we ordinarily mean by the word. For what would it matter to a man of
Zeleia, that he might have no share in the public life of Athens? But
there is a clause in the Law of Murder, dealing with those in connexion
with whose death the law does not allow a prosecution for murder [but the
slaying of them is to be a holy act]: 'And let him die an outlaw,' it
runs. The meaning, accordingly, is this--that the slayer of such a man is
to be pure from all guilt. {45} They thought, therefore, that the safety
of all the Hellenes was a matter which concerned themselves--apart from
this belief, it could not have mattered to them whether any one bought or
corrupted men in the Peloponnese; and whenever they detected such
offenders, they carried their punishment and their vengeance so far as to
pillory their names for ever. As the natural consequence, the Hellenes
were a terror to the foreigner, not the foreigner to the Hellenes. It is
not so now. Such is not your attitude in these or in other matters. {46}
But what is it? [You know it yourselves; for why should I accuse you
explicitly on every point? And that of the rest of the Hellenes is like
your own, and no better; and so I say that the present situation demands
our utmost earnestness and good counsel.[n]] And what counsel? Do you bid
me tell you, and will you not be angry if I do so?

[_He reads from the document_.]

{47} Now there is an ingenuous argument, which is used by those who would
reassure the city, to the effect that, after all, Philip is not yet in the
position once held by the Spartans, who ruled everywhere over sea and
land, with the king for their ally, and nothing to withstand them; and
that, none the less, Athens defended herself even against them, and was
not swept away. Since that time the progress in every direction, one may
say, has been great, and has made the world to-day very different from
what it was then; but I believe that in no respect has there been greater