‘So Mischievous a Beaste‘? The Athenian Demos and its Treatment of its Politicians

Abstract

I take the question in my title from a memorably worded passage in Sir Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Life of Demosthenes 26, where Plutarch is describing Demosthenes' exile in 323 B.C. Demosthenes was now 60 and after more than 30 years of active participation in Athenian political life, he had been condemned by an Athenian court for taking bribes from Harpalus, the late treasurer of Alexander the Great, who had fled to Athens with 700 talents. Demosthenes had been fined 50 talents by the court, and had been put in prison when unable to pay. But he had escaped from prison and now went into voluntary exile. North' Plutarch goes on: