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Complete Works of Achilles Tatius

Page 85

by Achilles Tatius


  8. The appointed time having come, Thersander began, as follows. “I know not where to begin my argument, and with which to begin; against which to bring my accusation first, and which second. Crime has been piled on crime, by different parties, each as heinous as the rest, and these crimes are but loosely connected with one another; and there are some as well on which I shall hardly be able to touch during my indictment. Since the heart rules the head, (The Greek is very difficult. Perhaps “My feelings are too much for me, and so I am afraid...” It seems barely possible to get from the Greek the sense more obviously required, “I have them all fully set out in my head, but...” Dr. Rouse suggests that for τά re yap we should read are yap.) I am afraid my speech will be too incoherent to comprehend them all; before I finish one my tongue will go on to another; my anxiety to proceed to some point on which I have not yet dwelt will blunt the general effect of the whole sum of what I have previously said. When adulterers murder other peoples’ servants, when murderers commit adultery with other people’s wives, when whoremongers desecrate sacred embassies, when whores pollute our most sacred temples, when a person is found to fix the day of trials between slave-girls and their masters, is there any further excess of crime that can be committed beyond the welter of contempt for the law, adultery, impiety and blood-guiltiness?

  “You condemned a prisoner to death, on what charges it matters not now, and sent him in chains to prison to be kept there until his execution: and now here he stands before you; instead of his fetters he is wearing a white robe, and the prisoner is standing in the ranks of those who are free. He will have the impudence, perhaps, to lift up his voice and bring some cavilling, sophisticated accusation against me — rather will it be against you and the vote you gave. Read, usher, the decree pronounced by the presiding judges and their assessors. [The usher reads the sentence.] You hear how you decided, and the verdict brought at my suit against this fellow. The vote was that Clitophon was to die. Where then is the public executioner? Let him arrest the prisoner and lead him away to death. Quick, give him the hemlock. He is already dead in the eyes of the law; he is a condemned felon whose date of execution is overdue.

  “And now, most reverend and worthy bishop, what have you to say? In what part of the divine law is it written that, when men are condemned by the government and its executive officers and given over for death or chains, you should rescue them from their sentence and have their chains struck off them, arrogating to yourself higher powers than those of presiding judges and courts of law? Come down from the bench, my Lord Chief, and leave your position and the court in his favour; you have no longer power over anybody; it is not within your province to pass sentence on rascals; all your decrees are reversed to-day. Nay, good bishop, why stand among us as though you were one of the common herd? Go up, and take your seat on his Lordship’s bench, and be our judge for the future — or rather, just express your sweet will and pleasure, like an autocrat; it is not worth while having any law or precedent of the court read to you. Better still, claim a position above mankind altogether; have worship paid to you along with Artemis, for it is her honour that you have usurped. She alone has had the power, until now, of affording an asylum to those who fly to her for help (and that only before the court has pronounced its verdict; the goddess has never loosed a criminal from his chains or rescued a condemned felon from his deserved fate; her altars are for the unfortunate, not for the guilty), but now you take it upon yourself to strike the shackles from the prisoner and acquit the condemned, thus setting yourself up above the goddess. Who has dared thus to turn the temple into a prison? Yes, there was a murderer and an adulterer in the church of that pure goddess; alack, alack, an adulterer in the virgin-shrine! And with him was a woman of the lightest character, a slave who had run away from her master: her too, as I myself saw, you took in; you allowed them to share your hearth and your table; and I should not be surprised to hear, my lord bishop, that you shared their bed as well when you turned the temple into a common lodging. Yes, the church of Artemis is become a bawdy-house — a whore’s bedchamber; they would have been ashamed of the goings-on there in the commonest brothel. My case against these two men therefore stands together; I ask that the one may be punished for his presumption, and that you will order the other to be handed over to suffer the punishment to which he has been condemned.

  “My second charge is against Melitte, for adultery; and I shall not have to speak at great length against her, as it has been already resolved that the enquiry shall be conducted by putting her serving-maids to the question. I therefore claim them for this purpose; if, under the torture, they deny that they knew that this gaol-bird kept company with her for a long time, and actually held a husband’s place, not a mere gallant’s, in my house, then I will retract all charges against her. But if the contrary proves to be the truth, I claim that, as the law directs, she must lose her dowry, which then becomes my property, and that her paramour must suffer the punishment meted out to adulterers; which is death. So that for whichever crime he suffers, adultery or murder (as he is clearly guilty of both), he will escape his due while he pays the penalty of his crime; whichever death he dies he will avoid the other which he ought to undergo. The third part of my charge is against my slave-girl and this hoary impostor who sets out to be her father; but I will keep that till later on, after you have given your verdict against these others.” With these words he ended his speech.

