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                                      75 AD
                                  DEMOSTHENES
                                 385?-322 B.C.
                                  by Plutarch
                           translated by John Dryden
DEMOSTHENES

  WHOEVER it was, Sosius, that wrote the poem in honour of Alcibiades,
upon his winning the chariot-race at the Olympian Games, whether it
were Euripides, as is most commonly thought, or some other person,
he tells us that to a man's being happy it is in the first place
requisite he should be born in "some famous city." But for him that
would attain to true happiness, which for the most part is placed in
the qualities and disposition of the mind, it is, in my opinion, of no
other disadvantage to be of a mean, obscure country, than to be born
of a small or plain-looking woman. For it were ridiculous to think
that Iulis, a little part of Ceos, which itself is no great island,
and Aegina, which an Athenian once said ought to be removed, like a
small eyesore, from the port of Piraeus should breed good actors and
poets, and yet should never be able to produce a just, temperate,
wise, and high-minded man. Other arts, whose end it is to acquire
riches or honour, are likely enough to wither and decay in poor and
undistinguished towns; but virtue, like a strong and durable plant,
may take root and thrive in any place where it can lay hold of an
ingenuous nature, and a mind that is industrious. I, for my part,
shall desire that for any deficiency of mine in right judgment or
action, I myself may be, as in fairness, held accountable, and shall
not attribute it to the obscurity of my birthplace.
  But if any man undertake to write a history that has to be collected
from materials gathered by observation and the reading of works not
easy to be got in all places, nor written always in his own
language, but many of them foreign and dispersed in other hands, for
him, undoubtedly, it is in the first place and above all things most
necessary to reside in some city of good note, addicted to liberal
arts, and populous; where he may have plenty of all sorts of books,
and upon inquiry may hear and inform himself of such particulars as,
having escaped the pens of writers, are more faithfully preserved in
the memories of men, lest his work be deficient in many things, even
those which it can least dispense with.
  But for me, I live in a little town, where I am willing to continue,
lest it should grow less; and having had no leisure, while I was in
Rome and other parts of Italy, to exercise myself in the Roman
language, on account of public business and of those who came to be
instructed by me in philosophy, it was very late, and in the decline
of my age, before I applied myself to the reading of Latin authors.
Upon which that which happened to me may seem strange, though it be
true; for it was not so much by the knowledge of words that I came
to the understanding of things, as by my experience of things I was
enabled to follow the meaning of words. But to appreciate the graceful
and ready pronunciation of the Roman tongue, to understand the various
figures and connection of words, and such other ornaments, in which
the beauty of speaking consists, is, I doubt not, an admirable and
delightful accomplishment; but it requires a degree of practice and
study which is not easy, and will better suit those who have more
leisure, and time enough yet before them for the occupation.
  And so in this fifth book of my Parallel Lives, in giving an account
of Demosthenes and Cicero, my comparison of their natural dispositions
and their characters will be formed upon their actions and their lives
as statesmen, and I shall not pretend to criticize their orations
one against the other, to show which of the two was the more
charming or the more powerful speaker. For there, as Ion says-

         "We are but like a fish upon dry land;"

a proverb which Caecilius perhaps forgot, when he employed his
always adventurous talents in so ambitious an attempt as a
comparison of Demosthenes and Cicero; and, possibly, if it were a
thing obvious and easy for every man to know himself, the precept
had not passed for an oracle.
  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 honour;
who, flying from thence again, were both seized upon by their enemies,
and at last ended their lives with the liberty of their countrymen. So
that if we were to suppose there had been a trial of skill between
nature and fortune, as there is sometimes between artists, it would be
hard to judge whether that succeeded best in making them alike in
their dispositions and manners, or this in the coincidences of their
lives. We will speak of the eldest first.
  Demosthenes, the father of Demosthenes, was a citizen of good rank
and quality, as Theopompus informs us, surnamed the Sword-maker,
because he had a large workhouse, and kept servants skilful in that
art at work. But of that which Aeschines the orator said of his
mother, that she was descended of one Gylon, who fled his country upon
an accusation of treason, and of a barbarian woman, I can affirm
nothing, whether he spoke true, or slandered and maligned her. This is
certain, that Demosthenes, being as yet but seven years old was left
by his father in affluent circumstances, the whole value of his estate
being little short of fifteen talents, and that he was wronged by
his guardians, part of his fortune being embezzled by them, and the
rest neglected; insomuch that even his teachers were defrauded of
their salaries. This was the reason that he did not obtain the liberal
education that he should have had; besides that, on account of
weakness and delicate health, his mother would not let him exert
himself, and his teachers forbore to urge him. He was meagre and
sickly from the first, and hence had his nickname of Batalus given
him, it is said, by the boys, in derision of his appearance; Batalus
being, as some tell us, a certain enervated flute-player, in
ridicule of whom Antiphanes wrote a play. Others speak of Batalus as a
writer of wanton verses and drinking songs. And it would seem that
some part of the body, not decent to be named, was at that time called
batalus by the Athenians. But the name of Argas, which also they say
was a nickname of Demosthenes, was given him for his behaviour, as
being savage and spiteful, argas being one of the poetical words for a
snake; or for his disagreeable way of speaking, Argas being the name
of a poet who composed very harshly and disagreeably. So much, as
Plato says, for such matters.
  The first occasion of his eager inclination to oratory, they say,
was this. Callistratus, the orator, being to plead in open court for
Oropus, the expectation of the issue of that cause was very great,
as well for the ability of the orator, who was then at the height of
his reputation, as also for the fame of the action itself.
Therefore, Demosthenes, having heard the tutors and school-masters
agreeing among themselves to be present at this trial, with much
importunity persuades his tutor to take him along with him to the
hearing; who, having some acquaintance with the doorkeepers,
procured a place where the boy might sit unseen, and hear what was
said. Callistratus having got the day, and being much admired, the boy
began to look upon his glory with a kind of emulation, observing how
he was courted on all hands, and attended on his way by the multitude;
but his wonder was more than all excited by the power of his
eloquence, which seemed able to subdue and win over anything. From
this time, therefore, bidding farewell to other sorts of learning
and study, he now began to exercise himself, and to take pains in
declaiming, as one that meant to be himself also an orator. He made
use of Isaeus as his guide to the art of speaking, though Isocrates at
that time was giving lessons; whether, as some say, because he was
an orphan, and was not able to pay Isocrates his appointed fee of
ten minae or because he preferred Isaeus's speaking, as being more
businesslike and effective in actual use. Hermippus says that he met
with certain memoirs without any author's name, in which it was
written that Demosthenes was a scholar to Plato, and learnt much of
his eloquence from him; and he also mentions Ctesibius, as reporting
from Callias of Syracuse and some others, that Demosthenes secretly
obtained a knowledge of the systems of Isocrates and Alcidamas, and
mastered them thoroughly.
  As soon, therefore, as he was grown up to man's estate, he began
to go to law with his guardians, and to write orations against them;
who, in the meantime, had recourse to various subterfuges and pleas
for new trials, and Demosthenes, though he was thus, as Thucydides
says, taught his business in dangers, and by his own exertions was
successful in his suit, was yet unable for all this to recover so much
as a small fraction of his patrimony. He only attained some degree
of confidence in speaking, and some competent experience in it. And
having got a taste of the honour and power which are acquired by
pleadings, he now ventured to come forth, and to undertake public
business. And, as it is said of Laomedon, the Orchomenian, that, by
advice of his physician, he used to run long distances to keep off
some disease of his spleen, and by that means having, through labour
and exercise, framed the habit of his body, he betook himself to the
great garland games, and became one of the best runners at the long
race; so it happened to Demosthenes, who, first venturing upon oratory
for the recovery of his own private property, by this acquired ability
in speaking, and at length, in public business, as it were in the
great games, came to have the pre-eminence of all competitors in the
assembly. But when he first addressed himself to the people, he met
with great discouragements, and 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.
Besides, he had, it seems, a weakness in his voice, 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. So that in the end being quite disheartened, he forsook
the assembly; and as he was walking carelessly and sauntering about
the Piraeus, Eunomus, the Thriasian, then a very old man, seeing
him, upbraided him, saying that his diction was very much like that of
Pericles, and that he was wanting to himself through cowardice and
meanness of spirit, neither bearing up with courage against popular
outcry, nor fitting his body for action, but suffering it to
languish through mere sloth and negligence.
  Another time, when the assembly had refused to hear him, and he
was going home with his head muffled up, taking it very heavily,
they relate that Satyrus, the actor, followed him, and being his
familiar acquaintance, entered into conversation with him. To whom,
when Demosthenes bemoaned himself, that having been the most
industrious of all the pleaders, and having almost spent the whole
strength and vigour of his body in that employment, he could not yet
find any acceptance with the people, that drunken sots, mariners,
and illiterate fellows were heard, and had the husting's for their
own, while he himself was despised, "You say true, Demosthenes,"
replied Satyrus, "but I will quickly remedy the cause of all this,
if you will repeat to me some passage out of Euripides or
Sophocles." Which when Demosthenes had pronounced, Satyrus presently
taking it up after him, gave the same passage, in his rendering of it,
such a new form, by accompanying it with the proper mien and
gesture, that to Demosthenes it seemed quite another thing. By this,
being convinced how much grace and ornament language acquires from
action, he began to esteem it a small matter, and as good as nothing
for a man to exercise himself in declaiming, if he neglected
enunciation and delivery. Hereupon he built himself a place to study
in under ground (which was still remaining in our time), and hither he
would come constantly every day to form his action and to exercise his
voice; and here he would continue, oftentimes without intermission,
two or three months together, shaving one half of his head, that so
for shame he might not go abroad, though he desired it ever so much.
  Nor was this all, but he also made his conversation with people
abroad, his common speech, and his business, subservient to his
studies, taking from hence occasions and arguments as matter to work
upon. For as soon as he was parted from his company, down he would
go at once into his study, and run over everything in order that had
passed, and the reasons that might be alleged for and against it.
Any speeches, also, that he was present at, he would go over again
with himself, and reduce into periods; and whatever others spoke to
him, or he to them, he would correct, transform, and vary several
ways. Hence it was that he was looked upon as a person of no great
natural genius, but one who owed all the power and ability he had in
speaking to labour and industry. Of the truth of which it was
thought to be no small sign that he was very rarely heard to speak
upon the occasion, but though he were by name frequently called upon
by the people, as he sat in the assembly, yet he would not rise unless
he had previously considered the subject, and came prepared for it. So
that many of the popular pleaders used to make it a jest against
him; and Pytheas once, scoffing at him, said that his arguments
smelt of the lamp. To which Demosthenes gave the sharp answer, "It
is true, indeed, Pytheas, that your lamp and mine are not conscious of
the same things." To others, however, he would not much deny it, but
would admit frankly enough, that he neither entirely wrote his
speeches beforehand, nor yet spoke wholly extempore. And he would
affirm that it was the more truly popular act to use premeditation,
such preparation being a kind of respect to the people; whereas, to
slight and take no care how what is said is likely to be received by
the audience, shows something of an oligarchical temper, and is the
course of one that intends force rather than persuasion. Of his want
of courage and assurance to speak offhand, they make it also another
argument that, when he was at a loss and discomposed, Demades would
often rise up on the sudden to support him, but he was never
observed to do the same for Demades.
  Whence then, may some say, was it, that Aeschines speaks of him as a
person so much to be wondered at for his boldness in speaking? Or, how
could it be, when Python, the Byzantine, with so much confidence and
such a torrent of words inveighed against the Athenians, that
Demosthenes alone stood up to oppose him? Or when Lamarchus, the
Myrinaean, had written a panegyric upon King Philip and Alexander,
in which he uttered many things in reproach of the Thebans and
Olynthians, and at the Olympic Games recited it publicly, how was it
that he, rising up, and recounting historically and demonstratively
what benefits and advantages all Greece had received from the
Thebans and Chalcidians, and, on the contrary, what mischiefs the
flatterers of the Macedonians had brought upon it, so turned the minds
of all that were present that the sophist, in alarm at the outcry
against him, secretly made his way out of the assembly? But
Demosthenes, it should seem, regarded other points in the character of
Pericles to be unsuited to him; but his reserve and his sustained
manner, and his forbearing to speak on the sudden, or upon every
occasion, as being the things to which principally he owed his
greatness, these he followed, and endeavoured to imitate, neither
wholly neglecting the glory which present occasion offered, nor yet
willing too often to expose his faculty to the mercy of chance. For,
in fact, the orations which were spoken by him had much more of
boldness and confidence in them than those that he wrote, if we may
believe Eratosthenes, Demetrius the Phalerian, and the Comedians.
Eratosthenes says that often in his speaking he would be transported
into a kind of ecstasy, and Demetrius, that he uttered the famous
metrical adjuration to the people-

         "By the earth, the springs, the rivers, and the streams,"

as a man inspired and beside himself. One of the comedians calls him a
rhopoperperethras, and another scoffs at him for his use of
antithesis:-

         "And what he took, took back; a phrase to please,
          The very fancy of Demosthenes."

Unless, indeed, this also is meant by Antiphanes for a jest upon the
speech on Halonesus, which Demosthenes advised the Athenians not to
take at Philip's hands, but to take back.
  All, however, used to consider Demades, in the mere use of his
natural gifts, an orator impossible to surpass, and that in what he
spoke on the sudden, he excelled all the study and preparation of
Demosthenes. And Ariston, the Chian, has recorded a judgment which
Theophrastus passed upon the orators; for being asked what kind of
orator he accounted Demosthenes, he answered, "Worthy of the city of
Athens;" and then what he thought of Demades, he answered, "Above it."
And the same philosopher reports that Polyeuctus, the Sphettian, one
of the Athenian politicians about that time, was wont to say that
Demosthenes was the greatest orator, but Phocion the ablest; as he
expressed the most sense in the fewest words. And, indeed, it is
related that Demosthenes himself, as often as Phocion stood up to
plead against him, would say to his acquaintance, "Here comes the
knife to my speech." Yet it does not appear whether he had this
feeling for his powers of speaking, or for his life and character, and
meant to say that one word or nod from a man who was really trusted
would go further than a thousand lengthy periods from others.
  Demetrius, the Phalerian, tells us that he was informed by
Demosthenes himself, now grown old, that the ways he made use of to
remedy his natural bodily infirmities and defects were such as
these; his inarticulate and stammering pronunciation he overcame and
rendered more distinct by speaking with pebbles in his mouth; his
voice he disciplined by declaiming and reciting speeches or verses
when he was out of breath, while running or going up steep places; and
that in his house he had a large looking-glass, before which he
would stand and go through his exercises. It is told that some one
once came to request his assistance as a pleader, and related how he
had been assaulted and beaten. "Certainly," said Demosthenes, "nothing
of the kind can have happened to you." Upon which the other, raising
his voice, exclaimed loudly, "What, Demosthenes, nothing has been done
to me?" "Ah," replied Demosthenes, "now I hear the voice of one that
has been injured and beaten." Of so great consequence towards the
gaining of belief did he esteem the tone and action of the speaker.
The action which he used himself was wonderfully pleasing to the
common people, but by well-educated people, as, for example, by
Demetrius, the Phalerian, it was looked upon as mean, humiliating, and
unmanly. And Hermippus says of Aesion, that, being asked his opinion
concerning the ancient orators, and those of his own time, he answered
that it was admirable to see with what composure and in what high
style they addressed themselves to the people; but that the orations
of Demosthenes, when they are read, certainly appear to be superior in
point of construction, and more effective. His written speeches,
beyond all question, are characterized by austere tone and by their
severity. In his extempore retorts and rejoinders, he allowed
himself the use of jest and mockery. When Demades said, "Demosthenes
teach me! So might the sow teach Minerva!" he replied, "Was it this
Minerva, that was lately found playing the harlot in Collytus?" When a
thief, who had the nickname of the Brazen, was attempting to upbraid
him for sitting up late, and writing by candle-light, "I know very
well," said he, "that you had rather have all lights out; and wonder
not, O ye men of Athens, at the many robberies which are committed,
since we have thieves of brass and walls of clay." But on these
points, though we have much more to mention, we will add nothing at
present. We will proceed to take an estimate of his character from his
actions and his life as a statesmen.
  His first entering into public business was much about the time of
the Phocian war, as himself affirms, and may be collected from his
Philippic orations. For of these, some were made after that action was
over, and the earliest of them refer to its concluding events. It is
certain that he engaged in the accusation of Midias when he was but
two-and-thirty years old, having as yet no interest or reputation as a
politician. And this it was, I consider, that induced him to
withdraw the action, and accept a sum of money as a compromise. For of
himself-

         "He was no easy or good-natured man,"

