ἐλευθερία: “freedom” Chantraine: sens “libre”, par opposition à δοῦλος
αὐτονομία: “independence”
παρρησία: “freedom of speech”
Sophocles, fr. 873 [= Mich. Apostol 13.8]
“Whoever does business with a tyrant is
That man’s slave, even if he starts out free.”
ὅστις γὰρ ὡς τύραννον ἐμπορεύεται
κείνου ‘στι δοῦλος, κἂν ἐλεύθερος μόλῃ.
Iliad 6.450-455 (Hektor to Andromakhe)
“But no grief over the Trojans weighs as heavy on me,
Not even for Hekabê herself or lord Priam or
Any of my brothers who have died in their great, fine numbers
In the dust at the hands of wicked men,
As my grief for you, when one of the bronze-dressed Akhaians
Will lead you off and steal away your day of freedom.”
ἀλλ’ οὔ μοι Τρώων τόσσον μέλει ἄλγος ὀπίσσω,
οὔτ’ αὐτῆς ῾Εκάβης οὔτε Πριάμοιο ἄνακτος
οὔτε κασιγνήτων, οἵ κεν πολέες τε καὶ ἐσθλοὶ
ἐν κονίῃσι πέσοιεν ὑπ’ ἀνδράσι δυσμενέεσσιν,
ὅσσον σεῦ, ὅτε κέν τις ᾿Αχαιῶν χαλκοχιτώνων
δακρυόεσσαν ἄγηται ἐλεύθερον ἦμαρ ἀπούρας·
Publius Syrus, 724
“Where freedom has died, no one may dare to speak freely”
Ubi libertas cecidit, audet libere nemo loqui
Gnomologica Vat.
“Wise Periander, when asked what freedom is, said “a good conscience”.
Περίανδρος ὁ σοφὸς ἐρωτηθεὶς τί ἂν εἴη ἐλευθερία εἶπεν· „ἀγαθὴ συνείδησις”.
Cicero, Phillipic 3.36
“We were born to honor and freedom: let us keep them or die with dignity.”
Ad decus et ad libertatem nati sumus: aut haec teneamus aut cum dignitate moriamur.
Plato, Rep. 564.a4
“Excessive freedom seems to lead to nothing other than excessive slavery both in private and in public.”
῾Η γὰρ ἄγαν ἐλευθερία ἔοικεν οὐκ εἰς ἄλλο τι ἢ εἰς ἄγαν δουλείαν μεταβάλλειν καὶ ἰδιώτῃ καὶ πόλει.
Cicero, Philippic 10.20
“So glorious is the reclamation of freedom that not even death should be avoided when freedom must be regained.”
Ita praeclara est recuperatio libertatis ut ne mors quidem sit in repetenda libertate fugienda
Naevius, fr. 5-6
“I have always considered freedom more powerful than money.”
potioremque habui libertatem multo quam pecuniam.
Sidonius, Letters 7.7
“We have been made slaves as the price of others’ security”
facta est servitus nostra pretium securitatis alienae
Sallust, Second Letter to Caesar 12
“I consider freedom more precious than fame”
Libertatem gloria cariorem habeo
Demades On the Twelve Years 45
“Freedom is not well prepared for espionage”
Ἐλευθερία ὠτακουστὴν οὐκ εὐλαβεῖται.
[also proposed via twitter: “freedom does not respect eavesdropping”; more literal, less provocative!]
Cicero, Letters to Brutus 5.2
“I [said] everything for the sake of freedom: without peace, it is nothing. I used to believe that peace itself could be achieved through war and weapons.”
ego omnia ad libertatem, qua sine pax nulla est. pacem ipsam bello atque armis effici posse arbitrabar.
Livy, 24.25
“This is the nature of the crowd: it serves humbly or rules arrogantly. Freedom, which is between these two things, they cannot manage to take or keep moderately. And there is no lack of indulgent assistants of their rage, men who provoke eager and unbalanced minds to blood and murder.”
