Demosthenes the "hero" for what he did for Greece
Gandeto
January 25, 2009
Where does Demosthenes fit in this picture?
As fate will have it, one of the harshest critics of Philip II of Macedon, the man who, in the words of Antipater, the Macedonian general of Philip and Regent of Macedonia during Alexander the Great´s reign, "was nothing but gut and tongue" will rise to prominence and assume a lofty position in history, not as much to his own credentials as speech writer, or his oratorical skills (Phocion and Aeschines would have trounced him), but to the subject he chose, and the man, he spent a great part of his life, trying to denounce and bring down. To Demosthenes, the crafty Athenian patriot who could not imagine, nor believe that his beloved Athens, the leader of the cultured world and the champion of Hellas, has been steadily and progressively declining and her social and cultural health has been so diminished that she, for all practical purposes, was finished as a military power and a leader of Hellas. This was obvious to most, but not to Demosthenes who threw his inexhaustible energies towards, to him, the noblest of all causes, fanatically trying to revive the life of his veritable dying princess Athens.
He saw in Philip and his Macedonians the ultimate menace and a culprit for her ills, and at the same time he envisioned the potential chance and a route leading to recapturing of her lost eminence and greatness. When Athens was slow, or too sick to respond to his calls, he, endeavored tirelessly to arouse the passion of the liberty loving Greeks throughout Hellas, to rise and save the beloved motherland from the menacing barbarian from the north. If he could only make the indifferent masses see his way, to see Philip as he sees him, and to rekindle the passions of old Athenian glory and make them realize that it was their task and duty to raise their souls to higher conceptions and resolve on war. Philip is not great, but the Athenian irresolution makes him great.
The indifferent masses of Greeks bent on treason, he would say, who could be bought by Philip´s gold, make Philip great. One wonders, what then, Theopompus saw in Philip to declared "Europe has never produced another man comparable to him"? (Pol. VIII. II, I). Was Demosthenes so myopic not to realize that Philip did not want war wit Athens? Was he drunk with hate not to notice that the Macedonian king was not interested in Greece, nor in Athens, for that matter, if he could help it? If nothing else, he should have come to realizations that Philip could not be stopped, and that Athens, as a military power, was too week and exhausted to mount any kind of measurable resistance. He should have seen that it was time for them to realize and take the least humiliating way out and recognize, as Isocrates did, that Hellas must submit to Philip´s wishes. While Isocrates was calling for a voluntary submission, a cultural unification of all Hellenes under Philip who will take the Greeks on a vengeance/crusade against the Persian Empire, Demosthenes was calling for a national uprising against Macedon. Instead of self-assertiveness and national unification against Macedon, as Demosthenes advocated, there was national self- surrender. While Greeks indulged in comfort and selfishness, Philip indulged in training with his army and conditioning. While Philip was cold and calculated with methodical foresight and precise execution of its political schemes, Demosthenes, even though brilliant with his passionate speeches, was always a step behind the master from the north.
His obsession with Philip can be viewed from two separate perspectives; a personal one where Demosthenes´ wishes and desires never materialized due to Philip´s adroitness and political acumen, and from a national perspective where he sees the king as a destroyer of the Greek liberty and freedom.
Let us now observe and analyze some of the noteworthy points about Demosthenes´ hatred of Philip and his Macedonians, and try to pinpoint the cause of such a pervasive and deeply rooted hate that eventually consumed the man´s life. What are some of the compelling reasons that drove this Athenian orator to such extremes that he spent his entire young life fighting the Macedonian king, and to what extent can we attribute this life-long battle to patriotism and devotion to his Greek cause, and his motherland.
It is certain that Demosthenes had his best intentions concerning Athens and Hellas as a whole. His life long protracted battles to awaken the Athenians at first, and then, the rest of the Hellenes at the end, of the potential danger lurking from Philip, was manifested through his eloquent speeches, which were craftily prepared to touch the soul of the complacent and self-centered Greek masses. Unquestionably, this is a true testament of his undying love and devotion to Athens and Hellas as a whole. He traveled throughout Hellas to exhort the Greeks and spur their fighting spirits on, reminding them that the foe is not from within but from without, urging the Greeks to put all the differences aside and meet Philip´s challenge resolutely and decisively. Even though, here, he overestimated his own Athenian might and power, and more importantly, he misread the Athenian fighting spirit, Demosthenes never gave up the fight and kept urging the Greeks to fight for their liberty and freedom. If he saw any kind of opening in the Macedonian yoke, he took it with all his vigor and gave it his best. "Only when the last ray of hope was extinguished, and the last uprising had met disaster, did quiet settle down upon Greece - the quiet of the graveyard" (Jeager 1938:192). In this respect, Demosthenes was a true patriot and a true son of Greece. Such was his tenacious spirit that earned him the undying gratitude of the Athenian people, who awarded him two gold crowns (Diod. 16.72.1; Justin 8.6.4-8), and a lasting memorial to his name:
"If only your strength had been equal, Demosthenes,
to your wisdom never would Greece have been ruled by Macedonian Ares." (Plut. Demosthenes 30).
