by Demosthenes
[201] οὐ μόνον δ᾽ αὕτη τῆς πόλεως ἡ δωρειὰ προπεπηλάκισται καὶ φαύλη γέγονεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶσαι διὰ τὴν τῶν καταράτων καὶ θεοῖς ἐχθρῶν ῥητόρων, τῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα γραφόντων ἑτοίμως, πονηρίαν, οἳ τοσαύτην ὑπερβολὴν πεποίηνται τῆς αὑτῶν αἰσχροκερδείας ὥστε τὰς τιμὰς καὶ τὰς παρ᾽ ὑμῶν δωρειάς, ὥσπερ οἱ τὰ μικρὰ καὶ κομιδῇ φαῦλ᾽ ἀποκηρύττοντες, οὕτω πωλοῦσιν ἐπευωνίζοντες καὶ πολλοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν αὐτῶν λημμάτων γράφοντες πᾶν ὅ τι ἂν βούλωνται.
[201] Not only this guerdon of the common wealth but all your honors have been dragged through the mire and made contemptible by those execrable and god-forsaken politicians, who make proposals like this on such easy terms; men who, in their inordinate lust of dishonest gain, put up honors and civic rewards for sale, like hucksters vending and cheapening their pitiful, trumpery merchandise, and supply a host of buyers at fixed prices with any decree they want.
[202] πρῶτον μέν, ἵνα τῶν τελευταίων πρώτων μνησθῶμεν, Ἀριοβαρζάνην ἐκεῖνον οὐ μόνον αὐτὸν καὶ τοὺς υἱεῖς τρεῖς ὄντας πάντων ἠξίωσαν ὅσων ἐβουλήθησαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ δύ᾽ Ἀβυδηνούς, μισαθηναιοτάτους καὶ πονηροτάτους ἀνθρώπους, προσέθηκαν αὐτῷ Φιλίσκον καὶ Ἀγαυόν. πάλιν Τιμοθέου δόξαντός τι ποιῆσαι τῶν δεόντων ὑμῖν, πρὸς τῷ πάνθ᾽ ἃ μέγιστ᾽ ἦν αὐτῷ δοῦναι προσέθηκαν αὐτῷ Φρασιηρίδην καὶ Πολυσθένην, ἀνθρώπους οὐδ᾽ ἐλευθέρους, ἀλλ᾽ ὀλέθρους καὶ τοιαῦτα πεποιηκότας οἷα λέγειν ὀκνήσειεν ἄν τις εὖ φρονῶν.
[202] In the first place, — let me mention the latest instance first, — they not only claimed that Ariobarzanes and his two sons deserved everything they chose to ask for, but they associated with him two men of Abydus, unprincipled fellows, and bitter enemies of Athens, Philiscus and Agavus. Again, when Timotheus was held to have served your needs in some way, besides conferring on him all manner of great rewards, they associated with him Phrasierides and Polysthenes, who were not even free-born, but were blackguards whose conduct had been such as any man of good feeling will be loth to describe.
[203] τὸ τελευταῖον δὲ νῦν, ἐπειδὴ Κερσοβλέπτην ἠξίουν ὧν αὐτοῖς ἐδόκει, καὶ περὶ τούτων ἦν ἡ σπουδή, προστιθέασιν δύ᾽ αὐτῷ, τὸν μὲν ὅσ᾽ ὑμεῖς ἀκηκόατ᾽ εἰργασμένον κακά, τὸν δ᾽ ὅλως οὐδεὶς οἶδεν ἀνθρώπων τίς ἐστιν, Εὐδέρκην ὄνομα. τοιγάρτοι διὰ ταῦτ᾽, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, μικρά, ἃ πρὸ τοῦ μεγάλ᾽ ἦν, φαίνεται, καὶ τὸ πρᾶγμ᾽ ἤδη καὶ πορρωτέρω βαδίζει καὶ οὐκέτι ταῦτ᾽ ἀπόχρη, ἀλλ᾽ εἰ μὴ καὶ φυλάξεθ᾽ ἕκαστον τούτων, ἐκείνων γ᾽ οὐδεμία χάρις, ὡς ἔοικεν.
[203] Finally on this occasion, while demanding for Cersobleptes any honors they thought proper, and while concentrating on that, they attached two other names to his. One is the man of whose many misdeeds you have just heard the story. The other is named Euderces, but nobody in the wide world knows who he is. You see the result, men of Athens: honors that were once great now appear trifling; and the practice is advancing ever farther and farther. The old rewards no longer suffice, and they are not in the least grateful for them, unless you will also protect their persons, man by man, or so it seems.
[204] τοῦ μέντοι ταῦθ᾽ οὕτως αἰσχρῶς προεληλυθέναι, εἰ δεῖ μετὰ παρρησίας εἰπεῖν τἀληθῆ, οὐδένες ὑμῶν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, μᾶλλόν εἰσιν αἴτιοι. οὐδὲ γὰρ δίκην ἔτι λαμβάνειν ἐθέλετε παρὰ τῶν ἀδικούντων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτ᾽ ἐξελήλυθεν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως. καίτοι σκέψασθ᾽ ὡς ἐκόλαζον οἱ πρόγονοι τοὺς ἀδικοῦντας ἑαυτούς, εἰ παραπλησίως ὑμῖν.
[204] For this progress along the road of dishonor, men of Athens, if I am to tell the truth in all candor, nobody is more to blame than yourselves. You are no longer willing to bring malefactors to justice: retribution has disappeared from our city. Yet consider how our ancestors castigated those who had done them wrong, and ask whether their way was not better than yours.
[205] ἐκεῖνοι Θεμιστοκλέα λαβόντες μεῖζον ἑαυτῶν ἀξιοῦντα φρονεῖν ἐξήλασαν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως καὶ μηδισμὸν κατέγνωσαν: καὶ Κίμωνα, ὅτι τὴν πάτριον μετεκίνησε πολιτείαν ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ, παρὰ τρεῖς μὲν ἀφεῖσαν ψήφους τὸ μὴ θανάτῳ ζημιῶσαι, πεντήκοντα δὲ τάλαντ᾽ ἐξέπραξαν. καὶ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον προσεφέροντο τηλικαῦτ᾽ αὐτοὺς ἀγάθ᾽ εἰργασμένοις ἀνθρώποις. δικαίως: οὐ γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἀπεδίδοντο τὴν αὑτῶν ἐλευθερίαν καὶ μεγαλοψυχίαν τῶν ἔργων, ἀλλὰ χρηστοὺς μὲν ὄντας ἐτίμων, ἀδικεῖν δ᾽ ἐπιχειροῦσιν οὐκ ἐπέτρεπον.
[205] When they caught Themistocles presumptuously setting himself above the people, they banished him from Athens, and found him guilty of siding with the Medes. Because Cimon had dislocated the ancestral constitution by his personal efforts, they acquitted him by a majority of three votes only on the capital charge, and made him pay fifty talents. Such was their attitude to the men who had rendered those signal services. And they were right; they would not sell to those men their own freedom and their pride in their own achievements; they honored them as long as they did right, but resisted them when they tried to do wrong.
[206] ὑμεῖς δ᾽, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τοὺς τὰ μέγιστ᾽ ἀδικοῦντας καὶ φανερῶς ἐξελεγχομένους, ἂν ἓν ἢ δύ᾽ ἀστεῖ᾽ εἴπωσιν καὶ παρὰ τῶν φυλετῶν τινες ᾑρημένοι σύνδικοι δεηθῶσιν, ἀφίετε: ἂν δὲ καὶ καταψηφίσησθέ του, πέντε καὶ εἴκοσι δραχμῶν ἐτιμήσατε. καὶ γάρ τοι τότε μὲν τὰ μὲν τῆς πόλεως ἦν εὔπορα καὶ λαμπρὰ δημοσίᾳ, ἰδίᾳ δ᾽ οὐδεὶς ὑπερεῖχε τῶν πολλῶν.
