1. Homer, Iliad, 1.473, 7.41, 7.406-7.409, 7.411-7.412 (8th cent. BCE - 7th cent. BCE)
| 1.473. /and served out to all, first pouring drops for libation into the cups. So the whole day long they sought to appease the god with song, singing the beautiful paean, the sons of the Achaeans, hymning the god who works from afar; and his heart was glad, as he heard.But when the sun set and darkness came on 7.41. /to do battle with him man to man in dread combat. So shall the bronze-greaved Achaeans have indignation and rouse some one to do battle in single combat against goodly Hector. 7.406. /Then to Idaeus spake lord Agamemnon:Idaeus, verily of thyself thou hearest the word of the Achaeans, how they make answer to thee; and mine own pleasure is even as theirs. But as touching the dead I in no wise grudge that ye burn them; for to dead corpses should no man grudge 7.407. /Then to Idaeus spake lord Agamemnon:Idaeus, verily of thyself thou hearest the word of the Achaeans, how they make answer to thee; and mine own pleasure is even as theirs. But as touching the dead I in no wise grudge that ye burn them; for to dead corpses should no man grudge 7.408. /Then to Idaeus spake lord Agamemnon:Idaeus, verily of thyself thou hearest the word of the Achaeans, how they make answer to thee; and mine own pleasure is even as theirs. But as touching the dead I in no wise grudge that ye burn them; for to dead corpses should no man grudge 7.409. /Then to Idaeus spake lord Agamemnon:Idaeus, verily of thyself thou hearest the word of the Achaeans, how they make answer to thee; and mine own pleasure is even as theirs. But as touching the dead I in no wise grudge that ye burn them; for to dead corpses should no man grudge 7.411. /when once they are dead, the speedy consolation of fire. But to our oaths let Zeus be witness, the loud-thundering lord of Hera. So saying, he lifted up his staff before the face of all the gods, and Idaeus went his way back to sacred Ilios. Now they were sitting in assembly, Trojans and Dardanians alike 7.412. /when once they are dead, the speedy consolation of fire. But to our oaths let Zeus be witness, the loud-thundering lord of Hera. So saying, he lifted up his staff before the face of all the gods, and Idaeus went his way back to sacred Ilios. Now they were sitting in assembly, Trojans and Dardanians alike |
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2. Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes, 43-53, 42 (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 42. ἄνδρες γὰρ ἑπτά, θούριοι λοχαγέται | |
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3. Antiphon, Orations, 5.12 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
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4. Herodotus, Histories, 4.70, 6.62-6.67, 7.148, 9.109 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 4.70. As for giving sworn pledges to those who are to receive them, this is the Scythian way: they take blood from the parties to the agreement by making a little cut in the body with an awl or a knife, and pour it mixed with wine into a big earthenware bowl, into which they then dip a scimitar and arrows and an axe and a javelin; and when this is done those swearing the agreement, and the most honorable of their followers, drink the blood after solemn curses. 6.62. So love for this woman pricked Ariston, and he contrived as follows: He promised to give to his comrade any one thing out of all he owned, whatever Agetus might choose, and he bade his comrade make him the same promise. Agetus had no fear about his wife, seeing that Ariston was already married, so he agreed and they took oaths on these terms. ,Ariston gave Agetus whatever it was that he chose out of all his treasures, and then, seeking equal recompense from him, tried to take the wife of his comrade. Agetus said that he had agreed to anything but that, but he was forced by his oath and by the deceitful trick to let his wife be taken. 6.63. In this way Ariston married his third wife, after divorcing the second one. But his new wife gave birth to Demaratus too soon, before ten lunar months had passed. ,When one of his servants announced to him as he sat in council with the ephors that he had a son, Ariston, knowing the time of the marriage, counted up the months on his fingers and swore on oath, “It's not mine.” The ephors heard this but did not make anything of it. When the boy grew up, Ariston regretted having said that, for he firmly believed Demaratus to be his own son. ,He named him Demaratus because before his birth all the Spartan populace had prayed that Ariston, the man most highly esteemed out of all the kings of Sparta, might have a son. Thus he was named Demaratus, which means “answer to the people's prayer.” 6.64. Time passed and Ariston died, so Demaratus held the kingship. But it seems that these matters had to become known and cause Demaratus to lose his kingship. He had already fallen out with Cleomenes when he had brought the army back from Eleusis, and now they were even more at odds when Cleomenes crossed over after the Aeginetans who were Medizing. 6.65. Cleomenes wanted revenge, so he made a deal with Leotychides son of Menares son of Agis, of the same family as Demaratus. The deal was that Leotychides would go with Cleomenes against the Aeginetans if he became king. ,Leotychides had already become strongly hostile to Demaratus for the following reason: Leotychides was betrothed to Percalus, daughter of Demarmenus, but Demaratus plotted and robbed him of his marriage, stealing Percalus and marrying her first. ,From this affair Leotychides was hostile toward Demaratus, so at Cleomenes' instigation he took an oath against him, saying that he was not king of the Spartans by right, since he was not Ariston's son. After making this oath, he prosecuted him, recalling that utterance which Ariston had made when the servant told him he had a son, and he counted up the months and swore that it was not his. ,Taking his stand on this remark, Leotychides declared that Demaratus was not Ariston's son and that he was not rightly king of Sparta, bringing as witnesses the ephors who had been sitting beside Ariston and heard him say this. 6.66. Disputes arose over it, so the Spartans resolved to ask the oracle at Delphi if Demaratus was the son of Ariston. ,At Cleomenes' instigation this was revealed to the Pythia. He had won over a man of great influence among the Delphians, Cobon son of Aristophantus, and Cobon persuaded the priestess, Periallus, to say what Cleomenes wanted her to. ,When the ambassadors asked if Demaratus was the son of Ariston, the Pythia gave judgment that he was not. All this came to light later; Cobon was exiled from Delphi, and Periallus was deposed from her position. 