Demosthenes On the Treaty with Alexander 30

[30] That agreement, men of Athens , I urge you to keep in the way that I have explained, and I would confidently assure you, with the authority that my age ¹ confers, that we shall at once be exercising our undoubted rights, and also making the safest use of those opportunities which impel us to secure our interests. For, indeed, there is this clause appended to the agreement, if it is our wish to share in the common peace. But the words if it is our wish mean also the opposite—if it is ever our duty to abandon our disgraceful submission to the dictates of others, or even our forgetfulness of those high ideals, which from time immemorial we have cherished in greater measure than any other people. ² Therefore, if you approve, Athenians, I will now propose that, as the agreement directs, we declare war on the transgressors.