AN'TIPEON, the earliest of the 10 Attic orators in the Alexandrine canon, was the son of Sophilus the Sophist, and b. at Rhamnus in Attica 480 B.C. In his youth, the remitation of Gorgias, the most showy and insincere of all the Greek rhetoricians, was at its height. A. soon became convinced of the worthlessness of that oratory which the fashion of the time so highly valued, and resolved to introduce a new aid better kind. He labored to make his arguments clear, solid, and convincing, so that it might be im possible for the judges who listened to the speeches he wrote to refuse their assent to his propositions. His success was unmistakable. Although he never made a public appear ance as a pleader in the courts of justice, but contented himself with writing speeches for others to deliver, he acquired great influence, which he did not fail to exert for the furtherance of his political principles. To him must be attributed the overthrow of the Athenian democracy (411 n.c.), and the establishment of the oligarchical government of the Four Hundred; for although Pisander figured prominently before the people in this revolution, the whole affair, according to Thucydides—one of A.'s pupils in oratory, and
a man admirably fitted to judge of such a point—was secretly planned by him. The oli garchical government did not prosper. Dissensions quickly broke out among the Four Hundred, and six months after, Alcibiades, the brilliant demagogue, was recalled. A. was brought to trial for treason, in having attempted to negotiate peace with Sparta. He is said to have made a noble defence of himself. Thucydides affirms that an abler was never made by any man in a similar position. It was his first and last oration. He was condemned to death; his property was conficated, his house razed to the ground, his remains forbidden interment in Attica, and his children forever declared incapable of enjoying civic privileges. Of the 60 orations of A. which the ancients possessed, only 15 have come down to us. Three of these are written for others, and are greatly admired for their clearness, purity, and vigor of expression; the remaining 12 appear to have been intended as specimens of school-rhetoric for his pupils. They are not held in equal esti mation with the others.