386 HISTORY OF GREECE. nity of debating, accepting or rejecting the propositions ol peace. His envoys, Antipater and Parraenio, received orders to visit Athens with little delay ; and a Macedonian herald accom- panied the Athenian envoys on their return. 1 Having ascertained on what terms peace could be had, the en- voys were competent to advise the Athenian people, and prepare them for a definite conclusion, as soon as this Macedonian mission should arrive. They first gave an account of their proceedings to the public assembly. Ktesiphon, the oldest, who spake first, expatiated on the graceful presence and manners of Philip, as well as upon the charm of his company in wine-drinking-^ JEs- chines dwelt upon his powerful and pertinent oratory ; after which he recounted the principal occurrences of the journey, and the debate with Philip, intimating that in the previous under- standing of the envoys among themselves, the duty of speaking about Amphipolis had been confided to Demosthenes, in case any point should have been omitted by the previous speakers. De- mosthenes then made his own statement, in language (according to jEschines) censorious and even insulting towards his col- leagues ; especially affirming that JEschines, in his vanity, chose to preoccupy all the best points in his own speech, leaving none open for any one else. 3 Demosthenes next proceeded to move 1 JEschines, Fals. Leg. p. 39. c. 26 ; JEschines cont. Ktesiphont. p. 63. c. 23. napijyjeX^ETo S 1 tit' 1 avrov (Kcrsobleptcs) f/6r} arpdreia, etc.
- JEschines, Fals. Leg. p. 34. c. 20. 1% Lv ro?f TTOTOIC i~i6e^ioT^TOf
ovfiirielv deivbf r)v (c. 21). 3 JEschines, Fals. Leg. p. 34, 35. c. 21 ; Dem. Fals. Leg. p. 421. Yet JEschines, when describing the same facts in his oration against Ktesiphon (p. 62. c. 23), simply says that Demosthenes gave to the assembly aa ac- count of the proceedings of the first embassy, similar to that given by the other envoys ravru rolf wAAotf npiafteaLv uTr^yyetAe, etc. The point noticed in the text (that Demosthenes charged JEschines with reluctance to let any one 'else have anything to say) is one which appears both in JEschines and Demosthenes, De Fals. Legat., and may therefore in the main be regarded as having really occurred. But probably the state- ment made by Demosthenes to the people as to the proceedings of tho embassy, zras substantially the same as that of his colleagues. For though the later oration of JEschines is, in itself, less trustworthy evidence than the earlier yet when we find two different statements of JEschines re- ipecting Demosthenes, we may reasonably presume that the one which U fast unfavorable is the most credible of the two.
