Demosthenes, Philip’s Letter, James Herbert Vince (Translator), 21

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[21] For, if it belongs to the original conquerors, have not we a right to hold it? It was my ancestor, Alexander,¹ who first occupied the site, and, as the first-fruits of the Persian captives taken there, set up a golden statue at Delphi . Or if anyone disputes this and claims it for its later owners, here again the right is mine, because I besieged and captured the city, after its inhabitants had expelled you and accepted the Lacedaemonians as their founders.²

Philip’s Letter. Demosthenes. James Herbert Vince (Translator). London. 1930.

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Current edition Perseus

Philip’s Letter (English) (Demosthenes, Vol. I: Olynthiacs, Philippics, Minor Public Speeches, Speech Against Leptines, I-XVII, XX. Vince, J. H., translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1930 (printing).)

Editions (1)

ἐπιστολή [Φιλίππου] Perseus (Demosthenes. Orationes, Vol. I. Butcher, S. H., editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903.) — 21 focus

[21] εἴτε γὰρ τῶν ἐξ ἀρχῆς κρατησάντων γίγνεται, πῶς οὐ δικαίως ἡμεῖς αὐτὴν ἔχομεν, Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ προγόνου πρώτου κατασχόντος τὸν τόπον, ὅθεν καὶ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων Μήδων ἀπαρχὴν ἀνδριάντα χρυσοῦν ἀνέστησεν εἰς Δελφούς; εἴτε τούτων μὲν ἀμφισβητήσειέ τις, ἀξιοῖ δὲ γίγνεσθαι τῶν ὕστερον γενομένων κυρίων, ὑπάρχει μοι καὶ τοῦτο τὸ δίκαιον· ἐκπολιορκήσας γὰρ τοὺς ὑμᾶς μὲν ἐκβαλόντας, ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων δὲ κατοικισθέντας, ἔλαβον τὸ χωρίον.

Notes on the current edition

Philip’s Letter

1. Readers of Herodotus will remember Alexander, who after Salamis tried to tempt the Athenians to desert the Greek cause ( Hdt. 8.140 ), but made amends by revealing to them the decision of the Persians before Plataea ( Hdt. 9.44 ); and also the statue erected at Delphi from the plunder of Salamis ( Hdt. 8.121 ). But Amphipolis was not in existence at the time, nor were the Persians in their retreat attacked by Macedonians but by Thracians ( Hdt. 9.89 ). Perhaps the Macedonians had their own history of the Persian invasion.

2. Brasidas, after his death in 422, was worshipped at Amphipolis as hero and founder in place of Hagnon ( Thuc. 5.11 ).

Demosthenes Philip’s Letter 21

James Herbert Vince (Translator)

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