Isocrates: Speeches

In many respects, Demonicus, we shall find that much disparity exists between the principles of good men and the notions of the base; but most of all by far have they parted company in the quality of their friendships.1 The base honor their friends only when they are present; the good cherish theirs even when they are far away; and while it takes only a short time to break up the intimacies of the base, not all eternity can blot out the friendships of good men. [2] So then, since I deem it fitting that those who strive for distinction and are ambitious for education should emulate the good and not the bad, I have dispatched to you this discourse as a gift, in proof of my good will toward you and in token of my friendship for Hipponicus; for it is fitting that a son should inherit his father's friendships even as he inherits his estate. [3] I see, moreover, that fortune is on our side and that the present circumstances are in league with us; for you are eager for education and I profess to educate; you are ripe for philosophy2 and I direct students of philosophy.

Now those who compose hortatory discourses addressed to their own friends are, no doubt, engaged in a laudable employment; [4] yet they do not occupy themselves with the most vital part of philosophy. Those, on the contrary, who point out to the young, not by what means they may cultivate skill in oratory, but how they may win repute as men of sound character, are rendering a greater service3 to their hearers in that, while the former exhort them to proficiency in speech, the latter improve their moral conduct.4 [5]

Therefore, I have not invented a hortatory5 exercise, but have written a moral treatise; and I am going to counsel you on the objects to which young men should aspire and from what actions they should abstain, and with what sort of men they should associate and how they should regulate their own lives. For only those who have travelled this road in life have been able in the true sense to attain to virtue—that possession which is the grandest and the most enduring in the world. [6] For beauty is spent by time or withered by disease; wealth ministers to vice rather than to nobility of soul, affording means for indolent living and luring the young to pleasure; strength, in company with wisdom, is, indeed, an advantage, but without wisdom it harms more than it helps its possessors, and while it sets off the bodies of those who cultivate it, yet it obscures the care of the soul6. [7] But virtue, when it grows up with us in our hearts without alloy, is the one possession which abides with us in old age; it is better than riches and more serviceable than high birth; it makes possible what is for others impossible; it supports with fortitude that which is fearful to the multitude; and it considers sloth a disgrace and toil an honor. [8] This it is easy to learn from the labors of Heracles and the exploits of Theseus, whose excellence of character has impressed upon their exploits so clear a stamp of glory that not even endless time can cast oblivion upon their achievements. [9]

Nay, if you will but recall also your father's principles, you will have from your own house a noble illustration of what I am telling you. For he did not belittle virtue nor pass his life in indolence; on the contrary, he trained his body by toil, and by his spirit he withstood dangers. Nor did he love wealth inordinately; but, although he enjoyed the good things at his hand as became a mortal, yet he cared for his possessions as if he had been immortal7. [10] Neither did he order his existence sordidly, but was a lover of beauty, munificent in his manner of life, and generous to his friends; and he prized more those who were devoted to him than those who were his kin by blood; for he considered that in the matter of companionship nature is a much better guide than convention, character than kinship, and freedom of choice than compulsion. [11]

But all time would fail us if we should try to recount all his activities. On another occasion I shall set them forth in detail;8 for the present however, I have produced a sample of the nature of Hipponicus, after whom you should pattern your life as after an example, regarding his conduct as your law, and striving to imitate and emulate your father's virtue; for it were a shame, when painters represent the beautiful among animals, for children not to imitate the noble among their ancestors. [12] Nay, you must consider that no athlete is so in duty bound to train against his competitors as are you to take thought how you may vie with your father in his ways of life. But it is not possible for the mind to be so disposed unless one is fraught with many noble maxims; for, as it is the nature of the body to be developed by appropriate exercises, it is the nature of the soul to be developed by moral precepts. Wherefore I shall endeavor to set before you concisely by what practices I think you can make the most progress toward virtue and win the highest repute in the eyes of all other men. [13]

First of all, then, show devotion to the gods,9 not merely by doing sacrifice, but also by keeping your vows; for the former is but evidence of a material prosperity, whereas the latter is proof of a noble character. Do honor to the divine power at all times, but especially on occasions of public worship; for thus you will have the reputation both of sacrificing to the gods and of abiding by the laws. [14]

Conduct yourself toward your parents as you would have your children conduct themselves toward you.10

Train your body, not by the exercises which conduce to strength, but by those which conduce to health. In this you will succeed if you cease your exertions while you still have energy to exert yourself. [15]

Be not fond of violent mirth, nor harbor presumption of speech; for the one is folly, the other madness.11

Whatever is shameful to do you must not consider it honorable even to mention. Accustom yourself to be, not of a stern, but of a thoughtful, mien; for through the former you will be thought self-willed, through the latter, intelligent. Consider that no adornment so becomes you as modesty, justice, and self-control; for these are the virtues by which, as all men are agreed, the character of the young is held in restraint. [16]

Never hope to conceal any shameful thing which you have done; for even if you do conceal it from others, your own heart will know.

Fear the gods, honor your parents, respect your friends, obey the laws.

Pursue the enjoyments which are of good repute; for pleasure attended by honor is the best thing in the world, but pleasure without honor is the worst.12 [17]

Guard yourself against accusations, even if they are false; for the multitude are ignorant of the truth and look only to reputation. In all things resolve to act as though the whole world would see what you do; for even if you conceal your deeds for the moment, later you will be found out. But most of all will you have the respect of men, if you are seen to avoid doing things which you would blame others for doing.13 [18]

If you love knowledge, you will be a master of knowledge.14 What you have come to know, preserve by exercise; what you have not learned, seek to add to your knowledge; for it is as reprehensible to hear a profitable saying and not grasp it as to be offered a good gift by one's friends and not accept it. Spend your leisure time in cultivating an ear attentive to discourse, for in this way you will find that you learn with ease what others have found out with difficulty. [19] Believe that many precepts are better than much wealth; for wealth quickly fails us, but precepts abide through all time; for wisdom alone of all possessions is imperishable. Do not hesitate to travel a long road15 to those who profess to offer some useful instruction; for it were a shame, when merchants cross vast seas in order to increase their store of wealth, that the young should not endure even journeys by land to improve their understanding. [20]

Be courteous in your manner, and cordial in your address. It is the part of courtesy to greet those whom you meet; and of cordiality to enter into friendly talk with them. Be pleasant to all, but cultivate the best; thus you will avoid the dislike of the former and have the friendship of the latter. Avoid frequent conversations with the same persons, and long conversations on the same subject; for there is satiety in all things.16 [21]

Train yourself in self-imposed toils, that you may be able to endure those which others impose upon you.17 Practice self-control in all the things by which it is shameful for the soul to be controlled,18 namely, gain, temper, pleasure, and pain. You will attain such self-control if you regard as gainful those things which will increase your reputation and not those which will increase your wealth; if you manage your temper towards those who offend against you as you would expect others to do if you offended against them; if you govern your pleasures on the principle that it is shameful to rule over one's servants and yet be a slave to one's desires; and if, when you are in trouble, you contemplate the misfortunes of others and remind yourself that you are human. [22]

Guard more faithfully the secret which is confided to you than the money which is entrusted to your care; for good men ought to show that they hold their honor more trustworthy than an oath. Consider that you owe it to yourself no less to mistrust bad men than to put your trust in the good. On matters which you would keep secret, speak to no one save when it is equally expedient for you who speak and for those who hear that the facts should not be published. [23] Never allow yourself to be put under oath save for one of two reasons—in order to clear yourself of disgraceful charges or to save your friends from great dangers. In matters of money, swear by none of the gods, not even when you intend to swear a true oath; for you will be suspected on the one hand of perjury, on the other of greed. [24]

Make no man your friend before inquiring how he has used his former friends;19 for you must expect him to treat you as he has treated them. Be slow20 to give your friendship, but when you have given it, strive to make it lasting; for it is as reprehensible to make many changes in one's associates as to have no friend at all. Neither test your friends to your own injury nor be willing to forgo a test of your companions. You can manage this if you pretend to be in want when really you lack nothing. [25] Confide in them about matters which require no secrecy as if they were secrets; for if you fail you will not injure yourself, and if you succeed you will have a better knowledge of their character. Prove your friends by means of the misfortunes of life and of their fellowship in your perils; for as we try gold in the fire, so we come to know our friends when we are in misfortune.21 You will best serve your friends if you do not wait for them to ask your help, but go of your own accord at the crucial moment to lend them aid. [26] Consider it equally disgraceful to be outdone by your enemies in doing injury and to be surpassed by your friends in doing kindness.22 Admit to your companionship, not those alone who show distress at your reverses, but those also who show no envy at your good fortune; for there are many who sympathize with their friends in adversity, but envy them in prosperity.23 Mention your absent friends to those who are with you, so that they may think you do not forget them, in their turn, when they are absent. [27]

In matters of dress, resolve to be a man of taste, but not a fop. The man of taste is marked by elegance, the fop by excess.

Set not your heart on the excessive acquisition of goods, but on a moderate enjoyment of what you have. Despise those who strain after riches, but are not able to use what they have; they are in like case with a man who, being but a wretched horseman, gets him a fine mount. [28] Try to make of money a thing to use as well as to possess; it is a thing of use to those who understand how to enjoy it, and a mere possession to those who are able only to acquire it. Prize the substance you have for two reasons—that you may have the means to meet a heavy loss and that you may go to the aid of a worthy friend when he is in distress; but for your life in general, cherish your possessions not in excess but in moderation. [29]

Be content with your present lot, but seek a better one.

Taunt no man with his misfortune for fate is common to all and the future is a thing unseen.

Bestow your favors on the good; for a goodly treasury is a store of gratitude laid up in the heart of an honest man. If you benefit bad men, you will have the same reward as those who feed stray dogs; for these snarl alike at those who give them food and at the passing stranger; and just so base men wrong alike those who help and those who harm them.24 [30]

Abhor flatterers as you would deceivers; for both, if trusted, injure those who trust them. If you admit to your friendship men who seek your favor for the lowest ends, your life will be lacking in friends who will risk your displeasure for the highest good.

Be affable in your relations with those who approach you, and never haughty; for the pride of the arrogant even slaves can hardly endure, whereas when men are affable all are glad to bear with their ways. [31] But to be affable, you must not be quarrelsome, nor hard to please, nor always determined to have your way; you must not oppose harshly the angry moods of your associates, even if they happen to be angry without reason, but rather give way to them when they are in the heat of passion and rebuke them when their anger has cooled; you must avoid being serious when the occasion is one for mirth, or taking pleasure in mirth when the occasion is serious （for what is unseasonable is always offensive）; you must not bestow your favors ungraciously as do the majority who, when they must oblige their friends, do it offensively; and you must not be given to fault-finding, which is irksome, nor be censorious, which is exasperating. [32]

If possible avoid drinking-parties altogether,25 but if ever occasion arises when you must be present, rise and take your leave before you become intoxicated;26 for when the mind is impaired by wine it is like chariots which have lost their drivers; for just as these plunge along in wild disorder when they miss the hands which should guide them, so the soul stumbles again and again when the intellect is impaired.27

Cultivate the thoughts of an immortal by being lofty of soul, but of a mortal by enjoying in due measure the good things which you possess.28 [33]

Consider culture to be a good so far superior to the lack of culture that while in general everyone derives gain from the practice of vice, boorishness29 is the one vice which actually penalizes its possessors; for the latter are often punished in deed for the offences they give by their words.

When you desire to make a friend of anyone, say good things about him to those who are wont to report them; for praise is the foundation of friendship, as blame is that of enmity. [34]

In your deliberations, let the past be an exemplar for the future;30 for the unknown may be soonest discerned by reference to the known.31 Be slow in deliberation, but be prompt to carry out your resolves. Consider that as the best thing which we have from the gods is good fortune, so the best thing which we have in ourselves is good judgement. When there is anything of which you are ashamed to speak openly, but about which you wish to confer with some of your friends, speak as though it were another's affair; thus you will get at their opinion, and will not betray your own case. [35] Whenever you purpose to consult with anyone about your affairs, first observe how he has managed his own; for he who has shown poor judgement in conducting his own business will never give wise counsel about the business of others. The greatest incentive you can have to deliberation is to observe the misfortunes which spring from the lack of it; for we pay the closest attention to our health when we recall the pains which spring from disease. [36]

Pattern after the character of kings, and follow closely their ways. For you will thus be thought to approve them and emulate them, and as a result you will have greater esteem in the eyes of the multitude and a surer hold on the favor of royalty. Obey the laws which have been laid down by kings, but consider their manner of life your highest law. For just as one who is a citizen in a democracy must pay court to the multitude, so also one who lives under a monarchy should revere the king.32 [37]

When you are placed in authority, do not employ any unworthy person in your administration; for people will blame you for any mistakes which he may make. Retire from your public trusts, not more wealthy, but more highly esteemed; for the praise of a people is better than many possessions.

Never support or defend a bad cause, for people will suspect that you yourself do the things which you aid others in doing. [38]

Put yourself in a position in which you have the power to take advantage, but refrain when you have your fair share, so that men may think that you strive for justice, not from weakness, but from a sense of equity. Prefer honest poverty to unjust wealth;33 for justice is better than riches in that riches profit us only while we live, while justice provides us glory even after we are dead, and while riches are shared by bad men, justice is a thing in which the wicked can have no part.34 [39] Never emulate those who seek to gain by injustice, but cleave rather to those who have suffered loss in the cause of justice; for if the just have no other advantage over the unjust, at any rate they surpass them in their high hopes.35 [40]

Give careful heed to all that concerns your life, but above all train your own intellect; for the greatest thing in the smallest compass is a sound mind in a human body.36 Strive with your body to be a lover of toil, and with your soul to be a lover of wisdom, in order that with the one you may have the strength to carry out your resolves, and with the other the intelligence to foresee what is for your good. [41]

Always when you are about to say anything, first weigh it in your mind; for with many the tongue outruns the thought.37 Let there be but two occasions for speech—when the subject is one which you thoroughly know and when it is one on which you are compelled to speak. On these occasions alone is speech better than silence; on all others, it is better to be silent than to speak. [42]

Consider that nothing in human life is stable;38 for then you will not exult overmuch in prosperity, nor grieve overmuch in adversity.39 Rejoice over the good things which come to you, but grieve in moderation over the evils which befall you, and in either case do not expose your heart to others;40 for it were strange to hide away one's treasure in the house, and yet walk about laying bare one's feelings to the world. [43]

Be more careful in guarding against censure than against danger; for the wicked may well dread the end of life, but good men should dread ignominy during life. Strive by all means to live in security,41 but if ever it falls to your lot to face the dangers of battle, seek to preserve your life, but with honor and not with disgrace; for death is the sentence which fate has passed on all mankind, but to die nobly is the special honor which nature has reserved for the good. [44]

Do not be surprised that many things which I have said do not apply to you at your present age. For I also have not overlooked this fact, but I have deliberately chosen to employ this one treatise, not only to convey to you advice for your life now, but also to leave with you precepts for the years to come; for you will then readily perceive the application of my precepts, but you will not easily find a man who will give you friendly counsel. In order, therefore, that you may not seek the rest from another source, but that you may draw from this as from a treasure-house, I thought that I ought not to omit any of the counsels which I have to give you. [45]

And I shall be most grateful to the gods if I am not disappointed in the opinion which I have of you. For, while we find that the great majority of other men seek the society of those friends who join them in their follies and not of those who admonish them, just as they prefer the most pleasant to the most wholesome food,42 you, I think, are minded otherwise, as I judge from the industry you display in your general education. For when one sets for himself the highest standard of conduct, it is probable that in his relation to others he will approve only of those who exhort him to virtue. [46] But most of all would you be spurred on to strive for noble deeds if you should realize that it is from them most of all that we also derive pleasure in the true sense. For while the result of indolence and love of surfeit is that pain follows on the heels of pleasure,43 on the other hand, devoted toil in the pursuit of virtue, and self-control in the ordering of one's life always yield delights that are pure and more abiding. In the former case we experience pain following upon pleasure, in the latter we enjoy pleasure after pain. [47] In all our tasks we are not so much mindful of the beginning as we are sensible of the end; for we do most things in life not for themselves; it is rather for the sake of what results from them that we carry on our labors. [48]

Bear in mind that while the base may be pardoned for acting without principle, since it is on such a foundation that from the first their lives have been built, yet the good may not neglect virtue without subjecting themselves to rebukes from many quarters; for all men despise less those who do wrong than those who have claimed to be respect able and yet are in fact no better than the common run; [49] and rightly, too, for when we condemn those who deceive us in words alone, how, pray, can we deny the baseness of those who in their whole lives belie their promise?44 We should be right in judging that such men not only sin against themselves, but are traitors to fortune as well; for fortune places in their hands wealth and reputation and friends, but they, for their part, make themselves unworthy of the blessings which lie within their grasp. [50]

And if a mortal may make conjecture of the thoughts of the gods, I think that they also have revealed very clearly in their treatment of their nearest kin how they are disposed to the good and base among men. For Zeus, who, as the myths relate and all men believe, was the father of Heracles and Tantalus, made the one immortal because of his virtue, and inflicted on the other the severest punishments because of his evil character. [51]

With these examples before you, you should aspire to nobility of character, and not only abide by what I have said, but acquaint yourself with the best things in the poets as well, and learn from the other wise men also any useful lessons they have taught.45 [52] For just as we see the bee settling on all the flowers, and sipping the best from each, so also those who aspire to culture ought not to leave anything untasted, but should gather useful knowledge from every source.46 For hardly even with these pains can they overcome the defects of nature.

1 For the sentiment that bad men make poor friends cf. Theog. 101 ff., and Socrates in Xen. Mem. 2.6.19.

2 For the meaning of “philosophy” in Isocrates see Introduction, pp. xxv. ff.

3 Hermogenes, Περὶ μεθόδου δεινότητος, 25, refers to this introduction as an example of inoffensive self-laudation in the orators.

4 For Isocrates' insistence on right conduct as the end of education see Introduction, p. xxv.

5 This discourse is really hortatory in the general sense of that word, but Isocrates distinguishes it from hortatory （“protreptic”） discourses of the sophists, which were lectures to stimulate interest in whatever kind of learning they professed to teach, commonly oratory.

6 Cf. Isoc. 4.1.

7 Cf. Bacchyl. 3.78 （Jebb）: “As a mortal thou must nourish each of two forebodings;—that to-morrow's sunlight will be the last that thou shalt see; or that for fifty years thou wilt live out thy life in ample wealth;” and Lucian, Anthol. Pal . x. 26: ὡς τεθηνξόμενος τῶν σῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀπόλαυε ὡς δὲ βιωσόμενος φείδεο σῶν κτεάων.

8 This intention was not, so far as we know, carried out.

9 Cf. Theognis 171 θεοῖς εὐχευ, θεοῖς ἐστιν ἔπι κράτος.

10 Isocrates anticipates the golden rule.Cf. Isoc. 3.61; Isoc. 2.24, 38; Isoc. 4.81.

11 Cf. Lord Chesterfield, Letters , 144: “Frequent and loud laughter is characteristic of folly and ill manners.”

12 Cf. Isoc. 1.46

13 Apparently borrowed form Thales. See Diog. Laert. 1.36 ἐὰν τοῖς ἀλλοις ἐπιτιμῶμεν αὐτοὶ δρῶμεν. Cf. Isoc. 1.14 and note.

14 Sandys quotes from Ascham's Scholemaster : “Isocrates did cause to be written at the entrie of his schole, in golden letters, this golden sentence, ἐὰν ᾖς φιλομαθής, ἔσῃ πολυμαθής, which excellentlie said in Greek, is thus rudelie in English, ‘If thous lovest lerning, thou shalt attayne to moch learning.’” The words were in fact inscribed “in golden letters” over the portal to Shrewsbury School.

15 Echoed unmistakably from Theog. 71-2: ἀλλὰ μετ᾽ ἐσθλὸν ἰὼν βουλεύεο πολλὰ μογήσας καὶ μακρὴν ποσσίν, Κύρν᾽, ὁδὸν ἐκτελέσας.

16 Cf. Hom. Il. 13.636 πάντων μὲν κόρος ἐστί; Aristoph. Pl. 189 τῶν μὲν γὰρ ἄλλων ἐστὶ πάντων πλησμονή.

17 So also Democritus, Stobaeus, Flor. xxix. 63.

18 The Greek ideal of freedom through self-control, See Socrates in Xen. Mem. 4.5. Cf. Isoc. 3.29.

19 Cf. Xen. Mem. 2.6.6.

20 Cf. Solon, quoted in Diog. Laert. 1.60: φίλους μὴ ταχὺ κτῶ: οὓς δ᾽ ἂν κτήσῃ μὴ ἀποδοκίμαζε.

21 For both the figure and the sentiment cf. Theog. 415.

22 The “get even” standard of honor in popular thought. Cf. Theog. 869-72: ἔν μοι ἔπειτα πέσοι μέγας οὐρανὸς εὐρὺς ὕπερθεν χάλκεος, ἀνθρώπων δεῖμα χαμαιγενέων, εἰ μὴ ἐγὼ τοῖσιν μὲν ἐπαρκέσω οἵ με φιλοῦσιν, τοῖς δ᾽ ἐχθροῖς ἀνίν καὶ μέγα πῆμ᾽ ἔσομαι. Even Socrates reflects this standard in Xen. Mem. 2.6.35. Not so Socrates in Plato: see Plat. Rep. 335a.

23 See Socrates' analysis of envy in Xen. Mem. 3.9.8.

24 The same cynicism is expressed in Theog. 105-106: δειλοὺς εὖ ἔρδοντι ματαιοτάτη χάρις ἐστίν: ἶσον καὶ σπείρειν πόντον ἁλὸς πολιῆς.

25 For drinking-parties in Athens see Isocrates' picture in Isoc. 15.286-7.

26 Theognis gives the same advice, Theog. 484 ff.

27 This recalls the figure of the charioteer and the two horses in Plat. Phaedrus 247a-c. There is an exact parallel in Libanius, xii. 40.

28 Cf. Isoc. 1.9

29 The translation of this perplexing sentence takes αὔτη to refer to ἀπαιδυεσία, following Sandys.

30 Cf. Isoc. 2.35.

31 The same idea is attributed to Cleobulus, Stob. Flor. 3.31 τὰ ἁφανῆ τοῖς φανεροῖς τεκμαίρου.

32 Isocrates' defense of his advice to the young Nicocles in Isoc. 15.70 applies here. See Isoc. 2, introduction.

33 Cf. Theog. 145-8: βούλεο δ᾽ εὐσεβέων σὺν χρήμασιν οἰκεῖν ἢ πλουτεῖν, ἀδίκως χρημάτα πασάμενος. ἐν δὲ δικαιοσύνῃ συλλήβδην πᾶσ᾽ ἀρετή ἐστιν, πᾶς δέ τ᾽ ἀνὴρ ἀγαθός, Κύρνε, δίκαιος ἐών..

34 Cf. Isoc. 2.32; Theog. 315-18: πολλοέ τοι πλουτοῦσι κακοί, ἀγαθοὶ δὲ πένονται: ἀλλ᾽ ἡμεῖς τούτοις οὐ διαμειψόμεθα τῆς ἀρετῆς τὸν πλοῦτιν, ἐπεὶ τὸ μὲν ἔμπεδον αἰεί, χρήματα δ᾽ ἀνθρώπων ἄλλοτε ἄλλος ἔχει.

35 This suggests the noble passage on just living in Isoc. 8.34. Cf. Isoc. 4.28 and note. Life beyond this life is a “hope” in Isocrates; what he is sure of is the immortality of fame. See Isoc. 5.134.

36 From Periander. See Stob. Flor . iii. 56: Περίανδρος ἐρωτηθείς, τί μέγιστον ἐν ἐλαχίστῳ, εἶπε, φρένες ἀγαθαὶ ἐν σώματι ἀνθρώπου

37 From Chilo. See Diog. Laert. i. 70: ἡ γλῶσσά σου μὴ προτρεχέτω τοῦ νοῦ

38 Cf. Isoc. 1.29; Theog. 585.

39 Cf. Isoc. 2.39; Isoc. 12.30; Theog. 591 ff.: τολμᾶν χρή, τὰ διδοῦσι θεοὶ θνητοῖσι βροτοῖσιν, ῥηιδίως δὲ φέρειν ἀμφοτέρων τὸ λάχος, μήτο κακοῖσιν ἀσῶντα λίην φρένα, μήτ᾽ ἀγαθοῖσιν τερφθέντ᾽ ἐξαπίνης, πρὶν τέλος ἄκρον ἰδεῖν. and Kipling: “If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat these two imposters just the same.”

40 Cf. Theog. 1162.

41 Cf. Isoc. 2.13.

42 Cf. Isoc. 2.42-45.

43 Cf. Isoc. 1.16; Plat. Phaedo 60b

44 Cf. Isoc. 12.243.

45 Cf. Isoc. 2.13.

46 The figure is used by Lucretius in the same sense, De rerum natura iii. 11-12: floriferis ut apes in saltibus omnia libant,/omnia nos itidem depascimur aurea dicta.

When men make it a habit, Nicocles, to bring to you who are rulers of kingdoms articles of dress or of bronze or of wrought gold,1 or other such valuables of which they themselves have need and you have plenty, it seems to me all too evident that they are not engaged in giving but in bargaining, and that they are much more skillful in disposing of their wares than those who are professedly in trade. [2] For my part, I should think that this would be the finest and the most serviceable present and the most suitable for me to give and for you to receive—I could prescribe what pursuits you should aspire to and from what you should abstain in order to govern to the best advantage your state and kingdom.

For when men are in private life, many things contribute to their education: first and foremost, the absence of luxury among them, and the necessity they are under to take thought each day for their livelihood; [3] next, the laws by which in each case their civic life is governed; furthermore, freedom of speech and the privilege which is openly granted to friends to rebuke and to enemies to attack each other's faults; besides, a number of the poets of earlier times2 have left precepts which direct them how to live; so that, from all these influences, they may reasonably be expected to become better men. [4] Kings, however, have no such help; on the contrary, they, who more than other men should be thoroughly trained, live all their lives, from the time when they are placed in authority, without admonition; for the great majority of people do not come in contact with them, and those who are of their society consort with them to gain their favor. Indeed, although they are placed in authority over vast wealth and mighty affairs, they have brought it about because of their misuse of these advantages that many debate whether it were best to choose the life of men in private station who are reasonably prosperous, or the life of princes. [5] For when men look at their honors, their wealth, and their powers, they all think that those who are in the position of kings are the equals of the gods; but when they reflect on their fears and their dangers, and when, as they review the history of monarchs, they see instances where they have been slain by those from whom they least deserved that fate, other instances where they have been constrained to sin against those nearest and dearest to them, and still others where they have experienced both of these calamities, then they reverse their judgement and conclude that it is better to live in any fashion whatsoever than, at the price of such misfortunes, to rule over all Asia. [6] And the cause of this inconsistency and confusion is that men believe that the office of king is, like that of priest,3 one which any man can fill, whereas it is the most important of human functions and demands the greatest wisdom.

Now as to each particular course of action, it is the business of those who are at the time associated with a king to advise him how he may handle it in the best way possible, and how he may both preserve what is good and prevent disaster; but as regards a king's conduct in general, I shall attempt to set forth the objects at which he should aim and the pursuits to which he should devote himself. [7] Whether the gift when finished shall be worthy of the design, it is hard to tell at the beginning; for many writings both in verse and in prose, while still in the minds of their composers, have aroused high expectations; but when completed and shown to the world have won a repute far inferior to their promise. [8] And yet the mere attempt is well worth while—to seek a field that has been neglected by others and lay down principles for monarchs; for those who educate men in private stations benefit them alone, but if one can turn those who rule over the multitude toward a life of virtue, he will help both classes, both those who hold positions of authority and their subjects; for he will give to kings a greater security in office and to the people a milder government. [9]

First, then, we must consider what is the function of kings; for if we can properly encompass the essence of the whole matter in a general principle4 we shall, with this before us, speak to better purpose about its parts. I think that all would agree that it is a king's business to relieve the state when it is in distress, to maintain it in prosperity, and to make it great when it is small; for it is with these ends in view that the other duties which present themselves day by day must be performed. [10] And surely this much is clear, that those who are able to do all this, and who pronounce on matters of so great moment, must not be indolent nor careless, but must see to it that they are superior to all others in intelligence; for it is evident that they will reign well or ill according to the manner in which they equip their own minds.5 [11] Therefore, no athlete is so called upon to train his body as is a king to train his soul;6 for not all the public festivals in the world offer a prize comparable to those for which you who are kings strive every day of your lives.

This thought you must lay to heart, and see to it that in proportion as you are above the others in rank so shall you surpass them in virtue; [12] and do not hold the view that while diligence is of use in all other matters it is of no avail to make us better and wiser; and do not deem us, the human kind, so unfortunate that, although in dealing with wild beasts we have discovered arts by which we tame their spirits and increase their worth, yet in our own case we are powerless to help ourselves in the pursuit of virtue.7 On the contrary, be convinced that education and diligence are in the highest degree potent to improve our nature, [13] and associate yourself with the wisest of those who are about you and send for the wisest men from abroad whenever this is possible. And do not imagine that you can afford to be ignorant of anyone either of the famous poets or of the sages; rather you should listen to the poets and learn from the sages and so equip your mind to judge those who are inferior and to emulate those who are superior to yourself; for it is through this training that you can soonest become such a man as we have assumed that one must be who is to perform properly the duties of a king, and to govern the state as he should. [14] But8 the strongest challenge to your task you will find in yourself, if only you consider it monstrous that the worse should rule the better,9 and that the more foolish should give orders to men of greater wisdom; for the more vigorously you condemn folly in others, the more diligently will you train your own understanding. [15]

This, then, should be the starting-point for those who set out to do their duty. But, in addition, one must be a lover of men and a lover of his country; for neither horses nor dogs nor men nor any other thing can be properly controlled except by one who takes pleasure in the objects for which it is his duty to care. You must care for the people and make it your first consideration to rule acceptably to them, [16] knowing that all governments—oligarchies as well as the others—have the longest life when they best serve the masses. You will be a wise leader of the people if you do not allow the multitude either to do or to suffer outrage, but see to it that the best among them shall have the honors,10 while the rest shall suffer no impairment of their rights; for these are the first and most important elements of good government. [17]

When public ordinances and institutions are not well founded, alter and change them. If possible, originate for yourself what is best for your country, but, failing in this, imitate what is good in other countries. Seek laws that are altogether just and expedient and consistent with each other and, moreover, those which cause the fewest possible controversies and bring about the speediest possible settlements for your citizens; for all these qualities should be found in wise legislation. [18] Make industry profitable for your people and lawsuits detrimental, in order that they may shun the latter and embrace the former with greater willingness. In pronouncing on matters about which there is mutual dispute, do not render decisions which exhibit favoritism or inconsistency, but let your verdicts on the same issues be always the same; for it is both right and expedient that the judgements of kings on questions of justice should be invariable, like wisely ordained laws. [19] Manage the city as you would your ancestral estate: in the matter of its appointments, splendidly and royally; in the matter of its revenues, strictly, in order that you may possess the good opinion of your people and at the same time have sufficient means. Display magnificence, not in any of the extravagant outlays which straightway vanish, but in the ways which I have mentioned, and in the beauty of the objects which you possess, and in the benefits which you bestow upon your friends; for such expenditures will not be lost to you while you live, and you will leave to those who follow you a heritage worth more than what you have spent. [20]

In the worship of the gods, follow the example of your ancestors, but believe that the noblest sacrifice and the greatest devotion is to show yourself in the highest degree a good and just man; for such men have greater hope of enjoying a blessing from the gods11 than those who slaughter many victims. Honor with office those of your friends who are nearest of kin, but honor in very truth those who are the most loyal. [21] Believe that your staunchest body-guard lies in the virtue of your friends, the loyalty of your citizens and your own wisdom;12 for it is through these that one can best acquire as well as keep the powers of royalty. Watch over the estates of your citizens, and consider that the spenders are paying from your pocket, and the workers are adding to your wealth; for all the property of those who live in the state belongs to kings who rule them well. [22] Throughout all your life show that you value truth so highly that your word is more to be trusted than the oaths of other men.13 To all foreigners, see that the city offers security and good faith in its engagements; and in your treatment of those who come from abroad, make the most, not of those who bring you gifts, but of those who expect to receive gifts from you; for by honoring such men you will have greater esteem from the rest of the world. [23] Deliver your citizens from their many fears, and be not willing that dread should beset men who have done no wrong; for even as you dispose others toward you, so you will feel toward them. Do nothing in anger, but simulate anger when the occasion demands it. Show yourself stern by overlooking nothing which men do, but kind by making the punishment less than the offense. [24]

Be not willing to show your authority by harshness or by undue severity in punishment, but by causing your subjects one and all to defer to your judgement and to believe that your plans for their welfare are better than their own. Be warlike in your knowledge of war and in your preparations for it, but peaceful in your avoidance of all unjust aggression.14 Deal with weaker states as you would expect stronger states to deal with you.15 [25] Do not be contentious in all things, but only where it will profit you to have your own way. Do not think men weak who yield a point to their own advantage, but rather those who prevail to their own injury. Do not consider that the great souls are those who undertake more than they can achieve, but those who, having noble aims, are also able to accomplish whatever they attempt. [26] Emulate, not those who have most widely extended their dominion, but those who have made best use of the power they already possess;16 and believe that you will enjoy the utmost happiness, not if you rule over the whole world at the price of fears and dangers and baseness, but rather if, being the man you should be, and continuing to act as at the present moment, you set your heart on moderate achievements and fail in none of them. [27]

Do not give your friendship to everyone who desires it, but only to those who are worthy of you; not to those whose society you will most enjoy, but to those with whose help you will best govern the state. Subject your associates to the most searching tests, knowing that all who are not in close touch with you will think that you are like those with whom you live. When you put men in charge of affairs which are not under your personal direction, be governed by the knowledge that you yourself will be held responsible for whatever they do. [28] Regard as your most faithful friends, not those who praise everything you say or do, but those who criticize your mistakes. Grant freedom of speech to those who have good judgement, in order that when you are in doubt you may have friends who will help you to decide. Distinguish between those who artfully flatter and those who loyally serve you, that the base may not fare better than the good. Listen to what men say about each other and try to discern at the same time the character of those who speak and of those about whom they speak. [29] Visit the same punishment on false-accusers as on evil-doers.

Govern yourself no less than your subjects, and consider that you are in the highest sense a king when you are a slave to no pleasure17 but rule over your desires more firmly than over your people. Do not contract any intimacy heedlessly or without reflection, but accustom yourself to take pleasure in that society which will contribute to your advancement and heighten your fame in the eyes of the world. [30] Do not show yourself ambitious for those things which lie within the power of base men also to achieve, but show that you pride yourself on virtue, in which base men have no part.18 Consider that the truest respect is shown you, not in the public demonstrations which are inspired by fear, but when people in the privacy of their homes speak with admiration of your wisdom rather than of your fortune. Let it not be known of men if perchance you take delight in things of small account, but let the world see that you are zealous about matters of the greatest moment. [31]

Do not think that while all other people should live with sobriety, kings may live with license; on the contrary, let your own self-control stand as an example to the rest, realizing that the manners of the whole state are copied from its rulers.19 Let it be a sign to you that you rule wisely if you see all your subjects growing more prosperous and more temperate because of your oversight. [32] Consider it more important to leave to your children a good name than great riches; for riches endure for a day, a good name for all time; a good name may bring wealth,20 but wealth cannot buy a good name; wealth comes even to men of no account, but a good name can only be acquired by men of superior merit.21 Be sumptuous in your dress and personal adornment, but simple and severe, as befits a king, in your other habits, that those who see you may judge from your appearance that you are worthy of your office, and that those who are intimate with you may form the same opinion from your strength of soul. [33]

Keep watch always on your words and actions, that you may fall into as few mistakes as possible. For while it is best to grasp your opportunities at exactly the right moment, yet, since they are difficult to discern, choose to fall short rather than to overreach them;22 for the happy mean is to be found in defect rather than in excess. [34] Try to combine courtesy with dignity; for dignity is in keeping with the position of a king and courtesy is becoming in his social intercourse. Yet no admonition is so difficult to carry out as this; for you will find that for the most part those who affect dignity are cold, while those who desire to be courteous appear to lower themselves; yet you should cultivate both these qualities and try to avoid the danger that attaches to each. [35] Whenever you desire to gain a thorough understanding of such things as it is fitting that kings should know, pursue them by practice as well as by study; for study will show you the way but training yourself in the actual doing of things will give you power to deal with affairs.

Reflect on the fortunes and accidents which befall both common men and kings, for if you are mindful of the past you will plan better for the future. [36] Consider that where there are common men who are ready to lay down their lives23 that they may be praised after they are dead, it is shameful for kings not to have the courage to pursue a course of conduct from which they will gain renown during their lives. Prefer to leave behind you as a memorial images of your character rather than of your body. Put forth every effort to preserve your own and your state's security, but if you are compelled to risk your life, choose to die with honor rather than to live in shame.24 [37] In all your actions remember that you are a king, and take care never to do anything which is beneath the dignity of your station.

Do not suffer your life to be at once wholly blotted out, but since you were allotted a perishable body, seek to leave behind an imperishable memorial of your soul.25 [38] Make it your practice to talk of things that are good and honorable, that your thoughts may through habit come to be like your words. Whatever seems to you upon careful thought to be the best course, put this into effect. If there are men whose reputations you envy, imitate their deeds. Whatever advice you would give to your children, consent to follow it yourself. Make use of the precepts which I have given you or else seek better counsel. [39] Regard as wise men, not those who dispute subtly about trifling matters, but those who speak well on the great issues;26 and not those who, being themselves in sorry straits, hold forth to others the promise of a prosperous fortune, but those who, while making modest claims for themselves, are able to deal with both affairs and men, and are not upset by the vicissitudes of existence, but have learned to bear moderately and bravely both the good and the evil chances of life.27 [40]

And do not be surprised that in what I have said there are many things which you know as well as I. This is not from inadvertence on my part, for I have realized all along that among so great a multitude both of mankind in general and of their rulers there are some who have uttered one or another of these precepts, some who have heard them, some who have observed other people put them into practice, and some who are carrying them out in their own lives. [41] But the truth is that in discourses of this sort we should not seek novelties, for in these discourses it is not possible to say what is paradoxical or incredible or outside the circle of accepted belief; but, rather, we should regard that man as the most accomplished in this field who can collect the greatest number of ideas scattered among the thoughts of all the rest and present them in the best form. [42]

Moreover, this has been clear to me from the first, that while all men think that those compositions, whether in verse or prose, are the most useful which counsel us how to live, yet it is certainly not to them that they listen with greatest pleasure; nay, they feel about these just as they feel about the people who admonish them; for while they praise the latter, they choose for associates28 those who share in, and not those who would dissuade them from, their faults. [43] As a case in point, one might cite the poetry of Hesiod and Theognis and Phocylides;29 for these, they say, have proved the best counsellors for human conduct; but in spite of what they say, people prefer to occupy themselves with each other's follies rather than with the admonitions of these teachers. [44] And, again, if one were to make a selection from the leading poets of their maxims, as we call them, into which they have put their best thought, men would show a similar attitude toward them also; for they would lend a readier ear to the cheapest comedy30 than to the creations of such finished art.

Yet why should I spend time in giving single instances? [45] For if we are willing to survey human nature as a whole, we shall find that the majority of men do not take pleasure in the food31 that is the most wholesome, nor in the pursuits that are the most honorable, nor in the actions that are the noblest, nor in the creatures that are the most useful, but that they have tastes which are in every way contrary to their best interests, while they view those who have some regard for their duty as men of austere and laborious lives. [46] How, then, can one advise or teach or say anything of profit and yet please such people? For, besides what I have said of them, they look upon men of wisdom with suspicion, while they regard men of no understanding as open and sincere; and they so shun the verities of life that they do not even know their own interests: nay, it irks them to take account of their own business and it delights them to discuss the business of others; [47] and they would rather be ill in body than exert the soul and give thought to anything in the line of duty. Observe them when they are in each other's company, and you will find them giving and taking abuse; observe them when they are by themselves, and you will find them occupied, not with plans, but with idle dreams. I am, however, speaking now not of all, but of those only who are open to the charges I have made. [48]

This much, however, is clear, that those who aim to write anything in verse or prose which will make a popular appeal should seek out, not the most profitable discourses, but those which most abound in fictions; for the ear delights in these just as the eye delights in games and contests. Wherefore we may well admire the poet Homer and the first inventors of tragedy, seeing that they, with true insight into human nature, have embodied both kinds of pleasure in their poetry; [49] for Homer has dressed the contests and battles of the demigods in myths, while the tragic poets have rendered the myths in the form of contests and action, so that they are presented, not to our ears alone, but to our eyes as well. With such models, then, before us, it is evident that those who desire to command the attention of their hearers must abstain from admonition and advice, and must say the kind of things which they see are most pleasing to the crowd. [50]

I have dwelt on these matters because I think that you, who are not one of the multitude but a king over the multitude, ought not to be of the same mind as men at large; you ought not to judge what things are worthy or what men are wise by the standard of pleasure, but to appraise them in the light of conduct that is useful; [51] especially, since the teachers of philosophy, however much they debate about the proper discipline of the soul （some contending that it is through disputation,32 others that it is through political discussion, others that it is through other means that their disciples are to attain to greater wisdom）, yet are all agreed on this, that the well-educated man must, as the result of this training in whatever discipline, show ability to deliberate and decide. [52] You should, therefore, avoid what is in controversy and test men's value in the light of what is generally agreed upon, if possible taking careful note of them when they present their views on particular situations; or, if that is not possible, when they discuss general questions. And when they are altogether lacking in what they ought to know, reject them （for it is clear that if one is of no use in himself, neither can he make another man wise）; [53] but when they are intelligent and able to see farther than the rest, prize them and cherish them, knowing that a good counsellor is the most useful and the most princely of all possessions. And believe that those contribute most to the greatness of your reign who can contribute most to your understanding. [54]

Now I, for my part, have offered you all the good counsels which I know, and I honor you with these gifts which I have at my command; and do you, recalling what I said in the beginning, desire that your other friends also shall bring you, not the usual presents, which you purchase at a much greater cost from those who give than from those who sell, but gifts of such a nature that, even though you make hard use of them every day without fail, you will never wear them out, but will, on the contrary, enlarge them and increase their worth.

1 Echoed from Hom. Od. 16.231.

2 Especially the “gnomic” poets mentioned in 43.

3 The priestly office in Greece demanded care in the administration of ritual, but, apart from this, no special competence; it was often hereditary and sometimes filled by lot.

4 For the habit of definition in Isocrates see General Introd. p. xvii.

5 Cf. Isoc. 9.41.

6 Cf. Isoc. 1.12.

7 This thought and comparison is elaborated with verbal echoes from here in Isoc. 15.209-214. Cf. the debate on whether virtue can be taught: Theog. 429; Xen. Mem. 1.2.19 ff.; Plat. Meno 95e. A conservative opinion is expressed on the question by Isocrates in Isoc. 15.209-214.

8 The passage here to 39 is quoted in a somewhat abbreviated form in Isoc. 15.73.

9 Cf. Isoc. 3.14 ff.

10 Cf. Isoc. 3.14.

11 Cf. Isoc. 1.39 and note.

12 Cf. Isoc. 10.37.

13 Cf. Isoc. 4.81.

14 Cf. Isoc. 8.136.

15 For the golden rule in the relations of states compare Isoc. 4.81. Cf. Isoc. 1.14 and note.

16 Cf. Isoc. 3.34.

17 Cf. Isoc. 1.21.

18 Cf. Isoc. 1.38.

19 Cf. Isoc. 3.37; Cicero, Ep. ad Fam. i. 9. 12: “quales in republica principles essent, tales reliquos soler esse cives.”

20 Cf. Isoc. 3.50.

21 It is a commonplace of Greek ethics that “virtue” （wisdom, justice, temperance） and the good name which it ensures are enduring possessions in which the worthy only may share, as distinguished from such transitory goods as wealth, power, beauty, etc., which are shared even by the base. Cf. 30; Isoc. 1.6, 19, 38; Isoc. 2.32; Isoc. 5.135 ff.

22 Cf. Artistot. Nic. Eth. 2.5; Cicero, Orat. xxii. : “etsi suus cuique rei modus est, tamen magis offendit nimium quam parum.”

23 Cf. Isoc. 5.135.

24 Cf. Isoc. 1.43.

25 Cf. Isoc. 5.134; Isoc. 1.39 and note.

26 Cf. Isoc. 4.188-189 and note.

27 Cf. Isoc. 1.42 and note.

28 Cf. Isoc. 1.45.

29 Theognis and Phocylides （middle of sixth century） were the leading gnomic poets. Theognis was used in the schools, and we have over a thousand of his verses. Phocylides survives in but a few fragments. Hesiod is classed with them because in his epic The Works and Days are scattered many maxims.

