On The Chersonese   

be our answer? What shall we say, Athenians? I do not see what we can say.

{38} Now there are some who imagine that they confute a speaker, as soon
as they have asked him the question, 'What then are we to do?' I will
first give them this answer--the most just and true of all--'Do not do
what you are doing now.' {39} But at the same time I will give them a
minute and detailed reply; and then let them show that their willingness
to act upon it is not less than their eagerness to interrogate. First, men
of Athens, you must thoroughly make up your minds to the fact that Philip
is at war with Athens, and has broken the Peace--you must cease to lay the
blame at one another's doors--and that he is evilly-disposed and hostile
to the whole city, down to the very ground on which it is built; {40} nay,
I will go further--hostile to every single man in the city, even to those
who are most sure that they are winning his favour. (If you think
otherwise, consider the case of Euthycrates[n] and Lasthenes of Olynthus,
who fancied that they were on the most friendly terms with him, but, after
they had betrayed their city, suffered the most utter ruin of all.) But
his hostilities and intrigues are aimed at nothing so much as at our
constitution, whose overthrow is the very first object in the world to
him. {41} And in a sense it is natural that he should aim at this. For he
knows very well that even if he becomes master of all the rest of the
world, he can retain nothing securely, so long as you are a democracy; and
that if he chances to stumble anywhere, as may often happen to a man, all
the elements which are now forced into union with him will come and take
refuge with you. {42} For though you are not yourselves naturally adapted
for aggrandizement or the usurpation of empire, you have the art of
preventing any other from seizing power and of taking it from him when he
has it; and in every respect you are ready to give trouble to those who
are ambitious of dominion, and to lead all men forth into liberty. And so
he would not have Freedom, from her home in Athens, watching for every
opportunity he may offer--far from it--and there is nothing unsound or
careless in his reasoning. {43} The first essential point, therefore, is
this--that you conceive him to be the irreconcilable foe of your
constitution and of democracy: for unless you are inwardly convinced of
this, you will not be willing to take an active interest in the situation.
Secondly, you must realize clearly that all the plans which he is now so
busily contriving are in the nature of preparations against this country;
and wherever any one resists him, he there resists him on our behalf. {44}
For surely no one is so simple as to imagine that when Philip is covetous
of the wretched hamlets[n] of Thrace--one can give no other name to
Drongilum, Cabyle, Masteira, and the places which he is now seizing--and
when to get these places he is enduring heavy labours, hard winters, and
the extremity of danger;--{45} no one can imagine, I say, that the
harbours and the dockyards, and the ships of the Athenians, the produce of
your silver-mines, and your huge revenue, have no attraction for him, or
that he will leave you in possession of these, while he winters in the
very pit of destruction[n] for the sake of the millet and the spelt in the
silos[n] of Thrace. No, indeed! It is to get these into his power that he
pursues both his operations in Thrace and all his other designs. {46} What
then, as sensible men, must you do? Knowing and realizing your position,
as you do, you must lay aside this excessive, this irremediable[n]
indolence: you must contribute funds, and require them from your allies;
you must so provide and act, that this force which is now assembled may be
held together; in order that, as Philip has the force in readiness that is
to injure and enslave all the Hellenes, you may have in readiness that
which shall preserve and succour them. {47} You cannot effect by isolated
expeditions any of the things which must be effected. You must organize a
force, and provide maintenance for it, and paymasters, and a staff of
servants; and when you have taken such steps as will ensure the strictest
possible watch being kept over the funds, you must hold these officials
accountable for the money, and the general for the actual operations. If
you act thus, and honestly make up your minds to take this course, you
will either compel Philip to observe a righteous peace and remain in his
own land--and no greater blessing could you obtain than that--or you will