Dinarchus, Hyperides, and Lycurgus

Introduction to Dinarchus

INTRODUCTION TO DINARCHUS Dinarchus, the son of Sostratus, was born in Corinth in about 361/0.1 He moved to Athens, by then the leading city for the study of rhetoric, when he was relatively young. This was probably a little before 338, for he fought at the battle of Chaeronea, at which a combined force of Greek cities, including Athens, was defeated by Philip II of Macedon (see 1.78n). In Athens he was a pupil of Theophrastus, Aristotle’s successor as head of the Lyceum, and he also apparently attended the lectures of Demetrius of Phalerum. His career as a logographer would certainly have started by the mid 330s, and his metic status allowed him to devote himself entirely to it while he lived in Athens. As a result, he amassed considerable wealth. In 323 Dinarchus was commissioned by the state to write speeches for one of the prosecutors appointed by the people in the politically charged Harpalus trials, which were set against a background of intrigue in the time of Alexander the Great of Macedon (see further below). This was a turning point in his career, elevating him to the status of one of the leading logographers of the day, and he flourished especially during the ten-year regime (317–307) of Demetrius of Phalerum, the puppet king of Cassander of Macedon. His friendship with Macedonians and Macedonian sympathizers in this period 1 We do not have much information about Dinarchus’ life. What little we have comes from four later and often contradictory sources: Dionysius of Halicarnassus ’ essay on Dinarchus, Pseudo-Plutarch’s brief life (Moralia 850b–e), Photius, and the Suda (s.v. Dinarchus). Dionysius is the most reliable of these. This point and many others in the Introduction and in the notes to the Translation are treated more fully in Worthington 1992. The reader is referred to this work for further details throughout. would be his undoing, however. When Demetrius Poliorcetes ousted Demetrius of Phalerum from Athens in 307, Dinarchus was forced to leave the city. He went to Chalcis, where he lived in exile for fifteen years. He returned to Athens in 292/1 with the consent of Demetrius Poliorcetes, who may have been persuaded to recall him by Theophrastus. While lodging in Athens with his friend Proxenus, Dinarchus lost a large amount of money. He then sued his host for two talents, stating that when he arrived in Proxenus’ house he had with him 285 gold staters and silver articles to the value of twenty minas. This was the first time, so we are told, that Dinarchus himself delivered a speech, but the outcome of the trial is unknown. We do not know when, how, or where Dinarchus died. Dinarchus was a prolific writer; he had expertise in many branches of the law and wrote prosecution and defense speeches (see the list of genuine public and private speeches given by Dionysius at the end of his essay). Although some later writers mention 160 speeches of his, the figure of 61 speeches given by Dionysius (who cites titles and opening words in his list at Dinarchus 10 and 12) is probably more accurate. Aside from scattered fragments, only 3 speeches survive, those written against Demosthenes, Aristogeiton, and Philocles (1, 2, and 3), when the three men were brought to trial (along with others) in 323 for their role in the Harpalus scandal. The first has survived almost in full, but the latter two are incomplete. Despite being a leading logographer, Dinarchus’ rhetorical style has been condemned since antiquity, with the notable exceptions of Callimachus (Suda, s.v. Kallimachos; cf. Athenaeus 15.669c) and Cicero (De oratore 2.23.94; cf. Brutus 9.36). To Dionysius, for example , Dinarchus was a ‘‘rustic Demosthenes,’’ inferior to someone like Demosthenes in his disjointed arrangement of material and incoherent composition (Dinarchus 8). Modern opinion spanning a century concurs.2 However, it must be stressed that Dinarchus was included in the Canon of the Ten Attic Orators, and that since so 4 dinarchus 2 For example, Blass 1898: 289–333; Jebb 1875: 2.374; J. F. Dobson, The Greek Orators (London, 1919), 302–307; Kennedy 1963: 256–257; and M. Nouhaud and L. Dors-Méary, Dinarque Discours, Budé text (Paris: 1990), xvi. many orators must have been excluded from it, his inclusion can testify only to his literary merits and reputation.3 Indeed, there is...