Consider too what your traditional views have been in this
 respect and what your present feelings are. It is as well that I should remind you though
 you know already. For by Athena, in the ancient laws and in the principles of those who
 drew them up in the beginning we have indeed a panegyric on the city. You have but to
 observe them to do right and all men will respect you as worthy of her. There is an oath which you take, sworn by all citizens when, as ephebi, The Ephebate, an organization for training the young men of
 Athens , chiefly in military matters, had
 existed since the fifth century but was reorganized by Lycurgus (v. Life of Lycurgus).
 The oath was taken in the temple of Aglaurus, daughter of Cecrops (cf. Hdt. 8.53 ; Dem. 19.303 ), probably at
 the age of eighteen when the youth underwent an examination ( δοκιμασία ) and had his name entered on the deme register. He was then an
 ephebus until the age of twenty.Cf. Aristot. Const. Ath.
 42 . they are enrolled on the register of the deme, not to disgrace your
 sacred arms, not to desert your post in the ranks, but to defend your country and to hand
 it on better than you found it. If Leocrates has sworn this oath he has clearly perjured
 himself and, quite apart from wronging you, has behaved impiously towards the god. But if
 he has not sworn it, it becomes immediately plain that he has been playing tricks in the
 hope of evading his duty; and for this you would be justified in punishing him, on your
 own and Heaven’s behalf. I want you to hear the oath. Read, clerk. The Oath.— I will not bring dishonor an my sacred arms nor will I abandon my comrade wherever I shall be stationed. I will defend the rights of gods and men and will not leave my country smaller, when I die, but greater and better, so far as I am able by myself and with the help of all. I will respect the rulers of the time duly and the existing ordinances duly and all others which may be established in the future. And if anyone seeks to destroy the ordinances I will oppose him so far as I am able by myself and with the help of all. I will honor the cults of my fathers. Witnesses to this shall be the gods Agraulus, Hestia, Enyo, Enyalius, Ares, Athena the Warrior, Zeus, Thallo, Auxo, Hegemone, Heracles, and the boundaries of my native land, wheat, barley, vines, olive-trees, fig-trees. . . . The inscription from which the text of this oath is taken, found in 1932 ar Acharnae, contains also a variant version of the next oath which Lycurgus quotes ( Lyc. 1.81 ). For the full text and notes on it see M.N. Tod, Greek Historical Inscriptions , ii. 204. Agraulus (more commonly called Aglaurus) had a temple on the north side of the Acropolis, in which the Ephebate oath was taken. For Enyo the goddess of war compare Hom. Il. 5.333 . Enyalius, though his name was often applied to Ares, was regarded by some as a separate God. Thallo (Growth) was one of the Horae, Auxo and Hegemone (Increase and Guidance) two of the Graces. The concluding words of the list are lost. It is a fine and solemn oath, gentlemen; an oath which Leocrates has broken in all that he has done. How could a man be more impious or a greater traitor to his country? How could he disgrace his arms more than by refusing to take them up and resist the enemy? Is there any doubt that a man has deserted the soldier at his side and left his post, if he did not even offer his person for enlistment? How could anyone have defended the rights of men and gods who did not face a single
 danger? What greater treachery could he have shown towards his country, which, for all
 that he has done to save it, is left at the mercy of the enemy? Then will you not kill
 this man who is answerable for every crime? If not, whom will you punish? Those guilty of
 only one such act? It will be easy then to commit serious offences among you, if you show
 that the smaller ones arouse your anger more. There is a further point which you should notice,
 gentlemen. The power which keeps our democracy together is the oath. For there are three
 things of which the state is built up: the archon, the juryman and the private citizen.
 Each of these gives this oath as a pledge, and rightly so. For human beings have often
 been deceived. Many criminals evade them, escaping the dangers of the moment, yes, and
 even remaining unpunished for these crimes for the remainder of their lives. But the gods
 no one who broke his oath would deceive. No one would escape their vengeance. If the
 perjured man does not suffer himself, at least his children and all his family are
 overtaken by dire misfortunes.