1. If I believed it possible, friends who are attending this burial, to set forth in speech the valor of the men who lie here, I should have reproved those who gave me but a few days’ notice of having to speak over them. But as all mankind would find all time insufficient for preparing a speech to match their deeds, the city itself therefore, as I think, taking forethought for those who speak here, makes the appointment at short notice, in the belief that on such terms they will most readily obtain indulgence from their hearers.
1. εἰ μὲν ἡγούμην οἷόν τε εἶναι, ὦ παρόντες ἐπὶ τῷδε τῷ τάφῳ, λόγῳ δηλῶσαι τὴν τῶν ἐνθάδε κειμένων ἀνδρῶν ἀρετήν, ἐμεμψάμην ἂν τοῖς ἐπαγγείλασιν ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς ἐξ ὀλίγων ἡμερῶν λέγειν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ὁ πᾶς χρόνος οὐχ ἱκανὸς λόγον ἴσον παρασκευάσαι τοῖς τούτων ἔργοις, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡ πόλις μοι δοκεῖ, προνοουμένη τῶν ἐνθάδε λεγόντων, ἐξ ὀλίγου τὴν πρόσταξιν ποιεῖσθαι, ἡγουμένη οὕτως ἂν μάλιστα συγγνώμης αὐτοὺς παρὰ τῶν ἀκουσάντων τυγχάνειν.
2. However, while my speech is about these men, my contest is not with their deeds, but with the speakers who have preceded me in praising them. For their valor has provided matter in such abundance, alike for those who are able to compose in verse and for those who have chosen to make a speech, that, although many fair things have been spoken by those who preceded me, there are many that even they have omitted, and plenty more remain to be said by those who succeed them; since nowhere is there any land or sea on which they did not venture, and in every place and every nation the people, is lamenting their own disasters, glorify the valorous deeds of these men.
2. ὅμως δὲ ὁ μὲν λόγος μοι περὶ τούτων, ὁ δʼ ἀγὼν οὐ πρὸς τὰ τούτων ἔργα ἀλλὰ πρὸς τοὺς πρότερον ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς εἰρηκότας. τοσαύτην γὰρ ἀφθονίαν παρεσκεύασεν ἡ τούτων ἀρετὴ καὶ τοῖς ποιεῖν δυναμένοις καὶ τοῖς εἰπεῖν βουληθεῖσιν, ὥστε καλὰ μὲν πολλὰ τοῖς προτέροις περὶ αὐτῶν εἰρῆσθαι, πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἐκείνοις παραλελεῖφθαι, ἱκανὰ δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἐπιγιγνομένοις ἐξεῖναι εἰπεῖν· οὔτε γὰρ γῆς ἄπειροι οὔτε θαλάττης οὐδεμιᾶς, πανταχῇ δὲ καὶ παρὰ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις οἱ τὰ αὑτῶν πενθοῦντες κακὰ τὰς τούτων ἀρετὰς ὑμνοῦσι.
3. So now, in the first place, I shall recount the ancient ordeals of our ancestors, drawing remembrance thereof from their renown. For they also are events which all men ought to remember, glorifying them in their songs, and describing them in the sage sayings of worthy minds; honoring them on such occasions as this, and finding in the achievements of the dead so many lessons for the living.
3. πρῶτον μὲν οὖν τοὺς παλαιοὺς κινδύνους τῶν προγόνων δίειμι, μνήμην παρὰ τῆς φήμης λαβών· ἄξιον γὰρ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις κἀκείνων μεμνῆσθαι, ὑμνοῦντας μὲν ἐν ταῖς ᾠδαῖς, λέγοντας δʼ ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἀγαθῶν γνώμαις, τιμῶντας δʼ ἐν τοῖς καιροῖς τοῖς τοιούτοις, παιδεύοντας δʼ ἐν τοῖς τῶν τεθνεώτων ἔργοις τοὺς ζῶντας.
4. In ancient times were the Amazons, daughters of Ares, dwelling beside the river Thermodon; they alone of the people round about were armed with iron, and they were first of all to mount horses, with which, owing to the inexperience of their foes, they surprised them and either caught those who fled, or outstripped those who pursued. They were accounted as men for their high courage, rather than as women for their sex; so much more did they seem to excel men in their spirit than to be at a disadvantage in their form.
4. Ἀμαζόνες γὰρ Ἄρεως μὲν τὸ παλαιὸν ἦσαν θυγατέρες, οἰκοῦσαι [δὲ] παρὰ τὸν Θερμώδοντα ποταμόν, μόναι μὲν ὡπλισμέναι σιδήρῳ τῶν περὶ αὐτάς, πρῶται δὲ τῶν πάντων ἐφʼ ἵππους ἀναβᾶσαι, οἷς ἀνελπίστως διʼ ἀπειρίαν τῶν ἐναντίων ᾕρουν μὲν τοὺς φεύγοντας, ἀπέλειπον δὲ διώκοντας· ἐνομίζοντο δὲ διὰ τὴν εὐψυχίαν μᾶλλον ἄνδρες ἢ διὰ τὴν φύσιν γυναῖκες· πλέον γὰρ ἐδόκουν τῶν ἀνδρῶν ταῖς ψυχαῖς διαφέρειν ἢ ταῖς ἰδέαις ἐλλείπειν.
