It’s All in the Delivery

Aeschines paid tribute to the oratory of his greatest rival — whether he meant to or not.

55 BC

Roman Republic 509 BC - 27 BC

Introduction

Aeschines (389-314 BC) and Demosthenes (384-322 BC) were lawyers and statesmen of Athens, and rivals. Cicero, a Roman lawyer of a later generation, knew of their competitive relationship, and told this story to illustrate both their strength of feeling and also, hidden deeper than even Aeschines realised, their mutual respect.

by Marcus Tullius Cicero 106-43 BC

The story goes that when Demosthenes was asked what is the first thing in speaking, he assigned the first role to delivery, and also the second, and also the third; and I constantly feel that this answer was actually outdone by the remark of Aeschines.

That orator, having had a discreditable defeat in a lawsuit, had left Athens and betaken himself to Rhodes; there it is said that at the request of the citizens he read the splendid speech that he had delivered against Ctesiphon, when Demosthenes was for the defence;* and when he had read it, next day he was asked also to read the speech that had been made in reply by Demosthenes for Ctesiphon. This he did, in a very attractive and loud voice; and when everybody expressed admiration he said, “How much more remarkable you would have thought it if you had heard Demosthenes himself!” thereby clearly indicating how much depends on delivery, as he thought that the same speech with change of speaker would be a different thing.

by Marcus Tullius Cicero 106-43 BC

From De Oratore III.lvi.213 as given in Cicero De Oratore Volume 3 (1948), translated by H. Rackham.

* In 336 BC, the citizens of Athens, led by the lawyer Ctesiphon, decided to present Demosthenes with a golden crown in recognition of his outspoken criticism of Alexander the Great, who was currently trying to take control of the city. The idea was controversial from the start, and six years later the controversy had reached such a pitch that Aeschines brought an action against Ctesiphon on the grounds that the whole process was unlawful. Demosthenes himself defended Ctesiphon, and won.

Précis

According to Cicero, famous Greek orator Demosthenes stated that delivery was first, second and third in the priorities of a speaker. On one occasion, the great man’s bitter rival Aeschines had read out one of Demosthenes’s speeches, and let slip at the end that, good as it had sounded, he could not do justice to the delivery of Demosthenes himself.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

Which speech by Demosthenes did Aeschines read out to the people of Rhodes?

Suggestion

His defence against Aeschines’s prosecution of Ctesiphon.

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

Demosthenes gave a speech. Aeschines read it out. He said Demosthenes spoke it better.

See if you can include one or more of these words in your answer.

IAdmit. IIDelivery. IIISuperior.