Ancestral Law For Insurrection

Aristotle, Constitution of the Athenians 17

“These are the ancestral laws of the Athenians: if anyone commits insurrection to act as a tyrant or helps someone else conduct a tyranny, they and their family will be disenfranchised.”

θέσμια τάδε Ἀθηναίων καὶ πάτρια, ἐάν τινες τυραννεῖν ἐπανιστῶνται [ἐπὶ τυραννίδι] ἢ συγκαθιστῇ τὴν τυραννίδα ἄτιμον εἶναι αὐτὸν καὶ γένος

Strabo, Geography  15.12

‘When there is insurrection, as frequently happens even in our time, sometimes it turns out some ways, other times it turns out differently and not the same for everyone. A disturbance is advantageous for some people but it disappoints the expectations of others.”

στασιαζόντων δέ, ὅπερ συμβαίνει πολλάκις, καὶ δὴ καὶ ἐφ᾿ ἡμῶν, ἄλλοτ᾿ ἄλλως συμβαίνει καὶ οὐ τὰ αὐτὰ πᾶσι· τοῖς μὲν γὰρ συνήνεγκεν ἡ ταραχή, τοῖς δὲ παρὰ γνώμην ἀπήντησεν.

In ‘honor’ of a year since our own failed insurrection, I wrote a piece for the Society for Classical Studies’ Blog Madness on Capitol Hill | The Nation

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