The statue was the work of Polyeuctus and was erected in 280 B.C. (n 2).
"How could anyone fail to marvel at this tenacious strength of will, which no mere fate can break?", asked Jeager (ibid:197). A man´s life devoted to one supremely noble idea, wrapped up with love for his country, his people and the liberty of Hellas. Demosthenes, in the eyes and the hearts of his old contemporaries remained a hero, a tribute, though, not equally shared by modern Greek co-patriots.
On the other hand, we have Demosthenes, the orator from Athens, stubbornly entrenched in a personal battle with the Macedonian king Philip, his son Alexander the Great, and the Macedonians in general. His battles with Philip ensured him a lasting place in history. His obsession with Philip was so overpowering and consuming that he died, by poisoning himself ahead of the pursuing Macedonian soldiers, having never been able to defeat the Macedonian king in verbal, military, or political strategy-planning duel. What Phocion, the old Athenian general, ´the chopper of his speeches´, was for his speeches, Philip was for his military strategies. What Aeschines did for his political moves in the assembly, Philip did for his political allies in Greece.
When Demosthenes used a barbarian boxer to illustrate the slowness in response of the Athenian assembly to react to Philip´s moves, Philip, in turn, used him as the ´barbarian´ of the analogy. When Demosthenes was expecting Philip to attack, he used diplomacy to achieve his goal. When Demosthenes counted on Philip´s diplomacy to fail, Philip used force instead. When Demosthenes threw his lot with Amadocus from Thrace against his brother Cersobleptes, Philip got both on his side. When Demosthenes counted and the Athenian congress lined up behind Charidemus to complete the task in the northern Aegean, Philip bested them here too. Thessaly was another successful diplomatic maneuvering in Philip´s chess game. And when Demosthenes went, as part of the Athenian peace embassy to Pela, he was terribly embarrassed not to have been able to complete his speech in front of the charming and amiable host, king Philip of Macedon. Finally, the inevitable outcome at Chaeronea confirmed Philip´s Tyche to be much more favorable then the Athenian one. Thus, we find Philip, on every field, to be an elusive target for Demosthenes´ punches. How frustrating must have been Demosthenes´ life-long task, not to be able to obtain a drop of Philip´s barbarian blood with which scent to feed the Greek masses whom he so very deliberately prepared for a war.
To be continued
As fate will have it, one of the harshest critics of Philip II of Macedon, the man who, in the words of Antipater, the Macedonian general of Philip and Regent of Macedonia during Alexander the Great´s reign, "was nothing but gut and tongue" will rise to prominence and assume a lofty position in history, not as much to his own credentials as speech writer, or his oratorical skills (Phocion and Aeschines would have trounced him), but to the subject he chose, and the man, he spent a great part of his life, trying to denounce and bring down. To Demosthenes, the crafty Athenian patriot who could not imagine, nor believe that his beloved Athens, the leader of the cultured world and the champion of Hellas, has been steadily and progressively declining and her social and cultural health has been so diminished that she, for all practical purposes, was finished as a military power and a leader of Hellas. This was obvious to most, but not to Demosthenes who threw his inexhaustible energies towards, to him, the noblest of all causes, fanatically trying to revive the life of his veritable dying princess Athens.
He saw in Philip and his Macedonians the ultimate menace and a culprit for her ills, and at the same time he envisioned the potential chance and a route leading to recapturing of her lost eminence and greatness. When Athens was slow, or too sick to respond to his calls, he, endeavored tirelessly to arouse the passion of the liberty loving Greeks throughout Hellas, to rise and save the beloved motherland from the menacing barbarian from the north. If he could only make the indifferent masses see his way, to see Philip as he sees him, and to rekindle the passions of old Athenian glory and make them realize that it was their task and duty to raise their souls to higher conceptions and resolve on war. Philip is not great, but the Athenian irresolution makes him great.
The indifferent masses of Greeks bent on treason, he would say, who could be bought by Philip´s gold, make Philip great. One wonders, what then, Theopompus saw in Philip to declared "Europe has never produced another man comparable to him"? (Pol. VIII. II, I). Was Demosthenes so myopic not to realize that Philip did not want war wit Athens? Was he drunk with hate not to notice that the Macedonian king was not interested in Greece, nor in Athens, for that matter, if he could help it? If nothing else, he should have come to realizations that Philip could not be stopped, and that Athens, as a military power, was too week and exhausted to mount any kind of measurable resistance. He should have seen that it was time for them to realize and take the least humiliating way out and recognize, as Isocrates did, that Hellas must submit to Philip´s wishes. While Isocrates was calling for a voluntary submission, a cultural unification of all Hellenes under Philip who will take the Greeks on a vengeance/crusade against the Persian Empire, Demosthenes was calling for a national uprising against Macedon. Instead of self-assertiveness and national unification against Macedon, as Demosthenes advocated, there was national self- surrender. While Greeks indulged in comfort and selfishness, Philip indulged in training with his army and conditioning. While Philip was cold and calculated with methodical foresight and precise execution of its political schemes, Demosthenes, even though brilliant with his passionate speeches, was always a step behind the master from the north.
