Against Agoratus: In Pursuance of a Writ

the Thirty were seated on the benches which are now the seats of the presiding magistrates; two tables were set before the Thirty, and the vote had to be deposited, not in urns, but openly on these tables,—the condemning vote on the further one[*](i.e., nearest to the Thirty. The text here has a short gap.)—so what possible chance of escape had any of them?

In a word, all those who had entered that Council chamber for their trial were condemned to death: not one was acquitted, except this man Agoratus; him they let off, as being a benefactor. And in order that you may know of the large number done to death by this man, I propose to read you their names.

NamesNow, when sentence of death, gentlemen, had been passed on them, and they had to die, each of them sent for his sister, or his mother, or his wife, or any female relative that he had, to see them in the prison, in order that they might take the last farewell of their people before they should end their days.

In particular, Dionysodorus sent for my sister—she was his wife—to see him in the prison. On receiving the message she came, dressed in a black cloak[*](Some words describing another sign of mourning seem to be missing here. . . .)

as was natural in view of the sad fate that had befallen her husband. In the presence of my sister, Dionysodorus, after disposing of his personal property as he thought fit, referred to this man Agoratus as responsible for his death, and charged me and Dionysius his brother here,

and all his friends to execute his vengeance upon Agoratus; and he charged his wife, believing her to be with child by him, that if she should bear a son she should tell the child that Agoratus had taken his father’s life, and should bid him execute his father’s vengeance on the man for his murder. To show the truth of what I state, I will produce witnesses to these facts.

WitnessesSo then these persons, men of Athens, lost their lives through the depositions of Agoratus. But after the Thirty had cleared them out of their way, you know well enough, I imagine, what a multitude of miseries next befell the city; and for all of them this man, by taking those people’s lives, was responsible.

It gives me pain, indeed, to recall the calamities that have befallen the city, but it is a necessity, gentlemen of the jury, at the present moment, so that you may know how richly Agoratus deserves your pity! For you know the character and number of the citizens who were brought away from Salamis,[*](Cf. Lys. 12.52.) and the way in which they were destroyed by the Thirty. You know what a great number of the people of Eleusis shared that calamity.

You remember also our people here who were haled to prison on account of private enmities; and who, having done no harm to the city, were compelled to perish by the most shameful, the most infamous, of deaths. Some left elderly parents behind them, who were expecting to be supported in their old age by their own children and, when they should end their days, to be laid by them in the grave; others left sisters unwedded, and others little children who still required much tendance.

What sort of feelings, gentlemen, do you think are theirs towards this man, or what kind of vote would they give, if it rested with them, when by his act they have been deprived of their best comforts? You recollect, again, how the walls were demolished, the ships surrendered to the enemy, the arsenals destroyed, our Acropolis occupied by the Lacedaemonians, and the whole strength of the city crippled, so that our city was sunk to a level with the smallest in the world!

And besides all this, you lost your private possessions and finally, at one swoop, you were all expelled by the Thirty from your native land. Impressed with these perils, those loyal citizens, gentlemen, refused their assent to the conditions of peace,

and you, Agoratus, because they sought to do the State some service, brought about their death by laying information that they were intriguing against our democracy; and you are responsible for all the troubles that have befallen the city. So now let each of you remember the misfortunes caused both to individuals and to the common weal of the city, and take vengeance on their author.