In this retirement he is said to
have composed many of those orations which have
excited the admiration of every succeeding age.
have composed many of those orations which have
excited the admiration of every succeeding age.
Demosthenes - Leland - Orations
The orations of Demosthenes, tr.
by Thomas Leland .
.
.
Demosthenes.
New York, Harper & bros. [1851? ]
http://hdl. handle. net/2027/nyp. 33433082193412
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? I
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? THE ORATIONS Z^'
DEMOSTHENES.
TRANSLATED BY
THOMAS LELAND, D. D.
PAH FRANCISCO
JSCKGESS. GILBERT a STILl
NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
6 8 CLlff STRUT.
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? THE NEW YORK
PDBLIC LI>>? ASY
A1TOR. LSNOX ANf
TILD>>M F8U N ? AtiONS
R tlBtS L
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? CONTENTS
or
THE FIRST VOLUME.
Biographical Sketch or Demosthenes . . . . 7
ORATIONS AGAINST PHILIP.
Preface IS
First Philippic 35
First Olynthiac 59
Second Olynthiac 71
Third Olynthiac * 86
On the Peace 97
Second Phihppic 108
On the State of the Chersonesus 120
Third Philippic 148
Fourth Philippic 164
Philip's Letter to the Athenians 187
On the Letter of Philip 199
Conclusion 206
ORATIONS ON OCCA8IONS OF PUBLIC DELIBERATION.
Preface 211
On the Classes ; . . 231
On the Megalopolitans 249
tor the Liberty of the Rhodians >> 265
FRANCISCO
Bi;ilGESS. G4LUERT * STILL
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? " In the Translation of Demosthenes Lelarx! unites the
man of taste with the man of learning, and shows himself
to have possessed, not only a competent knowledge of ths
Greek language, but that clearness in his own conceptions,
and that animation in his feelings, which enabled him to
catch the real meaning, and to preserve the genuine spirit,
of the most perfect orator Athens ever produced. "--Pabb.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-27 05:09 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/nyp. 33433082193412 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
DEMOSTHENES.
1 is period in which Demosthenes flourished
may oe justly styled the age of Athenian eloquence.
This distinguished orator was born 382 years
before the Christian era: he was the son of one
of the principal citizens of Athens, and inherited
a considerable fortune; but as he was only seven
years of age at the time of his father's death, he
remained nearly ten years under the care of guar-
dians, who converted a part of his fortune to their
own use, defrauded his tutors of their salaries, and
thus deprived him of those advantages of early
education to which he was entitled.
At the age of sixteen he first heard the orator
Callistratus plead in an important cause, and, ex-
cited by a spirit of emulation, from that time de-
voted himself with the strictest assiduity to the
study of eloquence. Isa;us was his first preceptor;
but it is stated that he received assistance from
Plato, and Callias the Syracusan, and that he also
derived great advantages from the systems of rheto-
ric taught by Isocrates and Alcidamus.
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? 8
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
In his eighteenth year he called his guardians
to account; and as they resorted to various me-
thods of delay, he had thus many opportunities for
exercising his talents at the bar, and at length suc-
ceeded in recovering a portion of his patrimony.
From this period he took part in the public de-
bates, in the hope of obtaining a share in' the ad-
ministration ; but in this he was at first wholly un-
successful. The natural weakness of his voice
rendered him unfit to address a popular assembly ;
and he now began to prepare himself, by strong
bodily exercise, for the labours of the rostrum, and
studied to acquire that grace and dignity of action
without which the best oration could produce but
little effect. For this purpose he constructed a
subterraneous study, where he might form his ac-
tion, exercise his voice, and adjust all his motions
before a mirror. In this retirement he is said to
have composed many of those orations which have
excited the admiration of every succeeding age.
Demetrius relates an account which he received
from Demosthenes himself, of the remedies to
which the orator resorted with a view to remove
the defects under which he laboured at the com-
mencement of his career. By accustoming him-
self to speak with small pebbles in his mouth, hr-
overcame a natural hesitation; by running or walk-
mg up a steep hill while pronouncing some passage
in an oration, he succeeded in strengthening his
voice; and by frequently declaiming alone on the
seashore, he prepared himself to harangue a tu-
multuous assembly.
At other times, when he occasionally made or
received visits, some part of the conversation which
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-27 05:09 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/nyp. 33433082193412 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust.
In this retirement he is said to
have composed many of those orations which have
excited the admiration of every succeeding age.
