ON THE EMBASSY
[The literal translation of the title is 'On the misconduct as ambassador'.]
§ 1. drawing your lots. The jurors who were to serve in each trial were selected by lot out of the total number of jurors for the year.
§ 2. one of those: i.e. Timarchus (see Introd.).
supremacy. The sovereignty of the people was exercised to a great extent through the law-courts, the jury being always large enough to be fairly representative of popular opinion, though probably there was generally a rather disproportionate preponderance of poorer men among the jurors, the payment being insufficient to attract others. (See Introduction, vol. i, pp. 18, 19, 23.)
§ 11. the Ten Thousand: the General Assembly of the Arcadians at Megalopolis.
§ 13. he came to me, &c. Aeschines denies this, saying that it would have been absurd, when he knew that Demosthenes and Philocrates had acted together throughout (see Introd.).
§ 16. in the very presence, &c.: contrast Speech on the Crown,
§ 23 (and see n. there). Aeschines states that he was in fact replying to inflammatory speeches made by orators who pointed to the Propylaea, and appealed to the memory of ancestral exploits; and that he simply urged that it was possible for the Athenians to copy the wisdom of their forefathers without giving way to an unseasonable passion for strife.
§ 17. had again acted: i.e. as on the First Embassy, if the reading is correct (or perhaps, 'had committed a fresh series of wrongful acts'). But possibly [Greek: _peprhakot_on_] is right, 'had sold fresh concessions' to Philip.
§ 20. Aeschines replies that every one expected Philip to turn against Thebes; and that for the rest, he was only reporting the gossip of the Macedonian camp, where the representatives of many states were gathered together, and not making promises at all. It is noteworthy, however, that in the Speech on the Peace, § 10, shortly after the events in question, when the speeches made would be fresh in every one's memory, Demosthenes gives the same account of his opponent's assertions; and Aeschines probably said something very like what is attributed to him.
§ 21. debt due to the god: i.e. the value of the Temple-treasure of Delphi, which the Phocians had plundered.
§ 30. for however contemptible, &c. The argument seems to be this. 'You must not say that a man like Aeschines could not have brought about such vast results. Athens may employ inferior men, but any one who represents Athens has to deal with great affairs, and so his acts may have great consequences. And again, although it may have been Philip who actually ruined the Phocians, and although Aeschines could never have done it alone, still he did his best to help.'
§ 31. the Town Hall, or Prytaneum, where the Prytanes (the acting Committee of the Council) met, and other magistrates had their offices.
Timagoras was accused (according to Xenophon) by his colleague Leon of having conspired with Pelopidas of Thebes against the interests of Athens, when on a mission to the court of Artaxerxes in 357. In § 137 Demosthenes also states that he received large sums of money from Artaxerxes.
§ 36. Aeschines denies that he wrote the letter for Philip, and his denial is fairly convincing.
§ 40. a talent. According to Aristotle (Eth. Nic. v. 7) the conventional amount payable as ransom was one mina per head. But from § 169 it appears that the Macedonians sometimes asked for more than this.
laudable ambition: i.e. to get credit for having thought of the ransom of the prisoners.
§ 47. handed in: either to the Clerk or to the Proedroi (the committee of Chairmen of the Assembly).
§ 51. Aeschines states that Philip's invitation was declined because it was suggested that Philip would keep the soldiers sent as hostages.
§ 65. on our way to Delphi. Demosthenes had been one of the Athenian representatives at the meeting of the Amphictyonic Council at Delphi this year.
gave its vote, &c. After the battle of Aegospotami at the end of the Peloponnesian War, the representative of Thebes proposed to the Spartans and their allies that Athens should be destroyed and its inhabitants sold into slavery.
§ 70. read this law over: i.e. that the herald might proclaim it after him.
