No More Learning

Another of its'leaders was Eubulus, a man of very
inferior type. His great aim was to put the people in
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? GREECE IN THE FOURTH CENTURY B. C'. 11
a good humour. There was a singular arrangement at
Athens by which the State defrayed the cost of the
public amusements and dramatic exhibitions for the
'benefit of the poor citizens. A regular fund was pro-
vided for this purpose, and after a time the surplus of
the annual public revenue was added to it. It had
formerly been the law that this surplus should always
during war be paid into the military chest for the
'defence of the State. Eubulus actually induced the
people to pass a law making it a capital offence to pro-
pose that this fund should be so applied on any future
occasion. Consequently, the only method of meeting
the costs of war was the exaction of a property tax
from the rich. War under these circumstances could
not but involve very serious and sorely-felt sacrifices.
We may form some idea of the pressure of the burden
by supposing the case of an income tax of 4s. or 5s. in
the pound among ourselves. No ministry, it is clear,
could venture to declare war except under the most pal-
pable necessity, if such a tax were inevitable. Eubulus
accordingly conciliated the rich by doing his utmost to
save them from the dreaded burden. He was, as we
should say, prime minister of Athens for sixteen years.
His position must have been a very strong one, accept-
able, as we have just seen, to rich and poor alike.
There can hardly be a doubt that his policy impaired
the Athenian character, and made the work of Demos-
thenes peculiarly difficult.
Athens thus entered on a great contest under un-
favourable conditions. She was still, from her exten-
sive trade, the richest city in Greece, and she had the
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? 12 _ DEMOSTHENES.
means of sending out formidable fleets. But her citi-
zens liked ease and comfort, and preferred their cheer-
ful city life to foreign service. Her dominions, too, were
rather vulnerable, not being guarded by any regular
troops. If they were attacked, they had to be defend-
ed by mercenaries, commanded by the sort of general
who has been described. Then, too, her commerce,
with which her prosperity was closely bound up, might
be harassed by an enterprising enemy, and her supplies
of corn from the Black Sea endangered. Thus, in fight-
ing Macedon she was perhaps at some disadvantage,
though we may be inclined to think that a little more
energy and vigour would have carried her successfully
through the struggle. The truth is, she was not for a
long time alive to the real danger, and was conse-
quently remiss in seizing opportunities. There was a
party which urged alliance with Thebes. But Thebes
was more hateful to an average Athenian than Sparta
had ever been. Such a party seemed untrue to the
old traditions of Athens. Hence it was always com-
paratively weak. Had the danger from Macedon been
distinctly foreseen, the alliance would perhaps have
been effected. Athens and Thebes united might, it
can hardly be doubted, have confined Philip to his
own hereditary kingdom and have saved Greece.
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? CHAPTER II.
HACEDON AND PHILIP.
THE name of Macedon, though it is heard of from
time to time in Greek history, can hardly be said to have
become really famous till the fourth century 13. 0. and
the reign of Philip. It could never have occurred to the
mind of a Greek that this outlying northern kingdom'
might possibly one day be formidable to Greece and its
freedom. There were no signs pointing in this direction;
and it may be fairly assumed that no political sagacity
could have foreseen such a result. The Macedonians
were always looked upon by the Greeks as barbarians,
although their royal family--Temenids, as they were
called, from their legendary ancestor, Temenus--came
from Argos, and the people themselves perhaps had
some distant affinity to the Hellenic race. For a long
period they were nothing better than a collection of
rude tribes, with scarcely any cohesion or organisation,
and before the disciplined army of a Greek state they
would have been utterly powerless. They were sur-
' rounded, too, by fierce and unquiet neighbours--Illyr-
ians to the west, Paeonians to the north, Thracians to
the east,--all savage, warlike peoples, whom they could
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? 14 DEMOSTJIENES.
only just hold in check. The country, indeed, with its
rivers and rich valleys and strips of seaboard, had nat-
ural advantages which a vigorous prince with organis-
ing capacity might develop; and this was partially done
by Archelaus, who reigned from 413 B. 0. to 399. He
was a man of great energy, and he may be said to have
put Macedon in the way to become a flourishing and
powerful kingdom. According to Thucydides,* he had
roads constructed, fortresses erected, and established a
standing army on a greater scale than any of his pre-
decessors had kept up. Probably the last years of the
Pcloponnesian war, which were so disastrous to Athens,
were favourable to Macedon, and enabled it to acquire
an influence on the northern coasts of the [Egean,
which previously Athens had possessed. Still, no
doubt Archelaus deserves the credit of having steadily
applied himself to the work of strengthening and con-
solidating his kingdom. At the same time, he did his
best to civilise his people, and to bring them into con-'
nection with the Greek world. He cultivated the
friendship of Athens, and sought to introduce its
literature and art. He established a grand periodical
festival on the Greek type, with all the humanising
adjuncts of music and poetry. The great poet Euri-'
pides visited his court at his special invitation, and
was treated with such favour and respect that he re-
mained there till his death. The philosopher Socrates
was invited, but it appears that he declined the honour.
The famous painter, Zeuxis of Heracleia, was one of the
king's guests, and he was employed to adorn with pic-
* Thucydides, ii. 100. _
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? MACEDON AND PHILIP. _ 15
tures the royal palace at Pella, the new capital of
Macedonia. In fact, Archelaus was an enlightened
despot; and though he could not eradicate barbarism
and make Macedonians into Greeks, he at least gave
the higher class a varnish of Greek civilisation and
culture.
It was not unusual for the kings of Macedon to perish
by the hands of conspirators and assassins, and this was
the fate of Archelaus. The dynasty was now changed;
and after a few years of disturbance, Amyntas, the _
father of Philip, became king in 394 13. 0. His reign
was not a prosperous one. Macedonia went back, and
its very existence as an independent kingdom was in
jeopardy. According to one account, Amyntas was
obliged to surrender Philip as a hostage to the Illyr-
ians, who were then particularly troublesome. He
left his kingdom at his death, in 370 B. 0. , in an almost
desperate plight. The succession to the throne was
disputed, and the enemies on the border were as for-
midable as ever. Macedon, indeed, seemed on the eve
of being wholly extinguished. The eldest son and
successor of Amyntas, Alexander, was murdered; and
shortly afterwards the Theban Pelopidas was invited
into the country by the friends of the royal family,
with the view probably of securing the throne for the
two younger brothers, Perdiocas and Philip. Pe1opi-
das, it seems, forced on Macedonia the adoption of this
arrangement, and took Philip with him to Thebes, as
a hostage for its being faithfully carried out. Philip
passed three years at Thebes, while his brother Perdic-
cas was king. He then, in 368 11. 0. , was intrusted
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? 16 DEJHOSTHENES.
with the government of a portion of Macedonia under
Perdiccas, and employed his time in equipping and
organising some troops. His brothcr's reign had a dis-
astrous termination. He was defeated with heavy loss
by the Illyrians, and died soon afterwards. And so
Philip, now twenty-three years of age, became king of
Macedon in 359 13. 0. , there being only an infant son
of Perdiceas whose claim to the throne it was not dif-
ficult, under the circumstances, to set aside with the
' national approval.
N 0 prince could have begun his reign with gloomier
prospects than the future conqueror of Greece. He
was encompassed by enemies. There were other claim-
ants of the throne--one of these being Argaeus, who
was supported by Athens. He thus had to fear attack
from barbarian neighbours by land, and from Athenian
fleets by sea. The hostile attitude of the Athenians
was determined by their very prudent desire to recover
the important position of Amphipolis at the mouth of
the Strymon. To Athens the possession of this place
was of the utmost value, as it was the key to a region
rich in gold and silver mines, as well as in forest-timber.
To this the people had an eye, in supporting the pre-
tensions of Argaeus to the throne of Macedon against
Philip. The king, however, met them promptly, and
won a victory over a little force which they had sent
to Methone on the Macedonian coast of the Gulf of
Thermae. He took some Athenian citizens prisoners;
but as he was anxious to conciliate Athens, he treated
them with marked respect, and allowed them at once
to return. He then made peace with Athens, and
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? MA crnoy AND PHILIP. 17
waived all claim to Amphipolis, in which his pro-
decessor had placed a Macedonian garrison. The city
was now left to itself; and the Athenians, had they
been wise, would have spared no effort to secure it.
As it was, they let slip a golden opportunity of regain-
ing a position which might have been in their hands a
barrier against the growing power of Macedon, and
would have certainly enabled them to maintain their
maritime supremacy on the ZEgean.
Philip meanwhile, having freed himself for the
present fromthe fear of Athens, was at liberty to fence
off his kingdom from the attacks of its land enemies.
He had already organised something of a military force,
and with this he prepared to strike a decisive blow at
the Illyrian, Paeonian, and Thracian tribes,l which were
perpetually crossing the Macedonian frontier in plun-
dering expeditions. It seems that these tribes, which
were scattered over what are now the provinces of
Bosnia, Servia, and Albania, were at this time being
pushed southwards by a great movement of the Gauls.
