1. Antiphon, the son of Sophilus, by descent a Rhamnusian, was his father’s scholar; for Sophilus kept a rhetoric school, to which it is reported that Alcibiades himself had recourse in his youth. Having attained to competent measure of knowledge and eloquence,—and that, as some believe, from his own natural ingenuity,—he dedicated his study chiefly to affairs of state. And yet he was for some time conversant in the schools, and had a controversy with Socrates the philosopher about the art of disputing,—not so much for the sake of contention as for the profit of arguing, as Xenophon tells us in his Commentaries of Socrates. At the request of some citizens, he wrote orations by which they defended their suits at law. Some say that he was the first that ever did any thing of this nature. For it is certain there is not one juridical oration extant written by any orator that lived before him, nor by his contemporaries either, as Themistocles, Aristides, and Pericles; though the times gave them opportunity, and there was need enough of their labor in such business. Not that we are to impute it to their want of parts that they did nothing in this way, for we may inform ourselves of the contrary from what historians relate of each of them. Besides, if we inspect the most ancient of those known in history who had the same form and method in their pleadings, such as Alcibiades, Critias, Lysias, and Archinous, we shall find that they all followed Antiphon when he was old. For being a man of incomparable sagacity, he was the first that published institutions of oratory; and by reason of his profound learning, he was surnamed Nestor. Caecilius, in a tract which he wrote of him, supposes him to have been Thucydides’s pupil, from what Antiphon delivered in praise of him. He is most accurate in his orations, in invention subtle; and he would frequently baffle his adversary at unawares, by a covert sort of pleading; in troublesome and intricate matters he was very judicious and sharp; and as he was a great admirer of ornamental speaking, he would always adapt his orations to both law and reason. He lived about the time of the Persian war and of Gorgias the rhetorician, being somewhat younger than he. And he lived to see the subversion of the popular government in the commonwealth which was wrought by the four hundred conspirators, in which he himself is thought to have had the chiefest hand, being sometimes commander of two galleys, and sometimes general, and having by the many and great victories he obtained gained them many allies, he armed the young men, manned out sixty galleys, and on all their occasions went ambassador to Lacedaemon at the time when Eetionia was fortified. But when those Four Hundred were overcome and taken down, he with Archeptolemus, who was likewise one of the same number, was accused of the conspiracy, condemned, and sentenced to the punishment due to traitors, his body cast out unburied, and all his posterity infamous on record. But there are some who tell us, that he was put to death by the Thirty Tyrants; and among the rest, Lysias, in his oration for Antiphon’s daughter, says the same; for he left a little daughter, whom Callaeschrus claimed for his wife by the law of propinquity. And Theopompus likewise, in his Fifteenth Book of Philippics, tells us the same thing. But this must have been another Antiphon, son of Lysidonides, whom Cratinus mentions in his Pytine as a rascal. But how could he be executed in the time of the Four Hundred, and afterward live to be put to death by the Thirty Tyrants? There is likewise another story of the manner of his death: that when he was old, he sailed to Syracuse, when the tyranny of Dionysius the First was most famous; and being at table, a question was put, what sort of brass was best. When others had answered as they thought most proper, he replied, That is the best brass, of which the statues of Harmodius and Aristogiton were made. The tyrant hearing this, and taking it as a tacit exhortation to his subjects to contrive his ruin, he commanded Antiphon to be put to death; and some say that he put him to death for deriding his tragedies. This orator is reported to have written sixty orations; but Caecilius supposes twenty-five of them to be spurious and none of his. Plato, in his comedy called Pisander, traduces him as a covetous man. He is reported to have composed some of his tragedies alone, and others with Dionysius the tyrant. While he was poetically inclined, he invented an art of curing the distemper of the mind, as physicians are wont to provide cure of bodily diseases. And having at Corinth built him a little house, in or near the market, he set a postscript over the gate, to this effect: that he had a way to cure the distemper of men’s minds by words; and let him but know the cause of their malady, he would immediately prescribe the remedy, to their comfort. But after some time, thinking that art not worth his while, he betook himself to the study and teaching of oratory. There are some who ascribe the book of Glaucus of Rhegium concerning Poets to him as author. His orations concerning Herodes, against Erasistratus concerning Peacocks, are very much commended, and also that which, when he was accused, he penned for himself against a public indictment, and that against Demosthenes the general for moving an illegal measure. He likewise had another against Hippocrates the general; who did not appear on the day appointed for his trial, and was condemned in his absence. Caecilius has recorded the decree of the senate for the judicial trial of Antiphon, passed in the year in which Theopompus was chief magistrate of Athens, the same in which the Four Hundred were overthrown,—in these words: “Enacted by the senate on the twenty-first day of the prytany. Demonicus of Alopece was clerk; Philostratus of Pallene was president.” “Andron moved in regard to those men,—viz. Archeptolemus, Onomacles, and Antiphon, whom the generals had declared against, for that they went in an embassage to Lacedaemon, to the great damage of the city of Athens, and departed from the camp in an enemies’ ship, and went through Decelea by land,—that they should be apprehended and brought before the court for a legal trial.” “Therefore let the generals, with others of the senate, to the number of ten, whom it shall please the generals to name and choose, look after these men to present them before the court, that they may be present during the proceedings. Then let the Thesmothetes summon the defendants to appear on the morrow, and let them open the proceedings in court at the time at which the summonses shall be returnable. Then let the chosen advocates, with the generals and any others who may have any thing to say, accuse the defendants of treason; and if any one of them shall be found guilty, let sentence be passed upon him as a traitor, according to the law in such case made and provided.” At the bottom of this decree was subscribed the sentence:— “Archeptolemus son of Hippodamus, the Agrylian, and Antiphon son of Sophilus, the Ramnusian, being both present in court, are condemned of treason. And this was to be their punishment: that they should be delivered to the eleven executioners, their goods confiscated, the tenth part of them being first consecrated to Minerva; their houses to be levelled with the ground, and in the places where they stood this subscription to be engraven on brass,’[The houses] of Archeptolemus and Antiphon, traitors.’ … That Archeptolemus and Antiphon should neither of them be buried in Athens, nor anywhere else under that government. And besides all this, that their posterity should be accounted infamous, bastards as well as their lawful progeny; and he too should be held infamous who should adopt any one of their progeny for his son. And that all this should be engrossed and engraven on a brass column, and that column should be placed where that stands on which is engraven the decree concerning Phrynichus.”
1. Ἀντιφῶν Σοφίλου μὲν ἧν πατρὸς τῶν δὲ δήμων ʽπαμνούσιος· μαθητεύσοις δὲ τῷ πατρὶ ʽἦν γὰρ σοφιστῆς, ᾧ καὶ Ἀλκιβιάδην φασὶν ἑτι παῖδα ὄντα φοιτῆσαἰ καὶ δύναμιν λόγων κτησάμενος, ὥς τινες νομίζουσιν, ἀπʼ οἰκείας φύσεως, ὥρμησε μὲν πολιτεύεσθαι· διατριβὴν δὲ συνέστησε καὶ Σωκράτει τῷ φιλοσόφῳ διεφέρετο τὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν λόγων διαφορὰν οὐ φιλονείκως ἀλλʼ ἐλεγκτικῶς, ὡς Ξενοφῶν ἱστόρηκεν ἐν τοῖς Ἀπομνημονεύμασι. καί τινας λόγους τοῖς δεομένοις τῶν πολιτῶν συνέγραφεν εἰς τοὺς ἐν τοῖς δικαστηρίοις ἀγῶνας πρῶτος ἐπὶ τοῦτο τραπείς, ὥσπερ τινές φασι τῶν γοῦν πρὸ αὐτοῦ γενομένων οὐδενὸς φέρεται δικανικὸς λόγος, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ τῶν κατʼ αὐτόν, διὰ τὸ μηδέπω ἐν ἔθει τοῦ συγγράφειν εἶναι, οὐ Θεμιστοκλέους οὐκ Ἀριστείδου οὐ Περικλέους, καίτοι πολλὰς ἀφορμὰς καὶ ἀνάγκας παρασχόντων αὐτοῖς τῶν καιρῶν καὶ γὰρ οὐ διʼ ἀσθένειαν ἀπελείποντο τοῦ συγγράφειν, ὡς δῆλον ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων παρὰ τοῖς συγγραφεῦσι περὶ ἑνὸς Χ ορατορυμ Ωιταε. ἑκάστου τῶν· προειρημένων ἀνδρῶν. ὅσους μέντοι ἔχομεν ἐπὶ τὸ παλαιότατον ἀναφέροντες ἀπομνημονεῦσαι τὴν ἰδέαν τῶν λόγων ταύτην μεταχειρισαμένους, τούτους εὕροι τις ἂν ἐπιβεβληκότας Ἀντιφῶντι, πρεσβύτῃ ἤδη ὄντι, οἷον Ἀλκιβιάδην, Κριτίαν, Λυσίαν, Ἀρχῖνον. πρῶτος δὲ καὶ ῥητορικὰς τέχνας ἐξήνεγκε, γενόμενος ἀγχίνους· διὸ καὶ Νέστωρ ἐπεκαλεῖτο. Καικίλιος δʼ ἐν τῷ περὶ αὐτοῦ συντάγματι Θουκυδίδου τοῦ συγγραφέως καθηγητὴν τεκμαίρεται γεγονέναι ἐξ ὧν ἐπαινεῖται παρʼ αὐτῷ ὁ Ἀντιφῶν. ἔστι δʼ ἐν τοῖς· λόγοις ἀκριβὴς καὶ πιθανὸς καὶ δεινὸς περὶ τὴν εὕρεσιν καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀπόροις τεχνικὸς καὶ ἐπιχειρῶν ἐξ ἀδήλου καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς νόμους καὶ τὰ πάθη τρέπων τοὺς λόγους τοῦ εὐπρεποῦς μάλιστα στοχαζόμενος. γέγονε δὲ κατὰ τὰ Περσικὰ καὶ Γοργίαν τὸν σοφιστήν, ὀλίγῳ νεώτερος αὐτοῦ· καὶ παρατέτακεν ἕως καταλύσεως τῆς δημοκρατίας ὑπὸ τῶν τετρακοσίων. γενομένης, ἣν αὐτὸς δοκεῖ συγκατασκευάσαι, ὁτὲ μὲν δυσὶ τριηραρχῶν ναυσὶν ὁτὲ δὲ στρατηγῶν, καὶ πολλαῖς μάχαις νικῶν, καὶ συμμαχίας μεγάλας αὐτοῖς προσαγόμενος, καὶ τοὺς ἀκμάζοντας ὁπλίζων, καὶ τριήρεις πληρῶν ἑξήκοντα, καὶ πρεσβεύων δʼ ἑκάστοτε ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν εἰς Λακεδαίμονα, ἡνίκα ἐτετείχιστο Ἠετιώνεια. μετὰ δὲ τὴν σε κατάλυσιν τῶν τετρακοσίων εἰσαγγελθεὶς σὺν Ἀρχεπτολέμῳ ἑνὶ τῶν τετρακοσίων, ἑάλω, καὶ τοῖς περὶ τῶν προδοτῶν ἐπιτιμίοις ὑπαχθεὶς ἄταφος ἐρρίφη καὶ σὺν τοῖς ἐκγόνοις ἄτιμος ἀνεγράφη. οἱ δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν τριάκοντα ἀνῃρῆσθαι αὐτὸν ἱστοροῦσιν, ὥσπερ Λυσίας ἐν τῷ ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἀντιφῶντος θυγατρὸς λόγῳ· ἐγένετο γὰρ αὐτῷ θυγάτριον, οὗ Κάλλαισχρος ἐπεδικάσατο. ὅτι δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν τριάκοντα ἀπέθανεν, ἱστορεῖ καὶ Θεόπομπος ἐν τῇ πεντεκαιδεκάτῃ τῶν Φιλιππικῶν ἀλλʼ οὗτός γʼ ἂν εἴη ἕτερος, Λυσιδωνίδου πατρός,· οὗ καὶ Κρατῖνος ἐν Πυτίνῃ ὡς πονηροῦ μνημονεύει· πῶς γὰρ ἂν ὁ προτεθνεὼς καὶ ἀναιρεθεὶς ἐπὶ τῶν τετρακοσίων πάλιν ἐπὶ τῶν τριάκοντα εἴη; ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλος λόγος περὶ τῆς τελευτῆς αὐτοῦ. πρεσβευτὴν γὰρ ὄντα αὐτὸν εἰς Συρακούσας πλεῦσαι, ἡνίκα ἢκμαζεν ἡ τοῦ προτέρου Διονυσίου τυραννίς· γενομένης δὲ παρὰ πότον ζητήσεως, τίς ἄριστός; ἐστι χαλκός, καὶ τῶν πολλῶν διαφερομένων, αὐτὸν εἰπεῖν ἄριστον εἶναι ἐξ οὗ Ἁρμόδιος καὶ Ἀριστογείτων πεποίηνται· τοῦτο δʼ ἀκούσαντα τὸν Διονύσιον καὶ ὑπονοήσαντα προτροπὴν εἰς ἐπίθεσιν εἶναι τὸ ῥηθὲν προστάξαι ἀναιρεθῆναι αὐτόν οἱ δέ, ὅτι τὰς τραγῳδίας αὐτοῦ διέσυρε, χαλεπήναντα. φέρονται δὲ τοῦ ῥήτορος λόγοι ἑξήκοντα; ὧν κατεψευσμένους; φησὶ Καικίλιος εἶναι τοὺς εἰκοσιπέντε. κεκωμῴδηται δʼ εἰς φιλαργυρίαν ὑπὸ Πλάτωνος ἐν Πεισάνδρῳ. λέγεται δὲ τραγῳδίας συνθεῖναι καὶ ἰδίᾳ καὶ σὺν Διονυσίῳ τῷ τυράννῳ. ἔτι δʼ ὢν πρὸς τῇ ποιήσει τέχνην ἀλυπίας συνεστήσατο, ὥσπερ τοῖς νοσοῦσιν ἡ παρὰ τῶν ἰατρῶν θεραπεία ὑπάρχει· ἐν Κορίνθῳ τε κατεσκευασμένος οἴκημά τι παρὰ τὴν ἀγορὰν προέγραψεν, ὅτι δύναται τοὺς λυπουμένους διὰ λόγων θεραπεύειν καὶ πυνθανόμενος τὰς αἰτίας παρεμυθεῖτο τοὺς κάμνοντας. νομίζων δὲ τὴν τέχνην ἐλάττω ἢ καθʼ αὑτὸν εἶναι ἐπὶ ῥητορικὴν ἀπετράπη. εἰσὶ δʼ οἳ καὶ τὸ Γλαύκου τοῦ Ῥηγίνου περὶ ποιητῶν βιβλίον εἰς Ἀντιφῶντα ἀναφέρουσιν. ἐπαινεῖται δʼ αὐτοῦ μάλιστα ὁ περὶ Ἡρώδου, καὶ ὁ πρὸς Ἐρασίστρατον περὶ. τῶν ταῶν, καὶ ὁ περὶ τῆς εἰσαγγελίας, ὃν ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοῦ γέγραφε, καὶ ὁ πρὸς Δημοσθένη τὸν στρατηγὸν παρανόμων. ἔγραψε δὲ καὶ κατὰ Ἱπποκράτους; τοῦ στρατηγοῦ λόγον καὶ εἷλεν αὐτὸν ἐξ ἐρήμου. ψήφισμα ἐπὶ Θεοπόμπου ἄρχοντος, ἐφʼ οὗ οἱ τετρακόσιοι κατελύθησαν, καθʼ ὃ ἔδοξεν Ἀντιφῶντα κριθῆναι, ὃ Καικίλιος παρατέθειται. ἔδοξε τῇ βουλῇ μιᾷ καὶ εἰκοστῇ τῆς πρυτανείας· Δημόνικος Ἀλωπεκῆθεν Φιλόστρατος, Φιλόστρατοιε Παλληνεὺς ἐπεστάτει· Ἄνδρων εἶπε περὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν, οὓς ἀποφαίνουσιν οἱ στρατηγοὶ πρεσβευομένους εἰς Λακεδαίμονα ἐπὶ κακῷ τῆς πόλεως τῆς Ἀθηναίων, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ στρατοπέδου πλεῖν ἐπὶ πολεμίας νεὼς καὶ πεζεῦσαι διὰ Δεκελείας, Ἀρχεπτόλεμον καὶ Ὀνομακλέα καὶ Ἀντιφῶντα συλλαβεῖν καὶ ἀποδοῦναι εἰς τὸ δικαστήριον, ὅπως δῶσι δίκην παρασχόντων δʼ αὐτοὺς οἱ στρατηγοί, καὶ ἐκ τῆς βουλῆς οὕστινας ἂν δοκῇ τοῖς στρατηγοῖς, προσελομένοις μέχρι δέκα, ὅπως ἂν περὶ παρόντων γένηται ἡ κρίσις. προσκαλεσάσθωσαν δʼ αὐτοὺς οἱ θεσμοθέται ἐν τῇ αὔριον ἡμέρᾳ καὶ εἰσαγόντων, ἐπειδὰν αἱ κλήσεις ἐξήκωσιν εἰς τὸ δικαστήριον, περὶ προδοσίας κατηγορεῖν τοὺς ᾑρημένους συνηγόρους καὶ τοὺς στρατηγοὺς καὶ ἄλλους, ἄν τις βούληται· ὅτου δʼ ἂν καταψηφίσηται τὸ δικαστήριον, περὶ αὐτοῦ ποιεῖν κατὰ τὸν νόμον, ὃς κεῖται περὶ τῶν προδόντων. Τούτῳ ὑπογέγραπται τῷ δόγματι ἡ καταδίκη. προδοσίας ὦφλον Ἀρχεπτόλεμος Ἱπποδάμου Ἀγρύληθεν παρών, Ἀντιφῶν Σοφίλου Ῥαμνούσιος· παρών τούτοιν· ἐτιμήθη τοῖς, ἕνδεκα παραδοθῆναι καὶ τὰ χρήματα δημόσια εἶναι καὶ τῆς θεοῦ τὸ ἐπιδέκατον, καὶ τὼ οἰκία κατασκάψαι αὐτῶν καὶ ὅρους θεῖναι τοῖν οἰκοπέδοιν, ἐπιγράψαντας ΑΡΧΕΠΤΟΛΕΜΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΑΝΤΙΦΩΝΤΟΣ ΤΟΙΝ ΠΡΟΔΟΝΤΟΙΝ. τὼ δὲ δημάρχω ἀποφῆναι τὴν οὐσίαν αὐτοῖν καὶ μὴ ἐξεῖναι θάψαι Ἀρχεπτόλεμον καὶ Ἀντιφῶντα Ἀθήνησι, μηδʼ ὅσης Ἀθηναῖοι κρατοῦσι· καὶ ἄτιμον εἶναι Ἀρχεπτόλεμον καὶ Ἀντιφῶντα καὶ γένος τὸ ἐκ τούτοιν, καὶ νόθους καὶ γνησίους καὶ ἐάν τις ποιήσηταί τινα τῶν ἐξ Ἀρχεπτολέμου καὶ Ἀντιφῶντος, ἄτιμος ἔστω ὁ ποιησάμενος. ταῦτα δὲ γράψαι ἐν στήλῃ χαλκῇ· καὶ ᾗπερ ἀνάκειται τὰ ψηφίσματα τὰ περὶ Φρυνίχου, καὶ τοῦτο θέσθαι.
