Attic Orator (1 results)
More imagesAischinou Ho kata Ktesiphontos kai Demosthenous Ho peri stephanou logos. Cum Delectu Annotationum, Præcipue e Tayloro, Marklando, Reiskio. In Usum Juventutis Academicae.
[Aeschines / Attic orator] / [Demosthenes] / [Taylor, John] / [Markland, Jeremiah] / [Reiske, Johann Jakob (Reiskio)].
Published by Oxford, Clarendon Press. 1801
- Hardcover
Seller: Inanna Rare Books Ltd., Skibbereen, CORK, IrelandInanna Rare Books Ltd.
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Two Volumes in one (complete), Octavo. Pagination: Volume I: Portrait-Frontispiece of Cicero, XLVIII, [2], Portrait of Aeschines, 130 pages / Volume II: XXI, Portrait of Demosthenes, 165 pages plus 24 unnumbered pages of an "Index sive Vocum Difficiliorum". Hardcover / Original, full leather with original spine-label and gilt le…ttering and ornament to spine. Front hinge starting. Binding a bit scuffed to upper hinge but beautifully firm and with the endpapers intact. Some very interesting, contemporary annotations in ink. From the library of Daniel Conner (Connerville / Manch House), with his Exlibris / Bookplate to pastedown. A very rare book !! This is the very interesting Clarendon edition of Aeschines' Against Ctesiphon and Demosthenes' of the competing speeches "On the Crown" by Aeschines and Demosthenes. The work includes a selection of notes ("delectu annotationum"), primarily from three of the most eminent 18th-century classical scholars: John Taylor, Jeremiah Markland and Johann Jacob Reiske [also 'Reiskio']. "On the Crown" is the most famous judicial oration of the prominent Athenian statesman and orator Demosthenes, delivered in 330 BC. Historical background Despite the unsuccessful ventures against Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great, the Athenian people still respected and admired Demosthenes, maybe even more than the pro-Macedonian politicians, especially Demades and Phocion, who ruled the city during this period. In 336 BC the orator Ctesiphon proposed that Athens honor Demosthenes for his services to the city by presenting him, according to custom, with a golden crown (stephane). This proposal became a political issue in 330 BC, and Aeschines prosecuted Ctesiphon for having violated the law on three points: For making false allegations in a state document. For unlawfully conferring a crown to a state official (Demosthenes) who had not yet rendered a report of his term of office. For unlawfully offering the crown at the Dionysia. Content of the speech In On the Crown, which is considered one of the most splendid political pleas ever written, Demosthenes not only defended Ctesiphon but also attacked vehemently those who would have preferred peace with Macedon. In this trial, Demosthenes' entire political career was at issue, but the orator repudiated nothing of what he had done. He begins with a general view of the condition of Greece when he entered politics and describes the phases of his struggle against Philip. He then deals with the Peace of Philocrates and blames Aeschines for his role during the negotiations and the ratification of the treaty. He also launches a personal attack against Aeschines, whom he holds up to ridicule as born of low and infamous parents. To this he adds charges of corruption and treason, and attributes the disaster of Chaeronea to the conduct of his political opponent, when representing Athens in the council of the Amphictyonic League. He underscores that he alone stood up to promote a coalition with Thebes. The orator asserts that, although Athens was defeated, it was better to be defeated in a glorious struggle for independence, than to surrender the heritage of liberty. Demosthenes finally defeated Aeschines by an overwhelming majority of votes. As a result, Ctesiphon was acquitted and Aeschines fined and forced into exile. Many scholars have concluded that Aeschines's speech presented a very plausible, although not incontrovertible, legal case. Assessments On the Crown has been termed "the greatest speech of the greatest orator in the world". Scholar Richard Claverhouse Jebb, analysing the oratorical contest between Demosthenes and Aeschines in 330 BC, underscores that this fierce debate illustrates the last great phase of political life at Athens. Noteworthy, the combat of eloquence attracted to Athens an immense concourse of spectators. "The theory of Greek eloquence had its final and its most splendid illustration in that trial which brought forth the two speeches On.
