Having been emancipated from his guardians, after a minority of ten years, he commenced a prosecution against them to recover his property. Estimating his losses at thirty talents (inclusive of ten years' interest), he sued Aphobus for one-third part, and gained hia cause, without however succeeding in obtaining more than a small part of his money. This took place ac. 364, when he was in his twentieth year, or, as he says himself (' Mid.' 539, § 23), when he was quite a boy ; hut the extant orations against his guardians are evidently not the work of a youth of that age, as a careful perusal of these orations will clearly show. He subsequently adopted the profession of writing and delivering, as a hired advocate, speeches for persons engaged in private and public causes—a practice which was now generally adopted by the Greek orators, and was attended with considerable profit. His first speech on a public occasion was made in "sc. 355, in which year he wrote the speech ogainst Audrotion, and wrote and delivered that against Leptinea.
Of his speeches relating to public concerns, there are three which have a direct bearing on his personal history : the speech against Midler; ; that concerning Malversation in the Embassy ; and that in behalf of Cteaiphon, or, as it is commonly called, the 'Oration on the Crown.' The two last are briefly noticed under the article iEschines. (sEscumes.) With reference to the first, it should be premised that, in the year B.C. 351, Demosthenes voluntarily undertook the expensive office of Chorsgus, and that, during the performances at the Dioeyeis, when discharging his duties, be was insulted and struck by Midias. Demosthenes brought an action against 'indite; for assaulting him in the performance of what was regarded as a religious duty, and thus 3lidias was involved in a prosecution for sacrilege. Demosthenes obtained a verdict. The extant oration against Midias was written three years afterwards.
The first speech on a public affair that remains, and probably the first which Demosthenes published, is that on the Symmorim, which was delivered B.C. 354. A few words will be necessary to explain the state of parties at the time.
About ten years previous to this oration the power of Sparta had been broken by Thebes, who in her turn sank into inactivity after the death of her great general Epaminondas in the battle of Mantinea, B.c. 362: three years after this time Philip of Macedon began his reign. His first step, after defeating two other claimants to the throne and compelling the Preonians and Illyriaua to submission, was to possess himself of several Greek colonies to the south of Macedonia, and to interfere in a war of succession then going on in Thessaly. Athena, not yet recovered from the effects of the Peloponnesian war, had been engaged from u.c. 357 to B.C. 355 in a war with her allies,
lihodes, Chios Cos, and Byzantium, which ended iu their throwing off the yoke under which she had held them, about a year before the delivery of the oration on the Symmories. There were, as usual, two parties in Athens. With one of these, which was headed by Phocion, l'hilip had an intimate connection, and this party was not unfavourable to his designs, either through want of energy or from believing that they would do Greece no injury. The other party, called by Mitford the War Party,' was headed by a profligate general named Chares, and was that to which Demosthenes was afterwards attached.
Perhaps the moat important event of the time was the war occasioned by the seizure of the temple of Apollo at Delphi by the Phocians. There had been a dispute as to the sacred land, which had long belonged to Phocis, and the Amphictyonic council asserting their claim, Philomelus the Phocisn seized the temple, and its treasures were freely used in the war, which continued till sic. 346. It was through this war that Philip contrived to identify his interests with that of the Amphictyona at large, and at last to be elected their leader ; and hence we must generally consider the leading parties iu the struggle between Philip and Demosthenes to have been the Amphictyonic states and Macedon on the one side, against Athens and occasionally Persia on the other ; while we must remember that in Thebea, the principal Amphictyonic state, there was a strong party against Philip, as in Athens there was one equally strong for him.
Under these circumstances, Demosthenes made his oration on the Symmorize, which in part relates to a question of finance, but more particularly to a scheme then on foot for sending Clarer; with an armament into Asia against the Persians; a project utterly preposterous, as Athens had enough to do to hold her ground against the refractory colonies and subject states, without engaging in other undertakings. Against this measure Demosthenes directed his eloquence with success, and this may be considered the beginning of his struggle with Philip, for the Macedonian cause would have gained by any loss which Athena might sustain. About a year after, Philip began to take en active part in the affairs of the Sacred War, as that in Phocis is usually called. He defeated the Phocian alliance, and only retired, as it should seem, to avoid any rupture with Athens, such as might preclude all hope of adding her to the number of his auxiliaries. At this juncture Demosthenes. who had been opposed to the former war, joined Charea, and delivered his firet Philippic.