This is the first commentary in any language on Aeschines' Against Timarchos, the prosecution speech in the politically crucial trial of 346/5BC. The case in essence was that Timarchos was legally ineligible to engage in active politics because he had engaged in improper homosexual relationships in the past and had wasted his inheritance on debauchery. The speech is our most important source for Athenian legal sanctions and moral attitudes concerning same-sex relations, and has been the focus of intense recent debates on the nature of Greek sexualities and on the relationship between sex, politics, and cultural life. It illuminates Athenian politics at the time when Athens faced the challenge to her independence from Philip of Macedon. It is a rhetorical masterpiece of misrepresentation, which persuaded the jury to convict Timarchos despite the fact that Aeschines had virtually no evidence of his misdeeds. This book provides a new translation, a full introduction, and a commentary, all accessible to those without knowledge of Greek. The introduction explores the main issues of the case, including Aeschines' career, Athenian laws and attitudes relating to homosexual relations, and the reasons for Aeschines' success: it is suggested that the verdict reflects the same moral and cultural unease in Athens which was shortly to produce the attempts at political, social, and cultural renewal associated with the age of Lycurgus. The fully documented commentary pays attention to the rhetorical strategy of the speech, explores important aspects of the language used, especially in relation to the moral denunciation of Timarchos' sexual and other malpractices, and explains all references to historical events and people.

Aeschines' successful prosecution against Timarchos of 346/5 BC is our best evidence for Athenian laws and moral attitudes concerning homosexuality, and for Athenians' moral expectations of their politicians. Though much discussed in recent years, the speech has never received a proper commentary. Nick Fisher provides a new translation, a fully detailed commentary, and an introduction which explores in depth all the political and sexual issues. It is fully accessible to those without knowledge of Greek.

This is the third volume in the Oratory of Classical Greece series. Published over several years, the series presents all of the surviving speeches from the late fifth and fourth centuries B.C. in new translations prepared by classical scholars who are at the forefront of the discipline. These translations are especially designed for the needs and interests of today's undergraduates, Greekless scholars in other disciplines, and the general public. Classical oratory is an invaluable resource for the study of ancient Greek life and culture. The speeches offer evidence on Greek moral views, social and economic conditions, political and social ideology, and other aspects of Athenian culture that have been largely ignored: women and family life, slavery, and religion, to name just a few. This volume contains the three surviving speeches of Aeschines (390-? B.C.). His speeches all revolve around political developments in Athens during the second half of the fourth century B.C. and reflect the internal political rivalries in an Athens overshadowed by the growing power of Macedonia in the north. The first speech was delivered when Aeschines successfully prosecuted Timarchus, a political opponent, for having allegedly prostituted himself as a young man. The other two speeches were delivered in the context of Aeschines' long-running political feud with Demosthenes. As a group, the speeches provide important information on Athenian law and politics, Demosthenes and his career, sexuality and social history, and the historical rivalry between Athens and Macedonia.