]--It has been already observed in the
prefer* to these orations that Demosthenes takes many occasions of
extolling the efforts of Athens to reduce the Spartan power, and to regain
that sovereignty which tl.
prefer* to these orations that Demosthenes takes many occasions of
extolling the efforts of Athens to reduce the Spartan power, and to regain
that sovereignty which tl.
Demosthenes - Leland - Orations
Many of those orators
who about that time took the lead in the Athenian
assemblies are lost to posterity. The characters,
however, of the most eminent have been trans-
mitted, or may be collected from the writings of
antiquity.
Demades, by his birth and education, seemed
destined to meanness and obscurity; but as the
Athenian assembly admitted persons of all ranks
and occupations to speak their sentiments, his
powers soon recommended him to his countrymen,
and raised him from the low condition of a common
mariner to the administration and direction of public
affairs. His private life was stained with those
brutal excesses which frequently attend the want
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? PREFACE.
29
of early culture, and an intercourse with the infe-
rior and least refined part of mankind. His con-
duct, as a leader and minister, was not actuated
by the principles of delicate honour and integrity;
and his eloquence seems to have received a tincture
from his original condition. He appears to have
been a strong, bold, and what we call a blunt
speaker; whose manner, rude and daring, and
sometimes bordering on extravagance, had often-
times a greater effect than the more corrected style
of. other speakers, who confined themselves within
the bounds of decorum and good-breeding.
Hyperides, on the contrary, was blessed with
all the graces of refinement; harmonious, elegant,
and polite ; with a well-bred festivity, and delicate
irony; excellent in panegyric; and of great natural
abilities for affecting the passions. Yet his elo-
quence seems rather to have been pleasing than
persuasive. He is said to have been not so well
fitted for a popular assembly, and for political de-
bates, as for private causes, and addressing a few
select judges. And even here, when he pleaded
the cause of a woman for whom he had die ten-
derest passion, he was obliged to call the charms
of his mistress to the assistance of his eloquence,
and was more indebted to these for his success
than to his own powers.
Lycurgus had all the advantages which birth
and education could afford for forming an orator.
He was the hearer of Plato, and the scholar of
Isocrates. He seems to have been particularly
affected by the charms of poetry and the polite
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? SO PREFACE.
J
arts; nor was he less remarkable for diligence and
attention; yet his influence in the assembly seems,
like that of Phocion, to have arisen rather from a
respect to his character, and the general opinion
of his virtue and integrity, than from his abilities
as a speaker.
jEschines was an orator whose style was full,
diffusive, and sonorous. He was a stranger to the
glowing expressions and daring figures of Demos-
thenes, which he treats with contempt and ridicule.
But, though more simple, he is less affecting; and,
by being less contracted, has not so much strength
and energy: or, as Quintilian expresses it, " camis
plus habet, lacertorum minus. " But if we would
view his abilities to the greatest advantage, we must
not compare them with those of his rival. Then
will his figures appear to want neither beauty nor
grandeur. His easy and natural manner will then
be thought highly pleasing; and a just attention will
discover a good degree of force and energy in his
style, which at first appears only flowing and har-
monious.
But all the several excellences of his country-
men and contemporaries were at least equalled by
Demosthenes. 1 His own no age or nation could
attain to. From him critics have formed their
rules; and all the masters in his own art have
thought it an honour to imitate him. To enlarge
on his character would be to resume a subject
already exhausted by every critic, both ancient and
1 Nihil Lysia e subtilitate cedit; nihil argutiis et acnmine Hyperifi
tihil lenitste jEachini, et splendors verborum. --Cic. m Okas.
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? PREFACE.
31
. modem. Let it be sufficient to say, that energy
and majesty are his peculiar excellences. From
the gravity of Thucydides, the pomp and dignity
of Plato, the ease and elegance, the neatness and
simplicity of the Attic writers, he formed a style
and manner admirably fitted to his own temper and
genius, as well as that of his hearers. His own
severity determined him to the more forcible
methods of astonishing and terrifying, rather than
to the gentle and insinuating arts of persuasion:
nor did the circumstances and dispositions of his
countrymen admit of any but violent impressions.
As many of those to whom he addressed himself
were men of low rank and occupations, his images
and expressions are sometimes familiar. As others
of them were themselves eminent in speaking, and
could readily see through all the eommon artifices
of oratory, these he affects to despise: appears
only solicitous to be understood ; yet, as it were,
without design, raises the utmost admiration and
delight; such delight as arises from the clearness
of evidence and the fulness of conviction. And as
all, even the lower part of his hearers, were
acquainted with the beauties of poetry, and the
force of harmony, he could not admit of any thing
rude or negligent; but with the strictest attention
laboured those compositions which appear so natural
and unadorned. They have their ornaments; but
these are austere and manly, and such as are con-
sistent with freedom and sincerity. A full and
regular series of diffusive reasoning would have
been intolerable in an Athenian assembly. He
often contents himself with an imperfect hint: a
sentence, a word, even his silence is sometimes
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? 32
PREFACE.
pregnant with meaning. And tms quicKnes. and
vehemence flattered a people who valued them-
selves on their acuteness and penetration. The
impetuous torrent that-in a moment bears down all
before it; the repeated flashes of lightning, which
spread universal terror, and which the strongest
eye dares not encounter, are the images by which
the nature of his eloquence hath been expressed.
As a statesman and as a citizen his conduct was
no less remarkable. If the fire of his eloquence
seems sometimes abated, his judgment and accuracy
and political abilities are then conspicuous. The
bravery with which he opposed the passions and
prejudices of his countrymen, and the general
integrity of his character (to which Philip himself
bare witness), are deserving of the highest honour;
and, whatever weakness he betrayed in his military
conduct, his death must be acknowledged truly
heroic.
The reader will observe, that the oration entitled
" On the Halonesus" is not admitted into the follow-
ing collection. * Some critics ascribe it to Hege*
sippus,1 an Athenian orator, of inferior character.
* This determination on the part of the translator was subsequently
abandoned, as will be seen by the introduction to the suspected oration.
1 In the oration on the Halonesus, the speaker takes notice of nia
having been the manager of a prosecution against Caiippus, on account
of an illegal motion made by this man in the assembly relative to the
boundaries of Cardia. Hegesippus was the person who conducted this
prosecution: and this circumstance Libanius mentions as having (to-
gether with the difference of style) induced the critics to ascribe this
oration, not to Demosthenes, but to Hegesippus. To this we may add
another circumstance of the like nature. The speaker observes that he
went on an embassy to Macedon, in order to obtain an explanation and
amendment of some articles in the treaty concluded between Philip and
the Athenians. Hegesippus was at the bead of this embassy: nor waa
Demosthenes at all concerned in it; as appears from the oration of Ibis
latter (irtpt rya riapaff. ).
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? PREFACE.
33
But, however this may be, it is certainly entirely
different from those compositions of Demosthenes
which are confessedly genuine. That he really
wrote an oration so entitled,1 the authority of the
ancient writers confirm, I think, sufficiently. But
one would be tempted to believe that the passages
which they have quoted had been taken up by some
old scholiast, and inserted in a performance of his
own
1 . flLschines, in his oration on the embassy, mentions two particulars
in that of Demosthenes on the Halonesus, neither of which are found in
the oration now extant. The first is, that Demosthenes treated Philip's
ambassadors with great severity, and insisted that they were really sent
as spies. The other, that he recommended to the Athenians by. no
means to submit their disputes with Philip to the decision of an umpire;
fcr that no one impartial mediating state could be found through Greece,
at* totally were the minds of all men corrupted by the Macedonian.
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? THE FIRST ORATION AGAINST PHILIP:
PRONOUNCED IN THE ARCHONSHIP OF ARIST0DEMUS, IN THE FIRST TEAR
OP THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH OLYMPIAD, AND THE NINTH OF PHILIP*!
INTRODUCTION.
We bare seen Philip opposed in his design of passing into Greeoe
through Thermopylae, and obliged to retire. The danger they had thns
escaped deeply affected the Athenians. So daring an attempt, which
was in effect declaring his purposes, filled them with astonishment;
and the view of a power which every day received new accession*
drove them even to despair. Yet their aversion to public business was
still predominant. They forgot that Philip might renew his attempt, and
thought they had provided sufficiently for their security by posting a body
of troops at the entrance of Attica, under the command of Menelaus, a
foreigner. They then proceeded to convene an assembly of the people,
in order to consider what measures were to be taken to check the pro-
gress of Philip; on which occasion Demosthenes, for the first time, ap-
peared against that prince, and displayed those abilities which proved
the greatest obstacle to his designs.
At Athens the whole power and management of affairs were placed in
the people. It was their prerogative to receive appeals from the courts
of justice, to abrogate and enact laws, to make what alterations in the
state they judged convenient; in short, all matters, public or private,
foreign or domestic, civil, military, or religious, were determined by them.
Whenever there was occasion 10 deliberate the people assembled early
in the morning, sometimes in the forum or public place, sometimes in a
place called Pnyx; but most frequently in the theatre of Bacchus. A
few days before each assembly there was a -npoypanna or placard fixed
on the statues of some illustrious men erected in the city, to give notice
of the subject to be debated. As they refused admittance into the as-
sembly to all persons who had not attained the necessary age, so they
obliged all others to attend. The lexiarchs stretched nut a cord died
with scarlet, and by it pushed the people towards the place of meeting.
Such as received the stain were fined; the more diligent had a small
pecuniar}' reward. These lexiarchs were the keepers of the register in
which were enrolled the names of such citizens as had a right of voting;
and all had this right who were of age, and not excluded by a personal
fault. Undutiful children, cowards, brutal debauchees, prodigals, debtors
to the public, were all excluded. Until the time of Cecropa women had
a right of suffrage, which they were said to have lost on account of
their partiality to Minerva in her dispute with Neptune about giving a
name to the city.
In ordinary cases all matters were first deliberated in the senate of fiva
hundred, composed of fifty senators chosen out of each of the ten'ribsa
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? 46
INTRODUCTION.
Each tribe had its turn of presiding, and the fifty senators in office were
called prytanes: and, according to the number of the tribes, the Artie
year was divided into ten parts, the first four containing thirty-six, the
other thirty-five days, in order to make the lunar year complete, which,
according to their calculation, contained three hundred and fifty-four
days. During each of these divisions ten of the fifty prytanes governed
for a week, and were called proCdri; and of these he who in the course
of the week presided for one day was called the epistate; three of the
profidri being excluded from this office.
The prytanes assembled the people; the profidri declared the occasion
and the epistate demanded their voices. This was the case in the ordi
nary assemblies: the extraordinary were convened as well by the gene
rals as the prytanes; and sometimes the people met of their own accord,
without waiting the formalities.
The assembly was opened by a sacrifice, and the place was sprinkled
with the blood of the victim. Then an imprecation was pronounced,
conceived in these terms: " May the gods pursue that man to destruction
with all his race, who shall act, speak, or contrive any thing against this
state V This ceremony being finished, the proSdri declared the occasion
of the assembly, and reported the opinion of the senate. If any doubt
arose, a herald, by commission from the epistate, with a loud voice,
invited any citizen, first of those above the age of fifty, tospeak his opinion:
and then the rest according to their ages. This right of precedence had
been granted by a law of Solon, and the order of speaking determined
entirely by the difference of years. In the time of Demosthenes this law
was not in force. It is said to havo been repealed about fifty years before
the date of this oration. Yet the custom still continued out of respect to
Ihe reasonable and decent purpose for which the law was originally en-
acted. When a speaker had delivered his sentiments he generally called
on an officer, appointed for that purpose, to read his motion, and propound
it in form. He then sat down, or resumed his discourse, and enforced
his motion by additional arguments: and sometimes the speech was
introduced by his motion thus propounded. When all the speakers had
ended the people gave their opinion, by stretching out their hands to him
whose proposal pleased them most: and Xenophon reports, that, night
having come on when the people were engaged in an important debate,
they were obliged to defer their determination till next day, for fear of
confusion when their hands were to be raised.
" Porrexerunt manus. " saith Cicero (pro Flacco), "et psephisma natum
est. " And, to constitute this psephisma or decree, six thousand citizens
at least were required. When it was drawn up, the name of its author,
or that person whose opinion had prevailed, was prefixed : whence, in
speaking of it, they called it his decree. The date of it contained the
name of the archon, that of the day and month, and that of the tribe then
presiding. The business being over, the prytanes dismissed the assembly
The reader who chooses to be more minutely informed in the customs,
and manner of procedure in the public assemblies of Athens, may con-
sult the Archspologia of Archbishop Potter,* Sigonius, sr the Concion-
atrices of Aristophanes.
* A second edition of "Robinson's Archaeologia Groca, or the Antiqui-
ties of Greece," considerably enlarged and improved, and illustrated by
a map and designs from the antique, has been recently published in one
vol. 8vq-
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? PHILIPPIC THE FIRST
Had we been convened, Athenians, on some new
subject of debate, I had waited until most of the usual
persons had declared their opinions. If I had ap-
proved of any thing proposed by them, I should
nave continued silent: if not, I had then attempted
to speak my sentiments. But since those very points
on which these speakers have oftentimes been heard
already are, at this time, to be considered, though I
have risen first,11 presume I may expect your par-
don ; for if they on former occasions had advised the
necessary measures, ye would not have found it
needful to consult at present.
First, then, Athenians, these our affairs must not be
thought desperate: no, though their situation seems
entirely deplorable ! for the most shocking circum-
stance of all our past conduct is really the most'
favourable to our future expectations. And what is
this ? That our own total indolence hath been the
cause of all our present difficulties: for were we thus
distressed, in spite of every vigorous effort which the
honour of our state demanded, there were then no
hope of a recovery.
In the next place, reflect--you who have been
informed by others, and you who can yourselves
1 Though I hiive risen first, &c. ]--Demosthenes was at that time but
thirty years old, which made it necessary for him to apologize l'or his
zeal in rising before the other speakers: and the ingenious turn which he
gives it not only prevents any unfavourable impression on the minds of
his hearers, but engages their affection, and excites their attention, by
the tacit promise of better counsel than they had hitherto received
Tourrcil.
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? 38 ORATIONS OF DEMOSTHENES.
remember--how great a power' the Lacedaemonians
not long since possessed; and with what resolution,
with what dignity you disdained to act unworthy of
the state, but maintained the war against them for the
rights of Greece. Why do I mention these things ?
That ye may know, that ye may see, Athenians, that
if duly vigilant ye cannot have any thing to fear;
that if once remiss, not any thing can happen agree-
ably to your desires: witness the then powerful arms
of Lacedaemon, which a just attention to your mterests
enabled you to vanquish; and this man's late insolent
attempt, which our insensibility to all our great con-
cerns hath made the cause of this confusion.
If there be a man in this assembly who thinks that
we must find a formidable enemy in Philip, while he
views, on one hand, the numerous armies" which at-
tend him ; and, on the other, the weakness of the state
thus despoiled of its dominions--he thinks justly.
Yet let him reflect on this; there was a time, Athe-
nians, when we possessed Pydna, and Potidaea, and
Methone, and all that country round; when many
of those states now subjected to him were free and
independent, and more inclined to our alliance than
to his. Had then Philip reasoned in the same man-
ner, " How shall I dare to attack the Athenians,
whose garrisons command my territory, while I am
destitute of all assistance V he would not have en-
1 How great a power, Ac.
]--It has been already observed in the
prefer* to these orations that Demosthenes takes many occasions of
extolling the efforts of Athens to reduce the Spartan power, and to regain
that sovereignty which tl. sy lost by the victory of Lysander at JEgos-
Potamos. These efforts he every where represents as high instances of
magnanimity and public spirit: though revenge and jealousy had no less
share in them. The victories which the Athenians gained over Sparta
at Corinth, Naxos, Ac. , and which he here alludes to, happened about
twenty-four years before the date of this oration ; so that he might well
appeal to the memories of many persons present.
2 The numerous armies, Ac. ]--The number of Philip's threes at that
time amounted to twenty thousand foot and three thousand horse; a
great army compared with those of the Greeks. At their march to Mara-
thon the Athenians could not assemble more than '<"i thousand force*.
--Tourreil.
