He
therefore
took a middle
course, and declared it a free city; thereby leaving
the inhabitants to throw off their dependence on
their old masters, and making it appear to be then-
own act.
course, and declared it a free city; thereby leaving
the inhabitants to throw off their dependence on
their old masters, and making it appear to be then-
own act.
Demosthenes - Leland - Orations
hathitrust.
org/access_use#pd-google
? 10
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Demosthenes are written on a virtuous principle
and Plutarch observes, " that he does not exhoi*
his countrymen to that which is most agreeable, or
easy, or advantageous, but points out honour and
propriety as the first objects, and leaves the safety
of the state as a matter of inferior consideration. "
The reputation he acquired placed him at the head
of the government of Athens: in this public ca-
pacity he opposed the inclinations, and corrected the
errors, of his countrymen. His eloquence is not
distinguished by the arts of mild persuasion, but
by a bold, manly, and energetic style, which failed
not to fix the attention and to rouse the energies
of his hearers, and to awaken that spirit of patriot-
ism which is calculated to secure the liberties of
a people.
In integrity of conduct he is acknowledged to
have surpassed all his contemporaries except Pho-
cion; and if he had not been suspected of want
of courage in the field of battle, and of receiving a
bribe from Harpalus, he would have deservedly
ranked with Cimon, Thucydides, and Pericles.
In the battle of Chaeronea, according to the tes-
timony of Plutarch, he betrayed his pusillanimity,
quitted his post, and fled. But the charge of
bribery preferred against him at a later period of
his life strongly excited the Athenians against him,
as will be seen in the Translator's Introduction to
the Oration of Dinarchus. Demosthenes had
long resisted the assaults of corruption from Philip,
and boasted that all the gold of Macedonia could
not tempt him; but his enemies accused him of
having received a present of a golden vase, ac-
companied by twenty talents, from the hands of
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? OF DEMOSTHENES.
11
Harpalus,* which is said to have induced the Orator
to feign indisposition in the assembly, and to make
signs that he had lost his voice ; on which it was
observed, that " it was no common hoarseness he
had got in the night--it was occasioned by swal-
lowing gold and silver! " His accuser was a venal
orator; but the court of Areopagus condemned
him, and he was compelled to retire from Athens.
Pausanias, who entertained a high opinion of
the integrity of Demosthenes, treats the charge as
a calumny, and offers strong proofs of his inno-
cence--proofs which appear to have had due
weight with the learned Translator in his Appendix
to the Notes on the Philippic Orations, to
which the reader is referred for a history of the
Orator, from his public administration down to the
fatal period of his life.
* During the expedition of Alexander to India, lTarpalus had the
charge of the Babylonian treasury, on which he committed great ex-
cesses: fearing the resentment of his master, he fled to Attica with firs
thousand talents, accompanied by six thousand men, and sought refuge
In Athens.
Vol. I. --B
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? /
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? TR1
ORATIONS OF DEMOSTHENES,
PRONOUNCED
. gO EXCITE THE ATHENIANS AGAINST
PHILIP, KING OF MACEDON.
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? PREFACE.
VIEW OF THE PRINCIPAL STATES OF GREECE-
CHARACTERS OF DEMADES, HYPERIDES, LYCURG1/3,
AND . ESCHINES, THE ORATORS CHARACTER OF
DEMOSTHENES.
To animate a people renowned for justice, hu-
manity, and valour* yet, in many instances, degen-
erate and corrupted; to warn them of the dangers
of luxury, treachery, and bribery; of the ambition
and perfidy of a powerful foreign enemy; to recall
the glory of their ancestors to their thoughts, and
to inspire them with resolution, vigour, and una-
nimity ; to correct abuses ; to restore discipline; to
revive and enforce the generous sentiments of
patriotism and public spirit;--these were the great
purposes for which the following Orations were
originally pronounced. The subject, therefore,
may possibly recommend them to an English
reader, even under the disadvantages of a trans-
lation by no means worthy of the famous original.
His candour may pardon them; or sometimes,
perhaps, they may escape him, if he suffers his
imagination to be possessed with that enthusiasm,
which our orator is, of all others, most capable of
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? 16
PREFACE.
inspiring; and will, for a while, interest himself in
the cause of Athens.
To the history of Greece I must suppose he is
no stranger. Yet, though it may not inform him,
his memory may possibly be assisted by a summary
review of the affairs and interests of that country;
particularly of those divisions which had a long
time subsisted between its principal states, and on
which Philip justly grounded his hopes of success
in his attempts on their liberties.
These states were Laced^mon, Athens, and
Thebes.
The first, famous for her ancient kings, had
acquired new splendour under the reign of Ly-
curgus. The wisdom of the constitution which he
established, and the exact obedience paid to his
laws, preserved the state from those domestic
divisions which prevailed in other places ; and the
remarkable temperance of Sparta, the severity of
her discipline, her public spirit, and concern for the
liberty and happiness of other communities, made
her long revered as the parent of Greece. Her
constitution, however, was not without its faults.
Her government savoured of the humour of her in
habitants, who extended the same harsh severity to
their allies which they used towards each other.
Besides, they were devoted to arms; and their
constitution required continual wars for the preser-
vation of it. This made their government dis-
tasteful, and favoured the ambition of the Athenians
their rivals, who, though a more ancient people, had.
for many years, through their weakness or disorders
lived without any thought of command.
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? PREFACE.
17
Athens was originally governed by kings, the
last of whom sacrificed his life to the good of his
country; and on his death, the Athenians took
occasion to abolish the royalty, and instituted their
perpetual archons, which were changed to a decen-
nial, and afterward to an annual magistracy. The
state, however, was not completely settled until
Solon, by his wise laws, restored the love of labour
and husbandry, opened a way for commerce, taught
his countrymen to enrich themselves, and found
means to subdue their licentiousness by the rules
of justice, order, and discipline. Athens, thus
reformed, was in a fair way of growing great and
illustrious, when one of the citizens found means to
seize the supreme power. The struggles of the
Athenians for liberty against the successors of this
man was one occasion of the Persian war, the
glorious exploits of which are too well known to
need a recital. The victories of Marathon, Sa-
lamis, and Plataea, the chief honour of which the
Athenians assumed to themselves, determined the
character of that people; inspired them with the
highest notions of glory and honour, and at last
prompted them to set up for sovereign umpires of
Greece.
Sparta was willing to resign to them the com
mand of the sea; but they would be absolute in
all; and as they had delivered Greece from the op-
pression of the barbarians, they thought themselves
entitled to oppress her in their turn. They called
themselves protectors of the Grecian cities, but
behaved like their lords; till at last Sparta, urged
by the complaints of several states against the
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? PREFACE.
violence of Athens, began the famous Pelopon-
nesian war, which was carried on with various
success twenty-seven years. The unhappy expe-
dition of the Athenians into Sicily first shook their
power; and the victory of Lysander at iEgos-
Potamos entirely overthrew it.
By this event, however, Greece only changed her
masters. Sparta resumed the superiority; but her
new reign lasted only thirty years. The Spartans
were possessed with such a prejudice in favour of
their own form of government, that they attempted
to abolish democracy every where ; and while they
imposed their thirty tyrants on Athens, established
a government of ten, in other states, composed of
men devoted to their interest. Thus they became
more absolute, but at the same time more odious.
Their prosperity made them presume too much on
their strength. Their forces were lent to support
the pretensions of the younger Cyrus. Their king,
Agesilaus, was sent into Persia, where the Great
King could not put a stop to his progress, but by
bribing the Greeks, and by that means raising up
enemies against Sparta.
The Greeks readily hearkened to his solicita-
tions. The Athenians, at the head of the malecon-
tents, resolved to hazard every thing for liberty;
and without reflecting on their late miserable con-
dition, presumed to affront that state which had
reduced them to it. They knew so well to make
a right use of the oversight the Spartans had com-
mitted in provoking the Great King, that, joining
their force with the Persian fleet, they defeated
them, and rebuilt their walls: nor did they lay
down their arms till the Lacedaemonians were
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? PREFACE.
10
obliged, by a solemn treaty, to restore the Grecian
cities to their liberty. For although the Lacedae-
monians pretended a voluntary generosity in this
affair, yet it appeared by the consequence that fear
only had obliged them to it; as they took an op-
portunity, seme time after, to oppress Thebes,
though expressly comprehended in the treaty.
This raised the states of Greece against them.
The Athenians (who always harboured the most
inveterate hatred and jealousy of them, and had
lately been particularly provoked by an attempt of
one of their generals to seize their port) set them-
selves once more at the head of the confederacy,
and took on themselves the whole expense of the
war; in which their arms were crowned with
victories by sea and land--at Corinth, Naxos,
Corcyra, and Leucas. Thus were the Spartans
obliged to renew the treaty, and the cities of
Greece again restored to an entire independency
These bold efforts of the Athenians to reduce the
Spartan power, and to regain their former sove-
reignty, are frequently extolled in the following
Orations, as the glorious effects of their concern
for the liberties of Greece.
And now the peace was just concluded, and the
Greeks had the fairest prospect of enjoying it,
when, on a sudden, the Thebans started up, and
asserted their claim to sovereign power.
Thebes had, from the earliest ages,been ranVH
among the most considerable states. The natu-
ral slowness and heaviness of the inhabitants
had, however, prevented them from aiming at any
pre-eminence. In the Persian war, they even had
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? 20
PREFACE.
the baseness to join with the barbarians; and m
order to screen themselves from the resentment of
the Athenians on this account, they afterward
attached themselves to Lacedaemon, and continued
firm through the whole course of the Pelopon-
nesian war. They shifted sides, however, some
time after, and had some contests with the Lace-
daemonians. The seizing of their citadel, and the
recovery of it out of the hands of the Lacedae-
monians by Pelopidas, had created a mutual hatred
between these two states : and the Thebans, natu-
rally hardy and robust, and grown experienced
since the Peloponnesian war (from which time
their arms had been constantly exercised), now at
length began to entertain thoughts of commanding.
They refused to accede to the treaty negotiated by
the Athenians, unless they were acknowledged
chief of Boeotia. This refusal not only exposed
them to the resentment of the King of Persia (who
was at that time particularly concerned that the
Greeks should be at peace), but raised Athens,
Sparta, and indeed all Greece against them.
The Lacedaemonians declared war, and thinking
them an easy victory, now that they were deserted
by their allies, marched their forces a considerable
way into the Theban territory. Now it was that
Epaminondas first shone out in all his lustre. He
put himself at the head of the Thebans, and met
the enemy at Leuctra, where he gave them a total
overthrow. He then marched into Peloponnesus,
and had well-nigh made himself master of the city
of Sparta; relieved some people who had been op-
pressed by the Spartans; and by his justice and
magnanimity, his extensive abilities, and zealous
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? PREFACE.
21
concern for his country, promised to raise the
Thebans to the most exalted degree of power and
dignity, when, in another engagement with the
Lacedemonians at Mantinea, he fell, as it were, in
the arms of victory.
The death of Epaminondas, and the peace
which ensued, slackened the zeal of the principal
powers of Greece, and rendered them too secure.
The Athenians, particularly (when they saw the
fortune of Lacedsemon at the lowest ebb, and that
on the part of Thebes they were freed from all
apprehensions by the death of the general, the soul
of their counsels and designs), were now no longer
on their guard, but abandoned themselves to ease
and pleasure. Festivals and public entertainments
engaged their attention, and a violent passion for
the stage banished all thoughts of business and
glory. Poets, players, singers, and dancers were
received with that esteem and applause which were
due to the commanders who fought their battles.
They were rewarded extravagantly, and their per-
formances exhibited with a magnificence scarcely
to be conceived. The treasures which should have
maintained their armies were applied to purchase
seats in their theatres. * Instead of that spirit and
vigour which they exerted against the Persian, they
were possessed with indolence and effeminacy;
they had no further concern about the affairs of war
than just to keep a few foreign troops in pay; in
short, treachery, corruption, and degeneracy over-
spread the state.
But while they were sinking into this condition,
they found themselves unexpectedly engaged with
a very formidable enemy, Philip, king of the Mace-
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? 22
PREFACE.
donians, a people hitherto obscure, and in a manner
barbarous ; but now, by the courage, activity, and
consummate policy of their monarch, ready to lay
the foundation of a most extensive empire.
Philip had been sent early into Thebes, as a
hostage, where he was so happy as to improve his
natural abilities by the instructions of Epami-
nondas. The news of his brother Perdiccas being
slain in a battle with the Illyrians determined him
to fly to the relief of his country: he eluded the
vigilance of his guards, and escaped privately to
Macedon ; where, taking advantage of the people's
consternation at the loss of their king, and of the
dangers they apprehended from an infant reign, he
first got himself declared protector to his nephew,
and soon after king in his stead: and indeed the
present condition of the Macedonians required a
prince of his abilities. The Illyrians, flushed with
their late victory, were preparing to march against
them; the Paeonians harassed them with perpetual
incursions ; and, at the same time, Pausanias and
Argeus, two of the royal blood, pretended to the
crown; the one supported by Thrace, the other by
Athens.
Under these circumstances, Philip's first care
was to gain the affections of his people, to raise
their spirits, to train and exercise them, and to reform
their military discipline. And now he began to
discover those abilities which afterward raised l. im
to such a height ot power, and which were not to
be expected in a prince of the age of twenty-two
years.
The chief motive of the Athenians in supporting
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? PREFACE.
the pretensions of Argeus, was tl < nope of getting
possession of Amphipolis, a city bordering on Ma-
cedon, which they had long claimed as their colony.
It had sometimes been in their hands, sometime?
subjected to Lacedaemon, according to the different
changes of fortune of these states. After the
peace of Antalcidas, the Greeks acknowledged the
pretensions of the Athenians ; and it was resqhed
that they should be put in possession of this city at
the common charge. Probably the people of Am-
phipolis refused to submit to their old masters: fol
the Athenians were obliged to despatch Iphicrates
thither with forces. But the kings of Macedon
now began to dispute it with them. Perdiccas
made himself master of it; and Philip would very
gladly have kept it in his own hands; but this
could not be done without weakening his army, and
incensing the Athenians, whom his present circum-
stances required him rather to make his friends :
on the other hand, he could not think of suffering
them to possess it, as it was the key to that side
of his dominions.
He therefore took a middle
course, and declared it a free city; thereby leaving
the inhabitants to throw off their dependence on
their old masters, and making it appear to be then-
own act. At the same time, he disarms the
Paeonians by the force of presents and promises;
and then turns his arms against the Athenians,
who had marched to the assistance of Argeus. A
battle ensued, in which Philip was victorious. By
the death of Argeus, who fell in the action, he was
freed from that dispute; and by his respectful care
of the Athenians, when he had them in his power,
lie so far gained on that people, that they con-
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? 24
PREFACE.
eluded a peace with him. He now found himself
strong enough to break with the Paeonians, whom
he subdued; and having gained a complete victory
over the Illyrians, he obliged them to restore all
their conquests in Macedon. He also shut up the
entrance of his kingdom against Pausanias: but
having provided for the security of it, in the next
place he thought of making it more powerful and
flourishing.
The reunion of Amphipolis he considered as the
principal means to this end ; and therefore, under
pretence of punishing some wrongs which he
alleged against that city, he laid siege to it. The
moment they perceived their danger the people of
Amphipolis sent two of their citizens to Athens to
solicit succours ; but in order to prevent any oppo-
sition on the part of the Athenians, Philip gave them
the strongest assurances that his sole design wa*
to put them in possession of it the moment it was*
in his power: they therefore suffered him to make
a conquest of it. But instead of performing his
promise, he proceeded to take from them Pydua
and Potidaea, with which he purchased the friend-
ship of the Olynthians, whom it concerned him at
that time to oblige : the golden mines of Crenides
fell next into his hands, and contributed greatly to
his successes.
The Athenians could not but be alarmed at the
progress of this prince. His vigilance and activity,
his policy and insincerity, now began to appeal
dangerous ; and councils were held to deliberate on
the measures proper to be taken. But although,
the Athenians were possessed with delicacy and
sensibility, and entertained magnificent ideas of
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? PREFACE.
25
virtue and its duties, yet they wanted application,
constancy, and perseverance. The good qualities
which had long been the boast of that people were
now disappearing, while their faults increased.
Hence it was that they easily suffered themselves
to be lulled into a false security. Besides, they
had enough of difficulty to support their jurisdiction
in other parts, and to bear up against a considerable
revolt of their allies.
This revolt produced the war called the social
war, which lasted three years, and was succeeded
by the Phoeian or sacred war; so called, because
begun from a motive of religion. The Phocians
had ploughed, up some ground adjoining to the
temple of Apollo at Delphos, which their neighbours
exclaimed against as sacrilege, and was so judged
by the council of Amphictyons, that venerable
assembly, composed of representatives from the
principal stales of Greece, who sat twice every
year at Delphos and Thermopylae. They laid a
heavy fine on them; but, instead of submitting to
the sentence, the Phocians alleged that the care
and patronage of the temple belonged anciently to
them; and encouiaged by Philomelus, one of their
principal citizens, took up arms to assert their claim.
The several states of Greece took part in this
quarrel, as their interests and inclinations directed.
Athens and Sparta, with some other of the Pelo-
ponnesians, declared for the Phocians. The The-
bans were their principal opposers; and were
assisted by the Thessalians, Locrians, and other
neighbouring states. At first Philomelus had some
success; but, in the second year of the war the
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? 26
Thebans gave him a signal defeat, and he himself
was killed in the pursuit.
In the mean time, Philip took no part in this war.
He was well pleased that the parties should exhaust
their strength; and also had an opportunity of
securing and extending his frontier without inter-
ruption, by taking in such places as were either
convenient or troublesome to him. Of this latter
kind was the city of Methone, which after some
resistance he took and demolished, annexing its
lands to Macedon. During the siege he was in im-
minent danger of his life, having lost one of his eyes
by an arrow. But it was not long before Philip
had a fair opportunity of engaging as a party in
the Phocian war. The Thessalians, a people sus-
ceptible of all impressions, and incapable of pre-
serving any; equally forgetful of benefits and
injuries; ever ready to submit to tyrants, and to
implore the assistance of their neighbours to free
them from slavery; had some time since been
governed by Alexander of Pherae, the most detest-
able tyrant ever known in Greece. He was
despatched by Tisiphonus, Lycophron, and Pitho-
laus, who seized the government, and became
equally intolerable: so that the nobility of Thessaly,
with the Aleuadae, descendants from Hercules, at
their head, declared against them, and implored the
assistance of Philip. This prince willingly sacri-
ficed the hopes of extending his conquests in Thrace
to the honour of assisting the Aleuadae, who were -
of the same race with him, and of imitating Pe-
lopidas in giving liberty to Thessaly. He had also
long wished to have the Macedonians considered
as a Grecian people; and as he thought no oppor-
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? PREFACE.
27
tunily could be so honourable and favourable, as to
affect an interest in the affairs of Thessaly, he
readily marched against the tyrants, and soon
divested them of all their authority.
But Philip's apparent danger from the wound
which he received at Methone imboldened Lyco-
phron to resume the sovereign power. The Pho-
cians (who, after the death of Philomelus, had re-
newed the war with all imaginable vigour under
Onomarchus) espoused the cause of this tyrant,
who had engaged the Thessalians to observe a neu-
trality ; and they in return supported him with all
their power. Philip, therefore, now became involved
in the general quarrel. At first, the Phocian
general gained some advantages over him; but he
afterward had such success, as enlarged his views,
and inspired him with new hopes and expectations.
He thought of nothing less than the conquest of
Greece ; and under pretence of marching against
the Phocians, made a bold attempt to seize the
famous pass at Thermopylae, which he justly called
the key of Greece. This roused the Athenians
from their lethargy. At the first news of his
march they flew to the pass, and prevented his
design, as he did not think it prudent to force his
way.
We may reasonably look on his retreat from
Thermopylae as the era of Philip's hatred to the
Athenians. He saw that they were the only people
of Greece capable of defeating his projects, or of
giving him uneasiness in his own kingdom: he
therefore provided himself, with much diligence, a
fleet composed of light ships, which might disturb
Jieir trade, and at the same time enrich his subjects
Vol- I. --C
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? 28
PREFACE.
by bringing in prizes. He also increased his
army, and projected the destruction of the Athenian
colonies in Thrace. At the same time he practised
very successfully at Athens itself; and, by large
appointments, secured some eminent orators to
charm the people with delusive hopes of peace, or
to frighten them with expensive estimates, while
they pretended a zeal for the defence of the state.
In a democratical government, like that of
Athens, eloquence was the sure means of recom-
mending its possessor to the attention and regard
of his fellow-citizens, and of raising him to all
public honours and advantages. The gradual im-
provements of literature had introduced and per-
fected the arts of moving and persuading; and
perhaps the disorders of the state contributed to
make them more important, called forth a greater
number of public speakers, and . opened a larger
field for their abilities. Many of those orators
who about that time took the lead in the Athenian
assemblies are lost to posterity. The characters,
however, of the most eminent have been trans-
mitted, or may be collected from the writings of
antiquity.