[206] You, men of Athens, acquit men who have committed the gravest crimes and are clearly proved guilty, if they treat you to one or two pleasantries, or if a few advocates chosen from their own tribe ask you to be so good. If ever you do bring them in guilty, you assess the penalty at five-and-twenty drachmas. In those old times the State was wealthy and splendid, but in private life no man held his head higher than the multitude.
[207] τεκμήριον δέ: τὴν Θεμιστοκλέους μὲν οἰκίαν καὶ τὴν Μιλτιάδου καὶ τῶν τότε λαμπρῶν, εἴ τις ἄρ᾽ ὑμῶν οἶδεν ὁποία ποτ᾽ ἐστίν, ὁρᾷ τῶν πολλῶν οὐδὲν σεμνοτέραν οὖσαν, τὰ δὲ τῆς πόλεως οἰκοδομήματα καὶ κατασκευάσματα τηλικαῦτα καὶ τοιαῦθ᾽ ὥστε μηδενὶ τῶν ἐπιγιγνομένων ὑπερβολὴν λελεῖφθαι, προπύλαια ταῦτα, νεώσοικοι, στοα
ί, Πειραιεύς, τἄλλ᾽ οἷς κατεσκευασμένην ὁρᾶτε τὴν πόλιν.
[207] Here is the proof: if any of you know the sort of house that Themistocles or Miltiades or any of those distinguished men of old lived in, you may observe that it is no grander than the common run of houses. On the other hand, both the structure and the equipment of their Public buildings were on such a scale and of such quality that no opportunity of surpassing them was left to coming generations. Witness those gate-houses, docks, porticoes, the great harbor, and all the edifices with which you see our city adorned.
[208] νῦν δ᾽ ἰδίᾳ μὲν ἑκάστῳ τῶν τὰ κοινὰ πραττόντων τοσαύτη περιουσία ἐστὶν ὥστε τινὲς μὲν αὐτῶν πολλῶν δημοσίων οἰκοδομημάτων σεμνοτέρας τὰς ἰδίας κατεσκευάκασιν οἰκίας, γῆν δ᾽ ἔνιοι πλείω πάντων ὑμῶν τῶν ἐν τῷ δικαστηρίῳ συνεώνηνται: δημοσίᾳ δ᾽ ὑμεῖς ἃ μὲν οἰκοδομεῖτε καὶ κονιᾶτε, ὡς μικρὰ καὶ γλίσχρα, αἰσχύνη λέγειν. ἀλλ᾽ ἔχετ᾽ εἰπεῖν ὅ τι κοινῇ κτησάμενοι καταλείψετε, ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνοι Χερρόνησον, Ἀμφίπολιν, δόξαν ἔργων καλῶν; ἣν οἱ τοιοῦτοι πολῖται πάντ᾽ ἀναλίσκοντες τρόπον οὐχ οἷοί τ᾽ εἰσὶν ἀφανίσαι, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι.
[208] But today every man who takes part in public life enjoys such superfluity of wealth that some of them have built private dwelling-houses more magnificent than many public buildings; and others have bought larger estates than all you people in this court possess between you; while, as for the public buildings that you put up and whitewash, I am ashamed to say how mean and shabby they are. Can you name anything that you have acquired and that you will bequeath to posterity, as they bequeathed the Chersonesus, and Amphipolis, and the glory of noble exploits? That glory citizens like these are squandering as fast as they can, — but they cannot annihilate it, men of Athens; and we know why.
[209] εἰκότως: τότε μὲν γὰρ τῷ κυρίῳ τῶν φόρων γενομένῳ τάξαι Ἀριστείδῃ οὐδὲ μιᾷ δραχμῇ πλείω τὰ ὑπάρχοντ᾽ ἐγένετο, ἀλλὰ καὶ τελευτήσαντ᾽ αὐτὸν ἔθαψεν ἡ πόλις: ὑμῖν δ᾽, εἴ τι δέοισθε, χρήμαθ᾽ ὑπῆρχε κοινῇ πλεῖστα τῶν πάντων Ἑλλήνων, ὥσθ᾽ ὁπόσου χρόνου ψηφίσαισθ᾽ ἐξιέναι, τοσούτου μισθὸν ἔχοντες ἐξῇτε. νῦν δ᾽ οἱ μὲν τὰ κοινὰ διοικοῦντες ἐκ πτωχῶν εὔποροι καὶ πολλοῦ χρόνου τροφὴν ἄφθονόν εἰσιν ἡτοιμασμένοι: ὑμῖν δ᾽ οὐδὲ μιᾶς ἡμέρας ἐφόδι᾽ ἐστὶν ἐν τῷ κοινῷ, ἀλλ᾽ ἅμα δεῖ τι ποιεῖν, καὶ πόθεν οὐκ ἔχετε. τότε μὲν γὰρ ὁ δῆμος ἦν δεσπότης τῶν πολιτευομένων, νῦν δ᾽ ὑπηρέτης.
