Demosthenes, Speeches (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose; rhetoric] [word count] [lemma count] [Dem.]. | ||
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8.1It should be the duty of all speakers, men of
8.4I often wonder at the sort of speeches that are delivered here, but nothing, men of
8.13Do not, therefore, fail to observe, Athenians, that at present all else is mere talk and pretence; the real object of this scheming and contriving is that you should stay at home, with no Athenian force in field, while Philip, without the least trouble, settles everything to suit his wishes. For you must first note what is going on at the present moment. 8.14He is now established in
8.19Therefore, knowing and weighing these facts, it is the duty of all of you, not surely to try to disparage and break up the force that Diopithes is doing his best to provide for the state, but to provide an additional force yourselves and to keep him well supplied with funds and in every way to give him your loyal co-operation. 8.20For suppose someone should ask Philip, “Tell me, which would you prefer? That the troops now serving with Diopithes, whatever their character may be”—for I am not discussing that—“should prosper and win credit at
8.21I want therefore to examine frankly the present state of our affairs, and to find out what we are doing ourselves now and how we are dealing with the situation. We refuse to pay war-taxes or to serve in person; we cannot keep our hands off the public funds; we will not pay Diopithes the allowances agreed upon, nor sanction the sums that he raises for himself; 8.22but we grumble and criticize his methods, and ask what he intends to do, and all that sort of thing; and yet, while maintaining that attitude, we refuse to perform our own tasks; with our lips we praise those whose speeches are worthy of our city, but our actions serve only to encourage their opponents. 8.23Now, you have a habit of asking a speaker on every occasion, “What then must be done?”; but I prefer to ask you, “What then must be said?” Because, if you are not going to pay your contributions, nor serve in person, nor keep your hands off the public funds, nor grant Diopithes his allowances, nor sanction the sums that he raises for himself, nor consent to perform your own tasks, I have nothing to say. You who have gone so far in granting license to those whose object is fault-finding and calumny, that even about what they say he is going to do, even on that ground they accuse him in advance and you listen to them—what can anyone say?
8.24Now, some of you ought to be told the possible result of all this. I shall speak freely, for indeed I could not speak otherwise. All the generals that have ever set sail from your land—if I am wrong, I submit myself to any penalty—raise money from the Chians, from the Erythraeans, from whatever people they can, I mean of the Greeks of
8.38Now there are some who think they confute a speaker the moment they ask, “What then ought we to do?” To these I will give the fairest and truest answer: not what you are doing now. I will not, however, shrink from going carefully into details; only they must be as willing to act as they are eager to question. 8.39First, men of
8.48But if anyone thinks that all this means great expense and much toil and worry, he is quite correct, but if he reckons up what will hereafter be the result to
8.52Therefore, although I would gladly touch on all the other topics and explain the way in which certain politicians are working your ruin, I will confine myself to pointing out that whenever any question arises that concerns Philip, instantly up jumps someone and tells you how good a thing it is to preserve peace, and what a bother it is to keep up a large army, and how certain persons want to plunder your wealth, and all that sort of thing; and by these speeches they put you off and afford leisure for Philip to do whatever he wishes. 8.53But the result of this is for you indeed repose and idleness, for the present—blessings which I am afraid you will one day consider dearly purchased—but for the speakers the popularity and the payment. But in my view it is not to you that they should recommend peace, for you have taken the advice and there you sit: it is to the man who is even now on the war-path. 8.54For if Philip can be won over, your share of the compact is ready to hand. Again, they should reflect that the irksome thing is not the expense of securing our safety, but the doom that will be ours if we shrink from that expense. As for the “plunder of your wealth, ”they ought to prevent that by proposing some way of checking it and not by abandoning your interests. 8.55And yet, men of
8.56What then is the reason, men of
8.61Therefore you must needs bear in mind that this is a life-and-death struggle, and the men who have sold themselves to Philip must be abhorred and cudgelled to death, for it is impossible to quell the foes without, until you have punished those within your gates [who are Philip's servants; but if you are tripped by these stumbling-blocks, you are sure to be baulked of the others]. 8.62What do you imagine is his motive in outraging you now—I think no other term describes his conduct—or why is it that, in deceiving the others, he at least confers benefits upon them, but in your case he is already resorting to threats? For example, the Thessalians were beguiled by his generosity into their present state of servitude; no words can describe how he formerly deceived the miserable Olynthians by his gift of
8.68Then some irresponsible person comes forward and says, “Of course, you decline to make a definite proposal or to run any such risk. You are a coward and a milksop.” I am not foolhardy, impudent, and shameless, and I pray that I may never be; nevertheless I think myself more truly brave than many of your neck-or-nothing politicians. 8.69For if anyone, Athenians, disregarding what will benefit the State, traffics in trials, confiscations, bribes, and indictments, he shows in this no true bravery, but, ensuring his own safety by the popularity of his speeches and measures, he is bold without risk. But whoever in your best interests often opposes your wishes, and never speaks to win favor, but always gives you of his best, and makes choice of that policy which is more under the dominion of chance than of calculation, and yet accepts the responsibility of either, he is the brave man. 8.70Yes, and it is he who is the useful citizen, not those who for a moment's popularity have made havoc of the chief resources of the State. These men I am so far from envying or deeming them worthy citizens of our city, that if a man should say to me, “Speak for yourself, and tell us what good you have ever done the State,” though I might speak, men of
8.73Now I have even heard some such remark as this: that I, of course, always speak for the best, but that you get nothing from me except words, while what the city wants is deeds and a practical policy of some sort. I will myself explain how I stand in this matter, and I will be perfectly candid. I do not think that your adviser has any business except to give the best counsel he can, and I think I can easily prove that this is so. 8.74For you know, of course, that the famous Timotheus note once harangued you to the effect that you ought to send an expedition to save the Euboeans, when the Thebans were trying to enslave them, and his words ran something like this: “Tell me,” he said, “when you have got the Thebans in the island, are you deliberating how you will deal with them and what you ought to do? Will you not cover the sea with your war-galleys, men of
8.76Let me sum up before I leave the platform. I say that we must pay our contributions and keep together the force now in the field, rectifying whatever seems to be amiss, but not disbanding the whole for any adverse criticism. We must send ambassadors in every direction to instruct, to exhort, to act. While doing all this, we must also punish those politicians who take bribes, and we must hate them wherever found, in order that those who prove their own virtue and honesty may find that their advice has been beneficial to themselves as well as to the citizens at large. 8.77If you deal thus with public affairs and cease to neglect them entirely, perhaps, yes, perhaps even now there may be a change for the better. If, however, you sit here, confining your zeal to cries of dissent or approval, and drawing back from every call to duty, I see not that any words, divorced from the necessary action on your part, can ever save the State.
Demosthenes, Speeches (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose; rhetoric] [word count] [lemma count] [Dem.]. | ||
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