Ea natura multitudinis est: aut servit humiliter aut superbe dominatur; libertatem, quae media est, nec suscipere modice nec habere sciunt; et non ferme desunt irarum indulgentes ministri, qui avidos atque intemperantes suppliciorum animos ad sanguinem et caedes inritent;
Arsenius, 7.9c
“It is impossible to be free if you are a slave to the senses and ruled by them” Attributed to Pythagoras
᾿Ελεύθερον ἀδύνατον εἶναι τὸν πάθεσι δουλεύοντα καὶ ὑπὸ παθῶν κρατούμενον Πυθαγόρου.
Livy, 24.29
“They were not happy with freedom unless they might also rule and be masters”
nec iam libertate contentos esse nisi etiam regnent ac dominentur
Seneca, De Vita Beata 15.7
“We were born in a monarchy: freedom is obeying god.”
In regno nati sumus; deo parere libertas est.
Seneca, EM 3.5
“’Think upon death.’ He who orders you to do thus, orders you to think upon freedom.”
‘meditare mortem’: qui hoc dicit, meditari libertatem iubet.
Arsenius, 17.43 a
“Agamemnon had less concern for Thersites’ freedom of speech than a tortoise does for flies.”
Τῷ δὲ ᾿Αγαμέμνονι τῆς Θερσίτου παῤῥησίας ἧττον ἔμελεν ἢ χελώνη μυιῶν τὸ τῆς παροιμίας.
[The grammar is a little strange in this one, but I think the translation is right. Michael. Apostol provides a slightly different version: τῷ δὲ ᾿Αγαμέμνονι τῆς Θερσίτου παῤῥησίας ἔλαττον ἔμελλεν, ἢ χελώνῃ μυῶν. Here I prefer the dative χελώνῃ but not ἔλαττον ἔμελλεν]
Tacitus, Histories 1.16
“You will be ruling over a people who cannot endure total servitude, nor total freedom.”
sed imperaturus es hominibus qui, nec totam servitutem pati possunt nec totam libertatem.
Epicurus (Gnom. Vat. Epic, fr. 77)
“Freedom is the greatest fruit of self-sufficiency”
Τῆς αὐταρκείας καρπὸς μέγιστος ἐλευθερία.
Publilius Syrus, 61
“To accept a bribe is to offer freedom for sale”
Beneficium accipere libertatem est vendere.
Epictetus, Diss 1.12.10
“What, then, is freedom insanity? May it not be so, for freedom and insanity do not overlap!”
τί οὖν; ἀπόνοιά ἐστιν ἡ ἐλευθερία; μὴ γένοιτο. μανία γὰρ καὶ ἐλευθερία εἰς ταὐτὸν οὐκ ἔρχεται
Epictetus, Diss. 2.1.22
“What is the profit of these beliefs? The very thing which is the most noble and ennobling for those who are truly educated, tranquility, lack of fear, freedom. For we must not trust the masses who say that it is only possible for the free to be educated. No, we must heed the philosophers who say that only the educated can be free.”
Τίς οὖν τούτων τῶν δογμάτων καρπός; ὅνπερ δεῖ κάλλιστόν τ’ εἶναι καὶ πρεπωδέστατον τοῖς τῷ ὄντι παιδευομένοις, ἀταραξία ἀφοβία ἐλευθερία. οὐ γὰρ τοῖς πολλοῖς περὶ τούτων πιστευτέον, οἳ λέγουσιν μόνοις ἐξεῖναι παιδεύεσθαι τοῖς ἐλευθέροις, ἀλλὰ τοῖς φιλοσόφοις μᾶλλον, οἳ λέγουσι μόνους τοὺς παιδευθέντας ἐλευθέρους εἶναι.
Old English freodom “power of self-determination, state of free will; emancipation from slavery, deliverance;” see free (adj.) + -dom. Meaning “exemption from arbitrary or despotic control, civil liberty” is from late 14c. Meaning “possession of particular privileges” is from 1570s. Similar formation in Old Frisian fridom, Dutch vrijdom, Middle Low German vridom. Freedom-rider recorded 1961 in reference to civil rights activists in U.S. trying to integrate bus lines.
“Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose” Kris Kristofferson “Me and My Bobby McGee”
Here’s an etymology from Beekes 2010:
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