30 Isocrates had a poor opinion of comedy, himself having been subjected to its licence. Cf. Isoc. 8.14.

31 Cf. Isoc. 1.45.

32 See Isoc. 12.26; Isoc. 15.261; General Introduction, p. xxi.

There are people who frown upon eloquence and censure men who study philosophy,1 asserting that those who engage in such occupations do so, not for the sake of virtue, but for their own advantage. Now, I should be glad if those who take this position would tell me why they blame men who are ambitious to speak well, but applaud men who desire to act rightly; for if it is the pursuit of one's own advantage which gives them offense, we shall find that more and greater advantages are gained from actions than from speech. [2] Moreover, it is passing strange if the fact has escaped them that we reverence the gods and practice justice, and cultivate the other virtues, not that we may be worse off than our fellows, but that we may pass our days in the enjoyment of as many good things as possible. They should not, therefore, condemn these means by which one may gain advantage2 without sacrifice of virtue, but rather those men who do wrong in their actions or who deceive by their speech and put their eloquence to unjust uses. [3]

I am astonished that those who hold the view to which I have just referred do not rail also against wealth and strength and courage; for if they are really hostile to eloquence because there are men who do wrong and speak falsehood, they ought to disparage as well all other good things; for there will be found also among men who possess these some who do wrong and use these advantages to the injury of many.3 [4] Nevertheless, it is not fair to decry strength because there are persons who assault people whom they encounter, nor to traduce courage because there are those who slay men wantonly, nor in general to transfer to things the depravity of men, but rather to put the blame on the men themselves who misuse the good things, and who, by the very powers which might help their fellow-countrymen, endeavor to do them harm.4 [5]

But the fact is that since they have not taken the trouble to make distinctions after this manner in each instance, they are ill-disposed to all eloquence; and they have gone so far astray as not to perceive that they are hostile to that power which of all the faculties that belong to the nature of man is the source of most of our blessings. For in the other powers which we possess we are in no respect superior to other living creatures; nay, we are inferior to many in swiftness and in strength and in other resources; [6] but, because there has been implanted in us the power to persuade each other and to make clear to each other whatever we desire, not only have we escaped the life of wild beasts, but we have come together and founded cities and made laws and invented arts; and, generally speaking, there is no institution devised by man which the power of speech has not helped us to establish.5 [7] For this it is which has laid down laws concerning things just and unjust, and things base and honorable; and if it were not for these ordinances we should not be able to live with one another. It is by this also that we confute the bad and extol the good. Through this we educate the ignorant and appraise the wise; for the power to speak well is taken as the surest index of a sound understanding, and discourse which is true and lawful and just is the outward image of a good and faithful soul. [8] With this faculty we both contend against others on matters which are open to dispute and seek light for ourselves on things which are unknown; for the same arguments which we use in persuading others when we speak in public, we employ also when we deliberate in our own thoughts; and, while we call eloquent those who are able to speak before a crowd, we regard as sage those who most skilfully debate their problems in their own minds. [9] And, if there is need to speak in brief summary of this power, we shall find that none of the things which are done with intelligence take place without the help of speech, but that in all our actions as well as in all our thoughts speech is our guide, and is most employed by those who have the most wisdom. Therefore, those who dare to speak with disrespect of educators and teachers of philosophy deserve our opprobrium no less than those who profane the sanctuaries of the gods. [10]

I, myself, welcome all forms of discourse which are capable of benefiting us even in a small degree; however, I regard those as the best and most worthy of a king, and most appropriate to me, which give directions on good morals and good government;6 and especially those which teach how men in power should deal with the people, and how the rank and file should be disposed to their rulers. For I observe that it is through such discourses that states attain the highest prosperity and greatness. [11]

On the former topic, how a ruler should act, you have heard Isocrates speak; on the following topic, what his subjects must do, I shall attempt to discourse, not with any thought of excelling him, but because this is the most fitting subject for me to discuss with you. For if I did not make clear what I desire you to do, I could not reasonably be angry with you if you were to mistake my purpose; but if, after I have announced my policy beforehand, none of my desires are carried out, then I should justly blame those who fail to obey me. [12]

And I believe that I should most effectively exhort you and urge you to remember my words and heed them, not if I should confine myself to giving you advice and then, after counting out my precepts, make an end, but if, before doing this, I should prove to you, first, that you ought to be content with our present government, not only from necessity, nor because we have lived under it all our lives, but because it is the best of all governments; [13] and, second, that I hold this office, not illegally nor as a usurper, but with the just sanction of gods and men, and by virtue of my earliest ancestors, and of my father and of myself. For, once these claims have been established, who will not condemn himself to the severest punishment if he fails to heed my counsels and commands? [14]

Speaking, then, of forms of government （for this was the subject I set out to lay before you）, I imagine that we all believe that it is altogether monstrous7 that the good and the bad should be thought worthy of the same privileges, and that it is of the very essence of justice that distinctions should be made between them, and that those who are unlike should not be treated alike but should fare and be rewarded in each case according to their deserts. [15] Now oligarchies and democracies seek equality for those who share in the administration of them; and the doctrine is in high favor in those governments that one man should not have the power to get more than another—a principle which works in the interest of the worthless! Monarchies, on the other hand, make the highest award to the best man, the next highest to the next best, and in the same proportion to the third and the fourth and so on. Even if this practice does not obtain everywhere, such at least is the intention of the polity. [16] And, mark you, monarchies more than other governments keep an appraising eye upon the characters and actions of men, as everyone will admit. Who, then, that is of sound mind would not prefer to share in a form of government under which his own worth shall not pass unnoticed, rather than be lost in the hurly-burly of the mob and not be recognized for what he is? Furthermore, we should be right in pronouncing monarchy also a milder government, in proportion as it is easier to give heed to the will of a single person than to seek to please many and manifold minds. [17]

Now one might multiply arguments to prove that this form of government is more agreeable and mild and just than others; yet, even from those I have advanced it is easy to see this at a glance. As for its other advantages, we can best appreciate how far monarchies excel other governments in planning and carrying out any course of action required of them if we place their most important practices side by side and try to review them. In the first place, then, men who enter upon office for an annual term are retired to private life before they have gained any insight into public affairs or any experience in handling them; [18] while men who are permanently in charge of the same duties, even though they fall short of the others in natural ability, at any rate have a great advantage over them in experience. In the next place, the former neglect many things, because each looks to the others to do them; while the latter neglect nothing, knowing that whatever is done depends upon their own efforts. Then again, men who live in oligarchies or democracies are led by their mutual rivalries to injure the commonwealth8 while those who live in monarchies, not having anyone to envy, do in all circumstances so far as possible what is best. [19] Furthermore, the former are dilatory in action,9 for they spend most of their time over their private concerns; and when they do assemble in council, you will find them more often quarrelling10 with each other than deliberating together; while the latter, for whom no councils or times of meeting are prescribed, but who apply themselves to the state's business both day and night, do not let opportunities pass them by, but act in each case at the right moment. [20] Again, the former are ill-disposed toward each other and would rather have their predecessors and their successors in office administer the state as badly as possible, in order that they may win for themselves as much credit as possible; while the latter, because they are in control of affairs throughout their lives, are at all times actuated by feelings of good will. [21] But the greatest difference is this: men under other governments give attention to the affairs of state as if they were the concern of others; monarchs, as if they were their own concern;11 and the former employ as their advisers on state affairs the most self-assertive of their citizens, while the latter single out and employ the most sagacious; and the former honor those who are skilful in haranguing the crowd, while the latter honor those who understand how to deal with affairs. [22]

And not only in matters of ordinary routine and of daily occurrence do monarchies excel, but in war they have compassed every advantage;12 for in raising troops, and handling them so as to mislead and forestall the enemy, and in winning people over, now by persuasion, now by force, now by bribery, now by other means of conciliation, one-man rule is more efficient than the other forms of government. And of this one may be assured by facts no less than by words; [23] for, in the first place, we all know that the empire of the Persians attained its great magnitude, not because of the intelligence of the population, but because they more than other peoples respect the royal office; secondly, that Dionysius,13 the tyrant, taking charge of Sicily when the rest of it had been devastated by war and when his own country, Syracuse, was in a state of siege, not only delivered it from the dangers which then threatened, but also made it the greatest of Hellenic states; [24] and again, we know that while the Carthaginians and the Lacedaemonians, who are the best governed peoples of the world,14 are ruled by oligarchies at home, yet, when they take the field, they are ruled by kings. One might also point out that the state15 which more than any other abhors absolute rule meets with disaster when it sends out many generals,16 and with success when it wages war under a single leader. [25]

And, indeed, how could any one show more convincingly than through these instances that monarchy is the most excellent of governments? For we see that those who are permanently ruled by kings have the greatest powers; that those who live in well- conducted oligarchies, when it comes to matters about which they are most concerned, appoint one man, in some cases a general, in others a king, to have full powers over their armies in the field; and that those who abhor absolute rule, whenever they send out many leaders, fail to accomplish a single one of their designs. [26] And, if there is need to speak also of things old in story, it is said that even the gods are ruled by Zeus as king. If the saying is true, it is clear that the gods also prefer this regime; but if, on the other hand, no one knows the truth about this matter, and we by our own conjecture have simply supposed it to be so, it is a proof that we all hold monarchy in the highest esteem; for we should never have said that the gods live under it if we did not believe it to be far superior to all other governments. [27]

Now as to polities, while it is not possible either to search out or declare every detail in which they differ from each other, yet for our present purpose, at least, enough has been said. But to show that I hold my office by natural right is a story much sooner told and less open to dispute. [28] For who does not know how Teucer, the founder of our race, taking with him the ancestors of the rest of our people, came hither over seas and built for them a city and portioned out the land; and that, after his other descendants had lost the throne, my father, Evagoras, won it back again by undergoing the greatest dangers, and wrought so great a change that Phoenicians no longer rule over Salaminians, while they, to whom it belonged in the beginning, are today in possession of the kingdom?17 [29]

Now, of the matters which I proposed to discuss, it remains for me to speak to you about myself, in order that you may realize that I, who rule over you, am of such character that, not only on account of my ancestors, but of myself also, I might justly claim even greater honor than I now enjoy. For I I think you would all agree that the most sovereign of the virtues are temperance and justice, [30] since not only do they benefit us in themselves, but, if we should be minded to look into the natures, powers, and uses of human relations, we would find that those which do not partake18 of these qualities are the causes of great evils, whereas those which are attended by temperance and justice are greatly beneficial to the life of man. If, then, any of my predecessors have gained renown for these virtues, I consider that it is also my right to enjoy the same renown. [31]

As to my sense of justice, you can best observe it from these facts:19 When I was established in power I found the royal treasury empty, all the revenues squandered, the affairs of the state in utter disorder and calling for great care, watchfulness, and outlay of money; and, although I knew that rulers of the other sort in similar straits resort to every shift in order to right their own affairs, and that they feel constrained to do many things which are against their nature, nevertheless I did not fall a victim to any of these temptations; [32] nay, I attended so devotedly and honorably to my duties that I left nothing undone which could contribute to the greatness of the state and advance its prosperity; and toward the citizens of the state I behaved with such mildness that no one has suffered exile or death or confiscation of property or any such misfortune during my reign. [33] And though Hellas was closed to us because of the war which had arisen, and though we were being robbed on every side, I solved most of these difficulties, paying to some their claims in full, to others in part, asking some to postpone theirs, and satisfying others as to their complaints by whatever means I could. Furthermore, though the inhabitants of the island were hostile to me, and the Great King, while outwardly reconciled, was really in an ugly mood, [34] I calmed and appeased both parties by assisting the King zealously and by treating the islanders justly. For I am so far from coveting what belongs to others that, while rulers of the other sort, when they are stronger than their neighbors by ever so little, cut off portions of their territory and seek to get the advantage of them, I did not think it right to take even the land which was offered to me, but prefer rather to hold through just means what is my own than to acquire through base means territory many times greater than that which I now possess. [35] But why need I take the time to speak in detail, especially when I can make clear in a word the truth about myself? For it will be acknowledged that I have never wronged any man; that, on the contrary, I have been of service to many more of my own citizens and of the Hellenes at large and have bestowed upon them both greater gifts than all who have ruled before me put together. And surely those who pride themselves on justice and who profess to be above considerations of money ought to be able to speak in such high terms of their own conduct. [36]

And now on the subject of temperance, also, I have still more important things to recount. For, since I realized that all men are most jealous for their wives and children, being above all quick to resent offenses against them, and that wantonness in these relations is responsible for the greatest evils—many ere now, of princely rank as well as of private station, having lost their lives because of it—, I so strictly avoided all these grounds of offense that, from the time when I became king, no one can charge me with having approached any woman but my own wife. [37] I was not, of course, unaware that those kings also are highly thought of by the multitude who are just in their dealings with their citizens, even though they provide themselves with pleasures from outside their households; but I desired both to put myself as far above such suspicions as possible and at the same time to set up my conduct as a pattern to my people, knowing that the multitude are likely to spend their lives in practices in which they see their rulers occupied. [38]

Then again, I considered that it is also the duty of kings to be as much better than private citizens as they are superior to them in rank; and that those kings act contrary to all reason who compel their subjects to live decently but are themselves less continent than those over whom they rule. [39] Moreover, I saw that while the majority of people are masters of themselves in other matters, even the best are slaves to the passions whose objects are boys and women; and therefore I wanted to show that I could be strong in those things in which I should be superior, not merely to people in general, but even to those who pride themselves on their virtue. [40] Furthermore, I had no patience with the perversity of men who take women in marriage and make them partners in all the relations of life, and then are not satisfied with the compacts which they have made but by their own lawless pleasures bring pain to those whom they expect never to cause them pain and who, though honest in all other partnerships, are without conscience in the partnership of marriage, when they ought to cherish this relationship the more faithfully inasmuch as it is more intimate and more precious than all others. [41] More than that, they are unconsciously storing up for themselves feuds and factions at home in the royal palace. And yet, if kings are to rule well, they must try to preserve harmony, not only in the states over which they hold dominion, but also in their own households and in their places of abode; for all these things are the works of temperance and justice. [42] Nor was I of the same mind as most kings in regard to the begetting of children. I did not think I should have some children by a woman of humbler station and others by one of higher degree, nor that I should leave after me bastard progeny, as well as progeny of legitimate birth; but that all my children should be able to trace their lineage back through the same father and the same mother to Evagoras, my father, among mortals, to the Aeacides among the demigods, and to Zeus20 among the gods, and that not one of the children sprung from my loins should be cheated of this noble origin. [43]

Though many motives impelled me to abide by these principles, not the least incentive was that I saw that courage and cleverness and the other qualities which are held in high esteem are shared by many even among the base, whereas justice and temperance are the possessions of the good and noble alone. I conceived, therefore, that the noblest thing that I could do was to be able to excel my fellows in those virtues in which the bad have no share, and which are the truest and the most abiding and deserve the greatest praise. [44] For these reasons, and with these thoughts in mind, I was more assiduous than anyone else in the practice of temperance, and I chose for my pleasures, not those which are found in acts which yield no honor, but those which are found in the good repute which rewards nobility of character. However, we ought not to test all the virtues in the same set of conditions, but should test justice when a man is in want, temperance when he is in power, continence when he is in the prime of youth. [45] Now in all these situations no one will deny that I have given proof of my nature. When I was left by my father without means, I was so just in my dealings as to injure not one of my citizens; but when I gained the power to do whatever I pleased, I proved myself more temperate than men in private station; and I showed my self-control in both circumstances at an age in which we find that the great majority of men most frequently go morally astray. [46]

I should probably hesitate to say all this before an audience of other people, not that I lack pride in what I have accomplished, but because I might fail to convince them on the evidence of my words alone; you, however, are yourselves my witnesses that all I have said is true. Now men who are moral by nature deserve our praise and admiration, but still more do those deserve it who are such in obedience to reason; [47] for those who are temperate by chance and not by principle may perchance be persuaded to change, but those who, besides being so inclined by nature, have formed the conviction that virtue is the greatest good in the world, will, it is evident, stand firm in this position all their lives.

But the reason why I have spoken at some length both about myself and the other subjects which I have discussed is that I might leave you no excuse for not doing willingly and zealously whatever I counsel and command. [48]

I declare it to be the duty of each one of you to perform whatever tasks you are assigned with diligence and justice for if you fall short in either of these qualities, your conduct must needs suffer by that defect. Do not belittle nor despise a single one of your appointed tasks, thinking that nothing depends upon it; but, knowing that the whole depends for its success or failure on each of the parts, be careful in everything. [49] Display no less concern in my interests than in your own, and do not think that the honors enjoyed by those who successfully administer my affairs are a small reward. Keep your hands off the possessions of others in order that you may be more secure in the possession of your own estates. You should be such in your dealings with others as you expect me to be in my dealings with you. [50] Do not strive to gain riches rather than a good name, knowing that both among the Hellenes and the barbarians as well those who have the highest reputation for virtue have at their command the greatest number of good things. Consider that the making of money unjustly will produce, not wealth, but danger. Do not think that getting is gain or spending is loss; for neither the one nor the other has the same significance at all times, but either, when done in season and with honor, benefits the doer. [51]

And do not regard any one of my orders as a hardship; for those of you who make themselves most serviceable to my interests will most advance the interests of their own households. Let none of you imagine that even what he secretly thinks in his own heart will be hidden from me; nay, let him believe that, though I may be absent in body, yet my thoughts are present at what goes on; for, being of this opinion, you will be more restrained in your deliberations on all matters. [52] Never conceal from me anything that you possess, or that you are doing, or that you intend to do, knowing that where there are things hidden, fears in great number must needs arise. Seek not to be artful nor underhand in your public life, but to be so honest and open that, even if anyone wants to slander you, it will not be easy to do so. Scrutinize your actions and believe that they are evil when you wish to hide from me what you do, and good when my knowledge of them will be likely to make me think better of you. [53] Do not keep silent if you see any who are disloyal to my rule, but expose them and believe that those who aid in concealing crime deserve the same punishment as those who commit it. Consider fortunate, not those who escape detection when they do evil, but those who are innocent of all wrongdoing for it is probable that the former will suffer such ills as they themselves inflict, while the latter will receive the reward which they deserve. [54] Do not form political societies or unions21 without my sanction; for such associations may be an advantage in the other forms of government, but in monarchies they are a danger. Abstain not merely from wrongdoing, but also from such conduct as must needs arouse suspicion. Believe that my friendship is very sure and abiding. [55] Preserve the present order and do not desire any change, knowing that revolutions inevitably destroy states and lay waste the homes of the people. Do not think that it is their natural dispositions alone which make rulers harsh or gentle, but the character of the citizens as well; for many before now have been compelled by the depravity of their subjects to rule more harshly than they wished. [56] Be confident, but less because of my mildness than because of your own goodness. Consider that in my safety lies your own security; for while my fortunes are on a firm foundation, your own will be likewise. You should be self-effacing in your attitude toward my authority, abiding by our customs and preserving the royal laws, but conspicuous in your services on behalf of the state and in the other duties which are assigned to you by my command. [57]

Exhort the young to virtue not only by your precepts but by exemplifying in your conduct what good men ought to be. Teach your children to be obedient, and habituate them to devote themselves above all to the discipline which I have described; for if they learn to submit to authority they will be able to exercise authority over many; and if they are faithful and just they will be given a share in my privileges; but if they turn out to be bad they will be in danger of losing all the privileges which they possess. [58] Consider that you will pass on to your children the greatest and surest wealth if you can leave them my good will. Consider that the most miserable and unfortunate of men are those who have proved faithless to those who put their faith in them; for such men are doomed to despair and to fear of everything and to distrust of friends no less than of foes throughout the remainder of their lives. [59] Emulate, not those who have most possessions, but those who in their hearts know no evil; for with such a conscience one can live out his life most happily. Do not imagine that vice can profit more than virtue, and that it is only its name which is uglier; but consider that even as are the names which things have received, so, also, are their qualities.22 [60]

Do not be jealous of those who are highest in my favor, but emulate them, and by making yourselves serviceable try to rise to the level of those who are above you. Believe that you should love and honor those whom your king loves and honors, in order that you may win from me these same distinctions. Even as are the words which you speak about me in my presence, so let your thoughts of me be in my absence. [61] Manifest your good will towards me in deeds rather than in words. Do not do to others that which angers you when they do it to you.23 Practice nothing in your deeds for which you condemn others in your words. Expect to fare well or ill according as you are disposed well or ill toward me. Be not satisfied with praising good men, but imitate them as well. [62] Regard my words as your law, and try to abide by them, knowing that those of you who most faithfully do what I desire will most quickly be able to live as they themselves desire. This is the conclusion of the whole matter: just as you think those who are ruled by you should conduct themselves toward you, so you also should conduct yourselves toward my rule. [63]

And if you do this, why need I speak at length of what the results will be? For if I continue to treat you as in time past, and you continue to give me your service and support, you will soon see your own life advanced, my empire increased, and the state made happy and prosperous. [64] You could, therefore, well afford, for the sake of blessings so great, to spare no effort and even to undergo all manner of toil and peril; and yet it lies in your power, without suffering any hardship, but merely by being loyal and true, to bring all these things to pass.

1 For Isocrates' use of the word “philosophy” as covering what we mean by “culture” and his identification of “discourse” with the cultivated life see General Introduction, pp. xxiii ff.

2 Advantage （in the good sense） which works no disadvantage to others. Cf. Isoc. 15.275.

3 Good things are bad if badly used. See Aristot. Nic. Eth. 1094b 17. Cf. Seneca, Ep. i. 5. 9: “multa bona nostra nobis nocent.”

4 The same argument is made at length in Isoc. 15.251-252, also in defense of eloquence.

5 For the power of speech as the faculty which has raised us from the life of beasts to that of civilized man see Xen. Mem. 4.3.11 ff. Cf. Isoc. 15.273, Isoc. 4.48 ff., and Shelley: “He gave man speech and speech created thought.” Isocrates refers to this passage in Isoc. 15.253, and quotes exactly from sections 5-9.

6 The aim of the worthy orator is proper conduct in private and in public life. See Isoc. 4.4, and General Introduction, pp. xxiv ff.

7 A protest against the new “equality.” Cf. Isoc. 2.14. In Isoc. 7.21-22 Isocrates praises the old democracy of Athens for recognizing ability and worth.

8 Party rivalry in the old Athenian democracy was carried on for the good of the state according to Isoc. 4.79. Not so in contemporary Athens, Isoc. 4.167.

9 See Demosthenes' contrast between the checks and delays which were put upon him as leader of the Athenians and Phillip's freedom to act and strike quickly, Dem. 18.294. Cf. Dem. 4.40-46.

10 For the selfish bickerings of the platform orators see Isoc. 12.12

11 But it was, he says elsewhere, the virtue of the old democracy that they did not slight the commonwealth, but cared for it as their personal concern, Isoc. 4.76; Isoc. 7.24-25.

12 The same point is made by Dem. 1.4.

13 Dionysius, the elder, became tyrant of Syracuse in 406 B.C.

14 Socrates and his followers idealized, in contrast to the slackness of Athens, the rigorous rule of such states as Sparta and Crete. See, for example, Plat. Crito 52e. Aristotle couples in his praise, as Isocrates here, the Spartans and the Carthaginians: Aristot. Pol. 1272b 24 ff.

15 Athens.

16 As in the disasters at Syracuse and Aegospotami.

17 For this history, see introd. to II; Grote, History of Greece （new edition）, ix. pp. 228 ff.; Isoc. 9.29-35.

18 Almost the language of the Platonic doctrine of ideas.

19 We may surmise that the death of the strong resourceful Evagoras plunged the affairs of Salimis and of Cyprus into a state of confusion which was with difficulty reduced to order by his successor, but we possess no further details of this history than those which are here set down.

20 Aeacus, a descendant of Zeus, was father of Telamon, the father of Teucer.

21 Political clubs may have been patriotic in old Athens （ Isoc. 4.79） but they had now degenerated into secret associations conspiring against popular government. See Isoc. 4.167; Thuc. 8.54; Aristot. Ath. Pol. 34.

22 Cf. Isoc. 5.16 ff.

23 See Isoc. 1.14 and note.

Many times have I wondered at those who first convoked the national assemblies and established the athletic games,1 amazed that they should have thought the prowess of men's bodies to be deserving of so great bounties, while to those who had toiled in private for the public good and trained their own minds so as to be able to help also their fellow-men they apportioned no reward whatsoever,2 [2] when, in all reason, they ought rather to have made provision for the latter; for if all the athletes should acquire twice the strength which they now possess, the rest of the world would be no better off; but let a single man attain to wisdom, and all men will reap the benefit who are willing to share his insight. [3]

Yet I have not on this account lost heart nor chosen to abate my labors; on the contrary, believing that I shall have a sufficient reward in the approbation which my discourse will itself command, I have come before you to give my counsels on the war against the barbarians and on concord among ourselves. I am, in truth, not unaware that many of those who have claimed to be sophists3 [4] have rushed upon this theme, but I hope to rise so far superior to them that it will seem as if no word had ever been spoken by my rivals upon this subject; and, at the same time, I have singled out as the highest kind of oratory4 that which deals with the greatest affairs and, while best displaying the ability of those who speak, brings most profit to those who hear; and this oration is of that character. [5] In the next place, the moment for action has not yet gone by, and so made it now futile to bring up this question; for then, and only then, should we cease to speak, when the conditions have come to an end and there is no longer any need to deliberate about them, or when we see that the discussion of them is so complete that there is left to others no room to improve upon what has been said. [6] But so long as conditions go on as before, and what has been said about them is inadequate, is it not our duty to scan and study this question, the right decision of which will deliver us from our mutual warfare, our present confusion, and our greatest ills? [7]

Furthermore, if it were possible to present the same subject matter in one form and in no other, one might have reason to think it gratuitous to weary one's hearers by speaking again in the same manner as his predecessors; but since oratory is of such a nature [8] that it is possible to discourse on the same subject matter in many different ways—to represent the great as lowly or invest the little with grandeur, to recount the things of old in a new manner or set forth events of recent date in an old fashion5—it follows that one must not shun the subjects upon which others have spoken before, but must try to speak better than they. [9] For the deeds of the past are, indeed, an inheritance common to us all; but the ability to make proper use of them at the appropriate time, to conceive the right sentiments about them in each instance, and to set them forth in finished phrase, is the peculiar gift of the wise. [10] And it is my opinion that the study6 of oratory as well as the other arts would make the greatest advance if we should admire and honor, not those who make the first beginnings in their crafts, but those who are the most finished craftsmen in each, and not those who seek to speak on subjects on which no one has spoken before, but those who know how to speak as no one else could. [11]

Yet there are some who carp at discourses which are beyond the powers of ordinary men and have been elaborated with extreme care, and who have gone so far astray that they judge the most ambitious oratory by the standard of the pleas made in the petty actions of the courts;7 as if both kinds should be alike and should not be distinguished, the one by plainness of style, the other by display; or as if they themselves saw clearly the happy mean, while the man who knows how to speak elegantly could not speak simply and plainly if he chose. [12] Now these people deceive no one; clearly they praise those who are near their own level. I, for my part, am not concerned with such men, but rather with those who will not tolerate, but will resent, any carelessness of phrase, and will seek to find in my speeches a quality which they will not discover in others. Addressing myself to these, I shall proceed with my theme, after first vaunting a little further my own powers. [13] For I observe that the other orators in their introductions seek to conciliate their hearers and make excuses for the speeches which they are about to deliver,8 sometimes alleging that their preparation has been on the spur of the moment, sometimes urging that it is difficult to find words to match the greatness of their theme. [14] But as for myself, if I do not speak in a manner worthy of my subject and of my reputation and of the time which I have spent9—not merely the hours which have been devoted to my speech but also all the years which I have lived—I bid you show me no indulgence but hold me up to ridicule and scorn; for there is nothing of the sort which I do not deserve to suffer, if indeed, being no better than the others, I make promises so great.10

So much, by way of introduction, as to my personal claims. [15] But as to our public interests, the speakers who no sooner come before us than they inform us that we must compose our enmities against each other and turn against the barbarian,11 rehearsing the misfortunes which have come upon us from our mutual warfare and the advantages which will result from a campaign against our natural enemy—these men do speak the truth, but they do not start at the point from which they could best bring these things to pass. [16] For the Hellenes are subject, some to us, others to the Lacedaemonians, the polities12 by which they govern their states having thus divided most of them. If any man, therefore, thinks that before he brings the leading states into friendly relations, the rest will unite in doing any good thing, he is all too simple and out of touch with the actual conditions. [17] No, the man who does not aim merely to make an oratorical display, but desires to accomplish something as well, must seek out such arguments as will persuade these two states to share and share alike with each other, to divide the supremacy between them, and to wrest from the barbarians the advantages which at the present time they desire to seize for themselves at the expense of the Hellenes.13 [18]

Now our own city could easily be induced to adopt this policy, but at present the Lacedaemonians are still hard to persuade; for they have inherited the false doctrine that leadership is theirs by ancestral right. If, however, one should prove to them that this honor belongs to us rather than to them, perhaps they might give up splitting hairs about this question and pursue their true interests. [19]

So, then, the other speakers also should have made this their starting-point and should not have given advice on matters about which we agree before instructing us on the points about which we disagree. I, at all events, am justified by a twofold motive in devoting most of my attention to these points: first and foremost, in order that some good may come of it, and that we may put an end to our mutual rivalries and unite in a war against the barbarian; [20] and, secondly, if this is impossible, in order that I may show who they are that stand in the way of the happiness of the Hellenes, and that all may be made to see that even as in times past Athens justly held the sovereignty of the sea, so now she not unjustly lays claim to the hegemony.14 [21]

For in the first place, if it is the most experienced and the most capable who in any field of action deserve to be honored, it is without question our right to recover the hegemony which we formerly possessed; for no one can point to another state which so far excels in warfare on land as our city is superior in fighting battles on the sea. [22] But, in the next place, if there are any who do not regard this as a fair basis of judgement, since the reversals of fortune are frequent （for sovereignty never remains in the same hands）, and who believe that the hegemony, like any other prize, should be held by those who first won this honor, or else by those who have rendered the most service to the Hellenes, I think that these also are on our side; [23] for the farther back into the past we go in our examination of both these titles to leadership, the farther behind shall we leave those who dispute our claims. For it is admitted that our city is the oldest15 and the greatest16 in the world and in the eyes of all men the most renowned. But noble as is the foundation of our claims, the following grounds give us even a clearer title to distinction: [24] for we did not become dwellers in this land by driving others out of it,17 nor by finding it uninhabited, nor by coming together here a motley horde composed of many races; but we are of a lineage so noble and so pure that throughout our history we have continued in possession of the very land which gave us birth, since we are sprung from its very soil18 and are able to address our city by the very names which we apply to our nearest kin; [25] for we alone of all the Hellenes have the right to call our city at once nurse and fatherland and mother. And yet, if men are to have good ground for pride and make just claims to leadership and frequently recall their ancestral glories, they must show that their race boasts an origin as noble as that which I have described.19 [26]

So great, then, are the gifts which were ours from the beginning and which fortune has bestowed upon us. But how many good things we have contributed to the rest of the world we could estimate to best advantage if we should recount the history of our city from the beginning and go through all her achievements in detail; for we should find that not only was she the leader in the hazards of war, but that the social order in general in which we dwell, [27] with which we share the rights of citizenship and through which we are able to live, is almost wholly due to her. It is, however, necessary to single out from the number of her benefactions, not those which because of their slight importance have escaped attention and been pased over in silence, but those which because of their great importance have been and still are on the lips and in the memory of all men everywhere. [28]

Now, first of all, that which was the first necessity of man's nature was provided by our city; for even though the story20 has taken the form of a myth, yet it deserves to be told again. When Demeter came to our land, in her wandering after the rape of Kore, and, being moved to kindness towards our ancestors by services which may not be told save to her initiates, gave these two gifts, the greatest in the world—the fruits of the earth,21 which have enabled us to rise above the life of the beasts, and the holy rite22 which inspires in those who partake of it sweeter hopes23 regarding both the end of life and all eternity, [29] —our city was not only so beloved of the gods but also so devoted to mankind that, having been endowed with these great blessings, she did not begrudge them to the rest of the world, but shared with all men what she had received.24 The mystic rite we continue even now, each year,25 to reveal to the initiates; and as for the fruits of the earth, our city has, in a word, instructed the world in their uses, their cultivation, and the benefits derived from them. [30] This statement, when I have added a few further proofs, no one could venture to discredit.

In the first place, the very ground on which we might disparage the story, namely that it is ancient, would naturally lead us to believe that the events actually came to pass; for because many have told and all have heard the story which describes them, it is reasonable to regard this not, to be sure, as recent, yet withal as worthy of our faith. In the next place, we are not obliged to take refuge in the mere fact that we have received the account and the report from remote times; on the contrary, we are able to adduce even greater proofs than this regarding what took place. [31] For most of the Hellenic cities, in memory of our ancient services, send us each year the first-fruits of the harvest, and those who neglect to do so have often been admonished by the Pythian priestess to pay us our due portion of their crops and to observe in relation to our city the customs of their fathers.26 And about what, I should like to know, can we more surely exercise our faith than about matters as to which the oracle of Apollo speaks with authority, many of the Hellenes are agreed, and the words spoken long ago confirm the practice of today, while present events tally with the statements which have come down from the men of old? [32] But apart from these considerations, if we waive all this and carry our inquiry back to the beginning, we shall find that those who first appeared upon the earth did not at the outset find the kind of life which we enjoy to-day, but that they procured it little by little through their own joint efforts.27 Whom, then, must we think the most likely either to have received this better life as a gift from the gods or to have hit upon it through their own search? [33] Would it not be those who are admitted by all men to have been the first to exist, to be endowed with the greatest capacity for the arts, and to be the most devoted in the worship of the gods? And surely it is superfluous to attempt to show how high is the honor which the authors of such great blessings deserve; for no one could find a reward great enough to match the magnitude of their achievements. [34]

This much, then, I have to say about that service to humanity which is the greatest, the earliest, and the most universal in its benefits. But at about the same time, our city, seeing the barbarians in possession of most of the country, while the Hellenes were confined within a narrow space and, because of the scarcity of the land, were conspiring and making raids against each other, and were perishing, some through want of daily necessities, others through war, [35] —our city, I say, was not content to let these things be as they were, but sent out leaders to the several states, who, enlisting the neediest of the people, and placing themselves at their head, overcame the barbarians in war, founded many cities on either continent, settled colonies in all the islands, and saved both those who followed them and those who remained behind; [36] for to the latter they left the home country—sufficient for their needs—and for the former they provided more land than they had owned since they embraced in their conquests all the territory which we Hellenes now possess.28 And so they smoothed the way for those also who in a later time resolved to send out colonists and imitate our city; for these did not have to undergo the perils of war in acquiring territory, but could go into the country marked out by us and settle there. [37] And yet who can show a leadership more ancestral than this, which had its origin before most of the cities of Hellas were founded, or more serviceable than this, which drove the barbarians from their homes and advanced the Hellenes to so great prosperity? [38]

Nor did our city, after she had played her part in bringing to pass the most important benefits, neglect what remained to be done; on the contrary she made it but the beginning of her benefactions to find for those who were in want that sustenance which men must have who are to provide well also for their other needs; but considering that an existence limited to this alone was not enough to make men desire to live, she gave such careful thought to their remaining wants as well that of the good things which are now at the service of mankind—in so far as we do not have them from the gods but owe them to each other—there is not one in which our city has had no part, and most of them are due to her alone. [39] For, finding the Hellenes living without laws and in scattered abodes, some oppressed by tyrannies, others perishing through anarchy, she delivered them from these evils by taking some under her protection and by setting to others her own example; for she was the first to lay down laws and establish a polity.29 [40] This is apparent from the fact that those who in the beginning brought charges of homicide, and desired to settle their mutual differences by reason and not by violence, tried their cases under our laws.30 Yes, and the arts also, both those which are useful in producing the necessities of life and those which have been devised to give us pleasure, she has either invented or stamped with her approval, and has then presented them to the rest of the world to enjoy.31 [41]

Moreover, she has established her polity in general in such a spirit of welcome to strangers32 and friendliness33 to all men, that it adapts itself both to those who lack means and to those who wish to enjoy the means which they possess, and that it fails to be of service neither to those who are prosperous nor to those who are unfortunate in their own cities; nay, both classes find with us what they desire, the former the most delightful pastimes, the latter the securest refuge. [42] Again, since the different populations did not in any case possess a country that was self-sufficing, each lacking in some things and producing others in excess of their needs, and since they were greatly at a loss where they should dispose of their surplus and whence they should import what they lacked, in these difficulties also our city came to the rescue; for she established the Piraeus as a market in the center of Hellas—a market of such abundance that the articles which it is difficult to get, one here, one there, from the rest of the world, all these it is easy to procure from Athens.34 [43]

Now the founders of our great festivals are justly praised for handing down to us a custom by which, having proclaimed a truce35 and resolved our pending quarrels, we come together in one place, where, as we make our prayers and sacrifices in common, we are reminded of the kinship which exists among us and are made to feel more kindly towards each other for the future, reviving our old friendships and establishing new ties.36 [44] And neither to common men nor to those of superior gifts is the time so spent idle and profitless, but in the concourse of the Hellenes the latter have the opportunity to display their prowess, the former to behold these contending against each other in the games; and no one lacks zest for the festival, but all find in it that which flatters their pride, the spectators when they see the athletes exert themselves for their benefit, the athletes when they reflect that all the world is come to gaze upon them. Since, then, the benefits which accrue to us from our assembling together are so great, here again our city has not been backward; [45] for she affords the most numerous and the most admirable spectacles, some passing all bounds in the outlay of money, some highly reputed for their artistic worth, and others excelling in both these regards;37 and the multitude of people who visit us is so great that, whatever advantage there is in our associating together, this also has been compassed by our city, Athens. Besides, it is possible to find with us as nowhere else the most faithful friendships and to enjoy the most varied social intercourse; and, furthermore, to see contests not alone of speed and strength, but of eloquence and wisdom and of all the other arts—and for these the greatest prizes; [46] 38 since in addition to those which the city herself sets up, she prevails upon the rest of the world also to offer prizes;39 for the judgements pronounced by us command such great approbation that all mankind accept them, gladly. But apart from these considerations, while the assemblages at the other great festivals are brought together only at long intervals and are soon dispersed, our city throughout all time40 is a festival for those who visit her. [47]

Philosophy,41 moreover, which has helped to discover and establish all these institutions, which has educated us for public affairs and made us gentle towards each other, which has distinguished between the misfortunes that are due to ignorance and those which spring from necessity, and taught us to guard against the former and to bear the latter nobly—philosophy, I say, was given to the world by our city. And Athens it is that has honored eloquence,42 [48] which all men crave and envy in its possessors; for she realized that this is the one endowment of our nature which singles us out from all living creatures, and that by using this advantage we have risen above them in all other respects as well;43 she saw that in other activities the fortunes of life are so capricious that in them often the wise fail and the foolish succeed, whereas beautiful and artistic speech is never allotted to ordinary men, but is the work of an intelligent mind, [49] and that it is in this respect that those who are accounted wise and ignorant present the strongest contrast; and she knew, furthermore, that whether men have been liberally educated from their earliest years is not to be determined by their courage or their wealth or such advantages, but is made manifest most of all by their speech, and that this has proved itself to be the surest sign of culture in every one of us, and that those who are skilled in speech are not only men of power in their own cities but are also held in honor in other states. [50] And so far has our city distanced the rest of mankind in thought and in speech that her pupils have become the teachers44 of the rest of the world; and she has brought it about that the name Hellenes suggests no longer a race but an intelligence, and that the title Hellenes is applied rather to those who share our culture than to those who share a common blood.45 [51]

But in order that I may not appear to be dwelling at length on the details when I have proposed to speak on the general subject nor to be extolling the city for these accomplishments because I lack ground for praising her conduct in war, let what I have said suffice for those who glory in such services. But I think that honor is due to our ancestors no less for their wars than for their other benefactions; [52] for not slight, nor few, nor obscure, but many and dread and great, were the struggles they sustained, some for their own territories, some for the freedom of the rest of the world; for at all times, without ceasing, they have offered the city as a common refuge and as a champion to the Hellenes whenever oppressed.46 [53] And it is for this very reason that we are sometimes charged with adopting a foolish policy in that we are accustomed to cultivate the weaker peoples47—as though such charges do not support those who desire to sing our praises. For it was not because we failed to appreciate how much more advantageous great alliances are in point of security that we pursued this policy in regard to the weak; no, although we realized much more exactly than our rivals the consequences of such a course, we nevertheless preferred to stand by the weaker even against our interests rather than to unite with the stronger in oppressing others for our own advantage. [54]

The character and power of Athens may be judged from the appeals which sundry people have in times past made to us for our help. Those of recent occurrence or for insignificant ends I shall omit; but long before the Trojan War （for it is only fair that those who dispute about immemorial rights should draw their arguments from that early time） there came to us the sons of Heracles48 and, a little before them, Adrastus, Talaus's son, king of Argos. [55] Adrastus, on his return from the expedition against Thebes where he had met with disaster and had not by his own efforts been able to recover the bodies of those who had fallen under the Cadmean fortress, called upon our city to lend aid in a misfortune which was of universal concern, and not to suffer that men who die in battle be left unburied nor that ancient custom and immemorial law49 be brought to naught. [56] The sons of Heracles, on the other hand, came fleeing the persecution of Eurystheus, ignoring the other states as not capable of succouring them in their distress, and looking upon our city as the only one great enough to make return for the benefits which their father had bestowed upon all mankind. [57]

So from these facts it is easy to see that even at that time our city was in the position of a leader; for who would venture an appeal for help to those who were weaker than themselves, or to those who were subject to others, passing by those who had greater power, especially in matters not of personal but of public interest which none would be likely to take in hand but those who claimed to stand first among the Hellenes? [58] And, in the next place, the suppliants were manifestly not disappointed in the hopes which caused them to take refuge with our ancestors; for the Athenians went to war against the Thebans in the cause of those who had fallen in the battle, and against the power of Eurystheus in the cause of the sons of Heracles. Taking the field against the Thebans, they compelled them to restore the dead to their kindred for burial; and when the Peloponnesians, led by Eurystheus, had invaded our territory, they marched out against them, conquered them in battle, and put an end to their leader's insolence. [59] And though they already commanded admiration for their other deeds, these exploits enhanced their fame still more; for they did not do things by halves, but so completely revolutionized the fortunes of either monarch that Adrastus, who had seen fit to throw himself on our mercy, went his way, having in despite of his foes won all that he had asked, while Eurystheus, who had expected to overpower us, was himself made captive and compelled to sue for mercy; [60] and, although he had throughout all his life inflicted his orders and indignities on one whose nature transcended that of man, and who, being the son of Zeus, possessed, while still a mortal, the strength of a god, yet, when Eurystheus offended against us, he suffered so complete a reverse that he fell into the power of Heracles' sons and came to a shameful end. [61]

Many are the services which we have rendered to the state of the Lacedaemonians, but it has suited my purpose to speak of this one only; for, starting with the advantage afforded by our succor of them, the descendants of Heracles—the progenitors of those who now reign in Lacedaemon—returned to the Peloponnese, took possession of Argos, Lacedaemon, and Messene, settled Sparta, and were established as the founders of all the blessings which the Lacedaemonians now enjoy. [62] These benefits they should have held in grateful remembrance, and should never have invaded this land from which they set out and acquired so great prosperity, nor have placed in peril the city which had imperilled herself for the sons of Heracles, nor, while bestowing the kingship upon his posterity,50 have yet thought it right that the city which was the means of the deliverance of their race should be enslaved to their power. [63] But if we have to leave out of account considerations of gratitude and fairness, and, returning to the main question, state the point which is most essential, assuredly it is not ancestral custom for immigrants to set themselves over the sons of the soil, or the recipients of benefits over their benefactors, or refugees over those who gave them asylum. [64]

But I can make the matter clear in yet briefer terms. Of all the Hellenic states, excepting our own, Argos and Thebes and Lacedaemon were at that time the greatest, as they still are to this day. And yet our ancestors were manifestly so superior to them all that on behalf of the defeated Argives they dictated terms to the Thebans at the moment of their greatest pride, [65] and on behalf of the sons of Heracles they conquered the Argives and the rest of the Peloponnesians in battle, and delivered the founders and leaders of Lacedaemon out of all danger from Eurystheus. Therefore, as to what state was the first power in Hellas, I do not see how anyone could produce more convincing evidence. [66] But it seems to me fitting that I should speak also of the city's achievements against the barbarians, the more so since the subject which I have undertaken is the question of who should take the lead against them. Now if I were to go through the list of all our wars, I should speak at undue length; therefore I shall confine myself to the most important, endeavoring to deal with this topic also in the same manner in which I have just dealt with the other. [67] Let us single out, then, the races which have the strongest instinct for domination and the greatest power of aggression—the Scythians and the Thracians and the Persians; it so happens that these have all had hostile designs upon us and that against all these our city has fought decisive wars. And yet what ground will be left for our opponents if it be shown that those among the Hellenes who are powerless to obtain their rights see fit to appeal to us for help, and that those among the barbarians who purpose to enslave the Hellenes make us the first object of their attacks? [68]

Now, while the most celebrated of our wars was the one against the Persians, yet certainly our deeds of old offer evidence no less strong for those who dispute over ancestral rights. For while Hellas was still insignificant, our territory was invaded by the Thracians, led by Eumolpus, son of Poseidon, and by the Scythians, led by the Amazons,51 the daughters of Ares—not at the same time, but during the period when both races were trying to extend their dominion over Europe; for though they hated the whole Hellenic race, they raised complaints52 against us in particular, thinking that in this way they would wage war against one state only, but would at the same time impose their power on all the states of Hellas. [69] Of a truth they were not successful; nay, in this conflict against our forefathers alone they were as utterly overwhelmed as if they had fought the whole world. How great were the disasters which befell them is evident; for the tradition respecting them would not have persisted for so long a time if what was then done had not been without parallel. [70] At any rate, we are told regarding the Amazons that of all who came not one returned again, while those who had remained at home were expelled from power because of the disaster here; and we are told regarding the Thracians that, whereas at one time they dwelt beside us on our very borders, they withdrew so far from us in consequence of that expedition that in the spaces left between their land and ours many nations, races of every kind, and great cities have been established. [71]

Noble indeed are these achievements—yea, and appropriate to those who dispute over the hegemony. But of the same breed as those which have been mentioned, and of such a kind as would naturally be expected of men descended from such ancestors, are the deeds of those who fought against Darius and Xerxes.53 For when that greatest of all wars broke out and a multitude of dangers presented themselves at one and the same time, when our enemies regarded themselves as irresistible because of their numbers and our allies thought themselves endowed with a courage which could not be excelled, we outdid them both, [72] surpassing each in the way appropriate to each;54 and having proved our superiority in meeting all dangers, we were straightway awarded the meed of valor,55 and we obtained, not long after, the sovereignty of the sea56 by the willing grant of the Hellenes at large and without protest from those who now seek to wrest it from our hands. [73]

And let no one think that I ignore the fact that during these critical times the Lacedaemonians also placed the Hellenes under obligations for many services; nay, for this reason I am able the more to extol our city because, in competition with such rivals, she so far surpassed them. But I desire to speak a little more at length about these two states, and not to hasten too quickly by them, in order that we may have before us reminders both of the courage of our ancestors and of their hatred against the barbarians. [74] And yet I have not failed to appreciate the fact that it is difficult to come forward last and speak upon a subject which has long been appropriated, and upon which the very ablest speakers among our citizens have many times addressed you at the public funerals;57 for, naturally, the most important topics have already been exhausted, while only unimportant topics have been left for later speakers. Nevertheless, since they are apposite to the matter in hand, I must not shirk the duty of taking up the points which remain and of recalling them to your memory. [75]

58 Now the men who are responsible for our greatest blessings and deserve our highest praise are, I conceive, those who risked their bodies in defense of Hellas; and yet we cannot in justice fail to recall also those who lived before this war and were the ruling power in each of the two states; for they it was who, in good time, trained the coming generation and turned the masses of the people toward virtue, and made of them stern foemen of the barbarians. [76] For they did not slight the commonwealth, nor seek to profit by it as their own possession, nor yet neglect it as the concern of others; but were as careful of the public revenues as of their private property, yet abstained from them as men ought from that to which they have no right.59 Nor did they estimate well-being by the standard of money, but in their regard that man seemed to have laid up the securest fortune and the noblest who so ordered his life that he should win the highest repute for himself and leave to his children the greatest name; [77] neither did they vie with one another in temerity, nor did they cultivate recklessness in themselves, but thought it a more dreadful thing to be charged with dishonor by their countrymen than to die honorably for their country; and they blushed more for the sins of the commonwealth than men do nowadays for their own. [78]

The reason for this was that they gave heed to the laws to see that they should be exact and good—not so much the laws about private contracts as those which have to do with men's daily habits of life; for they understood that for good and true men there would be no need of many written laws,60 but that if they started with a few principles of agreement they would readily be of one mind as to both private and public affairs. [79] So public-spirited were they that even in their party struggles they opposed one another, not to see which faction should destroy the other and rule over the remnant, but which should outstrip the other in doing something good for the state; and they organized their political clubs, not for personal advantage, but for the benefit of the people.61 [80] In the same spirit they governed their relations with other states. They treated the Hellenes with consideration and not with insolence, regarding it as their duty to command them in the field but not to tyrannize over them, desiring rather to be addressed as leaders than as masters, and rather to be greeted as saviors than reviled as destroyers; they won the Hellenic cities to themselves by doing kindness instead of subverting them by force, [81] keeping their word more faithfully than men now keep their oaths, and thinking it right to abide by their covenants as by the decrees of necessity; they exulted less in the exercise of power than they gloried in living with self-control, thinking it their duty to feel toward the weaker as they expected the stronger to feel toward themselves; and, while they regarded their home cities as their several places of abode, yet they considered Hellas to be their common fatherland. [82]

Because they were inspired by such sentiments, and educated the young in such habits of conduct, they produced in the persons of those who fought against the Asiatic hordes men of so great valor that no one, either of the poets or of the sophists, has ever been able to speak in a manner worthy of their achievements. And I can well excuse them, for it is quite as difficult to praise those who have excelled the exploits of the rest of the world as to praise those who have done no good thing at all; for in the case of the latter the speaker has no support in deeds, and to describe the former there exist no fitting words. [83] For what words can match the measure of such men, who so far surpassed the members of the expedition against Troy that, whereas the latter consumed ten years beleaguering a single city62 they, in a short space of time, completely defeated the forces that had been collected from all Asia, and not only saved their own countries but liberated the whole of Hellas as well? And from what deeds or hardships or dangers would they have shrunk so as to enjoy men's praise while living—these men who were so ready to lay down their lives for the sake of the glory they would have when dead? [84] Methinks some god out of admiration for their valor brought about this war in order that men endowed by nature with such a spirit should not be lost in obscurity nor die without renown, but should be deemed worthy of the same honors as are given to those who have sprung from the gods and are called demi-gods; for while the gods surrendered the bodies even of their own sons to the doom of nature, yet they have made immortal the memory of their valor. [85]

63 Now while our forefathers and the Lacedaemonians were always emulous of each other, yet during that time their rivalry was for the noblest ends; they did not look upon each other as enemies but as competitors, nor did they court the favor of the barbarians for the enslavement of the Hellenes64; on the contrary, they were of one mind when the common safety was in question, and their rivalry with each other was solely to see which of them should bring this about.

