Letters

So, when it is possible for all to behold object-lessons of such a kind and on such a scale, from which everyone would conclude that it does not pay to espouse the cause of the people, I begin to fear that some day you may become destitute of men who will speak on your behalf, especially when of the friends of the people some are being taken away by man’s natural destiny,[*](That is, death by disease.) by accident, and by the lapse of time, such as Nausicles, Chares, Diotimus, Menestheus, and Eudoxus,[*](Nausicles and Diotimus are mentioned in the Dem. 18.114; both are known from inscriptions to have held important commands. The surrender of Diotimus was demanded by Alexander in 335 B.C. Chares held important commands between 367 and 335 B.C. Menestheus was given command of one hundred galleys in 335 B.C., 17. 20. Eudoxus seems to be otherwise unknown.) and also Euthydicus, Ephialtes and Lycurgus,[*](Din. 1.33 names Euthydicus as one whom Demosthenes claimed as a friend. Ephialtes was one of the ten whose surrender was demanded by Alexander in 335 B.C. He died in 334 while fighting on the side of the Persians against the Macedonians. For Lycurgus see above sect. 2 note.) and others you citizens have cast forth, such as Charidemus, Philocles[*](For Charidemus, leader of mercenaries, see Dem. 23, Introduction. There is extant a speech of Deinarchus Against Philocles (Din. Phil.). The latter was associated with Demosthenes in admitting Harpalus to Athens with his illicit treasure. His exile was brief.) and myself,

men to whom not even you yourselves believe others to be superior in loyalty, though if you think certain others are equally loyal I feel no jealousy,[*](This is one of several similar colloquialisms signifying I don’t mind.) and it would be my desire, provided only that you will deal fairly with them and that they shall not meet with the treatment accorded us, that their number may be legion. When however, you give the public such object-lessons as the present, who is there who will be willing to give himself to this line of duty with sincere intentions toward you?

Yet surely you will find no dearth of those who will at least pretend to do so, for in the past there has been none. Heaven forbid that I should live to see them unmasked like those men, who, though now openly pursuing policies they then repudiated, feel before none of you either fear or shame! You should ponder these facts, men of Athens, and not treat loyal men with disdain nor be persuaded by those who are leading the country on the way to bitter hatreds and cruelty.

For our present difficulties require goodwill and humanity far more than dissension and malice, an excess of which certain persons turn to their advantage, pursuing their business[*](Antiatticista cites this passage under ἐργολάβος Bekker’s Anecdota 1. p. 94. 3-4.) to your detriment with the expectation of returns, of which I pray that their calculations may cheat them. If any one of you ridicules these warnings he must be filled with a profound simplicity. For if, observing that things have happened which no one could have expected, he imagines things could not happen now which have happened already before now, when the people were set at variance with those who spoke in their behalf by men suborned for the purpose, has he not taken leave of his senses?

If I were present in person I should be trying to explain these matters to you by word of mouth, but since I am in such a plight as I pray may be the lot of anyone who has uttered falsehoods against me to my ruin, I have sent my message in the form of a letter, in the first place, having supreme regard for your honor and your advantage and, in the second, because the same goodwill that I felt toward Lycurgus during his lifetime I believe it right to show that I feel also toward his sons.