Dinarchus, Against Demosthenes, ed. J. O. Burtt, 72

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[72] What do you think it is, Athenians, that makes cities vary between good and evil fortunes? You will find only one cause: the counsellors and leaders. Take Thebes. It was a city; it became supreme. Under what leaders and generals? All the older men, on whose authority I shall give you the story, would admit that it was when Pelopidas,¹ so they have it,

Against Demosthenes. Dinarchus. ed. J. O. Burtt. London. 1954.

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Current edition Perseus

Against Demosthenes (English) (Dinarchus. Minor Attic Orators, Vol. 2. Burtt, J. O., translator. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Κατὰ Δημοσθένους Perseus (Dinarchus. Minor Attic Orators, Vol. 2. Burtt, J. O., editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954 (printing).) — 72 focus

[72] ὦ Ἀθηναῖοι, παρὰ τί οἴεσθε τὰς πόλεις τοτὲ μὲν εὖ τοτὲ δὲ φαύλως πράττειν; οὐδὲν εὑρήσετʼ ἄλλο πλὴν παρὰ τοὺς συμβούλους καὶ τοὺς ἡγεμόνας. ἐπιβλέψατε δʼ ἐπὶ τὴν Θηβαίων πόλιν. ἐγένετο¹ πόλις,² ἐγένετο μεγίστη· καὶ τίνων τυχοῦσα ἡγεμόνων καὶ στρατηγῶν; ἅπαντες ἂν ὁμολογήσαιεν οἱ³ πρεσβύτεροι, παρʼ ὧνπερ κἀγὼ τοὺς λόγους ἀκούων ἐρῶ,

Notes on the current edition

Against Demosthenes

1. Pelopidas and Epaminondas were the chief Theban generals during their city's period of greatness ( 371- 362 B.C.). In 371 they defeated Sparta at Leuctra and, in response to an appeal from the Arcadians who then rose against Sparta , entered the Peloponnese in 370. Here they refounded the town of Messene which the Spartans had destroyed at the end of the 8th century B.C. ( Dio. Sic. 15.56 and Dio. Sic. 15.62-66 ). Epaminondas conducted three further invasions of the Peloponnese , penetrating Laconia , but never actually taking Sparta . It was probably during the second of these that he founded Megalopolis , the new capital of Arcadia ; in the third he was killed at Mantinea (362 B.C.).

Dinarchus Against Demosthenes 72

ed. J. O. Burtt

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