"For obferve, gentlemen, the low condition to "which you are reduced, and to what a height this “ manʼs infolence is rifen. He will not allow you the “ liberty of determining for peace or war. He threa ❝tens you; he speaks, as it is faid, with an arrogant "and haughty tone: he is not fatisfied with his former conquests, but is every day acquiring more; " and whilft you are temporizing and unactive, he * furrounds and invefts you on all fides.

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SET CO

"When, gentlemen, when will you act as you ❝ ought to do? What event do you wait for? What "neceffity muft compel you to it? Alas! is there not "neceflity fufficient at this very time? For, in my

opinion, none is more urgent to a free people, than “when they are furrounded with fhame and ignominy. Will you for ever do nothing but walk up "and down the city afking one another, what news? "What news! Is there any thing more new, than "to fee a man of Macedonia become mafter of the "Athenians, and give laws to all Greece? Is Philip "dead, fays one? No, replies another, he is only "fick. Whether he be fick or dead, what is that to "the purpose, fince, were he no more, you would "foon raise up another Philip by your bad conduct; "for his grandeur is much more owing to your in"dolence, than to his own valour.”

Extract from the fecond Olynthian.

ne de N' I "

It is generally ranked the third.

Demofthenes compares the prefent condition of the Athenians to the glory of their ancestors.

"Our ancestors, who were neither flattered by "their orators, nor loved by them, as you are by

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yours, governed Greece during fixty five years, with the unanimous confent of the whole nation, put above ten thousand talents into the public trea«fury, exercifed fuch a power over the King of Ma

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" cedon, as becomes the Greeks to exercife over a "Barbarian; raife great numbers of magnificent tro66 phies for the victories they had gained in perfon "both by fea and land; they only of the whole race "of men tranfmitted to their pofterity by their great exploits a glory fuperior to envy itself. Such were "thofe perfonages, at that time with regard to Greece. "Let us now examine their public and private life in "thofe days. Their magiftrates erected many noble "edifices for our ufe, and adorned our temples with “fuch a number of rich ornaments, that none will "be able to furpass them hereafter in magnificence. As to their private behaviour, they were fo tem་ perate, and adhered fo ftrictly to our ancient fimplicity of manners, that if any of you happens to "know the houses inhabited once by Ariftides, Miltiades, or any other of their illuftrious contemporaries, he does not fee them diftinguished by their *fplendor from the others in their neighbourhood. For "in the management of public affairs, they thought themfelves obliged to aggrandize the ftate, and not their families. By this means they arrived at the "meridian of felicity, and that defervedly, by faith"fully confulting the common good of Greece, an exemplary piety towards the Gods, and living with "their fellow-citizens in a modeft equality. Such

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was the condition of your fore-fathers, under fuch worthy leaders; but what is yours at this time un"der thofe foft-tongued orators who govern you? "Does it bear the leaft refemblance to it? I will not "infift upon the parallel, though the subject opens a "large field

"

"But fome will anfwer me, and fay, though things (6 don't go on well abroad, they are in a much better condition at home. But what proofs can be brought of this? Why, fome battlements have been whitened, fome high-ways repaired, and fome aqueducts "built; with fuch like trifles. Caft your eyes I be66 feech you, upon those men, to whom you owe these K 4

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rare

rare monuments of their administration. Some of them were raised from poverty to affluence, others "from obscurity to fplendor; fome again have built "private houses fo magnificent, that they feem to in"fult even the publick edifices; and the lower the "fortune of the ftate has funk, the higher has that of "fuch people rifen. To what then must we impute "this entire fubverfion of things in our days, and

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why is that wonderful order, which was formerly "feen in all things, now changed for confufion? "The reason is this: firft, because the people at that "time, having valour equal to military employments, "kept the magiftrates dependent on them, and had "the entire difpofal of all offices and favours; and "every citizen thought it a merit to receive honours, "employments, or good offices from the people. "But now 'tis quite otherwife; for the magiftrates "confer all favours, and exercife a defpotic power; "while you, unhappy people, enervated and defpoil"ed both of treafure and alliances, are merely but as "fo many lacqueys and in a manner only a more numerous mob; and think yourselves doubly happy, "if your magiftrates do but indulge you the two O"boli for the theatre, and the mean entertainment 66 they provide for you upon rejoicing days. And to "complete your bafenefs, you lavish the title of be"nefactors upon those who give you nothing but "what is your own; and who, after imprisoning you, 66 as it were, within your own walls, lay baits for and "foften you in this manner, with no other view but to prepare you for slavery."

