Demosthenes

For other historical and fictional personages named Demosthenes, see Demosthenes (disambiguation).

Demosthenes
Bust of Demosthenes (Louvre, Paris, France)
Born	384 BC Athens
Died	322 BC Island of Calauria (present-day Poros)

Demosthenes (English pronunciation: /dɪˈmɒs.θəniːz/,^[1] Ancient Greek: Δημοσθένης, Dēmosthénēs [dɛːmostʰénɛːs]; 384–322 BC) was a prominent Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide an insight into the politics and culture of ancient Greece during the 4th century BC. Demosthenes learned rhetoric by studying the speeches of previous great orators. He delivered his first judicial speeches at the age of 20, in which he argued effectively to gain from his guardians what was left of his inheritance. For a time, Demosthenes made his living as a professional speech-writer (logographer) and a lawyer, writing speeches for use in private legal suits.

Demosthenes grew interested in politics during his time as a logographer, and in 354 BC he gave his first public political speeches. He went on to devote his most productive years to opposing Macedon's expansion. He idealized his city and strove throughout his life to restore Athens' supremacy and motivate his compatriots against Philip II of Macedon. He sought to preserve his city's freedom and to establish an alliance against Macedon, in an unsuccessful attempt to impede Philip's plans to expand his influence southwards by conquering all the other Greek states. After Philip's death, Demosthenes played a leading part in his city's uprising against the new King of Macedon, Alexander the Great. However, his efforts failed and the revolt was met with a harsh Macedonian reaction. To prevent a similar revolt against his own rule, Alexander's successor in this region, Antipater, sent his men to track Demosthenes down. Demosthenes took his own life, in order to avoid being arrested by Archias, Antipater's confidant.

The Alexandrian Canon compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace recognized Demosthenes as one of the ten greatest Attic orators and logographers. According to Longinus, Demosthenes "perfected to the utmost the tone of lofty speech, living passions, copiousness, readiness, speed".^[2] Cicero acclaimed him as "the perfect orator" who lacked nothing, and Quintilian extolled him as lex orandi ("the standard of oratory") and that inter omnes unus excellat ("he stands alone among all the orators").^[3][4]

Early years (384–355 BC)

Family, education and personal life

Bust of Demosthenes (British Museum, London), Roman copy of a Greek original sculpted by Polyeuktos.

Demosthenes was born in 384 BC, during the last year of the 98th Olympiad or the first year of the 99th Olympiad.^[5] His father—also named Demosthenes—who belonged to the local tribe, Pandionis, and lived in the deme of Paeania^[6] in the Athenian countryside, was a wealthy sword-maker.^[7] Aeschines, Demosthenes' greatest political rival, maintained that his mother Kleoboule was a Scythian by blood^[8]—an allegation disputed by some modern scholars.^[a] Demosthenes was orphaned at the age of seven. Although his father provided well for him, his legal guardians, Aphobus, Demophon and Therippides, mishandled his inheritance.^[9]

As soon as Demosthenes came of age in 366 BC, he demanded they render an account of their management. According to Demosthenes, the account revealed the misappropriation of his property. Although his father left an estate of nearly fourteen talents,^[10] (very roughly 11,700 troy ounces in silver or 150,000 current United States dollars)^[11] Demosthenes asserted his guardians had left nothing "except the house, and fourteen slaves and thirty silver minae" (30 minae = ½ talent).^[12] At the age of 20 Demosthenes sued his trustees in order to recover his patrimony and delivered five orations: three Against Aphobus during 363 BC and 362 BC and two Against Ontenor during 362 and 361 BC. The courts fixed Demosthenes' damages at ten talents.^[13] When all the trials came to an end,^[b] he only succeeded in retrieving a portion of his inheritance.^[11]

Between his coming of age in 366 BC and the trials that took place in 364 BC, Demosthenes and his guardians negotiated acrimoniously but were unable to reach an agreement, for neither side was willing to make concessions.^[11] At the same time, Demosthenes prepared himself for the trials and improved his oratory skill. As an adolescent, his curiosity had been noticed by the orator Callistratus, who was then at the height of his reputation, having just won a case of considerable importance.^[14] According to Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philologist and philosopher, and Constantine Paparregopoulus, a major Greek historian, Demosthenes was a student of Isocrates;^[15][16] according to Cicero, Quintillian and the Roman biographer Hermippus, he was a student of Plato.^[14] Lucian, a Roman-Syrian rhetorician and satirist, lists the philosophers Aristotle, Theophrastus and Xenocrates among his teachers.^[17] These claims are nowadays disputed.^[c] According to Plutarch, Demosthenes employed Isaeus as his master in Rhetoric, even though Isocrates was then teaching this subject, either because he could not pay Isocrates the prescribed fee or because Demosthenes believed Isaeus' style better suited a vigorous and astute orator such as himself .^[14] Curtius, a German archaeologist and historian, likened the relation between Isaeus and Demosthenes to "an intellectual armed alliance".^[18]

It has also been said that Demosthenes paid Isaeus 10,000 drachmae (somewhat over 1.5 talents) on the condition that Isaeus should withdraw from a school of Rhetoric which he had opened, and should devote himself wholly to Demosthenes, his new pupil.^[18] Another version credits Isaeus with having taught Demosthenes without charge.^[19] According to Sir Richard C. Jebb, a British classical scholar, "the intercourse between Isaeus and Demosthenes as teacher and learner can scarcely have been either very intimate or of very long duration".^[18] Konstantinos Tsatsos, a Greek professor and academician, believes that Isaeus helped Demosthenes edit his initial judicial orations against his guardians.^[20] Demosthenes is also said to have admired the historian Thucydides. In the Illiterate Book-Fancier, Lucian mentions eight beautiful copies of Thucydides made by Demosthenes, all in Demosthenes' own handwriting.^[21] These references hint at his respect for a historian he must have assiduously studied.^[22]

According to Pseudo-Plutarch, Demosthenes was married once. The only information about his wife, whose name is unknown, is that she was the daughter of Heliodorus, a prominent citizen.^[23] Demosthenes also had a daughter, "the only one who ever called him father", according to Aeschines' in a trenchant remark.^[24] His daughter died young and unmarried a few days before Philip's death.^[24]

Accusations concerning personal life

In his speeches, Aeschines often uses the pederastic relations of Demosthenes to attack him. The essence of these attacks was not that Demosthenes had relations with boys, but that he had been an inadequate lover (erastes), one whose attentions did not benefit the boys, as would have been expected, but harmed them instead. In the case of Aristion, a youth from Plataea who lived for a long time in Demosthenes' house, Aeschines mocked him for lack of sexual restraint and possibly effeminate behavior: "Allegations about what [Aristion] was undergoing there, or doing what, vary, and it would be most unseemly for me to talk about it."^[25] Another relationship which Aeschines brings up is that with Cnosion. His allegation, in this case, was also of a sexual nature. This time, however, he blamed Demosthenes for involving his wife by putting her in bed with the youth so as to get children by him.^[26] Athenaeus, however, presents matters in a different light, claiming that his wife bedded the boy in a fit of jealousy.^[27]

Aeschines often asserted that Demosthenes made money out of young rich men. He claimed that he deluded Aristarchus, the son of Moschus, with the pretence that he could make him a great orator.^[28] Apparently, while still under Demosthenes' tutelage, Aristarchus killed and mutilated a certain Nicodemus of Aphidna, gouging out his eyes and tongue. Aeschines accused Demosthenes of complicity in the murder, pointing out that Nicodemus had once pressed a lawsuit accusing Demosthenes of desertion. He also accused Demosthenes of having been such a bad erastes to Aristarchus so as not even to deserve the name. His crime, according to Aeschines, was to have betrayed his eromenos by pillaging his estate, allegedly pretending to be in love with the youth so as to get his hands on the boy's inheritance. This he is said to have squandered, having taken three talents upon Aristarchus' fleeing into exile so as to avoid a trial. Thus, in payment for the trust that Aristarchus and his family put in him, "You entered a happy home [...] you ruined it."^[29] Nevertheless, the story of Demosthenes' relations with Aristarchus is still regarded as more than doubtful, and no other pupil of Demosthenes is known by name.^[28]

Speech training

Demosthenes Practising Oratory by Jean-Jules-Antoine Lecomte du Nouy (1842–1923). Demosthenes used to study in an underground room he constructed himself. He also used to talk with pebbles in his mouth and recited verses while running. To strengthen his voice, he spoke on the seashore over the roar of the waves.

According to Plutarch, when Demosthenes first addressed himself to the people, he was derided for his strange and uncouth style, "which was cumbered with long sentences and tortured with formal arguments to a most harsh and disagreeable excess".^[30] Some citizens however discerned his talent. When he first left the ecclesia (the Athenian Assembly) disheartened, an old man named Eunomus encouraged him, saying his diction was very much like that of Pericles.^[30] Another time, after the ecclesia had refused to hear him and he was going home dejected, an actor named Satyrus followed him and entered into a friendly conversation with him.^[31]

As a boy Demosthenes had a speech impediment: an inarticulate and stammering pronunciation.^[32] Aeschines taunted him and referred to him in his speeches by the nickname "Batalus",^[d] apparently invented by Demosthenes' pedagogues or by the little boys with whom he was playing.^[33][34] According to Plutarch, he had a weakness in his voice of "a perplexed and indistinct utterance and a shortness of breath, which, by breaking and disjointing his sentences much obscured the sense and meaning of what he spoke."^[30] Demosthenes soon undertook a disciplined program to overcome these shortcomings and improve his delivery, including diction, voice and gestures.^[35] Later orators often dwelled on the anecdote that, asked to name the three most important elements in oratory, he had once replied "Delivery, delivery and delivery!"^[36] It is unknown whether such vignettes are factual accounts of events in Demosthenes' life or merely anecdotes used to illustrate his perseverance and determination.^[11]

Career

Legal career

"If you feel bound to act in the spirit of that dignity, whenever you come into court to give judgement on public causes, you must bethink yourselves that with his staff and his badge every one of you receives in trust the ancient pride of Athens."

Demosthenes (On the Crown, 210) - The orator's defense of the honor of the courts was in contrast to the improper actions of which Aeschines accused him.

To make his living, Demosthenes became a professional litigant, both as a logographos, writing speeches for use in private legal suits, and synegoros or advocate speaking on another's behalf. He seems to have been able to manage any kind of case, adapting his skills to almost any client, including wealthy and powerful men. It is not unlikely that he became a teacher of rhetoric and that he brought pupils into court with him. However, though he continued writing speeches throughout his career, he stopped working as an advocate once he entered the political arena.^[37][38][e]

Logographers were a unique aspect of the Athenian justice system: evidence for a case was compiled by a magistrate in a preliminary hearing and litigants could present it as they pleased within set speeches; however, witnesses and documents were popularly mistrusted (since they could be secured by force or bribery), there was little cross-examination during the trial, there were no instructions to the jury from a judge, no conferencing between jurists before voting, the juries were huge (typically between 201 and 501 members), cases depended largely on questions of probable motive, and notions of natural justice were felt to take precedence over written law — conditions that favoured artfully constructed speeches.^[39][40]

Judicial oratory had become a significant literary genre by the second half of the fifth century, as represented in the speeches of Demosthenes' predecessors, Antiphon and Andocides. Most of Demosthenes' extant speeches for private cases were written early in his career and they show glimpses of his talent: a powerful intellectual drive, masterly selection (and ommission) of facts, and a confident assertion of the justice of his case, all ensuring the dominance of his viewpoint over his rival. However, at this early stage of his career, his writing was not yet remarkable for its subtlety, verbal precision and variety of effects.^[41]

Since Athenian politicians were often indicted by their opponents, there wasn't always a clear distinction between 'private' and 'public' cases, and thus a career as a logographer opened the way for Demosthenes to embark on his political career,^[42] leading to some messy scenarios, as in the following case involving a certain Apollodorus.

An Athenian logographer could remain anonymous, which enabled him to serve personal interests, even if it prejudiced the client. It also left him open to allegations of malpractice. Thus for example Aeschines, a political rival, accused Demosthenes of unethically disclosing his clients' arguments to their opponents;^[43][44] in particular, that he wrote a speech for Phormion (350 BC), a wealthy banker, and then communicated it to Apollodorus, who was bringing a capital charge against Phormion.^[44] Plutarch much later supported this accusation, stating that Demosthenes "was thought to have acted dishonorably"^[45] and he also accused Demosthenes of writing speeches for both sides. It has often been argued that the deception, if there was one, involved a political quid pro quo, whereby Apollodorus secretly pledged support for unpopular reforms that Demosthenes was pursuing in the greater, public interest^[46] (i.e. the diversion of Theoric Funds to military purposes - see below). A similar example of political ends justifying the legal means possibly underlay the Harpalus incident (also below).

Political career

In Demosthenes' Athens there were no political parties or advocacy groups. Different political goals developed around personalities, such as Demosthenes himself. Instead of electioneering, Athenian politicians used litigation and defamation to remove rivals from government processes. Often they indicted each other for breaches of the constitution (γραφη παρανόμων) but accusations of bribery and corruption were ubiquitous in all cases, being part of the political dialogue. The rancorous accusations, satirized by Old Comedy, were sustained by innuendo, inferences about motives, and a complete absence of proof: "there was no room for chivalry in Athenian political life".^[47] Such rivalry enabled the 'demos' or citizen-body to reign supreme as judge, jury and executioner.^[48] Demosthenes was to become fully engaged in this kind of litigation and he was also to be instrumental in developing the power of the Areopagus to indict individuals for treason, invoked in the Ecclesia by a process called απόφασις^[49] and yet his political speeches in the Ecclesia were to become "the artistic exposition of reasoned views", avoiding recriminations against other Athenians.^[50]

Early political activity (to 350 BC)

See also: On the Navy, For the Megalopolitans, and On the Liberty of the Rhodians

Even before he turned 21-years-old in 363 BC, Demosthenes had already demonstrated an interest in politics.^[11] In 363 and 359 BC, he assumed the office of the trierarch, being responsible for the outfitting and maintenance of a trireme.^[51] He was among the first ever volunteer trierarchs in 357 BC, sharing the expenses of a ship called 'Dawn', for which the public inscription still survives.^[52][53] In 348 BC, he became a choregos, paying the expenses of a theatrical production.^[54]

Between 354 and 350 BC, Demosthenes continued practicing law privately while he was becoming increasingly interested in public affairs. He mostly remained a judicial orator, but started participating in the politics of the Athenian democracy. In 355 BC he wrote Against Androtion and in 354 BC Against Leptines, two fierce attacks on individuals who attempted to repeal certain tax exemptions. In Against Timocrates and Against Aristocrates he advocated eliminating corruption. Demosthenes denounced measures regarded as dishonest or unworthy of Athenian traditions.^[55] All these speeches offer early glimpses of his general principles on foreign policy, such as the importance of the navy, of alliances and of national honor.^[56]

"While the vessel is safe, whether it be a large or a small one, then is the time for sailor and helmsman and everyone in his turn to show his zeal and to take care that it is not capsized by anyone's malice or inadvertence; but when the sea has overwhelmed it, zeal is useless."

Demosthenes (Third Philippic, 69) - The orator warned his countrymen of the disasters Athens would suffer, if they continued to remain idle and indifferent to the challenges of their times.

In 354 BC, Demosthenes delivered his first political oration, On the Navy, in which he espoused moderation and proposed the reform of "symmories"(boards) as a source of funding for the Athenian fleet.^[55][57] In 352 BC, he delivered For the Megalopolitans and, in 351 BC, On the Liberty of the Rhodians. In both speeches he opposed Eubulus, the most powerful Athenian statesman of the period 355 to 342 BC, who was against any intervention in the internal affairs of the other Greek cities.^[58]

Although none of his early orations were successful, Demosthenes established himself as an important political personality and broke with Eubulus' faction, a prominent member of which was Aeschines. He laid the foundations for his future political successes and for becoming the leader of his own party. His arguments revealed his desire to articulate Athens' needs and interests.^[59]

In 351 BC, Demosthenes felt strong enough to express his view concerning the most important foreign policy issue facing Athens at that time: the stance his city should take towards Philip II of Macedon. According to Jacqueline de Romilly, a French philologist and member of the Académie française, the threat of Philip would give Demosthenes' stances a focus and a raison d'être (reason for existence).^[56] Henceforth, Demosthenes' career is virtually the history of Athenian foreign policy.^[32]

Confrontation with Philip II

First Philippic and the Olynthiacs (351–349 BC)

