(330 B.C.)
Born in 384 B.C., died in 322; entered public life when about twenty-five years
old, “and from that time till his death
his history is the history of Athens”;
sixty of his speeches preserved, tho some probably are spurious; his
masterpiece, indeed the masterpiece of oratory, is “The Oration on the Crown.”
I BEGIN, men of Athens, by praying to
every god and goddess, that the same good will, which I have ever cherished
toward the commonwealth and all of you, may be requited to me on the present
trial. I pray likewise —and this
specially concerns yourselves, your religion, and your honor —that the gods may put it in your minds, not to take counsel
of my opponent touching the manner in which I am to be heard —that would indeed be cruel! —but of the laws and of your oath; wherein (besides
the other obligations) it is prescribed that you shall hear both sides alike.
This means, not only that you must pass no precondemnation, not only that you
must extend your goodwill equally to both, but also that you must allow the
parties to adopt such order and course of defense as they severally choose and
prefer.
Many advantages hath Æschines over me on this trial; and two especially, men of
I think, men of the jury, you will all agree that I, as well as Ctesiphon, am a
party to this proceeding, and that it is a matter of no less concern to me. It
is painful and grievous to be deprived of anything, especially by the act of
one’s enemy; but your good will and
affection are the heaviest loss, precisely as they are the greatest prize to
gain.
Had Æschines confined his charge to the subject of the prosecution, I too would
have proceeded at once to my justification of the decree. But since he has
wasted no fewer words in the discussion of other matters, in most of them
calumniating me, I deem it both necessary and just, men of
To all his scandalous abuse of my private life, observe my plain and honest
answer. If you know me to be such as he alleged —for I have lived nowhere else but among you —let not my voice be heard, however transcendent my
statesmanship! Rise up this instant and condemn me! But if, in your opinion and
judgment, I am far better and of better descent than my adversary; if (to speak
without offense) I am not inferior, I or mine, to any respectable citizens;
then give no credit to him for his other statements —it is plain they were all equally fictions —but to me let the same good will, which you have
uniformly exhibited upon many former trials, be manifested now. With all your
malice, Æschines, it was very simple to suppose that I should turn from the
discussion of measures and policy to notice your scandal. I will do no such
thing; I am not so crazed. Your lies and calumnies about my political life I
will examine forthwith; for that loose ribaldry I shall have a word hereafter,
if the jury desire to hear it.
The crimes whereof I am accused are many and grievous; for some of them the
laws enact heavy —most severe penalties.
The scheme of this present proceeding includes a combination of spiteful
insolence, insult, railing, aspersion, and everything of the kind; while for
the said charges and accusations, if they were true, the state has not the
means of inflicting an adequate punishment, or anything like it. For it is not
right to debar another of access to the people and privilege of speech;
moreover, to do so by way of malice and insult —by heaven! is neither honest, nor constitutional, nor just. If the
crimes which he saw me committing against the state were as heinous as he so
tragically gave out, he ought to have enforced the penalties of the law against
them at the time; if he saw me guilty of an impeachable offense, by impeaching
and so bringing me to trial before you; if moving illegal decrees, by indicting
me for them. For surely, if he can prosecute
What, then, were the statements made by Æschines, through which everything was
lost? That you should not be alarmed by Philip ’shaving passed Thermopylæ —that
all would be as you desired, if you kept quiet; and in two or three days you
would hear, he was their friend to whom he had come as an enemy, and that their
enemy to whom he had come as a friend —it
was not words that cemented attachments (such was his solemn phrase), but identity
of interest; and it was the interest of all alike, Philip, the Phocians, and
you, to be relieved from the harshness and insolence of the Thebans. His
assertions were heard by some with pleasure, on account of the hatred which
then subsisted against the Thebans. But what happened directly, almost
immediately afterward? The wretched Phocians were destroyed, their cities
demolished; you that kept quiet, and trusted to Æschines, were shortly bringing
in your effects out of the country, while Æchines received gold; and yet more —while you got nothing but your enmity with the
Thebans and Thessalians, Philip won their gratitude for what he had done.
When you had been deceived by Philip through the agency of these men, who sold
themselves in the embassies, and reported not a word of truth to you —when the unhappy Phocians had been deceived and their
cities destroyed —what followed? The
despicable Thessalians and stupid Thebans looked on Philip as a friend, a
benefactor, a savior; he was everything with them —not a syllable would they hear from any one to the
contrary. You, tho regarding his acts with suspicion and anger, still observed
the peace; for you could have done nothing alone. The rest of the Greeks,
cheated and disappointed like yourselves, gladly observed the peace, tho they
also had in a manner been attacked for a long time. For when Philip was
marching about, subduing Illyrians and Triballians and some also of the Greeks,
and gaining many considerable accessions of power, and certain citizens of the
states (Æschines among them) took advantage of the peace to go there and be
corrupted; all people then, against whom he was making such preparations, were
attacked.