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? PHILIPPIC THE FIRST. 39
gaged in those enterprises which are now crowned
with success; nor could he have raised himself to
this pitch of greatness. No, Athenians, he knew this
well, that all these places are but prizes,1 laid between
the combatants, and ready for the conqueror: that
the dominions of the absent devolve naturally to those
who are in the field; the possessions of the supine to
the active and intrepid. Animated by these senti-
ments, he overturns whole countries; he holds all
people in subjection: some, as by the right of con-
quest ; others, under the title of allies and confede-
rates ; for all are willing to confederate with those
whom they see prepared and resolved to exert them-
selves as they ought.
And if you, my countrymen, will now at length be
persuaded to entertain the like sentiments; if each of
you, renouncing all evasions, will be ready to approve
himself a useful citizen, to the utmost that his station
and abilities demand; if the rich will be ready to con
tribute, and the young to take the field. in one word,
if you will be yourselves, and banish those vain hopes
which every single person entertains, that while so
many others are engaged in public business,his service
will not be required; you then (if Heaven so pleases)
shall regain your dominions, recall those opportunities
your supineness hath neglected, and chastise the inso-
lence of this man: for you are not to imagine that,
like a god, he is to enjoy his present greatness for
ever fixed and unchangeable. No, Athenians, there
are who hate him, who fear him, who envy him, even
among those seemingly the most attached to his
cause. These are passions common to mankind;
noi must we think that his friends only are exempted
from them. It is true they lie concealed at present,
as our indolence deprives them of all resource. But
let us shake off this indolence; for you see how we
1 But prizes, &c. ]--His hearers were of all others most devoted to
public games and entertainments, and must therefore have been par*
ticularly sensible of the beauty of this image.
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? 40 ORATIONS OF DEMOSTHENES.
are situated; you see the outrageous arrogance of
this man, who does not leave it to your choice whether
you shall act or remain quiet: but braves you with
his menaces; and talks, as we are informed,1 in a
strain of the highest extravagance ; and is not able
to rest satisfied with his present acquisitions, but is
ever in pursuit of further conquests; and while we
sit down, inactive and irresolute, encloses us on all
sides with his toils.
When, therefore, O my countrymen! when will
you exert your vigour 1 When roused by some event ?
when forced by some necessity ? What then are we
to think of our present condition 1 To freemen, the
disgrace attending on misconduct is, in my opinion,
the most urgent necessity. Or say, is it your sole
ambition to wander through the public places, each
inquiring of the other, " What new advices V Can
any thing be more new than that a man of Macedon
should conquer the Athenians, and give law to
Greece ? --" Is Philip dead ? "2--" No, but in great dan-
ger. " How are you concerned in those rumours ?
Suppose he should meet some fatal stroke; you
would soon raise up another Philip, if your interests
1 And talks, as we are informed, &C. 1--The success which had hith
erto attended Philip's arms must naturally have inspired him with those
designs which he afterward executed against the Athenians; and
resentment of their late opposition at Thermopylae might have made him
less careful to conceal them, at least in his own court. This the orator
represents as arrogant and extravagant menaces: not that a man who
had so just a conception of the weakness of the Athenian politics, and
the vigour and abilities of their enemy, could really believe such designs
extravagant and romantic ; but it was part of his' address sometimes to
avoid shocking the national vanity of his countrymen. After all their
losses, and amid all their indolence, they could not entertain a thought
so mortifying, as that the conquerors of Persia and the arbiters of Greece
could ever see their liberty essentially affected, or their power and glory
entirely wrested from them by a king of Macedon.
2 Is Philip dead These rumours and inquiries of the Athenians were
occasioned by the wound Philip received at Methone, the year before, and
which was followed by a dangerous fit of sickness. Louginus quotes this
whole passage as a beautiful instance of those pathetic figures which
jive life and force and energy to an oration. --Tourreil.
The English reader will tnd the remark in sect. 18. of Mr. Smith'!
translation.
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? PHILIPPIC THE FIRST.
41
are thus regarded: for it is not to his own strength
that he so much owes his elevation as to oursupine-
ness. And should some accident' affect him, should
Fortune, who hath ever been more careful of the
state than we ourselves, now repeat her favours;
(and may she thus crown them! ) be assured of this,
that by being on the spot, ready to take advantage of
the confusion, you will every where be absolute mas-
ters : but in your present disposition, even if a
favourable juncture should present you with Am-
phipolis,2 you could not take possession of it while
1 Some accident, &c. If he should die. ]--"This is plainly the sense of
It: btu it must be expressed covertly, as Demosthenes has done, not to
transgress against that decorum which, Cicero says, this orator made his
first rule. For there were certain things which the ancients presumed
not to express, but in terms obscure and gentle, that they might not pro-
nounce what were called verba male ominata. They did not dare to say
to any person. If you should be killed ; if you should die: they concealed
as much as possible the melancholy and odious idea of an approaching,
or even of a distant death. The Greeks said << rt iraQois ; the Romans, st
quid humanitus contingat. --Olivet.
2 Present you with Amphipolis, &c. ]--They had nothing more at heart
than the recovery of this city. So that the orator here gives the last and
most heightening stroke to his description of their indolence. --Tourreil.
And at the same time, by artfully hinting at such an event as possible,
he rouses their attention, and enlivens their hopes and expectations.
The Italian commentatorillustrates this passage in the following man
ner: a Monet orator, quod quamvis accidat, ejusdeni (sc. Amphipolis),
compotes fieri, ipsis tamen non satis id fore ad turbandas res Macedom-
cas; cum aliis tot locis, quee memoravimus, privati, ad tan tam rernm
molem parum opis habere possint, ex una duntaxat civitate. " Accord-
ingly, the passage before us has been rendered to this effect; " If some
favourable conjuncture should deliver up Amphipolis to you, &c. , you
could not receive the least benefit from the possession, with respect to
Macedon. " The assertion of the orator, as expressed in the present trans-
lation, has been pronounced extraordinary, and the argument inconclusive.
The substance, therefore, of the present argument I shall here endeavour
to collect: " You are all earnest to be informed whether Philip be dead
or no. But, unless you change your measures, his death or life can
make no difference, or prove of any consequence. Indeed, if some acci-
dent should take him off, nothing more would be necessary to give you
the full advantage of the confusion which such an event must occasion
than to appear on the frontier of Macedon with a powerful force. This
would make you absolute masters of the country. But in your present
circumstances, what would itavail, even if such a favourable incident as
that of Philip's death should give you an opportunity of recovering Am-
phipolis ? So important an acquisition (which would in a great measure
enable you to command all Macedon) must still be lost; unless you had
yoor forces ready, you could not take possession of itWhether there
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? 42 ORATIONS OF DEMOSTHENES.
this suspense prevails in your designs and in your
councils.
And now, as to the necessity of a general vigour
and alacrity; of this you must be fully persuaded :
this point, therefore, I shall urge no further. But the
nature of the armament which, I think, will extricate
you from the present difficulties, the numbers to be
raised, the subsidies required for their support, and
all the other necessaries ; how they may (in my opin-
ion) be best and most expeditiously provided; these
things 1 shall endeavour to explain. --But here I make
this request, Athenians--that you would not be pre-
cipitate, but suspend your judgment till you have
heard me fully. And if, at first, I seem to propose a
new kind of armament, let it not be thought that I
am delaying your affairs: for it is not they who cry
out "Instantly! this moment! " whose counsels suit
the present juncture (as it is not possible to repel
violences already committed by any occasional de-
tachment) ; but he who will show you of what kind
that armament must be, how great, and how sup-
ported, which may subsist until we yield to peace, or
be any thing unreasonable in this assertion, or impertinent in this argu-
ment, must be submitted to the reader. Withdeference to his judgment,
1 must declare that it appears to me to have rather more force, and to set
the fatal consequence of the indolence and irresolution of the Athenians
in a stronger light, than the other interpretation, whose propriety may be
at once determined by comparing the passage with the sentence imme-
diately preceding. In that the orator declares, that in case of Philip's
death, the Athenians had no more to do but to appear on the frontier of
Macedon, in order to gain the absolute dis1wsal of the affairs of that king-
dom : 100*071 nXrtfftov ficvovttg, &namv av rois iroayfiaat rtraoay pivois
tmofavtzs, bmas povXtaBt StoiKriaaiaBt. We must therefore be at some
pains to clear Demosthenes of the suspicion of inconsistency, if the very
next sentence be understood as containing a declaration, That although
the Athenians should not only appear on the borders of Macedon, but
there possess themselves of a post of the utmost consequence, still they
could derive no advantage from their acquisition--far from having the
whole kingdom at their disposal. What seems to have tempted the Ital-
ian commentator to suggest this interpretation is the expression diSovrvw
tuiv rwv Kaipwv ApQiirohv--if some conjunctures should oivK you
Amphipolis; which he takes in a literal sense. But the genius of spir-
ited eloquence, and of our orator in particular, fully warrants us tc
regard it only as a lively figure, and to understand no more by giving, up
than affording a favourable opportunity of gaining.
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? PHILIPPIC THE FIRST.
43
until our enemies sink beneath our arms; for thus
only can we be secured from future dangers. --These
things, I think, I can point out: not that I would pre-
vent any other person from declaring his opinion.
--Thus far am I engaged: how I can acquit myself
will immediately appear: to your judgments I appeal.
First, then, Athenians, I say that you should fit out
fifty ships of war; and then resolve, that on the first
emergency you will embark yourselves. To these I
insist that you must add transport and other neces-
sary vessels sufficient for half our horse. Thus far
we should be provided against those sudden excur-
sions from his own kingdom to Thermopylae, to the
Chersonesus,1 to Olynthus,2 to whatever places he
thinks proper. For of this he should necessarily be
persuaded, that possibly you may break out from this
immoderate . indolence, and fly to some scene of
action ; as you did to Eubcea/ and formerly, as we
1 To the Chersonesus. ]--The year before, Cersobleptes, unable to
defend this country against Philip, had put the Athenians in possession
of it. Cardia, one of the chief cities, refused to acknowledge these new
sovereigns, and had recourse to the protection of Philip, who, under pre-
tence of supporting them, carried his arms into the Chersonesus. --
Towrreil.
2 To Olynthus. ]--Philip had already committed some acts of hostility
against this state, but had not as yet formed the siege of Olynthus, or
taken anymeasures tending to it; for in such acase Demosthenes would
not have touched so lightly on an enterprise which he afterward dwells
on so often and with so much force. --Towrreil.
9 To Eubcea, ice]--Mons. Tourrreil translates this passage thus : " et
qu'il risque de retrouver en vous ces memes Atheniens qu'il rencontra
sur son chemin en Eubee," &c. (for which there is no warrant in the
original); and taking for granted that all the expeditions here mentioned
were made against Philip, he endeavours to settle the date of this to Eu-
bcea by conjecture. But it does not appear from history that Philip car-
ried his arms into that island before his attempt on Thermopyiie. In the
three succeeding Olynthiac orations there is not the least mention of such
a thing, though there is a particular recital of his expeditions in the third,
and though afterward the orator inveighs loudly against his hostile
attempts in Eubcea. T apprehend, therefore, that the expedition hinted at
in this place was that which the Athenians made about seven years
before in favour of the Eubceans against Thebes ; when in five days they
brought an army into Eubcea, and in thirty obliged the Thebans to come
to terms, and evacuate the island (according to iEschines). Demos-
thenes mentions this in other places ; particularly about the end of the
oration on the state of the Chersonesus, where he quotes part of the
Vol. I. --D
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? 44
ORATIONS OF DEMOSTHENES.
are told, to Haliartus,1 and but now to Thermopylae. '
But although we should not act with all this vigour
(which yet I must regard as our indispensable duty),
speech made byTimotheus to encourage the Athenians to this expedi
tion.
In the above note I have endeavoured to suggest some reasons why the
expeditions here alluded to could not have been made against Philip. But
it has been affirmed, that if this were so it would be almost impertinent
in our orator to mention them; that, as facts, they must be found spirit-
less, if taken in a general sense; and, as arguments, inconclusive.
The translator can with sincerity declare, that if any representation of
his tends in the least to depreciate the value of the great original, he
readily gives it up as utterly erroneous and indefensible. But at the same
time, he must observe, that if it be a fault to make use of such facts and
such arguments, it is a fault which Demosthenes has frequently com
mitted. Thus he speaks of the vigorous opposition of his countrymen to
the Lacedemonians; of their marching against the Corinthians and
Megareans; of their expelling the Thebans from Eubcea, &c . In the
second Philippic oration he tells his countrymen that the Macedonian
must regard them asihe great and strenuous defenders of fireece; because
he must be informed of the spirit which their ancestors discovered in the
days of his predecessor Alexander. If we are not to allow the orator to
reason from the conduct of his contemporaries, on former occasions, to
the conduct which they ought to pursue, or which maybe expected from
hem in their contest with Philip, what shall we say of an argument
deduced from their ancestors in the heroic age of Athena? The truth
seems to be, that although the facts supposed to be alluded to in this
passage had been passed over by historians (which I cannot admit), yet
we are not from hence to conclude that ihey had no weight or import-
ance in the Athenian assembly. We are not to judge of the light in
which they appeared there from the obscurity into which distance of
time and place may have now cast them. The reasons of this are
obvious.
t To Haliartus. ]--Tourreil refers this to some action which he sup-
poses might have happened in Bceotia in the course of the Phocian war,
and in which the Athenians might have had their share of the honour
But from the text it should seem that the event alluded to must have
happened at some considerable distance of time, and have descended to
the orator by tradition. About forty years before this oration, when
Thebes' and Sparta began to quarrel, Lysander, the Spartan general,
threatened the Thebans with a very dangerous war, and began with
laying siege to this city of Haliartus. The Thebans applied for aid to
the Athenians, which they readily granted (though the Thebans had
just before pressed for the utter demolition of their state), and obliged
Pausanias to raise the siege, alter Lysander had been killed. I appre-
hend that this is the expedition here alluded to. It was the more remark-
able as the Athenian power was then at the lowest ebb. "You, Athe-
nians ! " says Demosthenes in his oration on the Crown, "at a time
when the Lacedemonians had the absolute command both at sea and
land; when Attica was quite encompassed with their commanders and
their garrisons; when Eubcea, Tanagra, all Bceotia, Megara, JEgina,
Cleone, and the other islands were in their possession; when the state
bad not one ship, not one wall, ye marched out to Haliartus. " dec.
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? PHILIPPIC THE FIRST.
45
still the measures I propose will have their use: as
his fears may keep him quiet, when he knows we are
prepared (and this he will know, for there are too
many1 among ourselves who inform him of every
thing); or if he should despise our armament, his secu-
rity may prove fatal to him; as it will be absolutely
in our power, at the first favourable juncture, to
make a descent on his own coasts.
These, then, are the resolutions I propose, these the
provisions it will become you to make. And I pro-
nounce it still further necessary to raise some other
forces, which may harass him with perpetual incur-
sions. Talk not of your ten thousands, or twenty
thousands of foreigners; of those armies which2 ap-
pear so magnificent on paper; but let them be the
natural forces of the state ; and if you choose a
single person, if a number, if this particular man, or
whomever you appoint as general, let them be
entirely under his guidance and authority. I also
move you that subsistence be provided for them.
But as to the quality, the numbers, the maintenance
of this body--how are these points to be settled f--
I now proceed to speak of each of them distinctly.
The body of infantry, therefore,--but here give me
1 Too many, &c. ]--He glances particularly at Aristndemus and
Neoptolemus. As to jEschines, he bad not been with Philip till six
years after. --Tourreil.
2 Those armies which, Ac. ]--In the Greek it is emaroXiiiaiovi Ivvafitis.
--Instead of enumerating the various senses in which the commentators
interpret this expression, I shall copy an observation on it by the Abbe
D'Olivet, whose interpretation I have followed ;--" I have without any
refinement chosen a plain expression, which seems to hit the thought of
Demosthenes directly, and to paint strongly the bitter ridicule of the pas-
sage. " It was usual for the Athenians, on any emergency, to write to
all quarters to demand soldiers. They were answered, that in such a
place such a number would be provided : from another place so many
more might be expected. But in the end it appeared that these were by
no means so many effective men. There were great abatements to be
made from the numbers promised ; and we find besides, from this oration,
that these foreigners were not paid at all, or ill paid; so that these grand
armies were nowhere complete but in the letters written to demand them
on one part and to promise them on the other. If I am not mistaken,
this is what Demosthenes calls Swafitis tmcroXifiaiovs--armies which
exist only in letters.
who about that time took the lead in the Athenian
assemblies are lost to posterity. The characters,
however, of the most eminent have been trans-
mitted, or may be collected from the writings of
antiquity.
Demades, by his birth and education, seemed
destined to meanness and obscurity; but as the
Athenian assembly admitted persons of all ranks
and occupations to speak their sentiments, his
powers soon recommended him to his countrymen,
and raised him from the low condition of a common
mariner to the administration and direction of public
affairs. His private life was stained with those
brutal excesses which frequently attend the want
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? PREFACE.
29
of early culture, and an intercourse with the infe-
rior and least refined part of mankind. His con-
duct, as a leader and minister, was not actuated
by the principles of delicate honour and integrity;
and his eloquence seems to have received a tincture
from his original condition. He appears to have
been a strong, bold, and what we call a blunt
speaker; whose manner, rude and daring, and
sometimes bordering on extravagance, had often-
times a greater effect than the more corrected style
of. other speakers, who confined themselves within
the bounds of decorum and good-breeding.
Hyperides, on the contrary, was blessed with
all the graces of refinement; harmonious, elegant,
and polite ; with a well-bred festivity, and delicate
irony; excellent in panegyric; and of great natural
abilities for affecting the passions. Yet his elo-
quence seems rather to have been pleasing than
persuasive. He is said to have been not so well
fitted for a popular assembly, and for political de-
bates, as for private causes, and addressing a few
select judges. And even here, when he pleaded
the cause of a woman for whom he had die ten-
derest passion, he was obliged to call the charms
of his mistress to the assistance of his eloquence,
and was more indebted to these for his success
than to his own powers.
Lycurgus had all the advantages which birth
and education could afford for forming an orator.
He was the hearer of Plato, and the scholar of
Isocrates. He seems to have been particularly
affected by the charms of poetry and the polite
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? SO PREFACE.
J
arts; nor was he less remarkable for diligence and
attention; yet his influence in the assembly seems,
like that of Phocion, to have arisen rather from a
respect to his character, and the general opinion
of his virtue and integrity, than from his abilities
as a speaker.
jEschines was an orator whose style was full,
diffusive, and sonorous. He was a stranger to the
glowing expressions and daring figures of Demos-
thenes, which he treats with contempt and ridicule.
But, though more simple, he is less affecting; and,
by being less contracted, has not so much strength
and energy: or, as Quintilian expresses it, " camis
plus habet, lacertorum minus. " But if we would
view his abilities to the greatest advantage, we must
not compare them with those of his rival. Then
will his figures appear to want neither beauty nor
grandeur. His easy and natural manner will then
be thought highly pleasing; and a just attention will
discover a good degree of force and energy in his
style, which at first appears only flowing and har-
monious.
But all the several excellences of his country-
men and contemporaries were at least equalled by
Demosthenes. 1 His own no age or nation could
attain to. From him critics have formed their
rules; and all the masters in his own art have
thought it an honour to imitate him. To enlarge
on his character would be to resume a subject
already exhausted by every critic, both ancient and
1 Nihil Lysia e subtilitate cedit; nihil argutiis et acnmine Hyperifi
tihil lenitste jEachini, et splendors verborum. --Cic. m Okas.
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? PREFACE.
31
. modem. Let it be sufficient to say, that energy
and majesty are his peculiar excellences. From
the gravity of Thucydides, the pomp and dignity
of Plato, the ease and elegance, the neatness and
simplicity of the Attic writers, he formed a style
and manner admirably fitted to his own temper and
genius, as well as that of his hearers. His own
severity determined him to the more forcible
methods of astonishing and terrifying, rather than
to the gentle and insinuating arts of persuasion:
nor did the circumstances and dispositions of his
countrymen admit of any but violent impressions.
As many of those to whom he addressed himself
were men of low rank and occupations, his images
and expressions are sometimes familiar. As others
of them were themselves eminent in speaking, and
could readily see through all the eommon artifices
of oratory, these he affects to despise: appears
only solicitous to be understood ; yet, as it were,
without design, raises the utmost admiration and
delight; such delight as arises from the clearness
of evidence and the fulness of conviction. And as
all, even the lower part of his hearers, were
acquainted with the beauties of poetry, and the
force of harmony, he could not admit of any thing
rude or negligent; but with the strictest attention
laboured those compositions which appear so natural
and unadorned. They have their ornaments; but
these are austere and manly, and such as are con-
sistent with freedom and sincerity. A full and
regular series of diffusive reasoning would have
been intolerable in an Athenian assembly. He
often contents himself with an imperfect hint: a
sentence, a word, even his silence is sometimes
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? 32
PREFACE.
pregnant with meaning. And tms quicKnes. and
vehemence flattered a people who valued them-
selves on their acuteness and penetration. The
impetuous torrent that-in a moment bears down all
before it; the repeated flashes of lightning, which
spread universal terror, and which the strongest
eye dares not encounter, are the images by which
the nature of his eloquence hath been expressed.
As a statesman and as a citizen his conduct was
no less remarkable. If the fire of his eloquence
seems sometimes abated, his judgment and accuracy
and political abilities are then conspicuous. The
bravery with which he opposed the passions and
prejudices of his countrymen, and the general
integrity of his character (to which Philip himself
bare witness), are deserving of the highest honour;
and, whatever weakness he betrayed in his military
conduct, his death must be acknowledged truly
heroic.
The reader will observe, that the oration entitled
" On the Halonesus" is not admitted into the follow-
ing collection. * Some critics ascribe it to Hege*
sippus,1 an Athenian orator, of inferior character.
* This determination on the part of the translator was subsequently
abandoned, as will be seen by the introduction to the suspected oration.
1 In the oration on the Halonesus, the speaker takes notice of nia
having been the manager of a prosecution against Caiippus, on account
of an illegal motion made by this man in the assembly relative to the
boundaries of Cardia. Hegesippus was the person who conducted this
prosecution: and this circumstance Libanius mentions as having (to-
gether with the difference of style) induced the critics to ascribe this
oration, not to Demosthenes, but to Hegesippus. To this we may add
another circumstance of the like nature. The speaker observes that he
went on an embassy to Macedon, in order to obtain an explanation and
amendment of some articles in the treaty concluded between Philip and
the Athenians. Hegesippus was at the bead of this embassy: nor waa
Demosthenes at all concerned in it; as appears from the oration of Ibis
latter (irtpt rya riapaff. ).
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? PREFACE.
33
But, however this may be, it is certainly entirely
different from those compositions of Demosthenes
which are confessedly genuine. That he really
wrote an oration so entitled,1 the authority of the
ancient writers confirm, I think, sufficiently. But
one would be tempted to believe that the passages
which they have quoted had been taken up by some
old scholiast, and inserted in a performance of his
own
1 . flLschines, in his oration on the embassy, mentions two particulars
in that of Demosthenes on the Halonesus, neither of which are found in
the oration now extant. The first is, that Demosthenes treated Philip's
ambassadors with great severity, and insisted that they were really sent
as spies. The other, that he recommended to the Athenians by. no
means to submit their disputes with Philip to the decision of an umpire;
fcr that no one impartial mediating state could be found through Greece,
at* totally were the minds of all men corrupted by the Macedonian.
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? THE FIRST ORATION AGAINST PHILIP:
PRONOUNCED IN THE ARCHONSHIP OF ARIST0DEMUS, IN THE FIRST TEAR
OP THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH OLYMPIAD, AND THE NINTH OF PHILIP*!
INTRODUCTION.
We bare seen Philip opposed in his design of passing into Greeoe
through Thermopylae, and obliged to retire. The danger they had thns
escaped deeply affected the Athenians. So daring an attempt, which
was in effect declaring his purposes, filled them with astonishment;
and the view of a power which every day received new accession*
drove them even to despair. Yet their aversion to public business was
still predominant. They forgot that Philip might renew his attempt, and
thought they had provided sufficiently for their security by posting a body
of troops at the entrance of Attica, under the command of Menelaus, a
foreigner. They then proceeded to convene an assembly of the people,
in order to consider what measures were to be taken to check the pro-
gress of Philip; on which occasion Demosthenes, for the first time, ap-
peared against that prince, and displayed those abilities which proved
the greatest obstacle to his designs.