For more details on this topic, see First Philippic and Olynthiacs

Philip II of Macedon: victory medal (niketerion) struck in Tarsus, c. 2nd BC (Cabinet des Médailles, Paris). Demosthenes saw the King of Macedon as a menace to the autonomy of all Greek cities and yet he presented him as a monster of Athens' own creation, once reprimanding his fellow citizens with the words: "Even if something happens to him, you will soon raise up a second Philip..."^[60]

Most of Demosthenes' major orations were directed against the growing power of King Philip II of Macedon. Since 357 BC, when Philip seized Amphipolis and Pydna, Athens had been formally at war with the Macedonians.^[61] In 352 BC, Demosthenes characterized Philip as the very worst enemy of his city; his speech presaged the fierce attacks that Demosthenes would launch against the Macedonian king over the ensuing years.^[62] A year later he criticized those dismissing Philip as a person of no account and warned that he was as dangerous as the King of Persia.^[63]

In 352 BC, Athenian troops successfully opposed Philip at Thermopylae,^[64] but the Macedonian victory over the Phocians at the Battle of Crocus Field shook Demosthenes. The theme of the First Philippic (351–350 BC) was preparedness and the reform of the theoric fund,^[f] a mainstay of Eubulus' policy.^[56] In his rousing call for resistance, Demosthenes asked his countrymen to take the necessary action and asserted that "for a free people there can be no greater compulsion than shame for their position".^[65]

"We need money, for sure, Athenians, and without money nothing can be done that ought to be done."

Demosthenes (First Olynthiac, 20) - The orator took great pains to convince his countrymen that the reform of the theoric fund was necessary to finance the city's military preparations.

From this moment until 341 BC, all of Demosthenes' speeches referred to the same issue, the struggle against Philip. In 349 BC, Philip attacked Olynthus, an ally of Athens. In the three Olynthiacs, Demosthenes criticized his compatriots for being idle and urged Athens to help Olynthus.^[66][67] He also insulted Philip by calling him a "barbarian".^[g] Despite Demosthenes' warnings, the Athenians engaged in a useless war in Euboea and offered no military support to Olynthus.^[68]

Case of Meidias (348 BC)

For more details on this topic, see Against Meidias.

In 348 BC a peculiar event occurred: Meidias, a wealthy Athenian, publicly slapped Demosthenes, who was at the time a choregos at the Greater Dionysia, a large religious festival in honour of the god Dionysus.^[54] Meidias was a friend of Eubulus and supporter of the unsuccessful excursion in Euboea.^[68] He also was an old enemy of Demosthenes; in 361 BC he had broken violently into his house, with his brother Thrasylochus, to take possession of it.^[69]

"Just think. The instant this court rises, each of you will walk home, one quicker, another more leisurely, not anxious, not glancing behind him, not fearing whether he is going to run up against a friend or an enemy, a big man or a little one, a strong man or a weak one, or anything of that sort. And why? Because in his heart he knows, and is confident, and has learned to trust the State, that no one shall seize or insult or strike him."

Demosthenes (Against Meidias, 221) - The orator asked the Athenians to defend their legal system, by making an example of the defendant for the instruction of others.[70]

Demosthenes decided to prosecute his wealthy opponent and wrote the judicial oration Against Meidias. This speech gives valuable information about Athenian law at the time and especially about the Greek concept of hybris (aggravated assault), which was regarded as a crime not only against the city but against society as a whole.^[71] He stated that a democratic state perishes if the rule of law is undermined by wealthy and unscrupulous men, and that the citizens acquire power and authority in all state affairs due "to the strength of the laws".^[69] According to philologist Henri Weil, Demosthenes dropped the charges for political reasons and never delivered Against Meidias,^[72] although Aeschines maintained that Demosthenes was bribed.^[73]

Peace of Philocrates (347–345 BC)

For more details on this topic, see Peace of Philocrates.

In 348 BC, Philip conquered Olynthus and razed it to the ground; then conquered the entire Chalcidice and all the states of the Chalcidic federation that Olynthus had once led.^[74] After these Macedonian victories, Athens sued for peace with Macedon. Demosthenes was among those who favored compromise. In 347 BC, an Athenian delegation, comprising Demosthenes, Aeschines and Philocrates, was officially sent to Pella to negotiate a peace treaty. In his first encounter with Philip, Demosthenes is said to have collapsed from fright.^[75]

The ecclesia officially accepted the harsh terms Phillip imposed. However, when an Athenian delegation arrived at Pella to put Phillip under oath, which was required to conclude the treaty, he was campaigning abroad.^[76] He expected that he would hold safely any Athenian possessions which he might seize before the ratification.^[77] Being very anxious about the delay, Demosthenes insisted that the embassy should travel to the place where they would find Philip and swear him in without delay.^[77] Despite his suggestions, the Athenian envoys, including himself and Aeschines, remained in Pella, until Philip successfully concluded his campaign in Thrace.^[78]

Finally, peace was sworn at Pherae, but Demosthenes accused the other envoys of venality.^[79] Just after the conclusion of the Peace of Philocrates, Philip passed Thermopylae, and subdued Phocis; Athens made no move to support the Phocians.^[80][81] Supported by Thebes and Thessaly, Macedon took control of Phocis' votes in the Amphictyonic League, a Greek religious organization formed to support the greater temples of Apollo and Demeter.^[82] Despite some reluctance on the part of the Athenian leaders, Athens finally accepted Philip's entry into the Council of the League.^[83] Demosthenes was among those who recommended this stance in his oration On the Peace.

Second and Third Philippics (344–341 BC)

Satellite image of the Thracian Chersonese and the surrounding area. The Chersonese became the focus of a bitter territorial dispute between Athens and Macedon. It was eventually ceded to Philip in 338 BC.

For more details on this topic, see Second Philippic, On the Chersonese, Third Philippic

In 344 BC Demosthenes travelled to the Peloponnese, in order to detach as many cities as possible from Macedon's influence, but his efforts were generally unsuccessful.^[84] Most of the Peloponnesians saw Philip as the guarantor of their freedom and sent a joint embassy to Athens to express their grievances against Demosthenes' activities.^[85] In response, Demosthenes delivered the Second Philippic, a vehement attack against Philip. In 343 BC Demosthenes delivered On the False Embassy against Aeschines, who was facing a charge of high treason. Nonetheless, Aeschines was acquitted by the narrow margin of thirty votes by a jury which may have numbered as many as 1,501.^[86]

In 343 BC, Macedonian forces were conducting campaigns in Epirus and, in 342 BC, Philip campaigned in Thrace.^[87] He also negotiated with the Athenians an amendment to the Peace of Philocrates.^[88] When the Macedonian army approached Chersonese (now known as the Gallipoli Peninsula), an Athenian general named Diopeithes ravaged the maritime district of Thrace, thereby inciting Philip's rage. Because of this turbulence, the Athenian Assembly convened. Demosthenes delivered On the Chersonese and convinced the Athenians not to recall Diopeithes. Also in 342 BC, he delivered the Third Philippic, which is considered to be the best of his political orations.^[89] Using all the power of his eloquence, he demanded resolute action against Philip and called for a burst of energy from the Athenian people. He told them that it would be "better to die a thousand times than pay court to Philip".^[90] Demosthenes now dominated Athenian politics and was able to considerably weaken the pro-Macedonian faction of Aeschines.

Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC)

For more details on this topic, see Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC).

The battle of Chaeronea (map designed by Marco Prins and Jona Lendering) took place the autumn of 338 BC and resulted in a significant victory for Philip, who established Macedon's supremacy over the Greek cities.