Demetrius relates an account which he received
from Demosthenes himself, of the remedies to
which the orator resorted with a view to remove
the defects under which he laboured at the com-
mencement of his career. By accustoming him-
self to speak with small pebbles in his mouth, hr-
overcame a natural hesitation; by running or walk-
mg up a steep hill while pronouncing some passage
in an oration, he succeeded in strengthening his
voice; and by frequently declaiming alone on the
seashore, he prepared himself to harangue a tu-
multuous assembly.
At other times, when he occasionally made or
received visits, some part of the conversation which
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-27 05:09 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/nyp. 33433082193412 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? OF DEMOSTHENES.
B
had passed formed a subject for exercising his
growing talent. He also committed to memory
the substance of speeches which he heard, and
reduced them to regular periods and sentences,--
a practice in which he was imitated by Cicero.
Demosthenes was in his twenty-eighth year
when he entered on public business; and in the
time of the Phocian war,:at the:age of thirty, he
commenced his orations against Philip, king of
Macedon. The purposes for which these orations
were originally pronounced--a summary review
of the affairs of Greece, particularly of the divisions
which so long subsisted between the states of
Lacedaemon, Athens, and Thebes--and an account
of the measures pursued by Philip to lay the found-
ation of a most extensive empire,--will be found
in the following Preface ;* and the Introductions
to the several Orations furnish the reader with an
interesting view of the effects which they produced
on the Athenians.
To defend the cause of Greece against the art-
ful policy of Philip afforded the Orator a glorious
subject for his political ambition; and he soon ac-
quired gTeat reputation for his eloquence and the
bold truths which he uttered. He was admired in
Greece, and courted by the King of Persia: Philip
himself entertained a high opinion of him, and
even his enemies acknowledged his superior talents
and integrity. The key of politics he first touched
ue kept to without variation.
Pansetius asserts that most of the Orations of
? This is concluded by a brief sketch of the characters of Demades,
Hyperides, Lycurgus, and jEschines, with Home remarks on the pecu-
liar excellences of Demosthenes as an orator.
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? 10
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Demosthenes are written on a virtuous principle
and Plutarch observes, " that he does not exhoi*
his countrymen to that which is most agreeable, or
easy, or advantageous, but points out honour and
propriety as the first objects, and leaves the safety
of the state as a matter of inferior consideration. "
The reputation he acquired placed him at the head
of the government of Athens: in this public ca-
pacity he opposed the inclinations, and corrected the
errors, of his countrymen. His eloquence is not
distinguished by the arts of mild persuasion, but
by a bold, manly, and energetic style, which failed
not to fix the attention and to rouse the energies
of his hearers, and to awaken that spirit of patriot-
ism which is calculated to secure the liberties of
a people.
In integrity of conduct he is acknowledged to
have surpassed all his contemporaries except Pho-
cion; and if he had not been suspected of want
of courage in the field of battle, and of receiving a
bribe from Harpalus, he would have deservedly
ranked with Cimon, Thucydides, and Pericles.
In the battle of Chaeronea, according to the tes-
timony of Plutarch, he betrayed his pusillanimity,
quitted his post, and fled. But the charge of
bribery preferred against him at a later period of
his life strongly excited the Athenians against him,
as will be seen in the Translator's Introduction to
the Oration of Dinarchus. Demosthenes had
long resisted the assaults of corruption from Philip,
and boasted that all the gold of Macedonia could
not tempt him; but his enemies accused him of
having received a present of a golden vase, ac-
companied by twenty talents, from the hands of
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? OF DEMOSTHENES.
11
Harpalus,* which is said to have induced the Orator
to feign indisposition in the assembly, and to make
signs that he had lost his voice ; on which it was
observed, that " it was no common hoarseness he
had got in the night--it was occasioned by swal-
lowing gold and silver! " His accuser was a venal
orator; but the court of Areopagus condemned
him, and he was compelled to retire from Athens.
Pausanias, who entertained a high opinion of
the integrity of Demosthenes, treats the charge as
a calumny, and offers strong proofs of his inno-
cence--proofs which appear to have had due
weight with the learned Translator in his Appendix
to the Notes on the Philippic Orations, to
which the reader is referred for a history of the
Orator, from his public administration down to the
fatal period of his life.
* During the expedition of Alexander to India, lTarpalus had the
charge of the Babylonian treasury, on which he committed great ex-
cesses: fearing the resentment of his master, he fled to Attica with firs
thousand talents, accompanied by six thousand men, and sought refuge
In Athens.
Vol. I. --B
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? /
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? TR1
ORATIONS OF DEMOSTHENES,
PRONOUNCED
. gO EXCITE THE ATHENIANS AGAINST
PHILIP, KING OF MACEDON.
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? PREFACE.
VIEW OF THE PRINCIPAL STATES OF GREECE-
CHARACTERS OF DEMADES, HYPERIDES, LYCURG1/3,
AND . ESCHINES, THE ORATORS CHARACTER OF
DEMOSTHENES.
To animate a people renowned for justice, hu-
manity, and valour* yet, in many instances, degen-
erate and corrupted; to warn them of the dangers
of luxury, treachery, and bribery; of the ambition
and perfidy of a powerful foreign enemy; to recall
the glory of their ancestors to their thoughts, and
to inspire them with resolution, vigour, and una-
nimity ; to correct abuses ; to restore discipline; to
revive and enforce the generous sentiments of
patriotism and public spirit;--these were the great
purposes for which the following Orations were
originally pronounced. The subject, therefore,
may possibly recommend them to an English
reader, even under the disadvantages of a trans-
lation by no means worthy of the famous original.
His candour may pardon them; or sometimes,
perhaps, they may escape him, if he suffers his
imagination to be possessed with that enthusiasm,
which our orator is, of all others, most capable of
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? 16
PREFACE.
inspiring; and will, for a while, interest himself in
the cause of Athens.
To the history of Greece I must suppose he is
no stranger. Yet, though it may not inform him,
his memory may possibly be assisted by a summary
review of the affairs and interests of that country;
particularly of those divisions which had a long
time subsisted between its principal states, and on
which Philip justly grounded his hopes of success
in his attempts on their liberties.
These states were Laced^mon, Athens, and
Thebes.
The first, famous for her ancient kings, had
acquired new splendour under the reign of Ly-
curgus. The wisdom of the constitution which he
established, and the exact obedience paid to his
laws, preserved the state from those domestic
divisions which prevailed in other places ; and the
remarkable temperance of Sparta, the severity of
her discipline, her public spirit, and concern for the
liberty and happiness of other communities, made
her long revered as the parent of Greece. Her
constitution, however, was not without its faults.
Her government savoured of the humour of her in
habitants, who extended the same harsh severity to
their allies which they used towards each other.
Besides, they were devoted to arms; and their
constitution required continual wars for the preser-
vation of it. This made their government dis-
tasteful, and favoured the ambition of the Athenians
their rivals, who, though a more ancient people, had.
for many years, through their weakness or disorders
lived without any thought of command.
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? PREFACE.
17
Athens was originally governed by kings, the
last of whom sacrificed his life to the good of his
country; and on his death, the Athenians took
occasion to abolish the royalty, and instituted their
perpetual archons, which were changed to a decen-
nial, and afterward to an annual magistracy. The
state, however, was not completely settled until
Solon, by his wise laws, restored the love of labour
and husbandry, opened a way for commerce, taught
his countrymen to enrich themselves, and found
means to subdue their licentiousness by the rules
of justice, order, and discipline. Athens, thus
reformed, was in a fair way of growing great and
illustrious, when one of the citizens found means to
seize the supreme power. The struggles of the
Athenians for liberty against the successors of this
man was one occasion of the Persian war, the
glorious exploits of which are too well known to
need a recital. The victories of Marathon, Sa-
lamis, and Plataea, the chief honour of which the
Athenians assumed to themselves, determined the
character of that people; inspired them with the
highest notions of glory and honour, and at last
prompted them to set up for sovereign umpires of
Greece.
Sparta was willing to resign to them the com
mand of the sea; but they would be absolute in
all; and as they had delivered Greece from the op-
pression of the barbarians, they thought themselves
entitled to oppress her in their turn. They called
themselves protectors of the Grecian cities, but
behaved like their lords; till at last Sparta, urged
by the complaints of several states against the
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? PREFACE.
violence of Athens, began the famous Pelopon-
nesian war, which was carried on with various
success twenty-seven years. The unhappy expe-
dition of the Athenians into Sicily first shook their
power; and the victory of Lysander at iEgos-
Potamos entirely overthrew it.
By this event, however, Greece only changed her
masters. Sparta resumed the superiority; but her
new reign lasted only thirty years. The Spartans
were possessed with such a prejudice in favour of
their own form of government, that they attempted
to abolish democracy every where ; and while they
imposed their thirty tyrants on Athens, established
a government of ten, in other states, composed of
men devoted to their interest. Thus they became
more absolute, but at the same time more odious.
Their prosperity made them presume too much on
their strength. Their forces were lent to support
the pretensions of the younger Cyrus. Their king,
Agesilaus, was sent into Persia, where the Great
King could not put a stop to his progress, but by
bribing the Greeks, and by that means raising up
enemies against Sparta.
