The Public Orations of Demosthenes Volume II Part 13

-- 79. _to the Peloponnese_, in 344 (see Introd. to Second Philippic): _to Euboea_ in 343-2 (see Introd. to Speech on Emba.s.sy); _to Oreus_, &c., in 341 (see Introd. to this Speech).

-- 82. _as their patron_, i.e. as consul (or official patron) of Oreus in Athens. See n. on Speech for Rhodians, -- 15. civil rights. See vol. i, p.

52.

-- 83. _this was already the second proclamation_: i.e. the proclamation in accordance with the decree of Aristonicus. It is indeed just possible that the reference is to the proposal of Ctesiphon, 'for this is now the second proclamation,' &c. If so, we should have to a.s.sume that the proclamation under the decree of Demomeles in 338 was prevented by the disaster of Chaeroneia. But the first sentence of -- 120 is against this (see Goodwin's edition _ad loc_.).

-- 94. _inconsiderate conduct_: i.e. in joining the revolt of the Athenian allies in 356.

-- 96. _when the Spartans_, &c. The section refers to the events of 395.

_Deceleian War_: i.e. the last part of the Peloponnesian War (413-404 B.C.), when Deceleia (in Attica) was occupied by the Spartans.

-- 99. _Thebans... Euboea_: in 358 or 357. See Speech for Megalopolitans, -- 14 n.

-- 100. _Oropus_. See Speech for Megalopolitans, Section 11 n.

_I was one_. Demosthenes was, in fact, co-trierarch with Philinus (Speech against Meidias, -- 161).

-- 102. See Speech on Naval Boards (with Introd. and notes), and n. on Olynthiac II, -- 29.

_obtaining exemption_. The undertaking of the trierarchy conferred exemption from other burdens for the year, and (conversely) no one responsible for another public burden need be trierarch. The leaders of the Taxation Boards referred to in -- 103 are probably not (as generally supposed) the richest men in the _Naval_ Boards [Footnote: They may indeed have been so, but it was in virtue of their function as leading members of the Hundred Boards (for collecting the war tax) that they were grouped together as the Three Hundred.] (responsible for trierarchy), but those in the Hundred Boards responsible for the war tax. In each of these Boards there was a leader, a 'second', and a 'third', and these, all together, are almost certainly identical with the 'Three Hundred' responsible for advancing the sum due. When these were already advancing the war tax, they became exempt from trierarchy, and their poorer colleagues in the Naval Boards (to which of course they also belonged) had to bear the burden without them. But under Demosthenes' law the trierarchic payment was required from all alike, in strict proportion to their valuation as entered for the purposes of the war tax; and the Three Hundred (the leaders, seconds, and thirds) were no longer exempted. (This explains their anxiety to get the law shelved.) Even in years when they were not exempt, before Demosthenes' law was pa.s.sed, they only paid a very small share in proportion to their wealth, since all the members of each Naval Board paid the same sum. It appears, however, that (though the Three Hundred as such cannot be shown to have had any office in connexion with the trierarchy) the richer men in the Naval Boards arranged the contracts for the work of equipment, and that when they had contracted that the work should be done (e.g.) for a talent, they sometimes recovered the whole talent from their poorer colleagues. (Speech against Meidias, -- 155.)

-- 103. _lie under sworn notice_, &c. ([Greek: en hupomosia]). One who intended to indict the proposer of a law for illegality had probably to give sworn notice of his intention, and the suggestion made to Demosthenes was that when such notice had been given, he should let the law drop.

-- 105. _the decree_, &c.: i.e. either a decree suspending the law until the indictment should be heard, or one ordering the trial on the indictment to be held.

-- 107. _no trierarch_, &c. A trierarch who thought the burden too heavy for him could appeal against it by laying a branch on the altar in the Pnyx, or by taking sanctuary in the Temple of Artemis at Munychia. A dilatory or recalcitrant trierarch could be arrested by order of the ten commissioners ([Greek: apostuleis]) who const.i.tuted a sort of Admiralty Board.

-- 111. _the laws_, &c. The laws alleged to have been violated were copied out, and accompanied the indictment. With regard to the laws in the present case, see Goodwin's edition, pp. 313-6.

-- 114. _Nausides_ was sent to oppose Philip at Thermopylae in 352 (see Introd. to First Philippic). Diotimus had a command at sea in 338, and his surrender was demanded by Alexander in 335, as was also that of Charidernus (see n. on Olynthiac III, -- 5), who had now been a regular Athenian general for many years, and had been sent to a.s.sist Byzantium in 340 (see Speech against Aristocrates, _pa.s.sim_).

-- 121. _h.e.l.lebore_: supposed in antiquity to cure madness.

-- 122. _reveller on a cart_, e.g. on the second day of the Anthesteria, when masked revellers rode in wagons and a.s.sailed the bystanders with abusive language. Such ceremonial abuse was perhaps originally supposed to have power to avert evil, and occurs in primitive ritual all over the world.

-- 125. _the statutable limit_. There was a limit of time (differing according to the alleged offence) after which no action could be brought.

Demosthenes could not now be prosecuted for any of the offences with which Aeschines charged him.

-- 127. _Aeacus_, &c.: the judges of the dead in Hades, according to popular legend.

_scandal-monger_. The Greek word ([Greek: spermologos]) is used primarily of a small bird that pecks up seeds, and hence of a person who picks up petty gossip. (In Acts xvii. 18 it is the word which is applied to St.

Paul, and translated 'this babbler'.)

_an old band in the market-place_: i.e. a rogue. A clerk would perhaps often be found in the offices about the market-place; or the reference may be to the market-place as a centre of gossip.

