In Defence of Euxenippus (21-25)

so that you can ruin Euxenippus by alleging that he flatters her and the Macedonians. If you show us that he has ever been to Macedon or entertained any of the people in his own home, that he knows a Macedonian intimately or meets any of them; if you prove that he has said one word about such matters, either in a shop or in the market or anywhere else, instead of quietly and modestly minding his own business as much as any other citizen, the jury may do what they like with him.

For if these charges of yours were true, not only you but everyone else in the city would know the facts, as is the case with all the others who speak or act in the interests of Macedon. Their conduct is no secret. The rest of Athens, even the schoolchildren, know the orators who take Macedonian money and the other persons who put up Macedonian visitors, either secretly making them welcome or going into the streets to meet them when they arrive. You will not see Euxenippus classed with a single one of these men anywhere.

But you do not prosecute or bring to trial any of the people who are universally known to be doing these things, and yet you accuse Euxenippus of flattery when his manner of life disproves the charge. And yet if you had any sense, you would neither be blaming Euxenippus for the dedication of the cup nor have made any further mention of the affair, since it is impolitic to do so. Why is that? Will you please listen, gentlemen of the jury, to the account which I am going to give?

Olympias has made complaints against you about the incident at Dodona,[*] complaints which are unfair, as I have twice already proved in the Assembly before yourselves and the rest of Athens. I explained to her envoys that the charges she brings against the city are not justified. For Zeus of Dodona commanded you through the oracle to embellish the statue of Dione.

You made a face as beautiful as you could, together with all the other appropriate parts; and having prepared a great deal of expensive finery for the goddess and dispatched envoys with a sacrifice at great expense, you embellished the statue of Dione in a manner worthy of yourselves and of the goddess. These measures brought you the complaints of Olympias, who said in her letters that the country of Molossia, in which the temple stands, belonged to her, and that therefore we had no right to interfere with anything there at all.