The lllyrians were Macedon's most dangerous neigh-
bours, and they had inflicted many a disastrous defeat
on Philip's predecessors. N ow they were at the height
of their power, and were united for purposes of war
under a chief named Bardylis, an able leader and a
brave warrior. Philip, after thoroughly vanquishing
the Pzeonians, which he seems to have done easily,
turned his arms against the more formidable Illyrians,
and attacked them in western Macedonia, which they
had invaded. He won a hard-fought battle, chiefly
through the efficiency of his cavalry. The Illyrian
. \. o. s. s. vol. iv B
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? 18 _ DEMOSTHENES.
army was utterly discomfited, and their chief was glad
to make peace, and cede whatever portions of Mace
donia he had conquered and occupied. The result of
this victory was, that the Macedonian frontier was
pushed to the lake Lychnitis (now Okridha), and was
made far more secure than it had hitherto been, by the
occupation of mountain-passes through which the
Illyrian invaders used to pour into Macedonia.
The famous phalanx, which we connect specially
with the names of Macedon and Philip and Alexander,
is said to have taken part in this battle. Philip has
been credited with this military invention; but, in
truth, he can be said only to have introduced it. He
may have considerably modified it, but it had always
been an important element in a Greek army. It was
the great Epameinondas of Thebes who seems to have
first organised it in its most powerful and effective
form. He, in fact, it was who brought the science of
war to the highest perfection hitherto known in Greece.
Philip, during his residence as a young man in Thebes,
may well have had opportunities of personal intercourse
with this illustrious general, and have derived from him
many profitable hints and suggestions. At all events, he
had daily under his eyes the inagnificent soldiers who had
fought and conquered at Leuctra. His first military
ideas were thus drawn from the best of all schools, and
we may well suppose that a deep impression was at the
same time made on his young imagination. He would
soon see that the barbarous enemies of Macedon would
never be able to stand against really well-trained troops.
He had also at Thebes the literary and philosophical
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? MA aspen AND PHILIP. 19
teaching which often lays the foundation of able states-
manship. Possibly he may have made the acquaintance
of Plato, and there is certainly ground for believing
that the philosopher conceived a high opinion of his
ability. Nor is it unlikely that he may also at this
time have had his admiration directed by some circum-
stance to Aristotle, whom he afterwards made the
tutor of the young Alexander. It is certain that he
became imbued with some amount of Greek culture,
and that he acquired the power of speaking and writing
the language almost as well as a professed orator or
rhetorician. He liked to look on himself, and to be
regarded by others, as thoroughly a Greek; and this it
was, no doubt, which inclined him to be always con-
siderate towards Athens, as the foremost state of Greece.
Perhaps he was not too young, before he left Thebes,
to imbibe some political notions. In such a city he
would at least have a good opportunity of getting an
insight into the character of Greek politics, and he
might have early learnt some of those weak points in
Greece which his adroitness subsequently enabled him
to turn to such profitable account.
Philip, after his victories over the lllyrians and
Paeonians, which for a time at least made Macedonia
secure on the land side, still reigned over a poor and
half-barbarous kingdom. He had much to do before
he could hope to become a considerable power in the
Greek world. As yet, he did not possess a single town
on the coast. He had, as we have seen, given up
Amphipolis to please the Athenians. He must have
been surprised to find that they did not make haste to
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? 20 . ' 'DEMOSTHENES. "
recover that important place. But they committed the
blunder, and allowed the people of Amphipolis to remain
their own masters. Soon afterwards, in 358 13. 0. , Philip
thought he might as well possess himself of it; and
when the inhabitants refused to surrender, he laid siege
to the city. Envoys were sent to Athens, asking for
help; but it is possible that at this crisis the war with
the allies had just begun, and that the Athenians may
have thus found themselves fully occupied. Philip,
too, promised them in a very civil letter that he would
put them in possession of it as soon as he had taken it.
The Athenians did nothing, though it could not have
been very difficult for them to have saved the place
and secured it for themselves. This was indeed short-
sighted, as they now again had an opportunity of
securing a commanding position, and of nipping Philip's
power in the bud. . It was one of those errors which
can never be retrieved. Athens lost prestige, as well
as a most useful dependency. When Philip took the
city, Olynthus, which was not far distant, and was at
the head of a group of Greek townships in the penin-
sula of Chalcidice, was seriously alarmed, and proposed
an alliance to Athens. The offer was rejected, as the
Athenians, it seems, still wished to look on Philip as
their friend, and were persuaded to trust his promises.
