vetousness by the air of
his countenance, and the look and movement of his eyes. For Demosthenes
could not resist the temptation, but admitting the present, like an
armed garrison, into the citadel of his house, he surrendered himself up
to the interest of Harpalus. The next day he came into the assembly with
his neck swathed about with wool and rollers, and when they called on
him to rise up and speak, he made signs as if he had lost his voice. But
the wits, turning the matter to ridicule, said that certainly the orator
had been seized that night with no other than a silver quinsy. And soon
after, the people, becoming aware of the bribery, grew angry, and would
not suffer him to speak, or make any apology for himself, but ran him
down with noise; and one man stood up and cried out, "What, ye men of
Athens, will you not hear the cup-bearer?" So at length they banished
Harpalus out of the city; and fearing lest they should be called to
account for the treasures which the orators had purloined, they made a
strict inquiry, going from house to house.

Demosthenes resisted the inquisition, and proposed a decree to refer the
business to the court of Areopagus, and to punish those whom that court
should find guilty. But being himself one of the first whom the court
condemned, when he came to the bar, he was fined fifty talents, and
committed to prison; where, out of shame of the crime for which he was
condemned, and through the weakness of his body, growing incapable of
supporting the confinement, he made his escape, by the carelessness of
some and by the connivance of others of the citizens. He did not show
much fortitude in his banishment, spending his time for the most part
in Aegina and Troezen, and, with tears in his eyes, looking towards the
country of Attica. The young men that came to visit and converse with
him, he deterred from meddling with state affairs, telling them, that
if at first two ways had been proposed to him, the one leading to the
speaker's stand and the assembly, the other going direct to destruction,
and he could have foreseen the many evils which attend those who deal in
public business, such as fears, envies, calumnies, and contentions, he
would certainly have taken that which led straight on to his death.

But now happened the death of Alexander, while Demosthenes was in this
banishment which we have been speaking of. And the Greeks were once
again up in arms, encouraged by the brave attempts of Leo