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Well then, when Athens was prosperous, who of the citizens was more prosperous, more admired, or more envied than my father? And when she suffered ill-fortune, who was deprived of brighter hopes, or of greater wealth, or of fairer repute? Finally, when the Thirty Tyrants established their rule, while the others merely suffered exile from Athens, was he not banished from all Greece? Did not the Lacedaemonians and LysanderSpartan general, victorious over the Athenians at Aegospotami (405 B.C.) exert themselves as much to cause his death as to bring about the downfall of your dominion, in the belief that they could not be sure of the city’s loyalty if they demolished her wallsThe Long Walls, uniting Athens and its harbor Piraeus, were destroyed in 404 B.C. (Xenophon, Hall. ii. 2. 20) and were rebuilt by Conon in 394 B.C. unless they should also destroy the man who could rebuild them?
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Thus it is not only from his services to you, but also from what he suffered on your account, that you may easily recognize his loyalty. For it is self-evident that it was the people he was aiding, that he desired the same form of government as yourselves, that he suffered at the hands of the same persons, that he was unfortunate when the state was unfortunate, that he considered the same persons as you his enemies and friends, that in every way he exposed himself to danger either at your hands, or on your account,
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or on your behalf, or in partnership with you, being as a citizen quite unlike Charicles,Charicles was one of the most cruel of the Thirty Tyrants. Cf. Lys. 12.55; Xen. Hell. 2.3.2. my opponent’s brother-in-law, who chose to be a slave to the enemy, yet claimed the right to rule his fellow-citizens; who, when in exile, was inactive, but on his return was ever injuring the city. And yet how could one prove himself to be a baser friend or a viler enemy?
