ΑΘΗΝΑΙΩΝ ΤΗΙ ΒΟΥΛΗΙ ΚΑΙ ΤΩΙ ΔΗΜΩΙ
(To the Senate and People of Athens.)
Πολλῶν εἰργασμένων τοῖς προγόνοις ὑμῶν, ἐφ᾽ οἷς οὐκ ἐκείνοις μόνον τότε ἐξῆν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑμῖν νῦν ἔξεστι φιλοτιμεῖσθαι, καὶ πολλῶν ἐγηγερμένων τροπαίων ὑπέρ τε ἁπάσης τῆς Ἑλλάδος κοινῇ καὶ κατ᾽ ἰδίαν ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς τῆς πόλεως, ἐν οἷς ἠγωνίσατο μόνη πρός τε τοὺς ἄλλους Ἕλληνας καὶ πρὸς τὸν βάρβαρον, οὐδέν ἐστι τηλικοῦτον ἔργον οὐδὲ ἀνδραγαθία τοσαύτη, [B] πρὸς ἣν οὐκ ἔνεστι καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις ἁμιλληθῆναι πόλεσι. τὰ μὲν γὰρ μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν καὶ αὗται, τὰ δὲ κατ᾽ ἰδίαν εἰργάσαντο. καὶ ἵνα μὴ μεμνημένος ἔπειτα ἀντιπαραβάλλων ἢ προτιμᾶν ἑτέρας ἑτέραν ἐν οἷς διαμφισβητοῦσι νομισθείην ἢ πρὸς τὸ λυσιτελοῦν, ὥσπερ οἱ ῥήτορες, ἐνδεέστερον ἐπαινεῖν τὰς ἐλαττουμένας, τοῦτο ἐθέλω [C] φράσαι μόνον ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν, ᾧ μηδὲν ἀντίπαλον ἔχομεν ἐξευρεῖν παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις Ἕλλησιν, ἐκ τῆς παλαιᾶς φήμης εἰς ἡμᾶς παραδεδομένον. ἀρχόντων μὲν Λακεδαιμονίων οὐ βίᾳ τὴν ἀρχήν, ἀλλὰ δόξῃ δικαιοσύνης παρείλεσθε, [pg 244] καὶ τὸν Ἀριστείδην τὸν δίκαιον οἱ παρ᾽ ὑμῖν ἐθρέψαντο νόμοι. καίτοι γε ταῦτα οὕτως ὄντα λαμπρὰ τεκμήρια [269] διὰ λαμπροτέρων οἶμαι τῶν ἔργων ὅμως ἐπιστώσασθε. τὸ μὲν γὰρ δόξαι δίκαιον ἴσως ἂν τῷ καὶ ψευδῶς συμβαίη, καὶ τυχὸν οὐ παράδοξον ἐν πολλοῖς φαύλοις ἕνα γενέσθαι σπουδαῖον. ἢ γὰρ οὐχὶ καὶ παρὰ Μήδοις ὑμνεῖταί τις Δηιόκης Ἄβαρίς τε ἐν Ὑπερβορέοις καὶ Ἀνάχαρσις ἐν Σκύθαις; ὑπὲρ ὧν τοῦτο ἦν θαυμαστόν, ὅτι παρὰ τοῖς ἀδικωτάτοις γεγονότες ἔθνεσι τὴν δίκην ὅμως ἐτίμησαν, τὼ μὲν ἀληθῶς, [B] ὁ δὲ τῆς χρείας χάριν πλαττόμενος. δῆμον δὲ ὅλον καὶ πόλιν ἐραστὰς ἔργων καὶ λόγων δικαίων ἔξω τῆς παρ᾽ ὑμῖν οὐ ῥᾴδιον εὑρεῖν. βούλομαι δὲ ὑμᾶς ἑνὸς τῶν παρ᾽ ὑμῖν πολλῶν γε ὄντων ἔργων ὑπομνῆσαι. Θεμιστοκλέους γὰρ μετὰ τὰ Μηδικὰ γνώμην εἰσηγεῖσθαι διανοουμένου λάθρᾳ καταφλέξαι τὰ νεώρια τῶν Ἑλλήνων, [C] εἶτα μὴ τολμῶντος εἰς τὸν δῆμον λέγειν, ἑνὶ δὲ ὁμολογοῦντος πιστεύσειν τὸ ἀπόρρητον, ὅνπερ ἂν ὁ δῆμος χειροτονήσας προέληται, προυβάλετο μὲν ὁ δῆμος τὸν Ἀριστείδην· ὁ δὲ ἀκούσας τῆς γνώμης ἔκρυψε μὲν τὸ ῥηθέν, ἐξήνεγκε δὲ εἰς τὸν δῆμον, ὡς οὔτε λυσιτελέστερον οὔτε ἀδικώτερον εἴη τι τοῦ βουλεύματος· καὶ [pg 246] ἡ πόλις ἀπεψηφίσατο παραχρῆμα καὶ παρῃτήσατο, πάνυ γε νὴ Δία μεγαλοψύχως καὶ ὃν ἐχρῆν τρόπον ἄνδρας [D] ὑπὸ μάρτυρι τῇ φρονιμωτάτῃ θεῷ τρεφομένους.
