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Aeschines · Letters §1.1-1.5

Letter to Philocrates: Voyage to Rhodes and Advice

Passage 1 of 14 · Greek

Summary

Aeschines reports to Philocrates about his difficult voyage from Munichia to Delos, Aerone, and finally Rhodes, where he fell ill, and concludes with advice against political involvement.

§1.1AΙΣΧΙΝΗΣ ΦΙΛΟΚΡΑΤΕΙ XΑΙΡΕΙΝ. Λύσαντες ἐκ Μουνιχίας ἑσπέρας λαμπρῷ σφόδρα Σκίρωνι περὶ μέσην ἡμέραν κατήχθημεν εἰς Κορησὸν τὴν Κείων.
Aeschines to Philocrates, greeting. Having set sail from Munichia in the evening, with a very strong northwest wind, we put in at Coresus of the Ceans around midday.
καθίσαντες δὲ ἡμέρας ἐννέα (σκαιὸς γὰρ ἦν ὁ ἄνεμος),εἶτα ἑσπέρας πάλιν λύσαντες ἄμα τῇ ἕῳ εἰς Δῆλον ἤλθομεν.
And having stayed there nine days (for the wind was contrary), then having set sail again in the evening, we arrived at Delos at daybreak.
§1.2Δήλιοι δὲ ἐνόσουν λοιμώδη τινὰ νόσον· τὰ μὲν πρόσωπα ἐπίμπλαντο λεύκης καὶ τὰς τρίχας λευκοὶ ἐγίγνοντο, ὁ δὲ τράχηλος καὶ τὰ στέρνα ἀνῴδει, πυρετοὶ δʼ οὐκ ἐγίγνοντο οὐδὲ ἀλγηδόνες μεγάλαι, οὐδὲ τὰ κάτω μέρη παρήλλαττεν οὐδέν τι.
The Delians were suffering from a certain plague-like disease; their faces were filled with white leprosy and they became white as to their hair, and their necks and chests swelled, but no fevers occurred nor great pains, nor did their lower parts change at all.
ταῦτα δὲ ἐπείθοντο κατὰ μῆνιν Ἀπόλλωνος αὐτοῖς συμβεβηκέναι, ταφέντος ἐν τῇ νήσῳ τινὸς τῶν ἐπιφανῶν, οὐ πρότερον εἶωθός· ἐκ τούτου προσβαλεῖν αὐτοῖς τὸν θεὸν τὴν νόσον ταύτην ὑπελάμβανον.
They believed that these things had happened to them because of the wrath of Apollo, because some prominent person had been buried on the island, which was not previously customary; for this reason they supposed that the god had inflicted this disease upon them.
§1.3ἡμεῖς δὲ ὥσπερ εἰς τι ἔθνος ἀλλόφυλον ἢ νῆσον ἐν τῇ ἔξω θαλάττῃ ἀφιγμένοι, καὶ ἰδόντες ἐξαίφνης χρῆμαποικίλον ἀνθρώπων, νυκτὸς ἔτι φεύγοντες ῴχόμεθα, πυνθανόμενοι ἀλλήλων κατὰ τὸν πόρον, εἰ τὸ χρῶμα ἔχοι ἕκαστος οἷον ἐκόμιζεν οἴκοθεν, καὶ τὰς τρίχας.
And we, as if we had arrived among some foreign nation or an island in the outer sea, and having suddenly seen a strange sight of people, fled and went away while it was still night, asking one another during the passage whether each still had the skin color and hair such as he had brought from home.
ζάλη δὲ καὶ ἄνεμος ἐξώστης ἐμπεσὼν ἀπήνεγκεν ἡμᾶς ὑπὲρ Κρήτην, πλησίον αμαθοῦντος.
But a storm and a driving wind fell upon us and carried us beyond Crete, near Amathus.
§1.4ὡς δὲ ἐν συνόπτῳ ἡμεν ἤδη, ἀντιπνεῖ πνεῦμα Διβυκὸν.
And when we were already within sight of land, a Libyan wind blew against us.
εἶτα πνεύσαντος ἡμῖν ἀπʼ ἄρκτων πάλιν, πέντε νύκτας ἐν θαλάττῃ γενόμενοι προσέχομεν Ἀερώνῃ, ἵνα μάθωμεν μὴ πολυπραγμονεῖν, εἴ τις ἐν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ πατρίδι κατὰ τοὺς νόμους ἢ μὴ στεφανοῦται.
Then, the wind blowing for us from the north again, after being at sea for five nights, we put in at Aerone, so that we might learn not to busy ourselves with whether someone is crowned in his own homeland according to the laws or not.
κἀκεῖθεν τέτταρσιν ἡμέραις ἀφικόμεθα εἰς ἐπίνειόν τι τῆς Ῥοδίας, ὅπου νοσῆσαί μοι συνέβη τὴν περὶ τὸ ἄσθμα νόσον.
And from there in four days we arrived at a certain harbor of Rhodes, where it happened to me to fall ill with the disease concerning asthma.
§1.5ὡς δὲ ἐπιμείναντος αὐτόθι οὐκ ἐνεδίδου ἡ νόσος, διέπλευσα εἰς Ρόδὸν, καὶ ἐδέξατο ἡμᾶς εὐμενῶς ὁ τόπος· εὐθὺς γὰρ ὡς ἀφικόμην, πολὑ ῥᾴων ἐγενόμην.
And as the disease did not relent although I remained there, I sailed over to Rhodes, and the place received us kindly; for as soon as I arrived, I became much better.
καὶ ταυτὶ μὲν ἔχομέν σοι τέως ἐπιστέλλειν· τὰ δʼ ἄλλα ὡς ἂν ἕκαστα συμβαίνῃ, δηλώσομεν.
And these things indeed we have to write to you for the time being; but the other things, as each may happen, we shall make known.
εὐτύχει, καὶ μὴ πολιτεύου μηδὲ πρόσκρουε μήτε τοῖς πλέον σοῦ μήτε τοῖς ἔλαττον δυναμένοις.
Farewell, and do not engage in politics nor clash either with those who have more power than you or with those who have less.

