Fighting Philip with Decrees: Demosthenes and the Syndrome of Symbolic Action

Abstract

Demosthenes' Philippic cycle conveys a satirical picture of Athenians trapped in a spiral of symbolic activity: to a demos nostalgic for great-power status but loath to energetic intervention, high-sounding resolutions substitute for low-level responses and by their character as official enactments create the illusion of meaningful engagement. This "syndrome" is a rhetorical scare-image subserving a political agenda. At a time when his influence was still limited, Demosthenes found it expedient to exaggerate the cautious approach of the "peace party" into a "knowing-doing gap" in order to move the audience to accept his own hard line on the Macedonian question.

The Historical Context of the Reply to the Satraps Inscription (IG IV 556)

“…The Athenians, and Demosthenes in particular, were not at all innocent in the failure of the Peace, either. Cawkwell (1963); Trevett (1999), 194 199;Mader (2006). Buckler and Beck (2008), 242 note Philip's specious justifications for war against Perinthus and Byzantium.…”