Chapter 14

§ 2. _Alexander_, &c. Alexander of Macedon was sent by Mardonius, the Persian commander, to offer Athens alliance with Persia on favourable terms. Demosthenes has confused the order of events, and speaks as if this message was brought before the battle of Salamis. The Athenians left the city twice, before the battle of Salamis and before that of Plataeae; it was after Salamis that Alexander was sent (Herod. viii. 140, &c.).

§ 14. _fortify Elateia_. This would be a menace to Thebes (cf. Speech on the Crown, §§ 174, 175). Elateia commands the road from Thermopylae to Thebes.

§ 19. _well-balanced_ ([Greek: _s_ophronousi_]), or 'free from passion', i.e. not liable to be carried away by ambition or cupidity as the Thebans were. This is different from mere 'good sense' ([Greek: _syphronein, noun echea_]). For Theban 'stupidity', see Speech on Peace, § 15 (and n.).

§ 22. _Council of Ten_ ([Greek: _dekadarchian_]). It is clear that some sort of oligarchical government, nominated by Philip, is referred to; but the relation of this to the tetrarchies mentioned in the Speech on the Chersonese, § 26, as established by Philip, is uncertain. These corresponded to the four tribes or divisions of Thessaly (Thessaliotis, Phthiotis, Pelasgiotis, Histiaeotis); and this is confirmed by a statement in Theopompus' forty-fourth book, to which Harpocration (s.v. [Greek: _dekadarchia_]) refers. Harpocration states that Philip did not establish a decadarchy in Thessaly; and if he is right, then either (a) Demosthenes purposely used an inaccurate word, in order to suggest to the Messenians the idea of a government like that of the Councils of Ten established some sixty years before by Sparta in the towns subject to her; or (b) the text is wrong, and [Greek: _dekadarchian_] is a misreading of [Greek: DARCHIAN], in which [Greek: D] was the numeral (= 4), and the whole stood for [Greek: _tetrarchian_]. As to (a), it is difficult to suppose that the Messenians would not know what had happened in Thessaly so well that the innuendo would fall flat. There is no evidence that 'decadarchy' could be used simply as a synonym for 'oligarchy'. As to (b), the supposed corruption is possible; but then we are left with [Greek: _tetrarchian_] where we should expect [Greek: _tetrarchias_]: for there is no parallel to [Greek: _tetrarchia_] (sing.) in the sense of 'a system of tetrarchies'. It is, however, quite possible that Demosthenes was thinking especially of the Thessalians of Pherae, and of the particular tetrarchy established over them: and this seems on the whole the best solution. If, on the other hand, Harpocration is wrong, the reference here may be to a Council of Ten, either established previously to the tetrarchies, and superseded by them, or else coexistent with and superior to them; in either case, since the singular is used, this decadarchy must have been a single government over the whole of Thessaly (or perhaps of the district about Pherae only), not a number of Councils, one in each city or division of Thessaly. (Theopompus' forty-fourth book probably dealt with 342 B.C., two years after the present speech, though before the Speech on the Chersonese; but we are not told that he assigned the establishment of the tetrarchies to that year.)

§ 25. _find yourselves slaves_: lit. 'find your master.'

§ 28. _by yourselves_: i.e. in the absence of the ambassadors from Philip and other States.

_who conveyed the promises_: i.e. Ctesiphon, Aristodemus, and Neoptolemus (see Speech on Embassy, §§ 12, 94, 315, &c.): but Demosthenes has probably Aeschines also in view.

§ 30. _water-drinker_. See Speech on Embassy, § 46.

§ 32. _secure myself as good a hearing_. Most editions accept this rendering of [Greek: _emaut_o logon poi_es-o_]. But though [Greek: _logon didonai_] = 'grant a hearing,' and [Greek: _logon tychein_] = 'get a hearing,' [Greek: _logon eaut_o poiein_] is strange for 'secure oneself a hearing', and the passage regularly quoted from the Speech against Aristocrates, § 81, is not parallel, since [Greek: _tout_o_] in that passage is not a reflexive pronoun, and [Greek: _logon pepoi_eke_] almost = [Greek: _logon ded_oki_]. Possibly the text is corrupt, and we should either read [Greek: _psogon_] (with H. Richards) or [Greek: _emautou_] ('make you take as much account of me as of my opponents').

_further claim_: since an attack on the part of Demosthenes would incite them to make out a plausible case for Philip once more, and so earn his gratitude.