but of a determined disposition, and resolute to see himself
righted; however, finding it a hard matter and above his strength to
deal with Midias, a man so well secured on all sides with money,
eloquence, and friends, he yielded to the entreaties of those who
interceded for him. But had he seen any hopes or possibility of
prevailing, I cannot believe that three thousand drachmas could have
taken off the edge of his revenge. The object which he chose for
himself in the commonwealth was noble and just, the defence of the
Grecians against Philip; and in this he behaved himself so worthily
that he soon grew famous, and excited attention everywhere for his
eloquence and courage in speaking. He was admired through all
Greece, the King of Persia courted him, and by Philip himself he was
more esteemed than all the other orators. His very enemies were forced
to confess that they had to do with a man of mark; for such a
character even Aeschines and Hyperides give him, where they accuse and
speak against him.
  So that I cannot imagine what ground Theopompus had to say that
Demosthenes was of a fickle, unsettled disposition, and could not long
continue firm either to the same men or the same affairs; whereas
the contrary is most apparent, 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. He was never heard to
apologize for shifting sides like Demades, who would say he often
spoke against himself, but never against the city; nor as Melanopus,
who being generally against Callistratus, but being often bribed off
with money, was wont to tell the people, "The man indeed is my
enemy, but we must submit for the good of our country;" nor again as
Nicodemus, the Messenian, who having first appeared on Cassander's
side, and afterwards taken part with Demetrius, said the two things
were not in themselves contrary, it being always most advisable to
obey the conqueror. We have nothing of this kind to say against
Demosthenes, as one who would turn aside or prevaricate, either in
word or deed. There could not have been less variation in his public
acts if they had all been played, so to say, from first to last,
from the same score. Panaetius, the philosopher, said that most of his
orations are so written as if they were to prove this one
conclusion, that what is honest and virtuous is for itself only to
be chosen; as that of the Crown, that against Aristocrates, that for
the Immunities, and the Philippics; in all which he persuades his
fellow-citizens to pursue not that which seems most pleasant, easy, or
profitable; but declares, over and over again, that they ought in
the first place to prefer that which is just and honourable before
their own safety and preservation. So that if he had kept his hands
clean, if his courage for the wars had been answerable to the
generosity of his principles, and the dignity of his orations, he
might deservedly have his name placed, not in the number of such
orators as Moerocles, Polyeuctus, and Hyperides, but in the highest
rank with Cimon, Thucydides, and Pericles.
  Certainly amongst those who were contemporary with him, Phocion,
though he appeared on the less commendable side in the commonwealth,
and was counted as one of the Macedonian party, nevertheless, by his
courage and his honesty, procured himself a name not inferior to these
of Ephialtes, Aristides, and Cimon. But Demosthenes, being neither fit
to be relied on for courage in arms, as Demetrius says, nor on all
sides inaccessible to bribery (for how invincible soever he was
against the gifts of Philip and the Macedonians, yet elsewhere he
lay open to assault, and was overpowered by the gold which came down
from Susa and Ecbatana), was therefore esteemed better able to
recommend than to imitate the virtues of past times. And yet
(excepting only Phocion), even in his life and manners, he far
surpassed the other orators of his time. None of them addressed the
people so boldly; he attacked the faults, and opposed himself to the
unreasonable desires of the multitude, as may be seen in his orations.
Theopompus writes, that the Athenians having by name selected
Demosthenes, and called upon him to accuse a certain person, he
refused to do it; upon which the assembly being all in an uproar, he
rose up and said, "Your counsellor, whether you will or no, O ye men
of Athens, you shall always have me; but a sycophant or false accuser,
though you would have me, I shall never be." And his conduct in the
case of Antiphon was perfectly aristocratical; whom, after he had been
acquitted in the assembly, he took and brought before the court of
Areopagus, and, setting at naught the displeasure of the people,
convicted him there of having promised Philip to burn the arsenal;
whereupon the man was condemned by that court, and suffered for it. He
accused, also, Theoris, the priestess, amongst other misdemeanours, of
having instructed and taught the slaves to deceive and cheat their
masters, for which the sentence of death was passed upon her, and
she was executed.
  The oration which Apollodorus made use of, and by it carried the
cause against Timotheus, the general, in an action of debt, it is said
was written for him by Demosthenes; as also those against Phormion and
Stephanus, in which latter case he was thought to have acted
dishonourably, for the speech which Phormion used against
Apollodorus was also of his making; he, as it were, having simply
furnished two adversaries out of the same shop with weapons to wound
one another. Of his orations addressed to the public assemblies,
that against Androtion and those against Timocrates and
Aristocrates, were written for others, before he had come forward
himself as a politician. They were composed, it seems, when he was but
seven or eight and twenty years old. That against Aristogiton, and
that for the Immunities, he spoke himself, at the request, as he says,
of Ctesippus, the son of Chabrias, but, as some say, out of
courtship to the young man's mother. Though, in fact, he did not marry
her, for his wife was a woman of Samos, as Demetrius, the Magnesian,
writes, in his book on Persons of the same Name. It is not certain
whether his oration against Aeschines, for Misconduct as Ambassador,
was ever spoken; although Idomeneus says that Aeschines wanted only
thirty voices to condemn him. But this seems not to be correct, at
least so far as may be conjectured from both their orations concerning
the Crown; for in these, neither of them speaks clearly or directly of
it, as a cause that ever came to trial. But let others decide this
controversy.
  It was evident, even in time of peace, what course Demosthenes would
steer in the commonwealth; for whatever was done by the Macedonian, he
criticized and found fault with, and upon all occasions was stirring
up the people of Athens, and inflaming them against him. Therefore, in
the court of Philip, no man was so much talked of, or of so great
account as he; and when he came thither, one of the ten ambassadors
who were sent into Macedonia, though all had audience given them,
yet his speech was answered with most care and exactness. But in other
respects, Philip entertained him not so honourably as the rest,
neither did he show him the same kindness and civility with which he
applied himself to the party of Aeschines and Philocrates. So that,
when the others commended Philip for his able speaking, his
beautiful person, nay, and also for his good companionship in
drinking, Demosthenes could not refrain from cavilling at these
praises; the first, he said, was a quality which might well enough
become a rhetorician, the second a woman, and the last was only the
property of a sponge; no one of them was the proper commendation of
a prince.
  But when things came at last to war, Philip on the one side being
not able to live in peace, and the Athenians, on the other side, being
stirred up by Demosthenes, the first action he put them upon was the
reducing of Euboea, which, by the treachery of the tyrants, was
brought under subjection to Philip. And on his proposition, the decree
was voted, and they crossed over thither and chased the Macedonians
out of the island. The next was the relief of the Byzantines and
Perinthians, whom the Macedonians at that time were attacking. He
persuaded the people to lay aside their enmity against these cities,
to forget the offences committed by them in the Confederate War, and
to send them such succours as eventually saved and secured them. Not
long after, he undertook an embassy through the states of Greece,
which he solicited and so far incensed against Philip that, a few only
excepted, he brought them all into a general league. So that,
besides the forces composed of the citizens themselves, there was an
army consisting of fifteen thousand foot and two thousand horse, and
the money to pay these strangers was levied and brought in with
great cheerfulness. On which occasion it was, says Theophrastus, on
the allies requesting that their contributions for the war might be
ascertained and stated, Crobylus, the orator, made use of the
saying, "War can't be fed at so much a day." Now was all Greece up
in arms, and in great expectation what would be the event. The
Euboeans, the Achaeans, the Corinthians, the Megarians, the
Leucadians, and Corcyraeans, their people and their cities, were all
joined together in a league. But the hardest task was yet behind, left
for Demosthenes, to draw the Thebans into this confederacy with the
rest. Their country bordered next upon Attica, they had great forces
for the war, and at that time they were accounted the best soldiers of
all Greece, but it was no easy matter to make them break with
Philip, who, by many good offices, had so lately obliged them in the
Phocian war; especially considering how the subjects of dispute and
variance between the two cities were continually renewed and
exasperated by petty quarrels, arising out of the proximity of their
frontiers.
  But after Philip, being now grown high and puffed up with his good
success at Amphissa, on a sudden surprised Elatea and possessed
himself of Phocis, and the Athenians were in a great consternation,
none durst venture to rise up to speak, no one knew what to say, all
were at a loss, and the whole assembly in silence and perplexity, in
this extremity of affairs Demosthenes was the only man who appeared,
his counsel to them being alliance with the Thebans. And having in
other ways encouraged the people, and, as his manner was, raised their
spirits up with hopes, he, with some others, was sent ambassador to
Thebes. To oppose him, as Marsyas says, Philip also sent thither his
envoys, Amyntas and Clearchus, two Macedonians, besides Daochus, a
Thessalian, and Thrasydaeus. Now the Thebans, in their
consultations, were well enough aware what suited best with their
own interest, but every one had before his eyes the terrors of war,
and their losses in the Phocian troubles were still recent: but such
was the force and power of the orator, fanning up, as Theopompus says,
their courage, and firing their emulation, that, casting away every
thought of prudence, fear, or obligation, in a sort of divine
possession, they chose the path of honour, to which his words
invited them. And this success, thus accomplished by an orator, was
thought to be so glorious and of such consequence, that Philip
immediately sent heralds to treat and petition for a peace: all Greece
was aroused, and up in arms to help. And the commanders-in-chief,
not only of Attica, but of Boeotia, applied themselves to Demosthenes,
and observed his directions. He managed all the assemblies of the
Thebans, no less than those of the Athenians; he was beloved both by
the one and by the other, and exercised the same supreme authority
with both; and that not by unfair means, or without just cause, as
Theopompus professes, but indeed it was no more than was due to his
merit.
  But there was, it would seem, some divinely ordered fortune,
commissioned, in the revolution of things, to put a period at this
time to the liberty of Greece, which opposed and thwarted all their
actions, and by many signs foretold what should happen. Such were
the sad predictions uttered by the Pythian priestess, and this old
oracle cited out of the Sibyl's verses:-

         "The battle on Thermodon that shall be
          Safe at a distance I desire to see,
          Far, like an eagle, watching in the air,
          Conquered shall weep, and conqueror perish there."

  This Thermodon, they say, is a little rivulet here in our country in
Chaeronea, running into the Cephisus. But we know of none that is so
called at the present time, and can only conjecture that the streamlet
which is now called Haemon, and runs by the Temple of Hercules,
where the Grecians were encamped, might perhaps in those days be
called Thermodon, and after the fight, being filled with blood and
dead bodies, upon this occasion, as we guess, might change its old
name for that which it now bears. Yet Duris says that this Thermodon
was no river, but that some of the soldiers, as they were pitching
their tents and digging trenches about them, found a small stone
statue, which, by the inscription, appeared to be the figure of
Thermodon, carrying a wounded Amazon in his arms; and that there was
another oracle current about it, as follows:-

         "The battle on Thermodon that shall be,
          Fail not, black raven, to attend and see;
          The flesh of men shall there abound for thee."

  In fine, it is not easy to determine what is the truth. But of
Demosthenes it is said that he had such great confidence in the
Grecian forces, and was so excited by the sight of the courage and
resolution of so many brave men ready to engage the enemy, that he
would by no means endure they should give any heed to oracles, or
hearken to prophecies, but gave out that he suspected even the
prophetess herself, as if she had been tampered with to speak in
favour of Philip. The Thebans he put in mind of Epaminondas, the
Athenians of Pericles, who always took their own measures and governed
their actions by reason, looking upon things of this kind as mere
pretexts for cowardice. Thus far, therefore, Demosthenes acquitted
himself like a brave man. But in the fight he did nothing
honourable, nor was his performance answerable to his speeches. For he
fled, deserting his place disgracefully, and throwing away his arms,
not ashamed, as Pytheas observed, to belie the inscription written
on his shield, in letters of gold, "With good fortune."
  In the meantime Philip, in the first moment of victory, was so
transported with joy, that he grew extravagant, and going out after he
had drunk largely to visit the dead bodies, he chanted the first words
of the decree that had been passed on the motion of Demosthenes-

         "The motion of Demosthenes, Demosthenes's son,"

dividing it metrically into feet, and marking the beats.
  But when he came to himself, and had well considered the danger he
was lately under, he could not forbear from shuddering at the
wonderful ability and power of an orator who had made him hazard his
life and empire on the issue of a few brief hours. The fame of it also
reached even to the court of Persia, and the king sent letters to
his lieutenants commanding them to supply Demosthenes with money,
and to pay every attention to him, as the only man of all the Grecians
who was able to give Philip occupation and find employment for his
forces near home, in the troubles of Greece. This, afterwards came
to the knowledge of Alexander, by certain letters of Demosthenes which
he found at Sardis, and by other papers of the Persian officers,
stating the large sums which had been given him.
  At this time, however, upon the ill-success which now happened to
the Grecians, those of the contrary faction in the commonwealth fell
foul upon Demosthenes and took the opportunity to frame several
informations and indictments against him. But the people not only
acquitted him of these accusations, but continued towards him their
former respect, and still invited him, as a man that meant well, to
take a part in public affairs. Insomuch that when the bones of those
who had been slain at Chaeronea were brought home to be solemnly
interred, Demosthenes was the man they chose to make the funeral
oration. They did not show, under the misfortunes which befell them, a
base or ignoble mind, as Theopompus writes in his exaggerated style,
but on the contrary, by the honour and respect paid to their
counsellor, they made it appear that they were noway dissatisfied with
the counsels he had given them. The speech, therefore, was spoken by
Demosthenes. But the subsequent decrees he would not allow to be
passed in his own name, but made use of those of his friends, one
after another, looking upon his own as unfortunate and inauspicious;
till at length he took courage again after the death of Philip, who
did not long outlive his victory at Chaeronea. And this, it seems, was
that which was foretold in the last verse of the oracle-

         "Conquered shall weep, and conqueror perish there."

