Isocrates, Areopagiticus, George Norlin (Translator), 6

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[6] Of this truth I might cite examples without number from the lives of individual men, since these are subject to the most frequent vicissitudes; but instances which are more important and better known to my hearers may be drawn from the experiences of our city and of the Lacedaemonians. As for the Athenians, after our city had been laid waste by the barbarians, we became, because we were anxious about the future and gave attention to our affairs, the foremost of the Hellenes;¹ whereas, when we imagined that our power was invincible, we barely escaped being enslaved.²

Areopagiticus. Isocrates. George Norlin (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1928.

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Current edition Perseus

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

Editions (1)

Ἀρεοπαγιτικός Perseus (Isocrates, Vol 2. Norlin, George, editor. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1929 (printing).) — 6 focus

[6] καὶ τούτων ἐνεγκεῖν ἔχω παραδείγματα πλεῖστα μὲν ἐκ τῶν ἰδιωτικῶν πραγμάτων, πυκνοτάτας γὰρ ταῦτα λαμβάνει τὰς μεταβολάς, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ μείζω γε καὶ φανερώτερα τοῖς ἀκούουσιν ἐκ τῶν ἡμῖν καὶ Λακεδαιμονίοις συμβάντων. ἡμεῖς τε γὰρ ἀναστάτου μὲν τῆς πόλεως ὑπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων γεγενημένης διὰ τὸ δεδιέναι καὶ προσέχειν τὸν νοῦν τοῖς πράγμασιν ἐπρωτεύσαμεν τῶν Ἑλλήνων, ἐπειδὴ δʼ ἀνυπέρβλητον ᾠήθημεν τὴν δύναμιν ἔχειν, παρὰ μικρὸν ἤλθομεν ἐξανδραποδισθῆναι·

Notes on the current edition

Areopagiticus

1. Athens , then a walled city, was temporarily abandoned by her people before the battle of Salamis , and destroyed by the troops of Xerxes. After the Persian Wars, she became the head of the Confederacy of Delos . See Isoc. 6.42 ff. , and Isoc. 4.71-72 .

2. At the end of the Peloponnesian War, Athens was at the mercy of Sparta and the Spartan allies. The latter proposed that Athens be utterly destroyed and her citizens sold into slavery, but the Spartans refused to allow the city “which had done a great service to Hellas ” to be reduced to slavery. Xen. Hell. 2.2.19-20 . Cf. Isoc. 8.78, 105 ; Isoc. 14.32 ; Isoc. 15.319 .

Isocrates Areopagiticus 6

George Norlin (Translator)

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