View source for Demosthenis et Aeschinis Opera

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Demosthenis et Æschinis Principum Graæciæ Oratorum Opera, cum Vtriusque Autoris Vita, et Vlpiani Commentariis''}}
===by Demosthenes and Aeschines===
{{BookPageInfoBox
|imagename=WolfDemosthenisEtAeschinis1604Title.jpg
|link=https://catalog.libraries.wm.edu/permalink/01COWM_INST/oaj29m/alma991034204450803196
|shorttitle=Demosthenis et Aeschinis Opera
|commontitle=
|vol=
|author=[[:Category:Demosthenes|Demosthenes]], [[:Category:Aeschines|Aeschines]]
|editor=[[:Category:Hieronymus Wolf|Hieronymus Wolf]]
|trans=[[:Category:Hieronymus Wolf|Hieronymus Wolf]]
|publoc=[[:Category:Frankfurt|Frankfurti]]
|publisher=Apud Claudium Marnium, & Hæredes Iohannis Aubbrii
|year=1604
|edition=2nd edition
|lang=[[:Category:Greek|Greek]], [[:Category:Latin|Latin]]
|set=
|pages=
|desc=[[:Category:Folios|Folio]]
|shelf=M-5
}}[[wikipedia:Demosthenes|Demosthenes]] (384 &ndash; 322 BCE) was a prominent statesman and orator in Ancient Greece. He developed his skills as an orator by studying speeches given by earlier great orators.<ref>Ian Worthington, ''Demosthenes: Statesman and Orator'' (London: Routledge, 2000), 240.</ref> He transferred his talents as an orator and writer into a successful professional speech-writing career. During his time as an orator, Demosthenes developed an interest in politics; he went on to devote most of his career to opposing [[wikipedia:Macedonia (ancient_kingdom)|Macedonia's]] expansion. He spoke out against both [[wikipedia:Philip II of Macedon|Philip II of Macedon]] and [[wikipedia:Alexander the Great|Alexander the Great]]. Demosthenes played a leading role in his city's uprising against Alexander. The revolt was met with harsh reprisals and Demosthenes committed suicide to prevent being arrested. Demosthenes' oratory works were highly influential during the Middle Ages and Renaissance,<ref>Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, s.v. "[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/157438/Demosthenes Demosthenes]," accessed October 24, 2013.</ref> and inspired the authors of the ''Federalist Papers'' and the major orators of the French Revolution.<ref>Konstantinos Tsatsos, "XV" in ''Demosthenes'' (Athens: Estia, 1975), 352.</ref>

Also a statesman and orator, [[wikipedia:Aeschines|Aeschines]] (389 &ndash; 314 BCE) was a bitter political opponent of Demosthenes. He was raised in humble circumstances and worked as an actor before becoming a member of the embassies to Philip II. He eventually provoked Philip II to establish Macedonian control over central Greece. Unlike Demosthenes, Aeschines was more conciliatory to the Macedonians as they expanded. The two orators collided when Aeschines brought suit against a certain [[wikipedia:Ctesiphon (orator)|Ctesiphon]], for proposing the award of a crown to Demosthenes in recognition of his services to Athens. Aeschines suffered a resounding defeat in the trial and subsequently left Athens for [[wikipedia:Rhodes|Rhodes]] where he taught rhetoric.<ref>Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, s.v. "[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/7407/Aeschines Aeschines]," accessed November 14, 2013.</ref>

