n overwhelmed at Chaeronea, in the
defeat of the allied Thebans and Athenians, Demosthenes, who had
organized the unsuccessful resistance to Philip, still retained the
favor of his countrymen, fickle as they were. With the exception of a
short period of disfavor, he practically regulated the policy of Athens
till his death in 322 B.C.

In 336 B.C., on motion of Ctesiphon, a golden crown was voted to
Demosthenes by the Senate, in recognition of certain eminent services
and generous contributions from his own means to the needs of the State.
The decree was not confirmed by the Assembly, owing to the opposition of
AEschines, who gave notice that he would bring suit against Ctesiphon for
proposing an illegal measure. The case did not come up for trial,
however, till 330 B.C., six years later. (The reason for this delay has
never been clearly revealed.)

When Ctesiphon was summoned to appear, it was well understood that it
was not he but Demosthenes who was in reality to be tried, and that the
public and private record of the latter would be subjected to the most
rigorous scrutiny. On that memorable occasion, people gathered from all
over Greece to witness the oratorical duel of the two champions--for
Demosthenes was to reply to AEschines. The speech of AEschines was a
brilliant and bitter arraignment of Demosthenes; but so triumphant was
the reply of the latter, that his opponent, in mortification, went into
voluntary exile. The speech of Demosthenes 'On the Crown' has been
generally accepted by ancients and moderns as the supreme attainment in
the oratory of antiquity.

It is evident that a man the never-swerving champion of a cause which
demanded the greatest sacrifice from a people devoted to
self-indulgence, the never-sleeping opponent of the hirelings of a
foreign enemy, and a persistent obstacle to men of honest conviction who
advocated a policy different from that which seemed best to him, would
of necessity bring upon himself bitter hostility and accusations of the
most serious character. And such was the case. Demosthenes has been
accused of many crimes and immoralities, some of them so different in
character as to be almost mutually exclusive. The most serious charge is
that of receiving a bribe from Harpalus, the absconding treasurer of
Alexander. He was tried upon this charge, convicted, fined fifty
talents, and thrown into prison. Thence he escaped to go into a
miserable exile.

How far and how seriously t