Demades, by his birth and education, seemed
destined to meanness and obscurity; but as the
Athenian assembly admitted persons of all ranks
and occupations to speak their sentiments, his
powers soon recommended him to his countrymen,
and raised him from the low condition of a common
mariner to the administration and direction of public
affairs. His private life was stained with those
brutal excesses which frequently attend the want
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? PREFACE.
29
of early culture, and an intercourse with the infe-
rior and least refined part of mankind. His con-
duct, as a leader and minister, was not actuated
by the principles of delicate honour and integrity;
and his eloquence seems to have received a tincture
from his original condition. He appears to have
been a strong, bold, and what we call a blunt
speaker; whose manner, rude and daring, and
sometimes bordering on extravagance, had often-
times a greater effect than the more corrected style
of. other speakers, who confined themselves within
the bounds of decorum and good-breeding.
Hyperides, on the contrary, was blessed with
all the graces of refinement; harmonious, elegant,
and polite ; with a well-bred festivity, and delicate
irony; excellent in panegyric; and of great natural
abilities for affecting the passions. Yet his elo-
quence seems rather to have been pleasing than
persuasive. He is said to have been not so well
fitted for a popular assembly, and for political de-
bates, as for private causes, and addressing a few
select judges. And even here, when he pleaded
the cause of a woman for whom he had die ten-
derest passion, he was obliged to call the charms
of his mistress to the assistance of his eloquence,
and was more indebted to these for his success
than to his own powers.
Lycurgus had all the advantages which birth
and education could afford for forming an orator.
He was the hearer of Plato, and the scholar of
Isocrates. He seems to have been particularly
affected by the charms of poetry and the polite
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? SO PREFACE.
J
arts; nor was he less remarkable for diligence and
attention; yet his influence in the assembly seems,
like that of Phocion, to have arisen rather from a
respect to his character, and the general opinion
of his virtue and integrity, than from his abilities
as a speaker.
jEschines was an orator whose style was full,
diffusive, and sonorous. He was a stranger to the
glowing expressions and daring figures of Demos-
thenes, which he treats with contempt and ridicule.
But, though more simple, he is less affecting; and,
by being less contracted, has not so much strength
and energy: or, as Quintilian expresses it, " camis
plus habet, lacertorum minus. " But if we would
view his abilities to the greatest advantage, we must
not compare them with those of his rival. Then
will his figures appear to want neither beauty nor
grandeur. His easy and natural manner will then
be thought highly pleasing; and a just attention will
discover a good degree of force and energy in his
style, which at first appears only flowing and har-
monious.
But all the several excellences of his country-
men and contemporaries were at least equalled by
Demosthenes. 1 His own no age or nation could
attain to. From him critics have formed their
rules; and all the masters in his own art have
thought it an honour to imitate him. To enlarge
on his character would be to resume a subject
already exhausted by every critic, both ancient and
1 Nihil Lysia e subtilitate cedit; nihil argutiis et acnmine Hyperifi
tihil lenitste jEachini, et splendors verborum. --Cic. m Okas.
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? PREFACE.
31
. modem. Let it be sufficient to say, that energy
and majesty are his peculiar excellences. From
the gravity of Thucydides, the pomp and dignity
of Plato, the ease and elegance, the neatness and
simplicity of the Attic writers, he formed a style
and manner admirably fitted to his own temper and
genius, as well as that of his hearers. His own
severity determined him to the more forcible
methods of astonishing and terrifying, rather than
to the gentle and insinuating arts of persuasion:
nor did the circumstances and dispositions of his
countrymen admit of any but violent impressions.
As many of those to whom he addressed himself
were men of low rank and occupations, his images
and expressions are sometimes familiar. As others
of them were themselves eminent in speaking, and
could readily see through all the eommon artifices
of oratory, these he affects to despise: appears
only solicitous to be understood ; yet, as it were,
without design, raises the utmost admiration and
delight; such delight as arises from the clearness
of evidence and the fulness of conviction. And as
all, even the lower part of his hearers, were
acquainted with the beauties of poetry, and the
force of harmony, he could not admit of any thing
rude or negligent; but with the strictest attention
laboured those compositions which appear so natural
and unadorned. They have their ornaments; but
these are austere and manly, and such as are con-
sistent with freedom and sincerity. A full and
regular series of diffusive reasoning would have
been intolerable in an Athenian assembly. He
often contents himself with an imperfect hint: a
sentence, a word, even his silence is sometimes
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? 32
PREFACE.
pregnant with meaning. And tms quicKnes. and
vehemence flattered a people who valued them-
selves on their acuteness and penetration. The
impetuous torrent that-in a moment bears down all
before it; the repeated flashes of lightning, which
spread universal terror, and which the strongest
eye dares not encounter, are the images by which
the nature of his eloquence hath been expressed.
As a statesman and as a citizen his conduct was
no less remarkable. If the fire of his eloquence
seems sometimes abated, his judgment and accuracy
and political abilities are then conspicuous. The
bravery with which he opposed the passions and
prejudices of his countrymen, and the general
integrity of his character (to which Philip himself
bare witness), are deserving of the highest honour;
and, whatever weakness he betrayed in his military
conduct, his death must be acknowledged truly
heroic.
The reader will observe, that the oration entitled
" On the Halonesus" is not admitted into the follow-
ing collection. * Some critics ascribe it to Hege*
sippus,1 an Athenian orator, of inferior character.
* This determination on the part of the translator was subsequently
abandoned, as will be seen by the introduction to the suspected oration.
1 In the oration on the Halonesus, the speaker takes notice of nia
having been the manager of a prosecution against Caiippus, on account
of an illegal motion made by this man in the assembly relative to the
boundaries of Cardia. Hegesippus was the person who conducted this
prosecution: and this circumstance Libanius mentions as having (to-
gether with the difference of style) induced the critics to ascribe this
oration, not to Demosthenes, but to Hegesippus. To this we may add
another circumstance of the like nature. The speaker observes that he
went on an embassy to Macedon, in order to obtain an explanation and
amendment of some articles in the treaty concluded between Philip and
the Athenians. Hegesippus was at the bead of this embassy: nor waa
Demosthenes at all concerned in it; as appears from the oration of Ibis
latter (irtpt rya riapaff. ).
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? PREFACE.
33
But, however this may be, it is certainly entirely
different from those compositions of Demosthenes
which are confessedly genuine. That he really
wrote an oration so entitled,1 the authority of the
ancient writers confirm, I think, sufficiently. But
one would be tempted to believe that the passages
which they have quoted had been taken up by some
old scholiast, and inserted in a performance of his
own
1 . flLschines, in his oration on the embassy, mentions two particulars
in that of Demosthenes on the Halonesus, neither of which are found in
the oration now extant. The first is, that Demosthenes treated Philip's
ambassadors with great severity, and insisted that they were really sent
as spies. The other, that he recommended to the Athenians by. no
means to submit their disputes with Philip to the decision of an umpire;
fcr that no one impartial mediating state could be found through Greece,
at* totally were the minds of all men corrupted by the Macedonian.
