STUDY I.

...would be a true achievement. Since my circumstances have fallen out in such a way that there is danger on both sides: if I rely on arguments, even if I should happen to prevail, I might be suspected of winning by the power of words rather than by the truth; yet if I slacken my zeal, I would bring upon myself an accusation more terrible than all other evils. I have therefore decided on this course: to use my words as best I can and to prevail as I am able, even if someone might be suspicious, rather than to slacken my efforts in an attempt to avoid suspicion and thereby give my accusers sycophants: in ancient Athens, professional informers or "legal bounty hunters" who brought cases for profit or spite a handle against me. Nevertheless, taking the middle path, I shall make my defense, framing my words simply around my own conduct. I will look to you for the strength of these arguments, as you find the truth in deeds rather than in words—for it is upon deeds that a person is judged.

As I am about to Scholion: This is the preliminary statement (prokatastasis), also called the pre-narration. present evidence of my goodwill today, I ask those present not to attribute any self-boasting to me if I should frequently fall into such discourse. Rather, recognize that these things are a matter of necessity, and realize that I would never have tolerated such talk even from another if the accusations were absent. Forgive me, then, and grant me what each of you would do if you were placed in such a legal struggle. For what I am about to say is not strange or unknown to the many, but, I believe, familiar to all, and you more than anyone else are witnesses to it.

I Scholion: This is the statement of the case (katastasis), also called the narration., to pass over other matters, did not begin to love the people and embrace the democracy just yesterday or the day before Regarding the formula: "yesterday and the day before" (original: χθὲς καὶ πρὸ τρίτης). A similar expression is "yesterday and lately." People today say "yesterday and the day before" (original: χθὲς καὶ προχθές), which is a synonym. Indeed, the commentator on Philostratus’s Heroicus explains "lately" by providing "the day before yesterday."; rather, as soon as I was released from the authority of my parents original: Πατέρων (fathers); used here to mean "parents," both father and mother. and was set free from my lessons and their accompanying duties, I set one goal and purpose for myself: to live according to our constitution and to believe nothing is bet-

Parents: Referring to the father and the mother—the parents. Christodorus, Greek Anthology 7.698: "He departed, leaving a longing in all who follow the Muses, whom he loved more than the parents who bore him." Gregory the Presbyter, Life of Nazianzen, p. 3: "His parents were of noble birth... of whom the father... and the mother..." Add my little note to the second edition of Theocritus, and to this very passage in Greek Anecdota, Vol. V, p. 363.