Notes

  1. 1.1Λύσαντες — An aorist active participle in the nominative masculine plural, agreeing with the implicit subject ("we") of the main first-person plural verb `κατήχθημεν` ("we put in"), meaning "having set sail".
  2. 1.2ταφέντος ἐν τῇ νήσῳ τινὸς τῶν ἐπιφανῶν — A genitive absolute construction, where the aorist passive participle `ταφέντος` (genitive singular) and the pronoun `τινὸς τῶν ἐπιφανῶν` ("someone of the prominent", genitive singular) stand in a subject-predicate relation.
  3. 1.3εἰ τὸ χρῶμα ἔχοι ἕκαστος οἷον ἐκόμιζεν οἴκοθεν — An indirect question introduced by `εἰ` where the verb `ἔχοι` is in the optative (optative of oblique clause) because the main verb (`ᾠχόμεθα`) is in a past tense, replacing an original indicative present.
  4. 1.4ἵνα μάθωμεν μὴ πολυπραγμονεῖν — A purpose clause introduced by `ἵνα` containing the subjunctive `μάθωμεν`, which takes as its object the infinitive `πολυπραγμονεῖν` ("to be a busybody / to meddle") negated by `μὴ`.
  5. 1.5ὡς δὲ ἐπιμείναντος αὐτόθι — A genitive absolute construction following the conjunction `ὡς`, in which the semantic subject of the participle `ἐπιμείναντος` (genitive singular) is omitted. Contextually, it refers to Aeschines himself remaining there.

Cite this passage

Aeschines, Letters §1.1-1.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0026.tlg004.humanitext-grc1:1.1-1.5

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