In 341 BC Demosthenes was sent to Byzantium, where he sought to renew its alliance with Athens. Thanks to Demosthenes' diplomatic manoeuvres Abydos also entered into an alliance with Athens. These developments worried Philip and increased his anger at Demosthenes. The Athenian Assembly, however, laid aside Philip's grievances against Demosthenes' conduct and denounced the peace treaty; so doing, in effect, amounted to an official declaration of war. In 339 BC Philip made his last and most effective bid to conquer southern Greece, assisted by Aeschines' stance in the Amphictyonic Council.^[91] During a meeting of the Council, Philip accused the Amfissian Locrians of intruding on consecrated ground.^[92] The presiding officer of the Council, a Thessalian named Cottyphus, proposed the convocation of an Amphictyonic Congress to inflict a harsh punishment upon the Locrians.^[93] Aeschines agreed with this proposition and maintained that the Athenians should participate in the Congress.^[93] Demosthenes however reversed Aeschines' initiatives and Athens finally abstained.^[94] After the failure of a first military excursion against the Locrians, the summer session of the Amphictyonic Council gave command of the league's forces to Philip and asked him to lead a second excursion.^[95] Philip decided to act at once; in the winter of 339–338 BC, he passed through Thermopylae, entered Amfissa and defeated the Locrians. After this significant victory, Philip swiftly entered Phocis in 338 BC. He then turned south-east down the Cephissus valley, seized Elateia, and restored the fortifications of the city.^[95]

At the same time, Athens orchestrated the creation of an alliance with Euboea, Megara, Achaea, Corinth, Acarnania and other states in the Peloponnese. However the most desirable ally for Athens was Thebes. To secure their allegiance, Demosthenes was sent, by Athens, to the Boeotian city; Philip also sent a deputation, but Demosthenes succeeded in securing Thebes' allegiance.^[96] Demosthenes' oration before the Theban people is not extant and, therefore, the arguments he used to convince the Thebans remain unknown. In any case, the alliance came at a price: Thebes' control of Boeotia was recognized, Thebes was to command solely on land and jointly at sea, and Athens was to pay two thirds of the campaign's cost.^[97]

While the Athenians and the Thebans were preparing themselves for war, Philip made a final attempt to appease his enemies, proposing in vain a new peace treaty.^[98] After a few trivial encounters between the two sides, which resulted in minor Athenian victories, Philip drew the phalanx of the Athenian and Theban confederates into a plain near Chaeronea, where he defeated them. Demosthenes fought as a mere hoplite.^[h] Such was Philip's hatred for Demosthenes that, according to Diodorus Siculus, the King after his victory sneered at the misfortunes of the Athenian statesman. However, the Athenian orator and statesman Demades is said to have remarked: "O King, when Fortune has cast you in the role of Agamemnon, are you not ashamed to act the part of Thersites? [an obscene soldier of the Greek army during the Trojan War]" Stung by these words, Philip immediately altered his demeanour.^[99]

Last political initiatives and death

Confrontation with Alexander

Alexander Mosaic from Pompeii, from a 3rd century BC original Greek painting, now lost. In 336–335 BC, the King of Macedon crippled any attempt of the Greek cities at resistance and shattered Demosthenes' hopes for Athenian independence.

After Chaeronea, Philip inflicted a harsh punishment upon Thebes, but made peace with Athens on very lenient terms. Demosthenes encouraged the fortification of Athens and was chosen by the ecclesia to deliver the Funeral Oration.^[100][101] In 337 BC, Philip created the League of Corinth, a confederation of Greek states under his leadership, and returned to Pella.^[102] In 336 BC, Philip was assassinated at the wedding of his daughter, Cleopatra of Macedonia, to King Alexander of Epirus. After Philip's death, the army proclaimed Alexander, then aged twenty, as the new King of Macedon. Greek cities like Athens and Thebes saw in this change of leadership an opportunity to regain their full independence. Demosthenes celebrated Philip's assassination and played a leading part in his city's uprising. According to Aeschines, "it was but the seventh day after the death of his daughter, and though the ceremonies of mourning were not yet completed, he put a garland on his head and white raiment on his body, and there he stood making thank-offerings, violating all decency."^[24] Demosthenes also sent envoys to Attalus, whom he considered to be an internal opponent of Alexander.^[103] Nonetheless, Alexander moved swiftly to Thebes, which submitted shortly after his appearance at its gates. When the Athenians learned that Alexander had moved quickly to Boeotia, they panicked and begged the new King of Macedon for mercy. Alexander admonished them but imposed no punishment.

In 335 BC Alexander felt free to engage the Thracians and the Illyrians. While he was campaigning in the north, Demosthenes produced an actor who pretended to be a bleeding and bandaged Macedonian soldier, who allegedly witnessed Alexander and all of his expeditionary force being slain by the Triballians.^{[104][105][106]} The Thebans and the Athenians rebelled once again, and Darius III of Persia financed the Greek cities that rose up against Macedon, and Demosthenes is said to have received about 300 talents on behalf of Athens and to have faced accusations of embezzlement.^[i] Alexander reacted immediately and razed Thebes to the ground. He did not attack Athens, but demanded the exile of all anti-Macedonian politicians, Demosthenes first of all. According to Plutarch, a special Athenian embassy led by Phocion, an opponent of the anti-Macedonian faction, was able to persuade Alexander to relent.^[107]

Delivery of On the Crown

See also: On the Crown

"You stand revealed in your life and conduct, in your public performances and also in your public abstinences. A project approved by the people is going forward. Aeschines is speechless. A regrettable incident is reported. Aeschines is in evidence. He reminds one of an old sprain or fracture: the moment you are out of health it begins to be active."

Demosthenes (On the Crown, 198) - In On the Crown Demosthenes fiercely assaulted and finally neutralized Aeschines, his formidable political opponent.

Despite the unsuccessful ventures against Philip and Alexander, the Athenians still respected Demosthenes. In 336 BC, the orator Ctesiphon proposed that Athens honor Demosthenes for his services to the city by presenting him, according to custom, with a golden crown. This proposal became a political issue and, in 330 BC, Aeschines prosecuted Ctesiphon on charges of legal irregularities. In his most brilliant speech,^[108] On the Crown, Demosthenes effectively defended Ctesiphon and vehemently attacked those who would have preferred peace with Macedon. He was unrepentant about his past actions and policies and insisted that, when in power, the constant aim of his policies was the honor and the ascendancy of his country; and on every occasion and in all business he preserved his loyalty to Athens.^[109] He finally defeated Aeschines, although his enemy's objections to the crowning were arguably valid from a legal point of view.^[110]

Case of Harpalus

For more details on this topic, see Harpalus.

In 324 BC Harpalus, to whom Alexander had entrusted huge treasures, absconded and sought refuge in Athens. Demosthenes, at first, advised that he be chased out of the city.^[111] Finally, Harpalus was imprisoned despite the dissent of Hypereides, an anti-Macedonian statesman and former ally of Demosthenes.^[112] The ecclesia, after a proposal of Demosthenes, decided to take control of Harpalus' money, which was entrusted to a committee presided over by Demosthenes.^[112] When the committee counted the treasure, they found they only had half the money Harpalus had declared he had.^[112] Nevertheless, they decided not to disclose the deficit. When Harpalus escaped, the Areopagus conducted an inquiry and charged Demosthenes with mishandling twenty talents. During Demosthenes' trial, Hypereides argued that he did not disclose the huge deficit, because he was bribed by Harpalus.^[112] Demosthenes was fined and imprisoned, but he soon escaped.^[113] It remains unclear whether the accusations against him were just or not.^[j] In any case, the Athenians soon repealed the sentence.^[114]

"For a house, I take it, or a ship or anything of that sort must have its chief strength in its substructure; and so too in affairs of state the principles and the foundations must be truth and justice."

Demosthenes (Second Olynthiac, 10) - The orator faced serious accusations more than once, but he never admitted to any improper actions and insisted that it is impossible "to gain permanent power by injustice, perjury, and falsehood".

After Alexander's death in 323 BC, Demosthenes again urged the Athenians to seek independence from Macedonia in what became known as the Lamian War. However, Antipater, Alexander's successor, quelled all opposition and demanded that the Athenians turn over Demosthenes and Hypereides, among others. Following his request, the ecclesia adopted a decree condemning the most prominent anti-Macedonian agitators to death. Demosthenes escaped to a sanctuary on the island of Calauria (modern-day Poros), where he was later discovered by Archias, a confidant of Antipater. He committed suicide before his capture by taking poison out of a reed, pretending he wanted to write a letter to his family.^[115] When Demosthenes felt that the poison was working on his body, he said to Archias: "Now, as soon as you please you may commence the part of Creon in the tragedy, and cast out this body of mine unburied. But, O gracious Neptune, I, for my part, while I am yet alive, arise up and depart out of this sacred place; though Antipater and the Macedonians have not left so much as the temple unpolluted." After saying these words, he passed by the altar, fell down and died.^[115] Years after Demosthenes' suicide, the Athenians erected a statue to honor him and decreed that the state should provide meals to his descendants in the Prytaneum.^[116]

Assessments

Political career

Plutarch lauds Demosthenes for not being of a fickle disposition. Rebutting historian Theopompus, the biographer insists that for "the same party and post in politics which he held from the beginning, to these he kept constant to the end; and was so far from leaving them while he lived, that he chose rather to forsake his life than his purpose".^[117] On the other hand, Polybius, a Greek historian of the Mediterranean world, was highly critical of Demosthenes' policies. Polybius accused him of having launched unjustified verbal attacks on great men of other cities, branding them unjustly as traitors to the Greeks. The historian maintains that Demosthenes measured everything by the interests of his own city, imagining that all the Greeks ought to have their eyes fixed upon Athens. According to Polybius, the only thing the Athenians eventually got by their opposition to Philip was the defeat at Chaeronea. "And had it not been for the king's magnanimity and regard for his own reputation, their misfortunes would have gone even further, thanks to the policy of Demosthenes".^[118]

"Two characteristics, men of Athens, a citizen of a respectable character...must be able to show: when he enjoys authority, he must maintain to the end the policy whose aims are noble action and the pre-eminence of his country: and at all times and in every phase of fortune he must remain loyal. For this depends upon his own nature; while his power and his influence are determined by external causes. And in me, you will find, this loyalty has persisted unalloyed...For from the very first, I chose the straight and honest path in public life: I chose to foster the honour, the supremacy, the good name of my country, to seek to enhance them, and to stand or fall with them."

Demosthenes (On the Crown, 321-22) - Faced with the practical defeat of his policies, Demosthenes assessed them by the ideals they embodied rather than by their utility.

Paparregopoulus extols Demosthenes' patriotism, but criticizes him as being short-sighted. According to this critique, Demosthenes should have understood that the ancient Greek states could only survive unified under the leadership of Macedon.^[16] Therefore, Demosthenes is accused of misjudging events, opponents and opportunities and of being unable to foresee Philip's inevitable triumph.^[94] He is criticized for having overrated Athens' capacity to revive and challenge Macedon.^[119] His city had lost most of its Aegean allies, whereas Philip had consolidated his hold over Macedonia and was master of enormous mineral wealth. Chris Carey, a professor of Greek in UCL, concludes that Demosthenes was a better orator and political operator than strategist.^[94] Nevertheless, the same scholar underscores that "pragmatists" like Aeschines or Phocion had no inspiring vision to rival that of Demosthenes. The orator asked the Athenians to choose that which is just and honorable, before their own safety and preservation.^[117] The people preferred Demosthenes' activism and even the bitter defeat at Chaeronea was regarded as a price worth paying in the attempt to retain freedom and influence.^[94] According to Professor of Greek Arthur Wallace Pickard-Cambridge, success may be a poor criterion for judging the actions of people like Demosthenes, who were motivated by the ideal of political liberty.^[120] Athens was asked by Philip to sacrifice its freedom and its democracy, while Demosthenes longed for the city's brilliance.^[119] He endeavored to revive its imperilled values and, thus, he became an "educator of the people" (in the words of Werner Jaeger).^[121]

The fact that Demosthenes fought at the battle of Chaeronea as a hoplite indicates that he lacked any military skills. According to historian Thomas Babington Macaulay, in his time the division between political and military offices was beginning to be strongly marked.^[122] Almost no politician, with the exception of Phocion, was at the same time an apt orator and a competent general. Demosthenes dealt in policies and ideas, and war was not his business.^[122] This contrast between Demosthenes' intellectual prowess and his deficiencies in terms of vigor, stamina, military skill^[16] and strategic vision^[94] is illustrated by the inscription his countrymen engraved on the base of his statue:^[123]

“

Had you for Greece been strong, as wise you were, The Macedonian had not conquered her.

”

Oratorical skill

Herma of Demosthenes: the head is a copy of the bronze posthumous commemorative statue in the Ancient Agora of Athens by Polyeuctus (ca. 280 BC); this herm was found in the Circus of Maxentius in 1825 (Glyptothek, Munich)

According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, Demosthenes represented the final stage in the development of Attic prose. Dionysius asserts that Demosthenes brought together the best features of the basic types of style; he used the middle or normal type style ordinarily and applied the archaic type and the type of plain elegance where they were fitting. In each one of the three types he was better than its special masters.^[124] He is, therefore, regarded as a consummate orator, adept in the techniques of oratory, which are brought together in his work.^[121] In his initial judicial orations, the influence of both Lysias and Isaeus is obvious, but his marked, original style is already revealed.^[18][125]

According to the classical scholar Harry Thurston Peck, Demosthenes "affects no learning; he aims at no elegance; he seeks no glaring ornaments; he rarely touches the heart with a soft or melting appeal, and when he does, it is only with an effect in which a third-rate speaker would have surpassed him. He had no wit, no humour, no vivacity, in our acceptance of these terms. The secret of his power is simple, for it lies essentially in the fact that his political principles were interwoven with his very spirit."^[7] In this judgement, Peck agrees with Jaeger, who said that the imminent political decision imbued the Demosthenes' speech with a fascinating artistic power.^[126] Demosthenes was apt at combining abruptness with the extended period, brevity with breadth. Hence, his style harmonizes with his fervent commitment.^[121] His language is simple and natural, never far-fetched or artificial. According to Jebb, Demosthenes was a true artist who could make his art obey him.^[18] For his part, Aeschines stigmatized his intensity, attributing to his rival strings of absurd and incoherent images.^[127] Dionysius stated that Demosthenes' only shortcoming is the lack of humor, although Quintilian regards this deficiency as a virtue.^[128][129] The main criticism of Demosthenes' art, however, seems to have rested chiefly on his known reluctance to speak extempore;^[130] he often declined to comment on subjects he had not studied beforehand.^[7] However, he gave the most elaborate preparation to all his speeches and, therefore, his arguments were the products of careful study. He was also famous for his caustic wit.^[131]

According to Cicero, Demosthenes regarded "delivery" (gestures, voice etc.) as more important than style.^[132] Although he lacked Aeschines' charming voice and Demades's skill at improvisation, he made efficient use of his body to accentuate his words.^[15] Thus he managed to project his ideas and arguments much more forcefully. However, the use of physical gestures wasn't an integral or developed part of rhetorical training in his day.^[133] Moreover, his delivery was not accepted by everybody in antiquity: Demetrius Phalereus and the comedians ridiculed Demosthenes' "theatricality", whilst Aeschines regarded Leodamas of Acharnae as superior to him.^[134][135]

Transmission and reception

Phryne Going to the Public Baths as Venus and Demosthenes Taunted by Aeschines by J. M. W. Turner (1838)

The 'publication' and distribution of prose texts was common practice in Athens by the latter half of the fourth century BC and Demosthenes was among the Athenian politicians who set the trend,^[136] publishing many or even all of his orations.^[137] After his death, texts of his speeches survived in Athens (possibly forming part of the library of Cicero's friend, Atticus, though their fate is otherwise unknown), and in the Library of Alexandria. The Alexandrian texts were incorporated into the body of classical Greek literature that was preserved, catalogued and studied by scholars of the Hellenistic period. From then until the 4th century AD, copies of his orations multiplied and they were in a relatively good position to survive the tense period from the 6th until the 9th century AD.^[138] In the end, sixty-one orations attributed to Demosthenes' survived till the present day (some however are pseudonymous — see Works below). Friedrich Blass, a German classical scholar, believes that nine more speeches were recorded by the orator, but they are not extant.^[139] Modern editions of these speeches are based on four manuscripts of the 10th and 11th centuries AD.^[140][141]

Demosthenes' fame has thus continued down the ages. Roman schoolboys studied his art as part of their own oratorical training.^[32] Juvenal acclaimed him as "largus et exundans ingenii fons" (a large and overflowing fountain of genius),^[142] and he inspired Cicero's speeches against Mark Antony, also called the Philippics. Plutarch drew attention in his Life of Demosthenes to the strong similarities between the personalities and careers of Demosthenes and Marcus Tullius Cicero:^[143]

“

The divine power seems originally to have designed Demosthenes and Cicero upon the same plan, giving them many similarities in their natural characters, as their passion for distinction and their love of liberty in civil life, and their want of courage in dangers and war, and at the same time also to have added many accidental resemblances. I think there can hardly be found two other orators, who, from small and obscure beginnings, became so great and mighty; who both contested with kings and tyrants; both lost their daughters, were driven out of their country, and returned with honor; who, flying from thence again, were both seized upon by their enemies, and at last ended their lives with the liberty of their countrymen.

”

During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Demosthenes had a reputation for eloquence.^[32] He was read more than any other ancient orator; only Cicero offered any real competition.^[144] French author and lawyer Guillaume du Vair praises his speeches for their artful arrangement and elegant style; John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury, and Jacques Amyot, a French Renaissance writer and translator, regard Demosthenes as a great or even the "supreme" orator.^[145]

In modern history, orators such as Henry Clay would mimic Demosthenes' technique. His ideas and principles survived, influencing prominent politicians and movements of our times. Hence, he constituted a source of inspiration for the authors of the Federalist Papers (series of 85 articles arguing for the ratification of the United States Constitution) and for the major orators of the French Revolution.^[146] French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau was among those who idealized Demosthenes and wrote a book about him.^[147] For his part, Friedrich Nietzsche often composed his sentences according to the paradigms of Demosthenes, whose style he admired.^[148][149] During World War II, the fighters of the French Resistance identified themselves with Demosthenes, and Adolf Hitler with Philip.

Advertising executive David Ogilvy frequently cited Demosthenes as a model for creating persuasive advertising, saying, "When Aeschines spoke, they said, ‘How well he speaks.’ But when Demosthenes spoke, they said, ‘Let us march against Philip.’"^[150]

The Demosthenian Literary Society at The University of Georgia is named after Demosthenes, as a tribute to his oratorical ability and the manner in which he improved his speaking ability.

Works

For more details on this topic, see Works of Demosthenes.

Some of the speeches that comprise the 'Demosthenic corpus' are known to have been written by other authors, though scholars differ over which speeches these are.^[k] Irrespective of their status, the speeches attributed to Demosthenes are often grouped in three genres first defined by Aristotle (see Demosthenes' orations below for the full list of speeches per group):^[151]

• Symbouleutic or political, considering the expediency of future actions — sixteen such speeches are included in the Demosthenic corpus, of which one scholar for example singles out five as spurious: On Halonnesus, Fourth Phillipic, Answer to Philip's Letter, On Organization and On the Treaty with Alexander;^[152]
• Dicanic or judicial, assessing the justice of past actions — only about ten of these are cases in which Demosthenes was personally involved, the rest were written for other speakers, and possibly "fifteen or more" of these were not written by Demosthenes;^[37]
• Epideictic or sophistic display, attributing praise or blame, often delivered at public ceremonies — only two speeches have been attributed to him, one a funeral speech that has been dismissed as a "rather poor" example of his work, and the other probably spurious.^[153]

In addition to the speeches, there are fifty-six prologues whose authenticity as a collection is much disputed. The prologues (openings of speeches) were collected for the Library of Alexandria by Callimachus, who believed them genuine.^[154] Modern scholars are divided: some reject them,^[11] while others, such as Blass, believe they are authentic.^[155] Finally, six letters also survive under Demosthenes's name and their authorship too is hotly debated.^[l]

The speeches that Demosthenes 'published' might have differed from the original speeches that were actually delivered (there are indications that he rewrote them with readers in mind) and therefore it is possible also that he 'published' different versions of any one speech, differences that could have impacted on the Alexandrian edition of his works and thus on all subsequent editions down to the present day.^[156]

In Historical Fiction

In the historical fiction of Mary Renault, Demosthenes is the corrupt, cowardly and cruel villain.

Notes

a. ^{^} According to Edward Cohen, professor of classics at the University of Pennsylvania, Cleoboule was the daughter of a Scythian woman and of an Athenian father, Gylon, although other scholars insist on the genealogical purity of Demosthenes.^[157] There is an agreement among scholars that Cleoboule was a Crimean and not an Athenian citizen.^[11][157] Gylon had suffered banishment at the end of the Peloponnesian War for allegedly betraying Nymphaeum in Crimaea.^[158] According to Aeschines, Gylon received as a gift from the Bosporan rulers a place called "the Gardens" in the colony of Kepoi in present-day Russia (located within two miles (3 km) from Phanagoria).^[6] Nevertheless, the accuracy of these allegations is disputed, since more than seventy years had elapsed between Gylon's possible treachery and Aeschines speech, and, therefore, the orator could be confident that his audience would have no direct knowledge of events at Nymphaeum.^[159]

b. ^{^} According to Tsatsos, the trials against the guardians lasted until Demosthenes was twenty four.^[125] Nietzsche reduces the time of the judicial disputes to five years.^[160]

c. ^{^} According to the 10th century encyclopedia Suda, Demosthenes studied with Eubulides and Plato.^[161] Cicero and Quintilian argue that Demosthenes was Plato's disciple.^[162][163] Tsatsos and Weil believe that there is no indication that Demosthenes was a pupil of Plato or Isocrates.^[22][164] As far as Isaeus is concerned, according to Jebb "the school of Isaeus is nowhere else mentioned, nor is the name of any other pupil recorded".^[18] Peck believes that Demosthenes continued to study under Isaeus for the space of four years after he had reached his majority.^[7]

d. ^{^} "Batalus" or "Batalos" meant "stammerer" in ancient Greek, but it was also the name of a flute-player (in ridicule of whom Antiphanes wrote a play) and of a song-writer.^[165][166] The word "batalus" was also used by the Athenians to describe the anus.^[165][167] Another nickname of Demosthenes was "Argas." According to Plutarch, this name was given him either for his savage and spiteful behavior or for his disagreeable way of speaking. "Argas" was a poetical word for a snake, but also the name of a poet.^[165]

e. ^{^} Both Tsatsos and Weil maintain that Demosthenes never abandoned the profession of the logographer, but, after delivering his first political orations, he wanted to be regarded as a statesman.^[168][169] According to James J. Murphy, Professor emeritus of Rhetoric and Communication at the University of California, Davis, his lifelong career as a logographer continued even during his most intense involvement in the political struggle against Philip.^[32]

f. ^{^} "Theorika" were allowances paid by the state to poor Athenians to enable them to watch dramatic festivals. Eubulus passed a law making it difficult to divert public funds, including "theorika," for minor military operations.^[56]

g. ^{^} Demosthenes characterized Philip as a "barbarian" in the Third Olynthiac and in the Third Philippic.^[170][171] According to Tsatsos, Demosthenes regarded as Greeks only those who had reached the cultural standards of south Greece and he did not take into consideration ethnological criteria.^[172]

h. ^{^} According to Plutarch, Demosthenes deserted his colors and "did nothing honorable, nor was his performance answerable to his speeches".^[173][174]

i. ^{^} Aeschines reproached Demosthenes for being silent as to the seventy talents of the king's gold which he allegedly seized and embezzled.^[175] Aeschines and Dinarchus also maintained that when the Arcadians offered their services for ten talents, Demosthenes refused to furnish the money to the Thebans, who were conducting the negotiations, and so the Arcadians sold out to the Macedonians.^[175][176]

j. ^{^} According to Pausanias, Demosthenes himself and others had declared that the orator had taken no part of the money that Harpalus brought from Asia.^[177] He also narrates the following story: Shortly after Harpalus ran away from Athens Harpalus was put to death by the servants who were attending him, though some assert that he was assassinated. The steward of his money fled to Rhodes, and was arrested by a Macedonian, Philoxenus. Philoxenus proceeded to examine the slave, "until he learned everything about such as had allowed themselves to accept a bribe from Harpalus." He then sent a dispatch to Athens, in which he gave a list of the persons who had taken a bribe from Harpalus. "Demosthenes, however, he never mentioned at all, although Alexander held him in bitter hatred, and he himself had a private quarrel with him."^[177] On the other hand, Plutarch believes that Harpalus sent Demosthenes a cup with twenty talents and that "Demosthenes could not resist the temptation, but admitting the present, ... he surrendered himself up to the interest of Harpalus."^[111]

k. ^{^} Blass disputes the authorship of the following speeches: Fourth Philippic, Funeral Oration, Erotic Essay, Against Stephanus 2 and Against Evergus and Mnesibulus,^[178] while Arnold Schaefer, a German classical scholar, recognizes as genuine only twenty-nine orations.^[137][179]

l. ^{^} In this discussion the work of Jonathan A. Goldstein, Professor of History and Classics at the University of Iowa, is regarded as paramount.^[180][181] Goldstein regards Demosthenes's letters as authentic apologetic letters that were addressed to the Athenian assembly.^[182]