6.67. So it was concerning Demaratus' loss of the kingship, and from Sparta he went into exile among the Medes because of the following reproach: after he was deposed from the kingship, he was elected to office. ,When it was the time of the dateGymnopaidia /date, Leotychides, now king in his place, saw him in the audience and, as a joke and an insult, sent a messenger to him to ask what it was like to hold office after being king. ,He was grieved by the question and said that he had experience of both, while Leotychides did not, and that this question would be the beginning for Sparta of either immense evil or immense good fortune. He said this, covered his head, left the theater, and went home, where he immediately made preparations and sacrificed an ox to Zeus. Then he summoned his mother. 7.148. So the spies were sent back after they had seen all and returned to Europe. After sending the spies, those of the Greeks who had sworn alliance against the Persian next sent messengers to Argos. ,Now this is what the Argives say of their own part in the matter. They were informed from the first that the foreigner was stirring up war against Hellas. When they learned that the Greeks would attempt to gain their aid against the Persian, they sent messengers to Delphi to inquire of the god how it would be best for them to act, for six thousand of them had been lately slain by a Lacedaemonian army and Cleomenes son of Anaxandrides its general. For this reason, they said, the messengers were sent. ,The priestess gave this answer to their question: quote type="oracle" l met="dact"Hated by your neighbors, dear to the immortals, /l lCrouch with a lance in rest, like a warrior fenced in his armor, /l lGuarding your head from the blow, and the head will shelter the body. /l /quote This answer had already been uttered by the priestess when the envoys arrived in Argos and entered the council chamber to speak as they were charged. ,Then the Argives answered to what had been said that they would do as was asked of them if they might first make a thirty years peace with Lacedaemonia and if the command of half the allied power were theirs. It was their right to have the full command, but they would nevertheless be content with half. 9.109. As time went on, however, the truth came to light, and in such manner as I will show. Xerxes' wife, Amestris, wove and gave to him a great gaily-colored mantle, marvellous to see. Xerxes was pleased with it, and went to Artaynte wearing it. ,Being pleased with her too, he asked her what she wanted in return for her favors, for he would deny nothing at her asking. Thereupon—for she and all her house were doomed to evil—she said to Xerxes, “Will you give me whatever I ask of you?” He promised this, supposing that she would ask anything but that; when he had sworn, she asked boldly for his mantle. ,Xerxes tried to refuse her, for no reason except that he feared that Amestris might have clear proof of his doing what she already guessed. He accordingly offered her cities instead and gold in abundance and an army for none but herself to command. Armies are the most suitable of gifts in Persia. But as he could not move her, he gave her the mantle; and she, rejoicing greatly in the gift, went flaunting her finery. |
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5. Plato, Euthydemus, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 302c. he said, and no Athenian at all, if you have neither ancestral gods, nor shrines, nor anything else that denotes a gentleman! |
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6. Plato, Laws, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 729c. for where the old are shameless, there inevitably will also the young be very impudent. The most effective way of training the young—as well as the older people themselves—is not by admonition, but by plainly practising throughout one’s own life the admonitions which one gives to others. By paying honor and reverence to his kinsfolk, and all who share in the worship of the tribal gods and are sprung from the same blood, a man will, in proportion to his piety, secure the goodwill of the gods of Birth to bless his own begetting of children. Moreover |
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7. Sophocles, Antigone, 487-489, 486 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
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8. Sophocles, Electra, 281, 280 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
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9. Xenophon, The Persian Expedition, 2.2.8-2.2.9 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 2.2.8. But Clearchus put himself at the head of the rest of the troops, following out the plan of his previous orders, and they followed; and they reached the first stopping-place, See Xen. Anab. 2.1.3 . and there joined Ariaeus and his army, at about midnight. Then, while they halted under arms in line of battle, the generals and captains had a meeting with Ariaeus; and the two parties—the Greek officers, and Ariaeus together with the highest in rank of his followers—made oath that they would not betray each other and that they would be allies, while the barbarians took an additional pledge to lead the way without treachery. 2.2.9. These oaths they sealed by sacrificing a bull, a boar, and a ram over a shield, the Greeks dipping a sword in the blood and the barbarians a lance. |
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10. Aeschines, Letters, 1.114, 2.87 (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
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11. Aristotle, Athenian Constitution, 55.3 (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
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12. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 5.24.11 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
| 5.24.11. Homer proves this point clearly. For the boar, on the slices of which Agamemnon swore that verily Briseis had not lain with him, Homer says was thrown by the herald into the sea. He spake, and cut the boar's throat with ruthless bronze; And the boar Talthybius swung and cast into the great depth of the grey sea, to feed the fishes. Hom. Il. 19.266-268 Such was the ancient custom. Before the feet of the Oath-god is a bronze plate, with elegiac verses inscribed upon it, the object of which is to strike fear into those who forswear themselves. |
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13. Aeschines, Or., 1.114, 2.87
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14. Andocides, Orations, 1.96-1.98
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15. Andocides, Orations, 1.96-1.98
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16. Demosthenes, Orations, 23.68, 57.67
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17. Epigraphy, Lss, 18
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18. Epigraphy, Ig I , 250
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19. Epigraphy, Ig I , 250
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20. Epigraphy, Seg, 21.541, 52.48
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