No More Learning

215
who, in times of less danger, were ever forward to
take the lead;--then did their country (as Demos-
thenes himself describes the solemn scene) call on
her sons to aid and support her by their counsels in
this affecting hour of distress. But, in a case of
extreme difficulty, who can dare to propose any
measures whose event must be precarious, where
ill success may be imputed to the first adviser, and
be severely avenged as his crime ? --Neither the
dangerous situation of affairs, nor the well-known
injustice and capriciousness of his countrymen,
could deter Demosthenes. He is known, on such
occasions, to have risen in the assembly, and by
his appearance only to have inspired his country
men with some confused expectation of relief. He
has awakened them from their despair, and gradually
calmed their apprehensions; he has dispelled the
mist of terror, and diffused bright hopes and cheerful
expectations through the assembly. Confidence
and resolution, magnanimity and courage, indigna-
tion and martial rage, vigorous efforts and generous
contempt of danger, have fully confessed the irre-
sistible force and energy of the speaker.
Such effects were a full reward for the patient
assiduity with which Demosthenes laboured to
qualify himself for a public speaker and leader;
not by weighing words, culling rhetorical flowers,
and arranging periods; but by collecting a large
treasure of political knowledge, with which his
most early performances appear to be enriched: by
learning and habituating himself to strict and solid
reasoning; by studying the human heart, and the
means of affecting it; by acquiring from constant
practice a promptness which no difficulties could
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PREFACE.
embarrass, an acuteness which no opposition, how-
ever subtle and unexpected, could disconcert; and
a copiousness inexhaustible--prepared for all emer-
gencies? ever flowing, and ever abundantly supplied
from its rich and bountiful source.
" Eloquence," says an admired writer,1" must flow
like a stream that is fed by an abundant spring, and
not spout forth a little frothy stream on some gaudy
day, and remain dry for the rest of the year. "
Such was the eloquence of all those illustrious
ancients that history has celebrated ; and such, in
every free state, must be the eloquence which can
really bring advantage to the public or honour to
the possessor. The voice may be tuned to the
most musical perfection; the action maybe modelled
to the utmost grace and propriety; expressions
may be chosen of energy, delicacy, and majesty;
the period may be taught to flow with all the ease
and elegance of harmonious modulation : yet these
are but inferior parts of genuine eloquence ; by no
means the first and principal, much less the sole
objects of regard. The weapon of the orator
should be bright and glittering indeed; but this
should arise from the keenness of its edge: it
should be managed with grace, but with such a
grace as is an indication of consummate skill and
strength,
We are told of a Grecian general who, when he
travelled and viewed the country round him, re-
volved in his mind how an army might be there
drawn up to the greatest advantage; how he could
best defend himself, if attacked from such a quar-
ter ; how advance with greatest security; how
>> Lord Bolingbroke," Spirit of Patriotism. "
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? PREFACE.
retreat with least danger. Something similar to this
should be the practice and study of a public
speaker: and thus was Demosthenes for the most
part employed in his days of retirement and severe
application. It is indeed insinuated by his enemy'
that he was more solicitous about rounding a period
than preserving his country. But this is an object
fitted rather to the minute regards of such a speaker
as the noble author quoted above describes with
so just a contempt, whose whole abilities consist
in providing a slender fund for some particular oc-
casion, when perhaps a weak or wicked cause is
to be graced and ornamented; who lays on his
thin covering with the utmost care and most scru-
pulous nicety; which dazzles for a moment, till the
first blast of true forcible eloquence puffs away the
flimsy produce of his labours, and leaves all beneath
in its native condition of deformity and shame.
But to return from this digression. Ancient elo-
quence in general, and that of Demosthenes in par-
ticular, we are told, had wonderful effects. The
impression was strong and violent; the conse-
quences, sometimes, of the utmost moment. But
by reading the orator in a modern language, how
fully and justly soever it might be possible to ex-
press the genius and general spirit of the original,
or by consulting the original itself, are we always
affected with the like impressions ? or, can we
always trace the artifice, or feel the force which
produced effects so magnificently described ? By
no means. And this is partly to be imputed to the
fault of the reader, partly to a difference of circum-
stances.
? jEscMno in Ctesiph.
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PREFACE.
He who applies himself to the study of Demos-
thenes after a long intercourse with writers of a
different character; who hath been accustomed to
pointed periods, phrases of affected delicacy, fan-
ciful allusions, figures and images calculated to
dazzle and delight the eye rather than to illuminate
and cast the full glory of evidence round simple
truth; he, I say, must throw by the author in dis-
gust, or labour through him in a cold and lifeless
progress, which must serve but to fatigue and dis-
appoint him. He whose taste is ever so justly
formed to relish simplicity and true manly grace,
must yet read the orator to great disadvantage if
entirely a stranger to the spirit of free uncontrolled
debate. Liberty (if we may so speak) hath its
own ideas and its own language, whose force can-
not always be felt, or even its meaning rightly
and thoroughly conceived by strangers.
Tourreil, the French interpreter of Demosthenes,
and Iiucchesini, the Italian commentator, seem to
have been instances of what is here advanced. The
first appears to have had no just taste for the sim-
plicity of modest Attic elegance. He dressed out
his author in all that finery to which he annexed
the notions of grace and beauty, and presented him
to his countrymen turgid and inflated, encumbered
and disgraced by adventitious ornaments. ' The
latter lived and wrote in a country where the voice
of liberty is but seldom and faintly heard; where
political transactions are of a confined nature, and
not generally discussed in bold and spirited de-
bate ; where parties are seldom formed, public dis-
sensions seldom raised ; no grand interests boldly
asserted; no political measures freely censured-
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? PREFACE. 219
And the effect seems to have been this; the com-
mentator appears shocked at the free, lively, and
animated excursions of Demosthenes: he endea-
vours to reduce him within more sober bounds, and
is sometimes perhaps misled by trying his expres-
sions by the rules of cold precision. Passages
might be produced to warrant these observations ;
but I shall content myself with just hinting at one,
of which notice has been taken in the oration on
the Classes, and which seems to prove what may
be deemed the boldest assertion, that Demosthenes
cannot be always even understood but in a country
of liberty. " I am sensible," says the orator, " that
the Persian is the common enemy of the Greeks. "
To the Italian this assertion was strange and un-
accountable, at a time when the two nations were
at peace, and when treaties actually subsisted be-
tween them. History was ransacked and tortured
for some plausible pretence or grounds for this ex-
traordinary declaration. But in Britain such pains
were needless : there, no idea is more familiar than
that of a natural and hereditary enemy.
The reader's taste, however, may be strictly
just; he may be well acquainted with the senti-
ments and language of liberty; he may be duly
instructed in the history of an ancient people; he
may suffer their affairs and interests to make a
lively and forcible impression on his mind: yet
still, though well prepared for the perusal of an
orator, he cannot always perceive his whole force
and artifice; as, at this distance of time, facts may
appear trivial and arguments inconclusive, which
fired every imagination, and silenced all opposition
in the assembly to which they were originally
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PREFACE.
addressed. We know, in general, the genius, char
acter, and temper of a people whom the orator
may have endeavoured to affect: we can, there-
fore, in general, conceive, and must acknowledge
his force and delicacy, the propriety and energy
of his representations: they must please and sur-
prise us, and sometimes affect and warm us ; and
such impressions sufficiently reward our attention.
But in particular passages the traces of excellence
must be faint, or perhaps totally effaced; where
the art and force of the speaker consist in a judi-
cious attention to particular circumstances of times,
occasions, conjunctures of affairs, and dispositions
of the auditors. A modern reader is struck with
some particular argument or topic; he is perhaps
disappointed to find that it is not extended and en-
larged on. But it is possible, nay, very likely, that
the disposition of those who heard it required but
a single hint, and that a minute detail would have
tired and offended. We read, that such a particu-
lar stroke of eloquence had wonderful effects ; that
such a passage raised a general acclamation, af-
fected, transported, or terrified: we examine this
passage by the general rules of criticism, and we
pronounce it inadequate to the wonderful effects
ascribed to it. But here we seem to confine our
regards to our own sentiments, our own passions, and
our own situations ; we argue from our own feelings
to those of other persons in circumstances totally
different. Cicero, by introducing the mention of
the battle of Pharsalia, and the danger which
Caesar there encountered, in a manner artful and
lively indeed, but such as by no means indicates a
surprising or singular elevation of genius, is said
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? PREFACE.
221
to have made this hero turn pale and tremble.
