#demades

Der Redner Demades · Aesop Fabel · Rhetorik in der Antike

[...]

Demades was himself a piece of flotsam from the wreckage of Athens, and his life and political career were so amoral that Antipater said of him in his old age that he resembled a sacrificial victim after the sacrifice was over: nothing left but tongue and belly."

The Greeks have been scattered from the field at Chaeronea after Philip had excellently orchestrated a feigned retreat. Philip recalled his cavalry from pursuing the routing Greeks, and made sacrifices to the gods. To the many officers and men of particular gallantry that made the victory at Chaeronea possible, Philip praised and decorated with titles and prestige. Then began a great banquet in celebration, and in typical Macedonian fashion, there was a great amount of drinking.

In the heat of the moment, Philip took a tour of the battlefield with his officers. Though the victory was decisive, it had not been guaranteed. In his anxious relief over the outcome, he hurled insults at the Athenian dead and looked down on their cowardice in the field. As he walked, he saw the pile of dead where the Sacred Band of Thebes stood to a man. They were true Greek soldiers, it was a shame their discipline and bravery was rewarded with the annihilation of their unit. Philip more than anyone knew that the destruction of the strongest Greek fighting force of the time was important to winning the battle, but at the same time he felt sorrow at the waste of such talented life. His advisors watched nervously as he wept at the pile of Theban corpses, until he pulled himself together and resumed celebrations.

A diplomat arrived from the Greeks, approaching Philip cautiously as he caroused about the banquet grounds. He wanted permission to remove and bury the dead. Philip, raised his hand to shoo the herald away, but suddenly one of the prisoners (an Athenian orator named Demades) spoke up:

“King Philip, fortune has cast you as Agamemnon; but you seem determined to act the part of Thersites.”

Philip was taken back, grimacing at the idea of being compared to the ugly, dull-witted, and vulgar greek soldier in Homer’s The Illiad. He immediately ordered Demades released from captivity, and treated as an honored guest.

The Athenians had not taken the loss at Chaeronea lightly. They were so frightened for the future that they had taken to arming their slaves and foreigners in a last stand to defend their city to the death. However, instead of an army, Demades came with the terms of peace.

“The Greek dead will be given up. All 2,000 Athenian prisoners taken at Chaeronea will be released without ransom. Macedonia will not send her troops beyond the borders of Attica, nor will she send her ships beyond Piraeus. Athens will be given sovereignty over several Aegean islands, and a stronghold previously owned by the city-state of Thebes. However, Athens must renounce all claims of their ancient maritime imperial territory, and become a steadfast ally of Macedonia.”

A Bust of Demades, an Athenian Orator. (1)

With each sentence, the incredible disbelief of the Athenian assembly only grew. By all accounts, the Macedonians had them dead to rights, but Philip had offered the olive branch of peace instead for inconsequential claims to old land. The assembly immediately fell into an uproar, the response was universal: to accept Philip’s demands without hesitation. In sheer gratitude, Demades returned with official confirmation of Philip and Alexander’s Athenian citizenship, and word that a statue of Philip was to be built in the Agora.

And that took care of the Athenians. Thebes, however, was a different story. Thebes was still a formidable block of power in Greece, and even in this gracious peace Philip had to teach a lesson to discourage any rebellious ambition in the future. The heart of the Theban empire, the Boeotian League, would be dissolved by Philip. All the city-states that had previously been under the purview of Thebes was granted independence. All political exiles from Thebes were forced to be recalled, destabilizing Thebes itself from the inside. The current leadership of Thebes would be banished, and a Macedonian puppet government was established. All Theban captives would be ransomed back at exorbitant prices.

Encircled in red is the city-state of Plataea, one of the many city-states to be released from Theban influence and given Independence by Philip. (2)

After the treaties were agreed on, there was little doubt who had the power in Greece now. In commemoration, Philip commissioned at Olympia a large building crowned with bronze, gold, and ivory. Engraved into the building were pictures of himself, Alexander, Olympias, and Philip’s parents. This building would be called the Phillippeum.

With his face engraved in one of the most extravagant buildings in Greece, Alexander was all but confirmed to carry on Philip’s legacy. Given the title of Regent at sixteen and commanding Macedonia’s finest at eighteen, it seemed like the question of who would succeed Philip was set in stone. However, it would be mere months later when the stone will crack, and dark clouds would gather over Alexander’s future.

(1) - Image taken from: http://www.amirite.com/famousthoughts/author/demades

(2) - Image taken from: http://www.emersonkent.com/map_archive/plataea_ancient_greece.htm