DEMOSTHENES
I
THE SECOND ORATION AGAINST PHILIP[1]
(344 B.C.)
Born in 384 B.C., died in 322; entered public life when about twenty-five years old, "and from that time till his death his history is the history of Athens"; sixty of his speeches preserved, tho some probably are spurious; his masterpiece, indeed the masterpiece of oratory, is "The Oration on the Crown."
Athenians! when the hostile attempts of Philip, and those outrageous violations of the peace which he is perpetually committing, are at any time the subject of our debates, the speeches on your side I find humane and just, and that the sentiments of those who inveigh against Philip never fail of approbation; but as to the necessary measures, to speak out plainly, not one has been pursued, nor anything effected even to reward the attention to these harangues. Nay, to such circumstances is our state reduced, that the more fully and evidently a man proves that Philip is acting contrary to his treaty, and harboring designs against Greece, the greater is his difficulty in pointing out your duty.
The reason is this. They who aspire to an extravagant degree of power are to be opposed
- ↑ Delivered in Athens about 344 B.C. Translated by Thomas Leland. Abridged.
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