The Olynthiacs and the Phillippics of Demothenes | Page 8

to the Thessalians.
See Jacobs' note on this passage.] he is pushed aside and accounted as
nobody. The rest about him are brigands and parasites, and men of that
character, who will get drunk and perform dances which I scruple to
name before you. My information is undoubtedly true; for persons
whom all scouted here as worse rascals than mountebanks, Callias the
town-slave and the like of him, antic-jesters, [Footnote: [Greek:
_Mimous geloion_], players of drolls, mimes, or farces. Our ancient
word droll signifies, like [Greek: _mimos_], both the actor and the
thing acted.] and composers of ribald songs to lampoon their
companions, such persons Philip caresses and keeps about him. Small
matters these may be thought, Athenians, but to the wise they are
strong indications of his character and wrong-headedness. Success
perhaps throws a shade over them now; prosperity is a famous hider of
such blemishes; but, on any miscarriage, they will be fully exposed.
And this (trust me, Athenians) will appear in no long time, if the gods
so will and you determine. For as in the human body, a man in health
feels not partial ailments, but, when illness occurs, all are in motion,
whether it be a rupture or a sprain or any thing else unsound; so with
states and monarchs, while they wage eternal war, their weaknesses are
undiscerned by most men, but the tug of a frontier war betrays all.
If any of you think Philip a formidable opponent, because they see he is
fortunate, such reasoning is prudent, Athenians. Fortune has indeed a
great preponderance--nay, is every thing, in human affairs. Not but that,
if I had the choice, I should prefer our fortune to Philip's, would you

but moderately perform your duty. For I see you have many more
claims to the divine favor than he has. But we sit doing nothing; and a
man idle himself can not require even his friends to act for him, much
less the gods. No wonder then that he, marching and toiling in person,
present on all occasions, neglecting no time or season, prevails over us
delaying and voting and inquiring. I marvel not at that; the contrary
would have been marvelous, if we doing none of the duties of war had
beaten one doing all. But this surprises me, that formerly, Athenians,
you resisted the Lacedaemonians for the rights of Greece, and rejecting
many opportunities of selfish gain, to secure the rights of others,
expended your property in contributions, and bore the brunt of the
battle; yet now you are both to serve, slow to contribute, in defense of
your own possessions, and, though you have often saved the other
nations of Greece collectively and individually, under your own losses
you sit still. This surprises me, and one thing more, Athenians; that not
one of you can reckon, how long your war with Philip has lasted, and
what you have been doing while the time has passed. You surely know,
that while you have been delaying, expecting others to act, accusing,
trying one another, expecting again, doing much the same as ye do now,
all the time has passed away. Then are ye so senseless, Athenians, as to
imagine, that the same measures, which have brought the country from
a prosperous to a poor condition, will bring it from a poor to a
prosperous? Unreasonable were this and unnatural; for all things are
easier kept than gotten. The war now has left us nothing to keep; we
have all to get, and the work must be done by ourselves. I say then, you
must contribute money, serve in person with alacrity, accuse no one, till
you have gained your objects; then, judging from facts, honor the
deserving, punish offenders; let there be no pretenses or defaults on
your own part for you can not harshly scrutinize the conduct of others,
unless you have done what is right yourselves. Why, think you, do all
the generals [Footnote: A system of employing mercenary troops
sprang up at the close of the Peloponnesian war, when there were
numerous Grecian bands accustomed to warfare and seeking
employment. Such troops were eagerly sought for by the Persian
satraps and their king, by such men as Jason of Pherae, Dionysius of
Syracuse, or Philomelus of Phocis. Athens, which had partially
employed mercenaries before, began to make use of them on a large

scale, while her citizens preferred staying at home, to attend to
commerce, politics, and idle amusements. The ill effects however were
soon apparent. Athenian generals, ill supplied with money, and having
little control over their followers, were tempted or obliged to engage in
enterprises unconnected with, and often adverse to, the interests of their
country. Sometimes the general, as well as the troops, was an alien, and
could be very