es are not at war until they apply
them to the walls. But that you will not say: for whoever contrives and
prepares the means for my conquest, is at war with me before he darts or
draws the bow. What, if anything should happen, is the risk you run? The
alienation of the Hellespont, the subjection of Megara and Euboea to
your enemy, the siding of the Peloponnesians with him. Then can I allow
that one who sets such an engine at work against Athens is at peace with
her? Quite the contrary. From the day that he destroyed the Phocians I
date his commencement of hostilities. Defend yourselves instantly, and I
say you will be wise: delay it, and you may wish in vain to do so
hereafter. So much do I dissent from your other counselors, men of
Athens, that I deem any discussion about Chersonesus or Byzantium out of
place. Succor them,--I advise that,--watch that no harm befalls them,
send all necessary supplies to your troops in that quarter; but let your
deliberations be for the safety of all Greece, as being in the utmost
peril. I must tell you why I am so alarmed at the state of our affairs,
that if my reasonings are correct, you may share them, and make some
provision at least for yourselves, however disinclined to do so for
others; but if in your judgment I talk nonsense and absurdity, you may
treat me as crazed, and not listen to me either now or in future.

That Philip from a mean and humble origin has grown mighty, that the
Greeks are jealous and quarreling among themselves, that it was far more
wonderful for him to rise from that insignificance than it would now be,
after so many acquisitions, to conquer what is left: these, and similar
matters which I might dwell upon, I pass over. But I observe that all
people, beginning with you, have conceded to him a right which in
former times has been the subject of contest in every Grecian war. And
what is this? The right of doing what he pleases, openly fleecing and
pillaging the Greeks, one after another, attacking and enslaving their
cities. You were at the head of the Greeks for seventy-three years, the
Lacedaemonians for twenty-nine; and the Thebans had some power in these
latter times after the battle of Leuctra. Yet neither you my countrymen,
nor Thebans, nor Lacedaemonians, were ever licensed by the Greeks to act
as you pleased; far otherwise. When you, or rather the Athenians of that
time, appeared to be dealing harshly with certain people, all the rest,
even such as had