ABSTRACT
Some historical epochs are distinguished by great political conflicts the poles of which are personified by the major figures who championed them. Examples are abundant. American history provides the debates between Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln over slavery, English the division between William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli over imperial policy, and German the dispute between Willy Brandt and Rainer Barzel over Ostpolitik. Fourth-century Greece presents Demosthenes and Aeschines, whose responses to the rise of Philip of Macedon divided Athenian politics into two broad groups at opposite ends of foreign policy. Added to the political differences of these two Athenians was a personal enmity that was generally unseemly and often vicious. Both features form such basic ingredients in the contest for public approval that they are virtually inseparable.
