Demosthenes

Demosthenes started as a young man suing his guardians at twenty to recover what remained of his inheritance, teaching himself rhetoric by studying the masters. He turned professional, writing speeches for others in private lawsuits, until politics pulled him in. In 354 BC he began speaking publicly, and from there devoted his best years to rallying Athens against Philip II of Macedon's southward creep, idealizing his city and pushing for alliances to preserve Greek independence. After Philip's death he led Athens's uprising against Alexander the Great; it failed, and the backlash was brutal. When Alexander's successor Antipater sent men to arrest him, Demosthenes took his own life rather than be captured. Cicero called him the one who "excels alone," and Longinus compared him to a thunderbolt - the standard by which all other orators were measured.