And sometimes they pretend to despise him,Cf. Lys. 14.35-38. saying that in no respect did he excel his contemporaries; yet at the present time they blame him for all that has happened and say that the Lacedaemonians have learned from him the art of war—they who can teach the rest of the world this accomplishment! As for me, if I had sufficient time, I could easily prove that some of those things he did justly, but that others are unjustly imputed to him. Yet the most shocking thing that could happen would be this—if, while after his exile my father was recompensed, I, because he was exiled, should be penalized.

I think, however, that in justice he should obtain from you a full pardon; for you, when banished by the Thirty Tyrants,After the capture of Athens by the Spartans in 404 B.C. an oligarchy known as the Thirty Tyrants was established. The cruelty of their government caused many of the democratic party to go into exile. Led by Thrasybulus these exiles were restored when the Thirty were overthrown in 403 B.C. experienced the same misfortunes as he. Wherefore you should reflect how each of you was affected, what thoughts you each had, and what peril each would not have undergone so as to bring his own banishment to an end and to return to his native land, and to be avenged on those who banished him.

To what city, or friend, or stranger did you not apply, to entreat them to help you to get back to your country? From what effort did you abstain in your endeavors to be restored? Did you not seize the Piraeus and destroy the crops in the fields and harry the land and set fire to the suburbs and finally assault the walls?

And so vehemently did you believe that these actions were justifiable that you were more indignant with those of your fellow-exiles who were inactive than with those who had been the authors of your misfortunes. It is not fair, therefore, to censure those who wanted the same things which you desired, nor yet to regard all those men as base who, when they were exiles, sought to return, but much more should you condemn those oligarchs who, remaining in Athens, did deeds which deserved the penalty of exile; nor is it fair that you, in judging what sort of citizen my father was, should begin at the time when he had no art in the city's affairs;

on the contrary, you should look to that earlier time and observe how he served the people before his exile, and call to mind that with two hundred heavy-armed soldiers he caused the most powerful cities in the Peloponnesus to revolt from the Lacedaemonians,419 B.C. Cf. Thuc. 5.52.2. and brought them into alliance with you, and in what perils he involved the Lacedaemonians themselves, and how he behaved as general in Sicily. For these services he is deserving of your gratitude; but for that which happened when he was in misfortune it is those who banished him whom you would justly hold responsible.

Remember, too, I beg you, the many benefits he conferred upon the city after his return from exile, and, even before that time, the state of affairs here when you received him back: the democracy had been overthrown,By the Revolution of the Four Hundred. the citizens were in a state of civil war, the army was disaffected toward the government established here, and both parties had reached such a state of madness that neither had any hope of salvation.

For the one partythe Athenian army and fleet, sympathetic the the democracy, were at the island of Samos (Thuc. 8.82 and Thuc. 8.86). regarded those who were in possession of the city as greater enemies than the LacedaemoniansThe oligarchs in Athens. and the other were making overtures to the Spartan forces in Decelea, judging that it was preferable to hand over their country to its enemies rather than to give a share in the rights of citizenship to those who were fighting for the city.

Such was the state of mind of the citizens: the enemy was in control of land and sea; your financial resources were exhausted, while the Persian king was supplying them with funds; furthermore, ninety ships had come from PhoeniciaThe Persian king depended largely upon Phoenicia for ships of war. to AspendusAspendus, a town in Asia Minor, in Pamphylia, was situated on the river Eurymedon. and were prepared to aid the Lacedaemonians. By so many misfortunes and such perils was the city beset

when the army summoned my father, and he did not treat them with disdain in their plight, nor did he rebuke them for the past, nor did he deliberate about the future; on the contrary, he chose at once to suffer any misfortune with his country rather than to enjoy prosperity with the Lacedaemonians, and he made it manifest to all that he was warring on those who had banished him and not on you, and that his heart was set on a return to Athens and not on her ruin.

Having thrown in his lot with you, he persuaded TissaphernesPersian satrap of western Asia Minor from 414 B.C. not to furnish the Lacedaemonians with money, checked the defection of your allies, distributed pay from his own resources to the soldiers, restored political power to the people, reconciled the citizens, and turned back the Phoenician fleet.