New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-03-07
DEMOSTHENES.
A NEW AND DEPRECIATORY VIEW OF
THE ArHENIAN ORATOR.

The most striking feature Of this volume Is '"e
view taken Of Demosthenes and OF the MACE
DOMAIN supremacy over the Greek ana suo"e'
ouently over the Oriental world ii"ie wac
when all the learned were agreed IN 'h',
mate of the great orator Of Athens. Inc s"""0"
maxim Of antiquity that no man can Ve So
orator unless he is model Of all the virtues was
supposed to settle the matter Den"o''"''
was a great orator. Even adverse cr'Ieisi" nos
not vet gone so far to deny that Du' Il "e
was a great orator then he must nave "e."
good man. II he was a good man. ne must "",e
told tho truth In his speeches Ergo every
whom he denounced must have oeeh iiisn''"'
had Thus history has been led to depict the ex-
cellent Demosthenes surrounded y" "'' ,,',,,.
double-dyed villains like lf;schines and fh,i'p
and Alexander. making a lone fight mostly win
his mouth once with very acuVe pa" -
In behalf Of the liberties OF greece.
Nov, comes Holn,-not indeed. the first 10 oo-
60. .. o.. conventional opinion. but one OF the
e,st IN summarize the whole case as part VI
-, CrooL bistory-who says that Demos
themes lacked several degrees OF periec''on anu
,to, ,bosc whom he opposed. particularly fhihp
% Macedon had a better idea OF what Hreeee
r.ad.d than Demosthenes himself. There are
~ course one or two points on when there mar
o,xavs been doubt One of these points was
raised nv the general impression OF antqu'N
that Demosthenes was politically right. pu' per-
.orauv NOT above criticism. Another was the
be,ief that when Alexanders paymaster OH one
occasion ran away from Asia and uelositeu n'
stolen money In Athens, large portion VI "
,,.or,eared in the hands Of Demosthehes'
Finally there was a gross attack in one OF De
n,cstheness speeches the parents of -fIschiHeS'
zscbines was also an orator. Consequently ne
n,ust have been personally good in the same
ratio that his speeches approached tne ioea' vi
eloouence Otherwise the maxim by whlch '"e
credit Of Denosthenes has always peeh sa'eu
would itself be discredited. The inference was
that the parents Of lEschnes could not nave
been so bad as Demosthenes painted 'heN'' II"
fact this passage in the works mas lohe oeeii
turned to use only as an indirect contributor u
the knowledge Of social life in Athens
The slightest rift spoils the lutte. II Demos
themes depended for his facts on MS iihas'na'o''
q, o,,o o,sa why not in others? II was. In fact,
osv IN show that in several important cases ne
a;rac,,v contradcted the truth in his endeavor
20 blacken Philip of Maced IN. and the upsho' was
worst of all when he had assured ms country
men that the Kings only purpose was 10 oes''"s
Athens whereas the latter, after his victory s''
the example-followed afterward 10 the latest
Roman Imperial tnes-of treating the GU! WI"
tender consideration as the home of letters anu
philosophy But, while DemOsthenes was "i"Ns
In these matters il could no: be proved against
him that he designed to mislead his fei""-c'''
ze,s LAYING aside the supposed nfallibili'y of
the author supposing him to he as good pu' h'
better than ordinary men. and reservng to Phiiip
the same moderate measure or virtue there
seems to be solution of the whole matter IN
comnores the attitude OF Demosthenes toward
TIE Macedonian Revolution with that Of Burke
toward the French Revolution. He adopts the
viawg Of Englishmen. who Know practlcaiy
rather more than Germans about politicai
speeches Thus he learns that great orators, as
a class are men not necessarily good, put CD
pable of convincing themselves IN moments OF
excitement that they are divinelv right ana that
their opponents wickedly wrong NOT only
can they convince themselves. but they can con-
vince the multitude. AS long. then, as puphc
duty consists in agitation. they are Of the highest
sor. ice IL was in this service that Demosthenes
showed his greatness. He reminds Holm Of
Gladstone The historian does not forget this
parallel He comes near the familiar char
acterization Of Gladstone as lie can by speaking
of Dcmosthenes IAN OLD hand" For this he
has the testimony of antiquity, which estimated
highly the expertness Of the Athenian states
man But just because Demosthenes depended
on tricks of trade and on dramatic method. he
missed the mark in politics. He might still
have been great statesman. like Napoleon j,
whom Plus VII described as tragedante,' if he
had only proved clearheaded and energetic III
the critical moment, Ike Napoleon ! in 1914"
In addition to this personal defect there
also a defect in his point Of view. Philip was
monarch with a powerful following and a posi-
ton from which he could take an imperial view
of politics In the Greek world. while the horizon
Of Demosthenes was limited by Athenian democ
racy. Modern democracy is AS broad as impe-
rialism. Blu. the Athenian democracy was one IL.
which every detail Of public life and government
had 70 be subrlitted to the whole population.
Hence" remarks Holm. 1T could never de-
yelop into what the English call party govern
ment, q system which presents this advantage,
that each party can successfully supply the va
rious wants Of the Government" There was no
future for Greek democracy. The effort of
Athens to expand IL had already failed. Thus
even II Demosthenes had been the equal of Philip
IN affairs. his outlook must have been circum-
scribed by the State TO which he belonged
Demosthenes himself marked transition.
To his predecessor Isocrates. an Grafton was
a work Of art. This distinguished man,
who avoided political activity, but made
political themes the topics of his writings. is
said to have devoted ten years to single ora
ton. Demosthenes cherished the ideals
of oratorical perfection. But he was forced to
modify them In accordance with the imperative
demands Of time threatening and full of
change. Much he disliked to speak without
careful preparation. he was sometimes unable
to escape the necessity. II is said that his ad-
dresses extempore were admirable. Neverthe-
less. considering the literary theory by which he
had risen to greatness, he must have seen in this
hasty oratory required Of him as clear a sign Of
decadence everybody In the national
spirit which had once dcfed Persian valor but
was now eagerly holding out the hand for Per-
sian money. 1t is easily conceivable how he
must have been disappointed to see audience