As to his later services, it would be an arduous task to enumerate them one by one—all
 the ships of war that he subsequently captured, or the battles that he won, or the cities
 he took by storm or by persuasion made your friends. But although innumerable dangers
 beset the city at that time, never did the enemy erect a trophy of victory over you while
 my father was your leader. I am aware that I am omitting many of my father’s exploits as your general; I have not
 recounted them in detail because nearly all of you recall the facts. But my father’s
 private life they revile with excessive indecency and audacity, and they are not ashamed,
 now that he is dead, to use a license of speech concerning him which they would have
 feared to employ while he lived. Nay, they have come to such a pitch of folly that they think they will win repute with
 both you and with the world at large if they indulge in the wildest possible abuse of him;
 as if all did not know that it is in the power of the vilest of men to abuse with
 insulting words, not only the best of men, but even the gods. Perhaps it is foolish for me to take to heart all that has been said; nevertheless, I
 desire very much to recount to you my father’s private pursuits, going back a little to
 make mention of his ancestors, that you may know that from early times our standing and
 services have been the greatest and most honorable among the citizens of Athens. My father on the male side belonged to the Eupatrids, The
 Eupatrids (sons of noble sires) were the nobles, or patricians, in Athens of the early
 time. whose noble birth is apparent from the very name. On the female side he was
 of the Alcmeonidae, Descendants of Alcmeon, one of the
 greatest families in early Athens, expelled from the city in 595
 B.C. who left behind a glorious memorial of their wealth; for
 Alcmeon Son of Megacles. was the first Athenian to
 win at Olympia with a team of horses, and the goodwill which they had toward the people
 they displayed in the time of the tyrants. For they were kinsmen of Pisistratus Pisistratus was a tyrant of Athens in the sixth century
 B.C. and before he came to power were closest to him of all the citizens, but
 they refused to share his tyranny; on the contrary, they preferred exile rather than to
 see their fellow-citizens enslaved.