What act of shame or outrage is wanting in their careers? They regarded the most lawless
 of men as the most loyal; they courted traitors as if they were benefactors; they chose to
 be slaves to one of the Helots The reference is to
 Lysander, who on his mother’s side was of Helot blood. The Helots were serfs of the
 Spartans. so that they might oppress their own countries; they honored the
 assassins and murderers of their fellow-citizens more than their own parents; and to such a stage of brutishness did they bring us all that, whereas in former times,
 because of the prosperity which prevailed, every one of us found many to sympathize with
 him even in trifling reverses, yet under the rule of these men, because of the multitude
 of our own calamities, we ceased feeling pity for each other, since there was no man to
 whom they allowed enough of respite so that he could share another’s burdens. For what man dwelt beyond their reach? What man was so far removed from public life that
 he was not forced into close touch with the disasters into which such creatures plunged
 us? But in the face of all this, these men, who brought their own cities to such a pitch
 of anarchy, do not blush to make unjust charges against our city; nay, to crown their
 other effronteries, they even have the audacity to talk of the private and public suits
 which were once tried in Athens , when they
 themselves put to death without trial more men In
 Athens 1500, according to Isoc. 7.67 ; Isoc. 20.11 . in
 the space of three months than Athens tried
 during the whole period of her supremacy. And of their banishments, their civil strife, their subversion of laws, their political
 revolutions, their atrocities upon children, their insults to women, their pillage of
 estates, who could tell the tale? I can only say this much of the whole business—the
 severities under our administration could have been readily brought to an end by a single
 vote of the people, Such a decree of the Ecclesia as was
 passed in 378 B.C. , when the new confederacy was formed,
 absolving the allies from paying tribute and from the practice of trying their cases in
 Athens . These had been the causes of
 friction. See Isoc. 12.63 . while the murders and
 acts of violence under their regime are beyond any power to remedy. And, furthermore, not even the present peace, nor yet that “autonomy” which is inscribed
 in the treaties Above all, the Treaty or Peace of
 Antalcidas, 387 B.C. Cf. Isoc. 4.120
 ff. 
 Xen. Hell. 5.1.31 , quotes from this treaty: “King
 Artaxerxes thinks it just that the cities in Asia , and the islands of Clazomene and Cyprus , shall belong to him. He thinks it just also to leave all the
 other cities autonomous, both small and great—except Lemnos , Imbros, and Scyros, which are to belong to Athens , as they did originally. Should any parties
 refuse to accept this peace, I will make war upon them, along with those who are of the
 same mind, by land as well as by sea, with ships and with money” (Trans. by Grote,
 Hist. ix. p. 212). See General Introduction. p. xliii, and introduction
 to Panegyricus . but is not found in our governments, is preferable
 to the rule of Athens . For who would desire a
 condition of things where pirates command the seas In the
 absence of the Athenian fleet. and mercenaries occupy our cities;