others to Philip's court, he was the constant advocate of peace,
Demosthenes and AEschines now became the leading speakers on their
respective sides, and the heat of political animosity soon degenerated
into personal hatred. In 343 Demosthenes charged AEschines with having
received bribes from Philip during a second embassy; and the speech in
which he brought forward this accusation was answered in another by
AEschines. The result of this charge is unknown, but it seems to have
detracted from the popularity of AEschines. We have already adverted
to his impeachment of Ctesiphon, and the celebrated reply of
Demosthenes in his speech DE CORONA. After the banishment of AEschines
on this occasion (B.C. 330), he employed himself in teaching rhetoric
at Rhodes. He died in Samos in 314. As an orator he was second only
to Demosthenes.

Of the life of his great rival, DEMOSTHENES, we have already given some
account. The verdict of his contemporaries, ratified by posterity, has
pronounced Demosthenes the greatest; orator that ever lived. The
principal element of his success must be traced in his purity of
purpose, which gave to his arguments all the force of conscientious
conviction. The effect of his speeches was still further heightened by
a wonderful and almost magic force of diction. The grace and vivacity
of his delivery are attested by the well-known anecdote of AEschines,
when he read at Rhodes his speech against Ctesiphon. His audience
having expressed their surprise that he should have been defeated after
such an oration "You would cease to wonder," he remarked, "if you had
heard Demosthenes."

The remaining three Attic orators, viz. LYCURGUS, HYPERIDES, and
DINARCHUS, were contemporaries of Demosthenes. Lycurgus and Hyperides
both belonged to the anti-Macedonian party, and were warm supporters of
the policy of Demosthenes. Dinarchus, who is the least important of
the Attic orators, survived Demosthenes, and was a friend of Demetrius
Phalereus.

The history of Greek PHILOSOPHY, like that of Greek poetry and history,
began in Asia Minor. The earliest philosopher of distinction was
THALES of Miletus, who was born about B.C. 640, and died in 554 at the
age of 90. He was the founder of the IONIC school of philosophy, and
to him were traced the first beginnings of geometry and astronomy. The
main doctrine of his philosophical system was, that water, or fluid
substance was the single original element from wh