The Lives of the Ten Orators (8-9)

Demosthenes, son of Demosthenes and Cleobulê daughter of Gylon, was of the deme Paeania. He was left an orphan at the age of seven years[*] by his father, along with his five-year-old sister, and lived during his minority with his mother. Some say that he went to school to Isocrates, but most authorities say that he went to Isaeus of Chalcis, who was a pupil of Isocrates living in Athens. He imitated Thucydides and also the philosopher Plato, whose instruction, some say, he followed with especial zeal. But Hegesias of Magnesia says that he asked his attendant to let him hear Callistratus of Aphidna, son of Empedus, a noted orator who had been a commander of cavalry and had set up the altar to Hermes-of-the-Market[*] and was about to address the popular assembly; and Demosthenes, when he had heard him speak, fell in love with oratory. Demosthenes heard him, it is true, for only a short time, as long as Callistratus remained in Athens; but when he had been banished to Thrace and Demosthenes had finished his service as ephebe,[*] he went over to Isocrates

and Plato; then he took Isaeus into his house and for four years exerted himself to imitate his speeches. But Ctesibius says in his work On Philosophy that through Callias of Syracuse he obtained the speeches of Zethus of Amphipolis and through Charicles of Carystus those of Alcidamas and that he studied them thoroughly.

When he attained his majority, because he received from his guardians less than was right, he brought them to trial for their administration, in the archonship of Timocrates.[*] There were three of them: Aphobus, Therippides, and Demophon or Demeas, and he accused the last-named especially, since he was his mother’s brother.[*] He fixed the penalty in each suit at ten talents, and he obtained conviction of all three defendants; but he exacted no part of the penalty, for he let them off, some for money and some as an act of grace. When Aristophon[*] at last on account of age resigned political leadership, Demosthenes was even made choregus.[*] And wThen Meidias of the deme of Anagyros struck him as he was performing his duties in the theatre as choregus, he sued him for the act, but on receipt of three thousand drachmas he dropped the suit. They say that when he was still a young man he withdrew into a cave and studied there, shaving half of his head to keep himself from going out; also that he slept on a

narrow bed in order to get up quickly, and that since he could not pronounce the sound of R he learned to do so by hard work, and since in declaiming for practice he made an awkward movement with his shoulder, he put an end to the habit by fastening a spit or, as some say, a dagger from the ceiling to make him through fear keep his shoulder motionless. They say, too, that as he progressed in his ability to speak he had a mirror made as large as himself and kept his eyes on it while practising, that he might correct his faults; and that he used to go down to the shore at Phalerum and address his remarks to the roar of the waves, that he might not be disconcerted if the people should ever make a disturbance; and that because he was short of breath he paid Neoptolemus the actor ten thousand drachmas to teach him to speak whole paragraphs without taking breath.

And when he entered upon political life, finding that the public men of the city were divided into two parties, one favouring Philip and the other addressing the populace in defence of liberty, he enrolled himself among those opposed to Philip and always constantly advised the people to support the cause of those peoples which were in danger of being subjected by Philip, in which policy he was associated with Hypereides, Nausicles, Polyeuctus, and Diotimus; and thus he also brought the Thebans, Euboeans, Corcyraeans, Corinthians, Boeotians, and many others into alliance with the Athenians. Once he was hissed out of the assembly and was walking home feeling discouraged; but Eunomus of the deme Thria, who was already an old man, happened to meet him and encouraged him, and more than anyone else the actor

Andronicus,[*] by telling him that his words were excellent but that his delivery was deficient, and then Andronicus declaimed from memory the speech which Demosthenes had delivered in the assembly; whereupon Demosthenes was convinced and put himself in the hands of Andronicus. Therefore when someone asked him what was the first thing in oratory, he replied Delivery, and what the second, Delivery, and the third, Delivery. [*] And when he spoke again in the assemblies he was hissed for some new-fangled expressions, so that Antiphanes and Timocles made fun of him in their comedies,

