cern themselves with small matters, and have left it to us who stand aloof from public life to give advice on such weighty affairs.

Nevertheless the more narrow-minded our leaders prove to be, the more vigorously must the rest of us consider how to be rid of our present enmity. As things are, it is to no purpose that we make our treaties of peace; for we do not settle our wars, but only defer them, and wait for the time. when we shall be able to inflict some irremediable injury on one another. Our duty, on the contrary, is to put aside these plottings and apply ourselves to those undertakings which will enable us both to dwell in greater security in our cities and to feel greater confidence in one another. Now the word to be said on this subject is a simple and easy one; we cannot enjoy a sure peace unless we make war in common against the barbarians, nor can Hellas be made of one mind until we secure our advantages from the same enemies and meet our perils in the face of the same foes.1 When these things are achieved, when we have removed the poverty surrounding our life, which breaks up friendships, perverts to enmity the ties of kindred, and throws all mankind into wars and seditions, it must follow that we shall be of one mind and our mutual goodwill will be real. For these reasons we must consider it all-important as speedily as possible to banish our domestic war to the continent, since the one advantage we can derive from our internal struggles would be the resolve to use against the barbarian the lessons of experience we have gained from them.

But, it will be said, may it not be best on account of the treaty to wait a little and not to press on and make the expedition too quickly? It is the states which have been liberated through this treaty that feel gratitude to the King, on the ground that they have obtained this independence 1i.e., the Persians. The sense is: We ought to give up the attempt to enrich ourselves at the expense of our Greek neighbours, and ought rather to endeavour to spoil the Persians; similarly, we ought to abandon our perpetual wars against one another, and to wage war against the Persians alone.

2 The peace of Antalcidas.

through him, while those which have been given up to the barbarians reproach mainly the Lacedaemonians, and in a lesser degree all the others who were parties to the peace, on the ground that by them they have been forced into slavery. Must it not therefore be right to dissolve this agreement, from which such a feeling has arisen that it is the barbarian who cares for Hellas and is the guardian of her peace, and that among us are to be found those who outrage and ill-use her? But the most ridiculous thing of all is, that of the terms written in the agreements it is the worst that we find ourselves guarding. For those which restore to independence the islands and the states in Europe, have long been broken and remain idly on the records;1 but those which bring us shame and have given up many of our allies, remain in force and all hold them binding. These we must destroy and not leave them for a single day, considering them to be dictates, not agreements. For who does not know that those are agreements which stand equally and fairly to both sides, but that those are dictates which unjustly put one side at a disadvantage? For this reason, too, we could justly complain of those who negotiated this peace, that, although sent by Hellas, they made the treaty in the interest of the barbarians. For whether it was determined that we should each keep our own country, or should also extend our rule over the territory conquered in war, or should retain what we were already in possession of at the time of the peace, their duty was to define some one of these courses, lay down a common principle of justice, and on that basis conclude the treaty. But in fact they allotted no distinction to our state or to Lacedaemon, but established the barbarian as lord of all Asia, as if we had gone to war on his behalf, or as if the Persian empire were of old standing and we but recent inhabitants of our cities, and it were not rather the fact that they have but lately held this high position, while we have for all time been the ruling powers in Hellas. I think, however, that I shall better show the want of respect that has befallen us and the preference which has

1 Lit. "pillars," on which important public documents such as treaties were transcribed.

been shown to the King by putting the matter in this way. Whereas the whole earth lying beneath the firmament is divided into two portions, the one called Asia and the other Europe, he has taken by the treaty one half, as if he were dividing the world with Zeus instead of making an agreement with men. And this is the agreement which he has compelled us to inscribe on pillars of stone and to dedicate in our common temples.1 a far fairer trophy than any to be won in battles; for the trophies of battle are on account of small events and isolated successes, but this agreement is established to commemorate the whole war and concerns the whole of Hellas.

For these things it is but right that we should feel indignation and consider how we shall take vengeance for the past and set the future on a right footing. For it is a disgrace that, while in private life we think it fitting to use the barbarians as domestic servants, we should in public affairs suffer so many of our allies to be in slavery to them, and that, whereas those who lived in the time of the Trojan war did for the rape of one woman all join so heartily in the indignation of those who had suffered the wrong, that they did not cease to carry on the war until they had laid in ruins the city of the man who had dared to commit the offence, we on the contrary wreak no public vengeance for outrages which are being inflicted upon the whole of Hellas, though it is in our power to achieve things worthy of aspiration. For it is only a war of this kind which is better than peace, a war more like a sacred embassy than a campaign, and to the interest of both parties, both those who prefer to live in quiet and those who desire to go to war; for it would enable the former to reap in security the fruits of their own possessions, and the latter to acquire great riches out of the possessions of others.

Now in many directions it will be found on consideration that this course of action is most to our profit. For consider: against whom should war be made by those who desire no selfish aggression, but look to justice alone? Surely against those who formerly did injury to Hellas, are now

1 The pillars were placed inside or near the public temples.

scheming against us, and always entertain hostile feelings towards us. Against whom may envy be fairly cherished by men who are not altogether given over to an unmanly jealousy, but indulge this feeling with discretion? Surely against those who have encompassed themselves with power too great for men to hold, and yet are deserving of less than those who are unfortunate in our country. Against whom should a campaign be conducted by those who wish to act as pious men and at the same time desire their own advantage? Surely against those who are both our natural and our ancestral enemies, who possess the highest prosperity with the smallest power of striking a blow in its defence. Now the Persians are open to all these reproaches. Moreover, we shall not even trouble the states by levying soldiers from them, which is now a most severe burden to them in our civil war; for I think that far fewer will wish to stay behind than will desire to follow in our train. For who, be he young or old, has a heart so unmoved that he will not wish to take his part in this expedition, an expedition generalled by Athenians and Lacedaemonians, mustering on behalf of the freedom of the allies, going forth at the bidding of all Hellas, and marching to the chastisement of the barbarians? What fame, and name, and glory must we deem that these men, who have been foremost in so great an enterprise, will enjoy while living, or dying, will leave behind them? For whereas they who fought against Alexander1 and took one city were deemed worthy of such praises, what eulogies must we expect will be won by the conquerors of all Asia? For surely everyone who has the gift of poetry or the power of speech will toil and study in the wish to leave behind him for all time a memorial at once of his own genius and of their valour?

Now I do not find myself of the same opinion at the present moment as at the beginning of my speech. Then I thought I should be able to speak in a fashion worthy of my subject; now I cannot attain to its magnitude, and much that I thought of has escaped me. You must then for ourselves consider together what happiness we should gain by turning

1 The later name of Paris of Troy.

against the inhabitants of the continent the war which now besets us here, and by transferring to Europe the happiness of Asia. You must not go away hearers and no more, but the men of action should with mutual exhortation endeavour to reconcile our state to that of the Lacedaemonians, while those who dispute the palm of oratory should cease to write concerning fiduciary deposit1 and the other trifling subjects of their conversation, and should rather direct their rivalry against this discourse, and consider how to speak better than I have done on the same subject, reflecting that it does not befit those who promise great things to occupy themselves with trifles, nor to engage in arguments from which the lives of their audience will gain no advantage by conviction, but to employ discussions, by the realization of which they will not only themselves be relieved from their present embarrassment, but will also be regarded as the source of great blessings to others.

1 One of the forensic speeches of Isocrates treats of a deposit intrusted to Euthynus. The suit led to a literary feud. Antisthenes the Cynic, a pupil of Gorgias and Speusippus, attacked the speech of Isocrates.