Demosthenes had secret intelligence of the death of Philip, and laying
hold of this opportunity to prepossess the people with courage and
better hopes for the future, he came into the assembly with a cheerful
countenance, pretending to have had a dream that presaged some great
good fortune for Athens; and, not long after, arrived the messengers
who brought the news of Philip's death. No sooner had the people
received it, but immediately they offered sacrifice to the gods, and
decreed that Pausanias should be presented with a crown. Demosthenes
appeared publicly in a rich dress, with a chaplet on his head,
though it were but the seventh day since the death of his daughter, as
is said by Aeschines, who upbraids him upon this account, and rails at
him as one void of natural affection towards his children. Whereas,
indeed, he rather betrays himself to be of a poor, low spirit, and
effeminate mind, if he really means to make wailings and lamentation
the only signs of a gentle and affectionate nature, and to condemn
those who bear such accidents with more temper and less passion. For
my own part, I cannot say that the behaviour of the Athenians on
this occasion was wise or honourable, to crown themselves with
garlands and to sacrifice to the gods for the death of a prince who,
in the midst of his success and victories, when they were a
conquered people, had used them with so much clemency and humanity.
For besides provoking fortune, it was a base thing, and unworthy in
itself, to make him a citizen of Athens, and pay him honours while
he lived, and yet as soon as he fell by another's hand, to set no
bounds to their jollity, to insult over him dead, and to sing
triumphant songs of victory, as if by their own valour they had
vanquished him. I must at the same time commend the behaviour of
Demosthenes, who, leaving tears and lamentations and domestic
sorrows to the women, made it his business to attend to the
interests of the commonwealth. And I think it the duty of him who
would be accounted to have a soul truly valiant, and fit for
government, that, standing always firm to the common good, and letting
private griefs and troubles find their compensation in public
blessings, he should maintain the dignity of his character and
station, much more than actors who represent the persons of kings
and tyrants, who, we see, when they either laugh or weep on the stage,
follow, not their own private inclinations, but the course
consistent with the subject and with their position. And if, moreover,
when our neighbour is in misfortune, it is not our duty to forbear
offering any consolation, but rather to say whatever may tend to cheer
him, and to invite his attention to any agreeable objects, just as
we tell people who are troubled with sore eyes to withdraw their sight
from bright and offensive colours to green, and those of a softer
mixture, from whence can a man seek, in his own case, better arguments
of consolation for afflictions in his family, than from the prosperity
of his country, by making public and domestic chances count, so to
say, together, and the better fortune of the state obscure and conceal
the less happy circumstances of the individual. I have been induced to
say so much, because I have known many readers melted by Aeschines's
language into a soft and unmanly tenderness.
  But now to turn to my narrative. The cities of Greece were
inspirited once more by the efforts of Demosthenes to form a league
together. The Thebans, whom he had provided with arms, set upon
their garrison, and slew many of them; the Athenians made preparations
to join their forces with them; Demosthenes ruled supreme in the
popular assembly, and wrote letters to the Persian officers who
commanded under the king in Asia, inciting them to make war upon the
Macedonian, calling him child and simpleton. But as soon as
Alexander had settled matters in his own country, and came in person
with his army into Boeotia, down fell the courage of the Athenians,
and Demosthenes was hushed; the Thebans, deserted by them, fought by
themselves, and lost their city. After which, the people of Athens,
all in distress and great perplexity, resolved to send ambassadors
to Alexander, and amongst others, made choice of Demosthenes for
one; but his heart failing him for fear of the king's anger, he
returned back from Cithaeron, and left the embassy. In the meantime,
Alexander sent to Athens, requiring ten of their orators to be
delivered up to him, as Idomeneus and Duris have reported, but as
the most and best historians say, he demanded these eight only,-
Demosthenes, Polyeuctus, Ephialtes, Lycurgus, Moerocles, Demon,
Callisthenes, and Charidemus. It was upon this occasion that
Demosthenes related to them the fable in which the sheep are said to
deliver up their dogs to the wolves; himself and those who with him
contended for the people's safety being, in his comparison, the dogs
that defended the flock, and Alexander "the Macedonian arch-wolf."
He further told them, "As we see corn-masters sell their whole stock
by a few grains of wheat which they carry about with them in a dish,
as a sample of the rest, so you by delivering up us, who are but a
few, do at the same time unawares surrender up yourselves all together
with us so we find it related in the history of Aristobulus, the
Cassandrian. The Athenians were deliberating, and at a loss what to
do, when Demades, having agreed with the persons whom Alexander had
demanded, for five talents, undertook to go ambassador, and to
intercede with the king for them; and, whether it was that he relied
on his friendship and kindness, or that he hoped to find him satiated,
as a lion glutted with slaughter, he certainly went, and prevailed
with him both to pardon the men, and to be reconciled to the city.
  So he and his friends, when Alexander went away, were great men, and
Demosthenes was quite put aside. Yet when Agis, the Spartan, made
his insurrection, he also for a short time attempted a movement in his
favour; but he soon shrunk back again, as the Athenians would not take
any part in it, and, Agis being slain, the Lacedaemonians were
vanquished. During this time it was that the indictment against
Ctesiphon, concerning the crown, was brought to trial. The action
was commenced a little before the battle in Chaeronea, when Chaerondas
was archon, but it was not proceeded with till about ten years
after, Aristophon being then archon. Never was any public cause more
celebrated than this, alike for the fame of the orators, and for the
generous courage of the judges, who, though at that time the
accusers of Demosthenes were in the height of power, and supported
by all the favour of the Macedonians, yet would not give judgment
against him, but acquitted him so honourably, that Aeschines did not
obtain the fifth part of their suffrages on his side, so that,
immediately after, he left the city, and spent the rest of his life in
teaching rhetoric about the island of Rhodes, and upon the continent
in Ionia.
  It was not long after that Harpalus fled from Alexander, and came to
Athens out of Asia; knowing himself guilty of many misdeeds into which
his love of luxury had led him, and fearing the king, who was now
grown terrible even to his best friends. Yet this man had no sooner
addressed himself to the people, and delivered up his goods, his
ships, and himself to their disposal, but the other orators of the
town had their eyes quickly fixed upon his money, and came in to his
assistance, persuading the Athenians to receive and protect their
suppliant. Demosthenes at first gave advice to chase him out of the
country, and to beware lest they involved their city in a war upon
an unnecessary and unjust occasion. But some few days after, as they
were taking an account of the treasure, Harpalus, perceiving how
much he was pleased with a cup of Persian manufacture, and how
curiously he surveyed the sculpture and fashion of it, desired him
to poise it in his hand, and consider the weight of the gold.
Demosthenes, being amazed to feel how heavy it was, asked him what
weight it came to. "To you," said Harpalus, smiling, "it shall come
with twenty talents." And presently after, when night drew on, he sent
him the cup with so many talents. Harpalus, it seems, was a person
of singular skill to discern a man's covetousness by the air of his
countenance, and the look and movements of his eyes. For Demosthenes
could not resist the temptation, but admitting the present, like an
armed garrison, into the citadel of his house, he surrendered
himself up to the interest of Harpalus. The next day, he came into the
assembly with his neck swathed about with wool and rollers, and when
they called on him to rise up and speak, he made signs as if he had
lost his voice. But the wits, turning the matter to ridicule, said
that certainly the orator had been seized that night with no other
than a silver quinsy. And soon after, the people, becoming aware of
the bribery, grew angry, and would not suffer him to speak, or make
any apology for himself, but ran him down with noise; and one man
stood up, and cried out, "What, ye men of Athens, will you not hear
the cup-bearer?" So at length they banished Harpalus out of the
city; and fearing lest they should be called to account for the
treasure which the orators had purloined, they made a strict
inquiry, going from house to house; only Callicles, the son of
Arrhenidas, who was newly married, they would not suffer to be
searched, out of respects, as Theopompus writes, to the bride, who was
within.
  Demosthenes resisted the inquisition, and proposed a decree to refer
the business to the court of Areopagus, and to punish those whom
that court should find guilty. But being himself one of the first whom
the court condemned, when he came to the bar, he was fined fifty
talents, and committed to prison; where, out of shame of the crime for
