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the tribes of barbarians to embrace the evangelical legislation. 9.7 And Minos, indeed, who boasts according to the myth that Zeus is his father, and having frequented his cave, as they mythologize, received the principles of the laws, became a lawgiver for the Cretans, but he persuaded neither the Sicilians nor the Carthaginians nor indeed the Greeks to be governed according to his laws, but he compelled only that island, which he ruled, to accept the laws, and not even these for all time; for when the Romans gained mastery of the inhabited world, these people too are governed according to their laws. 9.8 Again, they say that Charondas was the first lawgiver of Italy and Sicily; but not even he persuaded the Tyrrhenians or the Celts or the Iberians or the Celtiberians, and these being neighbors and bordering upon them, to accept the laws established by him. And why do I speak of the neighbors? for not even those who at that time admired and accepted them now live according to them; for these too have come under the yoke of the Roman laws. 9.9 And Zaleucus established laws for the Locrians, having received the knowledge of these from Athena, as those who love to invent myths say; but neither the Acarnanians nor the Phocians nor indeed the other Locrians endured his legislation, and this though they did not live far away, but were near neighbors. 9.10 And those who are eager to speak solemnly of his laws say that Lycurgus went to Delphi to the Pythian, and was inspired by him and established the laws for the Lacedaemonians. And they also tell the oracle which the Pythian delivered concerning him; and it is this: You have come, O Lycurgus, to my rich shrine, a friend to Zeus and to all who hold the mansions of Olympus? I am in doubt whether I shall prophesy you a god or a man; but I rather expect you are a god, O Lycurgus. You have come seeking good laws; but I will give them to you. 9.11 Such, then, was he, and the oracle concerning him. But neither the great fame of the lawgiver, nor the renown of Sparta, nor the oracle of the Pythian compelled the Argives or Tegeans or Mantineans or Corinthians, who lived very near, to accept the constitution of the Lacedaemonians. And why do I speak of the others? For the Phliasians inhabit a small city, and they always cherished the hegemony of the Lacedaemonians and were their allies, but though they were led by them and always waged war with them, they did not use their laws. 9.12 And to pass over the other lawgivers, Apis of the Argives and Mneson of the Phocians and Demonax of the Cyrenaeans and Pagondas of the Achaeans and Archias of the Cnidians and Eudoxus of the Milesians and Philolaus of the Thebans and Pittacus of the Mytileneans and Nestor of the Pylians, whose words Homer called sweeter than honey, to pass over these and the lawgivers of the other nations, the much-talked-of Solon and Draco and Cleisthenes became lawgivers of the Athenians. But the Athenians persuaded neither the Megarians nor the Euboeans nor the Thebans, though they were neighbors and very close, to obey the laws of Solon or Draco or Cleisthenes. And the Athenians themselves, having bid farewell to these laws, 9.13 and indeed also the Lacedaemonians and Locrians and Thebans and the other Greeks too are governed according to the laws of the Romans. And the Romans, having collected the laws among the Greeks and barbarians, and having taken from each lawgiver those that seemed to be best established, forced as many nations as came under their yoke to be subject to these laws, but those who were not willing to be governed by them, they neither persuaded nor forced to embrace their form of government. 9.14 And many, even after accepting the bridle of slavery, do not endure to live according to their laws. For neither the Ethiopians who border on Egyptian Thebes, nor the very many tribes of Ishmael, not the Lazi, not the Sanni, not the Abasgi, not the other barbarians, as many as embrace the dominion of the Romans, make their contracts with one another according to the laws of the Romans. 9.15 But our fishermen and tax-collectors and the shoemaker
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βαρβάρων τὰ φῦλα τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν νομοθεσίαν ἀσπάσασθαι. 9.7 Καὶ Μίνως μέν, ὃς αὐχεῖ κατὰ τὸν μῦθον πατέρα τὸν ∆ία, καὶ παρὰ τὸ ἐκείνου γε ἄντρον, ὡς μυθολογοῦσι, φοιτήσας τὰς τῶν νόμων ἔλαβεν ἀφορμάς, Κρητῶν μὲν νομοθέτης ἐγένετο, οὐκ ἔπεισε δὲ οὔτε Σικελιώτας οὔτε Καρχηδονίους οὔτε μὴν τοὺς Ἕλληνας κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοῦ πολιτεύεσθαι νόμους, ἀλλὰ μόνην τὴν νῆσον ἐκείνην, ἧς ἐβασίλευε, στέρξαι τοὺς νόμους ἠνάγκασε, καὶ οὐδὲ τούτους τὸν ἀεὶ χρόνον· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ Ῥωμαῖοι τῆς οἰκου μένης ἐκράτησαν, κατὰ τοὺς τούτων καὶ οὗτοι πολιτεύονται 9.8 νόμους. Πάλιν τὸν Χαρώνδαν πρῶτον Ἰταλίας καὶ Σικελίας νομοθέτην γεγενῆσθαί φασιν· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ οὗτος Τυρρηνοὺς ἔπεισεν ἢ Κελτοὺς ἢ Ἴβηρας ἢ Κελτίβηρας, καὶ ταῦτα ὁμόρους γε ὄντας καὶ ἀγχιτέρμονας, τοὺς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ τεθέντας καταδέξασθαι νόμους. Καὶ τί λέγω τοὺς ὁμόρους; οὐδὲ γὰρ οἱ τηνικάδε τού τους θαυμάσαντες καὶ στέρξαντες κατὰ τούτους νῦν βιοτεύουσι· τὸν γάρ τοι τῶν Ῥωμαϊκῶν νόμων ὑπῆλθον καὶ οὗτοι ζυγόν. 