Demosthenes

Greek orator

• Born: 384 b.c.e.
• Birthplace: Athens, Greece
• Died: October 12, 322 b.c.e.
• Place of death: Calauria, Greece

Early Life

Demosthenes (dih-MAHS-thuh-neez) was born in Athens in 384 b.c.e., the son of Demosthenes, an Athenian citizen of the deme of Paeania, and Cleobule, the daughter of Gylon. The elder Demosthenes, the owner of a lucrative weapons workshop, died when his son was only seven, bequeathing him a substantial fortune. Most of this patrimony, however, was embezzled by the child’s three guardians, Aphobus, Demophon, and Theryppides, who handed over to the young Demosthenes, when he came of age, only a fraction of his inheritance. As a boy, Demosthenes had witnessed the orator Callistratus win a stunning victory in the courtroom and had thereupon vowed to become an orator himself. He had turned his attention to the art of oratory and studied with Isaeus, an orator known for his acumen in cases involving questions of inheritance. This early training was now to bear fruit: Demosthenes, at only eighteen years of age, brought a series of actions against his guardians and secured a decisive victory. It is unlikely, however, that he recovered more than a little of what was owed him.

Employing his knowledge of the law and oratory, Demosthenes turned to professional speech writing (logography) and enjoyed success as a composer of orations for others. His own speaking debut before the Assembly, however, met with little approval from the people, for he was short of breath, weak in voice, and hampered by some sort of speech impediment. Chagrined, Demosthenes then began the legendary regimen of oratorical training that has become for subsequent generations a paradigm of the efficacy of hard work and perseverance in overcoming the defects or shortcomings of nature. He pronounced periods with pebbles in his mouth, declaimed to the waves over the roar of the sea, spoke while running up hill, and shaved one side of his head so that his humiliating appearance would confine him to his underground practice studio for several months at a time.

By the age of thirty, with physical impediments overcome and oratorical skills honed nearly to perfection, Demosthenes found himself increasingly involved in legal cases whose character was essentially political in nature. In 354 he delivered his first major speech before the Assembly, wherein he countered the rumored threat of war against Athens by the king of Persia, cautioned against rash action, and proposed an elaborate revision of the method for outfitting the navy. In this speech, as well as others written and delivered during this period, Demosthenes tended to support the conservative program of Eubulus, leader of the dominant party in Athens at the time, who advocated peace abroad and financial security at home. The impact of these orations thrust Demosthenes dramatically into the arena of politics and statesmanship, from which he retired only at his death.

Life’s Work

It was to the north that Demosthenes directed his attention, troubled, like many of the Greeks, by the startling and unexpected ascendancy of Philip II of Macedonia in Thrace and Thessaly. Henceforth the story of Demosthenes’ life was to be the drama of his all-consuming struggle to persuade the Athenians and the rest of the Greeks to oppose the Macedonian threat to their freedom. Encroaching southward, Philip had run roughshod over Athenian interests and sources of supply in Amphipolis and the Thermaicus Sinus.

Alarmed by these acts of aggression, in 351 Demosthenes delivered the impassioned Kata Philippou A (First Philippic, 1570), rousing his fellow citizens to take notice of the threat posed by Philip and calling them to military preparedness. This speech, injected with a newfound vigor and intensity, made clear his rejection of the policy of Eubulus and established the orator as leader of the opposition to Macedonia’s infringement on Athenian and Greek liberty.

Philip’s subsequent advance on Olynthus spurred the orator to respond with three stirring speeches, known as the Olunthiakos (Olynthiacs) in 349 and 348, aimed at securing aid for Olynthus. Demosthenes urged the Athenians to resist the onslaught of Philip with all of their physical and financial resources, going so far as to propose that the Theoric Fund (the public dole that paid for the poor’s admission to the theater) be made available for the necessities of war. The Athenians did respond—but too late and with too little assistance. Olynthus and several of the confederate towns were razed by Philip in 348.

Seeing that Athens was weak, vulnerable, and in need of time to collect its resources and strength, Demosthenes acceded to peace talks with Philip. In February of 346, he, along with several other ambassadors, including Aeschines and Philocrates, was sent to negotiate a treaty. Demosthenes’ rhetorical collapse before Philip proved to be one of the most embarrassing ordeals in the orator’s life and marked the beginning of enmity between him and Aeschines, to whom Philip apparently directed his reply. Nevertheless, it was Demosthenes who had been able to detect Philip’s real intentions; thus, he condemned the terms of the treaty to his fellow citizens. Aeschines, on the other hand, rashly assured the Athenians of Philip’s goodwill. Demosthenes’ worst fears were realized when Philip, dallying before taking the final oath of ratification, secured more territory, crushed Phocis, assumed a place on the Amphictionic Council, and took from Athens the right of precedence in consulting the oracle at Delphi.

In response to the growing bitterness of the Athenians over Philip’s continued successes, and perhaps to deflect criticism aimed at his conduct during the peace negotiations, Demosthenes impeached his rival Aeschines in 343. Charged with having caused grave injury to Athens by delaying the embassy, rendering false reports, giving bad advice, disobeying orders, and opening himself to bribery, Aeschines counterattacked with a speech and, with the support of Eubulus and other pro-Macedonians in Athens, was narrowly acquitted. It was clear, however, that the pro-Macedonian party had lost ground and that Demosthenes’ hard-line anti-Macedonian stance was finally beginning to win support among the Athenians.

By 342 Philip had firmly incorporated Thrace in his kingdom and was now turning his eye toward the Chersonese, an area vital to Athens because of its geographically strategic location on the supply route from the Black Sea. In his speech “Peri tōn en Cherronesoi” (341; “On the Chersonese,” 1757), Demosthenes countered Philip’s complaints about Athenian-supported activity in this area. Shortly thereafter, he reiterated his plea for support of the Chersonese; in the Kata Philippou G (Third Philippic, 1570) Demosthenes was at his oratorical best, arguing that Philip’s actions had already amounted to a violation of the peace and a declaration of war and passionately insisting on a union of all Greeks under the leadership of Athens.

The years immediately following represent the high point in Demosthenes’ career. The naval reforms that he had earlier proposed were effected, and his eloquence and indefatigable energy finally prevailed to secure an alliance of almost all Greek states with Athens at its head. After Philip’s declaration of war in 340, Demosthenes moved to suspend the allocation of surplus funds to the Theoric Fund and managed at length to secure an alliance between Athens and her traditional enemy, Thebes. For his actions during this time, the Athenians honored him, now their recognized leader, with two golden crowns, one in 340 and another in 339.

Demosthenes’ dream of a unified Greek front, temporarily realized, was short-lived. In 338, Philip crushed the Greek allied forces on the battlefield of Chaeronea. Demosthenes, who took part in the battle, was said by his enemies to have fled disgracefully, but back in Athens it was Demosthenes who organized the city’s defenses and who, in fact, was called on by the citizens to deliver the funeral oration over those who had fallen in the fray.

To the surprise of some, Philip treated his enemies graciously in victory and refrained from occupying Athens. Nevertheless, such clemency failed to secure the goodwill or cooperation of Demosthenes. On the contrary, after Philip’s assassination in 336, Demosthenes once again urged his countrymen to rally their support against Macedonia, reassured by rumors about the demise of Alexander (known later as Alexander the Great), Philip’s son and successor. When Alexander’s quick and decisive action against a rebellious Thebes (335) proved him to be as formidable a foe as his father, it was only through the agency of a special embassy that Demosthenes and other anti-Macedonian statesmen were spared.

In 336 a man named Ctesiphon proposed that Demosthenes should be awarded a crown at the festival of the Greater Dionysia because, in service to the state, “he continually speaks and does what is best for the people.” Aeschines, bent on prolonging his feud with the orator, immediately charged Ctesiphon with an illegal action, thereby preventing the award of the crown. After several delays the case finally came to trial in 330 in what was, perhaps, the most celebrated oratorical contest of all time. Demosthenes’ defense of Ctesiphon, “Peri tou Stephanou” (“On the Crown,” 1732), in reality an apologia for himself and his entire political career, is not only the orator’s masterpiece but also, in the judgment of many scholars throughout the centuries, the most sublime oratorical work of antiquity. To Demosthenes’ repeated question, “What else could I have done?” the Athenian jury answered resoundingly with an overwhelming verdict in his favor. Aeschines, who received less than one-fifth of the votes, was forced into exile.

