Delphi Complete Works of Demosthenes

by Demosthenes

  [71] Now if you, sir, had claimed our entire confidence in all your public business, your dishonesty would not have been equally manifest; but, seeing that in the matter of the taxes you laid down the just principle that the city must trust, not you, but her own servants, and then, when you took up another job and were tampering with the consecrated plate, some of it dedicated before we were born, you forgot to provide the precaution that was taken at your own instance in respect of the tax collection, is it not perfectly clear what you were aiming at? Of course it is.

  [72] καὶ μήν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, καὶ κατὰ παντὸς τοῦ χρόνου σκέψασθ᾽ ὡς καλὰ καὶ ζηλώτ᾽ ἐπιγράμματα τῆς πόλεως ἀνελὼν ὡς ἀσεβῆ καὶ δείν᾽ ἀντεπιγέγραφεν. οἶμαι γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἅπαντας ὁρᾶν ὑπὸ τῶν στεφάνων ταῖς χοινικίσιν κάτωθεν γεγραμμένα ‘οἱ σύμμαχοι τὸν δῆμον ἀνδραγαθίας εἵνεκα καὶ δικαιοσύνης,’ ἢ ‘οἱ σύμμαχοι ἀριστεῖον τῇ Ἀθηναίᾳ,’ ἢ κατὰ πόλεις ‘οἱ δεῖνες τὸν δῆμον, σωθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου,’ οἷον ‘Εὐβοεῖς ἐλευθερωθέντες ἐστεφάνωσαν τὸν δῆμον,’ πάλιν ‘Κόνων ἀπὸ τῆς ναυμαχίας τῆς πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους:’ τοιαῦτα γὰρ ἦν τὰ τῶν στεφάνων ἐπιγράμματα.

  [72] Again, men of Athens, consider those glorious and enviable inscriptions that he has obliterated for all time, and the strange and blasphemous inscriptions that he has written in their stead. You all, I suppose, used to see the words written under the circlets of the crowns: “The Allies to the Athenian People for valor and righteousness,” or “The Allies to the Goddess of Athens, a prize of victory”; or, from the several states of the alliance, “Such-and-such a City to the People by whom they were delivered,” or, “The liberated Euboeans,” for example, “crown the People”; or again, “Conon from the sea-fight with the Lacedaemonians.” Such, I say, were the inscriptions of the crowns.

  [73] ταῦτα μὲν τοίνυν, ἃ ζῆλον πολὺν εἶχε καὶ φιλοτιμίαν ὑμῖν, ἠφάνισται καθαιρεθέντων τῶν στεφάνων: ἐπὶ ταῖς φιάλαις δ᾽ ἃς ἀντ᾽ ἐκείνων ἐποιήσαθ᾽ ὑμῖν ὁ πόρνος οὗτος, ‘Ἀνδροτίωνος ἐπιμελουμένου’ ἐποιήθησαν ἐπιγέγραπται: καὶ οὗ τὸ σῶμ᾽ ἡταιρηκότος οὐκ ἐῶσιν οἱ νόμοι εἰς τὰ ἱέρ᾽ εἰσιέναι, τούτου τοὔνομ᾽ ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἐπὶ τῶν φιαλῶν γεγραμμένον ἐστίν. ὅμοιόν γε, οὐ γάρ; τοῦτο τοῖς προτέροις ἐπιγράμμασιν, ἢ φιλοτιμίαν ἴσην ἔχον ὑμῖν.

  [73] They were tokens of emulation and honorable ambition; but now they have vanished with the destruction of the crowns, and the saucers which that lewd fellow has had made in their place bear the inscription, “Made by direction of Androtion.” And so the name of a man whom the laws forbid to enter our temples in person because of his prostitution, has been inscribed on the cups in those temples. Just like the old inscriptions, is it not? and an equal incentive to ambition?