By earth, by founts, by rivers, and by floods,[*]

for it was by swearing in this way that he had caused an uproar in the assembly. He used also to swear by Asclepius, putting the accent on the third syllable from the end, though it is properly on the final syllable; and he offered, a proof that he was right, for he said that the god was mild (epios). For this also he often provoked a clamour from the audience. But by going to school to Eubulides the Milesian philosopher he corrected all his faults. Once when he was at the Olympic festival and heard Lamachus of Tereina reading a eulogy of Philip and Alexander fand decrying the Thebans and Olynthians, he stood up and quoted the words of the ancient poets testifying to the glorious deeds of the Thebans and Olynthians, with the result that Lamachus was silenced and fled from the festival. And Philip said to those who reported to him the public speeches of Demosthenes against him, I myself, if I had heard Demosthenes speak, would have elected the man general to carry on the war against me. And Philip used to say that Demosthenes’ speeches were like soldiers because of their warlike power, but those of Isocrates were like athletes, because they afforded pleasure like that of a show.

When he was thirty-seven years old, reckoning from the archonship of Dexitheus[*] to that of Callimachus,[*] who was in office when an embassy came from the Olynthians asking for help because they were being hard pressed by Philip in the war, he persuaded the Athenians to send the help; but in the following year, in which Plato died,[*] Philip overthrew the Olynthians. Xenophon, the follower of Socrates, knew him either in his youth or in his prime; for Xenophon’s Hellenica ended with the battle of Mantineia and the archonship of Charicles,[*] and Demosthenes had already before that time, in the archonship of Timocrates,[*] caused the conviction of his guardians. When Aeschines fled after his condemnation,[*] he followed him on horseback, and Aeschines, thinking he was arresting him, fell at his feet and covered his head, but Demosthenes raised him up, encouraged him, and gave him a talent of silver. And he advised the people to support a force

of mercenaries at Thasos, and sailed out as commander of a trireme on that occasion. After he had been in charge of the food supply he was accused of embezzlement but was acquitted. When Philip had taken Elateia Demosthenes himself went out with those who fought at Chaeroneia,[*] on which occasion it appears that he deserted his post, and that, as he was running away, a bramble-bush caught his cloak, whereupon he turned and said, Take me alive. And he had as a device on his shield the words With good fortune. [*] However, he delivered the funeral address for those who fell.[*] And after that, directing his efforts to the improvement of the city and being elected commissioner in charge of the fortifications, he contributed out of his own pocket the funds expended, amounting to one hundred minae; he also presented ten thousand drachmas[*] for sacred envoys,[*] and he made a cruise in a trireme to the allied cities collecting money. For these activities he was crowned many times, on earlier occasions on motions offered by Demomeles, Aristonicus, and Hypereides with golden crowns, and the last time on the motion of Ctesiphon; and when the decree granting this honour was attacked as illegal by Diodotus and Aeschines, he was so successful in his defence that the accuser did not receive one-fifth of the votes.

And at a later time, when Alexander was campaigning in Asia and Harpalus[*] came fleeing to Athens

with money, at first Demosthenes kept him from being admitted, but after he had entered the harbour, Demosthenes accepted one thousand darics and changed his attitude, and when the Athenians wished to surrender the man to Antipater, he spoke against it and made a motion that Harpalus deposit the money on the Acropolis without even stating the amount to the people; and although Harpalus stated that he had brought with him seven hundred talents, that which was taken up to the Acropolis was found to amount to only three hundred and fifty or a little more, as Philochorus says. And after this, when Harpalus escaped from the prison in which he was being kept until a representative of Alexander should arrive, and had gone to Crete or, as some say, to Taenarum in Laconia, Demosthenes was accused of bribe-taking and of having this reason for not mentioning the amount of the money taken up or the carelessness of the guard. He was brought to trial by Hypereides, Pytheas, Menesaechmus, Himeraeus, and Patrocles, and they obtained his conviction by the Senate of the Areopagus; and after his conviction he went into exile, not being able to pay back five times the amount (he was accused of having accepted thirty talents), or, as some say, he did not wait for the trial. After this time the Athenians sent Polyeuctus as envoy to the commonwealth of the Arcadians in order to detach them from their alliance with the Macedonians, and when Polyeuctus was unable to persuade them, Demosthenes appeared to help him and did persuade them. For this he was admired, and after some time he was permitted to return, a decree in his favour having been passed and a trireme dispatched to bring him. When the Athenians passed a decree proposed by his cousin Demon of Paeania that he should use the thirty talents which he owed in adorning the altar of Zeus the Saviour at Peiraeus and should then be absolved, he returned on those conditions to public life.

