When Critias had so spoken, he sat
								down; and Theramenes rose and said: I will mention first,
								gentlemen, the last thing Critias said against me. He says that I
								brought about the death of the generals by my accusation. But it was
								not I, as you know, who began the matter by accusing them; on the
								contrary, it was they who accused me, by stating that although that
								duty was assigned me by them, I failed to pick up the unfortunates
								in the battle off Lesbos. I said in my defence that on account of
								the storm it was not possible even to sail, much less to pick up the
								men, and it was decided by the state that my plea was a reasonable
								one, while the generals were clearly accusing themselves. For though
								they said it was possible to save the men, they nevertheless sailed
								away and left them to 404 B.C. perish. I do not wonder, however, that Critias has misunderstood the matter;
								for when these events took place, it chanced that he was not here;
								he was establishing a democracy in Thessaly along with Prometheus,
								and arming the serfs against their masters. God forbid that any of the things which he was doing there should
								come to pass here. I quite agree with
								him, however, on this point, that if anyone is desirous of deposing
								you from your office and is making strong those who are plotting
								against you, it is just for him to incur the severest punishment.
								But I think you can best judge who it is that is doing this, if you
								will consider the course which each of us two has taken and is now
								taking. Well then, up to the time when you became members of the Senate and
								magistrates were appointed and the notorious informers were brought
								to trial, all of us held the same views; but when these Thirty began
								to arrest men of worth and standing, then I, on my side, began to
								hold views opposed to theirs. For when Leon the Salaminian was put to death,—a man of capacity,
								both actually and by repute,—although he was not guilty of a single
								act of wrong-doing, I knew that those who were like him would be
								fearful, and, being fearful, would be enemies of this government. I
								also knew, when Niceratus, the son of Nicias, was arrested,—a man of
								wealth who, like his father, had never done anything to curry
								popular favour,—that those who were like him would become hostile to
								us.