6
Aeschines was the son of Atrometus,A catalogue of the tribe Oeneis, I.G. ² 2408, gives his full name: Ἀτρόμητος Αἰσχίνου Κοθοκίδης. It gives also the name of Aeschines’ son Ἀτρόμητος. who was exiled in the time of the Thirty and helped to restore the democracy, and of Glaucothea. He belonged to the deme of the Cothocidae and was not of distinguished family or great wealth. When he was young and physically strong he worked hard in the gymnasia; and afterwards, since he had a clear voice, he practised tragedy; and according to DemosthenesDemosthenes, xviii. 261; xix. 246. The festivals in question are those held in the small towns of Attica. Aristodemus was one of the most noted tragic actors of his time. Born at Metapontum, he was granted Athenian citizenship and was one of the envoys (among whom were Aeschines, Demosthenes, and Philocrates) who made the peace of Philocrates with Philip in 346 b.c. he was for a long time under-secretary and regularly played as a third-rate actor with Aristodemus at the Dionysiac festivals,More accurately in Photius, the dramatic festivals held in the small towns of Attica. For the ancient accounts of Aeschines’ career as an actor see O’Connor, Actors and Acting in Ancient Greece, pp. 74 ff. Kelly Rees, The Rule of Three Actors in the Classical Greek Drama, pp. 31 ff., has shown that the term tritagonist was invented by Demosthenes as an opprobrious epithet and it is applied in antiquity to not other actor than Aeschines; also that it meant, not actor of third-rate roles, but third-rate actor; Cf. Bekker, Anecdota, p. 309. 31 ἀδοκιμώτατος τῶν ὑποκριτῶν, ἐν τῇ τρίτῃ τάξει καταριθμούμενος. repeating the old tragedies Old tragedies are those which had been performed in Athens before. in his spare time. And while still a child he helped his father to teach letters, and as a young man he served in the patrol of the frontiers. After studying with Isocrates and Plato, as some say, but with Leodamas according to Caecilius,But see below, 840 e, where the more probable statement is made that he had no teacher. Cf. the anonymous Life of Aeschines, 13, Quintilian, ii. 17. 12, and Blass, Die attische Beredsamkeit, 2nd ed., iii. p. 157. he was prominent in public life in the party opposed to that of Demosthenes, and was sent on many embassies, among them the one to Philip concerning the peace.Aeschines was sent in 347 and 346 b.c. on two embassies to Philip concerning peace. The second is probably the one especially referred to here. In his orations On the Peace (346 b.c.) and On the False Legation (343 b.c.) Demosthenes attacks Aeschines and his colleagues. For this he was accused by Demosthenes of having destroyed the Phocian nation and moreover of having stirred up war between the Amphissians, who were building the harbour when he was chosen as delegate to the Amphictyonic Council, and the Amphictyons; as a result of which the Amphictyons turned to Philip for protection, and he, assisted by Aeschines, took matters in hand and conquered Phocis. But through the aid of Eubulus, son of Spintharus, of the deme of Probalinthus, who had influence with the people, he was acquitted by thirty votes; but some say that though the orators composed their speeches, yet the suit never came to trial because the battle of Chaeroneia intervened.The author’s extreme brevity reduces to two sentences the events of about eight years. The acquittal of Aeschines took place in 343 b.c. At a later time, when Philip was dead and Alexander was crossing over to Asia, he brought a suit against Ctesiphon for illegal conduct in proposing the honours for Demosthenes; and when he did not receive one-fifth of the votes cast, he went into exile at Rhodes, not being willing to pay a fine of a thousand drachmas for his defeat.Anyone who brought a suit against another for proposing a measure forbidden by law was subject to a fine and was debarred from bringing any similar suit if he received less than one-fifth of the votes cast by the dicasts. But some say that he was further punished by disfranchisement and did not leave the city of his own accord, and that he went to Alexander at Ephesus. During the confusion following Alexander’s death he sailed to Rhodes, set up a school there, and taught. He read to the Rhodians his oration against Ctesiphon as an exhibition of his powers, and when they all wondered that after delivering that speech he had lost his case, You would not wonder, Rhodians, he said, if you had heard Demosthenes speak in reply to it. And he left a school behind him there, called the Rhodian school. Then he sailed to Samos and not long after, while lingering on that island, died. He had an excellent voice, as is clear from what Demosthenes saysDemosthenes, xviii. (On the Crown) 259, 308. and from the oration of Demochares.
