Book 3
It is a simple matter to take our lives, but a grievous task to blot out the infamy of it;
for we are not enemies whom you would have a right to punish, but good friends who were forced into war with you. You would, therefore, render a righteous judgment if you guaranteed us security of life and if you bore in mind, before it is too late, that it was in voluntary surrender and with outstretched hands that you received us (and the usage of the Hellenes forbids the slaying of suppliants);
and, moreover, that we have always been your benefactors. Turn your eyes upon the sepulchres of your fathers, slain by the Persians and buried in our land, whom we have honoured year by year with a public offering of raimentFor garments as offerings to the dead, cf. Soph. El. 452; Eur. Or. 123, 1436; Tac. A. iii. 2. But some understand ἐσθήμασι to refer to mourning garments. See also Plut. Aristides, xxi. and other customary gifts; the first fruits, too, of all that the earth each year has produced have been brought them, the tribute of kindly hands from a friendly land and of allies to those who were once their companions in arms.
All this you would reverse by an unjust verdict. Reflect: when Pausanias buried them he thought he was laying them in a friendly land and among friends; but you, if you put us to death and make the territory of Plataea a Theban province, will you not be leaving them in a hostile land and among their murderersThe Thebans are called their murderers because they had sided with the Persians against the Hellenic allies.—these your fathers and kinsmen—and dispossessed of the honours they now enjoy? Nay more, you will be enslaving the very land in which the Hellenes gained their liberty; you will be bringing desolation upon the temples of the gods to whom they prayed when they conquered the Persians; and you will be robbing of their hereditary sacrifices the people who founded and established them.
“These things are not consistent with your honour, Lacedaemonians, nor can it be so to offend against the common usage of the Hellenes and against your ancestors, or to put us, your benefactors, to death because of the enmity of others, when you have not been wronged yourselves. Nay, your good name demands that you should spare us and be softened in heart, regarding us with a dispassionate pity and bearing in mind, not only how terrible will be our fate, but who we are that must suffer, and how uncertain is fortune, whose strokes sometimes fall even upon the innocent.
And we, as befits our condition and as our sore need demands, entreat you in the name of the common gods of the Hellenic race whom we invoke, gods worshipped by us all at the same altars, to listen to our prayers; and at the same time, appealing to the oaths wherein your fathers swore that they would never forget us, we become suppliants before your ancestral tombs and call upon the departed not to suffer us to come into the power of Thebans or permit us, who were their dearest friends, to be delivered into the hands of their bitterest foes. We also remind you of that day on which we shared with them in the most brilliant deeds, we who now on this day are on the brink of the most awful fate.
And now, bringing our plea to an end—and this must be, howbeit for men in our condition it is the hardest thing of all, seeing that with its ending our mortal peril also draws near—we say that we did not surrender our city to the Thebans—in preference to that our choice would have been to die of starvation, the most horrible of deaths—but capitulated to you because we trusted you. And it is but right, if we fail in our plea, that you should restore us to our former position and let us choose for ourselves the danger that shall confront us.
And we likewise adjure you, Plataeans that we are, people who were most zealous for the cause of Hellas, and are now your suppliants, O Lacedaemonians, not to deliver us out of your hands and your good faith to the Thebans, our bitterest foes, but to become our saviours, and not, while liberating the rest of the Hellenes, to bring utter destruction upon us.”
Thus the Plataeans spoke. And the Thebans, fearing lest the Lacedaemonians might be so moved by their plea as to yield somewhat, came forward and said that they, too, wished to speak, since, against their own judgment, the Plataeans had been granted leave to speak at greater length than the answer to the question required. And when the judges assented, they spoke as follows:
"We should not have asked permission to make this speech, if the Plataeans had briefly answered the question, and had not turned upon us and accused us, at the same time setting up a long defence of themselves on matters foreign to the issue and on which no charge whatever had been made against them, and praising themselves where nobody had blamed them. But as it is, we must answer their charges and expose their self-praise, in order that neither our baseness nor their good repute may help them, but that you may hear the truth about us both before you decide. "The quarrel we had with them began in this way:
after we had settled the rest of Boeotia and had occupied Plataea and other places of which we got possession by driving out a mixed population,Strabo mentions Pelasgians, Thracians, Hyantians. these Plataeans disdained to submit to our leadership, as had been agreed upon at first, and separating themselves from the rest of the Boeotians and breaking away from the traditions of our fathers went over to the Athenians as soon as an attempt was made to force them into obedience, and in conjunction with the Athenians did us much harm, for which they also suffered in return.
Again, they say that when the barbarians came against Hellas they were the only Boeotians who did not medize, and for this especially they plume themselves and abuse us.
We say, however, that the only reason they did not medize was because the Athenians also did not, and that, moreover, on the same principle, when the Athenians afterwards assailed all Hellas, they were the only Boeotians who atticized.Ever since the Persian war medize and medium had been terms of bitter reproach in Hellas; in the mouths of the Thebans atticize and atticism have a like invidious meaning. And yet consider the circumstances under which we each acted as we did.
For the constitution of our city at that time was, as it happened, neither an oligarchy under equal lawsie. where, as at Sparta, the ὀλίγοι, or ruling class, possessed equal rights. nor yet a democracy; but its affairs were in the hands of a small group of powerful men—the form which is most opposed to law and the best regulated polity, and most allied to a tyranny.
These men, hoping to win still greater power for themselves if the fortunes of the Persian should prevail, forcibly kept the people down and brought him in. The city as a whole was not in control of its own actions when Thebes took the course it did, nor is it fair to reproach it for the mistakes it made when not under the rule of law.
At any rate, after the Persian departed and Thebes obtained its lawful government, and when subsequently the Athenians became aggressive and were trying to bring not only the rest of Hellas but also our country under their own sway and, owing to factions amongst us, were already in possession of most of it,After the battle at Oenophyta, 458 B.C., cf. 1.108.2, 1.108.3. pray observe whether we fought and defeated them at Coronea446 B.C. cf. 1.113.2. and thus liberated Boeotia, and whether we are now zealously helpingThis is mentioned with a view to influencing Spartan judges. to liberate the other peoples, furnishing more cavalry and munitions of war than any of the other allies. Such is our defence against the charge of medism.
"We will now try to show that you Plataeans have wronged the Hellenes more than we and are more deserving of any punishment, however severe. You became allies and citizens of Athens that you might, as you claim,cf. 3.55.1. obtain protection against us.
In that case you ought only to have invoked their aid against us, instead of assisting them in their aggressions against others; such a course was certainly open to you, in case you were ever being led on by the Athenians against your will, since the alliance of the Lacedaemonians here had already been organized against the Persians—the alliance of which you are always reminding us.The alliance of the Lacedaemonians that is in mind here would seem to be the general league of the Hellenes in the Persian War, in which the Lacedaemonians were leaders; but in 3.58.1 the Plataeans use the words θεῶν τῶνξυμμαχικων ποτε γενομένων especially with reference to the compact mentioned in 2.71, where it is said that the allies, at the instance of Pausanias, after the battle of Plataea, mutually guaranteed the independence of all the Hellenic states, and of the Plataeans in particular. That would have been enough to keep us from interfering with you, and, what is more important, to enable you to take your own counsel without fear. Nay, it was willingly and not now under compulsion that you embraced the Athenian cause.
You say, however, that it would have been dishonourable to betray your benefactors; but it was far more dishonourable and wicked to betray to their destruction all the Hellenes, with whom you had sworn alliance, than merely the Athenians, when they were endeavouring to enslave Hellas, the others to liberate her.
And the recompense you made them is not equal, nor indeed free from dishonour. For you were being wronged, as you claim, when you invoked their aid, but they were wronging others when you became their helpers. And yet, surely, not to repay favours with like favours is dishonourable; but it is not so when, though the debt was incurred in a just matter, it can only be repaid by wrong-doing.cf. Cicero, de Off 1. 15. 48, non reddere viro bono non licet, modo id facere possit sine injuria. The whole sentence serves to substantiate the words οὐδὲ αἰσχύνης ἀπηλλαγμένην, the charge τὰς ὁμοίας χάριτας μὴ αντιδιδόναι being, according to the Theban speakers, applicable to the Plataeans.
"You have, therefore, made it clear that even then it was not for the sake of the Hellenes that you alone of the Boeotians refused to medize, but merely because the Athenians also refused while we did not, and you preferred to act with the one party and against the other.
And now you expect to be rewarded for the virtuous conduct that was due to the inspiration of others! But that is unreasonable; as you chose the Athenians, continue to fight on their side. And do not keep reminding us of the alliance you made then, and claim that it ought to save you now.
For you have abandoned it and in violation of its principles have constantly aided, instead of trying to prevent, the enslavement of the Aeginetanscf. cv., cviii.; 2.27. and other members of the alliance; and that, too, not against your will, since you then enjoyed the laws under which you have lived till now and were not, like us, under compulsion by another.
Moreover, you refused to accept the last proposal we made you before Plataea was investedcf. 2.72.1.—to leave you unmolested if you would aid neither side. Who, then, would more justly be hated by all the Hellenes than you, who displayed your virtue in order to compass their injury? Furthermore, those noble qualities which, as you claim, you once displayed you have now made plain were not properly yours, but your natural longings have been put to the proof and shown in their reality;
for you have followed the Athenians when they walked in the way of iniquity. Such, then, is our affirmation regarding our unwilling medism and your willing atticism.
