339 BC PHILIP'S LETTER TO THE ATHENIANS by Philip, King of Macedon translated by Thomas Leland, D.D. Notes and Introduction by Thomas Leland, D.D. şiElectronically Enhanced Text (c) Copyright 1996, World Library(R) DAK Upgraded Edition, Copyright 2000, DAK Industries 2000, Inc(R)şI {INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION To Philip's Letter to the Athenians, and Demosthenes' Oration on the Letter - THE former oration (The Fourth Philippic) inspired the Athenians with the resolution of sending succors to all the cities that were threatened by Philip's arms; and their first step was to despatch to the Hellespont a convoy with provisions; which weighed anchor in view of Selymbria, a city of the Propontis, then besieged by the Macedonians, and was there seized by Amyntas, Philip's admiral. The ships were demanded by the Athenians, and returned by Philip, but with declarations sufficiently alarming. The obstinate valor of the Perinthians had forced Philip to turn the siege into a blockade. He marched off with a considerable body of his army to attack other places, and made an incursion into the territories of Byzantium. The Byzantines shut themselves up within their city, and despatched one of their citizens to Athens to desire the assistance of that state; who, with some difficulty, prevailed to have a fleet of forty ships sent out, under the command of Chares. As this general had not the same reputation in other places as at Athens, the cities by which he was to pass refused to receive him: so that he was obliged to wander for some time along the coasts, extorting contributions from the Athenian allies; despised by the enemy, and suspected by the whole world. He appeared at last before Byzantium, where he met with the same mortifying treatment as in other places, and was refused admission; and shortly after was defeated by Amyntas in a naval engagement, in which a considerable part of his fleet was either sunk or taken. {INTRODUCTION ^paragraph 5} Philip had for some time perceived, that, sooner or later, he must inevitably come to a rupture with the Athenians. His partisans were no longer able to lull them into security. Their opposition to his designs, however imperfect and ineffectual, was yet sufficient to alarm him. He therefore determined to endeavor to abate that spirit which now began to break through their inveterate indolence; and for this purpose sent them a letter, in which, with the utmost art, he laid open the causes of complaint he had against them, and threatened them with reprisals. This letter was not received at Athens till after the news of Chares's defeat. Philip had now laid siege to Byzantium, and exerted all his efforts to make himself master of that city. On the other hand, the Athenians were disheartened by the ill-success of their commander, and began to repent of having sent any succors, when Phocion, who always assumed the liberty of speaking his sentiments freely, assured them, that for once they themselves had not been in fault; but that their general only was to blame. He was immediately desired to take on himself the charge of relieving Byzantium; and set sail with a numerous body of forces. He was received with the greatest demonstrations of joy; and his whole conduct expressed the utmost wisdom and moderation. Nor was his valor less conspicuous: he sustained many assaults with an intrepidity worthy of the early ages of the commonwealth, and at last obliged Philip to raise the siege. Phocion then departed amid the general acclamations of the people whom he had saved. He proceeded to the relief of the colonies of the Chersonesus, who were ever exposed to the attacks of the Cardians. In this way he took some vessels laden with arms and provisions for the enemy, and obliged the Macedonians, who had attempted Sestos, to abandon their enterprise, and shut themselves up in Cardia. And thus, after various expeditions highly honorable both to himself and to his country, Phocion returned home, where he found the Athenians engaged in a debate on Philip's letter: on which occasion Demosthenes pronounced his last oration against Philip. To have answered the letter particularly would have been very difficult; for, though Athens had the better cause, yet many irregularities had really been committed, which Philip knew how to display in their full force. The orator therefore makes use of his art to extricate himself from the difficulty; avoids all former discussions of facts, and applies himself at once to raise the lively passions: affects to consider this letter as an open declaration of war; inflames the imaginations of his hearers with this idea; and speaks only of the means to support their arms against so powerful an enemy. {LETTER_TO_THE_ATHENIANS PHILIP'S LETTER TO THE ATHENIANS - PHILIP, to the Senate and People *(1) of Athens- Greeting: As the embassies I have frequently sent to enforce those oaths and declarations by which we stand engaged have produced no alteration in your conduct, I thought it necessary thus to lay before you the several particulars in which I think myself aggrieved. Be not surprised at the length of this letter; for, as I have many causes of complaint, it is necessary to explain them all distinctly. First, then, when Nicias the herald *(2) was forcibly taken out of my own territory; instead of punishing the author of this outrage, as justice required, you added to his wrongs by keeping him ten months in prison; and the letters entrusted to him by us *(3) you read publicly in your assembly. Again, when the ports of Thassus were open *(4) to the Byzantine