When Antipater was shut up in Lamia by the Greeks, and the Athenians were making thankofferings for the good news, he said to his friend Agesistratus that he did not agree with the rest about these matters, for, he said, I know that the Greeks have both the knowledge and the strength for a stadium dash[*] in warfare, but cannot hold out for a long-distance run. When Antipater had taken Pharsalus and threatened to besiege the Athenians unless they surrendered the orators, Demosthenes left the city and fled first to Aegina to sit as suppliant in the sanctuary of Aeacus, but was frightened and changed over to Calauria; and when the Athenians voted to surrender the orators including himself, he took his seat as a suppliant there in the temple of Poseidon. And when Archias,[*] nicknamed Exile Hunter, who had been a pupil of the orator Anaximenes, came to fetch him and urged him to leave his sanctuary, indicating that Antipater would receive him as a friend, he said, Your acting in tragedy was not convincing to me, nor will your advice be convincing now; and when Archias tried to use force, the authorities of the city prevented him, and Demosthenes

said, I took refuge in Calauria, not to save my life, but to convict the Macedonians of using force even against the sanctuaries of the gods, and asking for writing materials he wrote - so Demetrius of Magnesia says - the distich which was later inscribed by the Athenians upon his statue:

Had you possessed but the strength, Demosthenes, like to your spirit;

Never would Macedon’s war Greece to submission have brought.[*]

The statue, a work of Polyeuctus, is placed near the Roped-off Enclosure[*] and the altar of the Twelve Gods. But according to some authorities he was found to have written Demosthenes to Antipater, greeting. [*] Philochorus[*] says that he died by drinking poison, but Satyrus the historian says that the pen with which he began to write the letter was poisoned, and he died by sucking it; and Eratosthenes says that for a long time he wore a poisoned bracelet on his arm through fear of the Macedonians. There are those who say that he died by holding his breath, but others assert that it was by sucking poison from his seal ring. He lived, according to those who give the higher number, seventy years, according to those who giye the lower, sixty-seven. He was active in politics twenty-two years.

When Philip died,[*] Demosthenes came out from his house dressed in a white garment, in spite of the fact that his daughter had lately died, thus showing his joy at the death of the Macedonian.[*] He also assisted the Thebans when they were at war with Alexander, and he always encouraged the rest of the Greeks; for which reason Alexander after razing Thebes demanded him of the Athenians and threatened them if they should refuse to surrender him. And when Alexander was making war on the Persians and called upon the Athenians for a naval force, he spoke against it, saying that it was not clear whether Alexander would not employ the force against those who furnished it.

He left two sons by one wife of noble family, daughter of a certain Heliodorus; and he had one daughter who died unmarried while still a child. He had also a sister to whom and her husband Laches of Leuconoë his nephew Demochares was born, a man both brave in war and inferior to none in political speeches. There is a statue of him in the Prytaneum,[*] the first on the right as you go in towards the hearth, wearing both a cloak and a sword; for he is said to have worn this costume in addressing the people when Antipater was demanding the surrender of the orators. At a later time the Athenians voted maintenance in the Prytaneum to the relatives of Demosthenes and erected to him after his death the statue in the Market-place,[*] in the archonship of Gorgias.[*] The grants to him were requested by his nephew

Demochares, for whom in turn his son Laches, son of Demochares, of Leuconoê, asked in the archonship of Pytharatus,[*] the tenth year after, for grants extending to the erection of the statue in the Market-place, maintenance in the Prytaneum for Demochares and his eldest descendant in perpetuity, and front seats at all competitive spectacles. And the decrees in favour of both are inscribed, but the statue of Demochares mentioned above was transferred to the Prytaneum.

