Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War 3.58

[1] "But we beseech you for those gods' sakes, in whose names once we made mutual league, and for our valour's sake shown in the behalf of the Grecians, to be moved towards us and, if at the persuasion of the Thebans you have determined aught against us, to change your minds and reciprocally to require at the hands of the Thebans this courtesy, that whom you ought to spare, they would be contented not to kill and so receive an honest benefit in recompense of a wicked one, and not to bestow pleasure upon others and receive wickedness upon yourselves in exchange.

[2] For though to take away our lives be a matter quickly done, yet to make the infamy of it cease will be work enough.

[3] For being none of your enemies but well-willers and such as have entered into the war upon constraint, you cannot put us to death with justice.

[4] Therefore, if you will judge uncorruptly, you ought to secure our persons and to remember that you received us by our own voluntary submission and with hands upheld (and it is the law among Grecians not to put such to death), besides that we have from time to time been beneficial to you. For look upon the sepulchres of your fathers whom, slain by the Medes and buried in this territory of ours, we have yearly honoured at the public charge both with vestments and other rites; and of such things as our land hath produced, we have offered unto them the first fruits of it all, as friends in an amicable land and confederates use to do to those that have formerly been their fellows in arms.

[5] But now by a wrong sentence you shall do the contrary of this. For consider this. Pausanias, as he thought, interred these men in amicable ground and amongst their friends. But you, if you slay us, and of Plataeis make Thebais, what do you but leave your fathers and kindred, deprived of the honours they now have, in an hostile territory and amongst the very men that slew them? And moreover, put into servitude that soil whereon the Grecians were put into liberty? And make desolate the temples wherein they prayed when they prevailed against the Medes? And destroy the patrial sacrifices which were instituted by the builders and founders of the same?

[1] Still, in the name of the gods who once presided over our confederacy, and of our own good service in the Hellenic cause, we adjure you to relent; to recall the decision which we fear that the Thebans may have obtained from you; to ask back the gift that you have given them, that they disgrace not you by slaying us; to gain a pure instead of a guilty gratitude, and not to gratify others to be yourselves rewarded with shame.

[2] Our lives may be quickly taken, but it will be a heavy task to wipe away the infamy of the deed; as we are no enemies whom you might justly punish, but friends forced into taking arms against you.

[3] To grant us our lives would be, therefore, a righteous judgment; if you consider also that we are prisoners who surrendered of their own accord, stretching out our hands for quarter, whose slaughter Hellenic law forbids, and who besides were always your benefactors.

[4] Look at the sepulchres of your fathers, slain by the Medes and buried in our country, whom year by year we honored with garments and all other dues, and the first fruits of all that our land produced in their season, as friends from a friendly country and allies to our old companions in arms! Should you not decide aright, your conduct would be the very opposite to ours. Consider only:

[5] Pausanias buried them thinking that he was laying them in friendly ground and among men as friendly; but you, if you kill us and make the Plataean territory Theban, will leave your fathers and kinsmen in a hostile soil and among their murderers, deprived of the honors which they now enjoy. What is more, you will enslave the land in which the freedom of the Hellenes was won, make desolate the temples of the gods to whom they prayed before they overcame the Medes, and take away your ancestral sacrifices from those who founded and instituted them.

