by Demosthenes
[60] σκέψασθε γὰρ ὡδί. τί ποθ᾽ ὑμῖν οὗτος ὑπέσχετο καὶ τί ποιεῖν αὐτὸν ἐχειροτονήσαθ᾽ ὑμεῖς; χρήματ᾽ εἰσπράττειν. ἄλλο δὲ πρὸς τούτῳ τί ποιεῖν; οὐδὲ ἕν. φέρε δὴ καθ᾽ ἕκαστον ὑπομνήσω τὴν εἴσπραξιν ὑμᾶς. οὗτος εἰσέπραξε Λεπτίνην τὸν ἐκ Κοίλης τέτταρας καὶ τριάκοντα δραχμάς, καὶ Θεόξενον τὸν Ἀλωπεκῆθεν δραχμὰς ἑβδομήκοντα καὶ μικρόν τι πρός, καὶ τὸν Εὐφήρου Καλλικράτην καὶ τὸν Τελέστου νεανίσκον: οὐκ ἔχω γὰρ τοὔνομ᾽ εἰπεῖν: σχεδὸν δὲ πάντας οὓς εἰσέπραξεν, ἵνα μὴ καθ᾽ ἕκαστον λέγω, οὐκ οἶδ᾽ εἴ τιν᾽ ὑπὲρ μνᾶν ὀφείλοντα.
[60] Consider this point. What did he undertake to do for you, and what did you appoint him to do? To collect moneys. Anything else besides? Not a single thing! Very well; I will remind you of the items of his accounts. He collected from Leptines of Coele thirty-four drachmas, from Theoxenus of Alopece seventy drachmas or a trifle more, and from Callicrates, the son of Eupherus, and from the young son of Telestes, whose name I cannot give you — but without going into details, of all those from whom he collected money, I doubt if anyone owed more than a mina.
[61] πότερ᾽ οὖν οἴεσθε τούτων ἕκαστον μισεῖν καὶ πολεμεῖν αὐτῷ διὰ τὴν εἰσφορὰν ταύτην, ἢ τὸν μὲν αὐτῶν, ὅτι πάντων ἀκουόντων ὑμῶν ἐν τῷ δήμῳ δοῦλον ἔφη καὶ ἐκ δούλων εἶναι καὶ προσήκειν αὐτῷ τὸ ἕκτον μέρος εἰσφέρειν μετὰ τῶν μετοίκων, τῷ δὲ παῖδας ἐκ πόρνης εἶναι, τοῦ δὲ τὸν πατέρ᾽ ἡταιρηκέναι, τοῦ δὲ τὴν μητέρα πεπορνεῦσθαι, τὸν δ᾽ ἀπογράφειν ὅσ᾽ ὑφείλετ᾽ ἐξ ἀρχῆς, τὸν δὲ τὸ δεῖνα, τὸν δ᾽ ὁμοῦ ῥητὰ καὶ ἄρρητα κακά, ἑξῆς ἅπαντας;
[61] Then do you suppose that all these men are his inveterate enemies merely because he collected this money from them? Is it not rather because he said of one of them, in the hearing of all of you in the Assembly, that he was a slave and born of slaves and ought by rights to pay the contribution of one-sixth with the resident aliens; and of another that he had children by a harlot; of this man that his father had prostituted himself; of that man that his mother had been on the streets; that he was making an inventory of one man’s peculations from the start of his career, that another had done this or that, and that a third had committed every conceivable crime — slandering them all in turn?
