Against Philon, On his Scrutiny

Nor indeed will you incur the enmity of any of the citizens if you reject him; for it is by no means one party, but both, that he has manifestly betrayed, so that he can claim friendship neither with those who were in the town (for he did not think fit to stand by them in their peril), nor with those who occupied the Peiraeus, since he did not consent to return even with them; and that, too, when he was, as he asserts, a townsman

But if there yet remains a party of the citizens that had a share in his proceedings, if ever—may Heaven forfend it!—they get the city into their hands, let him claim his seat on the Council with them. Well, that he lived at Oropus under the protection of a patron, that he possessed ample means, and yet stood to arms neither in the Peiraeus nor in the town, are my first contentions: to make sure of their truth, hear the witnesses.

WitnessesSo now it remains for him to state that owing to some infirmity that befell him he was incapacitated from assisting the party in the Peiraeus, but that he offered to spend his own resources either in contributing to the people’s funds or in arming some of his fellow-townsmen as infantry, after the example of many other citizens who were unable to give their loyal services in person.

Now, to preclude him from deceiving you with lies, I will give you clear information at once on these points also, since I shall not be at liberty afterwards to come forward in this place and expose him. Please call Diotimus of Acharnae[*](The principal township of Attica, 7 miles north of Athens.) and those who were appointed with him to arm the townsmen as infantry from the funds then contributed.

Testimony of Diotimus and those Appointed With HimSo this man had no intention of aiding the city in such a moment, in such a position of her affairs; his purpose was to make a profit out of your disasters. For he set out from Oropus, going sometimes alone and sometimes at the head of others who took your misfortunes as so much good fortune, and so traversed the countryside:

where he met with the most elderly citizens who had stayed behind in their townships with scanty supplies that barely sufficed them,—men who were attached to the democracy, but unable owing to their age to give it their support,—he stripped them of their resources, thinking it more important to make his own petty gains than to spare them injury. It is not possible for all these to prosecute him today, from the very same cause that disabled them from supporting the city: