(22) μηδ’ οὗ μόνου μεταλαβεῖν ἔδωκεν ἡ τύχη μοι τῶν ἐν τῇ πατρίδι, τούτου διὰ τουτονὶ ἀποστερήσητέ με· μηδ’ ἃ πάλαι κοινῇ πάντες ἔδοτέ μοι, νῦν οὗτος εἷς ὢν πείσῃ πάλιν ὑμᾶς ἀφελέσθαι. ἐπειδὴ γάρ, ὦ βουλή, τῶν μεγίστων ὁ δαίμων ἀπεστέρησεν ἡμᾶς, ἡ πόλις ἡμῖν ἐψηφίσατο τοῦτο τὸ ἀργύριον, ἡγουμένη κοινὰς εἶναι τὰς τύχας τοῖς ἅπασι καὶ τῶν κακῶν καὶ τῶν ἀγαθῶν.
notes
Fortune and previous juries have granted the defendant this benefit.
οὗ: Watch your accents and breathings closely. Gen. sing. neut. relative pronoun not the negative particle οὖ.
οὗ μόνου… τῶν ἐν τῇ πατρίδι: “the only state benefit which…,” lit. “which alone of the state benefits.” Partitive genitive object of μεταλαβεῖν (“to have a share of”).The relative clause precedes the main clause.
τούτου: i.e. the benefit, antecedent to οὗ μόνου.
διὰ τουτονὶ: “because of this man here.” Deictic form of οὗτος directed with scorn at the challenger. The pronoun is more commonly deployed by Lysias in prosecution speeches, reinforcing the sense that our speaker is not merely defending himself but bringing a case against the challenger.
μηδ᾽...ἀποστερήσητέ: “don’t deprive.” > 2 pl. aor. act. subj., “to deprive someone (acc.) of something (gen.)” (LSJ ἀποστερέω Α). Prohibitive subjunctive.
ἃ: “those things which….” Supply the antecedent ταῦτα which is the elided object of ἀφελέσθαι. Again, parallel to the first part of the sentence, the relative clause precedes the main clause.
πάλαι: the defendant makes sure to remind the jury that he has already received the benefit for many years.
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How this statement may help us pinpoint the date of the speech is unclear. If we assume that state benefits were suspended during the reign of the Thirty, is the defendant referring to earlier grants of the benefit following the reinstitution of the system under the restored democracy, thus placing the date of the speech possibly later into the first quarter of the 4th century, or should we interpret the claim of a history of receiving the grant to apply to years prior to the oligarchic coup of the Thirty? While it is unlikely the claim is entirely false, we must also keep in mind the likelihood of exaggeration, particularly since it would be unlikely or outright impossible to verify the defendant’s benefit history.]
κοινῇ: “by common agreement.” Further stresses the collectivity of πάντες.
οὗτος εἷς >ὢν: “all by himself,” subject of πείσῃ. Note the contrast with κοινῇ πάντες. This expression echoes the statement at Chapter 13 where Lysias stresses that the challenger is alone in his objection to the granting of the defendant’s benefit.
μηδ᾽...πείσῃ πάλιν ὑμας ἀφελέσθαι: “don’t let him persuade you all to take back (these things).” Supply ταῦτα as object of ἀφελέσθαι.
πείσῃ: 3rd sing. aor. act. subj. Prohibitive subjunctive.
τῶν μεγίστων: “the greatest things,” i.e. physical healthy and wealth.
ὁ δαίμων: “divine force.” Equivalent to τύχη (personified and unpersonified), “fortune” or “luck.”
ἡμᾶς...ἡμῖν: with the choice of the plural pronoun (rather than ἐμέ or ἐμοί), the speaker stresses his identity as a member of the adunatoi, a recognized and protected class of citizens in Athens. As in Chapter 7 Lysias deploys the rhetorical argument of amplification.
ἡ πόλις ἡμῖν ἐψηφίσατο τοῦτο τὸ ἀργύριον: the speaker here appears to reference a public decree awarding a benefit to disabled citizens, though we cannot rule out the possibility that the referenced decree might have reinstated financial assistance more broadly following the return of democracy (Liddell 2020: 94).
ἡγουμένη κοινὰς εἶναι τὰς τύχας τοῖς ἅπασι καὶ τῶν κακῶν καὶ τῶν ἀγαθῶν: “(the city) believing that fortunes--both bad and good --are shared by all.” This sentiment reflects the broader Greek cultural outlook that life is mutable in its essence.
τὰς τύχας…καὶ τῶν κακῶν καὶ. τῶν ἀγαθῶν: the coordinated genitives specify the types of τύχη (“fortune”) one may obtain. The genitive is used here is a kind of objective genitive due to the verbal idea of “chance upon” or “get” in τύχη from τυγχάνω (LSJ τύχη III 3; S. 1328)
vocabulary
μεταλαμβάνω, μεταλήψομαι, μετελάβον, μετείληφα, μετείλημμαι, μετελήθην: have a share of (+ gen.)
ἀποστερέω, ἀποστερήσω, ἀπεστέρησα, ἀπεστέρηκα, ἀπεστέρημαι, ἀπεστερήθην: rob (act.) someone (acc.) of something (gen.); be robbed (pass.) of something (gen.)
πάλαι: long ago, once upon a time, before
ψηφίζω, ψηφιῶ, ἐψήφισα, ἐψήφικα, ἐψήφισμαι, ἐψηφίσθην: vote (freq. in mid.)