- Source
- Antiphon. Minor Attic Orators, Vol. 1. Maidment, Kenneth John, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1941 (printing); 1960 (reprint).
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0028.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:17-23
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-26
The execution of the poisoning by Philoneos's concubine and its fatal consequences are detailed, and the prosecutor urges the jury to deliver a just verdict, contrasting the justice of punishing the mother with the injustice of the defense.
ἡ οὖν παλλακὴ τοῦ Φιλόνεω ἠκολούθει τῆς θυσίας ἕνεκεν. καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἦσαν ἐν τῷ Πειραιεῖ, οἷον εἰκός, ἔθυεν. καὶ ἐπειδὴ αὐτῷ ἐτέθυτο τὰ ἱερά, ἐντεῦθεν ἐβουλεύετο ἡ ἄνθρωπος ὅπως ἂν αὐτοῖς τὸ φάρμακον δοίη, πότερα πρὸ δείπνου ἢ ἀπὸ δείπνου. ἔδοξεν οὖν αὐτῇ βουλευομένῃ βέλτιον εἶναι μετὰ δεῖπνον δοῦναι, τῆς Κλυταιμνήστρας ταύτης [τῆς τούτου μητρὸς] ταῖς ὑποθήκαις ἅμα διακονοῦσαν.1
Now Philoneos’s concubine followed him for the sake of the sacrifice. And when they were in Piraeus, naturally, he performed the sacrifice. And when the sacred rites had been completed for him, then the woman began to deliberate how she might administer the drug to them, whether before dinner or after dinner. It therefore seemed better to her as she deliberated to give it after dinner, serving at the same time the instructions of this Clytemnestra, the mother of this man.
καὶ τὰ μὲν ἄλλα μακρότερος ἂν εἴη λόγος περὶ τοῦ δείπνου ἐμοί τε διηγήσασθαι ὑμῖν τʼ ἀκοῦσαι· ἀλλὰ πειράσομαι τὰ λοιπὰ ὡς ἐν βραχυτάτοις ὑμῖν διηγήσασθαι, ὡς γεγένηται ἡ δόσις τοῦ φαρμάκου. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐδεδειπνήκεσαν, οἷον εἰκός, ὁ μὲν θύων Διὶ Κτησίῳ κἀκεῖνον ὑποδεχόμενος, ὁ δʼ ἐκπλεῖν τε μέλλων καὶ παρʼ ἀνδρὶ ἑταίρῳ αὑτοῦ δειπνῶν, σπονδάς τʼ ἐποιοῦντο καὶ λιβανωτὸν ὑπὲρ αὑτῶν ἐπετίθεσαν.
And as for the other details concerning the dinner, it would be too long a story for me to relate and for you to hear; but I will try to relate the rest to you in the briefest terms, how the administration of the drug took place. For when they had dined, naturally—the one sacrificing to Zeus Ktesios and entertaining him, and the other being about to sail and dining at the house of his friend—they made libations and placed incense upon the altar on their own behalf.
ἡ δὲ παλλακὴ τοῦ Φιλόνεω τὴν σπονδὴν ἅμα ἐγχέουσα ἐκείνοις εὐχομένοις ἃ οὐκ ἔμελλε τελεῖσθαι,2 ὦ ἄνδρες, ἐνέχει τὸ φάρμακον. καὶ ἅμα οἰομένη δεξιὸν ποιεῖν πλέον δίδωσι τῷ Φιλόνεῳ, ἴσως ὡς, εἰ δοίη πλέον, μᾶλλον φιλησομένη ὑπὸ τοῦ Φιλόνεω· οὔπω γὰρ ᾔδει ὑπὸ τῆς μητρυιᾶς τῆς ἐμῆς ἐξαπατωμένη, πρὶν ἐν τῷ κακῷ ἤδη ἦν· τῷ δὲ πατρὶ τῷ ἡμετέρῳ ἔλασσον ἐνέχει.
And Philoneos’s concubine, while pouring the libation for them as they were making prayers which were not to be fulfilled, gentlemen, poured in the drug. And at the same time, thinking she was doing something favorable, she gave more to Philoneos, perhaps thinking that if she gave more, she would be loved more by Philoneos; for she did not yet know that she was being deceived by my stepmother, until she was already in the midst of the disaster; but she poured less for our father.
καὶ ἐκεῖνοι ἐπειδὴ ἀπέσπεισαν, τὸν ἑαυτῶν φονέα3 μεταχειριζόμενοι ἐκπίνουσιν ὑστάτην πόσιν. ὁ μὲν οὖν Φιλόνεως εὐθέως παραχρῆμα ἀποθνῄσκει, ὁ δὲ πατὴρ ὁ ἡμέτερος εἰς νόσον ἐμπίπτει, ἐξ ἧς καὶ ἀπώλετο εἰκοσταῖος. ἀνθʼ ὧν ἡ μὲν διακονήσασα καὶ χειρουργήσασα ἔχει τὰ ἐπίχειρα ὧν ἀξία ἦν, οὐδὲν αἰτία οὖσα—τῷ γὰρ δημοκοίνῳ τροχισθεῖσα παρεδόθη—, ἡ δʼ αἰτία τε ἤδη καὶ ἐνθυμηθεῖσα ἕξει, ἐὰν ὑμεῖς τε καὶ οἱ θεοὶ θέλωσιν.
