structed them to detain any one that should come from Lacedæmon; he went off himself as ambassador to the Lacedæmonians, and at a conference with them, it being reported that the Athenians were building their wall, he denied it, and bade them send ambassadors to inquire, and, when they did not return, he advised them to send others. And doubtless you have all heard in what manner he is reported to have tricked the Lacedæmonians. I say, thenand by heavens! men of Athens, let no one be angry at what he is about to hear, but consider if it be true as it is better to act openly than clandestinely, and more glorious to accomplish anything by victory than by deceit; to the same extent did Conon raise the walls more honourably than Themistocles. The one effected it secretly, the other by vanquishing the people who would have prevented it. Such a man, therefore, ought not to be wronged by you, or to come off worse than the orators, who are to show cause why any of his gifts should be taken away.

Well, but let us allow the son of Chabrias to be deprived of the immunity which his father justly received from you and bequeathed to him. Why, I scarcely think any man in his senses would say this was proper. You know, probably without my telling you, that Chabrias was a noble man; yet there is nothing to prevent my briefly mentioning his performances. In what manner he took the field with you against all the Peloponnesians at Thebes, 31 and how he slew Gorgopas in Ægina, and how many trophies he raised in Cyprus, and afterward in Egypt,33 and how, traversing as he did almost every place, he nowhere disgraced the name of the commonwealth or himself; all these things it is not very easy to speak of as they deserve, and it would be a shame that in my description they should fall below the opinion which you each entertain of him. Those, however, which no language of mine could degrade I will endeavour to recall to your minds. He vanquished the Lacedæmonians at sea and captured forty-nine galleys; he took the greater number of these islands and delivered them up to you, and made them friendly, when before they were hostile; he carried to Athens three thousand prisoners, and brought in more than a hundred and ten talents, the spoil of the enemy. To all these facts some of the eldest among you can bear me witness. And besides, he captured above twenty galleys more, taking them one and two at a time; all of which he brought into your harbours. To sum up the whole: he is the only general who never lost a single city or post or ship or soldier when he commanded you; none of your enemies has any trophy over you and him, while you have many over many enemies under his command.

That I may not in my speech omit any of his actions, the clerk shall read you the catalogue of ships that he took, and where he took each, and the number of cities, and the quantity of treasure, and where each of the trophies was erected. Read:

The deeds of Chabrias

Does it appear to any of you, O Athenians, that this man who took so many cities and overcame at sea so many galleys of the enemy, who brought so many glories and no dishonour to the state, deserves to be robbed of the immunity which he obtained from you and bequeathed to his son? I can not believe it. There would be this absurdity in it: Had he lost one city or ten ships only, these men would have impeached him for treason, and on conviction he would have been lost forever; and yet when, instead of this, he took seventeen cities, captured seventy ships and three thousand prisoners, and returned to the treasury a hundred and ten talents, and raised such a number of trophies, his rewards after all are not to be secured to him! Chabrias, O Athenians, will be shown not only to have achieved everything for you in his lifetime, but to have lost his life in the same cause; so that on this account, as well as for his living actions, you should have kindly feelings toward his son. It were well also, O Athenians, not to let it appear that we have been less generous than Chians to our benefactors. For when they, against whom he came with arms in hand as an enemy, have not revoked any of their former honours, but regarded ancient benefits as outweighing recent offences, should it appear that you, for whom he perished in the attack upon them, 35 instead of honouring him still more on that account, have revoked some of the rewards given for his former services, how can you help incurring merited disgrace?

For another reason too will the boy have been hardly treated if he should be robbed of his privilege; because, often as Chabrias led you to battle, no man's son ever became an orphan through him, while this boy has been reared in orphanage through his father's zeal in your cause. Chabrias was, in my view, a firm patriot indeed! for, though he was reputed to be and was the safest of all generals, he exercised his caution on your behalf whenever he commanded, but would not use it on his own when he was placed himself in the post of danger, and rather chose not to live than to tarnish the honours which he had received from you. Should we then deprive his son of that for which he determined to die or to conquer? And what shall we say, O Athenians, when the trophies which he erected as your general stand visible to all men, yet a portion of the recompense is known to have been taken away? Bethink you, men of Athens, and consider what is the question here. It is not the law that is tried, whether it be a proper one or otherwise; you are on your probation, whether or no you are fit people to receive benefits in future.

