Now to let you know that this man’s
								present doings are nothing new, but that he is, rather, a traitor by
								nature, I will recall to you his past deeds. This man in the
								beginning, although he had received honours at the hands of the
								democracy, was extremely eager, like his father Hagnon, to change
								the democracy into the oligarchy of the Four Hundred, See note on I. vii. 28. and
								he was a leader in that government. When, 404
									B.C. however, he perceived that some opposition to
								the oligarchy was gathering, he look the lead again—as champion of
								the democrats against the oligarchs! That is the reason, you know,
								why he is nicknamed Buskin : for as the buskin seems to fit both feet, so he faces both ways. But,
								Theramenes, the man who deserves to live ought not to be clever at
								leading his comrades into dangerous undertakings and then, if any
								hindrance offers itself, to turn around on the instant, but he
								ought, as one on shipboard, to hold to his task until they come into
								a fair breeze. Otherwise, how in the world would sailors reach the
								port for which they are bound, if they should sail in the opposite
								direction the moment any hindrance offered itself? It is true, of course, that all sorts of changes in government are
								attended by loss of life, but you, thanks to your changing sides so
								easily, share the responsibility, not merely for the slaughter of a
								large number of oligarchs by the commons, but also for the slaughter
								of a large number of democrats by the aristocracy. And this
								Theramenes, you remember, was the man who, although detailed by the
								generals to pick up the Athenians whose ships were disabled in the
								battle off Lesbos, See I. vi. 35,
									vii. 4 ff. failed to do so, and nevertheless was the very
								one who accused the generals and brought about their death in order
								that he might save his own life! Now when a man clearly shows that he
								is always looking out for his own advantage and taking no thought
								for honour or his friends, how in the world can it be right to spare
								him? Ought we not surely, knowing of his previous changes, to take
								care that he shall not be able to do the same thing to us also? 404
										B.C. We therefore arraign him on the charge of
								plotting against and betraying both ourselves and you. And in proof
								that what we are thus doing is proper, consider this fact also. The constitution of the Lacedaemonians is, we know, deemed the best
								of all constitutions. Now in Lacedaemon if one of the ephors should
								undertake to find fault with the government and to oppose what was
								being done instead of yielding to the majority, do you not suppose
								that he would be regarded, not only by the ephors themselves but
								also by all the rest of the state, as having merited the severest
								punishment? Even so you, if you are wise, will not spare this
								Theramenes, but rather yourselves; for to leave him alive would
								cause many of those who hold opposite views to yours to cherish high
								thoughts, while to destroy him would cut off the hopes of them all,
								both within and without the city.