Panathenaicus

But in truth it was with good reason that I deplored at the beginning of my speech the misfortune which has attended me all my life in this respect. For this is the cause of the false reports which are spread about me, of the calumny and prejudice which I suffer, and of my failure to attain the reputation which I deserve—either that which should be mine by common consent or that in which I am held by certain of my disciples who have known me through and through.

However, this cannot now be changed and I must needs put up with what has already come to pass. Many things come to my mind, but I am at a loss just what to do. Should I turn upon my enemies and denounce those who are accustomed always to speak falsely of me and do not scruple to say things which are repugnant to my nature? But if I showed that I took them seriously and wasted many words on men whom no one conceives to be worthy of notice I should justly be regarded as a simpleton.

Should I, then, ignore these sophists and defend myself against those of the lay public who are prejudiced against me, attempting to convince them that it is neither just nor fitting for them to feel towards me as they do? But who would not impute great folly to me, if, in dealing with men who are hostile to me for no other reason than that I appear to have discoursed cleverly on certain subjects, I thought that by speaking just as I have spoken in the past I should stop them from taking offence at what I say and should not instead add to their annoyance, especially if it should appear that even now at this advanced age I have not ceased from “speaking rubbish”?

But neither would anyone, I am sure, advise me to neglect this subject and, breaking off in the midst of it, to go on and finish the discourse which I elected to write in my desire to prove that our city had been the cause of more blessings to the Hellenes than the city of the Lacedaemonians. For if I should now proceed to do this without bringing what I have written to any conclusion and without joining the beginning of what is to be said to the end of what has been spoken, I should be thought to be no better than those who speak in a random, slovenly, and scattering manner whatever comes into their heads to say. And this I must guard against.

The best course, therefore, that I can take under all these conditions is to set before you what I think about the last attempts[*](Obviously he resents bitterly some attack upon him in recent years. Possibly it came from the “Eristics,” to the value of whose teaching he makes a condescending concession in Isoc. 12.26. These are not the “Eristics” mentioned in Against the Sophists (see Isoc. 13.1-8 and notes), who belong to an earlier period, but those referred to in Isoc. 15.258 and Isoc. Letter 5.3 ff.—namely Aristotle and his followers who had been hard on Isocrates (see Blass, Die attische Beredsamkeit ii. p. 65). This is supported by the fact that the critics here referred to frequented the Lyceum. Blass, however (ii. pp. 68, 69), thinks that Isocrates has here in mind especially Speusippus.) to arouse prejudice against me and then proceed to speak on the subject which I had in mind from the first. For I think that if I succeed by my writing in bringing out and making clear what my views are about education and about the poets, I shall stop my enemies from fabricating false charges and speaking utterly at random.

Now in fact, so far from scorning the education which was handed down by our ancestors, I even commend that which has been set up in our own day—I mean geometry, astronomy, and the so-called eristic dialogues,[*](Cf. Isoc. 15.265 and note.) which our young men delight in more than they should, although among the older men not one would not declare them insufferable.

Nevertheless, I urge those who are inclined towards these disciplines to work hard and apply themselves to all of them, saying that even if this learning can accomplish no other good, at any rate it keeps the young out of many other things which are harmful. Nay, I hold that for those who are at this age no more helpful or fitting occupation can be found than the pursuit of these studies;

but for those who are older and for those who have been admitted to man's estate I assert that these disciplines are no longer suitable. For I observe that some of those who have become so thoroughly versed in these studies as to instruct others in them fail to use opportunely the knowledge which they possess, while in the other activities of life they are less cultivated[*](See General Introduction.) than their students—I hesitate to say less cultivated than their servants.

I have the same fault to find also with those who are skilled in oratory and those who are distinguished for their writings and in general with all who have superior attainments in the arts, in the sciences, and in specialized skill. For I know that the majority even of these men have not set their own house in order, that they are insupportable in their private intercourse, that they belittle the opinions of their fellow citizens, and that they are given over to many other grave offences. So that I do not think that even these may be said to partake of the state of culture of which I am speaking.