5. Ruling over many nations, they had in fact achieved the enslavement of those around them; yet, hearing by report concerning this our country how great was its renown, they were moved by increase of glory and high ambition to muster the most warlike of the nations and march with them against this city. But having met with valiant men they found their spirit now was like to their sex; the repute that they got was the reverse of the former, and by their perils rather than by their bodies they were deemed to be women.
5. ἄρχουσαι δὲ πολλῶν ἐθνῶν, καὶ ἔργῳ μὲν τοὺς περὶ αὐτὰς καταδεδουλωμέναι, λόγῳ δὲ περὶ τῆσδε τῆς χώρας ἀκούουσαι κλέος μέγα, πολλῆς δόξης καὶ μεγάλης ἐλπίδος χάριν παραλαβοῦσαι τὰ μαχιμώτατα τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐστράτευσαν ἐπὶ τήνδε τὴν πόλιν. τυχοῦσαι δʼ ἀγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν ὁμοίας ἐκτήσαντο τὰς ψυχὰς τῇ φύσει, καὶ ἐναντίαν τὴν δόξαν τῆς προτέρας λαβοῦσαι μᾶλλον ἐκ τῶν κινδύνων ἢ ἐκ τῶν σωμάτων ἔδοξαν εἶναι γυναῖκες.
6. They stood alone in failing to learn from their mistakes, and so to be better advised in their future actions; they would not return home and report their own misfortune and our ancestors’ valor: for they perished on the spot, and were punished for their folly, thus making our city’s memory imperishable for its valor; while owing to their disaster in this region they rendered their own country nameless. And so those women, by their unjust greed for others’ land, justly lost their own.
6. μόναις δʼ αὐταῖς οὐκ ἐξεγένετο ἐκ τῶν ἡμαρτημένων μαθούσαις περὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἄμεινον βουλεύσασθαι, οὐδʼ οἴκαδε ἀπελθούσαις ἀπαγγεῖλαι τήν τε σφετέραν αὐτῶν δυστυχίαν καὶ τὴν τῶν ἡμετέρων προγόνων ἀρετήν· αὐτοῦ γὰρ ἀποθανοῦσαι, καὶ δοῦσαι δίκην τῆς ἀνοίας, τῆσδε μὲν τῆς πόλεως διὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν ἀθάνατον ⟨τὴν⟩ μνήμην ἐποίησαν, τὴν δὲ ἑαυτῶν πατρίδα διὰ τὴν ἐνθάδε συμφορὰν ἀνώνυμον κατέστησαν. ἐκεῖναι μὲν οὖν τῆς ἀλλοτρίας ἀδίκως ἐπιθυμήσασαι τὴν ἑαυτῶν δικαίως ἀπώλεσαν.
7. When Adrastus and Polyneices had marched against Thebes and had been vanquished in battle, and the Cadmeans would not allow the corpses to be buried, the Athenians decided that, if those men had done some wrong, they had paid by their death the heaviest penalty, while the gods below were not obtaining their dues, and by the pollution of the shrines the gods above were being treated with impiety: so first they sent heralds and requested permission to take up the corpses, considering it to be the duty of brave men to take vengeance on their enemies while they lived, but a mark of self-distrust to display their valor over the bodies of the dead.
7. Ἀδράστου δὲ καὶ Πολυνείκους ἐπὶ Θήβας στρατευσάντων καὶ ἡττηθέντων μάχῃ, οὐκ ἐώντων Καδμείων θάπτειν τοὺς νεκρούς, Ἀθηναῖοι ἡγησάμενοι ἐκείνους μέν, εἴ τι ἠδίκουν, ἀποθανόντας δίκην ἔχειν τὴν μεγίστην, τοὺς δὲ κάτω τὰ αὑτῶν οὐ κομίζεσθαι, ἱερῶν δὲ μιαινομένων τοὺς ἄνω θεοὺς ἀσεβεῖσθαι, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον πέμψαντες κήρυκας ἐδέοντο αὐτῶν δοῦναι τῶν νεκρῶν ἀναίρεσιν, νομίζοντες ἀνδρῶν μὲν ἀγαθῶν εἶναι ζῶντας τοὺς ἐχθροὺς τιμωρήσασθαι, ἀπιστούντων δὲ σφίσιν αὐτοῖς ἐν τοῖς τῶν τεθνεώτων σώμασι τὴν εὐψυχίαν ἐπιδείκνυσθαι·
8. When they failed to obtain this, they marched against them: no previous quarrel subsisted between them and the Cadmeans, nor did they wish to gratify the Argives who were yet living; but thinking it right that those who had died in the war should receive the customary treatment, they risked combat with one of the parties in the interest of both, that on the one side they should cease from grossly outraging the gods by their trespass against the dead, and that on the other they should not hasten away to their own land frustrated of an ancestral honor, cut off from Hellenic custom, and disappointed in a common hope.
8. οὐ δυνάμενοι δὲ τούτων τυχεῖν ἐστράτευσαν ἐπʼ αὐτούς, οὐδεμιᾶς διαφορᾶς πρότερον πρὸς Καδμείους ὑπαρχούσης, οὐδὲ τοῖς ζῶσιν Ἀργείων χαριζόμενοι, ἀλλὰ τοὺς τεθνεῶτας ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ ἀξιοῦντες τῶν νομιζομένων τυγχάνειν πρὸς τοὺς ἑτέρους ὑπὲρ ἀμφοτέρων ἐκινδύνευσαν, ὑπὲρ μὲν τῶν, ἵνα μηκέτι εἰς τοὺς τεθνεῶτας ἐξαμαρτάνοντες πλείω περὶ τοὺς θεοὺς ἐξυβρίσωσιν, ὑπὲρ δὲ τῶν ἑτέρων, ἵνα μὴ πρότερον εἰς τὴν αὑτῶν ἀπέλθωσι πατρίου τιμῆς ἀτυχήσαντες καὶ Ἑλληνικοῦ νόμου στερηθέντες καὶ κοινῆς ἐλπίδος ἡμαρτηκότες.
10. With these thoughts in their minds, and holding that the fortunes of war are shared by all men in common, they faced a numerous enemy, but had justice as their ally, and they fought and conquered. And they did not allow themselves to be so elated by their fortune as to seek a heavier punishment of the Cadmeans, but in contrast to their impiety showed forth their own virtue, and obtaining for themselves the price for which they had come—the corpses of the Argives—they buried them in their own land of Eleusis. Such, then, is the character that they have evinced in regard to those of the Seven against Thebes who were slain.
10. ταῦτα διανοηθέντες, καὶ τὰς ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ τύχας κοινὰς ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων νομίζοντες, πολλοὺς μὲν πολεμίους κτώμενοι, τὸ δὲ δίκαιον ἔχοντες σύμμαχον ἐνίκων μαχόμενοι. καὶ οὐχ ὑπὸ τῆς τύχης ἐπαρθέντες μείζονος παρὰ Καδμείων τιμωρίας ἐπεθύμησαν, ἀλλʼ ἐκείνοις μὲν ἀντὶ τῆς ἀσεβείας τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀρετὴν ἐπεδείξαντο, αὐτοὶ δὲ λαβόντες τὰ ἆθλα ὧνπερ ἕνεκα ἀφίκοντο, τοὺς Ἀργείων νεκρούς, ἔθαψαν ἐν τῇ αὑτῶν Ἐλευσῖνι. περὶ μὲν οὖν τοὺς ἀποθανόντας τῶν ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ Θήβας τοιοῦτοι γεγόνασιν.
11. In a later time, when Heracles had vanished from amongst men, and his children were fleeing from Eurystheus and were expelled by all the Greeks, who were ashamed of these acts but afraid of Eurystheus’ power, they came to this city, and seated themselves as suppliants at our altars.
11. ὑστέρῳ δὲ χρόνῳ, ἐπειδὴ Ἡρακλῆς μὲν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἠφανίσθη, οἱ δὲ παῖδες αὐτοῦ ἔφευγον μὲν Εὐρυσθέα, ἐξηλαύνοντο δὲ ὑπὸ πάντων τῶν Ἑλλήνων, αἰσχυνομένων μὲν τοῖς ἔργοις, φοβουμένων δὲ τὴν Εὐρυσθέως δύναμιν, ἀφικόμενοι εἰς τήνδε τὴν πόλιν ἱκέται ἐπὶ τῶν βωμῶν ἐκαθέζοντο·
12. And when Eurystheus demanded them, the Athenians refused to give them up, but revered the virtue of Heracles more than they feared their own danger, and preferred to do battle for the weaker on the side of right, rather than favor the powerful by giving up to them the men whom they had wronged.
12. ἐξαιτουμένου δὲ αὐτοὺς Εὐρυσθέως Ἀθηναῖοι οὐκ ἠθέλησαν ἐκδοῦναι, ἀλλὰ τὴν Ἡρακλέους ἀρετὴν μᾶλλον ᾐδοῦντο ἢ τὸν κίνδυνον τὸν ἑαυτῶν ἐφοβοῦντο, καὶ ἠξίουν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀσθενεστέρων μετὰ τοῦ δικαίου διαμάχεσθαι μᾶλλον ἢ τοῖς δυναμένοις χαριζόμενοι τοὺς ὑπʼ ἐκείνων ἀδικουμένους ἐκδοῦναι.
13. Eurystheus marched against them with the people who held the Peloponnese at that time; yet they did not falter at the approach of the danger, but maintained the same resolve as before, though they had received no particular benefit at the father’s hands, and could not tell what manner of men the sons would grow to be. Acting on what they held to be just, on no grounds of former enmity against Eurystheus, with no gain in view but good repute, they made this perilous venture on behalf of those children, pitying the wronged and hating the oppressor; attempting to check the one, and engaging to assist the other; conceiving it a sign of freedom to do nothing against one’s will, of justice to succor the wronged, and of courage to die, if need be, in fighting for those two things at once.
