Aeschines - Ancient Authorities

Orator, born in Athens, Greece. Prominent in Athenian politics between 348 and 330 BC, he advocated appeasement of Philip II of Macedon, and was a member of a Greek embassy that negotiated peace with Philip in 346. Demosthenes tried to have him indicted for treason in 343, and in 330 Aeschines tried to prevent Demosthenes from being awarded a golden crown for his services to Athens. Defeated, Aeschines withdrew to Rhodes, where he established a school of eloquence. Of his speeches, only three survive.

Aeschines (in Greek Αἰσχίνης, 389–314 BC), Greek statesman and one of the ten Attic orators, was born at Athens. After assisting his father in his school, he tried his hand at acting with indifferent success, served with distinction in the army, and held several clerkships, amongst them the office of clerk to the Boule. The fall of Olynthus (348 BC) brought Aeschines into the political arena, and he was sent on an embassy to rouse the Peloponnese against Philip II of Macedon.

In 347 BC he was a member of the peace embassy to Philip, who seems to have won him over entirely to his side. His dilatoriness during the second embassy (346 BC) sent to ratify the terms of peace led to his accusation by Demosthenes and Timarchos on a charge of high treason. The suit succeeded and Timarchos was sentenced to atimia and politically destroyed, according to Demosthenes. This comment was later interpreted by Pseudo-Plutarch in his Lives of the Ten Orators as meaning that Timarchos hanged himself upon leaving the assembly, a suggestion contested by some modern historians

This oration, Against Timarchos, is considered important because of the bulk of Athenian laws it cites. As a consequence of his successful attack on Timarchos, Aeschines was cleared of the charge of treason.

In 343 BC the attack was renewed by Demosthenes in his speech On the False Embassy.

By way of revenge, Aeschines endeavoured to fix the blame for these disasters upon Demosthenes. In 336 BC, when Ctesiphon proposed that his friend Demosthenes should be rewarded with a golden crown for his distinguished services to the state, he was accused by Aeschines of having violated the law in bringing forward the motion.

Aeschines went into voluntary exile at Rhodes, where he opened a school of rhetoric. His three speeches, called by the ancients "the Three Graces," rank next to those of Demosthenes.

Ancient Authorities

Demosthenes, De Corona and De Falsa Legatione;