Aeschines

Truth is strong enough to overcome all human sophistries.

Aeschines (Αἰσχίνης, Aischínēs; 389 – 314 BC) was a Greek statesman and one of the ten Attic orators.

Quotes

Greek text cited from M. R. Dilts, Aeschinis Orationes (Stuttgart-Leipzig, 1997).
Translations cited from C. D. Adams, The Speeches of Aeschines (Cambridge-London, 1919), unless otherwise noted.

Against Timarchus (346/5 BC)

• ὁμολογοῦνται γὰρ τρεῖς εἶναι πολιτεῖαι παρὰ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις, τυραννὶς καὶ ὀλιγαρχία καὶ δημοκρατία· διοικοῦνται δ᾿ αἱ μὲν τυραννίδες καὶ ὀλιγαρχίαι τοῖς τρόποις τῶν ἐφεστηκότων, αἱ δὲ πόλεις αἱ δημοκρατούμεναι τοῖς νόμοις τοῖς κειμένοις.
  • It is acknowledged, namely, that there are in the world three forms of government, autocracy, oligarchy, and democracy: autocracies and oligarchies are administered according to the tempers of their lords, but democratic states according to established laws.
  • I.4

• εὖ δ᾿ ἴστε, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, ὅτι τὰ μὲν τῶν δημοκρατουμένων σώματα καὶ τὴν πολιτείαν οἱ νόμοι σῴζουσι, τὰ δὲ τῶν τυράννων καὶ ὀλιγαρχικῶν ἀπιστία καὶ ἡ μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων φρουρά.
  • Be assured, fellow citizens, that in a democracy it is the laws that guard the person of the citizen and the constitution of the state, whereas the despot and the oligarch find their protection in suspicion and in armed guards.
  • I.5

• ἐντεῦθεν γὰρ ἰσχύσετε, ὅταν εὐνομῆσθε καὶ μὴ καταλύησθε ὑπὸ τῶν παρανομοῦντων.
  • For then only will you be strong, when you cherish the laws, and when the revolutionary attempts of lawless men shall have ceased.
  • I.5, on despots and oligarchs

• προσήκειν δὲ ἔγωγε νομίζω, ὅταν μὲν νομοθετῶμεν, τοῦθ᾿ ἡμᾶς σκοπεῖν ὅπως καλῶς ἔχοντας καὶ συμφέροντας νόμους τῇ πολιτείᾳ θησόμεθα, ἐπειδὰν δὲ νομοθετήσωμεν, τοῖς νόμοις τοῖς κειμένοις πείθεσθαι, τοὺς δὲ μὴ πειθομένους κολάζειν, εἰ δεῖ τὰ τῆς πόλεως καλῶς ἔχειν.
  • And it behooves us, I think, not only when we are enacting laws, to consider always how the laws that we make may be good and advantageous to the democracy, but when once we have enacted them, it equally behooves us, if all is to be well with the state, to obey the laws that we have enacted, and to punish those who do not obey them.
  • I.6

• οὕτω γὰρ χρὴ καθαρὸν εἶναι τὸν βίον τοῦ σώφρονος ἀνδρός, ὥστε μηδ᾿ ἐπιδέχεσθαι δόξαν αἰτίας πονηρᾶς.
  • For the life of a virtuous man ought to be so clean that it will not admit even of a suspicion of wrongdoing.
  • I.48

• οὕτως ἰσχυρόν ἐστιν ἡ ἀλήθεια ὥστε πάντων ἐπικρατεῖ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων λογισμῶν.
  • Truth is strong enough to overcome all human sophistries.
  • I.84 (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

On the Embassy (343 BC)

• συμμαχίας γὰρ Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων συνελθούσης, εἷς ὢν τούτων Ἀμύντας ὁ Φιλίππου πατὴρ καὶ πέμπων σύνεδρον καὶ τῆς καθ᾿ αὐτὸν ψήφου κύριος ὤν, ἐψηφίσατο Ἀμφίπολιν τὴν Ἀθηναίων συνεξαιρεῖν μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων Ἀθηναίοις. καὶ τούτων τὸ κοινὸν δόγμα τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ τοὺς ψηφισαμένους ἐκ τῶν δημοσίων γραμμάτων μάρτυρας παρεσχόμην.
  • For at a congress of the Lacedaemonian allies and the other Greeks, in which Amyntas, the father of Philip, being entitled to a seat, was represented by a delegate whose vote was absolutely under his control, he joined the other Greeks in voting to help Athens to recover possession of Amphipolis. As proof of this I presented from the public records the resolution of the Greek congress and the names of those who voted.
  • II.32

