§24ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν ὑμῖν, μᾶλλον δὲ τοῖς τότʼ οὖσιν Ἀθηναίοις, ἐπειδή τισιν οὐ μετρίως ἐδόκουν προσφέρεσθαι, πάντες ᾤοντο δεῖν, καὶ οἱ μηδὲν ἐγκαλεῖν ἔχοντες αὐτοῖς, μετὰ τῶν ἠδικημένων πολεμεῖν·
But in this matter, as regards you, or rather the Athenians of that time, when they were thought to behave in an immoderate way toward some, everyone felt they must make war, even those who had no complaint against them, in alliance with those who had been wronged.
καὶ πάλιν Λακεδαιμονίοις ἄρξασι καὶ παρελθοῦσιν εἰς τὴν αὐτὴν δυναστείαν ὑμῖν, ἐπειδὴ πλεονάζειν ἐπεχείρουν καὶ πέρα τοῦ μετρίου τὰ καθεστηκότʼ ἐκίνουν, πάντες εἰς πόλεμον κατέστησαν, καὶ οἱ μηδὲν ἐγκαλοῦντες αὐτοῖς. §25καὶ τί δεῖ τοὺς ἄλλους λέγειν;
And again, against the Lacedaemonians, when they had attained dominion and succeeded to the same supremacy as yours, when they attempted to encroach and disturbed the established order beyond measure, everyone entered into war, including those who had no complaint against them. And what need is there to speak of the others?
ἀλλʼ ἡμεῖς αὐτοὶ καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, οὐδὲν ἂν εἰπεῖν ἔχοντες ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὅ τι ἠδικούμεθʼ ὑπʼ ἀλλήλων, ὅμως ὑπὲρ ὧν τοὺς ἄλλους ἀδικουμένους ἑωρῶμεν, πολεμεῖν ᾠόμεθα δεῖν.
But we ourselves and the Lacedaemonians, though we could have said at the outset that we were in no way wronged by one another, nevertheless felt we must make war because of the wrongs we saw the others suffering.
καίτοι πάνθʼ ὅσʼ ἐξημάρτηται καὶ Λακεδαιμονίοις ἐν τοῖς τριάκοντʼ ἐκείνοις ἔτεσιν καὶ τοῖς ἡμετέροις προγόνοις ἐν τοῖς ἑβδομήκοντα, ἐλάττονʼ ἐστίν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, ὧν Φίλιππος ἐν τρισὶ καὶ δέκʼ οὐχ ὅλοις ἔτεσιν, οἷς ἐπιπολάζει, ἠδίκηκε τοὺς Ἕλληνας, μᾶλλον δʼ οὐδὲ μέρος τούτων ἐκεῖνα. §26καὶ τοῦτʼ ἐκ βραχέος λόγου ῥᾴδιον δεῖξαι.
And yet, all the wrongs committed both by the Lacedaemonians during those thirty years and by our ancestors during the seventy, are less, men of Athens, than those which Philip has committed against the Greeks in the less than thirteen whole years in which he has been rising to power; or rather, those are not even a fraction of these. And this is easy to show in a brief discourse.
Ὄλυνθον μὲν δὴ καὶ Μεθώνην καὶ Ἀπολλωνίαν καὶ δύο καὶ τριάκοντα πόλεις ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης ἐῶ, ἃς ἁπάσας οὕτως ὠμῶς ἀνῄρηκεν ὥστε μηδʼ εἰ πώποτʼ ᾠκήθησαν προσελθόντʼ εἶναι ῥᾴδιον εἰπεῖν·
I pass over Olynthus, Methone, Apollonia, and thirty-two cities in the region of Thrace, all of which he has destroyed so brutally that it is not easy for someone visiting them to say whether they were ever inhabited.
καὶ τὸ Φωκέων ἔθνος τοσοῦτον ἀνῃρημένον σιωπῶ.
And I say nothing of the destruction of the great nation of the Phocians.
ἀλλὰ Θετταλία πῶς ἔχει;
But how is it with Thessaly?
οὐχὶ τὰς πολιτείας καὶ τὰς πόλεις αὐτῶν παρῄρηται καὶ τετραρχίας κατέστησεν, ἵνα μὴ μόνον κατὰ πόλεις ἀλλὰ καὶ κατʼ ἔθνη δουλεύωσιν; §27αἱ δʼ ἐν Εὐβοίᾳ πόλεις οὐκ ἤδη τυραννοῦνται, καὶ ταῦτʼ ἐν νήσῳ πλησίον Θηβῶν καὶ Ἀθηνῶν;
Has he not deprived them of their constitutions and their cities, and established tetrarchies, so that they may be enslaved not only by cities but also by nations? And are not the cities in Euboea already ruled by tyrants, and that too on an island close to Thebes and Athens?
οὐ διαρρήδην εἰς τὰς ἐπιστολὰς γράφει
ἐμοὶ δʼ ἐστὶν εἰρήνη πρὸς τοὺς ἀκούειν ἐμοῦ βουλομένους
;
Does he not explicitly write in his letters, "And I am at peace with those who are willing to listen to me"?