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? 10
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Demosthenes are written on a virtuous principle
and Plutarch observes, " that he does not exhoi*
his countrymen to that which is most agreeable, or
easy, or advantageous, but points out honour and
propriety as the first objects, and leaves the safety
of the state as a matter of inferior consideration. "
The reputation he acquired placed him at the head
of the government of Athens: in this public ca-
pacity he opposed the inclinations, and corrected the
errors, of his countrymen. His eloquence is not
distinguished by the arts of mild persuasion, but
by a bold, manly, and energetic style, which failed
not to fix the attention and to rouse the energies
of his hearers, and to awaken that spirit of patriot-
ism which is calculated to secure the liberties of
a people.
In integrity of conduct he is acknowledged to
have surpassed all his contemporaries except Pho-
cion; and if he had not been suspected of want
of courage in the field of battle, and of receiving a
bribe from Harpalus, he would have deservedly
ranked with Cimon, Thucydides, and Pericles.
In the battle of Chaeronea, according to the tes-
timony of Plutarch, he betrayed his pusillanimity,
quitted his post, and fled. But the charge of
bribery preferred against him at a later period of
his life strongly excited the Athenians against him,
as will be seen in the Translator's Introduction to
the Oration of Dinarchus. Demosthenes had
long resisted the assaults of corruption from Philip,
and boasted that all the gold of Macedonia could
not tempt him; but his enemies accused him of
having received a present of a golden vase, ac-
companied by twenty talents, from the hands of
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? OF DEMOSTHENES.
11
Harpalus,* which is said to have induced the Orator
to feign indisposition in the assembly, and to make
signs that he had lost his voice ; on which it was
observed, that " it was no common hoarseness he
had got in the night--it was occasioned by swal-
lowing gold and silver! " His accuser was a venal
orator; but the court of Areopagus condemned
him, and he was compelled to retire from Athens.
Pausanias, who entertained a high opinion of
the integrity of Demosthenes, treats the charge as
a calumny, and offers strong proofs of his inno-
cence--proofs which appear to have had due
weight with the learned Translator in his Appendix
to the Notes on the Philippic Orations, to
which the reader is referred for a history of the
Orator, from his public administration down to the
fatal period of his life.
* During the expedition of Alexander to India, lTarpalus had the
charge of the Babylonian treasury, on which he committed great ex-
cesses: fearing the resentment of his master, he fled to Attica with firs
thousand talents, accompanied by six thousand men, and sought refuge
In Athens.
Vol. I. --B
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? /
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? TR1
ORATIONS OF DEMOSTHENES,
PRONOUNCED
. gO EXCITE THE ATHENIANS AGAINST
PHILIP, KING OF MACEDON.
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? PREFACE.
VIEW OF THE PRINCIPAL STATES OF GREECE-
CHARACTERS OF DEMADES, HYPERIDES, LYCURG1/3,
AND . ESCHINES, THE ORATORS CHARACTER OF
DEMOSTHENES.
To animate a people renowned for justice, hu-
manity, and valour* yet, in many instances, degen-
erate and corrupted; to warn them of the dangers
of luxury, treachery, and bribery; of the ambition
and perfidy of a powerful foreign enemy; to recall
the glory of their ancestors to their thoughts, and
to inspire them with resolution, vigour, and una-
nimity ; to correct abuses ; to restore discipline; to
revive and enforce the generous sentiments of
patriotism and public spirit;--these were the great
purposes for which the following Orations were
originally pronounced. The subject, therefore,
may possibly recommend them to an English
reader, even under the disadvantages of a trans-
lation by no means worthy of the famous original.
His candour may pardon them; or sometimes,
perhaps, they may escape him, if he suffers his
imagination to be possessed with that enthusiasm,
which our orator is, of all others, most capable of
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? 16
PREFACE.
inspiring; and will, for a while, interest himself in
the cause of Athens.
To the history of Greece I must suppose he is
no stranger. Yet, though it may not inform him,
his memory may possibly be assisted by a summary
review of the affairs and interests of that country;
particularly of those divisions which had a long
time subsisted between its principal states, and on
which Philip justly grounded his hopes of success
in his attempts on their liberties.
These states were Laced^mon, Athens, and
Thebes.
The first, famous for her ancient kings, had
acquired new splendour under the reign of Ly-
curgus. The wisdom of the constitution which he
established, and the exact obedience paid to his
laws, preserved the state from those domestic
divisions which prevailed in other places ; and the
remarkable temperance of Sparta, the severity of
her discipline, her public spirit, and concern for the
liberty and happiness of other communities, made
her long revered as the parent of Greece. Her
constitution, however, was not without its faults.
Her government savoured of the humour of her in
habitants, who extended the same harsh severity to
their allies which they used towards each other.
Besides, they were devoted to arms; and their
constitution required continual wars for the preser-
vation of it. This made their government dis-
tasteful, and favoured the ambition of the Athenians
their rivals, who, though a more ancient people, had.
for many years, through their weakness or disorders
lived without any thought of command.
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? PREFACE.
17
Athens was originally governed by kings, the
last of whom sacrificed his life to the good of his
country; and on his death, the Athenians took
occasion to abolish the royalty, and instituted their
perpetual archons, which were changed to a decen-
nial, and afterward to an annual magistracy. The
state, however, was not completely settled until
Solon, by his wise laws, restored the love of labour
and husbandry, opened a way for commerce, taught
his countrymen to enrich themselves, and found
means to subdue their licentiousness by the rules
of justice, order, and discipline. Athens, thus
reformed, was in a fair way of growing great and
illustrious, when one of the citizens found means to
seize the supreme power. The struggles of the
Athenians for liberty against the successors of this
man was one occasion of the Persian war, the
glorious exploits of which are too well known to
need a recital. The victories of Marathon, Sa-
lamis, and Plataea, the chief honour of which the
Athenians assumed to themselves, determined the
character of that people; inspired them with the
highest notions of glory and honour, and at last
prompted them to set up for sovereign umpires of
Greece.
Sparta was willing to resign to them the com
mand of the sea; but they would be absolute in
all; and as they had delivered Greece from the op-
pression of the barbarians, they thought themselves
entitled to oppress her in their turn. They called
themselves protectors of the Grecian cities, but
behaved like their lords; till at last Sparta, urged
by the complaints of several states against the
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? PREFACE.
violence of Athens, began the famous Pelopon-
nesian war, which was carried on with various
success twenty-seven years. The unhappy expe-
dition of the Athenians into Sicily first shook their
power; and the victory of Lysander at iEgos-
Potamos entirely overthrew it.
By this event, however, Greece only changed her
masters. Sparta resumed the superiority; but her
new reign lasted only thirty years. The Spartans
were possessed with such a prejudice in favour of
their own form of government, that they attempted
to abolish democracy every where ; and while they
imposed their thirty tyrants on Athens, established
a government of ten, in other states, composed of
men devoted to their interest. Thus they became
more absolute, but at the same time more odious.
