GREAT MEN'S BODIES
And his walking uphill, and running; his practice in that subterranean study, his following the sound advice of Eunous and preparing his body by exercise, were evidently attended to; or he never could have done what he did; or have spoken as he did until, one writer—after defining force to be "partly a physical product and partly mental"; it is the life of oratory which gives it breath and fire and power; it is the electrical element, that which smites, penetrates, and thrills"—says: "Demosthenes, if we may judge by an oft-quoted saying of an enemy, must have had an almost superhuman force." "What!" exclaimed Æschines to the Rhodians, when they applauded the recital of the speech which caused his banishment—"what if you had heard the monster himself?" President Bashford, of Ohio Wesleyan University, testifies to the great labor Demosthenes must have bestowed upon his speeches in these apt words: "When I began the study of Demosthenes oration on the Crown, I had the vague impression that eloquence was an unearthly quality, gained by some sort of magnetism. I was astonished to find this speech so packed with knowledge with the subject in hand that Demosthenes seemed to know all about the theme; and his view appeared to be the only correct opinion. In the next place, I was equally astonished to find the argument stated so simply that even a child could not fail to understand it.
"One day in my astonishment at this discovery I broke out in the class with the remark, 'There is no trick at all about Demosthenes' eloquence; I could make as good a speech myself if I only knew as much.' 'Doubtless you could,' replied the Professor, 'if you only knew as much.'"
And that the body of Demosthenes was a good one, and equal to the great demands he made upon it, is seen from the celebrated full-length statue in the Vatican, not deep-chested like Webster, but a tall, lean, muscular man, of strong, wiry, Gladstone-like arms, cordy neck, erect, masculine-looking trunk, and strong, well-set legs. Æschines called him a monster. Monsters are not feeble folk. It takes force to make a monster; and the almost superhuman force of this match-
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