Leuctra with moderation. And, in the second place, the Peloponnese was all
disunited: those who detested the Spartans [n] were not strong enough to
annihilate them, and those who had previously governed with the support of
Sparta [n] were no longer able to maintain their control over their
cities; but both these and all the other states were in a condition of
indeterminate strife and confusion. {19} When Philip saw this (for it was
not hard to see), he tried, by dispensing money to the traitors whom each
state contained, to throw them all into collision and stir up one against
another; and thus, amid the blunders and perversity of others, he was
making his own preparations, and growing great to the danger of all. And
when it became clear to all that the then overbearing (but now unhappy)
Thebans, distressed by the length of the war, would be forced to fly to
you for aid,[n] Philip, to prevent this--to prevent the formation of any
union between the cities--made offers of peace to you, and of assistance
to them. {20} Now what was it that helped him, and enabled him to find in
you his almost willing dupes? It was the baseness (if that is the right
name to use), or the ignorance, or both, of the rest of the Hellenes, who,
though you were engaged in a long and continuous war, and that on behalf
of the interests of all, as has been proved by the event, never assisted
you either with money or with men, or in any other way whatsoever. And in
your just and proper indignation with them, you listened readily to
Philip. It was for these reasons, therefore, and not through any action of
mine, that the Peace which we then conceded was negotiated; and any one
who investigates the matter honestly will find that it is the crimes and
the corrupt practices of these men, in the course of the negotiations,
that are responsible for our position to-day. {21} It is in the interests
of truth that I enter into all these events with this exactitude and
thoroughness; for however strong the appearance of criminality in these
proceedings may be, it has, I imagine, nothing to do with me. The first
man to suggest or mention the Peace was Aristodemus[n] the actor; and the