eived as his reward a place
in the great Amphictyonic Council. He thus secured recognition of his
claims to being a Greek, since none but Greeks might sit in this
council. He had, moreover, in crushing the Phocians, destroyed a
formidable power of resistance to his plans.

Such were the times and such the conditions in which Demosthenes entered
upon his strenuous public life. He was born most probably in 384 B.C.,
though some authorities give preference to 382 B.C. as the year of his
birth. He was the son of Demosthenes and Cleobule. His father was a
respectable and wealthy Athenian citizen, a manufacturer of cutlery and
upholstering. His mother was the daughter of Gylon, an Athenian citizen
resident in the region of the Crimea.

Misfortune fell early upon him. At the age of seven he was left
fatherless. His large patrimony fell into the hands of unprincipled
guardians. Nature seems almost maliciously to have concentrated in him a
number of blemishes, any one of which might have checked effectually the
ambition of any ordinary man to excel in the profession Demosthenes
chose for himself. He was not strong of body, his features were
sinister, and his manner was ungraceful,--a grievous drawback among a
people with whom physical beauty might cover a multitude of sins, and
physical imperfections were a reproach.

He seems to have enjoyed the best facilities in his youth for training
his mind, though he complains that his teachers were not paid by his
guardians; and he is reported to have developed a fondness for oratory
at an early age. In his maturing years, he was taught by the great
lawyer, Isaeus; and must often have listened to the orator and
rhetorician Isocrates, if he was not indeed actually instructed by him.
When once he had determined to make himself an orator, he set himself to
work with immense energy to overcome the natural disadvantages that
stood in the way of his success. By hard training he strengthened his
weak voice and lungs; it is related that he cured himself of a painful
habit of stammering; and he subjected himself to the most vigorous
course of study preparatory to his profession, cutting himself off from
all social enjoyments.

His success as an orator, however, was not immediate. He tasted all the
bitterness of failure on more than one occasion; but after temporary
discouragement he redoubled his efforts to correct the faults that were
made so distressingly plain to him by the unsparing but s