Rodolphe Dareste.
(3) Für das Erste, Ihr Männer Athens, flehe ich alle Götter und Göttinnen an, dass so viel Wohlwollen, als ich jederzeit der Stadt und Euch allen bewiesen, mir in gleichem Maasse von Euch für den gegenwärtigen Handel zu Theil werde; dann, dass die Götter Euch das in den Sinn geben, was Euch und Euerm Gewissen und Ansehn am meisten ziemt: nicht von dem Gegner Rath zu nehmen, wie Ihr mich anhören sollt — denn arg wäre das — sondern von den Gesetzen und dem Eide, in welchem, ausser allen andern Rechten, auch diess verordnet ist: beiden Parteien auf gleiche Weise Gehör zu geben. Diess heisst aber nicht bloss, keine Meinung vorher zu fassen; auch nicht, beiden gleiches Wohlwollen zu schenken; sondern ebenfalls, Jedem der Streitenden diejenige Anordnung und Vertheidigungsart zu gestatten, die er gut gefunden und gewählt hat.
Friedrich Jacobs.
(4) I begin, men of Athens, by praying to every God and Goddess, that the same goodwill, which I have ever cherished towards the commonwealth and all of you, may be requited to me on the present trial. I pray likewise — and this specially concerns yourselves, your religion, and your honour — that the Gods may put it in your minds, not to take counsel of my opponent touching the manner in which I am to be heard — that would indeed be cruel! — but of the laws and of your oath; wherein (besides the other obligations) it is prescribed that you shall hear both sides alike. This means, not only that you must pass no pre-condemnation, not only that you must extend your goodwill equally to both, but also that you must allow the parties to adopt such order and course of defence as they severally choose and prefer.
C. R. Kennedy.
III. Conclusion of Demosthenes’ Speech on the Crown
(1) Μὴ δῆτ’, ὦ πάντες θεοί, μηδεὶς ταῦθ’ ὑμῶν ἐπινεύσειεν, ἀλλὰ μάλιστα μὲν καὶ τούτοις βελτίω τινὰ νοῦν καὶ φρένας ἐνθείητε, εἰ δ’ ἄρ’ ἔχουσιν ἀνιάτως, τούτους μὲν αὐτοὺς καθ’ ἑαυτοὺς ἐξώλεις καὶ προώλεις ἐν γῇ καὶ θαλάττῃ ποιήσατε, ἡμῖν δὲ τοῖς λοιποῖς τὴν ταχίστην ἀπαλλαγὴν τῶν ἐπηρτημένων φόβων δότε καὶ σωτηρίαν ἀσφαλῆ.
(2) Dieux puissants! n’écoutez pas ces vœux impies! inspirez plutôt à ces hommes un autre esprit et des pensées meilleures! Ou, si leur méchanceté est incurable, frappez-les, exterminez-les sur terre et sur mer. Pour nous, délivrez-nous au plus tôt des dangers qui nous menacent, sauvez-nous, protégez-nous à jamais!
R. Dareste.
(3) Möchte doch, o all’ Ihr Götter! keiner von Euch dieses billigen, sondern Ihr vor allen Dingen auch diesen hier einen bessern Sinn und besseres Gemüth verleihen; wenn sie aber unheilbar sind, sie allein für sich dem Verderben überliefern, uns, den Übrigen, aber die schnellste Befreiung von den obschwebenden Besorgnissen und unerschütterte Wohlfahrt gewähren.
F. Jacobs.
(4) Never, Powers of Heaven, may any brow of the Immortals be bent in approval of that prayer! Rather, if it may be, breathe even into these men a better mind and heart; but if so it is that to these can come no healing, then grant that these, and these alone, may perish utterly and early on land and on the deep: and to us, the remnant, send the swiftest deliverance from the terrors gathered above our heads, send us the salvation that stands fast perpetually.
R. C. Jebb.
(5) Never, ye gods, vouchsafe assent to such a prayer! Rather, if it may be, inspire even these men with a better mind and heart; but, if they are indeed past healing, bring them, and them alone, to swift and utter ruin by land and sea; and to us who yet remain grant the speediest release from the terrors that hang over us; grant us a sure salvation!
