Hellenica

Now the people at home deposed the above-mentioned generals, with the exception of Conon; and as his colleagues they chose two men, Adeimantus and Philocles. As for those generals who had taken part in the battle, two of them—Protomachus and Aristogenes—did not return to Athens, but when the other six came home—

Pericles, Diomedon, Lysias, Aristocrates, Thrasyllus, and Erasinides,—Archedemus, who was at that time a leader of the popular party at Athens and had charge of the two-obol fund,[*](For the relief of poverty and distress caused by the war, not to be confounded with the theoric fund; see Wilamowitz, Aristoteles und Athen, Vol. II. pp. 212 ff.) brought accusation against Erasinides before a court and urged that a fine be imposed upon him, claiming that he had in his possession money from the Hellespont which belonged to the people; he accused him, further, of misconduct as general. And the court decreed that Erasinides should be imprisoned.

After this the generals made a statement before the Senate in regard to the battle and the violence of the storm; and upon motion of[*](406 B.C.) Timocrates, that the others also should be imprisoned and turned over to the Assembly for trial, the Senate imprisoned them.

After this a meeting of the Assembly was called, at which a number of people, and particularly Theramenes, spoke against the generals, saying that they ought to render an account of their conduct in not picking up the shipwrecked. For as proof that the generals fastened the responsibility upon no person apart from themselves, Theramenes showed a letter which they had sent to the Senate and to the Assembly, in which they put the blame upon nothing but the storm.

After this the several generals spoke in their own defence (though briefly, for they were not granted the hearing prescribed by the law) and stated what they had done, saying that they themselves undertook to sail against the enemy and that they assigned the duty of recovering the shipwrecked to certain of the captains who were competent men and had been generals in the past,—Theramenes, Thrasybulus, and others of that sort;

and if they had to blame any, they could blame no one else in the matter of the recovery except these men, to whom the duty was assigned. And we shall not, they added, just because they accuse us, falsely say that they were to blame, but rather that it was the violence of the storm which prevented the recovery.

They offered as witnesses to the truth of these statements the pilots and many others among their ship-companions. With such arguments they were on the point of persuading the Assembly, and many of the citizens rose and wanted to give bail for them; it was decided, however, that the matter should be postponed to another meeting of the Assembly (for[*](406 B.C.) by that time it was late in the day and they could not have distinguished the hands in the voting), and that the Senate should draft and bring in a proposal[*](Athenian procedure required in general that a matter should first be considered by the Senate, whose προβούλευμα, or preliminary resolution, was then referred to the Assembly for final action.) regarding the manner in which the men should be tried.

After this the Apaturia[*](A family festival, at which the members of each Athenian clan gathered together.) was celebrated, at which fathers and kinsmen meet together. Accordingly Theramenes and his supporters arranged at this festival with a large number of people, who were clad in mourning garments and had their hair close shaven, to attend the meeting of the Assembly, pretending that they were kinsmen of those who had perished, and they bribed Callixeinus to accuse the generals in the Senate.

Then they called an Assembly, at which the Senate brought in its proposal, which Callixeinus had drafted in the following terms: Resolved, that since the Athenians have heard in the previous meeting of the Assembly both the accusers who brought charges against the generals and the generals speaking in their own defence, they do now one and all cast their votes by tribes; and that two urns be set at the voting-place of each tribe; and that in each tribe a herald proclaim that whoever adjudges the generals guilty, for not picking up the men who won the victory in the naval battle, shall cast his vote in the first urn, and whoever adjudges them not guilty, shall cast his vote in the second;

and if they be adjudged guilty, that they be punished with death and handed over to the Eleven,[*](A Board which had charge of condemned prisoners and of the execution of the death sentence.) and that their property be confiscated and the tenth thereof belong to the goddess.[*](Athena, the state deity, into whose treasury a tenth part of the revenue derived from confiscations was regularly paid.)

And there came before the[*](406 B.C.) Assembly a man who said that he had been saved by floating upon a meal-tub, and that those who were perishing charged him to report to the people, if he were saved, that the generals did not pick up the men who had proved themselves most brave in the service of their country.

Now Euryptolemus, the son of Peisianax, and some others served a summons upon Callixeinus, alleging that he had made an unconstitutional proposal. And some of the people applauded this act, but the greater number cried out that it was monstrous if the people were to be prevented from doing whatever they wished.

Indeed, when Lyciscus thereupon moved that these men also should be judged by the very same vote as the generals, unless they withdrew the summons, the mob broke out again with shouts of approval, and they were compelled to withdraw the summonses.

Furthermore, when some of the Prytanes[*](An executive committee of the Senate, who presided over the meetings of both Senate and Assembly.) refused to put the question to the vote in violation of the law, Callixeinus again mounted the platform[*](i.e. the βῆμα.) and urged the same charge against them; and the crowd cried out to summon to court those who refused.

Then the Prytanes, stricken with fear, agreed to put the question,—all of them except Socrates,[*](On Socrates’ conduct at this time cp. Plato, Apol. 32B and Xen. Mem. I. i. 18.) the son of Sophroniscus; and he said that in no case would he act except in accordance with the law.

After this Euryptolemus mounted the platform and spoke as follows in defence of the generals:I have come to the platform, men of Athens, partly to accuse Pericles, though he is my kinsman and intimate, and Diomedon, who is my friend, partly[*](406 B.C.) to speak in their defence, and partly to advise the measures which seem to me to be best for the state as a whole.

I accuse them, because they persuaded their colleagues to change their purpose when they wanted to send a letter to the Senate and to you, in which they stated that they assigned to Theramenes and Thrasybulus, with forty-seven triremes, the duty of picking up the shipwrecked, and that they failed to perform this duty.

Such being the case, are these generals to share the blame now with Theramenes and Thrasybulus, although it was those alone who blundered, and are they now, in return for the humanity they showed then, to be put in hazard of their lives through the machinations of those men and certain others?

No! at least not if you take my advice and follow the just and righteous course, the course which will best enable you to learn the truth and to avoid finding out hereafter, to your sorrow, that it is you yourselves who have sinned most grievously, not only against the gods, but against yourselves. The advice I give you is such that, it you follow it, you cannot be deceived either by me or by anyone else, and that with full knowledge you will punish the guilty with whatever punishment you may desire, either all of them together or each one separately, namely, by first granting them at least one day, if not more, to speak in their own defence, and by putting your trust, not so much in others, but in yourselves.

Now you all know, men of Athens, that the decree of Cannonus is exceedingly severe: it provides that if anyone shall wrong the people of Athens, he shall plead his case in fetters before the people, and if he be adjudged guilty, he shall be put to death by being cast into[*](406 B.C.) the pit, and his property shall be confiscated and the tenth part thereof shall belong to the goddess.