They first displayed their valor when Darius sent his troops; [86] for when the Persians landed in Attica the Athenians did not wait for their allies, but, making the common war their private cause, they marched out with their own forces alone to meet an enemy who looked with contempt upon the whole of Hellas—a mere handful against thousands upon thousands65—as if they were about to risk the lives of others, not their own;66 the Lacedaemonians, on the other hand, no sooner heard of the war in Attica than they put all else aside and came to our rescue, having made as great haste as if it had been their own country that was being laid waste. [87] A proof of the swiftness and of the rivalry of both is that, according to the account, our ancestors on one and the same day67 learned of the landing of the barbarians, rushed to the defense of the borders of their land, won the battle, and set up a trophy of victory over the enemy; while the Lacedaemonians in three days and as many nights68 covered twelve hundred stadia in marching order: so strenuously did they both hasten, the Lacedaemonians to share in the dangers, the Athenians to engage the enemy before their helpers should arrive. [88] Then came the later expedition,69 which was led by Xerxes in person; he had left his royal residence, boldly taken command as general in the field, and collected about him all the hosts of Asia. What orator, however eager to overshoot the mark, has not fallen short of the truth in speaking of this king, [89] who rose to such a pitch of arrogance that, thinking it a small task to subjugate Hellas, and proposing to leave a memorial such as would mark a more than human power, did not stop until he had devised and compelled the execution of a plan whose fame is on the lips of all mankind—a plan by which, having bridged the Hellespont and channelled Athos, he sailed his ships across the mainland, and marched his troops across the main?70 [90]

It was against a king who had grown so proud, who had carried through such mighty tasks, and who had made himself master of so many men, that our ancestors and the Lacedaemonians marched forth, first dividing the danger: the latter going to Thermopylae to oppose the land forces with a thousand71 picked soldiers of their own, supported by a few of their allies, with the purpose of checking the Persians in the narrow pass from advancing farther; while our ancestors sailed to Artemisium with sixty triremes72 which they had manned to oppose the whole armada of the enemy. [91] And they dared to do these things, not so much in contempt of their foes as in keen rivalry against each other: the Lacedaemonians envying our city its victory at Marathon, and seeking to even the score, and fearing, furthermore, lest our city should twice in succession be the instrument of saving Hellas; while our ancestors, on the other hand, desired above all to maintain the reputation they had won, and to prove to the world that in their former battle they had conquered through valor and not through fortune, and in the next place to incite the Hellenes to carry on the war with their ships, by showing that in fighting on the sea no less than on the land valor prevails over numbers.73 [92]

But though they displayed equal courage, they did not meet with similar fortunes. The Lacedaemonians were utterly destroyed. Although in spirit they were victorious, in body they were outworn; for it were sacrilege to say that they were defeated, since not one of them deigned to leave his post.74 Our ancestors, on the other hand, met and conquered the advance squadron of the Persians and when they heard that the enemy were masters of the pass,75 they sailed back home and adopted such measures for what remained to be done that, however many and however glorious had been their previous achievements, they outdid themselves still more in the final hazards of that war. [93]

For when all the allies were in a state of dejection, and the Peloponnesians were fortifying the Isthmus and selfishly seeking their own safety; when the other states had submitted to the barbarians and were fighting on the Persian side, save only those which were overlooked because of their insignificance; when twelve hundred ships of war were bearing down upon them, and an innumerable army76 was on the point of invading Attica; when no light of deliverance could be glimpsed in any quarter, but, on the contrary, the Athenians had been abandoned by their allies and cheated of their every hope; [94] and when it lay in their power not only to escape from their present dangers but also to enjoy the signal honors which the King held out to them, since he conceived that if he could get the support of the Athenian fleet he could at once become master of the Peloponnesus also, then our ancestors scorned to accept his gifts;77 nor did they give way to anger against the Hellenes for having betrayed them and rush gladly to make terms with the barbarians; [95] nay, by themselves they made ready to battle for freedom, while they forgave the rest for choosing bondage. For they considered that while it was natural for the weaker states to seek their security by every means, it was not possible for those states which asserted their right to stand at the head of Hellas to avoid the perils of war; on the contrary, they believed that just as it is preferable for men who are honorable to die nobly rather than to live in disgrace, so too it is better for cities which are illustrious to be blotted out from the sight of mankind rather than to be seen in a state of bondage. [96] It is evident that they were of this mind; for when they were not able to marshal themselves against both the land and the sea forces at once, they took with them the entire population, abandoned the city, and sailed to the neighboring island, in order that they might encounter each force in turn.78

And yet how could men be shown to be braver or more devoted to Hellas than our ancestors, who, to avoid bringing slavery upon the rest of the Hellenes, endured to see their city made desolate, their land ravaged, their sanctuaries rifled, their temples burned, and all the forces of the enemy closing in upon their own country? [97] But in truth even this did not satisfy them; they were ready to give battle on the sea—they alone against twelve hundred ships of war. They were not, indeed, allowed to fight alone; for the Peloponnesians, put to shame by our courage, and thinking, moreover, that if the Athenians should first be destroyed, they could not themselves be saved from destruction, and that if the Athenians should succeed, their own cities would be brought into disrepute, they were constrained to share the dangers. Now the clamors that arose during the action, and the shoutings and the cheers—things which are common to all those who fight on ships—I see no reason why I should take time to describe;79 [98] my task is to speak of those matters which are distinctive and give claim to leadership, and which confirm the arguments which I have already advanced. In short, our city was so far superior while she stood unharmed that even after she had been laid waste she contributed more ships to the battle for the deliverance of Hellas than all the others put together80 who fought in the engagement; and no one is so prejudiced against us that he would not acknowledge that it was by winning the sea fight that we conquered in the war, and that the credit for this is due to Athens.81 [99]

Who then should have the hegemony, when a campaign against the barbarians is in prospect? Should it not be they who distinguished themselves above all others in the former war? Should it not be they who many times bore, alone, the brunt of battle, and in the joint struggles of the Hellenes were awarded the prize of valor? Should it not be they who abandoned their own country to save the rest of Hellas, who in ancient times founded most of the Hellenic cities, and who later delivered them from the greatest disasters? Would it not be an outrage upon us, if, having taken the largest share in the evils of war, we should be adjudged worthy of a lesser share in its honors, and if, having at that time been placed in the lead in the cause of all the Hellenes, we should now be compelled to follow the lead of others? [100]

Now up to this point I am sure that all men would acknowledge that our city has been the author of the greatest number of blessings, and that she should in fairness be entitled to the hegemony. But from this point on some take us to task, urging that after we succeeded to the sovereignty of the sea we brought many evils upon the Hellenes; and, in these speeches of theirs, they cast it in our teeth that we enslaved the Melians and destroyed the people of Scione.82 [101] I, however, take the view, in the first place, that it is no sign that we ruled badly if some of those who were at war with us are shown to have been severely disciplined, but that a much clearer proof that we administered the affairs of our allies wisely is seen in the fact that among the states which remained our loyal subjects not one experienced these disasters. [102] In the second place, if other states had dealt more leniently with the same circumstances, they might reasonably censure us; but since that is not the case, and it is impossible to control so great a multitude of states without disciplining those who offend, does it not follow that we deserve praise because we acted harshly in the fewest possible cases and were yet able to hold our dominion for the greatest length of time? [103]

But I believe that all men are of the opinion that those will prove the best leaders and champions of the Hellenes under whom in the past those who yielded obedience have fared the best. Well, then, it will be found that under our supremacy the private households grew most prosperous and that the commonwealths also became greatest. For we were not jealous of the growing states,83 [104] nor did we engender confusion among them by setting up conflicting polities side by side, in order that faction might be arrayed against faction and that both might court our favor. On the contrary, we regarded harmony among our allies as the common boon of all, and therefore we governed all the cities under the same laws, deliberating about them in the spirit of allies, not of masters; [105] guarding the interests of the whole confederacy but leaving each member of it free to direct its own affairs; supporting the people but making war on despotic powers,84 considering it an outrage that the many should be subject to the few, that those who were poorer in fortune but not inferior in other respects should be banished from the offices, that, furthermore, in a fatherland which belongs to all in common85 some should hold the place of masters, others of aliens,86 and that men who are citizens by birth87 should be robbed by law of their share in the government. [106]

It was because we had these objections, and others besides, to oligarchies that we established the same polity88 in the other states as in Athens itself—a polity which I see no need to extol at greater length, since I can tell the truth about it in a word: They continued to live under this regime for seventy years,89 and, during this time, they experienced no tyrannies, they were free from the domination of the barbarians, they were untroubled by internal factions, and they were at peace with all the world. [107]

On account of these services it becomes all thinking men to be deeply grateful to us, much rather than to reproach us because of our system of colonization;90 for we sent our colonies into the depopulated states for the protection of their territories and not for our own aggrandizement. And here is proof of this: We had in proportion to the number of our citizens a very small territory,91 but a very great empire; we possessed twice as many ships of war as all the rest combined,92 and these were strong enough to engage double their number; at the very borders of Attica lay Euboea, [108] which was not only fitted by her situation to command the sea, but also surpassed all the islands in her general resources,93 and Euboea lent itself more readily to our control than did our own country besides, while we knew that both among the Hellenes and among the barbarians those are regarded most highly who have driven their neighbors from their homes94 and have so secured for themselves a life of affluence and ease, nevertheless, none of these considerations tempted us to wrong the people of the island; [109] on the contrary, we alone of those who have obtained great power suffered ourselves to live in more straitened circumstances than those who were reproached with being our slaves.95 And yet, had we been disposed to seek our own advantage, we should not, I imagine, have set our hearts on the territory of Scione （which, as all the world knows, we gave over to our Plataean refugees）,96 and passed over this great territory which would have enriched us all. [110]

Now although we have shown ourselves to be of such character and have given so convincing proof that we do not covet the possessions of others, we are brazenly denounced by those who had a hand in the decarchies97—men who have befouled their own countries, who have made the crimes of the past seem insignificant, and have left the would-be scoundrels of the future no chance to exceed their villiany; and who, for all that, profess to follow the ways of Lacedaemon, when they practise the very opposite, and bewail the disasters of the Melians, when they have shamelessly inflicted irreparable wrongs upon their own citizens. For what crime have they overlooked? [111] What act of shame or outrage is wanting in their careers? They regarded the most lawless of men as the most loyal; they courted traitors as if they were benefactors; they chose to be slaves to one of the Helots98 so that they might oppress their own countries; they honored the assassins and murderers of their fellow-citizens more than their own parents; [112] and to such a stage of brutishness did they bring us all that, whereas in former times, because of the prosperity which prevailed, every one of us found many to sympathize with him even in trifling reverses, yet under the rule of these men, because of the multitude of our own calamities, we ceased feeling pity for each other, since there was no man to whom they allowed enough of respite so that he could share another's burdens. [113] For what man dwelt beyond their reach? What man was so far removed from public life that he was not forced into close touch with the disasters into which such creatures plunged us? But in the face of all this, these men, who brought their own cities to such a pitch of anarchy, do not blush to make unjust charges against our city; nay, to crown their other effronteries, they even have the audacity to talk of the private and public suits which were once tried in Athens, when they themselves put to death without trial more men99 in the space of three months than Athens tried during the whole period of her supremacy. [114] And of their banishments, their civil strife, their subversion of laws, their political revolutions, their atrocities upon children, their insults to women, their pillage of estates, who could tell the tale? I can only say this much of the whole business—the severities under our administration could have been readily brought to an end by a single vote of the people,100 while the murders and acts of violence under their regime are beyond any power to remedy. [115]

And, furthermore, not even the present peace, nor yet that “autonomy” which is inscribed in the treaties101 but is not found in our governments, is preferable to the rule of Athens. For who would desire a condition of things where pirates command the seas102 and mercenaries occupy our cities; [116] where fellow-countrymen, instead of waging war in defense of their territories against strangers, are fighting within their own walls103 against each other; where more cities have been captured in war104 than before we made the peace; and where revolutions follow so thickly upon each other that those who are at home in their own countries are more dejected than those who have been punished with exile? For the former are in dread of what is to come, while the latter live ever in the hope of their return. [117] And so far are the states removed from “freedom” and “autonomy”105 that some of them are ruled by tyrants, some are controlled by alien governors, some have been sacked and razed,106 and some have become slaves to the barbarians—the same barbarians whom we once so chastened for their temerity in crossing over into Europe, and for their overweening pride, [118] that they not only ceased from making expeditions against us, but even endured to see their own territory laid waste;107 and we brought their power so low, for all that they had once sailed the sea with twelve hundred ships, that they launched no ship of war this side of Phaselis108 but remained inactive and waited on more favorable times rather than trust in the forces which they then possessed. [119]

And that this state of affairs was due to the valor of our ancestors has been clearly shown in the fortunes of our city: for the very moment when we were deprived of our dominion marked the beginning of a dominion109 of ills for the Hellenes. In fact, after the disaster which befell us in the Hellespont,110 when our rivals took our place as leaders, the barbarians won a naval victory,111 became rulers of the sea, occupied most of the islands,112 made a landing in Laconia, took Cythera by storm, and sailed around the whole Peloponnesus, inflicting damage as they went. [120]

One may best comprehend how great is the reversal in our circumstances if he will read side by side the treaties113 which were made during our leadership and those which have been published recently; for he will find that in those days we were constantly setting limits to the empire of the King,114 levying tribute on some of his subjects, and barring him from the sea; now, however, it is he who controls the destinies of the Hellenes, who dictates115 what they must each do, and who all but sets up his viceroys in their cities. [121] For with this one exception, what else is lacking? Was it not he who decided the issue of the war, was it not he who directed the terms of peace, and is it not he who now presides over our affairs? Do we not sail off to him as to a master, when we have complaints against each other? Do we not address him as “The Great King” as though we were the captives of his spear? Do we not in our wars against each other rest our hopes of salvation on him, who would gladly destroy both Athens and Lacedaemon ? [122]

Reflecting on these things, we may well be indignant at the present state of affairs, and yearn for our lost supremacy: and we may well blame the Lacedaemonians because, although in the beginning they entered upon the war116 with the avowed intention117 of freeing the Hellenes, in the end they delivered so many of them into bondage, and because they induced the Ionians to revolt from Athens, the mother city from which the Ionians emigrated and by whose influence they were often preserved from destruction, and then betrayed them118 to the barbarians—those barbarians in despite of whom they possess their lands and against whom they have never ceased to war. [123]

At that time the Lacedaemonians were indignant because we thought it right by legitimate means to extend our dominion over certain peoples.119 Now, however, they feel no concern, when these peoples are reduced to such abject servitude that it is not enough that they should be forced to pay tribute and see their citadels occupied by their foes, but, in addition to these public calamities, must also in their own persons submit to greater indignities than those which are suffered in our world by purchased slaves120; for none of us is so cruel to his servants as are the barbarians in punishing free men. [124] But the crowning misery is that they are compelled to take the field with the enemy121 in the very cause of slavery and to fight against men who assert their right to freedom, and to submit to hazards of war on such terms that in case of defeat they will be destroyed at once, and in case of victory they will strengthen the claims of their bondage for all time to come. [125]

For these evils, who else, can we think, is to blame but the Lacedaemonians, seeing that they have so great power, yet look on with indifference while those who have placed themselves under the Lacedaemonian alliance are visited with such outrages, and while the barbarian builds up his own empire by means of the strength of the Hellenes? In former days, it is true, they used to expel tyrants and bring succor to the people, but now they have so far reversed their policy that they make war on responsible governments and aid in establishing absolute monarchies; [126] they sacked and razed the city of Mantinea,122 after peace had been concluded; they seized the Cadmea123 in Thebes; and now124 they are laying siege to Olynthus and Phlius:125 on the other hand, they are assisting Amyntas, king of the Macedonians,126 and Dionysius,127 the tyrant of Sicily, and the barbarian king who rules over Asia,128 to extend their dominions far and wide. [127] And yet is it not extraordinary that those who stand at the head of the Hellenes should set up one man as master over a host of human beings so great that it is not easy to ascertain even their numbers, while they do not permit the very greatest of our cities to govern even themselves, but try to compel them to submit to slavery or else involve them in the greatest disasters? [128] But most monstrous of all it is to see a people who arrogate to themselves the right of leadership making war every day upon the Hellenes and committed for all time to an alliance with the barbarians. [129]

And let no one suppose that I am ill-natured, because I have recalled these facts to you in rather harsh terms, after having stated at the outset that I intended to speak on conciliation; for it is not with the intention of stigmatizing the city of the Lacedaemonians in the eyes of others that I have spoken as I have about them, but that I may induce the Lacedaemonians themselves, so far as it lies in the power of words to do so, to make an end of such a policy. [130] It is not, however, possible to turn men from their errors, or to inspire in them the desire for a different course of action without first roundly condemning their present conduct; and a distinction must be made between accusation, when one denounces with intent to injure, and admonition,129 when one uses like words with intent to benefit; for the same words are not to be interpreted in the same way unless they are spoken in the same spirit. [131] For we have reason to reproach the Lacedaemonians for this also, that in the interest of their own city they compel their neighbors to live in serfdom,130 but for the common advantage of their allies they refuse to bring about a similar condition, although it lies in their power to make up their quarrel with us and reduce all the barbarians to a state of subjection to the whole of Hellas. [132] And yet it is the duty of men who are proud because of natural gifts and not merely because of fortune to undertake such deeds much rather than to levy tribute131 on the islanders,132 who are deserving of their pity, seeing that because of the scarcity of land they are compelled to till mountains, while the people of the mainland,133 because of the abundance of their territory, allow most of it to lie waste, and have, nevertheless, from that part of it which they do harvest, grown immensely rich. [133]

It is my opinion that if anyone should come here from another part of the world and behold the spectacle of the present state of our affairs, he would charge both the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians with utter madness, not only because we risk our lives fighting as we do over trifles when we might enjoy in security a wealth of possessions, but also because we continually impoverish our own territory while neglecting to exploit that of Asia. [134] As for the barbarian, nothing is more to his purpose than to take measures to prevent us from ever ceasing to make war upon each other; while we, on the contrary, are so far from doing anything to embroil his interests or foment rebellion among his subjects that when, thanks to fortune, dissensions do break out in his empire we actually lend him a hand in putting them down. Even now, when the two armies are fighting in Cyprus,134 we permit him to make use of the one135 and to besiege the other,136 although both of them belong to Hellas; [135] for the Cyprians, who are in revolt against him, are not only on friendly terms with us137 but are also seeking the protection of the Lacedaemonians; and as to the forces which are led by Tiribazus, the most effective troops of his infantry have been levied from these parts,138 and most of his fleet has been brought together from Ionia; and all these would much more gladly make common cause and plunder Asia than risk their lives fighting against each other over trifling issues. [136] But these things we take no thought to prevent; instead, we wrangle about the islands of the Cyclades, when we have so recklessly given over so many cities and such great forces to the barbarians. And therefore some of our possessions are now his, some will soon be his, and others are threatened by his treacherous designs. And he has rightly conceived an utter contempt for us all; [137] for he has attained what no one of his ancestors ever did: Asia has been conceded both by us and by the Lacedaemonians to belong to the King; and as for the cities of the Hellenes, he has taken them so absolutely under his control that he either razes them to the ground or builds his fortresses within them. And all this has come about by reason of our own folly, not because of his power. [138]

And yet there are those who stand in awe of the greatness of the King's power and maintain that he is a dangerous enemy,139 dwelling at length on the many reversals which he has brought about in the affairs of the Hellenes. In my judgement, however, those who express such sentiments do not discourage but urge on the expedition; for if he is going to be hard to make war against when we have composed our differences and while he, himself is still beset by dissensions, then verily we should be in utmost dread of that time when the conflicting interests of the barbarians are settled and are governed by a single purpose, while we continue to be, as now, hostile to each other. [139] But even though these objectors do in fact lend support to my contention, yet, for all that, they are mistaken in their views about the power of the King; for if they could show that he had ever in the past prevailed over both Athens and Lacedaemon at once, they would have reason for attempting to alarm us now. But if this is not the case, and the truth is that when we and the Lacedaemonians have been in conflict he has but given support to one of the two sides and so rendered the achievements of that one side more brilliant, this is no evidence of his own power. For in such times of crisis small forces have often played a great part in turning the scale;140 for example, even for the people of Chios141 I might make the claim that whichever side they have been inclined to support, that side has proved stronger on the sea. [140] Nay, it is obviously not fair to estimate the power of the King from those exploits in which he has joined forces with the one or the other of us, but rather from the wars which he, unaided, has fought on his own behalf.

Take, first, the case of Egypt: since its revolt from the King, what progress has he made against its inhabitants? Did he not dispatch to this war142 the most renowned of the Persians, Abrocomas and Tithraustes and Pharnabazus, and did not they, after remaining there three years and suffering more disasters than they inflicted, finally withdraw in such disgrace that the rebels are no longer content with their freedom, but are already trying to extend their dominion over the neighboring peoples as well? [141] Next, there is his campaign against Evagoras. Evagoras is ruler over but a single city143; he is given over to the Persians by the terms of the Treaty144; his is an insular power and he has already sustained a disaster to his fleet; he has, at present, for the defense of his territory only three thousand light-armed troops; yet, humble as is the power of Evagoras, the King has not the power to conquer it in war, but has already frittered away six years in the attempt; and, if we may conjecture the future by the past, there is much more likelihood that someone else will rise in revolt before Evagoras is reduced by the siege—so slothful is the King in his enterprises. [142] Again, in the Rhodian War,145 the King had the good will of the allies of Lacedaemon because of the harshness with which they were governed, he availed himself of the help of our seamen; and at the head of his forces was Conon, who was the most competent of our generals, who possessed more than any other the confidence of the Hellenes, and who was the most experienced in the hazards of war; yet, although the King had such a champion to help him in the war, he suffered the fleet which bore the brunt of the defense of Asia to be bottled up for three years by only an hundred ships, and for fifteen months he deprived the soldiers of their pay; and the result would have been, had it depended upon the King alone, that they would have been disbanded more than once; but, thanks to their commander146 and to the alliance which was formed at Corinth,147 they barely succeeded in winning a naval victory. [143] And these were the most royal and the most imposing of his achievements, and these are the deeds about which people are never weary of speaking who are fain to exalt the power of the barbarians!

So no one can say that I am not fair in my use of instances, nor that I dwell upon the minor undertakings of the King and pass over the most important; [144] for I have striven to forestall just such a complaint, and have recounted the most glorious of his exploits. I do not, however, forget his minor campaigns; I do not forget that Dercylidas,148 with a thousand heavy-armed troops, extended his power over Aeolis; that Draco149 took possession of Atarneus, and afterwards collected an army of three thousand light-armed men, and devastated the plains of Mysia; that Thimbron,150 with a force only a little larger, crossed over into Lydia and plundered the whole country; and that Agesilaus, with the help of the army of Cyrus, conquered almost all the territory this side of the Halys river.151 [145]

And assuredly we have no greater reason to fear the army which wanders about152 with the King nor the valor of the Persians themselves; for they were clearly shown by the troops who marched inland153 with Cyrus to be no better than the King's soldiers who live on the coast. I refrain from speaking of all the other battles in which the Persians were worsted, and I am willing to grant that they were split with factions, and so where not inclined to throw themselves wholeheartedly into the struggle against the King's brother. [146] But after Cyrus had been killed, and all the people of Asia had joined forces, even under these favorable conditions they made such a disgraceful failure of the war as to leave for those who are in the habit of vaunting Persian valor not a word to say. For they had to deal with only six thousand Hellenes154—not picked troops, but men who, owing to stress of circumstances, were unable to live in their own cities.155 These were, moreover, unfamiliar with the country; they had been deserted by their allies; they had been betrayed by those who made the expedition with them; they had been deprived of the general whom they had followed; [147] and yet the Persians were so inferior to these men that the King, finding himself in difficult straits and having no confidence in the force which was under his own command, did not scruple to arrest the captains of the auxiliaries in violation of the truce,156 hoping by this lawless act to throw their army into confusion, and preferring to offend against the gods rather than join issue openly with these soldiers. [148] But when he failed in this plot—for the soldiers not only stood together but bore their misfortune nobly,—then, as they set out on their journey home, he sent with them Tissaphernes and the Persian cavalry. But although these kept plotting against them throughout the entire journey,157 the Hellenes continued their march to the end as confidently as if they had been under friendly escort, dreading most of all the uninhabited regions of that country, and deeming it the best possible fortune to fall in with as many of the enemy as possible. [149] Let me sum up the whole matter: These men did not set out to get plunder or to capture a town, but took the field against the King himself, and yet they returned in greater security than ambassadors who go to him on a friendly mission. Therefore it seems to me that in every quarter the Persians have clearly exposed their degeneracy; for along the coast of Asia they have been defeated in many battles, and when they crossed to Europe they were duly punished, either perishing miserably or saving their lives with dishonor; and to crown all, they made themselves objects of derision under the very walls of their King's palace.158 [150]

And none of these things has happened by accident, but all of them have been due to natural causes; for it is not possible for people who are reared and governed as are the Persians, either to have a part in any other form of virtue or to set up on the field of battle trophies of victory over their foes.159 For how could either an able general or a good soldier be produced amid such ways of life as theirs? Most of their population is a mob without discipline or experience of dangers, which has lost all stamina for war and has been trained more effectively for servitude than are the slaves in our country. [151] Those, on the other hand, who stand highest in repute among them have never governed their lives by dictates of equality or of common interest or of loyalty to the state; on the contrary, their whole existence consists of insolence toward some, and servility towards others—a manner of life than which nothing could be more demoralizing to human nature. Because they are rich, they pamper their bodies; but because they are subject to one man's power, they keep their souls in a state of abject and cringing fear, parading themselves at the door of the royal palace, prostrating themselves, and in every way schooling themselves to humility of spirit, falling on their knees before a mortal man, addressing him as a divinity, and thinking more lightly of the gods than of men. [152] So it is that those of the Persians who come down to the sea, whom they term satraps,160 do not dishonor the training which they receive at home, but cling steadfastly to the same habits: they are faithless to their friends and cowardly to their foes; their lives are divided between servility on the one hand and arrogance on the other; they treat their allies with contempt and pay court to their enemies. [153] For example, they maintained the army under Agesilaus at their own expense for eight months,161 but they deprived the soldiers who were fighting in the Persian cause of their pay for double that length of time; they distributed an hundred talents among the captors of Cisthene,162 but treated more outrageously than their prisoners of war the troops who supported them in the campaign against Cyprus. [154] To put it briefly—and not to speak in detail but in general terms,— who of those that have fought against them has not come off with success, and who of those that have fallen under their power has not perished from their atrocities? Take the case of Conon,163 who, as commander in the service of Asia, brought an end to the power of the Lacadaemonians: did they not shamelessly seize him for punishment by death? Take, on the other hand, the case of Themistocles,164 who in the service of Hellas defeated them at Salamis: did they not think him worthy of the greatest gifts? [155] Then why should we cherish the friendship of men who punish their benefactors and so openly flatter those who do them injury? Who is there among us whom they have not wronged? When have they given the Hellenes a moment's respite from their treacherous plots? What in our world is not hateful to them who did not shrink in the earlier war from rifling even the images and temples of the gods, and burning them to the ground?165 [156] Therefore, the Ionians deserve to be commended because, when their sanctuaries had been burned, they invoked the wrath of Heaven upon any who should disturb the ruins or should desire to restore their shrines as they were of old;166 and they did this, not because they lacked the means to rebuild them, but in order that there might be left a memorial to future generations of the impiety of the barbarians, and that none might put their trust in men who do not scruple to commit such sins against our holy temples, but that all might be on their guard against them and fear them, seeing that they waged that war not against our persons only, but even against our votive offerings to the gods. [157]

Of my own countrymen also I have a similar tale to tell. For towards all other peoples with whom they have been at war, they forget their past enmities the moment they have concluded peace, but toward the Asiatics they feel no gratitude even when they receive favors from them; so eternal is the wrath which they cherish against the barbarians.167 Again, our fathers condemned many to death168 for defection to the Medes; in our public assemblies even to this day, before any other business is transacted, the Athenians call down curses169 upon any citizen who proposes friendly overtures to the Persians; and, at the celebration of the Mysteries, the Eumolpidae and the Kerykes,170 because of our hatred of the Persians, give solemn warning to the other barbarians also, even as to men guilty of murder, that they are for ever banned from the sacred rites.171 [158] So ingrained in our nature is our hostility to them that even in the matter of our stories we linger most fondly over those which tell of the Trojan and the Persian wars,172 because through them we learn of our enemies' misfortunes; and you will find that our warfare against the barbarians has inspired our hymns, while that against the Hellenes has brought forth our dirges;173 and that the former are sung at our festivals, while we recall the latter on occasions of sorrow. [159] Moreover, I think that even the poetry of Homer has won a greater renown because he has nobly glorified the men who fought against the barbarians, and that on this account our ancestors determined to give his art a place of honor in our musical contests and in the education of our youth,174 in order that we, hearing his verses over and over again, may learn by heart the enmity which stands from of old between us and them, and that we, admiring the valor of those who were in the war against Troy, may conceive a passion for like deeds. [160]

So it seems to me that the motives which summon us to enter upon a war against them are many indeed; but grief among them is the present opportunity, which we must not throw away; for it is disgraceful to neglect a chance when it is present and regret it when it is past. Indeed, what further advantage could we desire to have on our side when contemplating a war against the King beyond those which are now at hand? [161] Are not Egypt175 and Cyprus176 in revolt against him? Have not Phoenicia and Syria177 been devastated because of the war? Has not Tyre, on which he set great store, been seized by his foes? Of the cities in Cilicia, the greater number are held by those who side with us and the rest are not difficult to acquire. Lycia178 no Persian has ever subdued. [162] Hecatomnus, the viceroy of Caria, has in reality been disaffected for a long time now,179 and will openly declare himself whenever we wish. From Cnidus to Sinope180 the coast of Asia is settled by Hellenes, and these we need not to persuade to go to war—all we have to do is not to restrain them. With such bases at our command for the operation of our forces, and with so widespread a war threatening Asia on every side, why, then, need we examine too closely what the outcome will be? For since the barbarians are unequal to small divisions of the Hellenes, it is not hard to foresee what would be their plight if they should be forced into a war against our united forces. [163]

But this is how the matter stands: If the barbarian strengthens his hold on the cities of the coast by stationing in them larger garrisons than he has there now, perhaps those of the islands which lie near the mainland, as, for example, Rhodes and Samos and Chios, might incline to his side; but if we get possession of them first, we may expect that the populations of Lydia and Phrygia and of the rest of the up-country will be in the power of our forces operating from those positions. [164] Therefore we must be quick and not waste time, in order that we may not repeat the experience of our fathers.181 For they, because they took the field later than the barbarians and had to abandon some of their allies,182 were compelled to encounter great numbers with a small force; whereas, if they had crossed over to the continent in time to be first on the ground, having with them the whole strength of Hellas, they could have subdued each of the nations there in turn. [165] For experience has shown that when you go to war with people who are gathered together from many places, you must not wait until they are upon you, but must strike while they are still scattered. Now our fathers, having made this mistake at the outset, entirely retrieved it only after engaging in the most perilous of struggles; but we, if we are wise, shall guard against it from the beginning, and endeavor to be the first to quarter an army in the region of Lydia and Ionia, [166] knowing that the King holds sway over the people of the continent, not because they are his willing subjects, but because he has surrounded himself with a force which is greater than any of those which they severally possess. So whenever we transport thither a force stronger than his, which we can easily do if we so will, we shall enjoy in security the resources of all Asia. Moreover, it is much more glorious to fight against the King for his empire than to contend against each other for the hegemony. [167]

It were well to make the expedition in the present generation, in order that those who have shared in our misfortunes may also benefit by our advantages and not continue all their days in wretchedness. For sufficient is the time that is past, filled as it has been with every form of horror;183 for many as are the ills which are incident to the nature of man, we have ourselves invented more than those which necessity lays upon us, by engendering wars and factions among ourselves; [168] and, in consequence, some are being put to death contrary to law in their own countries, others are wandering with their women and children in strange lands, and many, compelled through lack of the necessities of life to enlist in foreign armies,184 are being slain, fighting for their foes against their friends.

Against these ills no one has ever protested; and people are not ashamed to weep over the calamities which have been fabricated by the poets, while they view complacently the real sufferings, the many terrible sufferings, which result from our state of war; and they are so far from feeling pity that they even rejoice more in each other's sorrows than in their own blessings. [169] But perhaps many might even laugh at my simplicity if I should lament the misfortunes of individual men, in times like these, when Italy has been laid waste,185 when Sicily has been enslaved,186 when such mighty cities have been given over to the barbarians,187 and when the remaining portions of the Hellenic race are in the gravest peril. [170]

I am amazed at those who hold power in our states,188 if they think that they have occasion to be proud when they have never been able either to propose or to conceive a remedy for a situation so momentous; for they ought, if they had been worthy of their present reputation, to have dropped all else, and have proposed measures and given counsel about our war against the barbarians. [171] Perhaps they might have helped us to get something done; but even if they had given up before gaining their object, they would, at any rate, have left to us their words as oracles for the future. But as things are, those who are held in highest honor are intent on matters of little consequence, and have left it to us, who stand aloof from public life,189 to advise on matters of so great moment. [172]

Nevertheless, the more faint-hearted our leading men happen to be, the more vigorously must the rest of us look to the means by which we shall deliver ourselves from our present discord. For as matters now stand, it is in vain that we make our treaties of peace; for we do not settle our wars, but only postpone them and wait for the opportune moment when we shall have the power to inflict some irreparable disaster upon each other. [173]

We must clear from our path these treacherous designs and pursue that course of action which will enable us to dwell in our several cities with greater security and to feel greater confidence in each other. What I have to say on these points is simple and easy: It is not possible for us to cement an enduring peace unless we join together in a war against the barbarians, nor for the Hellenes to attain to concord until we wrest our material advantages from one and the same source and wage our wars against one and the same enemy.190 [174] When these conditions have been realized, and when we have been freed from the poverty which afflicts our lives—a thing that breaks up friendships, perverts the affections of kindred into enmity, and plunges the whole world into war and strife191—then surely we shall enjoy a spirit of concord, and the good will which we shall feel towards each other will be genuine. For all these reasons, we must make it our paramount duty to transfer the war with all speed from our boundaries to the continent, since the only benefit which we can reap from the wars which we have waged against each other is by resolving that the experience which we have gained from them shall be employed against the barbarians. [175]

But is it not well, you may perhaps ask, on account of the Treaty,192 to curb ourselves and not be over-hasty or make the expedition too soon, seeing that the states which have gained their freedom through the Treaty feel grateful toward the King, because they believe that it was through him that they gained their independence, while those states which have been delivered over to the barbarians complain very bitterly of the Lacedaemonians and only less bitterly of the other Hellenes who entered into the peace, because, in their view, they were forced by them into slavery? But, I reply, is it not our duty to annul this agreement, which has given birth to such a sentiment—the sentiment that the barbarian cares tenderly for Hellas, and stands guard over her peace, while among ourselves are to be found those who outrage and evilly entreat her? [176] The crowning absurdity of all, however, is the fact that among the articles which are written in the agreement it is only the worst which we guard and observe. For those which guarantee the independence of the islands and of the cities in Europe have long since been broken and are dead letters on the pillars,193 while those which bring shame upon us and by which many of our allies have been given over to the enemy—these remain intact, and we all regard them as binding upon us, though we ought to have expunged them and not allowed them to stand a single day, looking upon them as commands, and not as compacts; for who does not know that a compact is something which is fair and impartial to both parties, while a command is something which puts one side at a disadvantage unjustly? [177] On this ground we may justly complain of our envoys who negotiated this peace,194 because, although dispatched by the Hellenes, they made the Treaty in the interest of the barbarians. For they ought, no matter whether they took the view that each of the states concerned should retain its original territory, or that each should extend its sovereignty over all that it had acquired by conquest, or that we should each retain control over what we held when peace was declared—they ought, I say, to have adopted definitely some one of these views, applying the principle impartially to all, and on this basis to have drafted the articles of the Treaty. [178] But instead of that, they assigned no honor whatsoever to our city or to Lacedaemon, while they set up the barbarian as lord of all Asia; as if we had gone to war for his sake, or as if the rule of the Persians had been long established, and we were only just now founding our cities—whereas in fact it is they who have only recently attained this place of honor, while Athens and Lacedaemon have been throughout their entire history a power among the Hellenes. [179]

I think, however, that I shall show still more clearly both the dishonor which we have suffered, and the advantage which the King has gained by putting the matter in this way: All the world which lies beneath the firmament being divided into two parts, the one called Asia, the other Europe, he has taken half of it by the Treaty, as if he were apportioning the earth with Zeus,195 and not making compacts with men. [180] Yes, and he has compelled us to engrave this Treaty on pillars of stone and place it in our public temples196— a trophy far more glorious for him than those which are set up on fields of battle; for the latter are for minor deeds and a single success, but this treaty stands as a memorial of the entire war and of the humiliation of the whole of Hellas. [181]

These things may well rouse our indignation and make us look to the means by which we shall take vengeance for the past and set the future right. For verily it is shameful for us, who in our private life think the barbarians are fit only to be used as household slaves, to permit by our public policy so many of our allies to be enslaved by them; and it is disgraceful for us, when our fathers who engaged in the Trojan expedition because of the rape of one woman, all shared so deeply in the indignation of the wronged that they did not stop waging war until they had laid in ruins the city of him who had dared to commit the crime, [182] —it is disgraceful for us, I say, now that all Hellas is being continually outraged, to take not a single step to wreak a common vengeance, although we have it in our power to accomplish deeds as lofty as our dreams. For this war is the only war which is better than peace; it will be more like a sacred mission than a military expedition; and it will profit equally both those who crave the quiet life and those who are eager for war; for it will enable the former to reap the fruits of their own possessions in security and the latter to win great wealth from the possessions of our foes. [183]

You will find, if you weigh the matter carefully, that this undertaking is most desirable for us from many points of view. For against whom, pray, ought men to wage war who crave no aggrandizement, but look to the claims of justice alone? Is it not against those who in the past have injured Hellas, and are now plotting against her, and have always been so disposed towards us? [184] And against whom should we expect men to direct their envy who, while not wholly lacking in courage, yet curb this feeling with prudence? Is it not against those who have compassed powers that are too great for man, and yet are less deserving than those who are unfortunate among us? And against whom should those take the field who both desire to serve their gods and are at the same time intent on their own advantage? Is it not against those who are both their natural enemies and their hereditary foes, who have acquired the greatest possessions and are yet, of all men, the least able to defend them? Do not the Persians, then, fulfill all these conditions? [185]

Furthermore, we shall not even trouble the several states by levying soldiers from them—a practice which now in our warfare against each other they find most burdensome. For it is my belief that those who will be inclined to remain at home will be far fewer than those who will be eager to join this army. For who, be he young or old, is so indolent that he will not desire to have a part in this expedition—an expedition led by the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians, gathered together in the cause of the liberty of our allies, dispatched by all Greece, and faring forth to wreak vengeance on the barbarians? [186] And how great must we think will be the name and the fame and the glory which they will enjoy during their lives, or, if they die in battle, will leave behind them—they who will have won the meed of honor in such an enterprise? For if those who made war against an Alexander197 and took a single city were accounted worthy of such praise, what encomiums should we expect these men to win who have conquered the whole of Asia? For who that is skilled to sing or trained to speak will not labor and study in his desire to leave behind a memorial both of his own genius and of their valor, for all time to come? [187]

I am not at the present moment of the same mind as I was at the beginning of my speech. For then I thought that I should be able to speak in a manner worthy of my theme; now, however, I have not risen to its grandeur, and many of the thoughts which I had in mind to utter have escaped me. Therefore you must come to my aid and try to picture to yourselves what vast prosperity we should attain if we should turn the war which now involves ourselves against the peoples of the continent, and bring the prosperity of Asia across to Europe. [188] And you must not depart to your homes as men who have merely listened to an oration; nay, those among you who are men of action must exhort one another to try to reconcile our city with Lacedaemon; and those among you who make claims to eloquence must stop composing orations on “deposits,”198 or on the other trivial themes199 which now engage your efforts, and center your rivalry on this subject and study how you may surpass me in speaking on the same question, [189] bearing ever in mind that it does not become men who promise great things to waste their time on little things,200 nor yet to make the kind of speeches which will improve no whit the lives of those whom they convince, but rather the kind which, if carried out in action, will both deliver the authors themselves from their present distress201 and win for them the credit of bringing to pass great blessings for the rest of the world.202

1 Pan-Hellenic gatherings at the Olympic, Pythian, Nemean and Isthmian games, including also the Pan-atheniac festival at Athens. See Gardner and Jevons, Manual of Greek Antiquities, pp. 269 ff.

2 This is not quite exact （see Lys. 33.2）, nor consistent with § 45 where he mentions contests of intellect and prizes for them. But the mild interest which these evoked served but to emphasize the excess of enthusiasm for athletics against which Isocrates here and elsewhere protests. Cf. Isoc. 15.250 and Isoc. Letter 8.5. The complaint is older than Isocrates. See Xenophanes, Fr. 19.

3 For the meaning of the word “sophist” see General Introd. p. xii. The word is commonly translated “orator,” since the sophists concerned themselves mainly with exemplifying and teaching oratory; but the sophist speaks only on the lecture platform; the political orator is called a “rhetor” in Isocrates. Gorgias and Lysias in their Olympic orations had spoken on this theme, but it is hardly probable that Isocrates had them particularly in mind in this patronizing remark.

4 Cf. Lys. 33.3. For Isocrates, idea of the highest oratory see General Introd. p. xxiv.

5 The author of the treatise On the Sublime, 38, quotes this passage and condemns Isocrates' “puerility” in thus dwelling on the power of rhetoric when leading up to his praise of Athens, and so arousing distrust of his sincerity. But the objection loses its force if Isocrates is here using what had become a conventionalized statement of the power of oratory. This it probably was. Plut. Orat. 838f, attributes to Isocrates the definition of rhetoric as the means of making “small things great and great things small.” A similar view is attributed to the rhetoricians Tisias and Gorgias in Plat. Phaedrus 267a, who are credited with “making small things appear great and great things small, and with presenting new things in an old way and old themes in a modern fashion through the power of speech.” Cf. Isoc.11.4 and Isoc. 12.36; also Julian, Oration, i. 2 C.

6 Literally the “philosophy which has to do with oratory”—culture expressed in speech. For “philosophy” as used by Isocrates see General Introd. p. xxvi.

7 For Isocrates' opinion of court oratory see General Introd. p. xxii.

8 This is done by Lys. 2.1, by Hyp. 6.2, and by Isocrates himself, Isoc. 12.36-38.

9 See General Introd. p. 30.

10 This self-confidence is something more than Isocratean vanity. It is a conscious device to enhance the greatness of this theme. At the beginning he is exalted by its magnitude; at the end, 187, he is cast down by his failure to measure up to it. See Havet's interesting remarks in Cartelier's Antidosis, p. lxv.

11 Artaxerxes II., king of Persia, 404-359 B.C.

12 The Greek states which were under the influence of Athens were democratic; those under Sparta's influence, oligarchic.

13 Almost the same language is used in Isoc. 5.9.

14 This claim was made good two years later when the new confederacy was formed. See General Introd. p. xxxvii. The Greek word “hegemony”—leadership, supremacy—is often used in the particular sense of acknowledged headship of confederated states, as here.

15 See Isoc. 12.124 and Hdt. 7.161.

16 The same boast is made in Isoc. 10.35 and Isoc. 15.299.

17 In contrast particularly to the ancestors of the Spartans when they established themselves in the Peloponnesus.

18 The “autochthony” of the Athenians was a common theme of Athenian orators and poets: Isoc. 8.49, Isoc. 12.124-125; Thuc. 1.2.5; Eur. Ion 589 ff.; Aristoph. Wasps 1076.

19 A challenge to Spartan pride and pretensions.

20 For the story of Demeter and Persephone （here called Kore, “the maiden”） see HH Dem.; Ovid, Fasti iv. 393-620, and Metamorphoses v. 385 ff.; Claudian, De raptu Proserpinae, and Walter Pater, “Demeter and Persephone” in his Greek Studies.

21 Cf. Plat. Menex. 237e; Lucret. vi. 1 ff.

22 For the Eleusinian Mysteries see Lobeck, Aglaophamus, vol. i; Gardner and Jevons, Manual of Greek Antiquities, pp. 274 ff.; Gardner's New Chapters in Greek History, xiii; Diehl, Excursions in Greece viii.

23 Quoted in Isoc. 8.34. For the blessedness of the Mystics see HH Dem. 480 ff.; Pindar, Fr. 102; Sophocles, Fr. 753 Nauck.

24 So Plat. Menex. 238a. Cf. Cicero, Flaccus 62, “adsunt Athenienses unde humanitas, doctrina, religio, frugeres, iura, leges ortae atque in omnes terras distributae putantur.”

25 In the month Boëdromion （August）.

26 This custom is attested by inscriptions. See full discussion of it in Preller, Griech. Mythol. i. p. 773.

27 for this view of the gradual progress of civilization see Xenophanes, Fr. 18 Diels; Aesch. PB 447 ff.; Eur. Supp. 201 ff.; Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. pp. 60, 236, 542, 771, 813, 931; and Lucretius's elaborate picture, v. 780 ff.

28 For the traditional “Ionic migration,” led by Athens, in the course of which settlements were made in Samos and Chios and in the islands of the Cyclades, in Asia Minor, and on the shores of the Black Sea, see Isoc. 12.43-44, 166, 190; Thuc. 1.2.6; Grote, History of Greece （new edition）, ii. pp. 21 ff.

29 The tradition is probably correct that Athens was the first city to set her own house in order and so extended her influence over Greece. The creation of a civilized state out of scattered villages is attributed to King Theseus. See Isoc. 10.35; Isoc. 12.128 ff.. In Isoc. 12.151-4, Isocrates maintains that certain features of the Spartan constitution were borrowed from Athens.

30 There is no evidence to bear out a literal interpretaion of this statement, but the tradition is probably right which regarded the Areopagus in Athens as the first court set up in Greece for the trial of cases of homicide. It was believed that this court was first convened to ty the case of Orestes, an alien. See Aesch. Eum. 684; Dem. 23.65 ff.

31 So Isoc. 12.202. Pliny Nat. Hist. 7.194, catalogues many Athenian discoveries in art. Cf. Milton, Par. Reg. iv. 240: “Athens the eye of Greece, mother of arts and eloquence.”

32 Thucydides in Pericles' funeral oration emphasizes the open hospitality of Athens to foreigners and strangers, Thuc. 2.39.1.

33 The word οἰκείως suggests μέτοικοι, the foreign residents, who numbered about one-third of the free population of Athens.

34 Thucydides states that all the products of the whole world found their way to Athens, ii. 38. 2.

35 The armistice or “Peace of God”—the sacred month as it was called at Olympia—during which the states participating in the games ceased from war. See Gardner and Jevons, Manual of Greek Antiquities, p. 270.

36 Lys. 33.1, speaks of Heracles as having founded the Olympic festival out of good will for Hellas.

37 Isocrates here refers to the sights and show-places of Athens, and to the Panathenaic and the Dionysiac festivals especially. See Tucker, Life in Ancient Athens, Chap. xii.

38 In Isoc. 15.295 is a similar picture of the attractions and advantages of life in Athens.

39 The meaning may be that prize-winners in Athens are awarded similar prizes in conpetitions elsewhere.

40 The Panathenaic and the Dionysiac festivals were held every year, whereas the Olympic and Pythian games came only once in four years, and the Nemean and Isthmian games once in two years. Festival followed upon festival in Athens, and Isocrates' statement is almost literally true. Thucydides says the same thing, Thuc. 2.38, and Xenophon declares that the Athenians celebrate twice as many festivals as the other Greeks, Xen. Const. Ath. 3.8.

41 For “philosophy” in Isocrates see General Introd. p. xxvi, and Cicero's definition, De orat. iii. 16, “omnis rerum optimarum cognitio, atque in iis exercitatio, philosophia.”

42 Cf. Isoc. 15.295-296; Plat. Laws 641e; and Milton: “mother of arts and eloquence.”

43 For the power and function of λόγος see Isoc. 3.5-9; Isoc. 15.273; Xen. Mem. 4.3.

44 For Athens as the School of Greece see General Introd. p. xxviii; Isoc. 15.296; Thuc. 2.41.1.

45 See General lntrod. p. xxxiv and Isoc. 9.47 ff. Cf. the inscription on the Gennadeion in Athens: Ἕλληνες καλοῦνται οἱ τῆς ποεδεύσεως τῆς ἡμετέρας μετέχοντες

46 On Athens as a refuge for the oppressed see the words of Procles in Xen. Hell. 6.5.45. Cf. Isoc. 8.138.

47 Andocides, Isoc. 8.28, speaks of the “habitual bane” of Athens—that of throwing away her stronger friends and choosing the weaker. Cf. Plat. Menex. 244e, and Dem. 20.3.

48 Heracles had been during his life a slave to the commands of Eurystheus, king of Mycenae. After the death of Heracles and his apotheosis, his sons were driven by Eurystheus out of the Peloponnesus. In the course of their wanderings they found refuge in Athens, where Theseus, the king, championed their cause against their oppressor. Eurystheus was killed in battle by Hyllus, one of the sons of Heracles. See Grote, Hist. i. p. 94. Adrastus, king of Argos, was the leader ot he expedition known in story as that of the Seven against Thebes. They were defeated by the Thebans and were not even allowed to recover their dead for burial. Adrastus fled to Athens and there was given refuge and aid to avenge himself on the Thebans. See Grote, Hist. i. p. 277. Both of these episodes are commonplaces in panegyrics on Athens. Cf. Isoc. 6.42; Isoc. 12.168-171; Lys. 2.7-16—a close parallel to Isocrates; Plat. Menex. 239b ff.; Dem. 60.8, 27; Lyc. 1.98; Xen. Hell. 6.5.46.

49 The dead had a divine right to burial. See Isoc. 12.169 and Soph. Ant.

50 Aristodemus, the great-great-grandson of Heracles, had twin sons, Eurysthenes and Procles, who established the double line from which Sparta drew her two hereditary kings.

51 For these legendary wars against the Scythians, Amazons, and Thracians see Grote, Hist. i. pp. 201 ff. These stood out in the Athenian mind as their first great struggle against the barbarians, and generally found a place beside the Persian Wars in pictures of their glorious past. Cf. Isoc. 6.42; Isoc. 7.75; Isoc. 12.193; Lys. 2.4 ff.; Plat. Menex. 239b; Xen. Mem. 3.5.9.

52 These complaints are stated in Isoc. 12.193.

53 At the decisive battles of Marathon, 490 B.C., and Salamis, 480 B.C.

54 This passage is closely imitated by Lyc. 1.70, and by Aristeides, Isoc. 12.217.

55 By general acknowledgement. See Isoc. 4.99 and Isoc. 7.75, Isoc. 8.76.

56 Athens obtained the supremacy as the head of the Confederacy of Delos 477 B.C. See Isoc. 7.17; Isoc. 12.67; Hdt. 9.106; Thuc. 1.95; Xen. Hell. 6.5.34.

57 The custom of delivering funeral orations for those who fell in battle seems to have originated in the Persian Wars. Of such orations the following are the most celebrated: the oration of Pericles in honor of those who died in the first year of the Peloponnesian War （Thuc. 2.35-46）; the Epitaphios of Gorgias, published in Athens some time after 347 B.C., represented by fragments only; the Epitaphios attributed to Lysias on those who fell in the Corinthian War, 394 B.C.; the Menexenus of Plato; the Epitaphios attributed to Demosthenes on those who were killed at Chaeronea; that of Hypereides on the heroes of the Lamian War.

58 Dion. Hal. Isoc. 5, gives a digest of 75-81 and remarks with unction that no one can read it without being stirred to patriotism and devoted citizenship. However, later （14） he quotes extensively from the same division of the speech to illustrate the author's excessive artifices of style.

59 This artificial paragraph is closely paralleled in Isoc. 7.24 and in Isoc. 3.21.

60 Cf. Isoc. 7.41. This part of the Panegyricus has much in common with the pictures of the old democracy in Athens drawn in the Areopagiticus and the Panathenaicus.

61 Political parties and clubs of that day are here no doubt idealized to point the contrast to the selfish intrigues of the present. Cf. Isoc. 4.168 and Thucydides' picture of the evils of faction, Thuc. 3.82. These clubs, whatever they may have been in the Golden Age, were later sworn enemies of popular government and the centers of oligarchical conspiracies. See Thuc. 8.54; and Aristot. Ath. Pol. 34.