Their prosperity made them presume too much on
their strength. Their forces were lent to support
the pretensions of the younger Cyrus. Their king,
Agesilaus, was sent into Persia, where the Great
King could not put a stop to his progress, but by
bribing the Greeks, and by that means raising up
enemies against Sparta.
The Greeks readily hearkened to his solicita-
tions. The Athenians, at the head of the malecon-
tents, resolved to hazard every thing for liberty;
and without reflecting on their late miserable con-
dition, presumed to affront that state which had
reduced them to it. They knew so well to make
a right use of the oversight the Spartans had com-
mitted in provoking the Great King, that, joining
their force with the Persian fleet, they defeated
them, and rebuilt their walls: nor did they lay
down their arms till the Lacedaemonians were
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? PREFACE.
10
obliged, by a solemn treaty, to restore the Grecian
cities to their liberty. For although the Lacedae-
monians pretended a voluntary generosity in this
affair, yet it appeared by the consequence that fear
only had obliged them to it; as they took an op-
portunity, seme time after, to oppress Thebes,
though expressly comprehended in the treaty.
This raised the states of Greece against them.
The Athenians (who always harboured the most
inveterate hatred and jealousy of them, and had
lately been particularly provoked by an attempt of
one of their generals to seize their port) set them-
selves once more at the head of the confederacy,
and took on themselves the whole expense of the
war; in which their arms were crowned with
victories by sea and land--at Corinth, Naxos,
Corcyra, and Leucas. Thus were the Spartans
obliged to renew the treaty, and the cities of
Greece again restored to an entire independency
These bold efforts of the Athenians to reduce the
Spartan power, and to regain their former sove-
reignty, are frequently extolled in the following
Orations, as the glorious effects of their concern
for the liberties of Greece.
And now the peace was just concluded, and the
Greeks had the fairest prospect of enjoying it,
when, on a sudden, the Thebans started up, and
asserted their claim to sovereign power.
Thebes had, from the earliest ages,been ranVH
among the most considerable states. The natu-
ral slowness and heaviness of the inhabitants
had, however, prevented them from aiming at any
pre-eminence. In the Persian war, they even had
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? 20
PREFACE.
the baseness to join with the barbarians; and m
order to screen themselves from the resentment of
the Athenians on this account, they afterward
attached themselves to Lacedaemon, and continued
firm through the whole course of the Pelopon-
nesian war. They shifted sides, however, some
time after, and had some contests with the Lace-
daemonians. The seizing of their citadel, and the
recovery of it out of the hands of the Lacedae-
monians by Pelopidas, had created a mutual hatred
between these two states : and the Thebans, natu-
rally hardy and robust, and grown experienced
since the Peloponnesian war (from which time
their arms had been constantly exercised), now at
length began to entertain thoughts of commanding.
They refused to accede to the treaty negotiated by
the Athenians, unless they were acknowledged
chief of Boeotia. This refusal not only exposed
them to the resentment of the King of Persia (who
was at that time particularly concerned that the
Greeks should be at peace), but raised Athens,
Sparta, and indeed all Greece against them.
The Lacedaemonians declared war, and thinking
them an easy victory, now that they were deserted
by their allies, marched their forces a considerable
way into the Theban territory. Now it was that
Epaminondas first shone out in all his lustre. He
put himself at the head of the Thebans, and met
the enemy at Leuctra, where he gave them a total
overthrow. He then marched into Peloponnesus,
and had well-nigh made himself master of the city
of Sparta; relieved some people who had been op-
pressed by the Spartans; and by his justice and
magnanimity, his extensive abilities, and zealous
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? PREFACE.
21
concern for his country, promised to raise the
Thebans to the most exalted degree of power and
dignity, when, in another engagement with the
Lacedemonians at Mantinea, he fell, as it were, in
the arms of victory.
The death of Epaminondas, and the peace
which ensued, slackened the zeal of the principal
powers of Greece, and rendered them too secure.
The Athenians, particularly (when they saw the
fortune of Lacedsemon at the lowest ebb, and that
on the part of Thebes they were freed from all
apprehensions by the death of the general, the soul
of their counsels and designs), were now no longer
on their guard, but abandoned themselves to ease
and pleasure. Festivals and public entertainments
engaged their attention, and a violent passion for
the stage banished all thoughts of business and
glory. Poets, players, singers, and dancers were
received with that esteem and applause which were
due to the commanders who fought their battles.
They were rewarded extravagantly, and their per-
formances exhibited with a magnificence scarcely
to be conceived. The treasures which should have
maintained their armies were applied to purchase
seats in their theatres. * Instead of that spirit and
vigour which they exerted against the Persian, they
were possessed with indolence and effeminacy;
they had no further concern about the affairs of war
than just to keep a few foreign troops in pay; in
short, treachery, corruption, and degeneracy over-
spread the state.
But while they were sinking into this condition,
they found themselves unexpectedly engaged with
a very formidable enemy, Philip, king of the Mace-
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? 22
PREFACE.
donians, a people hitherto obscure, and in a manner
barbarous ; but now, by the courage, activity, and
consummate policy of their monarch, ready to lay
the foundation of a most extensive empire.
Philip had been sent early into Thebes, as a
hostage, where he was so happy as to improve his
natural abilities by the instructions of Epami-
nondas. The news of his brother Perdiccas being
slain in a battle with the Illyrians determined him
to fly to the relief of his country: he eluded the
vigilance of his guards, and escaped privately to
Macedon ; where, taking advantage of the people's
consternation at the loss of their king, and of the
dangers they apprehended from an infant reign, he
first got himself declared protector to his nephew,
and soon after king in his stead: and indeed the
present condition of the Macedonians required a
prince of his abilities. The Illyrians, flushed with
their late victory, were preparing to march against
them; the Paeonians harassed them with perpetual
incursions ; and, at the same time, Pausanias and
Argeus, two of the royal blood, pretended to the
crown; the one supported by Thrace, the other by
Athens.
Under these circumstances, Philip's first care
was to gain the affections of his people, to raise
their spirits, to train and exercise them, and to reform
their military discipline. And now he began to
discover those abilities which afterward raised l. im
to such a height ot power, and which were not to
be expected in a prince of the age of twenty-two
years.
The chief motive of the Athenians in supporting
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? PREFACE.
the pretensions of Argeus, was tl < nope of getting
possession of Amphipolis, a city bordering on Ma-
cedon, which they had long claimed as their colony.
It had sometimes been in their hands, sometime?
subjected to Lacedaemon, according to the different
changes of fortune of these states. After the
peace of Antalcidas, the Greeks acknowledged the
pretensions of the Athenians ; and it was resqhed
that they should be put in possession of this city at
the common charge. Probably the people of Am-
phipolis refused to submit to their old masters: fol
the Athenians were obliged to despatch Iphicrates
thither with forces. But the kings of Macedon
now began to dispute it with them. Perdiccas
made himself master of it; and Philip would very
gladly have kept it in his own hands; but this
could not be done without weakening his army, and
incensing the Athenians, whom his present circum-
stances required him rather to make his friends :
on the other hand, he could not think of suffering
them to possess it, as it was the key to that side
of his dominions.
