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we received advice of the sieges of Pydna, Potidæa, Methone, Pagasæ, and other places (for I would not detain you with a particular recital,) had we ourselves marched with a due spirit and alacrity to the relief of the first of these cities, we should now find much more compliance, much more humility in Philip. But by still neglecting the present, and imagining our future interests will not demand our care, we have aggrandized our enemy, we have raised him to a degree of eminence greater than any king of Macedon hath ever yet enjoyed. Now, we have another opportunitythat which the Olynthians of themselves present to the state; one no less considerable than any of the former.

And, in my opinion, Athenians, if a man were to bring the dealings of the gods towards us to a fair account, though many things might appear not quite agreeable to our wishes, yet he would acknowledge that we had been highly favored by them; and with great reason for that many places have been lost in the course of war is truly to be charged to our own weak conduct. But that the difficulties arisen from hence have not long affected us; and that an alliance now presents itself to remove them, if we are disposed to make the just use of it; this I cannot but ascribe to the Divine goodness. But the same thing happens in this case as in the use of riches. If a man be careful to save those he hath acquired, he readily acknowledges the kindness of fortune; but if by his imprudence they be once lost, with them he also loses the sense of gratitude. So in political affairs, they who neglect to improve their opportunities, forget the favors which the gods have bestowed; for it is the ultimate

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event which generally determines men's judgment of every thing precedent: and, therefore, all affairs here after should engage your strictest care; that, by correcting our errors, we may wipe off the inglorious stain of past actions. But should we be deaf to these men too, and should he be suffered to subvert Olynthus; say, what can prevent him from marching his forces into whatever territory he pleases ?

Is there not a man among you, Athenians, who reflects by what steps Philip, from a beginning so inconsiderable, hath mounted to this height of power? First, he took Amphipolis; then he became master of Pydna; then Potidea fell; then Methone; then came his inroad into Thessaly: after this, having disposed affairs at Pheræ, at Pagasa, at Magnesia, entirely as he pleased, he marched into Thrace. Here, while engaged* in expelling some, and establishing other princes, he fell sick. Again recovering, he never turned a moment from his course to ease or indulgence, but instantly attacked the Olynthians. His expeditions against the

Into Thrace. Here, while engaged, &c.]-Thrace was inhabited by an infinite number of different people, whose names Herodotus has transmitted. And he observes, that could they have united under a single chief, or connected themselves by interest or sentiment, they would have formed a body infinitely superior to all their neighbors. After Teres, the Thracians had divers kings. This prince had two sons, Sitalcis and Sparadocus, among whose des cendants various contests arose, till, after a series of usurpations and revolutions, Seuthes recovered part of the territory of his father Mæsades, and transmitted the succession peaceably to Cotis the father of Cersobleptes (as Demosthenes says; not his brother, as Diodorus). At the death of Cotis the divisions recommenced, and in the place of one king Thrace had three, Cersobleptes, Berisades, and Amadocus. Cersobleptes dispossessed the other two, and was himself dethroned by Philip. Frontinus reports, that Alexander, when he had conquered Thrace, brought the princes of that country with him in his expedition into Asia, to prevent their raising any commotions in his absence; a proof that Philip and Alexander had established several petty kings in Thrace, who were vassals to Macedon.-Tourreil.

Illyrians, the Pæonians, against Arymbas,* I pass all over. But I may be asked, why this recital now? That you may know and see your own error, in ever neglecting some part of your affairs, as if beneath your regard; and that active spirit with which Philip pursues his designs; which ever fires him, and which never can permit him to rest satisfied with those things he hath already accomplished. If, then, he determines firmly and invariably to pursue his conquests; and if we are obstinately resolved against every vigorous and effectual measure; think, what consequences may we expect! In the name of Heaven! can any man be so weak, as not to know that, by neglecting this war, we are transfering it from that country to our own? And should this happen, I fear, Athenians, that as they who inconsiderately borrow money on high interest, after a short-lived affluence are deprived of their own fortunes; so we, by this continued indolence, by consulting only our ease and pleasure, may be reduced to the grievous necessity of engaging in affairs the most shocking and disagreeable, and of exposing ourselves in the defence of this our native territory."

To understand the history of these ages, most of the great orators of them should be consulted. They abound in lessons of wisdom and beauties of composition. If some of their beauties are lost in translations, a com

'Arymbas.]-He was the son of Alcetas, king of Epirus, and brother to Neoptolemus, whose daughter Olympias Philip married. About three years before the date of this oration the death of their father produced a dispute between the brothers about the succession. Arymbas was the lawful heir; yet Philip obliged him, by force of arms, to divide the kingdom with Neoptolemus: and not contented with this, at the death of Arymbas, he found means by his intrigues and menances, to prevail on the Epirots to banish his son, and to constitute Alexander the son of Neoptolemus sole monarchTeurreil.

petent knowledge of their subjects, and the methods of treating them are retained. If a little of the classic unction evaporates in a translation, much of the original virtue remains, to repay the reader for all his attentions to them.

Isocrates is the model of many of our best writers. Sir William Jones, the most accomplished of modern scholars, certainly drew from this princely writer; not directly, but as steel takes mysterious and powerful principles from the loadstone, mind touches mind to the utmost attractive power, and loses nothing by imparting its virtue. The giant orators of modern times owe much of their celebrity to the study of the ancients. The elder Pitt's orations had the polished and measured sentences of Isocrates, with the copiousness of Cicero; while the younger Pitt, with less feeling, and more philosophical condensation, made Demosthenes his archetype. Some of our own speakers have drank deeply of these fountains, and found them the waters of inspiration.

There was another class of writers among the Greeks, who were distinctly tiled historians. The prince of these was Herodotus. Cicero, the first writer of any age, stiled him the father of history. Herodotus was born in Halicarnassus, in Caria, in the seventyfourth Olympiad, about four hundred and eighty-four years before Christ, and was senior to the age of philosophy. He was born in troublesome times, his country being then in thraldom. He began his travels in youth, and extended them through Greece, Italy, and Egypt. He went out to observe every thing of the origin and character of nations; and the priests of Egypt finding out his thirst for knowledge, opened

their treasures to him with pleasure and confidence, for the learned are generally willing to impart their stores of knowledge, when they find those anxious to learn. He returned a patriot; and having assisted to retrieve his country from its oppressors, he retired to Ionia to write the history which has given him fame, His mother and the world so much information. tongue was the Doric, but he preferred the bland Ionian dialect, as it was most in vogue as a medium of polite literature in his time. When he was thirty-nine years old he had finished his work, and repaired to the Olympic games, and there read his history to his countrymen. It was received with universal applause. It was divided into nine books, and his countrymen named them, in honor of his genius, after the nine muses. This history embraced a period of two hundred and forty years, from Cyrus the Great to Xerxes; and it contained, besides the transactions between Persia and Greece, some sketches of other countries.

He has been charged with a love of the marvellous, but more modern historians have justified him in some things. It often happens that men of limited "intelligence are more incredulous than those of full minds; and, indeed, many things, says Herodotus, "I give you as I received them," not putting his veracity at stake for the truth of them. In those matters which happened His in his time no one ever doubted his correctness. style is easy, graceful, flowing, and, at times, exuberant and sparkling with genius. His periods flow in Ionian mellifluousness, and his history remains a model for fu ture generations. Some things in his geography have often been questioned, but Major Ronnells, an English gentleman, has lately satisfactorily explained most of

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