If they perceived it not, that is another question, no concern of mine. I was
forever warning and protesting, both at
Consider only —for, tho the time of the
events is past, the time for understanding them is ever present to the wise;
Lasthenes was called the friend of Philip for a while, until he betrayed
Olynthus —Timolausfor a while, until he
destroyed Thebes —Eudicus and Simus of
Larissa for a while, until they brought Thessaly under Philip’s power. Since then the world has become full of
traitors, expelled and insulted, and suffering every possible calumny. How
fared Aristratus in
Much more could I say about those transactions, yet methinks too much has been
said already. The fault is my adversary’s,
for having spirted over me the dregs, I may say, of his own wickedness and
iniquities, of which I was obliged to clear myself to those who are younger
than the events. You, too, have probably been disgusted, who knew this man’s venality before I spoke a word. He calls it
friendship indeed; and said some wherein his speech— “the man who reproaches me with the friendship of
Alexander. ”I reproach you with
friendship of Alexander I Whence gotten, or how merited. Neither Philip’s friend nor Alexander’s should I ever call you; I am not so mad —unless we are to call reapers and other hired
laborers the friends of those that hire them. That, however, is not so —how could it be? It is nothing of the kind. Philip’s hireling I called you once, and Alexander’s I call you now. So do all these men. If you
disbelieve me, ask them; or rather I will do it for you. Athenians! is
Æschines, think ye the hireling, or the friend of Alexander? You hear what they
say!
Philip started, men of
But I return to the question —What
should the commonwealth, Æschines, have done, when she saw Philip establishing
an empire and dominion over
The only course then that remained was a just resistance to all his attacks
upon you. Such course you took from the beginning, properly and becomingly; and
I assisted by motions and counsels during the period of my political life: —I acknowledge it. But what should I have done? Was it
meet that any of the Greeks should rise up to prevent these proceedings, or
not? If not —if Greece was to present
the spectacle (as it is called)of a Mysian prey, while Athenians had life and
being, then I have exceeded my duty in speaking on the subject —the commonwealth has exceeded her duty, which
followed my counsels —I admit that every
measure has been a misdeed, a blunder of mine. But if some one ought to have
arisen to prevent these things, who but the Athenian people should it have
been? Such then was the policy which I espoused. I saw him reducing all men to
subjection, and I opposed him; I continued warning and exhorting you not to
make these sacrifices to Philip.
When Philip therefore was driven out of Eubœa, with arms by you, with counsels and decrees —tho some persons there should burst!— by
me, he sought some new position of attack upon
Thus the saving of Chersonesus and
Well then, men of Athens— when the Lacedæmonians had the empire of land and
sea, and held the country round Attica by governors and garrisons, Eubœa, Tanagra, all Bœotia, Megara, Ægina, Cleonæ,the other islands; when our state possessed
neither ships nor walls; you marched out to Haliartus, and again not many days
after to Corinth; albeit the Athenians of that time had many causes of
resentment against both Corinthians and Thebans for their acts in the Decelean
war; but they showed no resentment, none. And yet neither of these steps took
they, Æschines, for benefactors, nor were they blind to the danger; but they
would not for such reasons abandon people who sought their protection; for the
sake of renown and glory they willingly exposed themselves to peril; just and
noble was their resolve! For to all mankind the end of life is death, tho one
keep one’s self shut up in a closet; but
it becomes brave men to strive always for honor, with good hope before them,
and to endure courageously whatever the Deity ordains.
Thus did your ancestors, thus the elder among yourselves. For, tho the
Lacedæmonians were neither friends nor benefactors, but had done many grievous
injuries to our state, yet when the Thebans, victorious at Leuctra, sought
their destruction, you prevented it, not fearing the power and reputation then
possessed by the Thebans, nor reckoning up the merits of those whom you were
about to fight for. And so you demonstrated to all the Greeks, that, however
any people may offend you, you reserve your anger against them for other
occasions; but should their existence or liberty be imperiled, you will not
resent your wrongs or bring them into account.
I must return to the next in date of my political acts; and here again consider
what was most beneficial for the state. I saw, men of
Why then, wretched man, do you play the pettifogger? Why manufacture arguments?
