§1ὅτι μὲν τὸν πατέρα μʼ ἔφασκεν ἀπεκτονέναι, πολλοὶ συνοίδασιν ὑμῶν, καὶ μαρτυροῦσι δέ μοι· ὅτι δὲ οὐ πεποίηκα, δῆλον·
That he claimed that I had killed my father, many of you know well, and indeed testify for me; but that I have not done it is clear.
ἔτη γὰρ ἐστί μοι δύο καὶ τριάκοντα, ἐξ οὗ δʼ ὑμεῖς κατήλθετε, εἰκοστὸν τουτί.
For I am thirty-two years old, and this is the twentieth year since you returned.
§2φαίνομαι οὖν δωδεκαέτης ὤν, ὅτε ὁ πατὴρ ὑπὸ τῶν τριάκοντα ἀπέθνῃσκεν, ὥστʼ οὐδʼ ὅ τι ὀλιγαρχία ἦν ᾔδη, οὐδὲ τῷ πατρὶ βοηθεῖν οἷός τʼ ἦ.
I appear, therefore, to have been twelve years old when my father was put to death by the Thirty, so that I did not even know what an oligarchy was, nor was I able to help my father.
ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδὲ τῶν χρημάτων ἕνεκα ἐπεβούλευσα αὐτῷ· ὁ γὰρ πρεσβύτερος ἀδελφὸς πάντα λαβὼν ἀπεστέρησεν ἡμᾶς.
Furthermore, I did not plot against him for the sake of money; for my elder brother took everything and deprived us.
§3ἴσως δʼ ἐρεῖ ὡς οὐκ ἔστι τῶν ἀπορρήτων, ἐάν τις φῇ τὸν πατέρα ἀπεκτονέναι· τὸν γὰρ νόμον οὐ ταῦτʼ ἀπαγορεύειν, ἀλλʼ ἀνδροφόνον οὐκ ἐᾶν λέγειν. ἐγὼ δʼ οἶμαι δεῖν οὐ περὶ τῶν ὀνομάτων διαφέρεσθαι, ἀλλὰ περὶ τῆς τῶν ἔργων διανοίας, καὶ πάντας εἰδέναι ὅτι ὁπόσοι ἀπεκτόνασί τινας, καὶ ἀνδροφόνοι τῶν αὐτῶν εἰσι, καὶ ὅσοι ἀνδροφόνοι τινός, καὶ ἀπεκτόνασι τοῦτον.
Perhaps he will say that it is not one of the forbidden words if someone says that a person killed his father; for he will say the law does not forbid this, but prohibits calling someone a "murderer." But I think we ought to dispute not about the words, but about the intention of the actions, and everyone should know that all who have killed someone are also the murderers of those same people, and whoever is the murderer of someone has also killed him.
§4πολὺ γὰρ ἂν ἔργον εἴη τῷ νομοθέτῃ πάντα γράφειν τὰ ὀνόματα, ὅσα τὴν αὐτὴν δύναμιν ἔχει· ἀλλὰ περὶ ἑνὸς εἰπὼν περὶ πάντων ἐδήλωσεν.
For it would be an endless task for the lawmaker to write down all the words that have the same meaning; rather, by speaking of one, he made his meaning clear about all.
οὐ γὰρ δήπου ἐὰν μέν τις πατραλοίαν ἢ μητραλοίαν καλῇ σε, ὑπόδικός ἐστιν, ἐὰν δέ τις τὴν τεκοῦσαν ἢ τὸν φυτεύσαντα τύπτειν φῇ, ἀζήμιος ἔσται.
For surely, if someone calls you a patricide or a matricide, he is liable to prosecution, but if someone says you beat her who bore you or him who begot you, he will not go unpunished.
§5καὶ ἐάν τις εἴπῃ ῥίψασπιν, ἀθῷος ἔσται·
And if someone says you "threw away your shield," will he be unpunished?
τὸν γὰρ νόμον, ἐάν τις εἴπῃ ἀποβεβληκέναι τὴν ἀσπίδα, ζημίαν τάττειν, ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἄν τις ῥῖψαι φῇ αὐτήν. ὁμοίως δʼ ἂν καὶ τῶν ἕνδεκα γενόμενος οὐκ ἂν ἀπεδέχου τὸν ἀπαγόμενον, ὅτι θοἰμάτιον ἐξέδυέ τινος ἢ τὸν χιτωνίσκον,
On the ground that the law ordains a penalty if someone says you "lost your shield," but not if someone says you "threw it away." Likewise, if you had become one of the Eleven, you would not have accepted the man who was hauled before you on the charge that he stripped off someone's cloak or undergarment, unless the accuser called him a "clothes-stealer"?
§6εἰ μὴ λωποδύτην ὠνόμαζεν. οὐδʼ εἴ τις παῖδʼ ἐξῆγεν, ὡς ἀνδραποδιστήν·
Nor if someone led away a child, on the ground that he did not call him a "slave-stealer"?
καὶ αὐτὸς μὲν ἐδικάσω κακηγορίας τῷ εἰπόντι σε ῥῖψαι τὴν ἀσπίδα.
And yet you yourself sued for slander the man who said you threw away your shield.
καίτοι ἐν τῷ νόμῳ οὐ γέγραπται, ἀλλʼ ἐάν τις φῇ ἀποβεβληκέναι. πῶς οὖν οὐ δεινόν, ἐὰν μέν τις σὲ ἔπῃ, τοὺς νόμους ἐκλαμβάνειν οὕτως ὥσπερ ἐγὼ νῦν, καὶ τιμωρεῖσθαι τοὺς ἐχθρούς, ἐὰν δʼ αὐτὸς εἴπῃς, οὐκ ἀξιοῦν δοῦναι δίκην;
And yet this is not written in the law, but rather "if someone says you lost it." How then is it not terrible that, if someone speaks against you, you interpret the laws in this way as I do now, and punish your enemies, but if you yourself speak, you think you should not pay the penalty?
§7βοηθήσατε οὖν μοι, ἐνθυμούμενοι ὅτι μεῖζόν ἐστι κακὸν ἀκοῦσαι τὸν πατέρα ἀπεκτονέναι ἢ τὴν ἀσπίδα ῥῖψαι.
Therefore, help me, bearing in mind that it is a greater evil to be told that one has killed one's father than that one has thrown away one's shield.
ἐγὼ γοῦν δεξαίμην ἂν πάσας ἀποβεβληκέναι ἢ τοιαύτην γνώμην περὶ τὸν πατέρα ἔχειν.
I, at least, would rather have lost all my shields than have such an opinion about my father.
καίτοι γε τοῦτον μὲν ἑώρακα ποιοῦντα, ὡς καὶ ὑμεῖς ἴστε, αὐτὸς δʼ ἔσωσα τὴν ἀσπίδα.
And yet I saw him doing this, as you also know, while I myself saved my shield.
ὥστε διὰ τί οὐκ ἂν λάβοιμι δίκην παρʼ αὐτοῦ;
So why should I not obtain justice from him?
§8τίνος ἐγκλήματός μοι ὄντος;
On account of what accusation against me?
πότερον ὡς δικαίως ἤκουσα;
Is it because I heard these things justly?
ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ἂν αὐτοὶ φήσαιτε.
But not even you yourselves would say so.
ἀλλʼ ὡς βελτίων οὗτος;
Is it because he is a better man?
ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ἂν αὐτὸς ἀξιώσειεν.
But not even he himself would claim this.
ἀλλʼ ὅτι ἀποβεβληκὼς τὰ ὅπλα σώσαντι δικάζομαι;
Is it because, having lost my arms, I am prosecuting the man who saved them?
ἀλλʼ οὐχ οὗτος ὁ λόγος διέσπαρται κατὰ τὴν πόλιν.
