Αἰγινητικός
. [Or. XIX.] — The six forensic speeches of Isocrates which are extent cover a period of about ten years, 403 — 393 B.C. The speech Against Euthynus (XXI) may be placed in 403, immediately after the restoration of the Democracy; that Against Callimachus (XVIII) in 402; the De Bigis (XVI) in 397 or 396; the speech Against Lochites (XX) in 394; the Trapeziticus (XVII) and Aegineticus (XIX) in the second half of 394 or early in 393. In his later writings Isocrates nowhere recognises this phase of his own activity. He speaks with contempt of those who write for the law-courts, and emphatically claims it as his own merit that he chose nobler themes. It may have been partly the tone of such passages which emboldened his adopted son Aphareus to assert that Isocrates had never written a forensic speech. This statement is decisively rejected by Dionysius, who concludes, on the authority of Cephisodorus, the orator's pupil, that Isocrates wrote a certain number of such speeches, though not nearly so many as Aristotle had reported. The modern hypothesis that Isocrates composed the extant forensic orations merely as exercises (μελέται), not for real causes, is another attempt to explain his later tone. But these later utterances merely mean that Isocrates regarded his former work for the law-courts as an unworthy accident of his early life, previous to the beginning of his true career. Nowhere, be it observed, does he deny that he had written for the courts, or that, to use his own phrase, he had been a dollmaker before he became a Pheidias. He only says that his choice, his real calling, lay in another direction. — Attic Orators, I. 7 f. The Aegineticus is so called because the case to which it refers was tried in Aegina, — probably, to judge from the indications in §§ 18 — 20 and 36, at the end of 394 or early in 393 B.C. Thrasylochus, a citizen of Siphnos, one of the Cyclades, had at his death left his property to the speaker, whom he had previously adopted as his son. The speaker's right to the inheritance is disputed by a daughter of the testator; and the speech is in answer to her claim (ἐπιδικασία). The case is tried at Aegina, where the speaker had settled (κατοικισάμενος, § 24) before his death. — Att. Or. II. 217. The narrative, of which the following passage is the chief part, is briefly as follows. The speaker's object is to show that the will is not only genuine, but also just and reasonable, since his own conduct towards the testator Thrasylochus had established a strong claim. In the first place he had saved the very property now in question. Thrasylochus and his brother Sopolis, citizens of Siphnos, had, for security, placed the greater part of their fortune in the neighbouring island of Paros. Paros was suddenly seized by a party of democratic exiles, Parians and Siphnians, led by one Pasīnus. At the risk of his life, the speaker sailed by night to Paros, and carried the endangered property back to Siphnos. Presently the democratic masters of Paros attacked and took Siphnos itself. The speaker — whose family belonged to the aristocracy of the island, and had even given it kings — was among those who were forced to fly. He took with him, not only his own mother and sister, but Thrasylochus, who was then in weak health. The speaker and his family wished to remain at Melos. But Thrasylochus entreated them to accompany him to Troezen; and, though they knew the place to be unhealthy, they consented. The speaker's sister and mother died soon after their arrival. He afterwards nursed Thrasylochus through a long and distressing illness in Aegina. During that illness the half sister of Thrasylochus, who now claims his property, never once visited him; nor, on his death, did she attend his funeral (§§ 16 — 33).§§ 18 — 27.
