Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/413

MACEDONIAN ENVOYS AT ATHENS. 387 various decrees ; one, to greet by libation the herald who had ac- companied them from Philip, and the Macedonian envoys who were expected ; another, providing that the prytanes should con- vene a special assembly on the eighth day of Elaphebolion, (a daj sacred to .^Esculapius, on which generally no public business was ever transacted), in order that if the envoys from Macedonia had then arrived, the people might discuss without delay their political relations with Philip ; a third, to commend the behavior of the Athenian envoys (his colleagues and himself), and to invite them to dinner in the prytaneium. Demosthenes farther moved in the Senate, that when Philip's envoys came, they should be accommo- dated with seats of honor at the Dyonysiac festival. 1 Presently, these Macedonian envoys, Antipater, Parmenio and Eurylochus, arrived ; yet not early enough to allow the full de- bate to take place on the assembly of the eighth of Elaphebolion. Accordingly, (as it would seem, in that very assembly,) Demos- thenes proposed and carried a fresh decree, fixing two later days for the special assemblies to discuss peace and alliance with Mace- donia. The days named v/ere the eighteenth and nineteenth days of the current month Elaphebolion (March ) ; immediately after the Dionysiac festival, and the assembly in the temple of Di- onysius which followed upon it. 2 At the same time Demosthenes showed great personal civility to the Macedonian envoys, inviting them to a splendid entertainment, and not only conducting them to their place of honor at the Dionysiac festival, but also providing for them comfortable seats and cushions. 3 Besides the public assembly held by the Athenians themselves, 1 JEschines, Fals. Leg. p. 34, 35, 42. c. 20, 21, 34 ; ^Eschines adv. Ktesi- phont. p. 62, 63. c. 23, 24. In the first of the two speeches, ^Eschines makes no mention of the decree proposed by Demosthenes relative to the assembly on the eighth of Elaphebolion. He mentions it in the speech against Ktcsiphon, with considerable specification. 2 jEschines, Fals. Leg. p. 36. c. 22. grspov ipfyiapa, JEsch. adv. Ktesiph. p. 63. c. 24. This last decree, fixing the two special days of the month, could scarcely have been proposed until after Philip's envoys had actually reached Athens. a JEschines, Fals. Leg. p. 42. c. 34 ; adv. Ktesiphont. p 62. c. 22 ; De- mosth. Fals. Leg. p. 414; De Corona, p. 234. This courtChy and politeness towards the Macedonian envoys is admitted by Demosthenes himself. Il was not a circumstance of which he had anv reason to be ashamed.