Ποντικός (fr. 30)

219

συνεφήβων όψεσιν On the other hand, there is also war in peace-time, no less
serious than those fought with arms, a war set on foot by disrepute and poverty
and terrible lack of the necessaries of life, a war by which men are forced under
duress to undertake the most servile tasks, digging and toiling on the land and
practising menial crafts, labouring unceasingly to earn a meagre a subsistence;
often too carrying burdens in the midst of the marketplace before the eyes of their
fellows in age who were their associates in boyhood and in youth”.
Alternatively, these acts may be wrongdoings, given that poverty is likely to
produce offences. For the corrupting power of poverty throughout the archaic and
classic period, cf. Hom. Od. 14.156-7; Thgn. 386-92 and 649-52; Th. 3.45.4; E.
El. 375-6 άλλ’ έχει νόσον I πενία, διδάσκει δ’ άνδρα τή χρεία κακόν “Yet poverty
is unhealthy, and instructs a man to do evil things through his need”; D. 45.67;
Lys. 7.14 ούτος μέντοι ούκ αν έχοι άποδεϊξαι οϋθ’ ώς ύπό πενίας ήναγκάσθην
τοιούτοις έργοις έπιχειρεΐν “this man cannot demonstrate that I was forced by
poverty to attempt such deeds”. That is why Demosthenes, introducing the for-
mer arbitrator Straton, explains that though a poor man, he is nevertheless not a
scoundrel and extremely honest: D. 21.83 Στράτων Φαληρεύς, άνθρωπος πένης
μέν τις και άπράγμων, άλλως δ’ ού πονηρός, αλλά και πάνυ χρηστός; Cf. Pl. Lg.
679b ούδ’ ύπό πενίας αναγκαζόμενοι διάφοροι έαυτοΐς έγίγνοντο “nor were they
forced by stress of poverty to quarrel one with another”. For poverty and wealth
cf. Dover 1974, 109-12; for poverty and inequality in fourth-century Athens, cf.
Taylor 2017, 235-48.
1 ή πενία In Aristophanes’ Wealth (553-4) the eponymous goddess Penia
defends herself by arguing that poverty means to live frugally, keeping at your own
work and having neither a surplus nor a shortfall. On the contrary, in Middle and
New Comedy poverty always appears as a misfortune, e. g. in Aristopho fr. 1; Men.
Dysc. 209-11; cf. Papachrysostomou 2016 (on Amph. fr. 17.3a).
2 άνάξι’ αύτών The corrupting power of poverty is a topos; cf. above,
“Interpretation”. Poverty is even capable of corrupting the nature of noble men
(cf. the following παρά φύσιν), urging them to behave in a way unworthy of them-
selves. For the combination άνάξια αύτοϋ ποιεΐν I πράττειν (common in Plato and
fourth-century oratory, e. g. Pl. R. 3.396d; D. 60.31; Aeschin. 3.88), cf. Pl. Com. fr.
203 (said of Hyperbolus’ ostracism, on the basis that the particular institution was
not invented for men of [supposedly] slave origin) καίτοι πέπραγε των τρόπων μέν
άξια, / αύτοϋ δέ και των στιγμάτων άνάξια “what he has suffered suits his character,
but not his brand-marks”.
παρά φύσιν “against one’s nature”, “against one’s character”; Stob. 4.32a9
Απολλώνιος Λύκω (epist. p. 127a Herch.) ού τό πένεσθαι κατά φύσιν αισχρόν,
άλλά τό δι’ αίσχράν αιτίαν πένεσθαι όνειδος; Crantor fr. 14 Mullach (αρ. Stob.
4.32b33) ούκ έστι πενίας ούδέν άθλιώτερον / έν τω βίω σύμπτωμα· και γάρ άν
φύσει / σπουδαίος ής, πένης δέ, κατάγελως έση “there is no misfortune worse than
poverty; because even if you are an excellent person by nature, but also needy, you
will become a laughing stock”. Men. fr. 854 πολλούς δι’ άνάγκην γάρ πονηρούς