Delphi Complete Works of Demosthenes

by Demosthenes

  [45] For even if a nurse is a lowly thing, I do not shun the truth. For it is not our being poor that would mark us as wrong-doers, but our not being citizens; and the present trial has to do, not with our fortune or our money, but with our descent. Many are the servile acts which free men are compelled by poverty to perform, and for these they should be pitied, men of Athens, rather than be brought also to utter ruin. For, as I am informed, many women have become nurses and laborers at the loom or in the vineyards owing to the misfortunes of the city in those days, women of civic birth, too; and many who were poor then are now rich. However, I shall speak of these matters by and by.

  For the moment, please call the witnesses.” Witnesses”

  [46] οὐκοῦν ὅτι μὲν καὶ τὰ πρὸς μητρός εἰμ᾽ ἀστὸς καὶ τὰ πρὸς πατρός, τὰ μὲν ἐξ ὧν ἄρτι μεμαρτύρηται μεμαθήκατε πάντες, τὰ δ᾽ ἐξ ὧν πρότερον περὶ τοῦ πατρός. λοιπὸν δέ μοι περὶ ἐμαυτοῦ πρὸς ὑμᾶς εἰπεῖν, τὸ μὲν ἁπλούστατον οἶμαι καὶ δικαιότατον, ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων ἀστῶν ὄντα με, κεκληρονομηκότα καὶ τῆς οὐσίας καὶ τοῦ γένους, εἶναι πολίτην: οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ προσήκοντα πάντ᾽ ἐπιδείξω μάρτυρας παρεχόμενος, ὡς εἰσήχθην εἰς τοὺς φράτερας, ὡς ἐνεγράφην εἰς τοὺς δημότας, ὡς ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν τούτων προὐκρίθην ἐν τοῖς εὐγενεστάτοις κληροῦσθαι τῆς ἱερωσύνης τῷ Ἡρακλεῖ, ὡς ἦρχον ἀρχὰς δοκιμασθείς. καί μοι κάλει αὐτούς.”Μάρτυρες”

  [46] Well then, that I am a citizen on both my mother’s and my father’s side you have all learned, partly from the testimony which has just been given and partly from that previously given regarding my father. It remains for me to speak to you about myself — and my statement is, I think, the simplest and the most reasonable — , that, since I am of civic birth on the side of both parents and have shared by inheritance both the property and the family, I am a citizen. Nevertheless I will produce witnesses to establish also all the circumstances which befit a citizen — that I was inducted into the clan, that I was enrolled on the register of the demesmen, that by these men themselves I was nominated among the noblest-born to draw lots for the priesthood of Heracles, and that I passed the scrutiny and held offices.

  Call them, please.” Witnesses”

  [47] οὔκουν δεινόν, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, εἰ μὲν ἔλαχον ἱερεύς, ὥσπερ προὐκρίθην, δεῖν ἄν με καὶ αὐτὸν θύειν ὑπὲρ τούτων καὶ τοῦτον μετ᾽ ἐμοῦ συνθύειν, νῦν δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς τούτους ἐμὲ μεθ᾽ αὑτῶν μηδὲ συνθύειν ἐᾶν; φαίνομαι τοίνυν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τὸν μὲν ἄλλον χρόνον ἅπαντα παρὰ πᾶσιν τοῖς νῦν κατηγοροῦσι πολίτης ὡμολογημένος:

  [47] Is it not an outrage, men of the jury, that, whereas, if I had been chosen by lot as priest, even as I had been nominated, it would have been my duty to offer sacrifice on behalf of these people, and Eubulides would have had to join in the sacrifice with me, — is it not an outrage, I ask, that these same people should not allow me even to share in the sacrifices with them? It is plain, then, men of Athens, that in all previous time I have been acknowledged as a citizen by all those who now accuse me;

  [48] οὐ γὰρ ἂν δήπου τόν γε ξένον καὶ μέτοικον, ὡς νῦν φησιν Εὐβουλίδης, οὔτ᾽ ἀρχὰς ἄρχειν οὔθ᾽ ἱερωσύνην κληροῦσθαι μεθ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ προκριθέντ᾽ εἴασεν: καὶ γὰρ οὗτος ἦν τῶν κληρουμένων καὶ προκριθέντων. οὐδέ γ᾽ ἄν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, παλαιὸς ὢν ἐχθρὸς ἐμοὶ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν περιέμενεν, ὃν οὐδεὶς ᾔδει γενησόμενον, εἴπερ τι συνῄδει τοιοῦτον.

  [48] for surely Eubulides would never have suffered the foreigner or resident alien, as he now calls me, either to hold offices or to draw lots with himself as a nominee for the priesthood; for he too was one of the nominees who drew lots. Nor, men of Athens, seeing that he is an old enemy of mine, would he have waited for the present opportunity, which no one could foresee, if he had known any such facts regarding me. But he did not know them.

  [49] ἀλλ᾽ οὐ συνῄδει: διόπερ τὸν μὲν ἄλλον ἅπαντα χρόνον δημοτευόμενος μετ᾽ ἐμοῦ καὶ κληρούμενος οὐδὲν ἑώρα τούτων, ἐπειδὴ δ᾽ ἡ πόλις πᾶσα τοῖς ἀσελγῶς εἰσπεπηδηκόσιν εἰς τοὺς δήμους ὀργιζομένη παρώξυντο, τηνικαῦτα μοι ἐπεβούλευσεν. ἦν δ᾽ ἐκεῖνος μὲν ὁ καιρὸς τοῦ συνειδότος αὑτῷ τἀληθῆ λέγειν, ὁ δὲ νυνὶ παρὼν ἐχθροῦ καὶ συκοφαντεῖν βουλομένου.

  [49] So, then, although he continued throughout all the past to act as a member of the deme and to draw lots for offices together with me without seeing any of these objections, yet, when the whole city was roused to sharp indignation against those who had recklessly forced their way into the demes, then, and not till then, he laid his plots. The earlier time would have suited one who was convinced of the truth of his charges; but the present suits an enemy and one who will stoop to malicious pettifoggery.

  [50] ἐγὼ δ᾽, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί （καί μοι πρὸς Διὸς καὶ θεῶν μηδεὶς θορυβήσῃ, μηδ᾽ ἐφ᾽ ᾧ μέλλω λέγειν ἀχθεσθῇ）, ἐμαυτὸν Ἀθηναῖον ὑπείληφ᾽ ὥσπερ ὑμῶν ἕκαστος ἑαυτόν, μητέρ᾽ ἐξ ἀρχῆς νομίζων ἥνπερ εἰς ὑμᾶς ἀποφαίνω, καὶ οὐχ ἑτέρας μὲν ὢν ταύτης δὲ προσποιούμενος: πατέρα πάλιν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον.

  [50] For my own part, men of the jury （and I beg you by Zeus and the gods, let no one make an outcry or be vexed at what I am going to say）, I hold myself to be an Athenian on the same grounds on which each one of you holds himself to be one, having from the first regarded as my mother her whom I represent as such to you, and not pretending to be hers while really belonging to another; and in regard to my father the case is the same.

  [51] καίτοι εἰ τοῖς ἐξελεγχομένοις ὧν μέν εἰσιν ἀποκρυπτομένοις, ὧν δ᾽ οὐκ εἰσὶν προσποιουμένοις, δίκαιον ὑπάρχειν παρ᾽ ὑμῖν τοῦτο σημεῖον ὡς εἰσὶ ξένοι, ἐμοὶ δήπου τοὐναντίον ὡς εἰμὶ πολίτης. οὐ γὰρ ἂν ξένην καὶ ξένον τοὺς ἐμαυτοῦ γονέας ἐπιγραψάμενος μετέχειν ἠξίουν τῆς πόλεως: ἀλλ᾽ εἴ τι τοιοῦτον συνῄδειν, ἐζήτησ᾽ ἂν ὧν φήσω γονέων εἶναι. ἀλλ᾽ οὐ συνῄδειν, διόπερ μένων ἐπὶ τοῖς οὖσιν δικαίως γονεῦσιν ἐμαυτῷ τῆς πόλεως μετέχειν ἀξιῶ.

  [51] Yet, if in the case of those who are proved to have hidden their real parentage and laid claim to a false one, you rightly hold this to be a proof that they are aliens, surely in my case the opposite should prove that I am a citizen. For in claiming the rights of citizenship I should never have inscribed myself as the son of parents who were both foreigners, but, if I had known any such thing, I should have sought out persons to claim as my parents. But I knew nothing of the sort, and so, holding fast to those who are my re
al parents, I claim Athenian citizenship.

  [52] ἔτι τοίνυν ὀρφανὸς κατελείφθην, καὶ φασίν μ᾽ εὔπορον εἶναι καὶ τῶν μαρτύρων ἐνίους ὠφελουμένους μοι μαρτυρεῖν συγγενεῖς εἶναι. καὶ ἅμα μὲν κατ᾽ ἐμοῦ λέγουσιν τὰς ἐκ τῆς πενίας ἀδοξίας καὶ περὶ τὸ γένος διαβάλλουσιν, ἅμα δὲ δι᾽ εὐπορίαν φασὶ πάντα μ᾽ ὠνεῖσθαι.

  [52] Again, I was left an orphan; and yet they say that I am rich and that some of the witnesses testify that they are my relatives because they receive help from me. They taunt me with my poverty and make my birth a reproach, but at the same time they assert that I am rich enough to buy anything.

