On The Crown   

{79} In this letter he has nowhere mentioned the name of Demosthenes, nor
made any charge against me. Why is it then that, though he complains of
others, he has not mentioned my own actions? Because, if he had written
anything about me, he must have mentioned his own acts of wrong; for it
was these acts upon which I kept my grip, and these which I opposed. First
of all, when he was trying to steal into the Peloponnese, I proposed the
embassy to the Peloponnese;[n] then, when he was grasping at Euboea, the
embassy to Euboea;[n] then the expedition--not an embassy any more--to
Oreus,[n] and that to Eretria, when he had established tyrants in those
cities. {80} After that I dispatched all the naval expeditions, in the
course of which the Chersonese and Byzantium and all our allies were
saved. In consequence of this, the noblest rewards at the hands of those
who had benefited by your action became yours--votes of thanks, glory,
honours, crowns, gratitude; while of the victims of his aggression, those
who followed your advice at the time secured their own deliverance, and
those who neglected it had the memory of your warnings constantly in their
minds, and regarded you not merely as their well-wishers, but as men of
wisdom and prophetic insight; for all that you foretold has come to pass.
{81} And further, that Philistides would have given a large sum to retain
Oreus, and Cleitarchus to retain Eretria, and Philip himself, to be able
to count upon the use of these places against you, and to escape all
exposure of his other proceedings and all investigation, by any one in any
place, of his wrongful acts--all this is not unknown to any one, least of
all to you, Aeschines. {82} For the envoys sent at that time by
Cleitarchus and Philistides lodged at your house, when they came here, and
you acted as their patron.[n] Though the city rejected them, as enemies
whose proposals were neither just nor expedient, to you they were friends.
None of their attempts succeeded, slander me though you may, when you
assert that I say nothing when I receive money, but cry out when I spend
it. That, certainly, is not _your_ way: for you cry out with money in your
hands, and will never cease, unless those present cause you to do so by
taking away your civil rights[n] to-day. {83} Now on that occasion,
gentlemen, you crowned me for my conduct. Aristonicus proposed a decree
whose very syllables were identical with those of Ctesiphon's present
proposal; the crown was proclaimed in the theatre; and this was already
the second proclamation[n] in my honour: and yet Aeschines, though he was
there, neither opposed the decree, nor indicted the mover. (_To the
clerk_.) Take this decree also and read it.

{84} [_The decree of Aristonicus is read_.]

{85} Now is any of you aware of any discredit that attached itself to the
city owing to this decree? Did any mockery or ridicule ensue, such as
Aeschines said must follow on the present occasion, if I were crowned? But
surely when proceedings are recent and well known to all, then it is that,
if they are satisfactory, they meet with gratitude, and if they are
otherwise, with punishment. It appears, then, that on that occasion I met
with gratitude, not with blame or punishment.

{86} Thus the fact that, up to the time when these events took place, I
acted throughout as was best for the city, has been acknowledged by the
victory of my advice and my proposals in your deliberations, by the
successful execution of the measures which I proposed, and the award of
crowns in consequence of them to the city and to myself and to all, and by
your celebration of sacrifices to the gods, and processions, in
thankfulness for these blessings.

{87} When Philip had been expelled from Euboea--and while the arms which
expelled him were yours, the statesmanship and the decrees (even though
some of my opponents may split their sides) were mine--he proceeded to
look for some other stronghold from which he could threaten the city. And
seeing that we were more dependent than any other people upon imported
corn, and wishing to get our corn-trade into his power, he advanced to