most reasonably urged--that we ought in justice to have brought our own
quarrel to the test by ourselves, instead of avoiding all conflict with
one another, and looking for a third party to whom we could do harm. Such
iniquity really passes all bounds.

{17} From this one may see the nature of all his charges alike, uttered,
as they have been, without justice or regard for truth. Yet I desire also
to examine them severally, and more particularly the false statements
which he made against me in regard to the Peace and the Embassy, when he
ascribed to me[n] the things which he himself had done in conjunction with
Philocrates. And here it is necessary, men of Athens, and perhaps
appropriate,[n] that I should remind you of the state of affairs
subsisting during that period, so that you may view each group of actions
in the light of the circumstances of the time.

{18} When the Phocian war had broken out[n] (not through any action of
mine, for I had not yet entered public life), your own attitude, in the
first place, was such, that you wished for the preservation of the
Phocians, although you saw that their actions were unjustifiable; while
you would have been delighted at anything that might happen to the
Thebans, against whom you felt an indignation that was neither
unreasonable nor unfair; for they had not used their good fortune at
Leuctra with moderation. And, in the second place, the Peloponnese was all
disunited: those who detested the Spartans [n] were not strong enough to
annihilate them, and those who had previously governed with the support of
Sparta [n] were no longer able to maintain their control over their
cities; but both these and all the other states were in a condition of
indeterminate strife and confusion. {19} When Philip saw this (for it was
not hard to see), he tried, by dispensing money to the traitors whom each
state contained, to throw them all into collision and stir up one against
another; and thus, amid the blunders and perversity of others, he was
making his own preparations, and growing great to the danger of all. And
when it became clear to all that the then overbearing (but now unhappy)
Thebans, distressed by the length of the war, would be forced to fly to
you for aid,[n] Philip, to prevent this--to prevent the formation of any
union between the cities--made offers of peace to you, and of assistance
to them. {20} Now what was it that helped him, and enabled him to find in
you his almost willing dupes? It was the baseness (if that is the right
name to use), or the ignorance, or both, of the rest of the Hellenes, who,
though you were engaged in a long and continuous war, and that on behalf
of the interests of all, as has been proved by the event, never assisted
you either with money or with men, or in any other way whatsoever. And in
your just and proper indignation with them, you listened readily to
Philip. It was for these reasons, therefore, and not through any action of
mine, that the Peace which we then conceded was negotiated; and any one
who investigates the matter honestly will find that it is the crimes and
the corrupt practices of these men, in the course of the negotiations,
that are responsible for our position to-day. {21} It is in the interests
of truth that I enter into all these events with this exactitude and
thoroughness; for however strong the appearance of criminality in these
proceedings may be, it has, I imagine, nothing to do with me. The first
man to suggest or mention the Peace was Aristodemus[n] the actor; and the
person who took the matter up and moved the motion, and sold his services
for the purpose, along with Aeschines, was Philocrates of Hagnus--your
partner, Aeschines, not mine, even if you split your sides with lying;
while those who supported him, from whatever motive (for of that I say
nothing at present), were Eubulus and Cephisophon. I had no part in the
matter anywhere. {22} And yet, although the facts are such as with
absolute truth I am representing them to be, he carried his effrontery so
far as to dare to assert that I was not only responsible for the Peace,
but had also prevented the city from acting in conjunction with a general
assembly of the Hellenes in making it. What? and you--oh! how can one find
a name that can be applied to you?--when you saw me (for you were there)
preventing the city from taking this great step and forming so grand an