Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/326

 294 HlbiOta UF GREECE. of his dei'eat must have been that the vote of the Senate which he indicted, Avas brought forward and j^assed in the public as sembly ; and that Demosthenes must have received a ])ublic cor- onation.^ In no other waj, under the existing circumstances of Alliens, could Demosthenes have obtained so emphatic a compli- ment. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that such a mortifica- tion was insupportable to -^schines. He became disgusted with his native city. We read that afterwards, in his rhetorical school at Rhodes, he one day declaimed, as a lesson to his pupils, the successful oration of his rival, De Corona. Of course it ex- cited a burst of admiration. " What, if you had heard the beast himself speak it ! " — exclaimed ^schines. From this memorable triumph of the illustrious orator and de- fendant, we have to pass to another trial — a direct accusation brought against him, from which he did not escape so success- fully. We are compelled here to jump over five years and a half (August 330 n. c, to January 324 b. c.,) during whicl» we have no information about Grecian history ; the interval be- tween Alexander's march into Baktria and his return to Persis and Susiana. Displeased with the conduct of the satraps during his absence, Alexander put to death or punished several, and di- rected the rest to disband without delay the mercenary soldiers whom they had taken into pay. This peremptory order filled both Asia and Europe with roving detachments of unprovided soldiers, some of whom sought subsistence in the Grecian islands and on the Lacedaemonian southern coast, at Cape Titnarus in Laconia. It was about tins period (the beginning of 324 b. c.,) that Harpalus the satrap of Babylonia and Syria, becoming alarmed at the prospect of being punished by Alexander for his ostenta- tious prodigalities, fled from Asia into Greece, with a considera- ' Demosllicn. l)e Corona, p. 315. u?.?i.a vvvl rrjfiepov iyij /liv vnip tov arefavu&fivaL SoKifiui^ofiat, to de fifjd' briovv u6iK£ii> uvu/ioA6-yi]fiai — ool !*£ avKO<^dvTri /xev elvai doKelv vnupxei, Kivdvveveic (5e elrt del as en tovto TTOtEir, eIt' ij6r] Tce~avGdai fif/ fiETa?M(36vTa rb nejiTrTov fitpog tuiv ■^7/0wv, etc. Yet -^schines had become opulent, according to Demosthenes, p. 329