which he was condemned, and through the weakness of his body,
growing incapable of supporting the confinement, he made his escape,
by the carelessness of some and by the contrivance of others of the
citizens. We are told, at least, that he had not fled far from the
city when, finding that he was pursued by some of those who had been
his adversaries, he endeavoured to hide himself. But when they
called him by his name, and coming up nearer to him, desired he
would accept from them some money which they had brought from home
as a provision for his journey, and to that purpose only had
followed him, when they entreated him to take courage, and to bear
up against his misfortune, he burst out into much greater lamentation,
saying, "But how is it possible to support myself under so heavy an
affliction, since I leave a city in which I have such enemies, as in
any other it is not easy to find friends." He did not show much
fortitude in his banishment, spending his time for the most part in
Aegina and Troezen, and, with tears in his eyes, looking towards the
country of Attica. And there remain upon record some sayings of his,
little resembling those sentiments of generosity and bravery which
he used to express when he had the management of the commonwealth.
For, as he was departing out of the city, it is reported, he lifted up
his hands towards the Acropolis, and said, "O Lady Minerva, how is
it that thou takest delight in three such fierce untractable beasts,
the owl, the snake, and the people?" The young men that came to
visit and converse with him, he deterred from meddling with state
affairs, telling them, that if at first two ways had been proposed
to him, the one leading to the speaker's stand and the assembly, the
other going direct to destruction, and he could have foreseen the many
evils which attend those who deal in public business, such as fears,
envies, calumnies, and contentions, he would certainly have taken that
which led straight on to his death.
  But now happened the death of Alexander, while Demosthenes was in
this banishment which we have been speaking of. And the Grecians
were once again up in arms, encouraged by the brave attempts of
Leosthenes, who was then drawing a circumvallation about Antipater,
whom he held close besieged in Lamia. Pytheas, therefore, the
orator, and Callimedon, called the Crab, fled from Athens, and
taking sides with Antipater, went about with his friends and
ambassadors to keep the Grecians from revolting and taking part with
the Athenians. But, on the other side, Demosthenes, associating
himself with the ambassadors that came from Athens, used his utmost
endeavours and gave them his best assistance in persuading the
cities to fall unanimously upon the Macedonians, and to drive them out
of Greece. Phylarchus says that in Arcadia there happened a rencounter
between Pytheas and Demosthenes, which came at last to downright
railing, while the one pleaded for the Macedonians, and the other
for the Grecians. Pytheas said, that as we always suppose there is
some disease in the family to which they bring asses' milk, so
wherever there comes an embassy from Athens that city must needs be
indisposed. And Demosthenes answered him, retorting the comparison:
"Asses' milk is brought to restore health and the Athenians come for
the safety and recovery of the sick." With this conduct the people
of Athens were so well pleased that they decreed the recall of
Demosthenes from banishment. The decree was brought in by Demon the
Paeanian, cousin to Demosthenes. So they sent him a ship to Aegina,
and he landed at the port of Piraeus, where he was met and joyfully
received by all the citizens, not so much as an archon or a priest
staying behind. And Demetrius, the Magnesian, says that he lifted up
his hands towards heaven, and blessed this day of his happy return, as
far more honourable than that of Alcibiades; since he was recalled
by his countrymen, not through any force or constraint put upon
them, but by their own good-will and free inclinations. There remained
only his pecuniary fine, which, according to law, could not be
remitted by the people. But they found out a way to elude the law.
It was a custom with them to allow a certain quantity of silver to
those who were to furnish and adorn the altar for the sacrifice of
Jupiter Soter. This office, for that turn, they bestowed on
Demosthenes, and for the performance of it ordered him fifty
talents, the very sum in which he was condemned.
  Yet it was no long time that he enjoyed his country after his
return, the attempts of the Greeks being soon all utterly defeated.
For the battle of Cranon happened in Metagitnion, in Boedromion the
garrison entered into Munychia, and in the Pyanepsion following died
Demosthenes after this manner.
  Upon the report that Antipater and Craterus were coming to Athens,
Demosthenes with his party took their opportunity to escape privily
out of the city; but sentence of death was, upon the motion of
Demades, passed upon them by the people. They dispersed themselves,
flying some to one place, some to another; and Antipater sent about
his soldiers into all quarters to apprehend them. Archias was their
captain, and was thence called the exile-hunter. He was a Thurian
born, and is reported to have been an actor of tragedies, and they say
that Polus, of Aegina, the best actor of his time, was his scholar;
but Hermippus reckons Archias among the disciples of Lacritus, the
orator, and Demetrius says he spent some time with Anaximenes. This
Archias finding Hyperides the orator, Aritonicus of Marathon, and
Himeraeus, the brother of Demetrius the Phalerian, in Aegina, took
them by force out of the temple of Aecus, whither they were fled for
safety, and sent them to Antipater, then at Cleonae where they were
all put to death; and Hyperides, they say, had his tongue cut out.
  Demosthenes, he heard, had taken sanctuary at the temple of
Neptune in Calauria and, crossing over thither in some light
vessels, as soon as he had landed himself, and the Thracian spearmen
that came with him, he endeavoured to persuade Demosthenes to
accompany him to Antipater, as if he should meet with no hard usage
from him. But Demosthenes, in his sleep the night before, had a
strange dream. It seemed to him that he was acting a tragedy, and
contended with Archias for the victory; and though he acquitted
himself well, and gave good satisfaction to the spectators, yet for
want of better furniture and provision for the stage, he lost the day.
And so, while Archias was discoursing to him with many expressions
of kindness, he sate still in the same posture, and looking up
steadfastly upon him, "O Archias," said he, "I am as little affected
by your promises now as I used formerly to be by your acting." Archias
at this beginning to grow angry and to threaten him, "Now," said
Demosthenes, "you speak like the genuine Macedonian oracle; before you
were but acting a part. Therefore forbear only a little, while I write
a word or two home to my family." Having thus spoken, he withdrew into
the temple and taking a scroll as if he meant to write, he put the
reed into his mouth, and biting it as he was wont to do when he was
thoughtful or writing, he held it there some time. Then he bowed
down his head and covered it. The soldiers that stood at the door,
supposing all this to proceed from want of courage and fear of
death, in derision called him effeminate, and faint-hearted, and
coward. And Archias drawing near, desired him to rise up, and
repeating the same kind of thing he had spoken before, he once more
promised to make his peace with Antipater. But Demosthenes, perceiving
that now the poison had pierced, and seized his vitals, uncovered
his head, and fixing his eyes upon Archias, "Now," said he, "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 will rise up and depart out of this
sacred place; though Antipater and the Macedonians have not left so
much as thy temple unpolluted." After he had thus spoken and desired
to be held up, because already he began to tremble and stagger, as
he was going forward, and passing by the altar, he fell down, and with
a groan gave up the ghost.
  Ariston says that he took the poison out of a reed, as we have shown
before. But Pappus, a certain historian whose history was recovered by
Hermippus, says, that as he fell near the altar, there was found in
his scroll this beginning only of a letter, and nothing more,
"Demosthenes to Antipater." And that when his sudden death was much
wondered at, the Thracians who guarded the doors reported that he took
the poison into his hand out of a rag, and put it in his mouth, and
that they imagined it had been gold which he swallowed, but the maid
that served him, being examined by the followers of Archias,
affirmed that he had worn it in a bracelet for a long time, as an
amulet. And Eratosthenes also says that he kept the poison in a hollow
ring, and that that ring was the bracelet which he wore about his arm.
There are various other statements made by the many authors who have
related the story, but there is no need to enter into their
discrepancies; yet I must not omit what is said by Demochares the
relation of Demosthenes, who is of opinion it was not by the help of
poison that he met with so sudden and so easy a death, but that by the
singular favour and providence of the gods he was thus rescued from
the cruelty of the Macedonians. He died on the sixteenth of
Pyanepsion, the most sad and solemn day of the Thesmophoria, which the
women observe by fasting in the temple of the goddess.
  Soon after his death, the people of Athens bestowed on him such
honours as he had deserved. They erected his statue of brass; they
decreed that the eldest of his family should be maintained in the
Prytaneum; and on the base of his statue was engraven the famous
inscription-