2. ANDOCIDES, the son of Leogoras, [and grandson of that Andocides] who once made a peace between the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians, by descent a Cydathenian or Thorian, of a noble family, and, as Hellanicus tells us, the offspring of Mercury himself, for the race of Heralds belongs to him. On this account he was chosen by the people to go with Glaucon, with twenty sail of ships, to aid the Corcyraeans against the Corinthians. But in process of time he was accused of some notorious acts of impiety, as that he was of the number of those who defaced the statues of Mercury and divulged the sacred mysteries of Ceres. And withal, he had been before this time wild and intemperate, and had once been seen in the night in masquerade to break one of the statues of Mercury; and when on his trial he refused to bring his servant to examination whom his accusers named, he not only remained under this reproach, but was also on this account very much suspected to be guilty of the second crime too. This later action was laid to his charge soon after the expedition of the navy sent by the Athenians into Sicily. For, as Cratippus informs us, when the Corinthians sent the Leontines and Egestians to the Athenians, who hesitated to lend them assistance, they in the night defaced and brake all the statues of Mercury which were erected in the market. To which offence Andocides added another, that of divulging the mysteries of Ceres. He was brought to his trial, but was acquitted on condition he would discover who were companions with him in the crime. In which affair being very diligent, he found out who they were that had been guilty, and among the rest he discovered his own father. He proved all guilty, and caused them all to be put to death except his father, whom he saved, though in prison, by a promise of some eminent service he would do to the commonwealth. Nor did he fail of what he promised; for Leogoras accused many who had acted in several matters against the interest of the commonwealth, and for this was acquitted of his own crime. Now, though Andocides was very much esteemed of for his skill in the management of the affairs of the commonwealth, yet his inclinations led him rather to traffic by sea; and by this means he contracted friendship with the kings of Cyprus and other great princes. At which time he privily stole a damsel of the city, the daughter of Aristides, and his own niece, and sent her as a present to the king of Cyprus. But suspecting he should be called in question for it, he again stole her from Cyprus, for which the king of Cyprus took him and clapped him up in prison; whence he brake loose, and returned to Athens, just at that time when the four hundred conspirators had usurped the government. By whom being confined, he again escaped when the oligarchical government was broken up … But when the Thirty Tyrants were uppermost, he withdrew to Elis, and there lived till Thrasybulus and his faction returned into the city, and then he also repaired thither. And after some time, being sent to Lacedaemon to conciliate a peace, he was again suspected to be faulty, and on that suspicion banished. He himself has given an account of all these transactions, in his orations, which he has left behind him. For some of them contain his defence of himself in regard to the mysteries; others his petition for restoration from exile; there is one extant on Endeixis (or information laid against a criminal); also a defence against Phaeax, and one on the peace. He flourished at the same time with Socrates the philosopher. He was born in the seventy-eighth Olympiad, when Theogenides was chief magistrate of Athens, so that he should seem to be about ten years before Lysias. There is an image of Mercury, called from his name, being given by the tribe Aegeis; and it stood near the house where Andocides dwelt, and was therefore called by his name. This Andocides himself was at the charge of a cyclic chorus for the tribe Aegeis, at the performance of a dithyrambus. And having gained a victory, he erected a tripod on an ascent opposite to the tuffstone statue of Silenus. His style in his orations is plain and easy, without the least affectation or any thing of a figurative ornament.
2. Ἀνδοκίδης Λεωγόρου μὲν ἦν πατρὸς τοῦ Ἀνδοκίδου τοῦ θεμένου ποτὲ πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους εἰρήνην; νην Ἀθηναίοις, τῶν δήμων δὲ Κυδαθήναιος ἢ Θορεύς, γένους εὐπατριδῶν, ὡς δʼ Ἑλλάνικος καὶ ἀπὸ Ἑρμοῦ· καθήκει γὰρ εἰς αὐτὸν τὸ κηρύκων γένος· διὸ καὶ προεχειρίσθη ποτὲ μετὰ Γλαύκωνος σὺν ναυσὶν εἴκοσι Κερκυραίοις βοηθήσων, διαφερομένοις πρὸς Κορινθίους. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα αἰτιαθεὶς ἀσεβεῖν ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς τοὺς Ἑρμᾶς περικόψας καὶ εἰς τὰ τῆς Δήμητρος ἁμαρτὼν μυστήρια, κριθεὶς ἐπὶ τούτοις ἀπέφυγεν ἐπὶ τῷ μηνύσειν τοὺς ἀδικοῦντας σπουδὴν δὲ πᾶσαν εἰσενεγκάμενος ἐξεῦρε τοὺς περὶ τὰ ἱερὰ ἁμαρτόντας, ἐν οἷς καὶ τὸν αὑτοῦ πατέρα ἐμήνυσε. καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους πάντας ἐλέγξας ἐποίησεν ἀπολέσθαι τὸν δὲ πατέρα ἐρρύσατο, καίτοι δεδεμένον ἤδη, ὑποσχόμενος πολλὰ λυσιτελήσειν αὐτὸν τῇ πόλει· καὶ οὐκ ἐψεύσατο· ἤλεγξε γὰρ ὁ Λεωγόρας πολλοὺς δημόσια χρήματα σφετεριζομένους καὶ ἄλλα τινὰ ἀδικοῦντας. καὶ διὰ μὲν ταῦτα ἀφείθη τῆς· αἰτίας· οὐκ εὐδοκιμῶν δʼ ὁ· Ἀνδοκίδης ἐπὶ τοῖς πολιτευομένοις ἐπέθετο ναυκληρίᾳ,καὶ τοῖς τε Κυπρίων βασιλεῦσι καὶ πολλοῖς ἄλλοις δοκίμοις ἐπεξενώθη ὅτε καὶ μίαν τῶν πολιτίδων, Ἀριστείδου θυγατέρα, ἀνεψιὰν οὖσαν αὐτῷ, λάθρα τῶν οἰκείων ἐξαγαγὼν ἔπεμψε δῶρον τῷ Κυπρίων βασιλεῖ. μέλλων δʼ ἐπὶ τούτοις εἰς δικαστήριον εἰσάγεσθαι πάλιν αὐτὴν ἐξέκλεψεν ἀπὸ τῆς Κύπρου, καὶ ληφθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐδέθη· διαδρὰς δʼ ἧκεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, καθʼ ὃν χρόνον οἱ τετρακόσιοι διεῖπον τὰ πράγματα· δεθεὶς δʼ ὑπὸ τούτων καὶ διαφυγών, αὖθις ὁπότε κατελύθη ἡ ὀλιγαρχία, … ἐξέπεσε τῆς πόλεως, τῶν τριάκοντα τὴν ἀρχὴν παραλαβόντων. οἰκήσας δὲ τὸν τῆς φυγῆς χρόνον ἐν Ἤλιδι, κατελθόντων τῶν περὶ Θρασύβουλον, καὶ αὐτὸς ἧκεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν. πεμφθεὶς δὲ περὶ τῆς εἰρήνης εἰς Λακεδαίμονα καὶ δόξας ἀδικεῖν ἔφυγε. δηλοῖ δὲ περὶ πάντων ἐν τοῖς λόγοις οἷς συγγέγραφεν· οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀπολογουμένου περὶ τῶν μυστηρίων εἰσίν, οἱ δὲ καθόδου δεομένου. σῴζεται δʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ ὁ περὶ τῆς ἐνδείξεως λόγος καὶ Ἀπολογία πρὸς Φαίακα καὶ περὶ τῆς εἰρήνης. καὶ ἤκμακε μὲν κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον ἅμα Σωκράτει τῷ φιλοσόφῳ· ἀρχὴ δʼ αὐτῷ τῆς γενέσεως ὀλυμπιὰς μὲν ἑβδομηκοστὴ ὀγδόη, ἄρχων δʼ Ἀθήνησι Θεογενίδης· ὥστʼ εἶναι πρεσβύτερον αὐτὸν Λυσίου ἔτεσί που ἑκατόν. τούτου δʼ ἐπώνυμός ἐστι καὶ Ἑρμῆς ὁ Ἀνδοκίδου καλούμενος, ἀνάθημα μὲν ὢν φυλῆς Αἰγηίδος, ἐπικληθεὶς δʼ Ἀνδοκίδου διὰ τὸ πλησίον παροικῆσαι τὸν Ἀνδοκίδην. καὶ αὐτὸς δʼ ἐχορήγησε κυκλίῳ χορῷ τῇ αὑτοῦ φυλῇ ἀγωνιζομένῃ διθυράμβῳ, καὶ νικήσας ἀνέθηκε τρίποδα ἐφʼ ὑψηλοῦ ἀντικρὺ τοῦ πωρίνου Σειληνοῦ. ἔστι δʼ ἁπλοῦς καὶ ἀκατάσκευος ἐν τοῖς λόγοις, ἀφελής τε καὶ ἀσχημάτιστος.
