9. He reached such a degree of depravity, and he had so little respect
for you and so much fear of the enemy, and he had so great a wish to join
the cavalry and cared so little for the laws that he disregarded the
risk, and was willed to be fined and have his property confiscated and be
liable to all these existing penalties, rather than to take up his
position in the ranks with the citizens and be a hoplite. 10. And others
who never served in the infantry and who were formerly in the cavalry and
did great damage to the enemy never dared mount their horses through fear
of you and the law; for they laid their plans, not as if the state would
perish, but would be secure and prosperous, and would exact punishment of
wrong-doers. But Alcibiades dared mount, neither through goodwill to the
state, nor because he had been a knight, nor understanding (cavalry
drill), nor having passed your examinations, (supposing) that the state
would be unable to exact penalty of offenders.
11. It is necessary to remember that, if it is possible to do whatever
one wishes, there is no use in having laws, nor for you to be impaneled,
nor for Strategi to be chosen. And I wonder, gentlemen of the jury, if
any one claims if a man, enrolled in the first rank, on the approach of
the enemy, is found in the second, that he should be condemned for
cowardice, but that if one, enrolled among the hoplites, appears among
the cavalry, he should be pardoned. 12. Now, gentlemen of the jury, I
think you are drawn, not only for punishing offenders, but that you may
make other offenders more discreet. If now you punish, only obscure
persons, no one will become better, for none will know whom you have
condemned; but if you punish conspicuous offenders, all will hear of it,
and in consequence of their examples the citizens will become better. 13.
If now you condemn this fellow, not only will those in the city hear of
it, but your allies and enemies will learn of it, and they will more
highly esteem the state, if they see you are aroused against such
offenses, and that those who offend against discipline in war have no
pardon. 14. Remember too, gentlemen of the jury, that there are some
soldiers who chance to be exhausted, and some who lack resources, and
some who would gladly serve (if they could) remain in towns, and others
who wish to look out for their own affairs at home, others who would have
liked to serve as light-armed soldiers and others in the cavalry; (15)
and yet you do not venture to leave the ranks nor choose what pleases
yourselves, but you fear the laws of the state more than the risk before
the enemy. Bearing these things in mind, it is now necessary to cast your
vote, and make it evident to all, that those Athenians who are unwilling
to fight with the enemy will be punished by you.
16. I am convinced, gentlemen of the jury, that the defendants will have
nothing to say about the laws or the deed itself; but they will get up
and ask and entreat you, demanding that you should not condemn the
cowardice of the son of Alcibiades on the ground that he did great good
and not much harm; for (in reality) if you had put him to death at the
same age (that his son now is), when you first discovered his offenses
against you, such misfortunes had never befallen the state. 17. It seems
to me, gentlemen of the jury, a dreadful thing for you to have passed
sentence of death upon the father, and when the son commits a crime, you
acquit him for this very reason, that he himself did not dare to fight on
your side, and that his father took part with the enemy. And when as a
child he did not yet show what he was going to be, he was almost
delivered to the Eleven for his father's offenses; and as you know not
only the deeds of the father, but the son's cowardice, will you think it
right to pity him for his father's sake? 18. Is it not terrible,
gentlemen of the jury, that these are so fortunate as to be acquitted on
account of their noble birth when they are caught in crime, while we, if
we lose by their lawlessness, could not gain any concession from the
enemy on account of the valiant deeds of our ancestors? 19. These were
many and important, and (were done) for all Greece, and were not at all
like theirs in relation to the state. And if they think they are noble
for aiding their friends, they are evidently all the better for punishing
their enemies. 20. And I think, gentlemen of the jury, one ought to be
angry if his relatives try to beg him off, that they did not (rather)
induce him, or if they tried to induce him, but could not obtain their
end, to comply with the demands of the state. In fact, they are trying to
persuade you that you need not exact a penalty from wrong-doers. 21. And
if some of those in authority aid him, making a display of their power
and pluming themselves that they can get off even those who are evidently
criminal, you must suppose in the first place that if all were like
Alcibiades there would be no need of generals, for there would be none to
lead, and secondly, that it is far more for their interests to accuse
those who leave the ranks than to make a defense for such. For what hope
is there that others would wish to obey their generals' commands, when
these very men try to screen offenders against discipline? 22. I beg you
then to acquit him, if those who speak and make claims for Alcibiades
proved that he served with the hoplites or with the cavalry after an
examination; but if, without a just plea, they demand you to favor them,
you are to remember that they are teaching you to break your oath, and
disobey the laws, and that by too great zeal for offenders they make many
desirous (of emulating) their deeds.
23. And I especially wonder, gentlemen of the jury, if any of you shall
claim that Alcibiades be acquitted through his friend and not be
condemned for his own baseness. It is right that you should hear of this
(conduct), that you may know that you would not do right to acquit him on
the plea that he has merely committed this wrong, but in other respects
has been an exemplary citizen. For from other deeds of his you would
justly condemn him to death. 24. It is for your interest to know about
these things, for when you allow defendants to speak of their own good
deeds, and the noble actions of their ancestors, you ought also to listen
to the accusers, if they prove that the defendants have committed many
crimes against you, and their ancestors did much harm. 25. For this man,
when a youth, at the house of Archedemus the blear-eyed, who had stolen
much of your money, while many eyes were upon him, drank, lying at full
length under the same rug, and caroused at midday, having a mistress
while a mere boy, imitating his ancestors, and thinking he could not be
an illustrious man, unless he were a wild youth. 26. He was summoned by
Alcibiades when his conduct became notorious. And what sort of a fellow
should you think him, when he shocked that man who used to teach others
such practices! Having conspired with Theotimus against his father, he
betrayed Oreus to him. And Theotimus, taking the fortified place, first
maltreated the youth and finally bound him and exacted a ransom for him.
27. And his father hated him so that he used to say he would not even
care for his body if he died. And when his father died, Archebiades, a
favorite of his, ransomed him. Not long after, having gambled away his
property, setting sail from Leuke Akte he tried to drown his friends. 28.
It would be a long story, gentlemen of the jury, to tell all his crimes
against the state, his relatives, friends and others; but Hipponicus,
having called many to witness, divorced his own wife, declaring that
Alcibiades entered her house not as brother but as husband. 29. And
though he has committed such crimes and done such horrible things, he
neither repents of what he has done nor cares for what he will do, but he
who should be a most illustrious citizen, making his life a shield for
his father's misdeeds, tries to bring insult upon others, as if being
able to transfer to others the smallest share of the disgraces which
belong to himself, (30) and that too being a son of that Alcibiades who
persuaded the Spartans to fortify Decelea, and sailed off to the islands,
and incited many in the city to crime, and oftener fought against his
country with its enemies than with his fellow-citizens against them. For
all this, it is for the interest of yourselves and posterity to punish
any one you find of this family. 31. He has been accustomed to say it was
not right for his father to return from exile and be favored by the
state, and (yet) that he should suffer unjustly in reputation on account
of his father's exile. But it seems wrong, if you take away his
privileges on the ground that you gave (them) without just reason, and
when this one commits a wrong acquit him on the ground that his father
was an ornament to the state. 32. And there are many other reasons,
gentlemen of the jury, for you to condemn him, and for this reason
especially, that he quotes as a precedent in support of his own baseness
your acts of valor. For he dares say that Alcibiades did nothing so
terrible in leading war against his country. 33. For while you were in
exile you took Phyle and cut the trees and 'made assaults upon the walls,
and though so doing left no reproach for your descendants, but gained
honor from all men, as if those were on a par who in exile joined with
the enemy against the country, and those who established themselves when
the Spartans were in possession of the city. 34. I believe it is clear to
all that these fellows sought to establish themselves; but you returned
and expelled the enemy and freed even those citizens who wished to be
slaves. So he uses like words about the two parties while the facts were
not at all similar. 35. And yet, with such great misfortune coming upon
him, he glories in his father's baseness, and said that he had great
power, to bring evil upon the state. But who is so ignorant of his
country as not to be able, if he wishes to be a traitor, to tell the
enemy what fortified places to seize, to show what forts are ill-guarded,
to teach them his country's weak points, and to declare which allies are
ready to revolt? 36. Surely it was not through his power in exile he was
able to work evil to the state when he returned deceiving you, and took
command of many triremes, but was able neither to dislodge the enemy from
the country nor make the Chians friendly again whom he had caused to
revolt, nor do a particle of good to you. 37. So it is not difficult to
realize that Alcibiades did not differ from other men in power, but was
first of the citizens in villainy. Whatever he knew to be your weak
points, he informed the Spartans, and when he had to act as general, he
could do them no harm, but promising that the king would furnish money at
his request, he took more than two hundred talents from the city. 38. And
so he realized that he had done you much harm, and though being able to
speak, and while he had friends, and having acquired the money, he never
dared return and render his accounts, but exiling himself preferred to be
a citizen of Thrace or of any other city rather than his own. And
finally, gentlemen of the jury, to cap all his former baseness, he dared
with Adeimantus to betray the ships to Lysander. 39. So if any one of you
pities those who perished in the naval battle, or feels disgrace on
account of those enslaved by the enemy, or is angry at the demolishment
of the walls, or hates the Spartans, or is angry at the Thirty, he should
consider that this man's father was the cause of all this, and remember
that Alcibiades, his great-grandfather, and his great-great-grandfather
on his mother's side were ostracized twice by your ancestors, and that
the older men among you condemned his father to death; so you must
consider him as an hereditary enemy of the state and as such condemn him,
and care less for pitying and pardoning him than for the existing laws
and the oaths which you have sworn. 41. But you must consider, gentlemen
of the jury, on what ground you should spare such men. Is it on the
ground that in relation to the state they have been unfortunate, but
otherwise have lived with moderation and in an orderly fashion? Have they
not been unchaste, and lived with their sisters, and some have had
children by their daughters, (42) others have performed the mysteries,
mutilated the Hermae, been impious before the gods, wronged the state,
have lived without regard to justice or law in relation to others or to
their fellow-citizens, have refrained from no deed of daring, nor left
untried any crime? They have experienced and done everything. For such is
their disposition as to be ashamed of good deeds, and to glory in crime.
43. Now it is true, gentlemen of the jury, that before now you have
acquitted some, although knowing they were in the wrong, believing that
in the future they would be useful to you. But what hope is there that
the state will be benefited by this fellow, whom you will know to be
worthless as soon as he begins his defense, and understand to be a coward
from the rest of his disposition. 44. If he were banished, he could not
work you any evil, being a coward and poor and unable to effect anything,
at variance with his kinsmen and hated by other men. So for this reason
he should not be cared for, (45) but much rather should he furnish an
example to other men, especially to his associates, who are not willing
to obey commands and desire such a course of action as his, and while
mismanaging their own affairs attempt to dictate about yours.
46. I have made my accusation as best I could, and I know that there are
some of my audience who wonder how I was able to ferret out so accurately
their misdeeds, while the defendant is laughing to himself because I have
mentioned (only) the smallest part of their sins. 47. So taking into
account what has been omitted as well as what has been said, condemn him
by your votes, remembering that he is liable to the charge, and that the
state would gain much if relieved of such citizens. Read now to them the
laws and the oaths and the writ, and with these in mind they will vote
justly.