—
What was the course becoming a loyal citizen a states
man serving his country with all possible forethought and zeal and fidelity?
What was the course becoming a loyal citizen a states
man serving his country with all possible forethought and zeal and fidelity?
Universal Anthology - v04
and lastly, concealed the fact that when the battle took place we had no leisure for punishing him, but were negotiating for the safety of the city.
But since you are not content that justice was not meted out to you, and claim honors too, rendering the city ridiculous to all the Greeks, I have resisted you and brought in this indictment.
But I solemnly swear that of all which I learn Demosthenes intends to allege, I am most indignant at what I am going to mention. It seems he compares my nature to the Sirens' ; for their listeners are never called to them, it is said, except to be destroyed, — wherefore the Sirens' music is not in good repute, — and forsooth my practice in speaking and my native talent exist for the ruin of the hearers. Now for my part, I think this charge is in every way one it becomes no man to bring against me, for it is shameful in accusers to have no proofs to exhibit ; but if indispensable to be plead, it lies not in Demos thenes' mouth, but in that of some capable general who has done good service to the city, unskilled in speaking and there fore envying his opponents' ability, and who recognizes that he cannot explain what he has done, but sees the accuser able to present to the judges acts he never committed, as things he ordered. But when a man composed of words, and those at once acrimonious and elaborated, takes refuge in artlessness and bald fact, who can put up with it? —a man from whom if you take the tongue, as with a flute, nothing is left.
I wonder, fellow-citizens, and I ask you, on what ground you could vote against this indictment. That the decree is not illegal? no motion was ever more unlawful. Or that the author of the decree does not deserve to be brought to justice ? none can fairly be called to account by you for their conduct, if you discharge him. Is it not deplorable, when formerly the stage was filled with golden crowns with which our people were crowned by the Greeks, — this season being assigned for for eigners' crowns, — that now through Demosthenes' administra tion you are all discrowned and disheralded, while he is to
jESCHINES.
171
be heralded? Why, if any of the tragic poets coming on this stage after these proceedings should represent Thersites crowned by the Greeks, none of you would endure it, because Homer says he was a coward and false informer ; but when ever you shall have crowned this man, do you not think you will be hissed by the judgment of all the Greeks ? . . .
I would gladly discuss this decree with the author before you, fellow-citizens, as to what great service Demosthenes is worthy to be crowned for.
If you take up the second item of the decree, in which you have ventured to write him down a good citizen who has stead ily spoken and acted for the highest good of the people of Athens, then strip the decree of humbug and boastfulness so that it may stick to facts, and prove what you allege. I will leave out the bribe-taking in the Amphissaean and Euboean cases : but when you impute the merit of the Theban alliance to Demosthenes, you impose on the ignorant and insult those who know and understand ; for by suppressing the nature of the crisis, and the reputation of those by whom the alliance was effected, you think to conceal from us the credit due the city and transfer it to Demosthenes. How great a fraud this is, I will try to make plain by a notable instance. The king of the Persians once, not long before the descent of Alexander upon Asia, sent to this people a letter both arrogant and bar barian ; in which, after handling many other topics very boor ishly, he had written thus at the close : "
gold," he said; " do not ask me, for you will not get it. " Yet this same man, hemmed in by imminent dangers himself, sent voluntarily three hundred talents to the people — which they wisely declined to accept. What brought the gold was
the juncture and fear and the needs of allies ; and the very same things brought about the alliance of the Thebans.
But while you bore us by harping on the name of the The bans and their luckless alliance, you are silent on your grab bing the seventy talents you stole of the royal gold. Was it not for lack of money, for the sake of five talents, that the
If you say, as embodied in the opening of the decree, that he has dug ditches around the walls well, I wonder at you, for having been their cause is a heavier count than having executed them well ; and it is not for palisading the wall circuit or oblit erating the public graves that an administrator should rightly merit honors, but for generating some new good to the city.
I will give you no
172
-ESCHINES.
enemy would not restore the Thebans their citadel? for lack of nine talents of silver, that when all the Arcadians were drawn out and the leaders ready to come to our aid, the ex. pedition did not take place ? And you roll in wealth and celebrate games for your own pleasures! And to crown all, gentlemen, the royal gold is with him, the perils with you.
The ill-breeding of these men is also worth observing. If Ctesiphon should dare call on Demosthenes to address you, and he should rise and laud himself, listening to him would be a heavier burden than his acts. For even when really superior men, of whom many noble actions are known to us, recite their own praises, we are impatient; but if one who is the disgrace of the city were to eulogize himself, who that heard him could endure it ?
But if you are wise now, Ctesiphon, you will abstain from this impudent procedure, and make your defense in person ; for you cannot set up the slightest pretense of being unequal to public speaking. It would become you oddly enough, when you have recently borne up under being appointed ambassador to Cleopatra the daughter of Philip, for condolence with her on the death of Alexander king of the Molossians, to pretend now that you cannot make a speech. When you are able to con sole a mourning woman, a foreigner at that, can you not defend a decree you have drawn up for pay ? or is this man you have ordered crowned, one who would be unknown to those he has benefited unless some one added his voice to yours ? Ask the judges if they know Chabrias and Iphicrates and Timotheus, and question them why they gave those men public honors and erected their statues. All will reply to you with one voice — to Chabrias for the naval battle at Naxos, to Iphicrates be cause he annihilated the Lacedaemonian battalion, to Timotheus for circumnavigating Corcyra ; and to others because one by one they have performed many brilliant feats in war. But should any one ask, Why to Demosthenes ? — As bribe-taker, as coward, as deserter from the ranks. And which will you be doing — honoring him, or dishonoring yourselves and those who fell for you in battle ? Imagine you see them protesting fiercely if he shall be crowned. For it would be marvelous indeed, fellow-citizens, if wood and stone and iron, things mute and senseless, we banish when they fall on any one and kill him ; and if whoever slays himself, the hand that did the deed we bury apart from the body: yet Demosthenes, fellow
DEMOSTHENES. 173
citizens, who indeed ordered this expedition, but betrayed the soldiers — this man you should honor. By this not only the dead are insulted, but the living disheartened, on seeing that death is constituted the reward of patriotism, and their mem ory is to perish.
Demosthenes. On the Crown.
I hold the fortune of our commonwealth to be good, and so I find the oracles of Dodonaean Jupiter and Pythian Apollo declaring to us. The fortune of all mankind, which now pre vails, I consider cruel and dreadful : for what Greek, what barbarian, has not in these times experienced a multitude of evils? That Athens chose the noblest policy, that she fares better than those very Greeks who thought, if they abandoned us, they should abide in prosperity, I reckon as part of her good fortune : if she suffered reverses, if all happened not to us as we desired, I conceive she has had that share of the general fortune which fell to our lot. As to my fortune (per sonally speaking) or that of any individual among us, it should, as I conceive, be judged of in connection with personal matters. Such is my opinion upon the subject of fortune, a right and just one, as it appears to me, and I think you will agree with it. ^Eschines says that my individual fortune is paramount to that of the commonwealth, the small and mean to the good and great. How can this possibly be?
However, if you are determined, ^Eschines, to scrutinize my fortune, compare it with your own, and, if you find my fortune better than yours, cease to revile it. Look then from the very beginning. And I pray and entreat that I may not be con demned for bad taste. I don't think any person wise who insults poverty, or who prides himself on having been bred in affluence : but by the slander and malice of this cruel man I am forced into such a discussion ; which I will conduct with all the moderation which circumstances allow.
I had the advantage, ^Eschines, in my boyhood of going to proper schools, and having such allowance as a boy should have who is to do nothing mean from indigence. Arrived at man's estate, I lived suitably to my breeding ; was choir master, ship commander, ratepayer ; backward in no acts of liberality pub lic or private, but making myself useful to the commonwealth
174 DEMOSTHENES.
and to my friends. When I entered upon state affairs, I chose such a line of politics, that both by my country and many people of Greece I have been crowned many times, and not even you my enemies venture to say that the line I chose was not honorable. Such then has been the fortune of my life : I could enlarge upon it, but I forbear, lest what I pride myself in should give offense.
But you, the man of dignity, who spit upon others, look what sort of fortune is yours compared with mine. As a boy you were reared in abject poverty, waiting with your father on the school, grinding the ink, sponging the benches, sweep ing the room, doing the duty of a menial rather than a free man's son. After you were grown up, you attended your mother's initiations, reading her books and helping in all the ceremonies : at night wrapping the novitiates in fawn skin, swilling, purifying, and scouring them with clay and bran, raising them after the lustration, and bidding them say, " Bad I have scaped, and better I have found ; " priding yourself that no one ever howled so lustily — and I believe him ! for don't suppose that he who speaks so loud is not a splendid howler ! In the daytime you led your noble orgiasts, crowned with fennel and poplar, through the highways, squeezing the big- cheeked serpents, and lifting them over your head, and shout ing Evoe Saboe, and capering to the words Hyes Attes, Attes Hyes, saluted by the beldames as Leader, Conductor, Chest Bearer, Fan Bearer, and the like, getting as your reward tarts and biscuits and rolls ; for which any man might well bless himself and his fortune ! —
When you were enrolled among your fellow-townsmen
what means I stop not to inquire — when you were enrolled however, you immediately selected the most honorable of em ployments, that of clerk and assistant to our petty magistrates. From this you were removed after a while, having done your self all that you charge others with ; and then, sure enough, you disgraced not your antecedents by your subsequent life, but hiring yourself to those ranting players, as they were called, Simylus and Socrates, you acted third parts, collecting figs and grapes and olives like a fruiterer from other men's farms, and getting more from them than from the playing, in which the lives of your whole company were at stake ; for there was an implacable and incessant war between them and the audience, from whom you received so many wounds, that
by
Demosthenes.
From the Statue in the Louvre.
DEMOSTHENES. 175
But passing over what may be imputed to poverty, I will come to the direct charges against your character. You es poused such a line of politics (when at last you thought of taking to them), that, if your country prospered, you lived the life of a hare, fearing and trembling and ever expecting to be scourged for the crimes of which your conscience accused you, though all have seen how bold you were during the misfor tunes of the rest. A man who took courage at the death of a thousand citizens — what does he deserve at the hands of the living? A great deal more that I could say about him I shall omit, for it is not all I can tell of his turpitude and infamy which I ought to let slip from my tongue, but only what is not disgraceful to myself to mention.
Contrast now the circumstances of your life and mine, gently and with temper, jEschines ; and then ask these people whose fortune they would each of them prefer. You taught read ing, I went to school : you performed initiations, I received them : you danced in the chorus, I furnished it : you were assembly clerk, I was a speaker : you acted third parts, I heard you : you broke down, and I hissed : you have worked as a statesman for the enemy, I for my country. I pass by the rest ; but this very day I am on my probation for a crown, and am acknowledged to be innocent of all offense ; while you are already judged to be a pettifogger, and the question is, whether you shall continue that trade, or at once be silenced by not getting a fifth part of the votes. A happy fortune, do you see, you have enjoyed, that you should denounce mine as miser able !