ON THE EMBASSY

[The literal translation of the title is 'On the misconduct as ambassador'.]

§ 1. _drawing your lots_. The jurors who were to serve in each trial were selected by lot out of the total number of jurors for the year.

§ 2. _one of those_: i.e. Timarchus (see Introd.).

_supremacy_. The sovereignty of the people was exercised to a great extent through the law-courts, the jury being always large enough to be fairly representative of popular opinion, though probably there was generally a rather disproportionate preponderance of poorer men among the jurors, the payment being insufficient to attract others. (See Introduction, vol. i, pp. 18, 19, 23.)

§ 11. _the Ten Thousand_: the General Assembly of the Arcadians at Megalopolis.

§ 13. _he came to me_, &c. Aeschines denies this, saying that it would have been absurd, when he knew that Demosthenes and Philocrates had acted together throughout (see Introd.).

§ 16. _in the very presence_, &c.: contrast Speech on the Crown,

§ 23 (and see n. there). Aeschines states that he was in fact replying to inflammatory speeches made by orators who pointed to the Propylaea, and appealed to the memory of ancestral exploits; and that he simply urged that it was possible for the Athenians to copy the wisdom of their forefathers without giving way to an unseasonable passion for strife.

§ 17. _had again acted_: i.e. as on the First Embassy, if the reading is correct (or perhaps, 'had committed a fresh series of wrongful acts'). But possibly [Greek: _peprhakot_on_] is right, 'had sold fresh concessions' to Philip.

§ 20. Aeschines replies that every one expected Philip to turn against Thebes; and that for the rest, he was only reporting the gossip of the Macedonian camp, where the representatives of many states were gathered together, and not making promises at all. It is noteworthy, however, that in the Speech on the Peace, § 10, shortly after the events in question, when the speeches made would be fresh in every one's memory, Demosthenes gives the same account of his opponent's assertions; and Aeschines probably said something very like what is attributed to him.

§ 21. _debt due to the god_: i.e. the value of the Temple-treasure of Delphi, which the Phocians had plundered.

§ 30. _for however contemptible_, &c. The argument seems to be this. 'You must not say that a man like Aeschines could not have brought about such vast results. Athens may employ inferior men, but any one who represents Athens has to deal with great affairs, and so his acts may have great consequences. And again, although it may have been Philip who actually ruined the Phocians, and although Aeschines could never have done it alone, still he did his best to help.'

§ 31. _the Town Hall_, or Prytaneum, where the Prytanes (the acting Committee of the Council) met, and other magistrates had their offices.

_Timagoras_ was accused (according to Xenophon) by his colleague Leon of having conspired with Pelopidas of Thebes against the interests of Athens, when on a mission to the court of Artaxerxes in 357. In § 137 Demosthenes also states that he received large sums of money from Artaxerxes.

§ 36. Aeschines denies that he wrote the letter for Philip, and his denial is fairly convincing.

§ 40. _a talent_. According to Aristotle (_Eth. Nic_. v. 7) the conventional amount payable as ransom was one mina per head. But from § 169 it appears that the Macedonians sometimes asked for more than this.

_laudable ambition_: i.e. to get credit for having thought of the ransom of the prisoners.

§ 47. _handed in_: either to the Clerk or to the Proedroi (the committee of Chairmen of the Assembly).

§ 51. Aeschines states that Philip's invitation was declined because it was suggested that Philip would keep the soldiers sent as hostages.

§ 65. _on our way to Delphi_. Demosthenes had been one of the Athenian representatives at the meeting of the Amphictyonic Council at Delphi this year.

_gave its vote_, &c. After the battle of Aegospotami at the end of the Peloponnesian War, the representative of Thebes proposed to the Spartans and their allies that Athens should be destroyed and its inhabitants sold into slavery.

§ 70. _read this law over_: i.e. that the herald might proclaim it after him.

§ 72. For the Spartans see § 76. The Phocians had treated the Athenians badly when Proxenus was sent to Thermopylae (see Introd. to Speech on Peace). Hegesippus may have opposed the acceptance of Philip's invitation to the Athenians to join him. Aeschines (on the Embassy, §§ 137, 138) mentions no names in connexion with the refusal, but represents it as the sacrifice of a unique opportunity of saving the Phocians (cf. § 51 n.).

