ains of
which have lately been discovered, and are now placed in the British
Museum.

One more great man had grown up in Athens--namely, Demosthenes. He was
the son of an Athenian sword merchant, who died when he was but seven
years [Picture: Demosthenes] old. His guardians neglected his property,
and he was a sickly boy, with some defect in his speech, so that his
mother kept him at home as much as she could, and he was never trained in
mind or body like the other Athenian youth; but, as he grew older, he
seems to have learned much from the philosopher Plato, and he set himself
to lead the Athenians as a public speaker. For this he prepared himself
diligently, putting pebbles in his mouth to overcome his stammering, and
going out to make speeches to the roaring waves of the sea, that he might
learn not to be daunted by the shouts of the raging people; and thus he
taught himself to be the most famous orator in the world, just as Phidias
was the greatest sculptor and AEschylus the chief tragedian.

His most eloquent discourses are called Philippics, because they were
against Philip, king of Macedon, a power that was growing very dangerous
to the rest of Greece. It lay to the northward of the other states, and
had never quite been reckoned as part of Greece, for a rough dialect that
was spoken there, and the king had been forced to join the Persian army
when Xerxes crossed his country; but he had loved the Greek cause, and
had warned Aristides at the battle of Plataea. The royal family counted
Hercules as their forefather, and were always longing to be accepted as
thorough Greeks. One of the young princes, named Philip, was taken to
Thebes by Pelopidas, to secure him from his enemies at home. He was
lodged in the house of Epaminondas' father, and was much struck with the
grand example he there beheld, though he cared more for the lessons of
good policy he then learned than for those of virtue.

Two years after the battle of Mantinea, Philip heard that his elder
brother, the king, was dead, leaving only a young infant upon the throne.
He went home at once and took the guardianship of the kingdom, gained
some great victories over the wild neighbours of Macedon, to the north,
and then made himself king, but without hurting his nephew, who grew up
quietly at his court, and by-and-by married one of his daughters. He had
begun to train his troops to excellent discipline, perfecting what was
called the Macedonian phala