Why don’t you take hellebore 2
foryour malady? Are you not ashamed to bring on a cause for spite, and not for
any offense? —to alter some laws, and to
garble others, the whole of which should in justice be read to persons sworn to
decide according to the laws? And you that act thus describe the qualities
which belong to a friend of the people, as if you had ordered a statue
according to contract, and received it without having what the contract
required; or as if friends of the people were known by words, and not by acts
and measures! And you bawl out, regardless of decency, a sort of cart-language,
applicable to yourself and your race, not to me.
Again, men of Athens— I conceive abuse to differ from accusation in this,
that accusation has to do with offenses for which the laws provide penalties,
abuse with the scandal which enemies speak against each other according to
their humor. And I believe your ancestors built these courts, not that we
should assemble you here and bring forth the secrets of private life for mutual
reproach, but to give us the means of convicting persons guilty of crimes
against the state. Æschines knew this as well as I, and yet he chose to rail
rather than to accuse.
Even in this way he must take as much as he gives; but before I enter upon such
matters, let me ask him one question —Should
one call you the state’s enemy, or mine,
Æschines? Mine, of course. Yet, where you might, for any offense, which I
committed, have obtained satisfaction for the people according to the laws, you
neglected it— at the audit, on the indictments and other trials;
but where I in my own person am safe on every account, by the laws, by time, by
prescription, by many previous judgments on every point, by my never having
been convicted of a public offense —and
where the country must share, more or less, in the repute of measures which
were her own— here it is you have encountered me. See if you are
not the people’s enemy, while you
pretend to be mine!
I am at no loss for materials concerning you and your family, but am in doubt
what to mention first —whether how your
father Tromes, being servant to Elpias, who kept a reading-school in the temple
of Theseus, wore a weight of fetters and a collar; or how your mother, by her
mornings pousals in the cottage by Hero Calamites, reared up you, the beautiful
statue, the eminent third-rate actor! —But
all know these things without my telling —Or
how the galley-piper Phormio, the slave of Dion of Phrearrii, removed her from
that honorable employment. But, by Jupiter and the gods! I fear, in saying what
is proper about you, I may be thought to have chosen topics unbecoming to
myself. All this therefore, I shall pass by, and commence with the acts of his
own life; for indeed he came not of common parents, but of such as are
execrated by the people. Very lately —lately
do I say? —it is but yesterday that he
has become both an Athenian and an orator —adding two syllables, he converted his father from Tromes to Atrometus,
and dignified his mother by the name of Glaucothea, who (as every one knows)
was cared Empusa; 3 having got that title (it is plain) from
her doing and submitting to anything —how
else could she have got it? However, you are so ungrateful and wicked by
nature, that after being raised through the people from servitude to freedom,
from beggary to affluence, instead of returning their kindness, you work
against them as a hireling politician.
That he should cooperate openly with Philip before the war, was shocking —O heaven and earth! could it be otherwise? —against his country! Yet allow him if you please,
allow him this. But when the ships had openly been made prize, Chersonesus was
ravaged, the man was marching against Attica, matters were no longer doubtful,
war had begun —nothing that he ever did
for you can this malicious iambic-mouther show —not a resolution has Æschines, great or small, concerning the interests
of the state. If he asserts it, let him prove it now while my water glass 4is
running. But there is none. He is reduced to an alternative; —either he had no fault to find with my measures, and
therefore moved none against them; or he sought the good of the enemy, and
therefore would not propose any better.
Did he abstain from speaking as well as moving, when any mischief was to be
done to you? Why, no one else could speak a word. Other things, it appears, the
country could endure, and he could accomplish without detection; but one last
act he achieved, O Athenians, which crowned all he had done before; on which he
lavished that multitude of words, recounting the decrees against the Amphissian
Locrians, in hopes of distorting the truth. But the thing admits it not. No!
never will you wash yourself clean from your performances there— talk
as long as you will!
In your presence, men of
But wherefore this imprecation, this solemn assurance? Because, tho I have
documents lying in the public archives, from which I shall clearly prove my
assertions, tho I know you remember the facts, I fear this man may be
considered unequal to the mischiefs which he has wrought; as before happened,
when he caused the destruction of the unhappy Phocians by his false reports to
you.
The Amphissian War, I say —which brought
Philip to Elatea, which caused him to be chosen general of the Amphictyons,
which ruined everything in
Philip could neither finish nor get rid of the war with
How did he effect his purpose? He hires the prosecutor. No one (I believe) was
aware of the thing or attending to it, and so —just as these things are usually done at Athens— Æschines
was proposed for Pylæan deputy, three or four held up their hands for him, and
his election was declared. When clothed with the dignity of the state he
arrived among the Amphictyons, dismissing and disregarding all besides, he
hastened to execute what he was hired for. He makes up a pretty speech and
story, showing how the Cirrhæan plain came to be consecrated; reciting this to
the presbyters, men unused to speeches and unsuspicious of any consequences.
