§427τοῦτο ποιεῖς ἢ πυρὶ, πρᾷον τοῦθʼ ἡγεῖ τι.
not by the sword, you are doing this by fire; do you deem this to be anything mild?
καὶ λόγον μὲν οὐκ ἂν ἐξ ἴσου δοίης ἐκείνοις τε καὶ ἡμῖν, ἐξ ἴσου δὲ ἀμφοτέροις ἐκποδὼν ἕστηκας, μᾶλλον δὲ βοηθεῖς μὲν οὐδετέροις, τῇ δὲ γνώμῃ πρὸς ἐκείνους ῥέπεις· τοσούτῳ πλέον ἡμῶν ἔχουσι.
And you would not grant equal speech to them and to us, but you stand aloof from both equally, or rather you help neither, while in your mind you incline toward them; by so much they have the advantage over us.
καὶ παρʼ αὐτὴν μὲν τὴν ὀργὴν οὕτω πολιτικῶς ἔσχες ὥστʼ οὐδʼ αὐτὸν τὸν Ἀγαμέμνονα ᾤου δεῖν τεθνάναι· μέγα τούτου τεκμήριον· οὔκουν ἀπέσφαξάς γε αὐτὸν, ἐξόν σοι.
And in the very midst of that anger you behaved so like a citizen that you did not even think Agamemnon himself ought to die; a great proof of this is that you did not slaughter him, though it was in your power.
νῦν δʼ οὐδὲ τῶν ἄλλων οὐδένα δεῖν οἴει λιπεῖν, καίτοι πολλῷ βέλτιον μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων κἀκεῖνον ἦν παρʼ ἀξίαν σῶσαι ἢ διʼ ἐκεῖνον ἅπαντας ἄρδην ἀφανισθέντας περιιδεῖν, καὶ δίκην γʼ ἂν οὕτω παρʼ αὐτοῦ τὴν γιγνομένην λαβεῖν.
But now you think not even one of the others ought to be left, although it would have been far better to save him also, beyond his desert, along with the others, than because of him to look on while everyone is utterly destroyed, and in this way to exact the penalty that is due from him.
εἰπὲ γάρ μοι τί μάλιστʼ ἂν εὔξαιο;
For tell me, what would you most pray for?
οὐκ ἀδοξεῖν ἐκεῖνον καὶ κακῶς ἀκούειν καὶ μῖσος ἔχειν ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ;
Is it not that he should be disgraced, evil spoken of, and held in hatred in the camp?
τοῦτο τοίνυν ἐξ ἀμφοῖν αὐτῷ περιέσται, ἔκ τε τῶν μέχρι τοῦδε ἀπολωλότων καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τούτου σωθησομένων·
This, then, will be left to him from both sides: from those who have perished up to now, and from those who shall be saved hereafter.
ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἐκείνοις αἴτιος τούτου δόξει γεγενῆσθαι, τῆς συμμαχίας ἀποστήσας σε διʼ ὧν ὕβρισε, σὺ δὲ τούτους νυνὶ σεσωκέναι μόνος ἀνθρώπων τῇ βοηθεία ὥστε τὸ μὲν ἐκείνου μέρος οὐδεὶς τῶν Ἀχαιῶν σώζεται, τὸ δὲ σὸν οὐδεὶς διέφθαρται.
For he will seem to have been the cause of this to those who perished, by having estranged you from the alliance through the insults he offered; while you alone of men will seem to have saved these by your aid, so that as far as he is concerned, none of the Achaeans is saved, but as far as you are concerned, none is destroyed.
σκόπει δῆτα καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς διαφορᾶς αὐτῆς, ὡς οὐκ ἐξ ἄλλου σοι πράγματος κατέστη πρὸς αὐτὸν, ἀλλʼ ὑπὲρ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν, ὅπως σωθεῖεν.
Consider, then, the very cause of the dispute, how it arose for you against him from no other matter than for the sake of the Achaeans, that they might be saved.
τήν τε γὰρ ἐκκλησίαν διὰ τοῦτο ἐποίησας, ὁρῶν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἀπολλυμένων ὑπὸ τῆς νόσου, τῷ τε Κάλχαντι παρῄνεις εἰπεῖν θαρρούντως εἴ τι σύνοιδε.
For it was on this account that you called the assembly, seeing the multitude of those perishing by the plague, and you exhorted Calchas to speak boldly if he knew anything.
καὶ παρελθόντος ἐκείνου καὶ φάσκοντος δεδιέναι μή τινα τῶν αὑτοῦ κρειττόνων παροξύνας κακόν τι λάβοι, ἀπώμνυς ἦ μὴν μὴ περιόψεσθαι τοῦτον.
And when he came forward and said he feared lest, by provoking one of his betters, he might suffer some harm, you swore that you would not look on and let him be harmed.
ἐκ δὲ τούτων ὁ μὲν §428ἀπέφαινε τὸν αἴτιον, ἐκεῖνος δʼ ἀμφοτέροις ὠργίζετο· σὺ δʼ οὐκ ἀπέστης πρὶν ἐπράχθη τὸ δέον.
And from these things, the one declared the cause, and the other was angry at both; but you did not stand aloof until what was necessary was done.
οὐκοῦν ἄτοπον ὑπὲρ ὧν ἵνα σωθῶσι τότε ἤρω τὴν ἔχθραν, τούτους νῦν διὰ τῆς ἔχθρας διαφθεῖραι, καὶ τὰς μὲν παρὰ τῆς τύχης συμφορὰς ἀξιοῦν ἐπανορθοῦσθαι, αὐτὸν δʼ ἐξεπίτηδες πράττειν ἐξ ὧν ἀπολούμεθα καὶ περὶ ὧν τότε ηὔχου τοῖς θεοῖς, περὶ τούτων νῦν οὐ βούλεσθαι διαλεχθῆναι σεαυτῷ· καὶ ὑπὲρ μὲν τοῦ ἱερέως τοῦ βαρβάρου τὸν θεὸν ἀξιοῦν αἰδεῖσθαι, ὑπὲρ δὲ τῶν ὁμοφύλων τοσούτων τὸ πλῆθος μήτε θεοὺς τοὺς κοινοὺς μήτε ὁσίαν μήτε σπονδὰς ἐθέλειν αἰσχυνθῆναι· καὶ τότε μὲν προέσθαι τὴν σαυτοῦ γνωρίμην, ἵνα σωθῇ τὰ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν, νῦν δὲ ἀντὶ ταύτης αὖ πανστρατιᾷ τοὺς Ἀχαιοὺς ἐκτρῖψαι.
Is it not then absurd, for the sake of those for whose salvation you then took up the enmity, to destroy these now through that very enmity, and while you demand that misfortunes from fortune should be set right, you yourself deliberately act so that we shall perish, and concerning those things for which you then prayed to the gods, you now do not wish to commune with yourself; and for the sake of the barbarian priest you demand that the god be revered, but for the sake of so great a multitude of your own kinsmen you are unwilling to respect either the common gods, or piety, or covenants; and while then you gave up your own familiar woman so that the affairs of the Achaeans might be saved, now in her stead you would again utterly destroy the Achaeans with the whole army.
καὶ μὴν εἰ δυοῖν αἵρεσις ἦν, καί μοι πρὸς Διὸς ἔστω παρρησία, δίκαιον γὰρ, ἄλλως τε καὶ παρʼ ἀνδρὶ τιμῶντι τἀληθὲς, πότερον δεῖ τὴν παῖδα σώαν εἶναι ταύτην, ἢ τὸ στρατόπεδον καὶ τὰ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν πράγματα;
And indeed, if there were a choice between two things, and by Zeus let me have free speech—for it is just, especially before a man who honors the truth—which is necessary: that this girl should be safe, or the camp and the affairs of the Achaeans?
οὐκ ἂν οὔτε τὸν Δία τὸν σαυτοῦ πρόγονον τοῦτʼ ᾔτησας οὔτʼ ἄλλον θεῶν οὐδένα ταύτην ἀντὶ πάντων λειφθῆναι·
You would not have asked this of Zeus, your own ancestor, nor of any other of the gods, that this girl should be left in place of all.
τί οὖν;
What then?
εἰ ταύτην τε ἔξεστι κομίσασθαι καὶ σῶσαι τοὺς Ἀχαιοὺς, αἱρήσει ταύτης τε ἀφεστάναι καὶ τούτους ἀπολωλεκὼς εἶναι;
If it is possible both to recover her and to save the Achaeans, will you choose to be deprived of her and to have destroyed them?
καὶ πῶς οὐκ ἄτοπον συμφορὰν μὲν ἐπίστασθαι συμφορᾶς ἀνταλλάξασθαι, ἄμφω δὲ ἐξὸν ἔχειν ἄνευ ζημίας, εἶτα ἀμφοῖν δέξασθαι στέρεσθαι;
And how is it not absurd to know how to exchange one misfortune for another, yet when it is possible to have both without loss, then to accept being deprived of both?
οὐ γὰρ μόνων τῶν Ἀτρειδῶν ἦν τὰς ἑαυτῶν γυναῖκας φιλεῖν.
"For it was not for the Atridae alone to love their own wives," you say.
τίς δʼ ἂν εἴποι ταῦτα;
Who would say this?
ἀλλά τοι καὶ κατʼ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἡ τοῦ πολέμου φύσις ἀξία θαυμάσαι.
Yet indeed, in this very point, the nature of war is worthy of wonder.
εἰ γὰρ ἑκάστῳ τοῦτο παρέστη τὸ κατʼ ἀρχὰς εὐθὺς ὅτι νῦν Μενέλαος συλλέγει στρατιὰν τῆς γυναικὸς τῆς ἑαυτοῦ χάριν, πῶς οὖν ἐμέ γʼ εἰκὸς καταλιπόντα τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ γυναῖκα καὶ πρὸς τῇ γυναικὶ παῖδας καὶ γονεῖς ἐν γήρᾳ καὶ χρήματα καὶ οἰκέτας πλεῖν ἔξω τῆς Ἑλλάδος, καὶ πρὸς
For if this had occurred to each man straightway at the beginning, "Now Menelaus is gathering an army for the sake of his own wife; how then is it reasonable for me to leave my own wife, and in addition to my wife, my children and my parents in their old age, and my property and my servants, and to sail outside of Greece, and furthermore..."