the confusion, and inflamed them still more violently against each other. Thus did he contrive to make the faults and errors of other men subservient to his own interests, so as to rise to that height of power which threatened all Greece. And now, when men began to sink under the calamity of a longprotracted war; when the then insolent, but now unhappy Thebans, were on the point of being compelled, in the face of Greece, to fly to you for protection; Philip, to prevent this, to keep the states from uniting, promised a peace to you; to them, a reinforcement. What was it then, which so far conspired with his designs, that you fell into the snare by an error almost voluntary? The cowardice shall I call it? Or the ignorance of the other Greeks? Or rather a combination of both? Who, while you were maintaining a tedious and incessant war, and this in the common cause, (as was evident in fact) never once provided for your support, either by money, or by troops, or by any assistance whatever. This conduct you received with a just and a becoming resentment, and readily listened to the overtures of Philip. Hence were you prevailed on to grant the peace, not by any promises of mine, as he hath falsely asserted. And it must appear, upon a fair examination, that the iniquity and corruption of these men, in the course of that treaty, have been the real cause of all our present difficulties. But I shall now proceed to a faithful and exact detail of this whole transaction; conscious, that, if any instances of guilt ever so heinous should appear in it, not one can be fairly charged on me.

The first who ever moved or mentioned a peace was Aristodemus the player. The man who seconded his instances, and proposed the decree, and who, with him, had hired out his services on this occasion, was Philocrates, your accomplice, Æschines, not mine: no! though you roar out your falsehoods 'till you burst. They who united with them in support of this measure, (from what motives I shall not now inquire) were Eubulus and Cephisophon. I had no part in it at all. And, though this be really the fact, though it be proved by the evidence of truth itself, yet so abandoned is he to all sense of shame, as to dare not only to assert that I was the author of this peace, but that I prevented the state from concluding it in

conjunction with the general assembly of the Greeks.- thou -by what name can I properly call thee? When thou wert present, when thou sawest me depriving the state of an interest so important, a conjunction of such moment, as thou now describest with so much pomp, didst thou express thy indignation? Didst thou rise up, to explain, to inforce, that guilt of which thou now accusest me? And, had Philip purchased this my important service of preventing the union of the Greeks, surely it was not thy part to be silent, but to cry aloud, to testify, to inform these thy fellow-citizens. But this was never done: thy voice was never once heard on this occasion.— And, in fact, no embassy was at that time sent to any of the Grecian states: they had all discovered their sentiments long before; such is the absurdity of his assertions. And, what is still worse, these his falsehoods are principally directed against the honour of our state. For, if you called on the other Greeks to take up arms, and at the same time sent out your ministers to Philip to treat for peace, this was the act of an Eurybatus, not the part of this city, not the procedure of honest men. But this is not the fact: no! For what purpose could ye have sent to them at that period? For a peace? They were all at peace. For a war? We were then actually deliberating about the treaty. Upon the whole, therefore, it doth not appear that I was at all the agent, or at all the author of this first peace: nor can he produce the least reasonable evidence to support those other falsehoods he hath urged against me.

Again, from the time when this state had agreed to peace, examine fairly what course of conduct each of us adopted. Thus you will clearly see who was Philip's agent upon every occasion; who acted for you, and sought the real interest of his country.

I, on my part, proposed a decree in the senate, that our ambassadors should embark, with all expedition, for such place as they were informed was the present residence of Philip, and receive his oaths of ratification. But they, even after my decree had passed, declined to pay the due obedience. -And here, Athenians! I must explain the import and moment of this my decree. It was the interest of Philip, that the interval between our acceding and his swearing to the

treaty should be as long, yours, that it should be as short, as possible. And why? You had abandoned all warlike preparations, not only from the day when you had sworn to the peace, but from the moment you had first conceived an expectation of it: he, on the contrary, redoubled his attention to all military affairs, through the whole intervening period; concluding, (and it proved a just conclusion,) that whatever places he could wrest from us, previously to his oaths of ratification, he might retain them all securely, and that no one could think of rescinding the treaty upon that account. This I foresaw; I weighed it maturely, and hence proposed this decree, that they should repair to Philip, and receive his oaths, with all expedition; that so he should be obliged to ratify the treaty, while the Thracians, your allies, yet kept possession of those places, the object of this man's ridicule, Serrium, Myrtium, and Ergyskè: not that Philip, by seizing such of them as were most convenient to his purposes, should become master of all Thrace; not that he should acquire vast treasures; not that he should gain large reinforcements, and thus execute all his future schemes with ease.-Here is a decree which Æschines hath never mentioned, never quoted. But, because I moved in the senate, that the ambassadors of Macedon should be introduced, he inveighs against me as highly criminal. What should I have done? Was I to move, that they should not be introduced? The men who came purposely to treat with us? Was I to forbid, that any seats should be appointed for them in the theatre? Why, they might have purchased seats at the common trifling price! Was I to shew my concern for Athens by such minute savings, while, like him and his accomplices, I sold our capital interests to Philip? No!Take my decree, which he, though well acquainted with it, hath passed over in silence.-Read!

