Panathenaicus

When I was younger, I elected not to write the kind of discourse which deals with myths[*](See General Introduction p. 22. Yet he deals with the legend of Demeter in Isoc. 4 and with that of Heracles in Isoc. 5, and, half playfully, he goes into the stories of Helen and Busiris in the discourses devoted to them. See General Introduction.) nor that which abounds in marvels and fictions,[*](Cf. Isoc. 10.4 ff., Vol. III., L.C.L.) although the majority of people are more delighted with this literature than with that which is devoted to their welfare and safety;[*](See Isoc. 7.1.) nor did I choose the kind which recounts the ancient deeds and wars of the Hellenes, although I am aware that this is deservedly praised,[*](One of his pupils, Theopompus, was a historian. For Isocrates' attitude to the historians see Blass, Die attische Beredsamkeit 2. p. 49.) nor, again, that which gives the impression of having been composed in a plain and simple manner and is lacking in all the refinements of style,[*](For the plain style affected by the forensic orators, notably Lysias, see Jebb, Attic Orators1. pp. 159 ff. Cf. Isoc. 4.) which those who are clever at conducting law-suits urge our young men tocultivate,

especially if they wish to have the advantage over their adversaries.[*](Isocrates despised this kind of writing. See General Introduction.) No, I left all these to others and devoted my own efforts to giving advice on the true interests of Athens and of the rest of the Hellenes,[*](See General Introduction.) writing in a style rich in many telling points, in contrasted and balanced phrases not a few,[*](The Gorgian figures, antithesis and parisosis, which Dionysius of Halicarnassus complained (Dion. Hal. Isoc. 14) were excessively used in the Isoc. 4.71-81.) and in the other figures of speech which give brilliance to oratory[*](See General Introduction.) and compel the approbation and applause of the audience.

Now, however, I have completely given up these devices of rhetoric.[*](An exaggeration. They abound in this discourse, but his earlier efforts were more ornate. Cf. Isoc. 5.27-28, and Isoc. 15.195.) For I do not think it is becoming to the ninety-four years which I have lived nor, in general, to men whose hair has at length turned to grey[*](An echo of Plat. Apol. 17.) to continue to speak in this fashion, but rather in the manner which every man, should he so desire, would hope to command, although no man can easily attain it without hard work and close application.

I have said this at the beginning in order that if the discourse which is now about to be presented to the public should appear to some to be more feeble[*](Cf. same apology in Isoc. 5.149; Isoc. 15.9; Isoc. Letter 6.6.) than those which have been published in former years, they may not compare it in the matter of rhetorical variety and finish to my former compositions but may judge it in relation to the subject matter which I have deemed appropriate to the present occasion.

I intend to discuss the achievements of Athens and the virtues of our ancestors, although I shall not begin with them but with a statement of my personal experience, since it is more urgent, I think, to begin with this. For notwithstanding that I strive to live in a manner above reproach and without offence to others, I am continually being misrepresented by obscure and worthless sophists and being judged by the general public, not by what I really am, but by what they hear from others.[*](Cf. Isoc. 15.4-8.)

I wish, therefore, to preface my discussion with a word about myself and about those who have this attitude towards me, in order that, if only it lies within my power to do so, I may put an end to the abuse of my calumniators and give to the public a clear understanding of the work to which I am devoted. For if I succeed in setting forth a true picture of this in my discourse, I hope not only that I myself may pass the rest of my days free from annoyance but that my present audience will give better attention to the discourse which is about to be delivered.

I am not going to hesitate to tell you frankly of the confusion which now comes into my thoughts, of the strangeness of my feelings on the present occasion, and of my perplexity as to whether I am doing anything to the purpose. For I have had my share of the greatest goods of life—the things which all men would pray the gods to have as their portion:[*](For the “greatest goods” cf. Plat. Laws 631c; Aristot. Rh. 1.5; and Herrick's rendering of the famous Greek skolion: “Health is the first good lent to men;/A gentle disposition then;/Next, to be rich by no by-wayes;/Lastly, with friends t'enjoy our dayes.”) first of all, I have enjoyed health both of body and of soul, not in common degree, but in equal measure with those who have been most blessed in these respects;[*](Cf. Bacchyl. 1.27 ff. (Bacchyl. 1.55 ff., Jebb's edition): ei) d' u(giei/gas qnato\s e)w\n e)/laxen, zw/ein t' a)p' oi)kei/wn e)/xei, prw/tois e)ri/zei.) secondly, I have been in comfortable circumstances, so that I have not lacked for any of the moderate satisfactions nor for those that a sensible man would desire;

and, lastly, I have been ranked, not among those who are despised or ignored, but among those whom the most cultivated of the Hellenes will recall and talk about as men of consequence and worth. And yet, although I have been blessed with all these gifts, some in surpassing, others in sufficient measure, I am not content to live on these terms; on the contrary, my old age is so morose and captious and discontented that I have oftentimes before this found fault with my nature,

which no other man has contemned, and have deplored my fortune, although I have had no complaint against it other than that the philosophy which I have chosen to pursue has been the object of unfortunate and unscrupulous attacks.[*](Such as are described at the beginning of the Isoc. 15..) As to my nature, however, I realized that it was not robust and vigorous enough for public affairs and that it was not adequate nor altogether suited to public discourse, and that, furthermore, although it was better able to form a correct judgement of the truth of any matter than are those who claim to have exact knowledge,[*](See General Introduction; Isoc. 13.7 ff.) yet for expounding the truth before an assemblage of many people it was, if I may say so, the least competent in all the world.