• τὸ γὰρ ψευδὲς ὄνειδος οὐ περαιτέρω τῆς ἀκοῆς ἀφικνεῖται.
  • Lying rumours do not penetrate farther than our ears.
  • II.149 (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

Against Ctesiphon (330 BC)

• ὁ ἰδίᾳ πονηρὸς οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο δημοσίᾳ χρηστός, οὐδ᾿ ὅστις ἐστὶν οἴκοι φαῦλος, οὐδέποτ᾿ ἦν ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ κατὰ τὴν πρέσβειαν καλὸς κἀγαθός· οὐ γὰρ τὸν τρόπον, ἀλλὰ τὸν τόπον μετήλλαξεν.
  • The man who is unprincipled in private life will never make a good public servant, nor will one who is of no account at home prove a man of light and leading with the embassy in Macedonia; for he has only changed his abode, not his nature.
  • III.78 (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• οὐ γὰρ τὸ δυστυχῆσαι κατὰ πόλεμόν ἐστι μέγιστον κακόν, ἀλλ᾿ ὅταν τις πρὸς ἀνταγωνιστὰς ἀναξίους αὑτοῦ διακινδυνεύων ἀποτύχῃ, διπλασίαν εἰκὸς εἶναι τὴν συμφοράν.
  • For a defeat in war is not the greatest of all evils; but when the defeat has been inflicted by enemies who are unworthy of you, then the calamity is doubled.
  • III.88 (tr. C. T. Ramage, 1864)

• σφόδρα ἄξιός ἐστι μισεῖσθαι, ὅτι πονηρὸς ὢν καὶ τὰ τῶν χρηστῶν σημεῖα διαφθείρει.
  • He is specially deserving of our hatred, in that being wicked he has all the outward signs of virtue.
  • III.99, on Demosthenes (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• πονηρὰ φύσις, μεγάλης ἐξουσίας ἐπιλαβομένη, δημοσίας ἀπεργάζεται συμφοράς.
  • An evil nature wielding great authority brings misfortune upon the community. (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)
  • III.147

• τήν γ᾿ εὐγνωμοσύνην ἀεὶ προτακτέον τοῦ λόγου.
  • Integrity is to be preferred to eloquence.
  • III.170 (tr. C. T. Ramage, 1864)

• οὐ γὰρ ἀόριστόν ἐστι τὸ δίκαιον, ἀλλ᾿ ὡρισμένον τοῖς νόμοις.
  • Right is not unlimited, but is limited by the laws.
  • III.199 (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• νῦν δὲ ἐκεῖνοι μὲν μεγάλων κακῶν συμβάντων ἔσωσαν τὴν πόλιν τὸ κάλλιστον ἐκ παιδείας ῥῆμα φθεγξάμενοι, 'μὴ μνησικακεῖν'.
  • 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.'
  • III.208, on the amnesty of 403
    • Paraphrased by C. T. Ramage, 1930:
    • Amnesty, that noble word, the genuine dictate of wisdom.

• ὅπου γὰρ τοὺς ὄντως ἄνδρας ἀγαθοὺς οἷς πολλὰ καὶ καλὰ σύνισμεν ἔργα, τοὺς καθ᾿ ἑαυτῶν ἐπαίνους ἐὰν λέγωσιν, οὐ φέρομεν.
  • For men of real merit, and whose noble and glorious deeds we are ready to acknowledge, are yet not to be endured when they vaunt their own actions.
  • III.241 (tr. C. T. Ramage, 1864)

• εὖ γὰρ ἴστε, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, ὅτι οὐχ αἱ παλαῖστραι οὐδὲ τὰ διδασκαλεῖα οὐδ᾿ ἡ μουσικὴ μόνον παιδεύει τοὺς νέους, ἀλλὰ πολὺ μᾶλλον τὰ δημόσια κηρύγματα.
  • For you are well aware that it is not only by bodily exercises, by educational institutions, or by lessons in music, that our youth are trained, but much more effectually by public examples.
  • III.246 (tr. C. T. Ramage, 1864)

Quotes about Aeschines

• Plenior Aeschines et magis fusus et grandiori similis quo minus strictus est, carnis tamen plus habet, minus lacertorum.
  • [Compared to Demosthenes,] Aeschines is fuller, more expansive, less tightly controlled and so approximating to the grander manner. He has more flesh and less muscle.
  • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, X.1.77 (tr. D. A. Russell, 2002)