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§ 1-5 Introduction (προοίμιον). When we discuss Philip's violations of the peace, our verbal protests are quite justifiable, but they bring no practical results (1). The difficulty is that the more evidence we have of his wrongdoing, the harder it becomes to suggest a policy (2): because, whereas action is necessary, our politicians, through fear of unpopularity, shrink from advising active measures and take refuge in denunciations, while you, for all the correctness of your attitude towards right and wrong, are not ready to check the latter by active exertion (3). Naturally therefore your success is verbal, Philip's practical. You can prove your pleas against him easily enough (4). But if we are to retrieve our losses we must change our course and prefer a salutary to a popular policy (5). πράττει καὶ βιάζεται. The two verbs are best taken as alternative descriptions of the same course of action (such as are frequently coupled by καὶ）—‘is doing, yes, violently doing.’ Render ‘about Philip's lawlessly aggressive policy.’ Other solutions are (1) to supply πράττειν with βιάζεται, ‘forcibly endeavours to effect,’ and (2) to suppose the two verbs to be contrasted, ‘Philip's policy whether of intrigue or of violence.’ φιλανθρώπους, ‘generous,’ i.e. towards the rest of Greece. φαινομένους, sc. ὄντας, ‘are clearly.’ δοκοῦντας, ‘are thought,’ a common special significance of the word. ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, ‘almost,’ ‘practically,’ used, as it regularly is, to modify a universal statement—most frequently with πᾶς and οὐδείς. Distinguish τῶν δεόντων (ἃ δεῖ γίγνεσθαι) here from τὰ δέοντα (ἃ δεῖ λέγεσθαι) above, each taking its colour from the controlling verb. ὧν εἵνεκα for ἐκείνων (with οὐδὲν) ὧν εἵνεκα.
Demosthenes: Philippics I, II, III with Introduction and Notes. Gilbert A. Davies, M.A. 1949. Cambridge University Press.
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