καὶ περὶ μὲν τῶν παλαιῶν...ἔχειν ‘The whole story of the past would be long to tell: when, however, Pasinus seized Paros, they [Thrasylochus and his brother Sopolis] happened to have the greater part of their property deposited there for safety in the hands of my Parian friends, as we believed that island to be more secure than any other’. τῶν παλαιῶν: the early relations between the speaker and Thrasylochus, who had been friends from boyhood (§ 10). — Πάρον: in 410 B.C. the oligarchy set up by Peisander during the rule of the Four Hundred was deposed by Theramenes, who established a democracy in its place (Grote VIII. 159). The oligarchy was doubtless restored in Paros, as elsewhere, after the final defeat of Athens in 405 B.C. From § 36 of this speech it is clear that the speaker belonged to the oligarchic party, and therefore that the exiles before whom he fled were democratic. The democratic revolution, led by the otherwise unknown Pasīnus, may have been encouraged by the blow dealt to Sparta — and at the same time to oligarchy throughout Hellas — by the victory of Conon at Cnidus in the autumn of 394 B.C. — ὑπεκκείμενα, perf. pass. of ὑπεκτίθημι: cp. Thuc. I. 89, διεκομίζοντο εὐθὺς ὅθεν ὑπεξέθεντο [from Salamis, etc.] παῖδας καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ τὴν περιοῦσαν κατασκευήν: VIII. 31, ὅσα ὑπεξέκειτο αὐτόθι τῶν Κλαζομενίων. — ἀσφαλῶς ἔχειν: i.e. Paros was most likely to resist an attack (showing that this was a time of general trouble) — as it had baffled Miltiades in 490 B.C., Her. VI. 132 f. ἐξεκόμισ᾽ αὐτοῖς ‘conveyed their money for them out of Paros’ [back to the neighbouring island of Siphnos — a distance of about 20 miles].ἐφρουρεῖτο ‘for the coast (of Paros) was guarded, and some of our exiles [democrats expelled by the oligarchs of Siphnos] had helped to seize Paros’. συγκατειλ.: cp. § 18, κατέλαβεν. So Xen. Cyr. IV. 2. 42, τοῖς συγκατειληφόσι, those who have helped us to take (the camp). ἀπέκτειναν αὐτόχειρες γενόμενοι ‘slew with their own hands’ (when Siphnos was subsequently taken, § 20). Cp. Isocr. Panegyr. § 111, τοὺς αὐτόχειρας καὶ φονέας τῶν πολιτῶν, ‘the assassins and murderers’. Archid. § 150, οὐ γὰρ αὐτόχειρες οὔτε τῶν ἀγαθῶν οὔτε τῶν κακῶν γίγνονται, ‘(the gods) do not give either good or evil with their own hands to men’ (but only implant the ἔννοια which leads to either).
φυγῆς ἡμῖν ‘when we were compelled to fly from our island’ (Siphnos, which the democratic exiles, masters of Paros, next attacked). τῶν σφετέρων αὐτῶν genit. of οἱ σφέτεροι αὐτῶν, their own kinsfolk. Lysias In Agor. § 45, p. 88, οἱ μὲν γονέας σφετέρους αὐτῶν πρεσβύτας καταλιπόντες. οὐκ ἠγάπησα εἰ...δυνηθείην ‘was not content with the hope of being able’ [the historical form of οὐκ ἀγαπω ἐὰν δυνηθῶ]. Cp. Areopagit. § 52, p. 156, ὥστ᾽ ἀγαπᾶν ἐκείνους εἰ μηδὲν ἔτι κακὸν πάσχοιεν. — εἰδώς, ‘although I knew’. συνεξεκόμις᾿ αὐτῷ, κ.τ.λ. ‘I conveyed out of Siphnos, not only Thrasylochus, but also my mother, my sister and all our property’. Cp. § 23, τὴν μητέρα τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀδελφήν. From Melos (§ 21) they removed to Troezen. The speaker's mother and sister both died within 35 days after their arrival (§ 22). Thrasylochus had subsequently removed from Troezen to Aegina (§ 24), and there fell into the illness of which — after more than a year — he died (τὸν μὲν πλεῖστον χρόνον...ἓξ δὲ μῆνας, § 24).
τὰ μὲν τοίνυν εἰρημένα...περιέπεσον ‘Thus far, I have spoken of services which, though they exposed me to risk, entailed no loss [viz. his voyage to Paros for the money, κινδυνεύσας περὶ τοῦ σώματος, § 18, and the escape from Siphnos]; but I can mention others by which, in obliging him, I brought the gravest afflictions on myself’. — ἀπέλαυσα: cp. § 23, ἀγαθὸν ἀπολέλαυκα. Μῆλον Melos is about 12 miles S.W.S. of Siphnos: from Melos it is a voyage of about 75 miles N.W. to Troezen on the coast of Argolis — just opposite the little island Calauria (where Demosthenes died — now Poro, πόρος, because the narrow strait can sometimes be forded). μέλλοιμεν ‘that we intended’, — meaning the speaker, his mother and sister: so below, ἔδοξεν ἡμῖν. καὶ ὅτι χωρὶς ἐμοῦ...πράγμασιν ‘and (representing, λέγων) that, without me, he will be utterly helpless in his affairs’. He said, οὐδὲν ἕξω: the fut. opt. in classical Greek being used only to translate, after secondary tenses in oratio obliqua, a fut. indic. of the direct discourse: Goodwin § 26. In οὐκ ἔχω τί χρήσομαι or χρῶμαι (deliberative subjunctive) τούτῳ, τί is a cognate accus. [not an adverb],=οὐκ ἔχω τίνα χρείαν χρῶμαι τούτῳ, I do not know what use to make of this, — what to do with it. The phrase is used colloquially to express helplessness or bewilderment: Her. VII. 213, ἀπορέοντος δὲ βασιλέος ὅ τι χρήσεται τῷ παρεόντι πρήγματι, not knowing what to make of the situation. Cp. Isocr. Panath. § 106, διαρρήδην γράψαντες χρῆσθαι τοῦθ᾽ ὅ τι ἂν αὐτὸς βούληται, ‘on the express understanding that he should do with them [αὐτοῖς understood] whatever he pleased’.