And why should we doubt of the reality of these
effects ? We can read of this battle of Pharsalia
without emotion: but it was a more important ob-
ject to a Roman; still more affecting to the sol-
dier who fought in that famous field; but to the
general who there gained the victory, and by this
victory rescued himself from destruction and ob-
tained the sovereignty of the world, what object
can be conceived more capable of alarming his
passions and filling his mind with the most turbu-
lent emotions ?
But it may be said, that however true the gene-
ral position, )ret the instance brought to illustrate
it is but unhappily chosen; for that in this case
Caesar's emotion was but pretended. --" He was
himself an accomplished orator, and knew all the
windings of the art: he courted Cicero's friend-
ship ; he saw where his vanity and his weakness
lay: with perfect address, therefore, he played back
the orator's art on himself: his concern was
feigned. '"--With deference to the author here
quoted, I must declare that I cannot think this sug-
gestion well warranted, no more than I can sup-
pose that Octavia, the sister of Augustus, meant
to pay a compliment to the poet, and but pretended
concern when she appeared to faint at the recital
of the famous passage in the sixth iEneid:
Hen, miserande puer I si qua fata aspera rumpas,
TU M&RCELLUS KRIS.
If Caesar was too well acquainted with the arts
of eloquence, and of consequence too well armed
1 See Brown's Essay on Ridicule.
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PREFACE.
against them to receive any real impression from
the efforts of Cicero, this orator, who was equally
well acquainted with those arts, the proper occa-
sions of exerting them, and the effects to be expected
from them, could not well be deceived by anyun-
natural semblance of emotion. I say unnatural sem-
blance, because it is supposed that such emotion, in
such a case, is contrary to reason and the nature of
things ; and therefore Cicero, amid all his vanity,
must have seen and despised the injudicious artifice.
The truth seems to be, that in minds the most
enlightened, the passions frequently retain a con-
siderable degree of strength, and when kindled by
some touch of the orator's address, the combustion
is too sudden, as well as too violent, to be effect-
ually suppressed by reason. At least the ancients
seem persuaded of this ; for whatever may be said
of eloquence being made for the multitude and the
forum,' yet, when they addressed themselves, not
to the populace, but to select and refined judges, they
were by no means (as Quintilian expresses it)
" quadam eloquentia frugalitate contenti, ac manum
semper intra pallium continentes. " On the con-
trary, some of the noblest and boldest efforts of
art were exerted, some of the sublimest flights of
genius indulged on such occasions. To be con-
vinced of this we need but turn to any of the
judicial pleadings of Cicero. Take the beautiful
passage in an oration against Verres, quoted by
Mr. Hume in his elegant Essay on Eloquence ; or
read the following passage in the oration for Milo:
" On you, ye Albanian mounts and groves, on you
i Cicoro In Brat.
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? PREFACE.
233
I call. Bear witness for me, ye ruined altars of
Alba (equal in sanctity to the Eoman shrines), de-
stroyed, and buried under the profane edifices raised
by his outrageous sacrilege. Your influence,, your
power it was which then prevailed. Your divinity
then triumphed, and completed its vengeance on
all his profanations. And thou, O holy Jove, didst
then, at length, look down from thy mount; then
didst thou execute thy justice on the wretch whose
wickedness and abandoned impurity had so often
polluted thy lakes, thy groves, thy boundaries. To
thee--to thee, and in thy presence, did he pay the
late but justly merited punishment. "1 That the
circumstances of the trial contributed to animate
the orator's style is certain, as he himself informs
us. e Yet, amid all his enthusiasm, the consum-
mate master must have had a due regard to pro-
priety. He could not have forgotten that he ad-
dressed himself immediately to a few selected
judges. And if such elevated strains of eloquence
sometimes failed of success in select assemblies,
and before judges of penetration and refinement,
the same may be observed of sober, solid, and
just argument. Modern times are acquainted with
refined assemblies, in which affairs of highest mo-
ment are commonly discussed ; and if the spirited
and impassioned orator does not on all occasions
I Vos enim jam, Albani tumuli atque luci, vos, inquam, imploro atque
obtestor, vosque Albanorum obrutae arae, sacrorum populi Romani sodas
et sequales, quas ille praceps amentia, csesis prostratisque sanctissimis
lucis, substructioDum insanis molibus oppresserat: vestrae tum arae,
vestrse religiones viguerurtt, vestra vis valuit, quam ille omni scelere
luerat: tuque ex tuo edito monte Latiari, sancte Jupiter, cujus ille
ua, nemora, fineaque nape omni netario atupro et scelere macularat,
? Hqaando ad eum puniendum oculos aperuisti; vobis ilia;, vobis, vestro
kl conspectu serai sed justa e tajnen, et debita e pceme solutGB sunt.
