For at the very moment when they passed away her lot was changed to servitude. With the
 bodies of these men was buried the freedom of every other Greek, and thus they proved it
 to the world that they were fighting for no private ends but facing danger for our common
 liberty. I therefore say without misgiving that their lives have been a laurel wreath for
 Athens . They had good reason for their conduct, The text of this
 passage has been suspected because (a) the words δι’ ἃ are difficult to understand; (b) there is no object for ἐπετήδευον . But (a) δι’ ἃ can be taken to refer to what follows in this sense: Moreover,— and
 here is the justification for their conduct,—you alone know, etc. ; (b) although
 ἐπιτηδεύω normally takes an object, at least the
 present participle can be used absolutely. I have therefore ventured to leave the text
 as it stands. since you, Athenians, alone among Greeks know how to honor valiant
 men. In other cities, you will find, it is the athletes who have their statues in the
 market place, whereas in yours it is victorious generals and the slayers of the tyrants:
 men whose like it is hard to find though we search the whole of Greece for but a few, whereas the winners of contests for
 a wreath have come from many places and can easily be seen. It is then only right, since
 you pay the highest honors to your benefactors, that you should also punish with the
 utmost rigor those who dishonor and betray their country. You should bear in mind, gentlemen, that it is not even in
 your power, unless you go beyond your rights, to acquit this man Leocrates, since his
 offence has had judgement passed upon it and a vote of condemnation too. For the council
 of the Areopagus;—(No one need interrupt me. That council was, in my opinion, the greatest
 bulwark of the city at the time;)—seized and executed men who then had fled from their
 country and abandoned it to the enemy. You must not think, gentlemen, that these
 councillors who are so scrupulous in trying other men for homicide would themselves have
 taken the life of any citizen unlawfully. Moreover you condemned Autolycus For the trial of
 Autolycus compare Lyc. Fr. 9 and note. and punished
 him because, though he himself had faced the dangers, he was charged with secretly sending
 his wife and sons away. Yet if you punished him when his only crime was that he had sent
 away persons useless for war, what should your verdict be on one who, though a man, did
 not pay his country the price of his nurture? The people also, who looked with horror upon
 what was taking place, decreed that those who were evading the danger which their
 country’s defence involved were liable for treason, meriting in their belief the extreme
 penalty. When therefore certain actions have been censured by the most impartial council and
 condemned by you who were the judges appointed by lot, when they have been recognized by
 the people as demanding the severest punishment, will you give a verdict which opposes all
 these views? If you do, you will be the most unconscionable of men and will have few
 indeed ready to risk themselves in your defence.