„Doch bitten wir euch bei den Göttern, bei denen wir einst
unseren Waffenbund beshcwuren, und bei unserem Verdienst um die
Hellenen: lasset euch bewegen und ändert euren Entschluß, wenn ihr
den Thebanern bereits schon ein Versprechen gegeben habt. Wir
fordern als Belohnung unseres Verdienstes, daß ihr nicht solche tödtet,
die zu tödten sich nicht geziemet, und daß ihr lieber um einen Dank
werbt, der mit der Ehre besteht, als um einen, der Schimpf bringt.
Wollet nicht Andern ein Vergnügen machen, indem ihr selbst Unehre
auf euch nehmet! Unsere Leiber sind wohl schnell abgethan, schwer
aber ist es, Schande vergessen zu machen. Denn ihr werdet an uns
keine Feinde bestrafen, was ganz nach Recht geschähe, sondern
freundlich Gesinnte, die nur die Noth zwang zu den Waffen zu greifen.
Nach Recht also würdet ihr entscheiden, wenn ihr uns des Lebens
sichertet und bedenken wollt, daß wir freiwillig und mit aufgehobenen
Händen flehend zu euch gekommen sind — und die Hellenen haben
unter sich das Gesetz, daß solche nicht getödtet werden dürfen — und
bedenket, daß wir uns allerwege euch freundlich erwiesen haben. ¹
Schauet her auf diese Gräber eurer Väter, die gegen die Meder
gefallen sind und von uns begraben wurden. Wir haben sie Jahr um
Jahr aus öffentlichem Wesen geehrt, mit schöner Gewandung und
wie es sonst Sitte ist, und von Allem, was im Jahreslauf die Erde
hervorbringt, haben wir ihnen die Erstlinge dargebracht, ihrer als
Männer aus befreundetem Lande freundlich gedenkend, wie
Bundesgenossen der Waffenbrüder. Davon würdet ihr nun das Gegentheil
thun, wenn ihr jetzt nicht nach Gebühr entschiedet. Denkt doch,
Pausanias hat diese hier begraben, weil er sie in freundlicher Erde und
neben freundlich gesinnten Männern zu betten glaubte. Wenn ihr
aber nun uns tödten und das Platäifche Land zu Thebanischem
machen wollt, was thut ihr da anders, als daß ihr eure Väter und
Blutsverwandte in feindlichem Boden und bei ihren eigenen Mördern und
beraubt der Ehrengaben zurücklaßt, die sie jetzt noch genießen? Zudem
gebt ihr die Erde, auf welcher die hellenische Freiheitsschlacht geschlagen
wurde, in die Knechtschaft, und die Heiligthümer der Götter, zu denen
betend jene über die Meder gesiegt haben, laßt ihr wüst und öde,
und die Gründer und Stifter beraubt ihr der Opfer, die unsere Väter
brachten."

LVIII. « Cependant, au nom des dieux témoins autrefois de notre alliance, au nom de notre dévouement pour les Grecs, nous vous supplions de vous laisser fléchir, et de revenir sur les résolutions qu’ont pu vous inspirer les Thébains. Exigez que, par une juste réciprocité, ils vous laissent épargner ceux qu’il serait indigne de vous de faire périr ; sachez mériter une reconnaissance honnête ¹ au lieu d’une gratitude honteuse ² ; ne prenez pas pour vous le déshonneur afin de complaire aux autres. Il faut peu de temps pour détruire nos corps ; mais il sera difficile d’effacer l’infamie d’un tel acte ; car ce ne sont pas des ennemis que vous punirez en nous, ce qui serait justice ; ce sont des amis que la nécessité a réduits à vous combattre.

« Ainsi, en nous garantissant la vie, vous remplirez un devoir sacré de justice ; vous songerez, avant de prononcer, que nous nous sommes livrés volontairement et en tendant vers vous nos mains suppliantes ; que, dès lors, le droit public de la Grèce ne permet pas de nous mettre à mort, et, qu’enfin, nous vous avons de tout temps obligés. Tournez vos regards vers les tombeaux de vos pères, morts sous les coups des Mèdes, et ensevelis dans nos campagnes ³ ; chaque année nous consacrions des vêtements ⁴ en leur honneur, avec toutes les solennités d’usage ; nous leur offrions les prémices de tous les fruits de la terre ; amis, nous leur apportions les dons d’une terre amie ; alliés, nous honorions en eux d’anciens compagnons d’armes. Le contraire aura lieu, si vous ne jugez pas comme il convient : songez-y bien ; quand Pausanias leur donna la sépulture, il crut les déposer dans une terre amie, à la garde d’hommes dévoués : et vous, en nous mettant à mort, en déclarant thébain le territoire de Platée, que feriez-vous autre chose qu’abandonner vos pères, vos parents, dans une terre ennemie, au milieu de leurs meurtriers, et les dépouiller des honneurs qui leur sont rendus aujourd’hui. Bien plus, vous réduirez en ser- vitude la terre où les Grecs ont conquis leur liberté ; vous rendrez déserts les temples des dieux qu’ils ont invoqués, lorsqu’ils vainquirent les Mèdes ; vous frustrerez ces dieux des sacrifices que nous leur offrons à l’exemple de nos pères fondateurs de leurs temples.

