§3.1Λυσίας υἱὸς ἦν Κεφάλου τοῦ Λυσανίου τοῦ Κεφάλου, Συρακουσίου μὲν γένος μεταναστάντος δʼ εἰς Ἀθήνας ἐπιθυμίᾳ τε τῆς πόλεως καὶ Περικλέους τοῦ Ξανθίππου πείσαντος αὐτόν, φίλον ὄντα καὶ ξένον, πλούτῳ διαφέροντα· ὡς δέ τινες, ἐκπεσόντα τῶν Συρακουσῶν, ἡνίκα, ὑπὸ Γέλωνος ἐτυραννοῦντο.
Lysias was the son of Cephalus—the son of Lysanias, the son of Cephalus—who was a Syracusan by birth, but moved to Athens because of his desire for the city and because Pericles, the son of Xanthippus, being his friend and guest-friend, persuaded him, since Cephalus was outstanding in wealth; or, as some say, because he was banished from Syracuse at the time when they were tyrannized by Gelon.
γενόμενος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν ἐπὶ Φιλοκλέους ἄρχοντος τοῦ μετὰ Φρασικλῆ κατὰ τὸ δεύτερον ἔτος τῆς ὀγδοηκοστῆς ὀλυμπιάδος, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον συνεπαιδεύετο τοῖς ἐπιφανεστάτοις Ἀθηναίων·
Having been born in Athens when Philocles was archon, who succeeded Phrasicles, in the second year of the eightieth Olympiad, he was at first educated together with the most illustrious of the Athenians.
ἐπεὶ δὲ τὴν εἰς Σύβαριν· ἀποικίαν τὴν ὕστερον Θουρίους μετονομασθεῖσαν ἔστελλεν ἡ πόλις, ᾤχετο σὺν τῷ πρεσβυτάτῳ ἀδελφῶν Πολεμάρχῳ (ἦσαν γὰρ αὐτῷ καὶ ἄλλοι δύο, Εὐθύδημος καὶ Βράχυλλος), τοῦ πατρὸς ἤδη τετελευτηκότος, ὡς κοινωνήσων τοῦ κλήρου, ἔτη γεγονὼς πεντεκαίδεκα, ἐπὶ Πραξιτέλους ἄρχοντος κἀκεῖ διέμεινε παιδευόμενος παρὰ Τισίᾳ καὶ Νικίᾳ τοῖς Συρακουσίοις, κτησάμενὸς τʼ οἰκίαν καὶ κλήρου τυχὼν ἐπολιτεύσατο ἕως Κλεάρχου τοῦ Ἀθήνησιν ἄρχοντος ἔτη ἑξήκοντα τρία.
But when the city sent out the colony to Sybaris, which was later renamed Thurii, he went with the eldest of his brothers, Polemarchus (for he had also two others, Euthydemus and Brachyllus), his father being already dead, in order to share in the allotment of land, when he was fifteen years old, in the archonship of Praxiteles. And he remained there being educated under Tisias and Nicias the Syracusans, and having acquired a house and obtained an allotment, he lived as a citizen until Clearchus was archon at Athens for sixty-three years.
τῷ δʼ ἑξῆς Καλλίᾳ ὀλυμπιάδι ἐνενηκοστῇ δευτέρᾳ τῶν κατὰ Σικελίαν συμβάντων Ἀθηναίοις καὶ κινήσεως γενομένης τῶν τʼ ἄλλων συμμάχων καὶ μάλιστα τῶν τὴν Ἰταλίαν οἰκούντων, αἰτιαθεὶς ἀττικίζειν ἐξέπεσε μετʼ ἄλλων τριακοσίων.
In the following year, when Callias was archon, in the ninety-second Olympiad, after the events in Sicily which happened to the Athenians, and when a movement arose among the other allies and especially those who inhabited Italy, being accused of favoring the Athenians, he was banished with three hundred others.
παραγενόμενος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν ἐπὶ Καλλίου τοῦ μετὰ Κλεόκριτον ἄρχοντος, ἤδη τῶν τετρακοσίων κατεχόντων τὴν πόλιν, διέτριβεν αὐτόθι.
And having arrived at Athens when Callias, the successor of Cleocritus, was archon, when the Four Hundred already held the city, he spent his time there.
τῆς δʼ ἐν Αἰγὸς ποταμοῖς ναυμαχίας γενομένης καὶ τῶν τριάκοντα παραλαβόντων τὴν πόλιν, ἐξέπεσεν ἑπτὰ ἔτη μείνας, ἀφαιρεθεὶς τὴν οὐσίαν καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν Πολέμαρχον·
But when the naval battle at Aegospotami took place and the Thirty took over the city, he was banished after staying seven years, being deprived of his property and his brother Polemarchus.
αὐτὸς δὲ διαδρὰς ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας ἀμφιθύρου οὔσης, ἐν ᾗ ἐφυλάσσετο ὡς ἀπολούμενος, διῆγεν ἐν Μεγάροις.
But he himself, having escaped from his house which had a double door, in which he was being guarded in order to be put to death, lived in Megara.
ἐπιθεμένων δὲ τῶν ἀπὸ Φυλῆς τῇ καθόδῳ, ἐπεὶ χρησιμώτατος ἁπάντων ὤφθη, χρήματά τε παρασχὼν δραχμὰς δισχιλίας καὶ ἀσπίδας διακοσίας πεμφθείς τε σὺν Ἑρμᾶνι ἐπικούρους ἐμισθώσατο τριακοσίους, δύο τʼ ἔπεισε τάλαντα δοῦναι Θρασυδαῖον τὸν Ἠλεῖον, ξένον αὐτῷ γεγονότα.
And when those from Phyle attempted their return, since he was seen to be the most useful of all, having provided money to the amount of two thousand drachmas and two hundred shields, and having been sent with Hermon, he hired three hundred mercenaries, and persuaded Thrasydaeus the Elean, who was his guest-friend, to give two talents.
ἐφʼ οἷς γράψαντος αὐτῷ Θρασυβούλου πολιτείαν μετὰ τὴν κάθοδον ἐπʼ ἀναρχίας τῆς πρὸ Εὐκλείδου, ὁ μὲν δῆμος ἐκύρωσε τὴν δωρεάν, ἀπενεγκαμένου δʼ Ἀρχίνου γραφὴν παρανόμων διὰ τὸ ἀπροβούλευτον εἰσαχθῆναι, ἑάλω τὸ ψήφισμα·
For which things, when Thrasybulus proposed citizenship for him after the return during the anarchy before Euclides, the people ratified the gift; but when Archinus brought an indictment for illegal proposals, because it was introduced without a preliminary resolution of the council, the decree was defeated.
καὶ οὕτως ἀπελαθεὶς τῆς πολιτείας τὸν. λοιπὸν ᾤκησε χρόνον ἰσοτελὴς ὤν, καὶ ἐτελεύτησεν αὐτόθι ὀγδοήκοντα τρία ἔτη βιούς, ἢ ὥς τινες ἓξ καὶ ἑβδομήκοντα, ἢ ὥς τινες ὑπὲρ ὀγδοήκοντα, ἰδὼν Δημοσθένη μειράκιον ὄντα.
And having been thus deprived of citizenship, he lived the rest of his time as an isoteles, and died there having lived eighty-three years, or as some say, seventy-six, or as some say, over eighty, having seen Demosthenes when he was a youth.
γεννηθῆναι δέ φασιν ἐπὶ Φιλοκλέους ἄρχοντος.
And they say he was born when Philocles was archon.
φέρονται δʼ αὐτοῦ λόγοι τετρακόσιοι εἰκοσιπέντε· τούτων γνησίους φασὶν οἱ περὶ Διονύσιον καὶ Καικίλιον εἶναι διακοσίους τριάκοντα καὶ τρεῖς, ἐν οἷς δὶς μόνον ἡττῆσθαι λέγεται.
There are circulated four hundred and twenty-five speeches of his; of these, those around Dionysius and Caecilius say that two hundred and thirty-three are genuine, in which he is said to have been defeated only twice.
ἔστι δʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ ὁ ὑπὲρ τοῦ ψηφίσματος ὃ ἐγράψατο Ἀρχῖνος, τὴν πολιτείαν αὐτοῦ περιελών, καὶ κατὰ τῶν τριάκοντα ἕτερος.
There is also of his the speech in defense of the decree which Archinus indicted, depriving him of his citizenship, and another against the Thirty.
ἐγένετο δὲ πιθανώτατος καὶ βραχύτατος, τοῖς ἰδιώταις τοὺς πολλοὺς λόγους ἐκδούς.
He was most persuasive and concise, having published most of his speeches for private citizens.
εἰσὶ δʼ αὐτῷ καί τέχναι ῥητορικαὶ πεποιημέναι καὶ δημηγορίαι, Ἐπιστολαί τε καὶ ἐγκώμια, καὶ ἐπιτάφιοι καὶ Ἐρωτικοὶ καὶ Σωκράτους Ἀπολογία ἐστοχασμένη τῶν δικαστῶν.
