§53ἐλθόντων γὰρ Ἀργείων ὡς τοὺς προγόνους ὑμῶν καὶ δεηθέντων ἀνελέσθαι τοὺς ὑπὸ τῇ Καδμείᾳ τελευτήσαντας, πεισθέντες ὑπʼ ἐκείνων καὶ Θηβαίους ἀναγκάσαντες βουλεύσασθαι νομιμώτερον οὐ μόνον αὐτοὶ κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς καιροὺς εὐδοκίμησαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ πόλει δόξαν ἀείμνηστον εἰς ἅπαντα τὸν χρόνον κατέλιπον, ἧς οὐκ ἄξιον προδότας γενέσθαι.
For when the Argives came to your ancestors and petitioned them to recover those who had died under the walls of the Cadmea, your ancestors, being persuaded by them and forcing the Thebans to make a more lawful decision, not only won high repute for themselves in those times, but also left behind an everlasting glory for the city for all time, to which glory it is not fitting for you to become traitors.
καὶ γὰρ αἰσχρὸν φιλοτιμεῖσθαι μὲν ἐπὶ τοῖς τῶν προγόνων ἔργοις, φαίνεσθαι δʼ ἐκείνοις τἀναντία περὶ τῶν ἱκετῶν πράττοντας.
Indeed, it is shameful to pride yourselves on the deeds of your ancestors while being seen to act in the opposite way to them regarding suppliants.
§54καίτοι πολὺ περὶ μειζόνων καὶ δικαιοτέρων ἥκομεν ποιησόμενοι τὰς δεήσεις·
And yet we have come to make petitions concerning much greater and more just matters.
οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ τὴν ἀλλοτρίαν στρατεύσαντες ἱκέτευον ὑμᾶς, ἡμεῖς δὲ τὴν ἡμετέραν αὐτῶν ἀπολωλεκότες, κἀκεῖνοι μὲν παρεκάλουν ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν νεκρῶν ἀναίρεσιν, ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν λοιπῶν σωτηρίαν.
For those men petitioned you after having invaded foreign territory, while we have lost our own; and they called upon you for the recovery of the dead, while we call upon you for the safety of the living.
§55ἔστι δʼ οὐκ ἴσον κακὸν οὐδʼ ὅμοιον τοὺς τεθνεῶτας ταφῆς εἴργεσθαι καὶ τοὺς ζῶντας πατρίδος ἀποστερεῖσθαι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀγαθῶν ἁπάντων, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν δεινότερον τοῖς κωλύουσιν ἢ τοῖς ἀτυχοῦσι, τὸ δὲ μηδεμίαν ἔχοντα καταφυγὴν ἀλλʼ ἄπολιν γενόμενον καθʼ ἑκάστην τὴν ἡμέραν κακοπαθεῖν καὶ τοὺς αὑτοῦ περιορᾶν μὴ δυνάμενον ἐπαρκεῖν, τί δεῖ λέγειν ὅσον τὰς ἄλλας συμφορὰς ὑπερβέβληκεν;
And it is not an equal or similar evil for the dead to be deprived of burial and for the living to be robbed of their fatherland and of all other goods; rather, while the former is more terrible for those who prevent it than for those who suffer the misfortune, as for the latter—to suffer hardship every single day having no refuge but being cityless, and not being able to protect or help one's own family, what need is there to say how much this surpasses all other misfortunes?
§56ὑπὲρ ὧν ἅπαντας ὑμᾶς ἱκετεύομεν ἀποδοῦναι τὴν χώραν ἡμῖν καὶ τὴν πόλιν, τοὺς μὲν πρεσβυτέρους ὑπομιμνῄσκοντες, ὡς οἰκτρὸν τοὺς τηλικούτους ὁρᾶσθαι δυστυχοῦντας καὶ τῶν καθʼ ἡμέραν ἀποροῦντας, τοὺς δὲ νεωτέρους ἀντιβολοῦντες καὶ δεόμενοι βοηθῆσαι τοῖς ἡλικιώταις καὶ μὴ περιιδεῖν ἔτι πλείω κακὰ τῶν εἰρημένων παθόντας.
For these reasons, we petition all of you to restore our land and city to us, reminding the elders how pitiable it is to see men of their age in misfortune and lacking daily necessities, and imploring and begging the younger men to help their contemporaries and not to allow them to suffer still greater evils than those already mentioned.
§57ὀφείλετε δὲ μόνοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων τοῦτον τὸν ἔρανον, ἀναστάτοις ἡμῖν γεγενημένοις ἐπαμῦναι.
And you alone of the Greeks owe this contribution to us who have been ruined, to defend us.
καὶ γὰρ τοὺς ἡμετέρους προγόνους φασὶν ἐκλιπόντων τῶν ὑμετέρων πατέρων ἐν τῷ Περσικῷ πολέμῳ ταύτην τὴν χώραν μόνους τῶν ἔξω Πελοποννήσου κοινωνοὺς ἐκείνοις τῶν κινδύνων γενομένους συνανασῶσαι τὴν πόλιν αὐτοῖς· ὥστε δικαίως ἂν τὴν αὐτὴν εὐεργεσίαν ἀπολάβοιμεν ἥνπερ αὐτοὶ τυγχάνομεν εἰς ὑμᾶς ὑπάρξαντες.
For they say that when your fathers abandoned this land during the Persian War, our ancestors, alone of those outside the Peloponnese, shared the dangers with them and helped save the city for them; so that we should justly receive back the very same benefit that we ourselves happened to have initiated towards you.
§58εἰ δʼ οὖν καὶ μηδὲν ὑμῖν τῶν σωμάτων τῶν ἡμετέρων δέδοκται φροντίζειν, ἀλλὰ τήν γε χώραν οὐ πρὸς ὑμῶν ἐστὶν ἀνέχεσθαι πεπορθημένην, ἐν ᾗ μέγιστα σημεῖα τῆς ἀρετῆς τῆς ὑμετέρας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν συναγωνισαμένων καταλείπεται·
But even if you have resolved to take no thought for our persons, it is at least not worthy of you to tolerate that land being ravaged in which the greatest monuments of your virtue and that of the others who fought together are left behind.
§59τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλα τρόπαια πόλει πρὸς πόλιν γέγονεν, ἐκεῖνα δʼ ὑπὲρ ἁπάσης τῆς Ἑλλάδος πρὸς ὅλην τὴν ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίας δύναμιν ἕστηκεν.
For while other trophies have been established by city against city, those stand for the whole of Greece against the entire power from Asia.
ἃ Θηβαῖοι μὲν εἰκότως ἀφανίζουσι, τὰ γὰρ μνημεῖα τῶν τότε γενομένων αἰσχύνη τούτοις ἐστίν, ὑμῖν δὲ προσήκει διασῴζειν· ἐξ ἐκείνων γὰρ τῶν ἔργων ἡγεμόνες κατέστητε τῶν Ἑλλήνων.
These the Thebans naturally try to erase, for the monuments of those events are a shame to them, but it is proper for you to preserve them; for from those deeds you became leaders of the Greeks.
§60ἄξιον δὲ καὶ τῶν θεῶν καὶ τῶν ἡρώων μνησθῆναι τῶν ἐκεῖνον τὸν τόπον κατεχόντων καὶ μὴ περιορᾶν τὰς τιμὰς αὐτῶν καταλυομένας, οἷς ὑμεῖς καλλιερησάμενοι τοιοῦτον ὑπέστητε κίνδυνον, ὃς καὶ τούτους καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἅπαντας Ἕλληνας ἠλευθέρωσεν.
It is also worthy to remember the gods and heroes who hold that place, and not to overlook their honors being dissolved, to whom you, having obtained favorable omens, undertook such a danger as liberated both them and all the other Greeks.
χρὴ δὲ καὶ τῶν προγόνων ποιήσασθαί τινα πρόνοιαν καὶ μὴ παραμελῆσαι μηδὲ τῆς περὶ ἐκείνους εὐσεβείας, §61οἳ πῶς ἂν διατεθεῖεν, εἴ τις ἄρα τοῖς ἐκεῖ φρόνησίς ἐστι περὶ τῶν ἐνθάδε γιγνομένων, εἰ κυρίων ὑμῶν ὄντων αἴσθοιντο τοὺς μὲν δουλεύειν τοῖς βαρβάροις ἀξιώσαντας δεσπότας τῶν ἄλλων καθισταμένους, ἡμᾶς δὲ τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐλευθερίας συναγωνισαμένους μόνους τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀναστάτους γεγενημένους, καὶ τοὺς μὲν τῶν συγκινδυνευσάντων τάφους μὴ τυγχάνοντας τῶν νομιζομένων σπάνει τῶν ἐποισόντων, Θηβαίους δὲ τοὺς τἀναντία παραταξαμένους κρατοῦντας τῆς χώρας ἐκείνης;
And it is also necessary to take some care for our ancestors and not to neglect piety towards them, who, how would they feel, if indeed there is any awareness among those there of what happens here, if they should perceive that while you are in power, those who chose to serve the barbarians are established as masters of the others, while we, who fought alongside you for freedom, are the only Greeks who have been ruined, and the graves of those who shared the danger fail to receive the customary rites for want of those who should bring them, while the Thebans, who marshaled themselves on the opposite side, rule over that land?
§62ἐνθυμεῖσθε δʼ ὅτι Λακεδαιμονίων μεγίστην ἐποιεῖσθε κατηγορίαν, ὅτι Θηβαίοις χαριζόμενοι τοῖς τῶν Ἑλλήνων προδόταις ἡμᾶς τοὺς εὐεργέτας διέφθειραν.
Remember that you used to make the greatest accusation against the Lacedaemonians, that they, to gratify the Thebans, the traitors to the Greeks, destroyed us, your benefactors.
μὴ τοίνυν ἐάσητε ταύτας τὰς βλασφημίας περὶ τὴν ὑμετέραν γενέσθαι πόλιν, μηδὲ τὴν ὕβριν τὴν τούτων ἀντὶ τῆς παρούσης ἕλησθε δόξης.
Do not, then, allow these slanders to fall upon your city, nor choose the insolence of these men in place of your present glory.
§63πολλῶν δʼ ἐνόντων εἰπεῖν ἐξ ὧν ἄν τις ὑμᾶς ἐπαγάγοι μᾶλλον φροντίσαι τῆς ἡμετέρας σωτηρίας οὐ δύναμαι πάντα περιλαβεῖν, ἀλλʼ αὐτοὺς χρὴ καὶ τὰ παραλελειμμένα συνιδόντας καὶ μνησθέντας μάλιστα μὲν τῶν ὅρκων καὶ τῶν συνθηκῶν, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ τῆς ἡμετέρας εὐνοίας καὶ τῆς τούτων ἔχθρας, ψηφίσασθαί τι περὶ ἡμῶν δίκαιον.
Although there are many things to say from which one might induce you to take more thought for our preservation, I cannot encompass everything; but you yourselves, considering also what has been omitted and remembering above all the oaths and treaties, and furthermore our goodwill and the hostility of these men, must vote what is just concerning us.