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Information about Aeschines

For the follower of Socrates and writer of Socratic dialogues, see Aeschines Socraticus


Aeschines (in Greek Αἰσχίνης, 389–314 BC), Greek statesman and one of the ten Attic orators.

Life

Although it is known he was born in Athens, the statements as to his parentage and early life are conflicting; but it seems probable that his parents, though poor, were respectable. Aeschines' father was Atrometus, an elementary school teacher of letters. His mother Glaukothea assisted in the religious rites of initiation for the poor. 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. Among the campaigns that Aeschines participated in were Phlius in the Peloponnese (368 BC), Battle of Mantinea (362 BC), and Phokion's campaign in Euboea (349 BC). 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 spring of 347 BC, Aeschines addressed the assembly of Ten Thousand in Megalopolis, Arcadia urging them to unite and defend independence against Philip. In the summer 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. Aeschines counterattacked by claiming that his accuser Timarchos had forfeited the right to speak before the people as a consequence of youthful debauches which had left him with the reputation of being a whore. Timarchos had been the eromenos of many men in the port city of Piraeus. 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[1]

This oration, Against Timarchos, is considered important because of the great bulk of Athenian law it cites, and the light it throws upon the construction of male homosexual relations at the time. In particular, it documents the nuanced view which the Athenians took of relations between men and youths. It shows that such relations were condoned as long as they were based on desire and persuasion, as were Aeschine's own flings with boys, his fights over them, and the poems he addressed to them, all of which he discusses so as to preclude their being used against him. On the other hand, if they were based on financial arrangements in which the boy traded his favors in exchange for money, as Timarchos was shown to have done, having been a paid escort, they were condemned. As a consequence of his successful attack on Timarchos, Aeschines was cleared of the charge of treason.[2]

In 343 BC the attack on Aeschines was renewed by Demosthenes in his speech On the False Embassy. Aeschines replied in a speech with the same title and was again acquitted. In 339 BC, as one of the Athenian deputies (pylagorae) in the Amphictyonic Council, he made a speech which brought about the Sacred War.

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. The matter remained in abeyance till 330 BC, when the two rivals delivered their speeches Against Ctesiphon and On the Crown. The result was a complete victory for Demosthenes.

Aeschines went into voluntary exile at Rhodes, where he opened a school of rhetoric. He afterwards removed to Samos, where he died aged seventy-five. His three speeches, called by the ancients "the Three Graces," rank next to those of Demosthenes. Photius knew of nine letters by him which he called the Nine Muses; the twelve published under his name (Hercher, Epistolographi Graeci) are not genuine.

Ancient Authorities

Demosthenes, De Corona and De Falsa Legatione; Aeschines, De Falsa Legations and In Ctesiphentem; Lives by Plutarch, Philostratus and Libanius; the Exegesis of Apollonius.

Editions

  • Gustav Eduard Benseler (1855-1860) (trans. and notes)
  • Andreas Weidner (1872)
  • Friedrich Blass (Teubner, 1896)
  • Thomas Leland (1722-1785), Weidner (1872), (1878), G. A. Simcox and W. H. Simcox (1866), Drake (1872), Richardson (1889), G. Watkin and Evelyn S. Shuckburgh (1890).
  • Teubner ed. of Orationes: 1997, edited Mervin R. Dilts. ISBN 3-8154-1009-6

See also

  • Stechow, Aeschinis Oratoris vita (1841)
  • Marchand, Charakteristik des Redners Aschines (1876)
  • Castets, Eschine, l'Orateur (1875)
For the political problems see histories of Greece, esp. A. Holm, vol. iii (Eng. trans., 1896); A. Schafer, Demosth. und seine Zeit (Leipzig, 1856-1858).

On Timarchos see Aechines Encyclopedia of Homosexuality. Dynes, Wayne R. (ed.), Garland Publishing, 1990. pp. 15&16.

Notes

1. ^ Nick Fisher, Aeschines: Against Timarchos, "Introduction," p.22 n.71; Oxford University Press, 2001
2. ^ Nick Fisher, Aeschines: Against Timarchos, "Introduction," p.22 n.71, passim; Oxford University Press, 2001

External links

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Aeschines Socraticus or Aeschines of Sphettos (ca. 425 - ca. 350 BCE) (Greek: Αἰσχίνης, sometimes but now rarely written as Aischines or Æschines
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Writing system: Greek alphabet 
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The term ancient Greece refers to the periods of Greek history in Classical Antiquity, lasting ca. 750 BC[1] (the archaic period) to 146 BC (the Roman conquest). It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the foundation of Western Civilization.
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A statesman or stateswoman is usually a politician or other notable figure of state who has had a long and respected career in politics at national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term.
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ten attic orators; here Demosthenes practises his craft.]]

The ten Attic orators were considered the greatest orators and logographers of the classical era (5th century BC–4th century BC).
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Location

Coordinates Coordinates:
Time zone: EET/EEST (UTC+2/3)
Elevation (min-max): 70 - 338 m (0 - 0 ft)
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For legal meaning of acting, see Acting (law).
For the military sense, see Acting (rank).


Acting is the work of an actor
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An army (from Latin armata "act of arming" via Old French armée), in the broadest sense, is the land-based armed forces of a nation. It may also include other branches of the military such as an air force.
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The term Boule may refer to:
  • Boule (ancient Greece), plural boulai, assembly forming part of city governments in Ancient Greece
  • Boule (crystal), block of synthetically-produced crystal material

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The Peloponnese or Peloponnesus (Greek: Πελοπόννησος Pelopónnisos; see also List of Greek place names) is a large peninsula in southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth.
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Several important battles in ancient Greek history were fought at Mantinea:
  • Battle of Mantinea (418 BC)
  • Battle of Mantinea (362 BC)
  • Battle of Mantinea (207 BC)

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Olynthus (Greek: Όλυνθος olunthos, a fig which ripens too early; the area abounded in figs) was an ancient city of Chalcidice, built mostly on two flat-topped hills 30–40m in height, in a fertile plain at the head of the Gulf of
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Philip II of Macedon (in Greek, Φίλιππος — φίλος = friend + ίππος = horse — transliterated Philippos
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Megalopolis (Greek for large city, great city) may refer to:
  • Megalopolis (city type), an extensive metropolitan area or a long chain of continuous metropolitan areas
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Arcadia or Arkadía (Greek Αρκαδία) is a region of Greece in the Peloponnesus. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas.

Modern Arcadia

Arcadia has its present-day capital at Tripoli.
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4th century BC - 3rd century BC
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349 BC 348 BC 347 BC - 346 BC - 345 BC 344 BC 343 BC

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Demosthenes (384–322 BCE, Greek: Δημοσθένης, Dēmosthénēs) was a prominent Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens.
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High treason, broadly defined, is an action which is grossly disloyal to one's country or sovereign. Participating in a war against one's country, attempting to overthrow its government, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps the best-known examples of high treason.
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eromenos (Greek ἐρώμενος, pl. "eromenoi") was an adolescent boy who was in a love relationship with an adult man, known as the erastes (ἐραστής).
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Coordinates Coordinates:
Time zone: EET/EEST (UTC+2/3)
Elevation (min-max): 2 - 6.
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Atimia was a form of disenfranchisement used under classical Athenian democracy. A person who was made atimos, literally without honour or value, was unable to carry out the political functions of a citizen.
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Pseudo-Plutarch is the conventional name given to the unknown authors of a number of pseudepigrapha attributed to Plutarch.

Some of these works were included in some editions of Plutarch's Moralia.
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