end promises to be. Heavens! which of you is so simple as not to know,
that the war yonder will soon be here, if we are careless? And should
this happen, I fear, O Athenians, that as men who thoughtlessly borrow
on large interest, after a brief accommodation, lose their estate, so
will it be with us; found to have paid dear for our idleness and
self-indulgence, we shall be reduced to many hard and unpleasant shifts,
and struggle for the salvation of our country.

To censure, I may be told, is easy for any man; to show what measures
the case requires, is the part of a counselor. I am not ignorant,
Athenians, that frequently, when any disappointment happens, you are
angry, not with the parties in fault, but with the last speakers on the
subject; yet never, with a view to self-protection, would I suppress
what I deem for your interest. I say then, you must give a two-fold
assistance here; first, save the Olynthians their towns, [Footnote: The
Chalcidian towns. See the Argument. Philip commenced his aggressions
upon the Olynthians by reducing several of these.] and send out troops
for that purpose; secondly, annoy the enemy's country with ships and
other troops; omit either of these courses, and I doubt the expedition
will be fruitless. For should he, suffering your incursion, reduce
Olynthus, he will easily march to the defense of his kingdom; or, should
you only throw succor into Olynthus, and he, seeing things out of danger
at home, keep up a close and vigilant blockade, he must in time prevail
over the besieged. Your assistance therefore must be effective, and
two-fold.

Such are the operations I advise. As to a supply of money: you have
money, Athenians; you have a larger military fund than any people; and
you receive it just as you please. If ye will assign this to your
troops, ye need no further supply; otherwise ye need a further, or
rather ye have none at all. How then? some man may exclaim: do you move
that this be a military fund? Verily, not I. [Footnote: There is some
studied obscurity in this passage, owing to the necessity under which
the speaker lay of avoiding the penalty of the law and a little quiet
satire on his countrymen, who seemed desirous of eating their pudding
and having it too. The logic of the argument runs thus--My opinion is,
that we ought to have a military fund, and that no man should receive
public money, without performing public service. However, as you prefer
taking the public money to pay for your places at the festivals, I will
not break the law by moving to apply that money to another purpose. Only
you gain nothing by it; for, as the troops must be paid, there must be
an extraordinary contribution, or property tax, to meet the exigency of
the case.] My opinion indeed is, that there should be soldiers raised,
and a military fund, and one and the same regulation for receiving and
performing what is due; only you just without trouble take your
allowance for the festivals. It remains then, I imagine, that all must
contribute, if much be wanted, much, if little, little. Money must be
had; without it nothing proper can be done. Other persons propose other
ways and means. Choose which ye think expedient; and put hands to the
work, while it is yet time.

It may be well to consider and calculate how Philip's affairs now stand.
They are not, as they appear, or as an inattentive observer might
pronounce, in very good trim, or in the most favorable position. He
would never have commenced this war, had he imagined he must fight. He
expected to carry every thing on the first advance, and has been
mistaken. This disappointment is one thing that troubles and dispirits
him; another is, the state of Thessaly. [Footnote: Philip's influence in
Thessaly was of material assistance to him in his ambitious projects. It
was acquired in this way. The power established by Jason of Pherae, who
raised himself to a sort of royal authority under the title of Tagus,
had devolved upon Lycophron. His sway extended more or less over the
whole of Thessaly; but was, if not generally unpopular, at least
unacceptable to the great families in the northern towns, among whom the