Come now, let me read the evidence to the jury of public services which I have performed. And by way of comparison do you recite me the verses which you murdered : —
no wonder you taunt as cowards, people inexperienced in such encounters.
And
From Hades and the dusky realms I come.
111 news, believe me, I am loath to bear.
Ill betide thee, say I, and may the Gods, or at least the Athe nians, confound thee for a vile citizen and a vile third-rate actor !
Read the evidence.
[Evidence. ]
176 DEMOSTHENES.
Such has been my character in political matters. In private, if you do not all know that I have been liberal and humane and charitable to the distressed, I am silent, I will say not a word, I will offer no evidence on the subject, either of persons whom I ransomed from the enemy, or of persons whose daugh ters I helped to portion, or anything of the kind. For this is my maxim. I hold that the party receiving an obligation should ever remember it, the party conferring should forget it immediately, if the one is to act with honesty, the other with out meanness. To remind and speak of your own bounties is next door to reproaching. I will not act so; nothing shall induce me. Whatever my reputation is in these respects, I am content with it.
I will have done then with private topics, but say another word or two upon public. If you can mention, jfEschines, a single man under the sun, whether Greek or barbarian, who has not suffered by Philip's power formerly and Alexander's now, well and good; I concede to you that my fortune, or misfortune (if you please), has been the cause of everything. But if many that never saw me or heard my voice have been grievously afflicted, not individuals only, but whole cities and nations, how much juster and fairer is it to consider that to the common fortune apparently of all men, to a tide of events overwhelming and lamentable, these disasters are to be attributed. You, disregarding all this, accuse me whose ministry has been among my countrymen, knowing all the while that a part (if not the whole) of your calumny falls upon the people, and yourself in particular. For if I assumed the sole and absolute direction of our counsels, it was open to you the other speakers to accuse me : but if you were con stantly present in all the assemblies, if the state invited public discussion of what was expedient, and if these measures were then believed by all to be the best, and especially by you (for certainly from no good will did you leave me in possession of hopes and admiration and honors, all of which attended on my policy, but doubtless because you were compelled by the truth and had nothing better to advise), is it not iniquitous and monstrous to complain now of measures, than which you could suggest none better at the time ?
Among all other people I find these principles in a manner defined and settled — Does a man willfully offend ? He is the object of wrath and punishment. Has a man erred uninten
DEMOSTHENES. 177
tionally? There is pardon instead of punishment for him. Has a man devoted himself to what seemed for the general good, and without any fault or misconduct been in common with all disappointed of success? Such a one deserves not obloquy or reproach, but sympathy. These principles will not be found in our statutes only : Nature herself has defined them by her unwritten laws and the feelings of humanity. ^Eschines however has so far surpassed all men in brutality and malignity; that even things which he cited himself as mis fortunes he imputes to me as crimes.
And besides — as if he himself had spoken everything with candor and good will — he told you to watch me, and mind that I did not cajole and deceive you, calling me a great orator, a juggler, a sophist, and the like : as though, if a man says of another what applies to himself, it must be true, and the hearers are not to inquire who the person is that makes the charge. Certain am I, that you are all acquainted with my opponent's character, and believe these charges to be more applicable to him than to me. And of this I am sure, that my oratory — let it be so : though indeed I find that the speaker's power depends for the most part on the hearers ; for according to your recep tion and favor it is, that the wisdom of a speaker is esteemed — if I however possess any ability of this sort, you will find it has been exhibited always in public business on your behalf, never against you or on personal matters ; whereas that of -5£schines has been displayed not only in speaking for the enemy, but against all persons who ever offended or quarreled with him. It is not for justice or the good of the commonwealth that he employs it. A citizen of worth and honor should not call upon judges impaneled in the public service to gratify his anger or hatred or anything of that kind ; nor should he come before you upon such grounds. The best thing is not to have these feelings ; but, if it cannot be helped, they should be mitigated and restrained.
On what occasions ought an orator and statesman to be vehement ? Where any of the commonwealth's main interests are in jeopardy, and he is opposed to the adversaries of the people. Those are the occasions for a generous and brave citizen. But for a person who never sought to punish me for any offense either public or private, on the state's behalf or on his own, to have got up an accusation because I am crowned
and honored, and to have expended such a multitude of words VOL. IV. —12
178 DEMOSTHENES.
— this is a proof of personal enmity and spite and meanness, not of anything good. And then his leaving the controversy with me, and attacking the defendant, comprises everything that is base.
I should conclude, ^Eschines, that you undertook this cause to exhibit your eloquence and strength of lungs, not to obtain satisfaction for any wrong. But it is not the language of an orator, iEschines, that has any value, nor yet the tone of his voice, but his adopting the same views with the people, and his hating and loving the same persons that his country does. He that is thus minded will say everything with loyal inten tion : he that courts persons from whom the commonwealth apprehends danger to herself rides not on the same anchorage with the people, and therefore has not the same expectation of safety. But — do you see? — I have: for my objects are
separate or distinct. Is that so with you ? How can it be when immediately after the battle you went as ambassador to Philip, who was at that period the author of your country's calamities, notwithstanding that you had before persisted in refusing that office, as all men know ?
And who is it that deceives the state ? Surely the man who speaks not what he thinks. On whom does the crier pro nounce a curse ? Surely on such a man. What greater crime can an orator be charged with, than that his opinions and his language are not the same ? Such is found to be your char acter. And yet you open your mouth, and dare to look these men in the face ! Do you think they don't know you ? or are sunk all in such slumber and oblivion, as not to remem ber the speeches which you delivered in the assembly, cursing and swearing that you had nothing to do with Philip, and that I brought that charge against you out of personal enmity without foundation ? No sooner came the news of the battle, than you forgot all that ; you acknowledged and avowed that between Philip and yourself there subsisted a relation of hos pitality and friendship — new names these for your contract of hire. For upon what plea of equality or justice could . (Eschines, son of Glaucothea the timbrel player, be the friend or acquaintance of Philip ? I cannot see. No ! You were hired to ruin the interests of your countrymen : and yet, though you have been caught yourself in open treason, and informed against yourself after the fact, you revile and re
I have no interest the same with those of my countrymen ; —
DEMOSTHENES. 179
proach me for things which you will find any man is charge able with sooner than I.
Many great and glorious enterprises has the commonwealth, JEschines, undertaken and succeeded in through me ; and she did not forget them. Here is the proof : On the election of a person to speak the funeral oration immediately after the event, you were proposed, but the people would not have you, notwithstanding your fine voice, nor Demades, though he had just made the peace, nor Hegemon, nor any other of your party — but me. And when you and Pythocles came forward in a brutal and shameful manner (O merciful heaven ! ), and urged the same accusations against me which you now do, and abused me, they elected me all the more. The reason — you are not ignorant of it — yet I will tell you. The Athe nians knew as well the loyalty and zeal with which I conducted their affairs, as the dishonesty of you and your party ; for what you denied upon oath in our prosperity, you confessed in the misfortunes of the republic. They considered, there fore, that men who got security for their politics by the public disasters had been their enemies long before, and were then avowedly such. They thought it right also, that the person who was to speak in honor of the fallen and celebrate their valor should not have sat under the same roof or at the same table with their antagonists ; that he should not revel there and sing a paean over the calamities of Greece in company with their murderers, and then come here and receive dis tinction ; that he should not with his voice act the mourner of their fate, but that he should lament over them with his heart. This they perceived in themselves and in me, but not in any of you : therefore they elected me, and not you. Nor, while the people felt thus, did the fathers and brothers of the deceased, who were chosen by the people to perform their obsequies, feel differently. For having to order the funeral banquet (according to custom) at the house of the nearest relative to the deceased, they ordered it at mine. And with reason : because, though each to his own was nearer of kin than I was, none was so near to them all collectively. He that had the deepest interest in their safety and success had upon their mournful disaster the largest share of sorrow for them all.
Read him this epitaph, which the state chose to inscribe on their monument, that you may see even by this, -5Sschines, what a heartless and malignant wretch you are. Read.
180
DEMOSTHENES.
The Epitaph.
These are the patriot brave, who side by side
Stood to their arms, and dashed the foeman's pride : Firm in their valor, prodigal of life,
Hades they chose the arbiter of strife ;
That Greeks might ne'er to haughty victors bow,
Nor thraldom's yoke, nor dire oppression know ; They fought, they bled, and on their country's breast (Such was the doom of heaven) these warriors rest. Gods never lack success, nor strive in vain,
But man must suffer what the fates ordain.
Do you hear, jEschines, in this very inscription, that " Gods never lack success, nor strive in vain ? " Not to the states man does it ascribe the power of giving victory in battle, but to the Gods. Wherefore then, execrable man, do you reproach me with these things? Wherefore utter such language? I pray that it may fall upon the heads of you and yours.
Many other accusations and falsehoods he urged against me, O Athenians, but one thing surprised me more than all, that, when he mentioned the late misfortunes of the country, he felt not as became a well-disposed and upright citizen, he shed no tear, experienced no such emotion : with a loud voice exulting, and straining his throat, he imagined apparently that he was accusing me, while he was giving proof against himself, that our distresses touched him not in the same manner as the rest. A person who pretends, as he did, to care for the laws and constitution, ought at least to have this about him, that he grieves and rejoices for the same cause as the people, and not by his politics to be enlisted in the ranks of the enemy, as jEschines has plainly done, saying that I am the cause of all, and that the commonwealth has fallen into troubles through me, when it was not owing to my views or principles that you began to assist the Greeks ; for, if you conceded this to me, that my influence caused you to resist the subjugation of Greece, it would be a higher honor than any that you have bestowed upon others. I myself would not make such an assertion — it would be doing you injustice — nor would you allow it, I am sure ; and JEschines, if he acted honestly, would never, out of enmity to me, have disparaged and defamed the greatest of your glories.
