Crambe Repetita

This is part 2 of 3. Part 1 is here. Part 3 is here.

Ἐξιοῦσι δ’ ἐμοὶ καὶ Πείσωνι ἐπιτυγχάνει Μηλόβιός τε καὶ Μνησιθείδης ἐκ τοῦ ἐργαστηρίου ἀπιόντες, καὶ καταλαμβάνουσι πρὸς αὐταῖς ταῖς θύραις, καὶ ἐρωτῶσιν ὅποι βαδίζοιμεν· ὁ δ’ ἔφασκεν εἰς τὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ τοῦ ἐμοῦ, ἵνα καὶ τὰ ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ οἰκίᾳ σκέψηται. ἐκεῖνον μὲν οὖν ἐκέλευον βαδίζειν, ἐμὲ δὲ μεθ’ αὑτῶν ἀκολουθεῖν εἰς Δαμνίππου. Πείσων δὲ προσελθὼν σιγᾶν μοι παρεκελεύετο καὶ θαρρεῖν, ὡς ἥξων ἐκεῖσε. καταλαμβάνομεν δὲ αὐτόθι Θέογνιν ἑτέρους φυλάττοντα· ᾧ παραδόντες ἐμὲ πάλιν ᾤχοντο. ἐν τοιούτῳ δ᾽ ὄντι μοι κινδυνεύειν ἐδόκει, ὡς τοῦ γε ἀποθανεῖν ὑπάρχοντος ἤδη. καλέσας δὲ Δάμνιππον λέγω πρὸς αὐτὸν τάδε, “ἐπιτήδειος μέν μοι τυγχάνεις ὤν, ἥκω δ᾽ εἰς τὴν σὴν οἰκίαν, ἀδικῶ δ’ οὐδέν, χρημάτων δ᾽ ἕνεκα ἀπόλλυμαι. σὺ οὖν ταῦτα πάσχοντί μοι πρόθυμον παράσχου τὴν σεαυτοῦ δύναμιν εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν σωτηρίαν.” ὁ δ᾽ ὑπέσχετο ταῦτα ποιήσειν. ἐδόκει δ᾽ αὐτῷ βέλτιον εἶναι πρὸς Θέογνιν μνησθῆναι· ἡγεῖτο γὰρ ἅπαν ποιήσειν αὐτόν, εἴ τις ἀργύριον διδοίη. ἐκείνου δὲ διαλεγομένου Θεόγνιδι (ἔμπειρος γὰρ ὢν ἐτύγχανον τῆς οἰκίας, καὶ ᾔδειν ὅτι ἀμφίθυρος εἴη) ἐδόκει μοι ταύτῃ πειρᾶσθαι σωθῆναι, ἐνθυμουμένῳ ὅτι, ἐὰν μὲν λάθω, σωθήσομαι, ἐὰν δὲ ληφθῶ, ἡγούμην μέν, εἰ Θέογνις εἴη πεπεισμένος ὑπὸ τοῦ Δαμνίππου χρήματα λαβεῖν, οὐδὲν ἧττον ἀφεθήσεσθαι, εἰ δὲ μή, ὁμοίως ἀποθανεῖσθαι. ταῦτα διανοηθεὶς ἔφευγον, ἐκείνων ἐπὶ τῇ αὐλείῳ θύρᾳ τὴν φυλακὴν ποιουμένων· τριῶν δὲ θυρῶν οὐσῶν, ἃς ἔδει με διελθεῖν, ἅπασαι ἀνεῳγμέναι ἔτυχον. ἀφικόμενος δὲ εἰς Ἀρχένεω τοῦ ναυκλήρου ἐκεῖνον πέμπω εἰς ἄστυ, πευσόμενον περὶ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ· ἥκων δὲ ἔλεγεν ὅτι Ἐρατοσθένης αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ λαβὼν εἰς τὸ δεσμωτήριον ἀπαγάγοι. καὶ ἐγὼ τοιαῦτα πεπυσμένος τῆς ἐπιούσης νυκτὸς διέπλευσα Μέγαράδε. Πολεμάρχῳ δὲ παρήγγειλαν οἱ τριάκοντα τοὐπ’ ἐκείνων εἰθισμένον παράγγελμα, πίνειν κώνειον, πρὶν τὴν αἰτίαν εἰπεῖν δι’ ἥντινα ἔμελλεν ἀποθανεῖσθαι· οὕτω πολλοῦ ἐδέησε κριθῆναι καὶ ἀπολογήσασθαι. καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἀπεφέρετο ἐκ τοῦ δεσμωτηρίου τεθνεώς, τριῶν ἡμῖν οἰκιῶν οὐσῶν ἐξ οὐδεμιᾶς εἴασαν ἐξενεχθῆναι, ἀλλὰ κλεισίον μισθωσάμενοι προὔθεντο αὐτόν. καὶ πολλῶν ὄντων ἱματίων αἰτοῦσιν οὐδὲν ἔδοσαν εἰς τὴν ταφήν, ἀλλὰ τῶν φίλων ὁ μὲν ἱμάτιον ὁ δὲ προσκεφάλαιον ὁ δὲ ὅ τι ἕκαστος ἔτυχεν ἔδωκεν εἰς τὴν ἐκείνου ταφήν.
(Lysias, Or. 12.12-18)

As we were leaving the house, Peison and I ran into Melobius and Mnesitheides coming out of the slave workshop. They met us just at the doors of the house and asked where we were going. Peison said to my brother’s, to examine the contents of that house as well. They told him to carry on but ordered me to accompany them to Damnippus’ house. Peison came near me, and told me to stay quiet and keep my spirits up, because he would join us there. At Damnippus’, we found Theognis keeping guard over various others. They handed me over to him and left. It seemed to me that the situation was so dangerous that death was already staring me in the face. So I called Damnippus and said, “You are a close friend of mine, and I am in your house. I have done nothing wrong but am being killed for my wealth. Please help me in my suffering, and use your power to rescue me.” He promised me to do this, but he felt that it would be best to have a word with Theognis, who he thought would do anything for money. While he was talking to Theognis—as it happened, I was familiar with the house and knew it had two doors—I decided to try and save myself. I reckoned that if I was unnoticed I would be safe, and if I got caught, nothing worse would happen to me if Theognis had yielded to Damnippus’ persuasion to accept money, whereas otherwise I would die anyway. With this in mind, I began my escape while the others were engaged in guarding the outer door; the three doors I had to get through all happened to be open. I went to the house of Archeneus the shipowner and sent him to the town to find out about my brother. He came back an told me that Eratosthenes had caught him in the street and dragged him off to prison. After hearing this, I sailed the following night to Megara. As for Polemarchus, the Thirty sent him their customary instruction to drink hemlock, without telling him why he was to die. He did not even get a hearing and a chance to defend himself. His body was brought back from the prison, but they would not allow us to conduct the funeral from any of our three houses. Instead, we had to hire a shed in which to lay him out. We owned plenty of cloaks, but when we asked, they would not give us a single one for the burial. Instead, one of our friends gave us the cloak for the burial, another the pillow, and others what each one happened to have. (tr. Stephen C. Todd)

This is part 1 of 3. Part 2 is here. Part 3 is here.