«Au nom des dieux qui reçurent nos serments, au nom du patriotisme dont nous fîmes preuve, nous vous conjurons de vous laisser fléchir et de rompre les engagements que les Thébains ont pu vous arracher. Demandez-leur qu’en retour de nos services ils vous permettent d’épargner des hommes qu’il serait indigne d’immoler. Au lieu d’une reconnaissance honteuse, assurez-vous une reconnaissance honorable; et, par une lâche condescendance, n’attirez pas sur vous le déshonneur. Un instant suffit pour détruire nos corps ; mais ce sera pour vous une tache indélébile; car vous frapperez en nous, non pas des ennemis, ce qui serait juste, mais des amis que la nécessité seule a forcés de vous combattre. En nous faisant grâce de la vie, vous remplirez un devoir sacré. Rappelez-vous que notre reddition a été volontaire ; que nous vous avons tendu les mains ; — or, la loi des Grecs défend de tuer des suppliants ; — qu’enfin nous avons été de tout temps vos bienfaiteurs.

« Tournez les yeux sur les tombeaux de vos ancêtres, immolés par les Mèdes et inhumés dans notre territoire. Chaque année notre ville leur offrait des vêtements d’honneur et d’autres sacrifices d'usage ¹ . Nous leur présentions les prémices de tontes nos récoltes, comme des amis au nom d’une terre amie, comme des alliés à de vieux compagnons d’armes. Par une sentence inique, vous ferez précisément l’inverse. Songez-y bien : quand Pausanias leur donna la sépulture, il crut les confier à une terre amie et à des amis ; et vous, si vous nous tuez, si vous livrez aux Thébains le pays de Platée, que ferez-vous sinon de priver vos pères et vos parents de l'honneur dont ils jouissent et de les abandonner aux mains de leurs meurtriers? Cette terre où les Grecs furent affranchis, la ferez-vous esclave ? ces temples des dieux qu’ils invoquèrent pour triompher des Mèdes, les rendrez-vous déserts et les dépouillerez-vous des sacrifices institués par leurs fondateurs ² ?

[1] "And yet we adjure you, for the sake of the gods who of old sanctioned our alliance and for our good service in the cause of the Hellenes, to relent and change your minds, if you have been in any way won over by the Thebans, ¹ and in your turn to ask of them the boon not to put to death those whom it ill becomes you to slay, that you may thus receive an honest instead of a shameful gratitude, and may not in giving pleasure to others get in return ignominy for yourselves.

[2] It is a simple matter to take our lives, but a grievous task to blot out the infamy of it;

[3] for we are not enemies whom you would have a right to punish, but good friends who were forced into war with you. You would, therefore, render a righteous judgment if you guaranteed us security of life and if you bore in mind, before it is too late, that it was in voluntary surrender and with outstretched hands that you received us (and the usage of the Hellenes forbids the slaying of suppliants);

[4] and, moreover, that we have always been your benefactors. Turn your eyes upon the sepulchres of your fathers, slain by the Persians and buried in our land, whom we have honoured year by year with a public offering of raiment ² and other customary gifts; the first fruits, too, of all that the earth each year has produced have been brought them, the tribute of kindly hands from a friendly land and of allies to those who were once their companions in arms.