13. ἐπιστρατεύσαντος δʼ Εὐρυσθέως μετὰ τῶν ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ χρόνῳ Πελοπόννησον ἐχόντων, οὐκ ἐγγὺς τῶν δεινῶν γενόμενοι μετέγνωσαν, ἀλλὰ τὴν αὐτὴν εἶχον γνώμην ἥνπερ πρότερον, ἀγαθὸν μὲν οὐδὲν ἰδίᾳ ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτῶν πεπονθότες, ἐκείνους τʼ οὐκ εἰδότες ὁποῖοί τινες ἄνδρες ἔσονται γενόμενοι· δίκαιον δὲ νομίζοντες εἶναι, οὐ προτέρας ἔχθρας ὑπαρχούσης πρὸς Εὐρυσθέα, οὐδὲ κέρδους προκειμένου πλὴν δόξης ἀγαθῆς, τοσοῦτον κίνδυνον ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἤραντο, τοὺς μὲν ἀδικουμένους ἐλεοῦντες, τοὺς δʼ ὑβρίζοντας μισοῦντες, καὶ τοὺς μὲν κωλύειν ἐπιχειροῦντες, τοῖς δʼ ἐπικουρεῖν ἀξιοῦντες, ἡγούμενοι ἐλευθερίας μὲν σημεῖον εἶναι μηδὲν ποιεῖν ἄκοντας, δικαιοσύνης δὲ τοῖς ἀδικουμένοις βοηθεῖν, εὐψυχίας δʼ ὑπὲρ τούτων ἀμφοτέρων, εἰ δέοι,
15. So high was the spirit of both sides that Eurystheus and his forces sought no advantage from any offer of the Athenians, while the Athenians would not suffer Eurystheus, even at his own supplication, to take away their suppliants. Having arrayed their own sole force against the host assembled from the whole Peloponnese, they conquered them in battle, rescued the sons of Heracles from bodily peril, liberating also their souls by ridding them of fear, and by their own daring crowned the sons with the meed of their father’s valor.
15. μαχομένους ἀποθνῄσκειν. τοσοῦτον δʼ ἐφρόνουν ἀμφότεροι, ὥσθʼ οἱ μὲν μετʼ Εὐρυσθέως οὐδὲν παρʼ ἑκόντων ἐζήτουν εὑρίσκεσθαι, Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ οὐκ ἠξίουν Εὐρυσθέα αὐτὸν ἱκετεύοντα τοὺς ἱκέτας αὐτῶν ἐξελεῖν. παραταξάμενοι δʼ ἰδίᾳ δυνάμει τὴν ἐξ ἁπάσης Πελοποννήσου στρατιὰν ἐλθοῦσαν ἐνίκων μαχόμενοι, καὶ τῶν Ἡρακλέους παίδων τὰ μὲν σώματα εἰς ἄδειαν κατέστησαν, ἀπαλλάξαντες δὲ τοῦ δέους καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς ἠλευθέρωσαν, διὰ δὲ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς ἀρετὴν ἐκείνους τοῖς αὑτῶν κινδύνοις ἐστεφάνωσαν.
16. So much happier in the event were these, the children, than the father; for he, though author of many benefits to all mankind, devoting his life to a laborious quest of victory and honor, did indeed chastise those who wronged others, but was unable to punish Eurystheus, who was both his enemy and his oppressor. Whereas his sons, thanks to this city, saw on the same day both their own deliverance and the punishment of their enemies.
16. τοσοῦτον δὲ εὐτυχέστεροι παῖδες ὄντες ἐγένοντο τοῦ πατρός· ὁ μὲν γάρ, καίπερ ὢν ἀγαθῶν πολλῶν αἴτιος ἅπασιν ἀνθρώποις, ἐπίπονον καὶ φιλόνικον καὶ φιλότιμον αὑτῷ καταστήσας τὸν βίον τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους ἀδικοῦντας ἐκόλασεν, Εὐρυσθέα δὲ καὶ ἐχθρὸν ὄντα καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν ἐξαμαρτάνοντα οὐχ οἷός τε ἦν τιμωρήσασθαι οἱ δὲ παῖδες αὐτοῦ διὰ τήνδε τὴν πόλιν τῇ αὐτῇ εἶδον ἡμέρᾳ τήν θʼ ἑαυτῶν σωτηρίαν καὶ τὴν· τῶν ἐχθρῶν τιμωρίαν.
17. Now in many ways it was natural to our ancestors, moved by a single resolve, to fight the battles of justice: for the very beginning of their life was just. They had not been collected, like most nations, from every quarter, and had not settled in a foreign land after driving out its people: they were born of the soil, and possessed in one and the same country their mother and their fatherland.
17. πολλὰ μὲν ὑπῆρχε τοῖς ἡμετέροις προγόνοις μιᾷ γνώμῃ χρωμένοις περὶ τοῦ δικαίου διαμάχεσθαι· ἥ τε γὰρ ἀρχὴ τοῦ βίου δικαία· οὐ γάρ, ὥσπερ οἱ πολλοί, πανταχόθεν συνειλεγμένοι καὶ ἑτέρους ἐκβαλόντες τὴν ἀλλοτρίαν ᾤκησαν, ἀλλʼ αὐτόχθονες ὄντες τὴν αὐτὴν ἐκέκτηντο μητέρα καὶ πατρίδα.
18. They were the first and the only people in that time to drive out the ruling classes of their state and to establish a democracy, believing the liberty of all to be the strongest bond of agreement; by sharing with each other the hopes born of their perils they had freedom of soul in, their civic life, and used law for honoring the good and punishing the evil. For they deemed that it was the way of wild beasts to be held subject to one another by force, but the duty of men to delimit justice by law, to convince by reason, and to serve these two in act by submitting to the sovereignty of law and the instruction of reason.
18. πρῶτοι δὲ καὶ μόνοι ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ χρόνῳ ἐκβαλόντες τὰς παρὰ σφίσιν αὐτοῖς δυναστείας δημοκρατίαν κατεστήσαντο, ἡγούμενοι τὴν πάντων ἐλευθερίαν ὁμόνοιαν εἶναι μεγίστην, κοινὰς δʼ ἀλλήλοις τὰς ἐκ τῶν κινδύνων ἐλπίδας ποιήσαντες ἐλευθέραις ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἐπολιτεύοντο, νόμῳ τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς τιμῶντες καὶ τοὺς κακοὺς κολάζοντες, ἡγησάμενοι θηρίων μὲν ἔργον εἶναι ὑπʼ ἀλλήλων βίᾳ κρατεῖσθαι, ἀνθρώποις δὲ προσήκειν νόμῳ μὲν ὁρίσαι τὸ δίκαιον, λόγῳ δὲ πεῖσαι, ἔργῳ δὲ τούτοις ὑπηρετεῖν, ὑπὸ νόμου μὲν βασιλευομένους, ὑπὸ λόγου δὲ διδασκομένους.
20. For indeed, being of noble stock and having minds as noble, the ancestors of those who lie here achieved many noble and admirable things; but ever memorable and mighty are the trophies that their descendants have everywhere left behind them owing to their valor. For they alone risked their all in defending the whole of Greece against many myriads of the barbarians.
20. καὶ γάρ τοι καὶ φύντες καλῶς καὶ γνόντες ὅμοια, πολλὰ μὲν καλὰ καὶ θαυμαστὰ οἱ πρόγονοι τῶν ἐνθάδε κειμένων εἰργάσαντο, ἀείμνηστα δὲ καὶ μεγάλα καὶ πανταχοῦ οἱ ἐξ ἐκείνων γεγονότες τρόπαια διὰ τὴν αὑτῶν ἀρετὴν κατέλιπον. μόνοι γὰρ ὑπὲρ ἁπάσης τῆς Ἑλλάδος πρὸς πολλὰς μυριάδας τῶν βαρβάρων διεκινδύνευσαν.
21. For the King of Asia, not content with the wealth that he had already, but hoping to enslave Europe as well, dispatched an army of five hundred thousand. These, supposing that, if they obtained the willing friendship of this city or overwhelmed its resistance, they would easily dominate the rest of the Greeks, landed at Marathon, thinking that we should be most destitute of allies if they made their venture at a moment when Greece was in dissension as to the best means of repelling the invaders.
21. ὁ γὰρ τῆς Ἀσίας βασιλεὺς οὐκ ἀγαπῶν τοῖς ὑπάρχουσιν ἀγαθοῖς, ἀλλʼ ἐλπίζων καὶ τὴν Εὐρώπην δουλώσεσθαι, ἔστειλε πεντήκοντα μυριάδας στρατιάν. ἡγησάμενοι δέ, εἰ τήνδε τὴν πόλιν ἢ ἑκοῦσαν φίλην ποιήσαιντο ἢ ἄκουσαν καταστρέψαιντο, ῥαδίως τῶν πολλῶν Ἑλλήνων ἄρξειν, ἀπέβησαν εἰς Μαραθῶνα, νομίσαντες οὕτως ἂν ἐρημοτάτους εἶναι συμμάχων [τοὺς Ἕλληνας], εἰ ἔτι στασιαζούσης τῆς Ἑλλάδος ᾧ τινι χρὴ τρόπῳ τοὺς ἐπιόντας ἀμύνασθαι, τὸν κίνδυνον ποιήσαιντο.
22. Besides, from the former actions of our city they had conceived a particular opinion of her: they thought that if they attacked another city first, they would be at war with it and Athens as well, for she would be zealous in coming to succor her injured neighbors; but if they made their way here first, no Greeks elsewhere would dare attempt the deliverance of others, and for their sake incur the open hostility of the foreigners.
22. ἔτι δʼ αὐτοῖς ἐκ τῶν προτέρων ἔργων περὶ τῆς πόλεως τοιαύτη δόξα παρειστήκει, ὡς εἰ μὲν πρότερον ἐπʼ ἄλλην πόλιν ἴασιν, ἐκείνοις καὶ Ἀθηναίοις πολεμήσουσι· προθύμως γὰρ τοῖς ἀδικουμένοις ἥξουσι βοηθήσοντες· εἰ δʼ ἐνθάδε πρῶτον ἀφίξονται, οὐδένας ἄλλους τῶν Ἑλλήνων τολμήσειν ἑτέρους σῴζοντας φανερὰν ἔχθραν πρὸς ἐκείνους ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν καταθέσθαι.
23. These, then, were the motives of the foe. But our ancestors, without stopping to calculate the hazards of the war, but holding that a glorious death leaves behind it a deathless account of deeds well done, had no fear of the multitude of their adversaries, but rather had confidence in their own valor. And feeling ashamed that the barbarians were in their country, they did not wait till their allies should be informed and come to their support; rather than have to thank others for their salvation, they chose that the rest of the Greeks should have to thank them.
23. οἱ μὲν τοίνυν ταῦτα διενοοῦντο· οἱ δʼ ἡμέτεροι πρόγονοι οὐ λογισμῷ εἰδότες τοὺς ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ κινδύνους, ἀλλὰ νομίζοντες τὸν εὐκλεᾶ θάνατον ἀθάνατον περὶ τῶν ἀγαθῶν καταλείπειν λόγον, οὐκ ἐφοβήθησαν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐναντίων, ἀλλὰ τῇ αὑτῶν ἀρετῇ μᾶλλον ἐπίστευσαν. καὶ αἰσχυνόμενοι ὅτι ἦσαν οἱ βάρβαροι αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ, οὐκ ἀνέμειναν πυθέσθαι οὐδὲ βοηθῆσαι τοὺς συμμάχους, οὐδʼ ᾠήθησαν δεῖν ἑτέροις τῆς σωτηρίας χάριν εἰδέναι, ἀλλὰ σφίσιν αὐτοῖς τοὺς ἄλλους Ἕλληνας.