But why do I censure him for this, when with calumny far
DEMOSTHENES. 181
more shocking has he assailed me ? He that charges me with Philippizing — O heaven and earth ! — what would he not say ? By Hercules and the Gods! if one had honestly to inquire, discarding all expression of spite and falsehood, who the per sons really are, on whom the blame of what has happened may by common consent fairly and justly be thrown, it would be found, they are persons in the various states like JEschines, not like me — persons who, while Philip's power was feeble and exceedingly small, and we were constantly warning and exhort ing and giving salutary counsel, sacrificed the general interests for the sake of selfish lucre, deceiving and corrupting their respective countrymen, until they made them slaves — Daochus, Cineas, Thrasylaus, the Thessalians ; Cercidas, Hieronymus, Eucampidas, the Arcadians ; Myrtis, Teledamus, Mnaseas, the
Euxitheus, Cleotimus, Aristaechmus, the Eleans; Neon and Thrasylochus, sons of the accursed Philiades, the Messenians ; Aristratus, Epichares, the Sicyonians ; Dinarchus, Demaratus, the Corinthians ; Ptoeodorus, Helixus, Perilaus, the Megarians ; Timolaus, Theogiton, Anemoetas, the Thebans ; Hipparchus, Clitarchus, Sosistratus, the Euboeans. The day will not last me to recount the names of the traitors. All these, O Athenians, are men of the same politics in their own countries as this party among you, — profligates, and parasites, and miscreants, who have each of them crippled their father lands ; toasted away their liberty, first to Philip and last to Alexander ; who measure happiness by their belly and all that is base, while freedom and independence, which the Greeks of olden time regarded as the test and standard of well-being, they have annihilated. —
Of this base and infamous conspiracy and profligacy rather, O Athenians, if I am to speak in earnest, of this betrayal of Grecian liberty — Athens is by all mankind acquitted, owing to my counsels ; and I am acquitted by you. Then do you ask me, JEschines, for what merit I claim to be honored ? I will tell you. Because, while all the statesmen in Greece, begin ning with yourself, have been corrupted formerly by Philip and now by Alexander, me neither opportunity, nor fair speeches, nor large promises, nor hope, nor fear, nor anything else could tempt or induce to betray aught that I considered just and beneficial to my country. Whatever I have advised my fellow- citizens, I have never advised like you men, leaning as in a balance to the side of profit : all my proceedings have been
Argives;
or
182 DEMOSTHENES.
those of a soul upright, honest, and incorrupt : intrusted with affairs of greater magnitude than any of my contemporaries, I have administered them all honestly and faithfully. Therefore do I claim to be honored.
As to this fortification, for which you ridiculed me, of the wall and fosse, I regard them as deserving of thanks and praise, and so they are ; but I place them nowhere near my acts of administration. Not with stones nor with bricks did I fortify Athens : nor is this the ministry on which I most pride myself. Would you view my fortifications aright, you will find arms, and states, and posts, and harbors, and galleys, and horses, and men for their defense. These are the bulwarks with which I protected Attica, as far as was possible by human wisdom ; with these I fortified our territory, not the circle of Piraeus or
I was not beaten by Philip in estimates or preparations ; far from it ; but the generals and forces of the allies were overcome by his fortune. Where are the proofs
the city. Nay, more :
of this ? They are plain and evident. Consider.
—
What was the course becoming a loyal citizen a states
man serving his country with all possible forethought and zeal and fidelity? Should he not have covered Attica on the sea board with Euboea, on the midland frontier with Boeotia, on the Peloponnesian with the people of that confine ? Should he not have provided for the conveyance of corn along a friendly coast all the way to Piraeus? preserved certain places that belonged to us by sending off succors, and by advising and moving accordingly, — Proconnesus, Chersonesus, Tenedos ? brought others into alliance and confederacy with us, — By zantium, Abydus, Euboea? — cut off the principal resources of the enemy, and supplied what the commonwealth was deficient in ? All this has been accomplished by my decrees and meas ures ; and whoever will examine them without prejudice, men of Athens, will find they were rightly planned and faithfully executed ; that none of the proper seasons were lost or missed or thrown away by me, nothing which depended on one man's ability and prudence was neglected. But if the power of some deity or of fortune, or the worthlessness of commanders, or the wickedness of you that betrayed your countries, or all these things together, injured and eventually ruined our cause, of what is Demosthenes guilty? Had there in each of the Greek cities been one such man as I was in my station among you ; or rather, had Thessaly possessed one single man, and
DEMOSTHENES. 183
Arcadia one, of the same sentiments as myself, none of the Greeks either beyond or within Thermopylae would have suf fered their present calamities ; all would have been free and independent, living prosperously in their own countries with perfect safety and security, thankful to you and the rest of the Athenians for such manifold blessings through me.
To show you that I greatly understate my services for fear of giving offense, here — read me this — the list of auxiliaries procured by my decrees.
[The list of auxiliaries. ]
These and the like measures, JEschines, are what become an honorable citizen (by their success — O earth and heaven ! — we should have been the greatest of people incontestably, and deserved to be so : even under their failure the result is glory, and no one blames Athens or her policy : all condemn fortune that so ordered things) : but never will he desert the interests of the commonwealth, nor hire himself to her adver saries, and study the enemy's advantage instead of his coun try's; nor on a man who has courage to advise and propose measures worthy of the state, and resolution to persevere in them, will he cast an evil eye, and, if any one privately offends him, remember and treasure it up; no, nor keep himself in a criminal and treacherous retirement, as you so often do. There is indeed a retirement just and beneficial to the state, such as you, the bulk of my countrymen, innocently enjoy : that however is not the retirement of JEschines ; far from it. Withdrawing himself from public life when he pleases (and that is often), he watches for the moment when you are tired of a constant speaker, or when some reverse of fortune has befallen you, or anything untoward has happened (and many are the casualties of human life) : at such a crisis he springs up an orator, rising from his retreat like a wind ; in full voice, with words and phrases collected, he rolls them out audibly and breathlessly, to no advantage or good purpose whatsoever, but to the detriment of some or other of his fellow-citizens and to the general disgrace.
Yet from this labor and diligence, JEschines, if it proceeded from an honest heart, solicitous for your country's welfare, the fruits should have been rich and noble and profitable to all — alliances of states, supplies of money, conveniences of com merce, enactment of useful laws, opposition to our declared
184 DEMOSTHENES.
enemies. All such things were looked for in former times; and many opportunities did the past afford for a good man and
true to show himself ; during which time you are nowhere to be found, neither first, second, third, fourth, fifth, nor sixth — not in any rank at all — certainly on no service by which your country was exalted. For what alliance has come to the state by your procurement? What succors, what acquisition of good will or credit? What embassy or agency is there of yours, by which the reputation of the country has been in creased? What concern domestic, Hellenic, or foreign, of which you have had the management, has improved under it ? What galleys ? what ammunition ? what arsenals ? what repair of walls? what cavalry? What in the world are you good for? What assistance in money have you ever given, either to the rich or the poor, out of public spirit or liberality? None. But, good sir, if there is nothing of this, there is at all events zeal and loyalty. Where? when? You infamous fel low ! Even at a time when all who ever spoke upon the plat form gave something for the public safety, and last Aristonicus gave the sum which he had amassed to retrieve his franchise, you neither came forward nor contributed a mite — not from inability — no ! for you have inherited above five talents from Philo, your wife's father, and you had a subscription of two talents from the chairmen of the Boards for what you did to cut up the navy law. But, that I may not go from one thing to another and lose sight of the question, I pass this by. That it was not poverty prevented your contributing, already appears : it was, in fact, your anxiety to do nothing against those to whom your political life is subservient. On what occasions then do you show your spirit ? When do you shine out ? When aught is to be spoken against your countrymen ! — then it is you are splendid in voice, perfect in memory, an admirable actor, a tragic Theocrines.
You mention the good men of olden times ; and you are right so to do. Yet it is hardly fair, O Athenians, that he should get the advantage of that respect which you have for the dead, to compare and contrast me with them, — me who am living among you ; for what mortal is ignorant that toward the living there exists always more or less of ill will, whereas the dead are no longer hated even by an enemy ? Such being human nature, am I to be tried and judged by the standard of my predecessors ? Heaven forbid ! It is not just or equitable,
DEMOSTHENES. 185
^Sschines. Let me be compared with you, or any persons you like of your party who are still alive. And consider this — whether it is more honorable and better for the state, that because of the services of a former age, prodigious though they are beyond all power of expression, those of the present generation should be unrequited and spurned, or that all who give proof of their good intentions should have their share of honor and regard from the people ? Yet indeed — if I must say so much — my politics and principles, if considered fairly, will be found to resemble those of the illustrious ancients, and to have had the same objects in view, while yours resemble those of their calumniators ; for it is certain there were persons in those times, who ran down the living, and praised people dead and gone, with a malignant purpose like yourself.
You say that I am nothing like the ancients. Are you like
them, . ^Eschines ? Is your brother, or any of our speakers ? assert that none is. But pray, my good fellow (that I may give you no other name), try the living with the living and with his competitors, as you would in all cases — poets, dancers, athletes. Philammon did not, because he was inferior to Glaucus of Carystus and some other champions of a bygone age, depart uncrowned from Olympia, but, because he beat all who entered the ring against him, was crowned and proclaimed conqueror. So I ask you to compare me with the orators of the day, with
I yield to none. When the commonwealth was at liberty to choose for her advantage, and patriotism was a matter of emulation, I showed myself a better
yourself, with any one you like :
counselor than any, and every act of state was pursuant to my decrees and laws and negotiations : none of your party was to be seen, unless you had to do the Athenians a mischief. After that lamentable occurrence, when there was a call no longer for advisers, but for persons obedient to command, persons ready to be hired against their country and willing to flatter strangers, then all of you were in occupation, grand people with splendid
I was powerless, I confess, though more attached to my countrymen than you.
equipages ;
Two things, men of Athens, are characteristic of a well- disposed citizen — so may I speak of myself and give the least offense : In authority, his constant aim should be the dignity and preeminence of the commonwealth ; in all times and cir cumstances his spirit should be loyal. This depends upon nature ; power and might upon other things. Such a spirit,
I
186 DINARCHUS.
you will find, I have ever sincerely cherished. Only see. When my person was demanded — when they brought Amphic- tyonic suits against me — when they menaced — when they promised —when they set these miscreants like wild beasts upon me — never in any way have I abandoned my affection for you. From the very beginning I chose an honest and straightforward course in politics, to support the honor, the power, the glory of my fatherland, these to exalt, in these to have my being. I do not walk about the market place gay and cheerful because the stranger has prospered, holding out my right hand and congratulating those who I think will report it yonder, and on any news of our own success shudder and groan and stoop to the earth, like these impious men, who rail at Athens, as if in so doing they did not rail at themselves ; who look abroad, and if the foreigner thrives by the distresses of Greece, are thankful for it, and say we should keep him so thriving to all time.
Never, O ye Gods, may those wishes be confirmed by you ! If possible, inspire even in these men a better sense and feeling ! But if they are indeed incurable, destroy them by themselves ; exterminate them on land and sea ; and for the rest of us, grant that we may speedily be released from our present fears, and enjoy a lasting deliverance !
DlNARCHUS.
Oration against Demosthenes.
[In the winter of B. C. 325-4, Harpalus, Alexander's treasurer in Asia, de camped with a vast sum of money, and ultimately took refuge in Athens, which he tried to raise in revolt. Demosthenes opposed him, and had him imprisoned and his remaining money — stated at 700 talents — placed in the Parthenon in trust for Alexander, in charge of a special commission of which Demosthenes was one. Harpalus escaped, and in the investigation which followed, only 350 talents could be found. The commission were prosecuted for embezzlement; Demosthenes was fined fifty talents and imprisoned in default of payment, but escaped in a few days. Professor Holm thinks the money was taken for secret party use to prepare for a war of liberation in case of Alexander's death, and that Demosthenes was an understood scape-goat. ]
This minister of yours, Athenians, who has pronounced sentence of death upon himself should he be convicted of receiving anything from Harpalus — this very man has been clearly convicted of accepting bribes from those whom he
DINARCHUS.