The Greeks readily hearkened to his solicita-
tions. The Athenians, at the head of the malecon-
tents, resolved to hazard every thing for liberty;
and without reflecting on their late miserable con-
dition, presumed to affront that state which had
reduced them to it. They knew so well to make
a right use of the oversight the Spartans had com-
mitted in provoking the Great King, that, joining
their force with the Persian fleet, they defeated
them, and rebuilt their walls: nor did they lay
down their arms till the Lacedaemonians were
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? PREFACE.
10
obliged, by a solemn treaty, to restore the Grecian
cities to their liberty. For although the Lacedae-
monians pretended a voluntary generosity in this
affair, yet it appeared by the consequence that fear
only had obliged them to it; as they took an op-
portunity, seme time after, to oppress Thebes,
though expressly comprehended in the treaty.
This raised the states of Greece against them.
The Athenians (who always harboured the most
inveterate hatred and jealousy of them, and had
lately been particularly provoked by an attempt of
one of their generals to seize their port) set them-
selves once more at the head of the confederacy,
and took on themselves the whole expense of the
war; in which their arms were crowned with
victories by sea and land--at Corinth, Naxos,
Corcyra, and Leucas. Thus were the Spartans
obliged to renew the treaty, and the cities of
Greece again restored to an entire independency
These bold efforts of the Athenians to reduce the
Spartan power, and to regain their former sove-
reignty, are frequently extolled in the following
Orations, as the glorious effects of their concern
for the liberties of Greece.
And now the peace was just concluded, and the
Greeks had the fairest prospect of enjoying it,
when, on a sudden, the Thebans started up, and
asserted their claim to sovereign power.
Thebes had, from the earliest ages,been ranVH
among the most considerable states. The natu-
ral slowness and heaviness of the inhabitants
had, however, prevented them from aiming at any
pre-eminence. In the Persian war, they even had
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? 20
PREFACE.
the baseness to join with the barbarians; and m
order to screen themselves from the resentment of
the Athenians on this account, they afterward
attached themselves to Lacedaemon, and continued
firm through the whole course of the Pelopon-
nesian war. They shifted sides, however, some
time after, and had some contests with the Lace-
daemonians. The seizing of their citadel, and the
recovery of it out of the hands of the Lacedae-
monians by Pelopidas, had created a mutual hatred
between these two states : and the Thebans, natu-
rally hardy and robust, and grown experienced
since the Peloponnesian war (from which time
their arms had been constantly exercised), now at
length began to entertain thoughts of commanding.
They refused to accede to the treaty negotiated by
the Athenians, unless they were acknowledged
chief of Boeotia. This refusal not only exposed
them to the resentment of the King of Persia (who
was at that time particularly concerned that the
Greeks should be at peace), but raised Athens,
Sparta, and indeed all Greece against them.
The Lacedaemonians declared war, and thinking
them an easy victory, now that they were deserted
by their allies, marched their forces a considerable
way into the Theban territory. Now it was that
Epaminondas first shone out in all his lustre. He
put himself at the head of the Thebans, and met
the enemy at Leuctra, where he gave them a total
overthrow. He then marched into Peloponnesus,
and had well-nigh made himself master of the city
of Sparta; relieved some people who had been op-
pressed by the Spartans; and by his justice and
magnanimity, his extensive abilities, and zealous
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? PREFACE.
21
concern for his country, promised to raise the
Thebans to the most exalted degree of power and
dignity, when, in another engagement with the
Lacedemonians at Mantinea, he fell, as it were, in
the arms of victory.
The death of Epaminondas, and the peace
which ensued, slackened the zeal of the principal
powers of Greece, and rendered them too secure.
The Athenians, particularly (when they saw the
fortune of Lacedsemon at the lowest ebb, and that
on the part of Thebes they were freed from all
apprehensions by the death of the general, the soul
of their counsels and designs), were now no longer
on their guard, but abandoned themselves to ease
and pleasure. Festivals and public entertainments
engaged their attention, and a violent passion for
the stage banished all thoughts of business and
glory. Poets, players, singers, and dancers were
received with that esteem and applause which were
due to the commanders who fought their battles.
They were rewarded extravagantly, and their per-
formances exhibited with a magnificence scarcely
to be conceived. The treasures which should have
maintained their armies were applied to purchase
seats in their theatres. * Instead of that spirit and
vigour which they exerted against the Persian, they
were possessed with indolence and effeminacy;
they had no further concern about the affairs of war
than just to keep a few foreign troops in pay; in
short, treachery, corruption, and degeneracy over-
spread the state.
