Demosthenes

384-322 BCE · Greek (Athenian) · Deliberative Oratory, Forensic Oratory, Athenian Politics

It cannot be that you were wrong, men of Athens, when you took upon you the struggle for freedom and deliverance.

Demosthenes wrote no treatise. Alone among the figures of the rhetorical tradition he left some sixty speeches and no theory, so that what he knew about persuasion survives only in the form of persuasion itself. Orphaned young and stripped of his inheritance by the guardians entrusted with it, he came of age in 366 BCE by prosecuting them, and won. He then took up the trade of the logographos, writing speeches for other men to deliver in court for a fee, and it was there, case by case against real opponents, that the art was made.

Topics Demosthenes addresses

• the Macedonian threat
• Philip II of Macedon
• the Peace of Philocrates
• the battle of Chaeronea
• the Theban alliance
• the freedom of Greece
• the graphe paranomon
• the crown of Ctesiphon
• the feud with Aeschines
• the Harpalus affair
• the theoric fund
• the symmories and naval finance
• the trierarchy
• citizen soldiers versus mercenaries
• seizing the moment for action
• judging policy by intention not outcome
• the oath by the men of Marathon
• the Lamian War
• deliberative oratory
• forensic oratory
• the art of delivery
• invective and ridicule in court
• narrative as argument
• prose rhythm in oratory

Questions to put to Demosthenes

Philip and the Macedonian Question

• What made Philip II so dangerous that you spent twenty years warning Athens about him?
• Why did you support the Peace of Philocrates in 346 and then turn against it?
• How do you answer the charge that your policy led Athens to defeat at Chaeronea?
• What was at stake for Greece if Philip had been allowed to advance unopposed?
• Why did you push for the alliance with Thebes when the two cities had been enemies?

The Crown Trial and the Feud with Aeschines

• What was the crown of Ctesiphon actually about, and why did Aeschines prosecute it?
• How do you defend yourself against the charge that you took bribes from Persia?
• Why did your rivalry with Aeschines become so personal and so vicious?
• What's the argument behind judging a statesman by his intentions rather than the outcome?
• What did you mean when you swore by the men who fought at Marathon?

Athenian Finance and Military Reform

• Why did you keep pushing Athens to tax herself when the theoric fund was so popular?
• What's wrong with relying on mercenaries instead of citizen soldiers?
• How did the symmories work, and why did naval finance matter so much to you?
• What was the trierarchy, and why did reforming it become part of your program?
• Why did you think Athens kept sending expeditions too late to matter?

The Art of Public Speech

• How did you learn to speak the way you do, given that you wrote no treatise on rhetoric?
• What's the difference between deliberative oratory in the Assembly and forensic oratory in court?
• How do you use narrative to build an argument instead of just recounting events?
• What role does delivery play in persuasion, and how did you train yours?
• Why do you shift so drastically in tone within a single speech, from indignation to mockery to solemnity?

Rhetoric, Truth, and the Orator's Responsibility

• Does an orator owe the Assembly an accurate account, or is he there to win the case?
• How do you answer the charge that you twisted the facts to suit your argument against Philip?
• Is invective a legitimate weapon in court, or does ridiculing Aeschines cross a line?
• What's dishonourable, if anything, about writing speeches for other men to deliver for a fee?
• How should we judge a public man when the gifts he received look like bribes?

Converse with Demosthenes on Simposeum. Replies are grounded in Demosthenes's own writing, cited to the page.