§58ἐγὼ δʼ εἰ μὲν περὶ πραγμάτων ἀγνοουμένων καὶ μὴ κοινῶν τοὺς λόγους ἐποιούμην, καὶ περὶ τούτων ἐκέλευον ὑμᾶς ἑλέσθαι συνέδρους ἢ συγγραφέας, διʼ ὧν ὁ δῆμος κατελύθη τὸ πρότερον, εἰκότως ἂν εἶχον ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν· νῦν δʼ οὐδὲν εἴρηκα τοιοῦτον, ἀλλὰ διείλεγμαι περὶ διοικήσεως οὐκ ἀποκεκρυμμένης ἀλλὰ πᾶσι φανερᾶς, §59ἣν πάντες ἴστε καὶ πατρίαν ἡμῖν οὖσαν καὶ πλείστων ἀγαθῶν καὶ τῇ πόλει καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις Ἕλλησιν αἰτίαν γεγενημένην, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ὑπὸ τοιούτων ἀνδρῶν νομοθετηθεῖσαν καὶ κατασταθεῖσαν, οὓς οὐδεὶς ὅστις οὐκ ἂν ὁμολογήσειε δημοτικωτάτους γεγενῆσθαι τῶν πολιτῶν.
But if I were making speeches about unknown and not public matters, and were urging you to choose commissioners or draftsmen for these, through whom the democracy was previously overthrown, I would reasonably bear this accusation; but now I have said nothing of the kind, but I have been discussing an administration that is not hidden but manifest to all, which you all know is both ancestral to us and has been the cause of the greatest blessings both to our city and to the other Greeks, and moreover, was legislated and established by such men as everyone would agree were the most democratic of the citizens.
ὥστε πάντων ἄν μοι συμβαίη δεινότατον, εἰ τοιαύτην πολιτείαν εἰσηγούμενος νεωτέρων δόξαιμι πραγμάτων ἐπιθυμεῖν.
Consequently, the most outrageous thing of all would happen to me, if, in introducing such a constitution, I should seem to desire a revolution.
§60ἔπειτα κἀκεῖθεν ῥᾴδιον γνῶναι τὴν ἐμὴν διάνοιαν· ἐν γὰρ τοῖς πλείστοις τῶν λόγων τῶν εἰρημένων ὑπʼ ἐμοῦ φανήσομαι ταῖς μὲν ὀλιγαρχίαις καὶ ταῖς πλεονεξίαις ἐπιτιμῶν, τὰς δʼ ἰσότητας καὶ τὰς δημοκρατίας ἐπαινῶν, οὐ πάσας, ἀλλὰ τὰς καλῶς καθεστηκυίας, οὐδʼ ὡς ἔτυχον, ἀλλὰ δικαίως καὶ λόγον ἐχόντως.
Furthermore, from this too it is easy to understand my purpose: for in the majority of the speeches delivered by me, I will be found finding fault with oligarchies and greeds, but praising equalities and democracies—not all of them, but those that are well established, nor at random, but justly and with reason.
§61οἶδα γὰρ τούς τε προγόνους τοὺς ἡμετέρους ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ καταστάσει πολὺ τῶν ἄλλων διενεγκόντας, καὶ Λακεδαιμονίους διὰ τοῦτο κάλλιστα πολιτευομένους, ὅτι μάλιστα δημοκρατούμενοι τυγχάνουσιν.
For I know both that our ancestors in this constitution far excelled the others, and that the Lacedaemonians are governed most excellently for this reason, that they happen to be the most democratic.
ἐν γὰρ τῇ τῶν ἀρχῶν αἱρέσει καὶ τῷ βίῳ τῷ καθʼ ἡμέραν καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐπιτηδεύμασιν ἴδοιμεν ἂν παρʼ αὐτοῖς τὰς ἰσότητας καὶ τὰς ὁμοιότητας μᾶλλον ἢ παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἰσχυούσας· οἷς αἱ μὲν ὀλιγαρχίαι πολεμοῦσιν, οἱ δὲ καλῶς δημοκρατούμενοι χρώμενοι διατελοῦσιν.
For in the choice of offices, in their daily life, and in their other customs, we can see that equalities and likenesses prevail among them more than among others; with these things oligarchies are at war, but those who are well-governed under a democracy continue to employ them.
§62τῶν τοίνυν ἄλλων πόλεων ταῖς ἐπιφανεστάταις καὶ μεγίσταις, ἢν ἐξετάζειν βουληθῶμεν, εὑρήσομεν τὰς δημοκρατίας μᾶλλον ἢ τὰς ὀλιγαρχίας συμφερούσας· ἐπεὶ καὶ τὴν ἡμετέραν πολιτείαν, ᾗ πάντες ἐπιτιμῶσιν, ἢν παραβάλωμεν αὐτὴν μὴ πρὸς τὴν ὑπʼ ἐμοῦ ῥηθεῖσαν ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν ὑπὸ τῶν τριάκοντα καταστᾶσαν, οὐδεὶς ὅστις οὐκ ἂν θεοποίητον εἶναι νομίσειεν.