§ 76. _deceit and cunning, and of nothing else_ ([Greek: _pasa apat_e_]). The argument is, 'Aeschines will try to allege wrongful acts on the part of the Phocians; but there was no time for such acts in the five days; and this proves that there were no such acts to justify their ruin, and that their overthrow was due to nothing but trickery.' This is better than to translate '_every kind of_ deceit and trickery was concocted for the ruin of the Phocians'; for this is not the point, nor is it what would be inferred from the fact that there was only a five-days' interval between the speech of Aeschines and the capitulation of the Phocians. There is no need to emend to [Greek: _h_e pasa apat_e_].

_on account of the Peace_: i.e. of the negotiations for the Peace, before it was finally arranged.

_all that they wished_: viz. the restoration of the Temple of Delphi to their kinsmen, the Dorians of Mount Parnassus.

§ 78. _four whole months_: in reality, three months and a few days.

§ 81. _Phocian people_: i.e. those who were left in Phocis, as distinct from the exiles just referred to.

§ 86. _of Diophantus_. In 352, when Philip had been repulsed by Onomarchus, Diophantus proposed that public thanksgivings should be held (see Introd. to First Philippic).

_of Callisthenes_: in 346, after the Phocians had surrendered to Philip.

_the sacrifice to Heracles_: perhaps one of the two festivals which were respectively held at Marathon and at Cynosarges.

§ 99. _constitutional_: lit. 'an excuse for a citizen,' under a constitution by which no one was compelled to enter public life, and any one who did so without the requisite capacity had to take the responsibility for his errors.

§ 103. _impeached_. An impeachment was brought before the Council (or, more rarely, the Assembly). The procedure was only applied to cases of extraordinary gravity, and particularly to what would now be called cases of treason.

§ 114. _by torture_. The evidence of slaves might be given under torture, in response to a challenge from one or other of the parties to a suit. The most diverse opinions as to the value of such evidence are expressed by the orators, according to the requirements of their case. The consent of both sides was necessary; and in a very large number of cases, one side or the other appears to have refused to allow evidence to be taken in this way.

_was going_: i.e. to Philip.

§ 118. _accept his discharge_. There seems to be a play on two senses of the verb [Greek: aphienai], viz. 'to discharge from the obligations of a contract', and 'to acquit'.

§ 120. _Why, this is the finest_, &c. The expression ([Greek: touto gar esti to lamprhon]) recurs in § 279, a closely parallel passage, and need not be regarded as an interpolation in either case. The interpretation given seems slightly preferable, and is approved by Weil. It is almost equally possible to translate the Greek by 'such is the brilliant defence which he offers'; but perhaps this does not suit § 279 so well.

_stand up_. Apparently Aeschines declined the invitation, which was quite within the custom of the Athenian courts. Either of the principal parties could ask the other questions, and have the answers taken down as evidence.

_cases that have all_, &c. The reference is to the prosecution of Timarchus, when advanced in age, for offences committed in early youth. There may also be an allusion to Aeschines' early career as an actor.

§ 122. _declined on oath_. An elected official could refuse to serve, if he took an oath that there was some good reason (such as illness) for excusing him.

§ 126. _though not elected_. Aeschines (on the Embassy, § 94) replies that in fact the commission was renewed at a second meeting of the Assembly, and that he was then well enough to go and was elected. (That there was a second election of ambassadors is confirmed by Demosthenes' own statement in § 172 of the present speech, that he himself was twice elected and twice refused to serve.)

§ 128. _Thesmothetae_: the six archons who did not hold the special offices of archon eponymus, polemarch, or king archon.

_Aeschines went_, &c. To have refused to be present would really have been to make a political demonstration against Thebes, which would have had perilous results. Aeschines defends himself on the ground that in his view the Peace was no disadvantage to Athens, so that he might well join in the honours paid to the Gods.

§ 129. _Metroon_. The temple of the Great Mother (Cybele), which was the Athenian record-office.

_the name of Aeschines_: i.e. its removal from the list of ambassadors.

§ 131. _in their interest_. If the words are not corrupt, the meaning is probably 'in the interest of Philip and the Thebans'; or possibly, 'in reference to these matters.'

§ 136. _as his informant_. The text is possibly corrupt, though as it stands it might perhaps bear the meaning given, if [Greek: hyparchei] were understood with [Greek: autos]. Others (with or without emendation) take the sense to be 'to manage his business ... just as he would manage it in person '.

§ 137. For Timagoras see § 31 n.

§ 144. _summon Philip's envoys_: i.e. in order to report the decision of the Assembly, and so close the matter.