[62] ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ οἶδ᾽ ὅτι πάντες, εἰς οὓς ἐπαρῴνησεν οὗτος, τὴν μὲν εἰσφορὰν ἕκαστος ἀναγκαῖον ἀνάλωμ᾽ ὑπελάμβανεν εἶναι, τοιαῦτα δ᾽ ἀτιμασθεὶς καὶ προπηλακισθεὶς χαλεπῶς ἐνήνοχεν. κἀκεῖνο οἶδα, ὅτι χρήματ᾽ εἰσπράττειν τοῦτον ἐχειροτονήσαθ᾽ ὑμεῖς, οὐχὶ τὰς ἰδίας συμφορὰς ὀνειδίζειν καὶ προφέρειν ἑκάστῳ. εἴτε γὰρ ἦσαν ἀληθεῖς, οὐ σοὶ ῥητέαι （πολλὰ γὰρ ἡμῶν ἕκαστος οὐχ ὡς βούλεται πράττει）: εἴτε μὴ προσηκούσας κατεσκεύαζες, πῶς οὐχ ὁτιοῦν ἂν πάθοις δικαίως;
[62] I feel sure that of all whom he has abused in his cups, each one looked upon the tax as a necessary item of expenditure, but has been deeply wounded by all these indignities and insults. I feel sure too that he was elected by you to collect money due, and not to reproach every man with his private misfortunes and so make them public. For if the charges were true, Androtion （and we all have our undesirable experiences）, you had no right to publish them; and if you invented them without any authority, is any punishment too light for you?
[63] ἔτι τοίνυν ἐκ τοῦδ᾽ ἀκριβέστερον γνώσεσθ᾽ ὅτι μισεῖ τοῦτον ἕκαστος οὐ διὰ τὴν εἴσπραξιν, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ ὧν ὑβρίσθη καὶ ἐπαρῳνήθη. Σάτυρος γὰρ ὁ τῶν νεωρίων ἐπιμελητὴς οὐχ ἑπτὰ τάλαντ᾽ εἰσέπραξεν ὑμῖν, ἀλλὰ τέτταρα καὶ τριάκοντα τοὺς αὐτοὺς τούτους ἀνθρώπους, ἐξ ὧν παρέθηκε τὰ σκεύη ταῖς ἐκπλευσάσαις ναυσίν: καὶ οὔτ᾽ ἐκεῖνος διὰ ταῦτ᾽ οὐδέν᾽ ἐχθρὸν αὑτῷ φησὶν εἶναι, οὔτε τῶν εἰσπραχθέντων οὐδεὶς ἐκείνῳ πολεμεῖ. ὁ μὲν γὰρ τὸ προστεταγμένον, οἶμαι, διεπράττετο, σὺ δὲ τῇ σαυτοῦ προπετείᾳ καὶ θρασύτητι λαβὼν ἐξουσίαν πόλλ᾽ ἀνηλωκότας εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἀνθρώπους καὶ σοῦ βελτίους καὶ ἐκ βελτιόνων ψευδέσι καὶ χαλεποῖς ὀνείδεσιν ᾤου δεῖν περιβάλλειν.
[63] Here is yet another proof that will convince you that they all hate him, not because of the collection, but for his acts of drunken insolence. Satyrus, the superintendent of the dock-yards, collected for you not seven, but thirty-four talents from these very same men, and used the money to equip the ships that were put in commission; and he can tell you that he has made no enemies in consequence, and that none of those from whom he levied the taxes is at open war with him. Naturally! He, I suppose, simply discharged the duty assigned to him, but you in your wanton, headstrong effrontery, being armed with authority, thought fit to terse with foul and lying reproaches men who had spent large sums on the State, better men than yourself and of better birth.
[64] εἶτα ταῦθ᾽ οὗτοι πεισθῶσ᾽ ὑπὲρ αὑτῶν σε ποιεῖν, καὶ τὰ τῆς σῆς ἀναισθησίας καὶ πονηρίας ἔργ᾽ ἐφ᾽ αὑτοὺς ἀναδέξωνται; ἀλλὰ μισεῖν δικαιότερον διὰ ταῦτά σ᾽ ὀφείλουσιν ἢ σῴζειν. τὸν γὰρ ὑπὲρ πόλεως πράττοντά τι δεῖ τὸ τῆς πόλεως ἦθος μιμεῖσθαι, καὶ σῴζειν ὑμῖν τοὺς τοιούτους, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, προσήκει, καὶ μισεῖν τοὺς οἵουσπερ οὗτος. ὡς ἐκεῖν᾽ εἰδόσιν μὲν ἴσως, ὅμως δ᾽ ἐρῶ: ὁποίους τινὰς ἂν φαίνησθ᾽ ἀγαπῶντες καὶ σῴζοντες, τούτοις ὅμοιοι δόξετ᾽ εἶναι.
