The Public Orations of Demosthenes Volume II Part 6

-- 34. _sins against h.e.l.las_. This refers to the support given to the Persian invaders by Thebes in the Persian Wars (Herod. viii. 34).

FOR THE MEGALOPOLITANS

-- 4. _Plataeae_ (which had been overthrown by the enemies of Athens in the course of the Peloponnesian War, but rebuilt, with the aid of Sparta, in 378) was destroyed by Thebes in 373-372. About the same time Thebes destroyed Thespiae, which, like Plataeae, was well-disposed towards Athens; and in 370 the Thebans ma.s.sacred the male population of Orchomenus, and sold the women and children into slavery.

-- 11. _Oropus_ had sometimes belonged to Thebes and sometimes to Athens.

In 366 it was taken from Athens by Themison, tyrant of Eretria (exactly opposite Oropus, on the coast of Euboea), and placed in the hands of Thebes until the owners.h.i.+p should be decided. Thebes retained it until it was restored to Athens by Philip in 338.

-- 12. _when all the Peloponnesians, &c_. The reference seems to be to the year 370, shortly after the battle of Leuctra, when the Peloponnesian States sought the protection of Athens against Sparta, and, being refused, became allies of Thebes (Diodorus xv. 62). In 369 Athens made an alliance with Sparta.

-- 14. _saved the Spartans_. See last note. Athens also a.s.sisted the Spartans at Mantineia in 362.

_the Thebans_. In 378 and the following years Athens a.s.sisted Thebes against the Spartans under Agesilaus and Cleombrotus.

_the Euboeans_. In 358 or 357 Euboea succeeded in obtaining freedom from the domination of Thebes by the aid of Athenian troops under Timotheus.

-- 16. _Triphylia_, a district between Elis and Messenia, was the subject of a long-standing dispute between the Eleans and the Arcadians, and seems to have been in the hands of the latter since (about) 368.

_Tricaranum_, a fortress in the territory of Phlius, had been seized by the Argives in 369, and used as a centre from which incursions were made into Phliasian territory.

-- 20. _allies of Thebes_: in order to preserve the balance of power between Thebes and Sparta.

-- 21. _the Theban confederacy_. The reference is particularly to the Arcadian allies of Thebes, but the wider expression perhaps suggests a general policy of a more ambitious kind.

-- 22. _you, I think, know_. He refers to the older members of the a.s.sembly, who would remember the tyrannical conduct of Sparta during the period of her supremacy (the first quarter of the fourth century B.C.).

-- 27. _pillars_. The terms of an alliance were usually recorded upon pillars erected by each State on some site fixed by agreement or custom.

-- 28. _in the war_: i.e. the 'Sacred War', against the Phocians.

FOR THE FREEDOM OF THE RHODIANS

-- 3. _now it will be seen_: i.e. if you come to a right decision, and help the Rhodians.

-- 5. _the Egyptians_. See Speech on Naval Boards, -- 31 n.

-- 6. _to advise you_: i.e. in the Speech on the Naval Boards (see especially ---- 10, 11 of that Speech).

-- 9. _Ariobarzanes_, Satrap of the h.e.l.lespont, joined in the general revolt of the princes of Asia Minor against Persia in 362, at first secretly (as though making war against other satraps) but afterwards openly. Timotheus was sent to help him, on the understanding that he must not break the Peace of Antalcidas (378 B.C.), according to which the Greek cities in Asia were to belong to the king, but the rest were to be independent (except that Athens was to retain Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyros).

When Ariobarzanes broke out in open revolt, Timotheus could not help him without breaking the first provision; but the Persian occupation tion of Samos was itself a violation of the second, and he was therefore justified in relieving the town.

-- 11. _while he is in her neighbourhood_. Artaxerxes almost certainly went in person to Egypt about this time. (That he went before 346 is proved by Isocrates, _Philippus_, -- 101; and he was no doubt expected to go, even before he went.) The alternative rendering, 'since he is still to be a neighbouring power to herself,' is less good, since he would be this, whether he conquered Egypt or not.

-- 14. _Rhodians who are now in possession_: i.e. the oligarchs, who held the town with the help of Caria.

_some of their fellow-citizens_: i.e. some of the democratic party.

-- 15. _official patron_ ([Greek: _proxenos_]). The 'official patron' of another State in Athens was necessarily an Athenian, and so differed from the modern consul, whom he otherwise resembled in many ways (cf.

Phillipson, _International Law and Custom of Ancient Greece and Rome_, vol. i, pp. 147-56).

-- 17. _publicly provided_: i.e. in treaties between the States.

-- 22. _when our democracy_, &c.: i.e. in 404, when, at the conclusion of the Peloponnesian War, the tyranny of the Thirty was established, and a very large number of democratic citizens were driven into exile. The Argives refused the Spartan demand for the surrender of some of these to the Thirty (Diodorus xiv. 6).