62 A favorite comparison. Cf. 186, Isoc. 5.111-112, Isoc. 9.65.

63 Sections 85-87 are closely paralleled in Lys. 2.23-26.

64 As was done by the Peace of Antalcidas. See 115, note.

65 The Athenians at Marathon were reckoned at ten thousand, the Persians at about two hundred thousand.

66 Echoed from Thuc. 1.70.

67 Isocrates makes greater “haste” than Hdt. 6.110.

68 This agrees with Hdt. 6.120.

69 The second campaign is described by Hdt. 7-9.

70 A like artificiality of rhetoric to describe the presumption of Xerxes in building a bridge across the Hellespont for his troops and a canal through the promontory of Athos for his ships （Hdt. 7.22-24） seems to have been conventional. Cf. Lys. 2.29 and Aesch. Pers. 745 ff.

71 There were originally in all about four thousand, according to Hdt. 7.202.

72 An understatement of the number. Cf. Hdt. 8.1.

73 Paralleled in Plat. Menex. 240d; Lys. 2.23; Lyc. 1.108.

74 This paragraph is closely paralleled in Lys. 2.31; Hyp. 6.27; and Lyc. 1.48.

75 Thermopylae.

76 An army of 2,640,000, acc. to Hdt. 7.185.

77 The attempt to bribe the Athenians was, according to Hdt. 8.136, made after the battle of Salamis.

78 Cf. Lys. 2.33 ff.

79 Unlike Gorgias, Fr. 18, and Lys. 2.37, who do go into such details.

80 So Isoc. 12.50 Lys. 2.42. But according to Hdt. 8.44-48 the Athenians furnished 180, the others 198.

81 Cf. Isoc. 12.51.

82 The Melan episode is dramatically told by Thucydides v. 84-116. Because the Melians refused to join the Delian Confederacy they were besieged and conquered by the Athenians, 416 B.C. The men of military age were put to the sword and the women and children sold into slavery. Five hundred Athenians were later settled there. Scione revolted from the Confederacy in 423 B.C. Reduced to subjection in 421 B.C., the people suffered the same fate as did the Melians later and their territory was occupied by Plataean refugees （Thuc. 4.120-130）. These are blots on the record which Isocrates can at best condone. “Even the gods are not thought to be above reproach,” he says in the Isoc. 12.62-64, where he discusses frankly these sins of the Athenian democracy. Xenophon tells us that when the Athenians found themselves in like case with these conquered peoples after the disaster at Aegospotami they bitterly repented them of this injustice, Xen. Hell. 2.3.

83 In this and the following paragraphs we have a summing up of the spirit of the Athenian hegemony in contrast to that of the Spartan supremacy described in 115 ff. Cf. Isoc. 12.59 ff.

84 ταῖς δυναστείαις means simply “powers” in 81, but commonly powers not responsible to the people—oligarchies as here or tyrannies as in 39.

85 A pan-Hellenic sentiment. Cf. 81.

86 Citizens under oligarchies are without rights; they are like the metics in Athens—residents on sufferance.

87 By φύσις, nature. Cf. “All men are created equal.” The contrast between nature and convention— φύσις and νόμος—was a favorite topic of discussion among the sophists. Cf. an echo of it in Isoc. 1.10.

88 A democratic government. Cf. Isoc. 12.54 ff.

89 A round number. So Lys. 2.55. Demosthenes reckons the period of supremacy more accurately at 73 years, 477-404. In Isoc. 12.56 Isocrates reckons it at 65 years—roughly from the Confederacy of Delos to the Athenian disaster in Sicily, which was really the beginning of the end of the Athenian supremacy.

90 Allotments of lands to Athenian colonists in Greek territory, as in Scione and Melos. See note on 101. For these “cleruchies,” as they were called, see Gardner and Jevons, Manual of Greek Antiquities, pp. 602 ff.

91 The total population including foreign residents and slaves is reckoned at about 500,000; the total area is about 700 square miles.

92 See Thuc. 2.13 and Thuc. 8.79.

93 Herodotus characterizes Euboea as a “large and prosperous” island, Hdt. 5.31. Cf. Thuc. 8.96.

94 This cynical remark points to the Spartan conquest of Messene.

95 Probably a taunt flung at the Euboeans and all who were under the protection and influence of Athens.

96 When their city was destroyed in the Peloponnesian War, 427 B.C., the Plataeans took refuge in Athens and were later settled in Scione. At the close of the war they were forced to leave Scione and again found refuge in Athens. By the Peace of Antalcidas they were restored to their own territory only to be driven from their homes by the Thebans in 372 B.C. Once more Athens became their refuge. See Isoc. 14.13 ff.

97 In Athens and in other states under ther influence there was in the oligarchical party a group of Spartan sympathizers who out-Spartaned the Spartans. After the downfall of Athens at the close of the Peloponnesian war, when Sparta became the supreme power in Greece, 404 B.C., governing commissions of ten （“decarchies”） composed of these extremists, with a Spartan harmost and garrison to support them, were set up in most of these states by the Spartan general Lysander （Xen. Hell. 3.4.2）. In Athens the “decarchy” succeeded the rule of the thirty tyrants. Compare what Isocrates says here about the decarchies with Isoc. 5.95 and Isoc. 12.54.

98 The reference is to Lysander, who on his mother's side was of Helot blood. The Helots were serfs of the Spartans.

99 In Athens 1500, according to Isoc. 7.67; Isoc. 20.11.

100 Such a decree of the Ecclesia as was passed in 378 B.C., when the new confederacy was formed, absolving the allies from paying tribute and from the practice of trying their cases in Athens. These had been the causes of friction. See Isoc. 12.63.

101 Above all, the Treaty or Peace of Antalcidas, 387 B.C. Cf. Isoc. 4.120 ff. Xen. Hell. 5.1.31, quotes from this treaty: “King Artaxerxes thinks it just that the cities in Asia, and the islands of Clazomene and Cyprus, shall belong to him. He thinks it just also to leave all the other cities autonomous, both small and great—except Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyros, which are to belong to Athens, as they did originally. Should any parties refuse to accept this peace, I will make war upon them, along with those who are of the same mind, by land as well as by sea, with ships and with money” （Trans. by Grote, Hist. ix. p. 212）. See General Introduction. p. xliii, and introduction to Panegyricus.

102 In the absence of the Athenian fleet.

103 Cf. Xen. Hell. 5.2.1.

104 Cf. Isoc. 12.97.

105 Freedom and autonomy—a single idea; see General Introd. p xxxii; Isoc. 14.24; Isoc. Letter 8.7.

106 See Isoc. 4.126.

107 Allusion is to the victory of Conon at the Eurymedon, 466 B.C.

108 Cf. Isoc. 7.80. There appears to have been a definite treaty setting bounds beyond which neither the sea nor land forces of Persia might go: see Isoc. 4.120 and Isoc. 12.59-61; also Dem. 19.273; Lyc. 1.73. This was the so-called Treaty of Callias: see Grote, Hist. v. pp. 192 ff.

109 For this play of words— ἀρχή, “beginning,” and αρχή, “dominion”—cf. Isoc. 3.28, Isoc. 8.101, Isoc. 5.61.

110 Battle of Aegospotami 405 B.C.

111 At the battle of Cnidus, but with the help of Conon.

112 See Xen. Hell. 4.8.7.

113 See Isoc. 4.115 and note.

114 Cf. Isoc. 4.118 and note.

115 Cf. Isoc. 4.175; Xen. Hell. 6.3.9.

116 The Peloponnesian War.

117 See words of Brasidas in Thuc. 4.85.

118 By the Treaty of Antalcidas, negotiated by Sparta, the Ionian cities of Asia Minor and the neighboring islands were given over to Persia （Xen. Hell. 5.1.31）.

119 As, for example, over the Ionian cities.

120 Slaves by purchase were in worse case than slaves by capture in battle.

121 The Ionian cities were forced to fight with the Persians against Cyprus. See 134.

122 In 383 B.C. Cf. Isoc. 8.100; Xen. Hell. 5.2.7.

123 In the same year. See Xen. Hell. 5.2.25. The Cadmea was the citidel of Thebes.

124 This helps in dating the Panegyricus.

125 The siege of Olynthus was begun in 382 B.C. See Xen. Hell. 5.2.11. The siege of Phlius was begun in 380 B.C. See Xen. Hell. 5.2.8.

126 Amyntas, the father of Philip, was aided by the Spartans against Olynthus 383 B.C. See Isoc. 6.46 and Isoc. 5.106.

127 For the sympathy between Sparta and Dionysius see Isoc. 8.99, Isoc. 6.63.

128 By the Peace of Antalcidas.

129 Cf. Isoc. 8.72.

130 In his second letter to Philip, 5, Isocrates urges him to make all the barbarians, excepting those who join forces with him, serfs of the Hellenes.

131 For tribute levied by Sparta see Xen. Hell. 6.2.16.

132 The Cyclades, hilly and comparatively barren.

133 The “mainlanders”—Persian subjects in Asia Minor.

134 Reference to the ten years' war between Artaxerxes and Evagoras, king of Salamis. For Evagoras see introduction to Isoc. 2, and for the war see Isoc. 9.64 ff.

135 The armament of Tiribazus, composed largely of an army of Greek mercenaries and a navy drawn from Ionian Greeks.

136 That of Evagoras.

137 See Isoc. 9.53-54; Xen. Hell. 4.8.24.

138 Greeks who sold their services as mercenary troops because of poverty at home. See Isoc. 4.168 and note.

139 Cf. Dem. 2.22.

140 Cf. Dem. 2.14.

141 Chios revolted from Athens and joined Sparta after the Sicilian expedition （Thuc. 8.7）. After the battle of Cnidus she joined Athens again （Dio. Sic. 14.84-94）.

142 Isocrates alone is authority for this war.

143 Salamis

144 See terms of Treaty of Antalcidas given in note on 115.

145 The war between Persia and Sparta which ended with the battle of Cnidus, 394 B.C. Conon, after the battle of Aegospotami in which he had been one of the generals, took service with the Persians, and was the captain of the fleet in this battle.

146 Conon.

147 The alliance of Argos, Thebes, Athens, Euboea, Corinth, and Sparta, formed at Corinth （Xen. Hell. 4.4.1）.

148 Succeeded Thimbron as commander of the Spartan fleet, 399 B.C. He is said to have taken nine cities in eight days （Xen. Hell. 3.2.1）.

149 Appointed harmost of Atarneus by Dercylidas, 398 B.C. （Xen. Hell. 3.2.11）.

150 Admiral of Spartan fleet 400 B.C. （Xen. Hell. 3.1.4）.

151 The campaign of Agesilaus occurred in 395 B.C. （Xen. Hell. 3.4.20）.

152 Contemptuous, recalling Aristoph. Ach. 81.

153 The famous “ten thousand” led by Cleararchus, a Spartan, were employed by Cyrus, the younger son of Dareius, against his brother Artaxerxes, the Persian king, 401-399. The death of Cyrus, due to his rashness in the very moment of victory, deprived the rebellion of its leader and left the Greek army stranded in the heart of Asia. Xenophon, who has described this expedition in the Anabasis, led the remnant of this army after many months of hardship back to the shore of the Black Sea. See Grote, Hist. viii. pp. 3O3 ff. The expedition, though unsuccessful in its purpose, was regarded as a triumph of courage and a demonstration of the superiority of the Greeks over the Persians in warfare. The episode is used in Isoc. 5.90-93 with the same point as here.

154 Xen. Anab. 5.3.3 gives the survivors of the battle of Cunaxa as 8600.

155 Cf. Isoc. 4.168; Isoc. 5.96, 120, 121; Isoc. Letter 9.9.

156 Clearchus and four other captains were invited to a parley, under a truce, and treacherously slain （Xen. Anab. 2.5.31）. Cf. Isoc. 5.91, where Isocrates uses the same language as here.

157 Tissaphernes, one of the four generals of Artaxerxes, engaged to furnish safe escort to the Greeks but, in fact, beset their march with treachery （Xen. Anab. 2.4.9）.

158 See Xen. Anab. 2.4.4. Cf. Isoc. 9.58.

159 For effeminacy of the Persians see Isoc. 5.124.

160 Viceroys of the king—provincial governors.

161 See Xen. Hell. 3.4.26; Grote, Hist. ix. p. 92.

162 Cisthene was probably a town in Asia Minor captured by Agesilaus in the campaign.

163 Conon was one of the Athenian generals at the battle of Aegospatomi. After that disaster he left Greece and took service with the Persians against Sparta, and was instrumental in the defeat of the Spartan fleet at the battle of Cnidus. For the treachery referred to here see Grote, Hist. ix. p. 187.

164 Themistocles, commander of the Athenian fleet at Salamis, was later ostracized and took refuge at the Persian court. See Grote, Hist. v. p. 138.

165 When they captured Athens. See Isoc. 4.96; Hdt. 8.53; Aesch. Pers. 809.

166 There is no other authority for this oath of the Ionians. A similar oath is, however, attributed by Lyc. 1.81, to the collective Greeks before the battle of Plataea.

167 See Plat. Rep. 470c; Livy 31.29, “cum barbaris omnibus Graecis bellum est eritque.”

168 See Hdt. 9.5; Lyc. 1.122; Dem. 19.270.

169 The custom is attributed to Aristeides by Plut. Arist. 10.

170 The priests at Eleuis belonged to families traditionally descended from Eumolpus and Keryx.

171 See Hdt. 8.65; Lobeck, Aglaophamus, i. p. 15.

172 Cf. Isoc. 9.6.

173 “Victories over the barbarians call for hymns, but victories over the Hellenes for dirges,” said Gorgias in his Epitaphios, and Isocrates may have had his words in mind. The Gorgias fragment is quoted by Philostr. Lives of the Sophists, 493.

174 See Plat. Hipparch. 228b; Plat. Rep. 606e, and Aristoph. Frogs 1035.

175 See Isoc. 5.101; Isoc. 4.140.

176 See Isoc. 4.141 and note.

177 Evagoras had ravaged Phoenicia and Syria, stormed Tyre, and made Cilicia revolt from Persia. See Isoc. 9.62.

178 Lycia was subjected to Persia by Harpagus （Hdt. 1.176）, but never tamed.

179 See Dio. Sic. 15.2.

180 From Cnidus in S.W. Asia Minor to Sinope on the Black Sea; a line drawn from Cnidus to Sinope cuts off Asia Minor from Asia. The expression “from Cnidus to Sinope” was a catch phrase.

181 In the Persian Wars.

182 The Ionians in Asia Minor. See Hdt. 5.103.

183 Cf. the picture of distress in Isoc. Letter 9.8-10.

184 The hireling soldiers in Greece were becoming a serious problem. See Isoc. 5.96, 120, 121; Isoc. Letter 9.9.

185 By Dionysius I. See Dio. Sic. 14.106 ff.

186 The Sicilian cities, Selinius, Agrigentum, and Himera, were surrendered to the Carthaginians by Dionysius. See Dio. Sic. 13.114.

187 By the Treaty of Antalcidas.

188 The same complaint against the leading statesmen is made in Isoc. Letter 9.8.

189 For Isocrates' aloofness from public life see Isoc. 5.81; Isoc. 12.9-10; Isoc. Letter 1.9; Isoc. Letter 8.7; and General Introd. p. xix.

190 That is, instead of warring among themselves and plundering each other, the Greeks must wage their wars against, and seek their plunder from, the barbarians. Cf. 15 and 187; Isoc. 5.9.

191 Cf. Theognis, 386 ff.

192 The Treaty of Antalcidas. See 115-120 and notes.

193 Articles of treaties were commonly inscribed on pillars of stone, set up either within a public temple or near it.

194 Chiefly Antalcidas of Sparta and Tiribazus, the Persian satrap, negotiated the peace. Isocrates complains that the treaty was arbitrary—not based on any principle whatsoever.

195 Compare the boast of Xerxes in Hdt. 7.8.

196 See Isoc. 12.107.

197 Another name for Paris.

198 The translation is influenced by Professor Bonner's note on τὴν παρακαταθήκην in Classical Philology, xv. p. 385. He argues convincingly that τὴν παρακαταθήκην is not a particular deposit but that the article is “generic, not specific.” Deposits entrusted by one man with another were rather common transactions before the days of banks and caused frequent lawsuits. Hence “the deposit theme” became a hackneyed exercise in the schools of rhetoric. It is, in the opinion of Isocrates, too commonplace and trivial for serious oratory.

199 “Humble bees and salt” are mentioned in Isoc. 10.12 as subjects on which speakers show off their powers to the neglect of worthy themes. In general, he seems here to be thinking of such rhetorical tours de force as Lucian caricatures in his Encomium on the House Fly.

200 This very complaint he makes of his rival sophists. See Isoc. 13.1, 10.

201 Not too urbanely he dwells upon the poverty of his rivals. Cf. Isoc. 13.4, 7.

202 The kind of discourse to which Isocrates himself devoted his serious efforts. See Isoc. 12.11 and General Introd. p. xxiv.

Do not be surprised, Philip, that I am going to begin, not with the discourse which is to be addressed to you and which is presently to be brought to your attention, but with that which I have written about Amphipolis.1 For I desire to say a few words, by way of preface, about this question, in order that I may make it clear to you as well as to the rest of the world that it was not in a moment of folly that I undertook to write my address to you, nor because I am under any misapprehension as to the infirmity2 which now besets me, but that I was led advisedly and deliberately to this resolution. [2]

For when I saw that the war in which you and our city had become involved over Amphipolis was proving the source of many evils, I endeavored to express opinions regarding this city and territory which, so far from being the same as those entertained by your friends, or by the orators among us, were as far as possible removed from their point of view. [3] For they were spurring you on to the war by seconding your covetousness, while I, on the contrary, expressed no opinion whatever on the points in controversy, but occupied myself with a plea which I conceived to be more than all others conducive to peace, maintaining that both you and the Athenians were mistaken about the real state of affairs and that you were fighting in support of our interests, and our city in support of your power; for it was to your advantage, I urged, that we should possess the territory of Amphipolis, while it was in no possible way to our advantage to acquire it. [4] Yes, and I so impressed my hearers by my statement of the case that not one of them thought of applauding my oratory or the finish and the purity of my style, as some are wont to do, but instead they marvelled at the truth of my arguments, and were convinced that only on certain conditions could you and the Athenians be made to cease from your contentious rivalry. [5] In the first place, you, for your part, will have to be persuaded that the friendship of our city would be worth more to you than the revenues which you derive from Amphipolis, while Athens will have to learn, if she can, the lesson that she should avoid planting the kind of colonies3 which have been the ruin, four or five times over, of those domiciled in them, and should seek out for colonization the regions which are far distant from peoples which have a capacity for dominion and near those which have been habituated to subjection—such a region as, for example, that in which the Lacedaemonians established the colony of Cyrene.4 [6] In the next place, you will have to realize that by formally surrendering this territory to us you would in fact still hold it in your power, and would, besides, gain our good will, for you would then have as many hostages of ours to guarantee our friendship as we should send out settlers into the region of your influence; while someone will have to make our own people see that, if we got possession of Amphipolis, we should be compelled to maintain the same friendly attitude toward your policy, because of our colonists there, as we did for the elder Amadocus5 because of our landholders in the Chersonese. [7]

As I continued to say many things of this tenor, those who heard me were inspired with the hope that when my discourse should be published you and the Athenians would bring the war to an end, and, having conquered your pride, would adopt some policy for your mutual good. Whether indeed they were foolish or sensible in taking this view is a question for which they, and not I, may fairly be held to account; but in any case, while I was still occupied with this endeavor, you and Athens anticipated me by making peace before I had completed my discourse; and you were wise in doing so, for to conclude the peace, no matter how, was better than to continue to be oppressed by the evils engendered by the war. [8] But although I was in joyful accord with the resolutions which were adopted regarding the peace, and was convinced that they would be beneficial, not only to us, but also to you and all the other Hellenes, I could not divorce my thought from the possibilities connected with this step, but found myself in a state of mind where I began at once to consider how the results which had been achieved might be made permanent for us, and how our city could be prevented from setting her heart upon further wars, after a short interval of peace.6 [9] As I kept going over these questions in my own thoughts, I found that on no other condition could Athens remain at peace, unless the greatest states of Hellas should resolve to put an end to their mutual quarrels and carry the war beyond our borders into Asia, and should determine to wrest from the barbarians the advantages which they now think it proper to get for themselves at the expense of the Hellenes. This was, in fact, the course which I had already advocated in the Panegyric discourse.7 [10]

Having pondered on these matters and come to the conclusion that there could never be found a subject nobler than this, of more general appeal, or of greater profit to us all, I was moved to write upon it a second time. Yet I did not fail to appreciate my own deficiencies; I knew that this theme called for a man, not of my years, but in the full bloom of his vigor and with natural endowments far above those of other men; [11] and I realized also that it is difficult to deliver two discourses with tolerable success upon the same subject, especially when the one which was first published was so written that even my detractors imitate and admire it more than do those who praise it to excess. [12] Nevertheless, disregarding all these difficulties, I have become so ambitious in my old age that I have determined by addressing my discourse to you at the same time to set an example to my disciples and make it evident to them that to burden our national assemblies with oratory and to address all the people who there throng together is, in reality, to address no one at all;8 that such speeches are quite as ineffectual as the legal codes and constitutions9 drawn up by the sophists; [13] and, finally, that those who desire, not to chatter empty nonsense, but to further some practical purpose, and those who think they have hit upon some plan for the common good, must leave it to others to harangue at the public festivals, but must themselves win over someone to champion their cause from among men who are capable not only of speech but of action and who occupy a high position in the world—if, that is to say, they are to command any attention. [14]

It was with this mind that I chose to address to you what I have to say—not that I singled you out to curry your favor, although in truth I would give much to speak acceptably to you. It was not, however, with this in view that I came to my decision, but rather because I saw that all the other men of high repute were living under the control of politics and laws,10 with no power to do anything save what was prescribed, and that, furthermore, they were sadly unequal to the enterprise which I shall propose; [15] while you and you alone had been granted by fortune free scope both to send ambassadors to whom ever you desire and to receive them from whom ever you please, and to say whatever you think expedient; and that, besides, you, beyond any of the Hellenes, were possessed of both wealth and power, which are the only things in the world that are adapted at once to persuade and to compel; and these aids, I think, even the cause which I shall propose to you will need to have on its side. [16] For I am going to advise you to champion the cause of concord among the Hellenes and of a campaign against the barbarian; and as persuasion will be helpful in dealing with the Hellenes, so compulsion will be useful in dealing with the barbarians. This, then, is the general scope of my discourse. [17]

But I must not shrink from telling you plainly of the discouragements I met with from some of my associates; for I think the tale will be somewhat to my purpose. When I disclosed to them my intention of sending you an address whose aim was, not to make a display, nor to extol the wars which you have carried on—for others will do this—but to attempt to urge you to a course of action which is more in keeping with your nature, and more noble and more profitable than any which you have hitherto elected to follow, [18] they were so dismayed, fearing that because of my old age I had parted with my wits, that they ventured to take me to task—a thing which up to that time they had not been wont to do—insisting that I was applying myself to an absurd and exceedingly senseless undertaking. “Think of it!” they said. “You are about to send an address which is intended to offer advice to Philip, a man who, even if in the past he regarded himself as second to anyone in prudence, cannot now fail, because of the magnitude of his fortunes, to think that he is better able than all others to advise himself! [19] More than that, he has about him the ablest men in Macedonia, who, however inexperienced they may be in other matters, are likely to know better than you do what is expedient for him. Furthermore, you will find that there are many Hellenes living in his country, who are not unknown to fame or lacking in intelligence, but men by sharing whose counsel he has not diminished his kingdom but has, on the contrary, accomplished deeds which match his dreams. [20] For what is lacking to complete his success? Has he not converted the Thessalians, whose power formerly extended over Macedonia, into an attitude so friendly to him that every Thessalian has more confidence in him than in his own fellow countrymen? And as to the cities which are in that region, has he not drawn some of them by his benefactions into an alliance with him; and others, which sorely tried him, has he not razed to the ground? [21] Has he not overthrown the Magnesians and the Perrhaebians and the Paeonians, and taken them all under his yoke? Has he not made himself lord and ruler of most of the Illyrians—all save those who dwell along the Adriatic? Has he not set over all Thrace such masters as he pleased?11 Do you not, then, think that the man who has achieved such great things will pronounce the sender of this pamphlet a great simpleton, and will consider that he was utterly deluded both as to the power of his words and his own insight?” [22] Now, how on hearing these words I was at first dumbfounded, and how later, after I had recovered myself, I replied to each of their objections, I will forbear to relate, lest I should appear in the eyes of some to be too well satisfied with the clever manner in which I met their attack. But, at any rate, after I had first rebuked with moderation, as I persuaded myself, those who had made bold to criticize me, I finally assured them that I would show the speech to no one else in the city but them, and that I would do nothing regarding it other than what they should approve. [23] On hearing this they went their way, I know not in what state of mind. I only know that when, not many days later, the speech was completed and presented to them, they so completely reversed their attitude that they were ashamed of their former presumption and repented of all they had said, acknowledging that they had never been so mistaken about anything in all their lives. They were, in fact, more insistent than I that this speech should be sent to you, and prophesied that not only would you and Athens be grateful to me for what I had said but all Hellas as well. [24]

My purpose in recounting all this is that if, in what I say at the beginning, anything strikes you as incredible, or impracticable, or unsuitable for you to carry out, you may not be prejudiced and turn away from the rest of my discourse, and that you may not repeat the experience of my friends, but may wait with an open mind until you hear to the end all that I have to say. For I think that I shall propose something which is in line with both your duty and your advantage. [25] And yet I do not fail to realize what a great difference there is in persuasiveness between discourses which are spoken and those which are to be read, and that all men have assumed that the former are delivered on subjects which are important and urgent, while the latter are composed for display and personal gain.12 [26] And this is a natural conclusion; for when a discourse is robbed of the prestige of the speaker, the tones of his voice, the variations which are made in the delivery, and, besides, of the advantages of timeliness and keen interest in the subject matter; when it has not a single accessory to support its contentions and enforce its plea, but is deserted and stripped of all the aids which I have mentioned; and when someone reads it aloud without persuasiveness and without putting any personal feeling into it, but as though he were repeating a table of figures,— [27] in these circumstances it is natural, I think, that it should make an indifferent impression upon its hearers. And these are the very circumstances which may detract most seriously also from the discourse which is now presented to you and cause it to impress you as a very indifferent performance; the more so since I have not adorned it with the rhythmic flow and manifold graces of style which I myself employed when I was younger13 and taught by example to others as a means by which they might make their oratory more pleasing and at the same time more convincing. [28] For I have now no longer any capacity for these things because of my years; it is enough for me if I can only set before you in a simple manner the actual facts. And I think it becomes you also to ignore all else and give your attention to the facts alone. [29] But you will be in the best position to discover with accuracy whether there is any truth in what I say if you put aside the prejudices14 which are held against the sophists and against speeches which are composed to be read, and take them up one by one in your thought and scrutinize them, not making it a casual task, nor one to be attacked in a spirit of indifference, but with the close reasoning and love of knowledge which it is common report that you also share.15 For if you will conduct your inquiry with these aids instead of relying upon the opinion of the masses, you will form a sounder judgement about such discourses. [30]

This, then, completes what I wanted to say by way of introduction. I shall now proceed with the subject in hand.

I affirm that, without neglecting any of your own interests, you ought to make an effort to reconcile Argos and Lacedaemon and Thebes and Athens;16 for if you can bring these cities together, you will not find it hard to unite the others as well; [31] for all the rest are under the protection of the aforesaid cities, and fly for refuge, when they are alarmed, to one or other of these powers, and they all draw upon them for succor. So that if you can persuade four cities only to take a sane view of things, you will deliver the others also from many evils. [32]

Now you will realize that it is not becoming in you to disregard any of these cities if you will review their conduct in relation to your ancestors; for you will find that each one of them is to be credited with great friendship and important services to your house: Argos is the land of your fathers,17 and is entitled to as much consideration at your hands as are your own ancestors; the Thebans honor the founder18 of your race, both by processionals and by sacrifices,19 beyond all the other gods; [33] the Lacedaemonians have conferred upon his descendants the kingship and the power of command20 for all time; and as for our city, we are informed by those whom we credit in matters of ancient history that she aided Heracles to win his immortality21（in what way you can easily learn at another time; it would be unseasonable for me to relate it now）, and that she aided his children to preserve their lives.22 [34] Yes, Athens single-handed sustained the greatest dangers against the power of Eurystheus, put an end to his insolence, and freed Heracles' sons from the fears by which they were continually beset. Because of these services we deserve the gratitude, not only of those who then were preserved from destruction, but also of those who are now living; for to us it is due both that they are alive and that they enjoy the blessings which are now theirs, since they never could have seen the light of day at all had not the sons of Heracles been preserved from death. [35]

Therefore, seeing that these cities have each and all shown such a spirit, no quarrel should ever have arisen between you and any one of them. But unfortunately we are all prone by nature to do wrong more often than right; and so it is fair to charge the mistakes of the past to our common weakness. Yet for the future you must be on your guard to prevent a like occurrence, and must consider what service you can render them which will make it manifest that you have acted in a manner worthy both of yourself and of what these cities have done. [36] And the opportunity now serves you; for you would only be repaying the debt of gratitude which you owed them, but, because so much time has elapsed, they will credit you with being first in friendly offices. And it is a good thing to have the appearance of conferring benefits upon the greatest states of Hellas and at the same time to profit yourself no less than them. [37] But apart from this, if anything unpleasant has arisen between you and any of them, you will wipe it out completely; for friendly acts in the present crisis will make you forget the wrongs which you have done each other in the past. Yes, and this also is beyond question, that all men hold in fondest memory those benefits which they receive in times of trouble. [38] And you see how utterly wretched these states have become because of their warfare, and how like they are to men engaged in a personal encounter; for no one can reconcile the parties to a quarrel while their wrath is rising; but after they have punished each other badly, they need no mediator, but separate of their own accord. And that is just what I think these states also will do unless you first take them in hand. [39]

Now perhaps someone will venture to object to what I have proposed, saying that I am trying to persuade you to set yourself to an impossible task, since the Argives could never be friendly to the Lacedaemonians, nor the Lacedaemonians to the Thebans, and since, in general, those who have been accustomed throughout their whole existence to press their own selfish interests can never share and share alike with each other. [40] Well, I myself do not believe that at the time when our city was the first power in Hellas, or again when Lacedaemon occupied that position, any such result could have been accomplished,23 since the one or the other of these two cities could easily have blocked the attempt; but as things are now, I am not of the same mind regarding them. For I know that they have all been brought down to the same level by their misfortunes, and so I think that they would much prefer the mutual advantages which would come from a unity of purpose to the selfish gains which accrued from their policy in those days.24 [41] Furthermore, while I grant that no one else in the world could reconcile these cities, yet nothing of the sort is difficult for you; for I see that you have carried through to a successful end many undertakings which the rest of the world looked upon as hopeless and unthinkable, and therefore it would be nothing strange if you should be able single-handed to affect this union. In fact, men of high purposes and exceptional gifts ought not to undertake enterprises which any of the common run might carry out with success, but rather those which no one would attempt save men with endowments and power such as you possess. [42]

But I marvel that those who think that none of these proposals could possibly be carried out are not aware, either by their own knowledge or by tradition, that there have been many terrible wars after which the participants have come to an understanding and rendered great services to one another. For what could exceed the enmity which the Hellenes felt toward Xerxes? Yet everyone knows that we and the Lacedaemonians came to prize his friendship25 more than that of those who helped us to establish our respective empires. [43] But why speak of ancient history, or of our dealings with the barbarians? If one should scan and review the misfortunes of the Hellenes in general, these will appear as nothing in comparison with those which we Athenians have experienced through the Thebans and the Lacedaemonians.26 Nevertheless, when the Lacedaemonians took the field against the Thebans and were minded to humiliate Boeotia and break up the league of her cities, we sent a relief expedition27 and thwarted the desires of the Lacedaemonians. [44] And again, when fortune shifted her favor28 and the Thebans and the Peloponnesians were one and all trying to devastate Lacedaemon, we alone among the Hellenes formed29 an alliance with the Lacedaemonians and helped to save them from destruction.30 [45] So then, seeing that such great reversals are wont to occur, and that our states care nothing about their former enmities or about their oaths or about anything else save what they conceive to be expedient for themselves, and that expediency is the sole object to which they give their affections and devote all their zeal, no man, unless obsessed by utter folly, could fail to believe that now also they will show the same disposition, especially if you take the lead in their reconciliation, while selfish interests urge and present ills constrain them to this course. I, for my part, believe that, with these influences fighting on your side, everything will turn out as it should. [46]

But I think that you can get most light on the question whether these cities are inclined toward peace with each other or toward war, if I review, not merely in general terms nor yet with excessive detail, the principal facts in their present situation. And first of all, let us consider the condition of the Lacedaemonians. [47]

The Lacedaemonians were the leaders of the Hellenes,31 not long ago, on both land and sea, and yet they suffered so great a reversal of fortune when they met defeat at Leuctra that they were deprived of their power over the Hellenes, and lost such of their warriors as chose to die rather than survive defeat at the hands of those over whom they had once been masters. [48] Furthermore, they were obliged to look on while all the Peloponnesians, who formerly had followed the lead of Lacedaemon against the rest of the world, united with the Thebans and invaded their territory; and against these the Lacedaemonians were compelled to risk battle, not in the country to save the crops, but in the heart of the city,32 before the very seat of their government, to save their wives and children—a crisis in which defeat meant instant destruction, [49] and victory has none the more delivered them from their ills; nay, they are now warred upon by their neighbors33; they are distrusted by all the Peloponnesians34; they are hated by most of the Hellenes35; they are harried and plundered day and night by their own serfs36; and not a day passes that they do not have to take the field or fight against some force or other, or march to the rescue of their perishing comrades. [50] But the worst of their afflictions is that they live in continual fear that the Thebans may patch up their quarrel with the Phocians37 and, returning again,38 ring them about with still greater calamities than have befallen them in the past. How, then, can we refuse to believe that people so hard pressed would gladly see at the head of a movement for peace a man who commands confidence and has the power to put an end to the wars in which they are involved? [51]

Now as to the Argives, you will see that in some respects they are no better off than the Lacedaemonians, while in others their condition is worse; for they have been in a state of war with their neighbors39 from the day they founded their city, just as have the Lacedaemonians; but there is this difference, that the neighbors of the Lacedaemonians are weaker than they, while those of the Argives are stronger—a condition which all would admit to be the greatest of misfortunes. And so unsuccessful are they in their warfare that hardly a year passes that they are not compelled to witness their own territory being ravaged and laid waste.40 [52] But what is most deplorable of all is that, during the intervals when their enemies cease from harrying them, they themselves put to death the most eminent and wealthy of their citizens;41 and they have more pleasure in doing this than any other people have in slaying their foes. The cause of their living in such disorder is none other than the state of war; and if you can put a stop to this, you will not only deliver them from these evils but you will cause them to adopt a better policy with respect to their other interests as well. [53]

And as for the condition of the Thebans, surely you have not failed to note that also. They won a splendid victory42 and covered themselves with glory, but because they did not make good use of their success they are now in no better case than those who have suffered defeat and failure. For no sooner had they triumphed over their foes than, neglecting everything else, they began to annoy the cities of the Peloponnese;43 they made bold to reduce Thessaly to subjection;44 they threatened their neighbors, the Megarians;45 they robbed our city of a portion of its territory;46 they ravaged Euboea;47 they sent men-of-war to Byzantium,48 as if they purposed to rule both land and sea; [54] and, finally, they began war upon the Phocians,49 expecting that in a short time they would conquer their cities, occupy all the surrounding territory, and prevail over all the treasures at Delphi50 by the outlay of their own funds. But none of these hopes has been realized; instead of seizing the cities of the Phocians they have lost cities of their own;51 and now when they invade the enemy's territory they inflict less damage upon them than they suffer when they are retreating to their own country; [55] for while they are in Phocian territory they succeed in killing a few hireling52 soldiers who are better off dead than alive, but when they retreat they lose of their own citizens those who are most esteemed and most ready to die for their fatherland. And so completely have their fortunes shifted, that whereas they once hoped that all Hellas would be subject to them, now they rest upon you53 the hopes of their own deliverance. Therefore I think that the Thebans also will do with alacrity whatever you command or advise. [56]

It would still remain for me to speak about our city, had she not come to her senses before the others and made peace; but now I need only say this: I think that she will join forces with you in carrying out your policy, especially if she can be made to see that your object is to prepare for the campaign against the barbarians. [57]

That it is not, therefore, impossible for you to bring these cities together, I think has become evident to you from what I have said. But more than that, I believe I can convince you by many examples that it will also be easy for you to do this. For if it can be shown that other men in the past have undertaken enterprises which were not, indeed, more noble or more righteous than that which I have advised, but of greater magnitude and difficulty, and have actually brought them to pass, what ground will be left to my opponents to argue that you will not accomplish the easier task more quickly than other men the harder? [58]

Consider first the exploits of Alcibiades.54 Although he was exiled from Athens55 and observed that the others who had before labored under this misfortune had been cowed56 because of the greatness of the city, yet he did not show the same submissive spirit as they; on the contrary, convinced that he must attempt to bring about his return by force, he deliberately chose to make war upon her.57 [59] Now if one should attempt to speak in detail of the events of that time, he would find it impossible to recount them all exactly, and for the present occasion the recital would perhaps prove wearisome. But so great was the confusion into which he plunged not only Athens but Lacedaemon and all the rest of Hellas as well, that we, the Athenians, suffered what all the world knows;58 [60] that the rest of the Hellenes fell upon such evil days that even now the calamities engendered in the several states by reason of that war are not yet forgotten;59 and that the Lacedaemonians, who then appeared to be at the height of their fortune, are reduced to their present state of misfortune,—all on account of Alcibiades.60 [61] For because they were persuaded by him to covet the sovereignty of the sea, they lost even their leadership on land; so that if one were to assert that they became subject to the dominion of their present ills61 when they attempted to seize the dominion of the sea, he could not be convicted of falsehood. Alcibiades, however, after having caused these great calamities, was restored to his city, having won a great reputation, though not, indeed, enjoying the commendation of all.62 [62]

The career of Conon,63 not many years later, is a counterpart to that of Alcibiades. After his defeat in the naval engagement in the Hellespont,64 for which not he but his fellow commanders were responsible, he was too chagrined to return home; instead he sailed to Cyprus, where he spent some time attending to his private interests.65 But learning that Agesilaus had crossed over into Asia with a large force66 and was ravaging the country, he was so dauntless of spirit [63] that, although he possessed no resource whatever save his body and his wits, he was yet confident that he could conquer the Lacedaemonians, albeit they were the first power in Hellas on both land and sea; and, sending word to the generals of the Persian king, he promised that he would do this. What need is there to tell more of the story? For he collected a naval force off Rhodes, won a victory over the Lacedaemonians in a sea-fight,67 deposed them from their sovereignty, and set the Hellenes free.68 [64] And not only did he rebuild the walls of his country,69 but he restored Athens to the same high repute from which she had fallen. And yet who could have expected that a man whose own fortunes had fallen so low would completely reverse the fortunes of Hellas, degrading some of the Hellenic states from places of honor and raising others into prominence? [65]

Again, there is the case of Dionysius70（for I desire you to be convinced by many instances that the course of action to which I am urging you is an easy one）. He was a person of small account among the Syracusans in birth,71 in reputation, and in all other respects;72 yet, being inspired by a mad and unreasoning passion for monarchy, and having the hardihood to do anything which advanced him to this goal, he made himself master of Syracuse, conquered all the states in Sicily which were of Hellenic origin, and surrounded himself with a power on both land and sea73 greater than any man before his time had possessed. [66]

Then again, Cyrus74（that we may take account of the barbarians also）, not withstanding the fact that as a child he was exposed by his mother on the public highway75 and was picked up by a Persian woman,76 so completely reversed his fortunes that he became master of all Asia. [67]

Now if Alcibiades in exile, and Conon after a disastrous defeat, and Dionysius, a man of no repute, and Cyrus, with his pitiable start in life, advanced so far and achieved such mighty deeds, how can we fail to expect that you, who are sprung from such ancestors, who are king of Macedonia and master of so many peoples, will effect with ease this union which we have discussed? [68]

Consider how worthy a thing it is to undertake, above all, deeds of such a character that if you succeed you will cause your own reputation to rival that of the foremost men of history, while if you fall short of your expectations you will at any rate win the good will of all the Hellenes—which is a better thing to gain than to take by force many Hellenic cities;77 for achievements of the latter kind entail envy and hostility and much opprobrium, but that which I have urged entails none of these things. Nay, if some god were to give you the choice of the interests and the occupations in which you would wish to spend your life, you could not, at least if you took my advice, choose any in preference to this; [69] for you will not only be envied of others, but you will also count yourself a happy man. For what good fortune could then surpass your own? Men of the highest renown will come as ambassadors from the greatest states to your court; you will advise with them about the general welfare, for which no other man will be found to have shown a like concern; [70] you will see all Hellas on tiptoe with interest in whatever you happen to propose; and no one will be indifferent to the measures which are being decided in your councils, but, on the contrary, some will seek news of how matters stand, some will pray that you will not be thwarted in your aims, and others will fear lest something befall you before your efforts are crowned with success. [71] If all this should come to pass, would you not have good reason to be proud? Would you not rejoice throughout your life in the knowledge that you had been a leader in such great affairs? And what man that is even moderately endowed with reason would not exhort you to fix your choice above all upon that course of action which is capable of bearing at one and the same time the twofold fruits, if I may so speak, of surpassing joys and of imperishable honors? [72]

Now I should content myself with what I have already said on this topic, had I not passed over a certain matter—not that it slipped my memory, but because I hesitated to speak of it—which I am now resolved to disclose to you. For I think that it is profitable for you to hear about it, and that it is becoming in me to speak, as I am wont to do, without reserve. [73]

I observe that you are being painted in false colors by men who are jealous of you,78 for one thing, and are, besides, in the habit of stirring up trouble in their own cities—men who look upon a state of peace which is for the good of all as a state of war upon their selfish interests. Heedless of all other considerations, they keep talking about your power, representing that it is being built up, not in behalf of Hellas, but against her, that you have for a long time been plotting against us all, [74] and that, while you are giving it out that you intend to go to the rescue of the Messenians,79 if you can settle the Phocian question, you really design to subdue the Peloponnesus to your rule. The Thessalians,80 they say, and the Thebans, and all those who belong to the Amphictyony,81 stand ready to follow your lead while the Argives, the Messenians, the Megalopolitans,82 and many of the others are prepared to join forces with you and wipe out the Lacedaemonians; and if you succeed in doing this, you will easily be master of the rest of Hellas. [75] By speaking this rubbish, by pretending to have exact knowledge and by speedily effecting in words the overthrow of the whole world, they are convincing many people. They convince, most of all, those who hunger for the same calamities as do the speech-makers; next, those who exercise no judgement about their common welfare, but, utterly obtuse in their own perceptions, are very grateful to men who pretend to feel alarm and fear in their behalf; and lastly, those who do not deny that you appear to be plotting against the Hellenes, but are of the opinion that the purpose with which you are charged is a worthy ambition. [76]

For these latter are so far divorced from intelligence that they do not realize that one may apply the same words in some cases to a man's injury, in others to his advantage. For example, if at the present moment one were to say that the King of Asia was plotting against the Hellenes, and had made preparations to send an expedition against us, he would not he saying anything disparaging of him; nay, he would, on the contrary, make us think more highly of his courage and his worth. But if, on the other hand, one should bring this charge against one of the descendants of Heracles, who made himself the benefactor of all Hellas, he would bring upon him the greatest opprobrium. [77] For who would not feel indignation and loathing if a man should be found to be plotting against those in whose behalf his ancestor elected to live a life of perils, and if he made no effort to preserve the good will which the latter had bequeathed as a legacy to his posterity, but, heedless of these examples, set his heart on reprehensible and wicked deeds? [78]

You ought to give these matters careful thought, and not look on with indifference while rumors are springing up around you of the sort which your enemies seek to fasten upon you, but which your friends, to a man, would not hesitate to deny. And yet it is in the feelings of both these parties that you can best see the truth as to your own interests. [79]

Perhaps, however, you conceive that it argues a mean spirit to pay attention to the drivelers who heap abuse upon you and to those who are influenced by what they say, especially when your own conscience is free from any sense of guilt. But you ought not to despise the multitude nor count it a little thing to have the respect of the whole world; on the contrary, you ought then, and only then, to be satisfied that you enjoy a reputation which is good and great and worthy of yourself and of your forefathers and of the achievements of your line, [80] when you have brought the Hellenes to feel toward you as you see the Lacedaemonians feel toward their kings,83 and as your companions feel toward yourself. And it is not difficult for you to attain this if you determine to show yourself equally friendly to all, and cease treating some of the cities as friends and others as strangers, and if, furthermore, you fix your choice upon the kind of policy by which you can make yourself trusted by the Hellenes and feared by the barbarians. [81]

And do not be surprised （as I said in my letter to Dionysius after he had made himself master of Sicily） that I, who am not a general nor a public orator nor in any other position of authority, have expressed myself to you more boldly than the others. The fact is that nature has placed me more at a disadvantage than any of my fellow-citizens for a public career:84 I was not given a strong enough voice nor sufficient assurance to enable me to deal with the mob, to take abuse, and bandy words with the men who haunt the rostrum; [82] but, though some will condemn my taste in saying so, I do lay claim to sane judgement and good education, and I would count myself in comparison with others not among the last, but among the foremost. And that is why I endeavor in this way, for which my nature and powers are suited, to give advice to Athens and to the Hellenes at large and to the most distinguished among men. [83]

Now regarding myself, and regarding the course which you should take toward the Hellenes, perhaps no more need be said. But as to the expedition against Asia, we shall urge upon the cities which I have called upon you to reconcile that it is their duty to go to war with the barbarians, only when we see that they have ceased from discord. For the present, I shall address myself to you, not, however, with the same confidence as I had at that period of my life when I was writing on this same subject. [84] For then I challenged my audience to visit their ridicule and contempt upon me if I did not manifestly treat the question in a way which was worthy of the matter in hand and of my reputation and of the time which I had devoted to the discourse.85 But now I dread lest what I say may fall far short of every claim I then made; for, apart from the other disabilities under which I labor, my Panegyricus, which has enriched the other men who make philosophy their business,86 has left me quite impoverished, because I am neither willing to repeat what I have written in that discourse nor am I at my age able to cast about for new things. [85] However, I must not shirk my task, but must say in support of the enterprise which I have proposed whatever occurs to me as likely to persuade you to undertake it. For even if I fall short in any degree, and am not able to write in the style of my former publications, I think that I shall at any rate present an attractive sketch for those who have the energy to elaborate the details and carry the work to completion. [86]

The point of departure, then, which I have taken for my whole discussion is, I believe, the one which is proper for those who urge an expedition against Asia.87 For one must undertake nothing until he finds the Hellenes doing one of two things: either actually supporting the undertaking or according it their entire approval. It was this which Agesilaus, for all that he was looked upon as the most sagacious of the Lacedaemonians, disregarded, not because of incapacity but because of ambition. [87] For he had two aims, which, though laudable, were not consistent, and could not he carried out at the same time, since he was resolved both to make war against the King and to restore his friends to their cities and put them in control of affairs.88 Naturally the result of his efforts in behalf of his friends was that the Hellenes were involved in troubles and perils, and, owing to the confusion which arose at home, had neither the time nor the power to make war upon the barbarians. [88] So from the mistakes of inadvertence at that time it is easy to draw the lesson that those who would take sane counsel must not begin a war against the King until someone has composed the quarrels of the Hellenes and has cured them of the madness which now afflicts them. And this is just what I have advised you to do. [89]

On these points no man of intelligence would venture to contradict me. But I think that if any of the others should be prompted to advise you in favor of the expedition against Asia, they would resort to a plea of this kind: that it has been the fortune of all who have undertaken a war against the King, without exception, to rise from obscurity to brilliant distinction, from poverty to wealth, and from low estate to be masters of many lands and cities. [90] I, however, am not going to urge you on such grounds, but by the example of men who were looked upon as failures: I mean those who took the field with Cyrus and Clearchus.89

Every one agrees that these won as complete a victory in battle over all the forces of the King as if they had come to blows with their womenfolk, but that at the very moment when they seemed to be masters of the field they failed of success, owing to the impetuosity of Cyrus. For he in his exultation rushed in pursuit far in advance of the others; and, being caught in the midst of the enemy, was killed. [91] But the King, not withstanding that his foes had suffered so severe a loss, felt so thorough a contempt for his own forces that he invited Clearchus and the other captains to a parley, promising to give them great gifts and to pay their soldiers their wages in full and to give them safe convoy home; then, having lured them by such prospects, and having assured them by the most solemn pledges known to the Persians, he seized them and put them to death, deliberately choosing to outrage the gods rather than risk a clash with our soldiers, bereft though they now were of Cyrus's aid. And what challenge could be nobler or more convincing than this? [92] For it is evident that, if it had not been for Cyrus, even that army would have overthrown the power of the King. But for you it is easy both to guard against the disaster which befell at that time and to equip yourself with an armament much stronger than that which defeated the forces of the King. How, then, since you possess both these advantages, can you fail to undertake this expedition with all confidence? [93]

And let no one suppose that I desire to conceal the fact that I have in some instances expressed myself in the same manner as upon a former occasion. For, coming to the same thoughts, I have preferred not to go through the effort of striving to phrase differently what has already been well expressed.90 It is true that if I were making an epideictic speech91 I should try to avoid scrupulously all such repetitions; [94] but now that I am urging my views upon you, I should have been foolish if I had spent more time on the style than on the subject matter, and if, furthermore, seeing that the other orators make free with my writings, I alone had abstained from what I have said in the past. So, then, I may perhaps be allowed to use what is my own, if at any time I am greatly pressed and find it suitable, although I would not now any more than in times past appropriate anything from the writings of other men. [95]

We may, then, regard these points as settled. But next in order I think that I should speak of the war-strength which will he available to you as compared with that which Clearchus and his followers had. First and most important of all, you will have the good will of the Hellenes if you choose to abide by the advice which I have given you concerning them; they, on the other hand, found the Hellenes intensely hostile because of the decarchies92 which the Lacedaemonians had set up; for the Hellenes thought that, if Cyrus and Clearchus should succeed, their yoke would be heavier still, but that if the King conquered they would be delivered from their present hardships; and this is just what did happen to them. [96] Besides, you will find as many soldiers at your service as you wish, for such is now the state of affairs in Hellas that it is easier to get together a greater and stronger army from among those who wander in exile than from those who live under their own polities.93 But in those days there was no body of professional soldiers, and so, being compelled to collect mercenaries from the several states, they had to spend more money on bounties94 for their recruiting agents than on pay for the troops. [97] And, lastly, if we should be inclined to make a careful review of the two cases and institute a comparison between you, who are to be at the head of the present expedition and to decide on every measure, and Clearchus, who was in charge of the enterprise of that day, we should find that he had never before been in command of any force whatever on either land or sea and yet attained renown from the misfortune which befell him on the continent of Asia; [98] while you, on the contrary, have succeeded in so many and such mighty achievements that if I were making them the subject of a speech before another audience, I should do well to recount them, but, since I am addressing myself to you, you would rightly think it senseless and gratuitous in me to tell you the story of your own deeds. [99]

It is well for me to speak to you also about the two Kings, the one against whom I am advising you to take the field, and the one against whom Clearchus made war, in order that you may know the temper and the power of each. In the first place, the father95 of the present King once defeated our city96 and later the city of the Lacedaemonians,97 while this King98 has never overcome anyone of the armies which have been violating his territory. [100] Secondly, the former took the whole of Asia from the Hellenes by the terms of the Treaty99; while this King is so far from exercising dominion over others that he is not in control even of the cities which were surrendered to him; and such is the state of affairs that there is no one who is not in doubt what to believe—whether he has given them up because of his cowardice, or whether they have learned to despise and contemn the power of the barbarians. [101]

Consider, again, the state of affairs in his empire. Who could hear the facts and not be spurred to war against him? Egypt was, it is true, in revolt100 even when Cyrus made his expedition; but her people nevertheless were living in continual fear lest the King might some day lead an army in person and overcome the natural obstacles which, thanks to the Nile, their country presents, and all their military defenses as well. But now this King has delivered them from that dread; for after he had brought together and fitted out the largest force he could possibly raise and marched against them, he retired from Egypt not only defeated, but laughed at and scorned as unfit either to be a king or to command an army. [102] Furthermore, Cyprus and Phoenicia and Cilicia,101 and that region from which the barbarians used to recruit their fleet, belonged at that time to the King, but now they have either revolted from him or are so involved in war and its attendant ills that none of these peoples is of any use to him; while to you, if you desire to make war upon him, they will be serviceable. [103] And mark also that Idrieus,102 who is the most prosperous of the present rulers of the mainland, must in the nature of things be more hostile to the interests of the King than are those who are making open war against him; verily he would be of all men the most perverse if he did not desire the dissolution of that empire which outrages his brother,103 which made war upon himself, and which at all times has never ceased to plot against him in its desire to be master of his person and of all his wealth. [104] It is through fear of these things that he is now constrained to pay court to the King and to send him much tribute every year; but if you should cross over to the mainland with an army, he would greet you with joy, in the belief that you were come to his relief; and you will also induce many of the other satraps to throw off the King's power if you promise them “freedom” and scatter broadcast over Asia that word which, when sown among the Hellenes, has broken up both our empire and that of the Lacedaemonians.104 [105]

I might go on and endeavor to speak at greater length on how you could carry on the war so as to triumph most quickly over the power of the King; but as things are, I fear that I might lay myself open to criticism if, having had no part in a soldier's life, I should now venture to advise you, whose achievements in war are without parallel in number and magnitude. Therefore on this subject I think I need say nothing more.

