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Demosthenes (First Olynthiac, 20)—The orator took great pains to convince his countrymen that the reform of the theoric fund was necessary to finance the city's military preparations. From this moment until 341 BC, all of Demosthenes' speeches referred to the same issue, the struggle against Philip.
For Phormion" (Ancient Greek: Παραγραφὴ ὑπὲρ Φορμίωνος, romanized: Paragraphe Hyper Phormionos) was a speech composed by the Athenian logographer Demosthenes. It was delivered on Phormion's behalf, possibly by Demosthenes himself, probably in 350–49 BC. [1] It is the thirty-sixth speech in the Demosthenic Corpus.
With this speech Demosthenes exhorted, and finally convinced, his compatriots to support Diopeithes, although the general had previously committed certain injustices and was in exile. Demosthenes' only concern in this speech is to focus on Philip's wrongs towards Athens.
[8] In his rousing call for resistance, Demosthenes urged the Athenians to be ready for war and called for a great outpouring of effort. He even proposed a reform of the theoric fund ("theorika"), a mainstay of Eubulus' policy. [9] "Theorika" were allowances paid by the state to poor Athenians to enable them to watch dramatic festivals.
Demosthenes is regarded as the most effective of the Greek orators, [8] with the Third Philippic being considered the best of Demosthenes' political orations, [9] because of its passionate and evocative style. [10] The opening sequence to the Third Philippic shows Demosthenes to be a virtuoso of the art of oration. [11]
On the Navy Boards is a speech of general interest, which provided Demosthenes an opportunity to be an advocate for common sense. The ecclesia had convened to consider a rumored threat against Athens by the Great King of Persia .
He then proposed the reform of the "theoric fund" ("Theorika" were allowances paid by the state to poor Athenians to enable them to watch dramatic festivals). In the "Second Olynthiac", the orator bluntly expressed his annoyance for the dubious stance of his countrymen and for the fact that they remain idle. [ 2 ]
Demosthenes' speeches were incorporated into the body of classical Greek literature that was preserved, catalogued and studied by scholars of the Hellenistic period. From then until the fourth century AD copies of his orations multiplied at a time when Demosthenes was deemed the most important writer in the rhetorical world and every serious ...