Demosthenian

English[edit]

Demosthenian (comparative more Demosthenian, superlative most Demosthenian)

Pertaining to or characteristic of Demosthenes; Demosthenic.
- 1885, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, “Of the Reply Don Quixote Gave His Censurer, with Other Incidents, Grave and Droll”, in John Ormsby, transl., The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha […] In Four Vols, volume III, London: Smith, Elder & Co. […], →OCLC, part II, pages 354–355:
  ‘But why should I attempt to depict and describe in detail, and feature by feature, the beauty of the peerless Dulcinea, the burden being one worthy of other shoulders than mine, an enterprise wherein the pencils of Parrhasius, Timantes, and Apelles, and the graver of Lysippus ought to be employed, to paint it in pictures and carve it in marble and bronze, and Ciceronian and Demosthenian eloquence to sound its praises?’ / ‘What does Demosthenian mean, Senor Don Quixote?’ said the duchess; ‘it is a word I never heard in all my life.’ / ‘Demosthenian eloquence,’ said Don Quixote, ‘means the eloquence of Demosthenes, as Ciceronian means that of Cicero, who were the two most eloquent orators in the world.’

pertaining to or characteristic of Demosthenes