To the Council and the Assembly of the Athenians

[1] ¹ Demosthenes to the Council and the Assembly sends greeting.

A letter has come from Antiphilus² to the councillors of the allies,³ which, while satisfactorily phrased for those who wish to have good news in prospect, leaves many items unacceptable to those who toady to Antipater. These men, taking along with them the dispatch from Antipater that came to Corinth addressed to Deinarchus,⁴ have filled all the cities in the Peloponnesus with such reports as I pray that the gods may turn back upon their own heads.

[2] The man who now presents himself to you along with the bearer of this letter from me, having come from Polemaestus to the latter’s brother Epinicus,⁵ a man well disposed toward you and a friend of mine, was by him in turn brought to me. After I heard his story it seemed to me best to send him to you in order that, having heard a clear account of all that had happened in the camp from one who was present in the battle, you may be of good cheer for the present and assume that, the gods being willing, the final outcome will be as you wish. Farewell.

Letters. Demosthenes. Norman W. DeWitt (Translator), Norman J. DeWitt (Translator). London. 1949.

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Current edition Perseus

Letters (English) (Demosthenes, Vol. VII: Funeral Speech, Erotic Essay, LX, LXI, Exordia and Letters. DeWitt, Norman W. and Norman J., translators. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1949 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Δημοσθένους ἐπιστολαὶ Perseus (Demosthenes. Orationes, Vol. III. Rennie, W., editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1931.) — 6 focus

Πρὸς τὴν βουλὴν καὶ τὸν δῆμον τὸν Ἀθηναίων

[1] Δημοσθένης τῇ βουλῇ καὶ τῷ δημῷ χαίρειν. ἦλθεν ἐπιστολὴ παρʼ Ἀντιφίλου πρὸς τοὺς τῶν συμμάχων συνέδρους, τοῖς μὲν βουλομένοις ἀγαθὰ προσδοκᾶν ἱκανῶς γεγραμμένη, τοῖς δʼ ὑπηρετοῦσιν Ἀντιπάτρῳ πολλοὺς καὶ δυσχερεῖς ἀπολείπουσα λόγους, οἳ παραλαβόντες τὰ παρʼ Ἀντιπάτρου γράμματα πρὸς Δείναρχον εἰς Κόρινθον ἐλθόντα, ἁπάσας τὰς ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ πόλεις τοιούτων λόγων ἔπλησαν οἵων εἰς κεφαλὴν αὐτοῖς τρέψειαν οἱ θεοί.

[2] ἀφικομένου δὲ τοῦ νῦν ἥκοντος μετὰ τοῦ παρʼ ἐμοῦ φέροντος γράμματα παρὰ Πολεμαίστου πρὸς τὸν ἀδελφὸν Ἐπίνικον, ἄνδρʼ ὑμῖν εὔνουν καὶ ἐμοὶ φίλον, κἀκείνου πρὸς ἔμʼ ἀγαγόντος, ἀκούσαντί μοι ἃ ἔλεγεν ἐδόκει πρὸς ὑμᾶς αὐτὸν ἀποστεῖλαι, ὅπως πάντα σαφῶς ἀκούσαντες τὰ ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ γεγονότα τοῦ περὶ τὴν μάχην παραγεγενημένου τό τʼ εἰς τὸ παρὸν θαρρῆτε, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν θεῶν θελόντων ὡς βούλεσθʼ ἕξειν ὑπολαμβάνητε. εὐτυχεῖτε.

Notes on the current edition

Letters

1. Schaefer thinks this letter to be the work of a scribe in the council of the Greek allies.

2. From Plut. Phoc. 24 we learn that Antiphilus was commanding the army of the allies besieging Antipater in Lamia , winter of 323-322 B.C.

3. The council of the allies is thought to have been meeting at Phylê in northern Attica.

4. Deinarchus, youngest of the ten Attic orators, was opposed to Demosthenes and favored Macedon. His speech accusing Demosthenes of receiving twenty talents from Harpalus is extant. At the date of this letter he was in exile at Corinth, his birthplace.

5. It may he assumed that Polemaestus was in the camp of the allies before Lamia and that his brother was attending the council of the allies in Phylê.

Demosthenes Letters 6

Norman W. DeWitt (Translator), Norman J. DeWitt (Translator)

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To the Council and the Assembly of the Athenians

Current edition Perseus

Πρὸς τὴν βουλὴν καὶ τὸν δῆμον τὸν Ἀθηναίων

Notes on the current edition

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