Against Agoratus: In Pursuance of a Writ

So this was the character shown by that man, even when you were bringing him to destruction; and you, when you knew nothing against those persons, but had been seduced with the promise to you of a share in the government then being established if they should be destroyed, made your deposition and sent to their death a large number of good Athenians.

But I wish now, gentlemen of the jury, to represent to you the character of the men of whom Agoratus has bereft you. Had they been merely a few, one might mention them to you separately; but, as it is, I must cover them all in one brief account. Some had served you several times as generals, and then had handed on the city with added greatness to their successors in authority;

some had held other high offices, and had borne the expense of many naval equipments: never before had they met with any disgraceful censure from you. Some of them survived, by having got away in safety; though this man sent them to their death none the less, and they were condemned to die: but fortune and providence delivered them. They fled the city, instead of being arrested and awaiting their trial; they have returned from the exile of Phyle, and are honored by you as worthy men.

Such, you see, was the character of these men whom Agoratus either did to death or sent into exile from the city. And who, then, is he? You must know that he is a slave born and bred, so that you may know what manner of man it was that grossly maltreated you. For the defendant’s father was Eumares, and this Eumares was the property of Nicocles and Anticles. Come forward, please, witnesses.

Witnesses[*](§§ 67 and 68 are here placed before §§ 65 and 66, as suggested by some editors.)Now Agoratus, gentlemen, had three brothers. One of them, the eldest, was caught in Sicily making traitorous signals to the enemy, and by Lamachus’s order he was executed on the plank. The second abducted a slave from our city to Corinth, and was taken in the act of abducting a girl from a household there: he was cast into prison and put to death.

The third was arrested here by Phaenippides as a clothes stealer, and you tried him in your court: you condemned him to death, and consigned him to execution on the plank. The truth of my statements will, I think, be admitted even by this man himself, and we shall produce witnesses to support them.

WitnessesNow, to tell of all the other injuries and infamies, gentlemen, which have been the practice of this man and his brothers would be a lengthy task. As to his trade of slander in all the private suits that he brought, or in the various impeachments and depositions that he made, there is no need for me to speak in detail. To sum the whole, you all in the Assembly, and likewise in the law-court, convicted him of venal slander and made him pay a fine of ten thousand drachmae;

so that this point has been sufficiently attested by your whole body. Then again, he attempted, with a character like that, to debauch and defile free-born wives of our citizens, and was taken in adultery; and for that the penalty is death. Call witnesses to the truth of my words.

WitnessesThen is it not clearly a duty upon you all to convict this man? For if each of the brothers was thought deserving of death for a single offence, surely the man who, both publicly against the city and privately against each of you, has committed many offences, for each of which the penalty under our laws is death, must by all means be condemned to death by you.

He will say, gentlemen, attempting to deceive you, that in the time of the Four Hundred[*](411 B.C.; cf. Lys. 12.42.) he killed Phrynichus,[*](A prominent member of the Four Hundred; cf. Thuc. 8.92.) and in reward for this, he asserts, the people made him an Athenian citizen. But he lies, gentlemen. For neither did he kill Phrynichus, nor did the people make him an Athenian citizen.

It was Thrasybulus of Calydon and Apollodorus of Megara, gentlemen, who combined in a plot against Phrynichus: they lighted on him as he was out walking, and Thrasybulus struck Phrynichus, knocking him down with the blow; but Apollodorus did not touch him. Meanwhile an outcry arose, and they ran off and disappeared. But Agoratus here was neither invited to join them nor was present at the deed, nor does he know anything of the matter. The truth of my statement will be shown you by the decree itself.

Decree[*](These were decrees passed by the people in gratitude to the slayers of Phrynichus, who were granted full civic rights in the form That so-and-so be an Athenian.)That he did not kill Phrynichus is clear from the decree itself: for nowhere do we find that Agoratus be an Athenian, as in the case of Thrasybulus. If, however, he had killed Phrynichus, he ought to appear as having been made an Athenian in the inscription on the same tablet as Thrasybulus does; though some do contrive, by bribing the proposer, to have their own names added to the tablet as benefactors. The truth of my words will be proved by this decree.