Οὑμὸς πατὴρ Κέφαλος ἐπείσθη μὲν ὑπὸ Περικλέους εἰς ταύτην τὴν γῆν ἀφικέσθαι, ἔτη δὲ τριάκοντα ᾤκησε, καὶ οὐδενὶ πώποτε οὔτε ἡμεῖς οὔτε ἐκεῖνος δίκην οὔτε ἐδικασάμεθα οὔτε ἐφύγομεν, ἀλλ’ οὕτως ᾠκοῦμεν δημοκρατούμενοι ὥστε μήτε εἰς τοὺς ἄλλους ἐξαμαρτάνειν μήτε ὑπὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἀδικεῖσθαι. ἐπειδὴ δ’ οἱ τριάκοντα πονηροὶ καὶ συκοφάνται ὄντες εἰς τὴν ἀρχὴν κατέστησαν, φάσκοντες χρῆναι τῶν ἀδίκων καθαρὰν ποιῆσαι τὴν πόλιν καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς πολίτας ἐπ’ ἀρετὴν καὶ δικαιοσύνην τραπέσθαι, τοιαῦτα λέγοντες οὐ τοιαῦτα ποιεῖν ἐτόλμων, ὡς ἐγὼ περὶ τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ πρῶτον εἰπὼν καὶ περὶ τῶν ὑμετέρων ἀναμνῆσαι πειράσομαι. Θέογνις γὰρ καὶ Πείσων ἔλεγον ἐν τοῖς τριάκοντα περὶ τῶν μετοίκων, ὡς εἶέν τινες τῇ πολιτείᾳ ἀχθόμενοι· καλλίστην οὖν εἶναι πρόφασιν τιμωρεῖσθαι μὲν δοκεῖν, τῷ δ’ ἔργῳ χρηματίζεσθαι· πάντως δὲ τὴν μὲν πόλιν πένεσθαι τὴν ἀρχὴν ‹δὲ› δεῖσθαι χρημάτων. καὶ τοὺς ἀκούοντας οὐ χαλεπῶς ἔπειθον· ἀποκτιννύναι μὲν γὰρ ἀνθρώπους περὶ οὐδενὸς ἡγοῦντο, λαμβάνειν δὲ χρήματα περὶ πολλοῦ ἐποιοῦντο. ἔδοξεν οὖν αὐτοῖς δέκα συλλαβεῖν, τούτων δὲ δύο πένητας, ἵνα αὐτοῖς ᾖ πρὸς τοὺς ἄλλους ἀπολογία, ὡς οὐ χρημάτων ἕνεκα ταῦτα πέπρακται, ἀλλὰ συμφέροντα τῇ πολιτείᾳ γεγένηται, ὥσπερ τι τῶν ἄλλων εὐλόγως πεποιηκότες. διαλαβόντες δὲ τὰς οἰκίας ἐβάδιζον· καὶ ἐμὲ μὲν ξένους ἑστιῶντα κατέλαβον, οὓς ἐξελάσαντες Πείσωνί με παραδιδόασιν· οἱ δὲ ἄλλοι εἰς τὸ ἐργαστήριον ἐλθόντες τὰ ἀνδράποδα ἀπεγράφοντο. ἐγὼ δὲ Πείσωνα μὲν ἠρώτων εἰ βούλοιτό με σῶσαι χρήματα λαβών· ὁ δ’ ἔφασκεν, εἰ πολλὰ εἴη. εἶπον οὖν ὅτι τάλαντον ἀργυρίου ἕτοιμος εἴην δοῦναι· ὁ δ’ ὡμολόγησε ταῦτα ποιήσειν. ἠπιστάμην μὲν οὖν ὅτι οὔτε θεοὺς οὔτ’ ἀνθρώπους νομίζει, ὅμως δ’ ἐκ τῶν παρόντων ἐδόκει μοι ἀναγκαιότατον εἶναι πίστιν παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ λαβεῖν. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὤμοσεν, ἐξώλειαν ἑαυτῷ καὶ τοῖς παισὶν ἐπαρώμενος, λαβὼν τὸ τάλαντόν με σώσειν, εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὸ δωμάτιον τὴν κιβωτὸν ἀνοίγνυμι· Πείσων δ᾽ αἰσθόμενος εἰσέρχεται, καὶ ἰδὼν τὰ ἐνόντα καλεῖ τῶν ὑπηρετῶν δύο, καὶ τὰ ἐν τῇ κιβωτῷ λαβεῖν ἐκέλευσεν. ἐπεὶ δὲ οὐχ ὅσον ὡμολόγητο εἶχεν, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, ἀλλὰ τρία τάλαντα ἀργυρίου καὶ τετρακοσίους κυζικηνοὺς καὶ ἑκατὸν δαρεικοὺς καὶ φιάλας ἀργυρᾶς τέτταρας, ἐδεόμην αὐτοῦ ἐφόδιά μοι δοῦναι, ὁ δ’ ἀγαπήσειν με ἔφασκεν, εἰ τὸ σῶμα σώσω.
(Lysias, Or. 12.4-11)

My father Cephalus was invited by Pericles to move to this land, and he lived here for thirty years. Neither he nor the rest of the family was ever involved in any litigation, either as prosecutor or as defendant. We lived our lives under the democracy in such a way as to do no wrong to others and to suffer no harm from others. Later on, however, the Thirty, who were criminals and sykophants, established themselves in the office, claiming that they needed to cleanse the city of wrongdoers and redirect the remaining citizens towards goodness and justice. But despite this assertion, they did not venture to do anything of the kind. I shall do my best to refresh your memories of this, by speaking first about my own affairs and then about yours. It was at a meeting of the Thirty that Theognis and Peison raised the subject of the metics, claiming that some were hostile to the new constitution. This would provide an excellent pretext for appearing to punish them while in reality making money, because the city was completely impoverished, and the regime needed cash. They had no difficulty persuading their audience, who thought nothing of taking human life but were very keen to make money. They decided to arrest ten metics, two of them poor, so that they could plead in the case of the others that this had not been done for money but was for the benefit of the constitution—as if they had had valid reasons for any of their actions! They divided up the houses and set out. They found me entertaining guests at dinner, drove them out, and handed me over to Peison. The others went to the slave workshop and began to draw up a confiscation list of the slaves. I asked Peison whether he would be willing to take a bribe for rescuing me. He said yes, if it was a big one. I replied that I was prepared to give him a talent of silver, and he agreed to this. I knew he had no respect for gods or for men, but given my situation, I thought it absolutely essential to get a pledge from him. He swore an oath that he would rescue me if he received the talent, and he called down destruction on himself and his children. I then went into my bedroom and opened my treasure chest. Peison noticed this and came in, and seeing its contents, he called two of his attendants and told them to take what was in the chest. He now had not simply the agreed amount, gentlemen of the jury, but three talents of silver, four hundred Cyzicene staters, one hundred Persian darics, and four silver cups. So I asked him to give me some traveling money, but he said that I should be glad to save my skin. (tr. Stephen C. Todd)