The Decree.

"IN the archonship of Mnesiphilus, on the nineteenth day of the month Ecatombæon, the Pandionian tribe presiding,Demosthenes, son of Demosthenes, of the Pæanian tribe, proposed the following decree:

"WHEREAS Philip, by his ambassadors sent to Athens to confer about a peace, hath agreed and concluded on the terms: it is resolved by the senate and people of Athens, in order to the final execution of this treaty, agreeably to the resolutions and conventions of a former assembly, THAT five ambassadors be chosen from the community of Athens: which ambassadors thus chosen shall depart, and without delay, repair to such place as they shall be informed is the place of Philip's residence, and, with all possible expedition, mutually receive and take the oaths necessary for ratification of the treaty concluded, as aforesaid, with the people of Athens, including the allies on each side. The persons chosen into this commission are Eubulus, Æschines, Cephisophon, Democrates, and Cleon."

When, by this decree, I had approved my attachment to the state, not to the interests of Philip, our excellent ambassadors sat down in perfect indifference, three whole months, in Macedon, although, within the space of ten, or rather of three or four days, they might have arrived at the Hellespont, tendered the oaths, and thus saved the towns before he had reduced them.-For, he would not have attempted the least hostility in our presence; or, if he had, we might have refused his ratification, and disappointed his hopes of peace: for, he could not have enjoyed both; a peace and his conquests also.

Such was the first instance of Philip's artifice in this negociation, and of the corruption of these wicked men; for which I then denounced, and now, and ever must, denounce perpetual war and opposition against these enemies of Heaven. -I proceed to point out another, and a still more flagrant instance of iniquity.-When Philip had, in due form, acceded to the treaty, having first possessed himself of Thrace, by means of those ministers who refused obedience to my decree, he bribed them once again not to depart from Macedon, until he had completed his armament against the Phocians; lest a fair report of his designs and preparations should prompt you to issue forth, steer your course to Thermopylæ, as on a former occasion; and block up the streights of Euboea with your navy. He resolved that the news of his preparations, 1 In 359 B.C. the Athenians, in the interest of the Euboeans against

and his passage through the streights, should arrive together. And, such were his apprehensions, such the violence of his terror, lest, when he had gained the streights, before he had completed the destruction of Phocis, ye should be informed of his motions, resolve to assist this state, and thus defeat his grand design; that he again bribed this wretch, not in conjunction with the other deputies, but now apart, and by himself, to make such representations, and to give you such assurances, as effectually ruined all our interests.

And here, my fellow-citizens, I desire, I beseech you to bear in mind, through the whole course of this dispute, that, if Æschines had urged nothing against me foreign to his cause, I too should have confined myself to the great point in contest. But as he hath recurred to every charge, every invective which malice could suggest, it becomes necessary for me to make some short reply to all the several crimes alleged against me.

What then were the declarations which he made at this juncture, and which proved so fatal to our interests? That you ought not to be violently alarmed at Philip's passage through the streights; that the event would answer to your most sanguine wishes, if you but continued quiet; that in two or three days you should hear, that he had entered into strict friendship with those who seemed the object of his hostilities, and that he had become their enemy, with whom he now united. "For it is not words," said he, in all the solemnity of language, "that form the strict band of friendship, but a similarity of interests. And it is equally the interest of all, of Philip, of the Phocians, and of Athens, to be relieved from the insolence and stupidity of the Thebans."—And what were the immediate consequences? The unhappy Phocians were speedily destroyed, and their cities razed to their foundations: you who had relied on his assurances, and continued quiet, were shortly obliged to leave your lands desolate, and collect your property within these walls, while he received his gold. And, still further, the inveterate hatred of the Thebans and Thes

Thebes, brought in five days an army into Euboea, and in thirty days obliged the Thebans to evacuate the island.