he thought most necessary in an orator, he gave no other answer than Pronunciation; insinuating, by making that reply three times successively, that qualification to be the only one, of which the want could be least concealed, and which was the most capable of concealing other defects; and that pronunciation alone could give considerable weight even to an indifferent orator, when without it the most excellent could not hope for the least success. He must have had a very high opinion of it, since, in order to attain a perfection in it, and to receive the instruction of Neoptolemus, the most excellent comedian then in being, he devoted so considerable a sum as 10,000 drachmas, though he was not very rich.

His application to study was no less surprising. To be the more removed from noise, and less subject to distraction, he caused a small chamber to be made for him under ground, in which he sometimes shut himself up for whole months, shaving on purpose half his head and face, that he might not be in a condition to go abroad. It was there, by the light of a small lamp, he composed the admirable orations which were said, by those who envied him, to smell of the oil; to imply, that they were too elaborate. It is plain, replied he, yours did not cost you so much trouble. He rose very early in the morning, and used to say, that he was sorry when any workman was at his business before him. We may judge of his extraordinary efforts to acquire perfection of every kind, from the pains he took in copying Thucydides' history eight times with his own hand, in order to render the style of that great man familiar to him.

Demosthenes, after having exercised his talent of eloquence in several private causes, made his appearance in full light, and mounted the tribunal, to treat there upon the public affairs; with what success we shall see hereafter. Cicero tells us that his success was so great, that all Greece came in crowds to Athens to hear Demosthenes speak: and he adds, that merit, so great as his, could not but have had that effect. I do not examine in this place into the character of his eloquence; I have enlarged sufficiently upon that elsewhere; I only consider its wonderful effects.

If we may believe Philip, and upon this point he is certainly an evidence of unquestionable authority, the eloquence of Demosthenes alone did him more hurt than all the armies and fleets of the Athenians.** His harangues, he said, were like machines of war, and batteries raised at a distance against him; by which he overthrew

Actio in dicendo una dominatur. Sine hâc summus orator esse numero nullo potest: mediocris, hâc instructus, summos sæpe superare. Huic primas dedisse Demosthenes dicitur, cùm rogaretur quid in dicendo esset primum; huic secundas, huictertias. Cie de Orat. 1. iii. n. 213. † About 2401. sterling.

Cui non sunt audita Demosthenis vigila? qui dolere se aiebat, si quando opificum antelucanâ victus esset industriâ. Tusc. Quæst. l. iv. n. 44.

Lucian. advers. Indoct. p. 639.

Ne illud quidem intelligunt, non modò ita memoriæ proditum esse, sed ita necesse fuisse, cùm Demosthenes dicturus esset, ut concursus, audiendi causâ, ex totâ Græcia ferent. In Brut. n. 239. Art of studying the Belles Lettres, vol. ii.

** Lucian, in Encom. Demosth. p. 940, 941.

all his projects, and ruined his enterprises, without its being possible to prevent their effect. For I myself, says Philip of him, had I been present, and heard that vehement orator declaim, I should have been the first to conclude that it was indispensably necessary to declare war against me. No city seemed impregnable to that prince, provided he could introduce a mule laden with gold into it: but he confessed, that, to his sorrow, Demosthenes was invincible in that respect, and that he always found him inaccessible to his presents. After the battle of Charonea, Philip, though victor, was struck with extreme dread at the prospect of the great danger to which that orator, by the powerful league he had been the sole cause of forming against him, had exposed both himself and his kingdom.

Antipater spoke of him in similar terms.* I value not, said he, the Piraeus, the galleys, and armies of the Athenians. For what have we to fear from a people continually employed in games, feasts, and Bacchanalian rites? Demosthenes alone gives me pain. Without him, the Athenians are in no respect different from the meanest people of Greece. He alone excites and animates them. It is he that rouses them from their lethargy and stupefaction, and puts arms and oars into their hands almost against their will. Incessantly representing to them the famous battles of Marathon and Salamis, he transforms them into new men by the ardour of his discourses, and inspires them with incredible valour and boldness. Nothing escapes his penetrating eyes nor his consummate prudence. He foresees all our designs, he countermines all our projects, and disconcerts us in every thing; and did Athens entirely confide in him, and wholly fol low his advice, we should be irremediably undone. Nothing can tempt him, nor diminish his love for his country. All the gold of Philip finds no more access to him, than that of Persia did formerly to Aristides.