[[File:WolfDemosthenisEtAeschinis1604Portrait.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Portrait of the editor, [[wikipedia:Hieronymus Wolf|Hieronymus Wolf]] <em>c.</em> 1571).]]
In 1572, the German historian and classical scholar, [[wikipedia:Hieronymus Wolf|Hieronymus Wolf]] (1516 &ndash; 1580), published a volume of Demosthenes' and Aeschines' speeches, in parallel Greek and Latin text, with commentary and ancient and modern notes.<ref>Hieronymus Wolf, ed., ''Demosthenis Et Aeschinis Principum Græciæ Oratorum Opera'' (Basel: Ex officina Heruagiana, per Evsebivm Episcopium, 1572).</ref> Along with his own notes, Wolf included classical commentary by [[wikipedia:Ulpian|Ulpian]] (c. 170 – 223 or 228), as well as notes on the uses of Greek by the French scholar [[wikipedia:Guillaume Budé|Guillaume Budé]] (1467 &ndash; 1540), first published in 1529.<ref>Guillaume Budé, ''Commentarii Linguae Graecae'' (Paris: Venundantur Iodoco Badio Ascensio, 1529). A "complete" edition of Budé's ''Commentarii'' was published posthumously, in 1548.</ref> Wolf's edition was reprinted in 1604, 1607, and 1642, and remained the most important text of Demosthenes until the 19th century.<ref>Charles Darwin Adams, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_sgyAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA134 ''Demosthenes and His Influence,''] vol. 5 (New York: Longmans, Green, 1927), 134-135, 145-146.</ref>

==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==

In 1795, an arthritic Wythe directed a young [[Henry Clay]] to add some additional references to Greek classics in the end pages of a special few of his newly published reports, ''[[Decisions of Cases in Virginia, by the High Court of Chancery]]'' &mdash; presentation copies intended for Wythe's former students, friends, and peers at court.<ref>There are four of these added appendices know to be extant: two at the University of Virginia, in [https://search.lib.virginia.edu/sources/uva_library/items/u377952 Jefferson's copy] of Wythe's Reports, and in [https://search.lib.virginia.edu/sources/uva_library/items/u1937534 Wythe's personal copy;] one at the [https://nyhistory.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01NYU_NYHS/186u31g/alma990013056310107873 New York Historical Society] in a copy sent to [[wikipedia:Robert R. Livingston|Chancellor Robert Livingston]]; and as a loose manuscript at the [https://i-share-nby.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CARLI_NBY/i5mcb2/alma997907518805867 Newberry Library,] separated from an unidentified copy of the Reports, but with provenance leading back to Boston.</ref> In 1851, Clay [[Henry Clay to B. B. Minor, 3 May 1851|reflected upon this task]] before the publication of a [[Decisions of Cases in Virginia by the High Court of Chancery (1852)|new edition]] of the reports:

<div style="overflow: hidden;">
<blockquote>
Upon [Chancellor Wythe's] dictation, I wrote, I believe, all the reports of cases which it is now proposed to re-publish. I remember that it cost me a great deal of labor, not understanding a single Greek character, to write some citations from Greek authors, which he wished inserted in copies of his reports sent to [[Thomas Jefferson|Mr. Jefferson]], [[wikipedia:Samuel Adams|Mr. Samuel Adams]], of Boston, and to one or two other persons.<ref>Although Wythe [[Wythe to Samuel Adams, 1 August 1778|corresponded at least once with Samuel Adams]] (enclosing a poem), another candidate could be [[wikipedia:John Adams|]], with whom Wythe once [[Wythe to Adams, 5 December 1783|shared a quote from Homer's ''Odyssey'']] in Greek.</ref> I copied them by imitating each character as I found them in the original works.<ref>William Maxwell, ed., "[[Henry Clay to B. B. Minor, 3 May 1851|Letter from Hon. Henry Clay to B.B. Minor, Esq.]]," ''Virginia Historical Register, and Literary Companion'' 5, no. 3 (July 1852), 162-167. Reprinted in B.B. Minor, ed., "[[Memoir of the Author]]," ''Decisions of Cases in Virginia, by the High Court Chancery, with Remarks upon Decrees by the Court of Appeals, Reversing Some of Those Decisions,'' by George Wythe,  (Richmond, VA: J.W. Randolph, 1852), xxxii-xxxvi.</ref>
</blockquote>
</div>

