Editing Demosthenes (section)

===Family and personal life===
[[File:Bust Demosthenes BM 1840.jpg|thumb|left|Bust of Demosthenes ([[British Museum]], London), Roman copy of a Greek original sculpted by Polyeuktos.]]
Demosthenes was born in 384 BC, during the last year of the 98th&nbsp;[[Olympiad]] or the first year of the 99th&nbsp;Olympiad.<ref name="Weil1">H. Weil, ''Biography of Demosthenes'', 5–6.</ref> His father—also named Demosthenes—who belonged to the local tribe, Pandionis, and lived in the [[deme]] of [[Paeania]]<ref name="AischIII171">Aeschines, ''Against Ctesiphon'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0002%3Aspeech%3D3%3Asection%3D171 171.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120520143158/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0002%3Aspeech%3D3%3Asection%3D171 |date=20 May 2012 }}</ref> in the Athenian countryside, was a wealthy sword-maker.<ref>E. Badian, "The Road to Prominence", 11.</ref> [[Aeschines]], Demosthenes' greatest political rival, maintained that his mother [[Kleobule|Kleoboule]] was a [[Scythia]]n by blood<ref name="Aisch2">Aeschines, ''Against Ctesiphon'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0002%3Aspeech%3D3%3Asection%3D172 172.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120520155153/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0002%3Aspeech%3D3%3Asection%3D172 |date=20 May 2012 }}</ref>—an allegation disputed by some modern scholars.{{Ref label|A|a|none}} He was also the uncle of the Athenian Orator Demochares. Demosthenes was orphaned at the age of seven. Although his father provided for him well, his legal guardians, Aphobus, Demophon and Therippides, mishandled his inheritance.<ref name="Thomsen">O. Thomsen, ''The Looting of the Estate of the Elder Demosthenes'', 61.</ref>

Demosthenes started to learn rhetoric because he wished to take his guardians to court and because he was of "delicate physique" and could not receive gymnastic education, which was customary. In ''[[Parallel Lives]]'', [[Plutarch]] states that Demosthenes built an underground study where he practised speaking and shaving one half of his head so that he could not go out in public. Plutarch also states that he had "an [[Speech impediment|inarticulate and stammering pronunciation]]" that he overcame by speaking with pebbles in his mouth and by repeating verses when running or out of breath. He also practised speaking in front of a large mirror.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Demosthenes-Greek-statesman-and-orator|title=Demosthenes – Greek statesman and orator|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=7 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180309202141/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Demosthenes-Greek-statesman-and-orator|archive-date=9 March 2018}}</ref>

As soon as Demosthenes came of age in 366&nbsp;BC, he demanded his guardians render an account of their management. According to Demosthenes, the account revealed the misappropriation of his property. Although his father left an estate of nearly fourteen [[Attic talent|talents]] (equivalent to about 220 years of a labourer's income at standard wages, or 11 million dollars in terms of median U.S. annual incomes).<ref name="Aph4">Demosthenes, ''Against Aphobus 1'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0074%3Aspeech%3D27%3Asection%3D4 4] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120520104442/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0074%3Aspeech%3D27%3Asection%3D4 |date=20 May 2012 }}<br />* D. M. MacDowell, ''Demosthenes the Orator'', ch. 3.</ref> Demosthenes asserted his guardians had left nothing "except the house, and fourteen slaves and thirty silver {{Lang|la|minae}}" (30 {{Lang|la|minae}} = ½ talent).<ref name="Aph6">Demosthenes, ''Against Aphobus 1'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0074%3Aspeech%3D27%3Asection%3D6 6.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120520104603/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0074%3Aspeech%3D27%3Asection%3D6 |date=20 May 2012 }}</ref> At the age of 20 Demosthenes sued his trustees to recover his patrimony and delivered five orations: three ''Against Aphobus'' during 363 and 362&nbsp;BC and two ''Against Onetor'' during 362 and 361&nbsp;BC. The courts fixed Demosthenes' damages at ten talents.<ref name="AphIII59">Demosthenes, ''Against Aphobus 3'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0074%3Aspeech%3D29%3Asection%3D59 59] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120520154959/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0074%3Aspeech%3D29%3Asection%3D59 |date=20 May 2012 }}<br />* D. M. MacDowell, ''Demosthenes the Orator'', ch. 3.</ref> When all the trials came to an end,{{Ref label|B|b|none}} he only succeeded in retrieving a portion of his inheritance.<ref>E. Badian, "The Road to Prominence", 18.</ref>