He was reduced by necessity to give this glorious testimony for himself, in making good his defence against Eschines, his accuser and declared enemy. Whilst all the orators have suffered themselves to be corrupted by the presents of Philip and Alexander, it is well known, says he, that neither delicate conjunctures, nor engaging expressions, nor magnificent promises, nor hope, nor fear, nor favour, nor any thing in the world, have ever been able to induce me to relax in any point, which I thought favourable either to the rights or interest of my country. He adds, that instead of acting like those mercenary persons, who, in all they proposed, declared for such as paid them best, like scales, that always incline to the side from whence they receive most; he, in all the counsels he had given, had solely in view the interest and glory of his country, and that he had always continued inflexible and incorruptible by the Macedonian gold. The sequel will show whether he supported that character to the end.

*Lucian. in Encom. Demosth. P. 934-936

Such was the orator who is about to ascend the tribunal, or rather the statesman who is going to enter upon the administration of the public affairs, and to be the principle and soul of all the enterprises of Athens against Philip of Macedon.

SECTION VII.

Digressions upon the manner of fitting out fleets by the Athenians, and the exemptions and other marks of honour granted by that city to such as had rendered it great services.

The subject of this digression ought properly to have had place in that part of this volume where I have treated of the maritime affairs of the Athenians. But at that time I had not in my thoughts those orations of Demosthenes which speak of them. It is a deviation from the chain of the history, which the reader may easily pass over, if he thinks fit.

The word Trierarchs* signifies no more in itself than commanders of galleys. But those citizens were also called Trierarchs who were appointed to fit out the galleys in time of war, and to furnish them with all things necessary, or at least with part of them.

They were chosen out of the richest of the people, and there was no fixed number of them. Sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes even ten Trierarchs were appointed to equip one vessel.

At length the number of Trierarchs in general was fixed at 1200,† in this manner. Athens was divided into ten tribes. A hundred and twenty of the richest citizens of each tribe, were nominated to furnish the expenses of these armaments; and thus each tribe furnishing sixscore, the number of the Trierarchs amounted to 1200.

Those 1200 men were again divided into two parts, of 600 each; and those 600 subdivided into two more, each of 300. The first 300 were chosen from among such as were richest. Upon pressing occasions they advanced the necessary expenses, and were reimbursed by the other 300, who paid their proportion as the state of their affairs would admit.

A law was afterwards made, whereby those 1200 were divided into different companies, each consisting of sixteen men, who joined in the equipment of a galley. That law was very heavy upon the poorer citizens, and radically unjust, as it decreed that this number of sixteen should be chosen by their age, and not their estates. It ordained that all citizens, from twenty-five to forty, should be included in one of these companies, and contribute one-sixteenth; so that by this law the poorer citizens were to contribute as much as the most opulent, and often found it impossible to provide for an expense so much above their power. From whence it happened, that the fleet was either not armed in time, or very ill fitted out; by which means Athens lost the most favourable opportunities for

action.

*

Τριηραρχοι.

† Ulpian. in Olynth. ii. p. 33.

Demosthenes,* always intent upon the public good, to remedy these inconveniences, proposed the abrogation of this law by another. By the latter, the Trierarchs, were to be chosen, not by the number of their years, but the value of their fortunes. Each citizen, whose estate amounted to ten talents,† was obliged to fit out one galley at his own expense; and if to twenty talents, two; and so on in proportion. Such as were not worth ten talents, were to join with as many others as were necessary to complete that sum, and to fit out a galley.