galleys, nay, to any pirates that pleased, you looked on with indifference; although our treaties expressly say that such proceedings shall be considered as an actual declaration of war. About the same time it was that Diopithes made a descent on my dominions, carried off in chains the inhabitants of Crobyle and Tiristasis, *(5) ravaged all the adjacent parts of Thrace, and at length proceeded to such a pitch of lawless violence as to seize Amphilocus, *(6) who went in quality of an ambassador, to treat about the ransom of prisoners; whom, after he had reduced him to the greatest difficulties, he compelled to purchase his freedom, at the rate of nine talents: and this he did with the approbation of his state. Yet the violation of the sacred character of heralds and ambassadors is accounted, by all people, the height of impiety: nor have any expressed a deeper sense of this than you yourslves; for, when the Megareans had put Anthemocritus to death, *(7) the people proceeded so far as to exclude them from the mysteries, and erected *(8) a statue before the gates as a monument of their crime. And is not this shocking, to be avowedly guilty of the very same crimes for which your resentment fell so severely on others, when you yourselves were aggrieved? In the next place, Callias your general hath made himself master of all the towns on the bay of Pagasae, though comprehended in the treaty made with you, and united in alliance to me. Not a vessel could steer its course towards Macedon but the passengers were all treated by him as enemies, and sold; and this his conduct hath been applauded by the resolutions of your council! So that I do not see how you can proceed further if you actually declare war against me. For, when we were at open hostilities, you did but send out your corsairs, make prize of those who were sailing to my kingdom, assist my enemies, and infest my territories. Yet now, when we are professedly at peace, so far have your injustice and rancor hurried you, that you have sent ambassadors to the Persian, *(9) to persuade him to attack me; which must appear highly surprising; for, before that prince had subdued Egypt and Phoenicia, it was resolved, *(10) that if he attempted any new enterprises, you would invite me, as well as all the other Greeks, to an association against him. But now, with such malice am I pursued, that you are, on the contrary, confederating with him against me. In former times, I am told, your ancestors objected it as a heinous crime to the family *(11) of Pisistratus that they had led the Persian against the Greeks: and yet you are not ashamed to commit the very same action for which you were continually inveighing against those tyrants! But your injustice hath not stopped here. Your decrees command me to permit Teres and Cersobleptes to reign *(12) unmolested in Thrace, as being citizens of Athens. I do not know that they were included in our treaty, that their names are to be found in the records of our engagements, or that they are Athenians. But this I know, that Teres served in my army against you; and that when Cersobleptes proposed to my ambassadors to take the necessary oaths, in order to be particularly included in the treaty, your generals prevented him, by declaring him an enemy to the Athenians. And how is this equitable or just: when it serves your purposes, to proclaim him the enemy of your state; when I am to be calumniated, to give him the title of your citizen: when Sitalces was slain, *(13) to whom you granted the privileges of your city, instantly to enter into an alliance with his murderer; yet to engage in a war with me on account of Cersobleptes?- and this, when you are sensible that not one of these your adopted citizens has ever shown the least regard to your laws or determinations! But to bring this affair to a short issue. You granted the rights of your community *(14) to Evagoras of Cyprus, *(15) to Dionysius the Syracusan, and to their descendants. Prevail, therefore, on the men who have dispossessed each of these to restore them to their dominions, and you shall recover from me all those territories of Thrace *(16) which Teres and Cersobleptes commanded. But if you have nothing to urge against those who expelled them, and yet are incessantly tormenting me, am not I justly warranted to oppose you? I might urge many other arguments on this head, but I choose to pass them over. The Cardians, *(17) I freely declare, I am determined to support, as my engagements to them are prior to our treaty, and as you refused to submit your differences with them to an arbitration, though frequently urged by me: nor have they been wanting in the like solicitations. Should not I, therefore, be the basest of mankind to abandon my allies, and to show greater regard for you, my inveterate opposers, than for my constant and assured adherents? {LETTER_TO_THE_ATHENIANS ^paragraph 5} Formerly (for I cannot pass this in silence) you contented yourselves with remonstrating on the points above mentioned. But lately, on the bare complaint of the Peparethians that they had been severely treated by me, you proceeded to such outrage, as to send orders to your general to revenge their quarrel. Yet the punishment which I inflicted was no way equal to the heinousness of their crime; as they had in time of peace seized Halonesus: nor could be prevailed on by all my solicitations to give up either the island or the garrison. The injuries I received from the Peparethians were never thought of; but their punishment commanded all your attention, as it afforded a pretence for accusing me; although I did