§ 72. For the Spartans see § 76. The Phocians had treated the Athenians badly when Proxenus was sent to Thermopylae (see Introd. to Speech on Peace). Hegesippus may have opposed the acceptance of Philip's invitation to the Athenians to join him. Aeschines (on the Embassy, §§ 137, 138) mentions no names in connexion with the refusal, but represents it as the sacrifice of a unique opportunity of saving the Phocians (cf. § 51 n.).
§ 76. deceit and cunning, and of nothing else ([Greek: _pasa apat_e_]). The argument is, 'Aeschines will try to allege wrongful acts on the part of the Phocians; but there was no time for such acts in the five days; and this proves that there were no such acts to justify their ruin, and that their overthrow was due to nothing but trickery.' This is better than to translate 'every kind of deceit and trickery was concocted for the ruin of the Phocians'; for this is not the point, nor is it what would be inferred from the fact that there was only a five-days' interval between the speech of Aeschines and the capitulation of the Phocians. There is no need to emend to [Greek: _h_e pasa apat_e_].
on account of the Peace: i.e. of the negotiations for the Peace, before it was finally arranged.
all that they wished: viz. the restoration of the Temple of Delphi to their kinsmen, the Dorians of Mount Parnassus.
§ 78. four whole months: in reality, three months and a few days.
§ 81. Phocian people: i.e. those who were left in Phocis, as distinct from the exiles just referred to.
§ 86. of Diophantus. In 352, when Philip had been repulsed by Onomarchus, Diophantus proposed that public thanksgivings should be held (see Introd. to First Philippic).
of Callisthenes: in 346, after the Phocians had surrendered to Philip.
the sacrifice to Heracles: perhaps one of the two festivals which were respectively held at Marathon and at Cynosarges.
§ 99. constitutional: lit. 'an excuse for a citizen,' under a constitution by which no one was compelled to enter public life, and any one who did so without the requisite capacity had to take the responsibility for his errors.
§ 103. impeached. An impeachment was brought before the Council (or, more rarely, the Assembly). The procedure was only applied to cases of extraordinary gravity, and particularly to what would now be called cases of treason.
§ 114. by torture. The evidence of slaves might be given under torture, in response to a challenge from one or other of the parties to a suit. The most diverse opinions as to the value of such evidence are expressed by the orators, according to the requirements of their case. The consent of both sides was necessary; and in a very large number of cases, one side or the other appears to have refused to allow evidence to be taken in this way.
was going: i.e. to Philip.
§ 118. accept his discharge. There seems to be a play on two senses of the verb [Greek: aphienai], viz. 'to discharge from the obligations of a contract', and 'to acquit'.
§ 120. Why, this is the finest, &c. The expression ([Greek: touto gar esti to lamprhon]) recurs in § 279, a closely parallel passage, and need not be regarded as an interpolation in either case. The interpretation given seems slightly preferable, and is approved by Weil. It is almost equally possible to translate the Greek by 'such is the brilliant defence which he offers'; but perhaps this does not suit § 279 so well.
stand up. Apparently Aeschines declined the invitation, which was quite within the custom of the Athenian courts. Either of the principal parties could ask the other questions, and have the answers taken down as evidence.
cases that have all, &c. The reference is to the prosecution of Timarchus, when advanced in age, for offences committed in early youth. There may also be an allusion to Aeschines' early career as an actor.
§ 122. declined on oath. An elected official could refuse to serve, if he took an oath that there was some good reason (such as illness) for excusing him.
§ 126. though not elected. Aeschines (on the Embassy, § 94) replies that in fact the commission was renewed at a second meeting of the Assembly, and that he was then well enough to go and was elected. (That there was a second election of ambassadors is confirmed by Demosthenes' own statement in § 172 of the present speech, that he himself was twice elected and twice refused to serve.)
§ 128. Thesmothetae: the six archons who did not hold the special offices of archon eponymus, polemarch, or king archon.
Aeschines went, &c. To have refused to be present would really have been to make a political demonstration against Thebes, which would have had perilous results. Aeschines defends himself on the ground that in his view the Peace was no disadvantage to Athens, so that he might well join in the honours paid to the Gods.
§ 129. Metroon. The temple of the Great Mother (Cybele), which was the Athenian record-office.
the name of Aeschines: i.e. its removal from the list of ambassadors.
§ 131. in their interest. If the words are not corrupt, the meaning is probably 'in the interest of Philip and the Thebans'; or possibly, 'in reference to these matters.'
§ 136. as his informant. The text is possibly corrupt, though as it stands it might perhaps bear the meaning given, if [Greek: hyparchei] were understood with [Greek: autos]. Others (with or without emendation) take the sense to be 'to manage his business … just as he would manage it in person '.
§ 137. For Timagoras see § 31 n.
§ 144. summon Philip's envoys: i.e. in order to report the decision of the Assembly, and so close the matter.
§ 147. ask him whether, &c. The argument seems to be this 'if Aeschines was the ambassador of a city which had been victorious against Philip, the latter would naturally wish to buy easy terms of peace; and Aeschines might undertake to procure such terms, without committing a particularly heinous offence, since he would only be getting some advantage for himself out of the general good fortune of his country. But to secure advantages for himself at his country's expense, when his country was already suffering disaster, would be far worse. And as Aeschines complains that the generals had incurred disaster, he convicts himself of the worse offence.'
§ 148. The Tilphossaeum was apparently a mountain near Lake Copais in Boeotia. The town which Strabo calls Tilphusium may have been on the mountain. Neones, or Neon, was a Phocian village; Hedyleion, a mountain in Boeotia.
§ 149. Ah! he will say, &c. Either the words are interpolated, or there is a lacuna. The objection is nowhere refuted.
§ 156. Doriscus, &c. The places mentioned did not really belong to Athens, but to Cersobleptes, who was being assisted by Athenian troops, so that, strictly speaking, Philip was within his rights; and in fact (according to Aeschines), Cersobleptes and the Sacred Mountain were taken by Philip the day before the Athenians and their allies swore to the Peace at Athens.
§ 162. Eucleides had been sent to protest against Philip's attack upon Cersobleptes in 346 (see vol. i, p. 122). Philip replied that he had not yet been officially informed by the Athenian ambassadors of the conclusion of the Peace, and was therefore not yet bound by it.
§ 166. procure their ransom: i.e. from the various Macedonians who had captured them, or to whom they had been given or sold.
§ 176. committed to writing, &c. Formal evidence (as distinct from the mere assertions of a speaker) was written down, and the witness was asked to swear to it. A witness who was called upon might swear that he had no knowledge of the matter in question ([Greek: exomnysthai]). By writing down his evidence and swearing to it, Demosthenes took the risk of prosecution for perjury.
§ 180. might be proved in countless ways: or 'would need a speech of infinite length '. But as [Greek: kai] and not [Greek: de] follows, I slightly prefer the former rendering. (The latter is supported by the Third Philippic, § 60, but there the next clause is connected by [Greek: de].)
Ergophilus was heavily fined in 362 (see Speech against Aristocrates, § 104); Cephisodotus in 358 (ibid. § 167, and Aeschines against Ctesiphon, § 52); Timomachus went into exile in 360 to escape condemnation (against Aristocrates, § 115, &c.). Ergocles was perhaps the friend of Thrasybulas (see Lysias, Orations xxviii, xxix), and may have been condemned for his conduct in Thrace, as well as for malversation at Halicarnassus. Dionysius is unknown.
§ 187. has got beyond, &c.: an ironical way of saying that he has so much overdone his application to himself of the title of (prospective) 'benefactor' of Athens, that another word (e.g. 'deceiver') would be more appropriate. The word [Greek: psychrhon] is (at least by Greek literary critics) applied to strong expressions out of place, and here also, probably, of an exaggerated phrase which falls flat. This is perhaps the best interpretation of a very difficult passage.
