Plutarch, Demosthenes, Bernadotte Perrin (Translator), 5

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[1] The origin of his eager desire to be an orator, they tell us, was as follows. Callistratus the orator was going to make a plea in court on the question of Oropus,¹ and the trial was eagerly awaited, not only because of the ability of the orator, who was then at the very height of his reputation, but also because of the circumstances of the case, which was notorious.

[2] Accordingly, when Demosthenes heard the teachers and tutors agreeing among themselves to be present at the trial, with great importunity he persuaded his own tutor to take him to the hearing. This tutor, having an acquaintance with the public officials who opened the courts, succeeded in procuring a place where the boy could sit unseen and listen to what was said.

[3] Callistratus won his case and was extravagantly admired, and Demosthenes conceived a desire to emulate his fame, seeing him escorted on his way by the multitude and congratulated by all; but he had a more wondering appreciation of the power of his oratory, which was naturally adapted to subdue and master all opposition. Wherefore, bidding farewell to his other studies and to the usual pursuits of boyhood, he practised himself laboriously in declamation, with the idea that he too was to be an orator.

[4] He also employed Isaeus as his guide to the art of speaking, although Isocrates was lecturing at the time; either, as some say, because he was an orphan and unable to pay Isocrates his stipulated fee of ten minas,² or because he preferred the style of Isaeus for its effectiveness and adaptability in actual use.

[5] But Hermippus says that he once came upon some anonymous memoirs in which it was recorded that Demosthenes was a pupil of Plato and got most help from him in his rhetorical studies. He also quotes Ctesibius as saying that from Callias the Syracusan and certain others Demosthenes secretly obtained the rhetorical systems of Isocrates and Alcidamas and mastered them.

Demosthenes. Plutarch. Bernadotte Perrin (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1919.

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Current edition Perseus

Demosthenes (English) (Plutarch. Plutarch's Lives, Vol. VII. Perrin, Bernadotte, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1919.)

Editions (1)

Δημοσθένης Perseus (Plutarch. Perrin, Bernadotte, editor. Plutarch's Lives, Vol. VII. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1919.) — 5 focus

[1] τῆς δὲ πρὸς τοὺς λόγους ὁρμῆς ἀρχὴν αὐτῷ φασι τοιαύτην γενέσθαι. Καλλιστράτου τοῦ ῥήτορος ἀγωνίζεσθαι τὴν περὶ Ὠρωποῦ κρίσιν ἐν τῷ δικαστηρίῳ μέλλοντος ἦν προσδοκία τῆς δίκης μεγάλη διά τε τὴν τοῦ ῥήτορος δύναμιν, ἀνθοῦντος τότε μάλιστα τῇ δόξῃ, καί διά τὴν πρᾶξιν οὖσαν περιβόητον.

[2] ἀκούσας οὖν ὁ Δημοσθένης τῶν διδασκάλων καί τῶν παιδαγωγῶν συντιθεμένων τῇ δίκῃ παρατυχεῖν, ἔπεισε τὸν ἑαυτοῦ παιδαγωγὸν δεόμενος καί προθυμούμενος ὅπως αὑτὸν ἀγάγοι πρὸς τὴν ἀκρόασιν. ὁ δʼ ἔχων πρὸς τοὺς ἀνοίγοντας τὰ δικαστήρια δημοσίους συνήθειαν, εὐπόρησε χώρας ἐν ᾗ καθήμενος ὁ παῖς ἀδήλως ἀκούσεται τῶν λεγομένων.

[3] εὐημερήσαντος δὲ τοῦ Καλλιστράτου καί θαυμασθέντος ὑπερφυῶς, ἐκείνου μὲν ἐζήλωσε τὴν δόξαν, ὁρῶν προπεμπόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν πολλῶν καί μακαριζόμενον, τοῦ δὲ λόγου μᾶλλον ἐθαύμασε καί κατενόησε τὴν ἰσχὺν ὡς πάντα¹ χειροῦσθαι καί τιθασεύειν πεφυκότος. ὅθεν ἐάσας τὰ λοιπὰ μαθήματα καί τὰς παιδικὰς διατριβάς, αὐτὸς αὑτὸν ἤσκει καί διεπόνει ταῖς μελέταις, ὡς ἂν τῶν λεγόντων ἐσόμενος καί αὐτός.

[4] ἐχρήσατο δὲ Ἰσαίῳ πρὸς τὸν λόγον ὑφηγητῇ, καίπερ Ἰσοκράτους τότε σχολάζοντος, εἴτε, ὥς τινες λέγουσι, τὸν ὡρισμένον μισθὸν Ἰσοκράτει τελέσαι μὴ δυνάμενος, τὰς δέκα μνᾶς, διὰ τὴν ὀρφανίαν, εἴτε μᾶλλον τοῦ Ἰσαίου τὸν λόγον ὡς δραστήριον καί πανοῦργον ἐπὶ τὴν χρείαν ἀποδεχόμενος.

[5] Ἕρμιππος δέ φησιν ἀδεσπότοις ὑπομνήμασιν ἐντυχεῖν ἐν οἷς ἐγέγραπτο τὸν Δημοσθένην συνεσχολακέναι Πλάτωνι καί πλεῖστον εἰς τοὺς λόγους ὠφελῆσθαι, Κτησιβίου δὲ μέμνηται λέγοντος παρὰ Καλλίου τοῦ Συρακουσίου καί τινων ἄλλων τὰς Ἰσοκράτους τέχνας καί τὰς Ἀλκιδάμαντος κρύφα λαβόντα τὸν Δημοσθένην καταμαθεῖν.

Notes on the current edition

Demosthenes

1. In 366 B.C. Oropus, a town on the confines of Attica and Boeotia, was wrested from Athens by the Thebans. Subsequently there was a trial for treason at Athens, in which Callistratus the orator and Chabrias the general figured, but the details of the trial are obscure.

2. Equivalent to about £40, or $200, with five or six times the purchasing power of modern money.

Plutarch Demosthenes 5

Bernadotte Perrin (Translator)

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