Pericles

He had also, as it would appear, a certain weakness of voice and indistinctness of speech and shortness of breath which disturbed the sense of what he said by disjoining his sentences.

And finally, when he had forsaken the assembly and was wandering about dejectedly in the Piraeus, Eunomus the Thracian, who was already a very old man, caught sight of him and upbraided him because, although he had a style of speaking which was most like that of Pericles, he was throwing himself away out of weakness and lack of courage, neither facing the multitude with boldness nor preparing his body for these forensic contests, but suffering it to wither away in slothful neglect.

At another time, too, they say, when he had been rebuffed by the people and was going off homewards disconcerted and in great distress, Sotirus the actor, who was a familiar acquaintance of his, followed after and went indoors with him.

Demosthenes lamented to him that although he was the most laborious of all the orators and had almost used up the vigour of his body in this calling, he had no favour with the people, but debauchees, sailors, and illiterate fellows were listened to and held the bema, while he himself was ignored.

Another circumstance, too, is made a proof of his lack of courage for an emergency, namely, that when he was interrupted by the clamours of the people, Demades often rose and spoke off-hand in his support, but he never rendered such a service to Demades.

How then, some might say, could Aeschines call him a man of most astonishing boldness in his speeches? And how was it that when Python of Byzantium was inveighing with much boldness and a great torrent of words against the Athenians, Demosthenes alone rose up and spoke against him? Or how did it happen that when Lamachus the Muranian had written an encomium on Kings Philip and Alexander, in which many injurious things were said of Thebes and Olympus, and while he was reading it aloud at Olympia, Demosthenes came forward and rehearsed with historical proofs all the benefits which the people of Thebes and Chalcidice had conferred upon Greece, and on the other hand all the evils of which the flatterers of the Macedonians had been the cause, and thereby so turned the minds of the audience that the sophist was terrified at the outcry against him and slunk away from the festival of Semblage.

But although Demosthenes, as it would appear, did not regard the other characteristics of Pericles as suitable for himself, he admired and sought to imitate the formality of his speech and bearing, as well as his refusal to speak suddenly or on every subject that might present itself, as if his greatness was due to these things, that he by no means sought the reputation which is won in a sudden emergency, nor did he often of his own free will stake his influence upon chance.

However, those orations which were spoken offhand by him had more courage and boldness than those which he wrote out.

But he was also able to go into his study at night and remind himself of a bigger perspective.

I think it's Pericles in his great funeral speech where he says that you need to be involved.

And then you have other people like Diogenes, the cynic, who just are dropouts in life.

I think that Boethius would not approve of that at all, even though he does actually mention the cynics from time to time.