by Demosthenes
[196] Nor can you plead that you took compassion on ill-used men, and therefore resolved to help them. That long after date they should restore money belonging to the citizens, reluctantly, unwillingly, and after conviction in three courts of justice, — you certainly never thought that ill-usage. That means ill-conduct, and should rather provoke our indignation than incline us to pity. Nor do you take pity on them because a humane and considerate disposition is a peculiar trait of your character.
[197] οὐ γάρ ἐστι τῆς αὐτῆς ψυχῆς Ἀνδροτίωνα μὲν καὶ Μελάνωπον καὶ Γλαυκέτην ἐλεεῖν, ἃ κλέψαντες εἶχον εἰ καταθήσουσι, τουτωνὶ δὲ τοσούτων ὄντων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πολιτῶν, ὧν ἐπὶ τὰς οἰκίας ἐβάδιζες σὺ τοὺς ἕνδεκα καὶ τοὺς ἀποδέκτας ἔχων καὶ τοὺς ὑπηρέτας, μηδένα πώποτ᾽ ἐλεῆσαι, ἀλλὰ θύρας ἀφαιρεῖν καὶ στρώμαθ᾽ ὑποσπᾶν καὶ διάκονον, εἴ τις ἐχρῆτο, ταύτην ἐνεχυράζειν: ἃ σὺ πάντ᾽ ἐποίεις ἐνιαυτὸν ὅλον μετ᾽ Ἀνδροτίωνος.
[197] Compassion for Androtion, Glaucetes, and Melanopus, because they have to repay stolen money, shows a temper quite different from your refusal of compassion to everyone of the many persons here present, and of all the other citizens, whose houses you invaded with police-magistrates, receivers, and clerks at your heels; with demolishing their front-doors, dragging their bed-clothes from under them, and levying distraint on a man’s maidservant, if he was living with her; and that is how you and Androtion were employed for a whole twelve-month.
[198] πολλῷ γὰρ δήπου σχετλιώτερ᾽ ἐπάσχεθ᾽ ὑμεῖς, καὶ πολὺ μᾶλλον ἂν εἰκότως ἠλέεις τούτους, οἳ δι᾽ ὑμᾶς, ὦ κατάρατε, τοὺς λέγοντας οὐδ᾽ ὁτιοῦν εἰσφέροντες παύονται. καὶ οὐκ ἀπόχρη τοῦτο, ἀλλὰ καὶ διπλᾶ πράττονται, καὶ ταῦθ᾽ ὑπὸ σοῦ καὶ Ἀνδροτίωνος, οἳ μίαν εἰσφορὰν οὐδεπώποτ᾽ εἰσενηνόχατε.
[198] — Yes, it was you citizens who were the more infamously ill-used; — and as for you, you reprobate, you had far more reason to pity your fellow-citizens, who, thanks to you speech-makers, never get a moment’s respite from taxpaying. Even that is not enough they are compelled to pay double, compelled by you and Androtion, who never paid income-tax in your lives.
[199] τηλικοῦτο τοίνυν ἐφρόνησεν οὗτος, ὡς ἄρ᾽ οὐδὲ δίκην τούτων οὐδεμίαν δώσων, ὥστε μόνος δέκα τῶν συναρχόντων ὄντων κοινῇ τὸν λόγον ἐγγράψαι μετ᾽ Ἀνδροτίωνος ἐτόλμησεν. προῖκα γάρ, οὐδὲν ὠφελούμενος, ὑμῖν Τιμοκράτης ἀπεχθάνεται καὶ νόμους εἰσφέρει πᾶσιν ἐναντίους, τὸ τελευταῖον δὲ καὶ αὑτοῦ νόμῳ προτέρῳ, ὃ μὰ τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν οὐδ᾽ ὑμᾶς οἴομαι λανθάνειν.