[5] All this you would reverse by an unjust verdict. Reflect: when Pausanias buried them he thought he was laying them in a friendly land and among friends; but you, if you put us to death and make the territory of Plataea a Theban province, will you not be leaving them in a hostile land and among their murderers ³ —these your fathers and kinsmen—and dispossessed of the honours they now enjoy? Nay more, you will be enslaving the very land in which the Hellenes gained their liberty; you will be bringing desolation upon the temples of the gods to whom they prayed when they conquered the Persians; and you will be robbing of their hereditary sacrifices the people who founded and established them.

[1] "And yet, for the sake of the gods who once presided over our confederacy, and of our valour in the cause of the Greeks, we call on you to relent and change your mind, if you have been persuaded to any thing by the Thebans; and to ask as a boon from them in return, that they would not kill those whose death is not honourable to you; and to receive an honest gratitude [from us], instead of a disgraceful one [from them];

[2] and not, after giving pleasure to others, to incur infamy for it yourselves. For it is an easy matter to take away our lives, but a difficult one to wipe out the disgrace of it;

[3] since we are not enemies, that you should justly take vengeance on us, but men well disposed towards you, and who went to war with you only on compulsion. You would judge the case therefore rightly, if you both granted us personal security, and considered beforehand that you received us by our own consent, and while holding forth our hands to you—and the law of the Greeks is not to kill such—and, moreover, after our being all along your benefactors.

[4] For look to the sepulchres of your fathers, whom, after being slain by the Medes, and buried in our country, we used to honour every year at the public expense with both garments and other things that are usual, and by offering first-fruits of all that our land produced in its season; as friends from a friendly country, and as allies to our former companions in arms.

[5] But you would do the contrary of this, should you decide unjustly. For consider: Pausanias buried them with a conviction that he was laying them in a friendly land, and amongst men of that character; but you, if you kill us, and make the Plataean territory a part of the Theban, what else will you do but leave your fathers and kinsmen in a hostile country, and amongst their murderers, unhonoured with the gifts which they now receive? And further, you will condemn to slavery the land in which the Greeks won their freedom; will desolate the temples of the gods to whom they prayed, before conquering the Medes; and will take away our ancestral sacrifices from those who founded and instituted them.

[1] « Sed tamen quod vobis dignum est oramus, et per deos, qui nostrae societatis testes quondam fuerunt, et per virtutem, quam erga Graecos demonstravimus, ut flectamini , et sententiam mutetis, si quid forte vobis a Thebanis persuasum fuerit, utque hanc gratiam vicissim ab illis exigatis, ut ne illi vobis occidendi sint, quos a vobis occidi non decet, et honestum beneficium pro turpi ab illis reportetis, neve gaudio aliis dato infamiam ipsi contra subeatis;

[2] nam brevis res est, corpora nostra morte mulctare, sed multi laboris erit, hujus facinoris infamiam delere. Non enim inimicos nos justo afficietis supplicio, sed amicos, qui necessitate compulsi bellum vobis fecimus.

[3] Itaque si mortis metu nos liberetis, religiose hoc judicium exercere videamini, et si illud in primis cogitetis, nos volentes in vestram venisse potestatem, et more supplicum manus tendentes, (hujusmodi autem homines Graecorum lex occidi vetat), praeterea nos perpetuo de vobis bene meritos esse.

[4] Aspicite enim sepulcra patrum vestrorum, quos a Medis caesos et in agro nostro sepultos quotannis publice cohonestabamus et indumentis et aliis inferiis, pri-mitiasque fructuum, quoscunque ager noster quoque tempore ferebat, offerentes, amici ex amico agro, et socii illis, qui quondam commilitones fuerant. Quibus vos contraria feceritis, nos iniquo judicio damnantes.

[5] Rem enim considerate; Pausanias quidem eos humabat, existimans, illoea se in agro amico, et apud amicos componi; vos vero, si nos occideritis et agrum Plataeensem Thebanum feceritis, quid aliud, quam patres cognatosque vestros honoribus, quibus nunc afficiuntur, spoliatos, in hostili solo, et apud ipsos eorum interfectores relinquetis? Praeterea vero et agrum, in quo Graeci in libertatem vindicati sunt, in servitutem redigetis , et delubra deorum, ad quae votis conceptis illi Medos superarunt, deserta patiemini, et patria sacrificia illorum, qui templa fundarunt et condiderunt, tolletis.

