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Plutarch Demosthenes
Demosthenes
(legendary, died 322 B.C.E.)
Written 75 A.C.E.
Translated by “John Dryden”
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4.
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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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 Athena!"
he replied, "Was it this Athena, 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. 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.
18. 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.
19. 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."
20. 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.
21. 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."
22.
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.
23. 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.
24. 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.
25. 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.
26. 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 Athena, 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.
27. 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 Zeus 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.
28. 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.
29. Demosthenes, he heard, had taken sanctuary at the temple of Poseidon
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 Poseidon, 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.
30. 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.
31. 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
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