> In Brut.
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PREFACE.
obtain a majority in such assemblies, they do not
always impute it to the superior strength of reason
that fortifies his hearers against the assaults of
eloquence.
In poetry, the impression made on the hearer is
so far from being lessened or defeated by his re-
finement and understanding, that it is really height-
ened and increased in proportion to the accuracy
of his judgment and the delicacy of his sentiments.
And although the man of sense, who in this case
resigns himself up to the pleasing delusion, guards
and arms himself against all artifice--in that of
eloquence, it might not be difficult to show how
this vigilance is sometimes defeated and eluded.
But the points which I am at present concerned to
establish are no more than these: That the won-
derful effects ascribed to ancient eloquence are not
mistaken or exaggerated: that its force was really
extraordinary, and its impressions in proportion
violent; but that the reader who applies himself
to study the remains of an ancient orator, and of
Demosthenes in particular, may sometimes be dis-
appointed in his sanguine expectations of delight,
if he hath been long accustomed to compositions
of less intrinsic worth, though of more glittering
ornament; if he is in general unused to the energy
of free debate; if he is unacquainted with the his-
tory and character of the people to whom the orator
addressed himself; or if he precipitately judges of
the real force and efficacy of his eloquence from
his own sentiments and feelings, without making
the necessary allowance for a difference of times,
circumstances, passions, and dispositions.
He who will not acknowledge that some par-
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? PREFACE
225
Ocular traces of that exquisite skill which our orator
possessed are now become faint and obscure, pays
him a veneration rather too implicit: and he who
does not still perceive and " feel his rapid harmony
exactly adjusted to the sense; his vehement rea-
soning without any appearance of art; his disdain,
anger, boldness, freedom, involved in a continued
stream of argument,"1 may justly suspect his own
deficiency in point of taste : nor is it any indication
of a superior strength of reason if he does not
sometimes accompany the orator in those impetuous
passions and exalted sentiments which animate his
compositions.
It is a common observation, how much an oratot
is assisted by the charms of action or pronun-
ciation; which Demosthenes is said to have re-
garded as the chief part, or rather the whole of
his art: and how much the loss of these must
diminish his lustre! Yet there are other advan-
tages which such a speaker derives from subjecting
his works to a private review, to a strict, dispas-
sionate, and reiterated study. The justness of. his
reasoning, the soundness of his policy, the worth
and elevation of his sentiments--and these are the
really valuable parts of an orator--are thus brought
to a new and severe trial: and if, on such a trial,
these excellences preserve their weight and lustre,
this is an additional proof that they are real and
intrinsic. What Longinus observes of the sublime
is equally applicable to all the excellences of an
orator; that if they are really genuine, we must
form the higher ideas of them the more frequently
? See Hume's Essay on Eloquence.
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? 226
PREFACE.
and attentively they are considered; and that the
true and indisputable proof of a writer's value
arises from the consenting approbation of all ages,
professions, and inclinations. This last and final
sanction our orator's merit has received from private
examination; though at this time but a part of his
merit can thus appear. And hence, again, we may
form a judgment of the force and influence of his
living eloquence. If he still commands our appro-
bation, and even warms our hearts, how must the
Rhodians have been affected when iEschines read
his celebrated performance to that people ! And if
they were strongly affected, how must the speaker
himself have shaken and transported the souls of
his hearers in the Athenian assembly!
It may be said, that the excellence of this author,
in the original, is a point too plain to require proof
or illustration; that it is universally acknowledged,
and has been the subject of repeated praise ; but
that this consummate excellence of the original
necessarily inspires a prejudice against all attempts
to copy it in another language : that such attempts
are presumptuous ; the learned despise them, others
are deceived by them, and made to think with less
honour of the great author than his own genuine
undisguised merit must ever obtain.
I could wish that this objection could be easily
eluded, and that I could persuade myself that the
present work did not enforce and confirm it. How-
ever, something I presume to say in apology for
such attempts, and for the manner in which they
are executed.
It has been already observed that the sentiments
and arguments of an ancient orator may be con-
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? PREFACE.
227
veyed to the reader in a translation executed with
tolerable care and fidelity. To this we may add
the manner and order in which he arranges his
thoughts--no inconsiderable part of his address and
artifice.
