Against Athenogenes (31-35)

after disregarding the agreement which we all make with the state, he insists on his private contract with me, as if anyone would believe that a man who made light of his duty to you would have cared about his obligations to me. He is so degraded and so true to type wherever he is, that even after his arrival at Troezen when they had made him a citizen he became the tool of Mnesias the Argive[*] and, after being made a magistrate by him, expelled the citizens from the city. The men themselves will bear witness to this; for they are here in exile.[*]

And you, gentlemen of the jury, took them in when they were banished; you made them citizens and granted them a share of all your privileges. Remembering, after more than a hundred and fifty years,[*] the help they gave you against the barbarian, you felt that when men had been of service to you in times of danger you should protect them in their misfortune. But this abandoned wretch, who forsook you and was enrolled at Troezen, engaged in nothing that was worthy either of the constitution or the spirit of that city. He treated those who had welcomed him so cruelly that ⋯ in the Assembly ⋯ fled.[*]

To prove that what I say is true the clerk will read you first the law, which forbids metics to move in war time, then the evidence of the Troezenians and also the Troezenians’ decree passed by them in honor of your city, in return for which you welcomed them and made them citizens. Read.

Law. Evidence. Decree.

Now take the evidence of the father-in-law[*] ⋯

the way in which Athenogenes has plotted against me and also his behavior towards you. If a man has been vicious in his private life and given up hope of his city’s safety; if he has deserted you and expelled the citizens from the town of his adoption, will you not punish him when he is in your power?