Humanitext Reader

Theophrastus · Fragments §137.1

Philocles Facing His Execution with Dignity

Passage 142 of 196 · Greek

Summary

Based on Theophrastus, this passage recounts how the Athenian general Philocles, when captured by Lysander, faced his execution with dignity and without fear.

§137.1Fr. 137 Λύσανδρος καλέσας Φιλοκλέα τὸν στρατηγὸν ἠρώτησεν αὐτὸν τίνα τιμᾶται ἑαυτῷ δίκην τοιοῦτα περὶ Ἑλλήνων συμβεβουλευκὼς τοῖς πολίταις·
Fr. 137 Lysander called Philocles the general and asked him what penalty he assessed for himself, seeing that he had advised the citizens to do such things to the Greeks.
ὁ δὲ οὐδέν τι πρὸς τὴν συμφορὰν ἐνδοὺς ἐκέλευσε μὴ κατηγορεῖν ὧν οὐδείς ἐστι δικαστὴς ἀλλὰ νικῶντα πράττειν ἅπερ ἂν νικηθεὶς ἔπασχεν·
But Philocles, not yielding at all to his misfortune, bade him not to make accusations where there was no judge, but as a victor to do just what he would have suffered if he had been defeated.
εἶτα λουσάμενος καὶ λαβὼν χλαμύδα λαμπρὰν πρῶτος ἐπὶ τὴν σφαγὴν ἡγεῖτο τοῖς πολίταις, ὡς ἱστορεῖ Θεόφραστος.
Then, having bathed and taken a splendid cloak, he was the first to lead his fellow citizens to the slaughter, as Theophrastus records.

Notes

  1. §137.1τίνα τιμᾶται ἑαυτῷ δίκην — τιμᾶται is used in the middle voice (τιμᾶσθαι), meaning "to propose or assess a penalty for oneself," a standard legal term in Athenian courts where the defendant suggests their own punishment. ἑαυτῷ is the reflexive pronoun referring to the subject, Philocles.
  2. §137.1ἅπερ ἂν νικηθεὶς ἔπασχεν — The combination of the particle ἂν with the imperfect indicative (ἔπασχεν), accompanied by the conditional participle νικηθείς ("if he had been defeated"), expresses a past counterfactual condition ("what he would have suffered").
  3. §137.1πρῶτος ἐπὶ τὴν σφαγὴν ἡγεῖτο τοῖς πολίταις — The adjective πρῶτος is used adverbially to mean "first" or "at the head." ἡγεῖτο (imperfect of ἡγέομαι) governs the dative τοῖς πολίταις, meaning "he led the citizens."

Cite this passage

Theophrastus, Fragments §137.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0093.tlg010x09.humanitext-grc1:137.1

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