3. LYSIAS was the son of Cephalus, grandson of Lysanias, and great-grandson of Cephalus. His father was by birth a Syracusan; but partly for the love he had to the city, and partly in condescension to the persuasions of Pericles the son of Xanthippus, who entertained him as his friend and guest, he went to live at Athens, being a man of great wealth. Some say that he was banished Syracuse when the city was under the tyranny of Gelo. Lysias was born at Athens when Philocles, the successor of Phrasicles, was chief magistrate, in the second year of the eightieth Olympiad. At his first coming, he was educated among the most noble of the Athenians. But when the city sent a colony to Sybaris, which was afterwards called Thurii, he went thither with his other brother Polemarchus, his father being now dead (for he had two other brothers, Euthydemus and Brachyllus), that he might receive his portion of his father’s estate. This was done in the fifteenth year of his age, when Praxiteles was chief magistrate. There then he stayed, and was brought up under Nicias and Tisias, both Syracusans. And having purchased a house and received his estate, he lived as a citizen for thirty-three years, till the year of Cleocritus. In the year following, in the time of Callias, viz. in the ninety-second Olympiad, when the Athenians had met with their disasters in Sicily, and when other of their allies revolted, and especially the Italians, he, being accused of favoring the Athenians, was banished with three other of his association; when coming to Athens, in the year wherein Callias succeeded Cleocritus, the city then laboring under the tyranny of the four hundred conspirators, he there sat down. But after the fight at Aegospotami, when the Thirty Tyrants had usurped the government, he was banished thence, after he had remained in Athens seven years. His goods were confiscated; and having likewise lost his brother Polemarchus, he himself escaped by a back door of the house in which he was kept for execution, fled to Megara and there lived. But when the citizens endeavored to return from Phyle, he also behaved himself very well, and appeared very active in the affair, having, to forward this great enterprise, deposited two thousand drachms of silver and two hundred targets, and being commissioned with Hermas, he maintained three hundred men in arms, and prevailed with Thrasylaeus the Elean, his old friend and host, to contribute two talents. Upon entering the city, Thrasybulus proposed that, for a consideration of his good service to the public, he should receive the rights of citizenship: this was during the so called time of anarchy before Euclides. Which proposal being ratified by the people, Archinus objected that it was against the laws, and a decree without authority of the senate. The decree was thereupon declared void, and Lysias lost his citizenship. He led the remainder of his life in the rank of an Isoteles (or citizen who had no right to vote or hold office), and died at last at Athens, being fourscore and three years old, or as some would have it, seventy-six; and others again say, that he lived above fourscore years, till after the birth of Demosthenes. It is supposed he was born in the year of Philocles. There are four hundred and twenty-five orations which bear his name, of which Dionysius and Caecilius affirm only two hundred and thirty to be genuine, and he is said to have been overcome but twice in all. There is extant also the oration which he made in defence of the fore-mentioned decree against Archinus, who indicted it and thereby prevented Lysias from receiving the citizenship, as also another against the Thirty Tyrants. He was very cogent in his persuasions, and was always very brief in what he delivered. He would commonly give orations to private persons. There are likewise his institutions of oratory, his public harangues, his epistles, his eulogies, funeral orations, discourses of love, and his defence of Socrates, accommodated to the minds of the judges. His style seems plain and easy, though hardly imitable. Demosthenes, in his oration against Neaera, says that he was in love with one Metanira, Neaera’s serving-maid, but afterwards married his brother Brachyllus’s daughter. Plato in his Phaedrus makes mention of him, as a most eloquent orator and ancienter than Isocrates. Philiscus, his companion, and Isocrates’s votary, composed an epigram concerning him, whence the same that we have urged from Plato is deducible; and it sings to this effect:Calliope’s witty daughter, Phrontis, showIf aught of wit or eloquence thou hast;For ’tis decreed that thou shalt bear a son,Lysias by name, to spread the name of himWhose great and generous acts do fill the world,And are received for glorious above.Let him who sings those praises of the dead,Let him, my friend, too, praise our amity. He likewise wrote two orations for Iphicrates,—one against Harmodius, and another accusing Timotheus of treason,—in both which he overcame. But when Iphicrates made himself responsible for Timotheus’s actions, and would purge himself of the allegation of treason made also against him, Lysias wrote an oration for him to deliver in his defence; upon which he was acquitted, but Timotheus was fined in a considerable sum of money. He likewise delivered an oration at the Olympic games, in which he endeavored to convince the Greeks of how great advantage it would be to them, if they could but unanimously join to pull down the tyrant Dionysius.