At Athens the whole power and management of affairs were placed in
the people. It was their prerogative to receive appeals from the courts
of justice, to abrogate and enact laws, to make what alterations in the
state they judged convenient; in short, all matters, public or private,
foreign or domestic, civil, military, or religious, were determined by them.
Whenever there was occasion 10 deliberate the people assembled early
in the morning, sometimes in the forum or public place, sometimes in a
place called Pnyx; but most frequently in the theatre of Bacchus. A
few days before each assembly there was a -npoypanna or placard fixed
on the statues of some illustrious men erected in the city, to give notice
of the subject to be debated. As they refused admittance into the as-
sembly to all persons who had not attained the necessary age, so they
obliged all others to attend. The lexiarchs stretched nut a cord died
with scarlet, and by it pushed the people towards the place of meeting.
Such as received the stain were fined; the more diligent had a small
pecuniar}' reward. These lexiarchs were the keepers of the register in
which were enrolled the names of such citizens as had a right of voting;
and all had this right who were of age, and not excluded by a personal
fault. Undutiful children, cowards, brutal debauchees, prodigals, debtors
to the public, were all excluded. Until the time of Cecropa women had
a right of suffrage, which they were said to have lost on account of
their partiality to Minerva in her dispute with Neptune about giving a
name to the city.
In ordinary cases all matters were first deliberated in the senate of fiva
hundred, composed of fifty senators chosen out of each of the ten'ribsa
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? 46
INTRODUCTION.
Each tribe had its turn of presiding, and the fifty senators in office were
called prytanes: and, according to the number of the tribes, the Artie
year was divided into ten parts, the first four containing thirty-six, the
other thirty-five days, in order to make the lunar year complete, which,
according to their calculation, contained three hundred and fifty-four
days. During each of these divisions ten of the fifty prytanes governed
for a week, and were called proCdri; and of these he who in the course
of the week presided for one day was called the epistate; three of the
profidri being excluded from this office.
The prytanes assembled the people; the profidri declared the occasion
and the epistate demanded their voices. This was the case in the ordi
nary assemblies: the extraordinary were convened as well by the gene
rals as the prytanes; and sometimes the people met of their own accord,
without waiting the formalities.
The assembly was opened by a sacrifice, and the place was sprinkled
with the blood of the victim. Then an imprecation was pronounced,
conceived in these terms: " May the gods pursue that man to destruction
with all his race, who shall act, speak, or contrive any thing against this
state V This ceremony being finished, the proSdri declared the occasion
of the assembly, and reported the opinion of the senate. If any doubt
arose, a herald, by commission from the epistate, with a loud voice,
invited any citizen, first of those above the age of fifty, tospeak his opinion:
and then the rest according to their ages. This right of precedence had
been granted by a law of Solon, and the order of speaking determined
entirely by the difference of years. In the time of Demosthenes this law
was not in force. It is said to havo been repealed about fifty years before
the date of this oration. Yet the custom still continued out of respect to
Ihe reasonable and decent purpose for which the law was originally en-
acted. When a speaker had delivered his sentiments he generally called
on an officer, appointed for that purpose, to read his motion, and propound
it in form. He then sat down, or resumed his discourse, and enforced
his motion by additional arguments: and sometimes the speech was
introduced by his motion thus propounded. When all the speakers had
ended the people gave their opinion, by stretching out their hands to him
whose proposal pleased them most: and Xenophon reports, that, night
having come on when the people were engaged in an important debate,
they were obliged to defer their determination till next day, for fear of
confusion when their hands were to be raised.
" Porrexerunt manus. " saith Cicero (pro Flacco), "et psephisma natum
est. " And, to constitute this psephisma or decree, six thousand citizens
at least were required. When it was drawn up, the name of its author,
or that person whose opinion had prevailed, was prefixed : whence, in
speaking of it, they called it his decree. The date of it contained the
name of the archon, that of the day and month, and that of the tribe then
presiding. The business being over, the prytanes dismissed the assembly
The reader who chooses to be more minutely informed in the customs,
and manner of procedure in the public assemblies of Athens, may con-
sult the Archspologia of Archbishop Potter,* Sigonius, sr the Concion-
atrices of Aristophanes.
* A second edition of "Robinson's Archaeologia Groca, or the Antiqui-
ties of Greece," considerably enlarged and improved, and illustrated by
a map and designs from the antique, has been recently published in one
vol. 8vq-
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? PHILIPPIC THE FIRST
Had we been convened, Athenians, on some new
subject of debate, I had waited until most of the usual
persons had declared their opinions. If I had ap-
proved of any thing proposed by them, I should
nave continued silent: if not, I had then attempted
to speak my sentiments. But since those very points
on which these speakers have oftentimes been heard
already are, at this time, to be considered, though I
have risen first,11 presume I may expect your par-
don ; for if they on former occasions had advised the
necessary measures, ye would not have found it
needful to consult at present.
First, then, Athenians, these our affairs must not be
thought desperate: no, though their situation seems
entirely deplorable ! for the most shocking circum-
stance of all our past conduct is really the most'
favourable to our future expectations. And what is
this ? That our own total indolence hath been the
cause of all our present difficulties: for were we thus
distressed, in spite of every vigorous effort which the
honour of our state demanded, there were then no
hope of a recovery.
In the next place, reflect--you who have been
informed by others, and you who can yourselves
1 Though I hiive risen first, &c. ]--Demosthenes was at that time but
thirty years old, which made it necessary for him to apologize l'or his
zeal in rising before the other speakers: and the ingenious turn which he
gives it not only prevents any unfavourable impression on the minds of
his hearers, but engages their affection, and excites their attention, by
the tacit promise of better counsel than they had hitherto received
Tourrcil.
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? 38 ORATIONS OF DEMOSTHENES.
remember--how great a power' the Lacedaemonians
not long since possessed; and with what resolution,
with what dignity you disdained to act unworthy of
the state, but maintained the war against them for the
rights of Greece. Why do I mention these things ?
That ye may know, that ye may see, Athenians, that
if duly vigilant ye cannot have any thing to fear;
that if once remiss, not any thing can happen agree-
ably to your desires: witness the then powerful arms
of Lacedaemon, which a just attention to your mterests
enabled you to vanquish; and this man's late insolent
attempt, which our insensibility to all our great con-
cerns hath made the cause of this confusion.
If there be a man in this assembly who thinks that
we must find a formidable enemy in Philip, while he
views, on one hand, the numerous armies" which at-
tend him ; and, on the other, the weakness of the state
thus despoiled of its dominions--he thinks justly.
Yet let him reflect on this; there was a time, Athe-
nians, when we possessed Pydna, and Potidaea, and
Methone, and all that country round; when many
of those states now subjected to him were free and
independent, and more inclined to our alliance than
to his. Had then Philip reasoned in the same man-
ner, " How shall I dare to attack the Athenians,
whose garrisons command my territory, while I am
destitute of all assistance V he would not have en-
1 How great a power, Ac.
]--It has been already observed in the
prefer* to these orations that Demosthenes takes many occasions of
extolling the efforts of Athens to reduce the Spartan power, and to regain
that sovereignty which tl. sy lost by the victory of Lysander at JEgos-
Potamos. These efforts he every where represents as high instances of
magnanimity and public spirit: though revenge and jealousy had no less
share in them. The victories which the Athenians gained over Sparta
at Corinth, Naxos, Ac. , and which he here alludes to, happened about
twenty-four years before the date of this oration ; so that he might well
appeal to the memories of many persons present.
2 The numerous armies, Ac. ]--The number of Philip's threes at that
time amounted to twenty thousand foot and three thousand horse; a
great army compared with those of the Greeks. At their march to Mara-
thon the Athenians could not assemble more than '<"i thousand force*.
--Tourreil.
