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425 ORATION ON THE CROWN 425

approve of my councils, and that I should dispel the dangers which surround the country. What, then, do I recommend ? First of all, to dissipate the prevail- ing alarm ; then to change its direction, and all be alarmed about the Thebans, for they are far nearer a catastrophe than we, and the peril is much closer upon them than upon us ; and then, that the young men and the cavalry marching upon Eleusis,^ should prove to all Greece that you are in arms, and that your partisans at Thebes may have an equal power to main- tain their cause when they find you are as ready and as willing to succor the asserters of liberty, if attacked, as Philip was to aid with his forces in Elatea those who were selling their country to him. Next, I re- quire that the ten Ambassadors be chosen by vote, and that they, with the Commanders, have authority to determine the time both of their arrival and of their setting out. But when the Ambassadors come to Thebes, how do I recommend that they should conduct the affair? Give me now your whole attention. Re- quire nothing of the Thebans (for at this time it would be shameful), but promise whatever succor they demand, they being in the most extreme danger, and we better able than they to foresee the result ; so that, if they agree with us and take our advice, we shall both carry our point and act upon a plan worthy of the State ; but if we should happen to fail in this object, then they will have themselves to blame for their errors, and by us nothing base, nothing unwor- thy, will have been done.

Having said thus much, and more to the like effect, I sat down. All assenting, no one saying one word to

^ I. e., to Eleiisis. Eleusis is about fifteen miles from Athens, on the bay of Salamis, and on one of the better routes to Thebes.