οὐκ ἔφθημεν...καὶ...ἐλήφθημεν ‘No sooner had we arrived, than we were seized’. Cp. Panegyr. § 86, οἱ δ᾽ οὐκ ἔφθησαν πυθόμενοι τὸν περὶ τὴν Ἀττικὴν πόλεμον καὶ...ἧκον. Isocr. uses ἔφθασα, φθάσαιμι, as well as ἔφθην, but infin. φθῆναι, not φθάσαι: Thuc. has both φθῆναι and φθάσαι: Xen. and Dem. φθάσαι. παρὰ μικρὸν ἦλθον ἀποθανεῖν ‘I very nearly died’. In such phrases (παρ᾽ ἐλάχιστον, παῤ ὀλίγον, παρὰ τοσοῦτον, etc.) παρά=‘beside’ in the sense of ‘except’: I came — save for a narrow margin — to death: the infin. depending on παρὰ μικρὸν ἦλθον as=ἐκινδύνευσα. In Her. IX. 33, παρὰ ἓν πάλαισμα ἔδραμε νικᾶν ὀλυμπιάδα, ἔδραμε is rhetorical for ἦλθε: ‘he missed the Olympic prize by nothing but a wrestling-match’: i.e. he won two of the first four contests in the πένταθλον, but lost ‘the odd event’, the wrestling-match (πάλη). In Aeschin. In Ctes. § 258, παρ᾽ οὐδὲν ἦλθον ἀποκτεῖναι=‘they all but put him to death’, οὐδέν is rhetorical for μικρόν — there was nothing to spare. τίν̓ οἴεσθε...γνώμην ἔχειν...;] ‘what do you suppose my feelings were?’ Cp. Soph. Philoct. 276, σὺ δή, τέκνον, ποίαν μ᾽ ἀνάστασιν δοκεῖς | αὐτῶν βεβώτων ἐξ ὕπνου στῆναι τότε; Isocr. Plataic. § 61, πῶς ἂν διατεθεῖεν, κ.τ.λ., ‘how would they feel?’
ὃς...ἦν=qui (or quom) fuissem. Cp. Soph. Electr. 595, οὐδὲ νουθετεῖν ἔξεστί σε, | ἣ πᾶσαν ἵης γλῶσσαν, and my note on 599. For this causal use of the relative, see Goodwin § 65. 4. μετοικεῖν στέρεσθαι ‘live as an alien’. Lysias In Eratosth. § 20, p. 70, οὐχ ὁμοίως μετοικοῦντας ὥσπερ αὐτοὶ ἐπολιτεύοντο, ‘better resident aliens than they were citizens’. — (τοῦ) στέρεσθαι δὲ τῶν [masc.] ‘separation from my friends’ (in Siphnos): =carere, not στερεῖσθαι, privari. τελευτώσας Not τελευτησάσας. He has related their death: but now his thoughts go back to the month or more (§ 22) after the arrival at Troezen, during which he saw them dying. ἀπολέλαυκα Note the perfect, where ἀπέλαυσα (§ 21) might have stood. It hints the speaker's confidence that the will cannot be upset. Cp. Antid. § 295, p. 125, ἡ πόλις ἡμῶν δοκεῖ γεγενῆς θαι διδάσκαλος, seems to be the established teacher.
ἠσθένησε ταύτην τὴν νόσον ἐξ ἧς ‘took the illness of which he died’: ταύτην, as opp. to the indisposition (ἀρρωστία) from which he suffered at the time when they left Siphnos, § 20. — ἠσθένησε: for the force of the aor., cp. ἦρξε, ἐβασίλευσε, ‘came to the throne’. ὡς οὐκ οἶδ᾽ ὅστις, κ.τ.λ. ‘as perhaps no one ever yet tended another’: οὐκ οἶδ᾽ ὅστις=ἴσως οὐδείς, (cp. haud scio an nemo=fortasse nemo:) Eur. Med. 941, οὐκ οἶδ᾽ ἂν εἰ πείσαιμι, πειρᾶσθαι δὲ χρή, i.e. ‘perhaps I may not persuade him, but I must try’: οὐκ οἶδα εἰ [=ἴσως οὐ] πείσαιμι ἄν. Cp. Goodwin § 42. τὸν μὲν πλεῖστον, κ.τ.λ. showing, in connection with ἓξ μῆνας, that the illness lasted more than a year.