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? PHILIPPIC THE FIRST. 39
gaged in those enterprises which are now crowned
with success; nor could he have raised himself to
this pitch of greatness. No, Athenians, he knew this
well, that all these places are but prizes,1 laid between
the combatants, and ready for the conqueror: that
the dominions of the absent devolve naturally to those
who are in the field; the possessions of the supine to
the active and intrepid. Animated by these senti-
ments, he overturns whole countries; he holds all
people in subjection: some, as by the right of con-
quest ; others, under the title of allies and confede-
rates ; for all are willing to confederate with those
whom they see prepared and resolved to exert them-
selves as they ought.
And if you, my countrymen, will now at length be
persuaded to entertain the like sentiments; if each of
you, renouncing all evasions, will be ready to approve
himself a useful citizen, to the utmost that his station
and abilities demand; if the rich will be ready to con
tribute, and the young to take the field. in one word,
if you will be yourselves, and banish those vain hopes
which every single person entertains, that while so
many others are engaged in public business,his service
will not be required; you then (if Heaven so pleases)
shall regain your dominions, recall those opportunities
your supineness hath neglected, and chastise the inso-
lence of this man: for you are not to imagine that,
like a god, he is to enjoy his present greatness for
ever fixed and unchangeable. No, Athenians, there
are who hate him, who fear him, who envy him, even
among those seemingly the most attached to his
cause. These are passions common to mankind;
noi must we think that his friends only are exempted
from them. It is true they lie concealed at present,
as our indolence deprives them of all resource. But
let us shake off this indolence; for you see how we
1 But prizes, &c. ]--His hearers were of all others most devoted to
public games and entertainments, and must therefore have been par*
ticularly sensible of the beauty of this image.
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? 40 ORATIONS OF DEMOSTHENES.
are situated; you see the outrageous arrogance of
this man, who does not leave it to your choice whether
you shall act or remain quiet: but braves you with
his menaces; and talks, as we are informed,1 in a
strain of the highest extravagance ; and is not able
to rest satisfied with his present acquisitions, but is
ever in pursuit of further conquests; and while we
sit down, inactive and irresolute, encloses us on all
sides with his toils.
When, therefore, O my countrymen! when will
you exert your vigour 1 When roused by some event ?
when forced by some necessity ? What then are we
to think of our present condition 1 To freemen, the
disgrace attending on misconduct is, in my opinion,
the most urgent necessity. Or say, is it your sole
ambition to wander through the public places, each
inquiring of the other, " What new advices V Can
any thing be more new than that a man of Macedon
should conquer the Athenians, and give law to
Greece ? --" Is Philip dead ? "2--" No, but in great dan-
ger. " How are you concerned in those rumours ?
Suppose he should meet some fatal stroke; you
would soon raise up another Philip, if your interests
1 And talks, as we are informed, &C. 1--The success which had hith
erto attended Philip's arms must naturally have inspired him with those
designs which he afterward executed against the Athenians; and
resentment of their late opposition at Thermopylae might have made him
less careful to conceal them, at least in his own court. This the orator
represents as arrogant and extravagant menaces: not that a man who
had so just a conception of the weakness of the Athenian politics, and
the vigour and abilities of their enemy, could really believe such designs
extravagant and romantic ; but it was part of his' address sometimes to
avoid shocking the national vanity of his countrymen. After all their
losses, and amid all their indolence, they could not entertain a thought
so mortifying, as that the conquerors of Persia and the arbiters of Greece
could ever see their liberty essentially affected, or their power and glory
entirely wrested from them by a king of Macedon.
2 Is Philip dead These rumours and inquiries of the Athenians were
occasioned by the wound Philip received at Methone, the year before, and
which was followed by a dangerous fit of sickness. Louginus quotes this
whole passage as a beautiful instance of those pathetic figures which
jive life and force and energy to an oration. --Tourreil.
The English reader will tnd the remark in sect. 18. of Mr. Smith'!
translation.
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? PHILIPPIC THE FIRST.
41
are thus regarded: for it is not to his own strength
that he so much owes his elevation as to oursupine-
ness. And should some accident' affect him, should
Fortune, who hath ever been more careful of the
state than we ourselves, now repeat her favours;
(and may she thus crown them! ) be assured of this,
that by being on the spot, ready to take advantage of
the confusion, you will every where be absolute mas-
ters : but in your present disposition, even if a
favourable juncture should present you with Am-
phipolis,2 you could not take possession of it while
1 Some accident, &c. If he should die. ]--"This is plainly the sense of
It: btu it must be expressed covertly, as Demosthenes has done, not to
transgress against that decorum which, Cicero says, this orator made his
first rule. For there were certain things which the ancients presumed
not to express, but in terms obscure and gentle, that they might not pro-
nounce what were called verba male ominata. They did not dare to say
to any person. If you should be killed ; if you should die: they concealed
as much as possible the melancholy and odious idea of an approaching,
or even of a distant death. The Greeks said << rt iraQois ; the Romans, st
quid humanitus contingat. --Olivet.
2 Present you with Amphipolis, &c. ]--They had nothing more at heart
than the recovery of this city. So that the orator here gives the last and
most heightening stroke to his description of their indolence. --Tourreil.
And at the same time, by artfully hinting at such an event as possible,
he rouses their attention, and enlivens their hopes and expectations.
The Italian commentatorillustrates this passage in the following man
ner: a Monet orator, quod quamvis accidat, ejusdeni (sc. Amphipolis),
compotes fieri, ipsis tamen non satis id fore ad turbandas res Macedom-
cas; cum aliis tot locis, quee memoravimus, privati, ad tan tam rernm
molem parum opis habere possint, ex una duntaxat civitate. " Accord-
ingly, the passage before us has been rendered to this effect; " If some
favourable conjuncture should deliver up Amphipolis to you, &c. , you
could not receive the least benefit from the possession, with respect to
Macedon. " The assertion of the orator, as expressed in the present trans-
lation, has been pronounced extraordinary, and the argument inconclusive.
The substance, therefore, of the present argument I shall here endeavour
to collect: " You are all earnest to be informed whether Philip be dead
or no. But, unless you change your measures, his death or life can
make no difference, or prove of any consequence. Indeed, if some acci-
dent should take him off, nothing more would be necessary to give you
the full advantage of the confusion which such an event must occasion
than to appear on the frontier of Macedon with a powerful force. This
would make you absolute masters of the country. But in your present
circumstances, what would itavail, even if such a favourable incident as
that of Philip's death should give you an opportunity of recovering Am-
phipolis ? So important an acquisition (which would in a great measure
enable you to command all Macedon) must still be lost; unless you had
yoor forces ready, you could not take possession of itWhether there
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? 42 ORATIONS OF DEMOSTHENES.
this suspense prevails in your designs and in your
councils.
And now, as to the necessity of a general vigour
and alacrity; of this you must be fully persuaded :
this point, therefore, I shall urge no further. But the
nature of the armament which, I think, will extricate
you from the present difficulties, the numbers to be
raised, the subsidies required for their support, and
all the other necessaries ; how they may (in my opin-
ion) be best and most expeditiously provided; these
things 1 shall endeavour to explain. --But here I make
this request, Athenians--that you would not be pre-
cipitate, but suspend your judgment till you have
heard me fully. And if, at first, I seem to propose a
new kind of armament, let it not be thought that I
am delaying your affairs: for it is not they who cry
out "Instantly! this moment! " whose counsels suit
the present juncture (as it is not possible to repel
violences already committed by any occasional de-
tachment) ; but he who will show you of what kind
that armament must be, how great, and how sup-
ported, which may subsist until we yield to peace, or
be any thing unreasonable in this assertion, or impertinent in this argu-
ment, must be submitted to the reader. Withdeference to his judgment,
1 must declare that it appears to me to have rather more force, and to set
the fatal consequence of the indolence and irresolution of the Athenians
in a stronger light, than the other interpretation, whose propriety may be
at once determined by comparing the passage with the sentence imme-
diately preceding. In that the orator declares, that in case of Philip's
death, the Athenians had no more to do but to appear on the frontier of
Macedon, in order to gain the absolute dis1wsal of the affairs of that king-
dom : 100*071 nXrtfftov ficvovttg, &namv av rois iroayfiaat rtraoay pivois
tmofavtzs, bmas povXtaBt StoiKriaaiaBt. We must therefore be at some
pains to clear Demosthenes of the suspicion of inconsistency, if the very
next sentence be understood as containing a declaration, That although
the Athenians should not only appear on the borders of Macedon, but
there possess themselves of a post of the utmost consequence, still they
could derive no advantage from their acquisition--far from having the
whole kingdom at their disposal. What seems to have tempted the Ital-
ian commentator to suggest this interpretation is the expression diSovrvw
tuiv rwv Kaipwv ApQiirohv--if some conjunctures should oivK you
Amphipolis; which he takes in a literal sense. But the genius of spir-
ited eloquence, and of our orator in particular, fully warrants us tc
regard it only as a lively figure, and to understand no more by giving, up
than affording a favourable opportunity of gaining.
