Volume II Part 2 (2/2)
[But that is not the case, of course. Far from it!] {52} Nay, I call you the hireling, formerly of Philip, and now of Alexander, and so do all who are present. If you disbelieve me, ask them--or rather I will ask them for you. Men of Athens, do you think of Aeschines as the hireling or as the guest-friend of Alexander? You hear what they say.
{53} I now wish, without more delay, to make my defence upon the indictment itself, and to go through my past acts, in order that Aeschines may hear (though he knows them well) the grounds on which I claim to have a right both to the gifts which the Council have proposed, and even to far greater than these. (_To the clerk_.) Now take the indictment and read it.
{54, 55} [The indictment is read.]
{56} These, men of Athens, are the points in the resolution which the prosecutor a.s.sails; and these very points will, I think, afford me my first means of proving to you that the defence which I am about to offer is an absolutely fair one. For I will take the points of the indictment in the very same order as the prosecutor: I will speak of each in succession, and will knowingly pa.s.s over nothing. {57} Any decision upon the statement that I 'consistently do and say what is best for the People, and am eager to do whatever good I can', and upon the proposal to vote me thanks for this, depends, I consider, upon my past political career: for it is by an investigation of my career that either the truth and the propriety, or else the falsehood, of these statements which Ctesiphon has made about me will be discovered. {58} Again, the proposal to crown me, without the addition of the clause 'when he has submitted to his examination', and the order to proclaim the award of the crown in the theatre, must, I imagine, stand or fall with my political career; for the question is whether I deserve the crown and the proclamation before my fellow countrymen or not.
At the same time I consider myself further bound to point out to you the laws under which the defendant's proposal could be made. In this honest and straightforward manner, men of Athens, I have determined to make my defence; and now I will proceed to speak of my past actions themselves.
{59} And let no one imagine that I am detaching my argument from its connexion with the indictment, if I break into a discussion of international transactions. For it is the prosecutor who, by a.s.sailing the clause of the decree which states that I do and say what is best, and by indicting it as false, has rendered the discussion of my whole political career essentially germane to the indictment; and further, out of the many careers which public life offers, it was the department of international affairs that I chose; so that I have a right to derive my proofs also from that department.
{60} I will pa.s.s over all that Philip s.n.a.t.c.hed from us and secured, in the days before I took part in public life as an orator. None of these losses, I imagine, has anything to do with me. But I will recall to you, and will render you an account of all that, from the day when I entered upon this career, he was _prevented_ from taking, when I have made one remark. {61} Philip, men of Athens, had a great advantage in his favour. For in the midst of the h.e.l.lenic peoples--and not of some only, but of all alike-- there had sprung up a crop of traitors--corrupt, G.o.d-forsaken men--more numerous than they have ever been within the memory of man. These he took to help and co-operate with him; and great as the mutual ill-will and dissensions of the h.e.l.lenes already were, he rendered them even worse, by deceiving some, making presents to others, and corrupting others in every way; and at a time when all had in reality but one interest--to prevent his becoming powerful--he divided them into a number of factions. {62} All the h.e.l.lenes then being in this condition, still ignorant of the growing and acc.u.mulating evil, you have to ask yourselves, men of Athens, what policy and action it was fitting for the city to choose, and to hold me responsible for this; for the person who a.s.sumed that responsibility in the State was myself. {63} Should she, Aeschines, have sacrificed her pride and her own dignity? Should she have joined the ranks of the Thessalians and Dolopes,[n] and helped Philip to acquire the empire of h.e.l.las, cancelling thereby the n.o.ble and righteous deeds of our forefathers? Or, if she should not have done this (for it would have been in very truth an atrocious thing), should she have looked on, while all that she saw would happen, if no one prevented it--all that she realized, it seems, at a distance--was actually taking place? {64} Nay, I should be glad to ask to-day the severest critic of my actions, which party he would have desired the city to join--the party which shares the responsibility for the misery and disgrace which has fallen upon the h.e.l.lenes (the party of the Thessalians and their supporters, one may call it), or the party which looked on while these calamities were taking place, in the hope of gaining some advantage for themselves--in which we should place the Arcadians and Messenians and Argives. {65} But even of these, many--nay, all--have in the end fared worse than we. For if Philip had departed immediately after his victory, and gone his way; if afterwards he had remained at peace, and had given no trouble whatever to any of his own allies or of the other h.e.l.lenes; then there would have been some ground for blaming and accusing those who had opposed his plans. But if he has stripped them all alike of their dignity, their paramountcy, and their independence--nay, even of their free const.i.tutions,[n] wherever he could do so--can it be denied that the policy which you adopted on my advice was the most glorious policy possible?