And surely the attention of the reader
unskilled in ancient languages is rather liberally
rewarded by these advantages; although the
learned may despise the inglorious toil of the
translator, whose composition disgraces his noble
original: yet, even in this point, should our attempts
be judged with some degree of candour and indul-
gence. And ancient language, even were it not
superior to our own, must ever be read with
favourable prejudice : antiquity renders it respect-
able and venerable. Its sounds and phrases are
not debased by common and familiar use, but pre-
serve their dignity in a stately and solemn retire-
ment. Longinus speaks of some vulgar phrases
to be found in Demosthenes; but all such now lie
concealed; and unless the image conveyed be low,
nothing can appear in the language humbled or
debased; all flows on in one equal course of de-
cency, grandeur, and dignity. But this is not the
case in our own language. Familiarity tempts us
to regard it with less reverence. Its phrases and
expressions are in constant use; and what we hear
and pronounce every day cannot easily endure a
comparison with a language to whose very name
we have been long taught to annex the ideas of
grandeur and excellence. If in our composition
we adhere scrupulously to the simple and natural
form, the pomp and dignity of the original may
seem to be lost and degraded. In order to avoid
this extreme, we sometimes recur to a grave and
Vol. I. --S
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PREFACE.
laboured style, transpositions unnatural, and pericf's
distorted--an unpardonably awkward substitute to
ease and graceful majesty. And scarcely can we
steer our course so happily but that we must be in
danger of touching, or appearing to touch, on one
or other of these dangerous extremes.
But our difficulties appear stronger, and our
claim to indulgence more just, when the real excel-
lence of the ancient languages is considered. The
Greek, in particular, is superior even to that of the
Romans in point of sweetness, delicacy, and copi-
ousness. This is the judgment of the great Roman
criticand, with him, an English translator may
still say, " He that expects from us the grace and
delicacy of the Attic style must give us the same
sweetness, and an equal copiousness of language. "2
To acknowledge this inferiority in our own lan-
guage is not to derogate from its real merit. It is
a weapon keen and forcible, if carefully preserved,
and wielded with due skill. But he who should
attempt to follow the great writers of antiquity in
every maze and winding through which their ad-
vantages enabled them, and their circumstances
obliged them, to direct their course ; he who should
labour through all the straits of a minute and scru-
pulous imitation, to express their words and dis-
pose their periods exactly in the same form and
order, must be equally inattentive to the genius of
the language from which he copies and to that of
his own; equally inattentive to the excellences of
this, and to its comparative defects. At least this is
1 Quintil. Inst. Orat. 1. xii. c. 10.
2 Quare qui a Latinis exigit illam gratiam sermonis Attici, det mUii III
loquendo eandem jucunditatem, et parem coplam.
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? PREFACE.
229
a state of subjection to which the present translator
thought it by no means necessary to stoop: and if in
this he should be judged to have taken too great a
liberty, he flies for shelter to the authority of Quin-
tilian,1 who compares the copy formed from the out-
ward traces and aspect of the original to those airy
phantoms which were supposedly Epicurus to issue
from all bodies. If it may be thought a violation of
the Attic simplicity that he hath sometimes ventured
on an epithet, a metaphor, or some other figurative
form of speech to express what is natural and
unadorned in the original, let it be remembered, that
in this he confines himself within much stricter
bounds than the same great critic prescribes to
those who translated from Greek into Latin. In
such works he tells us, " Figuras--quibus maxima
Ornatur oratio multas ac varias excogitandi etiam
necessitas quaedam est: quia plerumque a Graecis
Romana dissentiunt," 1. x. c. 5. And in imitations
of every kind in a language inferior to that of the
original, in order to supply the defect, his rule is
this : " Oratio translationum nitore illuminanda,"
I. xii. c. 10.
To exhibit Demosthenes such as he would have
appeared in an English assembly similar to that of
Athens should certainly be the scope of his trans-
lator. Though he may be unfortunate in his aim,
a voluntary deviation would be unpardonable; and
an English Demosthenes would undoubtedly attend
1 Nec--sufllciat imaginem virtutis effingere, et solam, ut sic dicerem,
eutem, vel potius illas Epicuri figuras quas e summis corporibus dicit
efflucre. Hoc autem illis accidit, qui non introspectis pcnitus virtutibus,
ad primum se velut aspectum orationis aptarunt, et cum iis felicissime
eessit imitatio, verbis atque numeris sunt non multum differentes,
I. x c. 2.
Dem. Vol. I. --f
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PREFACE.
to the genitis of his language. To express Iiia
dignity and majesty he would not assume a con-
strained, uncouth, and perplexed air. He would
have confined himself within the modest bounds of
Atticism, but of English Atticism (if the expres-
sion may be allowed). He would hare adopted a
greater share of ornament, because a greater share
of ornament would not be inconsistent with neat-
ness, decent elegance, and manly dignity.
