Against Callimachus (36-38)

And he will accuse also those who took part in the revolution, in the hope that in this way especially he will arouse you to wrath; for perhaps he has heard it said that whenever you fail to apprehend the guilty, you punish any who cross your path. But I for my part do not think that you are so disposed, and I believe that it is easy to controvert the pleas just suggested.

As for his lamentations, it is fitting that you give aid, not to those who try to show that they are the most miserable of men, but to those whose statements concerning the facts to which they have sworn in their affidavits are manifestly the more just. And in regard to the penalty assessed against the loser, if I were responsible for this action, you might reasonably sympathize with him as about to be penalized; but the truth is, it is he who brings in a calumnious accusation and therefore you cannot in justice accept anything he says.

In the second place, you should consider this point—that all the exiles who returned to the city from the Peiraeus would be able to use the very same arguments as he; but no one except Callimachus has had the audacity to introduce such a suit. And yet you ought to hate such persons and regard them as bad citizens who, although they have suffered the same misfortunes as the part of the people, think fit to exact exceptional punishments.