The Public Orations of Demosthenes, vol 2

The Public Orations of
Demosthenes, vol 2

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Public Orations of Demosthenes,
volume 2
by Demosthenes Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be
sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading
or redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how
the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since
1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of
Volunteers!*****
Title: The Public Orations of Demosthenes, volume 2
Author: Demosthenes
Release Date: October, 2005 [EBook #9061] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on September 2,
2003]

Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO Latin-1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
PUBLIC ORATIONS OF ***

Anne Soulard, Jon Ingram and the Online Distributed Proofreading
Team.

THE PUBLIC ORATIONS OF DEMOSTHENES IN TWO
VOLUMES VOL I
TRANSLATED BY ARTHUR WALLACE PICKARD

ON THE CHERSONESE (OR. VIII)
[Introduction. Late in the year 343 (some time after the acquittal of
Aeschines) Philip invaded Epirus, made Alexander, brother of his wife
Olympias, king of the Molossi instead of Arybbas, and so secured, his
own influence in that region. Arybbas was honourably received at
Athens. Philip next threatened Ambracia and Leucas, which were
colonies of Corinth, and promised to restore Naupactus, which was in
the hands of the Achaeans, to the Aetolians. But Athens sent
Demosthenes, Hegesippus, Polyeuctus and others to rouse the
Corinthians to resistance, and also dispatched a force of citizens to
Acarnania to help in the defence against Philip. Philip thereupon
returned, captured Echinus and Nicaea on the Malian Gulf, and
established a tetrarch in each division of Thessaly (343 B.C., or early in
342). In 342 Philistides was established, by Philip's influence, as tyrant
at Oreus in Euboea (as Cleitarchus had been at Eretria in the preceding
year), and the democratic leader Euphraeus committed suicide in
prison.[1] The town of Chalcis, however, under Callias and
Taurosthenes, remained friendly to Athens, and made a treaty of
alliance with her.
About the same time a controversy, begun in the previous year, in

regard to Halonnesus, was renewed. This island had belonged to
Athens, but had been occupied by pirates. At some time not recorded
(but probably since the Peace of 346) Philip had expelled the pirates
and taken possession of the island. He now sent a letter, offering to
give Halonnesus to Athens, but not to give it back (since this would
concede their right to it); or else to submit the dispute to arbitration. He
also offered to discuss a treaty for the settlement of private disputes
between Athenians and Macedonians, and to concert measures with
Athens for clearing the Aegean of pirates. He was willing to extend the
advantages of the Peace to other Greek States, but not to agree that he
and Athens should respectively possess 'what was their own', instead of
'what they held'; though he was ready to submit to arbitration in regard
to Cardia and other disputed places. He again denied having made the
promises attributed to him, and asked for the punishment of those who
slandered him. Hegesippus replied in an extant speech ('On
Halonnesus'), while Demosthenes insisted that no impartial arbitrator
could possibly be found. Philip's terms in regard to Halonnesus were
refused, but the Athenian claim to the island was not withdrawn.
Philip spent the greater part of 342 and 341 in Thrace, mainly in the
valley of the Hebrus, where he endured very great hardships through
the winter, and founded colonies of Macedonian soldiers, the chief of
these being Philippopolis and Cabyle. He also entered into relations
with the Getae, beyond the Haemus, and garrisoned Apollonia on the
Euxine. These operations were all preparatory to his projected attack
upon Byzantium. (Byzantium and Athens were at this time on
unfriendly terms, owing to the part taken by the latter in the Social
War.)
But the immediate subject of the present Speech was the state of affairs
in the Chersonese in 342. The Chersonese (with the exception of Cardia)
had been secured for Athens in 357, but had been threatened by Philip
in 352,[2] when he made alliance with Cardia, and forced the
neighbouring Thracian Prince Cersobleptes to