Read the three orations of Aeschines,[222] _Against Timarchus_
(the first of his speeches), _On the False Embassy_, and _Against
Ctesiphon_ (the third and last). These three speeches and nine
letters are said to be his only genuine works; for which reason
the orations were sometimes called the three Graces, from their
number and the charm of their style, and the letters the nine Muses.
Another oration, the _Delian law_, was known under his name; but
Caecilius[223] denies its genuineness and ascribes it to another
Aeschines, an Athenian and contemporary.
Aeschines was one of the “ten” Attic orators. He was accused by
Demosthenes of having misconducted an embassy,[224] but was not
convicted, since the demagogue Eubulus, in whose service Aeschines
had formerly been,[225] sided with him against Demosthenes, and
caused the jury to rise before Demosthenes had finished his speech.
Subsequently, when he attacked the proposal of Ctesiphon on behalf
of Demosthenes as illegal,[226] having himself settled the amount of
the fine he was prepared to pay if he did not make good the charge,
he failed to do so, and left his country. He first set out for Asia,
intending to seek refuge with Alexander, the son of Philip, who was
then on his Asiatic expedition, but when he heard of his death and
that his successors were quarrelling amongst themselves, he sailed
to Rhodes, where he remained for some time, giving young men lessons
in rhetoric. When his admirers were at a loss to understand how so
great an orator could have been defeated by Demosthenes, he replied,
“If you had heard that beast (meaning Demosthenes), you would not be
surprised.” He is said to have been the first to compose imaginary
speeches and what are called “declamations” in his leisure hours.
In his old age he removed to Samos, where he died. He was of humble
origin;[227] his father was Atrometus; his mother Glaucothea, a
priestess. He had two brothers, Aphobetus and Philochares. At first,
being possessed of a loud voice, he became a third-rate actor; then
he was copying-clerk to the Council; and soon afterwards came forward
as a public speaker. He belonged to the philippizing party at Athens,
and was consequently a political opponent of Demosthenes. He is
said to have attended Plato’s lectures, and to have been the pupil
of Antalcidas,[228] statements which are supported by the grandeur
of his language and the dignity of his inventions.[229] The sophist
Dionysius,[230] when he came across the oration _Against Timarchus_,
after he had read the opening--“I have never yet publicly indicted
a citizen nor harassed him when he was rendering an account of his
office”--is reported to have said, “Would that you had indicted or
harassed many, that so you might have left us more speeches of the
kind,” so delighted was he with this orator’s style.
His language appears natural and extemporaneous, and does not create
so much admiration for the writer’s art as for his natural gifts.
Abundant proofs of his cleverness and ability are to be found in
his orations. In his choice of words he aims at simplicity and
distinctness, and in the structure of his periods he is neither so
feeble as Isocrates, nor so compressed and concise as Lysias, while
in verve and energy he is not inferior to Demosthenes. He employs
figures of thought and speech, not to create the impression of using
artistic language, but in conformity with the necessities of the
subject. Hence his style appears direct and straightforward, well
adapted for speaking in public and for private conversation; for he
does not make constant use of proofs and arguments, and is not over
elaborate.
Aeschines,[231] the son of Lysanias, called Socraticus, is reckoned
by Phrynichus and others one of the greatest orators, and his
speeches as models of Attic style, only second to those of its best
representatives.