not take the island either from them or from you, but from the pirate Sostratus. If, then, you confess that you delivered to Sostratus, you confess yourselves guilty of sending out pirates: if he seized it without your consent, how have I injured you by taking possession of it, and by rendering it a secure harbor? Nay, so great was my regard to your state, that I offered to bestow on you this island: but this was not agreeable to your orators: they *(18) would not have it accepted, but resumed. So that, if I complied with their directions, I proclaimed myself a usurper: if I still kept possession of the place, I became suspected to the people. I saw through these artifices, and therefore proposed to bring our differences to a judicial determination: and if sentence was given for me, to present you with the place; if in your favor, to restore it to the people. This I frequently desired: you would not hear it: the Peparethians seized the island. What then was I to do? Should I not punish the violators of oaths? Was I tamely to bear such an audacious insult? If the island was the property of the Peparethians, what right have the Athenians to demand it? If it is yours, why do you not resent their usurpations? So far, in short, have our animosities been carried, that, when I had occasion to despatch some vessels to the Hellespont, I was obliged to send a body of forces through the Chersonesus to defend them against your colonies, who are authorized to attack me by a decree of Polycrates, *(19) confirmed by the resolutions of your council. Nay, your general has actually invited the Byzantines to join him, and has everywhere publicly declared that he has your instructions to commence hostilities at the first favorable opportunity. All this could not prevail on me to make any attempt on your city, or your navy, or your territories, although I might have had success in most, or even all of them. I chose rather to continue my solicitations to have our complaints submitted to proper umpires. And which, think ye, is the fittest decision- that of reason or of the sword? Who are to be judges in your cause- yourselves or others? What can be more inconsistent than that the people of Athens, who compelled the Thassians and Maronites *(20) to bring their pretensions to the city of Stryma to a judicial decision, should yet refuse to have their own disputes with me determined in the same manner? particularly, as you are sensible that if the decree be against you, still you lose nothing; if in your favor, it puts you in possession of my conquests. But what appears to me most unaccountable is this: when I sent you ambassadors, chosen from all the confederated powers, on purpose to be witnesses of our transactions; when I discovered the sincerest intentions of entering into reasonable and just engagements with you in relation to the affairs of Greece, you even refused to hear these ambassadors on that head. It was then in your power to remove all their apprehensions who suspected any danger from my designs, or to have openly convicted me of consummate baseness. This was the interest of the people; but the orators could not find their account in it; for they are a set of men to whom (if I may believe those that are acquainted with your polity) peace is war, and war is peace; *(21) as they are always sure to make a property of the generals, either by aiding their designs, or by malicious prosecutions. Then they need but throw out some scandalous invectives against persons of worth and eminence, citizens or foreigners, and they at once acquire the character of patriots among the many. I could have easily silenced their clamors against me by a little gold, and even have converted them into praises; but I should blush to purchase your friendship from such wretches. To such insolence have they proceeded on other occasions, that they even dared to dispute my title to Amphipolis, which is founded, I presume, on reasons beyond their power to invalidate: for, if it is to belong to those who first conquered it, what can be juster than our claim? Alexander, our ancestor, was the original sovereign; *(22) as appears from the golden statue *(23) which he erected at Delphos from the first-fruits of the Persian spoils taken there. But if this admits of contest, and it is to continue the property of those who were last in possession, it is mine by this title too (for I took it from the Lacedaemonian inhabitants, who had dispossessed you); *(24) and all cities are held either by hereditary right or by the right of conquest. And yet you, who neither were the original possessors, nor are now in possession, presume to lay claim to this city, under pretence of having held it for some short time; and this when you have yourselves given the strongest testimony in my favor; for I frequently wrote to you on this head, and you as often acknowledged me the rightful sovereign: and, by the articles of our late treaty, the possession of Amphipolis and your alliance were both secured to me. What title, therefore, can be better established? It descended to us from our ancestors; it is ours by conquest; and, lastly, you yourselves have acknowledged the justice of our pretensions; you, who are wont to assert your claim even when it is not supported by right. I have now laid before you the grounds of my complaints. Since you have been the first aggressors; since my gentleness and fear of offending have only served to increase your injustice, and to animate you in your attempts to distress me, I must now take up arms; and I call the gods to witness to the justice of my cause, and