§ 147. _ask him whether_, &c. The argument seems to be this 'if Aeschines was the ambassador of a city which had been victorious against Philip, the latter would naturally wish to buy easy terms of peace; and Aeschines might undertake to procure such terms, without committing a particularly heinous offence, since he would only be getting some advantage for himself out of the general good fortune of his country. But to secure advantages for himself at his country's expense, when his country was already suffering disaster, would be far worse. And as Aeschines complains that the generals had incurred disaster, he convicts himself of the worse offence.'

§ 148. The _Tilphossaeum_ was apparently a mountain near Lake Copais in Boeotia. The town which Strabo calls Tilphusium may have been on the mountain. Neones, or Neon, was a Phocian village; Hedyleion, a mountain in Boeotia.

§ 149. _Ah! he will say_, &c. Either the words are interpolated, or there is a lacuna. The objection is nowhere refuted.

§ 156. Doriscus, &c. The places mentioned did not really belong to Athens, but to Cersobleptes, who was being assisted by Athenian troops, so that, strictly speaking, Philip was within his rights; and in fact (according to Aeschines), Cersobleptes and the Sacred Mountain were taken by Philip the day before the Athenians and their allies swore to the Peace at Athens.

§ 162. _Eucleides_ had been sent to protest against Philip's attack upon Cersobleptes in 346 (see vol. i, p. 122). Philip replied that he had not yet been officially informed by the Athenian ambassadors of the conclusion of the Peace, and was therefore not yet bound by it.

§ 166. _procure their ransom_: i.e. from the various Macedonians who had captured them, or to whom they had been given or sold.

§ 176. _committed to writing_, &c. Formal evidence (as distinct from the mere assertions of a speaker) was written down, and the witness was asked to swear to it. A witness who was called upon might swear that he had no knowledge of the matter in question ([Greek: _exomnysthai_]). By writing down his evidence and swearing to it, Demosthenes took the risk of prosecution for perjury.

§ 180. _might be proved in countless ways_: or 'would need a speech of infinite length '. But as [Greek: _kai_] and not [Greek: _de_] follows, I slightly prefer the former rendering. (The latter is supported by the Third Philippic, § 60, but there the next clause is connected by [Greek: _de_].)

_Ergophilus_ was heavily fined in 362 (see Speech against Aristocrates, § 104); Cephisodotus in 358 (ibid. § 167, and Aeschines against Ctesiphon, § 52); Timomachus went into exile in 360 to escape condemnation (against Aristocrates, § 115, &c.). Ergocles was perhaps the friend of Thrasybulas (see Lysias, Orations xxviii, xxix), and may have been condemned for his conduct in Thrace, as well as for malversation at Halicarnassus. Dionysius is unknown.

§ 187. _has got beyond_, &c.: an ironical way of saying that he has so much overdone his application to himself of the title of (prospective) 'benefactor' of Athens, that another word (e.g. 'deceiver') would be more appropriate. The word [Greek: _psychrhon_] is (at least by Greek literary critics) applied to strong expressions out of place, and here also, probably, of an exaggerated phrase which falls flat. This is perhaps the best interpretation of a very difficult passage.

§ 191. For Timagoras, see § 31 n. Tharrex and Smicythus are unknown. Adeimantus was one of the generals at Aegospotami, the only Athenian prisoner spared by Lysander, and on that account suspected of treason by the Athenians, and prosecuted by Conon (called 'the elder', to distinguish him from his grandson, who was a contemporary of Demosthenes).

§ 194. guest-friend. The term ([Greek: xenos]) was applied to the relationship (more formal than that of simple friendship) between citizens of different states, who were bound together by ties of hospitality and mutual goodwill.

§ 196. _the Thirty_: i.e. the 'Thirty Tyrants' who ruled Athens (with the support of Sparta) for a few months in 403. See n. on § 277.

§ 198. Aeschines warmly denies this story. He says that Demosthenes tried to bribe Aristophanes of Olynthus to swear that it was true, and that the woman was his own wife. He adds that the jury, on an appeal from Eubulus, refused to let Demosthenes complete the story.

§ 199. _initiations_: see Speech on Crown, §§ 259 ff., with notes.

§ 200. _played the rogue_. The scholiast says that clerks were sometimes bribed to alter the laws and decrees which they read to the Court; and a magistrates' clerk had doubtless plenty of opportunities for conniving at petty frauds.

§ 204. _should not have been sworn to_. This is out of chronological order as it stands, and emendations have been proposed, but unnecessarily.

