Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/335

 DEMOSTHENES CONDEMNED. 303 know them — there are several which go to show his innocence, and none which tend to prove him guilty. If we are called upon to helieve that he i-eceived money from Harpahis, we must know for what service the payment was made. Did Demosthenes take part with Harpalus, and advise the Athenians to espouse his cause ? Did he even keep silence, and abstain from advising them to reject the propositions? Quite the reverse. Demos- thenes was from the beginning a declared opponent of Harpa- lus, and of all measures for supporting his cause. Plutarch indeed tells an anecdote -^ that Demosthenes began by opposing Harpalus, but that presently he was fascinated by the beauty of a golden cup among the Harpalian treasures. Harpalus, per- ceiving his admiration, sent to him on the ensuing night the golden cup, together with twenty talents, which Demosthenes accepted. A few days afterwards, when the cause of Harpalus was again debated in the public assembly, the orator appeared with his throat enveloped in woollen Avrappers, and affected to have lost his voice ; upon which the people, detecting tliis simu- lated inability as dictated by the bribe which had been given, expressed their displeasure partly by sarcastic taunts, partly by indignant murmuring.^ So stands the anecdote in Plutarch. But we have proof that it is untrue. Demosthenes may indeed have been disabled by sore throat from speaking at some par- ticular assembly ; so far the story may be accurate ; but that he desisted from opposing Harpalus (the real point of the allegation against him) is certainly not true ; for we know from his accu- sers Deinarchus and Hyperides, that it was he who made the final motion for imprisoning Harpalus and sequestrating the Harpalian treasure in trust for Alexander. In fact, Hyperides himself denounces Demosthenes, as having from subservience to Alexander, closed the door against Harpalus and his prospects.^ Such direct and continued opposition is a conclusive proof that ' Plutarch, Demosth. 25: compare also Plutarch, Vit. X. Oratt. p. 846: and Photius, Life of Demosth. Cod. 265, p. 494. fragment already cited in a preceding note), insisting upon the prodigious mischief which Demosthenes had done hy his decree for arresting (ai'A ^-vi'ii) Ilarpa'-us
 * See the fragment of Hyperides in Mr. Babington's edition, pp. 37, 38 (a