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DEMOSTHENES. 



Demosthc- confederacy for independence, and to declare that they 

 nes- would protect their commerce with their own fleets, 

 »~*""' / and pay no more tribute to that of Athens. This re- 

 volt, or, as it was called, the Social War, lasted for 

 three years, and was succeeded by the Phocian, or Sa- 

 cred War • so called, as it began from a motive or pre- 

 tence of religion. The Phocians had ploughed up some 

 ground adjoining to the temple of Apollo, at Delphos, 

 which their neighbours and the Amphyctionic council 

 denounced as an act of sacrilege. The Phocians re- 

 sisting their decree, took up arms to assert their claim 

 to the land. Athens and Sparta declared on their side. 

 The Thebans were their principal opposers. — These 

 were some of the principal public events connected 

 with the field of politics on which Demosthenes was to 

 act so conspicuous a part. It would be digressing too 

 far into the history of Athens, to enter into other cir- 

 cumstances of nearly coeval date, which are connected 

 with the subjects of his orations ; such as the politics of 

 Eubcea and Thrace, in which the contending ambition 

 of Philip and the rival republic were vigorously en- 

 gaged. Two parties now divided the Athenian councils ; 

 one perpetually recommending peace and friendship 

 with Macedon, the other breathing only war and views 

 of aggrandisement. The former might consist partly of 

 the secret adherents of Philip, but it also contained a few 

 patriotic men, far above suspicion, of whom were Iso- 

 crates and Phocion. At the head of the high demo- 

 cratical war-party was Chares, who bore the most ex- 

 tensive influence over the sovereign and tyrannous 

 many. 



Demosthenes was but yet a candidate for that party- 

 connection which might lead to power, when, in the 

 second year of the Phocian war, Chares and his parti- 

 zans, after peace had been made with the revolted al- 

 lies of Athens, wanting a field for military adventure, 

 absurdly thought of leading the republic into a war 

 with Persia. Then at the age of nine-and-twenty he 

 delivered the first of his speeches, that seems to have 

 attracted public attention enough to induce its publi- 

 cation • and he spoke in opposition. The orators of 

 the war-party, who had spoken before him, had been 

 endeavouring, by strained panegyric of the heroic 

 deeds of then- forefathers against the Persians, to excite 

 the many to concur in then* purposes. Demosthenes., 

 in an opening of singular art, elegance, and concise- 

 ness, admitting the deeds of their forefathers to have 

 been above all praise, turned their panegyric and ar- 

 gument successfully into ridicule. The Persian court 

 really had no designs, at that time, of proceeding to 

 actual war with Greece. The union of the Greeks was 

 a chimerical idea, as he justly represents, and their par- 

 tial attack could only expose their weakness. At the 

 same time, he exhorted to preparation against the 

 eventual hostilities of either Persia or of any other foe. 

 In conclusion, he says, " Do not, then, discover to the 

 world the melancholy state of Greece, by inviting those 

 to an alliance whom you cannot gain, and engaging in 

 a war which you cannot support : Be quiet ; be reso- 

 lute ; be prepared. Let not the emissaries of Persia 

 report to their king, that Greece and Athens are dis- 

 tracted in their councils, are confounded by their 

 fears, are torn by dissensions. No! let them rather 

 tell him, that if it were not equally shameful for the 

 Greeks to violate their honour and their oaths, as it is 

 to him matter of triumph, they would have long since 

 marched against him ; and that, if you do not march, 

 you are restrained solely by a regard to yoar own dig- 

 nity : That it is your prayer to all the gods, that he 



may be seized with the infatuation which once pos- Deroostbev 

 sessed his ancestors, and then he would find no defect ^ « ei - 

 of vigour in your measures. ***** You should ^--T"""^ 

 prepare your force against your present enemies • you 

 should use this force against the king, (so the king of 

 Persia was always designated,) against any power that 

 may attempt to injure you. But never be the first to 

 break through the bounds of justice, either in council 

 or in action ; you should be solicitous, not that our 

 speeches, but our conduct, should be worthy of our il- 

 lustrious descent. Act thus, and you will serve not 

 yourselves only, but the men who oppose these mea- 

 sures • for they will not feel your resentment hereafter, 

 if they be not suffered to mislead you now." This 

 speech was applauded ; and although he was the first, 

 and almost the only one, to oppose the Persian Avar, 

 his advice was followed. — His next oration was on the 

 subject of the regulation of the state : The war-party 

 having engaged in projects of complex hostility, began 

 to feel their finances fail, and ventured upon the bold 

 attempt of persuading the people to surrender, for the 

 purposes of war, some of those gratifications, which, 

 under the sanction of severe laws, consumed almost 

 the whole of the public revenue. Demosthenes spoke 

 again in opposition, and appeared as the public anta- 

 gonist of Chares. He resisted the proposed abolition 

 of the distributions from the treasury, and argued, that 

 if war was to be made, the citizens themselves should 

 serve, as in good times of old. The money which the 

 war-party thus proposed to raise, he observed, (proba- 

 bly with great truth,) was to raise a mercenary force 

 for their generals to command, more for then- private 

 interest than for any public good. In this oration, his 

 severe allusions to the oppressions which his country- 

 men exercised over their allies, leave a prepossession in 

 the mind in favour of the spirit which dictated the part 

 which he took. — His next oration was for the Mega- 

 lopolitans. In order to understand the subject of this 

 oration, it is necessary to turn back to the period when 

 the genius of Epaminondas had put an end to the ty- 

 ranny of Sparta. The Arcadians and Argives having 

 risen at that period against Lacedemon, the Lacedemo- 

 nians solicited aid from Athens, who, forgetting her ri- 

 valship with Sparta, and fearing Thebes, sent armies 

 to the assistance of the former. It is not to the pre- 

 sent purpose **to mention the several events in the 

 course of this war ; it is only necessary to observe, 

 that the Arcadians, in order the better to secure that 

 liberty for which they contended, determined to col- 

 lect all their force into one body, brought the detached 

 settlements of their countrymen to an union, and fixed 

 their common residence in a city called Megalopolis, or 

 the great city. The question at Athens was, Whether 

 this rallying point for a people once subdued by the 

 Spartans, should be sanctioned, or not, by their per- 

 mission ? On the one hand was pleaded the common 

 cause of Sparta and Athens ; an union of interest 

 which seemed to forbid that any check should be put 

 upon Lacedemon, and the settlement of Megalopolis 

 was considered as likely to be such a checks On the 

 ether hand, Demosthenes (it must be owned, without 

 pleading upon the broad principles of justice,) argues 

 for the Megalopolitans, as likely to be allies of more 

 consequence to Athens than Sparta itself; and even 

 contends, that their establishment was necessary to ba- 

 lance the power of Thebes and Sparta. In conclusion, 

 he conjures his countrymen not to abandon the people 

 of Megalopolis, nor any weaker state, to the power of 

 the stronger. Thejresidt of the contest is not reported ; 



