On the Crown
"On the Crown" (
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 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.[2][3]
Assessments
On the Crown has been termed "the greatest speech of the greatest orator in the world".[4] 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 the Crown: nor could this part of our discussion conclude more fittingly than with an endeavour to call up some faint image of Demosthenes as in that great cause he stood opposed to Aeschines."[5]
References
- ^ K. Tsatsos, Demosthenes, 301 and The Helios.
- ^ A. Duncan, Performance and Identity in the Classical World, 70.
- ^ Buckler, John. 2000. "Demosthenes and Aeschines." p. 147. In Demosthenes: Statesman and Orator, ed. Ian Worthington, 114–158. London: Routledge.
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica.
- ^ R. C. Jebb, The Attic Orators from Antiphon to Isaeos.
Further reading
- Murphy, James Jerome (1983). Demosthenes' On the Crown: A Critical Case Study of a Masterpiece of Ancient Oratory. Hermagoras Press. ISBN 0-9611800-1-3.