Citations

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2. ^ Longinus, On the Sublime, 34.4
3. ^ Cicero, Brutus, 35
4. ^ Quintillian, Institutiones, X, 1, 6 and 76
5. ^ H. Weil, Biography of Demosthenes, 5–6
6. ^ ^{a b} Aeschines, Against Ctesiphon, 171
7. ^ ^{a b c d} H. T. Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities
8. ^ Aeschines, Against Ctesiphon, 172
9. ^ O. Thomsen, The Looting of the Estate of the Elder Demosthenes, 61
10. ^ Demosthenes, Against Aphobus 1, 4
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13. ^ Demosthenes, Against Aphobus 3, 59
14. ^ ^{a b c} Plutarch, Demosthenes, 5
15. ^ ^{a b} F. Nietzsche, Lessons of Rhetoric, 233–235
16. ^ ^{a b c} K. Paparregopoulus, Ab, 396–398
17. ^ Lucian, Demosthenes, An Encomium, 12
18. ^ ^{a b c d e f} R. C. Jebb, The Attic Orators from Antiphon to Isaeos
19. ^ Suda, article Isaeus
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21. ^ Lucian, The Illiterate Book-Fancier, 4
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23. ^ Pseudo-Plutarch, Demosthenes, 847c
24. ^ ^{a b c} Aeschines, Against Ctesiphon, 77
25. ^ Aeschines, Against Ctesiphon, 162
26. ^ Aeschines, On the Embassy, 149
27. ^ Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, XIII, 63
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30. ^ ^{a b c} Plutarch, Demosthenes, 6
31. ^ Plutarch, Demosthenes, 7
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34. ^ Aeschines, The Speech on the Embassy, 99
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36. ^ G Kennedy, The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature, 517-18 (citing Cicero De or. 3.213)
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38. ^ Demosthenes, Against Zenothemis 32
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44. ^ ^{a b} Aeschines, The Speech on the Embassy, 165
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66. ^ Demosthenes, Second Olynthiac, 3
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112. ^ ^{a b c d} Hypereides, Against Demosthenes, 1
113. ^ Plutarch, Demosthenes, 26
114. ^ Plutarch, Demosthenes, 27
115. ^ ^{a b} Plutarch, Demosthenes, 29
116. ^ Pseudo-Plutarch, Demosthenes, 847d
117. ^ ^{a b} Plutarch, Demosthenes, 13
118. ^ Polybius, Histories, 13
119. ^ ^{a b} K. Tsatsos, Demosthenes, 318–326
120. ^ A.W. Pickard, Demosthenes and the Last Days of Greek Freedom , 490
121. ^ ^{a b c} J. De Romilly, A Short History of Greek Literature, 120–122
122. ^ ^{a b} T.B. Macaulay, On Mitford's History of Greece, 136
123. ^ Plutarch, Demosthenes, 30
124. ^ Dionysius, On the Admirable Style of Demosthenes, 46
125. ^ ^{a b} K. Tsatsos, Demosthenes, 86
126. ^ W. Jaeger, Demosthenes, 123–124
127. ^ Aeschines, Against Ctesiphon, 166
128. ^ Dionysius, On the Admirable Style of Demosthenes, 56
129. ^ Quintillian, Institutiones, VI, 3, 2
130. ^ J. Bollansie, Hermippos of Smyrna, 415
131. ^ Plutarch, Demosthenes, 8
132. ^ Cicero, Brutus, 38, 142
133. ^ H Yunis, Demosthenes: On The Crown, 238 (note 232)
134. ^ Plutarch, Demosthenes, 9–11
135. ^ Aeschines, Against Ctesiphon, 139
136. ^ H Yunis, Demosthenes: On The Crown, 26
137. ^ ^{a b} H. Weil, Biography of Demosthenes, 66–67
138. ^ H. Yunis, "Demosthenes: On the Crown," 28
139. ^ F. Blass, Die attische Beredsamkeit, III, 2, 60
140. ^ C.A. Gibson, Interpreting a Classic, 1
141. ^ K.A. Kapparis, Apollodoros against Neaira, 62
142. ^ Juvenal, Satura, X, 119
143. ^ Plutarch, Demosthenes, 3
144. ^ G. Gibson, Interpreting a Classic, 1
145. ^ W. A. Rebhorn, Renaissance Debates on Rhetoric, 139, 167, 258
146. ^ K. Tsatsos, Demosthenes, 352
147. ^ V. Marcu, Men and Forces of Our Time, 32
148. ^ P.J.M. Van Tongeren, Reinterpreting Modern Culture, 92
149. ^ F. Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, 247
150. ^ David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising, New York: Random House, 1983.
151. ^ G Kennedy, The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature, 500
152. ^ J.H.Vince, Demosthenes Orations, 268, 317, 353, 463
153. ^ G Kennedy, The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature, 510
154. ^ I. Worthington, Oral Performance, 135
155. ^ F. Blass, Die Attische Beredsamkeit, III, 1, 281–287
156. ^ H. Yunis, Demosthenes: On The Crown, 26-27
157. ^ ^{a b} E. Cohen, The Athenian Nation, 76
158. ^ E.M. Burke, The Looting of the Estates of the Elder Demosthenes, 63
159. ^ D. Braund, The Bosporan Kings and Classical Athens, 200
160. ^ F. Nietzsche, Lessons of Rhetoric, 65
161. ^ Suda, article Demosthenes
162. ^ Cicero, Brutus, 6
163. ^ Quintilian, Institutiones, XII, 2 XXII
164. ^ K. Tsatsos, Demosthenes, 84
165. ^ ^{a b c} Plutarch, Demosthenes, 4
166. ^ D. Hawhee, Bodily Arts, 156
167. ^ M.L. Rose, The Staff of Oedipus,,] 57
168. ^ K. Tsatsos, Demosthenes, 90
169. ^ H. Weil, Biography of Demothenes, 17
170. ^ Demosthenes, Third Olynthiac, 16 and 24
171. ^ Demosthenes, Third Philippic, 31
172. ^ K. Tsatsos, Demosthenes, 258
173. ^ Plutarch, Demosthenes, 20
174. ^ Pseudo-Plutarch, Demosthenes, 845f
175. ^ ^{a b} Aeschines, Against Ctesiphon, 239–240
176. ^ Dinarcus, Against Demosthenes, 18–21
177. ^ ^{a b} Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2, 33
178. ^ F. Blass, Die attische Beredsamkeit, III, 1, 404–406 and 542–546
179. ^ A. Schaefer, Demosthenes und seine Zeit, III, 111, 178, 247 and 257
180. ^ F.J. Long, Ancient Rhetoric and Paul's Apology, 102
181. ^ M. Trap, Greek and Latin Letters, 12
182. ^ J.A. Goldstein, The Letters of Demosthenes, 93

See also

• Philippic

References

Timeline of Demosthenes' life (384 BC–322 BC)

Primary sources (Greeks and Romans)

• Aeschines, Against Ctesiphon. See original text in Perseus program.
• Aeschines, Against Timarchus. See original text in Perseus program.
• Aeschines, The Speech on the Embassy. See original text in Perseus program.
• Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae. English translation presented online by the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center
• Cicero, Brutus. See original text in the Latin Library
• Demosthenes, Against Aphobus 1. See original text in Perseus program.
• Demosthenes, Against Aphobus 3. See original text in Perseus program.
• Demosthenes, Against Aristocrates. See original text in Perseus program.
• Demosthenes, Against Meidias. See original text in Perseus program.
• Demosthenes, For the Freedom of the Rhodians
• Demosthenes, First Philippic
• Demosthenes, First Olynthiac
• Demosthenes, Second Olynthiac
• Demosthenes, Third Olynthiac
• Demosthenes, Second Philippic
• Demosthenes, On the Peace
• Demosthenes, On the False Embassy
• Demosthenes (or Hegesippus), On Halonnesus. See original text in Perseus program.
• Demosthenes, Third Philippic
• Demosthenes, Against Zenothemis. See original text in Perseus program.
• Demosthenes, On the Crown
• Dinarchus, Against Demosthenes. See original text in Perseus program.
• Diodorus Siculus, Library. See original text in Perseus program.
• Dionysius of Halicarnassus, On the Admirable Style of Demosthenes.
• Hypereides,Against Demosthenes. See original text in Perseus program
• Juvenal, Saturae. See original text in the Latin Library.

• Translated in English by M. Madan

• Longinus, On the Sublime. Translated by W. Rhys Roberts
• Lucian, Demosthenes, An Encomium. Translated in Sacred Texts
• Lucian, The Illiterate Book-Fancier. Translated Sacred Texts
• Pausanias, Description of Greece. See original text in Perseus program
• Plutarch, Demosthenes.