The mention of this man’s treasonable
acts brings me to the part which I have myself taken in opposition to him. It
is fair you should hear my account of it for many reasons, but chiefly, men of
When I say that the Thebans, and I may
add the Athenians, were so led away by Philip’s partizans and the corrupt men of either state, as to disregard and
take no precaution against a danger which menaced both, and required the utmost
precaution (I mean the suffering Philip’s
power to increase), and were readily disposed to enmity and strife with each
other; I was constantly watchful to prevent it, not only because in my own
judgment I deemed such vigilance expedient, but knowing that Aristophon, and
again Eubulus, had all along desired to bring about that union, and, while they
were frequently opposed upon other matters, were always agreed upon this. Men
whom in their lifetime —you reptile!— you
pestered with flattery, yet see not that you are accusing them in their graves:
for the Theban policy that you reproach me with is a charge less affecting me
than them, who approved that alliance before I did. But I must return. —I say, when Æschines had excited the war in Amphissa,
and his coadjutors had helped to establish enmity with Thebes, Philip marched
against us —that was the object for
which these persons embroiled the states— and had we not roused up a
little in time, we could never have recovered ourselves: so far had these men
carried matters.
Now, Æschines, how would you have me describe you, and how myself, upon that
day? Shall I call myself Batalus, your nickname of reproach, and you not even a
hero of the common sort, but one of those upon the stage, Cresphontes or Creon,
or the Œnomaus whom you execrably
murdered once at Colyttus? Well; upon that occasion I the Batalus of Pæania was
more serviceable to the state than you the Œnomaus of Cothocidæ. You were of no earthly use; I did everything which
became a good citizen.
Had I attempted to say, that I instructed you in sentiments worthy of your
ancestors, there is not a man who would not justly rebuke me. What I declare
is, that such principles are your own; I show that before my time such was the
spirit of the commonwealth; tho certainly in the execution of the particular
measures I claim a share also for myself. The prosecutor, arraigning the whole
proceedings, and embittering you against me as the cause of our alarms and
dangers, in his eagerness to deprive me of honor for the moment, robs you of
the eulogies that should endure for ever. For should you, under a disbelief in
the wisdom of my policy convict the defendant, you will appear to have done
wrong not to have suffered what befel you by the cruelty of fortune. But never,
never can you have done wrong, O Athenians, in undertaking the battle for the
freedom and safety of all! I swear it by your forefathers— those
that met the peril at Marathon, those that took the field at Platæa, those in
the sea-fight at Salamis, and those at Artemisium, and many other brave men who
repose in the public monuments, all of whom alike, as being worthy of the same
honor, the country buried, Æschines, not only the successful or victorious!
Justly! For the duty of brave men has been done by all: their fortune has been
such as the Deity assigned to each.
Accursed scribbler! you, to deprive me of the approbation and affection of my
countrymen, speak of trophies and battles and ancient deeds. with none of which
had this present trial the least concern; but! —O you third-rate actor!—
I, that rose to counsel the state how to
maintain her preeminence! in what spirit was I to mount the hustings? In the
spirit of one having unworthy counsel to offer?— I should have deserved to
perish! You yourselves, men of
Athenians, you have had many great and renowned orators before me; the famous
Callistratus, Aristophon, Cephalus, Thrasybulus, hundreds of others, yet none
of them ever thoroughly devoted himself to any measure of state: for instance,
the mover of a resolution would not be ambassador; the ambassador would not move
a resolution; each one left for himself some relief, and also, should anything
happen, an excuse. How then —it may be
said —did you so far surpass others in
might and boldness as to do everything yourself? I don’t say that: but such was my conviction of the danger
impending over us, that I considered it left no room or thought for individual
security; a man should have been only too happy to perform his duty without
neglect. As to myself I was persuaded, perhaps foolishly, yet I was persuaded,
that none would move better resolutions than myself, none would execute them
better, none as ambassador would show more zeal and honesty. Therefore I
undertook every duty myself.
Through my policy, which he arraigns, instead of the Thebans invading this
country with Philip, as all expected, they joined our ranks and prevented him; —instead of the war being in Attica, it took place
seven hundred furlongs from the city on the confines of Bœotia; —instead
of corsair issuing from Eubœa to plunder
us, Attica was in peace on the coast-side during the whole war; —instead of Philip being master of the Hellespont by
taking Byzantium, the Byzantines were our auxiliaries against him Does this
computation of services, think you, resemble the casting of accounts? Or should
we strike these out on a balance, and not look that they be kept in everlasting
remembrance? I will not set down, that of the cruelty, remarkable in cases
where Philip got people all at once into his power, others have had the trial;
while of the generosity, which, casting about for his future purposes, he
assumed toward Athens, you have happily enjoyed the fruits. I pass that by.
If you talk about just conditions with the Thebans, Æschines, or with the
Byzantines or Eubœans, or discuss now
the question of equal terms, first I say —you
are ignorant that of those galleys formerly which defended Greece, being three
hundred in number, our commonwealth furnished two hundred, and never (as it
seemed) thought herself injured by having done so, never prosecuted those who
advised it or expressed any dissatisfaction —shame on her if she had! —but was
grateful to the gods, that, when a common danger beset the Greeks, she alone
furnished double what the rest did for the preservation of all. Besides, it is
but a poor favor you do your countrymen by calumniating me. For what is the use
of telling us now what we should have done? Why, being in the city and present,
did you not make your proposals then; if indeed they were practicable at a
crisis, when we had to accept not what we liked but what the circumstances
allowed? Remember, there was one ready to bid against us, to welcome eagerly
those that we rejected, and give money into the bargain.
But if I am accused for what I have actually done, how would it have been, if,
through my hard bargaining, the states had gone off and attached themselves to
Philip, and he had become master at the same time of Eubœa,
Even the defeat —if you exult in that
which should make you groan, you accursed one! —by nothing that I have done will it appear to have befallen us. Consider
it thus, O Athenians. From no embassy, on which I was commissioned by you, did
I ever come away defeated by the ambassadors of Philip —neither from Thessaly, nor from Ambracia, nor from
the kings of Thrace, nor from Byzantium, nor from any other place, nor on the
last recent occasion from Thebes; but where his ambassadors were vanquished in
argument, he came with arms and carried the day. And for this you call me to
account; and are not ashamed to jeer the same person for cowardice, whom you
require single-handed to overcome the might of Philip— and
that, too, by words! For what else had I at my command? Certainly not the
spirit of each individual, nor the fortune of the army, nor the conduct of the
war, for which you would make me accountable; such a blunderer are
you!
Yet understand me. Of what a statesman may be responsible for I allow the
utmost scrutiny; I deprecate it not. What are his functions? To observe things
in the beginning, to foresee and foretell them to others, —this I have done: again; wherever he finds delays,
backwardness, ignorance, jealousies, vices inherent and unavoidable in all
communities, to contract them into the narrowest compass, and on the other
hand, to promote unanimity and friendship and zeal in the discharge of duty.
All this, too, I have performed; and no one can discover the least neglect on
my part. Ask any man, by what means Philip achieved most of his successes, and
you will be told, by his army, and by his bribing and corrupting men in power.
Well; your forces were not under my command or control; so that I can not be
questioned for anything done in that department. But by refusing the price of
corruption I have overcome Philip; for as the offerer of a bribe, if it be
accepted, has vanquished the taker, so the person who refuses it and is not
corrupted has vanquished the person offering. Therefore is the commonwealth
undefeated as far as I am concerned.
For my part, I regard any one, who reproaches his fellowman with fortune, as
devoid of sense. He that is best satisfied with his condition, he that deems
his fortune excellent, can not be sure that it will remain so until the
evening: how then can it be right to bring it forward, or upbraid another man
with it? As Æschines, however, has on this subject (besides many others)
expressed himself with insolence, look, men of
I hold the fortune of our commonwealth to be good, and so I find the oracles of
Dodonæan Jupiter and Phythian Apollo declaring to us. The fortune of all
mankind, which now prevails, I consider cruel and dreadful: for what Greek,
what barbarian, has not in these times experienced a multitude of evils? That
Athens chose the noblest policy, that she fares better than those very Greeks
who thought, if they abandoned us, they should abide in prosperity, I reckon as
part of her good fortune; if she suffered reverses, if all happened not to us
as we desired, I conceive she has had that share of the general fortune which
fell to our lot. As to my fortune(personally speaking) or that of any
individual among us, it should, as I conceive, be judged of in connection with
personal matters. Such is my opinion upon the subject of fortune, a right and
just one, as it appears to me, and I think you will agree with it. Æschines
says that my individual fortune is paramount to that of the commonwealth, the
small and mean to the good and great, How can this possibly be?
However, if you are determined, Æschines, to scrutinize my fortune, compare it
with your own, and, if you find my fortune better than yours, cease to revile
it. Look then from the very beginning. And I pray and entreat that I may not be
condemned for bad taste. I don’t think
any person wise, who insults poverty, or who prides himself on having been bred
in affluence: but by the slander and malice of this cruel man I am forced into
such a discussion; which I will conduct with all the moderation which
circumstances allow.