[209] In those days Aristeides had full control of the assessment of the tribute, but his own fortune was not increased by a single shilling; and when he died he was actually buried at the public expense. Whenever you wanted anything, you had more money in your treasury than any other Hellenic people, insomuch that you always started on any expedition with pay for the full period named in the decree authorizing such expedition. Now, while the administrators of public affairs have risen from poverty to affluence, and are provided with ample maintenance for a long time to come, you have not enough money laid by for a single day’s expenditure, and when something must be done, you are at once without the means of doing it. The nation was then the master, as it is now the servant, of the politicians.
[210] αἴτιοι δ᾽ οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα γράφοντες, καὶ συνεθίζοντες ὑμᾶς ὑμῶν μὲν αὐτῶν καταφρονεῖν, ἕνα δ᾽ ἢ δύο θαυμάζειν ἀνθρώπους. εἶθ᾽ οὗτοι κληρονομοῦσι τῆς ὑμετέρας δόξης καὶ τῶν ἀγαθῶν, ὑμεῖς δ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ὁτιοῦν ἀπολαύετε, ἀλλὰ μάρτυρές ἐστε τῶν ἑτέρων ἀγαθῶν, οὐδενὸς ἄλλου μετέχοντες ἢ τοῦ ἐξαπατᾶσθαι. καίτοι πηλίκον τί ποτ᾽ ἂν στενάξειαν οἱ ἄνδρες ἐκεῖνοι, οἱ ὑπὲρ δόξης καὶ ἐλευθερίας τελευτήσαντες, καὶ πολλῶν καὶ καλῶν ἔργων ὑπομνήματα καταλιπόντες, εἰ ἄρ᾽ αἴσθοινθ᾽ ὅτι νῦν ἡ πόλις εἰς ὑπηρέτου σχῆμα καὶ τάξιν προελήλυθεν, καὶ Χαρίδημον εἰ χρὴ φρουρεῖν βουλεύεται; Χαρίδημον; οἴμοι.
[210] The fault lies with the authors of such decrees as this, who have trained you to think very little of yourselves, and a great deal of one or two individuals. So they are the inheritors of your renown and of your possessions; you get no benefit from that inheritance! You are the witnesses of the prosperity of others, and participate in nothing but delusions. Ah, how loud would be the lamentation of those great men who laid down their lives for glory and for liberty, and left behind them the monuments of many noble achievements, if they could see how today the progress of our city has ended in the form and rank of a dependant, and that the question of the hour is — whether Charidemus is entitled to personal protection! Charidemus! Heaven help us!
