Demosthenes, Speeches (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose; rhetoric] [word count] [lemma count] [Dem.]. | ||
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11.1It must now be clear to all of you, Athenians, that Philip never concluded a peace with you, but only postponed the war; for ever since he handed Halus note over to the Pharsalians, settled the Phocian question, and subdued the whole of
11.7Now, admitting these great advantages, I cannot deny that Philip has used the peace to forestall us in occupying many fortresses, harbors, and other points of vantage; only I observe that when a league is knit together by goodwill, and when all the allied states have the same interests, then the coalition stands firm; but when, like Philip's, it is based on treachery and greed and maintained by fraud and violence, then on some slight pretext or by some trifling slip it is instantly shattered and dissolved. 11.8Moreover, men of
11.15Now if any of you, Athenians, seeing Philip's good fortune, considers him a formidable and dangerous opponent, he is exercising a prudent forethought. For fortune is indeed a great weight in the scale; I might almost say it is everything in human affairs. And yet in many respects our good fortune is to be preferred to Philip's. 11.16For our prosperity is inherited from our ancestors, and is of an earlier date than the prosperity not only of Philip, but, roughly speaking, of all the kings that have ever reigned in
11.20Bearing this in mind, Athenians, and reflecting that it is not even in our power to pretend that we are at peace, for Philip has already issued a declaration of war and followed it up by active hostilities, it is necessary to spare no expense, public or private, to take the field eagerly and in full force, wherever the opportunity occurs, and to employ abler generals than before. 11.21For none of you must assume that the same policy that weakened the power of
11.23Not to detain you longer, I say that we must be prepared for war, and must urge the Greek states, by our action rather than by our appeals, to join our alliance; for all words divorced from action are futile, especially words from Athenian lips, in proportion as we are reputed to be more ready of speech than all other Greeks.
Demosthenes, Speeches (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose; rhetoric] [word count] [lemma count] [Dem.]. | ||
<<Dem. 10 | Dem. 11 (Greek) | >>Dem. 12 |