If it be still observed, that our language has been
corrupted and the cause of learning disgraced by
translation, it might be easy to show in what cases
this has been and must be the consequence ; and
that an attempt lo copy the excellences of ancien)
writers of renown does not necessarily fall undei
this censure. Or if the meanness and insignifi-
cance of the employment should be urged, a trans-
lator might observe, in the fulness of his vanity,
that the great Roman orator himself thought it not
beneath his dignity to publish his translations from
Plato, Xenophon, and Demosthenes. But as to the
utility of this employment, it need not be pointed
out or defended to the learned. As to its dignity,
the translator is not at all solicitous to maintain it.
He is ready to acknowledge that the pittance of
reputation to be acquired in this way is but trifling
and insignificant, if he is so fortunate as to meet
with that candour and indulgence which lave
hitherto favoured his attempts.
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? (231)
THE ORATION ON THE CLASSES:
F&OKOUHCED IN THE ARCHONSHI* OF DIOTIMUS, THE THIRD YEAR OF
THE HUNDRED AND SIXTH OLYMPIAD.
INTRODUCTION.
title of this oration is taken from one particular part of it, in
the speaker enlarges on the method of dividing the citizens into
Xti/i^ootca, or Classes, in order to raise the supplies, and to answer
the exigences or the state. Th* design of it was to'allay an extrava-
gant ferment which had been raised at Athens, and to recommend cau-
tion and circumspection, at a time when danger was apprehended. Ar-
taxerxes Ochus, king of Persia, had been for some time employed ia
making preparations for war. These were represented to the Athe-
nians as the effect of a design formed against Greece, and against their
state in particular. They were conscious of having given this prince
sufficient umbrage, by the assistance which their general Chares had
afforded to semeol' bis rebellious subjects : they were entirely possessed
by the notions of their own importance, and therefore readily listened
to their suggestions who endeavoured to persuade them that some im
portant blow was meditated against their dominions. An assembly of
the people was convened; and the general temper both of the speakers
and auditors is distinctly marked out in several passages of the follow-
ing oration. The bare mention of a war with Persia at once recalled to
their minds the glorious days-of their ancestors, andthe great actions of
Athens and her generals against the Barbarians. These were now
displayed with all the address and force of eloquence, and the people
Urged to imitate the bright examples of antiquity; to rise up in arms
against the Persian, and to send their ambassadors through Greece to
summon all the states to unite with Athens against the common enemy.
To natter the national vanity of their countrymen was an expedient
which many speakers had found effectual for establishing their power
and credit in the assembly. And possibly some might have spoken
with a corrupt design of* diverting the attention of their countrymen
from those contests and dangers in which they were now immediately
concerned. But, however this may be, the impropriety of those bold
and precipitate measures which they recommended is urged with the
utmost force in the following oration; in which we shall find the
speaker moderating the unseasonable zeal of his countrymen without
absolutely shocking their prejudices. Demosthenes is more generally
known as an orator by the fire and energy with which he rouses his
countrymen to arms. But the delicacy of address and artifice which
he displays in this and many of the following orations is a part of his
character no less worthy of attention. A youth of twenty-eight years
thoroughly acquainted with the constitution, interests, and connexions
of his country, rising for the first time in a debate on public affairs, op-
posing himself with boldness and resolution, and at the same time with
the utmost art and insinuation, to the general bent of the assembly,
calming the turbulence of his countrymen, and presenting their true
Interests to their view in the strongest and most striking colours, is an
abject truly pleasing and affecting
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? THE ORATION ON THE CLASSES. '
The men who thus dwell on the praises of youx
ancestors seem to me, ye men of Athens, to have
chosen a subject fitted rather to gratify the assembly
I That this oration was pronounced in the third year of the hundred
and sixth Olympiad we are assured by Diorrysius (in Epist. ad Amma>
um), and that Demosthenes was at this time in his- twenty-eighth year.
