Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

​Demetrius the son of Phanostratus, of Phalerum. He was a pupil of Theophrastus; and by speaking before the Athenian assembly he governed the city for ten years, and was honored with three hundred and sixty bronze statues, most of which represented him on horseback, in chariots, and in pairs of horses, completed in not even three hundred days; so great was the zeal shown for him. Demetrius of Magnesia says in his work On Men of the Same Name that he began his political career when Harpalus arrived in Athens having fled from Alexander. He governed his fatherland with many admirable measures; for he increased the city both in revenues and public works, although he was not of noble birth.

​For he came from the household of Conon, as Favorinus says in the first book of his Memorabilia; nevertheless, he lived with Lamia, a citizen woman and of noble birth, who was his mistress, just as the same author says in his first book. But he also records in his second book that he submitted to the desires of Cleon. Didymus, in his Table Talk, says that he was also called 'Fair-Eyelids' and 'Lampito' after a certain courtesan. It is said that having lost his eyesight in Alexandria, he recovered it again by the grace of Sarapis; whence he also composed the paeans that are sung down to the present day. Though he was exceedingly illustrious among the Athenians, he too was nevertheless overshadowed by that envy which consumes all things.

​For having been plotted against by certain people, he was condemned to death in his absence. They were not, however, able to seize his person, but discharged their venom upon the bronze, pulling down his statues and selling some, sinking others in the sea, and cutting up others into chamber pots; for this too is said. Only one is preserved on the Acropolis. But Favorinus says in his Miscellaneous History that the Athenians did this at the command of King Demetrius. Moreover, they inscribed 'lawlessness' upon the year of his magistracy, as Favorinus states.

​Hermippus says that after the death of Cassander, fearing Antigonus, he came to Ptolemy Soter; and while spending a considerable time there, he advised Ptolemy, among other things, to confer the royal power on his children by Eurydice. But since the king was not persuaded and handed over the diadem to his son by Berenice, Demetrius, after that king's death, was deemed fit by the new ruler to be kept under guard in the countryside until some decision should be made concerning him. There he lived rather despondently; and somehow while asleep, bitten on the hand by an asp, he lost his life. And he is buried in the Busirite nome near Diospolis.

​And we ourselves composed an epigram upon him: 'An asp destroyed the wise Demetrius, having a copious venom that could not be cleansed, flashing forth not light from its eyes, but black Hades.' Heraclides, in his epitome of the Successions of Sotion, says that when Ptolemy wished to yield the kingdom to Philadelphus, Demetrius tried to dissuade him, saying: 'If you give it to another, you will not have it yourself.' And at the time when he was being slanderously accused in Athens—for I learn this also—Menander the comic poet came near to being put on trial for no other reason than that he was a friend of his; but Telesphorus, the nephew of Demetrius, successfully interceded for him.

​In the number of his books and the tally of lines he surpassed almost all the Peripatetics of his time, being well educated and of wider experience than anyone else. Of these works some are historical, some political, some on poets, some rhetorical, collections of public speeches and embassies, and further, collections of Aesop's Fables and many others. They are as follows: On Legislation at Athens, five books; On the Constitutions of Athens, two books; On Popular Leadership, two books; On Politics, two books; On Laws, one book; On Rhetoric, two books; On Generalship, two books.