Humanitext Reader

Demosthenes · Letters §4.7-4.12

Athens Compared with Other States and the Exposure of Theramenes

Passage 12 of 14 · Greek

Summary

Demosthenes compares Athens' situation with that of Sparta, Persia, and Philip's allies, arguing that Athens is in the most honorable and fortunate position. He then exposes the shameful personal vices of his opponent Theramenes, revealing the injustice of his slander.

§4.7οὐδεὶς γὰρ οὕτως ἐστὶν ἀγνώμων, ὅστις ἂν ἢ τὰ Λακεδαιμονίοις συμβεβηκότα, οἷς οὐκ ἐγὼ συνεβούλευον, ἢ τὰ Πέρσαις, πρὸς οὓς οὐδʼ ἀφικόμην πώποτε, αἱρετώτερα φήσειεν εἶναι τῶν ὑμῖν παρόντων.
For no one is so senseless as to say that what has befallen the Lacedaemonians, whom I did not advise, or what has befallen the Persians, whom I have never even visited, is more desirable than your present circumstances.
καὶ ἐῶ Καππαδόκας καὶ Σύρους καὶ τοὺς τὴν Ἰνδικὴν χώραν κατοικοῦντας ἀνθρώπους ἐπʼ ἔσχατα γῆς· οἷς ἅπασι συμβέβηκε πολλὰ καὶ δεινὰ πεπονθέναι καὶ χαλεπά.
And I pass over the Cappadocians and Syrians and the people who inhabit the land of India at the ends of the earth; to all of whom it has happened to suffer many, terrible, and grievous things.
§4.8ἀλλὰ νὴ Δία τούτων μὲν ἄμεινον ὑμᾶς πράττειν ἅπαντες ὁμολογήσουσι, Θετταλῶν δὲ καὶ Ἀργείων καὶ Ἀρκάδων χεῖρον, ἤ τινων ἄλλων, οἷς ἐν συμμαχίᾳ συνέβη γενέσθαι Φιλίππῳ.
But, by Zeus, everyone will agree that you are faring better than these, but worse than the Thessalians, Argives, and Arcadians, or some others who happened to enter into alliance with Philip.
ἀλλὰ τούτων καὶ πολὺ βέλτιον ἀπηλλάχατε, οὐ μόνον τῷ μὴ δεδουλευκέναι ʽκαίτοι τί τηλικοῦθʼ ἕτερον; ʼ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ τοὺς μὲν πάντας αἰτίους εἶναι δοκεῖν τῶν τοῖς Ἕλλησι κακῶν συμβεβηκότων διὰ Φιλίππου καὶ τῆς δουλείας, ἐξ ὧν εἰκότως μισοῦνται, §4.9ὑμᾶς δʼ ὁρᾶσθαι ὑπὲρ τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ σώμασι καὶ χρήμασι καὶ πόλει καὶ χώρᾳ καὶ πᾶσιν ἠγωνισμένους, ἀνθʼ ὧν εὔκλειαν εἰκὸς ὑπάρχειν καὶ χάριν ἀθάνατον παρὰ τῶν τὰ δίκαια βουλομένων ποιεῖν.
Yet you have come off far better than these, not only by not having been enslaved (though what other thing is of such magnitude?), but also by the fact that while they all seem to be the causes of the evils that have befallen the Greeks through Philip and slavery, for which they are justly hated, you are seen to have striven on behalf of the Greeks with your bodies, fortunes, city, territory, and all else; in return for which it is natural that imperishable glory and immortal gratitude belong to you from those who wish to do what is just.
οὐκοῦν ἀφʼ ὧν ἐγὼ συνεβούλευσα, τῶν μὲν ἀντιστάντων ἄριστα πράττειν τῇ πόλει συμβέβηκεν, τῶν δὲ συνηγωνισμένων ἐνδοξοτέραν εἶναι περίεστιν.
Therefore, as a result of the measures I advised, it has happened that our city fares best among those who resisted, and it excels in glory those who fought alongside.
§4.10τοιγαροῦν ἐπὶ τούτοις οἱ θεοὶ τὰς μὲν μαντείας τὰς ἀγαθὰς ὑμῖν διδόασι, τὴν δʼ ἄδικον βλασφημίαν εἰς κεφαλὴν τῷ λέγοντι τρέπουσιν.
Therefore, on these accounts, the gods grant you good oracles, but turn the unjust slander back upon the head of him who speaks it.
γνοίη δʼ ἄν τις, εἰ προέλοιτʼ ἐξετάσαι τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματʼ ἐν οἷς ζῇ.
And anyone would recognize this, if he should choose to examine the practices in which he lives.
§4.11ἃ γὰρ ἂν καταράσαιτό τις αὐτῷ, ταῦτʼ ἐκ προαιρέσεως ποιεῖ.
For those very things which one might call down as curses upon him, he does of his own free choice.
ἐχθρὸς μέν ἐστι τοῖς γονεῦσι, φίλος δὲ Παυσανίᾳ τῷ πόρνῳ· καὶ θρασύνεται μὲν ὡς ἀνήρ, πάσχει δʼ ὡς γυνή· καὶ τοῦ μὲν πατρός ἐστι κρείττων, τῶν δʼ αἰσχρῶν ἥττων· οἷς δʼ ὑπὸ πάντων δυσχεραίνεται, τούτοις τὴν διάνοιαν ἀγάλλεται, αἰσχρορρημοσύνῃ καὶ τῷ διηγεῖσθαι ταῦτʼ ἐφʼ οἷς ἀλγοῦσιν οἱ ἀκούοντες· ὁ δʼ, ὡς ἀφελὴς καὶ παρρησίας μεστός, οὐ παύεται.
He is an enemy to his parents, but a friend to Pausanias the prostitute; and he acts boldly like a man, but suffers like a woman; and he is stronger than his father, but weaker than shameful pleasures; and in those things which are loathed by all, he rejoices in his mind, namely, in foul language and in narrating those things at which the hearers are pained; and he, as if he were simple and full of frankness, does not stop.
§4.12καὶ ταῦτʼ οὐκ ἂν ἔγραψα, εἰ μὴ κινῆσαι τὴν ἐν ὑμῖν μνήμην τῶν προσόντων αὐτῷ κακῶν ἠβουλόμην.
And I would not have written these things, if I had not wished to stir up in you the memory of the evils belonging to him.
ἃ γὰρ εἰπεῖν ἄν τις ὀκνήσαι καὶ γράψαι φυλάξαιτʼ ἄν, οἶμαι δὲ κἂν ἀκούσαντα δυσχερᾶναι, ταῦτʼ ἀπὸ τούτων μνησθεὶς οἶδεν ἕκαστος ὑμῶν πολλὰ καὶ δεινὰ καὶ αἰσχρὰ τούτῳ προσόντα, ὥστʼ ἐμοί τε μηδὲν ἀναιδὲς εἰρῆσθαι, καὶ τοῦτον ὑπόμνημα τῶν ἑαυτοῦ κακῶν ὀφθέντα πᾶσιν εἶναι.
For those things which one would hesitate to speak and guard against writing, and which I think one would loathe even to hear, every one of you, being reminded of them by these words, knows that many terrible and shameful things belong to him, so that nothing shameless has been spoken by me, and he is seen by all as a monument of his own evils.
εὐτυχεῖτε.
Farewell.

Notes

  1. 4.7ὅστις ἂν ... φήσειεν — The combination of ἄν with the optative (φήσειεν) in a relative clause introduced by ὅστις, expressing a potential situation ('who would say'). It describes a characteristic or result corresponding to the main clause's οὐδεὶς οὕτως ἐστὶν ἀγνώμων.
  2. 4.8νὴ Δία — A particle of oath ('by Zeus'), used here as a rhetorical device to introduce an anticipated objection (prolepsis / hypophora). It concedes a point ('everyone will agree...') only to refute it immediately with the subsequent ἀλλά.
  3. 4.8τῷ μὴ δεδουλευκέναι ... τῷ τοὺς μὲν πάντας ... δοκεῖν — Dative of cause or respect of the articular infinitives (τῷ ... δεδουλευκέναι and τῷ ... δοκεῖν), structured in a correlative οὐ μόνον... ἀλλὰ καί. The second infinitive (δοκεῖν) takes an accusative subject (τοὺς μὲν πάντας).
  4. 4.9τῶν μὲν ἀντιστάντων — A partitive genitive functioning with the superlative ἄριστα πράττειν and working in tandem with the comparative idea in περίεστιν, indicating that Athens fares best among those who resisted.
  5. 4.12καὶ ταῦτʼ οὐκ ἂν ἔγραψα, εἰ μὴ ... ἠβουλόμην — A past contrary-to-fact conditional sentence, with the apodosis having ἄν + aorist indicative (ἔγραψα) and the protasis having εἰ + imperfect indicative (ἠβουλόμην). It implies that he did wish to stir up memory, and therefore did write.

Cite this passage

Demosthenes, Letters §4.7-4.12. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0014.tlg063.humanitext-grc2:4.7-4.12

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