[681] Among the various documents, real or pretended, inserted in the oration of Demosthenes De Coronâ, there appears one (p. 266) purporting to be the very decree moved by Ktesiphon; and another (p. 243) purporting to be the accusation preferred by Æschines. I have already stated that I agree with Droysen in mistrusting all the documents annexed to this oration; all of them bear the name of wrong archons, most of them names of unknown archons; some of them do not fit the place in which they appear. See my preceding Vol. XI. Ch. lxxxix. p. 424; Ch. xc. p. 456-486.
We know from the statement of Æschines himself that the motion of Ktesiphon was made after the appointment of Demosthenes to be one of the inspectors of the fortifications of the city; and that this appointment took place in the last month of the archon Chærondas (June 337 B. C.—see Æschines adv. Ktesiph. p. 421-426). We also know that the accusation of Æschines against Ktesiphon was preferred before the assassination of Philip, which took place in August 336 B. C. (Æschin. ib. p. 612, 613). It thus appears that the motion of Ktesiphon (with the probouleuma which followed upon it) must have occurred some time during the autumn or winter of 337-336 B. C.—that the accusation of Æschines must have been handed in shortly after it—and that this accusation cannot have been handed in at the date borne by the pseudo-document, p. 243—the month Elaphebolion of the archon Chærondas, which would be anterior to the appointment of Demosthenes. Moreover, whoever compares the so-called motion of Ktesiphon, as it stands inserted Demosth. De Coronâ, p. 266, with the words in which Æschines himself (Adv. Ktesiph. p. 631. ὅθεν τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ ψηφίσματος ἐποιήσω, see also p. 439) describes the exordium of that motion, will see that it cannot be genuine.
[682] Demosthenes De Coronâ, p. 253, 302, 303, 310. He says (p. 267-313) that he had been crowned often (πολλάκις) by the Athenians and other Greek cities. The crown which he received on the motion of Aristonikus (after the successes against Philip at Byzantium and the Chersonesus, etc. in 340 B. C.) was the second crown (p. 253)—Plutarch, Vit. X. Oratt. p. 848.
[683] Demosthenes De Coronâ, p. 294.
[684] Æschines adv. Ktesiph. p. 645. διαβέβληται δ᾽ ἡμῶν ἡ πόλις ἐκ τῶν Δημοσθένους πολιτευμάτων περὶ τοὺς νῦν καιρούς· δόξετε δ᾽ ἐὰν μὲν τοῦτον στεφανώσητε, ὁμογνώμονες εἶναι τοῖς παραβαίνουσι τὴν κοινὴν εἰρήνην· ἐὰν δὲ τοὐναντίον τούτου πράξητε, ἀπολύσετε τὸν δῆμον τῶν αἰτιῶν.—Compare with this, the last sentence of the oration of Demosthenes in reply, where he puts up a prayer to the gods—ἡμῖν δὲ τοῖς λοιποῖς τὴν ταχίστην ἀπαλλαγὴν τῶν ἐπηρτημένων φόβων δότε καὶ σωτηρίαν ἀσφαλῆ.
The mention by Æschines (immediately before) of the Pythian games, as about to be celebrated in a few days, marks the date of this judicial trial—August, 330 B. C.
[685] Æschines adv. Ktesiph. p. 443.
[686] Æschines adv. Ktesiph. pp. 449, 456, 467, 551.
[687] Æschines adv. Ktesiph. pp. 526, 538, 541.
[688] Æschines adv. Ktesiph. p. 551-553.