eul_wid: siy-aj
DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20335421 PDFMarkdown

Declamations and Orations: Oration 7 (Areopagitic, or Liberation Oration) by Himerius the Sophist

Before the Areopagus, Himerius asks the council to declare his young son free and an Athenian, so that he may one day speak, write and take part in public life in the city. He presents himself as both sophist and father, and sets out the boy's descent from Plutarch, Minucianus and Nicagoras, a line of sophists and philosophers he calls true Attic nobility.

Part of Declamations and Orations

Ἀρεοπαγιτικὸς ἢ ἐλευθερωτικός.

Ἄνδρες οἱ καὶ θεοῖς ὑπὲρ νίκης πάλαι, καὶ νῦν Ἀθηναίοις ὑπὲρ ἐλευθερίας δικάζοντες ...

Οὐκοῦν τῷ νόμῳ πειθόμενος, τὰ τῆς χρείας μόνης φθέγξομαι ῥήματα ... ἐγὼ καὶ σοφιστὴς ἐγενόμην παρʼ ὑμῖν καὶ πατήρ· εἰ σοφιστὴς δεξιός, ὑμεῖς ἐπίστασθε· λέγω γὰρ ἀεί, καὶ τὴν ἐμὴν πολιτείαν ἔχει τὰ θέατρα· εἰ πατὴρ Ἀττικός, ἡ παροῦσα δείκνυσι πρόφασις· οὐ γὰρ ἀνέχομαι τὸν Ἀθηναίων παῖδα μὴ προσαγορεύειν ἐλεύθερον· πιστεύω καὶ πρὸ ἥβης τὴν ἐλευθερίαν τῷ παιδί. ἐμός ἐστιν, Ἀθηναῖός ἐστι, πόλεως καὶ πλέον τιμώσης τὸ κοινὸν γῆρας ἢ τὸ τῶν πατέρων ἕτεροι ...

Οὗτός ἐστιν ἐκ Πλουτάρχου, διʼ οὗ πάντας ὑμεῖς παιδεύετε· οὗτος ἐκ Μινουκιανοῦ, τοῦ διὰ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ φωνῆς πολλοὺς πολλάκις ἐλευθερώσαντος· τὸν ἐκ Νικαγόρου προσήγαγον ὑμῖν, τὸν ἐξ ἐμαυτοῦ. σοφιστῶν ὑμῖν καὶ φιλοσόφων λέγω κατάλογον, Ἀττικὴν ὄντως εὐγένειαν ...

Ἀφῆκα πολλάκις τὰς τοῦ σοφιστοῦ φωνάς, νῦν τὰς τοῦ πατρὸς ἀφίημι ...

Ἐδώκατέ μοι παῖδα διʼ Ἀττικοῦ γένους, λάβετε τοῦτον καὶ διὰ τῆς ψήφου τῆς ὑμετέρας ἐλεύθερον. οὐκοῦν ἄφετέ μοι τῇ ψήφῳ τὸν παῖδα καὶ φωνὴν ἐλευθέριον συνεπηχήσατε, ἵνα ὡς Ἀθηναῖος—ἴσον γὰρ εἰπεῖν ἐλεύθερος—καὶ λέγῃ καὶ γράφῃ παρʼ ὑμῖν, κἂν οἱ θεοὶ βούλωνται, καὶ πολιτεύηται.