Demosthenes, Philippic 1, James Herbert Vince (Translator), 36

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[36] The explanation is that at the festivals everything is ordered by statute; every man among you knows long beforehand who of his tribe is to provide the chorus or who to equip the gymnasium,¹ what he is to receive, when and from whom he is to receive it, and what he is to do; nothing here is left to chance, nothing is undetermined: but in what pertains to war and its equipment, everything is ill-arranged, ill-managed, ill-defined. Consequently we wait till we have heard some piece of news, and then we appoint our ship-masters, and arrange suits for exchange of property,² and go into committee of ways and means, and next we resolve that the fleet shall be manned by resident aliens and freedmen,

Philippic 1. Demosthenes. James Herbert Vince (Translator). London. 1930.

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Current edition Perseus

First Philippic (English) (Demosthenes, Vol. I: Olynthiacs, Philippics, Minor Public Speeches, Speech Against Leptines, I-XVII, XX. Vince, J. H., translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1930 (printing).)

Editions (1)

κατὰ Φιλίππου α΄ Perseus (Demosthenes. Orationes, Vol. I. Butcher, S. H., editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903.) — 36 focus

[36] ὅτι ἐκεῖνα μὲν ἅπαντα νόμῳ τέτακται, καὶ πρόοιδεν ἕκαστος ὑμῶν ἐκ πολλοῦ τίς χορηγὸς ἢ γυμνασίαρχος τῆς φυλῆς, πότε καὶ παρὰ τοῦ καὶ τί λαβόντα τί δεῖ ποιεῖν, οὐδὲν ἀνεξέταστον οὐδʼ ἀόριστον ἐν τούτοις ἠμέληται· ἐν δὲ τοῖς περὶ τοῦ πολέμου καὶ τῇ τούτου παρασκευῇ ἄτακτα, ἀδιόρθωτα, ἀόρισθʼ ἅπαντα. τοιγαροῦν ἅμʼ ἀκηκόαμέν τι καὶ τριηράρχους καθίσταμεν καὶ τούτοις ἀντιδόσεις ποιούμεθα καὶ περὶ χρημάτων πόρου σκοποῦμεν, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτʼ ἐμβαίνειν τοὺς μετοίκους ἔδοξε καὶ τοὺς χωρὶς οἰκοῦντας,

Notes on the current edition

Philippic 1

1. A more important function of the gymnasiarch was to equip a team for the torch-race ( λαμπαδηφορία).

2. If a citizen, nominated for a liturgy, thought that a richer member of his tribe, otherwise eligible, had been passed over, he could challenge him to undertake the burden or exchange properties. In the case of the trierarchy such a challenge was referred to the Strategi.

Demosthenes Philippic 1 36

James Herbert Vince (Translator)

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