{66} But I return to my former point. What was it fitting for the city to do, Aeschines, when she saw Philip establis.h.i.+ng for himself a despotic sway over the h.e.l.lenes? What language should have been used, what measures proposed, by the adviser of the people at Athens (for that it was at Athens makes the utmost difference), when I knew that from the very first, up to the day when I myself ascended the platform, my country had always contended for pre-eminence, honour, and glory, and in the cause of honour, and for the interests of all, had sacrificed more money and lives than any other h.e.l.lenic people had spent for their private ends: {67} when I saw that Philip himself, with whom our conflict lay, for the sake of empire and absolute power, had had his eye knocked out, his collar-bone broken, his hand and his leg maimed, and was ready to resign any part of his body that Fortune chose to take from him, provided that with what remained he might live in honour and glory? {68} And surely no one would dare to say that it was fitting that in one bred at Pella, a place then inglorious and insignificant, there should have grown up so lofty a spirit that he aspired after the empire of h.e.l.las, and conceived such a project in his mind; but that in you, who are Athenians, and who day by day in all that you hear and see behold the memorials of the gallantry of your forefathers, such baseness should be found, that you would yield up your liberty to Philip by your own deliberate offer and deed. {69} No man would say this. One alternative remained, and that, one which you were bound to take--that of a righteous resistance to the whole course of action by which he was doing you injury. You acted thus from the first, quite rightly and properly; while I helped by my proposals and advice during the time of my political activity, and I do not deny it. But what ought I to have done? For the time has come to ask you this, Aeschines, and to dismiss everything else. {70} Amphipolis, Pydna, Poteidaea, Halonnesus-- all are blotted from my memory. As for Serrhium, Doriscus, the sack of Peparethus, and all the other injuries inflicted upon the city, I renounce all knowledge of their ever having happened--though you actually said that _I_ involved my countrymen in hostility by talking of these things, when the decrees which deal with them were the work of Eubulus and Aristophon[n] and Diopeithes,[n] and not mine at all--so glibly do you a.s.sert anything that suits your purpose! {71} But of this too I say nothing at present. I only ask you whether Philip, who was appropriating Euboea,[n] and establis.h.i.+ng it as a stronghold to command Attica; who was making an attempt upon Megara, seizing Oreus, razing the walls of Porthmus, setting up Philistides as tyrant at Oreus and Cleitarchus at Eretria, bringing the h.e.l.lespont into his own power, besieging Byzantium, destroying some of the cities of h.e.l.las, and restoring his exiled friends to others--whether he, I say, in acting thus, was guilty of wrong, violating the truce and breaking the Peace, or not? Was it fit that one of the h.e.l.lenes should arise to prevent it, or not? {72} If it was not fit-- if it was fit that h.e.l.las should become like the Mysian booty[n] in the proverb before men's eyes, while the Athenians had life and being, then I have lost my labour in speaking upon this theme, and the city has lost its labour in obeying me: then let everything that has been done be counted for a crime and a blunder, and those my own! But if it was right that one should arise to prevent it, for whom could the task be more fitting than for the people of Athens? That then, was the aim of _my_ policy; and when I saw Philip reducing all mankind to servitude, I opposed him, and without ceasing warned and exhorted you to make no surrender.
{73} But the Peace, Aeschines, was in reality broken by Philip, when he seized the corn-s.h.i.+ps, not by Athens. (_To the clerk_.) Bring the decrees themselves, and the letter of Philip, and read them in order. (_To the jury_.) For they will make it clear who is responsible, and for what.
{74} [_A decree is read_.]
{75} This decree then was proposed by Eubulus, not by me; and the next by Aristophon; he is followed first by Hegesippus, and he by Aristophon again, and then by Philocrates, then by Cephisophon, and then by all of them. But I proposed no decree upon this subject. (_To the clerk_.) Read.
[_Decrees are read_.]
{76} As then I point to these decrees, so, Aeschines, do you point to a decree of any kind, proposed by me, which makes me responsible for the war. You cannot do so: for had you been able, there is nothing which you would sooner have produced. Indeed, even Philip himself makes no charge against me as regards the war, though he complains of others. (_To the clerk_.) Read Philip's letter itself.
{77, 78} [_Philip's letter is read_.]
