The Orations of Lysias Part 3

46. What opinion, gentlemen of the jury, do you think they who were deprived of their dear ones by this man would have of him? Or what vote do you think they would cast were it in their power? And yet (you are aware) that the walls were torn down and the ships given over to the enemy and the shipyards destroyed, and the Spartans held your Acropolis, and the whole power of the city was undermined so that the city was in no way different from the smallest town. 47. Besides this you lost your private property and finally were driven in a body by the Thirty from your country. Those who were good men, gentlemen of the jury, having learned this, said they would not allow peace to be made. 48. Those men, Agoratus, wishing to do some good to the city, you put to death, on the ground that they were plotting against the city and you are responsible for all the misfortunes which befell the city. So now, each one, remembering not only his own misfortunes, but also those common to the whole city, should revenge himself on the cause of these evils.

49. I wonder, gentlemen of the jury, what he will dare urge in defense.

For he must show that he did not give convicting testimony against these men and that he is not responsible for their death, which he will never be able to do. 50. For in the first place the votes of the senate and a.s.sembly testify against him, clearly showing about what Agoratus made the accusations. Then the sentence which was pa.s.sed on him by the Thirty and revoked again clearly shows, this, "since," it runs, "he seems to have spoken the truth." Now read it to me.

EVIDENCE.

51. Therefore he can in no way prove that he did not hand in the names.

He must make the following point clear, that he made the accusations justly, seeing these men doing injury to the republic and not well disposed to the people. But I do not think he will try to show this. But in fact if they did any wrong to the people of Athens, the Thirty would not have condemned them for fear that the people should be overcome, taking vengeance on account of them, but I think quite the opposite of this.

52. But perhaps he will say that he did these evils unwillingly. But I do not think, gentlemen of the jury, that if any one with great unwillingness did great wrongs to you, greater than which there could not be, on this account you ought not to have revenge from him. Then remember this, that it was possible for this Agoratus to be saved and that he sat down at the altar of Munychia before he was brought into the Boule. For his bondsmen prepared boats and were ready to sail away with him. 53. And if you had heeded them, and been ready to go away with them, you would neither willingly nor unwillingly have put to death so many Athenians.

But being persuaded by those to whom you yielded, you thought that if you would only give in the names of the Strategi and Taxiarchs you would get something great from them. Therefore it is not necessary for us to feel sympathy for you since you felt none for those you put to death. 54.

Hippias of Thasos and Xenophon of Icaria, who were summoned by the Boule on the same accusation as he, were executed, and Xenophon was tortured.

But Hippias thus .... because they did not appear worth saving to the Thirty (for they destroyed none of the Athenians). But Agoratus was acquitted because he appeared to have done the pleasantest things.

55. But I hear that he will put the blame on Menestratus for these doc.u.ments. But what Menestratus did was this. This same Menestratus was informed against by Agoratus, was arrested and put in prison. And there was Hagnodorus of Amphitrope, of the same deme as Menestratus, a connection of Critias, one of the Thirty. This one, at the time when the a.s.sembly was held in the theatre at Munychia, wishing Menestratus at the same time to be saved, and as many as possible of the people to be accused and put to death, brought him into the a.s.sembly and saved him according to this vote.

DECREE.

56. When they had pa.s.sed this vote, Menestratus made his accusations and added the names of others of the citizens. The Thirty acquitted him, as they did Agoratus, as he seemed to tell the truth, but you long afterwards brought him into court as a murderer and, justly voting death for him, gave him over to the executioner, and he was beaten to death.

57. If he was put to death then Agoratus should justly be killed, as he was responsible for the death of Menestratus having accused him, and who is more to blame for those killed by Menestratus than he who put him in such a position?

58. He seems to me to be different from Aristophanes of Chollidae who was his bondsman, and who, having boats ready at Munychia, was willing to sail away with him. And at least as far as it depended upon him you would have been saved, neither having destroyed any of the Athenians nor being yourself put in any such danger. 59. But you had the audacity to accuse your deliverer, and having informed against him you put him to death and also your other bondsmen. As he was not a pure blooded Athenian citizen, some wished him to be put to torture and induced the people to pa.s.s this decree.

DECREE.

