And sometimes they pretend to despise him, Cf. Lys. 14.35-38 . saying that in no respect did he excel his
 contemporaries; yet at the present time they blame him for all that has happened and say
 that the Lacedaemonians have learned from him the art of war—they who can teach the rest
 of the world this accomplishment! As for me, if I had sufficient time, I could easily
 prove that some of those things he did justly, but that others are unjustly imputed to
 him. Yet the most shocking thing that could happen would be this—if, while after his exile
 my father was recompensed, I, because he was exiled, should be penalized. I think, however, that in justice he should obtain from you a full pardon; for you, when
 banished by the Thirty Tyrants, After the capture of Athens
 by the Spartans in 404 B.C. an oligarchy known as the Thirty
 Tyrants was established. The cruelty of their government caused many of the democratic
 party to go into exile. Led by Thrasybulus these exiles were restored when the Thirty
 were overthrown in 403 B.C. experienced the same
 misfortunes as he. Wherefore you should reflect how each of you was affected, what
 thoughts you each had, and what peril each would not have undergone so as to bring his own
 banishment to an end and to return to his native land, and to be avenged on those who
 banished him. To what city, or friend, or stranger did you not apply, to entreat them to help you to
 get back to your country? From what effort did you abstain in your endeavors to be
 restored? Did you not seize the Piraeus and destroy the crops in the fields and harry the
 land and set fire to the suburbs and finally assault the walls? And so vehemently did you believe that these actions were justifiable that you were more
 indignant with those of your fellow-exiles who were inactive than with those who had been
 the authors of your misfortunes. It is not fair, therefore, to censure those who wanted
 the same things which you desired, nor yet to regard all those men as base who, when they
 were exiles, sought to return, but much more should you condemn those oligarchs who,
 remaining in Athens, did deeds which deserved the penalty of exile; nor is it fair that
 you, in judging what sort of citizen my father was, should begin at the time when he had
 no art in the city’s affairs; on the contrary, you should look to that earlier time and observe how he served the
 people before his exile, and call to mind that with two hundred heavy-armed soldiers he
 caused the most powerful cities in the Peloponnesus to revolt from the
 Lacedaemonians, 419 B.C. Cf.
 Thuc. 5.52.2 . and brought them into alliance with
 you, and in what perils he involved the Lacedaemonians themselves, and how he behaved as
 general in Sicily. For these services he is deserving of your gratitude; but for that
 which happened when he was in misfortune it is those who banished him whom you would
 justly hold responsible.