For whenever they make such charges against us, to which the Lacedaemonians are more open
 than ourselves, we do not find it difficult to cite against Sparta a graver offence in each case than that which
 has been charged against Athens . For example,
 in the present instance, if they bring up the fact that the law-suits of the allies were
 tried in Athens, is there anyone so slow of wit as not to find the ready retort that the
 Lacedaemonians have put to death without trial more of the Hellenes See Isoc. 4.113 , note. than have ever been
 brought to trial and judgement here since the founding of our city? And if they make any complaint about our collection of the tribute, we shall be ready
 with a like rejoinder. For we shall show that our ancestors far more than the
 Lacedaemonians acted for the advantage of the states which paid them tribute. For, in the
 first place, these states did this, not because we had so commanded, but because they
 themselves had so resolved at the very time when they conferred upon us the supremacy by
 sea. In the next place, they paid their quotas, not to preserve Athens, but to preserve their
 own democratic polity and their own freedom and to escape falling into such great
 misfortunes, through the setting up of oligarchies, as were suffered under the decarchies
 and the domination of the Lacedaemonians. And, more than that, they paid these
 contributions, not from funds which they had treasured up through their own efforts, but
 from resources which they possessed through our aid. The
 account here given of the Confederacy of Delos is a fair statement. It was in its origin a voluntary association
 of the Ionian Greeks, partly against Sparta ,
 but mainly against the Persian Empire, not for protection merely, but for the enrichment
 of its members at the expense of the barbarians. Each member contributed its quota to
 the common cause, the more powerful members in ships the weaker in money, φόρος . The quotas appear to have been fixed by Aristides,
 although approved by the synod of the allies. See Thuc.
 5.18 ; Aristot. Ath. Pol. 23-24 . 
 In return for these resources, had they reflected in the slightest degree, they should in
 all fairness have been grateful to us; for we took over their cities in some instances
 when they had been utterly destroyed, in others when they had been sacked and plundered by
 the barbarians, and advanced them to such a state of prosperity that although they
 contributed to us a slight proportion of the wealth which flowed in upon them, their
 estates were no less prosperous than those of the Peloponnesians who paid no tribute
 whatsoever. Furthermore, as to the cities which were laid waste under the rule of each of these
 states—a matter for which certain men reproach the Athenians alone—we shall show that
 things much more reprehensible were done by those whom these men are never weary of
 extolling. For it happened that we offended against islets so small and insignificant that
 many of the Hellenes do not even know of their existence, whereas the Lacedaemonians laid
 waste the greatest cities of the Peloponnesus—states which in every way were eminent above
 the others—