Against Demosthenes (16-20)

Yet the embassies to Thebes which Demosthenes undertook are equivalent to a mere fraction of Timotheus' services; and which of you, contrasting with the exploits on which Demosthenes prides himself those which Timotheus and Conon performed on your behalf, would not laugh to scorn all who consented to listen to this man? But then there should be no comparison made between this outcast and the men who in your interests acted worthily of the city and your ancestors. I will therefore cite the decree which was passed concerning Timotheus and then return to my review of the defendant. Read.

Decree

This citizen, Demosthenes, of such a character, who might well have gained the pardon and gratitude of his colleagues in the public life of those days, since he had rendered great services to the city, not in word only but in deed, and had always remained true to the same policy rather than changing to and fro as you have done, met his death without begging the people for such extensive favors as would set him above the laws or thinking that men who had sworn to vote in accordance with the law should consider anything more important than their word; he was ready even for condemnation, if the jury decided upon it, and did not plead the inclemency of circumstance or express in public opinions which he did not hold.

Will you not execute this accursed wretch, Athenians, who, in addition to many other crucial blunders, stood by while the Thebans' city was destroyed, though he had accepted three hundred talents from the Persian King for their protection though the Arcadians,[*] arriving at the Isthmus, had dismissed with a rebuff the envoys of Antipater and welcomed those from the unhappy Thebans who had reached them with difficulty by sea, bearing a suppliant's staff and heralds' wands, plaited, they said, from olive shoots?

They came to assure the Arcadians that no wish to break their friendship with the Greeks had led the Thebans to a revolution, nor did they intend to do anything to the detriment of Greece; but they were no longer able to countenance at home the behavior of the Macedonians in the city, to endure slavery, or to witness the outrages perpetrated against the persons of free men.

The Arcadians were ready to help them and, sympathizing with their misfortunes, explained that, though they were compelled through force of circumstance to serve Alexander with their persons, in spirit they sided always with the Thebans and the cause of Greek liberty. Since their leader, Astylus, was open to bribery, as Stratocles said, and wanted ten talents as the price of helping the Thebans, the envoys approached Demosthenes who, as they knew, held the King's gold and earnestly begged him to spend the money to save their city.