Demosthenes
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Demosthenes. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
an illustrious orator of ancient Greece, born in 383 or 384 b. C. In 359, to assist in his own support, he began preparing speeches to be used in public suits. In 351 he began a long and memorable conflict against Philip the Macedonian. His speeches, intended to arouse the Greek nation to military zeal, called "Philippics," are among the finest specimens of ancient oratory. In 346 he was one of the peace ambassadors who treated with Philip. During the period from 346 to 340 he was engaged in forming an anti-Macedonian party, and in his attacks upon Æschines for betraying Athens in the peace negotiations with Philip. In 340 war again broke out, ending in the great defeat of the Greeks at Chæronea. It having been proposed by the citizens to present Demosthenes with a crown, in honor of his services to the State, his enemies seized on the opportunity to accuse him. He defended himself on his trial, in a memorable oration "On the Crown," one of his greatest productions. In 324 Harpalus, the State treasurer of Alexander the Great, who had succeeded Philip in Macedonia, fled to Athens with a great sum of money, which was placed in the Athenian_public treasury under the charge of Demosthenes. A portion of it disappeared, and Demosthenes was accused of the embezzlement, and condemned and sentenced to prison, but, escaping, went into exile. On the death of Alexander, 323 b. c., he was recalled, and led an un- DEMOSTHENES successful attempt to throw off the Macedonian yoke. After the defeat of the revolting army at Crannon, he fled to Calauria, where he was captured by the Macedonians, and poisoned himself, in 322 B. C.
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
A celebrated Athenian, was the son of a rich blacksmith, and Cleobule. He became a pupil of Plato , and applied himself to study the orations of Isocrates . At the age of seventeen he gave early proof of his eloquence and abilities in displaying them against his guardians, from whom he obtained restitution of the greater part of his estate. To correct the stammering of voice under which he labored he spoke with pebbles in his mouth. In the battle of Cheronaea he evinced cowardice, and saved his life by flight. He ended his life by taking poison, which he always carried in a quill, in the sixtieth year of his age, B. C. 322.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The outline of Demosthenes' career that Collier's gave in 1921 still stands: born about 384 BC, the Philippics, Chaeronea in 338, and death by poison at Calauria in 322. What has shifted is confidence in the anecdotes. The pebbles in the mouth, the pupilship under Plato and the cowardice in the battle line all come from Plutarch and from hostile Athenian opponents such as Aeschines, and modern scholars treat them as literary tradition rather than fact — his actual teacher is usually given as the speechwriter Isaeus. One point in the 1921 account is now normally corrected: the great speech "On the Crown" (De Corona, 330 BC) was delivered not at his own trial but in defence of Ctesiphon, who had proposed the honour for him, and of the roughly sixty speeches handed down under his name a number are judged not to be his.
Written for this edition, 2026.