3. Λυσίας υἱὸς ἦν Κεφάλου τοῦ Λυσανίου τοῦ Κεφάλου, Συρακουσίου μὲν γένος μεταναστάντος δʼ εἰς Ἀθήνας ἐπιθυμίᾳ τε τῆς πόλεως καὶ Περικλέους τοῦ Ξανθίππου πείσαντος αὐτόν, φίλον ὄντα καὶ ξένον, πλούτῳ διαφέροντα· ὡς δέ τινες, ἐκπεσόντα τῶν Συρακουσῶν, ἡνίκα, ὑπὸ Γέλωνος ἐτυραννοῦντο. γενόμενος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν ἐπὶ Φιλοκλέους ἄρχοντος τοῦ μετὰ Φρασικλῆ κατὰ τὸ δεύτερον ἔτος τῆς ὀγδοηκοστῆς ὀλυμπιάδος, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον συνεπαιδεύετο τοῖς ἐπιφανεστάτοις Ἀθηναίων· ἐπεὶ δὲ τὴν εἰς Σύβαριν· ἀποικίαν τὴν ὕστερον Θουρίους μετονομασθεῖσαν ἔστελλεν ἡ πόλις, ᾤχετο σὺν τῷ πρεσβυτάτῳ ἀδελφῶν Πολεμάρχῳ (ἦσαν γὰρ αὐτῷ καὶ ἄλλοι δύο, Εὐθύδημος καὶ Βράχυλλος), τοῦ πατρὸς ἤδη τετελευτηκότος, ὡς κοινωνήσων τοῦ κλήρου, ἔτη γεγονὼς πεντεκαίδεκα, ἐπὶ Πραξιτέλους ἄρχοντος κἀκεῖ διέμεινε παιδευόμενος παρὰ Τισίᾳ καὶ Νικίᾳ τοῖς Συρακουσίοις, κτησάμενὸς τʼ οἰκίαν καὶ κλήρου τυχὼν ἐπολιτεύσατο ἕως Κλεάρχου τοῦ Ἀθήνησιν ἄρχοντος ἔτη ἑξήκοντα τρία. τῷ δʼ ἑξῆς Καλλίᾳ ὀλυμπιάδι ἐνενηκοστῇ δευτέρᾳ τῶν κατὰ Σικελίαν συμβάντων Ἀθηναίοις καὶ κινήσεως γενομένης τῶν τʼ ἄλλων συμμάχων καὶ μάλιστα τῶν τὴν Ἰταλίαν οἰκούντων, αἰτιαθεὶς ἀττικίζειν ἐξέπεσε μετʼ ἄλλων τριακοσίων. παραγενόμενος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν ἐπὶ Καλλίου τοῦ μετὰ Κλεόκριτον ἄρχοντος, ἤδη τῶν τετρακοσίων κατεχόντων τὴν πόλιν, διέτριβεν αὐτόθι. τῆς δʼ ἐν Αἰγὸς ποταμοῖς ναυμαχίας γενομένης καὶ τῶν τριάκοντα παραλαβόντων τὴν πόλιν, ἐξέπεσεν ἑπτὰ ἔτη μείνας, ἀφαιρεθεὶς τὴν οὐσίαν καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν Πολέμαρχον· αὐτὸς δὲ διαδρὰς ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας ἀμφιθύρου οὔσης, ἐν ᾗ ἐφυλάσσετο ὡς ἀπολούμενος, διῆγεν ἐν Μεγάροις. ἐπιθεμένων δὲ τῶν ἀπὸ Φυλῆς τῇ καθόδῳ, ἐπεὶ χρησιμώτατος ἁπάντων ὤφθη, χρήματά τε παρασχὼν δραχμὰς δισχιλίας καὶ ἀσπίδας διακοσίας πεμφθείς τε σὺν Ἑρμᾶνι ἐπικούρους ἐμισθώσατο τριακοσίους, δύο τʼ ἔπεισε τάλαντα δοῦναι Θρασυδαῖον τὸν Ἠλεῖον, ξένον αὐτῷ γεγονότα. ἐφʼ οἷς γράψαντος αὐτῷ Θρασυβούλου πολιτείαν μετὰ τὴν κάθοδον ἐπʼ ἀναρχίας τῆς πρὸ Εὐκλείδου, ὁ μὲν δῆμος ἐκύρωσε τὴν δωρεάν, ἀπενεγκαμένου δʼ Ἀρχίνου γραφὴν παρανόμων διὰ τὸ ἀπροβούλευτον εἰσαχθῆναι, ἑάλω τὸ ψήφισμα· καὶ οὕτως ἀπελαθεὶς τῆς πολιτείας τὸν. λοιπὸν ᾤκησε χρόνον ἰσοτελὴς ὤν, καὶ ἐτελεύτησεν αὐτόθι ὀγδοήκοντα τρία ἔτη βιούς, ἢ ὥς τινες ἓξ καὶ ἑβδομήκοντα, ἢ ὥς τινες ὑπὲρ ὀγδοήκοντα, ἰδὼν Δημοσθένη μειράκιον ὄντα. γεννηθῆναι δέ φασιν ἐπὶ Φιλοκλέους ἄρχοντος. φέρονται δʼ αὐτοῦ λόγοι τετρακόσιοι εἰκοσιπέντε· τούτων γνησίους φασὶν οἱ περὶ Διονύσιον καὶ Καικίλιον εἶναι διακοσίους τριάκοντα καὶ τρεῖς, ἐν οἷς δὶς μόνον ἡττῆσθαι λέγεται. ἔστι δʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ ὁ ὑπὲρ τοῦ ψηφίσματος ὃ ἐγράψατο Ἀρχῖνος, τὴν πολιτείαν αὐτοῦ περιελών, καὶ κατὰ τῶν τριάκοντα ἕτερος. ἐγένετο δὲ πιθανώτατος καὶ βραχύτατος, τοῖς ἰδιώταις τοὺς πολλοὺς λόγους ἐκδούς. εἰσὶ δʼ αὐτῷ καί τέχναι ῥητορικαὶ πεποιημέναι καὶ δημηγορίαι, Ἐπιστολαί τε καὶ ἐγκώμια, καὶ ἐπιτάφιοι καὶ Ἐρωτικοὶ καὶ Σωκράτους Ἀπολογία ἐστοχασμένη τῶν δικαστῶν. δοκεῖ δὲ κατὰ τὴν λέξιν εὔκολος εἶναι, δυσμίμητος ὤν. Δημοσθένης δʼ ἐν τῷ κατὰ Νεαίρας λόγῳ ἐραστὴν αὐτόν φησι γεγονέναι Μετανείρας, ὁμοδούλου τῇ Νεαίρᾳ· ὕστερον δʼ ἔγημε Βραχύλλου τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ θυγατέρα. μνημονεύει δʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ Πλάτων ἐν τῷ Φαίδρῳ ὡς δεινοτάτου εἰπεῖν καὶ Ἰσοκράτους πρεσβυτέρου. ἐποίησε δὲ καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν ἐπίγραμμα Φιλίσκος ὁ Ἰσοκράτους μὲν γνώριμος ἑταῖρος δὲ Λυσίου, διʼ οὗ φανερὸν ὡς προέλαβε τοῖς ἔτεσιν, ὃ καὶ ἐκ τῶν. ὑπὸ Πλάτωνος εἰρημένων ἀποδείκνυται ἔχει δ’ οὕτωςνῦν ὦ. Καλλιόπης θύγατερ, πολυήγορε Φρόντι,δείξεις εἴ τι φρονεῖς καί τι περισσὸν ἔχειςτὸν γὰρ ἐς ἄλλο σχῆμα μεθαρμοσθέντα καὶ ἄλλοιςἐν κόσμοισι βίου σῶμα λαβόνθʼ ἕτερον,δεῖ ς1ʼ ἀρετῆς κήρυκα τεκεῖν τινα Λύσιδα ὑμνεῖν,δύντα κατὰ φθιμένων καὶ ζόφου ἀθάνατονὃς τὸ τʼ ἐμῆς ψυχῆς δείξει φιλέταιρον ἅπασι,καὶ τὴν τοῦ φθιμένου πᾶσι βροτοῖς ἀρετήνσυνέγραψε δὲ λόγω καὶ Ἰφικράτει, τὸν μὲν πρὸς Ἁρμόδιον, τὸν δὲ προδοσίας κρίνοντι Τιμόθεον καὶ ἀμφοτέροις ἐνίκα· ἀναδεξαμένου δʼ Ἰφικράτους τὰς τοῦ Τιμοθέου πράξεις, ταῖς εὐθύναις ἀναλαβὼν τὴν τῆς προδοσίας αἰτίαν ἀπολογεῖται διὰ τοῦ Λυσίου λόγου· καὶ αὐτὸς μὲν ἀπελύθη, ὁ δὲ Τιμόθεος ἐζημιώθη πλείστοις χρήμασιν. ἀνέγνω δὲ καὶ ἐν τῇ Ὀλυμπιακῇ πανηγύρει λόγον μέγιστον, διαλλαγέντας τοὺς Ἕλληνας καταλῦσαι Διονύσιον.
4. ISOCRATES was the son of Theodorus, of Erchia, reckoned among the middle class of citizens, and a man who kept servants under him to make flutes, by which he got so much money as enabled him not only to bring up his children after the most genteel manner, but likewise to maintain a choir. For besides Isocrates, he had other sons, Telesippus and Diomnestus, and one daughter. And hence, we may suppose, those two comical poets, Aristophanes and Stratis, took occasion to bring him on the stage. He was born in the eighty-sixth Olympiad, Lysimachus being archon, about two and twenty years after Lysias, and seven before Plato. When he was a boy, he was as well educated as any of the Athenian children, being under the tuition of Prodicus the Cean, Gorgias the Leontine, Tisias the Syracusan, and Theramenes the rhetorician. And when Theramenes was to be apprehended by the order of the Thirty Tyrants, and flying for succor to the altar of the senate, only Isocrates stood his friend, when all others were struck with terror. For a long time he stood silent; but after some time Theramenes advised him to desist, because, he told him, it would be an aggravation of his grief, if any of his friends should come into trouble through him. And it is said that he made use of certain institutions of rhetoric composed by Theramenes, when he was slandered in court; which institutions have since borne Boton’s name.
4. Ἰσοκράτης Θεοδώρου μὲν ἦν παῖς τοῦ Ἐρχιέως τῶν μετρίων πολιτῶν, θεράποντας αὐλοποιοὺς κεκτημένου καὶ εὐπορήσαντος ἀπὸ τούτων, ὡς καὶ χορηγῆσαι καὶ παιδεῦσαι τοὺς υἱούς· ἦσαν γὰρ αὐτῷ καὶ ἄλλοι, Τελέσιππος καὶ Διόμνηστος· ἦν δὲ καὶ θυγάτριον· ὅθεν εἰς τοὺς αὐλοὺς κεκωμῴδηται ὑπʼ Ἀριστοφάνους καὶ Στράττιδος. γενόμενος δὲ κατὰ τὴν ὀγδοηκοστὴν ἕκτην ὀλυμπιάδα Λυσιμάχου Μυρρινουσίου ἄρχοντος, νεώτερος μὲν Λυσίου δυσὶ καὶ εἴκοσιν ἔτεσι, πρεσβύτερος δὲ Πλάτωνος ἑπτά, παῖς μὲν ὢν ἐπαιδεύετο οὐδενὸς ἧττον Ἀθηναίων, ἀκροώμενος Προδίκου τε τοῦ Κείου καὶ Γοργίου τοῦ Λεοντίνου καὶ Τισίου τοῦ Συρακουσίου καὶ Θηραμένους τοῦ ῥήτορος· οὗ καὶ συλλαμβανομένου ὑπὸ τῶν τριάκοντα καὶ φυγόντος ἐπὶ τὴν Βουλαίαν Ἑστίαν, ἁπάντων καταπεπληγμένων, μόνος ἀνέστη βοηθήσων καὶ πολὺν χρόνον ἐσίγησε κατʼ ἀρχάς, ἔπειτα ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ παρῃτήθη, εἰπόντος ὀδυνηρότερον αὐτῷ συμβήσεσθαι εἴ τις τῶν φίλων ἀπολαύσει τῆς συμφορᾶς· καὶ ἐκείνου τινὰς οὔσας τέχνας αὐτῷ φασι συμπραγματεύσασθαι, ἡνίκα ἐν τοῖς δικαστηρίοις ἐσυκοφαντεῖτο, αἳ εἰσιν ἐπιγεγραμμέναι Βότωνος.
When Isocrates was come to man’s estate, he meddled with nothing of state affairs, both because he had a very weak voice and because he was something timorous; and besides these two impediments, his estate was much impaired by the loss of a great part of his patrimony in the war with the Lacedaemonians. It is evident that he composed orations for others to use, but delivered only one, that concerning Exchange of Property. Having set up a school, he gave himself much to writing and the study of philosophy, and then he wrote his Panegyrical oration, and others which were used for advice, some of which he delivered himself, and others he gave to others to pronounce for him; aiming thereby to persuade the Greeks to the study and practice of such things as were of most immediate concern to them. But his endeavors in that way proving to no purpose, he gave those things over, and opened a school in Chios first, as some will have it, having for a beginning nine scholars; and when they came to him to pay him for their schooling, he weeping said, “Now I see plainly that I am sold to my scholars.” He admitted all into his acquaintance who desired it. He was the first that made a separation between wrangling pleas and political arguments, to which latter he rather addicted himself. He instituted a form of magistracy in Chios, much the same with that at Athens. No schoolmaster ever got so much; so that he maintained a galley at his own charge. He had more than a hundred scholars, and among others Timotheus the son of Conon was one, with whom he visited many cities, and composed the epistles which Timotheus sent to the Athenians; who for his pains gave him a talent out of that which he got at Samos. Theopompus likewise the Chian, Ephorus the Cumaean, Asclepiades who composed arguments for tragedies, and Theodectes of Phaselis, who afterwards wrote tragedies, were all Isocrates’s scholars. The last of these had a monument in the way to the shrine of Cyamites, as we go to Eleusis by the Sacred Way, of which now remains only rubbish. There also he set up with his own the statues of other famous poets, of all which only Homer’s is to be seen. Leodamas also the Athenian, and Lacritus who gave laws to the Athenians, were both his scholars; and some say, Hyperides and Isaeus too. They add likewise, that Demosthenes also was very desirous to learn of him, and because he could not give the full rate, which was a thousand drachms, he offered him two hundred, the fifth part, if he would teach him but the fifth part of his art proportionable: to whom Isocrates answered, We do not use, Demosthenes, to impart our skill by halves, but as men sell good fish whole, or altogether, so if thou hast a desire to learn, we will teach thee our full art, and not a piece of it. He died in the year when Charondas was chief magistrate, when, being at Hippocrates’s public exercise, he received the news of the slaughter at Chaeronea; for he was the cause of his own death by a four days’ fast, which he then made, pronouncing just at his departure the three verses which begin three tragedies of EuripidesDanaus, father of the fifty sisters,—Pelops, son of Tantalus, in quest of Pisa,—Cadmus, in time past, going from Sidon.
ἐπεὶ δʼ ἠνδρώθη, τῶν μὲν πολιτικῶν πραγμάτων ἀπέσχετο ἰσχνόφωνὸς τʼ ὢν καὶ εὐλαβὴς τὸν τρόπον καὶ τὰ πατρῷα· ἀποβεβληκὼς ἐν τῷ πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους πολέμῳ· ἄλλοις δὲ μεμελετηκὼς φαίνεται, ἕνα δὲ μόνον εἰπὼν λόγον,, τὸν περὶ τῆς Ἀντιδόσεως. διατριβὴν δὲ συστησάμενος, ἐπὶ τὸ φιλοσοφεῖν καὶ γράφειν ἃ διανοηθείη ἐτράπετο, καὶ τόν τε Πανηγυρικὸν λόγον καί τινας ἄλλους τῶν συμβουλευτικῶν, οὓς μὲν αὐτὸς γράφων ἀνεγίνωσκεν οὓς δʼ ἑτέροις παρεσκεύαζεν, ἡγούμενος οὕτως ἐπὶ τὸ τὰ δέοντα φρονεῖν τοὺς Ἕλληνας προτρέψεσθαι. διαμαρτάνων δὲ τῆς προαιρέσεως, τούτων μὲν ἀπέστη σχολῆς δʼ ἡγεῖτο, ὣς τινές φασι, πρῶτον ἐπὶ· Χίου, μαθητὰς ἔχων ἐννέα· ὅτε καὶ ἰδὼν τὸν μισθὸν ἀριθμούμενον εἶπε δακρύσας ὡς ἐπέγνων ἐμαυτὸν νῦν τούτοις πεπραμένον ὡμίλει δὲ τοῖς βουλομένοις, χωρίσας πρῶτος τοὺς ἐριστικοὺς λόγους τῶν πολιτικῶν, περὶ οὓς ἐσπούδασε. καὶ ἀρχὰς δὲ καὶ περὶ τὴν Χίον κατέστησε καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν τῇ πατρίδι πολιτείαν· ἀργύριόν τε ὅσον οὐδεὶς σοφιστῶν εὐπόρησεν, ὡς καὶ τριηραρχῆσαι. ἀκροαταὶ δʼ αὐτοῦ ἐγένοντο· εἰς ἑκατόν; ἄλλοι τε πολλοὶ καὶ Τιμόθεος ὁ Κόνωνος, σὺν ᾧ καὶ πολλὰς πόλεις ἐπῆλθε, συντιθεὶς τὰς πρὸς Ἀθηναίους ὑπὸ Τιμοθέου πεμπομένας ἐπιστολάς· ὅθεν ἐδωρήσατο αὐτῷ τάλαντον τῶν ἀπὸ Σάμου περιγενομένων. ἐμαθήτευσε δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ Θεόπομπος ὁ Χῖος, καὶ Ἔφορος ὁ Κυμαῖος καὶ Ἀσκληπιάδης ὁ τὰ τραγῳδούμενα συγγράψας καὶ Θεοδέκτης ὁ Φασηλίτης·,ὁ τὰς τραγῳδίας ὕστερον γράψας, οὗ ἐστι τὸ μνῆμα ἐπὶ τὴν Κυαμῖτιν πορευομένοις κατὰ τὴν ἱερὰν ὁδὸν τὴν ἐπʼ Ἐλευσῖνα, τὰ νῦν κατερηρειμμένον· ἔνθα καὶ τοὺς ἐνδόξους τῶν ποιητῶν ἀνέστησε σὺν αὐτῷ, ὧν Ὅμηρος ὁ ποιητὴς σῴζεται μόνος· Λεώδαμὸς τʼ Ἀθηναῖος καὶ Λάκριτος ὁ νομοθέτης Ἀθηναίοις· ὡς δὲ τινές φασι, καὶ Ὑπερείδης καὶ Ἰσαῖος. καὶ Δημοσθένη δʼ ἔτι ῥητορεύοντί φασι μετὰ σπουδῆς προσελθεῖν αὐτῷ, καὶ χιλίας μὲν ἃς εἰσεπράττετο οὐκ ἔχειν φάναι παρασχεῖν, διακοσίας δὲ δώσειν, ἐφʼ ᾧ τε τὸ πέμπτον μέρος ἐκμαθεῖν τὸν δʼ ἀποκρίνασθαι ὡς οὐ τεμαχίζομεν Δημόσθενες, τὴν πραγματείαν ὥσπερ δὲ τοὺς καλοὺς ἰχθῦς ὅλους πωλοῦμεν, οὕτω κἀγώ σοι, εἰ βούλοιο μαθητεύειν, ὁλόκληρον ἀποδώσομαι τὴν τέχνην ἐτελεύτα δʼ ἐπὶ Χαιρώνδου ἄρχοντος, ἀπαγγελθέντων τῶν περὶ Χαιρώνειαν ἐν τῇ Ἱπποκράτους; παλαίστρᾳ πυθόμενος, ἐξαγαγὼν αὑτὸν τοῦ βίου τέτταρσιν ἡμέραις διὰ τοῦ σιτίων ἀποσχέσθαι, προειπὼν τρεῖς ἀρχὰς δραμάτων ΕὐριπίδουΔαναὸς ὁ πεντήκοντα θυγατέρων πατήρΠέλοψ ὁ Ταντάλειος εἰς Πῖσαν μολών·Σιδώνιὸν ποτʼ ἄστυ Κάδμος ἐκλιπώνὀκτὼ καὶ ἐνενήκοντα ἔτη βιοὺς ἢ ὥς τινες ἑκατόν, οὐχ ὑπομείνας τετράκις ἰδεῖν τὴν Ἑλλάδα καταδουλουμένην· πρὸ ἐνιαυτοῦ ἢ ὥς τινες πρὸ τεσσάρων ἐτῶν τῆς τελευτῆς συγγράψας τὸν Παναθηναϊκόν.