60. After this, those who had the administration of affairs at that time went to Aristophanes and begged him to make disclosures and be saved, and not be in danger of undergoing the extreme penalties, being tried for usurping the rights of citizenship. But he declared he would never do it.

Such an excellent man was he toward those imprisoned, and the people of Athens generally, that he preferred to die rather than inform against and put to death, any of them unjustly. That man killed by you was such a one, (61) and Xenophon was tortured, and Hippias of Thasos. But you had nothing in common with, all these men, but you were persuaded that if they were put to death you would have a share in the government established, and you accused and put to death many good Athenians.

62. I wish to show you, gentlemen of the jury, of what sort of men you were robbed by Agoratus. If there were not many of them, you should hear about them separately, but as it is, collectively. For some of them who had been your generals gave over the city to their successors in an improved condition. And some held other high offices and performed the duties of Trierarchs and never had any disgraceful charge from you. 63.

For some of them were saved and are present whom this one, as far as he could, tried to put to death with cruelty (and indeed sentence of death, was pa.s.sed on them), but chance and providence saved them. For fleeing from here and not being taken nor awaiting their trial, they came from exile from Phyle and were honored by you as being brave men.

64. Of these men, I say, some Agoratus put to death, others he made exiles from here. But who was he? For you must know that he was a slave and the son of slaves, that you may understand what kind of a man persecuted you. His father was Eumares, and Eumares was the slave of Nisocles and Anticles. And now, witnesses, take the stand.

WITNESSES.

65. Now, gentlemen of the jury, it would be a long task to enumerate the shameful and disgraceful things done by him and his brothers. As regards his informing, either how many private suits he brought by false accusation or how many prosecutions or dispositions he made, it is not necessary for me to say in detail. For you all together in the a.s.sembly, and in the court, convicted him of informing, and he was fined ten thousand drachmae. 66. This has been sufficiently proved by you all.

Being a man of this sort, he endeavored to seduce and betray the free-born wives of the citizens, and he was taken in adultery. Death is the punishment for this. That I am speaking the truth, call up the witnesses.

WITNESSES.

67. Gentlemen of the jury, there were four brothers. The eldest was taken in the act of making treasonable signals to the enemy by Lamarchus of Sicily, and beaten to death. The second abducted a female slave in Corinth from a woman of the place, and, being taken and put in prison, was put to death. 68. The third, Phainippides arrested as a thief, and you being his judges and pa.s.sing death sentence on him, gave him to be beaten to death. I think he will admit that what I say is true, and we have witnesses.

WITNESSES.

69. Why, then, is it not proper for you all to convict this man? For if each of them deserved death for one crime, surely, since he has committed many offenses, both publicly against the state and privately against you, for all of which crimes the penalty is death in our laws, you must condemn him to death.

70. Gentlemen of the jury, he will speak and try to deceive you (pretending) that he killed Phrynichus in the time of the Four Hundred; and he says the people made him an Athenian on account of this. But he lies, gentlemen of the jury, for he neither killed Phrynichus nor did the people make him an Athenian. 71. For, gentlemen of the jury, Thrasybulus of Calydon and Apollodorus of Megara conspired against Phrynichus. When they came up to him as he was walking, Thrasybulus struck Phrynichus and felled him with a blow, but Apollodorus did not even lay hands upon him.

Then a shout was raised, and they set off to escape. But Agoratus was neither called in to help nor was he present nor did he know anything of the deed. This decree will make it plain to you that I tell the truth.

DECREE.

72. That he did not slay Phrynichus is plain from this decree. For nowhere is it (plain) that Agoratus is an Athenian as it is that Thrasybulus and Apollodorus are. If he did kill Phrynichus, his having been made an Athenian ought to be on the very same pillar as Thrasybulus and Apollodorus ... by giving money to the orator they get their own names inscribed on the pillars as being doers of good. And this decree will convince you that I speak the truth.

DECREE.

73. So much does this man despise you that, although not being an Athenian, he served on the jury and in the a.s.sembly, and brought all manner of indictments, having himself enrolled as from Anagurius.

