Description: Demosthenes (384-322 BC), orator at Athens, was a pleader in law courts who also became a champion of Athenian greatness and Greek resistance to Philip of Macedon. His steadfastness, pungent argument, and control of language gained him early reputation as the best of Greek orators, and his works provide vivid pictures of contemporary life.
Brief description: Augustus Taber Murray (1866-1940) was Professor of Greek at Stanford University.