salians fell, with all its weight, on Athens, while Philip's conduct was attended with applause and popularity. To prove these things, read the decree of Callisthenes, and the letter received from Philip. They both confirm the truth of my assertions.-Read!

The Decree.

"IN the Archonship of Mnesiphilus, on the twenty-first day of the month of Mæmacterion, in an assembly extraordinary, convened by authority of the generals, prytanes, and senate, at the motion of Callisthenes, it is RESOLVED,

"That no citizen of Athens be permitted, on any pretence whatever, to pass the night in the country: but that every man shall confine himself within the city, or the precincts of the Piræus, excepting only such persons as may be appointed to the defence of some post. That every such person shall be obliged to maintain his station, without presuming to absent himself, either by night or day. That whoever refuses to pay due obedience to this resolution and decree, shall incur the penalties ordained for traitors, unless he can allege some necessary cause, to be approved of by the general immediately in command, the treasurer, and the secretary of the senate, who shall have the sole power of judging of such allegations. That all effects now in the country shall be instantly removed; those within the distance of one hundred and twenty stadia, into the city or Piræus: those at any greater distance, to Eleusis, Phylè, Aphidna, Rhamnusium, and Sunium."

Were these the hopes which induced you to conclude the peace? Were these the promises, with which this hireling amused you?—Now read the letter soon afterwards received from Philip.

The Letter.

"PHILIP, king of Macedon, to the senate and people of Athens, health.

"Know ye that we have passed the streights of Thermopylæ, and reduced Phocis. We have stationed our garrisons in such towns as have submitted and acknowledged our

authority. Those which have presumed to resist our force, we have taken by assault, reduced the inhabitants to slavery, and razed their habitations to the ground. But, being informed that you are making dispositions for the support of these people, we, by these presents, recommend to you to spare yourselves the pains of such an ineffectual attempt. Your conduct must certainly appear extremely inequitable and extravagant, in arming against us, with whom you have so lately concluded a treaty. If you have determined to shew no regard to your engagements, we shall only wait for the commencement of hostilities, to exert a resolution on our part, no less vigorous and formidable."

You hear how he announces his intention in this letter: how explicitly he declares to his allies, "I have taken these measures in despite of the Athenians, and to their eternal mortification. If ye are wise then, ye Thebans and Thessalians, ye will regard them as enemies, and submit to me with an entire confidence." These are not his words indeed; but thus he would gladly be understood. And by these means did he acquire such an absolute dominion over their affections, that, blind and insensible to all consequences, they suffered him to execute the utmost schemes of his ambition. Hence, all the calamities which the wretched Thebans experience at this day. While he, who was the great agent and coadjutor in procuring this implicit confidence; he who in this place uttered his falsehoods, and deceived you by his flattering assurances; he it is who affects a deep concern at the misfortunes of Thebes, who displays them in such pathetic terms; although he himself be the real author both of these and the calamities of Phocis, and of all others which the Greeks have suffered. Yes,

schines, you must be affected deeply with these events, you must indeed feel compassion for the Thebans: you who have acquired possessions in Boeotia, you who enjoy the fruits of their lands and I must surely rejoice at their misery; I who was instantly demanded by the man who had inflicted it.

But I have been led insensibly to some particulars, which I may shortly introduce with more propriety. I now return to the proof of my assertion, that the corruption and iniquity

of these men have been the real cause of our present difficulties. -When Philip had contrived to deceive you so effectually, by means of those who, during their embassy, had sold themselves to this prince, and never reported one word of truth to your assemblies; when the wretched Phocians also had been betrayed, and their cities levelled with the ground;—what followed? The miscreant Thessalians and the stupid Thebans regarded Philip as their friend, their benefactor, their saviour: he was every thing with them: nor could they bear a word which tended to oppose these sentiments. On your part, although ye looked with a just suspicion on the progress of affairs, although ye felt the utmost indignation, yet still ye adhered to the treaty: for it was not possible to act, single as ye were. The other Greeks too, equally abused with you, and equally disappointed in their hopes, were yet determined to the same pacific conduct, though Philip, in effect, had long since made war upon them. For when, in the circuit of his expedition, he had destroyed the Illyrians, and the Triballians, and even some Grecian states; when a certain set of men had seized the opportunity of a peace, issued forth from the several cities, and, repairing to Macedon, had there received his bribes, (of which number Eschines was one) then were the real objects of his hostilities discovered, and then was the attack made on the several states. Whether they yet perceived this attack, or no, is another question, a question which concerns not me: I was ever violent in forewarning, in denouncing the danger here, and in every place to which I was deputed. But, in fact, the states were all unsound. Those who had the conduct and administration of affairs, had been gained by gold: while their private citizens and popular assemblies were either blind to all consequences, or caught by the fatal bait of temporary ease and quiet. And such was the general infatuation that each community conceived, that they alone were to be exempted from the common calamity, nay, that they could derive their own security from the public danger. To this I must impute it, that the many found their inordinate and ill-timed indolence exchanged for slavery: while their statesmen, who imagined that they were selling every thing but themselves, found at length that they had first sold themselves. Instead of friends

