Wednesday, September 09, 2020
Unjust and Unprofitable
Agathias, Histories 3.12.7 (tr. Joseph D. Frendo):
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I consider it unjust as well as unprofitable to do violence to the laws of our community, which we set out to cherish, on account of the wrong-doing of one or perhaps two individuals and to do away with the whole of our familiar pattern of life which means so much to us, on so slender a pretext. We would also be branding ourselves as the betrayers of those who are guarding our land and imperilling their own lives so that we can live in comfort...
ἄδικον οὖν οἶμαι καὶ πρός γε ἀξύμφορον ἑνὸς ἒξ ἁπάντων ἀνδρὸς ἥ καὶ δυοῖν τυχὸν ἡμαρτηκότοιν ἐξυβρίσαι μὲν εἰς τοὺς κοινοὺς νόμους, οὕς στέργειν προυθέμεθα, πολιτείαν δὲ ξύμπασαν καὶ δίαιταν ξυνήθη καὶ φίλην οὕτω πως ῥᾳδίως ἀποσκευάσασθαι, τῶν δὲ τὴν χώραν φρουρούντων καὶ πολλοὺς ὅσους κινδύνων ἀναδεχομένων, ὡς ἂν ἡμῖν ἐν εὐπαθείᾳ βιοτεύειν ἐξῇ, προδότας δειχθῆναι...