  [74] τρία τοίνυν ἐκ τούτου τὰ δεινότατ᾽ ἄν τις ἴδοι πεπραγμέν᾽ αὐτοῖς. τὴν μὲν γὰρ θεὸν τοὺς στεφάνους σεσυλήκασιν: τῆς πόλεως δὲ τὸν ζῆλον ἠφανίκασι τὸν ἐκ τῶν ἔργων, ὧν ὑπόμνημ᾽ ἦσαν ὄντες οἱ στέφανοι: τοὺς δ᾽ ἀναθέντας δόξαν οὐ μικρὰν ἀφῄρηνται, τὸ δοκεῖν ὧν ἂν εὖ πάθωσ᾽ ἐθέλειν μεμνῆσθαι. καὶ τοιαῦτα καὶ τοσαῦτα τὸ πλῆθος κάκ᾽ εἰργασμένοι εἰς τοῦθ᾽ ἅμ᾽ ἀναισθησίας καὶ τόλμης προεληλύθασιν, ὥστε μέμνηνται τούτων ὡς καλῶς αὐτοῖς διῳκημένων, ὥσθ᾽ ὁ μὲν οἴεται δι᾽ ἐκεῖνον ὑφ᾽ ὑμῶν σωθήσεσθαι, ὁ δὲ παρακάθηται καὶ οὐ καταδύεται τοῖς πεπραγμένοις.

  [74] [You may, then, mark three scandalous crimes committed by these persons. They have robbed the Goddess of her crowns. They have extinguished in the city that spirit of emulation that sprang from the achievements which the crowns, while in being, commemorated. They have deprived the donors of a great honor, — the credit of gratitude for benefits received. After this long series of evil deeds they have grown so callous and so audacious that they recall those crimes as admirable examples of their administration, so that one of them expects you to acquit him for the sake of the other, and the other sits by his side and does not sink into the ground for shame at his conduct.]

  [75] οὕτω δ᾽ οὐ μόνον εἰς χρήματ᾽ ἀναιδής, ἀλλὰ καὶ σκαιός ἐστιν, ὥστ᾽ οὐκ οἶδεν ἐκεῖνο, ὅτι στέφανοι μέν εἰσ᾽ ἀρετῆς σημεῖον, φιάλαι δὲ καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα πλούτου, καὶ στέφανος μὲν ἅπας, κἂν μικρὸς ᾖ, τὴν ἴσην φιλοτιμίαν ἔχει τῷ μεγάλῳ, ἐκπώματα δ᾽ ἢ θυμιατήρια, ἂν μὲν ὑπερβάλλῃ τῷ πλήθει, πλούτου τινὰ δόξαν προσετρίψατο τοῖς κεκτημένοις, ἐὰν δ᾽ ἐπὶ μικροῖς τις σεμνύνηται, τοσοῦτ᾽ ἀπέχει τοῦ τιμῆς τινος διὰ ταῦτα τυχεῖν ὥστ᾽ ἀπειρόκαλος πρὸς ἔδοξεν εἶναι. οὗτος τοίνυν ἀνελὼν τὰ τῆς δόξης κτήματα τὰ τοῦ πλούτου πεποίηται μικρὰ καὶ οὐχ ὑμῶν ἄξια.

  [75] Not only is he lost to shame when money is in question, but he is so dull-witted that he cannot see that crowns are a symbol of merit, but saucers and the like only of wealth; that every crown, how ever small, implies the same regard for honor as if it were large. that drinking-cups and censers, if very numerous, attach to their owners a sort of reputation for wealth, but that, if a man takes pride in trifles, instead of winning some honor by them, he is disdained as a man of vulgar tastes. This man, then, has destroyed the possessions of honor, and made the possessions of wealth mean and unworthy of your dignity.