24. With this one resolve in the minds of all, they marched to the encounter, though few against many: for death, in their opinion, was a thing for them to share with all men, but prowess with a few; and while they possessed their lives, because of mortality, as alien things, they would leave behind something of their own in the memory attached to their perils. And they deemed that a victory which they could not win alone would be as impossible with the aid of their allies. If vanquished, they would perish a little before the others; if victorious, they would liberate the others with themselves.
24. ταῦτα μιᾷ γνώμῃ πάντες γνόντες ἀπήντων ὀλίγοι πρὸς πολλούς· ἐνόμιζον γὰρ ἀποθανεῖν μὲν αὐτοῖς μετὰ πάντων προσήκειν, ἀγαθοὺς δʼ εἶναι μετʼ ὀλίγων, καὶ τὰς μὲν ψυχὰς ἀλλοτρίας διὰ τὸν θάνατον κεκτῆσθαι, τὴν δʼ ἐκ τῶν κινδύνων μνήμην ἰδίαν καταλείψειν. ἠξίουν δέ, οὓς μὴ μόνοι νικῷεν, οὐδʼ ἂν μετὰ τῶν συμμάχων δύνασθαι· καὶ ἡττηθέντες μὲν ὀλίγῳ τῶν ἄλλων προαπολεῖσθαι, νικήσαντες δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἐλευθερώσειν.
25. They proved their worth as men, neither sparing their limbs nor cherishing their lives when valor called, and had more reverence for their city’s laws than fear of their perils in face of the enemy; and so in their own land they set up on behalf of Greece a trophy of victory over the barbarians, who had invaded others’ territory for money, past the frontiers of their land; and so swiftly did they surmount their ordeal that by the same messengers information reached the other Greeks both of the barbarians’ arrival here and of our ancestors’ triumph.
25. ἄνδρες δʼ ἀγαθοὶ γενόμενοι, καὶ τῶν μὲν σωμάτων ἀφειδήσαντες, ὑπὲρ δὲ τῆς ἀρετῆς οὐ φιλοψυχήσαντες, καὶ μᾶλλον τοὺς παρʼ αὑτοῖς νόμους αἰσχυνόμενοι ἢ τὸν πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους κίνδυνον φοβούμενοι, ἔστησαν μὲν τρόπαιον ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἑλλάδος τῶν βαρβάρων ἐν τῇ αὑτῶν, ὑπὲρ χρημάτων εἰς τὴν ἀλλοτρίαν ἐμβαλόντων, παρὰ τοὺς ὅρους τῆς χώρας, οὕτω δὲ διὰ ταχέων τὸν κίνδυνον ἐποιήσαντο, ὥστε οἱ αὐτοὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀπήγγειλαν τήν τʼ ἐνθάδε ἄφιξιν τῶν βαρβάρων καὶ τὴν νίκην τῶν προγόνων.
26. For indeed none of the other Greeks knew fear for the peril to come; they only heard the news and rejoiced over their own liberation. No wonder, then, that these deeds performed long ago should be as though they were new, and that even to this day the valor of that band should be envied by all mankind.
26. καὶ γάρ τοι οὐδεὶς τῶν ἄλλων ἔδεισεν ὑπὲρ τοῦ μέλλοντος κινδύνου, ἀλλʼ ἀκούσαντες ὑπὲρ τῆς αὑτῶν ἐλευθερίας ἥσθησαν. ὥστε οὐδὲν θαυμαστόν, πάλαι τῶν ἔργων γεγενημένων, ὥσπερ καινῶν ὄντων ἔτι καὶ νῦν τὴν ἀρετὴν αὐτῶν ὑπὸ πάντων ἀνθρώπων ζηλοῦσθαι.
27. Thereafter Xerxes, King of Asia, who had held Greece in contempt, but had been deceived in his hopes, who was dishonored by the event, galled by the disaster, and angered against its authors, and who was unused to ill-hap and unacquainted with true men, in ten years’ time prepared for war and came with twelve hundred ships; and the land army that he brought was so immense in numbers that to enumerate even the nations that followed in his train would be a lengthy task.
27. μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ Ξέρξης ὁ τῆς Ἀσίας βασιλεύς, καταφρονήσας μὲν τῆς Ἑλλάδος, ἐψευσμένος δὲ τῆς ἐλπίδος, ἀτιμαζόμενος δὲ τῷ γεγενημένῳ, ἀχθόμενος δὲ τῇ συμφορᾷ, ὀργιζόμενος δὲ τοῖς αἰτίοις, ἀπαθὴς δʼ ὢν κακῶν καὶ ἄπειρος ἀνδρῶν ἀγαθῶν, δεκάτῳ ἔτει παρασκευασάμενος διακοσίαις μὲν καὶ χιλίαις ναυσὶν ἀφίκετο, τῆς δὲ πεζῆς στρατιᾶς οὕτως ἄπειρον τὸ πλῆθος ἦγεν, ὥστε καὶ τὰ ἔθνη τὰ μετʼ αὐτοῦ ἀκολουθήσαντα πολὺ ἂν ἔργον εἴη καταλέξαι·
28. But the surest evidence of their numbers is this: although he had a thousand ships to spare for transporting his land army over the most narrow part of the Hellespont, he decided against it, for he judged that it would cause him a great waste of time:
28. ὃ δὲ μέγιστον σημεῖον τοῦ πλήθους· ἐξὸν γὰρ αὐτῷ χιλίαις ναυσὶ διαβιβάσαι κατὰ τὸ στενότατον τοῦ Ἑλλησπόντου τὴν πεζὴν στρατιὰν ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας εἰς τὴν Εὐρώπην, οὐκ ἠθέλησεν, ἡγούμενος τὴν διατριβὴν αὑτῷ πολλὴν ἔσεσθαι·
29. despising alike the effects of nature, the dispositions of Heaven and the purposes of men, he made him a road across the sea, and forced a passage for ships through the land, by spanning the Hellespont and trenching Athos; none withstood him, for the unwilling submitted, and the willing chose to be traitors. The former were not capable of resisting, and the latter were corrupted by bribes: they were under the double persuasion of gain and dread.