Now take the decree that was passed in favour of Chabrias. Look and see. It should be somewhere about there. 36

I wish to say another word on the subject of Chabrias. You, men of Athens, in rewarding Iphicrates formerly, rewarded not only him, but Strabax and Polystratus 37 also for his sake; and again, when you gave Timotheus his recompense, you for his sake gave citizenship to Clearchus and some others. Chabrias, however, was rewarded by you in his own person alone. If now he had asked, at the time of obtaining his reward, that, as you had been kind to certain persons for the sake of Iphicrates and Timotheus, you would for his sake likewise bestow a kindness on some of these persons who have obtained immunity (these for whose alleged unworthiness my opponents now require you to deprive all alike), would you not have granted him this favour? I believe you would. Then will you deprive him now of his immunity on account of persons to whom you would then have granted a boon on his account? It would be absurd. Nor indeed does it become you to appear so eager at the time of receiving obligations, as to recompense not only your benefactors but their friends also, and yet after a brief interval to take back even from the principals what you have given them.

The decree of honours to Chabrias

The persons, then, whom you will wrong, unless you repeal the law, are, besides many others, these that you have heard, men of the jury. Do, then, reflect and consider in your minds. If any of these that are departed could in any way have a sense of the present proceeding, how just would be their indignation! For if the services which they have rendered you in deeds are to be judged of by words, and their glorious actions, unless by us in speech they are gloriously set forth, have been achieved by their exertions in vain, can it be doubted that they are used shamefully?

To show you, men of Athens, that all the arguments that we address to you are meant sincerely for right and justice, and that nothing is said by us for trickery and deceit, we shall now read you the law which we have prepared and propose to substitute for this one, which we say is improper. You will see by it that we make some provision, both to save you from the appearance of acting dishonourably, and to enable any one who has an objection to any of the privileged parties, if it be well founded, to bring him before you for deprivation; and further, to secure in possession of their gifts those whose title no man would dispute. And in all this there is nothing new or of our invention; for the ancient law which Leptines transgressed requires that legislation shall be so conducted that whoever considers any of the existing laws to be faulty may indict it, but shall himself bring in another, what on repeal of the former he proposes to enact, and that you shall sit in judgment and choose the better law. For Solon, who prescribed this method of legislation, never thought it right that, when the judges who are chosen to superintend the laws, before they enter upon office, are twice examined, in the council and before you in the court, the laws themselves, according to which they have to exercise their official duties and the people their political rights, should be introduced at haphazard, and passed without examination. Then, indeed, while they legislated in this way, they used the existing laws, and did not propose new ones. But ever since certain statesmen becoming powerful, as I am informed, got liberty for themselves to legislate at any time they pleased and in any manner, contradictory laws have been so numerous, that for some time past you have been appointing men to sort out the contradictory, and still the thing can not come to an end: laws are in no way different from decrees; nay, your laws, according to which decrees ought to be framed, are more recent than the decrees themselves. 38 However, that I may not talk only, but produce the law of which I speak, here, take the law which guided the legislation of our predecessors. Read:

The law

You observe, men of Athens, how Solon, how admirably he directs the laws to be passed: first, before you, a jury, before whom all other measures receive their sanction; secondly, not without repealing inconsistent laws, so that there may be one law for every subject, and that this very thing may not confuse unlearned people, and give those who are acquainted with the whole code an advantage over them, but that all may be able to read the same enactments and to learn their duties simply and clearly. And previously to this he ordered them to be fixed up in front of the heroes, 39 and to be delivered to the secretary, and to be read by him in the assemblies, so that you may hear them frequently and consider them at leisure every one of you, and then, whatever is just and expedient, you may adopt. Of these regulations, numerous as they are, not one did Leptines observe, or you would never, I think, have been persuaded to accept the law. We, O Athenians, have observed them all; and we introduce in the place of his law one that is far better and more just, as, when you hear it, you will allow. Take and read first the parts of this statute which we have indicted; secondly, what we say ought to be enacted. Read: