Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/320

 288 HISTORY OF GRKECn. circumstances such as the previous accusers may not have been' able to show, still it was not his real object to confine himself within this narrow and technical argument. He intended to en- large the range of accusation, so as to include the whole charac- ter and policy of Demothenes ; who would thus, if the verdict tvcnt against him, stand publicly dishonored both as citizen and as jwlitician. Unless this latter purpose were accomplished, indeed, ^scliines gained nothing by bringing the indictment into court ; for the mere entry of the indictment would have already pro- duced the effect of preventing the probouleuma from passing into a decree, and the crown from being actually conferred. Doubt- less Ktesiphon and Demosthenes might have forced ^schines to the alternative of eithex' dropping his indictment or bringing it into the Dikastery. But this was a forward challenge, which, in reference to a purely honorary vote, they had not felt bold enough to send ; especially after the capture of Thebes in 335 B. c. when the victorious Alexander demanded the surrender of Demosthenes with several other citizens. In this state of abeyance and compromise — Demosthenes en- joying the inchoate honor of a complimentary vote from the sen- ate, ^schines intercepting it from being matured into a vote of the people — both the vote and the indictment had remained for rather more than six years. But the accuser now felt encour- aged to push his indictment to trial, under the reactionary party feeling, following on abortive anti-Macedonian hopes, which suc- ceeded to the complete victory of Antipater over Agis, and which brought about the accusation of anti-Macedonian citizens in Naxos, Thasos, and other Grecian cities also.^ Amidst the fears prevalent that the victor would carry his resentment still farther, ^schines could now urge that Athens was disgraced by having adopted or even approved the policy of Demosthenes,- and that ' Demosthenes De Corona, p. 294. ftoadivovg T:o?uTEVfiuTO)v necl tov( vvv Kaipovg' Jofere 6' lav fxiv TuiiTov a-E<pav(ja7}TE, u fioyv u jiov £ i tlvai Tolg ■Kapa^aivovai TT)V KO tV ^ V E ipij V Tl V iuV 6e TOVVUVTIOV TOVTOV Kpu^TjTE, U~0?.V<jETE TOl SrjfMov Tuv ttiriuv. — Compare with this, the last sentence of the oration of Deinosthenes in reply, where he juts up a prayer to the gods — vt^lv de
 * ^Eschines adv. Ktesiph. p. 645. 6ia(ii^?.r)rai S' f/fiiJv if -nb'/.iq Ik tQv At}-