187
formerly pretended to oppose with so much zeal. . . . You are not to give up the general rights and laws of the commu nity, or exchange the general welfare, for the speeches of the accused. You see that in this assembly it is Demosthenes that is tried ; in all other places your own trial is depending. On you men turn their eyes, and wait with eagerness to see how far the interest of your country will engage your care ; whether you are to take upon yourselves the corruption and iniquity of these men, or whether you are to manifest to the world a just resentment against those who are bribed to betray the state.
This last is fully in your power. The assembly has made a fair decree, committing the cognizance of the charge to the court of Areopagus ; . . . and although the dignity and pro priety of this procedure have received the approbation of the people, Demosthenes has recourse to complaints, to appeals, to malicious accusations, now that he finds himself convicted of receiving twenty talents of gold. Shall then this council, on whose faith and justice we rely, even in the important case of premeditated murder ; to whom we commit the vengeance due to this crime ; who have an absolute power over the persons and lives of our citizens ; who can punish every violation of our laws, either by exile or by death, —shall this council, I say, on an inquiry into a case of bribery, at once lose all its authority ? " Yes ; for the Areopagus has reported falsely of Demosthenes. " Extravagant and absurd ! What ! report falsely of Demosthenes and Demades, against whom even the truth seems scarcely to be declared with safety? You, who have in former times moved that this council should take cog nizance of public affairs, and have applauded their reports ; you, whom this whole city has not been able to restrain within the bounds of justice, — has the council reported falsely against you ? Why then did you declare to the people that you were ready to submit to death, if condemned by the report of this council ? Why have you availed yourself of their authority, to take off so many of our citizens? . . .
For now, when the council of the Areopagus have nobly and equitably proceeded to a full detection of this man, and his accomplices ; when, regardless of the power of Demosthenes and Demades, they have adhered inviolably to truth and justice ; — still Demosthenes goes round the city, utters his invectives against this council, and boasts of his services, in those speeches which you shall hear him instantly use to deceive the assembly.
188 DINARCHUS.
" It was I who gained you the alliance of Thebes ! " No ! you it was who ruined the common interest of both states. — "I drew out the forces of Chaeronea ! " No, you were the only person who there fled from your post. — " For you have I en gaged in several embassies. " And what would he do, what would he demand, had these negotiations of his been successful, when, having ranged through the world only to involve us in such calamities and misfortunes, he expects to be rewarded with a liberty of receiving bribes against his country, and the privilege of speaking and of acting in this assembly as he pleases ? With Timotheus, who awed all Peloponnesus by his fleet ; who gained the naval victory at Corcyra over the Lace daemonians ; who was the son of Conon, the man who restored liberty to Greece ; who gained Samos, and Methone, and Pydna, and Potidaea, and, besides these, twenty cities more, — with him you did not allow those important benefits he had conferred on us to have any weight against the integrity of your tribunals, against the oaths you swore by in pronouncing sentence. No : you imposed a fine of one hundred talents on him, because by his own acknowledgment he had received money from the Chians
and the Rhodians. . . .
Such was this citizen that he might reasonably, Demosthenes,
have expected pardon and favor from his fellow-citizens of those days. Not in words, but in actions, did he perform important services to his country. His principles were steady, his conduct uniform, not various and changeable like yours. He never made so unreasonable a request to the people as to be raised above the laws. He never required that those who had sworn to give sentence justly should break through that sacred tie ; but submitted to stand condemned, if such was the judgment of his tribunal. He never pleaded the necessity of times ; nor thought in one manner and harangued in another. And shall this miscreant live, who, besides his other numerous and heinous crimes, has abandoned the state of Thebes to its destruction, when for the preservation of that state he had received three hundred talents from the king of Persia ?
For when the Arcadians marched to the Isthmus, refused to treat with the ambassadors of Antipater, and received those of the unfortunate Thebans — who with difficulty gained access to them by sea, appeared before them in the form of wretched supplicants, declared that their present motions were not in tended to dissolve their connections with Greece or to oppose
DINARCHUS. 189
the interest of that nation, but to free themselves from the in tolerable yoke of Macedonian tyranny, from slavery, from the horrid insults to which freemen were exposed ; — when the Arcadians were disposed to assist them, when they commiser ated their wretched state, when they discovered that by the necessities of the times alone they had been obliged to attend on Alexander, but that their inclinations were invariably attached to Thebes and to the liberties of Greece ; when Astylus, their mercenary general, demanded (as Stratocles has informed you) ten talents for leading a reenforcement to the Thebans ; when the ambassadors applied to this man, who they well knew had received the king's money, and requested and besought him to grant such a sum for the preservation of the state ; — then did this abandoned, this impious, this sordid wretch (when there was so fair a prospect of saving Thebes) refuse to part with ten talents out of all the vast treasures which he received ; insensible to the affecting consideration, urged by Stratocles, that there were those who would give as great a sum to divert the Arcadians from this expedition, and to prevent them from assisting Thebes. . . .
A city of our neighbors and our allies has been torn from the very heart of Greece. The plower and the sower now traverse the city of the Thebans, who united with us in the war against Philip. I say the plower and the sower traverse their habitations : nor has this hardened wretch discovered the least remorse at the calamities of a people, to whom he was sent as our ambassador ; with whom he lived, conversed, and enjoyed all that hospitality could confer ; whom he pretends to have himself gained to our alliance ; whom he frequently visited in their prosperity, but basely betrayed in their distress. Our elder citizens can inform us, that at a time when our constitu tion was destroyed ; when Thrasybulus was collecting our ex iles in Thebes in order to possess himself of Phyle ; when the Lacedaemonians, now in the height of power, issued their man date forbidding all states to receive the Athenians or to con duct them through their territories, — this people assisted our countrymen in their expedition, and published their decree, so often recited in this assembly, "that they would not look on with unconcern, should any enemy invade the Athenian territory. "
Far different was the conduct of this man, who affects such attention to the interests of our allies (as you shall soon hear
190 DINARCHUS.
him boast). The very money, which he received to preserve this people from ruin, he refused to part with. Let these things sink deep into your minds. Think on the calamities which arise from traitors ; let the wretched fate of the Olyn- thians and the Thebans teach you to make just provision for your own security. Cut off the men who are ever ready to sell the interests of their country for a bribe, and rest your hopes of safety upon yourselves and the gods. These are the means, Athenians, the only means, of reforming our city ; to bring offenders of eminence to justice, and to inflict a punish ment adequate to their offenses. When common criminals are detected, no one knows, no one inquires, their fate. But the punishment of great delinquents commands men's attention ; and a rigid adherence to justice, without regard to persons, is sure to meet with due applause. —Read the decree of the Thebans ; produce the testimonies ; read the letter.
[The clerk reads them. ]
He is a corrupted traitor, Athenians ! of old a corrupted traitor ! This is the man who conducted Philip's ambassadors from Thebes to this city ; who was the occasion of putting an end to the former war ; who was the accomplice of Philocrates, the author of the decree for making peace with Philip for which you banished him ; the man who hired carriages for the ambas sadors that came hither with Antipater ; who entertained them, and introduced the custom of paying obsequious flattery to the Macedonians. Do not, Athenians ! do not suffer this man, whose name is subscribed to the misfortunes of this state [i. e. , to the decrees which caused them] and of all the states of Greece, to escape unpunished. . . .
For what occasion should we reserve this man ? When may we hope that he will prove of advantage to us? From the moment that he first began to direct our affairs, has any one in stance of good fortune attended us ? Has not all Greece, and not this state alone, been plunged in dangers, calamities, and disgrace ? Many were the fair occasions which occurred to favor his administration ; and all these occasions, of such mo ment to our interests, he neglected. . . Shall not then the experience of the past direct your judgments of the future? Can any services be expected from him ? Yes ; the service of forming contrivances in favor of our enemies, on some critical emergency. Such was the time when the Lacedaemonians had
DIN ARCH US. 191
encamped, when the Eleans united with them, when they were reenforced with ten thousand mercenaries ; Alexander said to be in India ; all Greece inflamed with indignation at the state to which traitors had reduced every community ; impatient of distress, and earnest for relief. In this conjuncture, who was the man, Demosthenes, that had the direction of our councils ? In this perilous conjuncture (not to mention other like occa sions) did you, whom we shall hear expressing the utmost indignation at the present fallen state of Greece —did you propose any decree? Did you assist us with your counsels? Did you supply us with your treasures? Not at all ! You were employed in ranging through the city, providing your whisperers, forging letters — [to the judges] — he, the disgrace of his illustrious country, was then seen trimly decked with his rings, indulging in effeminacy and luxury amidst the public calamities ; borne through our streets in his sedan, and insulting the distresses of the poor. And can we expect future services from him who has neglected all past occasions of serving us? . . .
Let us suppose the case that, agreeably to the decree of De mosthenes, Alexander should by his ambassadors demand the gold which Harpalus brought hither : that to confirm the sen tence of the Areopagus, he should send back the slaves and direct us to extort the truth from them. What should we then say? Would you, Demosthenes, then move for a declaration of war ? you, who have so nobly conducted our former wars ? And if such should be the resolution of the assembly, which would be the fairer procedure : to take that money to ourselves, which you secreted, in order to support our war ; or to load our citizens with taxes, to oblige our women to send in their ornaments, to melt down our plate, to strip our temples of their offerings, as your decree directed ? Though from your houses in the Piraeus and in the city you yourself contributed just fifty drachmae [flO] ; and nobly have the twenty talents [$24,000] you took repaid such bounty. Or would you move that we should not declare war; but that agreeably to your decree, we should return to Alexander the gold conveyed hither ? In that case the community must pay your share. And is this just, is this equal dealing, is this constitutional, that our use ful citizens should be taxed to glut your avarice, that men of avowed property should contribute while your property lies concealed, —notwithstanding you have received 150 talents,
192 DINARCHUS.
partly from the king's, partly from Alexander's, treasure, — all carefully secreted, as you justly dread the consequences of your conduct ? that our laws should direct that every public speaker, every leader of our forces, should recommend himself to the confidence of the public by educating children, and by possess ing land within our territory, nor assume the direction of our affairs until he had given these pledges of his fidelity ; and that you should sell your patrimonial lands, and adopt the children of strangers, to elude the force of laws and oaths? that you should impose military service on others, you who basely fled from your own post? . . .