Furthermore, if we wish to examine the most illustrious and greatest of the other cities, we shall find that democracies rather than oligarchies are advantageous; since even our own constitution, which everyone finds fault with, if we compare it not to the one described by me, but to the one established by the Thirty, there is no one who would not regard it as god-sent.
§63βούλομαι δʼ, εἰ καί τινές με φήσουσιν ἔξω τῆς ὑποθέσεως λέγειν, δηλῶσαι καὶ διελθεῖν ὅσον αὕτη τῆς τότε διήνεγκεν, ἵνα μηδεὶς οἴηταί με τὰ μὲν ἁμαρτήματα τοῦ δήμου λίαν ἀκριβῶς ἐξετάζειν, εἰ δέ τι καλὸν ἢ σεμνὸν διαπέπρακται, ταῦτα δὲ παραλείπειν.
And I wish, even if some will say that I am speaking outside the subject, to show and go through how much this constitution differed from that of that time, so that no one may think that I examine the errors of the people too precisely, but if any good or noble deed has been accomplished, I omit these things.
ἔσται δʼ ὁ λόγος οὔτε μακρὸς οὔτʼ ἀνωφελὴς τοῖς ἀκούουσιν.
And the account will be neither long nor unprofitable to those who listen.
§64ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὰς ναῦς τὰς περὶ Ἑλλήσποντον ἀπωλέσαμεν καὶ ταῖς συμφοραῖς ἐκείναις ἡ πόλις περιέπεσε, τίς οὐκ οἶδε τῶν πρεσβυτέρων τοὺς μὲν δημοτικοὺς καλουμένους ἑτοίμους ὄντας ὁτιοῦν πάσχειν ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ ποιεῖν τὸ προσταττόμενον, καὶ δεινὸν ἡγουμένους εἴ τις ὄψεται τὴν πόλιν τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἄρξασαν, ταύτην ὑφʼ ἑτέροις οὖσαν, τοὺς δὲ τῆς ὀλιγαρχίας ἐπιθυμήσαντας ἑτοίμως καὶ τὰ τείχη καθαιροῦντας καὶ τὴν δουλείαν ὑπομένοντας;
For when we lost our ships around the Hellespont and the city fell into those misfortunes, who among the older men does not know that those called the democratic party were ready to suffer anything in order not to do what was commanded, and thought it a terrible thing if anyone should see the city which had ruled the Greeks subjected to others, while those who desired oligarchy were ready both to demolish the walls and to submit to slavery?
§65καὶ τότε μέν, ὅτε τὸ πλῆθος ἦν κύριον τῶν πραγμάτων, ἡμᾶς τὰς τῶν ἄλλων ἀκροπόλεις φρουροῦντας, ἐπειδὴ δʼ οἱ τριάκοντα παρέλαβον τὴν πολιτείαν, τοὺς πολεμίους τὴν ἡμετέραν ἔχοντας;
And that at that time, when the multitude was in control of affairs, we garrisoned the acropolises of others, but when the Thirty took over the government, the enemies held ours?
καὶ κατὰ μὲν ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον δεσπότας ἡμῶν ὄντας Λακεδαιμονίους, ἐπειδὴ δʼ οἱ φεύγοντες κατελθόντες πολεμεῖν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἐτόλμησαν καὶ Κόνων ναυμαχῶν ἐνίκησε, πρέσβεις ἐλθόντας παρʼ αὐτῶν καὶ διδόντας τῇ πόλει τὴν ἀρχὴν τὴν τῆς θαλάττης;
And that during that time the Lacedaemonians were our masters, but when the exiles returned and dared to fight for freedom, and Conon won the sea-battle, ambassadors came from them and offered to the city the rule of the sea?
§66καὶ μὲν δὴ καὶ τάδε τίς οὐ μνημονεύει τῶν ἡλικιωτῶν τῶν ἐμῶν, τὴν μὲν δημοκρατίαν οὕτω κοσμήσασαν τὴν πόλιν καὶ τοῖς ἱεροῖς καὶ τοῖς ὁσίοις, ὥστʼ ἔτι καὶ νῦν τοὺς ἀφικνουμένους νομίζειν αὐτὴν ἀξίαν εἶναι μὴ μόνον τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἄρχειν ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων, τοὺς δὲ τριάκοντα τῶν μὲν ἀμελήσαντας, τὰ δὲ συλήσαντας, τοὺς δὲ νεωσοίκους ἐπὶ καθαιρέσει τριῶν ταλάντων ἀποδομένους, εἰς οὓς ἡ πόλις ἀνήλωσεν οὐκ ἐλάττω χιλίων ταλάντων;
Furthermore indeed, who among my contemporaries does not remember this also, that the democracy so adorned the city with both temples and public monuments that even now those who arrive think it worthy to rule not only the Greeks but also all others, whereas the Thirty neglected some, plundered others, and sold the dockyards for demolition for three talents, upon which the city had spent no less than a thousand talents?