• The texts quoted from Plutarch's Demosthenes are taken from John Dryden's translation

• Plutarch, Phocion.
• Polybius, Histories. See original text in Perseus program
• Pseudo-Plutarch, Aeschines. See Charles Barcroft's translation
• Pseudo-Plutarch, Demosthenes. See Charles Barcroft's translation
• Quintilian, Institutiones. See original text in the Latin Library

Secondary sources

• Blass, Friedrich (1887–1898). Die Attische Beredsamkeit (in German). Third Volume. B. G. Teubner. 
• Bolansie, J. (1999). Herrmippos of Smyrna. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 90-04-11303-7. 
• Brown, David (2004). The Bosporan Kings and Classical Athens: Imagined Breaches in a Cordial Relationship
• Burke, E.M. (1998). "The Looting of the Estate of the Elder Pericles". Classica Et Mediaevalia V. 49 edited by Ole Thomsen. Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 87-7289-535-7. 
• Carey, Chris (2000). Aeschines. University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-71223-5. 
• Cohen, Edward (2002). "The Local Residents of Attica". The Athenian Nation. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-09490-X. 
• Cox, Cheryl Anne (1998). "The Nonkinsman, the Oikos, and the Household". Household Interests: Property, Marriage Strategies, and Family Dynamics in Ancient Athens. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01572-4. 
• Dunkan, Anne (2006). Performance and Identity in the Classical World. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-85282-X. 
• "Demosthenes". Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2002. 
• "Demosthenes". Encyclopaedic Dictionary The Helios Volume V (in Greek). (1952)
• Gibson, Graig A. (2002). Interpreting a Classic. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-22956-8. 
• Goldstein, Jonathan A. (1968). The Letters of Demosthenes. Columbia University Press. 
• Green, Peter (1992). Alexander of Macedon, 356-323 B.C.. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-07166-2. 
• Habinek, Thomas N. (2004). Ancient Rhetoric and Oratory. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 0-631-23515-9. 
• Hawhee, Debra (2005). Bodily Arts: Rhetoric and Athletics in Ancient Greece. University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-70584-0. 
• Jaeger, Werner (1938). Demosthenes. Walter de Gruyter Company. ISBN 3-11-002527-2. 
• Jebb, Sir Richard Claverhouse (1876). The Attic Orators from Antiphon to Isaeos. Macmillan and Co.. 
• Kapparis, Konstantinos A. (1999). Apollodoros Against Neaira. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-016390-X. 
• Kennedy, George A. (1985). "Oratory". The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature. Cambridge University Press. 
• Long, Fredrick J. (2004). Ancient Rhetoric and Paul's Apology. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-84233-6. 
• Macaulay, Thomas Babington (2004). "On Mitford's History of Greece". The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay Volume I. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 1-4191-7417-7. 
• Marcu, Valeru (2005). Men and Forces of Our Time. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 1-4179-9529-7. 
• Nietzsche, Friedrich (1909–1913). Beyond Good and Evil. The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche. 
• Nietzsche, Friedrich (1975). Lessons of Rhetoric. Plethron (from the Greek translation). 
• Paparregopoulus, Constantine (-Karolidis, Pavlos) (1925), History of the Hellenic Nation (Volume Ab). Eleftheroudakis (in Greek).
• Peck, Harry Thurston (1898). Harper's Dictionary Of Classical Literature And Antiquities. 
• Phillips, David (2004). "Philip and Athens". Athenian Political Oratory: 16 Key Speeches. Routledge (UK). ISBN 0-415-96609-4. 
• Pickard, A. W. (2003). Demosthenes and the Last Days of Greek Freedom 384 - 322 B.C. Gorgias Press LLC. ISBN 1-59333-030-8. 
• Phillips, David (2004). Athenian Political Oratory. Routledge (UK). ISBN 0-415-96609-4. 
• Romilly de, Jacqueline (1996). A Short History of Greek Literature. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-8014-8206-2. 
• Romilly de, Jacqueline (2001). Ancient Greece against Violence (translated in Greek). To Asty. ISBN 960-86331-5-X. 
• Rebhorn, Wayne A. (1999). Renaissance Debates on Rhetoric. Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-226-14312-0. 
• Rhodes, P.J. (2005). "Philip II of Macedon". A History of the Classical Greek World. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 0-631-22564-1. 
• Rose, M.L. (2003). The Staff of Oedipus. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-11339-9. 
• Schaefer, Arnold (1885). Demosthenes und seine Zeit (in German). Third Volume. B. G. Teubner. 
• Slusser, G. (1999). "Ender's Game". Nursery Realms edited by G. Westfahl. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 0-8203-2144-3. 
• Thomsen, Ole (1998). "The Looting of the Estate of the Elder Demosthenes". "Classica et Mediaevalia — Revue Danoise De Philologie et D'Histoire" (Museum Tusculanum Press) 49: 45–66. ISBN 9788772895352. http://books.google.com/?id=2JB_rQpAv80C&pg=PA45&lpg=PA45&dq=Demosthenes,+Thomsen. Retrieved 2006-10-08. 
• Trapp, Michael (2003). Greek and Latin Letters. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-49943-7. 
• Tritle, Lawrence A. (1997). The Greek World in the Fourth Century. Routledge (UK). ISBN 0-415-10583-8. 
• Tsatsos, Konstantinos (1975). Demosthenes. Estia (in Greek). 
• Usher, Stephen (1999). "Demosthenes Symboulos". Greek Oratory: Tradition and Originality. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-815074-1. 
• Van Tongeren, Paul J. M. (1999). Reinterpreting Modern Culture: An Introduction to Friedrich Nietzsche's Philosophy. Purdue University Press. ISBN 1-55753-156-0. 
• Vince, J.H. (1930). "Preface". Demosthenes Orations Vol. 1. Loeb Classical Library. 
• Weil, Henri (1975). Biography of Demosthenes in "Demosthenes' Orations". Papyros (from the Greek translation). 
• Worthington, Ian (2001). Demosthenes. Routledge (UK). ISBN 0-415-20457-7. 
• Worthington, Ian (2004). "Oral Performance in the Athenian Assembly and the Demosthenic Prooemia". Oral Performance and its Context edited by C.J. MacKie. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 90-04-13680-0. 
• Yunis, Harvey (2001). Demosthenes: On the Crown. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62930-6. 
• Yunis, Harvey (2005). "The Rhetoric of Law in Fourth-Century Athens". The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Law edited by Michael Gagarin, David Cohen. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-81840-0. 

Further reading

• Adams, Charles Darwin (1927). Demosthenes and His Influence. New York: Longmans. 
• Brodribb, William Jackson (1877). Demosthenes. J.B. Lippincott & co.. 
• Bryan, William Jennings (1906). The world's famous orations (Volume 1). New York: Funk and Wagnalls Company. 
• Butcher, Samuel Henry (1888). Demosthenes. Macmillan & co.. 
• Clemenceau, Georges (1926). Demosthène. Plon. 
• Easterling P. E., Knox Bernard M. W. (1985). The Cambridge History of Classical Literature. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-21042-9. 
• Kennedy, George A. (1963). Art of Persuasion in Greece. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University press. 
• Murphy, James J., ed (1967). Demosthenes' "On the Crown": A Critical Case Study of a Masterpiece of Ancient Oratory. New York: Random House. 
• Pearson, Lionel (1981). The art of Demosthenes. Chico, CA: Scholars press. ISBN 0891305513. 

External links

Biographies

• Ancient Library
• Art of Speech
• Britannica, 11th Edition
• Britannica online
• Center for Hellenic Studies
• Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition (2001–05)
• Demostenes Eroticus/Traduccion completa bilingue Griego-Español:http://www.archive.org/details/Eroticus-demosthenesDemostenes-eticaDelEros
• Lendering, Jona
• Perseus Encyclopedia
• Pickard A.W.

His era

• Beck, Sanderson: Philip, Demosthenes, and Alexander
• Blackwell, Christopher W.: The Assembly during Demosthenes' era
• Britannica online: Macedonian supremacy in Greece
• Smith, William: A Smaller History of Ancient Greece-Philip of Macedon

Miscellaneous

• SORGLL: Demosthenes, On the Crown 199-208; read by Stephen Daitz
• Libanius, Hypotheses to the Orations of Demosthenes
• Works by Demosthenes at Project Gutenberg

Persondata
Name	Demosthenes
Alternative names
Short description	statesman and orator
Date of birth	384 BC
Place of birth	Athens
Date of death	322 BC
Place of death	Island of Calauria