Why Plato Wrote by Allen Danielle S.;

Author:Allen, Danielle S.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated
Published: 2011-07-08T04:00:00+00:00

8.3 The Emergence of the Culture War, or the Man with the Good Memory

In 346 BCE, after several years of directly engaging Philip in warfare, the Athenians learned that he was interested in peace, as were they. The Athenians sent ten Athenian ambassadors (and an eleventh non-Athenian ambassador) to Philip’s court. This group included both Demosthenes and Aeschines, and these men brought back a peace proposal, which, after some complicated political shenanigans, the Athenians ratified. Athens then sent a second embassy to Philip, again including Demosthenes and Aeschines, to secure the oaths necessary for ratification.20

But something had gone badly wrong in the peace process. At the start of negotiations, Philip was menacing the region of Phocis, which was allied to Athens. The Athenians desired to see Philip protect the region not only for the sake of the Phocians but also for their own sake, with respect to their struggle against Thebes. Phocis was not, however, to be directly included in the treaty. Nonetheless, upon their return from their two trips to Pella, several of the ambassadors, including Aeschines, told the Athenians that Philip had promised to leave the Phocians alone and to humble Thebes. Instead, immediately after the treaties were signed, and to the great horror of the Athenians, Philip destroyed the many small village communities of Phocis (Paus. 10.3–1; Dem. 19.325). The author of the peace treaty, Philocrates, was soon accused of treason; he fled into exile and, tried in absentia, was sentenced to death (Aes. 2.6, 3.79). Then in 345 BCE Demosthenes similarly indicted his fellow ambassador, Aeschines, for treason on those embassies since Aeschines had been among those saying that Phocis would be safe.

What had gone wrong? We have three speeches extant from this major political battle between Demosthenes and Aeschines. In 345 BCE Aeschines prosecuted Demosthenes’ ally, Timarchus, for having worked earlier as a male prostitute, a profession that should disqualify him from political participation. Since Timarchus was a co-prosecutor to Demosthenes in the prosecution of Aeschines for treason, the purpose of Aeschines’ counterpunch was to remove one of his own opponents from the fray. In this Aeschines succeeded. Timarchus was convicted and stripped of his political rights, so Aeschines’ own trial then took place in 343 BCE without Timarchus’ involvement. From his 343 BCE trial, we have both Demosthenes’ speech of prosecution (On the False Embassy) and Aeschines’ defense (On the Embassy).

The central question raised by Demosthenes’ prosecution was how the Athenians had come to be misled on the question of Phocis.21 Had Aeschines and the others who had conveyed promises from Philip to protect Phocis been deluded? Were they idiots? Had they been led astray by an evil spirit? Had they been ill? Had they been lying? If so, did they lie because Philip had bribed them or because they had been ideologically seduced by him? As Demosthenes works his way through these questions, and as Aeschines responds to them, it becomes clear that something unusual happened on those journeys to Pella and back.

Indeed,

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