110
These are noble lines for us to remember, Athenians; they are a tribute to those whose deeds they record and an undying glory to the city. But Leocrates has not acted thus. Deliberately he sullied that honor which the city has accumulated from the earliest times. Therefore if you kill him all Greeks will believe that you too hate such acts as his. If not, you will rob your forbears of their long-lived renown, and will do grievous harm to your fellow citizens. For those who do not admire our ancestors will try to imitate Leocrates believing, that although among men of the past the old virtues had a place of honor, in your eyes shamelessness, treachery and cowardice are held in most esteem.
111
If I am unable to show you what your attitude towards such men should be, remember your ancestors and the methods of punishment which they employed against them. Capable as they were of the noblest actions, they were no less ready to punish what was base. Think of them, gentlemen; think how enraged they were with traitors and how they looked on them as common enemies of the city.
112
You remember when PhrynichusPhrynichus, commander of the Athenian fleet at Samos, took part in the Revolution of the Four Hundred in 411 B.C. According to Thucydides (viii. 92) he was murdered in the market place in broad daylight (ἐν τῇ ἀγόρᾳ πληθούσῃ) by an unknown hand, after returning from a mission to Sparta which had failed. But the account of Lysias (Lys. 13.71) agrees in the main with that of Lycurgus. The spring was probably in the market place. Critias was later chief of the Thirty. was murdered at night beside the fountain in the osier beds by Apollodorus and Thrasybulus, who were later caught and put in the prison by the friends of Phrynichus. The people noted what had happened and, releasing the prisoners, held an inquiry after torture. On investigation they found that Phrynichus had been trying to betray the city and that his murderers had been unjustly imprisoned.