§ 209. _would not have him for your representative_: in the question about Athenian rights at Delos. See Introduction to the Speech.

§ 213. _I have no further time, &c_.: lit. 'no one will pour water for me' into the water-clock, by which all trials were regulated.

§ 221. _consider_, &c. There is an anacoluthon in the Greek, which may be literally translated, 'Consider, if, where I who am absolutely guiltless was afraid of being ruined by them--what ought these men themselves, the actual criminals, to suffer?'

§ 222. _get money out of you_: i.e. to be bought off.

§ 230. _choregus and trierarch_: see Introd. to Speech on Naval Boards, and n. on Philippic I. § 36.

§ 231. _all was well_ ([Greek: eupenespai]). The reading is almost certainly wrong. Weil rightly demands some word contrasting with [Greek: agnoein] ('did not understand his country') in the corresponding clause.

§ 237. _vase-cases_: i.e. boxes to contain bottles of oil or perfume for toilet use.

§ 245. _the cock-pit_. That this is the meaning seems to be proved by the words of Aeschines (against Timarchus, § 53); otherwise the natural translation would be 'to the bird-market'. Cocks were no doubt sold in the bird-market; but Aeschines refers directly to cock-fighting, not to the purchase of the birds.

§ 246. _hack-writers_: lit. 'speech-writers,' who composed speeches for litigants, and no doubt padded them out with quotations from poets, as well as with rhetorical commonplaces. Demosthenes taunts Aeschines particularly with ransacking unfamiliar plays, instead of those he knew well.

§ 249. _reared up... greatness_: or possibly, 'reared up all these sons of hers.'

_Hero-Physician_. See Speech on the Crown, § 129 n.

_Round Chamber_, in the Prytaneum or Town Hall (see § 31 n.).

§ 252. _at the risk of his own life_. He tried to avoid the risk by feigning madness. Salamis was in the hands of the Megareans, and the Athenians had become so weary of their unsuccessful attempts to recover it, that they decreed the penalty of death upon any one who proposed to make a fresh attempt. The verses, however, which are quoted in the text, are probably derived not from the poem which Solon composed for this purpose, but from another of his political poems.

§ 255. _with a cap on your head_. Plutarch (Solon 82 c) says that 'Solon burst into the market-place suddenly, with a cap on his head'. The cap was intended to suggest that he had just returned from Salamis, since it was the custom to wear a cap only when on a journey, or in case of illness (of. Plato, _Republic_, iii. 406_d_). There may possibly be an allusion also to Aeschines' own alleged sickness (§ 136 above), but this is very doubtful. The words more probably mean, 'however closely you copy Solon' (as you copied his attitude in speaking), 'when you run about declaiming against me.'

§ 257. _accepted the challenge_. At the examination before the Board of Auditors (Logistae) the question was almost certainly put, whether any one present wished to challenge the report of the ambassador under examination.

§ 259. _claim_ ([Greek: axioumenoi]): or, 'are thought worthy'; but the first sense is much better in the parallel passage in § 295, and this 'middle' use seems to be sufficiently attested, though the active voice is used in the same sense in § 338.

§ 260. _paramount position_: i.e. among the tribes of North Greece (Magnetes, Perrhaebi, &c.).

§ 264. _concluded the war, &c_. In 383 B.C. In fact, however, they only obtained peace by joining the Spartan alliance.

§ 271. _Arthmius_: see Philippic III. § 42 (and note).

§ 273. _Callias_, in 444 B.C. Cf. Speech for the Rhodians, § 29. The Chelidonian Islands lay off the south coast of Lycia, the Cyanean rocks at the northern mouth of the Bosporus.

§ 277. _Epicrates_ was sent as ambassador to Persia early in the fourth century, and received large presents. According to Plutarch he escaped condemnation; but he may have been tried more than once. The comic poets make fun of his long beard.

_who brought the people back from the Peiraeus_. Thrasybulus occupied the Peiraeus in 403, secured the expulsion of the Thirty Tyrants from Athens, and restored the democracy.

§ 278. _the decree_: i.e. the decree by which Epicrates and his colleagues were condemned.

§ 279. _for this is the splendid thing_: cf. § 120 n.

§ 280. _exiled_ and _punished_. We should perhaps (with Weil) read [Greek: _e] ('or') for [Greek: kai] ('and').

_descendant of Harmodius_: i.e. Proxenus, who had been only recently condemned, and is therefore not named.