Sixty-five genuine speeches of Demosthenes are current. Some say that he lived a dissolute life, wearing women’s clothes and indulging in revels on every occasion, on which account he was nicknamed Batalus[*]; but others say that this was a diminutive derived from the name of his nurse and was given to him in reproach. And Diogenes the Cynic, seeing him once in a tavern looking ashamed and trying to withdraw from sight, said, The more you withdraw, the more you will be in the tavern. And he jeered at him, saying that in his speeches he was a Scythian, but in battle a city man. He received money from Ephialtes also, one of the politicians, who had been on an embassy to the King of Persia and came secretly bringing funds for distribution among the politicians for the purpose of stirring up the war against Philip; and they say that he received a private bribe of three thousand darics from the King. He arrested a certain Anaxilas of Oreus, who had been a guest-friend of his, subjected him to torture as a spy, and when he confessed nothing proposed a decree

that he be handed over to the executioners. And once when he was being prevented by the Athenians from speaking in the assembly, he said that he only wished to speak briefly to them, and when they became silent he said, A young man in the summer time hired an ass to go from the city to Megara. When noon came and the sun was blazing fiercely, both he and the owner of the ass wished to lie down in its shadow. Each tried to prevent the other from so doing, the owner maintaining that he had rented him the ass, not its shadow, and the one who had hired the ass that he had complete rights in him. When he had said this, he began to go away; and when the Athenians stopped him and asked him to tell the rest of the tale, he said, You are willing to listen when I speak about the shadow of an ass,[*] but when I speak of serious matters, you refuse. Once when Polus the actor told him that he received a talent as pay for acting two days, he replied, And I five talents for being silent one day. And when his voice failed in the assembly and the people jeered at him, he said It is actors who should be judged by their voices, but statesmen by their opinions. And when Epicles rebuked him for always preparing his speeches, he said, I should be ashamed to speak off-hand to such a great people. They say that he never put out his lamp until he was fifty years old - polishing his speeches. And he says himself that he was a waterdrinker.[*] Lysias the orator was acquainted with him, and Isocrates saw him engaged in public affairs until the battle of Chaeroneia, as did some of the Socratic philosophers. He delivered most of his speeches extemporaneously, as he was well endowed for that by nature.[*] The first who moved that he be crowned with a crown of gold was Aristonicus of Anagyrus, son of Nicophanes, but Diondas prevented it by an affidavit.

Hypereides was the son of Glaucippus and grandson of Dionysius, of the deme of Collytê. He had a son, Glaucippus, named after his grandfather, who was an orator and writer of speeches.[*] He in turn had a son Alphinous. After being a pupil of the philosopher Plato, along with Lycurgus, and of the orator Isocrates, Hypereides entered upon public life at Athens at the time when Alexander was interfering in the affairs of Greece. And he spoke in opposition to him concerning the generals whose surrender he demanded of the Athenians and concerning the triremes. He also advised against disbanding the mercenary force at Taenarum under the command of Chares, since he was well disposed towards that general. At first he pleaded in suits at law in return for a fee. And since he was believed to have shared the Persian funds[*] with Ephialtes, and was elected trierarch when Philip was besieging Byzantium, he was sent out to aid the Byzantines; and in that year he bore the expense of a chorus,[*]

