DECREES II

Archon Pytharatus,¹ Laches, son of Demochares, of Leuconoê, asks from the senate and people of the Athenians for Demochares, son of Laches, of Leuconoê, a grant of a bronze statue in the Market-place, and maintenance in the Prytaneum for him and the eldest of his descendants in perpetuity, and the privilege of a front seat at all public spectacles, because he proved himself a benefactor and a good counsellor to the people of the Athenians and benefited the people as follows: He was a good ambassador, proposer of legislation, and statesman [ , and he superintended] the building of the walls and the preparation of armour, missiles, and engines of war, he fortified the city at the time of the four years’ war² and made peace, truce, and alliance with the Boeotians, in return for which he was banished by those who overthrew the democracy. When he was recalled by the people in the archonship of Diocles,³ he first reduced the expenses of the administration and was sparing of the public resources; he went as envoy to Lysimachus and secured for the people thirty talents of silver and again one hundred more; he proposed the sending of an embassy to Ptolemy in Egypt, and those who took part in it brought back for the people fifty talents of silver; he was envoy to Antipater and secured twenty talents of silver which he brought to Eleusis for the people. He won the assent of the people to all these measures and accomplished them; he was exiled for the sake of the democracy, he took no part in any oligarchy, he held no office after the democracy had been overthrown, and he was the only Athenian of those who were engaged in public life in his time who never plotted to alter the government of the country by changing it to a form other than democracy; he made the decisions of the courts, the laws, the courts, and property, safe for all Athenians by the policy he pursued, and he never did anything adverse to the democracy by word or deed.

Vitae decem oratorum. Plutarch. Harold North Fowler (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1936.

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Current edition Perseus

The Lives of the Ten Orators (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. X. Fowler, Harold North, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Περὶ τῶν δέκα ἡτόρων Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol. V. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1893.) — 12 focus

[1] 851d ἄρχων Πυθάρατος Λάχης Δημοχάρους Λευκονοεὺς αἰτεῖ δωρεὰν τὴν βουλὴν καὶ τὸν δῆμον 20 τὸν Ἀθηναίων Δημοχάρει Λάχητος Λευκονοεῖ εἰκόνα χαλκῆν ἐν ἀγορᾷ καὶ σίτησιν ἐν πρυτανείῳ αὐτῷ καὶ τῶν ἐκγόνων ἀεὶ τῷ πρεσβυτάτῳ καὶ προεδρίαν ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἀγῶσιν, εὐεργέτῃ καὶ συμβούλῳ γεγονότι ἀγαθῷ τῷ δήμῳ τῷ Ἀθηναίων καὶ εὐεργετηκότι τὸν δῆμον τάδε· πρεσβεύοντι καὶ γράφοντι καὶ πολιτευομένῳ οἰκοδομὴν τειχῶν, καὶ παρασκευὴν ὅπλων καὶ βελῶν καὶ μηχανημάτων, καὶ ὀχυρωσαμένῳ 5 τὴν πόλιν ἐπὶ τοῦ τετραετοῦς· πολέμου, καὶ 851e εἰρήνην καὶ ἀνοχὰς καὶ συμμαχίαν ποιησαμένῳ πρὸς Βοιωτούς· ἀνθʼ ὧν ἐξέπεσεν ὑπὸ τῶν καταλυσάντων τὸν δῆμον· καὶ ὡς κατῆλθεν ἐπὶ Διοκλέους ἄρχοντος ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου, συστείλαντι τὴν διοίκησιν 10 πρώτῳ καὶ φεισαμένῳ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων καὶ πρεσβεύσαντι πρὸς Λυσίμαχον καὶ λαβόντι τῷ δήμῳ τριάκοντα τάλαντα ἀργυρίου καὶ πάλιν ἕτερα ἑκατόν· καὶ γράψαντι πρεσβείαν πρὸς Πτολεμαῖον εἰς Αἴγυπτον, καθʼ ἣν ἐκπλεύσαντες πεντήκοντα ἐκόμισαν 15 τάλαντα ἀργυρίου τῷ δήμῳ· καὶ πρὸς Ἀντίπατρον πρεσβεύσαντι καὶ λαβόντι εἴκοσι τάλαντα 851f ἀργυρίου καὶ Ἐλευσῖνα κομισαμένῳ τῷ δήμῳ καὶ ταῦτα πείσαντι ἑλέσθαι τὸν δῆμον καὶ πράξαντι, καὶ φυγόντι μὲν ὑπὲρ δημοκρατίας, μετεσχηκότι δὲ 20 οὐδεμιᾶς ὀλιγαρχίας οὐδὲ ἀρχὴν οὐδεμίαν ἠρχότι καταλελυκότος τοῦ δήμου· καὶ μόνῳ Ἀθηναίων τῶν κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἡλικίαν πολιτευσαμένων μὴ μεμελετηκότι τὴν πατρίδα κινεῖν ἑτέρῳ πολιτεύματι ἢ δημοκρατίᾳ· καὶ τὰς κρίσεις καὶ τοὺς νόμους καὶ 25 τὰ δικαστήρια καὶ τὰς οὐσίας πᾶσιν Ἀθηναίοις ἐν ἀσφαλεῖ ποιήσαντι διὰ τῆς αὑτοῦ πολιτείας καὶ μηδὲν ὑπεναντίον τῇ δημοκρατίᾳ πεπραχότι μήτε λόγῳ μήτε ἔργῳ.

Translations (1)

Lives of the Ten Orators Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. V. Goodwin, William W., editor; Barcroft, Charles, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 12 focus

Decrees proposed to the Athenians. II.

IN the magistracy of Pytharatus,¹ Laches, the son of Demochares of Leuconoe requires of the Athenian senate that a statue of brass be set up for Demochares, the son of Laches of Leuconoe, in the market-place, and table and diet in the Prytaneum for himself and the eldest of his progeny successively, and the first seat at all public shows; for that he had always been a benefactor and good counsellor to the people, and had done these and the like good offices to the public: he had gone in embassies in his own person; had proposed and carried in bills relating to his embassage; had been chief manager of public matters; had repaired the walls, prepared arms and machines; had fortified the city in the time of the four years’ war, and composed a peace, truce, and alliance with the Boeotians; for which things he was banished by those who overturned and usurped the government;—and being called home again by a decree of the people, in the year of Diocles, he had contracted the administration, sparing the public funds; and going in embassage to Lysimachus, he had at one time gained thirty, and at another time a hundred talents of silver, for the use of the public; he had moved the people to send an embassage to Ptolemy, by which means the people got fifty talents; he went ambassador to Antipater, and by that got twenty talents, and brought it to Eleusis to the people,—all which measures he persuaded the people to adopt while he himself carried them out; furthermore, he was banished for his love for the commonwealth, and would never take part with usurpers against the popular government; neither did he, after the overthrow of that government, bear any public office in the state; he was the only man, of all that had to do in the public administration of affairs in his time, who never promoted or consented to any other form of government but the popular; by his prudence and conduct, all the judgments and decrees, the laws, courts, and all things else belonging to the Athenians, were preserved safe and inviolate; and, in a word, he never said or did any thing to the prejudice of the popular government.

Notes on the current edition

The Lives of the Ten Orators

1. 271-270 b.c. See above, pp. 431 f., where the same facts are given.

2. 294-290 b.c. The war ended with the surrender of Athens to Demetrius Poliorcetes.

3. 288-287 b.c.

Plutarch Vitae decem oratorum 12

Harold North Fowler (Translator)

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DECREES II

Current edition Perseus

Decrees proposed to the Athenians. II.

Notes on the current edition

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