the necessity of procuring for myself that redress which you deny me! {NOTES NOTES To Philip's Letter to the Athenians - *(1) This letter is a masterpiece in the original: it has a majestic and persuasive vivacity; a force and justness of reasoning sustained through the whole; a clear exposition of facts, and each followed by its natural consequence; a delicate irony: in short, a noble and concise style, made for kings who speak well, or have taste and discernment at least to make choice of those who can make them speak well. If Philip was himself the author of this letter, as it is but just to believe, since we have no proof to the contrary, we may reasonably pronounce of him as was said of Caesar, "that he wrote with that spirit with which he fought." Eodem animo dixit, quo bellavit. - *(2) Probably he had been seized on his journey from Thrace to Macedon by Diopithes, at the time of his invading Philip's Thracian dominions, as mentioned in the preface to the Oration on the State of the Chersonesus. - {NOTES ^paragraph 5} *(3) The Athenians hoped, by opening this packet, to get some light into Philip's secret schemes and practices against them. There were found in it some letters directed to Olympias, Philip's queen, which they treated with a most scrupulous respect, and took care she should receive them in the same condition in which they had been intercepted. - *(4) Athenians had engaged, by an article of their treaty, that the Thassians, who were their subjects, should not receive any ships that committed piracies on the subjects or allies of Philip. This article had not been strictly observed; perhaps on account of Philip's own infidelity. - *(5) The first of these places is quite unknown. Tiristasis is placed by Pliny in the Thracian Chersonesus. {NOTES ^paragraph 10} - *(6) It is impossible to save the honor of Diopithes but by denying the fact; at least in the manner that Philip represents it. - *(7) Philip here beats the Athenians with their own weapons, and cites, very much to the purpose, the example of a memorable vengeance which they had taken about an age before on the Megareans. They had accused this people of favoring a revolt of their slaves, and of profaning a tract of consecrated land; and on this account excluded them from all advantages of commerce in the ports and markets of Athens. Thucydides stops here; but Pausanias adds, that Anthemocritus went from Athens in quality of a herald to summon the Megareans to desist from their sacrilege, and that for answer they put him to death. The interest of the gods served the Athenians for a pretence; but the famous Aspasia, whom Pericles was so violently in love with, was the true cause of their rupture with Megara. Some young Athenians, heated by wine, had taken away from Megara a remarkable courtesan called Simaetha; and the Megareans, by way of reprisal, seized two Athenian ladies of the same character that were in Aspasia's train. Pericles espoused his favorite's quarrel; and, with the power which he then possessed, easily persuaded the people to whatever he pleased. They thundered out a decree against the Megareans, forbidding all commerce with them on pain of death: they drew up a new form of an oath, by which every general obliged himself to invade the territories of Megara twice every year. This decree kindled the first sparks of contention, which at length flamed out in the Peloponnesian War: it was the work of three courtesans. The most illustrious events have sometimes as shameful an origin. - {NOTES ^paragraph 15} *(8) All the Greeks had ordinarily a right to be initiated into what were called the lesser mysteries, which the Athenians celebrated at Eleusis in honor of Ceres and Prosperine; but on the death of Anthemocritus the Megareans were excluded, and a statue or tomb erected in honor of this herald on the road leading from Athens to Eleusis, near the gate called Dipylon. According to Aristophanes the Megareans denied this murder, and threw the whole blame of it on Aspasia and Pericles. - *(9) Diodorus informs us that about this time the satraps of the Lesser Asia had obliged Philip to raise the siege of Perinthus. The historian does not say that the Athenians invited them; but Philip complains of it here: and Pausanias observes, that in this expedition the Persian forces were commanded by Apollodorus, an Athenian general. We may observe with what disrespect Philip (whose ancestors in their greatest prosperity never aspired higher than to the alliance of some satrap) here speaks of the great king- "the Persian!" - *(10) Artaxerxes Ochus, who governed Persia at that time, before his reduction of these revolted provinces had marched into the Lesser Asia against Artabazus, a rebellious satrap. The approach of the Persians alarmed the Greeks; and Athens conceived a design of attacking them in their own country. This gave occasion to the oration of Demosthenes entitled Peri ton Summorion. Philip pretends that they had resolved to admit him into the confederacy which was then forming in favor of the Greeks, with whom he affects to rank, and by his expressions removes every idea of foreigner and barbarian, which are the representations that the orator frequently makes of him. {NOTES ^paragraph 20} - *(11) The comparison which Philip makes here, between the sons of Pisistratus and the orators who advised an alliance with Persia, is founded on a history too well known to be enlarged on. It is undoubtedly by no means just: for, in different conjunctures, the good citizen may employ the same forces to save his country that the wicked one had formerly employed