Who's Who Ancient Greece: Orators

Aeschines (389-314 BC)

Rhetorician: one versed in the art of rhetoric: in classical oratory: the art of influencing ones hearers, Rhetorical question is designed to create and effect rather than elicit an answer

Born in Athens into a poor family, this self-taught orator was recognized for his good voice, intelligence, and eloquence. His three extant speeches deal with political issues, one of them written in his own defense of charges leveled at him for high treason, for which he was acquitted due to the power of his speech. He was found guilty later in a similar trial, charged by the same adversary, upon which he went to Rhodes, in an act of voluntary exile. His speeches show a fine use of sarcasm and irony.