Aeschines, Against Ctesiphon, ed. Charles Darwin Adams, 208

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[208] ὅταν δὴ τὰ τοιαῦτα λέγῃ, πρὸς μὲν τοὺς στασιαστικοὺς λόγους ἐκεῖνο αὐτῷ ὑποβάλλετε· ὦ Δημόσθενες, εἰ ὅμοιοι ἦσαν σοὶ οἱ ἀπὸ Φυλῆς φεύγοντα τὸν δῆμον καταγαγόντες, οὐκ ἄν ποθʼ ἡ δημοκρατία κατέστη. νῦν δὲ ἐκεῖνοι μὲν μεγάλων κακῶν συμβάντων ἔσωσαν τὴν πόλιν τὸ κάλλιστον ἐκ παιδείας ῥῆμα φθεγξάμενοι, μὴ μνησικακεῖν· σὺ δὲ ἑλκοποιεῖς, καὶ μᾶλλόν σοι μέλει τῶν αὐθημερὸν λόγων, ἢ τῆς σωτηρίας τῆς πόλεως.

ὅταν δʼ ἐπίορκος ὢν εἰς τὴν τῶν ὅρκων¹ πίστιν καταφυγγάνῃ, ἐκεῖνο ἀπομνημονεύσατε αὐτῷ, ὅτι τῷ πολλάκις μὲν ἐπιορκοῦντι, ἀεὶ δὲ ² μεθʼ ὅρκων ἀξιοῦντι πιστεύεσθαι, δυοῖν θάτερον ὑπάρξαι δεῖ, ³ ἢ τοὺς θεοὺς καινούς, ἢ τοὺς ἀκροατὰς μὴ τοὺς αὐτούς.

Against Ctesiphon. Aeschines. ed. Charles Darwin Adams. London. 1919.

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Current edition Perseus

Κατά Κτησιφώντος (Greek) (The Speeches of Aeschines. Adams, Charles Darwin, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1919.)

Translations (1)

Against Ctesiphon Perseus (The Speeches of Aeschines. Adams, Charles Darwin, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1919 (1958 printing).) — 208 focus

[208] Now when he talks like that, in answer to such appeals to faction, make this suggestion to him: Demosthenes, if the men of Phyle, who brought back the people from exile, had been like you, never had the democracy been reestablished. But as it was, they saved the city out of great disasters, and gave utterance to those words which are the fairest product of enlightened minds, ‘Forgive and forget.’ But as for you, you tear open old sores, and you care more for the words of the moment than for the safety of the state.

But when, perjurer that he is, he takes refuge in the confidence which you place in oaths, remind him of this, that when a man repeatedly perjures himself, and yet is continually demanding to be believed because of his oaths, one of two things ought to be true, either the gods ought to be new gods, or the hearers not the same.

Notes on the current edition

Against Ctesiphon

1. τῶν ὅρκων Sakorraphos: ἀπὸ or διὰ τῶν ὅρκων MSS.

2. ἀεὶ δὲ Dobree: ἀεὶ δὲ πρὸς τοὺς αὐτοὺς MSS.

3. δεῖ Cobet: after δεῖ the MSS. have ὧν οὐδέτερόν ἐστ. Δημοσθένει ὑπάρχον.

Aeschines Against Ctesiphon 208

ed. Charles Darwin Adams

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