Books: The Orations of Lysias
L >>
Lysias >> The Orations of Lysias
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 | 6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11
88. I understand that he will talk of oaths and agreements; that he is on
trial in violation of the oaths and compacts which we in the Piraeus
confirmed with those in the city. Accordingly, putting so much trust in
these things, he confesses he is a murderer. So he puts something in the
way, either oaths or compacts or "taken in the act," but he does not
trust to the deed itself that he will come out of the trial successfully.
89. But it is not fitting for you, gentlemen of the jury, to accept his
defense on these grounds. Bid him make his defense on these points: that
he did not give in the names, or that the men were not put to death. Then
I think the compacts and agreements have nothing to do with us in this
case. For the oaths were made by those in the city to those in the
Piraeus.
90. Now if he was of the city party and we of the Piraeus, the oaths
would have some argument for him. But the truth is, he is of the Piraeus
party and Dionysius and I and all the rest of those who are taking
vengeance on him, so that there is nothing at all in our way. For those
in the Piraeus made no oaths with those in the Piraeus.
91. By all means this man seems to me to deserve not merely one death;
this man who says (he was adopted by) the people, and seems to have
treated badly the people whom he calls his father, and neglected and
betrayed those by whom he might have become better and more powerful.
One, therefore, who is found to have maltreated his father and not to
have furnished him with the necessities of life, and to have taken away
from his adopted father the property he had, does not he on this account,
by the law of maltreatment, deserve to be put to death?
92. It is the duty of all of you, gentlemen of the jury, just as of each
one of us, to take vengeance on behalf of these men. For when they died
they left this charge to you and to us, and to all others, to punish on
their behalf this Agoratus, their murderer, and to injure him as much as
each one could. If these men ever did any good to the state or to the
people--and you yourselves admit that they did--it is the duty of all of
you to be their friends and relatives, so they made this request no more
of us than of each one of you. 93. Accordingly it is right, neither by
divine nor human law, for you to let this man go. Therefore do you now,
Athenians, take vengeance on this man, their murderer, since you can do
so, as at the time the men died you were not able to aid them on account
of the circumstances which surrounded you. Remember, Athenians, that you
are not doing the cruelest act of all. But if you acquit this Agoratus
you are not only doing this, but also, by the same vote, you sanction the
death of those men whom you admit to have been well disposed to you. 94.
By acquitting the man who is the author of their death, you are deciding
that they were justly put to death. They would feel most terribly if
those to whom they had entrusted the task of revenge, as being their
friends, should cast the same vote as the Thirty on these men. 95. By the
gods, gentlemen of the jury, do not in any way, or by any act or
contrivance whatever, vote to sanction the death of these men who were
killed by the Thirty and this Agoratus for having done many good things
for you. Remembering all the evils, both those in common with the state
and those in a private way, as many as each endured when these men met
their death, take vengeance on the author of these things. It has been
clearly proved from the votes and testimony and everything else, that
Agoratus was the cause of their death. 96. Besides, it is your duty to
vote in opposition to the Thirty. Acquit those whom they condemned.
Condemn those whom they acquitted. The Thirty decreed death for those men
who were your friends whom you must acquit. They acquitted Agoratus since
he seemed to destroy those zealously; him you should condemn. 97. If you
vote in opposition to the Thirty, in the first place, you will not be
their accomplices; then again you will have avenged your own friends;
finally, you will seem to have voted in accordance with divine and human
laws.
ORATION XIV.
ALCIBIADES.
1. I presume, gentlemen of the jury, that you need to hear no reason from
those who wish to prosecute Alcibiades, for from the start he so
conducted himself in the public that it is every one's duty, even if he
happen not to be privately injured by him, to consider him an enemy from
his other actions. 2. For his sins were not trivial, nor do they deserve
pardon, nor offer any hope of his becoming better in future, but his
deeds have come to such a pitch of evil, his enemies are ashamed of those
deeds in which he glories. As for a long time, ever since a dispute arose
between our fathers, I have considered him my enemy, and now again since
he has treated me wrongly, I, gentlemen of the jury, will try to punish
him by your aid for all which he has done. 3. Archestratides has
arraigned him sufficiently about other matters, for he declared the laws
and brought evidence; but what he omitted, I will go over point by point
with you.
4. Now it is reasonable, gentlemen of the jury, for those who serve as
jurors in regard to these subjects for the first time since we made peace
to be not only jurors but lawgivers, knowing well that, as you decide
about these matters now, the city will manage in future. And it seems to
me to be the part of a good citizen and impartial juror to define the
laws as is most likely to benefit the state in future. 5. For some go so
far as to say that no one is liable (to a charge) of desertion or
cowardice; for there has been no battle and the law bids the soldiers to
try "_any one who goes to the rear through cowardice while the others
are fighting_." And the law does not provide for this case alone, but
"_whoever is not in the ranks_." Now read the law.
LAW.
6. You hear, gentlemen of the jury, that there are two provisions, for
those who go to the rear during a battle, and those who fail to appear in
the ranks. Now consider who ought to appear. Are they not those of
military age? And those whom the Strategi enroll? 7. And I think,
gentlemen of the jury, that he alone of the citizens is liable by the
whole law. For he would be convicted of not being in the ranks, as when
he was enrolled as a hoplite he did not go out with you in camp, and he
did not let himself be placed in ranks,--and of cowardice, for although
he ought to have met danger with the hoplites, he chose to go with the
cavalry. 8. But they say he will offer this defense, that in going with
the cavalry, he did no harm to the state. But I consider you have just
cause of anger against him on this account, that although the law imposes
a fine on any one in the cavalry who is not examined, he dared to enter
the cavalry without examination. Now read the law.
LAW.
9. He reached such a degree of depravity, and he had so little respect
for you and so much fear of the enemy, and he had so great a wish to join
the cavalry and cared so little for the laws that he disregarded the
risk, and was willed to be fined and have his property confiscated and be
liable to all these existing penalties, rather than to take up his
position in the ranks with the citizens and be a hoplite. 10. And others
who never served in the infantry and who were formerly in the cavalry and
did great damage to the enemy never dared mount their horses through fear
of you and the law; for they laid their plans, not as if the state would
perish, but would be secure and prosperous, and would exact punishment of
wrong-doers. But Alcibiades dared mount, neither through goodwill to the
state, nor because he had been a knight, nor understanding (cavalry
drill), nor having passed your examinations, (supposing) that the state
would be unable to exact penalty of offenders.
11. It is necessary to remember that, if it is possible to do whatever
one wishes, there is no use in having laws, nor for you to be impaneled,
nor for Strategi to be chosen. And I wonder, gentlemen of the jury, if
any one claims if a man, enrolled in the first rank, on the approach of
the enemy, is found in the second, that he should be condemned for
cowardice, but that if one, enrolled among the hoplites, appears among
the cavalry, he should be pardoned. 12. Now, gentlemen of the jury, I
think you are drawn, not only for punishing offenders, but that you may
make other offenders more discreet. If now you punish, only obscure
persons, no one will become better, for none will know whom you have
condemned; but if you punish conspicuous offenders, all will hear of it,
and in consequence of their examples the citizens will become better. 13.
If now you condemn this fellow, not only will those in the city hear of
it, but your allies and enemies will learn of it, and they will more
highly esteem the state, if they see you are aroused against such
offenses, and that those who offend against discipline in war have no
pardon. 14. Remember too, gentlemen of the jury, that there are some
soldiers who chance to be exhausted, and some who lack resources, and
some who would gladly serve (if they could) remain in towns, and others
who wish to look out for their own affairs at home, others who would have
liked to serve as light-armed soldiers and others in the cavalry; (15)
and yet you do not venture to leave the ranks nor choose what pleases
yourselves, but you fear the laws of the state more than the risk before
the enemy. Bearing these things in mind, it is now necessary to cast your
vote, and make it evident to all, that those Athenians who are unwilling
to fight with the enemy will be punished by you.
16. I am convinced, gentlemen of the jury, that the defendants will have
nothing to say about the laws or the deed itself; but they will get up
and ask and entreat you, demanding that you should not condemn the
cowardice of the son of Alcibiades on the ground that he did great good
and not much harm; for (in reality) if you had put him to death at the
same age (that his son now is), when you first discovered his offenses
against you, such misfortunes had never befallen the state. 17. It seems
to me, gentlemen of the jury, a dreadful thing for you to have passed
sentence of death upon the father, and when the son commits a crime, you
acquit him for this very reason, that he himself did not dare to fight on
your side, and that his father took part with the enemy. And when as a
child he did not yet show what he was going to be, he was almost
delivered to the Eleven for his father's offenses; and as you know not
only the deeds of the father, but the son's cowardice, will you think it
right to pity him for his father's sake? 18. Is it not terrible,
gentlemen of the jury, that these are so fortunate as to be acquitted on
account of their noble birth when they are caught in crime, while we, if
we lose by their lawlessness, could not gain any concession from the
enemy on account of the valiant deeds of our ancestors? 19. These were
many and important, and (were done) for all Greece, and were not at all
like theirs in relation to the state. And if they think they are noble
for aiding their friends, they are evidently all the better for punishing
their enemies. 20. And I think, gentlemen of the jury, one ought to be
angry if his relatives try to beg him off, that they did not (rather)
induce him, or if they tried to induce him, but could not obtain their
end, to comply with the demands of the state. In fact, they are trying to
persuade you that you need not exact a penalty from wrong-doers. 21. And
if some of those in authority aid him, making a display of their power
and pluming themselves that they can get off even those who are evidently
criminal, you must suppose in the first place that if all were like
Alcibiades there would be no need of generals, for there would be none to
lead, and secondly, that it is far more for their interests to accuse
those who leave the ranks than to make a defense for such. For what hope
is there that others would wish to obey their generals' commands, when
these very men try to screen offenders against discipline? 22. I beg you
then to acquit him, if those who speak and make claims for Alcibiades
proved that he served with the hoplites or with the cavalry after an
examination; but if, without a just plea, they demand you to favor them,
you are to remember that they are teaching you to break your oath, and
disobey the laws, and that by too great zeal for offenders they make many
desirous (of emulating) their deeds.
23. And I especially wonder, gentlemen of the jury, if any of you shall
claim that Alcibiades be acquitted through his friend and not be
condemned for his own baseness. It is right that you should hear of this
(conduct), that you may know that you would not do right to acquit him on
the plea that he has merely committed this wrong, but in other respects
has been an exemplary citizen. For from other deeds of his you would
justly condemn him to death. 24. It is for your interest to know about
these things, for when you allow defendants to speak of their own good
deeds, and the noble actions of their ancestors, you ought also to listen
to the accusers, if they prove that the defendants have committed many
crimes against you, and their ancestors did much harm. 25. For this man,
when a youth, at the house of Archedemus the blear-eyed, who had stolen
much of your money, while many eyes were upon him, drank, lying at full
length under the same rug, and caroused at midday, having a mistress
while a mere boy, imitating his ancestors, and thinking he could not be
an illustrious man, unless he were a wild youth. 26. He was summoned by
Alcibiades when his conduct became notorious. And what sort of a fellow
should you think him, when he shocked that man who used to teach others
such practices! Having conspired with Theotimus against his father, he
betrayed Oreus to him. And Theotimus, taking the fortified place, first
maltreated the youth and finally bound him and exacted a ransom for him.
27. And his father hated him so that he used to say he would not even
care for his body if he died. And when his father died, Archebiades, a
favorite of his, ransomed him. Not long after, having gambled away his
property, setting sail from Leuke Akte he tried to drown his friends. 28.
