In his first address to the people he was laughed at and interrupted by
their clamours, for the violence of his manner threw him into a
confusion of periods and a distortion of his argument; besides he had a
weakness and a stammering in his voice, and a want of breath, which
caused such a distraction in his discourse that it was difficult for
the audience to understand him. At last, upon his quitting the
assembly, Eunomous the Thriasian, a man now extremely old, found him
wandering in a dejected condition in the Piraeus, and took upon him to
set him right. "You," said he, "have a manner of speaking very like
that of Pericles, and yet you lose yourself out of mere timidity and
cowardice. You neither bear up against the tumults of a popular
assembly nor prepare your body by exercise for the labour of the
rostrum, but suffer your parts to wither away in negligence and
indolence."
Another time, we are told, when his speeches had been ill-received, and
he was going home with his head covered, and in the greatest distress,
Satyrus, the player, who was an acquaintance of his, followed and went
in with him. Demosthenes lamented to him, "That though he was the most
laborious of all the orators, and had almost sacrificed his health to
that application, yet he could gain no favour with the people; but
drunken seamen and other unlettered persons were heard, and kept the
rostrum, while he was entirely disregarded.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25