and when
the Vidims gave inaufpicious Omens of Succefs, fent into
apparent Danger, yet dared, with thofe fame Coward Feet,
that ran away from their Poft in the Day of Battle, to ftand
upon the Sepulchre of the Slain, and pronounce a funeral En-
comium on their Valour. O Thou, to great and generous
Actions, of all Mankind moft worthlefs, yet in Words thou
moft aftonifhingly daring, haft thou the Confidence to allert,
in Prefence of this auguft Aflembly, that thou deferveft to be
crowned for the Calamities of thy Country ? Or if he fhould
confidently make the Demand, will you endure it ? And
fhall your Remembrance of their Services, for fo it will appear,
die with the Dead ?
Indulge me yet another Moment with your Attention, and
imagine yourfelves no longer in a Court of Juftice, but in the
Theatre. Imagine you behold the Herald coming forward to-
pronounce the Proclamation for the Crown you have decreed.
Then compute whether the Relations of the Slain will fhed
more Tears over the Tragedies and heroic Misfortunes after-
wards to be reprefented on the Scene, than over this Ingratitude
of
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? AGAINST CTESIPHON. 307
of the Republic ? For not only what Grecian, but even what
human Creature, if ever nurtured to more ingenuous Senti-
ments, would not with Anguifh lament, when he recolleded
in the Theatre this Circumftance alone (though every other
were forgotten) that on a Day like this, and when the Trage-
dians, as at this Moment, were almoft entering on the Stage ;
when the Commonwealth was governed by better Counfels,
and by abler Magiftrates j the Herald advanced, and prefenting
to the Aflembly the Orphans, whofe Fathers had fallen in War,
young Men, richly clothed in complete Armour, pronounced
this nobleft Proclamation, and higheft Incentive to Valour.
" Thefe Orphans, whofe Fathers died gallantly in Defence of
" their Country, the People of Athens have educated to this
*' Age, and having now armed them with a complete fuit of
" Armour, they difmifs them, with all good Wiflies of Suc-
" cefs, to purfue their own Fortunes, and invite them to
" contend for the firft Honours of the Republic. "
Thus did the Herald at that Time addrefs the People, but
very different this prefent Proclamation. For having prefented
to them the Perfon, who deprived thefe Orphans of their F a-
thers, what can he fay? What fhall he proclaim ? Although
he pronounce the ftated Terms of your Decree, yet the Turpi-
tude arifing from Truth will not be filent, but will feem to pro-
claim, in dired Oppofition to the Herald's Voice, " The Peo-
" pie of Athens crown this worft bad Man * (if indeed he de-
R r a fervc
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? 3o8 ORATION OF ^SCHINES
ferve the Name of Man) " for his Virtue ; this Coward, this
Deferter of his Poft in Battle, for his Courage. " (23) Do not,
in the Name of Jupiter, and all our other Gods I conjure you,
O Athenians, do not ere? ta Trophy over yourfelves in the Thea-
tre of Bacchus, nor in Prefence of all the Grecian States convidl
the Athenian People of fuch exceeding Folly. Do not oblige the
unhappy Thebans to recolledl their incurable, irreparable Misfor-
tunes, whom this Demofthenes hath driven out of their native
Country, and whom you have received into your City ; whofe
Temples, Houfes, and Sepulchres, his Avarice and the Perfian.
Gold have totally deftroyed^
But fince you were not perfonally prefent, now with the
Eye of Imagination behold their Afflidions. Imagine you fee
their City taken, their Walls in Ruins, their Houfes in Flames,
their Wives and Children dragged into Slavery, their aged Men
and Women, venerably old, thus late unlearning the happy
Leflbns of Liberty, weeping, imploring your CompafHon, not
angry with their Oppreflbrs, but with the Authors of their
Calamities, conjuring you never to crown this Peft of Greece,
but ftudioufly to avoid the Genius and ill Fortune infeparably
attending upon his Perfon. For neither City, nor Citizen,
who
(23) Lambinus and the Oxford Ed i- Courage, this Coward and Deferter of his
tors point this Paflage differently from Pojl in Battle. DoiStor Taylor gives the
Wolfius. Accoixling to their Punftu- Correftion to Dodor Marldand, and re-
ation it may be tranflated ; The People commends it as more expreflive, and
of Athens crown this Man (if indeed he more agreeable to the Vehemence of an
deferve the 'Name of Man) for his Virtue, Orator.
tbii mofi notorious Villainy and for his
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