How unpopular it was to set up mere negative mistrust against glowing promises of benefits to come, is here strongly urged by Demosthenes.
Respecting the premature disarming of the Athenians, see Demosth. De Coronâ, p. 234.
[843] Æschines, Fals. Leg. p. 39. c. 27.
[844] Demosth. Fals. Leg. p. 430. οὐ τὸ μὲν ψήφισμα “οὐδαμοῦ μόνους ἐντυγχάνειν Φιλίππῳ,” οὗτοι δ᾽ οὐδὲν ἐπαύσαντο ἰδίᾳ χρηματίζοντες;
[845] Æschines, Fals. Leg. p. 41. c. 32. Τὸ δὲ ὑπὲρ τῶν ὅλων ὀρθῶς βουλεύσασθαι, ὅσα καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς ἐστιν ἢ Φίλιππον, τοῦτο ἤδη ἔργον ἐστὶ πρεσβέων φρονίμων.... Ἀφίγμεθα δ᾽ ἡμεῖς ἔχοντες τοῦ δήμου ψήφισμα, ἐν ᾧ γέγραπται, Πράττειν δὲ τοὺς πρέσβεις, καὶ ἄλλ᾽ ὅ,τι ἂν δύνωνται ἀγαθόν.
[846] Æschines, Fals. Leg. p. 39. c. 26.
[847] Æschines, Fals. Leg. p. 40. c. 29. ὅτι Κερσοβλέπτης ἀπολώλεκε τὴν ἀρχὴν, καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν ὄρος κατείληφε Φίλιππος.
There is no fair ground for supposing that the words ἀπολώλεκε τὴν ἀρχὴν are the actual words used by Chares, or that Kersobleptes was affirmed by Chares to have lost everything that he had. It suited the argument of Æschines to give the statement in a sweeping and exaggerated form.
[848] See the just and prudent reasoning of Demosthenes, Fals. Leg. p. 388, and De Coronâ, p. 234.
Compare also Pseudo-Demosthenes, De Halonneso, p. 85, 86.