And how monstrous it would be, when you have punished with death the commanders who won the victory at sea At Arginusae, 406 B.C. —they said that a storm prevented them from picking up the men in the water, but you felt that you must make them give satisfaction to the I valor of the dead—if these men, who as ordinary persons used their utmost endeavors towards your defeat in the sea-fights, It was suspected that both at Arginusae and at Aegospotami members of the oligarchic party had been working for the defeat of Athens by Sparta . and then, once established in power, admit that of their own free will they put to death many of the citizens without a trial,—if these men, I say, and their children are not to be visited by you with the extreme penalty of the law! Now I, gentlemen, might almost claim that the accusations you have heard are sufficient: for I consider that an accuser ought to go no further than to show that the defendant has committed acts that merit death; since this is the extreme penalty that we have power to inflict upon him. So I doubt if there is any need to prolong one’s accusation of such men as these; for not even if they underwent two deaths for each one of their deeds could they pay the penalty in full measure. And note that he cannot even resort to the expedient, so habitual among our citizens, of saying nothing to answer the counts of the accusation, but making other statements about themselves which at times deceive you; they represent to you that they are good soldiers, or have taken many vessels of the enemy while in command of war-ships, or have won over cities from hostility to friendship. Why, only tell him to point out where they killed as many of our enemies as they have of our citizens, or where they took as many ships as they themselves surrendered, or what city they enlisted to compare with yours which they enslaved. Nay, indeed, did they despoil the enemy of as many arms as they stripped from you? Did they capture fortifications to compare with those of their own country which they razed to the ground? They are the men who pulled down the forts around Attica , and made it evident to you that even in dismantling the Peiraeus they were not obeying the injunctions of the Lacedaemonians, but were thinking to make their own authority the more secure.