Letters

[*](Schaefer thinks this letter to be the work of a scribe in the council of the Greek allies.) Demosthenes to the Council and the Assembly sends greeting.

A letter has come from Antiphilus[*](From Plut. Phoc. 24 we learn that Antiphilus was commanding the army of the allies besieging Antipater in Lamia, winter of 323-322 B.C.) to the councillors of the allies,[*](The council of the allies is thought to have been meeting at Phylê in northern Attica.) which, while satisfactorily phrased for those who wish to have good news in prospect, leaves many items unacceptable to those who toady to Antipater. These men, taking along with them the dispatch from Antipater that came to Corinth addressed to Deinarchus,[*](Deinarchus, youngest of the ten Attic orators, was opposed to Demosthenes and favored Macedon. His speech accusing Demosthenes of receiving twenty talents from Harpalus is extant. At the date of this letter he was in exile at Corinth, his birthplace.) have filled all the cities in the Peloponnesus with such reports as I pray that the gods may turn back upon their own heads.

The man who now presents himself to you along with the bearer of this letter from me, having come from Polemaestus to the latter’s brother Epinicus,[*](It may he assumed that Polemaestus was in the camp of the allies before Lamia and that his brother was attending the council of the allies in Phylê.) a man well disposed toward you and a friend of mine, was by him in turn brought to me. After I heard his story it seemed to me best to send him to you in order that, having heard a clear account of all that had happened in the camp from one who was present in the battle, you may be of good cheer for the present and assume that, the gods being willing, the final outcome will be as you wish. Farewell.