§16καίτοι ταῦτα πράττων τί ἐποίει;
And yet, in doing these things, what was he doing?
εἰρήνην μὲν γὰρ ὠμωμόκει.
For he had sworn peace.
καὶ μηδεὶς εἴπῃ,
τί δὲ ταῦτʼ ἐστίν, ἢ τί τούτων μέλει τῇ πόλει; εἰ μὲν γὰρ μικρὰ ταῦτα, ἢ μηδὲν ὑμῖν αὐτῶν ἔμελεν, ἄλλος ἂν εἴη λόγος οὗτος· τὸ δʼ εὐσεβὲς καὶ τὸ δίκαιον, ἄν τʼ ἐπὶ μικροῦ τις ἄν τʼ ἐπὶ μείζονος παραβαίνῃ, τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχει δύναμιν.
And let no one say, "And what are these things, or what does the city care about them?" For if these are small things, or if they were of no concern to you, this would be another argument; but piety and justice, whether one transgresses them in a small matter or in a greater, have the same force.
φέρε δὴ νῦν, ἡνίκʼ εἰς Χερρόνησον, ἣν βασιλεὺς καὶ πάντες οἱ Ἕλληνες ὑμετέραν ἐγνώκασιν εἶναι, ξένους εἰσπέμπει καὶ βοηθεῖν ὁμολογεῖ καὶ ἐπιστέλλει ταῦτα, τί ποιεῖ; §17φησὶ μὲν γὰρ οὐ πολεμεῖν, ἐγὼ δὲ τοσούτου δέω ταῦτα ποιοῦντʼ ἐκεῖνον ἄγειν ὁμολογεῖν τὴν πρὸς ὑμᾶς εἰρήνην, ὥστε καὶ Μεγάρων ἁπτόμενον κἀν Εὐβοίᾳ τυραννίδα κατασκευάζοντα καὶ νῦν ἐπὶ Θρᾴκην παριόντα καὶ τἀν Πελοποννήσῳ σκευωρούμενον καὶ πάνθʼ ὅσα πράττει μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ποιοῦντα, λύειν φημὶ τὴν εἰρήνην καὶ πολεμεῖν ὑμῖν, εἰ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τὰ μηχανήματʼ ἐφιστάντας εἰρήνην ἄγειν φήσετε, ἕως ἂν αὐτὰ τοῖς τείχεσιν ἤδη προσαγάγωσιν.
Come now, when he sends mercenaries into the Chersonese, which the King and all the Greeks have recognized to be yours, and admits he is helping them, and sends letters to this effect, what is he doing? For he says indeed that he is not making war; but I am so far from admitting that, while doing these things, he is maintaining peace with you, that I say that by laying hands on Megara, and establishing a tyranny in Euboea, and now advancing into Thrace, and scheming in the Peloponnese, and doing everything he does with his force, he is breaking the peace and making war on you—unless you also say that those who set up siege-engines are maintaining peace, until they actually bring them against the walls.
ἀλλʼ οὐ φήσετε· ὁ γὰρ οἷς ἂν ἐγὼ ληφθείην, ταῦτα πράττων καὶ κατασκευαζόμενος, οὗτος ἐμοὶ πολεμεῖ, κἂν μήπω βάλλῃ μηδὲ τοξεύῃ. §18τίσιν οὖν ὑμεῖς κινδυνεύσαιτʼ ἄν, εἴ τι γένοιτο;
But you will not say so; for he who is acting and preparing those things by which I may be captured, this man is making war on me, even if he does not yet shoot or cast a javelin. In what things, then, would you be endangered, if anything should happen?
τῷ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον ἀλλοτριωθῆναι, τῷ Μεγάρων καὶ τῆς Εὐβοίας τὸν πολεμοῦνθʼ ὑμῖν γενέσθαι κύριον, τῷ Πελοποννησίους τἀκείνου φρονῆσαι.
In the Hellespont being alienated, in the one who makes war on you becoming master of Megara and Euboea, in the Peloponnesians siding with him.
εἶτα τὸν τοῦτο τὸ μηχάνημʼ ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν ἱστάντα, τοῦτον εἰρήνην ἄγειν ἐγὼ φῶ πρὸς ὑμᾶς;
Then shall I say that this man, who is setting up this engine against the city, is maintaining peace with you? Far from it!
§19πολλοῦ γε καὶ δεῖ, ἀλλʼ ἀφʼ ἧς ἡμέρας ἀνεῖλε Φωκέας, ἀπὸ ταύτης ἔγωγʼ αὐτὸν πολεμεῖν ὁρίζομαι.
Rather, from the day he destroyed the Phocians, from that day I define him as making war.
ὑμᾶς δʼ, ἐὰν ἀμύνησθʼ ἤδη, σωφρονήσειν φημί, ἐὰν δʼ ἐάσητε, οὐδὲ τοῦθʼ ὅταν βούλησθε δυνήσεσθαι ποιῆσαι.
And I say that you, if you defend yourselves now, will be wise, but if you let it go, you will not be able to do even this when you wish.
