Sacrifices in Exile and Devoted Care for Thrasylochus — Isocrates, Aegineticus 20–26, Greek & English

§20

μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα φυγῆς ἡμῖν γενομένης ἐκ τῆς πόλεως μετὰ τοιούτου θορύβου καὶ δέους ὥστʼ ἐνίους καὶ τῶν σφετέρων αὐτῶν ἀμελεῖν, οὐδʼ ἐν τούτοις τοῖς κακοῖς ἠγάπησα, εἰ τοὺς οἰκείους τοὺς ἐμαυτοῦ διασῶσαι δυνηθείην,¹ ἀλλʼ εἰδὼς Σώπολιν μὲν ἀποδημοῦντα, αὐτὸν δʼ ἐκεῖνον ἀρρώστως διακείμενον, συνεξεκόμισʼ αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν μητέρα καὶ τὴν ἀδελφὴν καὶ τὴν οὐσίαν ἅπασαν. καίτοι τίνα δικαιότερον αὐτὴν ἔχειν προσήκει ἢ τὸν τότε μὲν συνδιασώσαντα, νῦν δὲ παρὰ τῶν κυρίων εἰληφότα;

After these things, when we were forced to flee from the city with such tumult and fear that some people even neglected their own relatives and property, even in these miseries I was not content if I could save only my own family; but knowing that Sopolis was abroad, and that Thrasylochus himself was in a state of illness, I rescued and brought away with him his mother, his sister, and his entire estate. And yet, who has a better right to hold this property than the one who helped to save it then, and has now received it from those who had the authority to give it?

§21

τὰ μὲν τοίνυν εἰρημένʼ ἐστὶν ἐν οἷς ἐκινδύνευσα μὲν, φλαῦρον δʼ οὐδὲν ἀπέλαυσα· ἔχω δὲ καὶ τοιαῦτʼ εἰπεῖν, ἐξ ὧν ἐκείνῳ χαριζόμενος αὐτὸς ταῖς μεγίσταις συμφοραῖς περιέπεσον. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἤλθομεν εἰς Μῆλον, αἰσθόμενος, ὅτι μέλλοιμεν αὐτοῦ καταμένειν, ἐδεῖτό μου συμπλεῖν εἰς Τροιζῆνα καὶ μηδαμῶς αὐτὸν ἀπολιπεῖν, λέγων τὴν ἀρρωστίαν τοῦ σώματος καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐχθρῶν, καὶ ὅτι χωρὶς ἐμοῦ γενόμενος οὐδὲν ἕξοι χρῆσθαι τοῖς αὑτοῦ πράγμασιν.

Now, the things I have mentioned are those in which I ran risks but suffered no harm; but I can also speak of things from which, in my desire to gratify him, I myself fell into the greatest misfortunes. For when we came to Melos, and he perceived that we intended to remain there, he begged me to sail with him to Troezen and by no means to abandon him, speaking of the illness of his body and the multitude of his enemies, and saying that if he were separated from me, he would have no way to manage his affairs.

§22

φοβουμένης δὲ τῆς μητρός, ὅτι τὸ χωρίον ἐπυνθάνετο νοσῶδες εἶναι, καὶ τῶν ξένων συμβουλευόντων αὐτοῦ μένειν, ὅμως ἔδοξεν ἡμῖν ἐκείνῳ χαριστέον εἶναι. καὶ μετὰ ταῦτʼ οὐκ ἔφθημεν εἰς Τροιζῆνʼ ἐλθόντες καὶ τοιαύταις νόσοις ἐλήφθημεν,² ἐξ ὧν αὐτὸς μὲν παρὰ μικρὸν ἦλθον ἀποθανεῖν, ἀδελφὴν δὲ κόρην τετρακαιδεκέτιν γεγονυῖαν ἐντὸς τριάκονθʼ ἡμερῶν κατέθαψα, τὴν δὲ μητέρʼ οὐδὲ πένθʼ ἡμέραις ἐκείνης ὕστερον. καίτοι τίνʼ οἴεσθέ με γνώμην ἔχειν τοσαύτης μοι μεταβολῆς τοῦ βίου γεγενημένης;

Although my mother was afraid because she heard that the place was unhealthy, and our guest-friends advised us to remain where we were, we nevertheless decided that we ought to gratify him. And after this, we had no sooner arrived in Troezen than we were seized with such illnesses that I myself came within a hair’s breadth of dying, and within thirty days I buried my sister, a girl of fourteen, and my mother not even five days after her. Indeed, what do you think my feelings were when such a great reversal of life had befallen me?

§23

ὃς τὸν μὲν ἄλλον χρόνον ἀπαθὴς ἦν κακῶν, νεωστὶ δʼ ἐπειρώμην φυγῆς καὶ τοῦ παρʼ ἑτέροις μὲν μετοικεῖν, στέρεσθαι δὲ τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ὁρῶν τὴν μητέρα τὴν αὑτοῦ³ καὶ τὴν ἀδελφὴν ἐκ μὲν τῆς πατρίδος ἐκπεπτωκυίας, ἐπὶ δὲ ξένης καὶ παρʼ ἀλλοτρίοις τὸν βίον τελευτώσας. ὥστʼ οὐδεὶς ἄν μοι δικαίως φθονήσειεν, εἴ τι τῶν Θρασυλόχου πραγμάτων ἀγαθὸν ἀπολέλαυκα· καὶ γὰρ ἵνα χαρισαίμην ἐκείνῳ, κατοικισάμενος ἐν Τροιζῆνι τοιαύταις ἐχρησάμην συμφοραῖς, ὧν οὐδέποτʼ ἂν ἐπιλαθέσθαι δυνηθείην.

I, who in all former time had been free from misfortunes, but recently had experienced exile and living as a metic among strangers, and being deprived of my own property, and in addition to this, seeing my own mother and sister driven out of their homeland, and ending their lives in a foreign land among strangers. So no one could justly envy me if I have enjoyed some good from the property of Thrasylochus; for indeed, in order to gratify him, by settling in Troezen I experienced such misfortunes as I could never forget.

§24

καὶ μὴν οὐδὲ τοῦθʼ ἕξουσιν εἰπεῖν ὡς εὖ μὲν πράττοντος Θρασυλόχου πάντα ταῦθʼ ὑπέμενον, δυστυχήσαντα δʼ αὐτὸν ἀπέλιπον· ἐν αὐτοῖς γὰρ τούτοις ἔτι σαφέστερον καὶ μᾶλλον ἐνεπεδειξάμην τὴν εὔνοιαν ἣν εἶχον εἰς ἐκεῖνον. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἰς Αἴγιναν κατοικισάμενος ἠσθένησε ταύτην τὴν νόσον ἐξ ἧσπερ ἀπέθανεν, οὕτως αὐτὸν ἐθεράπευσα ὡς οὐκ οἶδʼ ὅστις πώποθʼ ἕτερος ἕτερον, τὸν μὲν πλεῖστον τοῦ χρόνου πονηρῶς μὲν ἔχοντα, περιιέναι δʼ ἔτι δυνάμενον, ἓξ μῆνας δὲ συνεχῶς ἐν τῇ κλίνῃ κείμενον.

Furthermore, they will not even be able to say that while Thrasylochus was faring well I endured all these things, but abandoned him when he fell into misfortune; for in these very circumstances I displayed yet more clearly and to a greater degree the goodwill I had toward him. For when he had settled in Aegina and fell ill with the sickness from which he died, I cared for him in such a way as I do not know that any other person ever cared for another, during the time when he was for the most part in a bad state but still able to go about, and for six months continuously when he lay in bed.