I had the advantage, Æschines, in my boyhood of going to proper schools, and
having such allowance as a boy should have who is to do nothing mean from
indigence. Arrived at man’s estate, I
lived suitably to my breeding; was choir-master, ship-commander, rate-payer;
backward in no acts of liberality public or private, but making myself useful
to the commonwealth and to my friends. When I entered upon state affairs, I
chose such a line of politics, that both by my country and many people of
But you, the man of dignity, who spit upon others, look what sort of fortune is
yours compared with mine. As a boy you were reared in abject poverty, waiting
with your father in his school, grinding the ink, sponging the benches,
sweeping the room, doing the duty of a menial rather than a freeborn man. After
you were grown up, you attended your mother in the initiations, reading her
books and helping in all the ceremonies; at night wrapping the noviciates in
fawn-skin, swilling, purifying, and scouring them with clay and bran, raising
them after the lustration, and bidding them say, “Bad I have scaped, and better I have found”; priding yourself that no one ever howled so lustily— and
I believe him! for don’t suppose that he
who speaks so loud is not a splendid howler! In the daytime you led your noble
orgiasts, crowned with fennel and poplar, through the highways, squeezing the
big-checked serpents, and lifting them over your head, and shouting Evœ Sabœ, and
capering to the words Hyes Attes, Attes Hyes, saluted by the beldames as
Leader, Conductor, Chest-bearer, Fan-bearer, and the like, getting as your
reward tarts and biscuits and rolls; for which any man might well bless himself
and his fortune!
When you were enrolled among your fellow townsmen —by what means I stop not to inquire —when you were enrolled, however, you immediately
selected the most honorable of employments, that of clerk and assistant to our
petty magistrates. From this you were removed after a while, having done
yourself all that you charge others with; and then, sure enough, you disgraced
not your antecedents by your subsequent life, but hiring yourself to those
ranting players, as they were called, Simylus and Socrates, you acted third
parts, collecting figs and grapes and olives like a fruiterer from other men’s farms, and getting more from them than from the
playing, in which the lives of your whole company were at stake; for there was
an implacable and incessant war between them and the audience, from whom you
received so many wounds, that no wonder you taunt as cowards people
inexperienced in such encounters.
But passing over what may be imputed to poverty, I will come to the direct
charges against your character. You espoused such a line of politics (when at
last you thought of taking to them) that, if your country prospered, you lived
the life of a hare, fearing and trembling and ever expecting to be scourged for
the crimes of which your conscience accused you; tho all have seen how bold you
were during the misfortunes of the rest. A man who took courage at the death of
a thousand citizens —what does he
deserve at the hands of the living? A great deal more than I could say about
him I shall omit; for it is not all I can tell of his turpitude and infamy
which I ought to let slip from my tongue, but only what is not disgraceful to
myself to mention.
Contrast now the circumstances of your life and mine, gently and with temper,
Æschines; and then ask these people whose fortune they would each of them
prefer. You taught reading, I went to school; you performed initiations, I
received them; you danced in the chorus, I furnished it; you were assembly
clerk, I was a speaker; you acted third parts, I heard you; you broke down, and
I hissed; you have worked as a statesman for the enemy, I for my country. I
pass by the rest; but this very day I am on my probation for a crown, and am
acknowledged to be innocent of all offense; while you are already judged to be
a pettifogger, and the question is, whether you shall continue that trade, or
at once be silenced by not getting a fifth part of the votes. A happy fortune,
do you see you have enjoyed, that you should denounce mine as miserable!
I will have done then with private topics, but say another word or two upon
public. If you can mention, Æschines, a single man under the sun, whether Greek
or barbarian, who has not suffered by Philip’s power formerly and Alexander’s
now, well and good; I concede to you, that my fortune, or misfortune (if you
please), has been the cause of everything. But if many that never saw me or
heard my voice have been grievously afflicted, not individuals only but whole
cities and nations; how much juster and fairer is it to consider, that to the
common fortune apparently of all men, to a tide of events overwhelming and
lamentable, these disasters are to be attributed. You, disregarding all this,
accuse me whose ministry has been among my countrymen, knowing all the while,
that a part (if not the whole) of your calumny falls upon the people, and
yourself in particular. For if I assumed the sole and absolute direction of our
counsels, it was open to you the other speakers to accuse me; but if you were
constantly present in all the assemblies, if the state invited public
discussion of what was expedient, and if these measures were then believed by
all to be the best, and especially by you (for certainly from no good-will did
you leave me in possession of hopes and admiration and honors, all of which
attended on my policy, but doubtless because you were compelled by the truth
and had nothing better to advise); is it not iniquitous and monstrous to
complain now of measures, than which you could suggest none better at the time?
I should conclude, Æschines, that you undertook this cause to exhibit your
eloquence and strength of lungs, not to obtain satisfaction for any wrong. But it
is not the language of an orator, Æschines, that has any value, nor yet the
tone of his voice, but his adopting the same views with the people, and his
hating and loving the same persons that his country does. He that is thus
minded will say everything with loyal intention; he that courts persons from
whom the commonwealth apprehends danger to herself, rides not on the same
anchorage with the people, and, therefore, has not the same expectation of
safety. But —do you see?— I
have; for my objects are the same with those of my countrymen; I have no
interest separate or distinct. Is that so with you? How can it be —when immediately after the battle you went as
ambassador to Philip, who was at that period the author of your country’s calamities, notwithstanding that you had before
persisted in refusing that office, as all men know?
And who is it that deceives the state? Surely the man who speaks not what he
thinks. On whom does the crier pronounce a curse? Surely on such a man. What
greater crime can an orator be charged with than that his opinions and his
language are not the same? Such is found to be your character. And yet you open
your mouth, and dare to look these men in the faces! Do you think they don’t know you? —or
are sunk in such slumber and oblivion, as not to remember the speeches which
you delivered in the assembly, cursing and swearing that you had nothing to do
with Philip, and that I brought that charge against you out of personal enmity
without foundation? No sooner came the news of the battle, than you forgot all
that; you acknowledge and avowed that between Philip and yourself there
subsisted a relation of hospitality and friendship —new names these for your contract of hire. For upon
what plea of equality or justice could Æschines, son of Glaucothea, the timbre
l player, be the friend or acquaintance of Philip? I cannot see. No! You were
hired to ruin the interests of your countrymen; and yet, tho you have been
caught yourself in open treason, and informed against yourself after the fact,
you revile and reproach me for things which you will find any man is chargeable
with sooner than I.
Many great and glorious enterprises has the commonwealth, Æschines, undertaken
and succeeded in through me; and she did not forget them. Here is the proof —On the election of a person to speak the funeral
oration immediately after the event, you were proposed, but the people would
not have you, notwithstanding your fine voice, nor Demades, tho he had just
made the peace, nor Hegemon, nor any other of your party —but me. And when you and Pythocles came forward in a
brutal and shameful manner(O merciful Heaven!) and urged the same accusations
against me which you now do, and abused me, they elected me all the more. The
reason —you are not ignorant of it— yet
I will tell you. The Athenians knew as well the loyalty and zeal with which I
conducted their affairs, as the dishonesty of you and your party; for what you
denied upon oath in our prosperity, you confessed in the misfortunes of the
republic. They considered, therefore, that men who got security for their
politics by the public disasters had been their enemies long before, and were
then avowedly such. They thought it right also, that the person who was to
speak in honor of the fallen and celebrate their valor should not have sat
under the same roof or at the same table with their antagonists; that he should
not revel there and sing a pæan over the calamities of Greece in company with
their murderers, and then come here and receive distinction; that he should not
with his voice act the mourner of their fate, but that he should lament over
them with his heart. This they perceived in themselves and in me, but not in
any of you; therefore, they elected me, and not you. Nor, while the people felt
thus, did the fathers and brothers of the deceased, who were chosen by the
people to perform their obsequies, feel differently. For having to order the
funeral banquet (according to custom) at the house of the nearest relative to
the deceased, they ordered it at mine. And with reason; because, tho each to
his own was nearer of kin than I was, none was so near to them all
collectively. He that had the deepest interest in their safety and success had
upon their mournful disaster the largest share of sorrow for them all.
Of this base and infamous conspiracy and profligacy —or rather, O Athenians, if I am to speak in earnest,
of this betrayal of Grecian liberty—
These and the like measures, Æschines, are what become an honorable citizen (by
their success —O earth and heaven! —we should have been the greatest of people
incontestably, and deserved to be so; even under their failure the result is
glory, and no one blames Athens or her policy; all condemn fortune that so
ordered things); but never will he desert the interests of the commonwealth,
nor hire himself to her adversaries, and study the enemy’s advantage instead of his country’s; nor on a man who has courage to advise and propose
measures worthy of the state, and resolution to persevere in them, will he cast
an evil eye, and, if anyone privately offends him, remember and treasure it up;
no, nor keep himself in a criminal and treacherous retirement you so often do.
There is indeed a retirement just and beneficial to the state, such as you, the
bulk of my countrymen, innocently enjoy; that however is not the retirement of
Æschines; far from it. Withdrawing himself from public life when he pleases,
(and that is often) he watches for the moment when you are tired of a constant
speaker, or when some reverse of fortune has befallen you, or anything untoward
has happened (and many are the casualties of human life); at such a crisis he
springs up an orator, rising from his retreat like a wind; in full voice, with
words and phrases collected, he rolls them out audibly and breathlessly, to no
advantage or good purpose whatsoever, but to the detriment of some or other of
his fellow citizens and to the general disgrace.