He lived ninety-eight years, or, as some say, a hundred, not being able to behold Greece the fourth time brought into slavery. The year (or, as some say, four years) before he died, he wrote his Panathenaic oration. He labored upon his Panegyric oration ten years, or, as some tell us, fifteen, which he is supposed to have borrowed out of Gorgias the Leontine and Lysias. His oration concerning Exchange of Property he wrote when he was eighty-two years old, and those to Philip a little before his death. When he was old, he adopted Aphareus, the youngest of the three sons of Plathane, the daughter of Hippias the orator. He was very rich, both in respect of the great sums of money he exacted of his scholars, and besides that, having at one time twenty talents of Nicocles, king of Cyprus, for an oration which he dedicated to him. By reason of his riches he became obnoxious to the envy of others, and was three times named to maintain a galley; which he evaded twice by the assistance of his son and a counterfeit sickness, but the third time he undertook it, though the charge proved very great. A father telling him that he had allowed his son no other companion than one slave, Isocrates replied, Go thy way then, for one slave thou shalt have two. He strove for the prize which Aretemisia dedicated to the honor and memory of her husband Mausolus; but that oration is lost. He wrote also another oration in praise of Helen, and one called Areopagiticus. Some say that he died when he had fasted nine days, —some again, at four days’ end,—and his death took its date from the funeral solemnities of those that lost their lives at Chaeronea. His son Aphareus likewise wrote several orations.
τὸν δὲ Πανηγυρικὸν ἔτεσι δέκα συνέθηκεν, οἱ δὲ δεκαπέντε λέγουσιν, ὃν μετενηνοχέναι ἐκ τῶν Γοργίου τοῦ Λεοντίνου καὶ Λυσίου τὸν δὲ περὶ τῆς Ἀντιδόσεως δύο καὶ ὀγδοήκοντα ἔτη γεγονώς· τοὺς δὲ πρὸς Φίλιππον ὀλίγῳ πρότερον τοῦ θανάτου. ἐγένετο δʼ αὐτῷ καὶ παῖς; Ἀφαρεὺς πρεσβύτῃ ὄντι ἐκ Πλαθάνης τῆς Ἱππίου τοῦ ῥήτορος ποιητός, τῶν δὲ τῆς γυναικὸς τριῶν παίδων ὁ νεώτατος. εὐπόρησε δʼ ἱκανῶς οὐ μόνον ἀργύριον εἰσπράττων τοὺς γνωρίμους, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ Νικοκλέους τοῦ Κυπρίων βασιλέως, ὃς· ἦν υἱὸς Εὐαγόρου, εἴκοσι τάλαντα λαβὼν ὑπὲρ τοῦ πρὸς αὐτὸν γραφέντος λόγου ἐφʼ οἷς φθονηθεὶς τρὶς προεβλήθη τριηραρχεῖν, καὶ δὶς μὲν ἀσθένειαν σκηψάμενος διὰ τοῦ παιδὸς παρῃτήσατο, τὸ δὲ τρίτον ὑποστὰς ἀνήλωσεν οὐκ ὀλίγα. πρὸς δὲ τὸν εἰπόντα πατέρα ὡς οὐδὲν ἀλλʼ ἢ ἀνδράποδον συνέπεμψε τῷ παιδίῳ τοιγαροῦν ἔφη ἄπιθι· δύο γὰρ ἀνθʼ ἑνὸς ἕξεις ἀνδράποδα ἠγωνίσατο δὲ καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ Μαυσώλῳ τεθέντα ὑπʼ Ἀρτεμισίας ἀγῶνα· τὸ δʼ ἐγκώμιον οὐ σῴζεται. ἐποίησε δὲ καὶ εἰς Ἑλένην ἐγκώμιον καὶ Ἀρεοπαγιτικόν. ἐξελθεῖν δὲ τοῦ βίου οἱ μὲν ἐναταῖόν φασι σίτων ἀποσχόμενον, οἱ δὲ τεταρταῖον ἅμα ταῖς ταφαῖς τῶν ἐν Χαιρωνείᾳ πεσόντων. συνέγραψε δʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ ὁ παῖς Ἀφαρεὺς λόγους. ἐτάφη δὲ μετὰ τῆς συγγενείας πλησίον Κυνοσάργους ἐπὶ τοῦ λόφου ἐν ἀριστερᾷ αὐτός τε καὶ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ Θεόδωρος καὶ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ·
He lies buried with all his family near Cynosarges, on the left hand of the hill. There are interred Isocrates and his father Theodorus, his mother and her sister Anaco, his adoptive son Aphareus, Socrates the son of Anaco, Theodorus his brother, bearing his father’s name, his grandsons, the sons of his adopted Aphareus, and his wife Plathane, the mother of Aphareus. On these tombs were erected six tables, which are now demolished. And upon the tomb of Isocrates himself was placed a column thirty cubits high, and on that a mermaid of seven cubits, which was an emblem of his eloquence; there is nothing now extant. There was also near it a table, having poets and his schoolmasters on it; and among the rest, Gorgias inspecting a celestial globe, and Isocrates standing by him. There is likewise a statue of his of bronze in Eleusis, dedicated by Timothy the son of Conon, before the entry of the porch, with this inscription:To the fame and honor of Isocrates,This statue’s sacred to the Goddesses;The gift of Timothy.This statue was made by Leochares. There are threescore orations which bear his name; of which, if we credit Dionysius, only five and twenty are genuine; but according to Caecilius, twenty-eight; and the rest are accounted spurious. He was an utter stranger to ostentation, insomuch that, when there came at one time three persons to hear him declaim, he admitted but two of them, desiring the third to come the next day, for that two at once were to him as a full theatre. He used to tell his scholars that he taught his art for ten minas; but he would give any man ten thousand, that could teach him to be bold and give him a good utterance. And being once asked how he, who was not very eloquent himself, could make others so, he answered, Just as a whetstone cannot cut, yet it will sharpen knives for that purpose. Some say that he wrote institutions to the art of oratory; others are of opinion that he had no method of teaching, but only exercise. He would never ask any thing of a free-born citizen. He used to enjoin his scholars being present at public assemblies to repeat to him what was there delivered. He conceived no little sorrow for the death of Socrates, insomuch that the next day he put himself in mourning. Being asked what was the use and force of rhetoric, he answered, To make great matters small, and small great. At a feast with Nicoceon, the tyrant of Cyprus, being desired by some of the company to declaim upon some theme, he made answer, that that was not a season for him to speak what he knew, and he knew nothing that was then seasonable. Happening once to see Sophocles the tragedian amorously eying a comely boy, he said to him, It will become thee, Sophocles, to restrain not only thy hands, but thine eyes. When Ephorus of Cumae left his school before he had arrived at any good proficiency, his father Demophilus sent him again with a second sum of money in his hand; at which Isocrates jocosely called him Diphorus, that is, twice bringing his fee. However, he took a great deal of pains and care with him, and went so far as to put him in the way of writing history.
