Demetrius of Phalerum, the regent of Cassander, is reckoned by Quintilian as the last of the orators. Such time as he could spare from the management of the city and the contemplation of the 360 statues erected to him by an admiring or subservient populace,[494] was devoted to the study of philosophy, history and oratory. He wrote more than any other Epicurean on record[495]—philosophical dialogues, historical works, erudite researches, literary and rhetorical studies, speeches, all testified alike to his industry and the wide extent of his interests. His _Rhetoric_, which contained personal reminiscences of Demosthenes, is quoted by Plutarch on that account; his treatise on _Demagogy_ contained his ideas of political science; his history of his regency (περὶ τῆς δεκαετείας) might, if we could recover it, add much to our scanty knowledge of that period. So short are the fragments remaining of his work that we must turn chiefly to Cicero and Quintilian for an estimate of his value. We gather that he was an excellent example of the ‘tempered style,’ excelling in grace and brilliance, but deficient in vigour and in real passion. A philosophical treatment of his subject-matter was one of his marked characteristics.[496] A few facts about his life are known chiefly from Diogenes. He was the son of Phanostratus, an enfranchised slave. He studied under Theophrastus and entered political life about 324 B.C. Belonging to the Macedonian party, he took part in the negotiations after the Lamian war. In 317 B.C., when Phocion was put to death, he fled, but was chosen by the citizens, with the approval of Cassander, to be their governor, and ruled from 317 to 307, when he was superseded by Demetrius Poliorcetes. He retired to Thebes, and twenty years later went to Egypt. Exiled from Alexandria by Philadelphus, he died of a snake-bite in one of the remote demes of Egypt about 280 B.C. Demochares and Charisius belong also to this period; the former, one of the few Athenians who retained any independence of spirit, was a nephew of Demosthenes, whose style he imitated; Charisius imitated and exaggerated the simplicity of Lysias.[497] From this time onward, oratory is practically dead; declamations on fictitious subjects took the place of real speeches in the assembly or the courts; oratory became an element in education and nothing more. We need mention only Hegesias of Magnesia (_c._ 250 B.C.), the founder of what was subsequently known as the ‘Asian’ school of rhetoric, the characteristics of which were affected expression, grotesque metaphor, plays upon words, incongruous rhythms, and general lack of ideas.[498] Dionysius quotes an extract, with the remark that it looks as if it had been written for a joke. Hegesias is important only on account of the debasing influence which he exercised over his Greek and Roman followers. For a genuine revival of oratory we must wait till the last years of the Roman Republic. FOOTNOTES [1] _Iliad_, ix. 443.