SOURCE: “When Was Aeschines Born?” in Classical Philology, Vol. 83, No. 3, July, 1988, pp. 211-14.

In the following essay, Harris reveals a possible rhetorical deception on the part of Aeschines regarding the relative ages of Misgolas and Timarchus.

At first glance, the answer to this question appears to be rather simple, for Aeschines himself states quite plainly in his speech against Timarchus (l. 49) that he was then forty-five years old: since the speech was delivered in 346/45 b.c., he would have been born in 391/90 or 390/89.¹ But this is not all that Aeschines says in the passage. He goes on to remind the court that many men do not look as old as their years—Misgolas among them: his youthful appearance notwithstanding, Misgolas is actually the same age as Aeschines himself, who with his gray hair would seem to be much older. This observation leads him to warn the jurors that...