Nothing could be wiser than this law of Demosthenes, which reformed all the abuses of the other. By these means the fleet was fitted out in time, and provided with all things necessary; the poor were considerably relieved, and none but the rich displeased with it. For instead of contributing only a sixteenth, as by the first law, they were sometimes obliged by the second to equip a galley by themselves, and sometimes two or more, according to the amount of their estates.

The rich were in consequence very much offended at Demosthenes for this regulation; and it required, without doubt, no small courage in him to disregard their complaints, and to hazard the making himself as many enemies as there were powerful citizens in Athens. Let us hear himself. Seeing, says he, speaking to the Athenians, that your maritime affairs were in a ruinous condition, the rich possessed of an immunity purchased at a very low rate, the citi zens of middle or small fortunes overwhelmned with taxes, and the republic itself, in consequence of these inconveniences, never attempting any thing till too late to be of any avail, I had the courage to establish a law, whereby the rich are brought back to their duty, the poor relieved from oppression, and, what was of the highest importance, the republic enabled to make the necessary preparations for war in due time. He adds, that there was nothing the rich would not have given him to forbear the proposing of this law, or at least to have suspended its execution: but he did not suffer himself to be swayed either by their threats or promises, and continued firm to the public good.

Not having been able to make him change his resolution, they contrived a stratagem to render it ineffectual. For it was without doubt at their instigation that a certain person, named Patroclus, cited Demosthenes before the judges, and prosecuted him juridicially as an infringer of the laws of his country. The accuser not having the fifth part of the voices on his side, was according to custom fined 500 drachmas, and Demosthenes acquitted of the charge. He himself informs us of these particulars.

I much doubt, whether at Rome, especially in the latter times, the affair would have taken this turn. For we see, that whatever attempts were made by the tribunes of the people, and to whatever ↑ Ten thousand crowns.

Demosth. in Orat. de Classib.

Ctesiph, p. 419.
VOL. IV.

121. 5s.

Z

+ Demosth. pro

extremity the quarrel arose, it never was possible to induce the rich, who were far more powerful and enterprising than those of Athens, to renounce the possession of the lands, which they had usurped in manifest contravention of the institutions of the state. The law of Demosthenes was approved and confirmed by the senate and people.

We find, from what has been said, that the Trierarchs fitted out the galleys and equipped them at their own expense. The state paid the mariners and soldiers, generally at the rate of three oboli, or five-pence a day, as has been observed elsewhere. The officers had greater pay.

The Trierarch commanded the vessel, and gave all orders on board. When there were two of them to a ship, each commanded six months.

When they quitted their office, they were obliged to give an account of their administration, and delivered a state of the vessel's equipage to their successor, or the republic. The successor was obliged to go immediately and fill up the vacant place; and if he failed to be at his post by a time assigned him, he was fined for his neglect.

As the charge of Trierarch was very expensive, those who were nominated to it, were admitted to point out some other person richer than themselves, and to demand that he should be put into their place; provided they were ready to change estates with such person, and to act as Trierarch after such exchange. This law was instituted by Solon, and was called the law of exchanges.

Besides the equipment of galleys, which must have amounted to very great sums, the rich had another burden to support in time of war; that was, the extraordinary taxes and imposts laid on their estates; upon which sometimes the hundredth, sometimes a fiftieth, and even a twelfth, were levied, according to the different necessities of the state.

Nobody at Athens,* upon any pretence whatsoever, could be exempted from these two charges, except the Novemviri, or nine Archons, who were not obliged to fit out galleys. So that we see clearly, that without ships or money, the republic was not in a condition, either to support wars, or defend itself.

There were other immunities and exemptions, which were granted to such as had rendered great services to the republic, and sometimes even to all their descendants: such as maintaining the public places for the exercises with all things necessary for such as frequented them; instituting a public feast for one of the ten tribes; and defraying the expenses of games and shows; all which amounted to great sums.

These immunities, as has already been said, were marks of honour and rewards for services rendered the state; as well as the

* Demosth. advers. Lept. p. 545.