2023-07-08 07:30:00
THE ANCIENT MINUTE. Why did the great orator fail to convince of the dangerousness of the authoritarian Philip II of Macedonia? His “Discourses” offer many keys…
By Christophe Ono-dit-Biot
Alert launcher. Illustration (1890) of Demosthenes, the greatest of Greek orators, who warned of the end of democracy in his “Philippians”. Published on 07/08/2023 at 07:30
Did he, as they say, put pebbles in his mouth to practice speaking? Demosthenes was the greatest orator of ancient Greece. Looks like a whistleblower today. Against what ? The end of democracy. In a world where she was believed to have been taken for granted (well, then), he lucidly pointed out the political ambitions of a man who was dangerous to her, denouncing them with speeches as sharp as they were roaring (“the Tiger” Clemenceau will also devote a biography to him), called Philippians. If the word remained to describe a violent indictment, it originally designated the texts of Demosthenes against Philip II of Macedonia, who, in 338 BC, imposed a centralized and authoritarian regime in Greece. Because Demosthenes failed. His rhetoric, however powerful, reasoned, failed to convince. For what ? It is all the merit of the reissue of his Speech par les Belles Lettres (under the direction of Pierre Chiron, 1,246 p., €49.90), newly translated and presented chronologically, only to help us think about it. There is intellectual ammunition there not to be underestimated in stormy weather§
#Demosthenes