Demosthenes

55

Demosthenes : biography

384 BC – 322 BC

Early political activity

Demosthenes was admitted to his deme as a citizen with full rights probably in 366 BC, and he soon demonstrated an interest in politics. In 363 and 359 BC, he assumed the office of the trierarch, being responsible for the outfitting and maintenance of a trireme.A.W. Pickard, Demosthenes and the Last Days of Greek Freedom, xiv–xv He was among the first ever volunteer trierarchs in 357 BC, sharing the expenses of a ship called Dawn, for which the public inscription still survives.Packard Humanities Institute, * H. Yunis, Demosthenes: On the Crown, 167 In 348 BC, he became a choregos, paying the expenses of a theatrical production.S. Usher, Greek Oratory, 226

"While the vessel is safe, whether it be a large or a small one, then is the time for sailor and helmsman and everyone in his turn to show his zeal and to take care that it is not capsized by anyone’s malice or inadvertence; but when the sea has overwhelmed it, zeal is useless."
Demosthenes (Third Philippic, 69)—The orator warned his countrymen of the disasters Athens would suffer, if they continued to remain idle and indifferent to the challenges of their times.

Between 355–351 BC, Demosthenes continued practicing law privately while he was becoming increasingly interested in public affairs. During this period, he wrote Against Androtion and Against Leptines, two fierce attacks on individuals who attempted to repeal certain tax exemptions.E.M. Burke, "The Early Political Speeches of Demosthenes", 177–178 In Against Timocrates and Against Aristocrates, he advocated eliminating corruption.E. Badian, "The Road to Prominence", 29–30 All these speeches, which offer early glimpses of his general principles on foreign policy, such as the importance of the navy, of alliances and of national honor,J. De Romilly, A Short History of Greek Literature, 116–117 are prosecutions (graphē paranómōn) against individuals accused of illegally proposing legislative texts.D.M. MacDowell, Demosthenes the Orator, ch. 7 (pr.)

In Demosthenes’ time different political goals developed around personalities. Instead of electioneering, Athenian politicians used litigation and defamation to remove rivals from government processes. Often they indicted each other for breaches of the statute laws (graphē paranómōn), but accusations of bribery and corruption were ubiquitous in all cases, being part of the political dialogue. The orators often resorted to "character assassination" (diabolē, loidoria) tactics, both in the courts and in the Assembly. The rancorous and often hilariously exaggerated accusations, satirized by Old Comedy, were sustained by innuendo, inferences about motives, and a complete absence of proof; as J.H. Vince states "there was no room for chivalry in Athenian political life".E.M. Harris, "Demosthenes’ Speech against Meidias", 117–118; J.H. Vince, Demosthenes Orations, I, Intro. xii; N. Worman, "Insult and Oral Excess", 1–2 Such rivalry enabled the "demos" or citizen-body to reign supreme as judge, jury and executioner.H. Yunis, Demosthenes: On The Crown, 9, 22 Demosthenes was to become fully engaged in this kind of litigation and he was also to be instrumental in developing the power of the Areopagus to indict individuals for treason, invoked in the ecclesia by a process called "ἀπόφασις".H. Yunis, Demosthenes: On The Crown, 187

In 354 BC, Demosthenes delivered his first political oration, On the Navy, in which he espoused moderation and proposed the reform of "symmories" (boards) as a source of funding for the Athenian fleet.E. Badian, "The Road to Prominence", 29–30; K. Tsatsos, Demosthenes, 88 In 352 BC, he delivered For the Megalopolitans and, in 351 BC, On the Liberty of the Rhodians. In both speeches he opposed Eubulus, the most powerful Athenian statesman of the period 355 to 342 BC. The latter was no pacifist but came to eschew a policy of aggressive interventionism in the internal affairs of the other Greek cities.E.M. Burke, "The Early Political Speeches of Demosthenes", 174–175 Contrary to Eubulus’ policy, Demosthenes called for an alliance with Megalopolis against Sparta or Thebes, and for supporting the democratic faction of the Rhodians in their internal strife.E.M. Burke, "The Early Political Speeches of Demosthenes", 180–183 His arguments revealed his desire to articulate Athens’ needs and interests through a more activist foreign policy, wherever opportunity might provide.E.M. Burke, "The Early Political Speeches of Demosthenes", 180, 183 (note 91); T.N. Habinek, Ancient Rhetoric and Oratory, 21; D. Phillips, Athenian Political Oratory, 72