But while they were sinking into this condition,
they found themselves unexpectedly engaged with
a very formidable enemy, Philip, king of the Mace-
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Demosthenes.
New York, Harper & bros. [1851? ]
http://hdl. handle. net/2027/nyp. 33433082193412
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? THE ORATIONS Z^'
DEMOSTHENES.
TRANSLATED BY
THOMAS LELAND, D. D.
PAH FRANCISCO
JSCKGESS. GILBERT a STILl
NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
6 8 CLlff STRUT.
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? THE NEW YORK
PDBLIC LI>>? ASY
A1TOR. LSNOX ANf
TILD>>M F8U N ? AtiONS
R tlBtS L
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? CONTENTS
or
THE FIRST VOLUME.
Biographical Sketch or Demosthenes . . . . 7
ORATIONS AGAINST PHILIP.
Preface IS
First Philippic 35
First Olynthiac 59
Second Olynthiac 71
Third Olynthiac * 86
On the Peace 97
Second Phihppic 108
On the State of the Chersonesus 120
Third Philippic 148
Fourth Philippic 164
Philip's Letter to the Athenians 187
On the Letter of Philip 199
Conclusion 206
ORATIONS ON OCCA8IONS OF PUBLIC DELIBERATION.
Preface 211
On the Classes ; . . 231
On the Megalopolitans 249
tor the Liberty of the Rhodians >> 265
FRANCISCO
Bi;ilGESS. G4LUERT * STILL
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? " In the Translation of Demosthenes Lelarx! unites the
man of taste with the man of learning, and shows himself
to have possessed, not only a competent knowledge of ths
Greek language, but that clearness in his own conceptions,
and that animation in his feelings, which enabled him to
catch the real meaning, and to preserve the genuine spirit,
of the most perfect orator Athens ever produced. "--Pabb.
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? BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
DEMOSTHENES.
1 is period in which Demosthenes flourished
may oe justly styled the age of Athenian eloquence.
This distinguished orator was born 382 years
before the Christian era: he was the son of one
of the principal citizens of Athens, and inherited
a considerable fortune; but as he was only seven
years of age at the time of his father's death, he
remained nearly ten years under the care of guar-
dians, who converted a part of his fortune to their
own use, defrauded his tutors of their salaries, and
thus deprived him of those advantages of early
education to which he was entitled.
At the age of sixteen he first heard the orator
Callistratus plead in an important cause, and, ex-
cited by a spirit of emulation, from that time de-
voted himself with the strictest assiduity to the
study of eloquence. Isa;us was his first preceptor;
but it is stated that he received assistance from
Plato, and Callias the Syracusan, and that he also
derived great advantages from the systems of rheto-
ric taught by Isocrates and Alcidamus.
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? 8
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
In his eighteenth year he called his guardians
to account; and as they resorted to various me-
thods of delay, he had thus many opportunities for
exercising his talents at the bar, and at length suc-
ceeded in recovering a portion of his patrimony.
From this period he took part in the public de-
bates, in the hope of obtaining a share in' the ad-
ministration ; but in this he was at first wholly un-
successful. The natural weakness of his voice
rendered him unfit to address a popular assembly ;
and he now began to prepare himself, by strong
bodily exercise, for the labours of the rostrum, and
studied to acquire that grace and dignity of action
without which the best oration could produce but
little effect. For this purpose he constructed a
subterraneous study, where he might form his ac-
tion, exercise his voice, and adjust all his motions
before a mirror. In this retirement he is said to
have composed many of those orations which have
excited the admiration of every succeeding age.
Demetrius relates an account which he received
from Demosthenes himself, of the remedies to
which the orator resorted with a view to remove
the defects under which he laboured at the com-
mencement of his career. By accustoming him-
self to speak with small pebbles in his mouth, hr-
overcame a natural hesitation; by running or walk-
mg up a steep hill while pronouncing some passage
in an oration, he succeeded in strengthening his
voice; and by frequently declaiming alone on the
seashore, he prepared himself to harangue a tu-
multuous assembly.
At other times, when he occasionally made or
received visits, some part of the conversation which
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In this retirement he is said to
have composed many of those orations which have
excited the admiration of every succeeding age.
Demetrius relates an account which he received
from Demosthenes himself, of the remedies to
which the orator resorted with a view to remove
the defects under which he laboured at the com-
mencement of his career. By accustoming him-
self to speak with small pebbles in his mouth, hr-
overcame a natural hesitation; by running or walk-
mg up a steep hill while pronouncing some passage
in an oration, he succeeded in strengthening his
voice; and by frequently declaiming alone on the
seashore, he prepared himself to harangue a tu-
multuous assembly.
