the success of the speech. Cicero, in whose wake it is prudent to follow in all matters of this character, says that "the pen is the most excellent former and director of the tongue; for if reflection and thought easily excel extemporaneous effusions, careful and assiduous practice in composing will excel even those advantages.'

Having said this much to explain the true basis of oratory, its necessity, utility, and importance, and the difficulty of excelling in it, we will now devote some attention to its history.

The ancient Greeks are generally conceded to have been the earliest cultivators and acknowledged masters not only of oratory but of all those allied and connected subjects, such as logic, rhetoric, grammar, poetry, history, and philosophy. As we have been taught poetry from their Homer, philosophy from their Plato and Socrates, logic and inductive science from their Aristotle, history from their Herodotus and Thucydides, so we take their Demosthenes as the type of the perfect orator. Cicero, the next highest name in eloquence, constantly extols the great Athenian as the noblest embodiment of the art.

Among this gifted people the conditions for the growth of these high arts were exceptionally favorable. They possessed an inquisitive intellect, constantly reaching out after new theories in the domain of speculative thought. Subtle abstractions, elegant and often too refined distinctions, were their

constant delight. Schools of philosophy, methods of teaching, and forms of government engaged the attention of their greatest minds. They had a keen appreciation of the true, the beautiful, and the good, carried as well into the science of language and speech as into the realms of painting and sculpture. Their martial prowess, too, took on the spirit of their philosophy and their arts. Unlike their Asiatic neighbors, their armies were bodies of enlightened, reasoning and thinking men, each of whom felt the responsibility of battle resting on himself alone; he knew if victorious he would be received with unbounded enthusiasm by his fellow-citizens at home, and if slain, his actions would be held in grateful remembrance, recorded in silent marble, and made the theme of impassioned orators and gifted poets. The contests and rivalries between the surrounding states gave rise to the necessity of large armaments on land and water, and diplomacy was constantly invoked to settle conflicting interests or to form combinations for mutual protection and advantage. Then there were councils, meetings, and elections, where public measures were discussed. There were questions of war, of peace, treaties with foreign nations and with neighboring states, votes of approval and censure, rewards for eminent services or condemnation for unsuccessful enterprises. In the midst of all this activity, there was always a body of dissatisfied complainants, from either honest or, more frequently, from personal motives. The clamors of

these had to be silenced or satisfied. There was, possibly, the fault-finder, whose caviling had to be answered; the grumbling taxpayer, to whom the necessity of the measures had to be explained; the jealous aspirant, whose ambition had to be curbed; and last, but not least, the corrupt emissary, whose plans had to be foiled.

Amid scenes so active and movements so important, great names in every department of intellectual pre-eminence shone out with great splendor; in what the Greeks did well they have never been surpassed. It is only her orators, however, with which we are now concerned. Of these there was a long and brilliant array. Most of their names, however, are forgotten, save by the classical student, with the exception of the greatest, Demosthenes. His name has become the synonym of eloquence itself. For over two thousand years it has been foremost on men's lips when speaking of oratory. It is fair to presume that his fame has a solid foundation. He was born B. C. 385, and died in exile on the Island of Calauria, B. C. 323. His early education was efficient. He attended school at Athens under eminent teachers. His parents having died, he was left in the charge of guardians, whom he had to prosecute and bring to account for mismanagement of his estate. He did so with success, conducting the proceedings himself, though only twenty years of age. Against one of his guardians he recovered a judgment for ten thousand dollars.

He devoted himself to law and politics. Eloquence was then, as now, necessary to success in these pursuits. Many stories are told of the difficulties in voice and manner that he had to overcome. The former was lisping, like our Prentiss, and the latter was ungainly, possibly like Lincoln. Like all great speakers, he was not created one full-blown, but had to carve his way to success with patience, study, and practice. He soon became engaged in lawsuits of a public and private nature, and gradually won a distinguished name. He entered the Athenian Senate at the age of thirty, and took a prominent part in its deliberations.

During the period in which he flourished, the kingdom of Macedonia, to the north of Greece, was ruled by an ambitious, crafty, and able military king named Phillip. He was the father of Alexander the Great. Phillip began to cast longing eyes toward Greece, and on one pretext or another began intermeddling in its affairs. Demosthenes soon perceived what the final result must be, the destruction of Hellenic freedom. Others did not see it as he did. Some saw what was coming, but did not possess sufficient patriotism to try to avoid the impending doom; some seemed to hasten rather than retard it. His first great political speeches were delivered against the designs of this man, Phillip. They were three in number. They were delivered with so much force, abounded in such patriotic sentiments, were inspired with so much cour

age, and pointed with such unerring aim, that from that day to this a speech which abounds in strong invective is termed a Phillipic, in recognition of Demosthenes' power. The single example has given a name to a class. No higher tribute could be paid to his genius. His counsels finally prevailed, and he undertook an expedition to Thebes and succeeded in enlisting that city with his own to send an army against Phillip and Alexander. The forces met at Chæronea, 338 B. C. The Greeks were defeated, and Grecian freedom was at an end. Notwithstanding this defeat, Demosthenes still held the confidence of the Athenians. He was selected to deliver the funeral oration on those who had been slain.

Soon after this battle one of his admirers, named Ctesiphon, proposed in the Senate that a golden crown be presented to him in the temple of Dionysius, in consideration of his distinguished services to the state. His enemies, the leader of whom was another great orator, named Eschines, retaliated by having the mover of this proposition indicted. Demosthenes was retained for the defense. The contest, as can be imagined, could not but involve his whole policy in resisting the machinations of Phillip, ending in disaster, as contrasted with that of the opponents of that policy, which might have. had a different result. The trial did not take place for six or eight years after filing the indictment. His speech delivered on that occasion is known as