§448μεθʼ ὑμῶν, ὦ Ἀθηναῖοι, σκεψόμενος παρῆλθον ποτέροις δεῖ με συνειπεῖν.
I have come forward, men of Athens, to consider with you which of the two parties I ought to support.
ἡγοῦμαι δὲ καὶ ὑμᾶς ὀρθῶς ἄν τι ποιεῖν, εἰ μὴ τοῖς πάλαι κεκρικόσι μηδὲ τοῖς ἐφʼ ἑαυτῶν προσέχοιτε, ἀλλὰ τοῖς τὰ συμβησόμενα ἐκ τῶν λογισμῶν ἀναμένουσι.
And I believe that you too would act rightly, if you were to attend not to those who made decisions long ago, nor to those who look to their own immediate interests, but to those who, through calculation, look forward to what is going to happen.
τὸ γὰρ ταυτὰ συμβουλεύειν ὑμῖν τε καὶ αὑτῷ, τοῦτʼ εἶναί μοι δοκεῖ σκοπεῖν ἐν κοινῷ περὶ τῶν πραγμάτων, μὴ προκατειλημμένον.
For advising the same things both to you and to myself seems to me to be a matter of deliberating in common about our affairs, without pre-judgment.
οὐκοῦν Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν, ὡς ὑμεῖς τε ἠκούσατε κἀγώ φημι, παρεσπόνδησαν τὴν Καδμείαν κατασχόντες, καὶ πλεονεξίας ἐπίδειγμα ἐποιήσαντο οὐχ ἧττον ἢ Θηβαῖοι παρελθόντες εἰς Πλαταιάς ποτε·
Now the Lacedaemonians, as you yourselves have heard and as I assert, broke the treaty by seizing the Cadmea, and gave an exhibition of greed no less than the Thebans did when they once entered Plataea.
Θηβαῖοι δʼ οὕτως ἰσχυροὶ γεγόνασιν ὡς συνενηνοχέναι αὐτοῖς ἀδικηθεῖσιν.
But the Thebans have become so powerful that the wrongs they suffered have actually turned out to their advantage.
ἐχόντων δὲ οὕτω τούτων ἡ κατηγορία μὲν ἐν Λακεδαιμονίοις, φόβος δʼ ἐν Θηβαίοις ἐστίν.
This being the case, while the accusation lies against the Lacedaemonians, the fear is on the side of the Thebans.
εἰ μὲν οὖν δικάζομεν αὐτοῖς, ἠδικηκέναι τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ψηφιζόμεθα καὶ δικαίως ἃ πεπόνθασι πεπονθέναι·
If, then, we are judging them, we vote that the Lacedaemonians have acted unjustly and have suffered justly what they have suffered.
εἰ δὲ μέμικταί τι βουλῆς καὶ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν αὐτῶν ἡμῖν, οὐκ αὐξήσομεν τοὺς Θηβαίους οὐδὲ τῆς Λακεδαιμονίων ἀγνωμοσύνης κληρονόμους ποιήσομεν.
But if our deliberations also involve some consideration for our own interests, we shall not increase the power of the Thebans, nor shall we make ourselves heirs to the folly of the Lacedaemonians.
οὐ γὰρ εἰ δικαίως ἐκείνους ἀναιρήσουσι, τοῦτο σκεψόμεθα, ἀλλʼ εἰ ταυτὸν τοῦτο καὶ ἡμᾶς ἀδίκως ποιῆσαι δυνήσονται, τοῦτο φοβησόμεθα·
For we shall not consider whether they will destroy them justly, but we shall fear whether they will be able to do this same thing unjustly to us.
καὶ τὸ παράδειγμα ὃ νῦν ἡμᾶς πεποίηκε τοῖς Θηβαίοις συναλγεῖν οὐ βουλησόμεθα ἐλθεῖν ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς, τῶν νῦν ἀνθελκόντων ἐκποδὼν γενομένων.
And we shall not wish that the precedent which has now made us sympathize with the Thebans should come upon us, when those who are now holding them back have been removed out of the way.
ἐγκλήματα δʼ, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, πολλὰ μὲν ὑμῖν ὑπάρχει πρὸς Θηβαίους, πολλὰ δὲ πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους, πρὸς ὁποτέρους δὲ πλείω καὶ μείζω οὐ διαφέρομαι, πλὴν οἶδʼ ὅτι εἰ ἓν ὧν ἐπεχείρησαν Θηβαῖοι κατώρθωσαν, οὐκ ἂν νῦν ἐβουλευόμεθα.
We have, men of Athens, many grievances against the Thebans, and many against the Lacedaemonians; and I do not dispute against which of the two they are more numerous and greater, except that I know that if the Thebans had succeeded in even one of the things they attempted, we would not now be deliberating.
ἀλλʼ ἐάσω τό γε μηδʼ ἔργῳ συμβὰν θεῶν τινος μεγάλῃ προνοίᾳ· πάλιν δέ με ὕπεισιν ὡς οὐδʼ αὐτοῦ τούτου παντάπασιν §449ἀναίτιοι Λακεδαιμόνιοι.
But I will let pass what did not actually happen, thanks to the great foresight of some god; yet on the other hand, the thought occurs to me again that even for this very thing the Lacedaemonians are not altogether blameless.
τὸ γὰρ εἰς τοῦτο ἀγαγεῖν τὴν πόλιν ὥστʼ ἔχειν Θηβαίους ταῦτʼ ἀποφήνασθαι περὶ αὐτῆς ὑπάγει δικαίως αὐτοὺς τῆς μέμψεως τῇ κοινωνίᾳ.