9.9 Ζάλευκος δὲ Λοκροῖς τέθεικε νόμους, παρά γε τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς τὴν τούτων ἐπιστήμην δεξάμενος, ᾗ φασιν οἱ τοὺς μύθους διαπλάττειν φιλοῦντες· ἀλλ' οὔτε Ἀκαρνᾶνες οὔτε Φωκεῖς οὔτε μὴν οἱ ἄλλοι Λοκροὶ τῆς τούτου νομοθεσίας ἠνέσχοντο, καὶ ταῦτα οὐ μακρὰν 9.10 οἰκοῦντες, ἀλλ' ἀστυγείτονες ὄντες. Τὸν δὲ Λυκοῦργον λέγου σιν οἱ σεμνολογεῖν τοὺς τοῦδε νόμους σπουδάζοντες εἰς ∆ελφοὺς μὲν ἀφικέσθαι παρὰ τὸν Πύθιον, ἐμπνευσθῆναι δὲ παρ' ἐκείνου καὶ θεῖναι Λακεδαιμονίοις τοὺς νόμους. Λέγουσι δὲ καὶ τὸν χρησμόν, ὃν τοῦδε πέρι ὁ Πύθιος ἔχρησεν· ἔστι δὲ οὗτος· ἥκεις, ὦ Λυκόεργε, ἐμὸν ποτὶ πίονα νηὸν Ζηνὶ φίλος καὶ πᾶσιν Ὀλύμπια δώματ' ἔχουσιν; δίζω ἤ σε θεὸν μαντεύσομαι ἢ ἄνθρωπον· ἀλλ' ἔτι καὶ μᾶλλον θεὸν ἔλπομαι, ὦ Λυκόεργε. Ἥκεις εὐνομίην διζήμενος· αὐτὰρ ἐγώ τοι δώσω. 9.11 Τοιοῦτος μὲν δὴ οὗτος καὶ ὁ περὶ τούτου χρησμός. Ἀλλ' οὔτε τὸ πολὺ τοῦ νομοθέτου κλέος οὔτε τῆς Σπάρτης ἡ περι φάνεια οὔτε ὁ τοῦ Πυθίου χρησμὸς ἠνάγκασεν Ἀργείους ἢ Τεγεάτας ἢ Μαντινεῖς ἢ Κορινθίους, μάλα πλησίον οἰκοῦντας, τὴν Λακεδαιμονίων καταδέξασθαι πολιτείαν. Καὶ τί λέγω τοὺς ἄλλους; Φλιάσιοι γὰρ πόλισμα μὲν οἰκοῦσι σμικρόν, ἀεὶ δὲ τὴν Λακεδαιμονίων ἡγεμονίαν ἠγάπησαν καὶ τούτων ἦσαν ὑπόσπον δοι, ἀλλ' ἤγοντο μὲν ὑπ' ἐκείνων καὶ ξυνεπολέμουν ἀεί, τοῖς δὲ 9.12 ἐκείνων οὐκ ἐχρήσαντο νόμοις. Καὶ ἵνα τοὺς ἄλλους νομοθέτας παρῶ, Ἄπιν τὸν Ἀργείων καὶ Μνήσωνα τὸν Φωκέων καὶ τὸν Κυρηναίων ∆ημώνακτα καὶ Παγώνδην τὸν Ἀχαιῶν καὶ τὸν Κνιδίων Ἀρχίαν καὶ Εὔδοξον τὸν Μιλησίων καὶ Φιλόλαον τὸν Θηβαίων καὶ Πιττακὸν τὸν Μιτυληναίων καὶ Νέστορα τὸν Πυ λίων, οὗ τοὺς λόγους μέλιτος γλυκυτέρους ἐκάλεσεν Ὅμηρος, ἵνα τούτους καὶ τοὺς τῶν ἄλλων ἐθνῶν νομοθέτας παρῶ, Σόλων ὁ πολυθρύλητος καὶ ∆ράκων καὶ Κλεισθένης νομοθέται Ἀθηναίων ἐγένοντο. Ἀλλ' οὔτε Μεγαρέας οὔτε Εὐβοέας οὔτε Θηβαίους, ὁμόρους γε ὄντας καὶ ἄγαν πλησιοχώρους, τοῖς τοῦ Σόλωνος ἢ τοῦ ∆ράκοντος ἢ τοῦ Κλεισθένους ὑπακοῦσαι νόμοις ἔπεισαν Ἀθηναῖοι. Καὶ αὐτοὶ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι τούτοις ἐρρῶσθαι 9.13 φράσαντες, καὶ μέντοι καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ Λοκροὶ καὶ Θηβαῖοι καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι δὲ Ἕλληνες κατὰ τοὺς Ῥωμαίων πολιτεύονται νόμους. Καὶ Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ τοὺς παρ' Ἕλλησι καὶ βαρβάροις ξυναθροίσαντες νόμους καὶ τοὺς ἄριστα κεῖσθαι δόξαντας παρ' ἑκάστου νομοθέτου λαβόντες, ὅσαπερ ἔθνη τὸν τούτων ὑπεισῆλθε ζυγόν, δουλεύειν τοῖσδε τοῖς νόμοις ἠνάγκασαν, τοὺς δὲ παρ' αὐτῶν οὐ βουληθέντας ἰθύνεσθαι οὔτε ἔπεισαν οὔτε ἠνάγκασαν τὴν 9.14 σφῶν πολιτείαν ἀσπάσασθαι. Πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ τὸν τῆς δουλείας δεξάμενοι χαλινόν, βιοτεύειν κατὰ τοὺς τούτων οὐκ ἀνέχονται νόμους. Οὔτε γὰρ Αἰθίοπες οἱ Θηβῶν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ὁμοτέρ μονες οὔτε τὰ πάμπολλα φῦλα τοῦ Ἰσμαήλ, οὐ Λαζοί, οὐ Σάννοι, οὐκ Ἀβασγοί, οὐχ οἱ ἄλλοι βάρβαροι, ὅσοι τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἀσπάζονται δεσποτείαν, κατὰ τοὺς Ῥωμαίων νόμους τὰ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ποιοῦνται ξυμβόλαια. 9.15 Οἱ δὲ ἡμέτεροι ἁλιεῖς καὶ οἱ τελῶναι καὶ ὁ σκυτοτόμος