  [76] καὶ οὐδ᾽ ἐκεῖν᾽ εἶδεν, ὅτι πρὸς μὲν χρημάτων κτῆσιν οὐδεπώποθ᾽ ὁ δῆμος ἐσπούδασεν, πρὸς δὲ δόξης ὡς οὐδὲ πρὸς ἓν τῶν ἄλλων. τεκμήριον δέ: χρήματα μὲν γὰρ πλεῖστα τῶν Ἑλλήνων ποτὲ σχὼν ἅπανθ᾽ ὑπὲρ φιλοτιμίας ἀνήλωσεν, εἰσφέρων δ᾽ ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων οὐδένα πώποτε κίνδυνον ὑπὲρ δόξης ἐξέστη. ἀφ᾽ ὧν κτήματ᾽ ἀθάνατ᾽ αὐτῷ περίεστιν, τὰ μὲν τῶν ἔργων ἡ μνήμη, τὰ δὲ τῶν ἀναθημάτων τῶν ἐπ᾽ ἐκείνοις σταθέντων τὸ κάλλος, προπύλαια ταῦτα, ὁ παρθενών, στοαί, νεώσοικοι, οὐκ ἀμφορίσκοι δύο οὐδὲ χρυσίδες τέτταρες ἢ τρεῖς, ἄγουσ᾽ ἑκάστη μνᾶν, ἅς, ὅταν σοι δοκῇ, σὺ πάλιν γράψεις καταχωνεύειν.

  [76] There is another thing that he did not understand, that the Athenian democracy, never eager to acquire riches, coveted glory more than any other possession in the world. Here is the proof: once they possessed greater wealth than any other Hellenic people, but they spent it all for love of honor; they laid their private fortunes under contribution, and recoiled from no peril for glory’s sake. Hence the People inherits possessions that will never die; on the one hand the memor
y of their achievements, on the other, the beauty of the memorials set up in their honor, yonder Propylaea, the Parthenon, the porticoes, the docks, — not a couple of jugs, or three or four bits of gold plate, weighing a pound apiece, which you, Androtion, will propose to melt down again, whenever the whim takes you.

  [77] οὐ γὰρ ἑαυτοὺς δεκατεύοντες, οὐδ᾽ ἃν καταράσαινθ᾽ οἱ ἐχθροὶ ποιοῦντες, διπλᾶς πράττοντες τὰς εἰσφοράς, ταῦτ᾽ ἀνέθεσαν, οὐδ᾽ οἵοισπερ σὺ χρώμενοι συμβούλοις ἐπολιτεύοντο, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς κρατοῦντες, καὶ ἃ πᾶς τις ἂν εὖ φρονῶν εὔξαιτο, τὴν πόλιν εἰς ὁμόνοιαν ἄγοντες, ἀθάνατον κλέος αὑτῶν λελοίπασι, τοὺς ἐπιτηδεύοντας οἷα σοὶ βεβίωται τῆς ἀγορᾶς εἴργοντες.

  [77] To dedicate those buildings they did not tithe themselves, nor fulfil the imprecations of their enemies by doubling the income-tax, nor was their policy ever guided by such advisers as you. No; they conquered their enemies, they fulfilled the prayers of every sound-hearted man by establishing concord throughout the city; and so they have bequeathed to us their imperishable glory, and excluded from the market-place men whose habits of life were what yours have always been.

  [78] ὑμεῖς δ᾽ εἰς τοῦτ᾽, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, προῆχθ᾽ εὐηθείας καὶ ῥᾳθυμίας ὥστ᾽ οὐδὲ τοιαῦτ᾽ ἔχοντες παραδείγματα ταῦτα μιμεῖσθε, ἀλλ᾽ Ἀνδροτίων ὑμῖν πομπείων ἐπισκευαστής, Ἀνδροτίων, ὦ γῆ καὶ θεοί. καὶ τοῦτ᾽ ἀσέβημ᾽ ἔλαττον τίνος ἡγεῖσθε; ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ οἴομαι δεῖν τὸν εἰς ἱέρ᾽ εἰσιόντα καὶ χερνίβων καὶ κανῶν ἁψόμενον, καὶ τῆς πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς ἐπιμελείας προστάτην ἐσόμενον οὐχὶ προειρημένον ἡμερῶν ἀριθμὸν ἁγνεύειν, ἀλλὰ τὸν βίον ἡγνευκέναι τοιούτων ἐπιτηδευμάτων οἷα τούτῳ βεβίωται.