And they, when they had poured their libations, holding their own murderer in their hands, drained their last draught. Philoneos, indeed, died immediately on the spot, while our father fell into an illness, from which he also perished on the twentieth day. In return for these actions, the woman who served and executed them has received the wages she deserved, although she was not at all to blame—for she was broken on the wheel and handed over to the public executioner—but the one who was truly to blame and who planned it will receive her due, if you and the gods so will.
σκέψασθε οὖν ὅσῳ δικαιότερα ὑμῶν δεήσομαι ἐγὼ ἢ ὁ ἀδελφός. ἐγὼ μέν γε τῷ τεθνεῶτι ὑμᾶς κελεύω καὶ τῷ ἠδικημένῳ τὸν ἀΐδιον χρόνον τιμωροὺς γενέσθαι· οὗτος δὲ τοῦ μὲν τεθνεῶτος πέρι οὐδὲν ὑμᾶς αἰτήσεται, ὃς ἄξιος καὶ ἐλέου καὶ βοηθείας καὶ τιμωρίας παρʼ ὑμῶν τυχεῖν, ἀθέως καὶ ἀκλεῶς πρὸ τῆς εἱμαρμένης ὑφʼ ὧν ἥκιστα ἐχρῆν τὸν βίον ἐκλιπών, ὑπὲρ δὲ τῆς ἀποκτεινάσης δεήσεται ἀθέμιτα καὶ ἀνόσια καὶ ἀτέλεστα καὶ ἀνήκουστα καὶ θεοῖς καὶ ὑμῖν, δεόμενος ὑμῶν μὴ τιμωρῆσαι ἃ αὐτὴ ἑαυτὴν οὐκ ἔπεισε μὴ κακοτεχνῆσαι.4 ὑμεῖς δʼ οὐ τῶν ἀποκτεινάντων ἐστὲ βοηθοί, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἐκ προνοίας ἀποθνῃσκόντων, καὶ ταῦτα ὑφʼ ὧν ἥκιστα ἐχρῆν αὐτοὺς ἀποθνῄσκειν. ἤδη οὖν ἐν ὑμῖν ἐστι τοῦτʼ ὀρθῶς διαγνῶναι, ὃ καὶ ποιήσατε.
Consider, then, how much more just my request to you will be than my brother’s. For my part, I urge you to become the avengers of the deceased and the wronged for all time; but he will make no request to you on behalf of the deceased, who deserves to obtain pity, help, and vengeance from you, having lost his life godlessly and ingloriously before his fated time, at the hands of those from whom it was least fitting. Instead, on behalf of the woman who killed him, he will make requests that are unlawful, unholy, unaccomplished, and unheard of both by the gods and by you, asking you not to punish the deeds which she could not persuade herself not to scheme. But you are not helpers of the murderers, but of those who die by premeditation, and that too at the hands of those from whom it was least fitting for them to die. It is therefore now up to you to decide this rightly, which you must do.
δεήσεται δʼ ὑμῶν οὗτος μὲν ὑπὲρ τῆς μητρὸς τῆς αὑτοῦ ζώσης, τῆς ἐκεῖνον διαχρησαμένης ἀβούλως τε καὶ ἀθέως, ὅπως δίκην μὴ δῷ, ἂν ὑμᾶς πείθῃ, ὧν ἠδίκηκεν· ἐγὼ δʼ ὑμᾶς ὑπὲρ τοῦ πατρὸς τοὐμοῦ τεθνεῶτος αἰτοῦμαι, ὅπως παντὶ τρόπῳ δῷ· ὑμεῖς δέ, ὅπως διδῶσι δίκην οἱ ἀδικοῦντες, τούτου γε ἕνεκα καὶ δικασταὶ ἐγένεσθε καὶ ἐκλήθητε.
This man, then, will entreat you on behalf of his living mother, who dispatched that man thoughtlessly and godlessly, so that she may not pay the penalty for the wrongs she committed, if he can persuade you; but I ask you on behalf of my deceased father, that she may pay it in every way. And as for you, it is for this very purpose—that those who commit wrong may pay the penalty—that you have become and are called judges.
- 17διακονοῦσαν
Accusative present participle feminine singular. Although the logical subject is the concubine (ἡ ἄνθρωπος), the participle is placed in the accusative rather than the nominative (διακονοῦσα) to agree with the unexpressed subject of the infinitive δοῦναι. Alternatively, it represents an anacoluthon, where the writer shifts from the dative αὐτῇ to the accusative under the influence of the infinitival construction.
- 19ἃ οὐκ ἔμελλε τελεῖσθαι
In the relative clause introduced by ἅ, the imperfect ἔμελλε is followed by the passive infinitive τελεῖσθαι, expressing an objective destiny or fate: 'prayers which were not destined to be fulfilled.' The speaker emphasizes the futility of their prayers from a perspective of knowing the tragic outcome.
- 20τὸν ἑαυτῶν φονέα
Literally 'their own murderer.' In this context, it is a dramatic metonymy referring directly to the poisoned cup or the poison itself, functioning as the direct object of the verb ἐκπίνουσιν ('they drank dry'). It vividly depicts the deadly nature of the drink they held in their hands.
- 22ἃ αὐτὴ ἑαυτὴν οὐκ ἔπεισε μὴ κακοτεχνῆσαι
A complex construction involving a double negation. The combination of οὐκ ἔπεισε ('did not persuade') and μὴ κακοτεχνῆσαι ('not to scheme evil') translates to 'the deeds which she could not persuade herself to refrain from plotting.' The relative pronoun ἃ serves as the object of τιμωρῆσαι ('to punish'), defining the evil acts that the half-brother is asking the jury not to penalize.