But to proceed with the rest of my discourse, I believe that both your own father105 and the founder of your kingdom,106 and also the progenitor of your race107— were it lawful for Heracles and possible for the others to appear as your counsellors—would advise the very things which I have urged. [106] I draw my inference from their actions while they lived. For your father, in dealing with those states which I am urging you to cultivate, kept on friendly terms108 with them all. And the founder of your empire, although he aspired higher than did his fellow citizens109 and set his heart on a king's power, was not minded to take the same road as others who set out to attain a like ambition. [107] For they endeavored to win this honor by engendering factions, disorder, and bloodshed in their own cities; he, on the other hand, held entirely aloof from Hellenic territory, and set his heart upon occupying the throne of Macedon. For he knew full well that the Hellenes were not accustomed to submit to the rule of one man, while the other races were incapable of ordering their lives without the control of some such power. [108] And so it came about, owing to his unique insight in this regard, that his kingship has proved to be quite set apart from that of the generality of kings: for, because he alone among the Hellenes did not claim the right to rule over a people of kindred race, he alone was able to escape the perils incident to one-man power. For history discovers to us the fact that those among the Hellenes who have managed to acquire such authority have not only been destroyed themselves but have been blotted, root and branch, from the face of the earth;110 while he, on the contrary, lived a long and happy life and left his seed in possession of the same honors which he himself had enjoyed. [109]

Coming now to Heracles, all others who praise him harp endlessly on his valor or recount his labors; and not one, either of the poets or of the historians, will be found to have commemorated his other excellences—I mean those which pertain to the spirit. I, on the other hand, see here a field set apart and entirely unworked—a field not small nor barren, but teeming with many a theme for praise and with glorious deeds, yet demanding a speaker with ability to do them justice. [110] If this subject had claimed my attention when I was younger, I should have found it easy to prove that it was more by his wisdom, his lofty ambition, and his justice than by his strength of body that your ancestor surpassed all who lived before his day. But approaching the subject at my present age, and seeing what a wealth of material there is in it to discuss, I have felt that my present powers were unequal to the task, and I have also realized that my discourse would run on to twice the length of that which is now before you to be read. For these reasons, then, I have refrained from touching upon his other exploits and have singled out one only—a story which is pertinent and in keeping with what I have said before, while being of a length best proportioned to the subject now in hand. [111]

When Heracles saw that Hellas was rife with wars and factions and many other afflictions, he first brought these troubles to an end and reconciled the cities with each other,111 and then showed by his example to coming generations with whom and against whom it was their duty to go to war. For he made an expedition against Troy,112 which was in those days the strongest power in Asia, and so far did he excel in generalship those who at a later time waged war against this same city, that, [112] while they with the combined strength of Hellas found it difficult to take Troy after a siege which lasted ten years, he, on the other hand, in less than as many days, and with a small expedition, easily took the city by storm. After this, he put to death to a man all the princes113 of the tribes who dwelt along the shores of both continents114; and these he could never have destroyed had he not first conquered their armies. When he had done these things, he set up the Pillars of Heracles, as they are called, to be a trophy of victory over the barbarians, a monument to his own valor and the perils he had surmounted, and to mark the bounds of the territory of the Hellenes. [113]

My purpose in relating all this is that you may see that by my words I am exhorting you to a course of action which, in the light of their deeds, it is manifest that your ancestors chose as the noblest of all. Now, while all who are blessed with understanding ought to set before themselves the greatest of men as their model, and strive to become like him, it behoves you above all to do so. For since you have no need to follow alien examples but have before you one from your own house, have we not then the right to expect that you will be spurred on by this and inspired by the ambition to make yourself like the ancestor of your race? [114] I do not mean that you will be able to imitate Heracles in all his exploits; for even among the gods there are some who could not do that; but in the qualities of the spirit, in devotion to humanity, and in the good will which he cherished toward the Hellenes, you can come close to his purposes. And it lies in your power, if you will heed my words, to attain whatever glory you yourself desire; [115] for it is easier for you to rise from your present station and win the noblest fame than it has been to advance from the station which you inherited to the fame which is now yours.115 And mark that I am summoning you to an undertaking in which you will make expeditions, not with the barbarians against men who have given you no just cause, but with the Hellenes against those upon whom it is fitting that the descendants of Heracles should wage war. [116]

And do not be surprised if throughout my speech I am trying to incline you to a policy of kindness to the Hellenes and of gentleness and humanity. For harshness is, I observe, grievous both to those who exercise it and to those upon whom it falls, while gentleness, whether in man or in the other animals, bears a good name; [117] nay, in the case of the gods also we invoke as the “Heavenly Ones” those who bless us with good things, while to those who are agents of calamities and punishments we apply more hateful epithets; in honor of the former, both private persons and states erect temples and altars, whereas we honor the latter neither in our prayers nor in our sacrifices, but practice rites to drive away their evil presence.116 [118] Bearing ever in mind these truths, you should habitually act and strive to the end that all men shall cherish even more than they do now such an opinion of your character. Indeed, those who crave a greater fame than that of other men must map out in their thoughts a course of action which, while practicable, is at the same time close to the ideal, and seek to carry it into effect as opportunity presents a way. [119]

From many considerations you may realize that you ought to act in this way, but especially from the experiences of Jason.117 For he, without having achieved anything comparable to what you have done, won the highest renown, not from what he did, but from what he said; for he kept talking as if he intended to cross over to the continent and make war upon the King. [120] Now since Jason by use of words alone advanced himself so far, what opinion must we expect the world will have of you if you actually do this thing; above all, if you undertake to conquer the whole empire of the King, or, at any rate, to wrest from it a vast extent of territory and sever from it—to use a current phrase—“Asia from Cilicia to Sinope”118; and if, furthermore, you undertake to establish cities in this region, and to settle in permanent abodes those who now, for lack of the daily necessities of life, are wandering from place to place and committing outrages upon whomsoever they encounter?119 [121] If we do not stop these men from banding together, by providing sufficient livelihood for them, they will grow before we know it into so great a multitude as to be a terror no less to the Hellenes than to the barbarians. But we pay no heed to them; nay, we shut our eyes to the fact that a terrible menace which threatens us all alike is waxing day by day. [122] It is therefore the duty of a man who is high-minded, who is a lover of Hellas, who has a broader vision than the rest of the world, to employ these bands in a war against the barbarians, to strip from that empire all the territory which I defined a moment ago, to deliver these homeless wanderers from the ills by which they are afflicted and which they inflict upon others, to collect them into cities, and with these cities to fix the boundary of Hellas, making of them buffer states to shield us all. [123] For by doing this, you will not only make them prosperous, but you will put us all on a footing of security. If, however, you do not succeed in these objects, this much you will at any rate easily accomplish,—the liberation of the cities which are on the coast of Asia.

But no matter what part of this undertaking you are able to carry out, or only attempt to carry out, you cannot fail to attain distinguished glory; and it will be well deserved if only you will make this the goal of your own efforts and urge on the Hellenes in the same course. [124] For as things now are, who would not have reason to be amazed120 at the turn events have taken and to feel contempt for us, when among the barbarians, whom we have come to look upon as effeminate and unversed in war and utterly degenerate from luxurious living,121 men have arisen122 who thought themselves worthy to rule over Hellas, while among the Hellenes no one has aspired so high as to attempt to make us masters of Asia? [125] Nay, we have dropped so far behind the barbarians that, while they did not hesitate even to begin hostilities against the Hellenes, we do not even have the spirit to pay them back for the injuries we have suffered at their hands. On the contrary, although they admit that in all their wars they have no soldiers of their own nor generals nor any of the things which are serviceable in times of danger, [126] but have to send and get all these from us,123 we have gone so far in our passion to injure ourselves that, whereas it lies in our power to possess the wealth of the barbarians in security and peace, we continue to wage war upon each other over trifles,124 and we actually help to reduce to subjection those who revolt125 from the authority of the King, and sometimes, unwittingly, we ally ourselves with our hereditary foes126 and seek to destroy those who are of our own race. [127]

Therefore, since the others are so lacking in spirit, I think it is opportune for you to head the war against the King; and, while it is only natural for the other descendants of Heracles, and for men who are under the bonds of their polities and laws, to cleave fondly to that state in which they happen to dwell, it is your privilege, as one who has been blessed with untrammeled freedom,127 to consider all Hellas your fatherland,128 as did the founder of your race, and to be as ready to brave perils for her sake as for the things about which you are personally most concerned. [128]

Perhaps there are those—men capable of nothing else but criticism—who will venture to rebuke me because I have chosen to challenge you to the task of leading the expedition against the barbarians and of taking Hellas under your care, while I have passed over my own city. [129] Well, if I were trying to present this matter to any others before having broached it to my own country, which has thrice129 freed Hellas—twice from the barbarians and once from the Lacedaemonian yoke—I should confess my error. In truth, however, it will be found that I turned to Athens first of all and endeavored to win her over to this cause with all the earnestness of which my nature is capable,130 but when I perceived that she cared less for what I said than for the ravings of the platform orators,131 I gave her up, although I did not abandon my efforts. [130] Wherefore I might justly be praised on every hand, because throughout my whole life I have constantly employed such powers as I possess in warring on the barbarians, in condemning those who opposed my plan, and in striving to arouse to action whoever I think will best be able to benefit the Hellenes in any way or to rob the barbarians of their present prosperity. [131] Consequently, I am now addressing myself to you, although I am not unaware that when I am proposing this course many will look at it askance, but that when you are actually carrying it out all will rejoice in it; for no one has had any part in what I have proposed, but when the benefits from it shall have been realized in fact, everyone without fail will look to have his portion. [132]

Consider also what a disgrace it is to sit idly by and see Asia flourishing more than Europe and the barbarians enjoying a greater prosperity132 than the Hellenes; and, what is more, to see those who derive their power from Cyrus, who as a child was cast out by his mother on the public highway, addressed by the title of “The Great King,” while the descendants of Heracles, who because of his virtue was exalted by his father to the rank of a god,133 are addressed by meaner titles134 than they. We must not allow this state of affairs to go on; no, we must change and reverse it entirely. [133]

Rest assured that I should never have attempted to persuade you to undertake this at all had power and wealth been the only things which I saw would come of it; for I think that you already have more than enough of such things, and that any man is beyond measure insatiable who deliberately chooses the extreme hazard of either winning these prizes or losing his life. [134] No, it is not with a view to the acquisition of wealth and power that I urge this course, but in the belief that by means of these you will win a name of surpassing greatness and glory. Bear in mind that while we all possess bodies that are mortal, yet by virtue of good will and praise and good report and memory which keeps pace with the passage of time we partake of immortality135— a boon for which we may well strive with all our might and suffer any hardship whatsoever. [135] You may observe that even common citizens of the best sort, who would exchange their lives for nothing else, are willing for the sake of winning glory to lay them down in battle;136 and, in general, that those who crave always an honor greater than they already possess are praised by all men, while those who are insatiable with regard to any other thing under the sun are looked upon as intemperate and mean.137 [136] But more important than all that I have said is the truth that wealth and positions of power often fall into the hands of our foes, whereas the good will of our fellow countrymen and the other rewards which I have mentioned are possessions to which none can fall heir but our own children, and they alone. I could not, therefore, respect myself if I failed to advance these motives in urging you to make this expedition and wage war and brave its perils. [137]

You will best resolve upon this question if you feel that you are summoned to this task, not by my words only, but by your forefathers, by the cowardice of the Persians, and by all who have won great fame and attained the rank of demigods because of their campaigns against the barbarians, and, most of all, by the present opportunity, which finds you in the possession of greater power than has any of those who dwell in Europe, and finds him against whom you are to make war more cordially hated and despised by the world at large than was ever any king before him. [138]

I should have given much to be able to blend into one all the speeches I have delivered on this question; for the present discourse would then appear more worthy of its theme. But, as things are, it devolves upon you to search out and consider, from all my speeches, the arguments which bear upon and urge you to this war; for so you will best resolve upon the matter. [139]

Now I am not unaware that many of the Hellenes look upon the King's power as invincible.138 Yet one may well marvel at them if they really believe that the power which was subdued to the will of a mere barbarian—an ill-bred139 barbarian at that—and collected in the cause of slavery, could not be scattered by a man of the blood of Hellas, of ripe experience in warfare, in the cause of freedom—and that too although they know that while it is in all cases difficult to construct a thing, to destroy it is, comparatively, an easy task. [140]

Bear in mind that the men whom the world most admires and honors are those who unite in themselves the abilities of the statesman and the general. When, therefore, you see the renown which even in a single city is bestowed on men who possess these gifts, what manner of eulogies must you expect to hear spoken of you, when among all the Hellenes you shall stand forth as a statesman who has worked for the good of Hellas, and as a general who has overthrown the barbarians? [141] I, for my part, think that this will set a limit to human endeavor; for no other man will ever be able to do deeds greater than these, because among the Hellenes there will never be again so great an enterprise as that of leading us forward out of our innumerable wars into a spirit of concord; nor, among the barbarians, is it likely that so great a power will ever be built up again if once you shatter that which they now possess. [142] Therefore, in generations yet to come, no one, no matter how surpassing his genius, will ever be in a position to do so great a thing. Yes, and speaking of those who lived before your time, I could show that their deeds are excelled by the things which you have even now accomplished, in no specious sense but in very truth; for since you have overthrown more nations than any of the Hellenes has ever taken cities, it would not be hard for me to prove, comparing you with each of them in turn, that you have accomplished greater things than they. [143] But I have deliberately abstained from this mode of comparison, and for two reasons: because some writers employ it in season and out of season, and also because I am unwilling to represent those whom the world regards as demigods as of less worth than men who are now living. [144]

Ponder well the fact （to touch upon examples from the distant past） that while no man, whether poet or writer of prose, would applaud the wealth of Tantalus, or the rule of Pelops, or the power of Eurystheus, all the world, with one accord, would praise—next to the unrivalled excellence of Heracles and the goodness of Theseus—the men who marched against Troy and all others who have proved to be like them. [145] And yet we know that the bravest and most famous of them held their sway in little villages and petty islands; nevertheless they left behind them a name which rivals that of the gods and is renowned throughout the world. For all the world loves, not those who have acquired the greatest power for themselves alone, but those who have shown themselves to be the greatest benefactors of Hellas. [146]

And you will observe that this is the opinion which men hold, not of these heroes only, but of all mankind. Thus, no one would praise our city either because she was once mistress of the sea, or because she extorted such huge sums of money from her allies and carried them up into the Acropolis,140 nor yet, surely, because she obtained power over many cities—power to devastate them, or aggrandize them, or manage them according to her pleasure （for all these things it was possible for her to do）; [147] no, all these things have been the source of many complaints against her, while because of the battle of Marathon, the naval battle at Salamis, and most of all because her citizens abandoned their own homes to insure the deliverance of Hellas,141 she enjoys the encomiums of all mankind. The same opinion is held regarding the Lacedaemonians also; [148] their defeat at Thermopylae is more admired than their many victories; the trophy142 which was erected by the barbarians over the Lacedaemonians is an object of affectionate regard and of pilgrimages, while the trophies erected by the Lacedaemonians over their enemies call forth, not praise, but odium; for the former is regarded as a proof of valor, the latter of selfish greed. [149]

Now if, after examining and reviewing all these admonitions in your own mind, you feel that my discourse is in any part rather weak and inadequate,143 set it down to my age, which might well claim the indulgence of all; but if it is up to the standard of my former publications, I would have you believe that it was not my old age that conceived it but the divine will that prompted it, not out of solicitude for me, but because of its concern for Hellas, and because of its desire to deliver her out of her present distress and to crown you with a glory far greater than you now possess. [150] I think that you are not unaware in what manner the gods order the affairs of mortals: for not with their own hands do they deal out the blessings and curses that befall us; rather they inspire in each of us such a state of mind that good or ill, as the case may be, [151] is visited upon us through one another. For example, it may be that even now the gods have assigned to me the task of speech while to you they allot the task of action,144 considering that you will be the best master in that province, while in the field of speech I might prove least irksome to my hearers. Indeed, I believe that even your past achievements would never have reached such magnitude had not one of the gods helped you to succeed; [152] and I believe he did so, not that you might spend your whole life warring upon the barbarians in Europe alone, but that, having been trained and having gained experience and come to know your own powers in these campaigns, you might set your heart upon the course which I have urged upon you. It were therefore shameful, now that fortune nobly leads the way, to lag behind and refuse to follow whither she desires to lead you forward. [153]

It is my belief that, while you ought to honor everyone who has any praise for your past accomplishments, you ought to consider that those laud you in the noblest terms who judge your nature capable of even greater triumphs, and not those whose discourse has gratified you for the moment only, but those who will cause future generations to admire your achievements beyond the deeds of any man of the generations that are past. I would like to say many things in this strain, but I am not able; the reason why, I have stated more often than I ought. [154]

It remains, then, to summarize what I have said in this discourse, in order that you may see in the smallest compass the substance of my counsels. I assert that it is incumbent upon you to work for the good of the Hellenes, to reign as king over the Macedonians,145 and to extend your power over the greatest possible number of the barbarians. For if you do these things, all men will be grateful to you: the Hellenes for your kindness to them; the Macedonians if you reign over them, not like a tyrant, but like a king; and the rest of the nations, if by your hands they are delivered from barbaric despotism and are brought under the protection of Hellas. [155]

How well this discourse has been composed with respect to appropriateness and finish of style is a question which it is fair to ask my hearers to answer; but that no one could give you better advice than this, or advice more suited to the present situation—of this I believe that I am well assured.

1 Amphipolis, a city in Macedonia near the mouth of the Strymon river, conquered and colonized by Athenians in 437 B.C. It was taken by Philip in 358 B.C., but the war with Athens was delayed until Philip seized Potidaea, 356 B.C.

2 Isocrates had now passed his ninetieth birthday.

3 Such as Amphipolis, surrounded by warlike tribes.

4 Cyrene, in northern Africa. See Grote, Hist. iii. p. 445.

5 An alliance was entered into between Athens and Amadocus, the powerful Thracian king, 390 B.C. （Xen. Hell. 4.8.26）.

6 Cf. Isoc. 4.172-174.

7 See Isoc. 4.17, where almost the same words are used.

8 The same sentiment is expressed in Isoc. Letter 1.6-7. See General Introd. pp. xxxvi. ff.

9 Possibly a disparagement of Plato's Republic and Laws （see Blass, Die attische Beredsamkeit, ii. p. 4）, but more probably of Isocrates' unfriendly rival, Antisthenes, who, according to Diog. Laert. 6.1.16, wrote a work On Law, or the Constitution of a State.

10 See 127 and General Introd. p. xlii.

11 For these early conquests of Philip see Grote, Hist. xi. p. 18.

12 Cf. Isoc. Letter 1.2-3. See Jebb, Attic Orators, ii. p. 67.

13 See Isoc. 12.1-2.

14 αἱ δυσχέρειαι may mean difficulties or disadvantages under which speeches labor which are composed for a reading public, or the prejudices against them caused by these disadvantages. The latter seems to be the sense here. See Benseler's note.

15 “Isocrates addressed him （Philip） as a friend of letters and philosophy: a reputation which his choice of Aristotle as an instructor of his son, Alexander, tends to bear out” （Grote, Hist. xi. p. 325）.

16 The leading states. Cf. Isoc. 4.64.

17 Perdiccas I., the founder of the Argive dynasty in Macedonia, was, according to Hdt. 8.137, a descendant of the Argive hero Temenus. See also Hdt. 5.22 and Grote, Hist. iii. p. 432.

18 Heracles. See General Introd. p. xli.

19 At the “Festival of Heracles.” Xen. Hell. 6.4.7; Dio. Sic. 15.53.

20 See Isoc. 4.62 and note.

21 According to Dio. Sic. 4.39 the Athenians were the first to offer sacrifices to Heracles as a god.

22 For this statement and the following paragraph see Isoc. 4.56-62.

23 The following paragraphs betray a cynicism which is foreign to the Isoc. 4.See General Introd. p. xxxvi.

24 Cf.8 and Isoc. 4.17.

25 The expression is loose. He means that the hatred for Persia under Xerxes changed to friendship under Artaxerxes when the Peace of Antalcidas was made. Cf. Sparta's “love” for Persia mentioned in Isoc. 12.102-103.

26 Especially at the close of the Peloponnesian War. See Isoc. 14.31; Xen. Hell. 3.5.8.

27 Under Chabrias, against Agesilaus, 378 B.C. Xen. Hell. 5.4; Grote, Hist. ix. p. 343.

28 Thebes became the supreme power in Greece by the battle of Leuctra, 371 B.C.

29 361 B.C.

30 In 362 B.C., when Epaminondas, at the head of the Thebans and their allies, including the Argives, Arcadians, Messenians, and the Eleans, marched on Sparta to destroy her, the Athenians dispatched Iphicrates with an army of twelve thousand to the rescue. See Isoc. 8.105; Xen. Hell. 6.5.23 ff.; Grote, Hist. x. pp. 89 ff.

31 The hegemony of Sparta lasted from the battle of Aegospotami, 405 B.C., to the battle of Leuctra, 371 B.C.

32 Epaminondas （see 44 and note） actually entered Sparta. Xen. Hell. 7.5.11.

33 The Argives and the Messenians were allied with Philip against Sparta. See Dem. 6.9, 15.

34 Besides the Argives and Messenians, also the Arcadians, the Megalopolitans, the Eleans, and the Sicyonians. Dio. Sic. 16.39.

35 Especially by the Athenians and the Thebans. Dem. 16.22-23.

36 The Helots.

37 Thebes was the principal enemy of the Phocians in the Sacred War, which was now drawing to a close. For this war see Grote, Hist. xi. p. 45.

38 As in the campaign referred to in 44, which ended with the battle of Mantinea.

39 The Spartans.

40 This was done by the Spartans six years before this. Dio. Sic. 16.39.

41 The conflict between democracy and oligarchy, which raged with varying intensity in most of the Greek cities, in Argos was most bitter. In 371 B.C. occurred a massacre in which twelve hundred of the leading men were slain by the mob. Dio. Sic. 15.57-58; Grote, Hist. ix. p. 417.

42 Battle of Leuctra, 371 B.C.

43 Epaminondas invaded the Peloponnese in 369, 368, 366, 362, stirring up the cities there against Sparta. Dio. Sic. 15.62-75.

44 By conquering Alexander of Pherae. Dio. Sic. 15.67.

45 The Megarians sided with Sparta when Agesilaus invaded Boeotia in 378. Xen. Hell. 5.4.41.

46 The border town of Oropus, 366 B.C. Xen. Hell. 7.4.1.

47 See Dem. 18.99.

48 One hundred ships under Epaminondas, 364 B.C. Dio. Sic. 15.78-79.

49 Ten years, 356-346 B.C. See Isoc. 5.50.

50 The Phocians met their expenses in the war from the rich treasures in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.

51 Orchomenus, Coroneia, Corsiae. Dio. Sic. 16.33-58.

52 The Phocian forces were composed mainly of mercenaries.

53 The war was concluded shortly after this by the intervention of Philip against the Phocians.

54 For the career of the brilliant, unscrupulous Alcibiades see Grote, Hist. vi. pp. 301 ff., vii. 49 ff., and Plut. Alc.

55 He was exiled on the charge of having profaned the Eleusinian Mysteries.

56 For example, Themistocles.

57 By stirring up and aiding, through his great personal influence and his sagacity, all the enemies of Athens in the Peloponnesian War.

58 The defeat at Aegospotami, and after that the rule of the “thirty tyrants,” and later the “decarchy.”

59 Under the rule of the decarchies described in Isoc. 4.111 ff.

60 Isocrates does not much exaggerate the mischief he wrought in Greek affairs generally.

61 For this play of words— ἀρχή“beginning,” ἀρχή“dominion” — cf. Isoc. 4.119, Isoc. 3.28, Isoc. 8.101.

62 At length Alcibiades fell out with Athens' enemies, and began to intrigue in her favor; and so effectively did he work that his services were recognized at home and he was welcomed back to take again a leading part in the life of Athens, 408 B.C. There appears to have been no open opposition to his return. The many who distrusted him probably thought him less dangerous at home than in exile.

63 See Isoc. 4.142 ff.

64 The battle of Aegospotami.

65 See Isoc. 9.52 ff.

66 See 86, 87, and Isoc. Letter 9.13-14.

67 Battle of Cnidus, 394 B.C. There is a dramatic significance in the fact that Conon fought in the battle of Aegospotami which gave Sparta the supremacy and in the battle of Cnidus which took it from her.

68 From Spartan rule.

69 He restored the walls which had been torn down as one of the terms imposed upon Athens after the battle of Aegospotami. Xen. Hell. 4.8.9 ff.

70 Dionysius, the Elder, tyrant of Syracuse, 406-367 B.C.

71 See Dio. Sic. 13.96.

72 Yet Isocrates once wrote to him a most respectful letter （ Isoc. Letter 1）.

73 A navy of three hundred and ten ships, Dio. Sic. 14.42, and an army of a hundred thousand men more or less, Dio. Sic. 2.5.

74 Cyrus the Great, founder of the Persian Empire, Isoc. 9.37.

75 See Isoc. 5.132 and Hdt. 1.108.

76 Hdt. 1.112 ff.

77 Cf. Isoc. Letter 2.21: “It is a much greater glory to capture the good will of states than their fortifications.”

78 Demosthenes and his party. On Isocrates and Demosthenes see Havet, Introd. to Cartelier's Isoc. 15.pp. xlviii ff.

79 The Messenians were at war with Sparta and in alliance with Philip. Paus. 4.28.2.

80 See Isoc. 5.20.

81 The Amphictyony was an association of states for the protection of the worship of Apollo at Delphi （Grote, Hist. ii. pp. 284 ff.）. The members of the Amphictyony, among whom the Thebans and the Thessalians were prominent, were now engaged in the Sacred War against the Phocians, seeking to wrest from the latter the control of the Temple. In 338 B. C. Philip had been invited by the Amphictyony to join them against the Phocians.

82 See Isoc. 5.49 ff.

83 See Isoc. Letter 2.6.

84 Isocrates dwells on his disabilities repeatedly. Cf. Isoc. Letter 1.9; Isoc. Letter 8.7; and Isoc. 12.9-10. See General Introd. p. xix.

85 Isoc. 4.14.

86 Not an empty boast. See Havet, Introduction to Cartelier's Isoc. 15 pp. lxxv ff.

87 Cf. Isoc. 4.15.

88 The same explanation of Agesilaus's failure is given in Isoc. Letter 9.13.

89 See Isoc. 4.145-149, where the same episode is used to the same point in similar language.

90 This apology is curious, since Greek orators habitually repeated identical passages in dealing with the same situations. Cf. Isoc. 15.74.

91 Cf. Isoc. 15.55. An “epideictic” speech was a lecture whose aim was to display the rhetorical powers of the speaker.

92 See Isoc. 4.110 ff.

93 See Isoc. 4.168 and note.

94 Cyrus gave Clearchus about ten thousand pounds with which to levy mercenaries. Xen. Anab. 1.1.9.

95 Artaxerxes II., 405-359 B.C.

96 This is inexact. He is probably thinking of the defeat of the Athenians in the Peloponnnesian War in which Sparta had the assistance of Persia; but Artaxerxes II. came to the throne in the year of the battle of Aegospotami.

97 At the battle of Cnidus with the help of Conon, 394 B.C.

98 Artaxerxes III., 359-339 B.C.

99 Treaty of Antalcidas. See Isoc. 4.115 ff., 175 ff.

100 Isoc. 4.140, 161.

101 Isoc. 4.161.

102 Isoc. 4.162.

103 Mausolus.

104 “Freedom” of the Greeks from Athenian tyranny was the avowed object of the Spartans in the Peloponnesian War, Thuc. 4.86. Cf. Isoc. 4.122.

105 Amyntas. II.

106 Perdiccas I. See 32, note.

107 Heracles. The latter was precluded by his divinity; Amyntas and Perdiccas by their death.

108 With Athens, Aeschin. 2.26; with Sparta, Xen. Hell. 5.2.38.

109 Of Argos.

110 The Pisistratidae of Athens. A recent case in point was the murder of Alexander of Pherae. Cf. Isoc. 2.5.

111 See Diod. iv. 17.

112 Isoc. 9.16.

113 Chiefs, of barbarian tribes, such as Diomedes, Mygdon, Sarpedon, Busiris, Antaeus.

114 Europe and Asia. Cf. Isoc. 4.35.

115 Repeated in Isoc. Letter 3.5.

116 The contrast is between Zeus, Apollo, Athena, etc., and under-world deities Hades, Persephone, the Furies, etc.

117 Jason, tyrant of Pherae, in Thessaly. His “talked-of” expedition against Persia is mentioned also by Xen. Hell. 6.1.12. See General Introd. p. xl, footnote.

118 A catch phrase for the territory of Asia Minor. Cf. “Asia from Cnidus to Sinope” in Isoc. 4.162.

119 See Isoc. Letter 9.9. Cf. 96; Isoc. 4.168; Isoc. 8.24.

120 For this and what follows cf. Isoc. 4.133-136.

121 Persian effeminacy is described at length in Isoc. 4.150 ff.

122 Dareius, Xerxes.

123 Cf. Isoc. 4.135.

124 Cf. Isoc. 4.133-136.

125 Cf. Isoc. 4.134.

126 Isoc. 4.157.

127 Cf. 14, 15.

128 Cf. Isoc. 4.81.

129 Twice from the barbarians—at Marathon and Salamis; once from the Spartans at the battle of Cnidus, where the navy under Conon put an end to the Spartan hegemony.

130 In the Panegyricus.

131 See General Introd. p. xxxviii.

132 See Isoc. 4.132, 184, 187.

133 See Isoc. 1.50.

134 The Spartan kings are merely “kings,” while the Persian king is “The Great King.”

135 Cf. Isoc. 2.37.

136 Cf. Isoc. 9.3; Isoc. 6.109.

137 The same sentiment is in Isoc. Letter 3.4.

138 Cf. Isoc. 4.138 ff.

139 Cyrus. See 66.

140 The treasury of the Confederacy of Delos was originally in the island of Delos; later it was transferred to the Parthenon at Athens.

141 For these services see Isoc. 4.91-96.

142 He means the spot where the trophy was raised, marked later by the column erected by the Greeks. Hdt. 7..228.

143 For like apologies see Isoc. 15.9; Isoc. 12.4; Isoc. Letter 6.6.

144 Cf. Isoc. Letter 9.17.

145 The indigenous Macedonians are regarded as half barbarians.

Doubtless some of you are astonished that I, who heretofore have observed the customs1 of the state more faithfully, I dare say, than any other of my generation, have now so completely changed that I have come forward, in spite of my youth, to offer counsel regarding a subject which even our elders hesitate to discuss. [2] The fact is that if any of those who are accustomed to address you had spoken in a manner worthy of the state, I should strictly have held my peace; but now, since I see that they are either seconding the demands of the enemy, or opposing them but feebly, or have kept silent altogether, I have risen to set forth my own views on this subject, feeling that it would be disgraceful if by keeping the place appropriate to my years I should allow the state to pass measures unworthy of itself. [3]

Moreover, I think that although on other matters it may be proper for men of my age to keep silent, yet on the question of war it is fitting that they most of all should give counsel who will also have the greatest part in the dangers, especially since the power to judge of what ought to be done is an endowment common to all of us. [4] For if it were established that older men always know what is best, while the younger are never correct in their views, it would be right to exclude us from giving counsel; but since it is not by the number of our years that we differ in wisdom from one another, but by our natural endowments and by our cultivation of them, why should you not make trial of both the young and the old, in order that you may be in a position to choose from all courses which are proposed that which is the most expedient? [5] I am amazed at those who think that we are fit to command ships of war and to lead armies in the field,2 where bad judgement on our part would involve the state in many grave disasters, and yet do not think that we ought to express our views on matters which you are about to decide, wherein if we proved to be right we should benefit you all, while if, on the other hand, we failed of your assent we should ourselves perhaps suffer in reputation, but should not in any way impair the commonwealth. [6]

It is not, I assure you, because I am ambitious to be an orator, nor because I am prepared to change my former mode of life that I have spoken as I have about these things, but because I want to urge you not to reject any time of life, but to seek among all ages for the man who can offer good advice on the problems which now confront us; [7] for never since we have dwelt in Sparta has any war or any peril come upon us in which so much has been at stake as in this question which we are now assembled to discuss. For while in times past we fought that we might have dominion over the other states, now we must fight that we ourselves may not be forced to do their bidding—which is proof of a free spirit, to preserve which no hardship on earth is too great to endure, not for us alone, but for all others as well who have not renounced every claim to manhood but still make even slight pretensions to courage. [8]

As for myself, at any rate, if I may speak my own mind, I had rather die this moment for not complying with the dictates of the foe than live many times my allotted span of life at the price of voting what the Thebans demand. For I should feel disgraced, I who am descended from Heracles,3 who am the son of the ruling king and likely myself to attain to this honor,4 if I did not strive with all the strength that is in me to prevent this territory, which our fathers left to us, from becoming the possession of our slaves. [9] And I expect you also to share my feelings when you reflect that, while until the present day we seem to have been unfortunate in our contest with the Thebans,5 and to have been overcome in body because of the mistakes of our leader,6 yet up to this moment we possess our spirits unconquered; [10] but that if through fear of the dangers which now threaten us we relinquish anything that is ours, we shall justify the boasts of the Thebans, and erect against ourselves a trophy far more imposing and conspicuous than that which was raised at Leuctra; for the one will stand as a memorial of our ill-fortune; the other, of our abject spirit. Let no man, therefore, persuade you to fasten such a disgrace upon the state. [11]

And yet our allies7 have been only too zealous in advising you that you must give up Messene and make peace. Because of this they merit your indignation far more than those who revolted8 from you at the beginning. For the latter, when they had forsaken your friendship, destroyed their own cities, plunging them into civil strife and massacres and vicious forms of government.9 These men, on the other hand, come here to inflict injury upon us; [12] for they are trying to persuade us to throw away in one brief hour the glory which our forefathers amid manifold dangers during the course of seven hundred years10 acquired and bequeathed to us—a disaster more humiliating to Lacedaemon and more terrible than any other they could ever have devised. [13] So far do they go in their selfish greed, so great is the cowardice which they impute to us, that they, who have time and again called upon us to make war in defense of their own territory,11 think we ought not to risk battle for Messene, but, in order that they may themselves cultivate their lands in security, seek to convince us that we ought to yield to the enemy a portion of our own; and, besides all that, they threaten that if we do not comply with these terms, they will make a separate peace. [14] For my part, I do not think that our risk without their alliance will be as much more serious for us as it will be more glorious and splendid and notable in the eyes of all mankind; for to endeavor to preserve ourselves and to prevail over our enemies, not through the aid of others, but through our own powers, is in keeping with the past achievements of our state. [15]

Although I have never been fond of oratory, having in fact always thought that those who cultivate the power of speech are somewhat lacking in capacity for action,12 yet at the moment there is nothing I should value more than the ability to speak as I desire about the question now before us; for in the present crisis I am confident that with this aid I could render a very great service to the state. [16]

First, I think that I ought to explain to you in what way we acquired Messene, and for what reasons you settled in the Peloponnesus—you who from of old are Dorians. And the reason why I shall go back to remote times is that you may understand why your enemies are trying to rob you of this country, which you acquired, no less than Lacedaemon itself, with a just title. [17]

When Heracles had put off this life and from being mortal became a god, his sons at first went on divers wanderings and faced many perils because of the power of their enemies;13 but after the death of Eurystheus they fixed their habitation among the Dorians. In the third generation thereafter they came to Delphi, desiring to consult the oracle about certain matters. Apollo, however, made them no answer to the questions which they asked, but merely bade them seek the country of their fathers. [18] Searching into the meaning of the oracle, they found, first, that Argos belonged to them by right of their being next of kin, for after the death of Eurystheus they were the sole survivors of Perseus' line;14 next, that Lacedaemon was theirs by right of gift, for when Tyndareus, having been driven from his throne,15 was restored to it by Heracles,16 after Castor and Polydeuces had vanished from among men,17 he gave the land to Heracles because of this act of kindness and also because of the kinship of Heracles and his own sons; [19] and lastly, they found that Messene was theirs as a prize taken in war, for Heracles, when he had been robbed of the cattle from Erytheia,18 by Neleus and all his sons except Nestor, had taken the country captive and slain the offenders, but had committed the city to Nestor's charge, believing him to be prudent, because, although the youngest of his brethren, he had taken no part in their iniquity. [20]

Assuming this to be the purport of the oracle, they joined forces with your forefathers and organized an army, sharing meantime their own country with their followers,19 but receiving from them the kingship as the prize reserved for themselves alone; then having confirmed these covenants by mutual pledges, they set out upon the expedition. [21] The perils which befell them on the march, and the other incidents20 which have no bearing on the present theme, I need not take the time to describe. Let it suffice that, having conquered in war those who dwelt in the regions which I have mentioned, they divided their kingdom into three parts.21

Now you men of Sparta have until this day remained faithful to the oaths and to the covenants which you made with my forefathers; [22] therefore in time past you have fared better than the rest of the world, and in time to come you may reasonably hope, if you continue as you have been, to fare better than at present. But the Messenians went so far in their wickedness that they plotted against and slew Cresphontes, albeit he was the founder of their state, the sovereign of their land, a descendant of Heracles, and once the leader of their armies. [23] His sons, however, escaped the perils which confronted them and threw themselves upon the mercy of Sparta, beseeching us to come to the aid of their dead father22 and offering us their land. And you, after inquiring of Apollo, and being directed by him to accept this gift and avenge the wronged, thereupon beleaguered the Messenians, forced them to surrender, and thus gained possession of their territory. [24]

I have not, it is true, recounted in detail our original titles to this land （for the present occasion does not permit me to go into legendary history, and I have had to set them forth with too great brevity for clearness）; yet I am sure that even this brief statement makes it evident to all that there is no difference whatever between the way in which we acquired the land which is acknowledged to be ours and the land to which our claim is disputed. For we inhabit Lacedaemon because the sons of Heracles gave it to us, because Apollo directed us to do so, and because we fought and conquered those who held it; and Messene we received from the same people, in the same way, and by taking the advice of the same oracle. [25] To be sure, if we are in a mood not to defend our title to anything, not even if they demand that we abandon Sparta itself, it is idle to be concerned about Messene; but if not one of you would consent to live if torn from the fatherland, then you ought to be of the same mind about that country; for in both cases we can advance the same justifications and the same reasons for our claim. [26]

Then again you are doubtless well aware that possessions, whether private or public, when they have remained for a long time in the hands of their owner, are by all men acknowledged to be hereditary and incontestable. Now we took Messene before the Persians acquired their kingdom23 and became masters of the continent, in fact before a number of the Hellenic cities were even founded. [27] And yet notwithstanding that we hold these titles, the Thebans would on the one hand restore Asia as his ancestral right to the barbarian,24 who has not yet held sway over it for two hundred years, while on the other hand they would rob us of Messene, which we have held for more than twice that length of time;25 and although it was only the other day that they razed both Thespiae and Plataea to the ground,26 yet now, after a lapse of four hundred years, they propose to settle their colonists in Messene acting in both cases contrary to the oaths and covenants.27 [28] Were they restoring those who are truly Messenians, they would still be acting unjustly, but at least they would have a more plausible pretext for wronging us; but as the case stands, it is the Helots whom they are trying to settle on our frontier,28 so that the worst fate which threatens us is not that we shall be robbed of our land contrary to justice, but that we shall see our slaves made masters of it. [29]

You will perceive still more clearly from what follows both that we are now dealt with most unfairly and that in the past we held Messene justly. For in the many wars which have befallen us we have before this at times been forced to make peace when we were in much worse case than our foes.29 But, although our treaties were concluded under circumstances in which it was impossible for us to seek any advantage, [30] yet, while there were other matters about which differences arose, neither the Great King nor the city of Athens ever charged us with having acquired Messene unjustly. And yet how could we find a more thoroughgoing judgement on the justice of our case than this, which was rendered by our enemies and made at a time when we were beset with misfortunes? [31]

That oracle, moreover, which all would acknowledge to be the most ancient and the most widely accepted and the most trustworthy in existence, recognized Messene as ours, not only at the time when it commanded us to receive the country as a gift from the sons of Cresphontes and to go to the aid of the wronged, but also later, when the war dragged on and both sides sent delegations to Delphi, the Messenians appealing for deliverance and we inquiring how we could most speedily make ourselves masters of their city, the god gave them no answer, thus showing that their appeal was unjust, while to us he revealed both what sacrifices we should perform and to whom we should send for aid.30 [32]

And yet how could anyone furnish testimony more significant or clearer than this? For it has been shown, first of all （since nothing prevents our restating these points briefly）, that we received the country from its rightful owners; secondly, that we took it by war, precisely as most of the cities in those days were founded; further, that we drove out those who had grievously sinned against the children of Heracles—men who by right should have been banished from the sight of all mankind; and, finally, it has been shown that the length of our tenure, the judgement of our enemies, and the oracles of Apollo all confirm our right to the possession of Messene. [33] Anyone of these facts is enough to refute the assertions of those who presume to allege against us either that we now refuse to conclude peace because of a desire for aggrandizement, or that we then made war on the Messenians because we coveted what was not our own. I might perhaps say more than this about our acquisition of Messene, but I consider what I have already said to be sufficient [34]

Those who advise us to make peace declare that prudent men ought not to take the same view of things in fortunate as in unfortunate circumstances, but rather that they should always consult their immediate situation and accommodate themselves to their fortunes, and should never entertain ambitions beyond their power, but should at such times seek, not their just rights but their best interests. [35]

In all else I agree with them, but no man could ever persuade me that one should ever deem anything to be of greater consequence than justice;31 for I see that our laws have been made to secure it, that men of character and reputation pride themselves upon practicing it, and that it constitutes the chief concern of all well-regulated states; [36] further, I observe that the wars of the past have in the end been decided, not in accordance with the strongest forces, but in accordance with justice; and that, in general, the life of man is destroyed by vice and preserved by virtue. Therefore those should not lack courage who are about to take up arms in a just cause, but far more those who are insolent and do not know how to bear their good fortune with moderation.32 [37]

Then, too, there is this point to consider: At present we are all agreed as to what is just, while we differ as to what is expedient. But now that two good things are set before us, the one evident, the other doubtful, how ridiculous you would make yourselves if you should reject that course which is acknowledged to be good and decide to take that which is debatable, especially when your choice is a matter of such importance! [38] For according to my proposal you would not relinquish a single one of your possessions nor fasten any disgrace upon the state; nay, on the contrary, you would have good hope that taking up arms in a just cause you would fight better than your foes. According to their proposal, on the other hand, you would withdraw at once from Messene, and, having first committed this wrong against yourselves, you would perhaps fail to secure both what is expedient and what is just—and everything else which you expect to gain. [39] For as yet it is by no means evident that if we do as we are bidden we shall henceforth enjoy lasting peace. For I think you are not unaware that all men are wont to discuss just terms with those who defend their rights, while in the case of those who are over-ready to do what they are commanded they keep adding more and more to the conditions which at first they intended to impose; and thus it happens that men of a warlike temper obtain a more satisfactory peace than those who too readily come to terms. [40]

But lest I should seem to dwell too long on this point, I shall abandon all such considerations and turn at once to the simplest of my proofs. If no people, after meeting with misfortune, ever recovered themselves or mastered their enemies, then we cannot reasonably hope to win victory in battle; but if on many occasions it has happened that the stronger power has been vanquished by the weaker, and that the besiegers have been destroyed by those confined within the walls, what wonder if our own circumstances likewise should undergo a change? [41]

Now in the case of Sparta I can cite no instance of this kind, for in times past no nation stronger than ourselves ever invaded our territory;33 but in the case of other states there are many such examples which one might use, and especially is this true of the city of the Athenians. [42] For we shall find that as a result of dictating to others they lost repute with the Hellenes, while by defending themselves against insolent invaders they won fame among all mankind. Now if I were to recount the wars of old which they fought against the Amazons or the Thracians or the Peloponnesians34 who under the leadership of Eurystheus invaded Attica, no doubt I should be thought to speak on matters ancient and remote from the present situation; but in their war against the Persians,35 who does not know from what hardships they arose to great good-fortune? [43] For they alone of those who dwelt outside of the Peloponnesus, although they saw that the strength of the barbarians was irresistible, did not think it honorable to consider the terms imposed upon them,36 but straightway chose to see their city ravaged rather than enslaved. Leaving their own country,37 and adopting Freedom as their fatherland, they shared the dangers of war with us, and wrought such a change in their fortunes that, after being deprived of their own possessions for but a few days, they became for many years masters of the rest of the world.38 [44]

Athens, however, is not the only instance by which one might show how great are the advantages of daring to resist one's enemies. There is also the case of the tyrant Dionysius, who, when he was besieged by the Carthaginians, seeing not a glimmer of hope for deliverance, but being hard pressed both by the war and by the disaffection of his citizens, was, for his part, on the point of sailing away, when one of his companions made bold to declare that “royalty is a glorious shroud.”39 [45] Ashamed of what he had planned to do, and taking up the war afresh, he destroyed countless hosts of the Carthaginians,40 strengthened his authority over his subjects, acquired far greater dominion than he had possessed before, ruled with absolute power until his death,41 and left his son in possession of the same honors and powers as he himself had enjoyed. [46]

Similar to this was the career of Amyntas, king of the Macedonians. Worsted in battle by the neighboring barbarians, and robbed of all Macedonia, he at first proposed to quit the country and save his life, but hearing someone praise the remark made to Dionysius, and, like Dionysius, repenting of his decision, Amyntas seized a small fortified post, sent out thence for reinforcements, recovered the whole of Macedonia within three months, spent the remainder of his days on the throne, and finally died of old age.42 [47]

But we should both grow weary, you with listening and I with speaking, if we were to examine every incident of this sort; nay, if we were to recall also our experience with Thebes, while we should be grieved over past events, we should gain better hopes for the future. For when they ventured to withstand our inroads and our threats,43 fortune so completely reversed their situation that they, who at all other times have been in our power, now assert their right to dictate to us. [48]

Seeing, then, that such great reversals have taken place, he is a very foolish person who thinks that they will fail to occur in our case; nay, we must endure for the present and be of good courage with regard to the future, knowing that states repair such disasters by the aid of good government and experience in warfare; and on this point no one would dare contradict me when I say that we have greater experience in military matters than any other people, and that government as it ought to be exists among us alone. With these two advantages on our side, we cannot fail to prove more successful in our undertakings than those who have paid but slight attention to either government or war. [49]

There are those who condemn war and dwell on its precariousness, employing many other proofs, but particularly our own experiences, and express surprise that men should see fit to rely on an expedient so difficult and hazardous.

