Selected Speeches (Oxford World's Classics)

Demosthenes was both one of antiquity’s most celebrated orators and a central participant in the political struggles of fourth-century BCE Athens. This Oxford World’s Classics selection ranges across speeches delivered for the Assembly and public trials as well as private and ghost-written court cases, revealing both the techniques of a master speaker and the institutions in which Athenian rhetoric operated.

The political speeches illuminate Athens’ increasingly desperate resistance to Philip II of Macedon, while the forensic works open a window onto property, disputes and everyday legal life. Robin Waterfield provides the translation, with introduction and notes by Chris Carey, giving readers historical context and guidance through Demosthenes’ arguments. The breadth of the selection makes this a valuable primary-source collection for ancient politics, law, rhetoric and the final decades of independent classical Athens.