Lycurgus, Against Leocrates, ed. J. O. Burtt, 86

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[86] καὶ οὕτως ἦσαν, ὦ ἄνδρες, γενναῖοι οἱ τότε βασιλεύοντες ὥστε προῃροῦντο ἀποθνῄσκειν ὑπὲρ τῆς τῶν ἀρχομένων σωτηρίας μᾶλλον ἢ ζῶντες ἑτέραν μεταλλάξαι¹ χώραν. φασὶ γοῦν τὸν Κόδρον παραγγείλαντα τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις προσέχειν ὅταν τελευτήσῃ τὸν βίον, λαβόντα πτωχικὴν στολὴν ὅπως ἂν ἀπατήσῃ τοὺς πολεμίους, κατὰ τὰς πύλας ὑποδύντα φρύγανα συλλέγειν πρὸ τῆς πόλεως, προσελθόντων δʼ αὐτῷ δυοῖν ἀνδρῶν ἐκ τοῦ στρατοπέδου καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν πυνθανομένων, τὸν ἕτερον αὐτῶν ἀποκτεῖναι τῷ δρεπάνω παίσαντα² τὸν δὲ περιλελειμμένον,

Against Leocrates. Lycurgus. ed. J. O. Burtt. London. 1954.

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Current edition Perseus

Κατὰ Λεωκράτους (Greek) (Lycurgus. Minor Attic Orators, Vol. 2. Burtt, J. O., editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954 (printing).)

Translations (1)

Against Leocrates Perseus (Lycurgus. Minor Attic Orators, Vol. 2. Burtt, J. O., translator. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954 (printing).) — 86 focus

[86] And such was the nobility, gentlemen, of those kings of old that they preferred to die for the safety of their subjects rather than to purchase life by the adoption of another country. That at least is true of Codrus, who, they say, told the Athenians to note the time of his death and, taking a beggar’s clothes to deceive the enemy, slipped out by the gates and began to collect firewood in front of the town. When two men from the camp approached him and inquired about conditions in the city he killed one of them with a blow of his sickle.

Notes on the current edition

Against Leocrates

1. Post μεταλλάξαι habent τὴν codd., del. Budaeus: τινα Reiske.

2. παίσαντα Blass: πεσόντα A pr.: προσπεσόντα A corr. (2): πλήξαντα Suidas.

Lycurgus Against Leocrates 86

ed. J. O. Burtt

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