But I know of many who through war have acquired great prosperity, and many who have been robbed of all they possessed through keeping the peace; [50] for nothing of this kind is in itself absolutely either good or bad, but rather it is the use we make of circumstances and opportunities which in either case must determine the result. Those who are prosperous should set their hearts on peace, for in a state of peace they can preserve their present condition for the greatest length of time; those, however, who are unfortunate should give their minds to war, for out of the confusion and innovation resulting from it they can more quickly secure a change in their fortunes. But we, I fear, will be seen to have pursued exactly the opposite course; [51] for when we might have lived at ease, we made more wars than were necessary, but now, when we have no choice but to risk battle, we desire tranquility and deliberate about our own security. And yet those who wish to be free ought to shun a peace whose terms are dictated by the enemy as being not far removed from slavery, and should make treaties only when they have defeated their adversaries, or when they have made their forces equal to those of the enemy; for the kind of peace which each side will obtain will be decided by the manner in which they conclude the war. [52]

Bearing these facts in mind, you must not rashly commit yourselves to shameful terms, nor let it appear that you are more remiss in your deliberations about your country than about the rest of the world. Let me recall to your minds that formerly, if a single Lacedaemonian gave aid to one of our allied cities when it was pressed by siege, all men would concede that its deliverance was due to him. Now the older among you could name the greater number of these men, but I, too, can recount the most illustrious of them: [53] Pedaritus,44 sailing to Chios, saved that city; Brasidas entered Amphipolis and, having rallied about him a few of those who were under siege, defeated the besiegers45 in battle in spite of their numbers; Gylippus, by bringing aid to the Syracusans, not only saved them from destruction, but also captured the entire armament of the enemy, which dominated them both by land and by sea.46 [54]

And yet is it not shameful that in those days single men among us were strong enough to protect the cities of others, but now all of us together are not able, nor do we attempt, to save our own city? Is it not shameful that, when we fought for others, we filled Europe and Asia with trophies, but now, when our own country is so openly outraged, we cannot show that we have fought in her behalf a single battle worthy of note?47 [55] Is it not shameful, finally, that other cities have endured the last extremities of siege to preserve our empire,48 while we ourselves see no reason why we should bear even slight hardships to prevent our being forced to do anything contrary to our just rights, but are to be seen even at this moment feeding teams of ravenous horses,49 although, like men reduced to the direst extremities and in want of their daily bread, we sue for peace in this fashion? [56]

But it would be of all things the most outrageous if we who are accounted the most energetic of the Hellenes should be more slack than the rest in our deliberations upon this question. What people do we know, worth mentioning at all, who after a single defeat and a single invasion of their country have in so cowardly a fashion agreed to do everything demanded of them? How could such men hold out against a long season of misfortune? [57] Who would not censure us if, while the Messenians withstood siege for twenty years in order to retain Messene,50 we should so quickly withdraw from it under a treaty and should take no thought of our forefathers, but should allow ourselves to be persuaded by words to throw away this territory which they acquired by dint of struggles and wars? [58]

There are those, however, who care for none of these things, but, overlooking all considerations of shame, counsel you to follow a course which will bring disgrace upon the state. And so anxious are they to persuade you to give up Messene that they have dared to dwell on the weakness of Sparta and the strength of the enemy, and now they challenge us who oppose them to say from what quarter we expect reinforcements to come, seeing that we exhort you to make war. [59]

For my part, I consider that the strongest and surest ally we can have is just dealing, for it is probable that the favor of the gods will be with those who deal justly—that is, if we may judge the future by the past; and in addition to this ally are good government and sober habits of life, and a willingness to battle to the death against the enemy, and the conviction that nothing is so much to be dreaded as the reproaches of our fellow-citizens—qualities which we possess in larger measure than any other people in existence. [60] With these allies I would far rather go to war than with multitudes of soldiers, for I know that those of our people who first came to this country did not prevail over their adversaries through numbers, but through the virtues which I have just set forth. Therefore we ought not to stand in fear of our enemies because they are many, but should much rather take courage when we see that we ourselves have borne up under our misfortunes as no other people have ever done, [61] and that we still remain faithful to the customs and ways of life which we established here in the very beginning, while the rest of the Hellenes are not able to stand even their good fortune, but have become completely demoralized, some of them seizing the cities of their allies,51 others opposing them in this; some disputing with their neighbors about territory, others, again, indulging their envy of one another52 rather than making war against us. Therefore I wonder at those who look for a stronger ally than is found in the blundering of our enemies. [62]

But if I must also speak of aid from the outside, I think that many will be disposed to assist us.53 For I know, in the first place, that the Athenians, although they may not hold with us in everything, yet if our existence were at stake would go to any length to save us; in the second place, that some of the other states would consult our interest as if it were their very own; [63] again, that the tyrant Dionysius, and the king of Egypt, and the various dynasts throughout Asia, each so far as he has the power, would willingly lend us aid; and, furthermore, that the Hellenes who rank first in wealth and stand foremost in reputation and who desire the best of governments,54 even though they have not yet allied themselves with us, are with us at least to the extent of wishing us well, and that upon them we have good reason to rest great hopes for the future. [64]

Also I think that not only the people of the Peloponnesus in general but even the adherents of democracy,55 whom we consider to be especially unfriendly to us, are already yearning for our protection. For by revolting from us they have gained nothing of what they anticipated; on the contrary, they have got just the opposite of freedom; for having slain the best of their citizens, they are now in the power of the worst; instead of securing self-government, they have been plunged into misgovernment of many terrible kinds; [65] accustomed as they have been in the past to march with us against others, they now behold the rest taking the field against themselves; and the war of factions, of whose existence in other territories they used to know only by report, they now see waged almost every day in their own states. They have been so levelled by their misfortunes that no man can discern who among them are the most wretched; [66] for not one of their states is unscathed, not one but has neighbors ready to do it injury; in consequence, their fields have been laid waste, their cities sacked, their people driven from their homes, their constitutions overturned, and the laws abolished under which they were once the most fortunate among the Hellenes.56 [67] They feel such distrust and such hatred of one another that they fear their fellow-citizens more than the enemy; instead of preserving the spirit of accord and mutual helpfulness which they enjoyed under our rule, they have become so unsocial that those who own property had rather throw their possessions into the sea than lend aid to the needy, while those who are in poorer circumstances would less gladly find a treasure than seize the possessions of the rich; [68] having ceased sacrificing victims at the altars they slaughter one another57 there instead; and more people are in exile now from a single city than before from the whole of the Peloponnesus. But although the miseries which I have recounted are so many, those which remain unmentioned far outnumber them; for all the distress and all the horror in the world have come together in this one region. [69] With these miseries some states are already replete; others too will shortly have their fill, and then they will seek to find some relief for the troubles which now beset them. For do not imagine that they will continue to put up with these conditions; for how could men who grew weary even of prosperity endure for a long time the pressure of adversity? And so not only if we fight and conquer, but even if we keep quiet and bide our time, you will see them veer round and come to regard alliance with us as their only safety. Such, then, are the hopes which I entertain. [70]

However, so far am I from complying with the enemy's demands that, if none of these hopes should be realized and we should fail to obtain help from any quarter, but on the contrary some of the Hellenes should wrong us and the rest should look on with indifference—even so I should not alter my opinion; but I would undergo all the hazards which spring from war before I would agree to these terms. For I should be equally chagrined in either case—if we charged our forefathers with having deprived the Messenians of their land unjustly, or if, although insisting that they acquired it rightly and honorably, we made any concession regarding this territory contrary to our just rights. [71] Nay, we must follow neither course, but must consider how we may carry on the war in a manner worthy of Spartans, and not prove those who are wont to eulogize our state to be liars, but so acquit ourselves that they shall seem to have told less than the truth about us. [72]

Now I certainly believe that nothing worse will befall us in the future than what we endure at present, but that, on the contrary, our enemies will plan and act in such a way that they themselves will right our fortunes; but if we should after all be disappointed in our hopes, and should find ourselves hemmed in on every side and be no longer able to hold our city, then, hard as may be the step which I am about to propose, yet I shall not hesitate to proclaim it boldly; for that which I shall propose to you is a nobler course to be heralded abroad among the Hellenes, and more in keeping with our own pride, than that which is urged by some among you. [73]

For I declare that we must send our parents and our wives and children and the mass of the people away from Sparta, some to Sicily, some to Cyrene, others to the mainland of Asia,58 where the inhabitants will all gladly welcome them with gifts of ample lands and of the other means of livelihood as well, partly in gratitude for favors which they have received and partly in expectation of the return of favors which they first bestow. [74] Those of us, on the other hand, who are willing and able to fight must remain behind, abandon the city and all our possessions except what we can carry with us, and having seized some stronghold which will be the most secure and the most advantageous for carrying on the war, harry and plunder our enemies both by land and by sea until they cease from laying claim to what is ours. [75] If we have the courage for such a course and never falter in it, you will see those who now issue commands imploring and beseeching us to take back Messene and make peace.

For what state in the Peloponnesus could withstand a war such as would in all likelihood be waged if we so willed? What people would not be stricken with dismay and terror at the assembling of an army which had carried out such measures, which had been roused to just wrath against those who had driven it to these extremes, and which had been rendered desperate and reckless of life— [76] an army which, in its freedom from ordinary cares and in having no other duty but that of war, would resemble a mercenary force, but in point of native valor and of disciplined habits would be like no army that could be levied in all the world—an army, moreover, which would have no fixed government, but would be able to bivouac in the open fields and to range the country at will, readily making itself neighbor to any people at its pleasure, and regarding every place which offered advantages for waging war as its fatherland? [77] For my part, I believe that if this proposal were merely put in words and scattered broadcast among the Hellenes, our enemies would be thrown into utter confusion; and still more would this be so if we were put to the necessity of carrying it into effect. For what must we suppose their feelings will be when they themselves suffer injury, but are powerless to inflict injury upon us; [78] when they see their own cities reduced to a state of siege, while we shall have taken such measures that our own city cannot henceforth experience a like calamity; and when, furthermore, they perceive that it is easy for us to procure food both from our existing stores and from the spoils of war, but difficult for them, inasmuch as it is one thing to provide for an army such as ours and another to feed the crowds in cities? [79] But bitterest of all will it be for them when they learn that the members of our households have all along been living in comfort and plenty, whereas they will see their own people destitute every day of the necessities of life, and will not be able even to alleviate their distress, but if they till the soil, they will lose both crop and seed, and if they allow it to lie unworked, they will be unable to hold out any time at all. [80]

But perhaps, you will object, they will join forces and with their united armies will follow us up and prevent us from doing them harm. Yet what better thing could we wish than to find close at hand, drawn up in line of battle and encamped against us face to face on the same difficult ground, an undisciplined and motley rabble, serving under many leaders? For there would be need of no great effort on our part; no, we should quickly force them to give battle, choosing the moment propitious for ourselves and not for them. [81]

But the remainder of the day would fail me if I undertook to set forth the advantages we should gain by such a course. This much, at any rate, is clear to all—that we have been superior to all the Hellenes, not because of the size of our city or the number of its inhabitants,59 but because the government which we have established is like a military camp, well administered and rendering willing obedience to its officers.60 If, then, we shall create in reality that which it has profited us to imitate, there can be no doubt that we shall easily overcome our foes. [82]

We know, moreover, that those who became the founders of this city entered the Peloponnesus with but a small army and yet made themselves masters of many powerful states.61 It were fitting, then, to imitate our forefathers and, by retracing our steps, now that we have stumbled in our course, try to win back the honors and the dominions which were formerly ours. [83] But, monstrous above all things would be our conduct if, knowing well that the Athenians abandoned their country to preserve the freedom of the Hellenes,62 we should lack the courage to give up our city even to preserve our own lives, and should refuse, when it behoves us to set the example for others in such deeds, even to imitate the conduct of the Athenians. [84] Even more should we deserve the ridicule of men if, having before us the example of the Phocaeans who, to escape the tyranny of the Great King, left Asia and founded a new settlement at Massilia,63 we should sink into such abjectness of spirit as to submit to the dictates of those whose masters we have always been throughout our history. [85]

But we must not let our minds dwell on the day when we shall have to send away from us those who are nearest and dearest to us; no, we must at once begin to look forward to that good time when, victorious over our foes, we shall restore our city, bring back our own people, and prove to the world that while we now have experienced reverses unjustly, in times past we justly claimed precedence over all others. [86] This, then, is how matters stand: I have made this proposal, not with the thought that we must put it into effect forthwith, nor that there is in our circumstances no other means of deliverance, but because I wish to urge your minds to the conviction that we must endure, not only these, but even much worse misfortunes before conceding such terms regarding Messene as are being urged upon us. [87]

I should not so earnestly exhort you to carry on the war if I did not see that the peace resulting from my proposals will be honorable and enduring, while that which would result from the counsel of certain men among you will not only be disgraceful, but will last no time at all. For if we permit the Helots to settle on our borders and allow Messene to flourish undisturbed, who does not know that we shall be involved in constant turmoils and dangers all our lives? Therefore, those who talk about “security” are blind to the fact that they are providing us with peace for a few days only, while contriving a state of war which will never end. [88]

I should like to ask these men in what cause they think we ought to fight and die. Is it not cause enough when the enemy make demands that are contrary to justice, when they cut off a portion of our territory, when they free our slaves and settle them in the land which our fathers bequeathed to us, yes, and not only rob us of our possessions but in addition to all our other miseries involve us in disgrace? [89] For my part, I think that in such a cause as this we ought to endure, not only war, but even exile and death; for it is far better to end our lives in the possession of the high reputation which we now enjoy than to go on living with the infamy which we shall bring upon ourselves if we do what we are commanded to do. In a word, if I may speak without reserve, it is preferable for us to suffer annihilation, rather than derision, at the hands of our foes. For men who have lived in such high repute and in such pride of spirit must do one of two things—either be first among the Hellenes, or perish utterly, having done no ignominious deed but having brought their lives to an honorable close. [90]

Reflecting upon these things, we must not be faint of heart, nor follow the judgements of our allies, whom in former times we claimed the right to lead, but, having duly weighed the matter for ourselves, we should choose, not what is easiest for them, but what will be in keeping with Lacedaemon and with our achievements in the past. For not every people can adopt the same measures in the same situation, but each must follow the principles which from the very first they have made the foundation of their lives. [91] No one, for example, would reproach Epidaurians or Corinthians or Phliasians if they thought of nothing else than to escape destruction and save their own lives; we men of Lacedaemon, however, cannot seek our deliverance at all costs, but if to “safety” we cannot add “with honor,” then for us death with good repute is preferable; for those who lay claim to valor must make it the supreme object of their lives never to be found doing a shameful thing. [92] But the cowardice of states is made manifest in deliberations like these no less than in the perils of war; for the greatest part of what takes place on the battle-field is due to fortune, but what is resolved upon here is a token of our very spirit. Wherefore we should strive for success in the measures to be adopted here with an emulation no less keen than we show in the lists of war. [93]

I marvel at those who are willing to die for their personal glory, but have not the same feeling for the glory of the state, for which we may well suffer anything whatsoever to avoid bringing shame upon our city, nor should we permit it to abandon the post in which it was established by our forefathers. It is true that many difficulties and dangers beset us; [94] these we must avoid, but first and foremost we should be careful that we are never found doing any cowardly deed or making any unjust concessions to the foe; for it would be shameful if we, who once64 were thought worthy to rule the Hellenes, should be seen carrying out their commands, and should fall so far below our forefathers that, while they were willing to die in order that they might dictate to others,65 we would not dare to hazard a battle in order that we might prevent others from dictating to us. [95]

We may well be ashamed when we think of the Olympian and the other national assemblies, where every one of us used to be more envied and more admired than the athletes who carry off victories in the games. But who would dare attend them now, when instead of being honored he would be scorned, when instead of being sought out by all because of his valor, he would be conspicuous among all for his cowardice, [96] and when, more than all this, he would see our slaves bringing from the land which our fathers bequeathed to us first-fruits of the harvest and sacrifices greater than our own, and would hear from their lips such taunts as you would expect from men who once were subjected to the strictest bondage but now have made a treaty with their masters on terms of equality? How keenly every one of us would smart under these insults no man alive could set forth in words. [97]

These are the things about which we must take counsel, and we must not wait to indulge our resentment until that will no longer avail us, but must consider now how we may prevent such a disaster. For it is disgraceful that we, who in former times would not allow even free men the right of equal speech, are now openly tolerating licence of speech on the part of slaves.66 [98] For thus we shall give ground for the suspicion that in time past we have been nothing at all but idle boasters, that by nature we are no different from the rest of mankind, and that the sternness and dignity of manner which we cultivate is not natural, but a mere pose. Let us, therefore, give no such occasion to those who are wont to speak ill of us, but let us endeavor to confute their words by patterning our actions after those of our forefathers. [99]

Remember the men who at Dipaea67 fought against the Arcadians, of whom we are told that, albeit they stood arrayed with but a single line of soldiery, they raised a trophy over thousands upon thousands; remember the three hundred who at Thyrea68 defeated the whole Argive force in battle; remember the thousand who went to meet the foe at Thermopylae, [100] who, although they engaged seven hundred thousand of the barbarians, did not flee nor suffer defeat, but laid down their lives on the spot where they were stationed,69 acquitting themselves so nobly that even those who eulogize them with all the resources of art can find no praises equal to their valor. [101]

Let us, then, remembering all these things, take up the war with greater vigor, and let us not delay in the expectation that others will remedy our present misfortunes, but since these have occurred in our own time, let us ourselves endeavor also to end them. It is just in such emergencies as these that men of worth must show their superiority; [102] for prosperity helps to hide the baseness even of inferior men,70 but adversity speedily reveals every man as he really is; and in adversity we of Sparta must show whether we have been in any wise better nurtured and trained to valor than the rest of mankind. [103]

But indeed we are in no wise without hope that out of our present misfortunes may come a happy issue. For you are, I am sure, not unaware that ere now many events have occurred of such a nature that, at first, all regarded them as calamities and sympathized with those on whom they had fallen, while later everyone came to see that these same reverses had brought about the greatest blessings. [104] But why need I mention remote instances? Even now we should find that those states which are foremost—Athens and Thebes, I mean—have not derived their great progress from peace, but that, on the contrary, it was in consequence of their recovery from previous reverses in war that one of them was made leader of the Hellenes,71 while the other has at the present time become a greater state than anyone ever expected she would be. Indeed, honors and distinctions are wont to be gained, not by repose, but by struggle, [105] and these we should strive to win, sparing neither our bodies nor our lives nor anything else which we possess. For if we succeed, and are able to raise our city again to the eminence from which she has fallen, we shall be more admired than our ancestors, and shall not only leave to our descendants no opportunity to surpass our valor, but shall make those who wish to sing our praise despair of saying anything equal to our achievements. [106] Nor must you forget that the attention of the whole world is fixed upon this assembly and on the decision which you shall reach here. Let each one of you, therefore, govern his thoughts as one who is giving an account of his own character in a public theater, as it were, before the assembled Hellenes. [107]

Now it is a simple matter to reach a wise decision on this question. For if we are willing to die for our just rights, not only shall we gain renown, but in time to come we shall be able to live securely; but if we show that we are afraid of danger, we shall plunge ourselves into endless confusion. [108] Let us, therefore, challenge one another to pay back to our fatherland the price of our nurture, and not suffer Lacedaemon to be outraged and contemned, nor cause those who are friendly to us to be cheated of their hopes, nor let it appear that we value life more highly than the esteem of all the world, [109] always remembering that it is a nobler thing to exchange a mortal body for immortal glory, and to purchase with a life which at best we shall retain for only a few years a fame which will abide with our descendants throughout all the ages72—a far nobler course than to cling greedily to a little span of life and cover ourselves with great disgrace! [110]

But I think that you would most of all be aroused to prosecute the war if in imagination you could see your parents and your children standing, as it were, beside you, the former exhorting you not to disgrace the name of Sparta, nor the laws under which we were reared, nor the memory of the battles fought in their time; the latter demanding the restoration of the country which their forefathers bequeathed to them, together with the dominion and the leadership among the Hellenes which we ourselves received from our fathers. Not a word could we say in answer; never could we deny the justice of either plea. [111]

I do not know what more I need to add, save only this much—that while numberless wars and dangers have fallen to the lot of Sparta, the enemy have never yet raised a trophy over us when a king from my house was our leader. And prudent men, when they have leaders under whom they win success in their battles, should also give heed to them, in preference to all others, when they give counsel regarding impending wars.

1 In Sparta the young were not supposed to appear in public places. Plutarch states （Plut. Lyc. 25） that men were not allowed even in the market-place until after they were thirty years old.

2 Archidamus had commanded Spartan armies in 370 and 367. See Xen. Hell. 6.4.17 and vii. 1. 28.

3 The Spartan kings claimed descent from Heracles Isoc. 4.62.

4 Archidamus became king after the death of Agesilaus in 361 B.C.

5 Since the battle of Leuctra.

6 Cleombrotus the king was partly blamed for the Spartan defeat at Leuctra.

7 Especially the Corinthians. See Introduction.

8 The Arcadians had joined the Thebans in invading Sparta. The Argives, Eleans, and Achaeans had also forsaken Sparta and gone over partly or wholly to the Thebans.

9 Such disturbances and changes of government took place about this time in Arcadia, Argos, Sicyon, Elis, and Phlius. See Xen. Hell. 7.1-4. By vicious forms of government Archidamus probably refers to the democracies which in various places had been set up instead of the earlier oligarchies.

10 A round number for the period between 1104 B.C., the traditional date when the sons of Heracles took Sparta, and the date of the present oration, 366 B.C.

11 Especially Corinth and Phlius. See Xen. Hell. 4.4.7 and 15.

12 An allusion to the traditional Spartan fondness for brevity and distrust of eloquence.

13 For the return of the the sons of Heracles and details connected therewith see Apollod. 2.8.2-4, and Frazer's notes on this passage （Loeb Classical Library, Vol.I）. Cf. Isoc. 4.54-58 and notes.

14 Sthenelus, father of Eurystheus, was a son of Perseus. For the manner of Eurystheus' death see Isoc. 4.60.

15 Tyndareus, son of Perieres and of Perseus' daughter, Gorgophone, was king of Lacedaemon until driven out by his half-brother Hippocoön and by Hippocoön's sons. See Apollod. 3.10.5.

16 Heracles slew Hippocoön and his twenty sons and restored Tyndareus.

17 Castor was slain during a foray in Messene. His brother, Polydeuces, who according to most accounts was a son of Zeus by Leda, while Castor was a son of Tyndareus by Leda, refused to accept immortality unless it was shared by his brother. Zeus, therefore, granted that the two brothers dwell, on alternate days, among the gods and among men. According to others both were sons of Zeus. Hence Isocrates can refer to their kinship with Heracles, the son of Zeus and Alcmene. See Apollod. 3.11.2 and Isoc. 10.61.

18 To fetch the cattle of Geryon from Erytheia, an island off the coast of Spain, was the tenth labor imposed on Heracles by Eurystheus. See Apollod. 2.5.10.

19 That is, the common folk of the Dorians as distinguished from the descendants of Heracles, the ancestors of Archidamus.

20 Such as are told in Apollod. 2.8.3.

21 Procles and Eurysthenes, twin sons of Aristodemus, along with Temenos and Cresphontes, sons of Aristomachus, drew lots for Argos, Lacedaemon, and Messene.

22 According to the usual account, it was Aepytus, a son of Cresphontes, who avenged the death of his father. Apollod. 2.8.5.

23 In 559 B.C., when Cyrus became ruler of Persia.

24 By the peace terms of Pelopidas. See introduction to this oration.

25 Messene was not actually subdued until 724-723 B.C. Perhaps Isocrates is speaking loosely, or perhaps he follows another source than Pausanias, who is almost our sole authority for this period. However, the conquests of Alcamenes took place about 786 B.C., and Isocrates perhaps refers to this or a similar event. See Paus. 4.4.3. Dinarchus （Din. 1.73） gives the same figure as lsocrates.

26 Plataea was destroyed about 372 B.C., and Thespiae shortly after. See Dio. Sic. 15.46.4 and Xen. Hell. 6.3.1. Others give the date as 374 B.C.

27 Cf. the Peace of Antalcidas. See Isoc. 4.115 ff. and note.

28 See introduction.

29 such were the Peace of Nicias （421 B.C., Thucyd. v. 18）, the Peace of Antalcidas, and the separate peace between Athens and Sparta （Xen. Hell. 6.2.1）.

30 in the second Messenian War, 685-668 B.C., the Athenians are said to have sent Tyrtaeus, the lame school-master, to the aid of the Spartans. See Pausanias iv. 15.

31 For this Isocratean idealism cf. Isoc. 8.31-35.

32 Cf. Isoc. 1.42 and Isoc. 12.31-32.

33 That is, before the Theban invasion of 369 B.C.

34 See Isoc. 4.56 and 70.

35 See Isoc. 4.71-98.

36 These terms were to give earth and water, in token of submission, to the heralds of the Great King. Hdt. 7.133.

37 Cf. Isoc. 4.96.

38 Cf. Isoc. 4.72.

39 That is, it is a glorious thing to die a king. For the event, 396 B.C., See Dio. Sic. 14.58, and for the anecdote, Dio. Sic. 14.8.5 and Ael. Var. Hist. 4.8.

40 Dio. Sic. 14.72.6, says the shore was strewn with corpses.

41 Dionysius died in the spring of 367 B.C.

42 Amyntas, defeated by the Illyrians, won such a victory in 393 B.C. See Dio. Sic. 14.92.3. Amyntas was father of Philip, and reigned from 394 to 370 B.C.

43 Of Agesilaus in 394, 378, and 377 B.C.; of Phoebidas in 382, and of Cleombrotus in 378 and 376 B.C.

44 Harmost of Chios in 412 B.C., who was successful against the Athenians for a time, but was defeated and slain in 412 B.C. See Thucyd. viii. 55. 3.

45 Brasidas entered Amphipolis in 422 B.C., and in command of 150 hoplites sallied out against Cleon, the Athenian general. The greater part of the besieged forces was commanded by Clearidas. Brasidas lost his life in the engagement which followed, and became after his death a local hero at Amphipolis. See Thucyd. v. 8-11.

46 In the memorable Sicilian expedition of 414 B.C. Gylippus defeated the Athenian general Nicias and took his entire forces captive.

47 That is, since the battle of Leuctra. In addition to others mentioned above, Agesilaus, father of Archidamus, had won many victories in Asia Minor （396-394 B.C.）.

48 For example, Thespiae. See Xen. Hell. 6.3. For other examples see Paus. 9.14, and Dio. Sic. 15.57 and 69.

49 Horses were kept for racing, and were regarded as an expensive luxury.

50 In the first Messenian war, 743-724 B.C. Paus. 4.13.4.

51 That is, those of the Theban league. Isocrates is here describing Thebes and especially her allies in the Peloponnesus.

52 See note a, p. 352. Xen. Hell. 7.1.32, says that the Thebans and Eleans were no less pleased at the defeat of their allies, the Arcadians, in the “tearless” battle of 367 B.C. than were the Lacedaemonians.

53 For Athens see Isoc. 8.105 and Isoc. 5.44. Among the states in Peloponnesus, Phlius, Heraea, and Orchomenus in Arcadia were still true to Sparta. （Xen. Hell. 7.2.1, Xen. Hell. 6.5.22, and Xen. Hell. 6.5.11.） The reference is to Dionysius the younger, who began to reign 367-366 B.C. His father had given aid to Sparta on various occasions. See Underhill's note on Xen. Hell. 5.1.28 （Oxford edition）. Nectanebos （378-364 B.C.） was king of Egypt at this time. Egypt generally supported those who fought against the Persians, and now the Theban enemies of Sparta were in league with Persia. As to the dynasts of Asia see Isoc. 4.162 and Isoc. 5.103. Probably such powerful rulers as Mausolus of Caria, who revolted from Persia in 362 B.C., are here meant, as well as the rulers of Cyprus. See Isoc. 5.102 and Isoc. 4.134.

54 Those who sympathize with an oligarchy such as the Spartan government. οἱ βέλτιστοι is almost technical for “the aristocratic party.” as τὰ βέλτιστα for an aristocratic government. Cf. Xen. Hell. 5.2.6. Such people might be expected to form a conspiracy to set up an oligarchy favorable to Sparta.

55 Those in Peloponnesus who are not definitely committed to an oligarchic government.

56 The Acheans （Polyb. 2.38.6） and the Mantineans （Ael. Var. Hist. 2.22） were famed for their excellent laws.

57 Possibly Isocrates may have in mind the massacre at Corinth in 392 B.C. （Xen. Hell. 4.4.3）, the murder of certain Achaean suppliants, who took refuge in the temple of Heliconian Poseidon （Pausanias vii. 25）, or the slaughter of 1200 prominent citizens in Argos in 371 B.C. （Diodorus xv. 58）. Cf. Isoc. 5.52.

58 Greek emigration from the home country was commonly towards the far west （Sicily）, the east （coast of Asia Minor）, or the south （Cyrene）. Moreover, Dionysius the tyrant of Syracuse and the “dynasts” in Asia were friendly to the Spartans （see § 63）, and Cyrene was a Spartan settlement （see Isoc. 5.5）.

59 Sparta was about six miles in circumference. The number of pure Spartan inhabitants never exceeded 10,000.

60 The whole life of a Spartan youth was supervised by military officers of one sort or another. Those over twenty years of age ate at a common table, or military mess. War was the first and only duty of a Spartan citizen, and obedience more important even than life.

61 For example, of Corinth, Sicyon and Megara.

62 Cf. Isoc. 4.96.

63 The first party of the Phocaeans left Asia about 524 B.C. Besieged by Harpalus, they swore that never would they return to their city until the iron which they had cast into the sea should rise and float on the water. See Horace, Epode. xvi., and Hdt. 1.165. A second group came to Marseilles later. See Paus. 10.8.4.

64 Spartan supremacy lasted, theoretically, more than thirty years, from the end of the Peloponnesian War （404 B.C.） to the battle of Leuctra. Meantime, however, the Athenians secured for a short period their second naval empire （378 B.C.）.

65 Thucydides, i. 140, puts in the mouth of Pericles the assertion that the Spartans prefer to resolve their complaints by war and not by words, dictating terms instead of bringing charges.

66 Others translate ἰσηγαρίας as “political unity” and understand τῶν ἐλευθέρων to refer to the allies of Sparta. But the passage is probably better taken as referring to the military harshness of the Spartans toward any and all with whom they came in contact, as, for instance, when Astyochus started to beat free men for speaking too freely （see Thuc. 8.84）.

67 In 471 B.C. See Hdt. 9.35, and Paus. 8.8.4.

68 In 542 B.C. See Hdt. 1.82, and Paus. 2.38.5. lsocrates confuses two contests, one earlier, where three hundred Argives fought against three hundred Spartans, one later, where both sides matched their full forces.

69 Cf. Isoc. 4.90-92.

70 For the thought compare Dem. 2.20.

71 The Athenians won their second naval supremacy after the reverses of the Peloponnesian war.

72 For the language cf. Dem. 60.27, and Hyp. 6.24.

Many of you are wondering, I suppose, what in the world my purpose is1 in coming forward to address you on The Public Safety, as if Athens were in danger or her affairs on an uncertain footing, when in fact she possesses more than two hundred ships-of-war, enjoys peace throughout her territory, maintains her empire on the sea,2 [2] and has, furthermore, many allies who, in case of any need, will readily come to her aid,3 and many more allies who are paying their contributions4 and obeying her commands. With these resources, one might argue that we have every reason to feel secure, as being far removed from danger, while our enemies may well be anxious and take thought for their own safety. [3]

Now you, I know, following this reasoning, disdain my coming forward, and are confident that with this power you will hold all Hellas under your control. But as for myself, it is because of these very things that I am anxious; for I observe that those cities which think they are in the best circumstances are wont to adopt the worst policies, and that those which feel the most secure are most often involved in danger. [4] The cause of this is that nothing of either good or of evil visits mankind unmixed, but that riches and power are attended and followed by folly, and folly in turn by licence;5 whereas poverty and lowliness are attended by sobriety and great moderation; [5] so that it is hard to decide which of these lots one should prefer to bequeath to one's own children. For we shall find that from a lot which seems to be inferior men's fortunes generally advance to a better condition,6 whereas from one which appears to be superior they are wont to change to a worse. [6] Of this truth I might cite examples without number from the lives of individual men, since these are subject to the most frequent vicissitudes; but instances which are more important and better known to my hearers may be drawn from the experiences of our city and of the Lacedaemonians. As for the Athenians, after our city had been laid waste by the barbarians, we became, because we were anxious about the future and gave attention to our affairs, the foremost of the Hellenes;7 whereas, when we imagined that our power was invincible, we barely escaped being enslaved.8 [7] Likewise the Lacedaemonians, after having set out in ancient times from obscure and humble cities, made themselves, because they lived temperately and under military discipline, masters of the Peloponnesus;9 whereas later, when they grew overweening and seized the empire both of the sea and of the land, they fell into the same dangers as ourselves.10 [8]

Whoever, therefore, knowing that such great vicissitudes have taken place and that such mighty powers have been so quickly brought to naught, yet trusts in our present circumstances, is all too foolish,11 especially since Athens is now in a much less favorable condition than she was at that time, while the hatred12 of us among the Hellenes and the enmity13 of the great King, which then brought disaster to our arms, have been again revived. [9]

I am in doubt whether to suppose that you care nothing for the public welfare or that you are concerned about it, but have become so obtuse that you fail to see into what utter confusion our city has fallen. For you resemble men in that state of mind—you who have lost all the cities in Thrace,14 squandered to no purpose more than a thousand talents on mercenary troops,15 [10] provoked the ill-will of the Hellenes and the hostility of the barbarians, and, as if this were not enough, have been compelled to save the friends of the Thebans16 at the cost of losing our own allies17; and yet to celebrate the good news of such accomplishments we have twice now offered grateful sacrifices to the gods,18 and we deliberate about our affairs more complaisantly than men whose actions leave nothing to be desired! [11]

And it is to be expected that acting as we do we should fare as we do; for nothing can turn out well for those who neglect to adopt a sound policy for the conduct of their government as a whole. On the contrary, even if they do succeed in their enterprises now and then, either through chance or through the genius of some man,19 they soon after find themselves in the same difficulties as before, as anyone may see from what happened in our own history. [12] For when all Hellas fell under the power of Athens, after the naval victory of Conon and the campaign of Timotheus, we were not able to hold our good fortune any time at all, but quickly dissipated and destroyed it.20 For we neither possess nor do we honestly seek to obtain a polity which can properly deal with our affairs. [13] And yet we all know that success does not visit and abide with those who have built around themselves the finest and the strongest walls,21 nor with those who have collected the greatest population in one place, but rather with those who most nobly and wisely govern their state. [14] For the soul of a state is nothing else than its polity,22 having as much power over it as does the mind over the body; for it is this which deliberates upon all questions, seeking to preserve what is good and to ward off what is disastrous; and it is this which of necessity assimilates to its own nature the laws, the public orators and the private citizens; and all the members of the state must fare well or ill according to the kind of polity under which they live. [15] And yet we are quite indifferent to the fact that our polity has been corrupted, nor do we even consider how we may redeem it. It is true that we sit around in our shops23 denouncing the present order and complaining that never under a democracy have we been worse governed, but in our actions and in the sentiments which we hold regarding it we show that we are better satisfied with our present democracy than with that which was handed down to us by our forefathers.

It is in favor of the democracy of our forefathers that I intend to speak, and this is the subject on which I gave notice that I would address you. [16] For I find that the one way—the only possible way—which can avert future perils from us and deliver us from our present ills is that we should be willing to restore that earlier democracy which was instituted by Solon, who proved himself above all others the friend of the people, and which was re-established by Cleisthenes, who drove out the tyrants and brought the people back into power— [17] a government than which we could find none more favorable to the populace or more advantageous to the whole city.24 The strongest proof of this is that those who enjoyed this constitution wrought many noble deeds, won the admiration of all mankind, and took their place, by the common consent of the Hellenes, as the leading power of Hellas; whereas those who were enamored of the present constitution made themselves hated of all men, suffered many indignities, and barely escaped falling into the worst of all disasters.25 [18] And yet how can we praise or tolerate a government which has in the past been the cause of so many evils and which is now year by year ever drifting on from bad to worse? And how can we escape the fear that if we continue to progress after this fashion we may finally run aground on rocks more perilous than those which at that time loomed before us? [19]

But in order that you may make a choice and come to a decision between the two constitutions, not from the summary statement you just heard, but from exact knowledge, it behoves you, for your part, to render yourselves attentive to what I say, while I, for my part, shall try to explain them both to you as briefly as I can. [20]

For those who directed the state in the time of Solon and Cleisthenes did not establish a polity which in name merely was hailed as the most impartial and the mildest of governments, while in practice showing itself the opposite to those who lived under it, nor one which trained the citizens in such fashion that they looked upon insolence as democracy, lawlessness as liberty, impudence of speech as equality, and licence to do what they pleased as happiness,26 but rather a polity which detested and punished such men and by so doing made all the citizens better and wiser. [21]

But what contributed most to their good government of the state was that of the two recognized kinds of equality—that which makes the same award to all alike and that which gives to each man his due27—they did not fail to grasp which was the more serviceable; but, rejecting as unjust that which holds that the good and the bad are worthy of the same honors, [22] and preferring rather that which rewards and punishes every man according to his deserts, they governed the city on this principle, not filling the offices by lot from all the citizens,28 but selecting the best and the ablest for each function of the state; for they believed that the rest of the people would reflect the character of those who were placed in charge of their affairs. [23]

Furthermore they considered that this way of appointing magistrates was also more democratic than the casting of lots, since under the plan of election by lot chance would decide the issue and the partizans of oligarchy would often get the offices; whereas under the plan of selecting the worthiest men, the people would have in their hands the power to choose those who were most attached to the existing constitution. [24]

The reason why this plan was agreeable to the majority and why they did not fight over the offices was because they had been schooled to be industrious and frugal, and not to neglect their own possessions and conspire against the possessions of others, and not to repair their own fortunes out of the public funds,29 but rather to help out the commonwealth, should the need arise, from their private resources,30 and not to know more accurately the incomes derived from the public offices than those which accrued to them from their own estates. [25] So severely did they abstain from what belonged to the state that it was harder in those days to find men who were willing to hold office31 than it is now to find men who are not begging for the privilege; for they did not regard a charge over public affairs as a chance for private gain but as a service to the state; neither did they from their first day in office seek to discover whether their predecessors had overlooked any source of profit, but much rather whether they had neglected any business of the state which pressed for settlement. [26]

In a word, our forefathers had resolved that the people as the supreme master of the state, should appoint the magistrates, call to account those who failed in their duty, and judge in cases of dispute; while those citizens who could afford the time and possessed sufficient means32 should devote themselves to the care of the commonwealth, as servants of the people, [27] entitled to receive commendation if they proved faithful to their trust, and contenting themselves with this honor, but condemned, on the other hand, if they governed badly, to meet with no mercy, but to suffer the severest punishment.33 And how, pray, could one find a democracy more stable or more just than this, which appointed the most capable men to have charge of its affairs but gave to the people authority over their rulers? [28]

Such was the constitution of their polity, and from this it is easy to see that also in their conduct day by day they never failed to act with propriety and justice; for when people have laid sound foundations for the conduct of the whole state it follows that in the details of their lives they must reflect the character of their government. [29]

First of all as to their conduct towards the gods—for it is right to begin with them34—they were not erratic or irregular in their worship of them or in the celebration of their rites; they did not, for example, drive three hundred oxen in procession to the altar,35 when it entered their heads to do so,while omitting, when the caprice seized them, the sacrifices instituted by their fathers;36 neither did they observe on a grand scale the festivals imported from abroad, whenever these were attended by a feast, while contracting with the lowest bidder for the sacrifices demanded by the holiest rites of their religion. [30] For their only care was not to destroy any institution of their fathers and to introduce nothing which was not approved by custom, believing that reverence consists, not in extravagant expenditures, but in disturbing none of the rites which their ancestors had handed on to them. And so also the gifts of the gods were visited upon them, not fitfully or capriciously, but seasonably both for the ploughing of the land and for the ingathering of its fruits. [31]

In the same manner also they governed their relations with each other. For not only were they of the same mind regarding public affairs, but in their private life as well they showed that degree of consideration for each other which is due from men who are rightminded and partners in a common fatherland. [32] The less well-to-do among the citizens were so far from envying those of greater means that they were as solicitous for the great estates as for their own, considering that the prosperity of the rich was a guarantee of their own well-being. Those who possessed wealth, on the other hand, did not look down upon those in humbler circumstances, but, regarding poverty among their fellow-citizens as their own disgrace, came to the rescue of the distresses of the poor, handing over lands to some at moderate rentals, sending out some to engage in commerce, and furnishing means to others to enter upon various occupations; [33] for they had no fear that they might suffer one of two things—that they might lose their whole investment or recover, after much trouble, only a mere fraction of their venture; on the contrary, they felt as secure about the money which was lent out as about that which was stored in their own coffers. For they saw that in cases of contract the judges were not in the habit of indulging their sense of equity37 but were strictly faithful to the laws; [34] and that they did not in trying others seek to make it safe for themselves to disobey the law,38 but were indeed more severe on defaulters than were the injured themselves, since they believed that those who break down confidence in contracts do a greater injury to the poor than to the rich; for if the rich were to stop lending, they would be deprived of only a slight revenue, whereas if the poor should lack the help of their supporters they would be reduced to desperate straits. [35] And so because of this confidence no one tried to conceal his wealth39 nor hesitated to lend it out, but, on the contrary, the wealthy were better pleased to see men borrowing money than paying it back; for they thus experienced the double satisfaction—which should appeal to all right-minded men—of helping their fellow-citizens and at the same time making their own property productive for themselves. In fine, the result of their dealing honorably with each other was that the ownership of property was secured to those to whom it rightfully belonged, while the enjoyment of property was shared by all the citizens who needed it. [36]

But perhaps some might object to what I have said on the ground that I praise the conditions of life as they were in those days, but neglect to explain the reasons why our forefathers managed so well both in their relations with each other and in their government of the state. Well, I have already touched upon that question,40 but in spite of that I shall now try to discuss it even more fully and more clearly. [37]

The Athenians of that day were not watched over by many preceptors41 during their boyhood only to be allowed to do what they liked when they attained to manhood;42 on the contrary, they were subjected to greater supervision in the very prime of their vigor than when they were boys. For our forefathers placed such strong emphasis upon sobriety that they put the supervision of decorum in charge of the Council of the Areopagus—a body which was composed exclusively of men who were of noble birth43 and had exemplified in their lives exceptional virtue and sobriety, and which, therefore, naturally excelled all the other councils of Hellas. [38] And we may judge what this institution was at that time even by what happens at the present day; for even now, when everything connected with the election and the examination of magistrates44 has fallen into neglect, we shall find that those who in all else that they do are insufferable, yet when they enter the Areopagus hesitate to indulge their true nature, being governed rather by its traditions than by their own evil instincts. So great was the fear which its members inspired in the depraved and such was the memorial of their own virtue and sobriety which they left behind them in the place of their assembly. [39]

Such, then, as I have described, was the nature of the Council which our forefathers charged with the supervision of moral discipline—a council which considered that those who believed that the best citizens are produced in a state where the laws are prescribed with the greatest exactness45 were blind to the truth; for in that case there would be no reason why all of the Hellenes should not be on the same level, at any rate in so far as it is easy to borrow written codes from each other. [40] But in fact, they thought, virtue is not advanced by written laws but by the habits of every-day life; for the majority of men tend to assimilate the manners and morals amid which they have been reared. Furthermore, they held that where there is a multitude of specific laws, it is a sign that the state is badly governed;46 for it is in the attempt to build up dikes against the spread of crime that men in such a state feel constrained to multiply the laws. [41] Those who are rightly governed, on the other hand, do not need to fill their porticoes47 with written statutes, but only to cherish justice in their souls; for it is not by legislation, but by morals, that states are well directed, since men who are badly reared will venture to transgress even laws which are drawn up with minute exactness, whereas those who are well brought up will be willing to respect even a simple code.48 [42] Therefore, being of this mind, our forefathers did not seek to discover first how they should penalize men who were lawless, but how they should produce citizens who would refrain from any punishable act; for they thought that this was their duty, while it was proper for private enemies alone to be zealous in the avenging of crime.49 [43]

Now our forefathers exercised care over all the citizens, but most of all over the young. They saw that at this age men are most unruly of temper and filled with a multitude of desires,50 and that their spirits are most in need of being curbed by devotion to noble pursuits and by congenial labor; for only such occupations can attract and hold men who have been educated liberally and trained in high-minded ways. [44]

However, since it was not possible to direct all into the same occupations, because of differences in their circumstances, they assigned to each one a vocation which was in keeping with his means; for they turned the needier towards farming and trade, knowing that poverty comes about through idleness, and evil-doing through poverty. [45] Accordingly, they believed that by removing the root of evil they would deliver the young from the sins which spring from it. On the other hand, they compelled those who possessed sufficient means to devote themselves to horsemanship,51 athletics,52 hunting,53 and philosophy,54 observing that by these pursuits some are enabled to achieve excellence, others to abstain from many vices. [46]

But when they had laid down these ordinances they were not negligent regarding what remained to be done, but, dividing the city into districts and the country into townships, they kept watch over the life of every citizen,55 haling the disorderly before the Council, which now rebuked, now warned, and again punished them according to their deserts. For they understood that there are two ways both of encouraging men to do wrong and of checking them from evil-doing; [47] for where no watch is kept over such matters and the judgements are not strict, there even honest natures grow corrupt; but where, again, it is not easy for wrongdoers either to escape detection or, when detected, to obtain indulgence, there the impulse to do evil disappears. Understanding this, they restrained the people from wrongdoing in both ways—both by punishment and by watchfulness; for so far from failing to detect those who had gone astray, they actually saw in advance who were likely to commit some offence. [48] Therefore the young men did not waste their time in the gambling-dens or with the flute-girls or in the kind of company in which they now spend their days,56 but remained steadfastly in the pursuits to which they had been assigned, admiring and emulating those who excelled in these. And so strictly did they avoid the market-place that even when they were at times compelled to pass through it, they were seen to do this with great modesty and sobriety of manner.57 [49] To contradict one's elders or to be impudent to them58 was then considered more reprehensible than it is nowadays to sin against one's parents; and to eat or drink in a tavern was something which no one, not even an honest slave, would venture to do;59 for they cultivated the manners of a gentleman, not those of a buffoon; and as for those who had a turn for jesting and playing the clown, whom we today speak of as clever wits, they were then looked upon as sorry fools.60 [50]

But let no one suppose that I am out of temper with the younger generation: I do not think that they are to blame for what goes on, and in fact I know that most of them are far from pleased with a state of affairs which permits them to waste their time in these excesses; so that I cannot in fairness censure them, when it is much more just to rest the blame upon those who directed the city a little before our time;61 [51] for it was they who led on our youth to this spirit of heedlessness and destroyed the power of the Areopagus. For while this Council maintained its authority, Athens was not rife with law-suits,62 or accusations,63 or tax-levies,64 or poverty,65 or war; on the contrary, her citizens lived in accord with each other and at peace with mankind, enjoying the good will of the Hellenes and inspiring fear in the barbarians; [52] for they had saved the Hellenes from destruction and had punished the barbarians so severely that the latter were well content if only they might suffer no further injury.66

And so, because of these things, our forefathers lived in such a degree of security that the houses and establishments in the country were finer and more costly than those within the city-walls,67 and many of the people never visited Athens even for the festivals, preferring to remain at home in the enjoyment of their own possessions rather than share in the pleasures dispensed by the state. [53] For even the public festivals, which might otherwise have drawn many to the city, were not conducted with extravagance or ostentation, but with sane moderation, since our people then measured their well-being, not by their processions or by their efforts to outdo each other in fitting out the choruses,68 or by any such empty shows, but by the sobriety of their government, by the manner of their daily life, and by the absence of want among all their citizens.