ταύτης τʼ ἀδελφὴ τηθὶς τοῦ ῥήτορος Ἀνακὼ καὶ ὁ ποιητὸς υἱὸς Ἀφαρεὺς καὶ ὁ ἀνεψιὸς αὐτοῦ Σωκράτης, μητρὸς Ἰσοκράτους ἀδελφῆς Ἀνακοῦς υἱὸς ὤν, ὃ τʼ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ ὁμώνυμος τοῦ πατρὸς Θεόδωρος καὶ οἱ υἱωνοὶ αὐτοῦ, τοῦ ποιηθέντος αὐτῷ παιδὸς Ἀφαρεὺς. Ἀφαρεὺς. καὶ ὁ τούτου πατὴρ Θεόδωρος; ἥ τε γυνὴ Πλαθάνη, μήτηρ δὲ τοῦ ποιητοῦ Ἀφαρέως. ἐπὶ μὲν οὖν τούτων τράπεζαι ἐπῆσαν ἕξ, αἳ νῦν οὐ σῴζονται· αὐτῷ δʼ Ἰσοκράτει ἐπὶ τοῦ μνήματος ἐπῆν κίων τριάκοντα πηχῶν, ἐφʼ οὗ σειρὴν πηχῶν ἑπτὰ συμβολικῶς, ὃς νῦν οὐ σῴζεται. ἦν δὲ καὶ αὐτοῦ τράπεζα πλησίον ἔχουσα ποιητάς τε καὶ τοὺς διδασκάλους αὐτοῦ, ἐν οἷς καὶ Γοργίαν εἰς σφαῖραν ἀστρολογικὴν βλέποντα αὐτόν τε τὸν Ἰσοκράτην παρεστῶτα. ἀνάκειται δʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι εἰκὼν χαλκῆ ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ προστῴου ὑπὸ Τιμοθέου τοῦ Κόνωνος, καὶ ἐπιγέγραπταιΤιμόθεος φιλίας τε χάριν ξύνεσίν τε προτιμῶνἸσοκράτους εἰκὼ τήνδʼ ἀνέθηκε θεαῖς·Λεωχάρους ἔργον, φέρονται δʼ αὐτοῦ λόγοι ἑξήκοντα, ὧν εἰσι γνήσιοι κατὰ μὲν Διονύσιον εἰκοσιπέντε κατὰ δὲ Καικίλιον εἰκοσιοκτώ, οἱ δʼ ἄλλοι κατεψευσμένοι, εἶχε δʼ ἀλλοτρίως πρὸς ἐπίδειξιν, ὡς ἀφικομένων ποτὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν τριῶν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀκρόασιν τοὺς μὲν δύο κατασχεῖν τὸν δὲ τρίτον ἀπολῦσαι, φάμενος εἰς τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν ἥξειν νῦν γὰρ αὐτῷ τὸ θέατρον εἶναι ἐν ἀκροατηρίῳ. εἰώθει δὲ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς γνωρίμους αὑτοῦ λέγειν, ὡς αὐτὸς μὲν δέκα μνῶν διδάσκοι, τῷ δʼ αὐτὸν διδάξαντι τόλμαν καὶ εὐφωνίαν δώσειν δεκακισχιλίας. καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἐρόμενον διὰ τί οὐκ ὢν αὐτὸς ἱκανὸς ἄλλους ποιεῖ, εἶπεν ὅτι καὶ αἱ ἀκόναι αὐταὶ μὲν τέμνειν οὐ δύνανται τὸν δὲ σίδηρον τμητικὸν ποιοῦσιν. εἰσὶ δʼ οἳ καὶ τέχνας αὐτὸν λέγουσι συγγεγραφέναι, οἱ δʼ οὐ μεθόδῳ ἀλλʼ ἀσκήσει χρήσασθαι. πολίτην δʼ οὐδέποτʼ εἰσέπραξε μισθόν. προσέταττε δὲ τοῖς γνωρίμοις εἰς τὰς, ἐκκλησίας ἀπαντῶσιν ἀναφέρειν αὐτῷ τὰ εἰρημένα. ἐλυπήθη δὲ καὶ οὐ μετρίως ἐπὶ τῷ Σωκράτους θανάτῳ καὶ μελανειμονῶν τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ προῆλθε. πάλιν δʼ ἐρομένου τινὸς αὐτὸν τί ῥητορική, εἶπε τὰ μὲν μικρὰ μεγάλα τὰ δὲ μεγάλα μικρὰ ποιεῖν. ἑστιώμενος δέ ποτε παρὰ Νικοκρέοντι τῷ Κύπρου τυράννῳ, προτρεπομένων αὐτὸν τῶν παρόντων διαλεχθῆναι, ἔφη οἷς μὲν ἐγὼ δεινὸς οὐχ ὁ νῦν καιρός, οἷς δʼ ὁ νῦν καιρὸς οὐκ ἐγὼ δεινός. Σοφοκλέα δὲ τὸν τραγικὸν θεασάμενος ἑπόμενον ἐρωτικῶς παιδί, εἶπεν οὐ μόνον δεῖ, Σοφόκλεις, τὰς χεῖρας ἔχειν παρʼ αὑτῷ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς. τοῦ δὲ Κυμαίου Ἐφόρου ἀπράκτου τῆς σχολῆς ἐξελθόντος καὶ πάλιν ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς Δημοφίλου πεμφθέντος;
He was wantonly given; and used to lie upon a … mat for his bed, and his bolster was commonly made moist with saffron. He never married while he was young; but in his old age he kept a miss, whose name was Lagisce, and by her he had a daughter, who died in the twelfth year of her age, before she was married. He afterwards married Plathane, the wife of Hippias the rhetorician, who had three sons, the youngest of which, Aphareus by name, he adopted for his own, as we said before. This Aphareus erected a bronze statue to him near the temple of Jupiter, as may be seen from the inscription:In veneration of the mighty Jove,His noble parents, and the Gods above,Aphareus this statue here has set,The statue of Isocrates his father.He is said to have run a race on a swift horse, when he was but a boy; for he is to be seen in this posture in the Citadel, in the tennis court of the priestesses of Minerva, in a statue. There were but two suits commenced against him in his whole life. One whereof was with Megaclides, who provoked him to exchange of property; at the trial of which he could not be personally present, by reason of sickness; but sending Aphareus, he nevertheless overcame. The other suit was commenced against him by Lysimachus, who would have him come to an exchange or be at the charge of maintaining a galley for the commonwealth. In this case he was overthrown, and forced to perform the service. There was likewise a painting of him in the Pompeum.
ἐπὶ δευτέρῳ μισθῷ, παίζων Δίφορον αὐτὸν ἐκάλει· ἐσπούδασε μέντοι ἱκανῶς περὶ τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ τὴν ὑπόθεσιν τῆς χρείας αὐτὸς ὑπεθήκατο. ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὰ ἀφροδίσια καταφερής, ὡς ὑποπάστῳ παρειλκυσμένῳ ἐν τῇ κοίτῃ χρῆσθαι, κρόκῳ διάβροχον ἔχοντα τὸ προσκεφάλαιον. καὶ νέον μὲν ὄντα μὴ γῆμαι, γηράσαντα δʼ ἑταίρᾳ συνεῖναι ὄνομα ἦν Λαγίσκη, ἐξ ἧς ἔσχε θυγάτριον ὃ γενόμενον ἐτῶν δώδεκα πρὸ γάμων ἐτελεύτησεν. ἔπειτα Πλαθάνην τὴν Ἱππίου τοῦ ῥήτορος γυναῖκα ἠγάγετο τρεῖς παῖδας ἔχουσαν, ὧν τὸν Ἀφαρέα ὡς προείρηται ἐποιήσατο, ὃς καὶ εἰκόνα αὐτοῦ χαλκῆν ἀνέθηκε πρὸς τῷ Ὀλυμπιείῳ ἐπὶ κίονος καὶ ἐπέγραψενἸσοκράτους Ἀφαρεὺς πατρὸς εἰκόνα τήνδʼ ἀνέθηκεΖηνί, θεούς τε σέβων καὶ γονέων ἀρετήν.λέγεται δὲ καὶ κελητίσαι ἔτι παῖς ὤν· ἀνάκειται γὰρ ἐν ἀκροπόλει χαλκοῦς ἐν τῇ σφαιρίστρᾳ τῶν Ἀρρηφόρων κελητίζων ἔτι παῖς ὤν, ὡς εἶπόν τινες. δύο δʼ ἐν ἅπαντι τῷ βίῳ συνέστησαν αὐτῷ ἀγῶνες πρότερος μὲν εἰς ἀντίδοσιν προκαλεσαμένου αὐτὸν Μεγακλείδου, πρὸς ὃν οὐκ ἀπήντησε διὰ νόσον, τὸν δʼ υἱὸν πέμψας Ἀφαρέα ἐνίκησε· δεύτερος δὲ Λυσιμάχου αὐτὸν προκαλεσαμένου περὶ τριηραρχίας εἰς ἀντίδοσιν ἡττηθεὶς δὲ τὴν τριηραρχίαν ὑπέστη.