  [53] ὥστε πότερα χρὴ αὐτοῖς πιστεύειν; ἐξῆν δὲ δήπου τούτοις, εἰ νόθος ἢ ξένος ἦν ἐγώ, κληρονόμοις εἶναι τῶν ἐμῶν πάντων. εἶθ᾽ οὗτοι μικρὰ λαμβάνειν καὶ κινδυνεύειν ἐν ψευδομαρτυρίοις καὶ ἐπιορκεῖν μᾶλλον αἱροῦνται ἢ πάντ᾽ ἔχειν, καὶ ταῦτ᾽ ἀσφαλῶς, καὶ μηδεμιᾶς ἐξωλείας ὑπόχους ἑαυτοὺς ποιεῖν; οὐκ ἔστι ταῦτα, ἀλλ᾽ οἶμαι συγγενεῖς ὄντες τὰ δίκαια ποιοῦσι, βοηθοῦντες αὑτῶν ἑνί.

  [53] In which statement, then, is one to believe them? It surely would have been their right, if I had been illegitimate or an alien, to inherit all my property. Do they prefer, then, to take a little and jeopardize themselves by giving false testimony and to commit perjury, rather than to take everything, and that with safety, without having invoked a curse upon their own heads? This is not the case. No; in my opinion, seeing that they are my relatives, they are but doing what is right in aiding one of themselves.

  [54] καὶ ταῦτ᾽ οὐχὶ νῦν πεπεισμένοι ποιοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ παιδίον ὄντα μ᾽ εὐθέως ἦγον εἰς τοὺς φράτερας, εἰς Ἀπόλλωνος πατρῴου ἦγον, εἰς τἄλλ᾽ ἱερά. καίτοι οὐ δήπου παῖς ὢν ἐγὼ ταῦτ᾽ ἔπειθον αὐτοὺς ἀργύριον διδούς. ἀλλὰ μὴν ὁ πατὴρ αὐτὸς ζῶν ὀμόσας τὸν νόμιμον τοῖς φράτερσιν ὅρκον εἰσήγαγέν με, ἀστὸν ἐξ ἀστῆς ἐγγυητῆς αὑτῷ γεγενημένον εἰδώς, καὶ ταῦτα μεμαρτύρηται.

  [54] And they are not doing this at this time because I have induced them to do so; on the contrary, when I was a child they at once took me to the clansmen, they took me to the temple of Apollo our ancestral god, and to the other sacred places. And yet I presume that as a child I did not induce these men to do this by giving them money. No; my father himself, while he still lived, swore the customary oath and introduced me to the clansmen, knowing that I was an Athenian, born of an Athenian mother, lawfully betrothed to himself; and these facts have been established by testimony.

  [55] εἶτ᾽ ἐγὼ ξένος; ποῦ μετοίκιον καταθείς; ἢ τίς τῶν ἐμῶν πώποτε; ποῦ πρὸς ἄλλους δημότας ἐλθών, καὶ οὐ δυνηθεὶς ἐκείνους πεῖσαι δεῦρ᾽ ἐμαυτὸν ἐνέγραψα; ποῦ τί ποιήσας ὧν ὅσοι μὴ καθαρῶς ἦσαν πολῖται πεποιηκότες φαίνονται; οὐδαμοῦ, ἀλλ᾽ ἁπλῶς, ἐν οἷς ὁ πάππος ὁ τοῦ πατρός, ὁ ἐμός, ὁ πατήρ, ἐνταῦθα καὶ αὐτὸς φαίνομαι δημοτευόμενος. καὶ νῦν πῶς ἄν τις ὑμῖν σαφέστερον ἐπιδείξειεν μετὸν τῆς πόλεως αὑτῷ;

  [55] Am I, then, an alien? Where have I paid the resident alien’s tax? Or what member of my family has ever paid it? Have I ever gone to the members of another deme and, because I could not induce them to accept me, got myself registered in this one? Have I done any of the things which all those who are not genuine citizens are proved to have done? Certainly not. No; in a word I manifestly have lived as a member of the deme among the same people among whom my father’s grandfather, my own grandfather, and my father himself lived. And now, how could anyone prove to you more convincingly than I have done that he is entitled to the rights of citizenship?

