| I will give you powerful proofs of this
not mere words, but what you honor
more,—actions. And listen to what
happened to me, that you may be
convinced that I would never yield to
any one, if that was wrong, through
fear of death, but would die rather than
yield. The tale I am going to tell you is
ordinary and commonplace, but true. I,
men of Athens, never held any other
office in the city, but I was a senator;
and it happened that my tribe held the
presidency when you wished to judge
collectively, not severally, the ten
generals who had failed to gather up
the slain after the naval battle; this
was illegal, as you all agreed
afterwards. At that time I was the only
one of the prytanes who opposed
doing anything contrary to the laws,
and although the orators were ready to
impeach and arrest me, and though you
urged them with shouts to do so, I
thought I must run the risk to the end
with law and justice on my side, rather
than join with you when your wishes
were unjust, through fear of
imprisonment or death. That was when
the democracy still existed; and after
the oligarchy was established, the
Thirty sent for me with four others to
come to the rotunda and ordered us to
bring Leon the Salaminian from
Salamis to be put to death. They gave
many such orders to others also,
because they wished to implicate as
many in their crimes as they could.
Then I, however, showed, not in word
only but in deed, that, if I may be
allowed to use such an expression, I
cared not a straw for death, and that
my great and only care was lest I
should do an unrighteous or unholy
thing. For the strong arm of that
oppressive power did not frighten me
into doing wrong; and when we came
out of the rotunda the other four went
to Salamis and fetched Leon, but I
went quietly home. For which I might
have lost my life, had not the power of
the Thirty shortly afterwards come to
an end. And many will witness to my
words. | Student name:
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