Humanitext Reader

Plutarch · Life of Aristides §27.1-27.4

Public Support for Descendants of Aristides

Passage 27 of 27 · Greek

Summary

The author praises the charitable spirit of the Athenians by citing various examples of the Athenian state's generous support for the descendants of Aristides and other impoverished citizens.

§27.1καὶ μέντοι καὶ τάφος ἐστὶν αὐτοῦ Φαληροῖ δεικνύμενος, ὅν φασι κατασκευάσαι τὴν πόλιν αὐτῷ μηδʼ ἐντάφια καταλιπόντι.
And indeed, his tomb is also shown at Phalerum, which they say the city built for him, since he did not even leave behind enough for his burial.
καὶ τὰς μὲν θυγατέρας ἱστοροῦσιν ἐκ τοῦ πρυτανείου τοῖς νυμφίοις ἐκδοθῆναι δημοσίᾳ, τῆς πόλεως τὸν γάμον ἐγγυώσης καὶ προῖκα τρισχιλίας δραχμὰς ἑκατέρᾳ ψηφισαμένης, Λυσιμάχῳ δὲ τῷ υἱῷ μνᾶς μὲν ἑκατὸν ἀργυρίου καὶ γῆς τοσαῦτα πλέθρα πεφυτευμένης ἔδωκεν ὁ δῆμος, ἄλλας δὲ δραχμὰς τέσσαρας εἰς ἡμέραν ἑκάστην ἀπέταξεν, §27.2Ἀλκιβιάδου τὸ ψήφισμα γράψαντος.
And they record that his daughters were given in marriage publicly from the Prytaneum to their bridegrooms, the city guaranteeing the marriage and voting three thousand drachmas as a dowry for each of them; and to his son Lysimachus, the people gave one hundred minae of silver and as many plethra of planted land, and assigned another four drachmas for each day, Alcibiades having drafted the decree.
ἔτι δὲ Λυσιμάχου θυγατέρα Πολυκρίτην ἀπολιπόντος, ὡς Καλλισθένης φησί, καὶ ταύτῃ σίτησιν ὅσην καὶ τοῖς Ὀλυμπιονίκαις ὁ δῆμος ἐψηφίσατο.
Furthermore, when Lysimachus left behind a daughter named Polycrite, as Callisthenes says, the people voted for her also the same maintenance as is given to the Olympic victors.
Δημήτριος δʼ ὁ Φαληρεὺς καὶ Ἱερώνυμος ὁ Ῥόδιος καὶ Ἀριστόξενος ὁ μουσικὸς καὶ Ἀριστοτέλης (εἰ δὴ τό γε Περὶ εὐγενείας βιβλίον ἐν τοῖς γνησίοις Ἀριστοτέλους θετέον) ἱστοροῦσι Μυρτὼ θυγατριδῆν Ἀριστείδου Σωκράτει τῷ σοφῷ συνοικῆσαι, γυναῖκα μὲν ἑτέραν ἔχοντι, ταύτην δʼ ἀναλαβόντι χηρεύουσαν διὰ πενίαν καὶ τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἐνδεομένην.
And Demetrius of Phalerum, Hieronymus of Rhodes, Aristoxenus the musician, and Aristotle (if indeed the book *On Nobility of Birth* is to be placed among the genuine works of Aristotle) record that Myrto, a granddaughter of Aristides, lived with the wise Socrates, who had another wife but took her in when she was widowed because of poverty and lacked the necessities of life.
§27.3πρὸς μὲν οὖν τούτους ἱκανῶς ὁ Παναίτιος ἐν τοῖς περὶ Σωκράτους ἀντείρηκεν· ὁ δὲ Φαληρεὺς ἐν τῷ Σωκράτει φησὶ μνημονεύειν Ἀριστείδου θυγατριδοῦν εὖ μάλα πένητα Λυσίμαχον, ὃς ἑαυτὸν μὲν ἐκ πινακίου τινὸς ὀνειροκριτικοῦ παρὰ τὸ Ἰακχεῖον λεγόμενον καθεζόμενος ἔβοσκε.
Against these writers, then, Panaetius has sufficiently replied in his works on Socrates; but Demetrius of Phalerum says in his *Socrates* that he remembers a grandson of Aristides, Lysimachus, who was very poor, and who supported himself by sitting near the so-called Iaccheum with a certain tablet for interpreting dreams.
τῇ δὲ μητρὶ καὶ τῇ ταύτης ἀδελφῇ ψήφισμα γράψας ἔπεισε τὸν δῆμον τροφὴν διδόναι τριώβολον ἑκάστης ἡμέρας.
And having drafted a decree for his mother and her sister, he persuaded the people to give them three obols each day for their maintenance.
αὐτὸς μέντοι φησὶν ὁ Δημήτριος νομοθετῶν ἀντὶ τριωβόλου δραχμὴν ἑκατέρᾳ τάξαι τῶν γυναικῶν.
However, Demetrius himself says that when he was making laws, he ordered a drachma for each of the women instead of three obols.
§27.4καὶ οὐδέν ἐστι θαυμαστὸν οὕτω φροντίσαι τῶν ἐν ἄστει τὸν δῆμον, ὅπου θυγατριδῆν Ἀριστογείτονος ἐν Λήμνῳ πυθόμενοι ταπεινὰ πράττειν ἀνδρὸς ἀποροῦσαν διὰ πενίαν κατήγαγον Ἀθήναζε, καὶ συνοικίσαντες ἀνδρὶ τῶν εὖ γεγονότων τὸ Ποταμοῖ χωρίον εἰς φερνὴν ἐπέδωκαν.
And there is nothing wonderful in the people taking such care of those in the city, since when they learned that a granddaughter of Aristogeiton in Lemnos was faring miserably, being in want of a husband due to poverty, they brought her back to Athens, and having married her to a man of noble birth, they gave the estate at Potamoi as her dowry.
ἧς φιλανθρωπίας καὶ χρηστότητος ἔτι πολλὰ καὶ καθʼ ἡμᾶς ἡ πόλις ἐκφέρουσα δείγματα θαυμάζεται καὶ ζηλοῦται δικαίως.
Of which humanity and kindness the city still displays many examples in our own day, and is justly admired and emulated.

