office conferred upon him, and before the passing of his

accounts.

II. WHEREAS it is ordained that all crowns conferred by the community of citizens shall be presented and proclaimed in their assembly, and in no other place whatsoever; Ctesiphon hath yet proposed that the crown should be presented and proclaimed in the theatre.

III. WHEREAS the laws pronounce it highly penal for any man to insert a falsehood in any motion or decree; Ctesiphon hath yet expressly declared, as the foundation of this his decree, that the conduct of Demosthenes hath been ever excellent, honourable, and highly serviceable to the state; a point directly opposite to the truth.

The two former of these articles he endeavours to establish by an appeal to the laws and ordinances of Athens. Here he was obliged to be critical and copious, which may render the first parts of his pleading not so agreeable to an English reader, as that in which he enters into the public transactions of his country, and the ministerial conduct of his adversary.

The prosecution was commenced in the year of the fatal battle of Chæronea. But the final decision of the cause had been suspended about eight years; and this interval was full of great events, to which each of the speakers frequently alluded.

It was the first care of Alexander, on his accession to the throne, to undeceive those among the Greeks, who, like Demosthenes, had affected to despise his youth. He instantly marched into Peloponnesus, and demanded the people of that country to accept him as commander of their forces against Persia. The Spartans alone sullenly refused. The Athenians, on their part, were intimidated, and yielded to his demand with greater expressions of reverence and submission than they had ever paid to his father.-He returned to Macedon to hasten his preparations, where he found it necessary to march against his barbarous neighbours, who were meditating a descent upon his kingdom. His conflicts with these people occasioned a report to be spread through Greece, that the young king had fallen in battle. The Macedonian faction were

alarmed: their opposers industriously propagated the report, and excited the Greeks to seize this opportunity to rise up against a power which had reduced them to a state of ignominious subjection. The Thebans unhappily yielded to such instances, took arms, and slaughtered the Macedonian garrison that had been stationed in their citadel.

But this insolence and cruelty did not long remain unpunished. Alexander suddenly appeared before their gates, at the head of his army, and in a few days became master of their city, where he executed his vengeance with fire and sword. The miserable state of desolation and captivity to which the Thebans were thus reduced, is ascribed, in the following oration, to the pernicious counsels and machinations of Demosthenes, and displayed in the most lively and pathetic

terms.

Nor did this extraordinary instance of rigour fail of its intended effect. The Greeks were astonished and confounded. The Athenians thought it expedient to send a deputation of their citizens to congratulate the king of Macedon on his late successes. Demosthenes was one of the persons chosen to execute this commission; but, conscious of the resentment which his well-known zeal against the Macedonian interest must have merited from Alexander, he deserted the other deputies while they were on their journey, and returned precpitately to Athens. Nor, indeed, were his apprehensions groundless; for, although the address was graciously received, yet the king took this occasion of complaining, in a manner which marked his superiority, of those factious leaders among the Athenians, to whom he affected to impute all the calamities of Greece, from the battle of Charonea to the destruction of Thebes. He demanded that several of the public speakers, and Demosthenes among the rest, should be delivered up to the power of the Amphyctionic Council, there to abide their trial, and to meet the punishment due to their offences. This was in effect to demand that they should be delivered into his own hands. The Athenians were in the utmost consternation, but found means to deprecate his resentment, and prevail upon him to be satisfied with the banishment of Charidemus, one of his most distinguished opposers: who accordingly repaired to the court of

Darius, where his sage counsel, that the Persian should avoid an engagement with Alexander, provoked the haughty and capricious tyrant to put him to death.

During Alexander's famous expedition into Asia, and the progress of his stupendous victories, Greece enjoyed a sort of calm, and the Athenians found leisure to decide the contest between their rival statesmen. The parties now appeared before a number of judges, probably not less than five hundred, and these chosen from the citizens at large, men of lively and warm imaginations, and of all others most susceptible of the impressions made by the force and artifice of popular eloquence. The partisans of each side crowded round, to assist and support their friend; and the tribunal was surrounded, not only by the citizens of Athens, but by vast numbers from all parts of Greece, curious to hear two so celebrated speakers, upon a subject so engaging as the late national transactions, and to be witnesses of the decision of a cause, which had been, for some years, the object of general attention and expectation.

THE ORATION OF ÆSCHINES

AGAINST CTESIPHON

You see, ATHENIANS! what forces are prepared, what numbers formed and arrayed, what soliciting through the assembly, by a certain party; and all this, to oppose the fair and ordinary course of justice in the state. As to me, I stand here in firm reliance, first on the immortal gods, next on the laws, and you; convinced that faction never can have greater weight with you, than law and justice.

It were to be wished, indeed, that the presidents of our senate, and of our popular assembly, would attend with due care to the order of their debates; that the laws ordained by Solon, to secure the decency of public speaking, might still preserve their force; that so, our elder citizens might first arise in due and decent form, (as these laws direct), without tumult or confusion; and each declare, in order, the salutary counsels of his sage experience; that, after these, our other citizens who chose to speak, might severally, and in order, according to their ages, propose their sentiments on every subject. Thus, in my opinion, would the course of government be more exactly regulated; and thus would our assemblies be less frequently engaged in trials. But now, when these institutions, so confessedly excellent, have lost their force; when men propose illegal resolutions, without reserve or scruple; when others are found to put them to the vote, not regularly chosen to preside in our assemblies, but men who have raised themselves to this dignity by intrigue; when, if any of the other senators on whom the lot of presidency hath fairly fallen, should discharge his office faithfully, and report your voices truly, there are men who threaten to impeach him, men who invade our rights, and regard the administration as their private property; who have secured their vassals, and raised themselves to sovereignty; who have suppressed such judicial procedures as are founded on established laws, and, in the decision of those appointed by temporary decrees, consult their

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passions; now, I say, that most sage and virtuous proclamation is no longer heard: "WHO IS DISPOSED TO SPEAK OF THOSE ABOVE FIFTY YEARS OLD?" and then, "WHO OF THE OTHER CITIZENS IN THEIR TURNS?" Nor is the indecent license of our speakers any longer restrained by our laws, by our magistrates; no, nor by the presiding tribe, which contains a full tenth part of the community.

If such be our situation, such the present circumstances of the state, and of this you seem convinced; one part alone of our polity remains; (as far as I may presume to judge); prosecutions of those who violate the laws. Should you suppress these; should you permit them to be suppressed; I freely pronounce your fate; that your government must be gradually and imperceptibly given up to the power of a few. You are not to be informed, ATHENIANS! that there are three different modes of government established in the world; the monarchical, the government of the few, and the free republic. In the two former, the administration is directed by the pleasure of the ruling powers; in free states, it is regulated by established laws. It is then a truth, of which none shall be ignorant, which every man should impress deeply on his mind; that when he enters the tribunal, to decide a case of violation of the laws, he that day gives sentence on his own liberties. Wisely therefore hath our legislator prescribed this, as the first clause in the oath of every judge: "I WILL GIVE MY VOICE AGREEABLY TO THE LAW;" well knowing, that when the laws are preserved sacred in every state, the freedom of their constitution is most effectually secured. Let these things be ever kept

1

Any citizen might commence a prosecution against the author of any decree or public resolution, which he deemed of pernicious tendency, or repugnant to established laws. The mover of any new law was also liable to the like prosecution. And this was necessary in a constitution like that of Athens, where all decisions were made in large and tumultuous assembles. Here, a few leaders might easily gain an absolute authority, and prevail upon the giddy multitude to consent to any proposition whatever, (if enforced by plausible arguments) unless they were restrained by the fear of being called to account for the motions they had made, and the resolutions passed at their instances.