[211] ἀλλ᾽ οὐ τοῦτ᾽ ἔστι τὸ δεινόν, εἰ τῶν προγόνων, οἳ διενηνόχασιν ἁπάντων ἀρετῇ, χεῖρον βουλευόμεθα, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι καὶ πάντων ἀνθρώπων. πῶς γὰρ οὐκ αἰσχρὸν Αἰγινήτας μὲν τουτουσί, νῆσον οἰκοῦντας οὕτω μικρὰν καὶ οὐδὲν ἔχοντας ἐφ᾽ ᾧ μέγα χρὴ φρονεῖν αὐτούς, Λάμπιν, ὃς μέγιστα ναυκλήρια κέκτηται τῶν Ἑλλήνων, καὶ κατεσκεύακεν τὴν πόλιν αὐτοῖς καὶ τὸ ἐμπόριον, μηδέπω καὶ τήμερον πολίτην πεποιῆσθαι, ἀλλὰ μόλις τῆς ἀτελείας αὐτὸν ἠξιωκέναι τῆς τοῦ μετοικίου:
[211] But the really scandalous thing is, not that our counsels are inferior to those of our ancestors, who surpassed all mankind in virtue, but that they are worse than those of all other nations. Is it not discreditable that, whereas the Aeginetans yonder, who inhabit that insignificant island, and have nothing whatever to be proud of, have never to this day given their citizenship to Lampis, the largest ship-owner in Hellas, who fitted out their city and their seaport, but have reluctantly rewarded him merely with exemption from the alien-tax;
[212] καὶ Μεγαρέας τουτουσὶ τοὺς καταράτους οὕτως εὖ τὰ παρ᾽ αὑτοῖς σεμνύνειν ὥσθ᾽ Ἕρμωνα τὸν κυβερνήτην, τὸν μετὰ Λυσάνδρου λαβόντα τριήρεις διακοσίας ὅτ᾽ ἐν Αἰγὸς ποταμοῖς ἠτυχήσαμεν ἡμεῖς, πεμψάντων Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ κελευόντων ποιήσασθαι πολίτην ἀποκρίνασθαι ὅτι, ὅταν αὐτοὺς ἴδωσι Σπαρτιάτην αὐτὸν πεποιημένους, τότε καὶ αὐτοὶ Μεγαρέα ποιήσονται:
[212] that whereas those detestable Megarians are so obsessed with their own dignity that, when the Lacedaemonians sent and ordered them to admit to their citizenship Hermo, the pilot, who, serving with Lysander, captured two hundred war-galleys on the occasion of our disaster at Aegospotami, they replied that they would make him a Megarian when they saw that the Lacedaemonians had made him a Spartan;
[213] καὶ Ὠρείτα
ς ἐκείνους, μέρος τέταρτον Εὐβοίας οἰκοῦντας, τὸν Χαρίδημον τοῦτον αὐτόν, ᾧ μήτηρ μὲν ὑπάρχει πολῖτις ἐκεῖ, πατὴρ δ᾽ οὐκ ἐρῶ τίς ἢ πόθεν （οὐδὲν γὰρ δεῖ πλείω τῶν ἀναγκαίων αὐτὸν ἐξετάζεσθαι）, ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως, τὸ ἥμισυ τοῦ γένους αὐτοῦ συμβαλλομένου, τοῦ ἡμίσεος μέχρι τῆς τήμερον ἡμέρας οὐκ ἠξιώκασιν, ἀλλ᾽ εἰς τοὺς νόθους ἐκεῖ συντελεῖ, καθάπερ ποτ᾽ ἐνθάδ᾽ εἰς Κυνόσαργες οἱ νόθοι:
[213] that whereas the people of Oreus, who inhabit only a fourth part of Euboea, dealing with this very Charidemus, whose mother belongs to their city, — I will not mention who his father is or where he comes from, for it is not worth while to make unnecessary inquiries about the man, — so that he himself contributed one-half of the birth-qualification, have never to this day thought fit to make up the other moiety, and to this very day he is on the bastards’ list, just as here bastards are registered at Cynosarges, —
[214] ὑμεῖς δ᾽, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, πάσης τῆς πόλεως μεταδόντες αὐτῷ καὶ τετιμηκότες ἄλλοις, ἔτι καὶ τοῦτ᾽ αὐτῷ προσθήσετε; ὅτι τί; ποίας ἔλαβεν ναῦς ὑμῖν δι᾽ ἃς ὑπὸ τῶν ἀπολωλεκότων ἐπιβουλεύεται; ἢ ποίαν πόλιν παρέδωκεν αἰχμάλωτον λαβών; ἢ τίνας κινδύνους ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν κεκινδύνευκεν; ἢ τίνας ἐχθροὺς τοὺς αὐτοὺς ὑμῖν ᾕρηται; οὐδ᾽ ἂν εἷς εἰπεῖν ἔχοι.