when others were released from all contributions to the public service. He also proposed honours for Demosthenes, and when suit was brought by Diondas on the ground that the decree was contrary to law, he was acquitted. Although he was a friend of Demosthenes, Lysicles, Lycurgus, and their associates, he did not remain so to the end; but when Lysicles and Lycurgus were dead and Demosthenes was being tried for receiving bribes from Harpalus, he was chosen from all the orators (for he alone was unbribed) and brought the accusation against him. And when he was brought to trial by Aristogeiton for illegal conduct in proposing a decree after the battle of Chaeroneia to grant citizenship to the resident aliens, to set the slaves free, and to put the sacred objects, the children, and the women in Peiraeus for safekeeping, he was acquitted. And when certain persons blame d him for having disregarded many laws in his decree, he said, The shields of the Macedonians cast a shadow[*] over my eyes, and It was not I, but the battle of Chaeroneia, that proposed the decree. After this, however, Philip was frightened and granted permission to remove the bodies of the slain, though before that he had refused it to the heralds who came from Lebadeia. Later, however, after the battle of Crannon,[*] when his surrender was demanded by Antipater and the people was on the point of surrendering him, he fled from the city to Aegina along with those against whom decrees had been passed. Here he met Demosthenes and excused himself for his disagreement with him. After leaving Aegina he was seized forcibly by Archias,[*] nicknamed The Exile-Hunter (a Thurian by birth, at first an actor, but at that time an assistant of Antipater), in the temple of Poseidon[*] while clinging to the statue of the god. He was brought to Antipater at Corinth, and when put to the torture he bit off his tongue that he might not be able to utter any secrets of his native city. And in this way he died, on the ninth day of the month of Pyanepsion. But Hermippus[*] says that he went to Macedonia, where his tongue was cut out and he was thrown out unburied, and that Alphinous, who was his cousin (or, as some say, the son of his son Glaucippus), obtained possession of the body by the aid of a physician named Philopeithes, burned it and brought the bones to Athens to his relatives contrary to the decrees of the Athenians and the Macedonians; for they had ordered, not only that he be exiled, but that he be not even buried in his own country. And others say that he died at Cleonae after being brought there with the rest, where his tongue was cut out and he perished in the manner related above; and that his relatives obtained the bones and buried them with his ancestors before the gates of the Hippades,[*] as Heliodorus says in the third book of his work On Monuments. But now the monument has fallen in ruins and cannot be identified.

He is said to have excelled all in addressing the people; and by some critics he is ranked above Demosthenes. Seventy-seven speeches are current

under his name, fifty-two of which are genuine.[*] He was also very prone to sexual indulgence, so that he turned his son out of the house and brought in Myrrhina, the most expensive prostitute, kept Aristagora in Peiraeus, and at his own estate in Eleusis kept the Theban girl Phila, whom he had ransomed for twenty minas. He used to walk in the Fish-market every day.[*] And, as it is indeed reasonable to suppose, it was because he had been intimate also with Phrynê[*] the courtesan that when she was on trial for impiety he became her advocate; for he makes this plain himself at the beginning of his speech.[*] And when she was likely to be found guilty, he led the woman out into the middle of the court and, tearing off her clothes, displayed her breasts. When the judges saw her beauty, she was acquitted.[*] He quietly compiled accusations against Demosthenes and the fact became known; for once, when he was ill, Demosthenes came to his house to visit him and found him with the document against himself in his hand; and when Demosthenes was angry, Hypereides said, It will do you no harm while you are my friend, but if you become my enemy, it will prevent your doing anything against me. He also proposed a decree conferring honours upon Iolas, who was supposed to have given Alexander the poison.[*] He took part with Leosthenes in the Lamian War[*] and delivered the funeral oration for the fallen in marvellous fashion. When Philip was preparing to sail against Euboea, and the Athenians were afraid, he assembled forty triremes by private contributions, and in his own name and his son’s he gave two triremes, the first contribution made. And when a dispute arose with the Delians as to which people should have control of the sanctuary, although Aeschines was chosen Athenian advocate, the senate of the Areopagus elected Hypereides; and his speech is the one entitled The Delian. He was also an envoy to the Rhodians. And when envoys came from Antipater and praised their sender as a good man, in replying to them he said, We know that he is good, but we do not want a good master. It is said that in addressing the public he did not employ the actor’s art, that he merely related the facts of the case and did not bore the jurors even with these. He was sent also to the Eleans to defend the athlete Callippus against the charge of having used corruption in the contest, and he won his case; but when he brought a suit against the grant of a gift for Phocion, which Meidias, son of Meidias, of the deme Anagyros, proposed in the archonship of Xenias,[*] on the twentyfourth day of Gamelion, he was defeated.