[199] — And yet this fellow was so self-confident, — as though he could never be brought to justice for his doings, — that, with ten colleagues in office, he alone joined Androtion in making his return. Yes indeed; gratuitously and from purely unselfish motives, Timocrates provokes your hostility, introducing laws that contradict every statute, and that even, to crown all, contradict a statute of his own making! By our Lady, I think that even you must recognize his generosity!
[200] ὃ τοίνυν ἔμοιγε δοκεῖ μάλιστ᾽ ἄξιον ὀργῆς εἶναι, φράσω καὶ οὐκ ἀποτρέψομαι, ὅτι ταῦτ᾽, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, πράττων ἐπ᾽ ἀργυρίῳ, καὶ προῃρημένος ὡς ἀληθῶς μισθαρνεῖν, οὐκ εἰς ἃ καὶ συγγνώμην ἀκούσας ἄν τις ἔσχε, ταῦτ᾽ ἀναλίσκει. ταῦτα δ᾽ ἐστὶν τί; ὁ πατήρ, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, ὁ τούτου τῷ δημοσίῳ ὀφείλει: καὶ οὐκ ὀνειδίζων ἐκείνῳ λέγω, ἀλλ᾽ ἀναγκαζόμενος: καὶ οὗτος ὁ χρηστὸς περιορᾷ.
[200] I will now tell you, without any hesitation, something that, in my opinion, deserves your sternest indignation. Men of Athens, while he is doing all this for money, while he has, to tell the truth, deliberately adopted the profession of paid agent, he does not spend his earnings on purposes that might claim the indulgence of anyone who heard of them. What purposes do I mean? Well, gentlemen of the jury, the defendant’s father is in debt to the Treasury. I do not mention that by way of reproach, but because I cannot help it. And this dutiful son allows him to remain in debt!
[201] καίτοι ὅστις μέλλων κληρονομήσειν τῆς ἀτιμίας, ἂν ἐκεῖνός τι πάθῃ, μὴ οἴεται δεῖν ἐκτεῖσαι, ἀλλὰ κερδαίνειν, ὃν ἐκεῖνος ζῇ χρόνον, ἀξιοῖ τοῦτο τὸ κέρδος, τίνος ἂν ὑμῖν ἀποσχέσθαι δοκεῖ; καὶ τὸν μὲν πατέρ᾽ οὔτ᾽ ἐλεεῖς οὔτε δεινά σοι δοκεῖ πάσχειν, εἰ σοῦ λαμβάνοντος καὶ χρηματιζομένου ἀπὸ τῶν εἰσφορῶν ὧν εἰσέπραττες, ἀπὸ τῶν ψηφισμάτων ὧν γράφεις, ἀφ᾽ ὧν εἰσφέρεις νόμων, διὰ μικρὸν ἀργύριον μὴ μετέχει τῆς πόλεως, ἑτέρους δ᾽ ἐλεῆσαί τινας φῄς;
[201] Here is a man who is going to inherit disfranchisement, if anything happens to his father, and yet does not think proper to pay the debt, but prefers to pocket the profit of his meanness so long as his father lives. Is such a man likely to keep his hands off anything? — For your own father you have no compassion; you do not think him ill-used because, while you are getting your pickings and making your profits out of the taxes you used to collect, out of the decrees you move, out of the laws you introduce, he is losing his citizen-rights for lack of a trifling sum of money. And yet you call yourself a compassionate man!
[202] ἀλλὰ νὴ Δία τὴν ἀδελφὴν καλῶς διῴκηκεν. ἀλλ᾽ εἰ καὶ μηδὲν ἄλλ᾽ ἠδίκει, κατὰ τοῦτ᾽ ἄξιός ἐστ᾽ ἀπολωλέναι: πέπρακε γὰρ αὐτήν, οὐκ ἐκδέδωκεν. τῶν γὰρ ὑμετέρων ἐχθρῶν ἑνί, Κερκυραίῳ τινὶ τῶν νῦν ἐχόντων τὴν πόλιν, καταλύοντι παρ᾽ αὐτῷ, ὅτε δεῦρο πρεσβεύοι, καὶ βουληθέντι λαβεῖν αὐτήν （ἐξ οὗ δὲ τρόπου, παραλείψω） λαβὼν ἀργύριον δέδωκεν: καὶ νῦν ἐστιν ἐν Κερκύρᾳ.
[202] — Ah, but he was a good manager for his sister. Why, if he had committed no other crime, he deserves destruction on that account alone. He has not given her in marriage, he has sold her. An enemy of yours from Corcyra, one of the faction now in power there, used to lodge at his house whenever he came here on embassy, and wanted to have his sister, — I will not say on what terms. He took the man’s money, and he has given him the girl; and she is in Corcyra to this day.
[203] ὃς οὖν τὴν μὲν ἀδελφὴν ἐπ᾽ ἐξαγωγῇ, φησὶ μὲν ἐκδοῦναι, πέπρακε δὲ τῷ ἔργῳ. τὸν δ᾽ αὑτοῦ πατέρ᾽ οὕτω γηροτροφεῖ, κολακεύει δὲ καὶ μισθοῦ γράφει καὶ πολιτεύεται, τοῦτον ὑμεῖς λαβόντες οὐκ ἀποκτενεῖτε; δόξετ᾽ ἄρ᾽, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, κρίσεις βούλεσθαι καὶ πράγματ᾽ ἔχειν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἀπηλλάχθαι τῶν πονηρῶν.
[203] A man who pretends to have given his sister in
marriage, but has really sold her for export; a man who supports his father’s old age in the manner you know; a toad-eater who drafts decrees and does political jobs for hire, — now that you have caught him, will you not make an end of him? If not, we shall think, men of Athens, that you like lawsuits and vexations, and that you do not want to be quit of scoundrels.
[204] καὶ μὴν ὅτι μὲν προσήκει πάντας κολάζειν τοὺς ἀδικοῦντας, εὖ οἶδ᾽ ὅτι πάντες ἄν, εἴ τις ἔροιτο, φήσαιτε: ὅσῳ δὲ μάλιστα τοῦτον, ὃς νόμον εἰσενήνοχ᾽ ἐπὶ βλάβῃ τοῦ πλήθους, ἐγὼ πειράσομαι διδάξαι. τῶν μὲν γὰρ κλεπτῶν καὶ λωποδυτῶν καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα κακουργούντων ἕκαστος πρῶτον μὲν ὡς ἀληθῶς τὸν ἐντυχόντ᾽ ἀδικεῖ, καὶ οὐκ ἂν οἷός τ᾽ εἴη πάντας ἐκδύειν οὐδὲ τὰ πάντων ὑφελέσθαι, εἶτα καταισχύνει τὴν αὑτοῦ δόξαν καὶ τὸν βίον μόνον.
[204] I am sure that you would all agree, if asked, that all evil-doers ought to be punished; but I will try to satisfy you that this malefactor in particular deserves punishment for introducing a law detrimental to the common people. A thief, or a cutpurse, or any rogue of that sort, in the first place really injures only the man who encounters him; it is out of his power to strip everybody, or steal everybody’s property; and in the second place, he brings disgrace on no one’s reputation or manner of life but his own.
[205] εἰ δέ τις εἰσφέρει νόμον ἐξ οὗ τοῖς ὑμᾶς βουλομένοις ἀδικεῖν ἡ πᾶσ᾽ ἐξουσία καὶ ἄδεια γενήσεται, οὗτος ὅλην ἀδικεῖ τὴν πόλιν καὶ καταισχύνει πάντας: νόμος γὰρ αἰσχρὸς ὅταν κύριος ᾖ, τῆς πόλεως ὄνειδός ἐστι τῆς θεμένης, καὶ βλάπτει πάντας ὅσοι περ ἂν αὐτῷ χρῶνται. τὸν οὖν καὶ βλάπτειν ὑμᾶς καὶ δόξης ἀναπιμπλάναι φαύλης ἐπιχειροῦντα, τοῦτον οὐ τιμωρήσεσθε λαβόντες;
[205] But if a man introduces a law by which unlimited license and immunity is granted to those who seek to defraud their fellow-citizens, he is guilty in respect of the whole city, and he brings disgrace upon everybody; for an infamous statute, when ratified, is a discredit to the government that enacted it and an injury to everyone who lives under it. Will you not, then, punish, when you have caught him, a man who is doing his utmost to injure you, and to pollute you with infamy? If not, what excuse will you have?
