by Kifeas » Thu Dec 11, 2008 9:44 am
Because too much is being said in the last few days about Isocrates and democracy, for the sake of accuracy, this is what he actually said about the issue, and not what the lazy quotation some of the media present lately, and which gives the impression that the problem is with democracy itself and that "too much of it is no good."
"καίτοι πῶς χρὴ ταύτην τὴν πολιτείαν ἐπαινεῖν ἢ στέργειν τὴν τοσούτων μὲν κακῶν αἰτίαν πρότερον γενομένην, νῦν δὲ καθ' ἕκαστον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον φερομένην; πῶς δ' οὐ χρὴ δεδιέναι μὴ τοιαύτης ἐπιδόσεως γιγνομένης τελευτῶντες εἰς τραχύτερα πράγματα τῶν τότε γενομένων ἐξοκείλωμεν;
…………. οἱ γὰρ κατ' ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον τὴν πόλιν διοικοῦντες κατεστήσαντο πολιτείαν οὐκ ὀνόματι μὲν τῷ κοινοτάτῳ καὶ πραοτάτῳ προσαγορευομένην, ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν πράξεων οὐ τοιαύτην τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσι φαινομένην, οὐδ' ἣ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἐπαίδευε τοὺς πολίτας ὥσθ' ἡγεῖσθαι τὴν μὲν ἀκολασίαν δημοκρατίαν, τὴν δὲ παρανομίαν ἐλευθερίαν, τὴν δὲ παρρησίαν ἰσονομίαν, τὴν δ' ἐξουσίαν τοῦ πάντα ποιεῖν εὐδαιμονίαν, ἀλλὰ μισοῦσα καὶ κολάζουσα τοὺς τοιούτους βελτίους καὶ σωφρονεστέρους ἅπαντας τοὺς πολίτας ἐποίησεν.
……………. τὴν δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν ἕκαστον τιμῶσαν καὶ κολάζουσαν προῃροῦντο, καὶ διὰ ταύτης ᾤκουν τὴν πόλιν, οὐκ ἐξ ἁπάντων τὰς ἀρχὰς κληροῦντες, ἀλλὰ τοὺς βελτίστους καὶ τοὺς ἱκανωτάτους ἐφ' ἕκαστον τῶν ἔργων προκρίνοντες. τοιούτους γὰρ ἤλπιζον ἔσεσθαι καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους, οἷοί περ ἂν ὦσιν οἱ τῶν πραγμάτων ἐπιστατοῦντες."
And how can we honor or protect a government that has in the past been the cause of so many evils and which is now showing to be worst than before? And that if we do not give an end to such a performance, we will not find ourselves sailing into more roughs than before?
.....for those who directed the state in those years (the time democracy was established in Athens,) did not establish a polity which only in name would be hailed as the most popular and the fairest of all governments, but it would show in practice to be the opposite, nor one which taught its citizens in such fashion that they looked upon insolence as democracy, lawlessness as liberty, impudence of speech as equality, and power to do as they pleased as happiness, but instead a polity which detested and punished such acts and by so doing made all the citizens better and wiser.
......and (the leaders) preferring rather that (method of leading) which rewards and punishes every man according to his deserts, they governed the city on this principle, not filling the offices by lot from all the citizens, but selecting the best and the most able for each function of the state; for they believed that the rest of the people would envy the character of those who were placed in charge of their affairs.
What Isocrates meant to say, is easily understood, and what is easily understood, is omitted!
Last edited by
Kifeas on Thu Dec 11, 2008 10:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