  [78] But you, men of Athens, have grown so extremely good-natured and pliable, that, with those examples ever before you, you do not imitate them, and Androtion is the repairer of your processional plate. Androtion! Gracious Heavens! Do you think impiety could go further than that? I hold that the man who is to enter the sacred places, to lay hands on the vessels of lustration and the sacrificial baskets, and to become the director of divine worship, ought not to be pure for a prescribed number of days only; his whole life should have been kept pure of the habits that have polluted the life of Androtion.

  κατὰ Ἀριστοκράτους — AGAINST ARISTOCRATES

  [1] μηδεὶς ὑμῶν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, νομίσῃ μήτ᾽ ἰδίας ἔχθρας ἐμὲ μηδεμιᾶς ἕνεχ᾽ ἥκειν Ἀριστοκράτους κατηγορήσοντα τουτουί, μήτε μικρὸν ὁρῶντά τι καὶ φαῦλον ἁμάρτημ᾽ ἑτοίμως οὕτως ἐπὶ τούτῳ προάγειν ἐμαυτὸν εἰς ἀπέχθειαν, ἀλλ᾽ εἴπερ ἄρ᾽ ὀρθῶς ἐγὼ λογίζομαι καὶ σκοπῶ, ὑπὲρ τοῦ Χερρόνησον ἔχειν ὑμᾶς ἀσφαλῶς καὶ μὴ παρακρουσθέντας ἀποστερηθῆναι πάλιν αὐτῆς, περὶ τούτου μοί ἐστιν ἅπασ᾽ ἡ σπουδή.

  [1] Men of Athens, I beg that none of you will imagine that I have come here to arraign the defendant Aristocrates from any motive of private malice, or that I am thrusting myself so eagerly into a quarrel because I have detected some small and trivial blunder, but if my judgement and my views are at all right, the purpose of all my exertions in this case is that you may hold the Chersonese securely, and may not for the second time be cheated out of the possession of that country.

  [2] δεῖ δὴ πάντας ὑμᾶς, εἰ βούλεσθ᾽ ὀρθῶς περὶ τούτων μαθεῖν καὶ κατὰ τοὺς νόμους δικαίως κρῖναι τὴν γραφήν, μὴ μόνον τοῖς γεγραμμένοις ἐν τῷ ψηφίσματι ῥήμασιν προσέχειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ συμβησόμεν᾽ ἐξ αὐτῶν σκοπεῖν. εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἦν ἀκούσασιν εὐθὺς εἰδέναι τὰ κεκακουργημένα, τὴν ἀρχὴν ἴσως ἂν οὐκ ἐξηπάτησθε:

  [2] If, then, it is your desire to learn the truth about this business, and to give a righteous and legitimate verdict on the indictment, you must not confine your attention to the mere phrasing of the decree, but also take into consideration its probable consequences.

  Had it been possible for you, at a first hearing, to discover the trick that had been played, you would not, perhaps, have been deceived at the outset;

  [3] ἐπειδὴ δὲ τοῦθ᾽ ἕν ἐστι τῶν ἀδικημάτων, τὸ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον καὶ λέγειν καὶ γράφειν ἐνίους ὃν ἂν ἥκισθ᾽ ὑμεῖς ὑπίδοισθέ τι καὶ φυλάξαισθε, προσήκει μὴ πάνυ θαυμάζειν, εἰ καὶ τοῦτο τὸ ψήφισμ᾽ ἡμεῖς οὕτω γεγραμμένον ἐπιδείξομεν ὥστε δοκεῖν μὲν Χαριδήμῳ φυλακήν τινα τοῦ σώματος διδόναι, τὴν ὡς ἀληθῶς δὲ δικαίαν καὶ βέβαιον φυλακὴν Χερρονήσου τῆς πόλεως ἀποστερεῖν.

  [3] but, inasmuch as one of our grievances is that certain persons make speeches and move resolutions designed to avert your suspicions and put you off your guard, you must not be greatly astonished if we convince you that this decree also is so worded that, while apparently offering some personal protection to Charidemus, it really robs our city of an honest and effective safeguard for the Chersonese.

  [4] εἰκότως δ᾽ ἄν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, καὶ προσέχοιτέ μοι τὸν νοῦν καὶ μετ᾽ εὐνοίας ἀκούσαιθ᾽ ἃ λέγω. ἐπειδὴ γάρ, οὐχὶ τῶν ἐνοχλούντων ὑμᾶς οὐδὲ τῶν πολιτευομένων καὶ πιστευομένων παρ᾽ ὑμῖν ὤν, πρᾶγμα τηλικοῦτόν φημι δείξειν πεπραγμένον, ἐάν, ὅσον ἐστὶν ἐν ὑμῖν, συναγωνίσησθέ μοι καὶ προθύμως ἀκούσητε, τοῦτό τε σώσετε καὶ ποιήσετε μὴ κατοκνεῖν, ἐάν τίς τι καὶ ἡμῶν οἴηται δύνασθαι ποιῆσαι τὴν πόλιν ἀγαθόν. οἰήσεται δέ, ἂν μὴ χαλεπὸν εἶναι νομίζῃ τὸ παρ᾽ ὑμῖν λόγου τυχεῖν.

  [4] You will be well advised, men of Athens, to grant me your attention, and give a favorable hearing to what I have to say. I am not one of the orators who worry you; I am not one of the politicians who enjoy your confidence; yet I undertake to convince you of the importance of this transaction; and therefore, if you will cooperate with me to the best of your power and listen to me with goodwill, you will avert this peril, and at the same time you will overcome the reluctance of any of us plain citizens who may believe himself able to do the State a good turn. And he will so believe, if only he is satisfied that it is not difficult to get a hearing in this court;

  [5] νῦν δὲ πολλοῖς τοῦτο φοβουμένοις, λέγειν μὲν ἴσως οὐ δεινοῖς, βελτίοσι δ᾽ ἀνθρώποις τῶν δεινῶν, οὐδὲ σκοπεῖν ἐπέρχεται τῶν κοινῶν οὐδέν. ἐγὼ γοῦν （ὀμνύω τοὺς θεοὺς ἅπαντας） ἀπώκνησ᾽ ἄν, εὖ ἴστε, καὶ αὐτὸς τὴν γραφὴν ταύτην ἀπενεγκεῖν, εἰ μὴ πάνυ τῶν αἰσχρῶν ἐνόμιζον εἶναι νῦν μὲν
ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν καὶ σιωπῆσαι, πρᾶγμ᾽ ἀλυσιτελὲς τῇ πόλει κατασκευάζοντας ὁρῶν τινας ἀνθρώπους, πρότερον δέ, ὅτ᾽ ἔπλευσα τριηραρχῶν εἰς Ἑλλήσποντον, εἰπεῖν καὶ κατηγορῆσαί τινων, οὓς ἀδικεῖν ὑμᾶς ἡγούμην.

  [5] though at present many of us, — inexpert speakers, perhaps, and yet better men than the experts — so dread this ordeal that they never think even of examining any public question. You may be sure that I for one, as Heaven is my witness, would never have dared to lay this indictment, if I had not thought it entirely dishonorable that at this time, when I see people engaged in a project to the disadvantage of our commonwealth, I should hold my peace, and close my lips, — I who, on a former occasion, when I sailed for the Hellespont in command of a war-galley, spoke out and denounced certain men who, in my judgement, were doing you wrong.

  [6] οὐκ ἀγνοῶ μὲν οὖν ὅτι τὸν Χαρίδημον εὐεργέτην εἶναί τινες τῆς πόλεως οἴονται: ἐγὼ δέ, ἄν περ ἃ βούλομαί τε καὶ οἶδα πεπραγμέν᾽ ἐκείνῳ δυνηθῶ πρὸς ὑμᾶς εἰπεῖν, οἶμαι δείξειν οὐ μόνον οὐκ εὐεργέτην, ἀλλὰ καὶ κακονούστατον ἀνθρώπων ἁπάντων καὶ πολὺ τἀναντί᾽ ἢ προσῆκεν ὑπειλημμένον.