sacrifice a smaller power to a greater.




FOR THE FREEDOM OF THE RHODIANS (OR. XV)


[_Introduction_. Dionysius of Halicarnassus places the speech in 351 B.C. He is
not always accurate, and the internal evidence has been thought by some to
suggest a date perhaps two years earlier. The reasons, however, for this are not
strong, and there has recently been a disposition to accept Dionysius' date.

As the result of the Social War, Chios, Cos, Rhodes, and Byzantium had made
themselves independent of Athens. They had been assisted by Mausolus, King of
Caria, a vassal of Persia. After the termination of the war, a Carian garrison
occupied Cos and Rhodes; the democratic constitution of Rhodes was overthrown
and the democratic party driven into banishment, as the result of an oligarchic
plot, which Mausolus had fostered. In 353 Mausolus died, and was succeeded by
Artemisia, his sister and wife. The exiles appealed to Athens for restoration,
and for the liberation of Rhodes from the Carian domination. It is evident that
the feeling in Athens against the Rhodians was very strong, owing to their part
in the late war, for which the democratic party had been responsible; and there
was some fear of the possible consequences of offending Artemisia and perhaps
becoming involved in war with Persia. Demosthenes, nevertheless, urges the
people to assist them, and to forget their misconduct. He appeals to the
traditional policy of Athens, as the saviour of the oppressed and protectress of
democracies, and warns them of the danger which would threaten Athens herself,
if the conversion of free constitutions into oligarchies were allowed to go
unchecked. He takes a different view from that of his opponents of the probable