'The cunning prince contrived. not only to buy off the
hostility of Olynthus, but actually to win its friend-
ship and to become its ally by the cession of a
disputed strip of territory near Thessalonica. The
next thing he did was to venture on an openly hostile '
'act against Athens by conquering and _wresting front
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? HACEDON AND PHILIP. 21
her a most important possession, the city of Potidaea,
on the gulf of Thermae. This, too, he gave up to the
Olynthians. Pydna, also, on the shore of the same
gulf, opposite to Potidaea, likewise an Athenian pos-
session, fell_into his hands through internal treachery;
and Athens, it appears, made no effort to save the
place. Thus, in a single year, 358 11. 0. , Philip gained
three most valuable positions on the coast, and a severe
shock was given to Athenian influence in' the north of
the 1Egean. He had hitherto been poor; now he had
the means of raising an ample revenue. Master of
Amphipolis, he had free access to the gold region in
the neighbourhood east of the Strymon. Here he
founded the city which we know by the familiar name
of Philippi. He had now a well-organised army, and
he was able to maintain it. In little more than two
years he had immensely increased the strength and
resources of his kingdom. But it was not _till six
years afterwards that Macedon was felt to be a distinct
menace to the Greek world. '
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? C H A P T E R III.
EARLY LIFE or DEMOSTHENES.
WE cannot be quite certain about the year in which
Demosthenes was born. The accounts are conflicting,
and we are thrown back on somewhat doubtful infer-
ences. The year, it seems, must have been either 385-
384 B. 0. or 382-381 13. 0. His early life thus coincided
with an eventful period, and witnessed more than one
remarkable political change in the Greek world. In the
years immediately after his birth the supremacy of
Sparta was unquestioned. Greece lay at her feet.
Her power had n1ade itself felt far beyond the Pelo-
ponnese, even on the northern shores of the Zligean.
She had overthrown the city which might have become
an effectual bulwark against the terrible king of Mace-
don. Olynthus became her vassal in the year 379 13. 0.
All was changed eight years afterwards. The decisive
battle of Leuctra, in 371 13. 0. , struck down Sparta and
gave the ascendancy to Thebes. For a few years Greece
rcsounrled with the fame of her two illustrious citzens,
Epamcinondas and Pclopidas. But when she lost
Epameinondas, nine years after Leuctra, in the brilliant
victory of Mantincia. she lost with him the supreme
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? EARLY LIFE OF DE1l[OSTIIEA'E6'. > 23
control of Greek politics, retaining merely the foremost
rank among the northern states. Meanwhile she had
given, as we have seen, shelter and education to the
future destroyer of Greek freedom.
Amid these changes and revolutions, Demosthenes
grew up to manhood. His own state, Athens, had
achieved nothing specially worthy of record during
this period. Still, she was altogether the most famous
city of Greece, and was commercially prosperous. The
father of Demosthenes, who bore the same name, was
a rich and eminently respectable citizen. He was a
merchant and a manufacturer, and belonged to the
wealthy middle class. His property was distributed in
various investments. He had two manufactoriies, and
each, it seems, had a good business. One was a sword
and knife manufactory, and employed thirty-two slaves.
The other was a cfiipet manufactory, and in this
twenty slaves were elnployed. He had'also money
out at interest, a deposit account at one of the principal
banks, and sums lent, according to a very prevalent
Athenian practice, on ship-cargoes. He had, too, a
house of some value, and good furniture and plate;
and his wife was an heiress, and had her jewels on a
tolerably handsome scale. But the lady, whose name
was Cleobule, was not of pure Athenian blood, and
her birth and antecedents were not quite what could be
desired. Her father, Gylon, was a man of distinctly
blemished reputation. He had been, in fact, accused
of treason--the charge against him being that he had
betrayed to the enemy the seaport town of N ympheeum
in the Crimea. He did not appear to_ answer the
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? 24 DEMOSTHENES.
accusation, and was, according to one account, sentenced
to death in his absence. But he contrived to do well
for himself. He went to Panticapaeum, now Kertch,
in the Crimea, then the capital of the kings of Bos-
porus, and there, through the king's favour, obtained
a grant of land and married a rich wife. She was
snecringly spoken of at Athens as a barbarian and a
Scythian--and so Alschines describes her; but it is
quite possible that she may have been the daughter of
one of those many Greeks who had settled in this
remote district to carry on the business of exporting
corn to Athens. It was then, as now, a specially
corn-growing region. Gylon, it seems, made the most
of the king's favour, and traded with great success.
He was unquestionably a sharp, shrewd man; and he
sent his two daughters well dowered to Athens, and
there they both made fairly good matches. Both got
Athenian citizens for their husbands--the one marry-
ing Demochares, and the other the elder Demosthenes.
We may not unreasonably conjecture that the mother
of Demosthenes inherited some natural ability from her
sagacious and enterprising father.
