Demosthenes of Athens and the Fall of Classical Greece

I'm most of the way through this enjoyable book by Ian Worthington.  I've skipped ahead a bit chronologically, to the very end of the Classical era, but I've learned its best to mix things up and bounce around to keep things interesting.

What I've learned of Demosthenes has surprised me.  I've always known him as the uber-antagonist of Philip II of Macedon, and that has remained true.

But what has surprised me is that Worthington writes of Demosthenes as a politician, angling for attention and power in the Athenian assembly, rather than a sage prophet or philosopher, rousing Athens to rise against Philip.

Worthington points out that Demosthenes struggled as an orator in the Assembly for many years.  Although he became wealthy as a speech writer in the law courts, he failed to gain attention, support or accolades in the Assembly, with failed speech after failed speech.

Even his early Philippics failed to rouse the Assembly.  Philip simply wasn't perceived as a primary threat to Athens, with the bulk of the Assembly much more afraid of threats near the Chersonese that could stop the grain supply from the Black Sea region.

But Philip changed all of that when he started motioning towards central Greece.  Philip's threat came to Demosthenes, rather than the other way around.  Only when Philip actually bore down on central Greece did Demosthenes become the most powerful politician in Athens.

A really informative book that has refreshed me on Philip, Alexander and the coming Hellenistic age.  

But I'm years away from Alexander, with stacks of reading that remains on the Classical age.