(Many were the achievements of your forefathers of which you are still justly proud, even as they were of old; many were the trophies for victories raised by them, now for all Greece in common, now separately for Athens herself, in those days when she contended single-handed against all the rest of Greece as well as against the barbarian: but there was no achievement and no display of courage on your part so prodigious that other cities cannot in their turn rival it. For they too wrought some such deeds in alliance with you, and some on their own account. And that I may not by recalling these and then balancing them be thought either to pay more honour to one state than to another in the matters in which they are your rivals, or to praise less than they deserve those who proved inferior, in order to gain an advantage, after the manner of rhetoricians, I desire to bring forward on your behalf only this fact to which I can discover nothing that can be set against it on the part of the other Greek states, and which has been assigned to you by ancient tradition. When the Lacedaemonians were in power you took that power away from them not by violence but by your reputation for justice; and it was your laws that nurtured Aristides the Just. Moreover, brilliant as were these proofs of your virtue, you confirmed them by still more brilliant actions. For to be reputed just might perhaps happen to any individual even though it were not true; perhaps it would not be surprising that among many worthless citizens there should be found one virtuous man. For even among the Medes is not a certain Deioces[426] celebrated, and Abaris[427] too among the Hyperboreans, and Anacharsis[428] among the Scythians? And in their case the surprising thing was that, born as they were among nations who knew nothing of justice, they nevertheless prized justice, two of them sincerely, though the third only pretended to do so out of self-interest. But it would be hard to find a whole people and city enamoured of just deeds and just words except your own. And I wish to remind you of one out of very many such deeds done in your city. After the Persian war Themistocles[429] was planning to introduce a resolution to set fire secretly to the naval arsenals of the Greeks, and then did not dare to propose it to the assembly; but he agreed to confide the secret to any one man whom the people should elect by vote; and the people chose Aristides to represent them. But he when he heard the scheme did not reveal what he had been told, but reported to the people that there could be nothing more profitable or more dishonest than that advice. Whereupon the city at once voted against it and rejected it, very nobly, by Zeus, and as it behoved men to do who are nurtured under the eyes of the most wise goddess.[430])
Οὐκοῦν εἰ ταῦτα παρ᾽ ὑμῖν μὲν ἦν πάλαι, σώζεται δὲ ἐξ ἐκείνου καὶ εἰς ὑμᾶς ἔτι τῆς τῶν προγόνων ἀρετῆς ὥσπερ ἐμπύρευμά τι σμικρόν, εἰκός ἐστιν ὑμᾶς οὐκ εἰς τὸ μέγεθος τῶν πραττομένων ἀφορᾶν οὐδὲ εἴ τις ὥσπερ δι᾽ ἀέρος ἱπτάμενος διὰ τῆς γῆς ἐβάδισεν ἀμηχάνῳ τάχει καὶ ἀτρύτῳ ῥώμῃ, σκοπεῖν δὲ ὅτῳ ταῦτα μετὰ τοῦ δικαίου κατείργασται, [270] κᾆτα ἂν μὲν φαίνηται ξὺν δίκῃ πράττων, ἰδίᾳ τε αὐτὸν ἴσως καὶ δημοσίᾳ πάντες ἐπαινεῖτε, τῆς δίκης δὲ ὀλιγωρήσας ἀτιμάζοιτο ἂν παρ᾽ ὑμῶν εἰκότως. οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτως ἐστὶν ὡς τὸ δίκαιον ἀδελφὸν φρονήσει. τοὺς οὖν ἀτιμάζοντας τοῦτο δικαίως ἂν καὶ ὡς εἰς τὴν παρ᾽ ὑμῖν θεὸν ἀσεβοῦντας ἐξελαύνοιτε. βούλομαι οὖν ὑμῖν τὰ κατ᾽ ἐμαυτὸν οὐκ ἀγνοοῦσι μὲν ἀπαγγεῖλαι δὲ ὅμως, [B] ὅπως, εἴ τι λέληθεν· εἰκὸς δὲ ἔνια καὶ ὅσα μάλιστα τοῖς πᾶσι γνωσθῆναι προσήκει· ὑμῖν τε καὶ δι᾽ ὑμῶν τοῖς ἄλλοις Ἕλλησι γένοιτο γνώριμα. μηδεὶς οὖν ὑπολάβῃ με ληρεῖν ἢ φλυαρεῖν, εἰ περὶ τῶν πᾶσιν ὥσπερ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς γεγονότων οὐ πάλαι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ μικρῷ πρότερον, ποιεῖσθαί τινας ἐπιχειρήσαιμι λόγους· οὐδένα γὰρ οὐδὲν ἀγνοεῖν βούλομαι τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ, λανθάνειν δὲ ἄλλον ἄλλα εἰκός· [pg 248] [C] ἄρξομαι δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν προγόνων πρῶτον τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ.
(Then if this was your conduct of old, and from that day to this there is kept alive some small spark as it were of the virtue of your ancestors, it is natural that you should pay attention not to the magnitude merely of any performance, nor whether a man has travelled over the earth with incredible speed and unwearied energy as though he had flown through the air; but that you should rather consider whether one has accomplished this feat by just means, and then if he seems to act with justice, you will perhaps all praise him both in public and private; but if he have slighted justice he will naturally be scorned by you. For there is nothing so closely akin to wisdom as justice. Therefore those who slight her you will justly expel as showing impiety towards the goddess who dwells among you. For this reason I wish to report my conduct to you, though indeed you know it well, in order that if there is anything you do not know—and it is likely that some things you do not, and those in fact which it is most important for all men to be aware of—it may become known to you and through you to the rest of the Greeks. Therefore let no one think that I am trifling and wasting words if I try to give some account of things that have happened as it were before the eyes of all men, not only long ago but also just lately. For I wish none to be ignorant of anything that concerns me, and naturally everyone cannot know every circumstance. First I will begin with my ancestors.)
Καὶ ὅτι μὲν τὰ πρὸς πατρὸς ἡμῖν ἐντεῦθεν ὅθενπερ καὶ Κωνσταντίῳ τὰ πρὸς πατρὸς ὥρμηται, φανερόν. τὼ γὰρ ἡμετέρω πατέρε γεγόνατον ἀδελφὼ πατρόθεν. οὕτω δὲ πλησίον ἡμᾶς ὄντας συγγενεῖς ὁ φιλανθρωπότατος οὗτος βασιλεὺς οἷα εἰργάσατο, ἓξ μὲν ἀνεψιοὺς ἐμοῦ τε καὶ ἑαυτοῦ, πατέρα δὲ τὸν ἐμόν,[431] ἑαυτοῦ δὲ θεῖον, [D] καὶ προσέτι κοινὸν ἕτερον τὸν πρὸς πατρὸς θεῖον ἀδελφόν τε ἐμὸν τὸν πρεσβύτατον ἀκρίτους κτεῖνας, ἐμὲ δὲ καὶ ἕτερον ἀδελφὸν ἐμὸν ἐθελήσας μὲν κτεῖναι, τέλος δὲ ἐπιβαλὼν φυγήν, ἀφ᾽ ἧς ἐμὲ μὲν ἀφῆκεν, ἐκεῖνον δὲ ὀλίγῳ πρότερον τῆς σφαγῆς ἐξέδυσε[432] τὸ τοῦ Καίσαρος ὄνομα, τί με δεῖ νῦν ὥσπερ ἐκ τραγῳδίας τὰ ἄρρητα ἀναμετρεῖσθαι; μετεμέλησε γὰρ αὐτῷ, φασί, καὶ ἐδήχθη δεινῶς, [271] ἀπαιδίαν τε ἐντεῦθεν νομίζει δυστυχεῖν, τά τε ἐς τοὺς πολεμίους τοὺς Πέρσας οὐκ εὐτυχῶς πράττειν ἐκ τούτων ὑπολαμβάνει. ταῦτα ἐθρύλουν οἱ περὶ τὴν αὐλὴν τότε καὶ τὸν μακαρίτην ἀδελφὸν ἐμὸν Γάλλον, τοῦτο νῦν πρῶτον ἀκούοντα τὸ ὄνομα· κτείνας γὰρ αὐτὸν παρὰ τοὺς νόμους οὐδὲ τῶν πατρῴων μεταλαχεῖν εἴασε τάφων οὐδὲ τῆς εὐαγοῦς ἠξίωσε μνήμης.
(That on the father's side I am descended from the same stock as Constantius on his father's side is well known. Our fathers were brothers, sons of the same father. And close kinsmen as we were, how this most humane Emperor treated us! Six of my cousins and his, and my father who was his own uncle and also another uncle of both of us on the father's side, and my eldest brother, he put to death without a trial; and as for me and my other brother,[433] he intended to put us to death but finally inflicted exile upon us; and from that exile he released me, but him he stripped of the title of Caesar just before he murdered him. But why should I “recount,” as though from some tragedy, “all these unspeakable horrors?”[434] For he has repented, I am told, and is stung by remorse; and he thinks that his unhappy state of childlessness is due to those deeds, and his ill success in the Persian war he also ascribes to that cause. This at least was the gossip of the court at the time and of those who were about the person of my brother Gallus of blessed memory, who is now for the first time so styled. For after putting him to death in defiance of the laws he neither suffered him to share the tombs of his ancestors nor granted him a pious memory.)
Ὅπερ οὖν ἔφην, [B] ἔλεγον τοσαῦτα καὶ δὴ καὶ ἔπειθον ἡμᾶς,[435] ὅτι τὰ μὲν ἀπατηθεὶς εἰργάσατο, τὰ δὲ βίᾳ καὶ ταραχαῖς εἴξας ἀτάκτου καὶ [pg 250] ταραχώδους στρατεύματος. τοσαῦτα ἡμῖν ἐπῇδον ἐν ἀγρῷ τινι τῶν ἐν Καππαδοκίᾳ κατακεκλεισμένοις, οὐδένα ἐῶντες προσελθεῖν, τὸν μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐν Τράλλεσι[436] φυγῆς ἀνακαλεσάμενοι, ἐμὲ δὲ κομιδῇ μειράκιον ἔτι τῶν διδασκαλείων ἀπαγαγόντες. πῶς [C] ἂν ἐνταῦθα φράσαιμι περὶ τῶν ἓξ ἐνιαυτῶν, οὓς ἐν ἀλλοτρίῳ κτήματι διάγοντες,[437] ὥσπερ οἱ παρὰ τοῖς Πέρσαις ἐν τοῖς φρουρίοις τηρούμενοι, μηδενὸς ἡμῖν προσιόντος ξένου μηδὲ τῶν πάλαι γνωρίμων ἐπιτρεπομένου τινὸς ὡς ἡμᾶς φοιτᾶν, διεζῶμεν ἀποκεκλεισμένοι παντὸς μὲν μαθήματος σπουδαίου, πάσης δὲ ἐλευθέρας ἐντεύξεως, ἐν ταῖς λαμπραῖς οἰκετείαις τρεφόμενοι [D] καὶ τοῖς ἡμῶν αὐτῶν δούλοις ὥσπερ ἑταίροις συγγυμναζόμενοι; προσῄει γὰρ οὐδεὶς οὐδὲ ἐπετρέπετο τῶν ἡλικιωτῶν.
(As I said, they kept telling us and tried to convince us that Constantius had acted thus, partly because he was deceived, and partly because he yielded to the violence and tumult of an undisciplined and mutinous army. This was the strain they kept up to soothe us when we had been imprisoned in a certain farm[438] in Cappadocia; and they allowed no one to come near us after they had summoned him from exile in Tralles and had dragged me from the schools, though I was still a mere boy. How shall I describe the six years we spent there? For we lived as though on the estate of a stranger, and were watched as though we were in some Persian garrison, since no stranger came to see us and not one of our old friends was allowed to visit us; so that we lived shut off from every liberal study and from all free intercourse, in a glittering servitude, and sharing the exercises of our own slaves though they were comrades. For no companion of our own age ever came near us or was allowed to do so.)