[206] καὶ τί φήσετε; γνοίη δ᾽ ἄν τις οὕτω μάλισθ᾽ ἡλίκα πράγματα συσκευάσας γέγραφ᾽ αὐτόν, καὶ ταῦθ᾽ ὡς ὑπεναντία τῇ καθεστώσῃ πολιτείᾳ, εἰ λογίσαιθ᾽ ὅτι πάντες, ὅταν που καταλύοντες τὸν δῆμον πράγμασιν ἐγχειρῶσι νεωτέροις, τοῦτο ποιοῦσι πρῶτον ἁπάντων: ἔλυσαν τοὺς πρότερον νόμῳ δι᾽ ἁμαρτίαν τινὰ ταύτην ὑπέχοντας τὴν δίκην.
[206] The best way to ascertain with what far-reaching designs he has framed his law, and how inimical those designs are to the established constitution, is to reflect that this is just the way that all conspirators begin, when they are trying to overthrow democracy by innovations, — they first of all release all who were formerly by law suffering this penalty for some offence.
[207] πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἄξιος οὗτος, εἰ δυνατόν, τρίς, οὐχ ἅπαξ ἀπολωλέναι, ὃς εἷς ὢν καὶ οὐ δήπου μέλλων καταλύσειν ὑμᾶς, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον αὐτὸς ἐν ὑμῖν, ἂν τὰ δίκαια καὶ τὰ προσήκοντα ποιῆτε, ἀπολεῖσθαι, ὅμως ἐμιμήσατο τοῦτο τἀδίκημα, καὶ διὰ τοῦ νόμου λύειν ἠξίωσεν οὓς δέδεκεν τὰ δικαστήρια, γράψας ἀναιδῶς, εἴ τινι προστετίμηται δεσμοῦ κἂν τὸ λοιπόν τινι προστιμήσητε, τοῦτον ἀφεῖσθαι.
[207] Does not this man, then, deserve, if possible, not one but three sentences of death, because, standing by himself, and of course with no expectation of crushing you, but rather of meeting his own doom in this court, if you do justice as you ought, he nevertheless imitated that crime, and attempted to release men whom the tribunals have imprisoned, by his impudent enactment that if the penalty of imprisonment has already been inflicted, or if you hereafter inflict it, upon any man, that man shall be discharged from prison?
[208] καὶ μὴν εἰ αὐτίκα δὴ μάλα κραυγὴν ἀκούσαιτε πρὸς τῷ δικαστηρίῳ, εἶτ᾽ εἴποι τις ὡς ἀνέῳκται τὸ δεσμωτήριον, οἱ δὲ δεσμῶται φεύγουσιν, οὐδεὶς οὔτε γέρων οὔτ᾽ ὀλίγωρος οὕτως ὅστις οὐχὶ βοηθήσειεν ἂν καθ᾽ ὅσον δύναται. εἰ δὲ δή τις εἴποι παρελθὼν ὡς ὁ τούτους ἀφείς ἐστιν οὑτοσί, οὐδὲ λόγου τυχὼν ἂν εὐθὺς ἀπαχθεὶς θανάτῳ ζημιωθείη.
[208] Suppose that in a moment’s time you were to hear an outcry hard by this court, and suppose that you were told that the jail had been thrown open and that the prisoners were escaping, there is not a man, however old or however apathetic, who would not rally to the rescue to the utmost of his power. And if someone came forward and informed you that the man who had let them out was the defendant, he would be incontinently arrested and executed without a hearing.
