upon the other states for aid, and send envoys to carry our message [in
all directions--to the Peloponnese, to Rhodes, to Chios, to the king; for
it is not unimportant for his interests either that Philip should be
prevented from subjugating the world]; that so, if you persuade them, you
may have partners to share the danger and the expense, in case of need;
and if you do not, you may at least delay the march of events. {72} For
since the war is with a single man, and not against the strength of a
united state, even delay is not without its value, any more than were
those embassies[n] of protest which last year went round the Peloponnese,
when I and Polyeuctus, that best of men, and Hegesippus and the other
envoys went on our tour, and forced him to halt, so that he neither went
to attack Acarnania, nor set out for the Peloponnese. {73} But I do not
mean that we should call upon the other states, if we are not willing to
take any of the necessary steps ourselves. It is folly to sacrifice what
is our own, and then pretend to be anxious for the interests of others--to
neglect the present, and alarm others in regard to the future. I do not
propose this. I say that we must send money to the forces in the
Chersonese, and do all that they ask of us; that we must make preparation
ourselves, while we summon, convene, instruct, and warn the rest of the
Hellenes. That is the policy for a city with a reputation such as yours.
{74} But if you fancy that the people of Chalcis or of Megara will save
Hellas, while you run away from the task, you are mistaken. They may well
be content if they can each save themselves. The task is yours. It is the
prerogative that your forefathers won, and through many a great peril
bequeathed to you. {75} But if each of you is to sit and consult his
inclinations, looking for some way by which he may escape any personal
action, the first consequence will be that you will never find any one who
will act; and the second, I fear, that the day will come when we shall be
forced to do, at one and the same time, all the things we wish to avoid.