The cited authors in this added "Appendix" included [[:Category:Aeschylus|Aeschylus]], [[:Category:Demosthenes|Demosthenes]], [[:Category:Herodotus|Herodotus]], [[:Category:Homer|Homer]], [[:Category:Sophocles|Sophocles]], and [[:Category:Thucydides|Thucydides]]. Hieronymus Wolf's collection of Demosthenes and Aeschines contains everything required for re-creating Wythe's selections from Demosthenes, "Against Meidias," and "Against Aphobus": it contains these specific speeches; the text is in both in both Greek and Latin; and following Wythe's selected section from "Aphobus" is written: 'On this passage is the following note:', accompanied by Guillaume Budé's commentary on the word διαιτητάς ("arbitration"), included at the end of Wolf's edition.<ref>Hieronymus Wolf, ed., [https://books.google.com/books?id=rntpAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA1224 ''Demosthenis Et Aeschinis Principum Græciæ Oratorum Opera''] (Frankfurt: Apud Claudium Marnium, & Hæredes Iohannis Aubbrii, 1604), 1224.</ref> While other titles containing selected works by [[:Category:Demosthenes|Demosthenes]] were owned by Wythe, they either did not include the cited speeches, or were not printed in both Greek and Latin. None of the books in his library are known to include notes by Budé, and no other editions available to Wythe meet all three requirements.

While not included in [[Jefferson Inventory|Jefferson's inventory]] of books received from Wythe's estate in 1806, it is almost certain Wythe used a copy of Wolf's ''Demosthenis et Aeschines'' to make his "Appendix." The precise edition, is unknown, but the 1604 printing is a likely candidate. George Wythe's compatriot from Massachusetts, [[wikipedia:John Adams|John Adams]], had a copy of the 1604 edition in his [https://archive.org/details/catalogueofjohna00bost/page/72/mode/2up home library.]<ref>[https://archive.org/details/catalogueofjohna00bost/page/72/mode/2up "Catalogue of the John Adams library in the Public Library of the City of Boston"] (Boston: Boston Public Library, 1917), 72, listed as: 'Demosthenis et Æschinis ... opera, cum vtriusque autoris vita & Vlpiani commentariis, nouisque scholiis, ex quarta ... recognitione, Græcolatina: ... annotationibvs illustrata: per Hieronymvm Wolfivm Œtingensem ... Accedit vita Demosthenis ex parallelis Andresæ Schotti ... Francofvrti. M.DC.IIII.'</ref>

==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==
Bound in contemporary vellum with a large embossed stamp and blind rules on both boards. Spine features five raised bands and handwritten "Demosthenis Aeschinis" and "Opera" labels. Purchased with the [[:Category:George Wythe Boswell-Caracci Room Acquisition Fund|George Wythe Boswell-Caracci Room Acquisition Fund]].

Images of the library's copy of this book are [https://www.flickr.com/photos/wolflawlibrary/albums/72177720321726259/ available on Flickr.] View the record for this book in [https://catalog.libraries.wm.edu/permalink/01COWM_INST/oaj29m/alma991034204450803196 William & Mary's online catalog.]

==See also==
*''[[Decisions of Cases in Virginia, by the High Court of Chancery]]''
*''[[Dēmosthenous Logoi Eklektoi]]''
*[[Henry Clay to B. B. Minor, 3 May 1851]]
*''[[Life and Public Services of Henry Clay]]''
*''[[Œuvres Complettes de Démosthene et d'Eschine]]''
*[[Wythe's Library]]
*[[Wythe to Adams, 5 December 1783|Wythe to John Adams, 5 December 1783]]
*[[Wythe to Samuel Adams, 1 August 1778]]

==References==
<references />

==External links==
*Read this book in [https://books.google.com/books?id=rntpAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP5 Google Books.]

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[[Category:Aeschines]]
[[Category:George Wythe Boswell-Caracci Room Acquisition Fund]]
[[Category:Demosthenes]]
[[Category:Guillaume Budé]]
[[Category:Hieronymus Wolf]]
[[Category:Folios]]
[[Category:Greek]]
[[Category:Latin]]
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]