And now, my fellow-citizens, consider how you are to act. The people have returned to you an information of a crime lately committed. Demosthenes stands first before you, to suf fer the punishment denounced against all whom this informa tion condemns. We have explained his guilt, with an unbiased attention to the laws. Will you then discover a total disregard of all these offenses? Will you, when intrusted with so im portant a decision, invalidate the judgment of the people, of the Areopagus, of all mankind? Will you take upon your selves the guilt of these men?
But I solemnly swear that of all which I learn Demosthenes intends to allege, I am most indignant at what I am going to mention. It seems he compares my nature to the Sirens' ; for their listeners are never called to them, it is said, except to be destroyed, — wherefore the Sirens' music is not in good repute, — and forsooth my practice in speaking and my native talent exist for the ruin of the hearers. Now for my part, I think this charge is in every way one it becomes no man to bring against me, for it is shameful in accusers to have no proofs to exhibit ; but if indispensable to be plead, it lies not in Demos thenes' mouth, but in that of some capable general who has done good service to the city, unskilled in speaking and there fore envying his opponents' ability, and who recognizes that he cannot explain what he has done, but sees the accuser able to present to the judges acts he never committed, as things he ordered. But when a man composed of words, and those at once acrimonious and elaborated, takes refuge in artlessness and bald fact, who can put up with it? —a man from whom if you take the tongue, as with a flute, nothing is left.
I wonder, fellow-citizens, and I ask you, on what ground you could vote against this indictment. That the decree is not illegal? no motion was ever more unlawful. Or that the author of the decree does not deserve to be brought to justice ? none can fairly be called to account by you for their conduct, if you discharge him. Is it not deplorable, when formerly the stage was filled with golden crowns with which our people were crowned by the Greeks, — this season being assigned for for eigners' crowns, — that now through Demosthenes' administra tion you are all discrowned and disheralded, while he is to
jESCHINES.
171
be heralded? Why, if any of the tragic poets coming on this stage after these proceedings should represent Thersites crowned by the Greeks, none of you would endure it, because Homer says he was a coward and false informer ; but when ever you shall have crowned this man, do you not think you will be hissed by the judgment of all the Greeks ? . . .
I would gladly discuss this decree with the author before you, fellow-citizens, as to what great service Demosthenes is worthy to be crowned for.
If you take up the second item of the decree, in which you have ventured to write him down a good citizen who has stead ily spoken and acted for the highest good of the people of Athens, then strip the decree of humbug and boastfulness so that it may stick to facts, and prove what you allege. I will leave out the bribe-taking in the Amphissaean and Euboean cases : but when you impute the merit of the Theban alliance to Demosthenes, you impose on the ignorant and insult those who know and understand ; for by suppressing the nature of the crisis, and the reputation of those by whom the alliance was effected, you think to conceal from us the credit due the city and transfer it to Demosthenes. How great a fraud this is, I will try to make plain by a notable instance. The king of the Persians once, not long before the descent of Alexander upon Asia, sent to this people a letter both arrogant and bar barian ; in which, after handling many other topics very boor ishly, he had written thus at the close : "
gold," he said; " do not ask me, for you will not get it. " Yet this same man, hemmed in by imminent dangers himself, sent voluntarily three hundred talents to the people — which they wisely declined to accept. What brought the gold was
the juncture and fear and the needs of allies ; and the very same things brought about the alliance of the Thebans.
But while you bore us by harping on the name of the The bans and their luckless alliance, you are silent on your grab bing the seventy talents you stole of the royal gold. Was it not for lack of money, for the sake of five talents, that the
If you say, as embodied in the opening of the decree, that he has dug ditches around the walls well, I wonder at you, for having been their cause is a heavier count than having executed them well ; and it is not for palisading the wall circuit or oblit erating the public graves that an administrator should rightly merit honors, but for generating some new good to the city.
I will give you no
172
-ESCHINES.
enemy would not restore the Thebans their citadel? for lack of nine talents of silver, that when all the Arcadians were drawn out and the leaders ready to come to our aid, the ex. pedition did not take place ? And you roll in wealth and celebrate games for your own pleasures! And to crown all, gentlemen, the royal gold is with him, the perils with you.
The ill-breeding of these men is also worth observing. If Ctesiphon should dare call on Demosthenes to address you, and he should rise and laud himself, listening to him would be a heavier burden than his acts. For even when really superior men, of whom many noble actions are known to us, recite their own praises, we are impatient; but if one who is the disgrace of the city were to eulogize himself, who that heard him could endure it ?
But if you are wise now, Ctesiphon, you will abstain from this impudent procedure, and make your defense in person ; for you cannot set up the slightest pretense of being unequal to public speaking. It would become you oddly enough, when you have recently borne up under being appointed ambassador to Cleopatra the daughter of Philip, for condolence with her on the death of Alexander king of the Molossians, to pretend now that you cannot make a speech. When you are able to con sole a mourning woman, a foreigner at that, can you not defend a decree you have drawn up for pay ? or is this man you have ordered crowned, one who would be unknown to those he has benefited unless some one added his voice to yours ? Ask the judges if they know Chabrias and Iphicrates and Timotheus, and question them why they gave those men public honors and erected their statues. All will reply to you with one voice — to Chabrias for the naval battle at Naxos, to Iphicrates be cause he annihilated the Lacedaemonian battalion, to Timotheus for circumnavigating Corcyra ; and to others because one by one they have performed many brilliant feats in war. But should any one ask, Why to Demosthenes ? — As bribe-taker, as coward, as deserter from the ranks. And which will you be doing — honoring him, or dishonoring yourselves and those who fell for you in battle ? Imagine you see them protesting fiercely if he shall be crowned. For it would be marvelous indeed, fellow-citizens, if wood and stone and iron, things mute and senseless, we banish when they fall on any one and kill him ; and if whoever slays himself, the hand that did the deed we bury apart from the body: yet Demosthenes, fellow
DEMOSTHENES. 173
citizens, who indeed ordered this expedition, but betrayed the soldiers — this man you should honor. By this not only the dead are insulted, but the living disheartened, on seeing that death is constituted the reward of patriotism, and their mem ory is to perish.
Demosthenes. On the Crown.
I hold the fortune of our commonwealth to be good, and so I find the oracles of Dodonaean Jupiter and Pythian Apollo declaring to us. The fortune of all mankind, which now pre vails, I consider cruel and dreadful : for what Greek, what barbarian, has not in these times experienced a multitude of evils? That Athens chose the noblest policy, that she fares better than those very Greeks who thought, if they abandoned us, they should abide in prosperity, I reckon as part of her good fortune : if she suffered reverses, if all happened not to us as we desired, I conceive she has had that share of the general fortune which fell to our lot. As to my fortune (per sonally speaking) or that of any individual among us, it should, as I conceive, be judged of in connection with personal matters. Such is my opinion upon the subject of fortune, a right and just one, as it appears to me, and I think you will agree with it. ^Eschines says that my individual fortune is paramount to that of the commonwealth, the small and mean to the good and great. How can this possibly be?
However, if you are determined, ^Eschines, to scrutinize my fortune, compare it with your own, and, if you find my fortune better than yours, cease to revile it. Look then from the very beginning. And I pray and entreat that I may not be con demned for bad taste. I don't think any person wise who insults poverty, or who prides himself on having been bred in affluence : but by the slander and malice of this cruel man I am forced into such a discussion ; which I will conduct with all the moderation which circumstances allow.
I had the advantage, ^Eschines, in my boyhood of going to proper schools, and having such allowance as a boy should have who is to do nothing mean from indigence. Arrived at man's estate, I lived suitably to my breeding ; was choir master, ship commander, ratepayer ; backward in no acts of liberality pub lic or private, but making myself useful to the commonwealth
174 DEMOSTHENES.
and to my friends. When I entered upon state affairs, I chose such a line of politics, that both by my country and many people of Greece I have been crowned many times, and not even you my enemies venture to say that the line I chose was not honorable. Such then has been the fortune of my life : I could enlarge upon it, but I forbear, lest what I pride myself in should give offense.
But you, the man of dignity, who spit upon others, look what sort of fortune is yours compared with mine. As a boy you were reared in abject poverty, waiting with your father on the school, grinding the ink, sponging the benches, sweep ing the room, doing the duty of a menial rather than a free man's son. After you were grown up, you attended your mother's initiations, reading her books and helping in all the ceremonies : at night wrapping the novitiates in fawn skin, swilling, purifying, and scouring them with clay and bran, raising them after the lustration, and bidding them say, " Bad I have scaped, and better I have found ; " priding yourself that no one ever howled so lustily — and I believe him ! for don't suppose that he who speaks so loud is not a splendid howler ! In the daytime you led your noble orgiasts, crowned with fennel and poplar, through the highways, squeezing the big- cheeked serpents, and lifting them over your head, and shout ing Evoe Saboe, and capering to the words Hyes Attes, Attes Hyes, saluted by the beldames as Leader, Conductor, Chest Bearer, Fan Bearer, and the like, getting as your reward tarts and biscuits and rolls ; for which any man might well bless himself and his fortune ! —
When you were enrolled among your fellow-townsmen
what means I stop not to inquire — when you were enrolled however, you immediately selected the most honorable of em ployments, that of clerk and assistant to our petty magistrates. From this you were removed after a while, having done your self all that you charge others with ; and then, sure enough, you disgraced not your antecedents by your subsequent life, but hiring yourself to those ranting players, as they were called, Simylus and Socrates, you acted third parts, collecting figs and grapes and olives like a fruiterer from other men's farms, and getting more from them than from the playing, in which the lives of your whole company were at stake ; for there was an implacable and incessant war between them and the audience, from whom you received so many wounds, that
by
Demosthenes.
From the Statue in the Louvre.
DEMOSTHENES. 175
But passing over what may be imputed to poverty, I will come to the direct charges against your character. You es poused such a line of politics (when at last you thought of taking to them), that, if your country prospered, you lived the life of a hare, fearing and trembling and ever expecting to be scourged for the crimes of which your conscience accused you, though all have seen how bold you were during the misfor tunes of the rest. A man who took courage at the death of a thousand citizens — what does he deserve at the hands of the living? A great deal more that I could say about him I shall omit, for it is not all I can tell of his turpitude and infamy which I ought to let slip from my tongue, but only what is not disgraceful to myself to mention.
Contrast now the circumstances of your life and mine, gently and with temper, jEschines ; and then ask these people whose fortune they would each of them prefer. You taught read ing, I went to school : you performed initiations, I received them : you danced in the chorus, I furnished it : you were assembly clerk, I was a speaker : you acted third parts, I heard you : you broke down, and I hissed : you have worked as a statesman for the enemy, I for my country. I pass by the rest ; but this very day I am on my probation for a crown, and am acknowledged to be innocent of all offense ; while you are already judged to be a pettifogger, and the question is, whether you shall continue that trade, or at once be silenced by not getting a fifth part of the votes. A happy fortune, do you see, you have enjoyed, that you should denounce mine as miser able !