At other times, when he occasionally made or
received visits, some part of the conversation which
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-27 05:09 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/nyp. 33433082193412 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? OF DEMOSTHENES.
B
had passed formed a subject for exercising his
growing talent. He also committed to memory
the substance of speeches which he heard, and
reduced them to regular periods and sentences,--
a practice in which he was imitated by Cicero.
Demosthenes was in his twenty-eighth year
when he entered on public business; and in the
time of the Phocian war,:at the:age of thirty, he
commenced his orations against Philip, king of
Macedon. The purposes for which these orations
were originally pronounced--a summary review
of the affairs of Greece, particularly of the divisions
which so long subsisted between the states of
Lacedaemon, Athens, and Thebes--and an account
of the measures pursued by Philip to lay the found-
ation of a most extensive empire,--will be found
in the following Preface ;* and the Introductions
to the several Orations furnish the reader with an
interesting view of the effects which they produced
on the Athenians.
To defend the cause of Greece against the art-
ful policy of Philip afforded the Orator a glorious
subject for his political ambition; and he soon ac-
quired gTeat reputation for his eloquence and the
bold truths which he uttered. He was admired in
Greece, and courted by the King of Persia: Philip
himself entertained a high opinion of him, and
even his enemies acknowledged his superior talents
and integrity. The key of politics he first touched
ue kept to without variation.
Pansetius asserts that most of the Orations of
? This is concluded by a brief sketch of the characters of Demades,
Hyperides, Lycurgus, and jEschines, with Home remarks on the pecu-
liar excellences of Demosthenes as an orator.
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? 10
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Demosthenes are written on a virtuous principle
and Plutarch observes, " that he does not exhoi*
his countrymen to that which is most agreeable, or
easy, or advantageous, but points out honour and
propriety as the first objects, and leaves the safety
of the state as a matter of inferior consideration. "
The reputation he acquired placed him at the head
of the government of Athens: in this public ca-
pacity he opposed the inclinations, and corrected the
errors, of his countrymen. His eloquence is not
distinguished by the arts of mild persuasion, but
by a bold, manly, and energetic style, which failed
not to fix the attention and to rouse the energies
of his hearers, and to awaken that spirit of patriot-
ism which is calculated to secure the liberties of
a people.
In integrity of conduct he is acknowledged to
have surpassed all his contemporaries except Pho-
cion; and if he had not been suspected of want
of courage in the field of battle, and of receiving a
bribe from Harpalus, he would have deservedly
ranked with Cimon, Thucydides, and Pericles.
In the battle of Chaeronea, according to the tes-
timony of Plutarch, he betrayed his pusillanimity,
quitted his post, and fled. But the charge of
bribery preferred against him at a later period of
his life strongly excited the Athenians against him,
as will be seen in the Translator's Introduction to
the Oration of Dinarchus. Demosthenes had
long resisted the assaults of corruption from Philip,
and boasted that all the gold of Macedonia could
not tempt him; but his enemies accused him of
having received a present of a golden vase, ac-
companied by twenty talents, from the hands of
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? OF DEMOSTHENES.
11
Harpalus,* which is said to have induced the Orator
to feign indisposition in the assembly, and to make
signs that he had lost his voice ; on which it was
observed, that " it was no common hoarseness he
had got in the night--it was occasioned by swal-
lowing gold and silver! " His accuser was a venal
orator; but the court of Areopagus condemned
him, and he was compelled to retire from Athens.
Pausanias, who entertained a high opinion of
the integrity of Demosthenes, treats the charge as
a calumny, and offers strong proofs of his inno-
cence--proofs which appear to have had due
weight with the learned Translator in his Appendix
to the Notes on the Philippic Orations, to
which the reader is referred for a history of the
Orator, from his public administration down to the
fatal period of his life.
* During the expedition of Alexander to India, lTarpalus had the
charge of the Babylonian treasury, on which he committed great ex-
cesses: fearing the resentment of his master, he fled to Attica with firs
thousand talents, accompanied by six thousand men, and sought refuge
In Athens.
Vol. I. --B
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? /
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? TR1
ORATIONS OF DEMOSTHENES,
PRONOUNCED
. gO EXCITE THE ATHENIANS AGAINST
PHILIP, KING OF MACEDON.
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? PREFACE.
VIEW OF THE PRINCIPAL STATES OF GREECE-
CHARACTERS OF DEMADES, HYPERIDES, LYCURG1/3,
AND . ESCHINES, THE ORATORS CHARACTER OF
DEMOSTHENES.
