Book 2
3.51
Then he came in again and404 B.C. said: Senators, I deem it the duty of a leader who is what he ought to be, in case he sees that his friends are being deceived, not to permit it. I, therefore, shall follow that course. Besides, these men who have taken their stand here say that if we propose to let a man go who is manifestly injuring the oligarchy, they will not suffer us to do so. Now it is provided in the new laws that while no one of those who are on the roll of the Three Thousand may be put to death without your vote, the Thirty shall have power of life or death over those outside the roll. I, therefore, he said, strike off this man Theramenes from the roll, with the approval of all the Thirty. That being done, he added, we now condemn him to death.
3.52
When Theramenes heard this, he sprang to the altar and said: And I, sirs, said he, beg only bare justice,—that it be not within the power of Critias to strike off either me or whomsoever of you he may wish, but rather that both in your case and in mine the judgment may be rendered strictly in accordance with that law which these men have made regarding those on the roll.
3.53
To be sure, said he, I know, I swear by the gods, only too well, that this altar will avail me nothing, but I wish to show that these Thirty are not only most unjust toward men, but also most impious toward the gods. But I am surprised at you, he said, gentlemen of the aristocracy, that you are not going to defend your own rights, especially when you know that my name is not a whit easier to strike off than the name of each of you.
3.54
At this moment the herald of the Thirty ordered the ElevenSee on I. vii. 10. to seize Theramenes; and when they came in, attended by their servants and with404 B.C. Satyrus, the most audacious and shameless of them, at their head, Critias said: We hand over to you, said he, this man Theramenes, condemned according to the law. Do you, the Eleven, take him and lead him to the proper place and do that which follows.