καὶ οὐ γράφει μὲν ταῦτα, τοῖς δʼ ἔργοις οὐ ποιεῖ, ἀλλʼ ἐφʼ Ἑλλήσποντον οἴχεται, πρότερον ἧκεν ἐπʼ Ἀμβρακίαν, Ἦλιν ἔχει τηλικαύτην πόλιν ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ, Μεγάροις ἐπεβούλευσεν πρώην, οὔθʼ ἡ Ἑλλὰς οὔθʼ ἡ βάρβαρος τὴν πλεονεξίαν χωρεῖ τἀνθρώπου.
And he does not merely write this without acting accordingly; rather, he has gone off to the Hellespont, before that he came against Ambracia, he holds Elis, a city of such great size in the Peloponnese, and he schemed against Megara just recently.
§28καὶ ταῦθʼ ὁρῶντες οἱ Ἕλληνες ἅπαντες καὶ ἀκούοντες οὐ πέμπομεν πρέσβεις περὶ τούτων πρὸς ἀλλήλους κἀγανακτοῦμεν, οὕτω δὲ κακῶς διακείμεθα καὶ διορωρύγμεθα κατὰ πόλεις ὥστʼ ἄχρι τῆς τήμερον ἡμέρας οὐδὲν οὔτε τῶν συμφερόντων οὔτε τῶν δεόντων πρᾶξαι δυνάμεθα, οὐδὲ συστῆναι, οὐδὲ κοινωνίαν βοηθείας καὶ φιλίας οὐδεμίαν ποιήσασθαι, §29ἀλλὰ μείζω γιγνόμενον τὸν ἄνθρωπον περιορῶμεν, τὸν χρόνον κερδᾶναι τοῦτον ὃν ἄλλος ἀπόλλυται ἕκαστος ἐγνωκώς, ὥς γʼ ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ, οὐχ ὅπως σωθήσεται τὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων σκοπῶν οὐδὲ πράττων, ἐπεί, ὅτι γʼ ὥσπερ περίοδος ἢ καταβολὴ πυρετοῦ ἢ ἄλλου τινὸς κακοῦ καὶ τῷ πάνυ πόρρω δοκοῦντι νῦν ἀφεστάναι προσέρχεται, οὐδεὶς ἀγνοεῖ. §30καὶ μὴν κἀκεῖνό γʼ ἴστε, ὅτι ὅσα μὲν ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων ἢ ὑφʼ ἡμῶν ἔπασχον οἱ Ἕλληνες, ἀλλʼ οὖν ὑπὸ γνησίων γʼ ὄντων τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἠδικοῦντο, καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἄν τις ὑπέλαβεν τοῦτο, ὥσπερ ἂν εἰ υἱὸς ἐν οὐσίᾳ πολλῇ γεγονὼς γνήσιος διῴκει τι μὴ καλῶς μηδʼ ὀρθῶς, κατʼ αὐτὸ μὲν τοῦτʼ ἄξιον μέμψεως εἶναι καὶ κατηγορίας, ὡς δʼ οὐ προσήκων ἢ ὡς οὐ κληρονόμος τούτων ὢν ταῦτʼ ἐποίει, οὐκ ἐνεῖναι λέγειν. §31εἰ δέ γε δοῦλος ἢ ὑποβολιμαῖος τὰ μὴ προσήκοντʼ ἀπώλλυε καὶ ἐλυμαίνετο, Ἡράκλεις ὅσῳ μᾶλλον δεινὸν καὶ ὀργῆς ἄξιον πάντες ἂν ἔφησαν εἶναι.
Neither Greece nor the barbarian world can contain the man's avarice. And seeing and hearing these things, all we Greeks do not send envoys to one another concerning these matters and show our indignation; indeed, we are in such a miserable state and so deeply trenched in our respective cities that up to this very day we can do nothing that is useful or necessary, nor can we unite, nor form any association of mutual aid and friendship. Instead, we look on while the man grows greater, each of us determined, as it seems to me at least, to gain the time during which another is being destroyed, neither considering nor acting for the preservation of the Greek cause; for that this threat, like a periodic attack or fit of a fever or some other evil, is coming even upon the one who now thinks he is situated very far off, no one is ignorant. And yet, you also know this, that whatever the Greeks suffered from the Lacedaemonians or from us, they were at least wronged by genuine sons of Greece, and one would have regarded this in the same way as if a legitimate son, born to a great estate, should manage something in an unfitting or incorrect manner—while on this very account he would be worthy of blame and accusation, yet it would not be possible to say that he was doing this as one with no right or as not being the heir to these possessions. But if a slave or a supposititious child were wasting and ruining what did not belong to him, by Heracles, how much more dreadful and worthy of anger would everyone have said it was!
ἀλλʼ οὐχ ὑπὲρ Φιλίππου καὶ ὧν ἐκεῖνος πράττει νῦν, οὐχ οὕτως ἔχουσιν, οὐ μόνον οὐχ Ἕλληνος ὄντος οὐδὲ προσήκοντος οὐδὲν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ βαρβάρου ἐντεῦθεν ὅθεν καλὸν εἰπεῖν, ἀλλʼ ὀλέθρου Μακεδόνος, ὅθεν οὐδʼ ἀνδράποδον σπουδαῖον οὐδὲν ἦν πρότερον πρίασθαι.
Yet they do not feel this way about Philip and what he is doing now, though he is not only not a Greek, nor in any way related to the Greeks, but not even a barbarian from a place it is honorable to mention, but a pestilent Macedonian, from a place where formerly it was not even possible to buy a decent slave.