Come now, let me read the evidence to the jury of public services which I have performed. And by way of comparison do you recite me the verses which you murdered : —
no wonder you taunt as cowards, people inexperienced in such encounters.
And
From Hades and the dusky realms I come.
111 news, believe me, I am loath to bear.
Ill betide thee, say I, and may the Gods, or at least the Athe nians, confound thee for a vile citizen and a vile third-rate actor !
Read the evidence.
[Evidence. ]
176 DEMOSTHENES.
Such has been my character in political matters. In private, if you do not all know that I have been liberal and humane and charitable to the distressed, I am silent, I will say not a word, I will offer no evidence on the subject, either of persons whom I ransomed from the enemy, or of persons whose daugh ters I helped to portion, or anything of the kind. For this is my maxim. I hold that the party receiving an obligation should ever remember it, the party conferring should forget it immediately, if the one is to act with honesty, the other with out meanness. To remind and speak of your own bounties is next door to reproaching. I will not act so; nothing shall induce me. Whatever my reputation is in these respects, I am content with it.
I will have done then with private topics, but say another word or two upon public. If you can mention, jfEschines, a single man under the sun, whether Greek or barbarian, who has not suffered by Philip's power formerly and Alexander's now, well and good; I concede to you that my fortune, or misfortune (if you please), has been the cause of everything. But if many that never saw me or heard my voice have been grievously afflicted, not individuals only, but whole cities and nations, how much juster and fairer is it to consider that to the common fortune apparently of all men, to a tide of events overwhelming and lamentable, these disasters are to be attributed. You, disregarding all this, accuse me whose ministry has been among my countrymen, knowing all the while that a part (if not the whole) of your calumny falls upon the people, and yourself in particular. For if I assumed the sole and absolute direction of our counsels, it was open to you the other speakers to accuse me : but if you were con stantly present in all the assemblies, if the state invited public discussion of what was expedient, and if these measures were then believed by all to be the best, and especially by you (for certainly from no good will did you leave me in possession of hopes and admiration and honors, all of which attended on my policy, but doubtless because you were compelled by the truth and had nothing better to advise), is it not iniquitous and monstrous to complain now of measures, than which you could suggest none better at the time ?
Among all other people I find these principles in a manner defined and settled — Does a man willfully offend ? He is the object of wrath and punishment. Has a man erred uninten
DEMOSTHENES. 177
tionally? There is pardon instead of punishment for him. Has a man devoted himself to what seemed for the general good, and without any fault or misconduct been in common with all disappointed of success? Such a one deserves not obloquy or reproach, but sympathy. These principles will not be found in our statutes only : Nature herself has defined them by her unwritten laws and the feelings of humanity. ^Eschines however has so far surpassed all men in brutality and malignity; that even things which he cited himself as mis fortunes he imputes to me as crimes.
And besides — as if he himself had spoken everything with candor and good will — he told you to watch me, and mind that I did not cajole and deceive you, calling me a great orator, a juggler, a sophist, and the like : as though, if a man says of another what applies to himself, it must be true, and the hearers are not to inquire who the person is that makes the charge. Certain am I, that you are all acquainted with my opponent's character, and believe these charges to be more applicable to him than to me. And of this I am sure, that my oratory — let it be so : though indeed I find that the speaker's power depends for the most part on the hearers ; for according to your recep tion and favor it is, that the wisdom of a speaker is esteemed — if I however possess any ability of this sort, you will find it has been exhibited always in public business on your behalf, never against you or on personal matters ; whereas that of -5£schines has been displayed not only in speaking for the enemy, but against all persons who ever offended or quarreled with him. It is not for justice or the good of the commonwealth that he employs it. A citizen of worth and honor should not call upon judges impaneled in the public service to gratify his anger or hatred or anything of that kind ; nor should he come before you upon such grounds. The best thing is not to have these feelings ; but, if it cannot be helped, they should be mitigated and restrained.
On what occasions ought an orator and statesman to be vehement ? Where any of the commonwealth's main interests are in jeopardy, and he is opposed to the adversaries of the people. Those are the occasions for a generous and brave citizen. But for a person who never sought to punish me for any offense either public or private, on the state's behalf or on his own, to have got up an accusation because I am crowned
and honored, and to have expended such a multitude of words VOL. IV. —12
178 DEMOSTHENES.
— this is a proof of personal enmity and spite and meanness, not of anything good. And then his leaving the controversy with me, and attacking the defendant, comprises everything that is base.
I should conclude, ^Eschines, that you undertook this cause to exhibit your eloquence and strength of lungs, not to obtain satisfaction for any wrong. But it is not the language of an orator, iEschines, that has any value, nor yet the tone of his voice, but his adopting the same views with the people, and his hating and loving the same persons that his country does. He that is thus minded will say everything with loyal inten tion : he that courts persons from whom the commonwealth apprehends danger to herself rides not on the same anchorage with the people, and therefore has not the same expectation of safety. But — do you see? — I have: for my objects are
separate or distinct. Is that so with you ? How can it be when immediately after the battle you went as ambassador to Philip, who was at that period the author of your country's calamities, notwithstanding that you had before persisted in refusing that office, as all men know ?
And who is it that deceives the state ? Surely the man who speaks not what he thinks. On whom does the crier pro nounce a curse ? Surely on such a man. What greater crime can an orator be charged with, than that his opinions and his language are not the same ? Such is found to be your char acter. And yet you open your mouth, and dare to look these men in the face ! Do you think they don't know you ? or are sunk all in such slumber and oblivion, as not to remem ber the speeches which you delivered in the assembly, cursing and swearing that you had nothing to do with Philip, and that I brought that charge against you out of personal enmity without foundation ? No sooner came the news of the battle, than you forgot all that ; you acknowledged and avowed that between Philip and yourself there subsisted a relation of hos pitality and friendship — new names these for your contract of hire. For upon what plea of equality or justice could . (Eschines, son of Glaucothea the timbrel player, be the friend or acquaintance of Philip ? I cannot see. No ! You were hired to ruin the interests of your countrymen : and yet, though you have been caught yourself in open treason, and informed against yourself after the fact, you revile and re
I have no interest the same with those of my countrymen ; —
DEMOSTHENES. 179
proach me for things which you will find any man is charge able with sooner than I.
Many great and glorious enterprises has the commonwealth, JEschines, undertaken and succeeded in through me ; and she did not forget them. Here is the proof : On the election of a person to speak the funeral oration immediately after the event, you were proposed, but the people would not have you, notwithstanding your fine voice, nor Demades, though he had just made the peace, nor Hegemon, nor any other of your party — but me. And when you and Pythocles came forward in a brutal and shameful manner (O merciful heaven ! ), and urged the same accusations against me which you now do, and abused me, they elected me all the more. The reason — you are not ignorant of it — yet I will tell you. The Athe nians knew as well the loyalty and zeal with which I conducted their affairs, as the dishonesty of you and your party ; for what you denied upon oath in our prosperity, you confessed in the misfortunes of the republic. They considered, there fore, that men who got security for their politics by the public disasters had been their enemies long before, and were then avowedly such. They thought it right also, that the person who was to speak in honor of the fallen and celebrate their valor should not have sat under the same roof or at the same table with their antagonists ; that he should not revel there and sing a paean over the calamities of Greece in company with their murderers, and then come here and receive dis tinction ; that he should not with his voice act the mourner of their fate, but that he should lament over them with his heart. This they perceived in themselves and in me, but not in any of you : therefore they elected me, and not you. Nor, while the people felt thus, did the fathers and brothers of the deceased, who were chosen by the people to perform their obsequies, feel differently. For having to order the funeral banquet (according to custom) at the house of the nearest relative to the deceased, they ordered it at mine. And with reason : because, though each to his own was nearer of kin than I was, none was so near to them all collectively. He that had the deepest interest in their safety and success had upon their mournful disaster the largest share of sorrow for them all.
Read him this epitaph, which the state chose to inscribe on their monument, that you may see even by this, -5Sschines, what a heartless and malignant wretch you are. Read.
180
DEMOSTHENES.
The Epitaph.
These are the patriot brave, who side by side
Stood to their arms, and dashed the foeman's pride : Firm in their valor, prodigal of life,
Hades they chose the arbiter of strife ;
That Greeks might ne'er to haughty victors bow,
Nor thraldom's yoke, nor dire oppression know ; They fought, they bled, and on their country's breast (Such was the doom of heaven) these warriors rest. Gods never lack success, nor strive in vain,
But man must suffer what the fates ordain.
Do you hear, jEschines, in this very inscription, that " Gods never lack success, nor strive in vain ? " Not to the states man does it ascribe the power of giving victory in battle, but to the Gods. Wherefore then, execrable man, do you reproach me with these things? Wherefore utter such language? I pray that it may fall upon the heads of you and yours.
Many other accusations and falsehoods he urged against me, O Athenians, but one thing surprised me more than all, that, when he mentioned the late misfortunes of the country, he felt not as became a well-disposed and upright citizen, he shed no tear, experienced no such emotion : with a loud voice exulting, and straining his throat, he imagined apparently that he was accusing me, while he was giving proof against himself, that our distresses touched him not in the same manner as the rest. A person who pretends, as he did, to care for the laws and constitution, ought at least to have this about him, that he grieves and rejoices for the same cause as the people, and not by his politics to be enlisted in the ranks of the enemy, as jEschines has plainly done, saying that I am the cause of all, and that the commonwealth has fallen into troubles through me, when it was not owing to my views or principles that you began to assist the Greeks ; for, if you conceded this to me, that my influence caused you to resist the subjugation of Greece, it would be a higher honor than any that you have bestowed upon others. I myself would not make such an assertion — it would be doing you injustice — nor would you allow it, I am sure ; and JEschines, if he acted honestly, would never, out of enmity to me, have disparaged and defamed the greatest of your glories.
