§16ἀλλʼ ἐπεὶ πολλοὺς τὰ τοῦ Εὐριπίδου κινεῖ δυνατῶς τῆς φυγῆς κατηγορεῖν δοκοῦντος, ἴδωμεν ἃ λέγει καθʼ ἕκαστον ἐρωτῶν καὶ ἀποκρινόμενος·
But since the words of Euripides, who seems to accuse exile, strongly move many, let us see what he says, questioning and answering in each detail.
ταῦτα πρώτως οὐκ ὀρθῶς οὐδʼ ἀληθῶς ἀξιοῦται.
These claims, in the first place, are not rightly or truly assumed.
πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ οὐ δούλου τὸ
μὴ λέγειν ἅ τις φρονεῖ,
ἀλλὰ νοῦν ἔχοντος ἀνδρὸς ἐν καιροῖς καὶ πράγμασιν ἐχεμυθίας; καὶ σιωπῆς δεομένοις, ὥσπερ αὐτὸς ἀλλαχόθι βέλτιον εἴρηκε
"σιγᾶν θʼ ὅπου δεῖ καὶ λέγειν ἵνʼ ἀσφαλές. "
ἔπειτα τὴν τῶν κρατούντων ἀμαθίαν οὐχ ἧττον οἴκοι μένοντας ἢ φεύγοντας ἀνάγκη φέρειν·
For first, "not saying what one thinks" is not the mark of a slave, but of a man of sense in times and circumstances that require secrecy and silence, just as he himself has said better elsewhere: "To keep silence where it is necessary, and to speak where it is safe." Next, it is necessary to bear the ignorance of those in power no less for those remaining at home than for those in exile; indeed, those remaining often fear those who hold power in the cities, who unjustly slander or use violence, even more than those who have departed do.
ἀλλὰ καὶ μᾶλλον πολλάκις οἱ μένοντες τῶν ἀπαλλαγέντων τοὺς ἰσχύοντας ἐν πόλεσιν ἀδίκως τῷ συκοφαντεῖν ἢ βιάζεσθαι δεδίασι, τὸ δὲ μέγιστον καὶ ἀτοπώτατον, εἰ παρρησίαν τῶν φυγάδων ἀφαιρεῖται· θαυμαστὸν γάρ, εἰ Θεόδωρος ἀπαρρησίαστος ἦν, ὅς, Λυσιμάχου τοῦ βασιλέως εἰπόντος πρὸς αὐτὸν
ἡ πατρίς σε τοιοῦτον ὄντʼ ἐξέβαλε,
ναί
εἶπε
μὴ δυναμένη φέρειν ὥσπερ ἡ Σεμέλη τὸν Διόνυσον. ἐπιδείξαντος δʼ αὐτῷ Τελεσφόρον ἐν γαλεάγρᾳ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐξορωρυγμένον καὶ περικεκομμένον τὴν ῥῖνα καὶ τὰ ὦτα καὶ τὴν γλῶτταν ἐκτετμημένον, καὶ εἰπόντος
οὕτως ἐγὼ διατίθημι τοὺς κακῶς με ποιοῦντας· τί δὲ Θεοδώρῳ μέλει, ἔφη, πότερον ὑπὲρ γῆς ἢ ὑπὸ γῆς σήπεται;
But the greatest and most absurd thing is if he deprives the exiles of freedom of speech; for it would be astonishing if Theodorus lacked freedom of speech, who, when King Lysimachus said to him: "Your country expelled you, being such a man as you are," said: "Yes, because it was unable to bear me, just as Semele could not bear Dionysus." And when Lysimachus showed him Telesphorus in a cage, with his eyes gouged out, his nose and ears cut off, and his tongue cut out, and said: "Thus I treat those who do me evil," he replied: "What does it matter to Theodorus whether he rots above the earth or beneath the earth?" And what?
τί δέ; Διογένης οὐκ εἶχε παρρησίαν, ὃς εἰς τὸ τοῦ Φιλίππου στρατόπεδον παρελθών, ὁπηνίκα μαχούμενος ἐχώρει τοῖς Ἕλλησι, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀναχθεὶς ὡς; κατάσκοπος, ναί, κατάσκοπος ἔφη
τῆς ἀπληστίας ἀφῖχθαι αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς ἀφροσύνης, ἥκοντος ἐν βραχεῖ καιρῷ διακυβεῦσαι περὶ τῆς ἡγεμονίας ἅμα καὶ τοῦ σώματος;
Did Diogenes not have freedom of speech, who, having gone into the camp of Philip when he was marching to fight the Greeks, and being brought before him as a spy, said, "Yes, a spy of your greed and folly, who have come in a brief moment to gamble for both your hegemony and your life"?
τί δέ;
And what?
Ἀννίβας ὁ Καρχηδόνιος οὐκ ἐχρῆτο παρρησίᾳ πρὸς Ἀντίοχον βασιλέα ὄντα φυγὰς ὤν, ὁπηνίκα καιροῦ διδόντος ἐκέλευεν αὐτὸν ἐπιχειρεῖν τοῖς πολεμίοις τοῦ δὲ θυσαμένου καὶ τὰ σπλάγχνα κωλύειν φάσκοντος, ἐπετίμησεν εἰπών
σὺ τί κρέας λέγει σκοπεῖς, οὐ τί νοῦν ἔχων ἄνθρωπος; ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ γεωμετρῶν φυγὴ παρρησίαν οὐδὲ γραμμικῶν ἀφαιρεῖται, περὶ ὧν ἴσασι καὶ μεμαθήκασι διαλεγομένων πόθεν γε δὴ καλῶν κἀγαθῶν ἀνθρώπων;
Did Hannibal the Carthaginian not use freedom of speech toward Antiochus, although he was a king and Hannibal was an exile, when, an opportunity offering, he urged him to attack the enemy, and when Antiochus sacrificed and said the entrails forbade it, Hannibal rebuked him, saying: "Do you look to what a piece of meat says, and not to what a man of sense says?" But indeed, exile does not deprive even geometers or mathematicians of freedom of speech when they talk about what they know and have learned; how much less, then, does it deprive honorable and good men?
ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀγεννὲς πανταχοῦ τὴν φωνὴν
ἐμφράττει, τὴν γλῶσσαν ἀποστρέφει, ἄγχει, σιωπᾶν ποιεῖ.
Rather, it is ignobility that everywhere blocks the voice, turns back the tongue, chokes, and causes silence.
τὰ δʼ ἑξῆς τοῦ Εὐριπίδου ποῖὰ τινʼ ἐστίν;
And of what sort are the next words of Euripides?
καὶ τοῦτο τῆς ἀβελτερίας ἔγκλημα μᾶλλον ἢ τῆς φυγῆς ἐστιν.
And this also is an accusation of foolishness rather than of exile.
οὐ γὰρ οἱ μαθόντες οὐδʼ ἐπιστάμενοι χρῆσθαι τοῖς παροῦσιν, ἀλλʼ οἱ ἀεὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος ἐκκρεμάμενοι καὶ γλιχόμενοι τῶν ἀπόντων ὡς ἐπὶ σχεδίας διαφέρονται τῆς ἐλπίδος, κἂν μηδέποτε τοῦ τείχους ἐκτὸς προέλθωσι.
For it is not those who have learned and know how to use what is present, but those who always hang upon the future and long for what is absent, who are carried about upon hope as upon a raft, even if they never go outside the wall.
""
ταῦτʼ ἢδη καὶ ἀχάριστα τοῦ Πολυνείκους, ἀτιμίαν μὲν εὐγενείας ἀφιλίαν δὲ τῆς φυγῆς κατηγοροῦντος, ὃς διὰ τὴν εὐγένειαν ἠξιώθη μὲν φυγὰς ὢν γάμων βασιλικῶν, φίλων δὲ συμμαχίᾳ καὶ δυνάμει τοσαύτῃ πεφραγμένος ἐστράτευσεν, ὡς αὐτὸς μετὰ μικρὸν ὁμολογεῖ
"
πολλοὶ δὲ Δαναῶν καὶ Μυκηναίων ἄκροι
πάρεισι, λυπρὰν χάριν ἀναγκαίαν δʼ ἐμοὶ
διδόντες.
"" These things are already even ungrateful on the part of Polynices, who accuses his noble birth of dishonor and his exile of lack of friends, he who, because of his noble birth, was deemed worthy of a royal marriage though he was an exile, and who marched out protected by an alliance of friends and so great a force as he himself a little later confesses: "And many of the foremost of the Danai and Mycenaeans are present, granting to me a painful but necessary favor.
"
ὅμοια δὲ καὶ τὰ τῆς μητρὸς ὀλοφυρομένης· "
ἐγὼ δέ σοι οὔτε πῦρ ἀνῆψα
γόνιμον ἐν γάμοις,
ἀνυμέναια δʼ Ἰσμηνὸς ἐκηδεύθη
λουτροφόρου χλιδᾶς· .
"And similar also are the complaints of his mother lamenting: "But I neither kindled for you the fire productive of marriage in your wedding, and without bridal songs the Ismenus had no care of the luxury of the water-carrying bath.
"
ταύτην ἔδει χαίρειν καὶ ἀγαπᾶν πυνθανομένην ναίοντα βασίλεια τηλικαῦτα τὸν υἱόν· ἡ δὲ θρηνοῦσα τὴν οὐκ ἀναφθεῖσαν λαμπάδα καὶ τὸν οὐ παρασχόντα λουτρὸν Ἰσμηνόν, ὡς ἐν Ἄργει μήθʼ ὕδωρ τῶν γαμούντων μήτε πῦρ ἐχόντων, τὰ τοῦ τύφου κακὰ καὶ τῆς ἀβελτερίας τῇ φυγῇ περιτίθησιν.
"She ought to have rejoiced and been content on learning that her son was dwelling in such great palaces; but she, by mourning the unlit torch and the Ismenus that did not provide the bath, as if those who marry in Argos had neither water nor fire, attributes the evils of vanity and foolishness to exile.