According to [[Pseudo-Plutarch]], Demosthenes was married once. The only information about his wife, whose name is unknown, is that she was the daughter of Heliodorus, a prominent citizen.<ref name="pseudo13">Pseudo-Plutarch, ''Demosthenes'', 847c.</ref> Demosthenes also had a daughter, "the only one who ever called him father", according to Aeschines in a trenchant remark.<ref name="Ctesiphon77">Aeschines, ''Against Ctesiphon'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0002%3Aspeech%3D3%3Asection%3D77 77.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120520104423/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0002%3Aspeech%3D3%3Asection%3D77 |date=20 May 2012 }}</ref> His daughter died young and unmarried a few days before Philip II's death.<ref name="Ctesiphon77" />

In his speeches, Aeschines uses [[Pederasty in ancient Greece|pederastic]] relations of Demosthenes as a means to attack him. In the case of Aristion, a youth from [[Plataea]] who lived for a long time in Demosthenes' house, Aeschines mocks the "scandalous" and "improper" relation.<ref>Aeschines, ''Against Ctesiphon'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0002%3Aspeech%3D3%3Asection%3D162 162.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120520154950/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0002%3Aspeech%3D3%3Asection%3D162 |date=20 May 2012 }}</ref> In another speech, Aeschines brings up the pederastic relation of his opponent with a boy called Cnosion. The slander that Demosthenes' wife also slept with the boy suggests that the relationship was contemporary with his marriage.<ref>Aeschines, ''On the Embassy'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0002%3Aspeech%3D2%3Asection%3D149 149] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120520151813/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0002%3Aspeech%3D2%3Asection%3D149 |date=20 May 2012 }}; Athenaeus, ''Deipnosophistae'', XIII, 63<br />* C. A. Cox, ''Household Interests'', 202.</ref> Aeschines claims that Demosthenes made money out of young rich men, such as Aristarchus, the son of Moschus, whom he allegedly deceived with the pretence that he could make him a great orator. Apparently, while still under Demosthenes' tutelage, Aristarchus killed and mutilated a certain Nicodemus of Aphidna. Aeschines accused Demosthenes of complicity in the murder, pointing out that Nicodemus had once pressed a lawsuit accusing Demosthenes of desertion. He also accused Demosthenes of having been such a bad {{Lang|el|[[Erastes (Ancient Greece)|erastes]]}} to Aristarchus so as not even to deserve the name. His crime, according to Aeschines, was to have betrayed his {{Lang|el|[[eromenos]]}} by pillaging his estate, allegedly pretending to be in love with the youth so as to get his hands on the boy's inheritance. Nevertheless, the story of Demosthenes' relations with Aristarchus is still regarded as more than doubtful, and no other pupil of Demosthenes is known by name.<ref>Aeschines, ''On the Embassy'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0002%3Aspeech%3D2%3Asection%3D148 148–150] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120520154942/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0002%3Aspeech%3D2%3Asection%3D148 |date=20 May 2012 }}, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0002%3Aspeech%3D2%3Asection%3D165 165–166] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120520143146/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0002%3Aspeech%3D2%3Asection%3D165 |date=20 May 2012 }}<br />* A.W. Pickard, ''Demosthenes and the Last Days of Greek Freedom'', 15.</ref>