But why do I censure him for this, when with calumny far
DEMOSTHENES. 181
more shocking has he assailed me ? He that charges me with Philippizing — O heaven and earth ! — what would he not say ? By Hercules and the Gods! if one had honestly to inquire, discarding all expression of spite and falsehood, who the per sons really are, on whom the blame of what has happened may by common consent fairly and justly be thrown, it would be found, they are persons in the various states like JEschines, not like me — persons who, while Philip's power was feeble and exceedingly small, and we were constantly warning and exhort ing and giving salutary counsel, sacrificed the general interests for the sake of selfish lucre, deceiving and corrupting their respective countrymen, until they made them slaves — Daochus, Cineas, Thrasylaus, the Thessalians ; Cercidas, Hieronymus, Eucampidas, the Arcadians ; Myrtis, Teledamus, Mnaseas, the
Euxitheus, Cleotimus, Aristaechmus, the Eleans; Neon and Thrasylochus, sons of the accursed Philiades, the Messenians ; Aristratus, Epichares, the Sicyonians ; Dinarchus, Demaratus, the Corinthians ; Ptoeodorus, Helixus, Perilaus, the Megarians ; Timolaus, Theogiton, Anemoetas, the Thebans ; Hipparchus, Clitarchus, Sosistratus, the Euboeans. The day will not last me to recount the names of the traitors. All these, O Athenians, are men of the same politics in their own countries as this party among you, — profligates, and parasites, and miscreants, who have each of them crippled their father lands ; toasted away their liberty, first to Philip and last to Alexander ; who measure happiness by their belly and all that is base, while freedom and independence, which the Greeks of olden time regarded as the test and standard of well-being, they have annihilated. —
Of this base and infamous conspiracy and profligacy rather, O Athenians, if I am to speak in earnest, of this betrayal of Grecian liberty — Athens is by all mankind acquitted, owing to my counsels ; and I am acquitted by you. Then do you ask me, JEschines, for what merit I claim to be honored ? I will tell you. Because, while all the statesmen in Greece, begin ning with yourself, have been corrupted formerly by Philip and now by Alexander, me neither opportunity, nor fair speeches, nor large promises, nor hope, nor fear, nor anything else could tempt or induce to betray aught that I considered just and beneficial to my country. Whatever I have advised my fellow- citizens, I have never advised like you men, leaning as in a balance to the side of profit : all my proceedings have been
Argives;
or
182 DEMOSTHENES.
those of a soul upright, honest, and incorrupt : intrusted with affairs of greater magnitude than any of my contemporaries, I have administered them all honestly and faithfully. Therefore do I claim to be honored.
As to this fortification, for which you ridiculed me, of the wall and fosse, I regard them as deserving of thanks and praise, and so they are ; but I place them nowhere near my acts of administration. Not with stones nor with bricks did I fortify Athens : nor is this the ministry on which I most pride myself. Would you view my fortifications aright, you will find arms, and states, and posts, and harbors, and galleys, and horses, and men for their defense. These are the bulwarks with which I protected Attica, as far as was possible by human wisdom ; with these I fortified our territory, not the circle of Piraeus or
I was not beaten by Philip in estimates or preparations ; far from it ; but the generals and forces of the allies were overcome by his fortune. Where are the proofs
the city. Nay, more :
of this ? They are plain and evident. Consider.
—
What was the course becoming a loyal citizen a states
man serving his country with all possible forethought and zeal and fidelity? Should he not have covered Attica on the sea board with Euboea, on the midland frontier with Boeotia, on the Peloponnesian with the people of that confine ? Should he not have provided for the conveyance of corn along a friendly coast all the way to Piraeus? preserved certain places that belonged to us by sending off succors, and by advising and moving accordingly, — Proconnesus, Chersonesus, Tenedos ? brought others into alliance and confederacy with us, — By zantium, Abydus, Euboea? — cut off the principal resources of the enemy, and supplied what the commonwealth was deficient in ? All this has been accomplished by my decrees and meas ures ; and whoever will examine them without prejudice, men of Athens, will find they were rightly planned and faithfully executed ; that none of the proper seasons were lost or missed or thrown away by me, nothing which depended on one man's ability and prudence was neglected. But if the power of some deity or of fortune, or the worthlessness of commanders, or the wickedness of you that betrayed your countries, or all these things together, injured and eventually ruined our cause, of what is Demosthenes guilty? Had there in each of the Greek cities been one such man as I was in my station among you ; or rather, had Thessaly possessed one single man, and
DEMOSTHENES. 183
Arcadia one, of the same sentiments as myself, none of the Greeks either beyond or within Thermopylae would have suf fered their present calamities ; all would have been free and independent, living prosperously in their own countries with perfect safety and security, thankful to you and the rest of the Athenians for such manifold blessings through me.
To show you that I greatly understate my services for fear of giving offense, here — read me this — the list of auxiliaries procured by my decrees.
[The list of auxiliaries. ]
These and the like measures, JEschines, are what become an honorable citizen (by their success — O earth and heaven ! — we should have been the greatest of people incontestably, and deserved to be so : even under their failure the result is glory, and no one blames Athens or her policy : all condemn fortune that so ordered things) : but never will he desert the interests of the commonwealth, nor hire himself to her adver saries, and study the enemy's advantage instead of his coun try's; nor on a man who has courage to advise and propose measures worthy of the state, and resolution to persevere in them, will he cast an evil eye, and, if any one privately offends him, remember and treasure it up; no, nor keep himself in a criminal and treacherous retirement, as you so often do. There is indeed a retirement just and beneficial to the state, such as you, the bulk of my countrymen, innocently enjoy : that however is not the retirement of JEschines ; far from it. Withdrawing himself from public life when he pleases (and that is often), he watches for the moment when you are tired of a constant speaker, or when some reverse of fortune has befallen you, or anything untoward has happened (and many are the casualties of human life) : at such a crisis he springs up an orator, rising from his retreat like a wind ; in full voice, with words and phrases collected, he rolls them out audibly and breathlessly, to no advantage or good purpose whatsoever, but to the detriment of some or other of his fellow-citizens and to the general disgrace.
Yet from this labor and diligence, JEschines, if it proceeded from an honest heart, solicitous for your country's welfare, the fruits should have been rich and noble and profitable to all — alliances of states, supplies of money, conveniences of com merce, enactment of useful laws, opposition to our declared
184 DEMOSTHENES.
enemies. All such things were looked for in former times; and many opportunities did the past afford for a good man and
true to show himself ; during which time you are nowhere to be found, neither first, second, third, fourth, fifth, nor sixth — not in any rank at all — certainly on no service by which your country was exalted. For what alliance has come to the state by your procurement? What succors, what acquisition of good will or credit? What embassy or agency is there of yours, by which the reputation of the country has been in creased? What concern domestic, Hellenic, or foreign, of which you have had the management, has improved under it ? What galleys ? what ammunition ? what arsenals ? what repair of walls? what cavalry? What in the world are you good for? What assistance in money have you ever given, either to the rich or the poor, out of public spirit or liberality? None. But, good sir, if there is nothing of this, there is at all events zeal and loyalty. Where? when? You infamous fel low ! Even at a time when all who ever spoke upon the plat form gave something for the public safety, and last Aristonicus gave the sum which he had amassed to retrieve his franchise, you neither came forward nor contributed a mite — not from inability — no ! for you have inherited above five talents from Philo, your wife's father, and you had a subscription of two talents from the chairmen of the Boards for what you did to cut up the navy law. But, that I may not go from one thing to another and lose sight of the question, I pass this by. That it was not poverty prevented your contributing, already appears : it was, in fact, your anxiety to do nothing against those to whom your political life is subservient. On what occasions then do you show your spirit ? When do you shine out ? When aught is to be spoken against your countrymen ! — then it is you are splendid in voice, perfect in memory, an admirable actor, a tragic Theocrines.
You mention the good men of olden times ; and you are right so to do. Yet it is hardly fair, O Athenians, that he should get the advantage of that respect which you have for the dead, to compare and contrast me with them, — me who am living among you ; for what mortal is ignorant that toward the living there exists always more or less of ill will, whereas the dead are no longer hated even by an enemy ? Such being human nature, am I to be tried and judged by the standard of my predecessors ? Heaven forbid ! It is not just or equitable,
DEMOSTHENES. 185
^Sschines. Let me be compared with you, or any persons you like of your party who are still alive. And consider this — whether it is more honorable and better for the state, that because of the services of a former age, prodigious though they are beyond all power of expression, those of the present generation should be unrequited and spurned, or that all who give proof of their good intentions should have their share of honor and regard from the people ? Yet indeed — if I must say so much — my politics and principles, if considered fairly, will be found to resemble those of the illustrious ancients, and to have had the same objects in view, while yours resemble those of their calumniators ; for it is certain there were persons in those times, who ran down the living, and praised people dead and gone, with a malignant purpose like yourself.
You say that I am nothing like the ancients. Are you like
them, . ^Eschines ? Is your brother, or any of our speakers ? assert that none is. But pray, my good fellow (that I may give you no other name), try the living with the living and with his competitors, as you would in all cases — poets, dancers, athletes. Philammon did not, because he was inferior to Glaucus of Carystus and some other champions of a bygone age, depart uncrowned from Olympia, but, because he beat all who entered the ring against him, was crowned and proclaimed conqueror. So I ask you to compare me with the orators of the day, with
I yield to none. When the commonwealth was at liberty to choose for her advantage, and patriotism was a matter of emulation, I showed myself a better
yourself, with any one you like :
counselor than any, and every act of state was pursuant to my decrees and laws and negotiations : none of your party was to be seen, unless you had to do the Athenians a mischief. After that lamentable occurrence, when there was a call no longer for advisers, but for persons obedient to command, persons ready to be hired against their country and willing to flatter strangers, then all of you were in occupation, grand people with splendid
I was powerless, I confess, though more attached to my countrymen than you.
equipages ;
Two things, men of Athens, are characteristic of a well- disposed citizen — so may I speak of myself and give the least offense : In authority, his constant aim should be the dignity and preeminence of the commonwealth ; in all times and cir cumstances his spirit should be loyal. This depends upon nature ; power and might upon other things. Such a spirit,
I
186 DINARCHUS.
you will find, I have ever sincerely cherished. Only see. When my person was demanded — when they brought Amphic- tyonic suits against me — when they menaced — when they promised —when they set these miscreants like wild beasts upon me — never in any way have I abandoned my affection for you. From the very beginning I chose an honest and straightforward course in politics, to support the honor, the power, the glory of my fatherland, these to exalt, in these to have my being. I do not walk about the market place gay and cheerful because the stranger has prospered, holding out my right hand and congratulating those who I think will report it yonder, and on any news of our own success shudder and groan and stoop to the earth, like these impious men, who rail at Athens, as if in so doing they did not rail at themselves ; who look abroad, and if the foreigner thrives by the distresses of Greece, are thankful for it, and say we should keep him so thriving to all time.
Never, O ye Gods, may those wishes be confirmed by you ! If possible, inspire even in these men a better sense and feeling ! But if they are indeed incurable, destroy them by themselves ; exterminate them on land and sea ; and for the rest of us, grant that we may speedily be released from our present fears, and enjoy a lasting deliverance !
DlNARCHUS.
Oration against Demosthenes.
[In the winter of B. C. 325-4, Harpalus, Alexander's treasurer in Asia, de camped with a vast sum of money, and ultimately took refuge in Athens, which he tried to raise in revolt. Demosthenes opposed him, and had him imprisoned and his remaining money — stated at 700 talents — placed in the Parthenon in trust for Alexander, in charge of a special commission of which Demosthenes was one. Harpalus escaped, and in the investigation which followed, only 350 talents could be found. The commission were prosecuted for embezzlement; Demosthenes was fined fifty talents and imprisoned in default of payment, but escaped in a few days. Professor Holm thinks the money was taken for secret party use to prepare for a war of liberation in case of Alexander's death, and that Demosthenes was an understood scape-goat. ]
This minister of yours, Athenians, who has pronounced sentence of death upon himself should he be convicted of receiving anything from Harpalus — this very man has been clearly convicted of accepting bribes from those whom he
DINARCHUS.
