Plato (d.
348/347 BC), Euthydemus 302b:
ταλαίπωρος ἄρα τις σύ γε ἄνθρωπος [302c] εἶ
καὶ οὐδὲ Ἀθηναῖος, ᾧ μήτε θεοὶ πατρῷοί εἰσιν μήτε ἱερὰ μήτε ἄλλο μηδὲν καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθόν.
So you are, then, a wretched man
indeed — a human, and not even an Athenian — one to whom neither ancestral gods
nor sacred rites nor anything else noble and good belongs
Demosthenes
(384-322 BC), Speeches, 19.284:
[284] ἀλλʼ ὁ μὲν ταλαίπωρος ἄνθρωπος ἠτιμώσεται, ὅτι τοῦτον εἶδεν ἀδικοῦντα, τούτῳ δʼ ἀθῴῳ δώσετʼ εἶναι; διὰ τί; ειʼ
γὰρ παρὰ τῶν εἰς ἑαυτοὺς ἐξαμαρτόντων τηλικαύτην ἠξίωσε δίκην Αἰσχίνης λαβεῖν, παρὰ τῶν εἰς τὰ τῆς πόλεως τηλικαῦθʼ ἡμαρτηκότων, ὧν εἷς οὗτος ὢν ἐξελέγχεται, πηλίκην ὑμᾶς προσήκει λαβεῖν τοὺς ὀμωμοκότας καὶ δικάζοντας;
But the poor wretched man will be
punished because he saw this man doing wrong — and will that man be declared
innocent? Why? For if Aeschines thought himself deserving to receive such a
judgment from those who have wronged only themselves, then from those who have
so grievously wronged the affairs of the city — of whom this man, who is now
being exposed, is one — how severe a punishment is it fitting that you should
inflict on the perjurers and on the jurors
Demosthenes,
Speeches, 27 66:
[66] ἀλλʼ ἐγὼ μὲν ὁ πάντων ταλαιπωρότατος πρὸς ἀμφότερʼ ἀπορῶ, ταύτην θʼ ὅπως ἐκδῶ καὶ τἄλλʼ ὁπόθεν διοικῶ. προσεπίκειται δʼ ἡ πόλις ἀξιοῦσʼ εἰσφέρειν, δικαίως· οὐσίαν γὰρ ἱκανὴν πρὸς ταῦτα κατέλιπέν μοι ὁ πατήρ. τὰ δὲ χρήματα τὰ καταλειφθένθʼ οὗτοι πάντʼ εἰλήφασιν.
But I—I am the most wretched of
all—am at a loss on both counts: how to give this girl in marriage, and how to
manage all the rest of my affairs. And on top of it, the city demands that I
pay the public tax, and rightly so; for my father left me property sufficient
for these obligations. But all the money he left has been seized—every bit of
it—by these men.
Aeschines
(389-314 BC), Against Timarchus. 72:
Section 72
ουʼ
γὰρ ἔγωγε ὑπολαμβάνω οὕτως ὑμᾶς ἐπιλήσμονας εἶναι, ὥστε ἀμνημονεῖν ὧν ὀλίγῳ πρότερον ἠκούσατε ἀναγιγνωσκομένων νόμων, ἐν οἷς γέγραπται, ἐάν τις μισθώσηταί τινα Ἀθηναίων ἐπὶ ταύτην τὴν πρᾶξιν, ἢ ἐάν τις ἑαυτὸν μισθώσῃ, ἔνοχον εἶναι τοῖς μεγίστοις καὶ τοῖς ἴσοις ἐπιτιμίοις. τίς οὖν οὕτω ταλαίπωρός ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος, ὅστις ἂν ἐθελήσειε σαφῶς τοιαύτην μαρτυρίαν μαρτυρῆσαι, ἐξ ἧς ὑπάρχει αὐτῷ, ἐὰν τἀληθῆ μαρτυρήσῃ, ἐπιδεικνύναι ἔνοχον ὄντα ἑαυτὸν τοῖς ἐσχάτοις ἐπιτιμίοις;
For I certainly do not suppose
that you are so forgetful as to forget what you heard only a little while ago,
when those laws were read to you — the ones in which it is written that, if
anyone rents an Athenian for this kind of business, or if someone hires himself
out, he is liable to the greatest and the same fines. Who, then, is so wretched
a man who would willingly bear such a deposition, from which, if he speaks the
truth, he would show himself to be liable to the very worst penalties?