[64] After this, are the jury to believe that you did it all for their sakes? Are they to make themselves responsible for your acts of callous wickedness? They ought in justice to detest you all the more for this rather than protect you. For the man who is acting for the State ought to imitate the spirit of the State, and you, Athenians, ought to encourage such men and hate men like the defendant. For though you are probably aware of it, I must none the less tell you this: whatever sort of men you are seen to honor and protect, you will be thought to be like them yourselves.
[65] ὅτι τοίνυν ὅλως οὐδὲ τὴν εἴσπραξιν αὐτὴν ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν πεποίηται, καὶ τοῦτ᾽ αὐτίκα δὴ μάλ᾽ ὑμῖν δῆλον ποιήσω. εἰ γάρ τις ἔροιτ᾽ αὐτὸν πότερ᾽ αὐτῷ δοκοῦσ᾽ ἀδικεῖν μᾶλλον τὴν πόλιν οἱ γεωργοῦντες καὶ φειδόμενοι, διὰ παιδοτροφίας δὲ καὶ οἰκεῖ᾽ ἀναλώματα καὶ λῃτουργίας ἑτέρας ἐλλελοιπότες εἰσφοράν, ἢ οἱ τὰ τῶν ἐθελησάντων ε�
�σενεγκεῖν χρήματα καὶ τὰ παρὰ τῶν συμμάχων κλέπτοντες καὶ ἀπολλύντες, οὐκ ἂν εἰς τοῦτο τόλμης δήπου, καίπερ ὢν ἀναιδής, ἔλθοι, ὥστε φῆσαι τοὺς τὰ ἑαυτῶν μὴ εἰσφέροντας μᾶλλον ἀδικεῖν ἢ τοὺς τὰ κοίν᾽ ὑφαιρουμένους.
[65] However, I will make it quite clear to you without more ado that he did not carry out these exactions for your benefit at all. If he were asked whether, in his opinion, the greater injury is done to the common wealth by tillers of the soil, who live frugally, but, because of the cost of maintaining their children, or of household expenses, or of other public burdens, are behindhand with their taxes, or by people who plunder and squander the money of willing taxpayers and the revenue that comes from our allies, I am sure that, for all his hardihood, he would never have the audacity to reply that those who fail to contribute their own money are worse transgressors than those who embezzle public money.
[66] τίνος οὖν ἕνεκ᾽, ὦ βδελυρέ, ἐτῶν ὄντων πλειόνων ἢ τριάκοντ᾽ ἀφ᾽ οὗ σὺ πολιτεύει, καὶ ἐν τούτῳ τῷ χρόνῳ πολλῶν μὲν στρατηγῶν ἠδικηκότων τὴν πόλιν, πολλῶν δὲ ῥητόρων, οἳ παρὰ τουτοισὶ κέκρινται, ὧν οἱ μὲν τεθνᾶσιν ἐφ᾽ οἷς ἠδίκουν, οἱ δ᾽ ὑποχωρήσαντες φεύγουσιν, οὐδενὸς πώποτ᾽ ἐξητάσθης κατήγορος οὐδ᾽ ἀγανακτῶν ὤφθης ὑπὲρ ὧν ἡ πόλις πάσχει, οὕτως ὢν θρασὺς καὶ λέγειν δεινός, ἀλλ᾽ ἐνταῦθ᾽ ἐφάνης κηδεμὼν ὤν, οὗ σε πολλοὺς ἔδει κακῶς ποιῆσαι;
[66] What is the reason, you abominable wretch, that though you have taken part in public life for more than thirty years, and though during that time many commanders have defrauded the commonwealth, and many politicians as well, who have been tried in this court, and though some of them have suffered death for their crimes, and others have slipped away into exile, you never once appeared as prosecutor of any of them or expressed any indignation at the wrongs of the city, bold and clever speaker though you are, but made your first exhibition of anxiety for our welfare on an occasion that called for harsh treatment of a great many people?