187
formerly pretended to oppose with so much zeal. . . . You are not to give up the general rights and laws of the commu nity, or exchange the general welfare, for the speeches of the accused. You see that in this assembly it is Demosthenes that is tried ; in all other places your own trial is depending. On you men turn their eyes, and wait with eagerness to see how far the interest of your country will engage your care ; whether you are to take upon yourselves the corruption and iniquity of these men, or whether you are to manifest to the world a just resentment against those who are bribed to betray the state.
This last is fully in your power. The assembly has made a fair decree, committing the cognizance of the charge to the court of Areopagus ; . . . and although the dignity and pro priety of this procedure have received the approbation of the people, Demosthenes has recourse to complaints, to appeals, to malicious accusations, now that he finds himself convicted of receiving twenty talents of gold. Shall then this council, on whose faith and justice we rely, even in the important case of premeditated murder ; to whom we commit the vengeance due to this crime ; who have an absolute power over the persons and lives of our citizens ; who can punish every violation of our laws, either by exile or by death, —shall this council, I say, on an inquiry into a case of bribery, at once lose all its authority ? " Yes ; for the Areopagus has reported falsely of Demosthenes. " Extravagant and absurd ! What ! report falsely of Demosthenes and Demades, against whom even the truth seems scarcely to be declared with safety? You, who have in former times moved that this council should take cog nizance of public affairs, and have applauded their reports ; you, whom this whole city has not been able to restrain within the bounds of justice, — has the council reported falsely against you ? Why then did you declare to the people that you were ready to submit to death, if condemned by the report of this council ? Why have you availed yourself of their authority, to take off so many of our citizens? . . .
For now, when the council of the Areopagus have nobly and equitably proceeded to a full detection of this man, and his accomplices ; when, regardless of the power of Demosthenes and Demades, they have adhered inviolably to truth and justice ; — still Demosthenes goes round the city, utters his invectives against this council, and boasts of his services, in those speeches which you shall hear him instantly use to deceive the assembly.
188 DINARCHUS.
" It was I who gained you the alliance of Thebes ! " No ! you it was who ruined the common interest of both states. — "I drew out the forces of Chaeronea ! " No, you were the only person who there fled from your post. — " For you have I en gaged in several embassies. " And what would he do, what would he demand, had these negotiations of his been successful, when, having ranged through the world only to involve us in such calamities and misfortunes, he expects to be rewarded with a liberty of receiving bribes against his country, and the privilege of speaking and of acting in this assembly as he pleases ? With Timotheus, who awed all Peloponnesus by his fleet ; who gained the naval victory at Corcyra over the Lace daemonians ; who was the son of Conon, the man who restored liberty to Greece ; who gained Samos, and Methone, and Pydna, and Potidaea, and, besides these, twenty cities more, — with him you did not allow those important benefits he had conferred on us to have any weight against the integrity of your tribunals, against the oaths you swore by in pronouncing sentence. No : you imposed a fine of one hundred talents on him, because by his own acknowledgment he had received money from the Chians
and the Rhodians. . . .
Such was this citizen that he might reasonably, Demosthenes,
have expected pardon and favor from his fellow-citizens of those days. Not in words, but in actions, did he perform important services to his country. His principles were steady, his conduct uniform, not various and changeable like yours. He never made so unreasonable a request to the people as to be raised above the laws. He never required that those who had sworn to give sentence justly should break through that sacred tie ; but submitted to stand condemned, if such was the judgment of his tribunal. He never pleaded the necessity of times ; nor thought in one manner and harangued in another. And shall this miscreant live, who, besides his other numerous and heinous crimes, has abandoned the state of Thebes to its destruction, when for the preservation of that state he had received three hundred talents from the king of Persia ?
For when the Arcadians marched to the Isthmus, refused to treat with the ambassadors of Antipater, and received those of the unfortunate Thebans — who with difficulty gained access to them by sea, appeared before them in the form of wretched supplicants, declared that their present motions were not in tended to dissolve their connections with Greece or to oppose
DINARCHUS. 189
the interest of that nation, but to free themselves from the in tolerable yoke of Macedonian tyranny, from slavery, from the horrid insults to which freemen were exposed ; — when the Arcadians were disposed to assist them, when they commiser ated their wretched state, when they discovered that by the necessities of the times alone they had been obliged to attend on Alexander, but that their inclinations were invariably attached to Thebes and to the liberties of Greece ; when Astylus, their mercenary general, demanded (as Stratocles has informed you) ten talents for leading a reenforcement to the Thebans ; when the ambassadors applied to this man, who they well knew had received the king's money, and requested and besought him to grant such a sum for the preservation of the state ; — then did this abandoned, this impious, this sordid wretch (when there was so fair a prospect of saving Thebes) refuse to part with ten talents out of all the vast treasures which he received ; insensible to the affecting consideration, urged by Stratocles, that there were those who would give as great a sum to divert the Arcadians from this expedition, and to prevent them from assisting Thebes. . . .
A city of our neighbors and our allies has been torn from the very heart of Greece. The plower and the sower now traverse the city of the Thebans, who united with us in the war against Philip. I say the plower and the sower traverse their habitations : nor has this hardened wretch discovered the least remorse at the calamities of a people, to whom he was sent as our ambassador ; with whom he lived, conversed, and enjoyed all that hospitality could confer ; whom he pretends to have himself gained to our alliance ; whom he frequently visited in their prosperity, but basely betrayed in their distress. Our elder citizens can inform us, that at a time when our constitu tion was destroyed ; when Thrasybulus was collecting our ex iles in Thebes in order to possess himself of Phyle ; when the Lacedaemonians, now in the height of power, issued their man date forbidding all states to receive the Athenians or to con duct them through their territories, — this people assisted our countrymen in their expedition, and published their decree, so often recited in this assembly, "that they would not look on with unconcern, should any enemy invade the Athenian territory. "
Far different was the conduct of this man, who affects such attention to the interests of our allies (as you shall soon hear
190 DINARCHUS.
him boast). The very money, which he received to preserve this people from ruin, he refused to part with. Let these things sink deep into your minds. Think on the calamities which arise from traitors ; let the wretched fate of the Olyn- thians and the Thebans teach you to make just provision for your own security. Cut off the men who are ever ready to sell the interests of their country for a bribe, and rest your hopes of safety upon yourselves and the gods. These are the means, Athenians, the only means, of reforming our city ; to bring offenders of eminence to justice, and to inflict a punish ment adequate to their offenses. When common criminals are detected, no one knows, no one inquires, their fate. But the punishment of great delinquents commands men's attention ; and a rigid adherence to justice, without regard to persons, is sure to meet with due applause. —Read the decree of the Thebans ; produce the testimonies ; read the letter.
[The clerk reads them. ]
He is a corrupted traitor, Athenians ! of old a corrupted traitor ! This is the man who conducted Philip's ambassadors from Thebes to this city ; who was the occasion of putting an end to the former war ; who was the accomplice of Philocrates, the author of the decree for making peace with Philip for which you banished him ; the man who hired carriages for the ambas sadors that came hither with Antipater ; who entertained them, and introduced the custom of paying obsequious flattery to the Macedonians. Do not, Athenians ! do not suffer this man, whose name is subscribed to the misfortunes of this state [i. e. , to the decrees which caused them] and of all the states of Greece, to escape unpunished. . . .
For what occasion should we reserve this man ? When may we hope that he will prove of advantage to us? From the moment that he first began to direct our affairs, has any one in stance of good fortune attended us ? Has not all Greece, and not this state alone, been plunged in dangers, calamities, and disgrace ? Many were the fair occasions which occurred to favor his administration ; and all these occasions, of such mo ment to our interests, he neglected. . . Shall not then the experience of the past direct your judgments of the future? Can any services be expected from him ? Yes ; the service of forming contrivances in favor of our enemies, on some critical emergency. Such was the time when the Lacedaemonians had
DIN ARCH US. 191
encamped, when the Eleans united with them, when they were reenforced with ten thousand mercenaries ; Alexander said to be in India ; all Greece inflamed with indignation at the state to which traitors had reduced every community ; impatient of distress, and earnest for relief. In this conjuncture, who was the man, Demosthenes, that had the direction of our councils ? In this perilous conjuncture (not to mention other like occa sions) did you, whom we shall hear expressing the utmost indignation at the present fallen state of Greece —did you propose any decree? Did you assist us with your counsels? Did you supply us with your treasures? Not at all ! You were employed in ranging through the city, providing your whisperers, forging letters — [to the judges] — he, the disgrace of his illustrious country, was then seen trimly decked with his rings, indulging in effeminacy and luxury amidst the public calamities ; borne through our streets in his sedan, and insulting the distresses of the poor. And can we expect future services from him who has neglected all past occasions of serving us? . . .
Let us suppose the case that, agreeably to the decree of De mosthenes, Alexander should by his ambassadors demand the gold which Harpalus brought hither : that to confirm the sen tence of the Areopagus, he should send back the slaves and direct us to extort the truth from them. What should we then say? Would you, Demosthenes, then move for a declaration of war ? you, who have so nobly conducted our former wars ? And if such should be the resolution of the assembly, which would be the fairer procedure : to take that money to ourselves, which you secreted, in order to support our war ; or to load our citizens with taxes, to oblige our women to send in their ornaments, to melt down our plate, to strip our temples of their offerings, as your decree directed ? Though from your houses in the Piraeus and in the city you yourself contributed just fifty drachmae [flO] ; and nobly have the twenty talents [$24,000] you took repaid such bounty. Or would you move that we should not declare war; but that agreeably to your decree, we should return to Alexander the gold conveyed hither ? In that case the community must pay your share. And is this just, is this equal dealing, is this constitutional, that our use ful citizens should be taxed to glut your avarice, that men of avowed property should contribute while your property lies concealed, —notwithstanding you have received 150 talents,
192 DINARCHUS.
partly from the king's, partly from Alexander's, treasure, — all carefully secreted, as you justly dread the consequences of your conduct ? that our laws should direct that every public speaker, every leader of our forces, should recommend himself to the confidence of the public by educating children, and by possess ing land within our territory, nor assume the direction of our affairs until he had given these pledges of his fidelity ; and that you should sell your patrimonial lands, and adopt the children of strangers, to elude the force of laws and oaths? that you should impose military service on others, you who basely fled from your own post? . . .
And now, my fellow-citizens, consider how you are to act. The people have returned to you an information of a crime lately committed. Demosthenes stands first before you, to suf fer the punishment denounced against all whom this informa tion condemns. We have explained his guilt, with an unbiased attention to the laws. Will you then discover a total disregard of all these offenses? Will you, when intrusted with so im portant a decision, invalidate the judgment of the people, of the Areopagus, of all mankind? Will you take upon your selves the guilt of these men?