{79} In this letter he has nowhere mentioned the name of Demosthenes, nor made any charge against me. Why is it then that, though he complains of others, he has not mentioned my own actions? Because, if he had written anything about me, he must have mentioned his own acts of wrong; for it was these acts upon which I kept my grip, and these which I opposed. First of all, when he was trying to steal into the Peloponnese, I proposed the emba.s.sy to the Peloponnese;[n] then, when he was grasping at Euboea, the emba.s.sy to Euboea;[n] then the expedition--not an emba.s.sy any more--to Oreus,[n] and that to Eretria, when he had established tyrants in those cities. {80} After that I dispatched all the naval expeditions, in the course of which the Chersonese and Byzantium and all our allies were saved. In consequence of this, the n.o.blest rewards at the hands of those who had benefited by your action became yours--votes of thanks, glory, honours, crowns, grat.i.tude; while of the victims of his aggression, those who followed your advice at the time secured their own deliverance, and those who neglected it had the memory of your warnings constantly in their minds, and regarded you not merely as their well-wishers, but as men of wisdom and prophetic insight; for all that you foretold has come to pa.s.s.
{81} And further, that Philistides would have given a large sum to retain Oreus, and Cleitarchus to retain Eretria, and Philip himself, to be able to count upon the use of these places against you, and to escape all exposure of his other proceedings and all investigation, by any one in any place, of his wrongful acts--all this is not unknown to any one, least of all to you, Aeschines. {82} For the envoys sent at that time by Cleitarchus and Philistides lodged at your house, when they came here, and you acted as their patron.[n] Though the city rejected them, as enemies whose proposals were neither just nor expedient, to you they were friends.
None of their attempts succeeded, slander me though you may, when you a.s.sert that I say nothing when I receive money, but cry out when I spend it. That, certainly, is not _your_ way: for you cry out with money in your hands, and will never cease, unless those present cause you to do so by taking away your civil rights[n] to-day. {83} Now on that occasion, gentlemen, you crowned me for my conduct. Aristonicus proposed a decree whose very syllables were identical with those of Ctesiphon's present proposal; the crown was proclaimed in the theatre; and this was already the second proclamation[n] in my honour: and yet Aeschines, though he was there, neither opposed the decree, nor indicted the mover. (_To the clerk_.) Take this decree also and read it.
{84} [_The decree of Aristonicus is read_.]
{85} Now is any of you aware of any discredit that attached itself to the city owing to this decree? Did any mockery or ridicule ensue, such as Aeschines said must follow on the present occasion, if I were crowned? But surely when proceedings are recent and well known to all, then it is that, if they are satisfactory, they meet with grat.i.tude, and if they are otherwise, with punishment. It appears, then, that on that occasion I met with grat.i.tude, not with blame or punishment.
{86} Thus the fact that, up to the time when these events took place, I acted throughout as was best for the city, has been acknowledged by the victory of my advice and my proposals in your deliberations, by the successful execution of the measures which I proposed, and the award of crowns in consequence of them to the city and to myself and to all, and by your celebration of sacrifices to the G.o.ds, and processions, in thankfulness for these blessings.
{87} When Philip had been expelled from Euboea--and while the arms which expelled him were yours, the statesmans.h.i.+p and the decrees (even though some of my opponents may split their sides) were mine--he proceeded to look for some other stronghold from which he could threaten the city. And seeing that we were more dependent than any other people upon imported corn, and wis.h.i.+ng to get our corn-trade into his power, he advanced to Thrace. First, he requested the Byzantines, his own allies, to join him in the war against you; and when they refused and said (with truth) that they had not made their alliance with him for such a purpose, he erected a stockade against the city, brought up his engines, and proceeded to besiege it. {88} I will not ask again what you ought to have done when this was happening; it is manifest to all. But who was it that went to the rescue of the Byzantines, and saved them? Who was it that prevented the h.e.l.lespont from falling into other hands at that time? It was you, men of Athens--and when I say 'you', I mean this city. And who was it that spoke and moved resolutions and acted for the city, and gave himself up unsparingly to the business of the State? It was I. {89} But of the immense benefit thus conferred upon all, you no longer need words of mine to tell you, since you have had actual experience of it. For the war which then ensued, apart from the glorious reputation that it brought you, kept you supplied with the necessaries of life in greater plenty and at lower prices than the present Peace, which these worthy men are guarding to their country's detriment, in their hopes of something yet to be realized.
May those hopes be disappointed! May they share the fortune which you, who wish for the best, ask of the G.o.ds, rather than cause you to share that upon which their own choice is fixed! (_To the clerk_.) Read out to the jury the crowns awarded to the city in consequence of her action by the Byzantines and by the Perinthians.
{90, 91} [_The decree of the Byzantines is read_.]