§ 191. For Timagoras, see § 31 n. Tharrex and Smicythus are unknown. Adeimantus was one of the generals at Aegospotami, the only Athenian prisoner spared by Lysander, and on that account suspected of treason by the Athenians, and prosecuted by Conon (called 'the elder', to distinguish him from his grandson, who was a contemporary of Demosthenes).
§ 194. guest-friend. The term ([Greek: xenos]) was applied to the relationship (more formal than that of simple friendship) between citizens of different states, who were bound together by ties of hospitality and mutual goodwill.
§ 196. the Thirty: i.e. the 'Thirty Tyrants' who ruled Athens (with the support of Sparta) for a few months in 403. See n. on § 277.
§ 198. Aeschines warmly denies this story. He says that Demosthenes tried to bribe Aristophanes of Olynthus to swear that it was true, and that the woman was his own wife. He adds that the jury, on an appeal from Eubulus, refused to let Demosthenes complete the story.
§ 199. initiations: see Speech on Crown, §§ 259 ff., with notes.
§ 200. played the rogue. The scholiast says that clerks were sometimes bribed to alter the laws and decrees which they read to the Court; and a magistrates' clerk had doubtless plenty of opportunities for conniving at petty frauds.
§ 204. should not have been sworn to. This is out of chronological order as it stands, and emendations have been proposed, but unnecessarily.
§ 209. would not have him for your representative: in the question about Athenian rights at Delos. See Introduction to the Speech.
§ 213. I have no further time, &c.: lit. 'no one will pour water for me' into the water-clock, by which all trials were regulated.
§ 221. consider, &c. There is an anacoluthon in the Greek, which may be literally translated, 'Consider, if, where I who am absolutely guiltless was afraid of being ruined by them—what ought these men themselves, the actual criminals, to suffer?'
§ 222. get money out of you: i.e. to be bought off.
§ 230. choregus and trierarch: see Introd. to Speech on Naval Boards, and n. on Philippic I. § 36.
§ 231. all was well ([Greek: eupenespai]). The reading is almost certainly wrong. Weil rightly demands some word contrasting with [Greek: agnoein] ('did not understand his country') in the corresponding clause.
§ 237. vase-cases: i.e. boxes to contain bottles of oil or perfume for toilet use.
§ 245. the cock-pit. That this is the meaning seems to be proved by the words of Aeschines (against Timarchus, § 53); otherwise the natural translation would be 'to the bird-market'. Cocks were no doubt sold in the bird-market; but Aeschines refers directly to cock-fighting, not to the purchase of the birds.
§ 246. hack-writers: lit. 'speech-writers,' who composed speeches for litigants, and no doubt padded them out with quotations from poets, as well as with rhetorical commonplaces. Demosthenes taunts Aeschines particularly with ransacking unfamiliar plays, instead of those he knew well.
§ 249. reared up… greatness: or possibly, 'reared up all these sons of hers.'
Hero-Physician. See Speech on the Crown, § 129 n.
Round Chamber, in the Prytaneum or Town Hall (see § 31 n.).
§ 252. at the risk of his own life. He tried to avoid the risk by feigning madness. Salamis was in the hands of the Megareans, and the Athenians had become so weary of their unsuccessful attempts to recover it, that they decreed the penalty of death upon any one who proposed to make a fresh attempt. The verses, however, which are quoted in the text, are probably derived not from the poem which Solon composed for this purpose, but from another of his political poems.
§ 255. with a cap on your head. Plutarch (Solon 82 c) says that 'Solon burst into the market-place suddenly, with a cap on his head'. The cap was intended to suggest that he had just returned from Salamis, since it was the custom to wear a cap only when on a journey, or in case of illness (of. Plato, Republic, iii. 406_d_). There may possibly be an allusion also to Aeschines' own alleged sickness (§ 136 above), but this is very doubtful. The words more probably mean, 'however closely you copy Solon' (as you copied his attitude in speaking), 'when you run about declaiming against me.'
