him from the day when I stood forth as a leader, shall be recalled to your recollection, and I am ready to take the responsibility for my share in each. With this premise . . . Philip entered upon the contest at a very great advantage. Throughout Greece it so happened, that at that time, not merely in individual states but in all without exception, there had sprung up a whole forest of traitors and political prostitutes of an extent and magnitude unparalleled in human memory. These men did Philip engage as his cooperators and coadjutors. The Greek states from the first were in a state of faction, and on bad terms with one another; and Philip was enabled to increase the evil. Some he hoodwinked; others he bribed; against others he employed all the arts of seduction. Το prevent the possibility of their opposing his aggrandisement, he ranged in hostile ranks those whose real interests lay in harmony and concord. Now, in this position of affairs, when all Greece was insensible to the danger that was springing up and spreading all around, let us consider what course it became this country to adopt. And of this I am bound to render an account, for it was on this line of policy that I took my stand. Ought Athens—I will ask Æschines himself—to have sunk her spirit and her dignity so low, as to rank with Thessalians and Dolopians in purveying and procuring for Philip the supremacy of Greece; and so trample under foot the standard of honour and justice which our ancestors had erected? or (not falling so low as this, the very idea is inadmissible) to stand by and witness the consummation of events, foreseen at a distance, and certain, if unopposed, of realisation? I should be glad to hear from the severest critic of our policy at that time in what class he would have wished his country to appear;-with Thessalians and their belongings, as an accomplice in the misfortunes and disgrace of Greece, or with Arcadians and Messenians, as a bystander and looker-on, with an eye to her own private advantage? . . . Why, to tell the truth, most, nay all, of these nations left off in a worse. plight than we. Suppose Philip had been content with his victory, and had quitted the scene and never troubled Greece again; nevertheless, those who had failed to oppose him would have been open to accusation and reproach. But suppose (what is but too sadly true) that he stripped Greece of her all, her honourable state, her supremacy, freedom itself, how could any other course than that which you at my instance adopted have been conformable to your honour? Let me return to the question I propounded, and tell me, Eschines, What ought the State to do, seeing Philip laying plans to become the ruler and autocrat over all Greece? What should be the language and the measures of the statesman -at Athens, mark! to whom his country looked for counsel; knowing as I did, that, from the beginning of her history till I first ascended the platform, my country had always striven for ascendency and renown, and had spent more blood and more money for honour and the general good than all the rest of Greece put together for their private ends? And when I saw Philip, our antagonist, with one eye gone, his collarbone broken, and one hand and one leg maimed, and ready to part with the rest of his body, limb by limb, so that he might live in honour and glory with the remainder . . was I to think that it was for him, a man born in Pella, then of no note or size, to be so great of heart as to reach at the sovereignty of all ... Greece, and not to recoil from that immense attempt; and that you men of Athens who, in every word you heard, and every object that met your eyes, had something to remind you of the prowess of your forefathers, should be so intrinsically base as, unforced, unasked, to abandon to Philip your freedom! I defy you to say it. . . . The one only course, the imperative course, open to the State, was to rely upon the justice of our cause, and to withstand him at every step. So did you fairly and justly from the beginning. During all that period the State acted on my suggestions, and adopted my measures. I admit it. But what should I have done? let me ask you. Let us forget Amphipolis, Pydna, Potidæa, and Halonesus. Suppose Serrium and Doriscus had never existed, nor Peparethus been sacked. But what about Euboea? He who annexed that country and made it a stronghold to menace Athens; he who laid hands on Megara, and got Oropus into his power; he who razed Porthmus to the ground and set up Tyrants to do his will-Philistides in Oreus, and in Eretria Clitarchus; he who placed his yoke upon the Hellespont, and surrounded Byzantium with an armed force; he who attacked cities, even in Greece itself, laying low some, and forcing back their exiles upon others—what do you think of him? Was this a breach of the treaty, and was he a breaker of the treaty, or was he not? Was he or was he not? Were these doings for Greece to stand up against and resist? If not, and if Greece was to be surrounded like a hare in her form, although there were men living and breathing in Athens, then I went out of my way in all I said of this, and the State which followed me went out of its way, and I ought to bear the blame, I am ready to bear the Lame for every Binder for such must every have been: busy toe was a stand irvari vb) Bos Athene ? This then vw my pùy an dhe time. Seeing tha Pillly we sent upon enslaving the while wiel. I wok my and against him: mr 51 I ever cease to forewarn and exbon you not to leave everything at the mercy of Pip Way, to go to fumber, is seizure of the ships nake him answerable for the resumpora of bostiines Produce the Resolutions and the letter of Philip Let them be read in succession, and we shall have no difielity in seeing who is responsible in each particular. Begin. me. In the anchonship of Neocles, mouth Bedrmin, & A÷sembly having been occrcked on special requisition of the Generale, on the motion of Eubulus, son of Mnesithens of Cytheras: Whereas the Generals have reported in the Assembly that Leodamas the admiral and the twenty vessels sent under his command to the Hellespont to see to the convoy of corn have been seized by Amyntas, the general of Philip, and taken to Macedon and there detained; therefore the Prytaneis and the Generals are hereby required to provide for the convocation of the Senate, and for the election of ambassadors to proceed to Philip, and confer with him about the release of the admiral, the vessels, and soldiers. If Amyntas acted in ignorance, the People makes no complaint against him. If he be found to have exceeded his instructions, the Athenians will look into the matter and require such amends as the nature of the affront demands: if it was an intentional outrage on the part of either the admiral or his superior, let this also be reported that the People may consider what course to take. This Resolution was proposed by Eubulus, not by Aristophon, Hegesippus, Aristophon, Philocrates, and Cephisophon; I was not concerned in any. Read the Resolution. In the archonship of Neocles, on the last day of Boedromion, by desire of the Senate: The Prytaneis and Generals brought in a measure and reported the proceedings in the Assembly, that it had been resolved by the People to elect ambassadors to Philip concerning the restoration of the ships, and to supply them with instructions and with the decrees of the Assembly. The following were elected: Cephisophon, son of Cleon of Anaphlystus; Democritus, son of Demophon of Anagyrus; Polycritus, son of Apemantus of Cothocida. In the presidency of the Hippothoontian tribe; on the motion of Aristophon of Colyttus, Proedrus. My evidence lies in these Resolutions. Let Æschines on his part produce, if he can, any resolution carried by me, which makes me responsible for the war. He cannot. Could he have done so we should have had it long before. Nay, Philip himself, who complains warmly of other statesmen's conduct in respect of the war, has not a single charge to bring against Read his letter. me. Philip, king of Macedon, to the Senate and People of Athens greeting: Your ambassadors Cephisophon, Democritus, and Polycritus arrived and had audience of us concerning the release of the vessels under the command of Laomedon. Very credulous you must be in every way if you imagine I fail to perceive that these vessels were despatched nominally to bring in corn from the Hellespont to Lemnos, but in reality to succour the Selymbrians, who are besieged by me, but not included in the treaties of amity between us. These orders were given without the consent of the People by persons, some of whom are in office, some out of office at present, but desirous, by every possible means, to resuscitate the war with me in place of the existing peace; an object which they have more at heart than the relief of Selymbria. This, they think, will open a road to their |