{92} Read out also the crowns awarded by the peoples of the Chersonese.
[_The decree of the peoples of the Chersonese is read_.]
{93} Thus the policy which I had adopted was not only successful in saving the Chersonese and Byzantium, in preventing the h.e.l.lespont from falling at that time into the power of Philip, and in bringing honours to the city in consequence, but it revealed to the whole world the n.o.ble gallantry of Athens and the baseness of Philip. For all saw that he, the ally of the Byzantines, was besieging them--what could be more shameful or revolting?
{94} and on the other hand, it was seen that you, who might fairly have urged many well-founded complaints against them for their inconsiderate conduct[n] towards you at an earlier period, not only refused to remember your grudge and to abandon the victims of aggression, but actually delivered them; and in consequence of this, you won glory and goodwill on all hands. And further, though every one knows that you have crowned many public men before now, no one can name any but myself--that is to say, any public counsellor and orator--for whose merits the city has received a crown.
{95} In order to prove to you, also, that the slanders which he uttered against the Euboeans and Byzantines, as he recalled to you any ill-natured action that they had taken towards you in the past, are disingenuous calumnies, not only because they are false (for this, I think, you may all be a.s.sumed to know), but also because, however true they might be, it was still to your advantage to deal with the political situation as I have done, I desire to describe, and that briefly, one or two of the n.o.ble deeds which this city has done in your own time. For an individual and a State should strive always, in their respective spheres, to fas.h.i.+on their future conduct after the highest examples that their past affords. {96} Thus, men of Athens, at a time when the Spartans were masters of land and sea,[n] and were retaining their hold, by means of governors and garrisons, upon the country all round Attica--Euboea, Tanagra, all Boeotia, Megara, Aegina, Ceos, and the other islands--and when Athens possessed neither s.h.i.+ps nor walls, you marched forth to Haliartus, and again, not many days later, to Corinth, though the Athenians of that day might have borne a heavy grudge against both the Corinthians and the Thebans for the part they had played in reference to the Deceleian War.[n]
{97} But they bore no such grudge. Far from it! And neither of these actions, Aeschines, was taken by them to help benefactors; nor was the prospect before them free from danger. Yet they did not on that account sacrifice those who fled to them for help. For the sake of glory and honour they were willing to expose themselves to the danger; and it was a right and a n.o.ble spirit that inspired their counsels. For the life of all men must end in death, though a man shut himself in a chamber and keep watch; but brave men must ever set themselves to do that which is n.o.ble, with their joyful hope for their buckler, and whatsoever G.o.d gives, must bear it gallantly. {98} Thus did your forefathers, and thus did the elder among yourselves: for, although the Spartans were no friends or benefactors of yours, but had done much grievous wrong to the city, yet, when the Thebans, after their victory at Leuctra, attempted to annihilate them, you prevented it, not terrified by the strength or the reputation which the Thebans then enjoyed, nor reckoning up what the men had done to you, for whom you were to face this peril. {99} And thus, as you know, you revealed to all the h.e.l.lenes, that whatever offences may be committed against you, though under all other circ.u.mstances you show your resentment of them, yet if any danger to life or freedom overtakes the transgressors, you will bear no grudge and make no reckoning. Nor was it in these instances only that you were thus disposed. For once more, when the Thebans were appropriating Euboea,[n] you did not look on while it was done; you did not call to mind the wrong which had been done to you in the matter of Oropus[n] by Themison and Theodorus: you helped even these; and it was then that the city for the first time had voluntary trierarchs, of whom I was one.[n] But I will not speak of this yet. {100} And although to save the island was itself a n.o.ble thing to do, it was a yet n.o.bler thing by far, that when their lives and their cities were absolutely in your power, you gave them back, as it was right to do, to the very men who had offended against you, and made no reckoning, when such trust had been placed in you, of the wrongs which you had suffered. I pa.s.s by the innumerable instances which I might still give--battles at sea, expeditions [by land, campaigns] both long ago and now in our day; in all of which the object of the city has been to defend the freedom and safety of the other h.e.l.lenic peoples. {101} And so, when in all these striking examples I had beheld the city ever ready to strive in defence of the interests of others, what was I likely to bid her do, what action was I likely to recommend to her, when the debate to some extent concerned her own interests? 'Why,' you would say, 'to remember her grudge against those who wanted deliverance, and to look for excuses for sacrificing everything!' And who would not have been justified in putting me to death, if I had attempted to bring shame upon the city's high traditions, though it were only by word? The deed itself you would never have done, I know full well; for had you desired to do it, what was there to hinder you?
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