Demosthenes, Speeches 18 and 19

Translated by Harvey Yunis

Publication Year: 2005

This is the ninth volume in the Oratory of Classical Greece. This series presents all of the surviving speeches from the late fifth and fourth centuries BC in new translations prepared by classical scholars who are at the forefront of the discipline. These translations are especially designed for the needs and interests of today’s undergraduates, Greekless scholars in other disciplines, and the general public. Classical oratory is an invaluable resource for the study of ancient Greek life and culture. The speeches offer evidence on Greek moral views, social and economic conditions, political and social ideology, law and legal procedure, and other aspects of Athenian culture that have recently been attracting particular interest: women and family life, slavery, and religion, to name just a few. Demosthenes is regarded as the greatest orator of classical antiquity. The two speeches translated here grew out of his longtime rivalry with the orator Aeschines. In Speech 19 (On the Dishonest Embassy) delivered in 343 BC, Demosthenes attacks Aeschines for corruption centered around an ultimately disastrous embassy to Philip of Macedon that both men took part in. This speech made Demosthenes the leading politician in Athens for a time. Speech 18 (On the Crown or De Corona), delivered in 330 BC, is Demosthenes’ most famous and influential oration. It resulted not only in Demosthenes receiving one of Athens’ highest political honors but also in the defeat and disgrace of Aeschines, who retired from public life and left Athens forever.

Published by: University of Texas Press

Contents
Search Inside This Book
Book Details

This is the ninth volume in a series of translations of The Oratory of Classical Greece. The aim of the series is to make available primarily for those who do not read Greek up-to-date, accurate, and readable translations with introductions and explanatory notes of all the surviving works and major fragments of the Attic orators of the classical...

Translator's Acknowledgements

pdf icon Download PDF (48.8 KB)
p. ix-ix

The introduction to the volume and the introductions to the individual speeches include, with alterations, material from the introduction to my book Demosthenes: On the Crown, published by Cambridge University Press. The material is reprinted here with the permission of...

Map of Greece, Macedon, and the Aegean

pdf icon Download PDF (542.0 KB)
p. x-x

Series Introduction: Greek Oratory

pdf icon Download PDF (132.7 KB)
pp. xi-2

From as early as Homer (and undoubtedly much earlier) the Greeks placed a high value on effective speaking. Even Achilles, whose greatness was primarily established on the battlefield, was brought up to be “a speaker of words and a doer of deeds” (Iliad 9.443); and Athenian leaders of the sixth and fifth centuries,1 such as Solon, Themistocles...

Introduction to Demosthenes

pdf icon Download PDF (72.6 KB)
pp. 3-8

Since antiquity Demosthenes (384 –322 bc) has usually been judged the greatest of the Attic orators. Although the patriotic and nationalistic tenor of his message has been more highly regarded in some periods of history than in others, he is unique in his mastery of so many different rhetorical styles and his ability to blend them into a powerful...

Introduction to This Volume

pdf icon Download PDF (94.6 KB)
pp. 9-20

Demosthenes, Speeches 18 and 19

pdf icon Download PDF (38.1 KB)
pp. 21-22

18. In Defense of Ctesiphon on the Crown

pdf icon Download PDF (400.1 KB)
pp. 23-113

Following his nearly victorious prosecution of Aeschines in 343 for misconduct on the Second Embassy (Dem. 19), Demosthenes was in a strong position.¹ He continued his career on the premise that rapprochement with Philip was unachievable and that support against Philip should be sought from all quarters within and outside Greece...

19. On the Dishonest Embassy

pdf icon Download PDF (446.5 KB)
pp. 114-216

Athens was at war with Macedon since 357, when Philip, recently acceded to the Macedonian throne, seized the northern Greek cities of Amphipolis and Pydna, which Athens considered within its sphere of influence. The Athenians made no headway, apart from repelling Philip’s attempt to seize Thermopylae in 352. Meanwhile Philip extended...

Appendix 1. The Spurious Documents from Demosthenes 18: On the Crown

pdf icon Download PDF (87.5 KB)
pp. 217-227

Appendix 2. Timeline

pdf icon Download PDF (53.8 KB)
pp. 228-230

Biblilography for This Volume

pdf icon Download PDF (65.4 KB)
pp. 231-234

Index

pdf icon Download PDF (84.3 KB)
pp. 235-244

E-ISBN-13: 9780292797154
E-ISBN-10: 029279715X
Print-ISBN-13: 9780292705777
Print-ISBN-10: 0292705778

Page Count: 273
Illustrations: 1 illus.
Publication Year: 2005

Series Title: The Oratory of Classical Greece