[209] νῦν τοίνυν ἔχετ᾽, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τοῦτον, ὃς οὐχὶ λάθρα πεποίηκε τοῦτο, ἀλλὰ φενακίσας καὶ παρακρουσάμενος νόμον τέθηκεν φανερῶς ὃς οὐκ ἀνοίγνυσι τὸ δεσμωτήριον, ἀλλὰ καθαιρεῖ, προσπεριείληφε δὲ καὶ τὰ δικαστήρια. τίς γὰρ ἢ τούτων ἢ ἐκείνου χρεία, ὅταν οἷς τετίμηται δεσμοῦ λύωνται, κἂν τὸ λοιπὸν τιμήσητέ τῳ, μηδὲν ὑμῖν ᾖ πλέον;
[209] Well, men of Athens, you hold in your power today this man, who has not done that deed in secret, but after beguiling and deceiving you has openly enacted a law that does not merely throw open but demolishes the prison, and that includes in that destruction the courts of justice as well. For of what use are either courts or prisons, if persons sentenced to imprisonment are set free, and if you are to get no benefit from any such sentence henceforward?
[210] δεῖ τοίνυν ὑμᾶς κἀκεῖνο σκοπεῖν, ὅτι πολλοὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων πολλάκις εἰσὶν ἐψηφισμένοι τοῖς νόμοις χρῆσθαι τοῖς ὑμετέροις, ἐφ᾽ ᾧ φιλοτιμεῖσθ᾽ ὑμεῖς, εἰκότως: ὃ γὰρ εἰπεῖν τινά φασιν ἐν ὑμῖν, ἀληθὲς εἶναί μοι δοκεῖ, ὅτι τοὺς νόμους ἅπαντες ὑπειλήφασιν, ὅσοι σωφρονοῦσι, τρόπους τῆς πόλεως. χρὴ τοίνυν σπουδάζειν ὅπως ὡς βέλτιστοι δόξουσιν εἶναι, καὶ τοὺς λυμαινομένους καὶ διαστρέφοντας αὐτοὺς κολάζειν, ὡς εἰ καταρρᾳθυμήσετε, τῆς φιλοτιμίας τε ταύτης ἀποστερήσεσθε καὶ κατὰ τῆς πόλεως δόξαν οὐ χρηστὴν ποιήσετε.
[210] You ought also to consider this point, that many Hellenic nations have often resolved by vote to adopt your laws; and in this you take an honorable pride, naturally; for there seems to me to be truth in an observation once ma
de, as we are told, in this court, that all wise men regard laws as the character of the State. Therefore we should take pains that they be accounted as good as possible, and we should punish those who debase and pervert them; for, if they are impaired by your neglect, you will lose that high distinction, and will create an unfavorable reputation for your city.
[211] καὶ μὴν εἰ Σόλωνα καὶ Δράκοντα δικαίως ἐπαινεῖτε, οὐκ ἂν ἔχοντες εἰπεῖν οὐδετέρου κοινὸν εὐεργέτημ᾽ οὐδὲν πλὴν ὅτι συμφέροντας ἔθηκαν καὶ καλῶς ἔχοντας νόμους, δίκαιον δήπου καὶ τοῖς ὑπεναντίως τιθεῖσιν ἐκείνοις ὀργίλως ἔχοντας καὶ κολάζοντας φαίνεσθαι. οἶδα δὲ Τιμοκράτην, ὅτι τὸν νόμον εἰσενήνοχε τοῦτον οὐχ ἥκισθ᾽ ὑπὲρ αὑτοῦ: πολλὰ γὰρ ἡγεῖτο πολιτεύεσθαι παρ᾽ ὑμῖν ἄξια δεσμοῦ.
[211] If you are justified in praising Solon and Draco, although you can credit neither of them with any public service except that they enacted beneficial and well-conceived statutes, it is surely right that you should visit men whose enactments are contrary to the spirit of those lawgivers with indignation and chastisement. But as to Timocrates I know that he brought in this law chiefly for his private advantage, because he felt that many of his political acts in your city deserve imprisonment.