His obsession with Philip can be viewed from two separate perspectives; a personal one where Demosthenes´ wishes and desires never materialized due to Philip´s adroitness and political acumen, and from a national perspective where he sees the king as a destroyer of the Greek liberty and freedom.
Let us now observe and analyze some of the noteworthy points about Demosthenes´ hatred of Philip and his Macedonians, and try to pinpoint the cause of such a pervasive and deeply rooted hate that eventually consumed the man´s life. What are some of the compelling reasons that drove this Athenian orator to such extremes that he spent his entire young life fighting the Macedonian king, and to what extent can we attribute this life-long battle to patriotism and devotion to his Greek cause, and his motherland.
It is certain that Demosthenes had his best intentions concerning Athens and Hellas as a whole. His life long protracted battles to awaken the Athenians at first, and then, the rest of the Hellenes at the end, of the potential danger lurking from Philip, was manifested through his eloquent speeches, which were craftily prepared to touch the soul of the complacent and self-centered Greek masses. Unquestionably, this is a true testament of his undying love and devotion to Athens and Hellas as a whole. He traveled throughout Hellas to exhort the Greeks and spur their fighting spirits on, reminding them that the foe is not from within but from without, urging the Greeks to put all the differences aside and meet Philip´s challenge resolutely and decisively. Even though, here, he overestimated his own Athenian might and power, and more importantly, he misread the Athenian fighting spirit, Demosthenes never gave up the fight and kept urging the Greeks to fight for their liberty and freedom. If he saw any kind of opening in the Macedonian yoke, he took it with all his vigor and gave it his best. "Only when the last ray of hope was extinguished, and the last uprising had met disaster, did quiet settle down upon Greece - the quiet of the graveyard" (Jeager 1938:192). In this respect, Demosthenes was a true patriot and a true son of Greece. Such was his tenacious spirit that earned him the undying gratitude of the Athenian people, who awarded him two gold crowns (Diod. 16.72.1; Justin 8.6.4-8), and a lasting memorial to his name:
"If only your strength had been equal, Demosthenes,
to your wisdom never would Greece have been ruled by Macedonian Ares." (Plut. Demosthenes 30).
The statue was the work of Polyeuctus and was erected in 280 B.C. (n 2).
"How could anyone fail to marvel at this tenacious strength of will, which no mere fate can break?", asked Jeager (ibid:197). A man´s life devoted to one supremely noble idea, wrapped up with love for his country, his people and the liberty of Hellas. Demosthenes, in the eyes and the hearts of his old contemporaries remained a hero, a tribute, though, not equally shared by modern Greek co-patriots.
On the other hand, we have Demosthenes, the orator from Athens, stubbornly entrenched in a personal battle with the Macedonian king Philip, his son Alexander the Great, and the Macedonians in general. His battles with Philip ensured him a lasting place in history. His obsession with Philip was so overpowering and consuming that he died, by poisoning himself ahead of the pursuing Macedonian soldiers, having never been able to defeat the Macedonian king in verbal, military, or political strategy-planning duel. What Phocion, the old Athenian general, ´the chopper of his speeches´, was for his speeches, Philip was for his military strategies. What Aeschines did for his political moves in the assembly, Philip did for his political allies in Greece.
When Demosthenes used a barbarian boxer to illustrate the slowness in response of the Athenian assembly to react to Philip´s moves, Philip, in turn, used him as the ´barbarian´ of the analogy. When Demosthenes was expecting Philip to attack, he used diplomacy to achieve his goal. When Demosthenes counted on Philip´s diplomacy to fail, Philip used force instead. When Demosthenes threw his lot with Amadocus from Thrace against his brother Cersobleptes, Philip got both on his side. When Demosthenes counted and the Athenian congress lined up behind Charidemus to complete the task in the northern Aegean, Philip bested them here too. Thessaly was another successful diplomatic maneuvering in Philip´s chess game. And when Demosthenes went, as part of the Athenian peace embassy to Pela, he was terribly embarrassed not to have been able to complete his speech in front of the charming and amiable host, king Philip of Macedon. Finally, the inevitable outcome at Chaeronea confirmed Philip´s Tyche to be much more favorable then the Athenian one. Thus, we find Philip, on every field, to be an elusive target for Demosthenes´ punches. How frustrating must have been Demosthenes´ life-long task, not to be able to obtain a drop of Philip´s barbarian blood with which scent to feed the Greek masses whom he so very deliberately prepared for a war.
To be continued
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