13 Nov Demosthenes: Extract from “On the Crown”

Introduction.

Demosthenes (384-322 B.C.) was the greatest of the Athenian orators. After studying rhetoric and legal procedure, he became a speech-writer for both public and private trials. Sixty-one speeches attributed to him have survived, although the authenticity of some is in doubt. He became prominent as a politician and leader of the resistance to the encroachment of Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great.

The text of the passage translated below comes from “A Greek Anthology”, Joint Association of Classical Teachers, Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Sections 169-173.2

News of the disaster at Elatea.

Despite his running from the field at Chaeronea in 338 when Philip II crushed the Athenian-led alliance which he had inspired, Demosthenes was awarded a gold crown for public services in 336 on the proposal of Ctesiphon. Aeschines, the leading orator of the opposing pro-Macedonian party, then prosecuted Ctesiphon for unconstitutional action. In this speech Demosthenes defends Ctesiphon, and uses the opportunity to explain his own political stance, even though by the time the speech was delivered (330 B.C.) that policy had failed. In this passage he describes the panic in Athens when news arrives that King Philip has seized the town of Elatea, leaving in no doubt his aggressive plans against the whole of Greece.

For it was evening, and someone had come to the presiding councillors announcing that Elatea had been taken. And after this some, in the midst of dining, immediately arising from their seats both thrust out the people from the booths across the market-place and set the hurdles on fire, and others summoned the generals and called for the trumpeter, and the city was full of commotion. And on the next day, at day-break, the presidents summoned the Council to the Council House, and you journeyed to the Assembly, and before the former could proceed to business and prepare an agenda all the people were seated on the hill (lit. upwards). And after this, when the Council arrived and the presidents announced what had been reported to them and they introduced the man who had come and he spoke, the herald asked “Who wishes to speak?” But no one came forward. And, (despite) the herald asking repeatedly, still no one stood up, (despite) all of the generals and all of the orators being there, and (despite) the country, with her common voice, calling for the man to speak for her salvation; for we may justly regard the voice which the herald raises in accordance with the laws as that common (voice) of our country. And yet, if it had been the duty of those wishing to save the city to come forward, you all and the other Athenians, arising from your seats, would have stepped up to the rostrum; for I know that (you) all wished to save it; if (that duty had fallen) upon the richer, the Three Hundred; if upon those who are both of these things, both well-disposed to the city and wealthy, those who after this freely gave generous donations; for they did this due to their good will and their wealth. But, as it seems, that crisis and that day not only called the patriotic and wealthy man but also the man who had closely followed the events from the beginning and had correctly worked out on account of what (reason) Philip had done this and what he was wanting; for the man not knowing these things and not examining (them) well long in advance (lit. from afar), neither if he were patriotic nor if (he were) wealthy, was not any more likely to know what it was necessary to do, or to be able to offer advice to us. So then I appeared as this man on that day, and, coming forward, I addressed you.

Postscript.

Demosthenes goes on to claim that he did not desert the post of patriotism in the hour of peril. His losing battle for a small democracy against a successful military autocrat has sometimes been condemned as ill-advised and hopeless but has more often attracted sympathetic admiration. Demosthenes successfully defended Ctesiphon and himself against Aeschines’ prosecution and the latter, his reputation in ruins, was forced to flee to Samos. However, Demosthenes himself was subsequently disgraced too, when it emerged that he had accepted the bribe of a gold cup in return for his support of Harpalus, Alexander’s miscreant finance minister, who, seeking refuge, had fled to Athens in 324. Demosthenes was exiled to the adjacent island of Aegina, where he died in disgrace in 322.