16
yet he does not covet the Athenian harbours and dockyards and war-galleys and the place itself and the glory of it—and never may Philip or any other man make himself master of these by the conquest of our city!—but will allow you to retain them, while he winters in that purgatory for the sake of the rye and millet of the Thracian store-pits.
17
It is not so, but it is to win these prizes that he devotes his activities to all those other objects.
17
Therefore each must know and feel in his own mind the truth of this, but you must not, of course, call for a declaration of war from the statesman who is trying, in all honesty, to give you the best advice; for that would be the act of men who want to find someone to fight with, not of men who seek the interests of their state.To propose war on Philip would be dangerous to the speaker, as explained in the speech Dem. 8.68, and unnecessary, as Philip is already at war with Athens.
18
For consider. If for his first violation of the peace, or his second or third—for there was a long series of them—someone had proposed a declaration of war against him, and if Philip, just as he is doing now when no one proposes such a declaration, had gone to the help of the Cardians, would not the proposer have been suppressed,The word used is strong, but purposely vague. He would have incurred the inevitable γραφὴ παρανόμων. and blamed by everybody as the real author of Philip’s expedition?
