Ghost on the Throne - James S. Romm [154]
13 Quite possibly he colluded: There is no evidence that Aristotle aided Philip in his plans to invade Asia, but some scholars have assumed a collaboration. Anton-Hermann Chroust, who in many writings has stressed the political undertones of Aristotle’s career, has even conjectured that Aristotle first went to Atarneus on Philip’s instructions (“Aristotle and the Foreign Policy of Macedonia,” Review of Politics 34 [1972], pp. 373–76). Though extreme, Chroust’s views have recently received a partial endorsement from Peter Green in “Politics, Philosophy and Propaganda: Hermias of Atarneus and his Friendship with Aristotle” (pp. 29–46, Crossroads of History: The Age of Alexander, eds. Waldemar Heckel and Lawrence A. Tritle [Claremont, Calif. 2003]).
14 an invaluable chronological resource: Ancient historians had no way to establish the dates of events other than by correlating them with the names of victors in the Olympic or Pythian games, or with the names of officials elected at Athens. The accuracy of lists of such names was therefore crucial to historical record keeping of all kinds.
15 Himeraeus: He was later put to death by Antipater (Plutarch Demosthenes 28). The report of the dedicatory stone and its destruction by Himeraeus is related in the twelfth-century Life of Aristotle by Usaibia (17–21), an Arabic text based on lost Greek materials.
16 a die-hard foe: Leosthenes’ antipathy to Alexander, attested by Diodorus (17.111), is surprising in that Leosthenes had almost certainly fought under Alexander in Asia (see L. Tritle, “Alexander and the Greeks,” pp. 129–30). Perhaps Leosthenes had witnessed the massacre of Greek mercenaries ordered by Alexander after the battle of the Granicus in 334.
17 (almost certainly) Aristotle’s nephew: He is identified by Diodorus as “Nicanor of Stagira,” and we know that Aristotle’s sister, a Stagirite, had a son named Nicanor. Aristotle gives directives to his “son” Nicanor in his will, assuming the document recorded by Diogenes Laertius is authentic.
18 “King Alexander”: Exact wording of the decree is preserved by Diodorus 18.8.4.
19 Some sort of trade-off: The negotiations between Demosthenes and the Macedonians can only be guessed at on the basis of the later actions of both parties. There is much uncertainty about Demosthenes’ goals and policies during this confused period, but I have inclined toward the view of Badian and Worthington, that Demosthenes was in essence agreeing to abandon his opposition to Alexander in exchange for a chance to win back Samos. Like many politicians, he appears to have started out his career in a radical posture but grew more pragmatic with age.
20 sore throat: The anecdote is related by Plutarch, Demosthenes 25.5. Plutarch gives an amusing but exaggerated account of Demosthenes’ susceptibility to bribes.
21 had been bribed: The motives for Demosthenes’ indictment may have had little to do with his guilt or innocence; there were complex maneuverings at work, only dimly understood today. Nonetheless, the fact that Demosthenes had a reputation for venality, as Plutarch’s life makes clear, made his political lynching easier to accomplish.
22 partly recovered: Hyperides has been the greatest beneficiary of any classical author of chance textual recoveries. His speeches were totally unknown to the modern world until the mid-nineteenth century; since then, several have been found in papyrus scrolls (most likely unearthed from tombs by plunderers), and in the last few years two more have turned up in recoverable form in the so-called Archimedes palimpsest (http://www.archimedespalimpsest.org).
23 Alexander had rejected: Plutarch (Alexander 28) preserves a snippet of a letter of Alexander’s, believed by some to be genuine, explaining to the Athenians his reasons for denying their request.
24 Those with money: Diodorus (18.10.1) attests to the class divisions in the attitudes toward the war, and his testimony is affirmed by Green (“Occupation and Co-existence,