A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

Smith, William

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890

(Αἰσίων), an Athenian orator, was a contemporary of Demosthenes, with whom he was educated. (Suidas, s. v. Δημοσθένης.) To what party he belonged during the Macedonian time is uncertain. When he was asked what he thought of the orators of his time. he said, that when he heard the other orators, he admired their beautiful and sublime conversations with the people, but that the speeches of Demosthenes, when read, excelled all others by their skilful construction and their power. (Hermippus, apud Plut. Dem. 10.) Aristotle (Aristot. Rh. 3.10) mentions a beautiful expression of Aesion.

[L.S]