§ 257. accepted the challenge. At the examination before the Board of Auditors (Logistae) the question was almost certainly put, whether any one present wished to challenge the report of the ambassador under examination.
§ 259. claim ([Greek: axioumenoi]): or, 'are thought worthy'; but the first sense is much better in the parallel passage in § 295, and this 'middle' use seems to be sufficiently attested, though the active voice is used in the same sense in § 338.
§ 260. paramount position: i.e. among the tribes of North Greece (Magnetes, Perrhaebi, &c.).
§ 264. concluded the war, &c. In 383 B.C. In fact, however, they only obtained peace by joining the Spartan alliance.
§ 271. Arthmius: see Philippic III. § 42 (and note).
§ 273. Callias, in 444 B.C. Cf. Speech for the Rhodians, § 29. The Chelidonian Islands lay off the south coast of Lycia, the Cyanean rocks at the northern mouth of the Bosporus.
§ 277. Epicrates was sent as ambassador to Persia early in the fourth century, and received large presents. According to Plutarch he escaped condemnation; but he may have been tried more than once. The comic poets make fun of his long beard.
who brought the people back from the Peiraeus. Thrasybulus occupied the Peiraeus in 403, secured the expulsion of the Thirty Tyrants from Athens, and restored the democracy.
§ 278. the decree: i.e. the decree by which Epicrates and his colleagues were condemned.
§ 279. for this is the splendid thing: cf. § 120 n.
§ 280. exiled and punished. We should perhaps (with Weil) read [Greek: _e] ('or') for [Greek: kai] ('and').
descendant of Harmodius: i.e. Proxenus, who had been only recently condemned, and is therefore not named.
§ 281. another priestess. According to the scholiast, the reference is to Ninus, a priestess of Sabazios, who was prosecuted by Menecles for making love-potions for young men. The connexion of this offence with the meetings of the initiated is left to be understood.
§ 282. the burden undertaken. Such burdens as the duties of choregus, trierarch, &c., might be voluntarily undertaken, as they were by Demosthenes (see n. on Philippic I. § 36).
§ 287. Cyrebion, or 'Light-as-Chaff', was the nickname of Epicrates, Aeschines' brother-in-law (not the Epicrates of § 277). as a reveller, no doubt in some Dionysiac revel, in which it was not considered decent to take part without a mask. (The original purpose of masks, however, was not to conceal one's identity from motives of shame, though Demosthenes suggests it as a motive here.)
were water flowing upstream. A half-proverbial expression implying that the world was being turned upside-down, when such a person could prosecute for such offences.
§ 290. Hegesilaus was one of the generals sent to Euboea to help
Plutarchus; cf. Speech on the Peace, § 5 n. He was accused of abetting
Plutarchus in the deception which he practised upon Athens. For
Thrasybulus, cf. § 277.
the primary question: i.e. of the guilt or innocence of the defendant. If he was pronounced guilty, the question of sentence (or damages) had to be argued and decided separately.
§ 295. claim to be: cf. n. on § 259.
churning the butter ([Greek: etyrheue]): i.e. concocting the plot. (For the metaphor cf. Aristophanes, Knights 479.)
§ 299. Zeus and Dione. These names show that the oracles referred to were probably given at Dodona.
§ 303. oath of the young soldiers. When the young Athenian came of age, he received a shield and spear in the temple of Aglaurus, and swore to defend his country and to uphold its constitution (cf. Lycurgus, Against Leocrates, § 76).
§ 314. keeping step with Pythocles, who was a tall man, while Aeschines was short.
§ 326. Drymus and Panactum were on the border between Boeotia and Attica. Nothing else is known of the expedition.
§ 332. Chares. See nn. on Philippic I. §§ 24, 46; Olynthiac II. § 28, and Introductions.
§ 333. of one of whom, &c.: i.e. of Philip (see § 111 ff., and Introd. to Speech on the Peace).
§ 342. Euthycrates. See Introd. to Olynthiacs.