that neither was it I that introduced or was responsible for the Peace in
its original shape, nor is one of all the other falsehoods which he told
of me shown to be true.

{25} Again, consider the course of action which, when the city had
concluded the Peace, each of us now chose to adopt. For from this you will
know who it was that co-operated with Philip throughout, and who it was
that acted in your interest and sought the good of the city. As for me, I
proposed, as a member of the Council, that the ambassadors should sail as
quickly as possible to any district in which they should ascertain Philip
to be, and receive his oath from him. {26} But even when I had carried
this resolution, they would not act upon it. What did this mean, men of
Athens? I will inform you. Philip's interest required that the interval
before he took the oath should be as long as possible; yours, that it
should be as short as possible. And why? Because you broke off all your
preparations for the war, not merely from the day when he took the oath,
but from the day when you first hoped that Peace would be made; and for
his part, this was what he was all along working for; for he thought (and
with truth) that whatever places he could snatch from Athens before he
took the oath, would remain securely his, since no one would break the
Peace for their sake. {27} Foreseeing and calculating upon this, men of
Athens, I proposed this decree--that we should sail to any district in
which Philip might be, and receive his oath as soon as possible, in order
that the oaths might be taken while the Thracians, your allies, were still
in possession of those strongholds[n] of which Aeschines just now spoke
with contempt--Serrhium, Myrtenum, and Ergiske; and that Philip might not
snatch from us the keys of the country and make himself master of Thrace,
nor obtain an abundant supply of money and of soldiers, and so proceed
without difficulty to the prosecution of his further designs. {28} And
now, instead of citing or reading this decree he slanders me on the ground