Ctesiphon proposed a resolution to honor Demosthenes with a golden crown for his services to the homeland. Aeschines challenged the resolution as illegal. Demosthenes responds with the present speech, an excellent example of his rhetorical skill and his patriotism.

Demosthenes was born in 384 BC in Athens. At a young age, he was orphaned and placed under the guardianship of trustees, whom, upon reaching adulthood, he legally pursued for mismanagement of his property. He initially worked as a speechwriter, entering the political arena in 354 BC, where he excelled as a leader of the anti-Macedonian faction.

However, the Battle of Chaeronea marked the end of his political career. His involvement in the case of Arpalus (324) led to him being accused of bribery: he was convicted, fled, but managed to return to Athens and lead new anti-Macedonian movements. Failure once again led him to exile and persecution; faced with the danger of capture, he committed suicide (322 BC) by drinking hemlock on the island of Calauria (Poros).

As a rhetorician, Demosthenes delivered masterful examples of political and private speeches, becoming a model for many of his successors, both Greeks and Romans. As a politician, navigating between pragmatism and utopia, he was the most fervent proponent of faith in Athenian greatness, perhaps the brightest figure among the vanquished of History.

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