166
You entered a happy home, that of Aristarchus the son of Moschus; you ruined it. You received three talents from Aristarchus in trust as he was on the point of going into exile;The occasion was the murder of Nicodemus by Aristarchus. See Aeschin. 2.148, note. you cheated him out of the money that was to have aided him in his fight, and were not ashamed of the reputation to which you laid claim, that of being a wooer of the young man’s bodily charms—an absurd story, of course, for genuine love has no place for rascality. That conduct, and conduct like that, defines the traitor.
167
But he spoke, I believe, about service in the field, and named me the fine soldier. But I think, in view of my present peril rather than of his slander, I may without offence speak of these matters also. For where, or when, or to whom, shall I speak of them, if I led this day go by? As soon as I passed out of boyhood I became one of the frontier guards of this land for two years.the young Athenian citizen, coming of legal age at eighteen, was required to serve two years in the cadet corps, stationed the first year at the Peiraeus, and on frontier posts the second. As witnesses to this statement, I will call my fellow cadets and our officers.