S. H. Butcher.
IV. Narrative Passage from Demosthenes’ Speech on the Crown
(§§ 169, 170)
(1) Ἑσπέρα μὲν γὰρ ἦν, ἧκε δ’ ἀγγέλλων τις ὡς τοὺς πρυτάνεις ὡς Ἐλάτεια κατείληπται. καὶ μετὰ ταῦθ’ οἱ μὲν εὐθὺς ἐξαναστάντες μεταξὺ δειπνοῦντες τοὺς τ’ ἐκ τῶν σκηνῶν τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἀγορὰν ἐξεῖργον καὶ τὰ γέρρ’ ἐνεπίμπρασαν, οἱ δὲ τοὺς στρατηγοὺς μετεπέμποντο καὶ τὸν σαλπιγκτὴν ἐκάλουν· καὶ θορύβου πλήρης ἦν ἡ πόλις. τῇ δ’ ὑστεραίᾳ, ἅμα τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, οἱ μὲν πρυτάνεις τὴν βουλὴν ἐκάλουν εἰς τὸ βουλευτήριον, ὑμεῖς δ’ εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἐπορεύεσθε, καὶ πρὶν ἐκείνην χρηματίσαι καὶ προβουλεῦσαι πᾶς ὁ δῆμος ἄνω κάθητο. καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ὡς ἦλθεν ἡ βουλὴ καὶ ἀπήγγειλαν οἱ πρυτάνεις τὰ προσηγγελμέν’ ἑαυτοῖς καὶ τὸν ἥκοντα παρήγαγον κἀκεῖνος εἶπεν, ἠρώτα μὲν ὁ κῆρυξ “τίς ἀγορεύειν βούλεται;” παρῄει δ’ οὐδείς. πολλάκις δὲ τοῦ κήρυκος ἐρωτῶντος οὐδὲν μᾶλλον ἀνίστατ’ οὐδείς, ἁπάντων μὲν τῶν στρατηγῶν παρόντων, ἁπάντων δὲ τῶν ῥητόρων, καλούσης δὲ τῆς κοινῆς τῆς πατρίδος φωνῆς τὸν ἐροῦνθ’ ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας· ἣν γὰρ ὁ κῆρυξ κατὰ τοὺς νόμους φωνὴν ἀφίησι, ταύτην κοινὴν τῆς πατρίδος δίκαιον ἡγεῖσθαι.
(2) C’était le soir. Arrive un homme qui annonce aux prytanes que l’Élatée est prise. Aussitôt les uns se lèvent de table, chassent les marchands de la place publique et brûlent leurs tentes; les autres mandent les stratéges, appellent le trompette; ce n’est que trouble dans toute la ville. Le lendemain, au point du jour, les prytanes convoquent le conseil. Vous, de votre côté, vous vous rendez à l’assemblée, et avant que le conseil eût rien agité, rien résolu, tout le peuple était rangé à ses places sur la colline. Bientôt après, les membres du conseil arrivent; les prytanes déclarent la nouvelle, et font paraître celui qui l’a apportée; cet homme parle lui-même. Le héraut demande: ‘Qui veut monter à la tribune?’ Personne ne se lève. Il recommence plusieurs fois. Personne encore. Et tous les stratéges, tous les orateurs étaient présents; et la patrie, de cette voix qui est la voix de tous, appelait un citoyen qui parlât pour la sauver; car la voix du héraut qui se fait entendre, quand les lois l’ordonnent, c’est la voix de la patrie.
R. Dareste.
(3) Es war Abend. Da kam Einer mit der Meldung zu den Prytanen, dass Elateia eingenommen sey. Hierauf standen diese sogleich von der Mahlzeit auf, trieben die Leute aus den Buden auf dem Markte fort, und steckten das Holzwerk davon in Brand; andere schickten nach den Strategen, und riefen den Trompeter herbei. Die Stadt war in grösster Bewegung. Am folgenden Morgen, bei Tages Anbruch, riefen die Prytanen den Senat auf das Stadthaus, Ihr aber begabt Euch in die Versammlung, und ehe der Senat noch sein Geschäft vollbracht und einen vorläufigen Beschluss gefasst hatte, sass das ganze Volk schon oben. Und als hierauf der Senat eintrat, und die Prytanen das, was ihnen gemeldet worden war, öffentlich bekannt machten, und den Überbringer der Nachricht vorführten, und auch dieser gesprochen hatte, fragte der Herold: Wer will sprechen? Niemand aber meldete sich. Wiewohl nun der Herold seine Frage oft wiederholte, trat darum, doch Keiner auf, obgleich alle Strategen gegenwärtig waren, und alle Redner und das Vaterland mit gemeinsamer Stimme einen Sprecher für seine Rettung aufrief; denn die Stimme, die der Herold dem Gesetze gemäss ertönen lässt, kann mit allem Rechte für die Stimme des gesammten Vaterlandes gehalten werden.