§25

καὶ τούτων τῶν ταλαιπωριῶν οὐδεὶς τῶν συγγενῶν μετασχεῖν ἠξίωσεν, ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ἐπισκεψόμενος ἀφίκετο πλὴν τῆς μητρὸς καὶ τῆς ἀδελφῆς, αἳ πλέον θάτερον ἐποίησαν·⁴ ἀσθενοῦσαι γὰρ ἦλθον ἐκ Τροιζῆνος, ὥστʼ αὐταὶ θεραπείας ἐδέοντο. ἀλλʼ ὅμως ἐγώ, τοιούτων τῶν ἄλλων περὶ αὐτὸν γεγενημένων, οὐκ ἀπεῖπον οὐδʼ ἀπέστην ἀλλʼ ἐνοσήλευον αὐτὸν μετὰ παιδὸς ἑνός·

And of these hardships, none of his relatives saw fit to take a share, nor did any even come to visit him, except his mother and sister, who made matters worse; for they arrived sick from Troezen, so that they themselves stood in need of care. But nevertheless, though such was the behavior of the others toward him, I did not grow weary nor did I abandon him, but continued to nurse him with the help of a single servant-boy;

§26

οὐδὲ γὰρ τῶν οἰκετῶν οὐδεὶς ὑπέμεινεν. καὶ γὰρ φύσει χαλεπὸς ὢν ἔτι δυσκολώτερον διὰ τὴν νόσον διέκειτο, ὥστʼ οὐκ ἐκείνων ἄξιον θαυμάζειν, εἰ μὴ παρέμενον, ἀλλὰ πολὺ μᾶλλον, ὅπως ἐγὼ τοιαύτην νόσον θεραπεύων ἀνταρκεῖν ἠδυνάμην· ὃς ἔμπυος μὲν ἦν πολὺν χρόνον, ἐκ δὲ τῆς κλίνης οὐκ ἠδύνατο κινεῖσθαι,

for not even any of the domestic slaves remained. Indeed, being naturally difficult, he was in a still more irritable state of mind because of his illness, so that it is not worthy of wonder that they did not stay, but much more how I, in nursing such a disease, was able to endure; for he had internal abscesses for a long time, and was unable to move from his bed,

Syntax notes4 items

20οὐδʼ ἐν τούτοις τοῖς κακοῖς ἠγάπησα, εἰ τοὺς οἰκείους τοὺς ἐμαυτοῦ διασῶσαι δυνηθείην
The verb ἠγάπησα (first-person singular aorist of ἀγαπάω, 'to be content with' or 'acquiesce in') takes a conditional clause introduced by εἰ to mean 'to be satisfied if...'. Combined with the negation οὐδέ, it expresses that the speaker was not content with merely saving his own relatives, but went further to help his friend.
22οὐκ ἔφθημεν εἰς Τροιζῆνʼ ἐλθόντες καὶ τοιαύταις νόσοις ἐλήφθημεν
A classic idiomatic construction using οὐ φθάνω with a participle (ἐλθόντες) followed by καί, meaning 'no sooner had we arrived... than we were seized...'. The coordination with καί expresses the immediate sequence and suddenness of the subsequent event.
23τὴν μητέρα τὴν αὑτοῦ
The third-person reflexive pronoun αὑτοῦ (contracted from ἑαυτοῦ) is used here but logically functions as a first-person reflexive (ἐμαυτοῦ, 'my own'), continuing the context of the speaker burying his own mother and sister in §22. In Classical Greek, the third-person reflexive pronoun occasionally substitutes for the first or second person.
25πλέον θάτερον ἐποίησαν
The idiom πλέον θάτερον ποιέω (literally, 'to do more of the other') is used here to mean 'to make matters worse' or 'to act as a hindrance rather than a help'. The following explanatory sentence, stating that they arrived sick themselves and required care, provides the reason for this assertion.

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-22) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-22)

2026-09-22 AI review — source 1

urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0010.tlg006.humanitext-grc2:20-26