  [1] Ὁ μὲν δὴ ταῦτα εἰπὼν ἐπαύσατο: παρελθὼν δὲ ὁ ἱερεὺς (ἦν δὲ εἰπεῖν οὐκ ἀδύνατος, μάλιστα δὲ τὴν Ἀριστοφάνους ἐζηλωκὼς κωμῳδίαν) ἤρξατο αὐτὸς λέγειν, πάνυ ἀστείως καὶ κωμῳδικῶς εἰς πορνείαν αὐτοῦ καθαπτόμενος ‘παρὰ τὴν θεὸν’ λέγων ‘λοιδορεῖσθαι μὲν οὕτως ἀκόσμως τοῖς εὖ βεβιωκόσι στόματος ἐστὶν οὐ καθαροῦ. [2] Οὗτος δὲ οὐκ ἐνταῦθα μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ πανταχοῦ τὴν γλῶτταν μεστὴν ὕβρεως ἔχει. Καίτοιγε νέος ὢν συνεγίνετο πολλοῖς αἰδοίοις ἀνδράσι καὶ τὴν ὥραν ἅπασαν εἰς τοῦτο δεδαπάνηκε. Σεμνότητα δεδόρκει καὶ σωφροσύνην ὑπεκρίνετο, παιδείας προσποιούμενος ἐρᾶν καὶ τοῖς εἰς ταύτην αὐτῷ χρωμένοις πάντα ὑποκύπτων καὶ ὑποκατακλινόμενος ἀεί. [3] Καταλιπὼν γὰρ τὴν πατρῴαν οἰκίαν, ὀλίγον ἑαυτῷ μισθωσάμενος στενωπεῖον, εἶχεν ἐνταῦθα τὸ οἴκημα, ὁμηρίζων μὲν τὰ πολλά, πάντας δὲ τοὺς χρησίμους πρὸς ἅπερ ἤθελε προσεταιριζόμενος. Καὶ οὕτω μὲν ἀσκεῖν τὴν ψυχὴν ἐνομίζετο: ἦν δ̓ ἄρα τοῦτο κακουργίας ὑπόκρισις. [4] Ἔπειτα κἀν τοῖς γυμνασίοις ἑωρῶμεν πῶς τὸ σῶμα ὑπηλείφετο καὶ πῶς πλέκτρον περιέβαινε καὶ τοὺς μὲν νεανίσκους, οἷς προσεπάλαιε, πρὸς τοὺς ἀνδρειοτέρους μάλιστα συμπλεκόμενος: οὕτως αὑτοῦ κέχρηται καὶ τῷ σώματι. [5] Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὡραῖος ὥν: ἐπεὶ δὲ εἰς ἄνδρας ἧκε, πάντα ἀπεκάλυψεν, ἃ τότε ἀπέκρυπτε. Καὶ τοῦ μὲν ἄλλου σώματος ἔξωρος γενόμενος ἠμέλησε, μόνην δὲ τὴν γλῶτταν εἰς ἀσέλγειαν ἀκονᾷ καὶ τῷ στόματι χρῆται πρὸς ἀναισχυντίαν, ὑβρίζων πάντας, ἐπὶ τῶν προσώπων φέρων τὴν ἀναίδειαν, ὃς οὐκ ᾐδέσθη τὸν ὑφ̓ ὑμῶν ἱερωσύνῃ τετιμημένον οὕτως ἀπαιδεύτως βλασφημῶν ὑμῶν
ἐναντίον. [6] Ἀλλ̓ εἰ μὲν ἄλλῃ που βεβιωκὼς ἔτυχον καὶ μὴ παῤ ὑμῖν, ἔδει μοι λόγων περὶ ἐμαυτοῦ καὶ τῶν ἐμοὶ βεβιωμένων: ἐπεὶ δὲ σύνιστέ μοι πόρρω τῶν τούτου βλασφημιῶν τὸν βίον ἔχοντι, φέρε εἴπω πρὸς ὑμᾶς περὶ ὧν ἐγκέκλημαι. [7] ‘Ἔλυσας’ φησὶ ‘τὸν θανάτου κατεγνωσμένον’ καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ πάνυ δεινῶς ἐσχετλίασε, τύραννον ἀποκαλῶν με καὶ ὅσα δὴ κατετραγῴδησέ μου. Ἔστι δὲ οὐχ ὁ σώζων τοὺς συκοφαντηθέντας τύραννος, ἀλλ̓ ὁ τοὺς μηδὲν ἀδικοῦντας μήτε βουλῆς μήτε δήμου κατεγνωκότος. [8] Ἢ κατὰ ποίους νόμους, εἰπέ, τοῦτον