and guests (so were they stiled, while they were receiving their bribes) now, are they called flatterers, enemies to Heaven, and every other odious name so justly merited. For it is not the interest of the traitor that is at all regarded by the man who bribes him; nor, when the purchased service hath been once obtained, is the traitor ever admitted into his future confidence. If he were, no man could be happier than the traitor. But this is not the case, my fellow-citizens! How should it? No! impossible! When the votary of ambition hath once obtained his object, he also becomes master of his vile agents: and, as he knows their baseness, then, then he detests them, he keeps them at a wary distance; he spurns them from him. Reflect on former events: their time indeed is passed: but men of sense may always find a time to derive instruction from them. Lasthenes was called the friend of Philip, until he had betrayed Olynthus; Timoläus, until he had destroyed the Thebans; Eudicus and Simo, until they had given him the dominion of Thessaly; then were they driven away with scorn, then were they loaded with every kind of wretchedness; and traitors in disgrace were dispersed through the whole nation. How was Aristratus received at Sicyon? How Periläus at Megara? Are they not in abject infamy? And, hence, it evidently appears, that he who is most vigilant in defence of his country, and most zealous in his opposition to such men, is really a friend to you, Eschines, and your venal, traitorous faction, (as his conduct makes it necessary to bribe you;) and that your safety and your gains depend entirely on the number of such patriots, and their obstinate aversion to your counsels. If left to yourselves, ye must have long since perished.

And now, as to the transactions of those times, I might say more; but I have already said what I deem more than sufficient. To him must it be imputed, who hath disgorged all the foulness of his own iniquity upon me, which it was necessary to wipe away, for the sake of those who were born since the events I speak of. To you, ye Judges, the detail must be tedious and disgusting. Before I had uttered one word, you were well informed of his prostitution. He calls it friendship and intimate connection. Thus hath he just now expressed it. -"He who reproaches me with the intimacy of Alexander!"

I reproach thee with the intimacy of Alexander! How could'st thou obtain it? How could'st thou aspire to it? I could never call thee the friend of Philip; no, nor the intimate of Alexander. I am not so mad. Unless we are to call those menial servants, who labour for their wages, the friends and intimates of those who hire them. But, how can this be? Impossible! No! I formerly called you the hireling of Philip; I now call you the hireling of Alexander; and so do all these our fellow-citizens. If you doubt it, ask them; or I shall ask them for you. Ye citizens of Athens, do you account Æschines the hireling, or the intimate of Alexander? [The audience cried out, "hireling!"] You hear their answer.

I now proceed to my defence against the several articles of his impeachment, and to the particulars of my ministerial conduct, that Æschines, (although he knows them well,) may hear the reasons on which I justly claim the honour of this decree, and might claim still greater honours.-Take the impeachment. Read it.

The Impeachment.

"IN the archonship of Charondas, on the sixth day of the month Elaphæbolion, Eschines, son of Atrometus, of the Cothocidian tribe, IMPEACHED Ctesiphon, son of Leosthenes, of the Anaphlystian tribe, before the archon, of a VIOLATION

OF THE LAWS.

1 Commentators seem surprised at the boldness and the success of this appeal. Some tell us, that the speaker was hurried into the hazardous question by his impetuosity. Some, that his friend. Menander was the only person who returned the answer he desired. But the truth is, he was too much interested in the present contest, to suffer him to be really transported beyond the strictest bounds of prudence and caution; he was too well supported to rely upon a single voice, if such could be at all heard in the assembly. The assembly, to which he addressed himself, was of a quite different kind from one of our modern courts of law, where order and decorum are maintained. The audience were not at all concerned to suppress the emotions raised in them by the speaker. And Demosthenes had a large party present, who, he was well assured, would return the proper answer loudly.