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It is impossible to form a virtuous and legal state without courts that are just, because the courts in an illegitimate state are also illegitimate..
Adamantios Korais
Adamantios Korais, using the penname Ἀτρόμητος ὁ ἐκ Μαραθῶνος [Fearless of Marathon], published the work Σάλπισμα Πολεμιστήριον [Military Trumpet], in 1801 in Paris –and not in Alexandria, as written on the title page– linking the Greek call for liberation from the Ottoman rule with Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt. The frontispiece features an engraving that depicts enslaved Greece as a woman in ragged attire, with her hands raised in supplication while the Ottoman oppressor stands beside her. In July 1821, with the Revolution in full force in Greece, the French translation of the work was published in Paris with the title Σάλπισμα Πολεμιστήριον. Appel aux Grecs [Military Trumpet. Appeal to the Greeks] . In December 1821, Korais published a reprint of his work from 1801.In 1802, Korais translated Cesare Beccaria’s work Dei delitti e delle pene under the title Περὶ Ἁμαρτημάτων, καὶ Ποινῶν, πολιτικῶς θεωρουμένων [Concerning Crimes, and Punishments, the political ones] and dedicated it “To the newly founded Greek Septinsular Republic”. In 1823 he published an edited version of this edition using the new title Περὶ Ἀδικημάτων καὶ Ποινῶν [Concerning Crimes, and Punishments] and the dedication “To the future Judges of the Greeks” . The translation of Beccaria’s work by Korais is also included in the series of publications in the “Deposit of Books” which opened in 1829 in the building of the Aegina Orphanage and the libraries that were founded “in each of the public schools of the state” according to an edict of 1835.
On 6 January 1803, from the platform of the Société des Observateurs de l’Homme [Society of Observers of Man] Korais read his speech in French titled Mémoire sur l'état actuel de la civilisation dans la Grèce [Report on the present state of civilization in Greece] about the state of education in Greece. The text was published that year and reprinted by Korais in 1818, with the initial publication date . The Greek translation by Anastasios Konstantinidis was published in Athens in 1853 under the title Ὑπόμνημα Περὶ τῆς Παρούσης Καταστάσεως τοῦ Πολιτισμοῦ ἐν Ἑλλάδι [Report on the present state of civilization in Greece] .
The views expressed by Korais featured largely in articles written for journals of the pre-revolutionary period. For example, the article by Konstantinos Nikolopoulos in Μέλισσα [Bee] in 1820, where the afterword to the Mémoire by Korais is reprinted, as well as the unsigned article in the journal Ἑρμῆς ὁ Λόγιος [Learned Hermes] in 1821, which defended Korais and his views regarding education in Greece and the Greek language.
During the years of the Struggle, Petros Ipitis, member of Filiki Eteria (Society of Friends) and personal physician of Alexandros Ypsilantis, travelled to various cities of Europe, as depicted on his passport, in order to establish communication with political and intellectual figures abroad and to secure their support. He also had a proclamation for the Greeks in Europe and a letter by Dimitrios Ypsilantis to Adamantios Korais, dating from April 1821, with the characteristic address: “Greetings, Wise Elder and common Father of the Greeks […] Proclaim with your stentorian voice to the wise nations on earth the greatness of our rights”.