These are the standards by which one should judge whether people are genuinely prosperous and not living in vulgar fashion. [54] For as things now are, who among intelligent men can fail to be chagrined at what goes on, when we see many of our fellow-citizens drawing lots in front of the law-courts to determine whether they themselves shall have the necessaries of life,69 yet thinking it proper to support at their expense any of the Hellenes who will deign to row their ships;70 appearing in the public choruses in garments spangled with gold, yet living through the winter in clothing which I refuse to describe and showing other contradictions of the same kind in their conduct of affairs, which bring great shame upon the city? [55]

Nothing of the sort happened when the Areopagus was in power; for it delivered the poor from want by providing them with work and with assistance from the wealthy, the young from excesses by engaging them in occupations and by watching over them, the men in public life from the temptations of greed by imposing punishments and by letting no wrong-doer escape detection, and the older men from despondency by securing to them public honors and the devotion of the young. How then could there be a polity of greater worth than this, which so excellently watched over all the interests of the state? [56]

I have now discussed most of the features of the constitution as it once was, and those which I have passed over may readily be judged from those which I have described, since they are of the same character. However, certain people who have heard me discuss this constitution, while praising it most unreservedly and agreeing that our forefathers were fortunate in having governed the state in this fashion, [57] have nevertheless expressed the opinion that you could not be persuaded to adopt it, but that, because you have grown accustomed to the present order, you would prefer to continue a wretched existence under it rather than enjoy a better life under a stricter polity; and they warned me that I even ran the risk, although giving you the very best advice, of being thought an enemy of the people and of seeking to turn the state into an oligarchy.71 [58]

Well, if I were proposing a course which was unfamiliar and not generally known, and if I were urging you to appoint a committee or a commission72 to consider it, which was the means through which the democracy was done away with before, there might be some reason for this charge. I have, however, proposed nothing of the kind, but have been discussing a government whose character is hidden from no one, but evident to all— [59] one which, as you all know, is a heritage from our fathers, which has been the source of numberless blessings both to Athens and to the other states of Hellas, and which was, besides, ordained and established by men who would be acknowledged by all the world to have been the best friends of the people73 among the citizens of Athens; so that it would be of all things most absurd if I, in seeking to introduce such a polity, should be suspected of favoring revolution. [60]

Furthermore, it is easy to judge of my purpose from the fact that in most of the discourses74 which I have written, you will find that I condemn oligarchies and special privileges, while I commend equal rights and democratic governments—not all of them, but those which are well-ordered, praising them not indiscriminately, but on just and reasonable grounds. [61] For I know that under this constitution our ancestors were far superior to the rest of the world, and that the Lacedaemonians are the best governed of peoples because they are the most democratic;75 for in their selection of magistrates, in their daily life, and in their habits in general, we may see that the principles of equity and equality have greater influence than elsewhere in the world—principles to which oligarchies are hostile, while well-ordered democracies practise them continually. [62]

Moreover, if we will examine into the history of the most illustrious and the greatest of the other states, we shall find that democratic forms of government are more advantageous for them than oligarchies. For if we compare our own government—which is criticized by everyone76—not with the old democracy which I have described, but with the rule which was instituted by the Thirty,77 there is no one who would not consider our present democracy a divine creation. [63] And I desire, even though some will complain that I am straying from my subject, to expound and to explain how much superior this government is to that of the Thirty, in order that I may not be accused of scrutinizing too minutely the mistakes of our democracy, while overlooking the many fine things which it has achieved. I promise, however, that the story will not be long or without profit to my hearers. [64]

When we lost our fleet in the Hellespont78 and our city was plunged into the disasters of that time, who of our older men does not know that the “people's party,”79 as they were called, were ready to go to any length of hardship to avoid doing what the enemy commanded, deeming it monstrous that anyone should see the city which had ruled over the Hellenes in subjection to another state, whereas the partisans of oligarchy were ready both to tear down the walls80 and to submit to slavery? [65] Or that at the time when the people were in control of affairs, we placed our garrisons in the citadels of other states, whereas when the Thirty took over the government, the enemy occupied the Acropolis of Athens?81 Or, again, that during the rule of the Thirty the Lacedaemonians were our masters, but that when the exiles returned and dared to fight for freedom, and Conon won his naval victory,82 ambassadors came from the Lacedaemonians and offered Athens the command of the sea?83 [66] Yes, and who of my own generation does not remember that the democracy so adorned the city with temples and public buildings that even today visitors from other lands consider that she is worthy to rule not only over Hellas but over all the world;84 while the Thirty neglected the public buildings, plundered the temples, and sold for destruction for the sum of three talents the dockyards85 upon which the city had spent not less than a thousand talents? [67] And surely no one could find grounds to praise the mildness86 of the Thirty as against that of the people's rule! For when the Thirty took over the city, by vote of the Assembly,87 they put to death fifteen hundred Athenians88 without a trial and compelled more than five thousand to leave Athens and take refuge in the Piraeus,89 whereas when the exiles overcame them and returned to Athens under arms, these put to death only the chief perpetrators of their wrongs and dealt so generously and so justly by the rest90 that those who had driven the citizens from their homes fared no worse than those who had returned from exile. [68] But the best and strongest proof of the fairness of the people is that, although those who had remained in the city had borrowed a hundred talents from the Lacedaemonians91 with which to prosecute the siege of those who occupied the Piraeus, yet later when an assembly of the people was held to consider the payment of the debt, and when many insisted that it was only fair that the claims of the Lacedaemonians should be settled, not by those who had suffered the siege, but by those who had borrowed the money, nevertheless the people voted to pay the debt out of the public treasury.92 [69] And in truth it was because of this spirit that they brought us into such concord with each other and so far advanced the power of the city that the Lacedaemonians, who under the rule of the oligarchy laid their commands upon us almost every day, under the rule of the people came begging and supplicating us not to allow them to be driven from their homes.93 In a word the spirit of the two parties was this: the oligarchies were minded to rule over their fellow-citizens and be subject to their enemies; the people, to rule over the world at large and share the power of the state on equal terms with their fellow-citizens. [70]

I have recounted these things for two reasons: because I wanted to show, in the first place, that I am not in favor of oligarchy or special privilege, but of a just and orderly government of the people, and, in the second place, that even badly constituted democracies are responsible for fewer disasters than are oligarchies, while those which are well-ordered are superior to oligarchies in that they are more just, more impartial, and more agreeable to those who live under them. [71]

But perhaps some of you may wonder what my purpose is in trying to persuade you to exchange the polity which has achieved so many fine things for another, and why it is that after having just now eulogized democracy in such high terms, I veer about capriciously and criticize and condemn the present order. [72] Well, I reproach men in private life when they succeed in a few things and fail in many, and regard them as falling short of what they ought to be; and, more than that, when men are sprung from noble ancestors and yet are only a little better than those who are distinguished for depravity, and much worse than their fathers, I rebuke them and would counsel them to cease from being what they are. [73] And I am of the same mind also regarding public affairs. For I think that we ought not to be proud or even satisfied should we have shown ourselves more law-regarding than men accursed by the gods and afflicted with madness,94 but ought much rather to feel aggrieved and resentful should we prove to be worse than our ancestors; for it is their excellence and not the depravity of the Thirty which we should strive to emulate, especially since it behoves Athenians to be the best among mankind. [74]

This is not the first time that I have expressed this sentiment; I have done so many times and before many people. For I know that while other regions produce varieties of fruits and trees and animals, each peculiar to its locality and much better than those of other lands, our own country is able to bear and nurture men who are not only the most gifted in the world in the arts and in the powers of action and of speech, but are also above all others in valor and in virtue.95 [75]

This conclusion we may justly draw from the ancient struggles which they carried on against the Amazons and the Thracians and all of the Peloponnesians, and also from the wars which they waged against the Persians, in which, both when they fought alone and when they were aided by the Peloponnesians, whether on land or on the sea, they were victorious over the barbarians and were adjudged the meed of valor;96 for they could not have achieved these things, had they not far surpassed other men in the endowments of nature. [76]

But let no one think that this eulogy is appropriate to those who compose the present government—far from it; for such words are a tribute to those who show themselves worthy of the valor of their forefathers, but a reproach to those who disgrace their noble origin by their slackness and their cowardice. And this is just what we are doing; for you shall have the truth. For although we were blessed with such a nature at our birth, we have not cherished and preserved it, but have, on the contrary, fallen into folly and confusion and lust after evil ways. [77]

But if I go on attacking the things which admit of criticism and of censure in our present order, I fear that I shall wander too far afield from my subject. In any case I have spoken about these things before,97 and I shall do so again if I do not succeed in persuading you to cease from such mistakes of policy. For the present, I shall speak but a few words on the theme which I proposed to discuss in the beginning and then yield the platform to any who desire to address you upon this question. [78]

If we continue to govern Athens as we are now doing, then we are doomed to go on deliberating and waging war and living and faring and acting in almost every respect just as we do at the present moment and have done in the past; but if we effect a change of polity, it is evident by the same reasoning that such conditions of life as our ancestors enjoyed will come about for us also; for from the same political institutions there must always spring like or similar ways of life. [79]

But we must take the most significant of these ways and, comparing one with the other, decide which is preferable for us. And first let us consider how the Hellenes and the barbarians felt towards the earlier polity as compared with how they are now disposed towards us; for other peoples contribute not the least part of our well-being when they are properly disposed towards us. [80] Well then, the Hellenes felt such confidence in those who governed the city in those times that most of them of their own accord placed themselves under the power of Athens,98 while the barbarians were so far from meddling in the affairs of the Hellenes that they neither sailed their ships-of-war this side of the Phaselis nor marched their armies beyond the Halys River, refraining, on the contrary, from all aggression.99 [81] Today, however, circumstances are so completely reversed that the Hellenes regard Athens with hatred and the barbarians hold us in contempt. As to the hatred of us among the Hellenes, you have heard the report of our generals100 themselves, and what the King thinks of us, he has made plain in the letters which have been dispatched by him.101 [82]

Furthermore, under the discipline of the old days the citizens were so schooled in virtue as not to injure each other, but to fight and conquer all who attempted to invade their territory.102 We, however, do the very opposite; for we never let a day go by without bringing trouble on each other, and we have so far neglected the business of war that we do not even deign to attend reviews unless we are paid money for doing so. [83] But the greatest difference lies in the fact that in that day no one of the citizens lacked the necessaries of life nor shamed the city by begging from passers-by, whereas today those who are destitute of means outnumber those who possess them.103 And we may well be patient with people in such circumstances if they care nothing for the public welfare, but consider only how they may live from day to day. [84]

Now I have come before you and spoken this discourse, believing that if we will only imitate our ancestors we shall both deliver ourselves from our present ills and become the saviors, not of Athens alone, but of all the Hellenes;104 but it is for you to weigh all that I have said and cast your votes according to your judgement of what is best for Athens.

1 Strictly, what my purpose was. The aorist tense reflects the fact that the Athenian orators had to give written notice, in advance, of any subject they proposed to discuss before the General Assembly. See Isoc. 7.15.

2 The second Athenian Confederacy, organized in 378 B.C. See General Introduction p. xxxvii.

3 He refers here, probably, to allies by special treaty as distinguished from the allies next mentioned, who were members of the Confederacy and under the leadership of Athens. The latter paid their quotas into the Athenian treasury for the support of the Confederate navy.

4 In the second Confederacy the word σύνταξις （contribution） was used instead of φόρος （tribute） which became an odious term in the Confederacy of Delos. Cf. Isoc. 15.123.

5 See General Introduction p. xxxiii.

6 Cf. Isoc. 6.103 ff.

7 Athens, then a walled city, was temporarily abandoned by her people before the battle of Salamis, and destroyed by the troops of Xerxes. After the Persian Wars, she became the head of the Confederacy of Delos. See Isoc. 6.42 ff., and Isoc. 4.71-72.

8 At the end of the Peloponnesian War, Athens was at the mercy of Sparta and the Spartan allies. The latter proposed that Athens be utterly destroyed and her citizens sold into slavery, but the Spartans refused to allow the city “which had done a great service to Hellas” to be reduced to slavery. Xen. Hell. 2.2.19-20. Cf. Isoc. 8.78, 105; Isoc. 14.32; Isoc. 15.319.

9 See Isoc. 4.61; Isoc. 12.253 ff.

10 The Spartan supremacy began with the triumph over Athens in 404 B.C. and ended with the defeat at Leuctra, 371 B.C. See Vol I. p. 402, footnote. Cf. Isoc. 5.47. After Leuctra, Athens, in her turn, saved Sparta from destruction. See Isoc. 5.44 and note.

11 For the language cf. Isoc. 6.48.

12 By the bitter “Social War.” See General Introduction p. xxxviii.

13 In the course of the “Social War,” the Athenian general Chares had aided the satrap Artabazus in his revolt against Artaxerxes III. See Diodorus xvi. 22.

14 Not all the cities on the northern coast of the Aegean （Thrace）, but those on the Chalcidian peninsula, notably Amphipolis Pydna, Potidaea, and Olynthus, which had fallen under the power or under the influence of Philip of Macedon. See Dem. 4.4.

15 Athenian forces were now largely made up of paid foreigners, recruited from everywhere. See Isoc. 8.44-47; Dem. 4.20.

16 Probably the Messenians, who had been made independent of Sparta by the Thebans. See Introduction to Isoc. 6.. Demosthenes, in his speech For the Megalopolitans, criticizes the Athenians for their folly in pledging themselves to aid the Messenians against Spartan aggression. See especially Dem. 16.9.

17 Such powerful states as Chios, Byzantium, and Rhodes were lost to the Athenian Confederacy by the peace following the “Social War.” Of the seventy-five cities which belonged to the Confederacy the majority remained loyal. See Isoc. 7.2.

18 Diodorus （Dio. Sic. 16.22） records the celebration in Athens of the victory of Chares, supporting the rebellion of the Satrap Artabazus, over Artaxerxes III. See § 8, note. The occasion of the second celebration is not known.

19 The reference is to the victorious campaigns of Conon and his son Timotheus. See Isoc. 4.142, 154; Isoc. 5.61-64; Isoc. 15.107 ff.

20 In the disastrous “Social War.”

21 Cf. Thucydides vii. 77: ἄνδρες γὰρ πόλις, καὶ οὐ τείχη οὐδὲ νῆες ἀνδρῶν κεναί. Also Alcaeus fr. 28, 29 L.C.L., and Sir William Jones, What Constitutes a State.

22 Cf. Isoc. 12.138; Aristot. Pol. 1295a40; Dem. 24.210.

23 In the market-place, especially the barber shops.

24 For Solon and Cleisthenes as the authors of the restricted democracy of Athens cf. Isoc. 15.232. For Isocrates' political ideas see General Introduction p. xxxviii.

25 Cf. Isoc. 7.6 and note.

26 For similar caricatures of the later Athenian democracy see Thuc. 3.82.4 ff., and especially Plat. Rep. 560-561.

27 For these two kinds of equality cf. Isoc. 3.14 ff.; Isoc. 2.14; Plat. Rep. 558c, and Plat. Laws 757b; Aristot. Pol. 1301a 26 ff.

28 The method of electing the various magistrates changed from time to time, and is much less simple than Isocrates here represents it to be. For example, election of the chief magistrates, the archons, by lot （though from a previously selected group） is at least as old as Solon. On the other hand, in Isocrates' day officers who had supervision over military and financial affairs were elected by show of hands in the General Assembly. See Gilbert, Greek Constitutional Antiquities（English translation） pp. 216 ff. It seems clear, however, that after Cleisthenes all classes of citizens, the poor as well as the rich, became eligible to the offices （Plut. Arist. 22） and that election by lot became increasingly a device to further pure democracy.

29 He is thinking of pay, not only for the magistrates, but for attendance at the sessions of the jury courts, of the General Assembly, etc. See Isoc. 8.130. Aristotle （Aristot. Ath. Pol. 24） states that since the changes which were introduced by Aristides over twenty thousand Athenians earned their livelihood in public service of one sort or another. In the same work （62） he gives a brief sketch of the pay for such services.

30 For the public spirit of the old democracy see Isoc. 4.76; Isoc. 8.42 ff.; Isoc. 12.145 ff.

31 Cf. Isoc. 12.146; Plat. Rep. 347b, Plat. Rep. 520d; Ruskin, Crown of Wild Olive: “No one ever teaches well who wants to teach or governs well who wants to govern: it is an old saying （Plato's but I know not if his first） and as wise as old.”

32 Aristotle （Aristot. Pol. 1274a 15 ff.） states that Solon gave to the populace the sovereign power of selecting their magistrates and of calling them to account, though the selection had to be made from “men of reputation and means.”

33 The same idea is developed in Isoc. 12.147.

34 This is almost poetic formula. Cf. Alcman fr. 3; Theocr. 17.1; Aratus, Phaenomena 1.

35 The reference is, apparently, to special or occasional festivals such as those mentioned in Isoc. 7.10. He may have in mind here the festival held in honor of Chares' victory over Artaxerxes III, since that Athenian general was so generously paid by Artabazus that he could afford to contribute a drove of cattle for the celebration. See Dio. Sic. 16.22.

36 Cf. Isoc. 2.20.

37 That is, their own sense of right and wrong （almost their sympathy） as distinguished from the legal sense. See Aristotle's distinction between equality and justice in Aristot. Rh. 1374b 21. “The arbitrator,” he says, “looks to equity; the judge, to law.”

38 Cf. Isoc. 15.142, where he charges the Athenian juries with condoning depravity in others in order to make depravity safe for themselves.

39 As now, from the sycophants. See Isoc. 15.8, note. The present state of affairs is described in Isoc. 15.159 ff.

40 In 20-27.

41 See Plato （Plat. Prot. 325c ff.） for a picture of the education of Athenian boys.

42 In early times, the Council, according to Aristotle （Aristot. Ath. Pol. 3）, not only had the duty of guarding the laws, but was the main factor in the government of the city, and punished at its discretion “all who misbehaved themselves.” It even selected the magistrates for the several offices （Aristot. Ath. Pol. 8）. Under Solon the Council kept its most important powers: it superintended the laws and guarded the constitution, exercised a censorship over the citizens “in the most important matters,” and corrected offenders, having plenary authority to inflict punishment （Aristot. Ath. Pol. 8）. Under Cleisthenes its powers declined, but because of its wise and patriotic initiative in the Persian Wars it became again the supreme influence of the state （Aristot. Ath. Pol. 23）, and remained so until, under the leadership of Ephialtes, its important powers of supervision and censorship were taken from it and distributed to the Senate of the Five Hundred, the General Assembly, and the Heliastic juries （Aristot. Ath. Pol. 25）.

43 The Council was made up of ex-archons, who, after successfully passing an examination at the end of their terms of office to determine their fitness, became members of the Areopagus for life. The archons were at first “selected under qualifications of birth and of wealth.” See Aristot. Ath. Pol. 3. After the “reforms” of Ephialtes, the property qualification was dropped, the only requirement being that of genuine citizenship. See Plut. Arist.

44 With special reference to the archons, who became members of the Areopagus. He means that they were no longer taken necessarily from the best class of citizens. They did, however, have to undergo an examination （ εὔθυνα） on their conduct in office at the end of their term, and a further examination （ δοκιμασία） before the Council of the Areopagus to determine their worthiness to become members of that body. See Gilbert, Greek Constitutional Antiquities p. 282. What such an examination was like is described by Aristot. Ath. Pol. 55. Perhaps such examinations became largely perfunctory, and this may be the ground of Isocrates' complaint.

45 Cf. Isoc. 4.78; Isoc. 12.144.

46 For this idea that the multiplication of laws is a symptom of degeneracy see Tacit. Ann. 3.27: corruptissima republica plurimae leges.

47 Since Solon's time, Athenian laws were posted on pillars in the “King's Portico,” by the market-place. See Aristot. Ath. Pol. 7.

48 Cf. Plat. Rep. 425a ff.

49 The initiative in bringing criminals to justice was left largely to private citizens, any one of whom might bring charges before a court.

50 Cf. Plat. Laws 808d.

51 That is, in training for the races at the festivals.

52 There were three gymnasiums in Athens: the Lyceum, the Academy, and the Cynosarges.

53 In Aristoph. Kn. 1382 ff., the reformed Demos declares that it will henceforth make all these demagogues take to hunting and give up concocting “decrees” for the Assembly.

54 The cultivated life. See Isoc. 4.47 ff.

55 The supervision of the young through guardians appointed by districts survives in the later period. See Aristot. Ath. Pol. 42.

56 The same picture of degeneracy is found in Isoc. 15.287. Cf. Theopompus in Athen. 532d.

57 Cf. Aristoph. Cl. 991; Plat. Theaet. 173c-d.

58 Cf. Aristoph. Cl. 998.

59 The same expression is used in Isoc. 15.286.

60 Cf. Isoc. 15.284.

61 He is thinking of Ephialtes and those who, following in his footsteps, made Athens more “democratic.” Aristotle says that following the Archonship of Ephialtes “the administration of the state became more and more lax,” Aristot. Ath. Pol. 26.

62 It was not yet the “litigious Athens,” ridiculed in Aristophanes' Wasps.

63 By the sycophants especially. See Isoc. 15.8, note.

64 Special taxes levied for war purposes on the well-to-do citizens.

65 Athens was impoverished by her wars, Isoc. 8.19.

66 Cf. Isoc. 7.80 and Isoc. 4.117-118.

67 Demosthenes contrasts the magnificence of the temples and public buildings in Athens with the unpretentiousness of private houses in the “good old days” when the house of a Miltiades or of an Aristides was no finer than any other, Dem. 3.25 ff.

68 The training and fitting out of a chorus for a dramatic festival was one of the services （liturgies） rendered to the state by the more wealthy citizens. See Isoc. 8.128, note. Isocrates here complains of the expensive and ostentatious rivalry in such matters. See below: “garments spangled with gold.” The cost of such a service in some cases amounted to as much as five thousand drachmas.

69 Six thousand citizens were selected by lot each year to constitute the “Heliastic” Court. These were divided into ten sections of five hundred each, one thousand being held in reserve as substitutes. The number of jurymen required varied from day to day, and each morning the required number was picked by lot. Service on the jury was at first without pay, but now （and since Pericles） the pay was three obols a day—a paltry sum, but fought for by the populace, to many of whom this meant “bread and butter.” Cf. Isoc. 8.130; Isoc. 15.152.

70 At the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, Athenian triremes （ships of war） were commanded by citizens, but the crews （rowers） were made up of hirelings recruited from everywhere—the scum of the earth, according to Isoc. 8.79. At that time the soldiers were Athenian citizens. Later the reverse was true: the fleet was manned by citizens, while the land troops were mercenaries. See Isoc. 8.48.

71 The ready retort of demagogues to any critic of ochlocracy. See Isoc. 15.318 and note; Aristoph. Pl. 570.

72 The very word （συγγραφεῖς） which was used of the board of twenty men appointed to make recommendations of a change in the constitution before the establishment of the oligarchy of the Four Hundred, 411 B.C.

73 Those who did, not what the people liked, but what was for their good. So Solon is called δημοκώτατος, Isoc. 7.16.

74 See especially Isoc. 4.105 ff.; General Introduction p. xxxviii.

75 Exclusive of the Perioeci and the Helots. See Aristot. Pol. 1294b 18 ff.

76 See Isoc. 7.15.

77 The oligarchy of the thirty “Tyrants,” instituted with the help of the Spartans at the end of the Peloponnesian War, 404 B.C.

78 At the Battle of Arginusae, 406 B. C., the beginning of the end of the Peloponnesian War.

79 Many of them had been exiled by the Thirty or had fled for their lives. Thrasybulus placed himself at their head, defeated the Thirty in battle, and restored the democracy. See Xen. Hell. 2.4.10 ff.

80 One of the terms insisted on by Lysander was that the “long walls” connecting Athens with the Piraeus be demolished.

81 Lysander kept a Spartan garrison on the Acropolis during the rule of the Thirty. See Isoc. 8.92; Isoc. 15.319.

82 The Battle of Cnidus, 394 B.C., re-established the power of Athens.

83 See Isoc. 9.68.

84 In almost the same terms he praises Pericles for his adornment of Athens, Isoc. 15.234.

85 The bitterest denunciation of the misrule of the Thirty is in the oration Against Eratosthenes, by Lysias （Lys. 12）. At its close, he speaks of the sacrilege of the Thirty, particularly in selling off the treasures stored in the temples, and of their tearing down the dockyards of the Piraeus.

86 An example of irony （litotes）, a figure sparingly used by Isocrates. Cf. “outworn” in Isoc. 4.92.

87 Under duress. See Xen. Hell. 2.3.2.

88 The same number is given in Isoc. 20.11.

89 Only those enjoyed the franchise under the Thirty who were in the catalogue of the approved “three thousand.” See Isoc. 18.17.

90 Cf. Plat. Menex. 243e.

91 See Lys. 12.59.

92 This is attested to by Aristotle （Aristot. Ath. Pol. 40） in a passage which pays a high compliment to the admirable spirit in which the feud between the two parties was wiped out.

93 After the Battle of Leuctra. See Isoc. 8.105; Xen. Hell. 6.5.33 ff.

94 With particular reference to the Thirty.

95 Cf. Isoc. 4.33; Isoc. 8.94.

96 This paragraph sums up Athenian achievements in war which are stated at length in Isoc. 4.51-98. Cf. Isoc. 6.42; Isoc. 12.42 ff.

97 See Isoc. 8.49 ff.

98 Cf. Isoc. 8.76.

99 See Isoc. 4.118 and note; Isoc. 12.59.

100 He speaks as though addressing an actual assembly which had received reports from the generals and dispatches from the King of Persia. See Introduction, close.

101 Threatening dispatches sent to the Athenians because Chares had supported the cause of the rebel satrap Artabazus. See 8, note.

102 Cf. Isoc. 8.76.

103 An exaggeration, but Isocrates dwells upon the poverty of Athens in the Isoc. 8.also.

104 See General Introduction p. xxxii.

All those who come before you on this platform are accustomed to assert that the subjects upon which they are themselves about to advise you are most important and most worthy of serious consideration by the state.1 Nevertheless, if it was ever appropriate to preface the discussion of any other subject with such words, it seems to me fitting also to begin with them in speaking upon the subject now before us. [2] For we are assembled here to deliberate about War and Peace, which exercise the greatest power over the life of man, and regarding which those who are correctly advised must of necessity fare better than the rest of the world. Such, then, is the magnitude of the question which we have come together to decide. [3]

I observe, however, that you do not hear with equal favor the speakers who address you, but that, while you give your attention to some, in the case of others you do not even suffer their voice to be heard.2 And it is not surprising that you do this; for in the past you have formed the habit of driving all the orators from the platform3 except those who support your desires. [4] Wherefore one may justly take you to task because, while you know well that many great houses4 have been ruined5 by flatterers6 and while in your private affairs you abhor those who practice this art, in your public affairs you are not so minded towards them; on the contrary, while you denounce those who welcome and enjoy the society of such men, you yourselves make it manifest that you place greater confidence in them than in the rest of your fellow citizens. [5]

Indeed, you have caused the orators to practice and study, not what will be advantageous to the state, but how they may discourse in a manner pleasing to you. And it is to this kind of discourse that the majority of them have resorted also at the present time, since it has become plain to all that you will be better pleased with those who summon you to war than with those who counsel peace; [6] for the former put into our minds the expectation both of regaining our possessions in the several states and of recovering the power which we formerly enjoyed,7 while the latter hold forth no such hope, insisting rather that we must have peace and not crave great possessions contrary to justice,8 but be content with those we have9—and that for the great majority of mankind is of all things the most difficult. [7] For we are so dependent on our hopes and so insatiate in seizing what seems to be our advantage that not even those who possess the greatest fortunes are willing to rest satisfied with them but are always grasping after more and so risking the loss of what they have. Wherefore we may well be anxious lest on the present occasion also we may be subject to this madness. [8] For some of us appear to me to be over zealously bent on war, as though having heard, not from haphazard counsellors, but from the gods, that we are destined to succeed in all our campaigns and to prevail easily over our foes.

But people of intelligence, when dealing with matters about which they have knowledge, ought not to take counsel—for this is superfluous—but to act as men who are already resolved what to do, whereas, in dealing with matters about which they take counsel, they ought not to think that they have exact knowledge of what the result will be, but to be minded towards these contingencies as men who indeed exercise their best judgement, but are not sure what the future may hold in store.10 [9]

You, however, do neither the one thing nor the other, but are in the utmost confusion of mind. For you have come together as if it were your business to select the best course from all that are proposed; nevertheless, as though you had clear knowledge of what must be done, you are not willing to listen to any except those who speak for your pleasure. [10] And yet, if you really desired to find out what is advantageous to the state, you ought to give your attention more to those who oppose your views than to those who seek to gratify you, knowing well that of the orators who come before you here, those who say what you desire are able to delude you easily—since what is spoken to win favor clouds your vision of what is best—whereas those who advise you without regard to your pleasure can affect you in no such way, [11] since they could not convert you to their way of thinking until they have first made clear what is for your advantage. But, apart from these considerations, how can men wisely pass judgement on the past or take counsel for the future unless they examine and compare the arguments of opposing speakers, themselves giving an unbiased hearing11 to both sides? [12]

But I marvel that the older men no longer recall and that the younger have not been told by anyone that the orators who exhort us to cling fast to peace have never caused us to suffer any misfortune whatsoever, whereas those who lightly espouse war have already plunged us into many great disasters. However, we have no memory for these facts but are always ready, without in the least advancing our own welfare, to man triremes, to levy war-taxes, and to lend aid to the campaigns of others or wage war against them, as chance may determine, as if imperilling the interests, not of our own, but of a foreign state. [13] And the cause of this condition of affairs is that, although you ought to be as much concerned about the business of the commonwealth as about your own, you do not feel the same interest in the one as in the other; on the contrary, whenever you take counsel regarding your private business you seek out as counsellors men who are your superiors in intelligence, but whenever you deliberate on the business of the state you distrust and dislike men of that character and cultivate, instead, the most depraved12 of the orators who come before you on this platform; and you prefer as being better friends of the people those who are drunk13 to those who are sober, those who are witless to those who are wise, and those who dole out the public money14 to those who perform public services15 at their own expense. So that we may well marvel that anyone can expect a state which employs such counsellors to advance to better things. [14]

But I know that it is hazardous to oppose your views16 and that, although this is a free government, there exists no ‘freedom of speech’17 except that which is enjoyed in this Assembly by the most reckless orators, who care nothing for your welfare, and in the theater by the comic poets.18 And, what is most outrageous of all, you show greater favor to those who publish the failings of Athens to the rest of the Hellenes than you show even to those who benefit the city, while you are as ill-disposed to those who rebuke and admonish you19 as you are to men who work injury to the state. [15]

Nevertheless, in spite of these conditions, I shall not desist from what I had in mind to say. For I have come before you, not to seek your favor nor to solicit your votes, but to make known the views I hold, first, regarding the proposals which have been put before you by the Prytaneis,20 and, second, regarding the other interests of the state; for no good will come of the resolutions which have now been made regarding the peace21 unless we are well advised also with regard to what remains to be done. [16]

I maintain, then, that we should make peace, not only with the Chians, the Rhodians, the Byzantines and the Coans, but with all mankind, and that we should adopt, not the covenants of peace which certain parties22 have recently drawn up, but those which we have entered into23 with the king of Persia and with the Lacedaemonians, which ordain that the Hellenes be independent, that the alien garrisons be removed from the several states, and that each people retain its own territory. For we shall not find terms of peace more just than these nor more expedient for our city. [17]

But if I leave off speaking at this point, I know that I shall appear to put Athens at a disadvantage, if, that is to say, the Thebans are to retain possession of Thespiae and Plataea24 and the other cities25 which they have seized contrary to their oaths,26 while we are to retire, under no compulsion to do so, from the territory which we now hold. But if you will only listen to me and give me your attention to the end, I believe that you will all impute extreme folly and madness to those who think that injustice is advantageous and who would hold in subjection by force the cities of others, failing to reckon with the disasters which result from such a policy. [18]

On this point indeed I shall attempt to instruct you throughout my entire speech. But first let us discuss the question of peace and consider what we should desire for ourselves at the present juncture. For if we define this clearly and intelligently, we shall take better counsel in the light of this principle regarding our other interests27 as well. [19] Let me ask, then, whether we should be satisfied if we could dwell in our city secure from danger, if we could be provided more abundantly with the necessities of life, if we could be of one mind amongst ourselves, and if we could enjoy the high esteem of the Hellenes. I, for my part, hold that, with these blessings assured us, Athens would be completely happy. Now it is the war28 which has robbed us of all the good things which I have mentioned; for it has made us poorer;29 it has compelled many of us to endure perils; it has given us a bad name among the Hellenes; and it has in every way overwhelmed us with misfortune. [20] But if we make peace and demean ourselves as our common covenants30 command us to do, then we shall dwell in our city in great security, delivered from wars and perils and the turmoil in which we are now involved amongst ourselves, and we shall advance day by day in prosperity, relieved of paying war-taxes, of fitting out triremes, and of discharging the other burdens31 which are imposed by war, without fear cultivating our lands and sailing the seas and engaging in those other occupations which now, because of the war, have entirely come to an end.32 [21] Nay, we shall see our city enjoying twice the revenues33 which she now receives, and thronged with merchants and foreigners and resident aliens,34 by whom she is now deserted.

And, what is most important of all, we shall have all mankind as our allies—allies who will not have been forced, but rather persuaded, to join with us, who will not welcome our friendship because of our power when we are secure only to abandon us when we are in peril,35 but who will be disposed towards us as those should be who are in very truth allies and friends. [22]

Furthermore, what we are now unable to obtain through war and great outlay of money we shall readily secure for ourselves through peaceful embassies. For do not think that Cersobleptes will wage war with us over the Chersonese, or Philip36 over Amphipolis,37 when they see that we do not covet any of the possessions of other peoples. It is true that as things are now they have good reason to be afraid to make Athens a near neighbor to their dominions; [23] for they see that we are not content with what we have but are always reaching out for more. If, however, we change our ways and gain a better reputation, they will not only withdraw from our territory but will give us besides territory of their own. For it will be to their advantage to cherish and support the power of Athens and so be secure in the possession of their own kingdoms. [24]

And, mark you, it will be possible for us to cut off from the region of Thrace enough land38 so that we shall not only have abundance ourselves but shall also be able to furnish adequate means of subsistence to those of the Hellenes who are in need and, because of their poverty, are now wandering from place to place.39 For where Athenodorus40 and Callistratus,41 the one a private, the other an exile, have been able to found cities, surely we could gain possession of many such places if we so desired. And those who claim the right to stand at the head of the Hellenes ought to become leaders of such enterprises much rather than of war and of hireling armies,42 which at the present time are the objects of our ambition. [25]

Now as to the promises held out by the ambassadors,43 what I have said is enough, although one might perhaps add many things to what I have said. But I think we should not go forth from this assembly, having merely adopted resolutions in favor of the peace, without also taking counsel how we shall keep it, and not do what we are in the habit of doing—namely, getting ourselves involved again in the same disorders after a short interval of time44—and how we shall devise, not merely a postponement, but some means of permanent deliverance from our present ills. [26] But no such thing can come to pass until you are persuaded that tranquillity is more advantageous and more profitable than meddlesomeness,45 justice than injustice, and attention to one's own affairs than covetousness of the possessions of others.

This is a theme on which none of the orators has ever made bold to address you. I, however, shall devote most of my discourse to this very subject. For I observe that happiness is to be found in these ways of life and not in those which we now follow. [27] But anyone who attempts to discourse on a subject out of the common and who desires to bring about a change in your opinions must needs touch upon many matters and speak somewhat at length, now reminding, now rebuking, now commending, and again counselling you. For hardly with all these aids can you be led to a better way of thinking. [28]

For the matter stands thus. It seems to me that, while all men crave their advantage and desire to be better off than the rest, they do not all know the kind of conduct which leads to this end but differ from each other in judgement, some possessing a judgement which is sound and capable of hitting the right course of action,46 others one which completely misses their true advantage.47 [29] And this is the very thing which has happened to our city; for we think that, if we sail the sea with many triremes and compel the various states to pay contributions48 and send representatives49 to Athens, we have accomplished something to the purpose. But in fact, we have been completely misled as to the truth; for of the hopes which we cherished not one has been fulfilled; on the contrary, we have reaped from them hatreds and wars and great expense. And this was to be expected; [30] for in former times as the result of such meddlesomeness we were placed in the utmost peril,50 while as the result of keeping our city in the path of justice and of giving aid to the oppressed and of not coveting the possessions of others we were given the hegemony by the willing consent of the Hellenes51—considerations which now and for a long time past, without reason and with utter recklessness, we have treated with contempt. [31] For some have gone to such an extreme of folly as to hold the view that, while injustice is reprehensible, it is, nevertheless, profitable and advantageous in our lives day by day, and that, while justice is estimable, it is for all that disadvantageous and more capable of benefiting others than of helping those who practise it.52 [32] They fail to see that nothing in the world can contribute so powerfully to material gain, to good repute, to right action, in a word, to happiness, as virtue and the qualities of virtue.53 For it is by the good qualities which we have in our souls that we acquire also the other advantages of which we stand in need.54 So that those who have no care for their own state of mind are unwittingly disparaging the means of attaining at the same time to greater wisdom and to greater well-being. [33]

But I marvel if anyone thinks that those who practise piety and justice remain constant and steadfast in these virtues because they expect to be worse off than the wicked and not because they consider that both among gods and among men55 they will have the advantage over others. I, for my part, am persuaded that they and they alone gain advantage in the true sense, while the others gain advantage only in the baser sense of that term. [34] For I observe that those who prefer the way of injustice, thinking it the greatest good fortune to seize something that belongs to others, are in like case with animals which are lured by a bait, at the first deriving pleasure from what they seize, but the moment after finding themselves in desperate straits, while those who live a life of piety and justice pass their days in security for the present and have sweeter hopes for all eternity.56 [35]

But if this is not wont to happen in all cases, nevertheless it does, for the most part, come out in this way. And it behoves intelligent men, since they cannot see clearly what will always be to their advantage, to show to the world that they prefer that which is generally beneficial. On the other hand, they are of all men most afflicted with unreason who concede that justice is a way of life more noble and more pleasing to the gods than injustice but at the same time believe that those who follow it will live in worse case than those who have chosen the way of evil. [36]

I could wish that, even as to praise virtue is a facile theme, so it were easy to persuade bearers to practice it. But as things are I am afraid that I may be expressing such sentiments to no purpose. For we have been depraved for a long time by men whose only ability is to cheat and delude—men who have held the people in such contempt that whenever they wish to bring about a state of war with any city, these very men who are paid57 for what they say have the audacity to tell us that we should follow the example of our ancestors and not allow ourselves to be made a laughing-stock nor permit those Hellenes to sail the sea who are unwilling to pay us their contributions. [37] Now I should be glad if they would inform me what ancestors they would have us imitate. Do they mean those who lived at the time of the Persian Wars58 or those who governed the city before the Decelean War59? If they mean the latter then they are simply advising us to run the risk once again of being enslaved60; [38] but if they mean those who at Marathon conquered the barbarians, then they are of all men the most brazen, if, that is to say, they praise those who governed Athens at that time and in the same breath would persuade us to act in a manner contrary to theirs and to commit blunders so gross that I am at a loss what I should do—whether I should speak the truth as on all other occasions or be silent out of fear of making myself odious to you. For while it seems to me the better course to discuss your blunders, I observe that you are more resentful towards those who take you to task than towards those who are the authors of your misfortunes. [39] Nevertheless I should be ashamed if I showed that I am more concerned about my own reputation than about the public safety. It is, therefore, my duty and the duty of all who care about the welfare of the state to choose, not those discourses which are agreeable to you, but those which are profitable for you to hear. And you, for your part, ought to realize, in the first place, that while many treatments of all kinds have been discovered by physicians for the ills of our bodies, there exists no remedy for souls which are ignorant of the truth and filled with base desires other than the kind of discourse61 which boldly rebukes the sins which they commit, [40] and, in the second place, that it is absurd to submit to the cauteries and cuttings of physicians in order that we may be relieved of greater pains and yet refuse to hear discourses before knowing clearly whether or not they have the power to benefit their hearers. [41]

I have said these things at the outset because in the rest of my discourse I am going to speak without reserve and with complete frankness. For suppose that a stranger from another part of the world were to come to Athens,62 having had no time to be tainted with our depravity, but brought suddenly face to face with what goes on here, would he not think that we are mad and bereft of our senses, seeing that we plume ourselves upon the deeds of our ancestors and think fit to eulogize our city by dwelling upon the achievements of their time and yet act in no respect like them but do the very opposite? [42] For while they waged war without ceasing in behalf of the Hellenes against the barbarians, we removed from their homes those who derive their livelihood from Asia and led them against the Hellenes;63 and while they liberated the cities of Hellas64 and lent them their aid and so were adjudged worthy of the hegemony, we seek to enslave these cities65 and pursue a policy the very opposite of theirs and then feel aggrieved that we are not held in like honor with them— [43] we who fall so far short of those who lived in those days both in our deeds and in our thoughts that, whereas they brought themselves to abandon their country66 for the sake of saving the other Hellenes and fought and conquered the barbarians both on the land and on the sea,67 we do not see fit to run any risk even for our own advantage; [44] on the contrary, although we seek to rule over all men, we are not willing to take the field ourselves,68 and although we undertake to wage war upon, one might almost say, the whole world,69 we do not train ourselves for war but employ instead vagabonds, deserters, and fugitives who have thronged together here in consequence of other misdemeanors,70 who, whenever others offer them higher pay, will follow their leadership against us.71 [45] But, for all that, we are so enamored of these mercenaries that while we would not willingly assume the responsibility for the acts of our own children if they offended against anyone, yet for the brigandage, the violence, and the lawlessness of these men,72 the blame for which is bound to be laid at our door, not only do we feel no regret, but we actually rejoice whenever we hear that they have perpetrated any such atrocity. [46] And we have reached such a degree of imbecility that, although we are ourselves in need of the necessities of daily existence, we have undertaken to support mercenary troops and we do violence to our own allies and extort money from them in order to provide pay for the common enemies of all mankind.73 [47] And so far are we inferior to our ancestors, both those who enjoyed the esteem of the Hellenes and those who incurred their hatred,74 that whereas they, when they resolved to wage war against any state, deemed it their duty, notwithstanding that the Acropolis was stored with silver and gold,75 to face danger in their own persons in support of their resolutions, we, on the other hand, not withstanding that we are in such extreme poverty76 and are so many in number, employ, as does the great King, mercenary armies! [48] In those days, when they manned their triremes, they put on board crews of foreigners and slaves but sent out citizens to fight under heavy arms. Now, however, we use mercenaries as heavy-armed troops but compel citizens to row the ships,77 with the result that when they land in hostile territory these men, who claim the right to rule over the Hellenes, disembark with their cushions78 under their arms, while men who are of the character which I have just described take the field with shield and spear! [49]

However, if one could see that the domestic policy of Athens was well managed he might be of good cheer as to our other affairs. But is it not about this very thing that he would feel most aggrieved? For we assert that we are sprung from our very soil79 and that our city was founded before all others,80 but although we ought to be an example to all the world of good and orderly government, we manage our state in a worse manner and with more disorder than those who are just founding their cities. [50] We glory and take great pride in being better born than the rest but we are readier to share this noble birth-right with any who desire it81 than are the Triballians or the Leucanians82 to share their ignoble origin. We pass a multitude of laws,83 but we care so little about them （for if I give you a single instance you will be able to judge of the others as well） that, although we have prescribed the penalty of death for anyone who is convicted of bribery, we elect men who are most flagrantly guilty of this crime as our generals84 and we pick out the man who has been able to deprave the greatest number of our citizens and place him in charge of the most important affairs. [51] We are concerned about our polity no less than about the safety of the whole state and we know that our democracy flourishes and endures in times of peace and security while in times of war it has twice already been overthrown,85 but we are hostile to those who desire peace as if suspecting them of favoring oligarchy,86 while we are friendly to those who advocate war as if assured of their devotion to democracy. [52] We are versed beyond all others in discourse and in the conduct of affairs, but we are so devoid of reason that we do not hold the same views about the same question on the same day; on the contrary, the things which we condemn before we enter the assembly are the very things which we vote for when we are in session, and again a little later when we depart to our homes we disapprove of the things which we resolved upon here.87 We pretend that we are the wisest of the Hellenes, but we employ the kind of advisers whom no one could fail to despise, and we place these very same men in control of all our public interests to whom no one would entrust a single one of his private affairs. [53] But, what is most reprehensible of all, we regard those whom all would acknowledge to be the most depraved of our citizens88 as the most trustworthy guardians of our polity; and we judge the character of our alien residents by the kind of patrons89 they select to represent them, but do not expect that we shall be judged by the character of those who represent us at the head of the state. [54] So far are we different from our ancestors that whereas they chose the same men to preside over the city and to be generals in the field,90 since they believed that one who could give the best counsel on this platform would best take counsel with himself when alone, we ourselves do the very opposite; [55] for the men whose counsels we follow in matters of the greatest importance—these we do not see fit to elect as our generals, as if distrusting their intelligence, but men whose counsel no one would seek either on his own business or on that of the state—these we send into the field with unlimited authority,91 as if expecting that they will be wiser abroad than at home and will find it easier to take counsel on questions pertaining to the Hellenes than on those which are proposed for consideration here. [56] I say these things, not with reference to all, but with reference to those only who are open to the charges which I have made. However, the remainder of the day would not suffice me if I should attempt to review all the errors which have crept into our conduct of affairs. [57]

But someone among those who are hard hit by my strictures might take offense and demand of me, “How is it, if indeed we are so badly advised, that we are safe and hold a power which is inferior to that of no other city?” I, for my part, would reply to this question that we have in our adversaries men who are no more prudent than ourselves. [58] For example, if the Thebans, after the battle which they won over the Lacedaemonians,92 had contented themselves with liberating the Peloponnesus and making the other Hellenes independent93 and had thenceforth pursued peace, while we continued to make such blunders, then neither could this man have asked such a question nor could we ourselves have failed to realize how much better moderation is than meddlesomeness. [59] But now matters have taken such a turn that the Thebans are saving us and we them, and they are procuring allies for us and we for them.94 So that if we were sensible we should supply each other with money for our general assemblies; for the oftener we meet to deliberate the more do we promote the success of our rivals. [60] But those among us who are able to exercise even a modicum of reason ought not to rest our hopes of safety upon the blunders of our enemies but upon our own management of affairs and upon our own judgement. For the good fortune which results to us from their stupidity might perhaps cease or change to the opposite, whereas that which comes about because of our own efforts will be more certain and more enduring. [61]

Now it is not difficult to reply to those who take us to task without reason. But if anyone among those who are more fair-minded were to confront me and object, while conceding that I speak the truth and am correct in condemning the things which are taking place, that we have a right to expect of those who seek to admonish us with friendly purpose that they should not only denounce what has been done95 [62] but should also counsel us what to abstain from and what to strive for in order to cease from this way of thinking and from making such blunders, his objection would place me at a loss, not for a true answer and one that would be profitable, but for one that would be acceptable to you. But since I have set out to speak openly I must not shrink from disclosing what I think on these matters also. [63]

Well then, the qualities which we must possess as a foundation if we are to be happy and prosperous, namely, piety and moderation and justice and virtue in all its phases, I mentioned a moment ago.96 But as to the means by which we may most speedily be taught to attain to such a character, what I am going to say will probably seem repellent to you when you have heard it as well as far removed from the opinions held by the rest of the world. [64] For I, for my part, consider that we shall manage our city to better advantage and be ourselves better men and go forward in all our undertakings if we stop setting our hearts on the empire of the sea. For it is this which plunged us into our present state of disorder, which overthrew that democratic government97 under which our ancestors lived and were the happiest of the Hellenes, and which is the cause, one might almost say, of all the ills which we both suffer ourselves and inflict upon the rest of the Hellenes. [65]

I know, however, that it is difficult for one who attempts to denounce that imperial power which all the world lusts after and has waged many wars to obtain to impress his hearers as saying anything which is not intolerable. Nevertheless, since you have endured the other things which I have said, which, although true, are offensive, [66] I beg you to be patient also with what I shall say upon this subject and not to impute to me the madness of having chosen to discourse to you on matters so contrary to the general opinion without having something true to say about them. Nay, I believe that I shall make it evident to all that we covet an empire which is neither just nor capable of being attained nor advantageous to ourselves. [67]

Now that it is not just I can show you by lessons which I have learned from yourselves. For when the Lacedaemonians held this power,98 what eloquence did we not expend in denouncing their rule, contending that it was just for the Hellenes to enjoy independence? [68] What cities of repute did we not call upon to join the alliance99 which was formed in this cause? How many embassies did we not dispatch to the great King100 to convince him that it was neither just nor expedient for one state to dominate the Hellenes? Indeed we did not cease waging war and facing perils both by land and sea until the Lacedaemonians were willing to enter into the treaty which guaranteed our independence.101 [69]

At that time, then, we recognized the principle that it is not just for the stronger to rule over the weaker,102 even as now we recognize it in the nature of the polity which has been established amongst ourselves. But that we could not, if we would, attain to this empire by conquest I think I shall quickly prove. For when, with the help of ten thousand talents,103 we were not able to retain it, how can we acquire it in our present state of poverty, especially since we are now addicted, not to the ways of life by which we gained it, but to those by which we lost it? [70] Furthermore, that it is not even for the advantage of the state to accept this empire, if it were offered to us, I think you will learn very quickly from what further I have to say. But first I want to say a word by way of leading up to this point, fearing that, on account of my many strictures, I may give the impression to some of you of having chosen to denounce our city. [71]

If I were attempting to discourse in this manner before any others, I should naturally lay myself open to this charge. But now I am addressing myself to you, not with the wish that I may prejudice you in the eyes of others, but with the desire that I may cause you to make an end of such a policy and that Athens and the rest of the Hellenes may form a lasting peace. [72]

But those who admonish and those who denounce cannot avoid using similar words, although their purposes are as opposite as they can be.104 You ought not, therefore, to have the same feeling towards all who use the same language but, while abhorring those who revile you to your harm as inimical to the state, you ought to commend those who admonish you for your good and to esteem them as the best of your fellow-citizens, [73] and him most of all, even among them, who is able to point out most vividly the evils of your practices and the disasters which result from them. For such a man can soonest bring you to abhor what you should abhor and to set your hearts on better things.

These, then, are the things which I have to say in defense of my harshness both in the words which I have spoken and those which I am about to speak. I will now resume at the place where I left off. [74] For I was on the point of saying that you could best learn that it is not to your advantage to obtain the empire of the sea if you should consider what was the condition of Athens before she acquired this power and what after she obtained it. For if you will examine one condition in contrast with the other you will see how many evils this power has brought upon the city. [75]

Now the polity as it was in the earlier time was as much better and stronger than that which obtained later as Aristides and Themistocles and Miltiades105 were better men than Hyperbolus106 and Cleophon107 and those who today harangue the people.108 And you will find that the people who then governed the state were not given over to slackness and poverty and empty hopes,109 [76] but were able to conquer in battle all who invaded their territory;110 that they were awarded the meed of valor111 in the wars which they fought for the sake of Hellas; and that they were so trusted that most of the states of their own free will placed themselves under their leadership.112 [77] But, notwithstanding these advantages, in place of a polity which was admired by all men this power has led us on to a state of license which no one in the world could commend; in place of our habit of conquering those who took the field against us it has instilled into our citizens such ways that they have not the courage even to go out in front of the walls to meet the enemy;113 [78] and in place of the good will which was accorded us by our allies and of the good repute in which we were held by the rest of the Hellenes it brought us into such a degree of odium that Athens barely escaped being enslaved and would have suffered this fate had we not found the Lacedaemonians, who were at war with us from the first, more friendly than those who were formerly our allies114— [79] not that we can have any just complaint against the latter for being obdurate towards us; for they were not aggressors but on the defensive, and came to have this feeling after suffering many grievous wrongs at our hands. For who could have brooked the insolence of our fathers? Gathering together from all Hellas men who were the worst of idlers and men who had a part in every form of depravity and manning their triremes with them,115 they made themselves odious to the Hellenes,116 driving into exile the best of the citizens in the other states117 and distributing their property among the most depraved of the Hellenes! [80]

But if I were to make bold to go through in detail what took place in those times I might probably help you to be better advised regarding the present situation, but I should prejudice my own reputation; for you are wont to hate not so much those who are responsible for your mistakes as those who undertake to denounce them. [81] I fear, therefore, since you are of such a mind, that if I attempt to benefit you I may myself reap a poor reward. Nevertheless, I am not going to refrain entirely from saying the things which I had in mind but shall pass over the most severe and, mayhap, the most painful to you and recall to your minds only the facts by which you will recognize the folly of the men who at that time governed the city. [82]

For so exactly did they gauge118 the actions by which human beings incur the worst odium that they passed a decree to divide the surplus of the funds derived from the tributes of the allies into talents and to bring it on the stage,119 when the theatre was full, at the festival of Dionysus120; and not only was this done but at the same time they led in upon the stage the sons of those who had lost their lives in the war,121 seeking thus to display to our allies,122 on the one hand, the value of their own property123 which was brought in by hirelings,124 and to the rest of the Hellenes, on the other, the multitude of the fatherless and the misfortunes which result from this policy of aggression. [83] And in doing this they themselves counted the city happy, while many of the simple-minded deemed it blessed, taking no thought whatsoever for future consequences but admiring and envying the wealth which flowed into the city unjustly and which was soon to destroy also that which justly belonged to it. [84] For they reached such a degree of neglect of their own possessions and of covetousness of the possessions of other states that when the Lacedaemonians had invaded our territory and the fortifications at Decelea125 had already been built, they manned triremes to send to Sicily126 and were not ashamed to permit their own country to be cut off and plundered127 by the enemy while dispatching an expedition against a people who had never in any respect offended against us. [85] Nay, they arrived at such a pitch of folly that at a time when they were not masters of their own suburbs128 they expected to extend their power over Italy and Sicily and Carthage.129 And so far did they outdo all mankind in recklessness that whereas misfortunes chasten others and render them more prudent our fathers learned no lessons even from this discipline. [86] And yet they were involved in more and greater disasters in the time of the empire130 than have ever befallen Athens in all the rest of her history. Two hundred ships which set sail for Egypt perished with their crews,131 and a hundred and fifty off the island of Cyprus;132 in the Decelean War133 they lost ten thousand heavy armed troops of their own and of their allies, and in Sicily forty thousand men and two hundred and forty ships,134 and, finally, in the Hellespont two hundred ships.135 [87] But of the ships which were lost in fleets of ten or five or more and of the men who were slain in armies of a thousand or two thousand who could tell the tale? In a word, it was at that time a matter of regular routine to hold public funerals136 every year, which many both of our neighbors and of the other Hellenes used to attend, not to grieve with us for the dead, but to rejoice together at our misfortunes. [88] And at last, before they knew it, they had filled the public burial-grounds137 with the bodies of their fellow citizens and the registers of the phratries and of the state138 with the names of those who had no claim upon the city. And you may judge of the multitude of the slain from this fact: The families of the most illustrious Athenians and our greatest houses, which survived the civil conflicts under the tyrants139 and the Persian Wars as well, have been, you will find, entirely wiped out140 under this empire upon which we set our hearts. [89] So that if one desired to go into the question of what befell the rest of our citizens, judging by this instance, it would be seen that we have been changed, one might almost say, into a new people.

And yet we must not count that state happy which without discrimination recruits from all parts of the world a large number of citizens but rather that state which more than all others preserves the stock of those who in the beginning founded it. And we ought not to emulate those who hold despotic power nor those who have gained a dominion which is greater than is just but rather those who, while worthy of the highest honors, are yet content with the honors which are tendered them by a free people. [90] For no man nor any state could obtain a position more excellent than this or more secure or of greater worth. And it was because they acquired just this position that our ancestors in the time of the Persian Wars did not live in the manner of freebooters, now having more than enough for their needs, again reduced to a state of famine and siege141 and extreme misfortune142; on the contrary, while they lived neither in want nor in surfeit of the means of subsistence day by day, they prided themselves on the justice of their polity and on their own virtues, and passed their lives more pleasantly than the rest of the world. [91]

But, heedless of these lessons, those who came after them desired, not to rule but to dominate143—words which are thought to have the same meaning, although between them there is the utmost difference. For it is the duty of those who rule to make their welfare,144 whereas it is a habit of those who dominate to provide pleasures for themselves through the labors and hardships of others. But it is in the nature of things that those who attempt a despot's course must encounter the disasters which befall despotic power145 and be afflicted by the very things which they inflict upon others. And it is just this which has happened in the case of Athens; [92] for in place of holding the citadels of other states, her people saw the day when the enemy was in possession of the Acropolis146; in place of dragging children from their mothers and fathers and taking them as hostages,147 many of her citizens, living in a state of siege, were compelled to educate and support their children with less than was their due; and in place of farming the lands of other states,148 for many years149 they were denied the opportunity of even setting eyes upon their own fields. [93] If, therefore, anyone were to ask us whether we should choose to see Athens in such distress as the price of having ruled so long a time,150 who could answer yes, except some utterly abandoned wretch who cared not for sacred matters nor for parents nor for children nor for any other thing save for the term of his own existence? We, however, ought not to emulate the judgement of such men but rather that of those who exercise great forethought and are no less jealous for the reputation of the state than for their own—men who prefer a moderate competence with justice to great wealth unjustly gained. [94] For our ancestors,151 proving themselves to be men of this character, handed on the city to their descendants in a most prosperous condition and left behind them an imperishable memorial of their virtue. And from this we may easily learn a double lesson: that our soil is able to rear better men than the rest of the world152 and that what we call empire, though in reality it is misfortune,153 is of a nature to deprave all who have to do with it. [95]

We have a most convincing proof of this. For imperialism worked the ruin not only of Athens but of the city of the Lacedaemonians also, so that those who are in the habit of praising the virtues of Sparta154 cannot argue that we managed our affairs badly because of our democratic government whereas if the Lacedaemonians had taken over the empire the results would have been happy both for the rest of the Hellenes and for themselves. For this power revealed its nature much more quickly in their case.155 Indeed it brought it to pass that a polity which over a period of seven hundred years156 had never, so far as we know, been disturbed by perils or calamities was shaken and all but destroyed in a short space of time. [96] For in place of the ways of life established among them it filled the citizens with injustice, indolence, lawlessness and avarice and the commonwealth with contempt for its allies, covetousness of the possessions of other states, and indifference to its oaths and covenants. In fact they went so far beyond our ancestors in their crimes against the Hellenes that in addition to the evils which already afflicted the several states they stirred up in them slaughter and strife,157 in consequence of which their citizens will cherish for each other a hatred unquenchable. [97] And they became so addicted to war and the perils of war that, whereas in times past they had been more cautious in this regard158 than the rest of the world, they did not refrain from attacking even their own allies and their own benefactors; on the contrary, although the great King had furnished them with more than five thousand talents159 for the war against us, and although the Chians160 had supported them more zealously than any of their other allies by means of their fleet [98] and the Thebans161 had contributed a great number of troops to their land forces, the Lacedaemonians no sooner gained the supremacy than they straightway plotted against the Thebans,162 dispatched Clearchus with an army against the King,163 and in the case of the Chians drove into exile164 the foremost of their citizens and launched their battle-ships from their docks and made off with their whole navy.165 [99]

However, they were not satisfied with perpetrating these crimes, but about the same time were ravaging the Asiatic coast,166 committing outrages against the islands,167 subverting the free governments in Italy and Sicily, setting up despotisms in their stead,168 overrunning the Peloponnesus and filling it with seditions and wars. For, tell me, against which of the cities of Hellas did they fail to take the field? Which of them did they fail to wrong? [100] Did they not rob the Eleans of part of their territory,169 did they not lay waste the land of the Corinthians,170 did they not disperse the Mantineans from their homes,171 did they not reduce the Phliasians by siege,172 and did they not invade the country of the Argives,173 never ceasing from their depredations upon the rest of the world and so bringing upon themselves the disaster at Leuctra?

Some maintain that this disaster was the cause of the misfortunes which overtook Sparta, but they do not speak the truth. For it was not because of this that they incurred the hatred of their allies; it was because of their insolence in the time preceding that they were defeated in this battle and fell into peril of losing their own city. [101] We must not attribute the cause to any subsequent misfortunes but to their crimes in the beginning, as the result of which they were brought to such a disastrous end. So that anyone would be much more in accord with the truth if he should assert that they first became subject to the dominion of their present ills at the moment when they attempted to seize the dominion of the sea,174 since they were seeking to acquire a power which was in no wise like that which they had before possessed. [102] For because of their supremacy on land and of their stern discipline and of the self control which was cultivated under it, they readily obtained command of the sea, whereas because of the arrogance175 which was bred in them by that power they speedily lost the supremacy both on land and sea. For they no longer kept the laws which they had inherited from their ancestors nor remained faithful to the ways which they had followed in times past, [103] but conceived that they were licensed to do whatever they pleased and so were plunged into great confusion.

For they did not know that this licence which all the world aspires to attain is a difficult thing to manage, that it turns the heads of those who are enamored by it, and that it is in its nature like courtesans, who lure their victims to love but destroy those who indulge this passion. [104] And yet it has been shown clearly that it has this effect; for anyone can see that those who have been in the strongest position to do whatever they pleased have been involved in the greatest disasters, ourselves and the Lacedaemonians first of all. For when these states, which in time past had governed themselves with the utmost sobriety and enjoyed the highest esteem,176 attained to this license and seized the empire, they differed in no respect from each other, but, as is natural in the case of those who have been depraved by the same passions and the same malady, they attempted the same deeds and indulged in similar crimes and, finally, fell into like disasters. [105] For we, being hated by our allies and standing in peril of being enslaved, were saved by the Lacedaemonians;177 and just so they, when all the rest wanted to destroy them, came to us for refuge and were saved through us.178 And yet how can we praise a dominion which subjects us to so miserable an end? How can we fail to abhor and shun a power which has incited these two cities both to do and to suffer many abominable things? [106]

But, after all, we should not be surprised that in the past all men have failed to see that this power is the cause of so many ills to those who hold it, nor should we wonder that it has been the bone of contention between us and the Lacedaemonians. For you will find that the great majority of mankind go astray in choosing a course of action and, being possessed of more desires for things evil than for things good, take counsel more in the interest of their foes than of themselves. You can observe this in matters of the greatest importance. [107] For when has it ever happened otherwise? Did we not choose to pursue a policy in consequence of which the Lacedaemonians became masters of the Hellenes? Did not they, in their turn, manage their supremacy so badly that not many years later we again got the upper hand and became the arbiters of their safety? [108] Did not the meddlesomeness of the partizans of Athens cause the various states to become partisans of Sparta, and did not the insolence of the partisans of Sparta force these same states to become partisans of Athens? Did not the people themselves, because of the depravity of the popular orators, desire the oligarchy which was established under the Four Hundred? And have not we, all of us, because of the madness of the Thirty,179 become greater enthusiasts for democracy than those who occupied Phyle?180 [109] Indeed in matters of lesser importance and in our everyday life, one could show that the majority take pleasure in the foods and habits which injure both the body and the soul but consider laborious and irksome those from which both sides of our nature would benefit, and that those men are looked upon as austere who remain steadfast in habits which are beneficial.181 [110] Since, therefore, in the circumstances in which they live every day and about which they are more directly concerned, men show that they prefer the worse to the better course, how can we be surprised if they lack insight regarding the empire of the sea and make war upon each other to possess a power regarding which they have never reflected in their lives? [111]

Look at the one-man-rule which is established in various states and observe how many there are who aspire to it and are ready to undergo anything whatsoever to obtain it. And yet what that is dire and difficult is not its portion?182 Is it not true that when men obtain unlimited power they find themselves at once in the coil of so many troubles [112] that they are compelled to make war upon all their citizens, to hate those from whom they have suffered no wrong whatsoever, to suspect their own friends and daily companions, to entrust the safety of their persons to hirelings whom they have never even seen, to fear no less those who guard their lives than those who plot against them, and to be so suspicious towards all men as not to feel secure even in the company of their nearest kin?183 [113] And naturally so; for they know well that those who held despotic power before them have been put out of the way, some by their parents,184 some by their sons,185 some by their brothers,186 and some by their wives187 and, furthermore, that the lineage of these rulers has been blotted out from the sight of men.188 Nevertheless they willingly submit themselves to such a multitude of calamities.189 And when men who are of the foremost rank and of the greatest reputation are enamored of so many evils, is it any wonder that the rest of the world covets other evils of the same kind? [114]

But I do not fail to realize that while you accept readily what I say about the rule of despots, yet you hear with intolerance what I say about the empire of the sea. For you have fallen into a most shameful and careless way of thinking, since what you see clearly in the case of others, this you are blind to in your own case. And yet it is not the least important sign of whether men are possessed of intelligence if they are seen to recognize the same course of conduct in all cases that are comparable.190 [115] But you have never given this a thought; on the contrary, while you consider the power of a despot to be harsh and harmful not only to others but to those who hold it, you look upon the empire of the sea as the greatest good in the world, when in fact it differs neither in what it does nor in what it suffers from one-man-rule. And you think that the affairs of the Thebans are in a bad way because they oppress their neighbors,191 but, although you yourselves are treating your allies no better than the Thebans treat the Boeotians, you believe that your own actions leave nothing to be desired. [116]

If, then, you heed my advice you will stop taking counsel in your utterly haphazard fashion and give your attention to your own and the state's welfare; pondering and searching into these questions: What is it which caused these two states—Athens and Sparta I mean—to rise, each one of them, from obscure beginnings to be the first power in Hellas and then to fall, after they had attained a power second to none, into peril of being enslaved? [117] What are the reasons that the Thessalians, who inherited very great wealth and possess a very rich and abundant territory,192 have been reduced to poverty, while the Megarians, who had small and insignificant resources193 to begin with and who possess neither land nor harbors194 nor mines but are compelled to farm mere rocks, own estates which are the greatest195 among the Hellenes? [118] Why is it that the Thessalians, with a cavalry of more than three thousand horse and light-armed troops beyond number,196 have their fortresses occupied from time to time by certain other states197 while the Megarians, with only a small force, govern their city as they see fit? And, again, why is it that the Thessalians are always at war with each other while the Megarians, who dwell between the Peloponnesians on the one hand and the Thebans and the Athenians on the other, are continually in a state of peace?198 [119] If you will go over these and similar questions in your minds, you will discover that arrogance and insolence have been the cause of our misfortunes while sobriety and self control have been the source of our blessings.199

But, while you commend sobriety in individual men and believe that those who practice it enjoy the most secure existence and are the best among your fellow citizens, you do not think it fit to make the state practice it. [120] And yet it behoves states much more than individuals to cultivate the virtues and to shun vices;200 for a man who is godless and depraved may die before paying the penalty for his sins, but states, since they are deathless, soon or late must submit to punishment at the hands both of men and of the gods. [121]

These considerations you should bear in mind and not pay heed to those who gratify you for the moment, while caring nothing for the future, nor to those who profess to love the people, but are in fact the bane of the whole state; since in times past also when men of this character took over the supremacy of the rostrum,201 they led the city on to such a degree of folly that she suffered the fate which I described a moment ago. [122]

And indeed what is most astonishing of all in your conduct is that you prefer as leaders of the people, not those who are of the same mind as the men who made Athens great, but those who say and do the same kind of things as the men who destroyed her power; and you do this albeit knowing full well that it is not alone in making the city prosperous that good leaders are superior to the base, [123] but that our democracy itself under the leadership of the former remained unshaken and unchanged for many years,202 whereas under the guidance of these men it has already, within a short period of time,203 been twice overthrown, and that, furthermore, our people who were driven into exile under the despots and in the time of the Thirty were restored to the state, not through the efforts of the sycophants,204 but through those leaders who despised men of that character and were held in the highest respect for their integrity.205 [124]

Nevertheless, in spite of the many things which remind us how the city fared under both kinds of leadership, we are so pleased with the depravity of our orators that, although we see that many of our other citizens have been stripped of their patrimony because of the war and of the disorders which these sycophants have caused, while the latter, from being penniless, have become rich,206 yet we are not aggrieved nor do we resent their prosperity [125] but remain patient with a condition of affairs wherein our city is reproached with doing violence to the Hellenes and extorting money from them,207 while these men reap the harvest,208 and wherein our people, who are told by the sycophants that they ought to rule over the rest of the world, are worse off than those who are slaves to oligarchy,209 while these men, who had no advantage to start with, have risen because of our folly from a mean to an enviable position. [126] And yet Pericles,210 who was the leader of the people before men of this stamp came into favor, taking over the state when it was less prudent than it had been before it obtained the supremacy, although it was still tolerably well governed, was not bent upon his own enrichment,211 but left an estate which was smaller than that which he received from his father, while he brought up into the Acropolis eight thousand talents,212 apart from the sacred treasures. [127] But these demagogues have shown themselves so different from him that they have the effrontery to say that because of the care they give to the commonwealth they are not able to give attention to their private interests, although in fact these “neglected” interests have advanced to a degree of affluence which they would never have even dreamed of praying to the gods that they might attain, whereas our people, for whom they pretend to care, are in such straits that not one of our citizens is able to live with pleasure or at ease; on the contrary, Athens is rife with lamentations. [128] For some are driven to rehearse and bewail amongst themselves their poverty and privation while others deplore the multitude of duties enjoined upon them by the state—the liturgies and all the nuisances connected with the symmories and with exchanges of property;213 for these are so annoying that those who have means find life more burdensome than those who are continually in want. [129]

I marvel that you cannot see at once that no class is so inimical to the people as our depraved orators and demagogues. For, as if your other misfortunes were not enough, their chief desire is that you should be in want of your daily necessities, observing that those who are able to manage their affairs from their private incomes are on the side of the commonwealth and of our best counsellors, [130] whereas those who live off the law-courts and the assemblies214 and the doles derived from them are constrained by their need to be subservient to the sycophants and are deeply grateful for the impeachments and the indictments215 and the other sharp practices which are due to the sycophants. [131] Wherefore these men would be most happy to see all of our citizens reduced to the condition of helplessness in which they themselves are powerful.216 And the greatest proof of this is that they do not consider by what means they may provide a livelihood for those who are in need, but rather how they may reduce those who are thought to possess some wealth to the level of those who are in poverty. [132]

What, then, is the way of escape from our present ills? I have already discussed most of the points which bear upon this question, not in sequence, but as each fell into its opportune place. But perhaps it will help you to hold them in memory if I attempt to bring together and review those which more than others press upon our attention. [133]

The first way by which we can set right and improve the condition of our city is to select as our advisers on affairs of state the kind of men whose advice we should desire on our private affairs, and to stop thinking of the sycophants as friends of democracy and of the good men and true217 among us as friends of oligarchy,218 realizing that no man is by nature either the one or the other but that all men desire, in each case, to establish that form of government in which they are held in honor. [134] The second way is to be willing to treat our allies just as we would our friends and not to grant them independence in words, while in fact giving them over to our generals to do with as they please,219 and not to exercise our leadership as masters but as helpers,220 since we have learned the lesson that while we are stronger than any single state we are weaker than all Hellas. [135] And the third way is to consider that nothing is more important, save only to show reverence to the gods, than to have a good name among the Hellenes. For upon those who are so regarded they willingly confer both sovereign power and leadership. [136]

If, then, you will abide by the advice which I have given you, and if, besides, you will prove yourselves warlike by training and preparing for war but peaceful by doing nothing contrary to justice,221 you will render not only this city but all the Hellenes happy and prosperous. [137] For no other of the states will dare to oppress them; on the contrary, they will hold back and studiously avoid aggression when they see the power of Athens on the alert and ready to go to the aid of the oppressed. But no matter what course the rest may take, our own position will be honorable and advantageous; [138] for if the foremost states resolve to abstain from acts of oppression, we shall have the credit for this blessing; but if, on the other hand, they attempt to oppress others, then all who fear them and suffer evil at their hands will come to us for refuge, with many prayers and supplications, offering us not only the hegemony but their own support. [139] So that we shall not lack for allies to help us to check the oppressors but shall find many ready and willing to join their forces to our own. For what city or what men will not be eager to share our friendship and our alliance when they see that the Athenians are at once the most just and the most powerful of peoples and are at the same time both willing and able to save the other states, while needing no help for themselves? [140] What a turn for the better should you expect the affairs of our city to take when we enjoy such good will from the rest of the Hellenes? What wealth will flow into Athens when through her all Hellas is made secure? And who among men will fail to praise those who will have been the authors of blessings so many and so great? [141]

But I am not able because of my age222 to include in my speech all the things which I grasp in my thought, save that it is a noble enterprise for us, in the midst of the injustice and madness of the rest of the world, to be the first to adopt a sane policy and stand forth as the champions of the freedom of the Hellenes, to be acclaimed as their saviors, not their destroyers,223 and to become illustrious for our virtues and regain the good repute which our ancestors possessed. [142]

But I have yet to touch upon the chief consideration of all—that upon which centers everything that I have said and in the light of which we should appraise the actions of the state. For if we really wish to clear away the prejudice in which we are held at the present time, we must cease from the wars which are waged to no purpose and so gain for our city the hegemony for all time; we must abhor all despotic rule and imperial power, reflecting upon the disasters which have sprung from them; and we must emulate and imitate the position held by the kings of Lacedaemon: [143] they, it is true, have less freedom than their private citizens to do wrong,224 yet are much more enviable than those who hold despotic power by force; for those who take the lives of despots are given the highest rewards by their fellow citizens,225 whereas those Spartans who are not ready to lay down their lives for their kings in battle226 are held in greater dishonor than men who desert their post and throw away their shields.227 [144] This, then, is the kind of leadership which is worth striving for. And this very position of honor which the kings of Lacedaemon have from their citizens we Athenians have it in our power to win from the Hellenes, if only they become convinced that our supremacy will be the instrument, not of their enslavement, but of their salvation. [145]

My subject is not exhausted; there are many excellent things to be said upon it, but I am prompted by two considerations to stop speaking: the length of my discourse and the number of my years. But I urge and exhort those who are younger and more vigorous than I to speak and write the kind of discourses by which they will turn the greatest states—those which have been wont to oppress the rest—into the paths of virtue and justice, since when the affairs of Hellas are in a happy and prosperous condition, it follows that the state of learning and letters also is greatly improved.228

1 Cf. a similar statement in Dem. 24.4.

2 This expression is used in a similar connection in Isoc. 15.22.

3 Plutarch （Plut. Phoc. 9） states that this happened in the case of Phocion.

4 This term is used of estates in Isoc. 8.117. Here it is used of both families and their estates. Cf. Isoc. 8.88.

5 By the casualties and expenses of war.

6 Demagogic leaders of the war party, later termed sycophants. See Isoc. 8.121 ff.

7 As head of the Confederacy of Delos, which developed into the Athenian Empire. During the period of supremacy, which lasted from the close of the Persian Wars to the end of the Peloponnesian War, Athens frequently disciplined recalcitrant confederate states by expelling their citizens and settling Athenians on their lands. Such settlements were called cleruchies. When Athens formed the new naval confederacy in 378 B.C. it was expressly stipulated by her allies and agreed to by Athens that such abuse of power should not be repeated. But the jingoistic orators advocated nothing less than the restoration of the former empire with all its powers and practices.

8 The state which seizes and holds foreign possessions is a robber. Isocrates throughout this discourse proposes to make the moral code within the state the basis of her foreign policy.

9 A proverbial tag. Cf. Isoc. 1.29.

10 This some what wordy passsage in which the orator becomes the philosopher reflects a fundamental idea of his pedagogy: There can be no exact science or knowledge of what to do in all contingencies and relations of life; the best that we can do is to develop sound, not infalliable, judgement in dealing with them. See General Introd. p. xxvii, Isocrates, Vol. I., L.C.L., and Isoc. 15.184, note.

11 Cf. Isoc. 15.21; Dem. 18.6.

12 The private morals of men like Eubulus, Callistratus （see Theopompus in Athen. 4.166e）, and Philocrates （see Aeschin. 2.52） apparently left much to be desired.

13 Aristotle （Aristot. Ath. Pol. 34） states that when, after the battle of Arginusae, 406 B.C., the Spartans made overtures of peace the demagogue Cleophon came before the Assembly drunk and prevented the Athenians from accepting the terms. With this paragraph should be compared Isoc. 15.316 and note.

14 The reference is particularly to Eubulus, who caused to be set aside a portion of the public revenues （the “surplus” mentioned in Isoc. 8.82） as a “theoric” fund to be distributed to the people at the public festivals.

15 See Isoc. 8.128, note.

16 Cf. Socrates in Plat. Apol. 31e: “No man in the world can preserve his life if he honestly opposes himself to you or to any other people and attempts to prevent many unjust and lawless things from being done by the state.”

17 The pride of Athens. See Hdt. 5.78; Eur. Hipp. 422.

18 The poets of the old comedy exercised an incredible degree of license in ridiculing everything, divine or human, particularly the foibles of the state. These comedies were given at the festival of Dionysus, when many visitors from other states were in Athens. Aristophanes himself says （Aristoph. Ach. 500 ff.） that he was attacked by Cleon for “abusing Athens in the presence of strangers.”

19 Isocrates resents their attitude towards himself in the opening remarks of the Antidosis （Isoc. 15）.

20 The Senate of the Five Hundred was divided into ten committees of 50, each serving a tenth part of the year. Such a committee was called a prytany and its members prytaneis. The prytany formulated measures to be brought before the General Assembly.

21 See Introduction, p. 2, note c.

22 Eubulus, whose terms of peace were, apparently, not broad enough.

23 The Peace of Antalcidas. See Isoc. 4.115, note a.

24 See Isoc. 6.27, note.

25 Orchomenus （Dio. Sic. 15.79）, Oropus （Dio. Sic. 15.76）.

26 When they agreed to the Peace of Antalcidas.

27 Their foreign policy in general.

28 The Social War.

29 In Isoc. 7.9, he states that in the course of the war Athens had thrown away 1000 talents on mercenary soldiers alone. Demosthenes also bears witness to the poverty and embarrassment of Athens at this time. See Dem. 20.24; Dem. 23.209.

30 Of the Peace of Antalcidas.

31 See Isoc. 8.128 and note.

32 Cf. Aristophanes, Isoc. 8.292 ff.

33 According to Demosthenes （Dem. 10.37-38） Athens before the peace had an income of 130 talents; after the peace of 400 talents.

34 Foreigners, whether merchants or not, had to pay nonresident fees, ξενικὰ τέλη; resident aliens paid the μετοίκιον of 12 drachmas per man and 6 per woman.

35 The reference is to the allies who revolted from Athens both during the Confederacy of Delos and during the New Naval League.

36 These are singled out because both Cersobleptes, now virtually master of the Thracian Chersonnes, and Philip, with his growing empire in the north Aegean, were giving Athens trouble at this time.

37 See the opening of the Address to Philip, Isoc. 5.

38 This was done in 353 when the Athenians captured Sestos and settled colonists in this territory. See Dio. Sic. 16.34.3.

39 For these wandering refugees and the problem they presented see Isoc. 5.120 and note.

40 An Athenian citizen, he was a private in the sense that he had no official post. He was a free-lance captain of mercenaries who took service in Persia and later in the Thracian Chersonnese. What colony he founded is not known.

41 An Athenian orator who had much to do with the formation of the New Naval League, he was charged with treason and retired into exile to Thrace, where he had a part in the recolonization of Datus.

42 See Isoc. 8.44-46.

43 Probably from the former allies with whom Athens was now at war.

44 Cf. Isoc. 5.8.

45 Meddlesomeness, ἡ πολυπραγμοσύνη, is used here and elsewhere in the speech as the opposite of ἡσυχία （ or σωφροσύνη, moderation, self-control）. The latter contains the idea of quiet living and minding one's own business in private relations, and in foreign relations, of pursuing peace and avoiding aggression.

46 Cf. Isoc. 12.30.

47 Advantage in the good sense, which works no disadvantage to others. Cf. Isoc. 3.2, Isocrates, Vol. I., L.C.L.; Isoc. 15.275.

48 In the Confederacy of Delos the quotas paid to Athens to support the league were termed φόροι, which, when Athens made it compulsory, came to have the invidious meaning “tribute moneys.” In the New Naval League, the term συντάξεις, contributions, was substituted. Cf. Isoc. 15.123 and Isoc. 7.2.

49 To the Common Council of the allies, τὸ κοινὸν συνέδριον τῶν συμμάχιων, which met in Athens.

50 At the end of the Peloponnesian War, which was the end of the Confederacy of Delos and of the Empire of Athens.

51 In 478 B.C., when the Confederacy of Delos （see Isoc. 12.67 ff. and notes）was formed, Thucydides states that the Ionian Greeks came to Athens and asked her to take the hegemony. See i. 95, 96. Cf. Isoc. 4.72.

52 Cf. Isoc. 3.59; Plat. Rep. 392b.

53 Literally, virtue and its parts. The particular virtues mentioned by Isocrates are piety, justice, and moderation. See Isoc. 8.63.

54 Cf. Isoc. 15.290; Socrates in Plat. Apol. 30a-b: “I go about doing nothing else than trying to persuade you, young and old, not to care for your bodies nor for your possesssions before nor even as much as you care for your soul that it may be the best possible, saying to you that not from your possessons does virtue spring, but from virtue spring possessions and all other good things to makind in private and in public life.” For this as a sound principle of foreign policy see Isoc. 12.185 ff.

55 Cf. Isoc. 3.2.

56 See Isoc. 1.39 and note.

57 That is, bribed to speak. See Isoc. 8.50 and note.

58 See 75.

59 This term is frequently used to denote the last decade of the Peloponnesian War, from the occupation of the fort of Decelea near Athens by the Spartans in 413 B.C. Cf. 84. During this period the affairs of Athens went from bad to worse.

60 As at the end of the Peloponnesian War. Cf. 78.

61 Cf. Aesch. PB 378: ψυχῆς νοσούσης εἰσὶν ἰατποὶ λόγοι.

62 Cf. Isoc. 4.133.

63 The Athenian general Chares employed Asiatic mercenaries in the war against the Athenian allies.

64 Cf. Isoc. 4.83.

65 By conquest of the revolting allies.

66 See Isoc. 4.96.

67 Especially the battles of Marathon and Salamis.

68 The same complaint is repeatedly made by Demosthenes in the Philippics and the Olynthiacs.

69 Between 363-355 B.C. Athens made war on Alexander of Thessaly, King Cotys in the Thracian Chersonnese, Amphipolis, Euboea, Chios, Byzantium, and Potidaea—to mention only the chief campaigns.

70 See Introduction to the Panegyricus, Vol. I. p. 117.

71 The Athenian general Chares with his mercenary troops actually enlisted during the Social War in the service of the Persian Satrap Artabazus, who paid them well. See Isoc. 7.8, note; Dem. 4.24.

72 See General Introd. p. xxxix, Isocrates, Vol. I., L.C.L.

73 These troops, whose only thought was for pay or plunder, made no difference between foes and friends. See Isoc. Letter 9.9-10. Demosthenes also （Dem. 23.139） calls them κοινοὶ κατὰ κᾶσαν χώραν ἐχθροί.

74 The distinction is between those who were awarded the hegemony and those who later turned the hegemony into an empire maintained by force.

75 See 126.

76 See19 and Isoc. 7.54.

77 See Isoc. 7.54, note.

78 Pads for the rowers' benches.

79 See Isoc. 4.23-24.

80 See Isoc. 4.37.

81 The Athenians were less conservative in the matter of citizenship than other states. Cleisthenes gave citizenship to the resident aliens in Athens at the time of his reforms. In 427 citizenship was conferred upon all the people of Plataeae. From time to time numerous individuals were admitted to this privilege.

82 The Triballians were a savage tribe in the interior of Thrace（see Isoc. 12.227）; the Lucanians a rude people, noted for their ferocity, in Southern Italy.

83 See Isoc. 7.40-41.

84 This seems to be a covert attack upon Chares, who according to Theopompus （in Athenaeus xii. 532） paid money to the orators to advocate a war policy, especially to the orator Aristophon, who may be alluded to in 36 and in this paragraph. Chares in the field and Aristophon on the rostrum were the leaders of Athenian jingoism at this time.

85 By the oligarchical revolution of 411 B.C., when the government of the Four Hundred was established, and that of 404 B.C., when the reign of the Thirty began.

86 For example, Timotheus, who was no flatterer. See Isoc. 15.131 ff. Cf. Isoc. 15.318.

87 Aristophanes （Aristoph. Ach. 630） ridicules the Athenians for being quick in making up and in changing their minds. Cf.Aristoph. Eccl. 797.

88 Cf. Isoc. 15.316 ff. and notes; Aristoph. Frogs 730 ff.

89 Only through a citizen to represent him as his “patron” before the law could a foreign resident enjoy the protection of the state. The word for patron, προστάτης, was also used for the leader of the General Assembly. Hence the play on the word, which can be reproduced only by a free rendering in English.

90 For example, Pericles, who personally led a number of expeditions.

91 Obviously a jibe at Chares （the enemy of Isocrates' pupil and friend Timotheus. See Isoc. 15.116, note） who was sent out as στρατηγὸς αὐτοκράτωρ. See Dem. 23.173.

92 The Battle of Leuctra, 371 B.C., the end of the Spartan supremacy and the beginning of the Theban hegemony, which lasted but nine years.

93 See Isoc. 5.53 ff.

94 Not intentionally, but by our mistakes.

95 See also Dem. 1.16.

96 See 31-35.

97 Established by Solon and Cleisthenes, who are much praised in the Areopagiticus, Isoc. 7.

98 After 404 B.C.

99 In 395, at Corinth, an anti-Spartan alliance was entered.

100 That headed by Conon in 395 B.C. is known.

101 The Peace of Antalcidas.

102 That is, we recognized it as valid not only in our domestic relations but in our foreign policy.

103 A round number. Cf. Isoc. 15.234. In 126 he speaks of 8000. Thucydides （ii.13. 3） states that 9700 talents was the largest amount ever stored on the Acropolis.

104 Cf. Isoc. 4.130.

105 Demosthenes （Dem. 3.21 ff.） compares Aristides and Pericles with the present-day orators who say to the people:“What are your desires; what shall I propose; how can I please you?”

106 Hyperbolus, successor to Cleon, the tanner. Aristophanes calls him πονηρός （Aristoph. Peace 684）; Thucydides, μοχθηρός （Thuc. 8.73）.

107 For Cleophon see Isoc. 8.13, note.

108 Aristophon and Eubulus.

109 Cf.“hopes from the platform,” Dem. 4.45.

110 See Isoc. 4.86.

111 See Isoc. 4.99.

112 See Isoc. 4.72.

113 A rhetorical point. It was Pericles' policy in the Peloponnesian War to meet the enemy only on the sea and to keep on the defensive on land. He was bitterly criticized for keeping the Athenians cooped up within their walls while the Spartans invaded and ravaged their lands.

114 See Isoc. 7.6 and note.

115 Mercenaries made up the crews at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War. See Thuc. 1.121.

116 Cf. Thuc. 2.9.

117 The aristocratic families, in order to make room for the democratic faction. Isocrates evidently means that their property was confiscated and used to pay the mercenaries. See Thuc. 8.21. The rhetorical point is the same as in 46.

118 Ironical. He means that they mastered the science of making themselves unpopular.

119 That is, the theoric fund. See Isoc. 8.13, note. The point of the division into talents is obscure. Perhaps one talent was distributed at each festival.

120 The “Greater Dionysia,” celebrated in March.

121 The state brought them up at public expense until they were of age for citizenship, at which time they were led before the concourse of the people in the theatre and bidden God speed! See Aeschin. 3.154.

122 It appears that the “tribute” money of the allies during the Confederacy of Delos was brought to Athens by their representatives at the time of the Dionysiac festival. See Aristoph. Ach. 505, 643. Besides, the festival attracted many unofficial visitors from the other states.

123 That is, the value we attach to it—how we honor their contributions.

124 The text clearly means “brought in by paid men.” But μισθωτοί may be either paid servants or paid soldiers. The former meaning is generally preferred by the editors because only in a loose sense could it be said that the tribute was brought in by mercenaries; besides, the present tense is employed. Nevertheless the reader will think of the hirelings mentioned just before （in 79） with whom the Athenians manned their triremes and through whom they forced the payment of the tribute, and doubtless the author so intended.

125 This strong position on the slope of Mt. Parnes in Attica was seized and fortified by the Spartans as an outpost from which to raid Athenian territory in 413 B.C.

126 The original expedition to Sicily was dispatched in 415 B.C. Strong reinforcements were, however, sent at the time Decelea was fortified by the Spartans. See Thuc. 7.20.

127 See Isoc. 8.92.

128 Decelea was 14 miles from Athens, but the Athenians kept within their walls, and the Spartans ravaged thier territory almost at will. See Thuc. 7.19 ff.

129 Thucydides makes Alcibiades voice the expectation of conquering first Sicily, then Italy, and then Carthage. See Thuc. 6.90.

130 So also Thuc. 1.23.

131 These were sent to aid Inarus of Egypt in his revolt against Persia, 460 B.C. See Thuc. 1.104 ff.

132 Thucydides （Thuc. 1.112） speaks of a fleet of 200 ships of which 60 were sent to Egypt, the remainder under Cimon laying siege to Citium in Cyprus. This expedition, though expensive in the loss of men and money, was not disastrous like the former.

133 The text is very uncertain. The reading of the London papyrus is at least preferable since the loss of 10,000 hoplites （unless a hopeless exaggeration） cannot be accounted for if the reading of ΓΕ or that of the other MSS. is adopted. See Laistner in Classical Quarterly xv. p. 81. At the beginning of the Peloponnesian War （according to Thuc. 2.13）, the Athenian heavy-armed troops numbered but 29,000. Later （according to Dem. 25.51）, the whole body of Athenian citizens numbered but 20,000.

134 Diodorus （Dio. Sic. 13.21） gives the same number of men, but 200 ships. Thucydides gives the number of ships as 209 and the number of men as not less than 40,000, including heavy and light armed troops, crews, etc. See especially Thuc. 7.75.5.

135 At the battle of Aegospotami in 405 B.C., the denouement of this tragic history. Xenophon （Xen. Hell. 2.1.20） and Diodorus （Dio. Sic. 13.105） give 180 as the number of ships.

136 See Isoc. 4.74, note.

137 The Ceramicus.

138 Cf. Isoc. 8.50. All citizens were duly enrolled in the phratry registers, φρατορικὰ γραμματεῖα and in the state registers, kept in each township, ληξιαρχικὰ γραμματεῖα.

139 Pisitratus and his sons, Hippias and Hipparchus. See Aristot. Ath. Pol. 18.

140 Cf. Isoc. 8.4.

141 They were virtually in a state of seige after the occupation of Decelea by the Spartans, who cut off their food supplies.

142 The terrible plague described by Thucydides （i. 23; ii. 48 ff.）.

143 That is, to rule by consent as against ruling by force—delegated as against irresponsible power. See Isoc. 4.80 ff.

144 Cf. Isoc. Letter 7.4.

145 Described in 111-113.

146 A Spartan garrison occupied the Acropolis during the rule of the Thirty.

147 This the Athenians did at Samos in 440 B.C. See Thuc. 1.115.

148 The reference is to the cleruchies. See 6, note.

149 From 413 to 404 B.C.

150 From 478 to 405 B.C.

151 See Isoc. 8.90.

152 Cf. Isoc. 7.74.

153 Cf. Eur. Alc. 802: οὐβίος ἀληθῶς ὁ βίος, ἀλλὰ συμφορά.

154 Cf. Isoc. 12.200.

155 The Spartan supremacy lasted from 404 to 371; the Athenian from 478 to 405 B.C.

156 From the reign of Eurysthenes and Procles, about 1072, to the battle of Leuctra, 371 B.C. For the stability of the Spartan constitution see Isoc. 12.257.

157 See Isoc. 4.110 ff.

158 An example of this caution is the advice of King Archidamus at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War. See Thuc. 1.80.

159 So also Andocides, Isoc. 8.29.

160 Chios revolted from Athens in 412 B. C. and supported Sparta with her fleet until the end of the Peloponnesian War.

161 Thebes was one of Sparta's strongest allies against Athens. See Thuc. 4.93.

162 Instanced by the treacherous seizure of the Theban citadel （the Cadmea） by the Spartan Phoebidas. See Xen. Hell. 5.2.25 ff.

163 Cf. Isoc. 12.104. The “ten thousand” mercenaries led by the Spartan Clearchus to support Cyrus against King Artaxerxes were not officially dispatched, although sanctioned, by Sparta. For the fortunes of this army see Isoc. 4.145-149; Isoc. 5.90 ff.; and Xen. Anab.

164 An oligarchy was established there and 600 of the democratic faction were driven into exile. See Dio. Sic. 13.65.

165 This was done by Lysander in 404 B.C. See Dio. Sic. 13.70.

166 Greek settlements in Asia Minor. See Isoc. 4.144.

167 For example, Samos （Xen. Hell. 2.3.6）, by expelling the democratic faction and setting up “decarchis” there.

168 Sparta supported Dionysius the tyrant of Syracuse in extending his power over Greek cities in Sicily and Italy. See Diodorus xiv. 10 and cf. Isoc. 4.126, which should be read in this connection.

169 See Dio. Sic. 14.17.

170 See Xen. Hell. 4.5.19.

171 See Isoc. 4.126; Xen. Hell. 5.2.1.

172 See Xen. Hell. 5.3.21 ff. and Isoc. 4.126.

173 See Xen. Hell. 4.4.19.

174 For this word-play cf. Isoc. 5.61, note; also this discourse, Isoc. 8.105.

175 The best commentary upon the association here of self-control （moderation） with an inland power and of the opposite with a sea power is a very interesting passage of the Isoc. 12.115-116.

176 See Isoc. 4.80-81.

177 See 78.

178 See Isoc. 5.44, note; Isoc. 7.7, note.

179 For the excesses of the Thirty see Isoc. 7.66 ff.

180 Thrasybulus, the leader of the “people's party,” seized the fortress of Phyle on Mt. Parnes and held it against the Thirty until the democracy was restored. See Isoc. 7.64, note.

181 Cf. Isoc. 2.45.

182 Cf. Pictures of the fate of despots in Isoc. 2.5, Isoc. 10.32 ff., and Plat. Rep. 579.

183 Cf. Cicero, Laelius15: “haec enim est tyrannorum vita nimirum in qua nulla fides, nulla caritas, nulla stabilis bennnevolentiae potest esse fiducia; omnia semper suspecta atque sollicita.”

184 Alexander of Macedon by his mother.

185 Astyages by Cyrus.

186 Acetas by Perdiccas; Jason of Pherae by Polydorus.

187 Alexander of Pherae.

188 See Isoc. 5.108, note.

189 Cf. the saying of Periander （Hdt. 3.53）: τυραννὶς χρῆμα σφαλερόν: πολλοὶ δ᾽ αὐτῆς ἐρασταί εἰσι.

190 That is, if they apply the same standard of judgement to all similar cases.

191 The Thespians and the Plataeans, whom the Thebans expelled from their territory.

192 See Isoc. 15.155; Thuc. 1.2.

193 The Megarians were mere “nobodies” among the Greeks. Cf. Aristoph. Ach. 519, and the saying: τῶν Μεγαρέων οὐδεὶς λόγος. Isocrates could have ventured no more astounding paradox than in holding up the Megarians as an example to follow.

194 He means no lands or harbors to speak of, for the Megarians had both, though very little land.

195 Through commerce.

196 See Xen. Hell. 6.1.19.

197 By the Macedonians under Alexander II. and by the Thebans under Pelopidas.

198 An “unphilosophical” answer might be that no one coveted Megarian territory, whereas Thessalian resources were tempting. See a remark of Thuc. 1.2.

199 See General Introd. pp. xxxii, xxxiii, Isocrates, Vol. I., L.C.L.

200 Cf. Plat. Rep. 545b.

201 Obviously sarcastic: Their “supremacy” spells disaster to the state.

202 A century, from the reforms of Cleisthenes in 510 to the revolution of 411 B.C.

203 In 411 and 404 B.C.

204 False accusers, slanderers, professional blackmailers—a class of persons which sprang up like weeds in Athens after the age of Pericles. Their favorite device was to extort money by threatening or instituting law-suits. But the word was applied indiscriminately by Isocrates and others to demagogues and politicians of the opposite party. See Lafberg, Sycophancy in Athens. Cf. Aristoph. Pl. 850 ff. The term “flatterers” is used in 4.

205 Aristides restored the people after the rule of the Pisistratidae and Thrasybulus after the rule of the Thirty—both men of unblemished reputation.

206 A frequent charge. See Isoc. 12.140 ff.; Dem. 23.208-209. Aeschines （Aeschin. 3.173） makes it against Demosthenes himself: “he maintains himself, not from his private income, but from your perils.” The popular orators were in a strong position to make or break the fortunes or the reputations of men and of cities. Isocrates attributes the bad treatment of the general Timotheus by the Athenians to the latter's failure to court the favor of the orators, which other military leaders took pains to do. See Isoc. 15.136. Generals in the field found oportunities to enrich themselves and were prudent enough to “cultivate” the popular leaders at home. Chares, particularly, had the reputation of doing this. See Isoc. 8.50, note. On the question of bribery at this time see Butcher, Demosthenes pp. 11 ff.

207 See Aristoph. Wasps 655-724.

208 Cf. Aristoph. Wasps 1114 ff.

209 See Isoc. 4.105.

210 Isocrates' attitude towards Pericles is set forth at greater length in Isoc. 15.234.

211 Thucydides （ii. 65） calls him “incorruptible beyond suspicion.”

212 See Isoc. 8.69, note; Isoc. 15.234.

213 The burdens of state expense were theoretically carried by those best able to bear them. The twelve hundred richest citizens were divided in accordance with their wealth into twenty classes, called symmories. Special tax levies for war purposes were levied upon them in proportion to their means. Besides, men of the wealthiest class were called upon to perform the “liturgies” at their own expense. One of the most burdensome of these was the trierarchy—fitting out a battleship for service and maintaining it in fighting trim for one year. If a man called upon to undertake such a burden felt that another could better afford to stand the expense he had the right to demand that he do so or else exchange property with him. See Isoc. 15.145, note, and the introduction to that discourse.

214 Three obols a day were paid for the attendance of jury-men and of members of the General Assembly. See Isoc. 7.24, 54, and notes; Isoc. 15.152.

215 See Isoc. 15.314, note.

216 Cf. Isoc. 15.241.

217 This term is almost technical for the aristocratic party, but is here used in a broader sense. Cf. Isoc. 15.316.

218 Cf. Isoc. 15.318.

219 Aimed at Chares. Diodorus （xv. 95） says of him: τοὺς συμμάχους ἀδικῶν διετέλει. Cf. Aristot. Rh. 3.17: Ἰσοκράτης κατηγορεῖ Χάρητος ἐν τῷ συμμαχικῷ.

220 Cf. Isoc. 4.80.

221 Repeated from Isoc. 2.24.

222 He is now 81 years old.

223 Cf. Isoc. 4.80.

224 The Spartan kings were powerful in the field, but otherwise were subject to the Ephors, who could even have them put to death. See Gilbert, Greek Consitituional Antiquities pp. 46 ff. and 57 ff.

225 He has in mind the honors shown by the Athenians to the “tyrannicides,” Harmodius and Aristogeiton.

226 See Isoc. 5.80 and Isoc. Letter 2.6.

227 The ῥιψασπις was not only despised but suffered humiliations and penalties. In Athens, which was less rigorous than Sparta, he lost his political rights.

228 A somewhat academic close, but the state of affairs and the state of learning are not dissociated in his mind; “philosophy” is the salvation of the state.