---
title: "Against Theomnestus II · Κατὰ θεομν́ηστου, Β"
author: "Lysias"
translator: "W. R. M. Lamb"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Classical Greek"
url: https://scriptura.si/works/lysias-against-theomnestus-2/
cite: "Lysias, tr. W. R. M. Lamb, Against Theomnestus II · Κατὰ θεομν́ηστου, Β. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/lysias-against-theomnestus-2/"
---

# Against Theomnestus II · Κατὰ θεομν́ηστου, Β

*Lysias, tr. W. R. M. Lamb*

An abridged version of the same speech.

> Greek: ed. W.R.M. Lamb, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0540.tlg011, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: W. R. M. Lamb, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0540.tlg011.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## Contents

1. [Sections 1–12](https://scriptura.si/works/lysias-against-theomnestus-2/1.md)

## 1. Sections 1–12

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/lysias-against-theomnestus-2/1/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/lysias-against-theomnestus-2/1/#p-N

[¶0] 1. That he asserted that I had killed my father is in the knowledge of many of you, and they are my witnesses. But that I have not done it is evident; for I am thirty-two years old, and this is the twentieth year since your return to the city.

> Greek: 1. ὅτι μὲν τὸν πατέρα μʼ ἔφασκεν ἀπεκτονέναι, πολλοὶ συνοίδασιν ὑμῶν, καὶ μαρτυροῦσι δέ μοι· ὅτι δὲ οὐ πεποίηκα, δῆλον· ἔτη γὰρ ἐστί μοι δύο καὶ τριάκοντα, ἐξ οὗ δʼ ὑμεῖς κατήλθετε, εἰκοστὸν τουτί.

[¶1] 2. You see, then, that I was twelve years old when my father was put to death by the Thirty, so that I did not even know what an oligarchy was, nor was I capable of defending my father. Nor, again, was his property a motive for my having designs upon him; for my elder brother got everything, and left us destitute.

> Greek: 2. φαίνομαι οὖν δωδεκαέτης ὤν, ὅτε ὁ πατὴρ ὑπὸ τῶν τριάκοντα ἀπέθνῃσκεν, ὥστʼ οὐδʼ ὅ τι ὀλιγαρχία ἦν ᾔδη, οὐδὲ τῷ πατρὶ βοηθεῖν οἷός τʼ ἦ. ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδὲ τῶν χρημάτων ἕνεκα ἐπεβούλευσα αὐτῷ· ὁ γὰρ πρεσβύτερος ἀδελφὸς πάντα λαβὼν ἀπεστέρησεν ἡμᾶς.

[¶2] 3. Perhaps he will say that it is not among the forbidden things to say a man has killed his father, since the law does not prohibit this, but disallows the word “murderer.” But I think our dispute ought not to be over mere terms, but over the intention shown in acts, and that everyone knows that all who have killed others are murderers of those same persons, and those who are murderers of another have killed that man.

> Greek: 3. ἴσως δʼ ἐρεῖ ὡς οὐκ ἔστι τῶν ἀπορρήτων, ἐάν τις φῇ τὸν πατέρα ἀπεκτονέναι· τὸν γὰρ νόμον οὐ ταῦτʼ ἀπαγορεύειν, ἀλλʼ ἀνδροφόνον οὐκ ἐᾶν λέγειν. ἐγὼ δʼ οἶμαι δεῖν οὐ περὶ τῶν ὀνομάτων διαφέρεσθαι, ἀλλὰ περὶ τῆς τῶν ἔργων διανοίας, καὶ πάντας εἰδέναι ὅτι ὁπόσοι ἀπεκτόνασί τινας, καὶ ἀνδροφόνοι τῶν αὐτῶν εἰσι, καὶ ὅσοι ἀνδροφόνοι τινός, καὶ ἀπεκτόνασι τοῦτον.

[¶3] 4. For it would be too great a task for the lawgiver to write all the terms that have the same meaning: he preferred to mention one which should indicate all. I presume it cannot be that, if anyone who calls you a father-beater or a mother-beater is liable to a penalty, at the same time a person who says that you strike your male or female parent is to escape punishment.

> Greek: 4. πολὺ γὰρ ἂν ἔργον εἴη τῷ νομοθέτῃ πάντα γράφειν τὰ ὀνόματα, ὅσα τὴν αὐτὴν δύναμιν ἔχει· ἀλλὰ περὶ ἑνὸς εἰπὼν περὶ πάντων ἐδήλωσεν. οὐ γὰρ δήπου ἐὰν μέν τις πατραλοίαν ἢ μητραλοίαν καλῇ σε, ὑπόδικός ἐστιν, ἐὰν δέ τις τὴν τεκοῦσαν ἢ τὸν φυτεύσαντα τύπτειν ⟨φῇ⟩, ἀζήμιος ἔσται.

[¶4] 5. So, if someone calls a man a shield-caster, he is to be immune, since the law imposes a penalty for saying that a man has thrown away his shield, but not for saying he has cast it. Similarly, if you were one of the Eleven, you would not accept a prisoner arrested for stripping a man of his cloak or his shirt, unless he were given the name of clothes-stealer.

> Greek: 5. καὶ ἐάν τις εἴπῃ ῥίψασπιν, ἀθῷος ἔσται· τὸν γὰρ νόμον, ἐάν τις εἴπῃ ἀποβεβληκέναι τὴν ἀσπίδα, ζημίαν τάττειν, ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἄν τις ῥῖψαι φῇ αὐτήν. ὁμοίως δʼ ἂν καὶ τῶν ἕνδεκα γενόμενος οὐκ ἂν ἀπεδέχου τὸν ἀπαγόμενον, ὅτι θοἰμάτιον ἐξέδυέ τινος ἢ τὸν χιτωνίσκον, εἰ μὴ λωποδύτην ὠνόμαζεν.

[¶5] 6. Nor, if someone abducted a child, would you accept him as a kidnapper. Now you have yourself taken proceedings for slander against the person who said you had cast your shield: yet it is not so written in the law, but the phrase is “saying a man has thrown it away.” How monstrous, then, that if such a thing is said about you, you should make play with the laws in the way I am doing now, and should be avenged on your enemies; but if you say such a thing yourself, you should claim to escape punishment!

> Greek: 6. οὐδʼ εἴ τις παῖδʼ ἐξῆγεν, ὡς ἀνδραποδιστήν· καὶ αὐτὸς μὲν ἐδικάσω κακηγορίας τῷ εἰπόντι σε ῥῖψαι τὴν ἀσπίδα. καίτοι ἐν τῷ νόμῳ οὐ γέγραπται, ἀλλʼ ἐάν τις φῇ ἀποβεβληκέναι. πῶς οὖν οὐ δεινόν, ἐὰν μέν τις σὲ ἔπῃ, τοὺς νόμους ἐκλαμβάνειν οὕτως ὥσπερ ἐγὼ νῦν, καὶ τιμωρεῖσθαι τοὺς ἐχθρούς, ἐὰν δʼ αὐτὸς εἴπῃς, οὐκ ἀξιοῦν δοῦναι δίκην;

[¶6] 7. I ask you, therefore, gentlemen, to protect me, reflecting that it is a greater injury to be accused of killing one’s father than of having cast one’s shield. I, for one, would rather admit to having thrown away any number than to entertaining such thoughts regarding my father. Yet I have seen this man acting in the way that you know, while I myself saved my shield. So on what ground should I fail to get redress from him?

> Greek: 7. βοηθήσατε οὖν μοι, ἐνθυμούμενοι ὅτι μεῖζόν ἐστι κακὸν ⟨ἀκοῦσαι⟩ τὸν πατέρα ἀπεκτονέναι ἢ τὴν ἀσπίδα ῥῖψαι. ἐγὼ γοῦν δεξαίμην ⟨ἂν⟩ πάσας ἀποβεβληκέναι ἢ τοιαύτην γνώμην περὶ τὸν πατέρα ἔχειν. καίτοι γε τοῦτον μὲν ἑώρακα ποιοῦντα, ὡς καὶ ὑμεῖς ἴστε, αὐτὸς δʼ ἔσωσα τὴν ἀσπίδα. ὥστε διὰ τί οὐκ ἂν λάβοιμι δίκην παρʼ αὐτοῦ;

[¶7] 8. What imputation stands against me? That I have been justly accused? No, not even yourselves can say so. That the defendant is a better man? No, not even himself can claim this. That having thrown away my arms I am suing a man who saved his? This is not the story that has been dispersed over the city. Do not, then, pity him for obloquy that he deserves, nor forgive him for outrages and expressions whereby he has broken the laws, especially in regard to a man who has held many generalships and shared many of your perils; who has neither fallen into the hands of the enemy nor been convicted by you at the audit of his service, and who at the age of seventy lost his life under the oligarchy for loyalty to you. There is good cause to feel anger on his account:

> Greek: 8. τίνος ἐγκλήματός μοι ὄντος; πότερον ὡς δικαίως ἤκουσα; ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ἂν αὐτοὶ φήσαιτε. ἀλλʼ ὡς βελτίων οὗτος; ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ἂν αὐτὸς ἀξιώσειεν. ἀλλʼ ὅτι ἀποβεβληκὼς τὰ ὅπλα σώσαντι δικάζομαι; ἀλλʼ οὐχ οὗτος ὁ λόγος διέσπαρται κατὰ τὴν πόλιν. μὴ δὴ κακῶς ἀκούοντα τὰ προσήκοντα ἐλεεῖτε, μηδʼ ὑβρίζοντί τε καὶ λέγοντι παρὰ τοὺς νόμους συγγνώμην ἔχετε, καὶ ταῦτα εἰς ἄνδρα ὃς πολλὰς μὲν στρατηγίας ἐστρατήγηκε, πολλοὺς δὲ μεθʼ ὑμῶν ⟨κινδύνους⟩ κεκινδύνευκε, καὶ οὔτε τοῖς πολεμίοις ὑποχείριος γέγονεν οὔθʼ ὑμῖν εὔθυναν ὦφλεν, ἑβδομήκοντα δʼ ἐτῶν ὢν ἐπʼ ὀλιγαρχίας ἐτελεύτησε διὰ τὴν ὑμετέραν εὔνοιαν.

[¶8] 10. for what more distressing repute could he have than this,—after being slain by his enemies to bear the reproach of having been destroyed by his children? The memorials of his valor are hanging in your temples, while those of these people’s baseness are seen in the temples of the enemy.

> Greek: 10. ἄξιον δὲὀργισθῆναι ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ· τί γὰρ ἂν τούτου ἀνιαρότερον ἀκούσειεν, εἰ τεθνηκὼς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν αἰτίαν ἔχοι ὑπὸ τῶν τέκνων ἀνῃρῆσθαι; οὗ τῆς ἀρετῆς τὰ μνημεῖα πρὸς τοῖς ὑμετέροις ἱεροῖς ἀνάκειται, τῆς δὲ τούτων κακίας πρὸς τοῖς τῶν πολεμίων.

[¶9] 11. He will say that he has made the statement in a fit of anger. But your reflection on this must be that the lawgiver grants no indulgence to anger; he punishes the speaker, unless he proves the truth of his words. I have borne witness twice in regard to this man: for I was not aware that you punished the persons who had seen the deed, but pardoned those who had done the throwing away. I therefore request you to condemn him.

> Greek: 11. ἐρεῖ δὲ ὡς ὀργισθεὶς εἴρηκεν. ὑμεῖς δʼ ἐνθυμεῖσθε ὅτι ὁ νομοθέτης οὐδεμίαν συγγνώμην ὀργῇ δίδωσιν, ἀλλὰ ζημιοῖ τὸν λέγοντα, ἐὰν μὴ ἀποδεικνύῃ ἀληθῆ. ἐγὼ δὲ δὶς περὶ τούτου μεμαρτύρηκα· οὐ γὰρ ᾔδη ὅτι ὑμεῖς τοὺς μὲν ἰδόντας τιμωρεῖσθε, τοῖς δὲ ἀποβαλοῦσι συγγνώμην ἔχετε. δέομαι οὖν καταψηφίσασθαι αὐτοῦ.

[¶10] 12. For although at this moment I am prosecuting for slander, yet at the same casting of your vote I am prosecuted for murdering my father: no trial could be more serious for me than this; and I alone, when certified of age, indicted the Thirty before the Areopagus. Vindicate, therefore, both my father and me.

> Greek: 12. νυνὶ γὰρ διώκω μὲν κακηγορίας, τῇ δʼ αὐτῇ ψήφῳ φόνου φεύγω τοῦ πατρός, οὗ μείζων ἀγὼν οὐκ ἂν γένοιτό μοι, ὃς μόνος δοκιμασθεὶς τοῖς τριάκοντʼ ἐπεξῆλθον ἐν Ἀρείῳ πάγῳ. βοηθήσατʼ οὖν κἀκείνῳ κἀμοί.