But this is not the rumor that has been spread throughout the city.
μὴ δὴ κακῶς ἀκούοντα τὰ προσήκοντα ἐλεεῖτε, §9μηδʼ ὑβρίζοντί τε καὶ λέγοντι παρὰ τοὺς νόμους συγγνώμην ἔχετε, καὶ ταῦτα εἰς ἄνδρα ὃς πολλὰς μὲν στρατηγίας ἐστρατήγηκε, πολλοὺς δὲ μεθʼ ὑμῶν κινδύνους κεκινδύνευκε, καὶ οὔτε τοῖς πολεμίοις ὑποχείριος γέγονεν οὔθʼ ὑμῖν εὔθυναν ὦφλεν, ἑβδομήκοντα δʼ ἐτῶν ὢν ἐπʼ ὀλιγαρχίας ἐτελεύτησε διὰ τὴν ὑμετέραν εὔνοιαν.
Do not, therefore, pity him who is justly spoken ill of, nor pardon him who insults and speaks contrary to the laws, especially against a man who served many times as general and faced many dangers with you, and was neither captured by the enemy nor found guilty at his audit before you, and who, at the age of seventy, died under the oligarchy because of his goodwill toward you.
§10ἄξιον δὲὀργισθῆναι ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ· τί γὰρ ἂν τούτου ἀνιαρότερον ἀκούσειεν, εἰ τεθνηκὼς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν αἰτίαν ἔχοι ὑπὸ τῶν τέκνων ἀνῃρῆσθαι;
It is right to be angry on his behalf; for what could he hear more painful than this, if, having died at the hands of the enemies, he should bear the accusation of having been destroyed by his own children?
οὗ τῆς ἀρετῆς τὰ μνημεῖα πρὸς τοῖς ὑμετέροις ἱεροῖς ἀνάκειται, τῆς δὲ τούτων κακίας πρὸς τοῖς τῶν πολεμίων.
The monuments of his virtue are dedicated near your temples, while those of their cowardice are near those of the enemies.
§11ἐρεῖ δὲ ὡς ὀργισθεὶς εἴρηκεν.
But he will say that he spoke in anger.
ὑμεῖς δʼ ἐνθυμεῖσθε ὅτι ὁ νομοθέτης οὐδεμίαν συγγνώμην ὀργῇ δίδωσιν, ἀλλὰ ζημιοῖ τὸν λέγοντα, ἐὰν μὴ ἀποδεικνύῃ ἀληθῆ.
You, however, bear in mind that the lawmaker grants no pardon to anger, but punishes the speaker unless he proves his words true.
ἐγὼ δὲ δὶς περὶ τούτου μεμαρτύρηκα· οὐ γὰρ ᾔδη ὅτι ὑμεῖς τοὺς μὲν ἰδόντας τιμωρεῖσθε, τοῖς δὲ ἀποβαλοῦσι συγγνώμην ἔχετε.
I have twice given testimony about this man; for I did not know that you punish those who saw, but pardon those who threw away their shields.
δέομαι οὖν καταψηφίσασθαι αὐτοῦ.
Therefore, I beg you to vote against him.
§12νυνὶ γὰρ διώκω μὲν κακηγορίας, τῇ δʼ αὐτῇ ψήφῳ φόνου φεύγω τοῦ πατρός, οὗ μείζων ἀγὼν οὐκ ἂν γένοιτό μοι, ὃς μόνος δοκιμασθεὶς τοῖς τριάκοντʼ ἐπεξῆλθον ἐν Ἀρείῳ πάγῳ.
For now, on the one hand, I am prosecuting him for slander, but on the other hand, by the very same vote, I am defending myself against the charge of murdering my father, than which no greater trial could come upon me, I who, having alone passed my scrutiny, prosecuted the Thirty before the Areopagus.
βοηθήσατʼ οὖν κἀκείνῳ κἀμοί.
Therefore, help both my father and me.