To Philip

Consider, again, the state of affairs in his empire. Who could hear the facts and not be spurred to war against him? Egypt was, it is true, in revolt[*](Isoc. 4.140, 161.) even when Cyrus made his expedition; but her people nevertheless were living in continual fear lest the King might some day lead an army in person and overcome the natural obstacles which, thanks to the Nile, their country presents, and all their military defenses as well. But now this King has delivered them from that dread; for after he had brought together and fitted out the largest force he could possibly raise and marched against them, he retired from Egypt not only defeated, but laughed at and scorned as unfit either to be a king or to command an army.

Furthermore, Cyprus and Phoenicia and Cilicia,[*](Isoc. 4.161.) and that region from which the barbarians used to recruit their fleet, belonged at that time to the King, but now they have either revolted from him or are so involved in war and its attendant ills that none of these peoples is of any use to him; while to you, if you desire to make war upon him, they will be serviceable.

And mark also that Idrieus,[*](Isoc. 4.162.) who is the most prosperous of the present rulers of the mainland, must in the nature of things be more hostile to the interests of the King than are those who are making open war against him; verily he would be of all men the most perverse if he did not desire the dissolution of that empire which outrages his brother,[*](Mausolus.) which made war upon himself, and which at all times has never ceased to plot against him in its desire to be master of his person and of all his wealth.

It is through fear of these things that he is now constrained to pay court to the King and to send him much tribute every year; but if you should cross over to the mainland with an army, he would greet you with joy, in the belief that you were come to his relief; and you will also induce many of the other satraps to throw off the King's power if you promise them “freedom” and scatter broadcast over Asia that word which, when sown among the Hellenes, has broken up both our empire and that of the Lacedaemonians.[*](“Freedom” of the Greeks from Athenian tyranny was the avowed object of the Spartans in the Peloponnesian War, Thuc. 4.86. Cf. Isoc. 4.122.)

I might go on and endeavor to speak at greater length on how you could carry on the war so as to triumph most quickly over the power of the King; but as things are, I fear that I might lay myself open to criticism if, having had no part in a soldier's life, I should now venture to advise you, whose achievements in war are without parallel in number and magnitude. Therefore on this subject I think I need say nothing more. But to proceed with the rest of my discourse, I believe that both your own father[*](Amyntas. II.) and the founder of your kingdom,[*](Perdiccas I. See 32, note.) and also the progenitor of your race[*](Heracles. The latter was precluded by his divinity; Amyntas and Perdiccas by their death.)— were it lawful for Heracles and possible for the others to appear as your counsellors—would advise the very things which I have urged.

I draw my inference from their actions while they lived. For your father, in dealing with those states which I am urging you to cultivate, kept on friendly terms[*](With Athens, Aeschin. 2.26; with Sparta, Xen. Hell. 5.2.38.) with them all. And the founder of your empire, although he aspired higher than did his fellow citizens[*](Of Argos.) and set his heart on a king's power, was not minded to take the same road as others who set out to attain a like ambition.

For they endeavored to win this honor by engendering factions, disorder, and bloodshed in their own cities; he, on the other hand, held entirely aloof from Hellenic territory, and set his heart upon occupying the throne of Macedon. For he knew full well that the Hellenes were not accustomed to submit to the rule of one man, while the other races were incapable of ordering their lives without the control of some such power.

And so it came about, owing to his unique insight in this regard, that his kingship has proved to be quite set apart from that of the generality of kings: for, because he alone among the Hellenes did not claim the right to rule over a people of kindred race, he alone was able to escape the perils incident to one-man power. For history discovers to us the fact that those among the Hellenes who have managed to acquire such authority have not only been destroyed themselves but have been blotted, root and branch, from the face of the earth;[*](The Pisistratidae of Athens. A recent case in point was the murder of Alexander of Pherae. Cf. Isoc. 2.5.) while he, on the contrary, lived a long and happy life and left his seed in possession of the same honors which he himself had enjoyed.

Coming now to Heracles, all others who praise him harp endlessly on his valor or recount his labors; and not one, either of the poets or of the historians, will be found to have commemorated his other excellences—I mean those which pertain to the spirit. I, on the other hand, see here a field set apart and entirely unworked—a field not small nor barren, but teeming with many a theme for praise and with glorious deeds, yet demanding a speaker with ability to do them justice.

If this subject had claimed my attention when I was younger, I should have found it easy to prove that it was more by his wisdom, his lofty ambition, and his justice than by his strength of body that your ancestor surpassed all who lived before his day. But approaching the subject at my present age, and seeing what a wealth of material there is in it to discuss, I have felt that my present powers were unequal to the task, and I have also realized that my discourse would run on to twice the length of that which is now before you to be read. For these reasons, then, I have refrained from touching upon his other exploits and have singled out one only—a story which is pertinent and in keeping with what I have said before, while being of a length best proportioned to the subject now in hand.

When Heracles saw that Hellas was rife with wars and factions and many other afflictions, he first brought these troubles to an end and reconciled the cities with each other,[*](See Diod. iv. 17.) and then showed by his example to coming generations with whom and against whom it was their duty to go to war. For he made an expedition against Troy,[*](Isoc. 9.16.) which was in those days the strongest power in Asia, and so far did he excel in generalship those who at a later time waged war against this same city, that,

while they with the combined strength of Hellas found it difficult to take Troy after a siege which lasted ten years, he, on the other hand, in less than as many days, and with a small expedition, easily took the city by storm. After this, he put to death to a man all the princes[*](Chiefs, of barbarian tribes, such as Diomedes, Mygdon, Sarpedon, Busiris, Antaeus.) of the tribes who dwelt along the shores of both continents[*](Europe and Asia. Cf. Isoc. 4.35.); and these he could never have destroyed had he not first conquered their armies. When he had done these things, he set up the Pillars of Heracles, as they are called, to be a trophy of victory over the barbarians, a monument to his own valor and the perils he had surmounted, and to mark the bounds of the territory of the Hellenes.

My purpose in relating all this is that you may see that by my words I am exhorting you to a course of action which, in the light of their deeds, it is manifest that your ancestors chose as the noblest of all. Now, while all who are blessed with understanding ought to set before themselves the greatest of men as their model, and strive to become like him, it behoves you above all to do so. For since you have no need to follow alien examples but have before you one from your own house, have we not then the right to expect that you will be spurred on by this and inspired by the ambition to make yourself like the ancestor of your race?

I do not mean that you will be able to imitate Heracles in all his exploits; for even among the gods there are some who could not do that; but in the qualities of the spirit, in devotion to humanity, and in the good will which he cherished toward the Hellenes, you can come close to his purposes. And it lies in your power, if you will heed my words, to attain whatever glory you yourself desire;

for it is easier for you to rise from your present station and win the noblest fame than it has been to advance from the station which you inherited to the fame which is now yours.[*](Repeated in Isoc. Letter 3.5.) And mark that I am summoning you to an undertaking in which you will make expeditions, not with the barbarians against men who have given you no just cause, but with the Hellenes against those upon whom it is fitting that the descendants of Heracles should wage war.

And do not be surprised if throughout my speech I am trying to incline you to a policy of kindness to the Hellenes and of gentleness and humanity. For harshness is, I observe, grievous both to those who exercise it and to those upon whom it falls, while gentleness, whether in man or in the other animals, bears a good name;

nay, in the case of the gods also we invoke as the “Heavenly Ones” those who bless us with good things, while to those who are agents of calamities and punishments we apply more hateful epithets; in honor of the former, both private persons and states erect temples and altars, whereas we honor the latter neither in our prayers nor in our sacrifices, but practice rites to drive away their evil presence.[*](The contrast is between Zeus, Apollo, Athena, etc., and under-world deities Hades, Persephone, the Furies, etc.)

Bearing ever in mind these truths, you should habitually act and strive to the end that all men shall cherish even more than they do now such an opinion of your character. Indeed, those who crave a greater fame than that of other men must map out in their thoughts a course of action which, while practicable, is at the same time close to the ideal, and seek to carry it into effect as opportunity presents a way.

From many considerations you may realize that you ought to act in this way, but especially from the experiences of Jason.[*](Jason, tyrant of Pherae, in Thessaly. His “talked-of” expedition against Persia is mentioned also by Xen. Hell. 6.1.12. See General Introd. p. xl, footnote.) For he, without having achieved anything comparable to what you have done, won the highest renown, not from what he did, but from what he said; for he kept talking as if he intended to cross over to the continent and make war upon the King.

Now since Jason by use of words alone advanced himself so far, what opinion must we expect the world will have of you if you actually do this thing; above all, if you undertake to conquer the whole empire of the King, or, at any rate, to wrest from it a vast extent of territory and sever from it—to use a current phrase—“Asia from Cilicia to Sinope”[*](A catch phrase for the territory of Asia Minor. Cf. “Asia from Cnidus to Sinope” in Isoc. 4.162.); and if, furthermore, you undertake to establish cities in this region, and to settle in permanent abodes those who now, for lack of the daily necessities of life, are wandering from place to place and committing outrages upon whomsoever they encounter?[*](See Isoc. Letter 9.9. Cf. 96; Isoc. 4.168; Isoc. 8.24.)