Concerning the Team of Horses

After this he married my mother[*](Hipparet.); and I believe that in her he also won a glorious prize of valor. For her father was Hipponicus,[*](Son of Callias, noted for his wealth.) first in wealth of all the Greeks and second in birth to none of the citizens, most honored and admired of his contemporaries. The richest dowry and fairest reputation went with his daughter's hand; and although all coveted union with her, and only the greatest thought themselves worthy, it was my father whom Hipponicus chose from among them all and desired to make his son-in-law.

About the same time my father, seeing that the festival assembly at Olympia was beloved and admired by the whole world and that in it the Greeks made display of their wealth, strength of body, and training, and that not only the athletes were the objects of envy but that also the cities of the victors became renowned, and believing moreover that while the public services performed in Athens redound to the prestige, in the eyes of his fellow-citizens, of the person who renders them, expenditures in the Olympian Festival, however, enhance the city's reputation throughout all Greece,

reflecting upon these things, I say, although in natural gifts and in strength of body he was inferior to none, he disdained the gymnastic contests, for he knew that some of the athletes were of low birth, inhabitants of petty states, and of mean education, but turned to the breeding of race-horses, which is possible only for those most blest by Fortune and not to be pursued by one of low estate, and not only did he surpass his rivals, but also all who had ever before won the victory.

For he entered a larger number of teams in competition than even the mightiest cities had done, and they were of such excellence that he came out first, second, and third.[*](Cf. Thuc. 6.16.2 and Plut. Alc. 11, who give the same testimony; Alcibiades entered seven teams. Cf. Plutarch, Alcibiades: "His horse-breeding was famous, among other things, for the number of his racing-chariots. He was the only man, not excluding king, who ever entered at Olympia as many as seven. And his winning not only first place but second and fourth according to Thucydides—second and third according to Euripides—is the highest and most honorable distinction ever won in this field. Euripides' Ode contains the following passage: “‘But I will sing thy praises, son of Cleinias. A noble thing is victory, noblest of the noble to do what no Greek had ever done, be first and second and third in the chariot-race, and go unwearied yet, wreathed in the olive of Zeus, to make the herald cry you.’”—(Edmonds, Lyra Graeca ii. p. 241.)) Besides this, his generosity in the sacrifices and in the other expenses connected with the festival was so lavish and magnificent that the public funds of all the others[*](i.e., the *QEWROI/, representing the other states.) were clearly less than the private means of Alcibiades alone. And when he brought his mission to an end he had caused the successes of his predecessors to seem petty in comparison with his own and those who in his own day had been victors to be no longer objects of emulation, and to future breeders of racing-steeds he left behind no possibility of surpassing him.

With regard to my father's services here in Athens as choregus and gymnasiarch and trierarch[*](These public services (referred to in Isoc. 16.32) were the liturgies , discharged by the wealthier citizens, e.g., the choregia (expenses of the public choruses); the gymnasiarchia (defraying of expenses of training athletes for the contests); and the trierarchia (the cost of equipping a war-ship and keeping it in service for a year).) I am ashamed to speak; for so greatly did he excel in all the other public duties that, although those who have served the state in less splendid fashion sing their own praises therefor, if anyone should on my father's behalf ask for a vote of thanks even in recognition of services as great as his, he would seem to be talking about petty things.

As regards his behavior as a citizen—for neither should this be passed over in silence—just as he on his part did not neglect his civic duties, but on the contrary, to so great a degree had proved himself a more loyal friend of the people than those who had gained the highest repute, that while, as you will find, the others stirred up sedition for selfish advantage, he was incurring danger on your behalf. For his devotion to the democracy was not that of one who was excluded from the oligarchy, but of one who was invited to join it: indeed, time and again when it was in his power as one of a small group, not only to rule the rest, but even to dominate them, he refused, choosing rather to suffer the city's unjust penalties rather than to be traitor to our form of government.

Of the truth of these statements no one would have convinced you as long as you still continued to be governed as a democracy; but as it was, the civil conflicts which arose clearly showed who were the democrats and who the oligarchs, as well as those who desired neither rgime, and those who laid claim to a share in both. In these uprisings your enemies twice exiled my father: on the first occasion, no sooner had they got him out of the way than they abolished the democracy; on the second, hardly had they reduced you to servitude than they condemned him to exile before any other citizen;

so exactly did my father's misfortunes affect the city and he share in her disasters. And yet many of the citizens were ill disposed toward him in the belief that he was plotting a tyranny; they held this opinion, not on the basis of his deeds, but in the thought that all men aspire to this power and that he would have the best chance of attaining it. Wherefore you would justly feel the greater gratitude to him because, while he alone of the citizens was powerful enough to have this charge[*](i.e., of plotting to become a tyrant.) brought against him, he was of opinion that as regards political power he should be on an equality with his fellow-citizens.

Because of the multitude of things that might be said on my father's behalf I am at a loss which of them it is appropriate to mention on the present occasion and which should be omitted. For always the plea that has not yet been spoken seems to me of greater importance than the arguments which have already been presented to you. And I believe that it is obvious to everyone that he must needs be most devoted to the welfare of the city who has the greatest share in her evil fortunes as well as in her good.

Well then, when Athens was prosperous, who of the citizens was more prosperous, more admired, or more envied than my father? And when she suffered ill-fortune, who was deprived of brighter hopes, or of greater wealth, or of fairer repute? Finally, when the Thirty Tyrants established their rule, while the others merely suffered exile from Athens, was he not banished from all Greece? Did not the Lacedaemonians and Lysander[*](Spartan general, victorious over the Athenians at Aegospotami (405 B.C.)) exert themselves as much to cause his death as to bring about the downfall of your dominion, in the belief that they could not be sure of the city's loyalty if they demolished her walls[*](The Long Walls, uniting Athens and its harbor Piraeus, were destroyed in 404 B.C. (Xenophon, Hall. ii. 2. 20) and were rebuilt by Conon in 394 B.C.) unless they should also destroy the man who could rebuild them?