To animate a people renowned for justice, hu-
manity, and valour* yet, in many instances, degen-
erate and corrupted; to warn them of the dangers
of luxury, treachery, and bribery; of the ambition
and perfidy of a powerful foreign enemy; to recall
the glory of their ancestors to their thoughts, and
to inspire them with resolution, vigour, and una-
nimity ; to correct abuses ; to restore discipline; to
revive and enforce the generous sentiments of
patriotism and public spirit;--these were the great
purposes for which the following Orations were
originally pronounced. The subject, therefore,
may possibly recommend them to an English
reader, even under the disadvantages of a trans-
lation by no means worthy of the famous original.
His candour may pardon them; or sometimes,
perhaps, they may escape him, if he suffers his
imagination to be possessed with that enthusiasm,
which our orator is, of all others, most capable of
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? 16
PREFACE.
inspiring; and will, for a while, interest himself in
the cause of Athens.
To the history of Greece I must suppose he is
no stranger. Yet, though it may not inform him,
his memory may possibly be assisted by a summary
review of the affairs and interests of that country;
particularly of those divisions which had a long
time subsisted between its principal states, and on
which Philip justly grounded his hopes of success
in his attempts on their liberties.
These states were Laced^mon, Athens, and
Thebes.
The first, famous for her ancient kings, had
acquired new splendour under the reign of Ly-
curgus. The wisdom of the constitution which he
established, and the exact obedience paid to his
laws, preserved the state from those domestic
divisions which prevailed in other places ; and the
remarkable temperance of Sparta, the severity of
her discipline, her public spirit, and concern for the
liberty and happiness of other communities, made
her long revered as the parent of Greece. Her
constitution, however, was not without its faults.
Her government savoured of the humour of her in
habitants, who extended the same harsh severity to
their allies which they used towards each other.
Besides, they were devoted to arms; and their
constitution required continual wars for the preser-
vation of it. This made their government dis-
tasteful, and favoured the ambition of the Athenians
their rivals, who, though a more ancient people, had.
for many years, through their weakness or disorders
lived without any thought of command.
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? PREFACE.
17
Athens was originally governed by kings, the
last of whom sacrificed his life to the good of his
country; and on his death, the Athenians took
occasion to abolish the royalty, and instituted their
perpetual archons, which were changed to a decen-
nial, and afterward to an annual magistracy. The
state, however, was not completely settled until
Solon, by his wise laws, restored the love of labour
and husbandry, opened a way for commerce, taught
his countrymen to enrich themselves, and found
means to subdue their licentiousness by the rules
of justice, order, and discipline. Athens, thus
reformed, was in a fair way of growing great and
illustrious, when one of the citizens found means to
seize the supreme power. The struggles of the
Athenians for liberty against the successors of this
man was one occasion of the Persian war, the
glorious exploits of which are too well known to
need a recital. The victories of Marathon, Sa-
lamis, and Plataea, the chief honour of which the
Athenians assumed to themselves, determined the
character of that people; inspired them with the
highest notions of glory and honour, and at last
prompted them to set up for sovereign umpires of
Greece.
Sparta was willing to resign to them the com
mand of the sea; but they would be absolute in
all; and as they had delivered Greece from the op-
pression of the barbarians, they thought themselves
entitled to oppress her in their turn. They called
themselves protectors of the Grecian cities, but
behaved like their lords; till at last Sparta, urged
by the complaints of several states against the
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? PREFACE.
violence of Athens, began the famous Pelopon-
nesian war, which was carried on with various
success twenty-seven years. The unhappy expe-
dition of the Athenians into Sicily first shook their
power; and the victory of Lysander at iEgos-
Potamos entirely overthrew it.
By this event, however, Greece only changed her
masters. Sparta resumed the superiority; but her
new reign lasted only thirty years. The Spartans
were possessed with such a prejudice in favour of
their own form of government, that they attempted
to abolish democracy every where ; and while they
imposed their thirty tyrants on Athens, established
a government of ten, in other states, composed of
men devoted to their interest. Thus they became
more absolute, but at the same time more odious.
Their prosperity made them presume too much on
their strength. Their forces were lent to support
the pretensions of the younger Cyrus. Their king,
Agesilaus, was sent into Persia, where the Great
King could not put a stop to his progress, but by
bribing the Greeks, and by that means raising up
enemies against Sparta.
