Aeschines, On the Embassy, Charles Darwin Adams (Translator), 176

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[176] Though the blessings we were enjoying were so great, we again brought war against the Lacedaemonians, persuaded by the Argives;¹ and at last, in consequence of the eagerness of our public men for war, we sank so low as to see a Spartan garrison in our city, and the Four Hundred, and the impious Thirty;² and it was not the making of peace that caused this,³ but we were forced by orders laid upon us. But when again a moderate government had been established, and the exiled democracy had come back from Phyle ,⁴ with Archinus and Thrasybulus as the leaders of the popular party, we took the solemn oath with one another to forgive and forget an act which, in the judgment of all men, won for our state the reputation of the highest wisdom.

On the Embassy. Aeschines. Charles Darwin Adams (Translator). London. 1919.

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Current edition Perseus

On the Embassy (English) (The Speeches of Aeschines. Adams, Charles Darwin, translator. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1919 (1958 printing).)

Editions (1)

Περὶ τῆς παραπρεσβείας Perseus (The Speeches of Aeschines. Adams, Charles Darwin, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1919 (1958 printing).) — 176 focus

[176] καὶ τοσαῦτʼ ἔχοντες τἀγαθά, πάλιν πόλεμον¹ πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους ἐξηνέγκαμεν πεισθέντες ὑπʼ Ἀργείων, καὶ τελευτῶντες ἐκ τῆς τῶν ῥητόρων ἁψιμαχίας εἰς φρουρὰν τῆς πόλεως καὶ τοὺς τετρακοσίους καὶ τοὺς ἀσεβεῖς τριάκοντα ἐνεπέσομεν, οὐκ εἰρήνην ποιησάμενοι, ἀλλʼ ἐκ προσταγμάτων ἠναγκασμένοι. πάλιν δὲ σωφρόνως πολιτευθέντες, καὶ τοῦ δήμου κατελθόντος ἀπὸ Φυλῆς, Ἀρχίνου καὶ Θρασυβούλου προστάντων τοῦ δήμου, καὶ τὸ μὴ μνησικακεῖν πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἔνορκον ἡμῖν καταστησάντων, ὅθεν σοφωτάτην ἅπαντες τὴν πόλιν ἡγήσαντο εἶναι,

Notes on the current edition

On the Embassy

1. Athens entered into alliance with Argos , Mantineia , and Elis in 420. This immediately reopened the war with the Lacedaemonians.

2. The oligarchy of the Four Hundred was the result of the revolution of 411 b.c. The rule of the Thirty Tyrants followed the surrender of the city at the close of the Peloponnesian war. The Thirty were supported by a Spartan garrison (404-403).

3. The setting up of the Thirty was dictated by Sparta .

4. Phyle , a post on the Boeotian frontier, was the rallying point of the band of exiles who began the movement for the expulsion of the Thirty

Aeschines On the Embassy 176

Charles Darwin Adams (Translator)

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