καὶ τοσοῦτόν γʼ ἀφέστηκα τῶν ἄλλων, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τῶν συμβουλευόντων, ὥστʼ οὐδὲ δοκεῖ μοι περὶ Χερρονήσου νῦν σκοπεῖν οὐδὲ Βυζαντίου, ἀλλʼ ἐπαμῦναι μὲν τούτοις,
And I am so far removed from the others who advise you, men of Athens, that it does not even seem to me that we should consider Chersonese now or Byzantium, but rather we should assist them, and guard them lest they suffer any harm, and send to the soldiers who are now there everything that they may need, yet deliberate concerning all the Greeks as being in great danger.
§20καὶ διατηρῆσαι μή τι πάθωσι, καὶ τοῖς οὖσιν ἐκεῖ νῦν στρατιώταις πάνθʼ ὅσων ἂν δέωνται ἀποστεῖλαι, βουλεύεσθαι μέντοι περὶ πάντων τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὡς ἐν κινδύνῳ μεγάλῳ καθεστώτων. βούλομαι δʼ εἰπεῖν πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐξ ὧν ὑπὲρ τῶν πραγμάτων οὕτω φοβοῦμαι, ἵνʼ, εἰ μὲν ὀρθῶς λογίζομαι, μετάσχητε τῶν λογισμῶν καὶ πρόνοιάν τινʼ ὑμῶν γʼ αὐτῶν, εἰ μὴ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἄρα βούλεσθε, ποιήσησθε, ἂν δὲ ληρεῖν καὶ τετυφῶσθαι δοκῶ, μήτε νῦν μήτʼ αὖθις ὡς ὑγιαίνοντί μοι προσέχητε. §21ὅτι μὲν δὴ μέγας ἐκ μικροῦ καὶ ταπεινοῦ τὸ κατʼ ἀρχὰς Φίλιππος ηὔξηται, καὶ ἀπίστως καὶ στασιαστικῶς ἔχουσι πρὸς αὑτοὺς οἱ Ἕλληνες, καὶ ὅτι πολλῷ παραδοξότερον ἦν τοσοῦτον αὐτὸν ἐξ ἐκείνου γενέσθαι ἢ νῦν, ὅθʼ οὕτω πολλὰ προείληφε, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ὑφʼ αὑτῷ ποιήσασθαι, καὶ πάνθʼ ὅσα τοιαῦτʼ ἂν ἔχοιμι διεξελθεῖν, παραλείψω. §22ἀλλʼ ὁρῶ συγκεχωρηκότας ἅπαντας ἀνθρώπους, ἀφʼ ὑμῶν ἀρξαμένους, αὐτῷ, ὑπὲρ οὗ τὸν ἄλλον ἅπαντα χρόνον πάντες οἱ πόλεμοι γεγόνασιν οἱ Ἑλληνικοί.
And I wish to tell you the reasons why I fear so much for our affairs, so that, if I calculate correctly, you may share in my reasoning and make some provision for yourselves, if indeed you do not wish to do so for the others, but if I seem to talk nonsense and be crazed, you may not pay attention to me either now or hereafter as a sane man. Now, that Philip has grown great from a small and humble beginning, and that the Greeks are distrustfully and factionally disposed toward one another, and that it was much more unexpected for him to become so great from that beginning than it is now, when he has already taken so much, to subdue also the rest, and all such things as I could go through, I shall pass over. But I see that all men, beginning with you, have conceded to him that privilege over which all Greek wars have been waged in all former times.
τί οὖν ἐστι τοῦτο;
What then is this?
τὸ ποιεῖν ὅ τι βούλεται, καὶ καθʼ ἕνʼ οὑτωσὶ περικόπτειν καὶ λωποδυτεῖν τῶν Ἑλλήνων, καὶ καταδουλοῦσθαι τὰς πόλεις ἐπιόντα. §23καίτοι προστάται μὲν ὑμεῖς ἑβδομήκοντʼ ἔτη καὶ τρία τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐγένεσθε, προστάται δὲ τριάκονθʼ ἑνὸς δέοντα Λακεδαιμόνιοι· ἴσχυσαν δέ τι καὶ Θηβαῖοι τουτουσὶ τοὺς τελευταίους χρόνους μετὰ τὴν ἐν Λεύκτροις μάχην.
To do whatever he pleases, and to mutilate and plunder the Greeks one by one in this manner, and to enslave their cities as he attacks them. And yet you were leaders of the Greeks for seventy-three years, and the Lacedaemonians for twenty-nine years, and the Thebans also had some power in these recent times after the battle of Leuctra.
ἀλλʼ ὅμως οὔθʼ ὑμῖν οὔτε Θηβαίοις οὔτε Λακεδαιμονίοις οὐδεπώποτʼ, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, συνεχωρήθη τοῦθʼ ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων, ποιεῖν ὅ τι βούλοισθε, οὐδὲ πολλοῦ δεῖ·
But nevertheless, neither to you nor to the Thebans nor to the Lacedaemonians was this ever conceded by the Greeks, men of Athens, to do whatever you pleased, far from it;