It would be a long story, gentlemen of the jury, to tell all his crimes
against the state, his relatives, friends and others; but Hipponicus,
having called many to witness, divorced his own wife, declaring that
Alcibiades entered her house not as brother but as husband. 29. And
though he has committed such crimes and done such horrible things, he
neither repents of what he has done nor cares for what he will do, but he
who should be a most illustrious citizen, making his life a shield for
his father's misdeeds, tries to bring insult upon others, as if being
able to transfer to others the smallest share of the disgraces which
belong to himself, (30) and that too being a son of that Alcibiades who
persuaded the Spartans to fortify Decelea, and sailed off to the islands,
and incited many in the city to crime, and oftener fought against his
country with its enemies than with his fellow-citizens against them. For
all this, it is for the interest of yourselves and posterity to punish
any one you find of this family. 31. He has been accustomed to say it was
not right for his father to return from exile and be favored by the
state, and (yet) that he should suffer unjustly in reputation on account
of his father's exile. But it seems wrong, if you take away his
privileges on the ground that you gave (them) without just reason, and
when this one commits a wrong acquit him on the ground that his father
was an ornament to the state. 32. And there are many other reasons,
gentlemen of the jury, for you to condemn him, and for this reason
especially, that he quotes as a precedent in support of his own baseness
your acts of valor. For he dares say that Alcibiades did nothing so
terrible in leading war against his country. 33. For while you were in
exile you took Phyle and cut the trees and 'made assaults upon the walls,
and though so doing left no reproach for your descendants, but gained
honor from all men, as if those were on a par who in exile joined with
the enemy against the country, and those who established themselves when
the Spartans were in possession of the city. 34. I believe it is clear to
all that these fellows sought to establish themselves; but you returned
and expelled the enemy and freed even those citizens who wished to be
slaves. So he uses like words about the two parties while the facts were
not at all similar. 35. And yet, with such great misfortune coming upon
him, he glories in his father's baseness, and said that he had great
power, to bring evil upon the state. But who is so ignorant of his
country as not to be able, if he wishes to be a traitor, to tell the
enemy what fortified places to seize, to show what forts are ill-guarded,
to teach them his country's weak points, and to declare which allies are
ready to revolt? 36. Surely it was not through his power in exile he was
able to work evil to the state when he returned deceiving you, and took
command of many triremes, but was able neither to dislodge the enemy from
the country nor make the Chians friendly again whom he had caused to
revolt, nor do a particle of good to you. 37. So it is not difficult to
realize that Alcibiades did not differ from other men in power, but was
first of the citizens in villainy. Whatever he knew to be your weak
points, he informed the Spartans, and when he had to act as general, he
could do them no harm, but promising that the king would furnish money at
his request, he took more than two hundred talents from the city. 38. And
so he realized that he had done you much harm, and though being able to
speak, and while he had friends, and having acquired the money, he never
dared return and render his accounts, but exiling himself preferred to be
a citizen of Thrace or of any other city rather than his own. And
finally, gentlemen of the jury, to cap all his former baseness, he dared
with Adeimantus to betray the ships to Lysander. 39. So if any one of you
pities those who perished in the naval battle, or feels disgrace on
account of those enslaved by the enemy, or is angry at the demolishment
of the walls, or hates the Spartans, or is angry at the Thirty, he should
consider that this man's father was the cause of all this, and remember
that Alcibiades, his great-grandfather, and his great-great-grandfather
on his mother's side were ostracized twice by your ancestors, and that
the older men among you condemned his father to death; so you must
consider him as an hereditary enemy of the state and as such condemn him,
and care less for pitying and pardoning him than for the existing laws
and the oaths which you have sworn. 41. But you must consider, gentlemen
of the jury, on what ground you should spare such men. Is it on the
ground that in relation to the state they have been unfortunate, but
otherwise have lived with moderation and in an orderly fashion? Have they
not been unchaste, and lived with their sisters, and some have had
children by their daughters, (42) others have performed the mysteries,
mutilated the Hermae, been impious before the gods, wronged the state,
have lived without regard to justice or law in relation to others or to
their fellow-citizens, have refrained from no deed of daring, nor left
untried any crime? They have experienced and done everything. For such is
their disposition as to be ashamed of good deeds, and to glory in crime.
43. Now it is true, gentlemen of the jury, that before now you have
acquitted some, although knowing they were in the wrong, believing that
in the future they would be useful to you. But what hope is there that
the state will be benefited by this fellow, whom you will know to be
worthless as soon as he begins his defense, and understand to be a coward
from the rest of his disposition. 44. If he were banished, he could not
work you any evil, being a coward and poor and unable to effect anything,
at variance with his kinsmen and hated by other men. So for this reason
he should not be cared for, (45) but much rather should he furnish an
example to other men, especially to his associates, who are not willing
to obey commands and desire such a course of action as his, and while
mismanaging their own affairs attempt to dictate about yours.
46. I have made my accusation as best I could, and I know that there are
some of my audience who wonder how I was able to ferret out so accurately
their misdeeds, while the defendant is laughing to himself because I have
mentioned (only) the smallest part of their sins. 47. So taking into
account what has been omitted as well as what has been said, condemn him
by your votes, remembering that he is liable to the charge, and that the
state would gain much if relieved of such citizens. Read now to them the
laws and the oaths and the writ, and with these in mind they will vote
justly.
ORATION XVI.
MANTITHEUS.
1. If I did not know, members of the Boule, that my accusers wished to
injure me in every way, I should have felt grateful to them for bringing
this charge. For I think to men slandered unjustly these charges are of
great benefit, as they compel them to exhibit their mode of life. 2. I
feel so sure of myself that I hope, if any one here entertains feelings
of dislike toward me, he will, having heard what I have to say of the
facts, think better of it and be in all after-time a good friend to me.
3. I make no claim, members of the Boule, to do anything more than show
you that I am well disposed to the existing constitution and that I
shared the same dangers that you did. If I make plain to you that I have
lived well, contrary to common report and the assertions of my enemies, I
want you to pass me and count them bad. First, I will show that I did not
serve in the cavalry, that I was not in Athens at the time of the Thirty,
and that I took no part in the government of that time.
4. My father sent me before the disaster on the Hellespont, to live at
the court of Salyrus, king of Bosphorus, and I was not at home, either
while the walls were being taken down, or the constitution was undergoing
change, but returned five days before the party of Phyle occupied the
Piraeus. 5. It is not likely that, arriving at such a time, I was
desirous of sharing other people's dangers, and they evidently did not
have any idea of sharing the management of the government with those who
were away from home and not guilty of disloyalty, but rather
disenfranchised even those who helped them to abolish the democracy. 6.
And in the next place it is foolish to estimate the cavalry from the
register. For there are many persons on this list who admit that they did
mot serve in the cavalry, and some are written there who were away from
home. Here is the strongest proof. For when you returned you voted that
the phylarchs should give in a return of those serving in the cavalry
that you might recover the allowances. 7. No one can show that my name
was handed in by phylarchs, nor given to the revenue commissioners as
having received an allowance. So it is plain to all that it was necessary
for the phylarchs, if they did not give in the names of those having
received the allowance, to be losers themselves. So you ought to put much
more trust in the returns of these men than you do in the register. 8.
Yet, members of the Boule, if I had served in the cavalry, I should not
have denied it as if I had been guilty of a terrible crime, but should
claim, if I proved I had done no one of the citizens any wrong, that I
ought to be passed. I see that, following this plan, many who served in
the cavalry at that time are in the Boule, and many have been appointed
generals, and many commanders of cavalry. Believe, then, that I make this
defense for no other reason than that they have dared lie about me before
the whole world. Come and give evidence.
EVIDENCE.
9. I do not know that I need say anything further about the charges. I
believe in cases of another sort it is only necessary to make a defense
by refuting accusations, but in trials concerning examination, to offer
to give an account of one's entire life. I wish you to listen to me
fairly. I will make the account as short as I can.
10. In the first place, though I was left little money by my father, both
on account of his misfortunes and the calamity that befell the city, yet
I married off my two sisters, giving them thirty minae as a dowry; and I
so divided the property between myself and my brother that he admits that
he had more than his share. And in all other relations of my life I have
so behaved that no one ever brought an indictment against me. 11. I think
the greatest proof of the blamelessness of my public life is that all the
young men who habitually spend their time with dice, or in drink, or
excesses of this sort, are my enemies; and it is just they who get up and
circulate such stories about me. If I and they had the same tastes, it is
plain that they would have had no such opinion of me. 12. No one can
prove that I have had a private suit, a public suit, or was ever
impeached before the Boule. But you see other men often engaged in such
cases. Last of all, see how well I served the state in the army and in
the expeditions against the enemy. 13. For first, when you made the
alliance against the Boeotians, and it was necessary to send assistance
to Haliartus, I was put in the list of the cavalry by Orthoboulus; but
seeing that all thought the cavalry was safe, but that there was danger
to the hoplites, while others not qualified by law were trying to get
enrolled on the cavalry, I reported myself to Orthoboulus to be struck
off the list, thinking it disgraceful to be in security myself while
others were in danger. Come and testify for me, Orthoboulus.
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 | 6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11