"On the False Embassy" (Ancient Greek: Περὶ τῆς παραπρεσβείας) is the name of two famous judicial orations, both delivered in 343 BC by the prominent Athenian statesmen and fierce opponents, Demosthenes and Aeschines.
Since 357 BC, when Philip II of Macedon seized Amphipolis and Pydna, Athens was formally in a state of war against the Macedonians.
[1] In 347 BC, an Athenian delegation, comprising Demosthenes, Aeschines, and Philocrates, was officially sent to Pella to negotiate a peace treaty with the King.
Nevertheless, when an Athenian delegation, comprising once again Demosthenes, Aeschines and Philocrates, travelled in 346 BC to Pella to put Philip under oath for the final conclusion of the treaty, the King of Macedon was campaigning abroad.
Aeschines counter attacked by claiming that his accuser Timarchus had forfeited the right to speak before the people as a consequence of youthful debauches which had left him with the reputation of being a whore.
Timarchus had been the eromenos of many men in the port city of Piraeus, a fact which had led to the popular impression that he had done so not for noble pederastic reasons but simply out of love of money.
According to the same scholar, "on these occasions Demosthenes generated a war of words so intense and absolute that his two speeches are among the liveliest, most extraordinary examples of combative political argument ever produced.