Then should we suffer men

exemption from all imposts. exiled on your account, who justly received your bounty, to be deprived of what you gave them without any cause of complaint? It would be disgraceful; as you will clearly see, if you will put the following case to yourselves: Suppose some of the people who now hold Pydna or Potidea, or any of the other places which are subject to Philip and hostile to you, (just as Thasos and Byzantium then were friendly to the Lacedæmonians and estranged from you,) should offer to deliver them up, if you would give them the same rewards which you gave to Ecphantus of Thasos and Archebius of Byzantium, and some of these men opposed them, urging that it was monstrous for any of the resident aliens to escape the public burdens, while the rest did not: what would be your feelings towards the men who urged such an argument? Need I ask? Would you not treat them as malignants 1 and refuse to hear them? It is disgraceful then, if, in the expectation of benefit, you would regard a person so arguing as a malignant, yet, on a question of taking away the rewards of previous benefactors, you will listen to men so arguing. But further let us consider-by what were the persons who betrayed Pydna and the other places to Philip induced to wrong us? Every one must see, by the rewards which they expected to get from him for the service. Which then, Leptines, should you rather do-persuade our enemies, if you can, not to reward persons who become their benefactors in wronging us, or introduce a statute here, which takes away a portion of the rewards enjoyed by our benefactors? I should think the former. But, that I may not stray from the present

66

interprets to mean, διὰ παντὸς εὐεργέτης κληθήσῃ. And Herodotus says that benefactors thus registered by the Persian kings were called Orosange." (See Herod. v. 11; viii. 85.) The Syracusans, who in the Peloponnesian war assisted the Antandrians to fortify their city, were rewarded with citizenship and the title of Benefactors: Aid TaûTA εὐεργεσία τε καὶ πολιτεία Συρακουσίοις ἐν ̓Αντάνδρῳ ἐστί. (Xenophon, Hellen. i. c. 1, s. 26.) Hence the surname of Euergetes, given to so many of the kings of Egypt and Syria. Compare Demosthenes, De Fals. Leg. 400, 446. Contr. Aristocr. 668.

1 Συκοφαντούντων: “ persons taking a vexatious and mischievous course.' (See Vol. II. p. 74, note 2.) Auger: "assurément vous leur fermeriez la bouche comme à des envieux et à des gens mal intentionnés." Pabst: hämische Rechtsverdreher.

1

point, take the decrees which were passed in favour of the Thasians and Byzantines. Read:

[The Decrees.]

You heard the decrees, men of the jury. Perhaps some of these men no longer live: but their deeds live after they have once been done. It becomes you therefore to let these pillars remain in force for ever, that, as long as any men exist, they may suffer no wrong from you, and, when they die, the pillars may be a monument of the character of Athens, and stand for examples to all who wish to befriend you, that Athens has requited those who rendered her service.

And let it not escape you, O Athenians, that it would be one of the deepest disgraces, were all people to see and hear, that the calamities which these men have suffered on your account have been made to endure for ever, while the gifts which they received from you as a recompense have been thus early abolished. Much more befitting were it that you left the gifts to mitigate their misfortunes, than that during their continuance you took the gifts away. For, in Heaven's name, what man will be willing to serve you, if in case of failure he is to be punished instantly by your enemies, and in the event of success he cannot depend upon your gratitude?

I should be sorry indeed, men of the jury, did it appear I had but this ground of complaint against the law, that it deprives many foreign benefactors of the immunity, but was unable to show that any of our citizens who have obtained the honour were deserving of it. I would pray that all blessings may be most abundant among ourselves, and specially that the most and best of our benefactors may be our own citizens. First then look at Conon:1 see whether you

1 Conon first becomes known to us as one of the Athenian commanders in the last years of the Peloponnesian war. From Ægospotamos, where the defeat was owing to the culpable negligence of his colleagues, he escaped with eight ships to Cyprus, and found an asylum with his friend Evagoras, who had raised himself to the sovereignty of the island. Here Conon remained quiet, until Persia was threatened with war by the Lacedæmonians, when he obtained a naval command in the king's service. In the year B. C. 397 he liberated Rhodes from the Spartan dominion, and restored the democracy. When the war of

can find any fault either with the man or with his achievements, to justify you in revoking any of his honours, He, as you may learn from some of your own body who were his contemporaries, after the return of the popular party from the Piræus, when our commonwealth was weak and possessed not a single vessel, he, I say, commanding for the king, without having received the least supply from you, beat the Lacedæmonians at sea, and accustomed a people lately commanding others to hearken unto you, and expelled their governors from the islands, and afterwards came home and rebuilt the walls, and was the first person who again put us in a condition to dispute with Lacedæmon for the leadership. He is indeed the only man in whose honour this has been inscribed upon the pillar-" Since Conon" (it says) "liberated the allies of Athens." This inscription, men of the jury, is glorious to him in your eyes,2 to you in the opinion of all Greece: for whatever advantage any among us procures for others, the name of the commonwealth enjoys the repu tation of it. Therefore the Athenians of that day not only granted immunity to him, but erected a brazen statue, as they did to Harmodius and Aristogiton, the first after theirs:3 395 B. C. broke out in Greece, he made a journey to the Persian court, and obtained a large supply of money from Artaxerxes, who appointed him and Pharnabazus joint admirals of the royal fleet. In the following year he gained the battle of Cnidus, in which the Lacedæmonian fleet, commanded by Pisander, was totally overthrown. After this he sailed with Pharnabazus round the Ægæan, and expelled the Spartan Harmostæ from most of the islands; he also took Cythera, and ravaged the enemy's coasts. But the most gratifying of all his exploits to the Athenians was that which followed. He carried his victorious fleet (with the permission of Pharnabazus) to Athens, and with the help of. his seamen and a large supply of Persian gold he restored the long walls which connected Athens and Piræus. This work was completed about the year B. C. 390, (See Thirlwall's History of Greece, iv. pp. 409-411, 430–433.)

