Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/1005

Rh DEMOSTHENES. M the one referred to by others under tlie title of AiroKoyla rwu Swfjuiv. ( Dionys. dc Admir. ri die. Dein. 57, I'Jp.ad Amnir i. 12.) Hut DemuHthenes was declared guilty, and thrown into prison, from which however he escaped, apparently with the connivance of the Athenian magistrates, (Plut. fJem. 26, Vit. X Oral. p. 846 ; Anonym. Vit. De- mosth. p. 158.) Demosthenes quitted his country, and resided partly at Troezene and partly in Aegi- na, looking daily, it is sjiid, across the sea towards his beloved native land. But his exile did not last long, for in u. c. 323 Alexander died, and the news of his death was the watchword for a fresh rise of the Greeks, which was organized by the Athenians, and under the vigorous management of Leosthenes it soon as- sumed a dangerous aspect for Macedonia. (Diod. xviii. 10.) Demosthenes, although still living in exile, joined of his own accord the embassies which were sent by the Athenians to the other Greek states, and he roused them to a fresh strug- gle for liberty by the fire of his oratory. Such a devotedness to the interests of his ungrateful coun- try disarmed the hatred of his enemies. A decree of the people was passed on the proposal of Demon, a relative of Demosthenes, by which he was so- lemnly recalled from his exile. A trireme was sent to Aegina to fetch him, and his progress from Peiraeeus to the city was a glorious triumph : it was the happiest day of his life. (Plut. Dem. 27, Vil. X Oral. p. 846 ; Justin, xiii. 5.) The mili- tary operations of the Greeks and their success at this time, seemed to justify the most sanguine ex- pectations, for the army of the united Greeks had advanced as far as Thessaly, and besieged Anti- pater at Lamia. But this was the turning point ; for although, even after the fall of Leosthenes, the Greeks succeeded in destroying the army of Leon- natus, which came to the assistance of Antipater, yet they lost, in B. c. 322, the battle of Cranon. This defeat alone would not indeed have decided the contest, had not the zeal of the Greeks gradu- ally cooled, and had not several detachments of the allied army withdrawn, Antipater availed himself of this contemptible disposition among the Greeks, and offered peace, though he was cunning enough to negotiate only with each state separately. Thus the cause of Greece was forsaken by one state after another, until in the end the Athenians were left alone to contend with Antipater. It would have been folly to continue their resistance single- handed, and they accordingly made peace with Antipater on his own terms. All his stipulations were complied with, except the one which de- manded the surrender of the popular leaders of the Athenian people. When Antipater and Craterus thereupon marched towards Athens, Demosthenes and his friends took to flight, and, on the proposal of Demades, the Athenians sentenced them to death. Demosthenes had gone to Calauria, and had taken refuge there in the temple of Poseidon. When Archias, who hunted up the fugitives every- where, arrived, Demosthenes, who was summoned to follow him to Antipater, took poison, which he had been keeping about his person for some time, and died in the temple of Poseidon, on the lOth of Pyanepsion, b. c. 322. (Plut. Dem. 29, Vit. X Orat. p. 846 ; Lucian, Encom. Dem. 43, &c.) Thus terminated the career of a man who has been ranked by persons of all ages among the ijreatest and noblest spirits of antiquity ; and this DEMOSTHENES. fm? fame will remain undiminished so long as sterling sentiments and principles and a consistent conduct through life are regarded as the standard by which a man's worth is measured, and not simply the suc- cess — so often merely dependent upon circumstances — by which his exertions are crowned. The very calumnies which have been heaped upon Demos- thenes by his enemies and detractors more extra- vagantly than upon any other man — the coarse and complicated web of lies which was devised by Aeschines, and in which he himself was caught, and lastly, the odious insinuations of Theopompus, the historian, which are credulously repeated by Plutarch, — have only served to bring forth the po- litical virtues of Demosthenes in a more striking and brilliant light. Some points there are in his life which perhaps will never be quite cleared up on account of the distorted accounts that have come down to us about them. Some minor charges which are made against him, and affect his charac- ter as a man, are almost below contempt. It is said, for example, that he took to flight after the battle of Chaeroneia, as if thousands of others held not fled with him (Plut. i)ew. 20, Vit. X Orat. p. 845; Aeschin. c. Ctesiph. ^ 175, 244, 253) ; that, notwithstanding his domestic calamity (his daughter had died seven days before) he rejoiced at Philip's death, which shews only the predomi- nance of his patriotic feelings over his personal and selfish ones (Plut. Dem. 22 ; Aeschin. c. Ctesiph. § 77); and lastly, that he shed tears on going into exile — a fact for which he deserves to be loved and honoured rather than blamed. (Plut. Dem. 26.) The charge of tergiversation which is repeatedly brought against him by Aeschines, has never been substantiated by the least evidence. (Aeschin. c. Ctesiph. $ 173, c. Timarch. $ 131, de Pais. Ley. § 165; Plut. i>e»i. 15.) In his administration of public affairs Demosthenes is perfectly spotless, and free from all the crimes which the men of the Macedonian party committed openly and without any disguise. The charge of bribery, which was so often raised against him by the same Aeschines, must be rejected altogether, and is a mere distor- tion of the fact that Demosthenes accepted subsi- dies from Persia for Athens, which assuredly stood, in need of such assistance in its struggles with Macedonia ; but there is not a shadow of a suspi- cion that he ever accepted any personal bribes. His career as a statesman received its greatest lustre from his powers as an orator, in which he has not been equalled by any man of any country. Our own judgment on this point would necessarily be one-sided, as we can only read his orations; but among the contemporaries of Demosthenes there was scarcely one who could point out any definite fault in his oratory. By far the majority looked up to him as the greatest orator of the time, and it was only men of such over-refined and hyper- critical tastes as Demetrius Phalereus who thought him either too plain and simple or too hai'sh and strong (Plut. Dem. 9, 11) ; though some found those features more striking in reading his orations, while others were more impressed with them in hearing him speak. (Comp. Dionys. de Admir. vi die. Demosth. 22 ; Cic de Oral, iii, 56, Brut. 38 ; Quintil. xi. 3. $ 6.) These peculiarities, however, are far from being faults ; they are, on the con- trar}', proofs of his genius, if we consider the temp- tations which natural deficiencies hold out to an incipient orator to pursue the opposite course. Th«»