Abstract
This paper analyses Demosthenes’ self-fashioning in the Philippic cycle as rhetorical process, focussing crucially on the role of foresight as constituent of symbouleutic authority and justification for his uncompromising political line. To legitimate his role as adviser, Demosthenes needed continually to proclaim his own competence. In the early days and before Philip was a major issue, Demosthenes constructs his foresight through “entechnic” arguments based on probability. Over time, self-referential passages that invoke his own prior interventions become notable sites of quasi-“atechnic” self-justification. These are further enhanced by a group of mutually reinforcing images that articulate the need for prudent foresight.