Notes

  1. §27.1μηδʼ ἐντάφια καταλιπόντι — A dative participial phrase modifying `αὐτῷ` (Aristides) in the preceding clause. `ἐντάφια` refers to burial clothes or funeral expenses, meaning '(for him) who did not even leave behind enough for his burial.'
  2. §27.1τοσαῦτα πλέθρα — The correlative pronoun `τοσαῦτα` ('so many') refers back to the numeral 'one hundred' in the preceding phrase `μνᾶς μὲν ἑκατὸν` ('one hundred minae'), thus meaning 'one hundred plethra (of land).'
  3. §27.2γυναῖκα μὲν ἑτέραν ἔχοντι, ταύτην δʼ ἀναλαβόντι χηρεύουσαν — The dative participles `ἔχοντι` and `ἀναλαβόντι` modify the preceding dative noun `Σωκράτει`. Meanwhile, the accusative participle `χηρεύουσαν` ('being widowed') modifies `ταύτην` (her, i.e., Myrto), which is the object of `ἀναλαβόντι`, forming a nested participial structure.
  4. §27.3μνημονεύειν ... Λυσίμαχον — The verb `μνημονεύω` ('to mention') usually governs the genitive case, but here it takes the accusative `Λυσίμαχον` as its direct object. This is not due to the accusative-and-infinitive construction of the indirect speech governed by `φησὶ`, but because the verb itself can exceptionally take an accusative object when referring to a person.
  5. §27.4ἀνδρὸς ἀποροῦσαν — The present participle `ἀποροῦσαν` (in the accusative, modifying the granddaughter) generally means 'being in want,' but here it governs the genitive `ἀνδρὸς` ('husband') to mean 'lacking a husband' or 'being in distress for want of a husband.'

Cite this passage

Plutarch, Life of Aristides §27.1-27.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg024.humanitext-grc2:27.1-27.4

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