The extant scholia on Demosthenes are for the most part poor. Their staple consists of Byzantine erudition; and their value depends chiefly on what they have preserved of older Scholia. criticism. They are better than usual for the Περὶ στεφάνου, Κατὰ Τιμοκράτους; best for the Περὶ παραπρεσβείας. The Greek commentaries ascribed to Ulpian are especially defective on the historical side, and give little essential aid. Editions:—C. W. Müller, in Orat. Att. ii. (1847-1858); Scholia Graeca in Demosth. ex cod. aucta et emendata (Oxon., 1851; in W. Dindorf’s ed.).
Bibliography.—Editio princeps (Aldus, Venice, 1504); J. J. Reiske (with notes of J. Wolf, J. Taylor, J. Markland, &c., 1770-1775); revised edition of Reiske by G. H. Schäfer (1823-1826); I. Bekker, in Oratores Attici (1823-1824), the first edition based on codex Σ (see above); W. S. Dobson (1828); J. G. Baiter and H. Sauppe (1850); W. Dindorf (in Teubner series, 1867, 4th ed. by F. Blass, 1885-1889); H. Omont, facsimile edition of codex Σ (1892-1893); S. H. Butcher in Oxford Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca (1903 foll.); W. Dindorf (9 vols., Oxford, 1846-1851), with notes of previous commentators and Greek scholia; R. Whiston (political speeches) with introductions and notes (1859-1868). For a select list of the numerous English and foreign editions and translations of separate speeches see J. B. Mayor, Guide to the Choice of Classical Books (1885, suppt. 1896). Mention may here be made of De corona by W. W. Goodwin (1901, ed. min., 1904); W. H. Simcox (1873, with Aeschines In Ctesiphontem); and P. E. Matheson (1899); Leptines by J. E. Sandys (1890); De falsa legatione by R. Shilleto (4th ed., 1874); Select Private Orations by J. E. Sandys and F. A. Paley (3rd ed., 1898, 1896); Midias by W. W. Goodwin (1906). C. R. Kennedy’s complete translation is a model of scholarly finish, and the appendices on Attic law, &c., are of great value. There are indices to Demosthenes by J. Reiske (ed. G. H. Schäfer, 1823); S. Preuss (1892). Among recent papyrus finds are fragments of a special lexicon to the Aristocratea and a commentary by Didymus (ed. H. Diels and W. Schubart, 1904). Illustrative literature: A. D. Schäfer, Demosthenes und seine Zeit (2nd ed., 1885-1887), a masterly and exhaustive historical work; F. Blass, Die attische Beredsamkeit (1887-1898); W. J. Brodribb, “Demosthenes” in Ancient Classics for English Readers (1877); S. H. Butcher, Introduction to the Study of Demosthenes (1881); C. G. Böhnecke, Demosthenes, Lykurgos, Hyperides, und ihr Zeitalter (1864); A. Bouillé, Histoire de Démosthène (2nd ed., 1868); J. Girard, Études sur l’éloquence attique (1874); M. Croiset, Des idées morales dans l’Éloquence politique de Démosthène (1874); A. Hug, Demosthenes als politischer Denker (1881); L. Brédit, L’Éloquence politique en Grèce (2nd ed., 1886); A. Bougot, Rivalité d’Eschine et Démosthène (1891). For fuller bibliographical information consult R. Nicolai, Griechische Literaturgeschichte (1881); W. Engelmann, Scriptores Graeci (1881); G. Hüttner in C. Bursian’s Jahresbericht, li. (1889).
(R. C. J.)
[1] See Jebb’s Attic Orators from Antiphon to Isaeos, vol. ii. p. 267 f.
[2] It is generally agreed that the Third Olynthiac is the latest; but the question of the order of the First and Second has been much discussed. See Grote (History of Greece, chap. 88, appendix), who prefers the arrangement ii. i. iii., and Blass, Die attische Beredsamkeit, iii. p. 319.
[3] The dates agree in the main with those given by A. D. Schäfer in Demosthenes und seine Zeit (2nd ed., 1885-1887), and by F. Blass in Die attische Beredsamkeit (1887-1898), who regards thirty-three (or possibly thirty-five) of the speeches as genuine.
[4] Or. 11 and 12 are probably both by Anaximenes of Lampsacus.
[5] According to Blass, the second and third epistles and the exordia are genuine.
[6] See also H. Usener in Nachrichten von der Königl. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, p. 188 (1892); J. H. Lipsius, “Zur Textcritik des Demosthenes” in Berichte ... der Königl. Sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften (1893) with special reference to the papyrus finds at the end of the 19th century; E. Bethe, Demosthenis scriptorum corpus (1893).