Plutarch closes his paired biography of the two greatest orators of antiquity by weighing their styles, their money, their exiles, and their deaths against each other.
This short comparison is the formal synkrisis that Plutarch appends to his paired Life of Demosthenes and Life of Cicero, the standard device by which his Parallel Lives close out each matched set of a Greek and a Roman statesman. Rather than retelling the careers already narrated, Plutarch sets the two men side by side point by point: their oratorical training, the character of their speeches, their handling of money and public office, their conduct in exile, and finally the manner of their deaths.
The comparison moves through contrasts rather than a continuous story. Demosthenes is praised for a style stripped of ornament, earnest and grim, produced by relentless discipline rather than natural gift; Cicero is credited with a wider learning and a taste for philosophy, but faulted for a love of mockery that slid into buffoonery, as when he needled Cato's Stoicism in court until Cato dryly remarked, "What a ridiculous consul we have, gentlemen." Plutarch weighs their self-praise, their integrity around bribes and gifts, their behavior as provincial governors, and the very different quality of their two exiles, before ending on the deaths of each man: Cicero cut down while being carried about helplessly by his servants, Demosthenes taking poison at an altar rather than fall into Antipater's hands.
Historically the passage matters because it is Plutarch's own explicit statement of method and judgment, not merely a modern reader's inference from two separate biographies. It shows a Greek writer under Roman rule directly comparing a Roman icon of the Republic to Athens' greatest orator, using shared Greek philosophical and rhetorical categories (skill, virtue, self-control, statesmanship) to render a verdict, and it captures a moment, citing Julius Caesar's own memoirs to Agrippa and Maecenas, where Plutarch anchors his account in primary sources close to the events themselves.
“Demosthenes strained toward oratory every gift he had, whether from nature or from training, surpassing in vividness and force those who competed with him in contests and lawsuits, in grandeur and magnificence the display-orators, and in precision and technique the sophists”
— Comparison Of Demosthenes And Cicero
“Cato, smiling quietly, said to those sitting near him, "What a ridiculous consul we have, gentlemen."”
— Comparison Of Demosthenes And Cicero
“Cicero's immoderate self-praise in his speeches revealed a certain lack of self-control in his desire for reputation, as when he shouted that arms ought to yield to the toga and the tongue to the triumphal laurel.”
— Comparison Of Demosthenes And Cicero
“Cicero, however, spent his exile idly, sitting in Macedonia, whereas for Demosthenes exile too became a great part of his statesmanship.”
— Comparison Of Demosthenes And Cicero
“admirable was the preparation and keeping of the poison, and admirable its use, since when the god did not grant him sanctuary, he went off as though taking refuge at a greater altar, having freed himself from the weapons and the spearmen, laughing at the cruelty of Antipater.”
— Comparison Of Demosthenes And Cicero
It is Plutarch's short concluding synkrisis, the paired-comparison essay he attaches to the end of matched Greek and Roman biographies in the Parallel Lives. Here it follows his separate Life of Demosthenes and Life of Cicero, weighing the two orators against each other point by point rather than telling new events.
Plutarch does not simply crown one winner. He credits Demosthenes with a disciplined, unornamented force built through training, and Cicero with a broader learning and philosophical range, but he also faults Cicero's fondness for mockery, noting it sometimes tipped into buffoonery unbecoming a statesman.
During a trial, Cicero, as consul, mocked Cato's Stoic paradoxes to make the courtroom laugh at Cato's expense. Cato's dry retort, "What a ridiculous consul we have, gentlemen," is used by Plutarch as evidence of Cicero's habit of sacrificing gravity for a laugh, even at the cost of his own dignity.
He draws a sharp contrast: Cicero's exile is described as passive, spent idly sitting in Macedonia, while Demosthenes' exile became an active continuation of his political life, as he traveled among Greek cities rallying resistance to Macedonian envoys and later resumed his campaign against Antipater.
He treats their deaths as the final test of character. Cicero, an old man losing his nerve, is carried about helplessly by his servants trying to flee before being killed; Demosthenes is shown composing and keeping poison, then using it deliberately at an altar rather than be taken, which Plutarch calls admirable.
Plutarch reports accusations against both. Demosthenes faced reproach for secretly writing speeches for opposing parties and was convicted in the Harpalus affair involving the king's money; Cicero, by contrast, is said to have refused money offered to him as a Sicilian official, as proconsul, and even when exiled friends urged him to accept it.
Plutarch notes that both Demosthenes and Cicero lent their oratorical skill to military men in power, Demosthenes to Chares, Diopeithes, and Leosthenes, and Cicero to Pompey and the young Caesar, citing this detail from memoirs Caesar himself dedicated to Agrippa and Maecenas.
Plutarch says Cicero's consulship, in which he was given the effective authority of a dictator against Catiline's conspirators, bore witness to Plato's prophecy that cities would find relief from evils only when great power and wisdom met together with justice in the same persons.
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