person
Demosthenes
Athenian orator and statesman (384-322 BC); the supreme Greek orator of antiquity in Cicero's view. The Philippics and the De Corona are his canonical works.
Reading notes
- On Duties §2.47 Demosthenes
The greatest Athenian orator (384-322 BC), proverbial for laborious self-training. Cicero notes that Crassus was already pleading superbly in the Forum at the age when others, like Demosthenes, were still practising at home.
- On the Best Kind of Orators §13 Demosthenes
Athenian orator and statesman (384--322 BC), reckoned by Cicero the foremost of the Greeks. The argument turns on him: since Demosthenes combined purity with full force, to imitate him is to be both Attic and best at once.
- On the Orator §3.213 Demosthenes
The Demosthenic anecdote (delivery first, second, third) is the locus classicus for the priority of actio in classical rhetoric. The pairing with Aeschines's tribute on Rhodes makes it the canonical form.
- Tusculan Disputations §4.44 the vigils of Demosthenes
The Athenian orator Demosthenes was famed for his nightly study, grieving when the artisans rose to work before him. An example of zeal mistaken by the Peripatetics for useful passion.
- Tusculan Disputations §5.103 Our Demosthenes was decidedly vain
Demosthenes, the great Athenian orator, who confessed his delight at being pointed out by a water-carrying woman. Cicero cites his vanity to show that popular glory is a trifling thing, even to a man of genius.