Prooemia

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Fifty-six passages bearing the collective title prooimia (or prooimia dēmēgorika) — (demegoric) prologues or preambles, also Exordia — are extant. These were openings of Demosthenes' speeches, collected by Callimachus for the Library of Alexandria, and preserved in several of the manuscripts that contain Demosthenes' speeches. The passages vary somewhat in length, though most are about one page or slightly less. The majority of the prologues bear no relation to Demosthenes' other extant speeches (only five correspond closely to the beginnings of five of Demosthenes' Assembly speeches), but we have only seventeen public orations by him. The topics that arise vary considerably, and there is no apparent order. The prologues give us insights into the Athenians' attitude to their democracy as well as to the reactions and even expectations of an audience at an Assembly. Callimachus believed that Demosthenes composed them, as also did Julius Pollux and Stobaeus. Modern scholars are divided: Some of them reject them, while others believe they were genuine.