ἡ δὲ τοῦ Δημοσθένους πολιτεία φανερὰ μὲν ἦν ἔτι καὶ τῆς εἰρήνης ὑπαρχούσης, οὐδὲν ἐῶντος ἀνεπιτίμητον τῶν πραττομένων ὑπὸ τοῦ Μακεδόνος, ἀλλʼ ἐφʼ ἑκάστῳ ταράττοντος τοὺς Ἀθηναίους καὶ διακαίοντος ἐπὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον. διὸ καὶ παρὰ Φιλίππῳ πλεῖστος ἦν λόγος αὐτοῦ· καὶ ὅτε πρεσβεύων δέκατος ἧκεν εἰς Μακεδονίαν, ἤκουσε μὲν πάντων Φίλιππος, ἀντεῖπε δὲ μετὰ πλείστης ἐπιμελείας πρὸς τὸν ἐκείνου λόγον.
The political attitude of Demosthenes was manifest even while peace still lasted, for he would let no act of the Macedonian pass uncensured, but on every occasion kept rousing and inflaming the Athenians against him. Therefore Philip also made most account of him; and when Demosthenes came to Macedonia in an embassy of ten, Philip listened indeed to them all, but took most pains to answer his speech.
οὐ μὴν ἔν γε ταῖς ἄλλαις τιμαῖς καὶ φιλοφροσύναις ὅμοιον αὑτὸν τῷ Δημοσθένει παρεῖχεν, ἀλλὰ προσήγετο τοὺς περὶ Αἰσχίνην καὶ Φιλοκράτην μᾶλλον. ὅθεν ἐπαινούντων ἐκείνων τὸν Φίλιππον ὡς καὶ λέγειν δυνατώτατον καὶ κάλλιστον ὀφθῆναι καὶ νὴ Δία συμπιεῖν ἱκανώτατον, ἠναγκάζετο βασκαίνων ἐπισκώπτειν ὡς τὸ μὲν σοφιστοῦ, τὸ δὲ γυναικός, τὸ δὲ σπογγιᾶς εἴη, βασιλέως δʼ οὐδὲν ἐγκώμιον.
As regards all other marks of honour and kindly attention, however, Philip did not treat Demosthenes as well as the others, but courted rather the party of Aeschines and Philocrates. And so when these lauded Philip as most powerful in speaking, most fair to look upon, and, indeed, as a most capable fellow-drinker, Demosthenes had to say in bitter raillery that the first encomium was appropriate for a sophist, the second for a woman, and the third for a sponge, but none of them for a king.
ἐπεὶ δʼ εἰς τὸ πολεμεῖν ἔρρεπε τὰ πράγματα, τοῦ μὲν Φιλίππου μὴ δυναμένου τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν, τῶν δʼ Ἀθηναίων ἐγειρομένων ὑπὸ τοῦ Δημοσθένους, πρῶτον μὲν εἰς Εὔβοιαν ἐξώρμησε τοὺς Ἀθηναίους καταδεδουλωμένην ὑπὸ τῶν τυράννων Φιλίππῳ· καί διαβάντες, ἐκείνου τὸ ψήφισμα γράψαντος, ἐξήλασαν τοὺς Μακεδόνας.
And when matters were inclining at last to war, since Philip was unable to keep quiet and the Athenians were being stirred up by Demosthenes, in the first place, he urged the Athenians to invade Euboea, which had been brought into subjection to Philip by its tyrants; and it was on his motion that they crossed over to the island and drove out the Macedonians.
δεύτερον δὲ Βυζαντίοις ἐβοήθησε καί Περινθίοις ὑπὸ τοῦ Μακεδόνος πολέμουμὲνοις, πείσας τὸν δῆμον ἀφέντα τὴν ἔχθραν καί τὸ μεμνῆσθαι τῶν περὶ τὸν συμμαχικὸν ἡμαρτημένων ἑκατέροις πόλεμον ἀποστεῖλαι δύναμιν αὐτοῖς, ὑφʼ ἧς ἐσώθησαν.
In the second place, he came to the aid of the citizens of Byzantium and Perinthus when the Macedonian was making war upon them, by persuading the Athenian people to remit their hatred and forget the wrongs committed by each of these cities in the Social War, and to send them a force,—the force which saved them.
ἔπειτα πρεσβεύων καί διαλεγόμενος τοῖς Ἕλλησι καί παροξύνων συνέστησε πλὴν ὀλίγων ἅπαντας ἐπὶ τὸν Φίλιππον, ὥστε σύνταξιν γενέσθαι πεζῶν μὲν μυρίων καί πεντακισχιλίων, ἱππέων δὲ δισχιλίων, ἄνευ τῶν πολιτικῶν δυνάμεων, χρήματα δὲ καί μισθοὺς τοῖς ξένοις εἰσφέρεσθαι προθύμως. ὅτε καί φησι Θεόφραστος, ἀξιούντων τῶν συμμάχων ὁρισθῆναι τὰς εἰσφοράς, εἰπεῖν Κρωβύλον τὸν δημαγωγόν ὡς οὐ τεταγμένα σιτεῖται πόλεμος.
Next, he went on an embassy to the Greek states, and by arguing with them and pricking them on brought almost all of them into a league against Philip, so that they raised a mercenary force of fifteen thousand foot and two thousand horse, apart from the citizen soldiery, and readily contributed money to pay them. It was at this time, as Theophrastus says, when the allies were demanding that their contributions be fixed within limits, that Crobylus the popular leader said: War has no fixed rations.
ἐπηρμένης δὲ τῆς Ἑλλάδος πρὸς τὸ μέλλον καί συνισταμένων κατʼ ἔθνη καί πόλεις Εὐβοέων, Ἀχαιῶν, Κορινθίων, Μεγαρέων, Λευκαδίων, Κερκυραίων, ὁ μέγιστος ὑπελείπετο τῷ Δημοσθένει τῶν ἀγώνων, Θηβαίους προσαγαγέσθαι τῇ συμμαχίᾳ, χώραν τε σύνορον τῆς Ἀττικῆς καί δύναμιν ἐναγώνιον ἔχοντας, καί μάλιστα τότε τῶν Ἑλλήνων εὐδοκιμοῦντας ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις.
Greece was now in suspense as it thought of the future, and its peoples and cities were leaguing themselves together, Euboeans, Achaeans, Corinthians, Megarians, Leucadians, and Corcyraeans. But the most important struggle still remained for Demosthenes in bringing the Thebans to join the alliance, for they had a territory bounding that of Attica and a force ready to take the field, and at that time were accounted the best soldiers in Greece.
ἦν δʼ οὐ ῥᾴδιον ἐπὶ προσφάτοις εὐεργετήμασι τοῖς περὶ τὸν Φωκικὸν πόλεμον τετιθασευμένους ὑπὸ τοῦ Φιλίππου μεταστῆσαι τοὺς Θηβαίους, καί μάλιστα ταῖς διὰ τὴν γειτνίασιν ἁψιμαχίαις ἀναξαινομένων ἑκάστοτε τῶν πολεμικῶν πρὸς ἀλλήλας διαφορῶν ταῖς πόλεσιν.
But it was no easy matter, in view of the recent benefits with which Philip had cultivated their favour during the Phocian war, to make the Thebans change sides, and especially because in the petty quarrels brought on by their proximity to Athens the differences which made for war between the two cities were all the while stirred up anew.
οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ἐπεὶ Φίλιππος ὑπὸ τῆς περὶ τὴν Ἄμφισσαν εὐτυχίας ἐπαιρόμενος εἰς τὴν Ἐλάτειαν ἐξαίφνης ἐνέπεσε καὶ τὴν Φωκίδα κατέσχεν, ἐκπεπληγμένων τῶν Ἀθηναίων καὶ μηδενὸς τολμῶντος ἀναβαίνειν ἐπὶ τὸ βῆμα μηδὲ ἔχοντος ὅ τι χρὴ λέγειν, ἀλλʼ ἀπορίας οὔσης ἐν μέσῳ καὶ σιωπῆς, παρελθὼν μόνος ὁ Δημοσθένης συνεβούλευε τῶν Θηβαίων ἔχεσθαι· καὶ τἆλλα παραθαρρύνας καὶ μετεωρίσας, ὥσπερ εἰώθει, τὸν δῆμον ταῖς ἐλπίσιν, ἀπεστάλη πρεσβευτὴς μεθʼ ἑτέρων εἰς Θήβας.
Philip, however, elated by his good-fortune in the matter of Amphissa, surprised Elateia and occupied Phocis. This step drove the Athenians out of their senses: no one ventured to ascend the bema and no one knew what ought to be said, but perplexity and silence reigned in the assembly. Then it was that Demosthenes, and he alone, came forward and advised the people to cling to Thebes; and after giving them courage in other ways and buoying them up with hopes, as he was wont to do, he was sent with others as ambassador to Thebes.
ἔπεμψε δὲ καὶ Φίλιππος, ὡς Μαρσύας φησίν, Ἀμύνταν μὲν καὶ Κλέαρχον Μακεδόνας, Δάοχον δὲ Θεσσαλὸν καὶ Θρασυδαῖον ἀντεροῦντας. τὸ μὲν οὖν συμφέρον οὐ διέφευγε τοὺς τῶν Θηβαίων λογισμούς, ἀλλʼ ἐν ὄμμασιν ἕκαστος εἶχε τὰ τὸν πολέμου δεινά, ἔτι τῶν Φωκικῶν τραυμάτων νεαρῶν παραμενόντων·
Philip also, as Marsyas tells us, sent Amyntas and Clearchus of Macedonia, Daochus of Thessaly, and Thrasydaeus, to speak in opposition to the Athenians. Well, then, the Thebans, in their calculations, were not blind to their own interests, but each of them had before his eyes the terrors of war, since their losses in the Phocian war were still fresh;
ἡ δὲ τὸν ῥήτορος δύναμις, ὥς φησι Θεόπομπος, ἐκριπίζουσα τὸν θυμὸν αὐτῶν καὶ διακαίουσα τὴν φιλοτιμίαν ἐπεσκότησε τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν, ὥστε καὶ φόβον καὶ λογισμὸν καὶ χάριν ἐκβαλεῖν αὐτούς ἐνθουσιῶντας ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου πρὸς τὸ καλόν, οὕτω δὲ μέγα καὶ λαμπρὸν ἐφάνη τὸ τοῦ ῥήτορος ἔργον ὥστε τὸν μὲν Φίλιππον εὐθὺς ἐπικηρυκεύεσθαι δεόμενον εἰρήνης, ὀρθὴν δὲ τὴν Ἑλλάδα γενέσθαι καὶ συνεξαναστῆναι πρὸς τὸ μέλλον,
however, the power of the orator, as Theopompus says, fanned up their courage and inflamed their honourable ambition and obscured all other considerations, so that, casting away fear and calculation and feelings of obligation, they were rapt away by his words into the path of honour. And so great and glorious was the orator’s success seen to be that Philip at once sent an embassy and asked for peace, while Greece was confident and up in arms to aid Demosthenes for the future;
ὑπηρετεῖν δὲ μὴ μόνον τοὺς στρατηγοὺς τῷ Δημοσθένει ποιοῦντας τὸ προσταττόμενον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς βοιωτάρχας, διοικεῖσθαι δὲ τὰς ἐκκλησίας ἁπάσας οὐδὲν ἧττον ὑπʼ ἐκείνου τότε τὰς Θηβαίων ἢ τὰς Ἀθηναίων, ἀγαπωμένου παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις καὶ δυναστεύοντος οὐκ ἀδίκως οὐδὲ παρʼ ἀξίαν, ὥσπερ ἀποφαίνεται Θεόπομπος, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάνυ προσηκόντως.
and not only did the Athenian generals assist him and do what he ordered, but also the Boeotarchs. He managed at this time all the assemblies of the Thebans no less than those of the Athenians; he was beloved by both peoples and exercised supreme power, not illegally nor unworthily, as Theopompus declares, but rather with perfect propriety.
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