Selected Speeches

"Admitted by many in the ancient world as the greatest of the classical Athenian orators, Demosthenes was intimately involved in the political events of his day. As well as showing a master orator at work, his speeches are a prime source for the hsitory of the period, when Athens was engaged in a doomed struggle against the rising power of Macedon under the brlliant father and son, Philip and Alexander. Demosthenes wrote for the courts, not only for political trials in which he was involved, but also for other cases in which he acted as a ghost-writer for plaintiff or defendant, and his law-court speeches give ... glimpses of the daily life of ancient Athens. He also played a central role in education in Greece and Rome from the Hellenistic period onward, and was imitated by the greatest of Roman orators, Cicero."--Back cover.