Against Demosthenes (71-75)

Is it right, when the laws demand that the orator or general who expects to get the people's confidence shall observe the laws in begetting children, shall own land within our boundaries, shall give all the lawful pledges and only thus lay claim to be the people's leader, that you should have sold the land inherited from your father or be claiming as yours children which are not your own, thus breaking the laws which govern oaths in court,[*] and be ordering others to fight when you deserted the citizens' ranks yourself?

What do you think it is, Athenians, that makes cities vary between good and evil fortunes? You will find only one cause: the counsellors and leaders. Take Thebes. It was a city; it became supreme. Under what leaders and generals? All the older men, on whose authority I shall give you the story, would admit that it was when Pelopidas,[*] so they have it,

led the Sacred Band[*] and Epaminondas and their compeers were in command. It was then that Thebes won the battle of Leuctra, then that they invaded the Spartans' country which, it was thought, could not be ravaged. During that period they accomplished many fine achievements: founded Messene in the four hundredth[*] year after its fall, gave the Arcadians self-government, and won a universal reputation.

On the other hand when was their achievement despicable and unworthy of their spirit? When Timolaus,[*] the friend of Demosthenes, was corrupted and took bribes from Philip, when the traitor Proxenus commanded the mercenaries enlisted at Amphissa and Theagenes was placed in command of the phalanx, a man of ill luck and, like the defendant here, open to bribes. Then, because of the three men whom I have mentioned, the whole city was destroyed and blotted from the face of Greece. Far from being false it is only too true that leaders are responsible for all the citizens' good fortunes and for the reverse.

Think again, this time of Athens, with the same points in mind. Our city was great, renowned in Greece, and worthy of our forbears, apart from the well-known exploits of the past, at the time when Conon triumphed, as our elders tell us, in the naval battle at Cnidus; when Iphicrates destroyed the Spartan company, when Chabrias defeated the Spartan triremes at sea off Naxos, when Timotheus won the sea battle off Corcyra.[*]