[67] βούλεσθ᾽, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τὸ τούτων αἴτιον ἐγὼ ὑμῖν εἴπω; ὅτι τῶν μὲν μετέχουσιν ὧν ἀδικοῦσιν ὑμᾶς τινες, ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν εἰσπραττομένων ὑφαιροῦνται: δι᾽ ἀπληστίαν δὲ τρόπων διχόθεν καρποῦνται τὴν πόλιν. οὔτε γὰρ ῥᾷον πολλοῖς καὶ τὰ μίκρ᾽ ἀδικοῦσιν ἀπεχθάνεσθαι ἢ ὀλίγοις καὶ μεγάλα, οὔτε δημοτικώτερον δήπου τὰ τῶν πολλῶν ἀδικήμαθ᾽ ὁρᾶν ἢ τὰ τῶν ὀλίγων. ἀλλὰ τοῦτ᾽ αἴτιον οὑγὼ λέγω. τῶν μὲν οἶδεν ἑαυτὸν ὄντα, τῶν ἀδικούντων, ὑμᾶς δ᾽ οὐδενὸς ἀξίους ἡγήσατο: διὸ τοῦτον ἐχρήσατο τὸν τρόπον ὑμῖν.
[67] Do you wish me to tell you the reason, men of Athens? [He has his share in the proceeds of certain iniquities, and he also gets his pickings from the collection of revenue. In his insatiable greed he reaps a double harvest from the State. Now it is not an easier matter to make enemies of a multitude of petty offenders than of a few big offenders; neither of course is it a more popular thing to have an eye for the sins of the many than for the sins of the few. However, the reason is what I am telling you.] He knows indeed that he is one of them, one of the criminals, but he thought you beneath his notice; and that was why he treated you in this way.
[68] εἰ γὰρ ἀνδραπόδων πόλις, ἀλλὰ μὴ τῶν ἄρχειν ἑτέρων ἀξιούντων ὡμολογεῖτ᾽ εἶναι, οὐκ ἄν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τὰς ὕβρεις ἠνέσχεσθε τὰς τούτου, ἃς κατὰ τὴν ἀγορὰν ὕβριζεν ὁμοῦ μετοίκους, Ἀθηναίους: δῶν, ἀπάγων, βοῶν ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις ἐπὶ τοῦ βήματος: δούλους καὶ ἐκ δούλων καλῶν αὑτοῦ βελτίους καὶ ἐκ βελτιόνων: ἐρωτῶν εἰ μάτην τὸ δεσμωτήριον ᾠκοδομήθη. καταφαίην ἂν ἔγωγε, εἴ γ᾽ ὁ πατὴρ ὁ σὸς ᾤχετ᾽ αὐτόθεν αὐταῖς πέδαις ἐξορχησάμενος Διονυσίων τῇ πομπῇ. ἄλλα δ᾽ ὅσ᾽ ὕβρικεν οὐδ᾽ ἂν ἔχοι τις εἰπεῖν: τοσαῦτα τὸ πλῆθός ἐστιν. ὧν ἁθρόων ἄξιον λαβόντας δίκην τήμερον παράδειγμα ποιῆσαι τοῖς ἄλλοις, ἵν᾽ ὦσιν μετριώτεροι.
[68] If you had confessed, men of Athens, that you are a nation of slaves and not of men who claim empire over others, you would never have put up with the insults which he repeatedly offered you in the marketplace, binding and arresting aliens and citizens alike, bawling from the platform in the Assembly, calling men slaves and slave-born who were better men than himself and of better birth, and asking if the jail was built for no object. I should certainly say it was, if your father danced his way out of it, fetters and all, at the procession of the Dionysia. All his other outrages it would be impossible to relate; they are too numerous. For all of them taken together you must exact vengeance today, and make an example of him to teach the rest to behave with more restraint.
[69] ἀλλὰ νὴ Δία ταῦτα μὲν τοιοῦτός ἐστιν ἐν οἷς πεπολίτευται, ἄλλα δ᾽ ἔσθ᾽ ἃ καλῶς διῴκηκεν. ἀλλὰ καὶ τἄλλ᾽ οὕτω προσελήλυθε πάντα πρὸς ὑμᾶς ὥσθ᾽ ἥκιστ᾽ ἐν οἷς ἀκηκόατ᾽ ἄξιός ἐστι μισεῖσθαι. τί γὰρ βούλεσθ᾽ εἴπω; τὰ πομπεῖ᾽ ὡς ἐπεσκεύασεν, καὶ τὴν τῶν στεφάνων καθαίρεσιν, ἢ τὴν τῶν φιαλῶν ποίησιν τὴν καλήν; ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ τούτοις γε, εἰ μηδὲν ἄλλ᾽ ἀδικῶν ἔτυχεν τὴν πόλιν, τρίς, οὐχ ἅπαξ τεθνάναι δίκαιος ὢν φανεῖται: καὶ γὰρ ἱεροσυλίᾳ καὶ ἀσεβείᾳ καὶ κλοπῇ καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς δεινοτάτοις ἔστ᾽ ἔνοχος.
[69] Yes, it may be said, this is the sort of man he was in his public conduct, but there are other things which he has managed with credit. On the contrary, in every respect his behavior towards his fellow-citizens has been such that the story you have heard is the least of the reasons you have for hating him. What do you wish me to mention? How he “repaired” the processional ornaments? How he broke up the crowns? His success as a manufacturer of saucers? Why, for those performances alone, though he had committed no other fraud on the city, it seems to me he deserves not one but three sentences of death; for he is guilty of sacrilege, of impiety, of embezzlement, of every monstrous crime.
[70] τὰ μὲν οὖν πόλλ᾽ ὧν λέγων ὑμᾶς ἐφενάκιζεν παραλείψω: φήσας δ᾽ ἀπορρεῖν τὰ φύλλα τῶν στεφάνων καὶ σαπροὺς εἶναι διὰ τὸν χρόνον, ὥσπερ ἴων ἢ ῥόδων ὄντας, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ χρυσίου, συγχωνεύειν ἔπεισεν. κᾆτ᾽ ἐπὶ μὲν ταῖς εἰσφοραῖς τὸν δημόσιον παρεῖναι προέγραψεν ὡς δὴ δίκαιος ὤν, ὧν ἕκαστος ἀντιγραφεὺς ἔμελλεν ἔσεσθαι τῶν εἰσενεγκόντων: ἐπὶ τοῖς στεφάνοις δ᾽ οὓς κατέκοπτεν οὐχὶ προσήγαγεν ταὐτὸ δίκαιον τοῦτο, ἀλλ᾽ αὑτὸς ῥήτωρ, χ�
�υσοχόος, ταμίας, ἀντιγραφεὺς γέγονεν.
[70] The greater part of the speech by which he threw dust in your eyes I will leave unnoticed; but, by alleging that the leaves of the crowns were rotten with age and falling off, — as though they were violet-leaves or rose-leaves, not leaves made of gold — he persuaded you to melt them down. And then, in providing for the collection of taxes, he had put in a clause that the public accountant should attend. That was very honest of him; only every taxpayer was certain to check the accounts. But in dealing with the crowns that he was to break up, he left out that very proper regulation; one and the same man was orator, goldsmith, business manager, and auditor of accounts.
[71] καὶ μὴν εἰ μὲν ἅπαντ᾽ ἠξίους, ὅσα πράττεις τῇ πόλει, σαυτῷ πιστεύειν, οὐκ ἂν ὁμοίως κλέπτης ὢν ἐφωρῶ: νῦν δ᾽ ἐπὶ ταῖς εἰσφοραῖς ὃ δίκαιόν ἐσθ᾽ ὁρίσας, μὴ σοὶ πιστεύειν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἑαυτῆς δούλοις τὴν πόλιν, ὁπότ᾽ ἄλλο τι πράττων καὶ χρήματα κινῶν ἱερά, ὧν ἔνι᾽ οὐδ᾽ ἐπὶ τῆς ἡμετέρας γενεᾶς ἀνετέθη, μὴ προσγραψάμενος τὴν αὐτὴν φυλακὴν ἥνπερ περὶ τῶν εἰσφορῶν φαίνει, οὐκ εὔδηλον δι᾽ ὃ τοῦτ᾽ ἐποίησας; ἐγὼ μὲν οἶμαι.