There are also written by him rhetorical arts and public speeches, Letters and panegyrics, and funeral orations and Erotic discourses, and a Defense of Socrates aimed at the judges.
δοκεῖ δὲ κατὰ τὴν λέξιν εὔκολος εἶναι, δυσμίμητος ὤν.
He seems to be easy in his style, though he is difficult to imitate.
Δημοσθένης δʼ ἐν τῷ κατὰ Νεαίρας λόγῳ ἐραστὴν αὐτόν φησι γεγονέναι Μετανείρας, ὁμοδούλου τῇ Νεαίρᾳ· ὕστερον δʼ ἔγημε Βραχύλλου τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ θυγατέρα.
Demosthenes, in his speech against Neaera, says that he was a lover of Metaneira, who was a fellow slave with Neaera; but later he married the daughter of his brother Brachyllus.
μνημονεύει δʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ Πλάτων ἐν τῷ Φαίδρῳ ὡς δεινοτάτου εἰπεῖν καὶ Ἰσοκράτους πρεσβυτέρου.
Plato also mentions him in the Phaedrus as most clever in speaking, and older than Isocrates.
ἐποίησε δὲ καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν ἐπίγραμμα Φιλίσκος ὁ Ἰσοκράτους μὲν γνώριμος ἑταῖρος δὲ Λυσίου, διʼ οὗ φανερὸν ὡς προέλαβε τοῖς ἔτεσιν, ὃ καὶ ἐκ τῶν. ὑπὸ Πλάτωνος εἰρημένων ἀποδείκνυται ἔχει δ’ οὕτως
"
νῦν ὦ. Καλλιόπης θύγατερ, πολυήγορε Φρόντι,
δείξεις εἴ τι φρονεῖς καί τι περισσὸν ἔχεις
τὸν γὰρ ἐς ἄλλο σχῆμα μεθαρμοσθέντα καὶ ἄλλοις
ἐν κόσμοισι βίου σῶμα λαβόνθʼ ἕτερον,
δεῖ ς1ʼ ἀρετῆς κήρυκα τεκεῖν τινα Λύσιδα ὑμνεῖν,
δύντα κατὰ φθιμένων καὶ ζόφου ἀθάνατον
ὃς τὸ τʼ ἐμῆς ψυχῆς δείξει φιλέταιρον ἅπασι,
καὶ τὴν τοῦ φθιμένου πᾶσι βροτοῖς ἀρετήν
"
συνέγραψε δὲ λόγω καὶ Ἰφικράτει, τὸν μὲν πρὸς Ἁρμόδιον, τὸν δὲ προδοσίας κρίνοντι Τιμόθεον καὶ ἀμφοτέροις ἐνίκα· ἀναδεξαμένου δʼ Ἰφικράτους τὰς τοῦ Τιμοθέου πράξεις, ταῖς εὐθύναις ἀναλαβὼν τὴν τῆς προδοσίας αἰτίαν ἀπολογεῖται διὰ τοῦ Λυσίου λόγου· καὶ αὐτὸς μὲν ἀπελύθη, ὁ δὲ Τιμόθεος ἐζημιώθη πλείστοις χρήμασιν.
And Philiscus, who was an acquaintance of Isocrates and a companion of Lysias, also composed an epigram on him, through which it is clear that he was prior in years, which is also proved from the things said by Plato; and it is as follows: "Now, O daughter of Calliope, eloquent Thought, show if you have any wisdom and anything extraordinary; for him who has been transformed into another form and has taken another body of life in other orders, it is necessary for you to sing of Lysis, whom you brought forth as a herald of virtue, who went down among the dead and is immortal in the gloom, who will show to all the friendly nature of my soul, and the virtue of the deceased to all mortals." He also composed speeches for Iphicrates, one against Harmodius, and the other when Timotheus was tried for treason, and in both he won; and when Iphicrates took upon himself the actions of Timotheus, and during his accounting took upon himself the charge of treason, he defended himself through the speech of Lysias; and he himself was acquitted, but Timotheus was fined a very large sum of money.
ἀνέγνω δὲ καὶ ἐν τῇ Ὀλυμπιακῇ πανηγύρει λόγον μέγιστον, διαλλαγέντας τοὺς Ἕλληνας καταλῦσαι Διονύσιον.
And he also read in the Olympic festival a very great speech, urging that the Greeks, having been reconciled, should overthrow Dionysius.