Speeches, addresses, etc., Greek -- Translations into English
And I was so far from being one of the Four
Hundred, that I was not even one of the Five Thousand. It seems to me to
be a strange thing that if in a private suit I had so plainly convicted
him of ill-doing, he would not have thought of escaping by such a
defense, but now when the trial is in regard to state affairs he thinks
by accusing me to escape paying the penalty to you.
9. Besides, I think it strange that Nicomachus believe in trumping up old
scores against others as offenders, when I shall show that he had plots
against the people. Now hear me; for it is just, gentlemen of the jury,
to receive such a defense in regard to such men as say now they are
devoted to the people, when once they tried to ruin the people. 10. And
when the revolution was being brought about at the defeat of the fleet,
Cleophon charges the Boule, claiming that it was conspiring and not
acting for the best interests of the state. And Satyrus of Kephisia, a
member of the Boule, persuade the Boule to bind him and throw him into
prison. And they, wishing to destroy him, (11) and fearing that they
might not kill kill in prison, persuaded Nicomachides to bring up a law
that the Boule, too, must vote in judicial matters. And this basest of
all men evidently joined the plot, and on the day of the trial produced
the law. 12. One might accuse Cleophon, gentlemen at the jury, on other
accounts; but all are agreed that the men who were bent on destroying the
people wished above all to get him out of the way, and that Satyrus and
Chremon, who were members of the Thirty, accused Cleophon not because
they were incensed at him on your account, but that they might injure you
after having put him to death. 13. And this they accomplished through the
law which Nicomachus proposed. You should consider this, even as many of
you as thought Cleophon a bad citizen, that perhaps some one of those put
to death by the Thirty was base, but nevertheless that on account of such
you should be angry at the Thirty, that they killed these not for their
crimes, but on party grounds. 14. If he defends himself on these grounds,
remember this, that at such a crisis he produced the law by which the
revolution occurred, and he aided those who destroyed the democracy, and
made it possible for the Boule of that time to vote on judicial matters,
(the Boule) in which Satyrus and Chremon had great influence, and
Strombichides, and Calliades, and many other noble citizens perished.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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