Some six years later, in 324, Demosthenes’ shining victory was tarnished by charges of having accepted a bribe from Alexander’s fugitive treasurer, Harpalus. Although the precise details of the case are obscure, Demosthenes was convicted of the charge and fined fifty talents. Unable to pay, he escaped from prison and fled into exile. In the following year, however, Alexander’s death occasioned a dramatic reversal for the orator: He was recalled to Athens in triumph, and his fine was paid by the citizens who offered him fifty talents for preparing and adorning the altar for the sacrifice to Zeus the Savior. Macedonian power seemed broken, but once again Demosthenes and the Athenians were deluded: Antipater, Alexander’s successor, defeated the Greeks in the Lamian War and demanded that Demosthenes be handed over to him. The orator fled to the island of Calauria, off the coast of Argolis, and there, on the approach of Antipater’s minions in 322, committed suicide by drinking poison concealed in his stylus.

Significance

To the ancients, Demosthenes was simply “the orator,” in much the same way Homer had always been “the poet.” His singleness of purpose, the compelling vehemence and force of his argumentation, his sincerity and intensity, and the lucidity, rapidity, flexibility, and variety of his style established him as the model for subsequent speakers, including the great Roman orator Cicero. For many he has symbolized the patriot par excellence, the champion of a lost cause, fighting to preserve the Athenian democracy in its death throes, a tragic hero and an eloquent spokesman battling for political freedom against the tyrannical threats and designs of the Macedonian aggressor. Others have had little sympathy for his policies, sharing Aeschines’ view of him as a humorless “water-bibber” among wine drinkers, a stiff-necked politician whose stubbornness in the face of a new order and a powerful, inevitable force brought destruction on himself and his homeland.

In the final analysis, no matter what judgment is rendered regarding his policies as a statesman, Demosthenes’ ability to persuade is unquestionable. In his life and career he accomplished what few orators have ever been able to approach. Although a consummate master of every rule and artifice of rhetoric, Demosthenes rejected their use as ends in themselves in a mere show of rhetorical relativism. Rather, the entire force of his oratorical talent was directed as a means to greater ends, namely the recovery of the public spirit, the restoration of public vigor, the preservation of the Athenian democracy and its institutions, and the reestablishment of Athens’s preeminent influence and reputation among the Greek cities. In pursuit of that goal, Demosthenes lived, spoke, and died.

Bibliography

Adams, Charles Darwin. Demosthenes and His Influence. New York: Cooper Square, 1963. In addition to chapters on the life and oratory of Demosthenes, Adams includes important chapters on the influence of Demosthenes in antiquity, modern Europe, and on English and American oratory.

Hansen, Mogen Herman. The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes: Structure, Principles, and Ideology. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999. Examining the years 403-322 b.c.e., which coincide with the political career of Demosthenes, Hansen focuses on a crucial period of Athenian democracy. He discusses how, for Athenians, liberty was both the ability to participate in the decision-making process and the right to live without oppression from the state or from other citizens.

Jaeger, Werner W. Demosthenes: The Origin and Growth of His Policy. New York: Octagon Books, 1977. Systematic attempt to reconstruct the origin and growth of Demosthenes’ policy, considering his youth, education, early career, turn to politics, and the development of his political thought.

Kennedy, George A. Art of Persuasion in Greece. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1994. Standard handbook on Greek rhetorical theory and practice that offers perceptive analyses of Demosthenes’ major orations and places them in their proper historical and rhetorical contexts.

Murphy, James J., ed. Demosthenes’ “On the Crown”: A Critical Case Study of a Masterpiece of Ancient Oratory. Davis, Calif.: Hermagoras Press, 1983. Includes Plutarch’s biography of Demosthenes, an analysis of Demosthenes’ oratorical career by George Kennedy, John J. Keaney’s excellent translation of “On the Crown,” and an examination of the background, style, and argument of the speech.

Pearson, Lionel. The Art of Demosthenes. Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1981. Concerned with Demosthenes the orator, Pearson attempts to provide analysis and exposition of the speaker’s technique, including his command of argumentation and his skill in narrative. Both forensic and deliberative speeches are examined.

Pickard-Cambridge, A. W. Demosthenes and the Last Days of Greek Freedom. 1914. Reprint. New York: Arno Press, 1979. A sympathetic but balanced and reliable view of Demosthenes’ life and career set in its historical and political context. Contains a chronological table (404-322 b.c.e.), illustrations, maps, and diagrams of battles.