Demosthenes: On the Crown (Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics)

This is a review of Harvey Yunis's commentary on Demosthenes' oration "On the Crown" published in the Cambridge green and yellow series. This speech is among the most impressive monuments of ancient Greek literature, notable for the historical importance of its subject matter, the power of its rhetoric, and the excellence of its style. Delivered in 330 BC eight years after Athens had suffered complete military defeat at the Battle of Chaeronea against King Philip of Macedon and had fallen under Macedonian domination, "On the Crown" was given in defense of an Athenian man, Ctesiphon, who had proposed that the orator Demosthenes receive a crown from the Athenian State partly in recognition for his efforts to oppose Philip in the months and years preceding Athens's defeat. Aeschines, one of Demosthenes' political enemies, indicted Ctesiphon on the grounds that awarding a crown to Demosthenes was both procedurally illegal and morally disgraceful, given that Demosthenes' policies ultimately resulted in Athens's political subjugation to Philip of Macedon. In "On the Crown", Demosthenes surveys the entirety of his own political career and attempts to perform the rhetorical feat of convincing the audience of jurors that it was right and proper for the Athenians, under his leadership, to have made no compromises and no concessions to Philip in spite of the ultimate defeat and humiliation that were the result of Demosthenes' antagonistic policy. The speech thus contains a wealth of information about the inner workings of Athenian foreign policy and diplomacy in the two decades before Chaeronea, a moving account of the preparations for this battle and its aftermath, sections of fiery invective against Aeschines and his other political enemies, shrewd legal reasoning and discussions of Athenian political/legal procedure, and earnest reaffirmations of Athenian democratic ideology. There are few texts that provide such a complete and vivid picture of Athens in the fourth century BC."On the Crown" is a relatively long speech, occupying just under 70 pages in Greek in Yunis's edition (it is worth mentioning that Yunis has chosen not to print the spurious documentary evidence that has been transmitted with the speech; to read these one must consult the OCT edition). Yunis provides a 30 page introduction on the historical background of the speech, Demosthenes' oratorical practices and style, and the transmission of the text. At the end of the book there is a lengthy bibliography and two appendices that provide, respectively, a synopsis of Demosthenes' argument and a timeline of all the relevant historical events. The commentary proper runs to about 185 pages in a very dense layout that is sometimes hard to navigate, but all the notes provided are informative and helpful, and I would not have wished to see any excised to create more clear space. Yunis achieves an admirable balance in his notes between providing grammatical and lexical help, clarifying obscure historical or legal references, commenting on Demosthenes' stylistic choices, and helping the reader follow Demosthenes' argumentation. Particularly tricky syntax will often be explained and then rendered into English, and it is very clear that Yunis's primary concern is to assist the reader in construing and understanding the Greek.I have read through this speech twice using this excellent commentary. Once when I was in my third year of studying Greek, and again a few years later to prepare for a translation examination. Both times "On the Crown" presented a real challenge to my Greek reading abilities even with the additional years of Greek reading practice in the interim. This was not because of any defect in Yunis's commentary, but rather because "On the Crown" is simply at a much higher difficulty level relative to the works of other Attic prose authors like Lysias, Xenophon, or Plato. Some extended reading in these more straight-forward authors should perhaps therefore be undertaken before attempting to read this speech in Greek for the first time, but I can attest from personal experience that "On the Crown" is capable of being read by a student in the latter part of his or her third year of studying Greek using this commentary, so the length and difficulty of it are not insurmountable for undergraduates or other readers in the early stages of their Greek reading career. Indeed, given the paramount importance of this speech for understanding Athenian politics and appreciating the achievements of Demosthenes and Athenian oratory, it would truly be a shame if the grandeur, complexity, and richness of "On the Crown" were viewed as reasons to choose an easier oration to read instead of as inspirations to develop and refine one's Greek until it is equal to the task of reading it.