He therefore took a middle
course, and declared it a free city; thereby leaving
the inhabitants to throw off their dependence on
their old masters, and making it appear to be then-
own act. At the same time, he disarms the
Paeonians by the force of presents and promises;
and then turns his arms against the Athenians,
who had marched to the assistance of Argeus. A
battle ensued, in which Philip was victorious. By
the death of Argeus, who fell in the action, he was
freed from that dispute; and by his respectful care
of the Athenians, when he had them in his power,
lie so far gained on that people, that they con-
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? 24
PREFACE.
eluded a peace with him. He now found himself
strong enough to break with the Paeonians, whom
he subdued; and having gained a complete victory
over the Illyrians, he obliged them to restore all
their conquests in Macedon. He also shut up the
entrance of his kingdom against Pausanias: but
having provided for the security of it, in the next
place he thought of making it more powerful and
flourishing.
The reunion of Amphipolis he considered as the
principal means to this end ; and therefore, under
pretence of punishing some wrongs which he
alleged against that city, he laid siege to it. The
moment they perceived their danger the people of
Amphipolis sent two of their citizens to Athens to
solicit succours ; but in order to prevent any oppo-
sition on the part of the Athenians, Philip gave them
the strongest assurances that his sole design wa*
to put them in possession of it the moment it was*
in his power: they therefore suffered him to make
a conquest of it. But instead of performing his
promise, he proceeded to take from them Pydua
and Potidaea, with which he purchased the friend-
ship of the Olynthians, whom it concerned him at
that time to oblige : the golden mines of Crenides
fell next into his hands, and contributed greatly to
his successes.
The Athenians could not but be alarmed at the
progress of this prince. His vigilance and activity,
his policy and insincerity, now began to appeal
dangerous ; and councils were held to deliberate on
the measures proper to be taken. But although,
the Athenians were possessed with delicacy and
sensibility, and entertained magnificent ideas of
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25
virtue and its duties, yet they wanted application,
constancy, and perseverance. The good qualities
which had long been the boast of that people were
now disappearing, while their faults increased.
Hence it was that they easily suffered themselves
to be lulled into a false security. Besides, they
had enough of difficulty to support their jurisdiction
in other parts, and to bear up against a considerable
revolt of their allies.
This revolt produced the war called the social
war, which lasted three years, and was succeeded
by the Phoeian or sacred war; so called, because
begun from a motive of religion. The Phocians
had ploughed, up some ground adjoining to the
temple of Apollo at Delphos, which their neighbours
exclaimed against as sacrilege, and was so judged
by the council of Amphictyons, that venerable
assembly, composed of representatives from the
principal stales of Greece, who sat twice every
year at Delphos and Thermopylae. They laid a
heavy fine on them; but, instead of submitting to
the sentence, the Phocians alleged that the care
and patronage of the temple belonged anciently to
them; and encouiaged by Philomelus, one of their
principal citizens, took up arms to assert their claim.
The several states of Greece took part in this
quarrel, as their interests and inclinations directed.
Athens and Sparta, with some other of the Pelo-
ponnesians, declared for the Phocians. The The-
bans were their principal opposers; and were
assisted by the Thessalians, Locrians, and other
neighbouring states. At first Philomelus had some
success; but, in the second year of the war the
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? 26
Thebans gave him a signal defeat, and he himself
was killed in the pursuit.
In the mean time, Philip took no part in this war.
He was well pleased that the parties should exhaust
their strength; and also had an opportunity of
securing and extending his frontier without inter-
ruption, by taking in such places as were either
convenient or troublesome to him. Of this latter
kind was the city of Methone, which after some
resistance he took and demolished, annexing its
lands to Macedon. During the siege he was in im-
minent danger of his life, having lost one of his eyes
by an arrow. But it was not long before Philip
had a fair opportunity of engaging as a party in
the Phocian war. The Thessalians, a people sus-
ceptible of all impressions, and incapable of pre-
serving any; equally forgetful of benefits and
injuries; ever ready to submit to tyrants, and to
implore the assistance of their neighbours to free
them from slavery; had some time since been
governed by Alexander of Pherae, the most detest-
able tyrant ever known in Greece. He was
despatched by Tisiphonus, Lycophron, and Pitho-
laus, who seized the government, and became
equally intolerable: so that the nobility of Thessaly,
with the Aleuadae, descendants from Hercules, at
their head, declared against them, and implored the
assistance of Philip. This prince willingly sacri-
ficed the hopes of extending his conquests in Thrace
to the honour of assisting the Aleuadae, who were -
of the same race with him, and of imitating Pe-
lopidas in giving liberty to Thessaly. He had also
long wished to have the Macedonians considered
as a Grecian people; and as he thought no oppor-
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? PREFACE.
27
tunily could be so honourable and favourable, as to
affect an interest in the affairs of Thessaly, he
readily marched against the tyrants, and soon
divested them of all their authority.
But Philip's apparent danger from the wound
which he received at Methone imboldened Lyco-
phron to resume the sovereign power. The Pho-
cians (who, after the death of Philomelus, had re-
newed the war with all imaginable vigour under
Onomarchus) espoused the cause of this tyrant,
who had engaged the Thessalians to observe a neu-
trality ; and they in return supported him with all
their power. Philip, therefore, now became involved
in the general quarrel. At first, the Phocian
general gained some advantages over him; but he
afterward had such success, as enlarged his views,
and inspired him with new hopes and expectations.
He thought of nothing less than the conquest of
Greece ; and under pretence of marching against
the Phocians, made a bold attempt to seize the
famous pass at Thermopylae, which he justly called
the key of Greece. This roused the Athenians
from their lethargy. At the first news of his
march they flew to the pass, and prevented his
design, as he did not think it prudent to force his
way.
We may reasonably look on his retreat from
Thermopylae as the era of Philip's hatred to the
Athenians. He saw that they were the only people
of Greece capable of defeating his projects, or of
giving him uneasiness in his own kingdom: he
therefore provided himself, with much diligence, a
fleet composed of light ships, which might disturb
Jieir trade, and at the same time enrich his subjects
Vol- I. --C
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? 28
PREFACE.
by bringing in prizes. He also increased his
army, and projected the destruction of the Athenian
colonies in Thrace. At the same time he practised
very successfully at Athens itself; and, by large
appointments, secured some eminent orators to
charm the people with delusive hopes of peace, or
to frighten them with expensive estimates, while
they pretended a zeal for the defence of the state.
In a democratical government, like that of
Athens, eloquence was the sure means of recom-
mending its possessor to the attention and regard
of his fellow-citizens, and of raising him to all
public honours and advantages. The gradual im-
provements of literature had introduced and per-
fected the arts of moving and persuading; and
perhaps the disorders of the state contributed to
make them more important, called forth a greater
number of public speakers, and . opened a larger
field for their abilities. Many of those orators
who about that time took the lead in the Athenian
assemblies are lost to posterity. The characters,
however, of the most eminent have been trans-
mitted, or may be collected from the writings of
antiquity.