τὸν ξένον νεανίσκον κατέκλεισας πρῶτον εἰς τὸ δεσμωτήριον; Τίς προέδρων κατέγνω; Ποῖον δικαστήριον ἐκέλευσε δεθῆναι τὸν ἄνθρωπον; Ἔστω γὰρ πάντα ἀδικήσας, ὅσα ἂν εἴπῃς, ἀλλὰ κριθήτω πρῶτον, ἐλεγχθήτω λόγου μεταλαβών. Ὁ νόμος αὐτόν, ὁ καὶ σοῦ καὶ πάντων κύριος, δησάτω. [9] Οὐδενὸς γὰρ οὐδείς ἐστιν ἄνευ κρίσεως δυνατώτερος. Κλεῖσον οὖν τὰ δικαστήρια, κάθελε τὰ βουλευτήρια, ἔκβαλε τοὺς στρατηγούς. Πάντα γὰρ ὅσα σὺ πρὸς τὸν πρόεδρον εἴρηκας ἔοικα δικαιότερον ἐρεῖν κατὰ σοῦ ἀληθῶς. Ὑπανάστηθι Θερσάνδρῳ, πρόεδρε. Μέχρι μόνων ὀνομάτων πρόεδρος εἶ. [10] Οὗτος τὰ σὰ ποιεῖ, μᾶλλον δὲ ὅσα οὐδὲ σύ. Σὺ μὲν γὰρ συμβούλους ἔχεις, καὶ οὐδὲν ἄνευ τούτων ἔξεστί σοι: ἀλλ̓ οὔτε τι τῆς ἐξουσίας δράσειας ἂν πρὶν ἐλθεῖν ἐπὶ τοῦτον τὸν θρόνον, οὔτε ἐπὶ τῆς σῆς οἰκίας ποτὲ δεσμὸν ἀνθρώπου κατέγνως. Ὁ δὲ γενναῖος οὗτος πάντα ἑαυτῷ γίνεται, [11] δῆμος, βουλή, πρόεδρος, στρατηγός. Οἴκοι κολάζει καὶ δικάζει καὶ δεθῆναι κελεύει, καὶ ὁ τῆς δίκης καιρὸς ἑσπέρα ἐστί. Καλός γε καὶ ὁ νυκτερινὸς δικαστής. Καὶ νῦν πολλάκις βοᾷ ‘κατάδικον ἔλυσας θανάτῳ παραδοθέντα.’ Ποίῳ θανάτω; ποῖον κατάδικον; [12] Εἰπέ μοι τοῦ θανάτου τὴν αἰτίαν. ‘Ἐπὶ φόνῳ κατέγνωσται’ φησί. Πεφόνευκεν οὖν; Εἰπέ μοι, τίς ἐστιν, ἣν ἀπέκτεινε; Ἣν γὰρ ἔλεγες ἀνῃρῆσθαι, ζῶσαν βλέπεις, καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἔτι τολμήσειας τὸν αὐτὸν αἰτιᾶσθαι φόνου. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ τοῦτο τῆς κόρης ἐστὶν εἴδωλον: οὐκ ἀνέπεμψεν ὁ Ἀιδωνεὺς κατὰ σοῦ τὴν ἀνῃρημένην. [13] Δυσὶ μὲν οὖν φόνοις ἔνοχος εἶ. Τὴν μὲν γὰρ ἀπέκτεινας τῷ λόγῳ, τὸν δὲ τοῖς ἔργοις ἠθέλησας, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ταύτην ἔμελλες: τὸ γὰρ δρᾶμά σου τὸ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀγρῶν ἠκούσαμεν. Ἡ δὲ Ἄρτεμις ἡ μεγάλη θεὸς ἀμφοτέρους ἔσωσε, τὴν μὲν ἐκ τῶν τοῦ Σωσθένους χειρῶν ἐξαρπάσασα, τὸν δὲ τῶν σῶν. [14] Καὶ τὸν μὲν Σωσθένην ἐξήρπασας, ἵνα μὴ κατάφωρος γένῃ: οὐκ αἰσχύνῃ δὲ ὅτι κατηγορῶν τοὺς ξένους ἄμφω συκοφαντῶν ἐλήλεγξαι; Τὰ μὲν ἐμὰ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον εἰρήσθω πρὸς τὰς τούτου βλασφημίας, τὸν δὲ ὑπὲρ τῶν ξένων λόγον αὐτοῖς τούτοις παραδίδωμι.’