  [56] ἐνθυμείσθω γὰρ ἕκαστος ὑμῶν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τοὺς ἑαυτῷ προσήκοντας τίν᾽ ἄλλον ἂν δύναιτ᾽ ἐπιδεῖξαι τρόπον ἢ τὸν αὐτὸν ἐμοί, μαρτυροῦντας, ὀμνύοντας, πάλαι τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς ὄντας;

  διὰ ταῦτα τοίνυν ἐγὼ πιστεύων ἐμαυτῷ κατέφυγον εἰς ὑμᾶς. ὁρῶ γάρ, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, οὐ μόνον τῶν ἀποψηφισαμένων Ἁλιμουσίων ἐμοῦ κυριώτερ᾽ ὄντα τὰ δικαστήρια, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς βουλῆς καὶ τοῦ δήμου, δικαίως: κατὰ γὰρ πάνθ᾽ αἱ παρ᾽ ὑμῖν εἰσι κρίσεις δικαιόταται.

  [56] Let each one of you consider, men of Athens, in what other way he could prove that people are his kinsmen than in the way in which I have proved it — by having them give testimony under oath and showing that they have always been my kinsmen from the beginning.

  It is for these reasons that I have confidence in my case and have come to you for protection. For I see, men of Athens, that the decisions of your courts are more valid not only than those of the Halimusians who have expelled me, but more valid even than those of the senate and the popular assembly; and justly so; for in all respects the verdicts of your courts are most just.

  [57] ἐνθυμεῖσθε τοίνυν κἀκεῖνο, ὅσοι τῶν μεγάλων δήμων ἐστέ, ὡς οὐδέν᾽ ἀπεστερεῖτ᾽ οὔτε κατηγορίας οὔτ᾽ ἀπολογίας. καὶ πόλλ᾽ ἀγαθὰ γένοιτο πᾶσιν ὑμῖν τοῖς δικαίως τούτῳ τῷ πράγματι χρησαμένοις, ὅτι καὶ τῶν ἀναβαλέσθαι δεομένων οὐκ ἀφῄρησθε τὸ παρασκευάσασθαι: ᾧ καὶ τοὺς συκοφαντοῦντας καὶ δι᾽ ἔχθραν ἐπιβουλεύοντας ἐξηλέγχετε.

  [57] Reflect upon this also, all you who belong to the large demes, that you are not wont to deprive any man of his right of accusation and defence. And I invoke many blessings upon the heads of all of you who have dealt fairly with this matter, because you did not deprive of the opportunity to prepare their case those who asked for a delay. By taking this course you exposed the pettifoggers and those who were maliciously scheming against others.

  [58] καὶ ὑμᾶς μὲν ἄξιον ἐπαινεῖν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τοὺς δὲ καλῷ καὶ δικαίῳ πράγματι μὴ καλῶς χρησαμένους ψέγειν. ἐν οὐδενὶ τοίνυν εὑρήσετε τῶν δήμων δεινότερα γεγενημένα τῶν παρ᾽ ἡμῖν. οὗτοι γὰρ ἀδελφῶν ὁμομητρίων καὶ ὁμοπατρίων τῶν μέν εἰσιν ἀπεψηφισμένοι, τῶν δ᾽ οὔ, καὶ πρεσβυτέρων ἀνθρώπων ἀπόρων, ὧν τοὺς υἱεῖς ἐγκαταλελοίπασιν: καὶ τούτων ἂν βούλησθε, μάρτυρας παρέξομαι.

  [58] You are deserving of praise for this, men of Athens; but those are to be blamed who have misused a procedure that was both admirable and just. In no other of the demes will you find that more outrageous things have been done than in ours. Of brothers born of the same mother and the same father they have expelled some and retained others, and they have expelled elderly men of slender means, while they have left their sons on the list of demesmen;
and to prove these things I will call witnesses, if you wish.

  [59] ὃ δὲ πάντων δεινότατον οἱ συνεστηκότες πεποιήκασιν （καί μοι πρὸς Διὸς καὶ θεῶν μηδεὶς ὑπολάβῃ δυσκόλως, ἐὰν τοὺς ἠδικηκότας ἐμαυτὸν πονηροὺς ὄντας ἐπιδεικνύω: νομίζω γὰρ ὑμῖν τὴν τούτων πονηρίαν δεικνὺς εἰς αὐτὸ τὸ πρᾶγμα λέγειν τὸ γενόμενόν μοι）: οὗτοι γάρ, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, βουλομένους τινὰς ἀνθρώπους ξένους πολίτας γενέσθαι, Ἀναξιμένην καὶ Νικόστρατον, κοινῇ διανειμάμενοι πέντε δραχμὰς ἕκαστος προσεδέξαντο. καὶ ταῦτ᾽ οὐκ ἂν ἐξομόσαιτ᾽ Εὐβουλίδης οὐδ᾽ οἱ μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ μὴ οὐκ εἰδέναι. καὶ νῦν τούτων οὐκ ἀπεψηφίσαντο. τί οὖν οὐκ ἂν οἴεσθε τούτους ἰδίᾳ ποιῆσαι, οἳ κοινῇ ταῦτ᾽ ἐτόλμων;