For I was born more lacking in the two things which have the greatest power in Athens—a strong voice and ready assurance[*](Cf. Isoc. 5.81 and note; Isoc. Letter 1.9 ff.; Isoc. Letter 8.7; and Aristoph. Kn. 217 ff.: ta\ d' a)/lla soi pro/sesti dhmagwgika/, fwnh\ miara/, ge/gonas kakw=s, a)go/raios ei)=: e)xeis a(/panta pro\s politei/an a(\ dei=.)—than, I dare say, any of my fellow-citizens. And those who are not endowed with these are condemned to go about in greater obscurity so far as public recognition is concerned than those who owe money to the state;[*](An unpaid fine entailed disfranchisement in Athens.) for the latter have still the hope of paying off the fine assessed against them, whereas the former can never change their nature.

And yet I did not permit these disabilities to dishearten me nor did I allow myself to sink into obscurity or utter oblivion, but since I was barred from public life I took refuge in study and work and writing down my thoughts, choosing as my field, not petty matters nor private contracts, nor the things about which the other orators prate, but the affairs of Hellas and of kings and of states.[*](See General Introduction.) Wherefore I thought that I was entitled to more honor than the speakers who come before you on the platform in proportion as my discourses were on greater and nobler themes than theirs. But nothing of the sort has come to pass.

And yet all men know that the majority of the orators have the audacity to harangue the people, not for the good of the state, but for what they themselves expect to gain,[*](See Isoc. 7.24 and note.) while I and mine not only abstain more than all others from the public funds but expend more than we can afford from our private means on the needs of the commonwealth;[*](See Isoc. 15.144-152 and notes.) and they know,

furthermore, that these orators are either wrangling among themselves[*](Cf., for this contrast between the other orators and himself, Isoc. 15.147-149.) in the assemblies over deposits of money[*](For this common cause of controversy see Isoc. 4.188 and note. Such controversies were sometimes referred to the General Assembly and there debated and voted upon.) or insulting our allies[*](Cf. Isoc. 12.142 and Isoc. 15.318.) or blackmailing[*](Cf. Isoc. 15.318.) whosoever of the rest of the world chances to be the object of their attacks, while I, for my part, have led the way in discourses which exhort the Hellenes to concord among themselves and war against the barbarians

and which urge that we all unite in colonizing a country so vast and so vulnerable that those who have heard the truth about it assert with one accord that if we are sensible and cease from our frenzy against each other we can quickly gain possession of it without effort and without risk and that this territory will easily accommodate all the people among us who are in want of the necessities of life.[*](The theme of Isoc. 4 and of Isoc. 5.) And these are enterprises than which, should all the world unite in the search, none could be found more honorable or more important or more advantageous to us all.

But in spite of the fact that myself and these orators are so far apart in our ways of thinking and that I have chosen a field so much more worthy, the majority of people estimate us, not in accordance with our merits, but in a confused and altogether irrational manner. For they find fault with the character of the popular orators and yet put them at the head of affairs and invest them with power over the whole state; and, again, they praise my discourses and yet are envious of me personally for no other reason than because of these very discourses which they receive with favor. So unfortunately do I fare at their hands.

But why wonder at those who are by nature envious of all superior excellence, when certain even of those who regard themselves as superior and who seek to emulate me and imitate my work are more hostile to me than is the general public? And yet where in the world could you find men more reprehensible—for I shall speak my mind even at the risk of appearing to some to discourse with more vehemence and rancor than is becoming to my age—where, I say, could you find men more reprehensible than these, who are not able to put before their students even a fraction of what I have set forth in my teaching but use my discourses as models and make their living from so doing, and yet are so far from being grateful to me on this account that they are not even willing to let me alone but are always saying disparaging things about me?

Nevertheless, as long as they confined themselves to abusing my discourses, reading them in the worst possible manner side by side with their own, dividing them at the wrong places, mutilating them, and in every way spoiling their effect, I paid no heed to the reports which were brought to me, but possessed myself in patience. However, a short time before the Great Panathenaia,[*](The Panathenaic festival was celebrated in Athens each year but with special magnificence every fourth year, when it was called the Great Panathenaia.) they stirred me to great indignation.

For some of my friends met me and related to me how, as they were sitting together in the Lyceum,[*](A sacred enclosure on the right bank of the Ilissus, dedicated to Apollo—a gymnasium and exercise ground, but was also frequented by philosophers. Here Aristotle and his pupils were wont to gather.) three or four of the sophists of no repute— men who claim to know everything and are prompt to show their presence everywhere—were discussing the poets, especially the poetry of Hesiod and Homer, saying nothing original about them, but merely chanting their verses and repeating from memory the cleverest things which certain others had said about them in the past.[*](Other sophists made much of the study and elucidation of the poets, but there is no evidence that Isocrates did. See Blass, Die attische Beredsamkeit 2, pp. 46 ff.)

It seems that the bystanders applauded their performance, whereupon one of these sophists, the boldest among them, attempted to stir up prejudice against me, saying that I hold all such things in contempt and that I would do away with all the learning and the teaching of others, and that I assert that all men talk mere drivel except those who partake of my instruction. And these aspersions, according to my friends, were effective in turning a number of those present against me.

Now I could not possibly convey to you how troubled and disturbed I was on hearing that some accepted these statements as true. For I thought that it was so well known that I was waging war against the false pretenders to wisdom and that I had spoken so moderately, nay so modestly, about my own powers that no one could be credited for a moment who asserted that I myself resorted to such pretensions.