τῶν συγγενῶν ‘And in this painful office not one of his relatives thought proper to bear a part; nay, not one of them even came to visit him, with the exception of his mother and sister, who only made matters worse, for they were ill when they came from Troezen, so that they required nursing themselves’. οὐδεὶς ἠξίωσεν...ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ἀφίκετο: ἀλλά here= ‘nay’, ‘what is more’: the commoner form would be, οὐδείς... οὐχ ὅπως ἠξίωσε (not only did not), ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ἀφίκετο (but did not even...). — ἐπισκεψόμενος. The Modern Greek for making a visit or call is ἐπισκέπτομαι, a visit ἐπίσκεψις, a visiting-card ἐπισκεπτήριον. πλέον θάτερον ἐποίησαν ‘made matters worse’. θάτερον= τὸ κακόν. Soph. Phil. 503, παθεῖν μὲν εὖ παθεῖν δὲ θἄτερα: O. C. 1443, ταῦτά γ᾽ ἐν τῷ δαίμονι | καὶ τῇδε φῦναι χἀτέρᾳ, that they should issue thus [i.e. happily] or otherwise. Dem. In Androt. § 12, ὅσα πώποτε τῇ πόλει γέγονεν ἢ νῦν ἔστιν αγαθὰ ἢ θάτερα, ἵνα μηδὲν εἴπω φλαῦρον. Pind. Pyth. III. 60, δαίμων ἕτερος, where schol., ὁ κακοποιός, ὡς πρὸς (as contrasted with) τὸν ἀγαθοποιόν. οὐκ ἀπεῖπον οὐδ᾽ ἀπέστην, κ.τ.λ. ‘I did not lose heart, or desert my post’. Cp. Philipp. § 85, p. 137, οὐ μὴν ἀποστατέον ἐστίν, I must not desist from my task. — ἐνοσήλευον, ‘nursed him, with the help of one attendant’. Anaxilas (Middle Comedy) Μάγειροι (Meinek. Com. Frag. 501), τί σὺ λέγεις; ἰχθύδια; συσσίτιον (Mein. σύσσιτον οὖν) μέλλεις νοσηλεύειν ὅσον: ‘What? broil fish?’ (instead of more solid food): — ‘what invalid's fare you are going to give your mess!’ νοσηλεία, the care of the sick, Plut. Lycurg. 10, (a luxurious life) τρόπον τινὰ νοσηλείας καθημερινῆς δεομένην, in need, as it were, of daily nursing. ἐκείνων θαυμάζειν, εἰ μή cp. Lys. or. XXXIV. § 2, note, p. 240.
ὃς ἔμπυος ‘for he had long been suffering from ulcers’: ἔμπυ_ος (πῦον), puris plenus, ἐμπ. βάσις, the festering foot of Philoctetes, Soph. Ph. 1378. — ὅς...ἦν=ἐπεὶ ἐκεῖνος ἦν, the causal use of the relative (Goodwin § 65. 4, cp. above § 23): the anteced. is Thrasylochus, the subj. of διέκειτο.
ταῦτ᾽ οὐδένα χρόνον διέλιπεν ‘And all this went on without intermission’: διέλιπεν, intrans.: οὐδένα χρόνον, accus. denoting duration of time, ‘not for a moment’. Isocr. Panathen. § 5, οὐδένα διαλέλοιπα χρόνον διαβαλλόμενος, ‘I have never for a moment ceased to be slandered’. διαλείπειν is said also of the interval which elapses, Thuc. III. 74, διαλιπούσης ἡμέρας. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀπελθεῖν, κ.τ.λ. ‘for I could not even quit him without seeming neglectful, — a thing from which I shrank far more than from the troubles which beset me’: i.e. he could not endure to pain the sick man. — ἢ δοκεἶν ἀμελεῖν, short for ἢ [or else, i.e. εἰ ἀπέλθοιμι, if I should go away] ἔδει [supplied κατ᾽ ἔννοιαν from οἷόν τ᾽ ἦν] δοκεῖν ἀμελεἶν, I could not but seem neglectful. The sentence=ἔδει μὴ ἀπελθεῖν, ἢ [=εἰ δὲ μὴ] δοκεῖν ἀμελεῖν. Cp. Thuc. II. 63, εἰκός...μὴ φεύγειν τοὺς πόνους, ἢ [=εἰ δὲ μή, i.e. if you do shirk them] μηδὲ τὰς τιμὰς διώκειν.
