93
Who does not know the fate of Callistratus,Callistratus, an orator whom Demosthenes much admired, was instrumental in building up the Second Athenian Confederacy. After a raid by Alexander of Pherae on the Piraeus he was condemned to death by the Athenians (361 B.C.); and, though at first he fled to Methone, he returned later and the sentence was carried out. His name is mentioned by Hyperides (Hyp. 4.1). which the older among you remember and the younger have heard recounted, the man condemned to death by the city? How he fled and later, hearing from the god at Delphi that if he returned to Athens he would have fair treatment by the laws, came back and taking refuge at the altar of the twelve gods was none the less put to death by the state, and rightly so, for fair treatment by the laws is, in the case of wrongdoers, punishment. And thus the god too acted rightly in allowing those who had been wronged to punish the offender. For it would be an unseemly thing if revelations made to good men were the same as those vouchsafed to malefactors.
94
It is my belief, gentlemen, that the guidance of the gods presides over all human affairs and more especially, as is to be expected, over our duty towards our parents, towards the dead and towards the gods themselves. For in our dealings with those to whom we owe our being, at whose hands we have enjoyed the greatest benefits, it is the utmost sacrilege that we should fail, not merely to do our duty, but even to dedicate our lives to their service.