Plutarch indeed (if he be the author of the lives of the Ten Orators)
places his nativity in the fourth year of the ninety-eighth Olympiad
Dut, not to mention the inaccuracies in this tract, the orator himself de-
clares, in bis oration against Midias, that be was then in bis thirty-
second year. This oration was spoken in the archonship of CaUima*-
chus, that is, according to Diodorus, in the fourth year of the hundred
and seventh Olympiad; and therefore, by calculating from hence, the
reader will find the authority of Dionysiut, as to the time of oar orator's
birth, clearly and fully confirmed. --How then came H to pass that ht
was allowed to speak on public affairs before the age of thirty years ?
Ibr in the Attic laws respecting public speakers it is expressly enacted,
Mij EiaeXOstv rtva tnreiv pitarw tfuaKavra err} ytyovora'. Let no man
enter the assembly to speak who hath not yet attained to the age of
thirty. The solution of this difficulty by Luccbesini seems solid and
satisfactory. I know, says he, there are some who assert that this,
as well as some other laws of Athens, fell into disuse; but such
a method of solving the difficulties of antiquity, without any manner of
proof or authority, is unsafe and fallacious. Besides, the assertion is
contradicted by iEschines, who, in his oration against Tinm/chus, de
clares, that not only this, but other severer laws relative to public
speakers were in full force. In my opinion, the difficulty should rather
be explamed in this manner. Among the other magistrates who were
chosen every year at Athens, there were ten orators appointed by lot,
whose business it was to deliver their opinions in the assemblies on all
affairs that concerned the state, and for which they received the gratuity
of adrachma (seven peace three farthings) from the treasury. To these
only must that law of Athens which determines the age of orators bo
ronstrued to extend. As it was their duty to deliver their opinions in
the senate, they ought of course to be of the senatorial age: but no per-
son could be admitted to the senate who had not completed his thirtieth
year. But as for the law of Solon, it excludes no citizen whatsoever
from the liberty of speaking who might attend the assembly ; nor had
the seniors any other privilege than that of speaking first. The tew
runs thus: " Let the senior first propose such measures as he thinks
most expedient for the republic, and after him such other citizens as
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? ORATION ON THE CLASSES 233
than to do the due honour to those on whom they
lavish their applause. As they attempt to speak of
actions which no words can worthily describe, the
illustrious subject adonis their speech and gives
them the praise of eloquence; while their hearers
are made to think of the virtues of those heroes
with much less elevation than these virtues of them-
selves inspire. To me, time itself seems to be the
noblest witness to their glory. A series of so many
years hath now passed over, and still no men have yet
appeared whose actions could surpass those patterns
of perfection. It shall be my part, therefore, solely
to endeavour to point out the means which may enable
you most effectually to prepare for war: for, in fact,
were all our speakers to proceed in a pompous dis-
play of their abilities, such parade and ostentation
could not possibly prove of the least advantage to
the public; but if any man whatever will appear,
and can explain to your full satisfaction what "kind
of armament, how great, and how supported, may
choose it, according to the order of their age. " ^Eschines cites it in the
name words against Qtesiphon. No mention is here made of thirty
years. Such of the citizens as were in their twentieth year might
attend the assembly, and had their names enrolled. That they had a
share, in the administration, and might speak in public at this age, is
confirmed by Lucian in his Jupiter Tragcedus, where Momus thus ad-
dresses Apollo :--" You are now become a legal speaker, having long
since left the class of young men, and enrolled your name in the books
of the duodecemvm. " Now that the citizens were considered as having
arrived at the age of manhood in their eighteenth year we learn from
Demosthenes in his oration against Aphobus; for his father died when
he was but seven years old, and he remained for ten years under the
care of his guardian, at which time, being released from his hands, he
pleaded his own cause against him. Now his father had given direc-
tions that he should be under a guardian till he had arrived at the age of
manhood, and this he did as soon lis he had reached bis eighteenth year;
all which is collected from his own words. These circumstances con-
sidered, it is very easy to suppose that Demosthenes spoke in public, as
he really did, in his eight-and-twentieth year. Nor does any manner
of difficulty arise from what he says himself in his oration for the
Crown: U When the Phocian war was raised, &c. for I had then no
hand in the administration;" that war being begun in the second year
of the hundred and sixth Olympiad, under the archonship of Cailistratus,
at a time when our orator was only in the twenty-seventh year <if
bis *ge i
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? 234 ORATIONS OF DEMOSTHENES.
serve the present exigences of the state, then all
these alarms must instantly be dispelled. This I
shall endeavour to the utmost of my abilities, having
first briefly declared my opinion of our situation with
respect to the king.
