1094. Demosthenes, De Falsa Legatione. Find an explanation of the colors displayed in the Greek text here. |
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| 17 x 6 cm | Fifth century. |
| A fragment from the upper part of a vellum leaf, containing on the verso portions of §§ 274-5, on the recto portions of §§ 279-80, of the De Falsa Legatione. It is clear from the extensive lacuna between ll. 23 and 24 that the leaf included more than one column; and we have the alternatives of supposing that there were two columns, implying a tall and narrow page of about 35 (at least) × 20 c.m., or three columns, which would give a squarer page measuring some 28 cm. across and, if the lower margin was a deep as the upper one, of approximately the same height. The former is perhaps the likelier shape, but in any case this was a large and handsome codex. The script is a sloping uncial of medium size, carefully finished and with rather strongly marked contrasts of light and heavy strokes; it may date from the fifth century. Stops in two positions occur, inserted apparently by the original hand. There is a well-defined vertical ruling down the margin of the recto, but traces of horizontal rulings are only to be distinguished in places. No particular affinities are traceable in the text, which is inferior in quality to that of 1093. A conjecture of Dobree is supported in l. 38. |
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Verso. [274] καιτοι καλλιω ταυτης ειρη . . . . . . |
Recto. [279] του δωρα ειληφεναι . . . . . . |
| [Verso:] [274]
'Yet no one can cite a more honourable peace made by the city before or since; but that is not what they regarded. They attributed the honourable peace to their own valour and to the high repute of their city, the refusal or acceptance of money to the character of the ambassador; and they expect an honest and incorruptible character in any man who entered the service of the state. 275] They held the taking of bribes to be too inimical and unprofitable to the state to be tolerated in any transacting or in any person ; but you men of Athens] having before you a peace which at once has pulled down the walls of your allies . . . [Recto:] [279] What follows, men of Athens? Such being the facts, will you, the descendants of these men, some of whom are still living, be contact that Epicrates, the champion of democracy, the hero of the march from Peiraeus, should have been degraded and punished; that more recently Thrasybulus, a son of Thrasybulus the great democrat, who restored free government from Phyle, should have paid a fine of ten talents; that even a descendant of Harmodius and of the greatest of all your benefactors, the men to whom, in requital of their glorious deeds, you have allotted by statute a share of your libations and drink-offerings in every temple and every public service . . .' (Source: Demosthenes, De Corona and De False Legatione with an English translation by C.A. Vince and J. H. Vince, Loeb Classical Library (London Heinemann, 1926) |
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9-10. το[ν του πρεσβευ]του τροπον: τὸν τρόπον τοῦ πρεσβευτοῦ MSS. 12. προ]σοντα: προσιόντα MSS. 19. For the abbreviation of ω ανδρες Αθηναιοι cf. l. 28 and e.g. P. Rylands 58. 92 . A stop probably followed γιγνεσθαι, but it cannot be distinguished. 22. ημετερων: so ks ; ὑμετέρων others. 25. εξελεγχειν: so MSS. except S, which has ἐλέγχειν, and this is adopted by Butcher. 26. λοι]πον: so SYO; there is not room for το λοι]πον, which is found in other MSS. 27. ομολο]γουσιν: so L and vulg. ὡμολόγουν SQ, Blass, Butcher. 28. προσ]ηκει: so k; προσῆκεν other MSS. The present tense is consistent with ομολο]γουσιν in l. 27. 30. εκεινων apparently stood in the text, not Dobree's commonly accepted emendation εξ εκεινων. 37. Θρασυβουλ]ον: there is clearly no room for Θρασυβουλ]ον εκεινον which is read by edd. with the most MSS.. Θρασ. . . . τόν is omitted by the first hands in SY; L has ἐκεῖνον τὸν Θρασύβουλον instead of Θρασ. ἐκεῖνον τὸν Θρασυβούλου. 38. του: so Dindorf with Dobree; καὶ τοῦ MSS., Blass, Butcher. 40. κ]αι τινας αλλους: om. MSS. The words perhaps came in from a marginal note. 42. Αρμοδιου: so S1L text A; Ἁρμ. καὶ Ἀριστογείτονος others. 43. υ]μας αγαωα: cf. Libanius iv. 737. 27 τὰ μέγ. ἡμᾶς ἀγ. εἶργ. ἀγαθ᾿ ὑμᾶς most MSS. (ἡμᾶς S. &c.), om. ὑμᾶς A; [ὑμᾶς] Blass. 46. και: om. MSS. |
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