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9781666920055

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Can the great orator Demosthenes have been a student in Plato's Academy? And not just he, but also his great rival Aeschines and the renowned speakers Hyperides and Lycurgus? To most scholars of Plato and Demosthenes, such a connection is unheard of - in the literal sense of being entirely unfamiliar. Yet ancient testimonies assert or imply as much (Cicero in his Brutus, the treatise on Lives of the Ten Orators, and many more). How can this be, given Plato's disdain for rhetoric? And what has Plato to do with practical politics in Athens? In this carefully reasoned, learned, and passionate book, the result of years of research on Plato as educator, William Altman makes a powerful case for understanding the political activities of Demosthenes and the others as a return to the Cave - exactly what Plato urged on those who had completed his curriculum. It is required reading for anyone interested in Plato, Demosthenes, and the history of their times. -- David Konstan, New York University

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William H. F. Altman is an independent scholar.

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