Phrynichus established the Four Hundred, and when he was put to death many of the Four Hundred fled. 74. Do you think, therefore, that the Thirty and the Boule, which was in session under the administration of the Thirty, all of whom were of the Four Hundred exiles, if they had captured the man who killed Phrynichus, would have let him go or punished him on account of the exile to which they were subjected? I think they would have punished him. If, on the one hand, he pretends to have killed him, though he did not, he is, as I say, guilty. 75. But if you deny it and say that you did kill Phrynichus, it is plain that by doing greater evils to the Athenians you freed yourself to the Thirty from the charge concerning Phrynichus. For you can never persuade any man that, having killed Phrynichus, you would have been let off by the Thirty, unless you did great and incurable wrongs to the people of Athens. 76. If, therefore, he a.s.serts that he killed Phrynichus, bear these things in mind and take vengeance for what he has done. But if he says he did not, ask him on what account he says he became an Athenian. If he can not show how, punish him because he acted as a juror and served in the a.s.sembly and accused many falsely, having his name enrolled as an Athenian.

77. I hear that he will allege in defense that he went to Phyle and came back from Phyle with the rest, and this is his strongest plea. This was the fact. He went to Phyle. And how could there be a greater wretch than he who, knowing that there were many at Phyle whom he himself had banished, dared to go there to them? 78. As soon as they saw him they seized him and took him to kill him at the same place where they put others to death, whenever they caught any robber or criminal. But Anytus, who was in command at Phyle, said that they must not do this, telling them they were not in a condition to take vengeance on some of their enemies, but must now keep the peace, and if they ever returned home then they would punish those who had done them injury. 79. Saying this, he became responsible for his escape at Phyle. And they were obliged to obey a general if they were to be saved. But more than this: no one would receive him as a messmate or be his tent companion, nor would the Taxiarch give him a place in his line, but as if he were accused no man would speak to him. And call the Taxiarch to me.

WITNESS.

80. When the agreement was made with each other and the citizens from Piraeus made a procession into the city, Aesinus was the leader of the soldiers, and this one so audacious also was there. Having taken arms he accompanied them and took his place in the procession with the citizens to the city. 81. When they reached the gates and halted before going into the city, Aesinus saw him and went to him and seized and flung down his shield and told him to go to the crows and leave the citizens. For he declared that a murderer should not proceed in the procession to Athens.

Thus was he driven off by Aesinus. That I tell the truth, call up my witnesses.

WITNESSES.

82. This was the relation, gentlemen of the jury, in which he stood to the citizens at Phyle and the Piraeus. For no one spoke to him because he was a murderer, and Anytus is responsible for his now being alive. If, therefore, he alleges in defense that he was on the way to Phyle, he must answer whether Anytus was responsible for his not being killed when they were ready to punish him, and whether Aesinus took away his shield and would not let him join the citizens in the procession, and whether any Taxiarch enrolled him on his list.

83. Thus you should neither receive this excuse from him, nor let him say he is punished a long while after the crime. For I do not think there is any limited period for such an offense; but I do think if anybody is punished, either immediately or after a long time, he must show that he did not do the things of which he is accused. 84. Let him prove this: either that he did not kill these men, or that he did it justly as they did some wrong to the people of Athens. And if we punish him a long time after he should have been punished, he gains the time he has lived which did not belong to him, and the men were killed by him just the same.

85. But I understand that he lays great stress upon the fact that he was indicted and brought up as taken in the act. I think that is the most foolish thing of all. As if he would have been liable to arrest if it had not been added "taken in the act"! But as this has been added he thinks there will be some relief for him. But this is the same as allowing that he put the men to death but was not taken in the act; and he relies a great deal on this, as if he must be saved because he killed the men but was not taken in the act. 86. The Eleven who arrested him seem to me not to have thought they were than sharing in the same deeds with Agoratus, and believing that they were acting rightly, forced Dionysius to make the arrest, and then added "taken in the act." First, then, having informed against some in the presence of the five hundred in the senate, and then of the whole people of Athenians in the a.s.sembly, he slew some and became responsible for their death. 87. For he does not think this alone is "taken in the act," if any one struck a man with a club or sword and knocked him down, since by your argument no one appears to have slain the men whom you deposed. For no one either knocked them down or killed them, yet they were forced to death by your accusation. Therefore is he, who is the author of their death, not "taken in the very act"? For who else was the author, if not you who deposed them? So, then, in what way are you not their murderer, taken in the very act?

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 circ.u.mstances 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 G.o.ds, 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.