Demades, by his birth and education, seemed
destined to meanness and obscurity; but as the
Athenian assembly admitted persons of all ranks
and occupations to speak their sentiments, his
powers soon recommended him to his countrymen,
and raised him from the low condition of a common
mariner to the administration and direction of public
affairs. His private life was stained with those
brutal excesses which frequently attend the want
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29
of early culture, and an intercourse with the infe-
rior and least refined part of mankind. His con-
duct, as a leader and minister, was not actuated
by the principles of delicate honour and integrity;
and his eloquence seems to have received a tincture
from his original condition. He appears to have
been a strong, bold, and what we call a blunt
speaker; whose manner, rude and daring, and
sometimes bordering on extravagance, had often-
times a greater effect than the more corrected style
of. other speakers, who confined themselves within
the bounds of decorum and good-breeding.
Hyperides, on the contrary, was blessed with
all the graces of refinement; harmonious, elegant,
and polite ; with a well-bred festivity, and delicate
irony; excellent in panegyric; and of great natural
abilities for affecting the passions. Yet his elo-
quence seems rather to have been pleasing than
persuasive. He is said to have been not so well
fitted for a popular assembly, and for political de-
bates, as for private causes, and addressing a few
select judges. And even here, when he pleaded
the cause of a woman for whom he had die ten-
derest passion, he was obliged to call the charms
of his mistress to the assistance of his eloquence,
and was more indebted to these for his success
than to his own powers.
Lycurgus had all the advantages which birth
and education could afford for forming an orator.
He was the hearer of Plato, and the scholar of
Isocrates. He seems to have been particularly
affected by the charms of poetry and the polite
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J
arts; nor was he less remarkable for diligence and
attention; yet his influence in the assembly seems,
like that of Phocion, to have arisen rather from a
respect to his character, and the general opinion
of his virtue and integrity, than from his abilities
as a speaker.
jEschines was an orator whose style was full,
diffusive, and sonorous. He was a stranger to the
glowing expressions and daring figures of Demos-
thenes, which he treats with contempt and ridicule.
But, though more simple, he is less affecting; and,
by being less contracted, has not so much strength
and energy: or, as Quintilian expresses it, " camis
plus habet, lacertorum minus. " But if we would
view his abilities to the greatest advantage, we must
not compare them with those of his rival. Then
will his figures appear to want neither beauty nor
grandeur. His easy and natural manner will then
be thought highly pleasing; and a just attention will
discover a good degree of force and energy in his
style, which at first appears only flowing and har-
monious.
But all the several excellences of his country-
men and contemporaries were at least equalled by
Demosthenes. 1 His own no age or nation could
attain to. From him critics have formed their
rules; and all the masters in his own art have
thought it an honour to imitate him. To enlarge
on his character would be to resume a subject
already exhausted by every critic, both ancient and
1 Nihil Lysia e subtilitate cedit; nihil argutiis et acnmine Hyperifi
tihil lenitste jEachini, et splendors verborum. --Cic. m Okas.
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? PREFACE.
31
. modem. Let it be sufficient to say, that energy
and majesty are his peculiar excellences. From
the gravity of Thucydides, the pomp and dignity
of Plato, the ease and elegance, the neatness and
simplicity of the Attic writers, he formed a style
and manner admirably fitted to his own temper and
genius, as well as that of his hearers. His own
severity determined him to the more forcible
methods of astonishing and terrifying, rather than
to the gentle and insinuating arts of persuasion:
nor did the circumstances and dispositions of his
countrymen admit of any but violent impressions.
As many of those to whom he addressed himself
were men of low rank and occupations, his images
and expressions are sometimes familiar. As others
of them were themselves eminent in speaking, and
could readily see through all the eommon artifices
of oratory, these he affects to despise: appears
only solicitous to be understood ; yet, as it were,
without design, raises the utmost admiration and
delight; such delight as arises from the clearness
of evidence and the fulness of conviction. And as
all, even the lower part of his hearers, were
acquainted with the beauties of poetry, and the
force of harmony, he could not admit of any thing
rude or negligent; but with the strictest attention
laboured those compositions which appear so natural
and unadorned. They have their ornaments; but
these are austere and manly, and such as are con-
sistent with freedom and sincerity. A full and
regular series of diffusive reasoning would have
been intolerable in an Athenian assembly. He
often contents himself with an imperfect hint: a
sentence, a word, even his silence is sometimes
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PREFACE.
pregnant with meaning. And tms quicKnes. and
vehemence flattered a people who valued them-
selves on their acuteness and penetration. The
impetuous torrent that-in a moment bears down all
before it; the repeated flashes of lightning, which
spread universal terror, and which the strongest
eye dares not encounter, are the images by which
the nature of his eloquence hath been expressed.
As a statesman and as a citizen his conduct was
no less remarkable. If the fire of his eloquence
seems sometimes abated, his judgment and accuracy
and political abilities are then conspicuous. The
bravery with which he opposed the passions and
prejudices of his countrymen, and the general
integrity of his character (to which Philip himself
bare witness), are deserving of the highest honour;
and, whatever weakness he betrayed in his military
conduct, his death must be acknowledged truly
heroic.
The reader will observe, that the oration entitled
" On the Halonesus" is not admitted into the follow-
ing collection. * Some critics ascribe it to Hege*
sippus,1 an Athenian orator, of inferior character.
* This determination on the part of the translator was subsequently
abandoned, as will be seen by the introduction to the suspected oration.
1 In the oration on the Halonesus, the speaker takes notice of nia
having been the manager of a prosecution against Caiippus, on account
of an illegal motion made by this man in the assembly relative to the
boundaries of Cardia. Hegesippus was the person who conducted this
prosecution: and this circumstance Libanius mentions as having (to-
gether with the difference of style) induced the critics to ascribe this
oration, not to Demosthenes, but to Hegesippus. To this we may add
another circumstance of the like nature. The speaker observes that he
went on an embassy to Macedon, in order to obtain an explanation and
amendment of some articles in the treaty concluded between Philip and
the Athenians. Hegesippus was at the bead of this embassy: nor waa
Demosthenes at all concerned in it; as appears from the oration of Ibis
latter (irtpt rya riapaff. ).
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33
But, however this may be, it is certainly entirely
different from those compositions of Demosthenes
which are confessedly genuine. That he really
wrote an oration so entitled,1 the authority of the
ancient writers confirm, I think, sufficiently. But
one would be tempted to believe that the passages
which they have quoted had been taken up by some
old scholiast, and inserted in a performance of his
own
1 . flLschines, in his oration on the embassy, mentions two particulars
in that of Demosthenes on the Halonesus, neither of which are found in
the oration now extant. The first is, that Demosthenes treated Philip's
ambassadors with great severity, and insisted that they were really sent
as spies. The other, that he recommended to the Athenians by. no
means to submit their disputes with Philip to the decision of an umpire;
fcr that no one impartial mediating state could be found through Greece,
at* totally were the minds of all men corrupted by the Macedonian.
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