Dinarchus, Against Demosthenes, ed. J. O. Burtt, 30

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[30] Against what occasion will you reserve Demosthenes in the belief that he will prove useful to you? Could any one of you, or of the bystanders, say what public or private affairs he has not ruined by his contact with them? After gaining access to the home of Aristarchus¹ and planning with him the death of Nicodemus which they contrived, an affair of which you all know the details, did he not banish Aristarchus on the most shameful charges? And did not Aristarchus find in Demosthenes such a friend as to make him think that this was some evil spirit which had visited him and the originator of all his misfortunes?

Against Demosthenes. Dinarchus. ed. J. O. Burtt. London. 1954.

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Current edition Perseus

Against Demosthenes (English) (Dinarchus. Minor Attic Orators, Vol. 2. Burtt, J. O., translator. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Κατὰ Δημοσθένους Perseus (Dinarchus. Minor Attic Orators, Vol. 2. Burtt, J. O., editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954 (printing).) — 30 focus

[30] εἰς ποῖον γὰρ καιρὸν ἀποθήσεσθε τοῦτον ὑπολαβόντες χρήσιμον ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς ἔσεσθαι; ἔχοι τις ἂν εἰπεῖν ἢ ὑμῶν ἢ τῶν περιεστηκότων, εἰς ποῖα οὗτος πράγματα εἰσελθὼν ἢ ἴδια ἢ κοινὰ οὐκ ἀνατέτροφεν;¹ οὐκ εἰς μὲν τὴν Ἀριστάρχου οἰκίαν εἰσελθών, βουλεύσας μετʼ ἐκείνου τὸν Νικοδήμῳ θάνατον κατασκευασθέντα, ὃν ἴστε πάντες, ἐξέβαλε τὸν Ἀρίσταρχον ἐπὶ ταῖς αἰσχίσταις αἰτίαις; καὶ τοιούτῳ φίλῳ Δημοσθένει ἐχρήσατο, ὥστε δαίμονα αὐτῷ τοῦτον καὶ τῶν γεγενημένων συμφορῶν ἡγεμόνα νομίσαι προσελθεῖν;

Notes on the current edition

Against Demosthenes

1. This story is told more fully by Aeschines ( Aeschin. 1.171 ; Aeschin. 2.148 and Aeschin. 2.166 ), who says that Aristarchus son of Moschus was a wealthy orphan, half mad, from whom Demosthenes, pretending to have taken a fancy to him personally, extracted three talents. He asserts that together they contrived to murder, with great brutality, Nicodemus of Aphidna who had once prosecuted Demosthenes for desertion; as the result of which crime Aristarchus went into exile. Demosthenes himself mentions the murder in his speech against Midias, where he claims that Midias went about casting suspicion on him and persuaded the relatives of Nicodemus to do likewise ( Dem. 21.104 ). Cf. Athen. 23.592 f .

Dinarchus Against Demosthenes 30

ed. J. O. Burtt

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