[1] Männer von Sicilien! Ihr wisset, nicht die Ohnmacht meiner Vaterstadt oder ihre Erschöpfung durch den Krieg ist es, was mir diese Worte eingibt, sondern allein die uneigennützige Absicht, dem gesamten Sicilien den besten Rath zu ertheilen, den es nach meiner Ueberzeugung für dasselbe gibt. Ich möchte von dem Krieg und seinen Leiden anheben und über seine zahllosen Uebel mich verbreiten; indes ihr kennet sie ja. Denn so wenig Unkunde die Schuld trägt an einem aufgenöthigten Kriege, ebensowenig lässt sich die Eroberungslust durch Furcht von ihm zurückschrecken. Natürlich; ihr ¹ erscheinen die Vortheile grösser als die Gefahren, während man dort sich lieber den Kriegsgefahren aussetzen will, um einem gewissen Verlust zu entgehen. Aber eben wenn es sich ergibt, dass beide Grundsätze zur Unzeit in Anwendung gebracht werden, dann ist eine Mahnung zur Friedfertigkeit am Platze. Dies ist gerade unser Fall, und es liegt alles daran, dass wir uns davon überzeugen.

Hat uns nicht alle bisher die Erwägung unserer Sonderinteressen geleitet in diesem Kriege wie heute bei unsern Friedensvorschlägen, wo wieder hin und hergerechtet wird, und falls es nicht jedem gelingt, zu seinem Rechte zu kommen, der Wiederausbruch des Krieges in gewisser Aussicht steht?

« Ciò non pertanto confidiamo, nè fuori di ragione , che in rispetto degli Dei testimoni allora dell’ alleanza, e in rispetto del valor nostro a pro dei Greci, voi vi piegherete e muterete pensiero, tuttoché prevenuti alcun poco per i Tebani : che in cambio chiederete loro il favore, di non dover voi stessi uccidere quelli cui uccidere si disdice, acciocché riscuotiate cosi un’ onesta compiacenza invece che turpe j ed acciocché, col gratificare altrui, non siate in contraccambio notati di perversa viltà. Conciossiachè è cosa leggera il trucidare i nostri corpi, ma eccede ogni fatica il cancellarne l’infamia ; perchè in noi non punirete drittamente dei nemici, ma dei benevoli che di necessita vi guerreggiarono. Riflettete prima di tutto che siam venuti in poter vostro resici spontaneamente e sporgendo a voi le mani (rito per cui è interdetto ai Greci trucidar chi lo pratichi ) ; e che inoltre abbiam costantemente meritato di voi : per lo che, francheggiando le nostre persone, oprerete da giudici religiosi. Volgetevi a mirare le tombe dei padri vostri, che uccisi dai Medi e sepolti nel nostro suolo noi pubblicamente cinscun anno onoravamo di vestimenta e d'ogni maniera di esequie. Per noi le primizie di tutto ciò che le nostre campagne producono nelle stagioni alterne erano loro offerte, non solo di buon grado come tratte da terra ad essi cara, ma ancora come alleati ai già nostri commilitoni. Del che voi fareste il contrario non drittamente deliberando. Vedete! Pausania diede lor sepoltura giudicando depositarli in terra amica e appresso genti medesimamente amiche : ma se voi ci ucciderete, e di plateese ridurrete tebano il suolo, che altro farete se non lasciare in terra nemica e presso i loro uccisori i vostri padri e congiunti privi delle onoranze che or godono? Senza di che, vi basterà egli il cuore di assoggettar quella terra ove i Greci conseguirono la li' berta ? Disertare i templi di quei Numi, cui invocando, disfecero i Medi ? Aholire i patrii sacrifici di coloro che questi templi stessi fondarono ed inalzarono ?