I can now cite several scholars of the first magnitude whose estimate of Demosthenes agrees in almost every detail with what I had argued in my _History of Greek Literature_. They are H. Weil, in his admirable edition of Demosthenes (Paris, 1886), and Holm in the third volume of his History (1891), especially the passage (pp. 247-9), which shows that there is now a general tendency to judge Demosthenes less leniently than Grote and Schäfer have done. Beloch, Sittl, Spengel, and other considerable critics are quoted in his summary. It is no small satisfaction to me to see the opinions I put forth in the first edition of _Social Life in Greece_ (1871), which were then treated as paradoxes, now adopted, quite independently, by a large body of the best critics. I do not, however, think that they have sufficiently appreciated the low standard of political honesty at Athens, as compared with ours. This affords the best apology for Demosthenes' faults. He was, after all, the child of his time. [148:1] _Demosthenes_, iii. 239 _et passim_: cf. Curtius, G. G. iii. 774 (note 44). [150:1] Finlay even goes so far as to say that the islanders of Hydra, who were certainly the most prominent in the cause of patriotism, were actuated by no higher motives than despair at the loss of the lucrative monopoly they had enjoyed of visiting all the ports of Europe during the great Napoleonic wars under the protection of the neutral flag of Turkey! The patriotism of these people did not include gratitude. [151:1] But according to our evidence, Demosthenes did not deny that he had taken the money; he pleaded as an excuse that he had advanced for the Theoric Fund, for the benefit of the Athenians, twenty talents, and that he had recouped himself for this money. This is the plea put into his mouth by Hypereides (_in Demosth._ 10). Such a defence, which merely amounted to making the Athenian public an unwitting accomplice, is so suicidal in Demosthenes' mouth, that I hesitate to accept it as it stands, though Holm (G. G. iii. 420) does so. [152:1] All the evidence has been justly weighed by Holm, G. G. iii. 420-4, who comes to the same conclusion which I had put forward twenty years ago, long before the recent change of opinion concerning Demosthenes. That the Athenians condemned the orator justly, and to a moderate penalty, can be demonstrated from his own admissions. Political expediencies doubtless secured his conviction; they do not prove it to have been unjust. [152:2] _Pro Flacco_, cap. iv. _Graeca fides_ was a stock phrase. [154:1] Cf. now the sensible remarks of Holm, G. G. 501 _sq._, who criticises this exceedingly studied oratory from the very same standpoint. CHAPTER VIII. ALEXANDER THE GREAT. [Sidenote: The further course of Greek history.]