-- 23. _one who is a barbarian-aye, and a woman_ ([Greek: _barbaron anthr_opon kai tauta gynaika_]). This has been taken to refer (1) to Artaxerxes and Artemisia. But [Greek: _kai tauta_] cannot be simply [Greek: _pros tont_o_], and [Greek: _kai tauta gynaika_] must refer to the same person as [Greek: _barbaron anthr_opon_]; (2) to Artaxerxes alone, the words [Greek: _kai tauta gynaika_] being a gratuitous insult such as it was customary for Athenians to level at any Persian; (3) to Artemisia alone, [Greek: anthr_opos] being feminine here as often. It is not possible to decide certainly between (2) and (3). Artemisia is more prominent in the speech than the king, but it is the king who is referred to in the next sentence.

-- 24. _rendered Athens weak_. The success of Sparta in the Peloponnesian War was rendered possible, to a great extent, by the supply of funds from Persia. In 401 Cyrus made his famous expedition against Artaxerxes II, and Clearchus (with other generals) commanded the Greek troops which a.s.sisted him. The death of Cyrus in the battle of Cunaxa in 401 put an end to his rebellion.

-- 25. _rights of the rest of the world_. Weil suggests that it may have been argued that to intervene in Rhodian affairs would be to break the treaty made with the allies in 355 (about), at the end of the Social War, whereby their independence was guaranteed.

-- 26. _Chalcedon_ was on the Asiatic sh.o.r.e of the Bosporus, and therefore by the Peace of Antalcidas belonged to the king (see n. on -- 9). By the same treaty, Selymbria, on the north coast of the Propontis, ought to have been independent. The Byzantines, who had obtained their independence of Athens in the Social War, were extending their influence greatly at this time.

-- 27. _the treaty_: again the Peace of Antalcidas.

_even if there actually are such advisers_: or, 'even if any one actually a.s.serts the existence of such persons.'

-- 29. _two treaties_. The first must be the Peace of Callias (444 B.C.), the terms of which are given in the Speech on the Emba.s.sy, -- 273. The second was the Peace of Antalcidas.

-- 30. _the knowledge of what is right_. The parallel pa.s.sage in -- 1 seems to confirm this rendering, rather than the alternative, 'the intention to do what is right.'

-- 33. _oligarchical_. This expression is partly directed at those who, in opposing the exiled democrats, supported the oligarchs of Rhodes; and it may be partly explained by the fact that the policy of Eubulus, who wished to avoid all interferences which might lead to war, was particularly satisfactory to the wealthier cla.s.ses in Athens. But it was a common practice to accuse an opponent of anti-democratic sentiments, and of trying to get the better of the people by illegitimate means (cf. Speech on Emba.s.sy, -- 314, &c.).

-- 35. Cf. Speech on Naval Boards, -- 41.

THE FIRST PHILIPPIC

-- 3. _the war with Sparta_. Probably the Boeotian War (378-371 B.C.), when Athens supported Thebes against Sparta.

_in defence of the right_. The attempt of the Spartans to conquer Boeotia was a violation of the Peace of Antalcidas (see n. on Speech for Rhodians, -- 6). But Demosthenes' expression may be quite general in its meaning.

-- 4. _tribes_. Probably refers especially to the Thracians (see Introd. to the Speech). The Paeonian and Illyrian chieftains also made alliance with Athens in 356.

-- 17. _to Euboea_. See Speech for Megalopolitans, -- 14 n.

_to Haliartus_: in 395, when Athens sent a force to aid the Thebans against the Spartans under Lysander. (For other allusions see Introd. to the Speech.)

-- 19. _paper-armies_ ([Greek: epistolimaious ... dynameis]): lit. 'armies existing in dispatches.'

-- 24. _Athens once maintained_, &c. The reference is to the Corinthian war of 394-387 B.C. The Athenian general Iphicrates organized a mercenary force of peltasts in support of Corinth, and did great damage to Sparta; he was succeeded in the command by Chabrias. Nothing more is certainly known of Polystratus than is told us here, though he may be referred to in the Speech against Leptines, -- 84, as receiving honours from Athens.

_to Artabazus_. In 356 Chares was sent to oppose the revolted allies of Athens, but being short of funds, a.s.sisted Artabazus in his rebellion against Persia, and was richly rewarded. (See Introd. to Speech on Naval Boards.)

-- 25. _spectators of these mysteries of generals.h.i.+p_ ([Greek: epoptai t_on ] [Greek: *_strat_egoumen_on_]). The word [Greek: _epopt_es_] is chiefly used of spectators of the mysteries, and is here applied sarcastically to the citizens whom Demosthenes desires to see what has. .h.i.therto been a hidden thing from them--the conduct of their generals.

-- 26. _ten captains and generals, &c_. There was one general ([Greek: _strat_egos_]) and one captain ([Greek: _taxiarchos_]) of infantry, and one general of cavalry ([Greek: _phylarchos_]), for each of the ten tribes. There were two regular masters of the horse ([Greek: _hipparchoi_]), and a third appointed for the special command of the Athenian troops in Lemnos. The generals ([Greek: _strat_egoi_]) had various civil duties, among them the organization of the military processions at the Panathenaea and other great festivals.