_O Earth_, &c. Demosthenes quotes from the peroration of Aeschines'

speech.

-- 129. The stories which Demosthenes retails in these sections deal with a time which must have been forty or fifty years before the date of this speech, and probably contain little truth, beyond the facts that Aeschines' father was a schoolmaster (not a slave), and was a.s.sisted by Aeschines himself; and that his mother was priestess of a 'thiasos' or voluntary a.s.sociation of wors.h.i.+ppers of Dionysus-Sabazios, among whose ceremonies was doubtless one symbolizing a marriage or mystical union between the G.o.d and his wors.h.i.+ppers. (Whether the form of 'sacred marriage' which was originally intended to promote the fertility of the ground by 'sympathetic magic' entered into the ritual of Sabazios is doubtful.) Such a rite, though probably in fact quite innocent, gave rise to suspicions, of which Demosthenes takes full advantage; and the fact that well-known courtesans (such as Phryne and perhaps Ninus) sometimes organized such 'mysteries' would lend colour to the suspicions.

_Hero of the Lancet_ ([Greek: to kalamit_e aer_oi]). The interpretation is very uncertain (see Goodwin, pp. 339 ff.); and, according as [Greek: kalamos] is taken in the sense of 'lancet', 'splints', or 'bow', editors render the phrase 'hero of the lancet', 'hero of the splints', 'archer- hero' (identified by some with Toxaris, the Scythian physician, whose arrival in Athens in Solon's time is described in Lucian's [Greek: Skuth_es ae Proxenos]). That the Hero was a physician is shown by the Speech on the Emba.s.sy, -- 249.

-- 130. _for they were not like_, &c. ([Greek: ouge gar h_onetuchen _en, all ois hu daemos kataratai]). The meaning is quite uncertain. The most likely interpretations are: (1) that given in the text, [Greek: a bebioken] being understood as the subject of [Greek: _en], and [Greek: _on etuchen] as = [Greek: tout_on a etuchen], i.e. 'not belonging to the cla.s.s of acts which were such as chance made them,' but acts of a quite definite kind, viz. the kind which the People curses (through the mouth of the herald at each meeting of the a.s.sembly); (2) 'for he was not of ordinary parents, but of such as the People curses'; the subject of [Greek: _en]

being Aeschines. But there is the difficulty that, with this subject for [Greek: _en, _on etuchen] can only represent [Greek: tout_on _on etuchen _on], whereas the sense required is [Greek: tout_on oi etuchon], or (the regular idiom) [Greek: t_on tuchunt_on]; and the sense is not so good, for the context [Greek: opse gar]) shows that the clause ought to refer to the _acts_ of Aeschines about which he is going to speak, not to his parentage, which the orator has done with.

_Glaucothea_. Her real name is said to have been Glaucis. Glaucothea was the name of a sea-nymph. The change of the father's name Tromes ('Trembler') to Atrometus ('Dauntless') would also betoken a rise in the world.

_Empusa_, or 'The Foul Phantom': a female demon capable of a.s.suming any shape. Obscene ideas were sometimes a.s.sociated with her.

-- 132. For Antiphon, see Introd. to Speech on the Emba.s.sy.

_struck off the list_: at the revision of the lists in 346. (Each deme revised the list of its own members, subject to an appeal to the courts.)

_without a decree_: i.e. a decree authorizing a domiciliary visit.

-- 134. _when ... you elected him_. See Introd. to Speech on the Emba.s.sy.

_from the altar_: a peculiarly solemn form of voting; it is mentioned in the Speech against Macartatus, -- 14.

-- 136. _when Philip sent_, &c. See Introd. to Speech on the Emba.s.sy.

-- 137. The ostensible purpose of Anaxinus' visit was to make purchases for Olympias, Philip's wife. Aeschines states that Anaxinus had once been Demosthenes' own host at Oreus.

-- 141. _paternal deity_: as father of Ion, the legendary ancestor of the Ionians, and so of the Athenians.

-- 143. _and of one_, &c. I have followed the general consensus of recent editors; but I do not feel at all sure that the antecedent of [Greek: us]

is not [Greek: polemos]. In that case we should translate, 'which led to Philip's coming to Elateia and being chosen commander of the Amphictyons, and which overthrew,' &c.

-- 146. _nature of the resources_, &c.: i.e. especially the possession by Athens of a strong fleet.

-- 148. _representatives on the Council_. The Amphictyonic Council was composed of two representatives (Hieromnemones) from each of twelve primitive tribes, of which the Thessalians, the Boeotians, the Ionians (one of whose members was appointed by Athens), and the Dorians (one member appointed by Sparta) were the chief, while some of the tribes were now very obscure. There were also present delegates (Pylagori) from various towns. These were not members of the Council, and had no vote, but might speak. Athens sent three such delegates to each meeting. (See Goodwin, pp. 338, 339.)

-- 150. _make the circuit_, or 'beat the bounds'. The actual proceedings (according to Aeschines' account, summarized in the Introd. to this Speech) were much more violent.

_It was clearly impossible_, &c. The argument is unconvincing. Aeschines may have known of the intention of the Locrians without their having served a formal summons.

-- 158. _one man_: i.e. Philip.

-- 169. _the Prytanes_: the acting Committee of the Council.

_set fire to the wicker-work_: i.e. probably the hurdles, &c., of which the booths were partly composed. Probably a bonfire was a well-understood form of summons to an a.s.sembly called in an emergency.

_the draft-resolution_. See Introd., vol. i, p. 18.

_on the hill-side_: i.e. on the Pnyx, the meeting-place of the a.s.sembly.

-- 171. _the Three Hundred_. See n. on -- 102.