Isocrates, On the Peace, George Norlin (Translator), 79

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[79] not that we can have any just complaint against the latter for being obdurate towards us; for they were not aggressors but on the defensive, and came to have this feeling after suffering many grievous wrongs at our hands. For who could have brooked the insolence of our fathers? Gathering together from all Hellas men who were the worst of idlers and men who had a part in every form of depravity and manning their triremes with them,¹ they made themselves odious to the Hellenes,² driving into exile the best of the citizens in the other states³ and distributing their property among the most depraved of the Hellenes!

On the Peace. Isocrates. George Norlin (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1928.

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Current edition Perseus

On the Peace (English) (Isocrates, Vol 2. Norlin, George, translator. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1929 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Περὶ εἰρήνης Perseus (Isocrates, Vol 2. Norlin, George, editor. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1929 (printing).) — 79 focus

[79] οἷς οὐκ ἂν δικαίως ἐγκαλοῖμεν, ὅτι χαλεπῶς πρὸς ἡμᾶς διετέθησαν· οὐ γὰρ ὑπάρχοντες ἀλλʼ ἀμυνόμενοι καὶ πολλὰ καὶ δεινὰ παθόντες τοιαύτην γνώμην ἔσχον περὶ ἡμᾶς· τίς γὰρ ἂν ὑπέμεινε τὴν ἀσέλγειαν τῶν πατέρων τῶν ἡμετέρων, οἳ συναγαγόντες ἐξ ἁπάσης τῆς Ἑλλάδος τοὺς ἀργοτάτους καὶ τοὺς ἁπασῶν τῶν πονηριῶν μετέχοντας, πληροῦντες τούτων τὰς τριήρεις, ἀπηχθάνοντο τοῖς Ἕλλησι, καὶ τοὺς μὲν βελτίστους τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἄλλαις πόλεσιν ἐξέβαλλον, τοῖς δὲ πονηροτάτοις τῶν Ἑλλήνων τἀκείνων διένεμον;

Notes on the current edition

On the Peace

1. Mercenaries made up the crews at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War. See Thuc. 1.121 .

2. Cf. Thuc. 2.9 .

3. The aristocratic families, in order to make room for the democratic faction. Isocrates evidently means that their property was confiscated and used to pay the mercenaries. See Thuc. 8.21 . The rhetorical point is the same as in 46.

Isocrates On the Peace 79

George Norlin (Translator)

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