I do regard the king as the common enemy of all
the Greeks:1 but I cannot for that reason advise that
we should be the only people to undertake a war
against him; for I do not find the Greeks themselves
united to each other in sincere affection :* nay, some
1 The commentators who endeavour to account for this assertion by
considering the present state of Greece, or any late transactions with
Persia, seem to examine the orator too rigidly, and with too much cold-
ness and abstraction. It is by no means the result of any recent events.
It had been the language of Greece for ages; the language of poets,
historians, and orators. Even in those times of corruption the popular
leaders seldom ventured to Vise any other, particularly"in an assembly
where national vanity was so predominant as in that of Athens. What-
ever treaties had been made with the King of Persia, however peace
might have now subsisted between him and the Greeks, still he was their
natural enemy.
8 The sacred war now raged in Greece. The Phocians, Lacedae-
monians, and Athenians were engaged on one side; the Boeotians, Thes-
salians, Locrians, and some other inferior states on the other: each party
was harassed and exhausted by the war. The Phocians had reason to
complain of the Athenians, who proved a useless and inactive ally.
Whatever connexions had lately subsisted between Athens and Sparta,
this latter state still hated its ancient rival, and was impatient to recover
its former splendour and power. A prospect of assistance from Persia
must have at once determined the Lacedaemonians to detach themselves
from the confederacy, and to act against the Athenians; particularly if
any plausible pretence could be alleged for uniting with the Persian.
The Phocians, who were not always influenced by the most religious
engagements, might fairly be suspected of making ao scruple of accept-
ing effectual assistance from the great king, and at once renouncing
their alliance with the Athenians. The Italian commentator supposes
that the orator expresses his apprehensions only of the Lacedemonians,
and that they are particularly pointed out as the men who have more
confidence In the Persian than in their own brethren, and who would
sacrifice every consideration to the support of their wars with the
Greeks. The Phocians, he observes, could not possibly unite with the
Persians, on account of the former injuries they had received from them
as well as of their invariable union with Athens. But a view of the
politics of Greece, and indeed of the politics of all ages and nations, may
convince us that too much stress is not to be laid on such an argument
Nor was there less to fear from the confederates on the other side. They
fought with an inveterate and implacable rancour, and all their efforts
were scarcely sufficient to support the quarrel. Their strength was con
Usually wasting, and their treasures were quite exhausted; the most
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? ORATION ON THE CLASSES. 235
among them seem to have more confidence in him
than in certain of their own body. In such circum-
stances, I account it of the utmost moment that we
should be strictly attentive to the origin of this war,
that it may be free from every imputation of injus-
tice. Let our armament be carried on with vigour;
but let us carefully adhere to the principles of equity:
for, in my opinion, Athenians, the states of Greece
(if it be once evident and incontestable that the king
makes attempts against them) will instantly unite
and express the most ardent gratitude to those who
arose before them, who, with them, still stand faith-
fully and bravely to repel these attempts. But while
this is yet uncertain, should you begin hostilities, I
fear we may be obliged to fight against an enemy
reinforced by those very men for whose interests
we were so forward to express our zeal. Yes! he
will suspend his designs (if he hath really designs
against the Greeks): his gold will be dispersed
liberally among them; his promises of friendship
will be lavished on them; while they, distressed in
their private wars, and attentive only to support them,
will disregard the general welfare of the nation.
Into such confusion, into such weak measures let
us not precipitate the state. With respect to the
king, you cannot pursue the same counsels with
some others of the Greeks. Of these many might,
without the charge of inconsistency, neglect the rest
of Greece, while engaged in the pursuit of private
interest; but of you it would be unworthy, even
though directly injured, to inflict so severe a punish-
ment on the guilty as to abandon them to the power
of the Barbarian.
favourable occasion for the great king to gain tbem to his purposes.
The speaker indeed declares, in another part of this oration, that the
Thebans would not concur with the Persian in any design confessedly
formed against the nation of Greece. Yet still they might, in their pres
ent circumstances, and in a cause which they affected to consider as the
cause of the nation, accept of his assistance. They actually did accept
of it in the course of this war.
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