1 By the terms of peace granted to Athens at the close of the Peloponnesian war, she was not allowed to possess more than twelve ships of war.

2 Пpòs iμâs avтOús: "apud vos ipsos," as Schaefer correctly interprets it. Auger renders it clearly: "Cette inscription lui fait honneur auprès de vous, et à vous auprès de tous les Grecs."

3 The same honour was conferred upon Evagoras of Cyprus, who for his services was also made a citizen of Athens. Isocrates in the Oration inscribed to that prince (p. 200) says, it was under the advice of Conon and Evagoras that the Persian king resolved to attack the Lacedæ

1

for they considered that he too had put down no slight tyranny, when he overthrew the empire of Lacedæmon.

That you may pay the more attention to what I say, he shall read you the very decrees that were then passed in favour of Conon, Read:

[The Decrees.]

Nor was it by you alone, men of Athens, that Conon was thus rewarded for the deeds which I have mentioned, but by many others, who justly deemed it right to repay the benefits which they had received. It would be shameful then, men of Athens, when the honours conferred elsewhere are secured to him, that from yours alone this portion should be taken away. Nor again would it be very creditable, to assign him in his lifetime all these honours which you have heard, because you esteemed him so highly, and yet after his death to forget it all, and take away a portion of what was given him. Many of his achievements are worthy of praise, O Athenians, and on all their accounts you are bound not to annul their rewards; but the noblest of them is the restoration of our walls. You may judge by comparing how Themistocles, the most renowned man of his day, accomplished the same feat. The story is, that he desired his countrymen to begin building, and instructed them to detain any one that should come from Lacedæmon; he went off himself as ambassador to the Lacedæmonians, and at a conference with them, it being reported that the Athenians were building their wall, he denied it, and bade them send ambassadors to inquire, and, when they did not return, he advised them to send others. And doubtless you have all heard in what manner he is reported to have tricked the Lacedæmonians. I say thenand by heavens! men of Athens, let no one be angry at what he is about to hear, but consider if it be true:-as it is better to act openly than clandestinely, and more glorious to accomplish anything by victory than by deceit; to the same extent monians at sea; and this advice was given for the benefit of the Greeks; for if the Lacedæmonians were beaten on land, the king would have had all the advantage of it, but if their naval power was destroyed, it would help to liberate the Greek cities from their dominion. The result proved the wisdom of their counsel. The Athenians placed their statues near to that of Jupiter the Deliverer.

1 See Thucydides, i. 90-93.

did Conon raise the walls more honourably than Themistocles. The one effected it secretly, the other by vanquishing the people who would have prevented it. Such a man therefore ought not to be wronged by you, or to come off worse than the orators, who are to show cause why any of his gifts should be taken away.

Well, but let us allow the son of Chabrias to be deprived of the immunity, which his father justly received from you and bequeathed to him. Why, I scarcely think any man in his senses would say this was proper. You know probably without my telling you, that Chabrias was a noble man: yet there is nothing to prevent my briefly mentioning his performances. In what manner he took the field with you against all the Peloponnesians at Thebes, and how he slew Gorgopas in Ægina, and how many trophies he raised in Cyprus, and afterwards in Egypt,3 and how, traversing as he did almost every place, he nowhere disgraced the name of the

1

1 More strictly he should have said, "near Thebes." The event occurred during the campaign of Agesilaus in Boeotia, B. c. 378, and is thus described by Thirlwall (History of Greece, v. 45): "The Athenian and Theban troops were advantageously posted on the range of hills two miles south of the city; yet Agesilaus thought himself strong enough to attack them. He first sent his targeteers against them, and when these were repulsed, advanced to the charge with his phalanx. Chabrias ordered his men to keep their ground, pointing their spears against the enemy, and resting their shields upon one knee; Gorgidas followed his example. The attitude was new, and indicated a spirit which might make the victory doubtful; and Agesilaus thought it prudent to sound a retreat. The manoeuvre acquired so much celebrity, that a statue was afterwards erected to Chabrias at Athens, in the attitude which he had devised; and it seems to have hastened the enemy's retreat from the Theban territory."

2 Gorgopas commanded a Lacedæmonian squadron stationed at Ægina, from which he infested the coasts of Attica, and assisted the Eginetans in their piratical excursions. Chabrias landing in the island surprised and slew him in an ambuscade, and by this means freed the Athenian commerce for a time from plunder. This happened B. c. 388, one year before the peace of Antalcidas. (See Xenophon, Hellen. v. c. 1, 8. 10-13.)

3 Chabrias was sent to assist Evagoras against the forces of the Persian monarchy, B.C. 390. This was the Cyprian war, which lasted ten years, and ended by the submission of Evagoras. In the year B. C. 377 Chabrias went to Egypt, to command the Greek mercenaries of Acoris, but was recalled by the Athenians. In B. c. 362, he was engaged by Tachos, king of Egypt, to command his fleet. See the Chronological Abstract in Vol. I. (Diodorus, xiv. 98; xv. 29, 92.)