11
And sometimes they pretend to despise him,Cf. Lys. 14.35-38. saying that in no respect did he excel his contemporaries; yet at the present time they blame him for all that has happened and say that the Lacedaemonians have learned from him the art of war—they who can teach the rest of the world this accomplishment! As for me, if I had sufficient time, I could easily prove that some of those things he did justly, but that others are unjustly imputed to him. Yet the most shocking thing that could happen would be this—if, while after his exile my father was recompensed, I, because he was exiled, should be penalized.
12
I think, however, that in justice he should obtain from you a full pardon; for you, when banished by the Thirty Tyrants,After the capture of Athens by the Spartans in 404 B.C. an oligarchy known as the Thirty Tyrants was established. The cruelty of their government caused many of the democratic party to go into exile. Led by Thrasybulus these exiles were restored when the Thirty were overthrown in 403 B.C. experienced the same misfortunes as he. Wherefore you should reflect how each of you was affected, what thoughts you each had, and what peril each would not have undergone so as to bring his own banishment to an end and to return to his native land, and to be avenged on those who banished him.
13
To what city, or friend, or stranger did you not apply, to entreat them to help you to get back to your country? From what effort did you abstain in your endeavors to be restored? Did you not seize the Piraeus and destroy the crops in the fields and harry the land and set fire to the suburbs and finally assault the walls?
