Demosthenes, On the False Embassy, Charles Anthony Vince (Translator), James Herbert Vince (Translator), 52

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[52] These letters, then, do summon you,—yes, indeed, at last!¹ But if there had been any honesty in the letters, it was clearly the duty of these men to exhort you to take the field, and to propose that Proxenus, whom they knew to be in those parts, should at once march to the aid of Philip. Their actual policy was very different. Naturally; for they did not apply their minds to the phrasing of the letter; they were in the secret of the intention with which it was written, and with that intention they concurred and cooperated.

On the False Embassy. Demosthenes. Charles Anthony Vince (Translator), James Herbert Vince (Translator). London. 1926.

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Current edition Perseus

On the Embassy (English) (Demosthenes, Vol. II: De Corona, De Falsa Legatione, XVIII, XIX. Vince, C. A. and Vince, J. H., translators. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1926 (1939 reprint).)

Editions (1)

περὶ τῆς παραπρεσβείας Perseus (Demosthenes. Orationes, Vol. I. Butcher, S. H., editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903.) — 52 focus

[52] αἱ μὲν τοίνυν ἐπιστολαὶ καλοῦσιν αὗται, καὶ νὴ Δίʼ ἤδη γε· τούτοις δʼ, εἴπερ ἦν ὑγιές τι τούτων, τί ἄλλο προσῆκεν ἢ συνειπεῖν ὅπως ἐξέλθηθʼ ὑμεῖς, καὶ τὸν Πρόξενον ὃν περὶ τοὺς τόπους ᾔδεσαν ὄντα γράφειν εὐθέως βοηθεῖν; πάντα τοίνυν τἀναντία τούτων φαίνονται πεποιηκότες. εἰκότως· οὐ γὰρ οἷς ἐπέστελλε προσεῖχον τὸν νοῦν, ἀλλʼ ἃ φρονῶν ταῦτʼ ἔγραφεν συνῄδεσαν· τούτοις οὖν συνέπραττον καὶ τούτοις συνηγωνίζοντο.

Notes on the current edition

On the False Embassy

1. The force of the ἤδη γε is not clear. Kennedy translates it for the first time, presumably meaning the first time that Athens has ever taken instructions from Macedonia . The previous paragraph suggests that Dem. is insinuating that Philip, whose aim was to keep the Athenians inactive, deferred the invitation till it was too late for them to put a force in the field, whether to support Philip or the Phocians.

Demosthenes On the False Embassy 52

Charles Anthony Vince (Translator), James Herbert Vince (Translator)

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