A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

AESCHINES. AESCHINES. 37
from his country under the tyranny of the Thirty. Athens. Temenides, who was sent with him,
He then served in the Athenian armies in Asia bore witness to his courage and bravery, and the
and spent the remainder of his life at Athens, at Athenians honoured him with a crown. (Aesch.
first in reduced circumstances. (Aesch. De jals. Defals Leg. p. 51.)
Leg. pp. 38, 47.) His mother, too, was a free Two years before this campaign, the last in
Athenian citizen, and the daughter of Glaucias of which he took part, he had come forward at Athens
Acharne. Which of these accounts is true, can- as a public speaker (Aesch. Epist. 12), and the
not be decided, but there seems to be no doubt military fame which he had now acquired estabthat Demosthenes is guilty of exaggeration in his lished his reputation. His former occupation as a
account of the parents of Aeschines and his early scribe to Aristophon and Eubulus had made him
youth. acquainted with the laws and constitution of
Aeschines had two brothers, one of whom, Phi- Athens, while his acting on the stage had been a
lochares, was older than himself, and the other, useful preparation for public speaking. During
Aphobetus, was the youngest of the three. Phi- the first period of his public career, he was, like
lochares was at one time one of the ten Athenian all other Athenians, zealously engaged in directing
generals, an office which was conferred upon him the attention of his fellow-citizens to the growing
for three successive years; Aphobetus followed power of Philip, and exhorted them to check it in
the calling of a scribe, but had once been sent on its growth. After the fall of Olynthus in B. c.
an embassy to the king of Persia and was after- 348, Eubulus prevailed on the Athenians to send
wards connected with the administration of the an embassy to Peloponnesus with the object of
public revenue of Athens. (Aesch. De fals. Leg. uniting the Greeks against the common enemy,
p. 48.) All these things seem to contain strong and Aeschines was sent to Arcadia. Here Aesevidence that the family of Aeschines, although chines spoke at Megalopolis against Hieronymus,
poor, must have been of some respectability. Re- an emissary of Philip, but without success; and
specting his early youth nothing can be said with from this moment Aeschines, as well as all his
certainty, except that he assisted his father in his fellow-citizens, gave up the hope of effecting anyschool, and that afterwards, being of a strong and thing by the united forces of Greece. (Dem. De
athletic constitution, he was employed in the fals. Leg. pp. 344, 438; Aesch. Defils. Leg. p. 38.)
gymnasia for money, to contend with other young When therefore Philip, in a. c. 347, gave the
men in their exercises. (Dem. De Coron. p. 313; Athenians to understand that he was inclined to
Plut. Vit. x oralt. Aesch. p. 840.) It is a favourite make peace with them, Philocrates urged the necustom of late writers to place great orators, philo- cessity of sending an embassy to Philip to treat on
sophers, poets, &c., in the relation of teacher and the subject. Ten men, and among them Aeschines
scholar to one another, and accordingly Aeschines and Demosthenes, were accordingly sent to Philip,
is represented as a disciple of Socrates, Plato, and who received them with the utmost politeness, and
Isocrates. If these statements, which are even Aeschines, when it was his turn to speak, recontradicted by the ancients themselves, were minded the king of the rights which Athens had
true, Aeschines would not have omitted to men- to his friendship and alliance. The king promised
tion it in the many opportunities he had. The to send forthwith ambassadors to Athens to negodistinguished orator and statesman Aristophon en- tiate the terms of peace. After the return of the
gaged Aeschines as a scribe, and in the same Athenian ambassadors they were each rewarded
capacity he afterwards served Eubulus, a man of with a wreath of olive, on the proposal of Demosgreat influence with the democratical party, with thenes, for the manner in which they had diswhom he formed an intimate friendship, and to charged their duties. Aeschines from this moment
whose political principles he remained faithful to forward was inflexible in his opinion, that nothing
the end of his life. That he served two years as but peace with Philip could avert utter ruin from
7reptlroAos, from his eighteenth to his twentieth his country. That this was perfectly in accordance
year, as all young men at Athens did, Aeschines with what Philip wished is clear, but there is no
(De fals. Leg. p. 50) expressly states, and this reason for supposing, that Aeschines had been
period of his military training must probably be bribed into this opinion, or that he urged the
placed before the time that he acted as a scribe to necessity of peace with a view to ruin his country.
Aristophon; for we find that, after leaving the (Aesch. in Ctesiph. p. 62.) Antipater and two
service of Eubulus, he tried his fortune as an actor, other Macedonian ambassadors arrived at Athens
for which he was provided by nature with a strong soon after the return of the Athenian ones, and
and sonorous voice. He acted the parts of vrpra- after various debates Demosthenes urgently advised
'yvrcOromrE, but was unsuccessful, and on one occa- the people to conclude the peace, and speedily to
sion, when he was performing in the character send other ambassadors to Philip to receive his
of Oenomaus, was hissed off the stage. (Dem. oath to it. The only difference between Aeschines
De Coron. p. 288.) After this he left the stage and Demosthenes was, that the former would have
and engaged in military services, in which, accord- concluded the peace even without providing for
ing to his own account (De fals. Leg. p. 50), lie the Athenian allies, which was happily prevented
gained great distinction. (Comp. Dem. De fEds. by Demosthenes. Five Athenian ambassadors,
Leg. p. 375.) After several less important engage- and among them Aeschines but not Demosthenes
ments in other parts of Greece, he distinguished (De Coron. p. 235), set out for Macedonia the
himself in B. c. 362 in tile battle of Mantineia; more speedily, as Philip was making war upon
and afterwards in B. c. 358, he also took part in Cersobleptes, a Thracian prince and ally of Athens.
the expedition of the Athenians against Euboea, They went to Pella to wait for the arrival of
and fought in the battle of Tamynae, and on this Philip from Thrace, and were kept there for a conoccasion he gained such laurels, that he was praised siderable time, for Philip did not come until he
by the generals on the spot, and, after the victory had completely subdued Cersobleptes. At last,
was gained, was sent to carry the news of it to however, he swore to the peace, from which the