ABSTRACT
It is unfortunately impossible to do really satisfactory historical work on Demosthenes, as on many other topics in Greek and Roman history. At first sight, the evidence looks extraordinarily promising: a large corpus of speeches, more than sixty actual documents of his time; speeches and fragments by other orators, and biographies (including a long one by Plutarch and a short one in the pseudo-Plutarchean Lives of the Ten Orators); plus a body of inscriptions that, although less striking than those from fifthcentury Athens, is at least technically less controverted and therefore more usable. To those accustomed to the wastes through which ancient history often has to journey, it might seem a Garden of Eden. But although up to a point this is true, there are certainly snakes about. We cannot charm them away, but must honestly confront them.