29. ἀλλʼ ὑπεριδὼν καὶ τὰ φύσει πεφυκότα καὶ τὰ θεῖα πράγματα καὶ τὰς ἀνθρωπίνας διανοίας ὁδὸν μὲν διὰ τῆς θαλάττης ἐποιήσατο, πλοῦν δὲ διὰ τῆς γῆς ἠνάγκασε γενέσθαι, ζεύξας μὲν τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον, διορύξας δὲ τὸν Ἄθω, ὑφισταμένου οὐδενός, ἀλλὰ τῶν μὲν ἀκόντων ὑπακουόντων, τῶν δὲ ἑκόντων προδιδόντων. οἱ μὲν γὰρ οὐχ ἱκανοὶ ἦσαν ἀμύνασθαι, οἱ δʼ ὑπὸ χρημάτων διεφθαρμένοι· ἀμφότερα δʼ ἦν αὐτοὺς τὰ πείθοντα, κέρδος καὶ δέος.
30. But while Greece showed these inclinations, the Athenians, for their part, embarked in their ships and hastened to the defence of Artemisium; while the Lacedaemonians and some of their allies went off to make a stand at Thermopylae, judging that the narrowness of the ground would enable them to secure the passage.
30. Ἀθηναῖοι δʼ οὕτω διακειμένης τῆς Ἑλλάδος αὐτοὶ μὲν εἰς τὰς ναῦς ἐμβάντες ἐπʼ Ἀρτεμίσιον ἐβοήθησαν, Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ καὶ τῶν συμμάχων ἔνιοι εἰς Θερμοπύλας ἀπήντησαν, ἡγούμενοι διὰ τὴν στενότητα τῶν χωρίων τὴν πάροδον οἷοί τʼ ἔσεσθαι διαφυλάξαι.
31. The trial came for both at the sane time: the Athenians conquered in the sea-fight, while the Lacedaemonians, showing no failure of spirit, but deceived as to the numbers alike of those whom they expected to mount guard and of those with whom they had to contend, were destroyed, not having been worsted by their adversaries, but slain where they had been stationed for battle.
31. γενομένου δὲ τοῦ κινδύνου κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν ἐνίκων τῇ ναυμαχίᾳ, Λακεδαιμόνιοι δέ, οὐ ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἐνδεεῖς γενόμενοι, ἀλλὰ τοῦ πλήθους ψευσθέντες καὶ οὓς φυλάξειν ᾤοντο καὶ πρὸς οὓς κινδυνεύσειν ἔμελλον, ⟨διεφθάρησαν⟩ οὐχ ἡττηθέντες τῶν ἐναντίων, ἀλλʼ ἀποθανόντες οὗπερ ἐτάχθησαν μάχεσθαι·
32. When in this manner the one side had suffered disaster, and the other had captured the passage, the invaders advanced against this city; while our ancestors, informed of the calamity that had befallen the Lacedaemonians, and perplexed by the difficulties that surrounded them, were aware that, if they marched out to meet the barbarians on land, they would sail against the city with a thousand ships and take it undefended, and if they embarked on their war-vessels they would be reduced by the land army; that they would be unequal to the double strain of repelling the foe and leaving behind a sufficient garrison. So having to choose one of two courses, either to desert their native land or to join the barbarians in enslaving the Greeks, they decided to prefer freedom together with valor and poverty and exile to their country’s servitude in infamy and wealth: they left their city for the sake of Greece, that they might challenge each of the two forces in turn, not both at once.
32. τούτῳ δὲ τῷ τρόπῳ τῶν μὲν δυστυχησάντων, τῶν δὲ τῆς παρόδου κρατησάντων, οἱ μὲν ἐπορεύοντο ἐπὶ τήνδε τὴν πόλιν, οἱ δʼ ἡμέτεροι πρόγονοι πυθόμενοι μὲν τὴν γεγενημένην Λακεδαιμονίοις συμφοράν, ἀποροῦντες δὲ τοῖς περιεστηκόσι πράγμασιν, εἰδότες δʼ ὅτι, εἰ μὲν κατὰ γῆν τοῖς βαρβάροις ἀπαντήσονται, ἐπιπλεύσαντες χιλίαις ναυσὶν ἐρήμην τὴν πόλιν λήψονται, εἰ δὲ εἰς τὰς τριήρεις ἐμβήσονται, ὑπὸ τῆς πεζῆς στρατιᾶς ἁλώσονται, ἀμφότερα δὲ οὐ δυνήσονται, ἀμύνασθαί τε καὶ φυλακὴν ἱκανὴν καταλιπεῖν, δυοῖν δὲ προκειμένοιν, πότερον χρὴ τὴν πατρίδα ἐκλιπεῖν ἢ μετὰ τῶν βαρβάρων γενομένους καταδουλώσασθαι τοὺς Ἕλληνας, ἡγησάμενοι κρεῖττον εἶναι μετʼ ἀρετῆς καὶ πενίας καὶ φυγῆς ἐλευθερίαν ἢ μετʼ ὀνείδους καὶ πλούτου δουλείαν τῆς πατρίδος, ἐξέλιπον ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἑλλάδος τὴν πόλιν, ἵνʼ ἐν μέρει πρὸς ἑκατέραν ἀλλὰ μὴ πρὸς ἀμφοτέρας ἅμα τὰς δυνάμεις κινδυνεύσωσιν·
34. They deposited their children and wives and mothers safe in Salamis, and assembled to their aid the ships of their allies. A few days later both the land army and the fleet of the barbarians appeared; at such a sight, who would not have been afraid of the greatness and terror of the danger that had come upon our city in her struggle for the freedom of Greece?
34. ὑπεκθέμενοι δὲ παῖδας καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ μητέρας εἰς Σαλαμῖνα, συνήθροιζον καὶ τὸ τῶν ἄλλων συμμάχων ναυτικόν. οὐ πολλαῖς δʼ ὕστερον ἡμέραις ἦλθε καὶ ἡ πεζὴ στρατιὰ καὶ τὸ ναυτικὸν τὸ τῶν βαρβάρων, ὃ τίς οὐκ ἂν ἰδὼν ἐφοβήθη, ὡς μέγας καὶ δεινὸς τῇδε τῇ πόλει κίνδυνος ὑπὲρ τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐλευθερίας ἠγωνίσθη;
35. What were the feelings of those who beheld their friends on board those ships, when their own salvation was as doubtful as the approaching contest; or again, of those who were about to do battle at sea for their dearest, for the prizes there in Salamis?
35. ποίαν δὲ γνώμην εἶχον ἢ οἱ θεώμενοι τοὺς ἐν ταῖς ναυσὶν ἐκείναις, οὔσης καὶ τῆς αὑτῶν σωτηρίας ἀπίστου καὶ τοῦ προσιόντος κινδύνου, ἢ οἱ μέλλοντες ναυμαχήσειν ὑπὲρ τῆς φιλότητος, ὑπὲρ τῶν ἄθλων τῶν ἐν Σαλαμῖνι;
36. On every hand they were surrounded by such a multitude of foes that they reckoned it the least of their present troubles to anticipate their own death, but saw the greatest of disasters in the fate that they must expect to be dealt by the barbarians, if successful, to those whom they had transported from the city.
36. οἷς τοσοῦτον πανταχόθεν περιειστήκει πλῆθος πολεμίων, ὥστε ἐλάχιστον μὲν αὐτοῖς εἶναι τῶν παρόντων κακῶν τὸ θάνατον τὸν αὑτῶν προειδέναι, μεγίστην δὲ συμφοράν, ⟨ἃ⟩ ὑπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων εὐτυχησάντων τοὺς ὑπεκτεθέντας ἤλπιζον πείσεσθαι.
37. We may be sure that the perplexity of their case made them often grasp each other by the hand, and with reason bewail their plight; knowing their own ships to be few, and seeing those of the foe to be many; understanding that their city was now deserted, that their land was being ravaged and overrun by the barbarians, that the temples were being burnt, and that horrors of every kind were close upon them. At the same moment they heard mingled battle hymns of Greek and barbarian, exhortations on either side, and shrieks of the perishing: the sea was full of corpses, there was clashing of many wrecks of friends’ and foemen’s vessels, and for a long time the sea-fight was evenly balanced; they seemed at one moment to have conquered and been saved, at another to have been defeated and destroyed.
37. ἦ που διὰ τὴν ὑπάρχουσαν ἀπορίαν πολλάκις μὲν ἐδεξιώσαντο ἀλλήλους, εἰκότως δὲ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ὠλοφύραντο, εἰδότες μὲν τὰς σφετέρας ναῦς ὀλίγας οὔσας, ὁρῶντες δὲ πολλὰς τὰς τῶν πολεμίων, ἐπιστάμενοι δὲ τὴν μὲν πόλιν ἠρημωμένην, τὴν δὲ χώραν πορθουμένην καὶ μεστὴν τῶν βαρβάρων, ἱερῶν δὲ καιομένων, ἁπάντων δʼ ἐγγὺς ὄντων τῶν δεινῶν, ἀκούοντες δʼ ἐν ταὐτῷ συμμεμειγμένου Ἑλληνικοῦ καὶ βαρβαρικοῦ παιῶνος, παρακελευσμοῦ δʼ ἀμφοτέρων καὶ κραυγῆς τῶν διαφθειρομένων, καὶ τῆς θαλάττης μεστῆς τῶν νεκρῶν, καὶ πολλῶν μὲν συμπιπτόντων καὶ φιλίων καὶ πολεμίων ναυαγίων, ἀντιπάλου δὲ πολὺν χρόνον οὔσης τῆς ναυμαχίας δοκοῦντες τοτὲ μὲν νενικηκέναι καὶ σεσῶσθαι, τοτὲ δʼ ἡττῆσθαι καὶ ἀπολωλέναι.