Whom, then, do I call educated, since I exclude the arts and sciences and specialties? First, those who manage well the circumstances which they encounter day by day, and who possess a judgement which is accurate in meeting occasions as they arise and rarely misses the expedient course of action;[*](See General Introduction; Isoc. 13.3, Isoc. 13.16, Isoc. 13.17; Isoc. 15.184, Isoc. 15.271.)

next, those who are decent and honorable in their intercourse with all with whom they associate, tolerating easily and good-naturedly what is unpleasant or offensive in others and being themselves as agreeable and reasonable to their associates as it is possible to be; furthermore, those who hold their pleasures always under control[*](Cf. Isoc. 1.21 and note; Isoc. 2.29.) and are not unduly overcome by their misfortunes,[*](See Isoc. 1.42 and note.) bearing up under them bravely and in a manner worthy of our common nature;

finally, and most important of all, those who are not spoiled by successes and do not desert their true selves and become arrogant,[*](Cf. Isoc. 12.196-197.) but hold their ground steadfastly as intelligent men, not rejoicing in the good things which have come to them through chance rather than in those which through their own nature and intelligence are theirs from their birth. Those who have a character which is in accord, not with one of these things, but with all of them—these, I contend, are wise and complete men, possessed of all the virtues.

These then are the views which I hold regarding educated men. As to the poetry of Homer and Hesiod and the rest, I would fain speak—for I think that I could silence those who chant their verses and prate about these poets in the Lyceum—but I perceive that I am being carried beyond the due limits which have been assigned to an introduction;

and it behoves a man of taste not to indulge his resourcefulness, when he has more to say on a given subject than the other speakers, but to preserve always the element of timeliness no matter on what subject he may have occasion to speak—a principle which I must observe. Therefore I shall speak on the poets at another time[*](A promise not fulfilled.) provided that my age does not first carry me off and that I do not have something to say on subjects more important than this.

I shall now proceed to discourse upon the benefactions of Athens to the Hellenes, not that I have not sung the praises of our city more than all others put together who have written in poetry or prose.[*](Cf. Isoc. 15.168.) I shall not speak, however, as on former occasions; for then I celebrated Athens incidentally to other matters, whereas now Athens herself shall be my theme.

But I do not fail to appreciate how great an undertaking this is for me at my time of life; on the contrary, I know full well, and have often said,[*](Isoc. 10.13.) that while it is easy to magnify little things by means of discourse, it is difficult to find terms of praise to match deeds of surpassing magnitude and excellence.

Nevertheless, I may not desist on that account from my task, but must carry it through to the end, if indeed I am enabled to live to do so, especially since many considerations impel me to write upon this theme myself: first, is the fact that some are in the habit of recklessly denouncing our city; second, that while some have praised her gracefully, they have lacked appreciation of their theme and treated it inadequately;

furthermore, that others have not scrupled rather to glorify her, not in human terms, but so extravagantly as to arouse the hostility of many against them; and, lastly, there is the fact of my present age, which is such as to deter others from such an undertaking. For I am hopeful that if I succeed I shall obtain a greater reputation than that which I now have, whereas if it turns out that I speak indifferently well, my hearers will make generous allowance for my years.

I have now finished what I wished to say by way of prelude[*](Cf. Aristot. Rh. 3.14, where he compares the prooemium of a speech to the prelude of a flute player.) about myself and others, like a chorus, as it were, before the contest. But I think that those who wish to be exact and just in praising any given state ought not to confine themselves alone to the state which they single out, but even as we examine purple and gold and test them by placing them side by side with articles of similar appearance and of the same estimated value,

so also in the case of states one should compare, not those which are small with those which are great, nor those which are always subject to others with those which are wont to dominate others, nor those which stand in need of succor with those which are able to give it, but rather those which have similar powers, and have engaged in the same deeds and enjoyed a like freedom of action. For thus one may best arrive at the truth.