Letters

[*](Citations from sects. 6 and 12 of this letter are found in Bekker’s Anecdota, Antiatticista pp. 111. 31. and 110. 5, a lexicographical work. This is evidence for authenticity.) For one who is about to take any serious step, whether in speech or action, I assume that the proper course is to take his beginning from the gods. Accordingly I entreat all the gods and goddesses that what is best for the democracy of the Athenians and for those who bear goodwill toward the democracy, both now and for time to come, I may myself be moved to write and the members of the Assembly to adopt. With this prayer, having hopes of good inspiration from the gods, I address this message.

Demosthenes to the Council and the Assembly sends greeting.

Concerning the question of my return[*](Demosthenes is writing from exile on the island of Calauria south of Aegina, 323 B.C.) to my native land I always bear in mind that it will be for you as a body to decide; consequently I am writing nothing about it at the present moment. Observing, however, that the present occasion, if you but choose the right course, is capable of securing for you at one stroke glory and safety and freedom, not for yourselves alone but for all the rest of the Greeks as well, but that, if you act in ignorance or be led astray, it would not be easy to secure the same opportunity again, I thought I ought to place before the public the state of my opinion on these questions.