to destroy it. However, the turn he gives it was the fittest in the world to affect the people, who thought it their greatest honor to express an inveterate hatred to the Persians. - *(12) History speaks only of Cersobleptes. They had suffered him to be overthrown by Philip; and when they found how nearly they themselves were affected by his fall, employed those decrees to endeavor to restore him. - {NOTES ^paragraph 25} *(13) This Sitalces was the grandfather of Cersobleptes. In the beginning of the Peloponnesian War he rendered the Athenians such important services, that they, by way of acknowledgment, admitted his son Sadocus into the number of their citizens. In the eighth year of this war Sitalces was killed in a battle against the Triballi. His nephew Seuthes seized the kingdom, in prejudice of his children; and hence became suspected of being the cause of his death. Philip argues from this suspicion as if it were an undoubted truth. - *(14) What idea must we form of the splendor of that city, where even kings solicited for the rank of private citizens! The other states of Greece affected the same kind of grandeur. At a time when ambassadors from Corinth were congratulating Alexander on his victories, they made him an offer of the freedom of their city, as the greatest mark of honor possible. Alexander, now in the full splendor of his fortune, disdained to return them any answer but a contemptuous smile. This stung the ambassadors to the quick; and one of them was bold enough to say, "Know, sir, that the great Hercules and you are the only persons whom Corinth has ever deigned to distinguish in this manner." This softened the prince: he received them with all possible marks of respect, and accepted of a title which had been so dignified. - *(15) The Athenians erected a statue to Evagoras, the elder of that name, and declared him a citizen of Athens, for having assisted Conon in restoring their liberty. He caused Salamis to revolt from the Persians, and subdued most part of the island of Cyprus; but was afterward reduced, and fell by the hand of Nicocles. His son, Evagoras the Younger, however, asserted his claim to the kingdom of Cyprus, and was supported by the Athenians against Protagoras, the successor of Nicocles. But his attempts were not successful. Protagoras supplanted him at the court of Persia, where he had been in full favor. He was cited to answer to some heads of an accusation; and upon his justifying himself, he obtained a government in Asia well worth his little kingdom. But his bad conduct soon obliged him to abdicate, and fly into Cyprus, where he perished wretchedly. {NOTES ^paragraph 30} - *(16) In the original, ten Thraken, osen, etc. By the ironical pomp of this expression he sets their dominions (which were really inconsiderable) in the most contemptuous light. - *(17) See the introduction to the Oration on the State of the Chersonesus. - {NOTES ^paragraph 35} *(18) Demosthenes in particular opposed their receiving a restitution under the name of a present. - *(19) This orator had great credit at Athens, and on many occasions favored the designs of Philip. Possibly he acted otherwise on this occasion, the better to conceal his attachment; or that he might afterward sell his integrity at a dearer rate. - *(20) The first of these peoples inhabited an island in the Egean Sea, the other a maritime place in Thrace. The Thassians had founded Stryma, according to Herodotus; but as it was in the neighborhood of Maronea, probably the Maronites had, in quality of protectors, or benefactors, acquired some pretensions to it. {NOTES ^paragraph 40} - *(21) Aristotle quotes this (nearly) as an example of an agreeable antithesis; which, joined to the force, and, what is more, to the order of the arguments contained in this letter, inclines me to think that Aristotle was his secretary on this occasion. But my conjecture, whether well or ill founded, does not detract from Philip in point of genius and spirit. The true talent of a king is to know how to apply the talents of others to the best advantage: and we do not want other proofs of Philip's abilities in writing; witness his letter to Aristotle on the birth of Alexander. - *(22) Philip asserts boldly, without giving himself much trouble even to preserve probability: for in the time of Alexander, the contemporary of Xerxes, there was no city, nor any fortified post in the place where Amphipolis was afterward raised; nor was it till thirty years after the defeat of the Persians that Agnon founded it. - {NOTES ^paragraph 45} *(23) Herodotus speaks of this statue, and places it near the colossal statue which the Greeks raised, according to custom, out of the Persian spoils. The proximity of these statues serves Philip as a foundation for giving his ancestors an honor which really belonged to the Greeks. Solinus mentions that Alexander, a very rich prince, made an offering of a golden statue of Apollo in the temple of Delphos, and another of Jupiter in the temple of Elis; but not that the Persian spoils were any part of these offerings. This Alexander, surnamed philellen, friend of Greeks, had the reputation of an able politician, but not of a good soldier or great commander. He served the Persians a long time, rather by force than inclination; and before the battle of Salamis declared of a sudden for the Greeks. - *(24) Brasidas, the Lacedaemonian general, took Amphipolis from the republic of Athens; and by the assistance of Sparta it afterward maintained its independence until it fell into the power of Philip. - - THE END OF PHILIP'S LETTER TO THE ATHENIANS