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

For it is simply ridiculous to say, as some have related, that
Demosthenes made these verses himself in Calauria, as he was about
to take the poison.
  A little before he went to Athens, the following incident was said
to have happened. A soldier, being summoned to appear before his
superior officer, and answer to an accusation brought against him, put
that little gold which he had into the hands of Demosthenes's
statue. The fingers of this statue were folded one within another, and
near it grew a small plane-tree, from which many leaves, either
accidently blown thither by the wind, or placed so on purpose by the
man himself, falling together and lying round about the gold,
concealed it for a long time. In the end, the soldier returned and
found his treasure entire, and the fame of this incident was spread
abroad. And many ingenious persons of the city competed with each
other, on this occasion, to vindicate the integrity of Demosthenes
in several epigrams which they made on the subject.
  As for Demades, he did not long enjoy the new honours he now came in
for, divine vengeance for the death of Demosthenes pursuing him into
Macedonia, where he was justly put to death by those whom he had
basely flattered. They were weary of him before, but at this time
the guilt he lay under was manifest and undeniable. For some of his
letters were intercepted, in which he had encouraged Perdiccas to fall
upon Macedonia, and to save the Grecians, who, he said, hung only by
an old rotten thread meaning Antipater. Of this he was accused by
Dinarchus, the Corinthian, and Cassander was so enraged, that he first
slew his son in his bosom, and then gave orders to execute him; who
might now at last, by his own extreme misfortunes, learn the lesson
that traitors who made sale of their country sell themselves first;
a truth which Demosthenes had often foretold him, and he would never
believe. Thus, Sosius, you have the life of Demosthenes from such
accounts as we have either read or heard concerning him.


                              THE END