your own possessions, and, though you have often saved the other nations
of Greece collectively and individually, under your own losses you sit
still. This surprises me, and one thing more, Athenians; that not one of
you can reckon, how long your war with Philip has lasted, and what you
have been doing while the time has passed. You surely know, that while
you have been delaying, expecting others to act, accusing, trying one
another, expecting again, doing much the same as ye do now, all the time
has passed away. Then are ye so senseless, Athenians, as to imagine,
that the same measures, which have brought the country from a prosperous
to a poor condition, will bring it from a poor to a prosperous?
Unreasonable were this and unnatural; for all things are easier kept
than gotten. The war now has left us nothing to keep; we have all to
get, and the work must be done by ourselves. I say then, you must
contribute money, serve in person with alacrity, accuse no one, till you
have gained your objects; then, judging from facts, honor the deserving,
punish offenders; let there be no pretenses or defaults on your own part
for you can not harshly scrutinize the conduct of others, unless you
have done what is right yourselves. Why, think you, do all the generals
[Footnote: A system of employing mercenary troops sprang up at the close
of the Peloponnesian war, when there were numerous Grecian bands
accustomed to warfare and seeking employment. Such troops were eagerly
sought for by the Persian satraps and their king, by such men as Jason
of Pherae, Dionysius of Syracuse, or Philomelus of Phocis. Athens, which
had partially employed mercenaries before, began to make use of them on
a large scale, while her citizens preferred staying at home, to attend
to commerce, politics, and idle amusements. The ill effects however were
soon apparent. Athenian generals, ill supplied with money, and having
little control over their followers, were tempted or obliged to engage
in enterprises unconnected with, and often adverse to, the interests of
their country. Sometimes the general, as well as the troops, was an