Panegyricus

[*](In Isoc. 15.295 is a similar picture of the attractions and advantages of life in Athens.) since in addition to those which the city herself sets up, she prevails upon the rest of the world also to offer prizes;[*](The meaning may be that prize-winners in Athens are awarded similar prizes in conpetitions elsewhere.) for the judgements pronounced by us command such great approbation that all mankind accept them, gladly. But apart from these considerations, while the assemblages at the other great festivals are brought together only at long intervals and are soon dispersed, our city throughout all time[*](The Panathenaic and the Dionysiac festivals were held every year, whereas the Olympic and Pythian games came only once in four years, and the Nemean and Isthmian games once in two years. Festival followed upon festival in Athens, and Isocrates' statement is almost literally true. Thucydides says the same thing, Thuc. 2.38, and Xenophon declares that the Athenians celebrate twice as many festivals as the other Greeks, Xen. Const. Ath. 3.8.) is a festival for those who visit her.

Philosophy,[*](For “philosophy” in Isocrates see General Introd. p. xxvi, and Cicero's definition, De orat. iii. 16, “omnis rerum optimarum cognitio, atque in iis exercitatio, philosophia.”) moreover, which has helped to discover and establish all these institutions, which has educated us for public affairs and made us gentle towards each other, which has distinguished between the misfortunes that are due to ignorance and those which spring from necessity, and taught us to guard against the former and to bear the latter nobly—philosophy, I say, was given to the world by our city. And Athens it is that has honored eloquence,[*](Cf. Isoc. 15.295-296; Plat. Laws 641e; and Milton: “mother of arts and eloquence.”)

which all men crave and envy in its possessors; for she realized that this is the one endowment of our nature which singles us out from all living creatures, and that by using this advantage we have risen above them in all other respects as well;[*](For the power and function of lo/gos see Isoc. 3.5-9; Isoc. 15.273; Xen. Mem. 4.3.) she saw that in other activities the fortunes of life are so capricious that in them often the wise fail and the foolish succeed, whereas beautiful and artistic speech is never allotted to ordinary men, but is the work of an intelligent mind,

and that it is in this respect that those who are accounted wise and ignorant present the strongest contrast; and she knew, furthermore, that whether men have been liberally educated from their earliest years is not to be determined by their courage or their wealth or such advantages, but is made manifest most of all by their speech, and that this has proved itself to be the surest sign of culture in every one of us, and that those who are skilled in speech are not only men of power in their own cities but are also held in honor in other states.

And so far has our city distanced the rest of mankind in thought and in speech that her pupils have become the teachers[*](For Athens as the School of Greece see General Introd. p. xxviii; Isoc. 15.296; Thuc. 2.41.1.) of the rest of the world; and she has brought it about that the name Hellenes suggests no longer a race but an intelligence, and that the title Hellenes is applied rather to those who share our culture than to those who share a common blood.[*](See General lntrod. p. xxxiv and Isoc. 9.47 ff. Cf. the inscription on the Gennadeion in Athens: *(/ellhnes kalou=ntai oi( th=s paideu/sews th=s h(mete/ras mete/xontes)

But in order that I may not appear to be dwelling at length on the details when I have proposed to speak on the general subject nor to be extolling the city for these accomplishments because I lack ground for praising her conduct in war, let what I have said suffice for those who glory in such services. But I think that honor is due to our ancestors no less for their wars than for their other benefactions;

for not slight, nor few, nor obscure, but many and dread and great, were the struggles they sustained, some for their own territories, some for the freedom of the rest of the world; for at all times, without ceasing, they have offered the city as a common refuge and as a champion to the Hellenes whenever oppressed.[*](On Athens as a refuge for the oppressed see the words of Procles in Xen. Hell. 6.5.45. Cf. Isoc. 8.138.)

And it is for this very reason that we are sometimes charged with adopting a foolish policy in that we are accustomed to cultivate the weaker peoples[*](Andocides, Isoc. 8.28, speaks of the “habitual bane” of Athens—that of throwing away her stronger friends and choosing the weaker. Cf. Plat. Menex. 244e, and Dem. 20.3.)—as though such charges do not support those who desire to sing our praises. For it was not because we failed to appreciate how much more advantageous great alliances are in point of security that we pursued this policy in regard to the weak; no, although we realized much more exactly than our rivals the consequences of such a course, we nevertheless preferred to stand by the weaker even against our interests rather than to unite with the stronger in oppressing others for our own advantage.

The character and power of Athens may be judged from the appeals which sundry people have in times past made to us for our help. Those of recent occurrence or for insignificant ends I shall omit; but long before the Trojan War (for it is only fair that those who dispute about immemorial rights should draw their arguments from that early time) there came to us the sons of Heracles[*](Heracles had been during his life a slave to the commands of Eurystheus, king of Mycenae. After the death of Heracles and his apotheosis, his sons were driven by Eurystheus out of the Peloponnesus. In the course of their wanderings they found refuge in Athens, where Theseus, the king, championed their cause against their oppressor. Eurystheus was killed in battle by Hyllus, one of the sons of Heracles. See Grote, Hist. i. p. 94. Adrastus, king of Argos, was the leader ot he expedition known in story as that of the Seven against Thebes. They were defeated by the Thebans and were not even allowed to recover their dead for burial. Adrastus fled to Athens and there was given refuge and aid to avenge himself on the Thebans. See Grote, Hist. i. p. 277. Both of these episodes are commonplaces in panegyrics on Athens. Cf. Isoc. 6.42; Isoc. 12.168-171; Lys. 2.7-16—a close parallel to Isocrates; Plat. Menex. 239b ff.; Dem. 60.8, 27; Lyc. 1.98; Xen. Hell. 6.5.46.) and, a little before them, Adrastus, Talaus's son, king of Argos.