Yet from this labor and diligence, Æschines, if it proceeded from an honest
heart, solicitous for your country’s
welfare, the fruits should have been rich and noble and profitable to all —alliances of states, supplies of money, conveniences
of commerce, enactment of useful laws, opposition to our declared enemies. All
such things were looked for in former times; and many opportunities did the
past afford for a good man and true to show himself; during which time you are
nowhere to be found, neither first, second, third, fourth, fifth, nor sixth —not in any rank at all —certainly on no service by which your country was
exalted. For what alliance has come to the state by your procurement? What
succors, what acquisition of good will or credit? What embassy or agency is
there of yours, by which the reputation of the country has been increased? What
concern domestic, Hellenic, or foreign, of which you have had the management,
has improved under it? What galleys? what ammunition? what arsenals? What
repair of walls? what cavalry? What in the world are you good for? What
assistance in money have you ever given, either to the rich or the poor, out of
public spirit or liberality? None. But, good sir, if there is nothing of this,
there is at all events zeal and loyalty. Where? when? You infamous fellow! Even
at a time when all who ever spoke upon the platform gave something for the
public safety, and last Aristonicus gave the sum which he had amassed to
retrieve his franchise, you neither came forward nor contributed a mite —not from inability— no, for you have inherited above
five talents from Philo, your wife’s
father, and you had a subscription of two talents from the chairmen of the
boards for what you did to cut up the navy law. But, that I may not go from one
thing to another and lose sight of the question, I pass this by. That it was
not poverty prevented your contributing, already appears; it was, in fact, your
anxiety to do nothing against those to whom your political life is subservient.
On what occasions then do you show your spirit? When do you shine out? When
aught is to be spoken against your countrymen! —then it is you who are splendid in voice, perfect in memory, an
admirable actor, a tragic Theocrines.
You mention the good men of olden times; and you are right so to do. Yet it is
hardly fair, O Athenians, that he should get the advantage of that respect
which you have for the dead, to compare and contrast me with them, —me who am living among you; for what mortal is
ignorant, that toward the living there exists always more or less of ill will,
whereas the dead are no longer hated even by an enemy? Such being human nature,
am I to be tried and judged by the standard of my predecessors? Heaven forbid!
It is not just nor equitable, Æschines. Let me be compared with you, or any
persons you like of your party who are still alive. And consider this —whether it is more honorable and better for the
state, that because of the services of a former age, prodigious tho they are
beyond all power of expression, those of the present generation should be
unrequited and spurned, or that all who give proof of their good intentions
should have their share of honor and regard from the people? Yet, indeed —if I must say so much— my politics and principles, if
considered fairly, will be found to resemble those of the illustrious ancients,
and to have had the same objects in view, while yours resemble those of their
calumniators; for it is certain there were persons in those times, who ran down
the living, and praised people dead and gone, with a malignant purpose like
yourself.
You say that I am nothing like the ancients Are you like them, Æschines? Is
your brother, or any of our speakers? I assert that none is. But pray, my good
fellow (that I may give you no other name),try the living with the living and
with his competitors, as you would in all cases —poets, dancers, athletes. Philammon did not, because he was inferior to
Glaucus of Carystus and some other champions of a bygone age, depart uncrowned
from
Two things, men of
Never, O ye gods, may those wishes be
confirmed by you! If possible, inspire even in these men a better sense and feeling!
But if they are indeed incurable, destroy them by themselves; exterminate them
on land and sea; and for the rest of us, grant that we may speedily be
released. from our present fears, and enjoy a lasting deliverance! 5
Note. Delivered in Athens 330 B.C.
Translation by Charles R. Kennedy. Abridged. “The most finished,” says R. C.
Jebb, “the most splendid and the most
pathetic work of ancient eloquence.”
Note 2. Hellebore, tho a poison, was used by the Greeks in mild doses to clear
the brain and cure insanity.
Note 3. This denotes a frightful specter or hobgoblin. According to
Aristophanes (Frogs, 283) It could change itself into various shapes. —Kennedy.
Note 4. The Athenians, to prevent the parties from saying more than was
necessary, timed them by a glass in which water trickled through a narrow tube
like sand in one of our minute glasses. —Kennedy.
Note 5. After the failure of Æschines in this prosecution, he went into exile
and at
from "The World's Great
Orations" ed. by William Jennings Bryan, 1906, published in full by
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