DEMOCHARES (c. 355275 B.C.)

This article appears in Volume V08, Page 1 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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DEMOCHARES (c. 355275 B.C.) , nephew of

Demosthenes

DEMOSTHENES

,
Athenian orator and stateman, was one of the few distinguished Athenians in the period of decline. He is first heard of in 322, when he spoke in vain against the surrender of

Demosthenes

DEMOSTHENES

and the other

anti

ANTI, or CAMPA

-Macedonian orators demanded by Antipater. During the next fifteen years he probably lived in

exile

EXILE (Lat. exsilium or exilium, from exsul or exul, which is derived from ex, out of, and the root sal, to go, seen in salire, to leap,
consul
- CONSUL
- CONSUL (in Gr. generally ihraros,ashortened form of errpavgybs 8hraeos, i.e. praetor maximus)
, &c.; the connexion with solum, soil, country is now generally considered wrong)

. On the restoration of the democracy by Demetrius Poliorcetes in 307 he occupied a prominent position, but was banished in 303 for having ridiculed the decree of Stratocles, which contained a fulsome eulogy of Demetrius. He was recalled in 298, and during the next four years 1 fortified and equipped the city with provisions and ammunition. In 296 (or 295) he was again banished for having concluded an alliance with the Boeotians, and did not return until 287 (or 286). In 28o he induced the Athenians to erect a public monument in honour of his uncle with a suitable inscription. After his death (some five years later) the son of Demochares proposed and obtained a decree (Plutarch, Vitae decem oratorum, p. 851) that a statue should be erected in his honour, containing a

record

RECORD (Lat. recordari, to recall to mind, from cor, heart or mind)

of his public services, which seem to have consisted in a reduction of public expenses, a more prudent management of the state finances (after his return in 287) and successful begging missions to the rulers of

Egypt

EGYPT

and Macedonia. Although a friend of the Stoic Zeno, Demochares regarded all other philosophers as the enemies of freedom, and in 306 supported the proposal of one Sophocles, advocating their expulsion from Attica. According to Cicero (Brutus, 83) Demochares was the author of a history of his own times, written in an oratorical rather than a historical style. As a speaker he was noted for his freedom of language (Parrhesiastes,

Seneca

SENECA

, De ira, iii. 23). He was violently attacked by Timaeus, but found a strenuous defender in

Polybius

POLYBIUS (c. 204–122 B.C.)

(xii. 13).
See also Plutarch, Demosthenes, 30, Demetrius, 24, Vitae decem oratorum, p. 847; J. G.

Droysen

DROYSEN, JOHANN GUSTAV (1808—1884)

's essay on Demochares in Zeitschrift fur die Altertumswissenschaft (1836), Nos. 2o, 21.

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