The Olynthiacs and the Phillippics of Demosthenes - Literally translated with notes by Demosthenes
page 65 of 104 (62%)
page 65 of 104 (62%)
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have adopted measures of defense, he chose to deceive rather than warn
them of his attack; and think ye he would declare war against you before he began it, and that while you are willing to be deceived? Impossible. He would be the silliest of mankind, if, while you the injured parties make no complaint against him, but are accusing your own countrymen, he should terminate your intestine strife and jealousies, warn you to turn against him, and remove the pretexts of his hirelings for asserting, to amuse you, that he makes no war upon Athens. O heavens! would any rational being judge by words rather than by actions, who is at peace with him and who at war? Surely none. Well then; Philip immediately after the peace, before Diopithes was in command or the settlers in the Chersonese had been sent out, took Serrium and Doriscus, and expelled from Serrium and the Sacred Mount the troops whom your general had stationed there. [Footnote: This general was Chares, to whom Cersobleptes had intrusted the defense of those places. The Sacred Mount was a fortified position on the northern coast of the Hellespont. It was here that Miltocythes intrenched himself, when he rebelled against Cotys; and Philip took possession of it just before the peace with Athens was concluded, as being important to his operations against Cersobleptes. The statement of Demosthenes, that the oaths had then been taken, is, as Jacobs observes, incorrect; for they were sworn afterward in Thessaly. But the argument is substantially the same, for the peace had been agreed to, and the ratification was purposely delayed by Philip, to gain time for the completion of his designs.] What do you call such conduct? He had sworn the peace. Don't say--what does it signify? how is the state concerned?--Whether it be a trifling matter, or of no concernment to you, is a different question: religion and justice have the same obligation, be the subject of the offense great or small. Tell me now; when he sends mercenaries into Chersonesus, which the king and all the Greeks have acknowledged to be yours, when he avows |
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