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? PHILIPPIC THE FIRST.
43
until our enemies sink beneath our arms; for thus
only can we be secured from future dangers. --These
things, I think, I can point out: not that I would pre-
vent any other person from declaring his opinion.
--Thus far am I engaged: how I can acquit myself
will immediately appear: to your judgments I appeal.
First, then, Athenians, I say that you should fit out
fifty ships of war; and then resolve, that on the first
emergency you will embark yourselves. To these I
insist that you must add transport and other neces-
sary vessels sufficient for half our horse. Thus far
we should be provided against those sudden excur-
sions from his own kingdom to Thermopylae, to the
Chersonesus,1 to Olynthus,2 to whatever places he
thinks proper. For of this he should necessarily be
persuaded, that possibly you may break out from this
immoderate . indolence, and fly to some scene of
action ; as you did to Eubcea/ and formerly, as we
1 To the Chersonesus. ]--The year before, Cersobleptes, unable to
defend this country against Philip, had put the Athenians in possession
of it. Cardia, one of the chief cities, refused to acknowledge these new
sovereigns, and had recourse to the protection of Philip, who, under pre-
tence of supporting them, carried his arms into the Chersonesus. --
Towrreil.
2 To Olynthus. ]--Philip had already committed some acts of hostility
against this state, but had not as yet formed the siege of Olynthus, or
taken anymeasures tending to it; for in such acase Demosthenes would
not have touched so lightly on an enterprise which he afterward dwells
on so often and with so much force. --Towrreil.
9 To Eubcea, ice]--Mons. Tourrreil translates this passage thus : " et
qu'il risque de retrouver en vous ces memes Atheniens qu'il rencontra
sur son chemin en Eubee," &c. (for which there is no warrant in the
original); and taking for granted that all the expeditions here mentioned
were made against Philip, he endeavours to settle the date of this to Eu-
bcea by conjecture. But it does not appear from history that Philip car-
ried his arms into that island before his attempt on Thermopyiie. In the
three succeeding Olynthiac orations there is not the least mention of such
a thing, though there is a particular recital of his expeditions in the third,
and though afterward the orator inveighs loudly against his hostile
attempts in Eubcea. T apprehend, therefore, that the expedition hinted at
in this place was that which the Athenians made about seven years
before in favour of the Eubceans against Thebes ; when in five days they
brought an army into Eubcea, and in thirty obliged the Thebans to come
to terms, and evacuate the island (according to iEschines). Demos-
thenes mentions this in other places ; particularly about the end of the
oration on the state of the Chersonesus, where he quotes part of the
Vol. I. --D
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? 44
ORATIONS OF DEMOSTHENES.
are told, to Haliartus,1 and but now to Thermopylae. '
But although we should not act with all this vigour
(which yet I must regard as our indispensable duty),
speech made byTimotheus to encourage the Athenians to this expedi
tion.
In the above note I have endeavoured to suggest some reasons why the
expeditions here alluded to could not have been made against Philip. But
it has been affirmed, that if this were so it would be almost impertinent
in our orator to mention them; that, as facts, they must be found spirit-
less, if taken in a general sense; and, as arguments, inconclusive.
The translator can with sincerity declare, that if any representation of
his tends in the least to depreciate the value of the great original, he
readily gives it up as utterly erroneous and indefensible. But at the same
time, he must observe, that if it be a fault to make use of such facts and
such arguments, it is a fault which Demosthenes has frequently com
mitted. Thus he speaks of the vigorous opposition of his countrymen to
the Lacedemonians; of their marching against the Corinthians and
Megareans; of their expelling the Thebans from Eubcea, &c . In the
second Philippic oration he tells his countrymen that the Macedonian
must regard them asihe great and strenuous defenders of fireece; because
he must be informed of the spirit which their ancestors discovered in the
days of his predecessor Alexander. If we are not to allow the orator to
reason from the conduct of his contemporaries, on former occasions, to
the conduct which they ought to pursue, or which maybe expected from
hem in their contest with Philip, what shall we say of an argument
deduced from their ancestors in the heroic age of Athena? The truth
seems to be, that although the facts supposed to be alluded to in this
passage had been passed over by historians (which I cannot admit), yet
we are not from hence to conclude that ihey had no weight or import-
ance in the Athenian assembly. We are not to judge of the light in
which they appeared there from the obscurity into which distance of
time and place may have now cast them. The reasons of this are
obvious.
t To Haliartus. ]--Tourreil refers this to some action which he sup-
poses might have happened in Bceotia in the course of the Phocian war,
and in which the Athenians might have had their share of the honour
But from the text it should seem that the event alluded to must have
happened at some considerable distance of time, and have descended to
the orator by tradition. About forty years before this oration, when
Thebes' and Sparta began to quarrel, Lysander, the Spartan general,
threatened the Thebans with a very dangerous war, and began with
laying siege to this city of Haliartus. The Thebans applied for aid to
the Athenians, which they readily granted (though the Thebans had
just before pressed for the utter demolition of their state), and obliged
Pausanias to raise the siege, alter Lysander had been killed. I appre-
hend that this is the expedition here alluded to. It was the more remark-
able as the Athenian power was then at the lowest ebb. "You, Athe-
nians ! " says Demosthenes in his oration on the Crown, "at a time
when the Lacedemonians had the absolute command both at sea and
land; when Attica was quite encompassed with their commanders and
their garrisons; when Eubcea, Tanagra, all Bceotia, Megara, JEgina,
Cleone, and the other islands were in their possession; when the state
bad not one ship, not one wall, ye marched out to Haliartus. " dec.
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? PHILIPPIC THE FIRST.
45
still the measures I propose will have their use: as
his fears may keep him quiet, when he knows we are
prepared (and this he will know, for there are too
many1 among ourselves who inform him of every
thing); or if he should despise our armament, his secu-
rity may prove fatal to him; as it will be absolutely
in our power, at the first favourable juncture, to
make a descent on his own coasts.
These, then, are the resolutions I propose, these the
provisions it will become you to make. And I pro-
nounce it still further necessary to raise some other
forces, which may harass him with perpetual incur-
sions. Talk not of your ten thousands, or twenty
thousands of foreigners; of those armies which2 ap-
pear so magnificent on paper; but let them be the
natural forces of the state ; and if you choose a
single person, if a number, if this particular man, or
whomever you appoint as general, let them be
entirely under his guidance and authority. I also
move you that subsistence be provided for them.
But as to the quality, the numbers, the maintenance
of this body--how are these points to be settled f--
I now proceed to speak of each of them distinctly.
The body of infantry, therefore,--but here give me
1 Too many, &c. ]--He glances particularly at Aristndemus and
Neoptolemus. As to jEschines, he bad not been with Philip till six
years after. --Tourreil.
2 Those armies which, Ac. ]--In the Greek it is emaroXiiiaiovi Ivvafitis.
--Instead of enumerating the various senses in which the commentators
interpret this expression, I shall copy an observation on it by the Abbe
D'Olivet, whose interpretation I have followed ;--" I have without any
refinement chosen a plain expression, which seems to hit the thought of
Demosthenes directly, and to paint strongly the bitter ridicule of the pas-
sage. " It was usual for the Athenians, on any emergency, to write to
all quarters to demand soldiers. They were answered, that in such a
place such a number would be provided : from another place so many
more might be expected. But in the end it appeared that these were by
no means so many effective men. There were great abatements to be
made from the numbers promised ; and we find besides, from this oration,
that these foreigners were not paid at all, or ill paid; so that these grand
armies were nowhere complete but in the letters written to demand them
on one part and to promise them on the other. If I am not mistaken,
this is what Demosthenes calls Swafitis tmcroXifiaiovs--armies which
exist only in letters.
