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Aeschines · Letters §3.1-3.3

Letter to Athens: Acceptance of Exile and Predecessors

Passage 3 of 14 · Greek

Summary

Aeschines addresses the Athenian Senate and Assembly regarding his defeat in court and subsequent exile. He cites the harsh fates of great predecessors like Themistocles and Miltiades, declaring that sharing in their dishonor is actually a source of pride.

§3.1ΑΙΣΧΙΝΗΣ ΤΗΙ ΒΟΥΛΗΙ KAΙ ΤΩΙ ΔΗΜΩΙ. Οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι πάντες, ὅσοι φεύγουσιν ἀδίκως, ἢ δέονται τῶν πολιτῶν, ὅπως ἐπανέλθωσιν, ἢ διαμαρτόντες τούτου λοιδοροῦσι τὰς ἑαυτῶν πατρίδας, ὡς φαύλως αὐτοῖς προσφερομένας· ἐγὼ δὲ ἐπείπερ ἅπαξ ἀναξίως ὡν ἐπολιτευσάμην ήτύχησα, καὶ κατηγορῶν ἄλλων αὐτὸς ἑάλων, ἄχθομαι μέν, ὥσπερ εἰκός ἐστιν, ἀγανακτῶ δὲ οὐδέν.
Aeschines to the Senate and the People. All other men, who are unjustly exiled, either beg the citizens that they may return, or, having failed in this, revile their own homelands as treating them badly; but I, since I have once suffered misfortune unworthy of my political life, and while accusing others was myself convicted, am indeed grieved, as is natural, but I am not at all indignant.
§3.2οὐ γὰρ οὕτως ἔγωγε ήλίθιός εἶμι, ὥστε, ἐξ ἧς πόλεως Θεμιστοκλῆς ὁ τὴν Ἐλλάδα ἐλευθερώσας ἐξηλάθη, καὶ ὅπου Μιλτιάδης, ὅτι μικρὸν ῶφειλε τῷ δημοσίῳ, γέρων ὢν ἐν τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ ἀπέθανε, ταύτῃ τῇ πόλει Αἰσχίνην τὸν Ἀτρομήτου φεύγοντα ἀγανακτεῖν οἴεσθαι δεῖν, εἴ τι τῶν εἰωθότων Ἀθήνησιν ἔπαθεν.
For I am not so foolish as to think that, with regard to this very city from which Themistocles who liberated Greece was driven out, and where Miltiades, because he owed a small sum to the public treasury, died in prison in his old age, Aeschines the son of Atrometus, being in exile, ought to be indignant if he has suffered any of the things customary in Athens.
§3.3ἀλλʼ ἔγωγε καὶ λαμπρὸν εἰκότως μοι νομίσαιμιʼ ἂν αὐτὸ γενέσθαι, τὸ μετʼ ἐκείνων ἐν ἀδοξίᾳ παρὰ τοῖς ἔπειτα ἀνθρώποις καὶ ἄξιος τοῦ ὄμοια παθεῖν ἐκείνοις γεγονέναι.
Rather, I would reasonably deem it a glorious thing for me, to be in dishonor along with them in the eyes of future generations, and to have been found worthy of suffering things similar to them.

Notes

  1. §3.1ὡν ἐπολιτευσάμην — An instance of relative attraction with the omission of the antecedent. The phrase stands for ἐκείνων ἃ ἐπολιτευσάμην; the relative pronoun ἃ has been attracted to the genitive case of the omitted antecedent.
  2. §3.1κατηγορῶν ἄλλων αὐτὸς ἑάλων — The first-person singular aorist indicative active (with passive meaning) ἑάλων from ἁλίσκομαι. In a legal context, it serves as the passive of αἱρέω, meaning 'to be convicted' or 'to lose a lawsuit'. This refers to the historical fact that Aeschines, while prosecuting Ctesiphon, failed to win the case and was consequently penalized.
  3. §3.2οἴεσθαι δεῖν Αἰσχίνην τὸν Ἀτρομήτου φεύγοντα ἀγανακτεῖν — An accusative with infinitive construction (δεῖν ... ἀγανακτεῖν) embedded within the infinitive οἴεσθαι, which is introduced by the consecutive particle ὥστε. The subject of this inner infinitive is Αἰσχίνην, a grand self-reference in the third person ('Aeschines the son of Atrometus') used by the speaker instead of the first-person pronoun.
  4. §3.3ἄξιος τοῦ ὄμοια παθεῖν ἐκείνοις γεγονέναι — An instance of nominative with infinitive (or attraction). Because the subject of the infinitive γεγονέναι is identical to the subject of the governing verb νομίσαιμι ἄν (first person singular), the adjective ἄξιος appears in the nominative case rather than the accusative ἄξιον, despite being part of the articular infinitive phrase in apposition to αὐτό.

Cite this passage

Aeschines, Letters §3.1-3.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0026.tlg004.humanitext-grc1:3.1-3.3

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