The Greeks readily hearkened to his solicita-
tions. The Athenians, at the head of the malecon-
tents, resolved to hazard every thing for liberty;
and without reflecting on their late miserable con-
dition, presumed to affront that state which had
reduced them to it. They knew so well to make
a right use of the oversight the Spartans had com-
mitted in provoking the Great King, that, joining
their force with the Persian fleet, they defeated
them, and rebuilt their walls: nor did they lay
down their arms till the Lacedaemonians were
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? PREFACE.
10
obliged, by a solemn treaty, to restore the Grecian
cities to their liberty. For although the Lacedae-
monians pretended a voluntary generosity in this
affair, yet it appeared by the consequence that fear
only had obliged them to it; as they took an op-
portunity, seme time after, to oppress Thebes,
though expressly comprehended in the treaty.
This raised the states of Greece against them.
The Athenians (who always harboured the most
inveterate hatred and jealousy of them, and had
lately been particularly provoked by an attempt of
one of their generals to seize their port) set them-
selves once more at the head of the confederacy,
and took on themselves the whole expense of the
war; in which their arms were crowned with
victories by sea and land--at Corinth, Naxos,
Corcyra, and Leucas. Thus were the Spartans
obliged to renew the treaty, and the cities of
Greece again restored to an entire independency
These bold efforts of the Athenians to reduce the
Spartan power, and to regain their former sove-
reignty, are frequently extolled in the following
Orations, as the glorious effects of their concern
for the liberties of Greece.
And now the peace was just concluded, and the
Greeks had the fairest prospect of enjoying it,
when, on a sudden, the Thebans started up, and
asserted their claim to sovereign power.
Thebes had, from the earliest ages,been ranVH
among the most considerable states. The natu-
ral slowness and heaviness of the inhabitants
had, however, prevented them from aiming at any
pre-eminence. In the Persian war, they even had
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? 20
PREFACE.
the baseness to join with the barbarians; and m
order to screen themselves from the resentment of
the Athenians on this account, they afterward
attached themselves to Lacedaemon, and continued
firm through the whole course of the Pelopon-
nesian war. They shifted sides, however, some
time after, and had some contests with the Lace-
daemonians. The seizing of their citadel, and the
recovery of it out of the hands of the Lacedae-
monians by Pelopidas, had created a mutual hatred
between these two states : and the Thebans, natu-
rally hardy and robust, and grown experienced
since the Peloponnesian war (from which time
their arms had been constantly exercised), now at
length began to entertain thoughts of commanding.
They refused to accede to the treaty negotiated by
the Athenians, unless they were acknowledged
chief of Boeotia. This refusal not only exposed
them to the resentment of the King of Persia (who
was at that time particularly concerned that the
Greeks should be at peace), but raised Athens,
Sparta, and indeed all Greece against them.
The Lacedaemonians declared war, and thinking
them an easy victory, now that they were deserted
by their allies, marched their forces a considerable
way into the Theban territory. Now it was that
Epaminondas first shone out in all his lustre. He
put himself at the head of the Thebans, and met
the enemy at Leuctra, where he gave them a total
overthrow. He then marched into Peloponnesus,
and had well-nigh made himself master of the city
of Sparta; relieved some people who had been op-
pressed by the Spartans; and by his justice and
magnanimity, his extensive abilities, and zealous
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? PREFACE.
21
concern for his country, promised to raise the
Thebans to the most exalted degree of power and
dignity, when, in another engagement with the
Lacedemonians at Mantinea, he fell, as it were, in
the arms of victory.
The death of Epaminondas, and the peace
which ensued, slackened the zeal of the principal
powers of Greece, and rendered them too secure.
The Athenians, particularly (when they saw the
fortune of Lacedsemon at the lowest ebb, and that
on the part of Thebes they were freed from all
apprehensions by the death of the general, the soul
of their counsels and designs), were now no longer
on their guard, but abandoned themselves to ease
and pleasure. Festivals and public entertainments
engaged their attention, and a violent passion for
the stage banished all thoughts of business and
glory. Poets, players, singers, and dancers were
received with that esteem and applause which were
due to the commanders who fought their battles.
They were rewarded extravagantly, and their per-
formances exhibited with a magnificence scarcely
to be conceived. The treasures which should have
maintained their armies were applied to purchase
seats in their theatres. * Instead of that spirit and
vigour which they exerted against the Persian, they
were possessed with indolence and effeminacy;
they had no further concern about the affairs of war
than just to keep a few foreign troops in pay; in
short, treachery, corruption, and degeneracy over-
spread the state.
But while they were sinking into this condition,
they found themselves unexpectedly engaged with
a very formidable enemy, Philip, king of the Mace-
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