§ 17. ascribed to me, &c. Aeschines was anxious, in view of the existing state of feeling at Athens, to disown his part in connexion with the Peace of Philocrates; while Demosthenes undoubtedly assisted Philocrates in the earlier of the negotiations and discussions which led to the Peace.
appropriate. 'The recapitulation of the history is not a mere argumentative necessity, but has a moral fitness also; in fact, the whole defence of Demosthenes resolves itself into a proof that he only acted in the spirit of Athenian history' (Simcox).
§ 18. When the Phocian war bad broken out: i.e. in 356-5. Demosthenes made his first speech in the Assembly in 354.
those who detested the Spartans: i.e. the Messenians and Arcadians.
those who had previously governed, &c.: e.g. the oligarchies which had governed with the help of Sparta in Phlius and Mantinea, and were overthrown after the battle of Leuctra.
§ 19. would be forced, &c. This is a misrepresentation, since Philip and the Thebans had been in alliance for some time, and Thebes had no such grounds for apprehending evil from Philip, as would make her apply to Athens.
§ 21. Aristodemus, &c. See Introd. to Speech on the Peace. As a matter of fact, Demosthenes acted with Philocrates at least down to the return of the First Embassy, and himself proposed to crown Aristodemus for his services (Aeschines, On the Embassy, §§ 15-17).
§ 23. the Hellenes bad all, &c. It is not easy to reconcile this passage with § 16 of the Speech on the Embassy, from which it appears that representatives of other states were present in Athens; but these so-called envoys may have been private visitors, and in any case there was no real hope of uniting Greece against Philip.
§ 24. Eurybatus is said to have been sent as an envoy by Croesus to Cyrus, and to have turned traitor. The name came to be proverbial.
§ 27. those strongholds. See Introd. to Speech on the Peace.