Editing Demosthenes (section)

==Rhetorical legacy==
{{Rhetoric}}
Demosthenes is widely considered one of the greatest orators of all time,<ref>Grenville Kleiser, Great Speeches, p 124</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/ancient-history-greece-biographies/demosthenes|title=Demosthenes|newspaper=Encyclopedia|date=23 May 2018}}</ref> and his fame has continued down the ages. Authors and scholars who flourished at [[Ancient Rome|Rome]], such as Longinus and [[Caecilius of Calacte|Caecilius]], regarded his oratory as sublime.<ref>D.C. Innes, 'Longinus and Caecilius", ''passim''.</ref> [[Satires of Juvenal|Juvenal]] acclaimed him as "largus et exundans ingenii fons" (a large and overflowing fountain of genius),<ref name="Juvenal">Juvenal, ''Satura'', X, 119.</ref> and he inspired Cicero's speeches against [[Mark Antony]], also called the [[Philippicae|Philippics]]. According to Professor of [[Classics]] Cecil Wooten, Cicero ended his career by trying to imitate Demosthenes' political role.<ref>C. Wooten, "Cicero's Reactions to Demosthenes", 37.</ref> Plutarch drew attention in his ''Life of Demosthenes'' to the strong similarities between the personalities and careers of Demosthenes and Marcus Tullius Cicero:<ref name="Pl3">Plutarch, ''Demosthenes'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0039%3Achapter%3D3%3Asection%3D1 3.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120520151808/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0039%3Achapter%3D3%3Asection%3D1 |date=20 May 2012 }}</ref>

<blockquote>The divine power seems originally to have designed Demosthenes and Cicero upon the same plan, giving them many similarities in their natural characters, as their passion for distinction and their love of liberty in civil life, and their want of courage in dangers and war, and at the same time also to have added many accidental resemblances. I think there can hardly be found two other orators, who, from small and obscure beginnings, became so great and mighty; who both contested with kings and tyrants; both lost their daughters, were driven out of their country, and returned with honour; who, flying from thence again, were both seized upon by their enemies, and at last ended their lives with the liberty of their countrymen.</blockquote>

[[Image:AeschinesDemosthenes.jpg|thumb|''[[Phryne]] Going to the Public Baths as [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]] and Demosthenes Taunted by Aeschines'' by [[J. M. W. Turner]] (1838).]]

During the [[Middle Ages]] and [[Renaissance]], Demosthenes had a reputation for eloquence.<ref>A. J. L. Blanshard & T. A. Sowerby, "Thomas Wilson's Demosthenes", 46–47, 51–55; {{cite encyclopedia|title=Demosthenes|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|year=2002}}</ref> He was read more than any other ancient orator; only Cicero offered any real competition.<ref>G. Gibson, ''Interpreting a Classic'', 1.</ref> French author and lawyer [[Guillaume du Vair]] praised his speeches for their artful arrangement and elegant style; [[John Jewel]], [[Bishop of Salisbury]], and [[Jacques Amyot]], a French Renaissance writer and translator, regarded Demosthenes as a great or even the "supreme" orator.<ref>W. A. Rebhorn, ''Renaissance Debates on Rhetoric'', 139, 167, 258.</ref> For [[Thomas Wilson (rhetorician)|Thomas Wilson]], who first published translation of his speeches into English, Demosthenes was not only an eloquent orator, but, mainly, an authoritative statesman, "a source of wisdom".<ref>A. J. L. Blanshard & T. A. Sowerby, "Thomas Wilson's Demosthenes", 46–47, 51–55.</ref>

In [[modern history]], orators such as [[Henry Clay]] would [[imitation|mimic]] Demosthenes' technique. His ideas and principles survived, influencing prominent politicians and movements of our times. Hence, he constituted a source of inspiration for the authors of ''[[The Federalist Papers]]'' (a series of 85 essays arguing for the ratification of the [[United States Constitution]]) and for the major orators of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name="Tsatsos352">K. Tsatsos, ''Demosthenes'', 352.</ref> French Prime Minister [[Georges Clemenceau]] was among those who idealised Demosthenes and wrote a book about him.<ref name="Marcu">V. Marcu, ''Men and Forces of Our Time,'' 32.</ref> For his part, Friedrich Nietzsche often composed his sentences according to the paradigms of Demosthenes, whose style he admired.<ref name="Tongeren">F. Nietzsche, ''Beyond Good and Evil'', 247<br />* P. J. M. Van Tongeren, ''Reinterpreting Modern Culture'', 92.</ref>