It was the misfortune of Demosthenes to be left an
orphan when only seven years of age, and to fall into
the hands of unscrupulous guardians. His father died
worth fourteen talents,--about ? 3500 of our money.
This, according to modern notions, is a very moderate
property; but at Athens it was sufiiciently large to place.
its possessor in the wealthiest class, and to render him
liable to the highest rate of direct taxation. There
were much larger fortunes, no doubt, as that of N icias,
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? EARLY LIFE OF DEMOSTHENES. 25
which is said to have amounted to 100 talents, or about
? 24,000. Alcibiades was even richer; and Callias, who
lived at the time of the Persian war, and secured a
' good share of the plunder, was what we should call a
millionaire, being reported to have been worth 200
talents. Athens, as we have seen, was, of all the Greek
cities, by far the richest, and it always contained a
number of well-to-do citizens. The ordinary rate of
interest was extremely high. Money lent even on good
security fetched from 12 to 20 per cent ; and some in--
vestments, those especially on ship-cargoes--hazardous,
no doubt--were yet more lucrative. As much as 30
per cent was now and then paid on this class of invest-
ments. Demosthenes asserts, in his pleadings against
his guardians, that a third part of his estate produced
an income of fifty minas. This would make the
entire income about ? 600 a-year. Now, it appears that
a citizen could live just decently at Athens on some-
thing like seven or eight minas a-year, or about ? 32 ;
and in perfect comfort and respectability on fifty
minas, or about ? 200 a-year, provided he kept clear of
the various costly public services which were demanded
from the rich. Demosthenes, therefore, it is clear,
having but one sister, ought to have had a very ample
fortune, though he could not have been described as
extremely wealthy. His father, being in business,
probably got 25 or even 30 per cent for a large part
of his capital, and we should suppose that he was at
Athens in much the same position as a man with from
? 2000 to ? 3000 a-year would be with us. Had his
will been faithfully carried out, and a third of the
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? 26 >DEMOSTHENES.
income been set apart for maintenance and education,
and two-thirds profitably invested, the son must have
been decidedly rich when at the age of sixteen, ten
years after his father's death, he attained his majority.
As it was, he found himself comparatively poor.
He had to receive something less than two talents, and
his income could not have exceeded from ? 60 to ? 70
a-year. His father, we may surmise, had misgivings
about the administration of the property, as he practi-
cally endeavoured to bribe the three guardians, two of
whom were his nephews, into a faithful discharge of
_ their trust by giving them full control over almost one-
third of the property. His sister's son, Aphobus, was
to marry the widow, with a fair fortune, and to have
the house and furniture during the minority of Demos-
thenes. His brother's son, Demophon, was to have
two talents, and to marry the daughter in due time.
In all respects he seems to have carefully provided for
his two children, and to have left them in the charge
of relatives on whose fidelity he might reasonably
reckon. The result can be ascribed only to negligence
and dishonesty. The property must have been partly
muddled away, partly actually embezzled. Admitting
that some of the investments were precarious, and that
the business of the two manufactories was simply mis-
managed, we can hardly doubt that the trustees were
unprincipled as well as utterly careless. It is true, indeed,
' that1)em0sthenes was taunted by his rival Aischines with
having squandered his patrimony in ridiculous follies ;'
and it was alleged by one of the guardians, in defending
the action, that large advances had been made. The
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? EARLY LIFE OF DEMOSTHENES. 27
boy had, it would seem, rather luxurious tastes, and
in the last two years of his minority he may have
indulged them freely. But this very inadequately
explains the smallness of the sums handed over to him.
It is an all but absolute certainty that he was swindle'd
out of his property. The matter ended in his bringing
an action against Aphobus, and recovering a verdict
for ten talents. It is not certain whether he actually
received this amount. Aphobus was rich and influential,
and contrived to make fm-ther difficulties. We have
five speeches connected with this action--three against
Aphobus, and two against a brother-in-law of Aphobus,
Onetor. It is from these speeches that we chiefly get
our information about the property of Demosthenes.
We have not the means of knowing the precise results
of the suit, or what benefit, if any, Demosthenes de-
rived from it. Much of the estate had somehow or
other disappeared, and he had to enter on life as rather
a poor instead of a rich man.
It is probable that his misfortunes had a good effect
on his character, They may have been the source of his
intense resolution and perseverance. From early years
he had a weak constitution, and shrank from the vigor-
ous physical training which was considered an essential
element in a Greek education. He had an active
mind, and a strong craving for intellectual culture. As
became his position and expectations, he went to good
schools--though his guardians, if we may believe his
statement, were shabby enough to leave his school-fees
unpaid.