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EXTRACT OF THE HARANGUE CONCERNING THE CHERSONESUS.

The penfioners which Philip kept at Athens were perpetually endeavouring to find out expedients for difpofing the people to peace; but Demofthenes difcovers their treachery and artifices.

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"I fhall only obferve, that as foon as this dif"course against Philip was begun, one of those mer"cenaries rofe, up and cried out,What a blessed thing is peace! How difficult to fupport great armies! Our "treafury is in danger: and they amuse you with "fuch difcourfes, by which they cool your zeal, and "give Philip an opportunity of effecting his purposes "without difficulty. . . But it is not you who are to "be perfuaded to peace; you, I fay, who being already but too much influenced that way, loiter "here in indolence; 'tis that man who breathes no"thing but war. . . . Befides, we ought not to con"fider what is employed for our fafety as a hardship, "but that which we fhall fuffer in cafe we neglect to "fecure ourselves in time. As to the fquandering of the "publick monies, this must be remedied by propofing "the beft means of preventing it for the future, and "( not by perfuading you to abandon entirely your own "intereft.

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"As to myself, gentlemen, I am filled with indignation to fee fome of you make fuch a noise about fquandering the publick funds, (which may be rectified by punishing the offenders in an exemplary manner) because their private intereft fuffers by it; "and not fay one word, at the fame time, of Philip, "who plunders all Greece fucceffively, and that to (6 your prejudice. Whence can it proceed, gentle

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men, that while Philip is difplaying his banners in "the face of the whole world, committing violences "and feizing fortreffes; none of these people has ever thought fit to fay, that man acts unjustly, and com"mits hoftilities? And that when you are advised not

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to fuffer fuch outrages, but to put a stop to them, "these very people cry out immediately, that you are (6 going to kindle the flames of a war which were "extinguished.

2.

"What! fhall we fay again, that to advise you to "defend yourselves, is kindling a war? If that be

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b Towards the end of the harangue,

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" the cafe, then there is nothing but flavery for you.

For there is no other medium, if we neglect on the "one hand to repel violence; and, on the other, the <c enemy will not grant us a truce. Our danger too differs very much from that of the other Greeks; for Philip will not be barely fatisfied with enflaving "Athens, he will deftroy it; for he knows very well CC you will never fubmit to flavery; and that, though CC you would do this, you never could, for command <c and authority are habitual to you; and befides, you "will be capable of giving him more trouble and oppofition than all the reft of the Greeks united, Сс whenever you fhall think fit to lay hold of any occafion to throw off the yoke. It must then be laid "down as a certain maxim, that our whole fortune

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is at stake, and that you cannot too much abhor the "mercenaries who have fold themselves to this man; "for it is not poffible, no it is not, to vanquish your .. foreign enemies, till you have chaftifed your domef"tic foes, who are his penfioners; fo that, whilft you will bulge against thofe as against fo many rocks, you will never attempt to act against the others, till << it be too late.

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FROM THE THIRD PHILIPPIC.

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"Make this reflection, I beseech you: you think "the privilege of faying any thing is fo inherent in every man who breathes the air of Athens, that you "fuffer foreigners and flaves to deliver their thoughts << on every fubject; infomuch that fervants are here "indulged a greater liberty in that particular than ci"tizens in fome other commonwealths. 'Tis from "the Roftra only, that the freedom of fpeech is de«<nied. Hence it is that you are grown fo unac"countably haughty in your affemblies, and fo diffi"cult to be pleased. You would always be flattered "in them, and hear nothing but what fooths you: "and 'tis this pride and delicacy have brought you