The Orations of Lysias

The Orations of Lysias

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Title: The Orations of Lysias
Author: Lysias
Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6969] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on February 18,
2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
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Handy Literal Translations.
THE ORATIONS OF LYSIAS
LITERALLY TRANSLATED

CONTENTS.
THE ORATIONS:
II. FUNERAL ORATION
V. FOR CALLIAS
VII. THE OLIVE TREE
IX. POLYAENUS
X. THEOMNESTUS
XII. ERATOSTHENES
XIII. AGORATUS
XIV. ALCIBIADES
XVI. MANTITHEUS
XVII. PROPERTY OF ERATON
XIX. PROPERTY OF ARISTOPHANES
XXII. THE GRAIN DEALERS
XXIII. PANCLEON
XXIV. THE CRIPPLE
XXV. REPLY TO "THE OVERTHROW OF THIS DEMOCRACY"
XXVIII. ERGOCLES
XXX. NICOMACHUS
XXXI. AGAINST PHILON
XXXII. DIOGEITON
XXXIII. PANEGYRIC

ORATION II.
FUNERAL ORATION.
1. If I thought it were possible, O fellow-citizens who are assembled at
this burial-place, to set forth in words the valor of those who lie here, I
should blame the men who invited me to speak about them at a few
days' notice. But as all time would not be sufficient for (the combined
efforts) of all men to prepare an address adequate to their deeds, the
city seems to me, in providing for men to speak here, to make the
appointment at short notice, on the supposition that the speakers would
under the circumstances meet with less adverse criticism.
2. And though my words relate to these men, the chief difficulty is not
concerning their deeds, but with those who formerly spoke upon them.
For the valor of these men has been the occasion of such abundance (of
composition), both by those able to compose, and those wishing to
speak, that, although many noble sentiments have been uttered about
them by men in the past, yet much has been left unsaid, and enough can
yet be spoken at the present time. For they have experienced perils on
land and sea, and everywhere and among all men, who, while
bewailing their own hard fate, yet sing the praises of the courage of
these men.
3. First, then, I will review the hardships of our ancestors, following the
traditions. For all men should keep them too in mind, both celebrating
them in song, speaking of them in maxims about the good, honoring
them at such times as this, and instructing the living by the deeds of the
dead.
4. The Amazons were once the daughters of Ares, living by the river
Thermodon, and they alone of the inhabitants of that region were armed
with metal, and first of all they mounted horses, by which they
unexpectedly, because of the inexperience of their adversaries,
overtook those who fled from them, and they left their pursuers far
behind. So for their spirit they were thought men, rather than women
for their nature. For they seemed to surpass men in spirit rather than to
be inferior in physique.
5. And after they had subdued many tribes and in fact enslaved the
surrounding nations, they heard great reports about this country, and for
the sake of glory took the most warlike of their tribes and marched
against this city. And after they met these brave men, they came to have

their souls like their nature, and with changed hearts seemed to be
women rather from their conduct in danger than from their forms.
6. And they alone were not allowed to learn from experience and to
plan better for the future, and they might not go homeward and tell of
their discomfiture and the valor of our ancestors; for they died here and
paid the penalty for their rashness, and made the memory of this city
immortal through valor, and rendered their own country nameless
through their defeat here. These women then,