  9. The bishop then came forward. He was no poor hand at speaking, and as good at quip and gibe as the plays of Aristophanes, and he began his speech with much humour, touching in a jesting vein on Thersander’s own lecherous depravity. “This (In the whole of the first part of the good bishop’s speech there is a series of double meanings, insinuations, and plays upon words which are not without wit, but, like the discussion at the end of Book II., are not pleasing to Northern and Christian ears. I shall not point out the allusions in notes; they are to be found in almost every sentence down to the end of § 5.) filthy abuse,” he cried, “in the presence of the goddess, of those who have led respectable lives, is a sign of unclean lips! This fellow’s tongue is full of wickedness in more ways than one. When he was a boy he consorted with many men of standing, and indeed on this he spent all the period of his youthful bloom: he put on a look of high seriousness, and counterfeited discretion, making himself out to be passionately devoted to the training in the way he should go, and laudably submitting and subjecting himself to those who made it their business to be his masters. Yes, and he left his father’s house and hired a little out-of-the-way hovel, where he took up his abode: and there he practised his fine art and was also always ready to receive and associate with himself those who were able to give him what he wanted. He was certain that in this manner he was developing the powers of his soul: [but all was in a reality a cloak for his wickedness (See note on the Greek text. Besides the ineptitude of the insertion, it spoils the balance between the accounts of the young Thersander’s spiritual and bodily development.): and then we used to see him in the public places of exercise too; how carefully he would anoint his body for the fray, with what agility he would grip the pole, and how in the wrestle, he never shrank from contact with youths who were almost men; such was the training to which he devoted his body. All this was when he was in the flower of his early years: when he came to associate with men, he unveiled all that had previously been hidden. The rest of his body became no longer suitable for the pursuits in which it had formerly been engaged, but he sharpened his tongue to wickedness and employed his lips for the grossest purposes: there was none whom he would not use it to defile, his shamelessness appearing openly on his countenance, and he has even gone so far as publicly and brutally to revile one who has been honoured by you with the priestly office. If I had happened to live anywhere else, and had not passed all my days among you, I might have found it necessary to give you an account of myself and of my life: but since you know how remote has been my way of life from the slanders which he has uttered against me, let me discourse to you at greater length upon the actual charges which he brings against me. ‘You have set free,’ he says, ‘one condemned to death’: and on this ground he has called me the hardest names, terming me ‘autocrat’ and all the other grandiloquent nonsense which he was able to trump up against me. But the autocrat is one who in this case has done his best to save not merely those who have been falsely charged, but persons who have done no wrong whatever, and who have been condemned neither by the government nor by the voice of the people. Tell me, Thersander, what was the law by whose authority you originally threw this young man, a foreigner, into gaol? Which of the presiding justices had condemned him? Which court had ordered him to be put into chains? Suppose for a moment that he had been guilty of all the crimes in your catalogue, yet must he be first be judged, conclusive evidence brought against him, and he be allowed an opportunity to defend himself: let the law, which is above you and everybody else, be the one to fetter him: before judgement has been given, no man has such powers over any other. Come then, shut up the law-courts, do away with the councillors’ benches, turn out the officers: every word of your address to the Lord Chief I could with greater justice apply in your disfavour. Come down, my Lord, in Thersander’s favour: you are the Chief Justice
in name alone. He does your office — nay, more than yours; for you have your assessors, without whom you can come to no decision, and you never exercise your legal power until you have taken your seat on the bench; you have never in your own house condemned a man to chains: while our good friend here combines all functions in one — people, government, judge, officer, all combined. Yes, he gives sentence, he decides his case, he orders people into chains at his own house, and further, he chooses the evening for the time of his court of law: a pretty thing is a juryman that sits at night! And now he dares to bawl repeatedly, ‘You have set free Clitophon who was condemned to death?’ How, death? Condemned for what? Tell me the charge on which he was capitally condemned. ‘He was condemned for murder,’ says he. Very well then, he has committed murder: but upon whom? Come, you see his victim, the very one whom you said had been slain; now you can hardly dare to accuse Clitophon of murder. This is not the girl’s ghost: the god of death has not sent her back here merely to confute you. Two murders lie at your door: by your lies and slanders you have done your best to kill the girl, the youth by your actions. Worse, you were on the very point of actually making an end of her; we know all about your doings on your country estate. But the great goddess Artemis has saved them both: she has saved her from the hands of Sosthenes, and him from yours: Sosthenes you have got out of the way, that you might not be convicted in flagrante: but do you feel no shame now that it is definitely proved that in the course of your prosecuting speech you have made false accusations against both these foreigners? Gentlemen, I think I have said enough to defend myself against Thersander’s ridiculous abuse: — as for the defence of these foreigners, I propose to allow them to speak for themselves.”

 

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