Hyperides, Funeral Oration, ed. J. O. Burtt, 39

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

← Previous Next →

[39] Those too, I fancy, who gave the people the surest token of their mutual friendship, Harmodius and Aristogiton,¹ do not regard as Leosthenes and his comrades in arms; nor are there any with whom they would rather hold converse in the lower world than these. We need not wonder; for what these men did was no less a task than theirs; it was indeed, if judgement must be passed, a greater service still. Those two brought low the tyrants of their country, these the masters of the whole of Greece .

Funeral Oration. Hyperides. ed. J. O. Burtt. London. 1954.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

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

Editions (1)

Ἐπιτάφιος Perseus (Hyperides. Minor Attic Orators, Vol. 2. Burtt, J. O., editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954 (printing).) — 39 focus

[39] οἶμαι δὲ καὶ τοὺς¹ τὴν πρὸς ἀλλήλους φιλίαν τῷ δήμῳ βεβαιότατα ἐνδειξαμένους, λέγω δὲ Ἁρμόδιον καὶ Ἀριστογείτονα, οὐθένας οὕτως αὑτοῖς οἰκειοτέρους ὑμῖν εἶναι νομίζειν ὡς ² Λεωσθέ νη καὶ τοὺς ἐκείνῳ συναγωνισαμένους, οὐδʼ ἔστιν οἷς ἂν μᾶλλον ἢ τούτοις πλησιάσειαν ἐν Ἅιδου. εἰκότως· οὐκ ἐλάττω γὰρ ἐκείνων ἔργα διεπράξαντο, ἀλλʼ εἰ δέον εἰπεῖν, καὶ μείζω. οἱ μὲν γὰρ τοὺς τῆς πατρίδος τυράννους κατέλυσαν, οὗτοι δὲ τοὺς τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἁπάσης.

Notes on the current edition

Funeral Oration

1. The sense appears to be that they regard no one as so suitable to rank with themselves as Leosthenes and his comrades. Harmodius and Aristogiton, who in 514 B.C. plotted to assassinate the two sons of Pisistratus, and after killing one, Hipparchus, were captured and put to death, were later looked upon as liberators of the city. They and their descendants, who enjoyed special privileges, are not infrequently referred to by the orators. Compare Din. 1.63 and Din. 1.101 ; Hyp. 2.3 .

Hyperides Funeral Oration 39

ed. J. O. Burtt

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers