§41ὅτι δʼ οὕτω ταῦτʼ ἔχει τὰ μὲν νῦν ὁρᾶτε δήπου καὶ οὐδὲν ἐμοῦ προσδεῖσθε μάρτυρος· τὰ δʼ ἐν τοῖς ἄνωθεν χρόνοις ὅτι τἀναντίʼ εἶχεν ἐγὼ δηλώσω, οὐ λόγους ἐμαυτοῦ λέγων, ἀλλὰ γράμματα τῶν προγόνων τῶν ὑμετέρων ἁκεῖνοι κατέθεντʼ εἰς στήλην χαλκῆν γράψαντες εἰς ἀκρόπολιν, οὐχ ἵνʼ αὐτοῖς ᾖ χρήσιμα (καὶ γὰρ ἄνευ τούτων τῶν γραμμάτων τὰ δέοντʼ ἐφρόνουν), ἀλλʼ ἵνʼ ὑμεῖς ἔχηθʼ ὑπομνήματα καὶ παραδείγματα ὡς ὑπὲρ τῶν τοιούτων σπουδάζειν προσήκει.
That these matters are indeed in this state today, you surely see for yourselves and need no witness from me; but that in times of old the contrary was the case, I will demonstrate, not by speaking my own words, but by quoting the inscriptions of your ancestors, which they wrote and set up on a bronze pillar on the Acropolis—not that it might be useful to themselves (for even without these inscriptions they knew their duty), but that you might have reminders and examples of how it is fitting to show zeal in such matters.
§42τί οὖν λέγει τὰ γράμματα;
What, then, do the writings say?
Ἄρθμιος
φησὶ
Πυθώνακτος Ζελείτης ἄτιμος καὶ πολέμιος τοῦ δήμου τοῦ Ἀθηναίων καὶ τῶν συμμάχων αὐτὸς καὶ γένος. εἶθʼ ἡ αἰτία γέγραπται, διʼ ἣν ταῦτʼ ἐγένετο· ὅτι τὸν χρυσὸν τὸν ἐκ Μήδων εἰς Πελοπόννησον ἤγαγεν. ταῦτʼ ἐστὶ τὰ γράμματα.
"Arthmius," it says, "son of Pythonax, of Zeleia, is outlawed and an enemy of the people of Athens and of their allies, himself and his descendants." Then the cause is written, for which this was done: "Because he brought the gold from the Medes into the Peloponnese." These are the writings.
§43λογίζεσθε δὴ πρὸς θεῶν, τίς ἦν ποθʼ ἡ διάνοια τῶν Ἀθηναίων τῶν τότε, ταῦτα ποιούντων, ἢ τί τὸ ἀξίωμα.
Consider then, by the gods, what on earth was the mind of the Athenians of that day when they did this, or what was their dignity.
ἐκεῖνοι Ζελείτην τινά, Ἄρθμιον, δοῦλον βασιλέως (ἡ γὰρ Ζέλειά ἐστι τῆς Ἀσίας), ὅτι τῷ δεσπότῃ διακονῶν χρυσίον ἤγαγεν εἰς Πελοπόννησον, οὐκ Ἀθήναζε, ἐχθρὸν αὑτῶν ἀνέγραψαν καὶ τῶν συμμάχων αὐτὸν καὶ γένος, καὶ ἀτίμους.
They inscribed a certain Zeleian, Arthmius, a slave of the King (for Zeleia is in Asia), because in the service of his master he brought gold into the Peloponnese—not to Athens—as an enemy of themselves and of their allies, both himself and his descendants, and outlawed.
§44τοῦτο δʼ ἐστὶν οὐχ ἣν οὑτωσί τις ἂν φήσειεν ἀτιμίαν· τί γὰρ τῷ Ζελείτῃ, τῶν Ἀθηναίων κοινῶν εἰ μὴ μεθέξειν ἔμελλεν;
But this is not the outlawry which one might commonly speak of; for what was it to a Zeleian if he was not going to share in the public privileges of the Athenians?
ἀλλʼ ἐν τοῖς φονικοῖς γέγραπται νόμοις, ὑπὲρ ὧν ἂν μὴ διδῷ φόνου δικάσασθαι, ἀλλʼ εὐαγὲς ᾖ τὸ ἀποκτεῖναι,
καὶ ἄτιμος
φησὶ
τεθνάτω. τοῦτο δὴ λέγει, καθαρὸν τὸν τούτων τινʼ ἀποκτείναντʼ εἶναι.
Rather, it is written in the homicide laws, concerning those cases in which the law does not grant the right to prosecute for murder, but killing is permitted as free from guilt: "And let him die," it says, "outlawed." This indeed means that anyone who kills one of these persons is pure of guilt.
§45οὐκοῦν ἐνόμιζον ἐκεῖνοι τῆς πάντων τῶν Ἑλλήνων σωτηρίας αὑτοῖς ἐπιμελητέον εἶναι· οὐ γὰρ ἂν αὐτοῖς ἔμελʼ εἴ τις ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ τινὰς ὠνεῖται καὶ διαφθείρει, μὴ τοῦθʼ ὑπολαμβάνουσιν· ἐκόλαζον δʼ οὕτω καὶ ἐτιμωροῦνθʼ οὓς αἴσθοιντο, ὥστε καὶ στηλίτας ποιεῖν.
Therefore, they believed that they must care for the safety of all the Greeks; for they would not have cared if someone was buying and corrupting people in the Peloponnese, had they not held this opinion; and they so punished and avenged themselves upon those whom they detected that they even went so far as to blacklist them on pillars.
ἐκ δὲ τούτων εἰκότως τὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἦν τῷ βαρβάρῳ φοβερά, οὐχ ὁ βάρβαρος τοῖς Ἕλλησιν.
From this, naturally, the affairs of the Greeks were fearsome to the barbarian, not the barbarian to the Greeks.
ἀλλʼ οὐ νῦν· οὐ γὰρ οὕτως ἔχεθʼ ὑμεῖς οὔτε πρὸς τὰ τοιαῦτʼ οὔτε πρὸς τἄλλα, ἀλλὰ πῶς;
But not so now; for you are not so disposed either toward such matters or toward anything else. But how are you disposed?
§46ἴστʼ αὐτοί· τί γὰρ δεῖ περὶ πάντων ὑμῶν κατηγορεῖν;
You know it yourselves; for why need I accuse you of everything?
παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ οὐδὲν βέλτιον ὑμῶν ἅπαντες οἱ λοιποὶ Ἕλληνες· διόπερ φήμʼ ἔγωγε καὶ σπουδῆς πολλῆς καὶ βουλῆς ἀγαθῆς τὰ παρόντα πράγματα προσδεῖσθαι.
And all the other Greeks are in a similar state, and no better than you; wherefore I say that the present situation stands in need of both great zeal and good counsel.
τίνος;
Of what kind?
εἴπω κελεύετε; καὶ οὐκ ὀργιεῖσθε;
Do you bid me speak, and will you not be angry?
§47ἔστι τοίνυν τις εὐήθης λόγος παρὰ τῶν παραμυθεῖσθαι βουλομένων τὴν πόλιν, ὡς ἄρʼ οὔπω Φίλιππός ἐστιν οἷοί ποτʼ ἦσαν Λακεδαιμόνιοι, οἳ θαλάττης μὲν ἦρχον καὶ γῆς ἁπάσης, βασιλέα δὲ σύμμαχον εἶχον, ὑφίστατο δʼ οὐδὲν αὐτούς· ἀλλʼ ὅμως ἠμύνατο κἀκείνους ἡ πόλις καὶ οὐκ ἀνηρπάσθη.
Now there is a foolish argument among those who wish to comfort the city, to the effect that Philip is not yet what the Lacedaemonians once were, who ruled the sea and all the land, and had the King as their ally, and nothing stood against them; and yet the city defended itself even against them and was not destroyed.
ἐγὼ δʼ ἁπάντων ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν πολλὴν εἰληφότων ἐπίδοσιν, καὶ οὐδὲν ὁμοίων ὄντων τῶν νῦν τοῖς πρότερον, οὐδὲν ἡγοῦμαι πλέον ἢ τὰ τοῦ πολέμου κεκινῆσθαι κἀπιδεδωκέναι.
But I, while almost everything, so to speak, has made great progress, and nothing today is like it was before, believe that nothing has changed and progressed more than the affairs of war.
§48πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ἀκούω Λακεδαιμονίους τότε καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἄλλους, τέτταρας μῆνας ἢ πέντε, τὴν ὡραίαν αὐτήν, ἐμβαλόντας ἂν καὶ κακώσαντας τὴν χώραν ὁπλίταις καὶ πολιτικοῖς στρατεύμασιν ἀναχωρεῖν ἐπʼ οἴκου πάλιν· οὕτω δʼ ἀρχαίως εἶχον, μᾶλλον δὲ πολιτικῶς, ὥστʼ οὐδὲ χρημάτων ὠνεῖσθαι παρʼ οὐδενὸς οὐδέν, ἀλλʼ εἶναι νόμιμόν τινα καὶ προφανῆ τὸν πόλεμον.
For first, I hear that the Lacedaemonians at that time and all the others, for four or five months, during the height of the season, would invade and ravage the country with hoplites and citizen forces, and then return home again; and they were so old-fashioned, or rather so civic in their conduct, that they bought nothing from anyone for money, but their warfare was of a regular and open kind.