Sibi Mortifera Facundia

[sophia]

is a phrase attributed to Demosthenes. Can anyone help with the translation?

 

[Manus Correctrix]

All online references to that phrase seem to be to the following line in a book called Travels in Northern Greece.

the Athenians, on the death of Alexander, were excited by the “sibi mortifera facundia” of Demosthenes to renew their struggle with Macedonia.

This doesn’t mean that Demosthenes said such a thing (which would certainly have been in Greek anyway), but that he had such a thing.

Mortifera facundia is ‘deadly eloquence’. I don’t know why sibi, ‘for himself’, is there. I imagine it is plucked from some longer quotation, with which the reader is expected to be familiar.

 

[sophia]

All online references to that phrase seem to be to the following line in a book called Travels in Northern Greece.
This doesn’t mean that Demosthenes said such a thing (which would certainly have been in Greek anyway), but that he had such a thing.

Mortifera facundia is ‘deadly eloquence’. I don’t know why sibi, ‘for himself’, is there. I imagine it is plucked from some longer quotation, with which the reader is expected to be familiar.

Thanks for the response. Only 5 min. ago I found out that the phrase goes "Mortifera est facundia" and it probably belongs to Plutarch, Cicero or Juvenal as a comment to Demosthenes' efforts to unite the Greek cities against Philip of Macedon. His orations against them stirred up the cities of Greece and they formed a league against Philip and Demosthenes was so successful that everyone compared him to a one-man-army. But he became so unpopular with the Macedonians that they sent Antipater to arrest and kill him. But Demosthenes killed himself by drinking poison before they could arrest him. So this phrase refers to his eloquence that became deadly to him.

Thanks again. It is great to find people interested in the ancient civilizations.

 

[scrabulista]

torrens dicendi copia multis et sua mortifera est facundia; -- Juvenal, Satires, X. 10.