William Watson Goodwin, Commentary on Demosthenes: On the Crown

3. διανοίας, spirit (way of think- ing).

4. ἰδίας, δημοσίας: this has no reference to the ordinary distinction of γραφαί and δίκαι, public and private suits, which correspond generally to our criminal and civil processes. Here δίκη has its widest legal sense of lawsuit in general, including both γραφή and δίκη (in its narrower sense). ἴδιαι δίκαι are suits which concern individuals and their ordinary business relations (συμβόλαια), which of course must be judged with reference to special statutes (ἐπὶ ἰδίων νόμων, cf. ἐπ᾽ ἀληθείας, § 22.1), which may change from year to year, and to special facts (ἰδίων ἔργων), without regard to the general policy or the traditions of the state: even criminal suits (γραφαί) which involve nothing more than the acts of individuals would be included here. But δημόσιαι δίκαι are suits like the present one, which involve a judgment on the general policy of statesmen (κοινὰς προαιρέσεις), whose acts are not prescribed by special statutes, but must be governed to a great extent by general principles and traditions of state: these, the orator says, must be judged by reference to the glorious deeds of the past. Demosthenes insists here, as elsewhere, that the only real question involved in this case is that of his own statesmanship and his fidelity to the best traditions of Athens, while Aeschines constantly urges the court to treat it as a common ἰδία δίκη and settle it by reference to ordinary facts and petty details. (See Aesch. 199, 200.) Aeschines saw that here lay his only chance of success in his suit.

8. τῇ βακτηρίᾳ καὶ τῷ συμβόλῳ, his staff and his ticket: each judge received in the morning a staff painted with the same colour as the lintel (σφηνίσκος) of the court house in which he was to sit; after entering the court, he gave up his staff to an officer, and received a ticket (σύμβολον), which entitled him to receive his fee of three obols (δικαστικόν) after his day's service.