The substance of the speeches which he heard he committed to memory,
and afterward reduced them to regular sentences and periods, meditating
a variety of corrections and new forms of expression, both of what
others had said to him, and he had addressed to them. Hence, it was
concluded that he was not a man of much genius, and that all his
eloquence was the effect of labour. A strong proof of this seemed to
be that he was seldom heard to speak anything extempore, and though the
people often called upon him by name, as he sat in the assembly, to
speak to the point debated, he would not do it unless he came prepared.
For this many of the orators ridiculed him; and Pytheas, in particular,
told him, "That all his arguments smelled of the lamp." Demosthenes
retorted sharply upon him, "Yes, indeed, but your lamp and mine, my
friend, are not conscious to the same labours." To others he did not
pretend to deny his previous application, but told them, "He either
wrote the whole of his orations, or spoke not without first committing
part to writing." He further affirmed, "That this shewed him a good
member of a democratic state; for the coming prepared to the rostrum
was a mark of respect for the people.
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