( or Vit. X. Oral. p. 848d.; l.c. p. 849d.) states that he sometimes gave way to his passions, which were not always
of the noblest kind. (Comp. Bibl. Cod. 260, p. 487.) He
began his career by conducting lawsuits of others in the courts of justice. (Plut. l.c. p. 448e.) Our information respecting his life is very meagre, but it
seems that he first displayed his patriotic feelings in l.c. p. 849f.; comp. Dem. de Coron. p. 259,
in Mid. p. 566.) In the same spirit he acted on an embassy to Rhodes
(Plut. l.c. p. 850a.), in de Fals. Leg. p. 276), in the expedition against Byzantium, in c. Leocrat. § 41; Dem. c. Aristoy. ii. p. 803; Plut. p. 848f.) The plan was not carried into effect, on account
of the general despondency which then prevailed at Athens, but the good intentions of
Hyperides were rewarded and acknowledged by his fellow-citizens; for when the sycophant
Aristogeiton brought an accusation against him for his proposal, the people acquitted him.
Philip's death inspired the patriots with new hopes, and Hyperides, though we have no express
testimony for it, must be supposed to have joined those who were resolved to shake off the
Macedonian yoke, and with this view formed an alliance with Thebes, for he was afterwards one
of those whose surrender was demanded by Alexander. (Arrian, Encom. Dem. 31.) Plutarch states that
Hyperides was found to have been the only man who had not received any money from Harpalus ;
and it may therefore be that he was compelled to act the part of an accuser, or he may have
hoped to be able to give to the matter a more favourable turn for Demosthenes, by coming
forward as accuser. But this whole transaction is involved in great obscurity; all we can
safely say is, that about this time there was a sort of rupture between the two orators, but
whether it existed previous to the arrival of Harpalus, or whether it was brought about by the
disputes respecting Harpalus, is uncertain. Afterwards, however, Hyperides and Demosthenes
became reconciled. (Plut. p. 849b.) His political conduct, however, was not affected by the
enmity with Demosthenes. When the news of Alexander's death arrived at Athens, Hyperides is said to have proposed that a crown
should be given to Iollas, who was believed to have poisoned the king (Plut. p. 849e, Alex. 77; Arrian, Vit. X. Orut. pp. 848, e, 849, b; Justin, Dem. 28,
Vit. X. Orat. p. 849; Phot. Bibl. Cod. 265.)
Hyperides must have appeared before the public on many occasions, both in the courts of
justice and in the assembly of the people. The number of orations attributed to him was
seventy-seven, but even the ancient critics rejected twenty-five of them as spurious. (Plut.
p. 849d.) The titles of sixty-one (for more are not known) are enumerated by Westermann (Gesch. d. Griech. Beredtsamk. p. 307, &c.). The most important among
them appear to have been the de Cooron. p. 271; Plut. pp. 840, c, 850, a), the Floril. 124.36), the orations against Aristogeiton, Demades, Demosthenes,
and for Phryne. But of all these orations none has come down to us, and all we have is a
considerable number of fragments, few of which are of any Some critics have supposed that the
oration Praef. ad
Salvianum), who lived at the beginning of the seventeenth century, states that he
himself saw at Ofen, in the library of king Mathias Corvinus, a complete copy of Hyperides,
with numerous scholia. Taylor (Praef. ad Demosth. vol. iii.) likewise
states that he saw a MS. containing some orations of Hyperides, but nothing has yet been
published, and it seems that Brassicanus as well as Taylor was mistaken.
As therefore we have nothing to form an independent opinion on the merits of Hyperides as
an orator, we must acquiesce in the judgment which some of the ancients have pronounced upon
him. That he was regarded as a great orator is attested by the fact of his speeches being
incorporated in the canon of the ten Attic orators, and of several distinguished grammarians,
such as Didymus of Alexandria and Aelius Harpocration, having written commentaries upon them.
(Harpocrat. s. v.
s. v.
Dinarch. 1; Longin. de Sublim. 34.1, &c.) His delivery is
said to have been wanting in liveliness. (Plut. p. 850a.) His style and diction were pure
Attic, though not quite free from a certain mannerism, especially in certain words; in the
selection and arrangement of his words he is said to have been less careful. (de Form.
Orat. 2.11 ; Dionys. Dinarch. 7; Longin. l.c.) He treated the subjects under discussion with great skill and a ready wit, and,
although he sometimes had the appearance of carelessness, the exposition of his subuject and
the argumentation are spoken of as deserving of imitation. (Cic. Orat.
31, de Orat. 3.7; Hermog. l.c.; Dionys. Din. 5, 6.) But his orations were distinguished above all by their
exquisite elegance and gracefulness, which were calculated to produce a momentary rather than
a lasting and moral impression. In his private life, Hyperides seems to have been less above
censure than in his political life, for his loose conduct was attacked by Timocles and
Philetaerus, two comic poets of the time. (Athen. viii. pp. 341, 342, xiii. p. 590.) He seems
also to have been particularly partial to the fair sex, and that at the expense of his own
son Glaucippus.
Alciphr. Epist. 30-32; comp. Westermann, Ibid.
§§ 60, 61; G. Kiessling, de Hyperide Orat. Att. Commentat.
II., Hildburghausen, 1837, 4to.; Droysen, Gesch. des Heilenism.
vol. i. pp. 70, 705, &c.