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9. THIRD PHILIPPIC
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⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠ introduction The Third Philippic was delivered in spring 341, at about the same time as Dem. 8.¹ Certainly the two speeches paint a similar picture of the situation in Thrace and the Chersonese. In the present speech, Demosthenes claims that Philip has set out against the Hellespont (27), is marching on Byzantium (34), and has sent mercenaries into the Chersonese, that is, to support his ally Cardia (16). Both Byzantium and the Chersonese are in such grave danger that the Athenians must take immediate action (19) and send funds to those in the Chersonese (73), by which he means the Athenian force there commanded by Diopeithes.² This speech differs from Dem. 8, however, in being concerned with the rest of Greece as much as with Athens. Demosthenes accuses Philip of intervening in the affairs of numerous Greek states (Megara, Elis, Pherae, Ambracia, and the Euboean cities of Eretria and Oreus), of seizing Echinus in central Greece, and of threatening Byzantium and the Chersonese. He also has much to say about the reaction of the Greeks: they have given Philip more freedom to dominate Greece than they ever allowed Athens or Sparta (22–25); they are demoralized and disunited (28); their love of liberty, shown in their resistance to the Persian inva-¹It is dated 342/1 by Dionysius of Halicarnassus (First Letter to Ammaeus 10).²On Diopeithes and the Chersonese in the late 340s, see the Introduction to Dem. 8. 9. THIRD PHILIPPIC ⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠ 9. third philippic 153 sion of Greece in 480–479, has now vanished (36–40). Demosthenes introduces a historical example: the Athenian decision in the fifth century to outlaw Arthmius of Zeleia, an agent of the Persian King, as proof of the concern that the Athenians of that time showed for the welfare of Greece as a whole (41–45). By contrast, he attacks Philip in a famous passage as a barbaros (i.e., non-Greek, but with implications of barbarity; 30–32): he is “a wretched Macedonian, from a land from which you could not previously have bought even a decent slave” (31), and it is disgraceful that such an interloper should “administer the Pythian festival [at Delphi], the shared competition of the Greeks” (32). This xenophobic attack on Philip is of a piece with the Panhellenic ³ tone of the speech as a whole. Demosthenes argues that the cities of Greece need to unite to resist Philip: he criticizes their failure to communicate with each other by means of ambassadors (28), praises an Athenian embassy to the Peloponnese of which he had been a member (72), and demands that the Athenians send out further embassies in every direction (71). Athens must take the lead (74) but cannot defeat Philip alone. A central purpose of this speech is to convince the Athenians that a state of undeclared war with Philip already exists. Demosthenes insists repeatedly that although the Peace of Philocrates (negotiated between Athens and Philip in 346) is still nominally in force, in practice Philip is at war with Athens and indeed has been ever since the destruction of Phocis in 346 (19). He argues that Philip, who claims to wish to remain at peace with Athens , must be judged by his actions rather than by his words, and that he acts as if he is already at war with Athens (15). But it is in Philip’s interest to pretend to be keeping the peace, since the example of other Greek cities (Olynthus and Phocis: 11) shows that he uses such claims to lull his victims into a false sense of security . Demosthenes lists a series of Philip’s alleged interventions in the affairs of other Greek cities that, he argues, are breaches of³Panhellenism was the belief that the Greeks should set aside their differences and unite against a common external foe (typically the Persians). See in general Flower 2002; Mitchell 2007. [54.152.77.92] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 21:04 GMT) 154 demosthenes the Peace of Philocrates and thus acts of war against Athens (17). The Athenians must learn from the fates of others and wake up to the deadly threat of Philip. Demosthenes’ other main theme is that the Athenians are prevented from recognizing that Philip is at war with them, or from taking effective action against him, by the influence of certain politicians who have, he alleges, been bribed by Philip. These men (whom he does not name) seek to persuade the Athenians that...