(Δείναρχος).
1. The last and at the same time the least important among the ten Attic orators, was born at Corinth about B. C. 361. (Dionys. Deinarch. 4.) His father's name was Sostratus, or, according to Suidas (s. v. Δείναρχος), Socrates. Though a native of Corinth, he lived at Athens from his early youth. Public oratory there reached its height about this tine, and Deinarchus devoted himself to the study of it with great zeal under the guidance of Theophrastus, though he also profited much by his intercourse with Demetrius Phalereus. (Dionys. l.c. 2; Plut. Vit. X Orat. p. 850; Phot. Bibl. p. 496, ed. Bekker; Suidas, l.c.) As he was a foreigner, and did not possess the Athenian franchise, he was not allowed to come forward himself as an orator on the great questions which then divided public opinion at Athens, and he was therefore obliged to content himself with writing orations for others. He appears to have commenced this career in his twenty-sixth year, about B. C. 336, and as about that time the great Attic orators died away one after another, Deinarchus soon acquired considerable reputation and great wealth. He belonged to the friends of Phocion and the Macedonian party, and took a very active part in the disputes as to whether Harpalus, who had openly deserted the cause of Alexander the Great, should be tolerated at Athens or not. The time of his greatest activity is from B. C. 317 to B. C. 307, during which time Demetrius Phalereus conducted the administration of Athens. But when in B. C. 307 Demetrius Poliorcetes advanced against Athens, and Demetrius Phalereus was obliged to take to flight, Deinarchus, who was suspected on account of his equivocal political conduct, and who was anxious to save his riches, fled to Chalcis in Euboea. It was not till fifteen years after, B. C. 292, that, owing to the exertions of his friend Theophrastus, he obtained permission to return to Athens, where he spent the last years of his lift, and died at an advanced age. The last event of his life of which we have any record, is a law-suit which he instituted against his faithless friend, Proxenus, who lead robbed him of his property. But in what manner the suit ended, is unknown. The principal source of information respecting the life of Deinarchus is the treatise of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, from which is derived the greater part of what is preserved in Plutarch (Vit. X Orat. p. 850), Photius (Bibl. p. 496, ed. Bekk), Suidas (l.c. ), and others.