reece. Indeed, he spoke so eloquently and
severely against Philip, and told the people so plainly that the king
was already plotting to harm them, that violent speeches directed
against any one have ever since been called "Philippics," like these
orations against the King of Macedon.

LXXXIX. THE ORATOR DEMOSTHENES.

As you have seen in the last chapter, Philip had one great enemy in
Greece, the orator Demosthenes. He had distrusted Philip from the very
first, and had kept warning the Athenians that the King of Macedon was
very ambitious, and would soon try to become master of all Greece. When
the Olynthians asked for aid, he had warmly urged the Athenians to give
it, saying that they ought to bring on the conflict with Philip as soon
as possible, so that the fighting might be done outside of Greece. In
spite of his good arguments, however, Demosthenes failed.

[Illustration: Demosthenes.]

Philip took not only O-lyn'thus, but all the towns which formed the
Olynthian union, and destroyed them so completely that a few years later
one could not even find out where these once prosperous cities had been.

Demosthenes made three very fine speeches in favor of the Olynthians,
and several against Philip. These were written down, and have been
translated time and again. You may some day read and admire them for
yourselves.

Of course, when Philip heard of Demosthenes' speeches, he was very
angry; but he thought that his gold could do wonders, so he sent a
beautiful cup of that precious metal to the orator. The gift was
accepted; still Demosthenes, instead of remaining silent as Philip had
expected, went on talking against him as openly as before.

As Demosthenes was such a great man, you will like to hear how he
learned to speak so well. He was an orphan, but very ambitious indeed.
He saw how eagerly the Athenians listened to the best speakers, and he
thought that he too would like to become an orator.

Unfortunately, he could not talk very plainly, and instead of listening
to him, even his playmates made fun of him. But instead of crying,
sulking, or getting angry, Demosthenes sensibly made up his mind to
learn how to speak so well that they could no longer laugh at him. He
therefore learned a great deal of poetry, which he recited daily as
distinctly as possible. To be able to do this without attracting any
attention, he used to go down to a lonely spot on the seashore, where he
would put some pebbles in his