Editing Demosthenes (section)

===Political career===
Plutarch lauds Demosthenes for not being of a fickle disposition. Rebutting historian [[Theopompus]], the biographer insists that for "the same party and post in politics which he held from the beginning, to these he kept constant to the end; and was so far from leaving them while he lived, that he chose rather to forsake his life than his purpose".<ref name="Pl13">Plutarch, ''Demosthenes'', 13.[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0039%3Achapter%3D13%3Asection%3D1 1.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120520104620/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0039%3Achapter%3D13%3Asection%3D1 |date=20 May 2012 }}</ref> On the other hand, [[Polybius]], a Greek historian of the [[Mediterranean Basin|Mediterranean world]], was highly critical of Demosthenes' policies. Polybius accused him of having launched unjustified verbal attacks on great men of other cities, branding them unjustly as traitors to the Greeks. The historian maintains that Demosthenes measured everything by the interests of his own city, imagining that all the Greeks ought to have their eyes fixed upon Athens. According to Polybius, the only thing the Athenians eventually got by their opposition to Philip was the defeat at Chaeronea. "And had it not been for the King's magnanimity and regard for his own reputation, their misfortunes would have gone even further, thanks to the policy of Demosthenes".<ref name="Polybius">Polybius, ''Histories'', 18, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0234%3Abook%3D18%3Achapter%3D14 14.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111130161611/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0234%3Abook%3D18%3Achapter%3D14 |date=30 November 2011 }}</ref>
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| style="text-align: left;" |"Two characteristics, men of Athens, a citizen of a respectable character...must be able to show: when he enjoys authority, he must maintain to the end the policy whose aims are noble action and the pre-eminence of his country: and at all times and in every phase of fortune he must remain loyal. For this depends upon his own nature; while his power and his influence are determined by external causes. And in me, you will find, this loyalty has persisted unalloyed...For from the very first, I chose the straight and honest path in public life: I chose to foster the honour, the supremacy, the good name of my country, to seek to enhance them, and to stand or fall with them."
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| style="text-align: left;" | Demosthenes (''On the Crown'', 321–322)—Faced with the practical defeat of his policies, Demosthenes assessed them by the ideals they embodied rather than by their utility.
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Paparrigopoulos extols Demosthenes' patriotism, but criticises him as being short-sighted. According to this critique, Demosthenes should have understood that the ancient Greek states could only survive unified under the leadership of Macedon.<ref>K. Paparregopoulus, Ab, 396–398.</ref> Therefore, Demosthenes is accused of misjudging events, opponents and opportunities and of being unable to foresee Philip's inevitable triumph.<ref name="Carey">C. Carey, ''Aeschines'', 12–14.</ref> He is criticised for having overrated Athens's capacity to revive and challenge Macedon.<ref name = "Tsatsos318-326"/> His city had lost most of its Aegean allies, whereas Philip had consolidated his hold over [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]] and was master of enormous mineral wealth. Chris Carey, a professor of Greek in [[University College London|UCL]], concludes that Demosthenes was a better orator and political operator than strategist.<ref name="Carey" /> Nevertheless, the same scholar underscores that "pragmatists" like Aeschines or Phocion had no inspiring vision to rival that of Demosthenes. The orator asked the Athenians to choose that which is just and honourable, before their own safety and preservation.<ref name="Pl13" /> The people preferred Demosthenes' activism and even the bitter defeat at Chaeronea was regarded as a price worth paying in the attempt to retain freedom and influence.<ref name="Carey" /> According to Professor of Greek Arthur Wallace Pickarde, success may be a poor criterion for judging the actions of people like Demosthenes, who were motivated by the ideals of democracy political liberty.<ref name="Pickard">A.W. Pickard, ''Demosthenes and the Last Days of Greek Freedom ,'' 490.</ref> Athens was asked by Philip to sacrifice its freedom and its democracy, while Demosthenes longed for the city's brilliance.<ref name="Tsatsos318-326">K. Tsatsos, ''Demosthenes'', 318–326.</ref> He endeavoured to revive its imperilled values and, thus, he became an "educator of the people" (in the words of [[Werner Jaeger]]).<ref name="Romilly120-122">J. De Romilly, ''A Short History of Greek Literature,'' 120–122.</ref>

The fact that Demosthenes fought at the battle of Chaeronea as a hoplite indicates that he lacked any military skills. According to historian [[Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay|Thomas Babington Macaulay]], in his time the division between political and military offices was beginning to be strongly marked.<ref name="Macaulay">T.B. Macaulay, ''On Mitford's History of Greece,'' 136.</ref> Almost no politician, with the exception of Phocion, was at the same time an apt orator and a competent [[strategos|general]]. Demosthenes dealt in policies and ideas, and war was not his business.<ref name="Macaulay" /> This contrast between Demosthenes' intellectual prowess and his deficiencies in terms of vigour, stamina, military skill and strategic vision is illustrated by the inscription his countrymen engraved on the base of his statue:<ref name="Pl30">Plutarch, ''Demosthenes'', 30<br />* C.Carey, ''Aeschines'', 12–14; K. Paparregopoulus, Ab, 396–398.</ref><blockquote>Had you for Greece been strong, as wise you were, the Macedonian would not have conquered her.</blockquote>George Grote<ref name=":0" /> notes that already thirty years before his death, Demosthenes "took a sagacious and provident measure of the danger which threatened Grecian liberty from the energy and encroachments of Philip." Throughout his career "we trace the same combination of earnest patriotism with wise and long-sighted policy." Had his advice to the Athenians and other fellow Greeks been followed, the power of Macedonia could have been successfully checked. Moreover, says Grote, "it was not Athens only that he sought to defend against Philip, but the whole Hellenic world. In this he towers above the greatest of his predecessors."  <blockquote>The sentiments to which Demosthenes appeals throughout his numerous orations, are those of the noblest and largest patriotism; trying to inflame the ancient Grecian sentiment of an autonomous Hellenic world, as the indispensable condition of a dignified and desirable existence.<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>