Demosthenes, Speeches 1-17

7. ON HALONNESUS

introduction The authorship of the speech On Halonnesus was debated in antiquity. Dionysius of Halicarnassus accepts it as the work of Demosthenes without discussion,¹ but Libanius denies this attribution on the ground that some of its vocabulary is too vulgar to have been used by Demosthenes (see 45n) and reports the view of previous scholars that it was the work of a contemporary of Demosthenes named Hegesippus. This attribution was based partly on the speech’s style and partly on the speaker’s claim to have prosecuted a man named Callippus (43), since it was known that Hegesippus, and not Demosthenes, had prosecuted him. Analysis of the prose rhythm of the speech also suggests that it is not the work of Demosthenes.² Although we have no speech of Hegesippus with which to compare it, the modern consensus is that he is its author, and this view is accepted here. Hegesippus son of Hegesias was a prominent anti-Macedonian politician of the 340s and a political ally of Demosthenes. He was nicknamed “Top-knot” because of his distinctively old-fashioned hairstyle. Hegesippus’ earliest political activity dates to the 360s (Diogenes Laertius 3.24), but he was most prominent in the years after the making of the Peace of Philocrates. He took the lead in resisting Philip’s diplomatic overtures in 346³ and joined Demosthenes in defending their political ally Timarchus when¹First Letter to Ammaeus 10.²McCabe 1981.³See the ancient commentary on Dem. 19.72. 7. ON HALONNESUS ⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠⣠ 114 demosthenes he was prosecuted in 345 (Aes. 1.71). He was also active in antiMacedonian diplomacy: in a speech of 343 Demosthenes says that on an embassy to Macedonia, Hegesippus irritated Philip by his blunt speaking (19.331), and he refers in 341 to embassies that he and Hegesippus had undertaken to the Peloponnese, where they tried to stir up anti-Macedonian sentiment (9.72). Hegesippus also played a leading role in the establishment of an alliance of Greek states opposed to Philip in 340 (Plut. Demosthenes 17). He was still alive in 325/4 (IG II² 1623 line 185, 1629 line 543). What we know of Hegesippus’ strongly anti-Macedonian views and forthright manner is certainly consistent with his authorship of this speech. The speech is dated by Dionysius of Halicarnassus to 343/2 (see p. 113 n. 1) and probably belongs in the first half of 342 since Philip ’s campaign in Ambracia, referred to in 32, took place early in that year. It was delivered to the Assembly in response both to a letter from Philip to Athens and to the speeches of the ambassadors who brought the letter (1, 46).⁴ In his letter Philip evidently addressed a number of Athenian complaints and made proposals to try to resolve them. The first issue (in the order that Hegesippus addresses them, if not in importance ) was the ownership of Halonnesus, a small island off the coast of Thessaly between the two larger, Athenian-owned, islands of Lemnos and Scyros.⁵ Halonnesus too had once belonged to Athens but had been occupied at an unknown date by pirates. Philip drove the pirates out, perhaps in the course of his campaign in central Greece in 346, but retained control of the island. When the Athenians demanded that it be given back to them (implying by their choice of words that it belonged to them), Philip offered in the letter either to give it to them (implicitly denying their claim to prior ownership) (2) or to submit the matter to arbitration (7).⁶ ⁴This was a different letter from the one preserved as Dem. 12, which belongs to the year 340. ⁵It is debatable whether ancient Halonnesus is the same as the island now called Alonnisos: see MacDowell 2009: 343 n. 1. ⁶The issue was less petty than it might appear, since although Halonnesus itself was unimportant, the principle that Philip should give places back 7. on halonnesus 115 Philip also proposed the establishment of bilateral judicial agreements between Macedonia and Athens (9–13) and suggested that he and the Athenians should undertake joint action to suppress piracy in the Aegean (14–15). He repeated the offer made by his envoy Python in 344/3 to negotiate a revision of the terms of the Peace of Philocrates (18–32),⁷ made general protestations of goodwill towards Athens (33), and promised great benefits if the Athenians would trust him (34...