F. Jacobs.
(4) It was evening when a courier came to the presidents of the assembly with the news that Elateia had been seized. The
presidents instantly rose from table — they were supping at the moment: some of them hastened to clear the market-place of the shopmen, and to burn the wickerwork of the booths: others, to send for the generals and order the sounding of the call to the Assembly. The city was in a tumult. At dawn next day the presidents convoked the Senate, you hurried to the Ekklesia, and before the Senate could go through its forms or could report, the whole people were in assembly on the hill. Then, when the Senate had come in, when the presidents had reported the news that they had received, and had introduced the messenger, who told his tale, the herald repeatedly asked, Who wishes to speak? But no one came forward. Again and again he put the question — in vain. No one would rise, though all the generals, though all the public speakers were present, though our Country was crying aloud, with the voice that comes home to all, for a champion of the commonwealth — if in the solemn invitation given by the herald we may truly deem that we hear our Country’s summons.
R. C. Jebb.
APPENDIX C. GREEK PRONUNCIATION: SCHEME OF THE CLASSICAL ASSOCIATION
In October 1908 the Classical Association adopted a number of recommendations made by its Greek Pronunciation Committee, and has since published them for the use of teachers and others. They are put forward “not as constituting a complete scientific scheme, but as approximations which, for teaching purposes, may be regarded as practicable, and at the same time as a great advance on the present usage, both for clearness in teaching and for actual likeness to the ancient sounds.” The period (the early fourth century B.C.) to which they are intended mainly to apply is one whose literature Dionysius studied rather than that in which he lived (cp. pages 43-46 above). But his scattered hints are of great moment in the whole inquiry; and if they are read with care and with reference to their bearing, not only on disputed points, but on points which (largely through the evidence they furnish) are undisputed, it will be seen how much we owe to them when making any attempt to reconstruct the pronunciation of the classical period. The principal passages of Dionysius’ text which throw light upon the question of Greek pronunciation and accentuation will be found on pages 126-130, 136-150, 218-224, 230 above. The following are the suggestions made by the Classical Association: —
Vowels
ᾱ and α, ῑ and ι, ε and ο, η and ω may be pronounced as the corresponding vowels in Latin, i.e.
ᾱ, as a in father,
α, as a in aha.
ῑ, as ee in feed.
ι, as i in Fr. piquet, nearly as Eng. i in fit.
ε, as e in fret.
ο, as o in not.
η (long e), as e in Lat. mēta, Eng. a in mate.
ω (long o), as o in Lat. Rōma, Eng. home.
The pronunciation recommended for η and ω is dictated by practical considerations. But in any school where the pupils have been accustomed to distinguish the sounds of French è and é, the Committee feels that the open sound (of è in il mène), which is historically correct for η, may well be adopted. In the same way there is no doubt that the pronunciation of ω in the fifth century B.C. was the open sound of oa in Eng. broad, not that of the ordinary English ō. But since the precise degree of openness varied at different epochs, the Committee, though preferring the open pronunciation, sees no sufficient reason for excluding the obviously convenient practice of sounding ω just as Latin ō. For both Greek and Latin the diphthongal character of the English vowels in mate and home, i.e. the slight ĭ sound in mate and the slight ŭ sound in home, own, is incorrect. But the discrepancy is not one which any but fairly advanced students need be asked to notice, unless indeed they happen to be already familiar with the pure vowel sounds of modern Welsh or Italian.
υ as French ŭ in du pain.
ῡ as French ū in rue or Germ. ü in grün.
In recommending this sound for the Greek υ, the Committee is partly guided by the fact that its correct production is now widely and successfully taught in English schools in early stages of instruction in French and German. But in any school where the sound is strange to the pupils at the stage at which Greek is begun, if it is felt that the effort to acquire the sound would involve a serious hindrance to progress, the Committee can only suggest that, for the time, the υ should be pronounced as Latin u (short as oo in Eng. took, long as oo in Eng. loose), though this obscures the distinction between words like λύω and λούω.
Diphthongs
αι = α + ι nearly as ai in Isaiah (broadly pronounced), Fr. émail.
οι = ο + ι as Eng. oi in oil.
υι = υ + ι as Fr. ui in lui.
In ᾳ, ῃ, ῳ the first vowel was long, and the second only faintly heard.
ει. The precise sound of ει is difficult to determine, but in Attic Greek it was never confused with η till a late period, and to maintain the distinction clearly it is perhaps best for English students to pronounce it as Eng. eye, though in fact it must have been nearer to Fr. ée in passée, Eng. ey in grey. The Greek Ἀλφειός is Latin Alphēus.
αυ = au, as Germ. au in Haus, nearly as Eng. ow in gown.
ευ = eu, nearly as Eng. ew in few, u in tune.
ου as Eng. oo in moon, Fr. ou in roue.
Consonants
π, β, τ, δ, κ, and γ as p, b, t, d, k, and g respectively in Latin; except that γ (before γ, κ, and χ) is used to denote the nasal sound heard in Eng. ankle, anger.
ρ, λ, μ, ν as Lat. r, l, m, n.
σ, ς always as Lat. s (Eng. s in mouse), except before β, γ and μ, where the sound was as in Eng. has been, has gone, has made: e.g. ἄσβεστος, φάσγανον, ἑσμός.
ξ as Eng. x in wax, and ψ as Eng. ps in lapse.
ζ as Eng. dz in adze, ds in treads on.
Aspirates
The Committee has carefully considered the pronunciation of the aspirated consonants in Greek. It is certain that the primitive pronunciation of χ, θ, φ was as k.h, t.h, p.h, that is as k, t, p followed by a strong breath, and the Committee is not prepared to deny that this pronunciation lasted down into the classical period. Further, there is no doubt that the adoption of this pronunciation makes much in Greek accidence that is otherwise obscure perfectly comprehensible. If φαίνω be pronounced πhαίνω, it is readily understood why the reduplicated perfect is πεπhηνα; but if it be pronounced fαινω, the perfect, pronounced πεfηνα, is anomalous. The relation of ἀφίστημι and the like to ἵστημι, of φροῦδος to ὁδός, of θρίξ to τρίχα becomes intelligible when it is seen that θ, φ, and χ contain a real h-sound. This advantage seems to be one of the reasons why it has been adopted in practice by a certain number of English teachers.
In the course of time the pronunciation of the aspirates changed by degrees to that of fricatives, which is now current in most districts of Greece, φ becoming f, θ pronounced as th, in English thin, and χ acquiring the sound of the German ch.
If the later sounds are accepted, no change in the common pronunciation of θ and φ in England will be required, but it will remain desirable to distinguish between the sounds of κ and χ, which are at present confused: ἄκος and ἄχος, καίνω and χαίνω being now pronounced alike. This may be done by giving χ the sound of kh, or of German ch, as in auch. The Committee would, on the whole, recommend the latter alternative as being more familiar in German, Scotch, and Irish place-names.
The Committee, though loath to do anything to discourage the primitive pronunciation of the aspirates, has not been able to satisfy itself that it would be easy to introduce this pronunciation into schools to which it is strange; and it is of opinion that it is not advisable to recommend anything at present that might increase the labour of the teacher or the student of Greek. It therefore abstains from recommending any change in the common pronunciation of the aspirates except in the case of χ.
Accentuation
There is no doubt that in the Classical period of Greek the accented syllables were marked by a higher pitch or note than the un
accented, and not by more stress, not, that is, with a stronger current of breath and more muscular effort. Therefore, unless the student is capable of giving a musical value to the Greek signs of accent, it is doubtful whether he should attempt to represent them in pronunciation; for in many cases we should make our pronunciation more, not less remote from that of the Greeks themselves if we gave to their accented syllables the same stress as we do to the accented syllables in English; for example, in paroxytone dactyls (κεχρημένος) when the penult is stressed, the quantity of the long antepenult is apt to be shortened and its metrical value destroyed. But where there is no conflict between accent and quantity (ἀγαθός), something may be said for stressing moderately the accented syllable, and so distinguishing e.g. καλῶς and κάλως, Διός and δῖος, ταὐτά and ταῦτα.
THE THREE LITERARY LETTERS
Translated by W. Rhys Roberts
CONTENTS
EPISTULA AD AMMAEUM I
EPISTULA AD CN. POMPEIUM GEMINUM.
EPISTULA AD AMMAEUM II
EPISTULA AD AMMAEUM I
DIONYSIUS TO HIS FRIEND AMMAEUS
WITH CORDIAL GREETINGS.
I
Our age has produced many strange paradoxes; and among them I was inclined to class the following proposition when I first heard it from yourself. You said that a certain Peripatetic philosopher, in his desire to do all homage to Aristotle the founder of his school, undertook to demonstrate that it was from him that Demosthenes learnt the rules of rhetoric which he applied in his own speeches, and that it was through conformity to the Aristotelian precepts that he became the foremost of all orators. Now my first impression was that this bold disputant was a person of no consequence, and I advised you not to pay heed to every chance paradox. But when on hearing his name I found him to be a man whom I respect on account of his high personal qualities and his literary merits, I did not know what to think; and after careful reflection I felt that the matter needed a more attentive inquiry. It was possible that I had failed to discern the truth and that he had not spoken at random. I wished, therefore, either to relinquish my previous opinion if convinced that the Rhetoric of Aristotle preceded the speeches of Demosthenes, or to induce the person who has adopted this view, and is prepared to put it in writing, to change it before giving his treatise to the world.
Delphi Complete Works of Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 79) Page 144