For to have brought the city to such a pass that the Thebans can make these declarations about her justly draws them into a share of the blame.
ἀλλὰ τοῦ μὲν εἰς τοῦτʼ ἀγαγεῖν ἡμᾶς μέτεστι καὶ Θηβαίοις τοῖς συμπολεμήσασιν αὐτοῖς, τοῦ δὲ φείσασθαι τὸ λοιπὸν οὐκέτʼ ἔχουσι Λακεδαιμόνιοι τούσδε κοινωνούς.
But while the Thebans who fought alongside them have a share in having brought us to this point, the Lacedaemonians no longer have them as partners in sparing us for the future.
καὶ μὴν οὐδʼ ἐκεῖνό γε προσδέξομαι ὅτι Θηβαίων εἷς εἶπε ταῦτα.
And indeed, I will not even accept the argument that it was just one of the Thebans who said these things.
ἃ γὰρ Πλαταιὰς πρότερον διέθεσαν, τοιαύτην ἀναχώρησιν οὐκ ἀπολείποντʼ αὐτοῖς οὐδὲ σκῆψιν, οὐδὲ τοιοῦτον τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς περὶ ἡμῶν ψήφου λόγον δείκνυσιν ὄντα.
For the way they formerly treated Plataea leaves them no such retreat or excuse, nor does it show that their discussion concerning the vote about us was of such a character.
εἴποιεν δʼ ἂν καὶ περὶ τῆς παλαιᾶς αἰτίας ὡς οὐκ ἀπὸ πάντων ἦν, ἀλλʼ οἱ προεστηκότες αὐτῶν ἐμήδιζον·
And they might also say concerning the ancient charge that it did not come from them all, but that their leaders medized.
εἰ δʼ ὑπὲρ ὧν μὲν προὔδοσαν τοὺς Ἕλληνας καὶ ὑπὲρ ὧν τοὺς δεῖνας ἀνεῖλον καὶ ὑπὲρ ὧν ἡμᾶς ἐμέλλησαν, τοῖς πρώτοις ἐκείνοις ἀκόλουθα ποιοῦντες, καὶ εἴ τι ὅλως ἠγνωμονήκασιν, ὑπὲρ μὲν τούτων τοὺς προεστηκότας προβαλοῦνται, ὅταν δέ τις τοῦ Πειραιῶς μόνον μνησθῇ, πάντες ἥξουσι περὶ ὧν δή που καὶ εἷς τις καὶ δεύτερος εἶπε, μάτην πάντες εὐήθεις κέκληνται τὰ κράτιστα ὄντες σοφοί.
But if, on the one hand, for their betrayal of the Greeks, and for their slaughter of certain people, and for what they intended to do to us in consistency with those first actions, and indeed for any folly they have committed at all, they put forward their leaders as a screen, but on the other hand, as soon as anyone mentions only the Peiraeus, they will all come to claim credit for what one or two men said, then they have been called simpletons in vain, being in fact cleverest of all.
ἄλογον δέ μοι φαίνεται, πρὸς ἀμφοτέρους ὄντων ἐγκλημάτων ἡμῖν, Λακεδαιμονίοις μὲν ἐπεξεληλυθέναι καὶ δίκην ἐζητηκέναι λαβεῖν, Θηβαίους δὲ ἀφεῖναι καθάπαξ, καὶ τοσοῦτον ὑπερβαλεῖν ἐκείνοις ὀργιζομένους ὥστʼ ἀδικήσειν ἡγεῖσθαι, εἰ μὴ μέχρι παντὸς τοῖσδε συνεστήξομεν.
And it seems to me irrational, when we have grievances against both, to have prosecuted the Lacedaemonians and sought to punish them, but to acquit the Thebans altogether, and to exceed so far in our anger against the former as to believe we are acting unjustly unless we stand by the latter to the very end.
ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ οἶμαι δεῖν μέχρι τούτου τιμωρεῖσθαι Λακεδαιμονίους μέχρι οὗ μὴ τοὺς Θηβαίους ἀθώους παντάπασιν ἀφήσομεν.
For I think we ought to punish the Lacedaemonians only so far as we do not leave the Thebans altogether unpunished.
φοβοῦμαι δὲ μὴ Θηβαίοις γιγνόμενοι σύμμαχοι τοὺς ὑπάρχοντας ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς ἀπολέσωμεν.
And I fear lest, by becoming allies to the Thebans, we lose those who are already our own.
σκοπῶν γὰρ τὰς παλαιὰς αἰτίας, ἃς ἡμῖν ἐπήνεγκαν οἱ Ἕλληνες, ἄλλο μὲν οὐδὲν ἐχούσας εὑρίσκω, τοῦτο δὲ, μὴ μετρίως ἡμᾶς χρῆσθαί τισιν αὐτῶν.
For when I examine the old charges which the Greeks brought against us, I find they have no other substance than this: that we did not treat some of them with moderation.
ἔστι τοίνυν ἅπαντα ἅ τις ἂν τόθʼ ἡμῶν ἐξήτασεν, ἂν εἰς ταυτὸν συνθῇ τις, οὐδʼ ἐγγὺς τῆς νῦν ἐγχειρήσεως.
Therefore, all the things that anyone would have examined of ours at that time, even if one puts them together, are not even close to the present attempt.
τὸ γὰρ Λακεδαιμονίους ἀνελεῖν ἐθέλοντας φανῆναι τίς ἂν εἴποι πάντων τῶν πρὸς τοὺς ὑπηκόους τότʼ ἀηδῶν
For as for appearing to wish to destroy the Lacedaemonians, who could say that of all the unpleasant things done to our subjects at that time