"As to your last charge of wrong-doing on our part—that we unlawfully attacked your city in time of peace and on a day of festival—we do not think that in this matter, either, we are more at fault than you.
If it was of our own motion that we went to your city, fought you, and ravaged your land as enemies, we are in the wrong; but if some of your countrymen, the leading men in both wealth and family,cf. 2.2.2. wishing to put an end to your alliance with an outsider and to restore you to the traditions of our fathers which are common to all the Boeotians, of their own free will invoked our aid, of what wrong are we guilty? For it is those who lead that break the laws rather than those who follow.Parody on 3.55.4.
But in my judgment neither they nor we did wrong. They, who are just as much citizens as you and had more at stake, opened their gates and conducted into their own city friends, not enemies, because they wished that the baser sort among you should not become still worse, and that the better sort should have their deserts, being the censors of your political principlesσωφρονισταί, regulators or censors, those who bring others to a right mind and are a check on vice and lawlessness It was a technical term applied to magistrates, ten in number, at Athens, who superintended the morals of the youth. and not seeking to deprive the state of your persons, but rather bringing you back into a natural union with your kindred, and that without making you an enemy of anyone but restoring you to peace with all alike.
"The proof that we acted in no hostile spirit is that we wronged nobody, and made a proclamation that anyone who wished to be a citizen according to the hereditary ways of all the Boeotians should come over to us.
And you came gladly, and entering into an agreement with us you kept quiet at first; but afterwards, when you became aware that we were few in number—even supposing we might seem to have acted somewhat inconsiderately in entering your town without the consent of the popular party—you did not repay us in kind, resorting to no act of violence but endeavouring by arguments to induce us to withdraw, but you assailed us in violation of your agreement. Now as to those whom you killed in hand-to-hand conflict we are not so much grieved—for they suffered, we grant you, by a kind of law—but as regards those whom you spared when they stretched out their hands to you, and then, though you afterwards promised us that you would not kill them, lawlessly butchered—was not that an abominable deed?
And after committing these three wrongs within a short space of time—the violation of your agreement, the subsequent murder of our men, and the breaking of your promise to us not to kill them if we spared your property in the fields—you nevertheless assert that we were the transgressors, and claim exemption from punishment for yourselves! No, not if these judges decide aright; but for all these crimes you must be chastised.
“We have discussed these matters at length, Lacedaemonians, both for your sakes and our own, in order that you, for your part, may know that you will justly condemn them, and we that we have still more righteously exacted vengeance.
And let not your hearts be softened when you hear them speak of their ancient virtues, if indeed they ever had any; for virtues might well be a succour to the victims of wrong, but should bring a two-fold penalty upon the authors of a shameful deed, because their offence is out of keeping with their character. And let not their lamentation and pitiful wailing avail them, nor their appeals to the sepulchres of your fathers and their own desolate state.
For in answer we too would point out that a far more dreadful fate befell our young men who were butchered by them, of whose fathers some died at CoroneaAs at 3.62.5, a reminder flattering to the Lacedaemonians. trying to win Boeotia to your cause, while others, left desolate at home in their old age, with far greater justice make supplication to you to take vengeance upon these men.
Pity is more worthily bestowed upon those who suffer an unseemly fate, but those who, like these Plataeans, deserve their fate afford on the contrary a subject for rejoicing.
As for their present desolation, that also is their own fault; for of their own free will they rejected the better alliance. They acted unlawfully without having received provocation at our hands, but through hatred rather than according to a just judgment, and they could not possibly pay now a penalty equal to their guilt, for they will suffer a lawful sentence; and they are not, as they claim,cf. 3.58.3. stretching out suppliant hands on the field of battle, but have delivered themselves up to justice under formal agreement.
Vindicate, therefore, Lacedaemonians, the law of the Hellenes which has been transgressed by these men, and render to us who have suffered by their lawlessness a just recompense for the services we have zealously given, and let us not because of their words be thrust aside when we plead before you,Note the mocking quotation of phrases in the speech of the Plataeans, 3.57.3, 4. but make it plain to the Hellenes by an example that the trials you institute will be of deeds, not words, and that, if the deeds are good, a brief recital of them suffices, but if they are wrong, speeches decked out with phrases are but veils to hide the truth.
Nay, if all leaders, like you in the present instance, should first state the facts briefly for all concerned,Referring to the ἐπερώτημα βπαχὑ of 3.52.4; 3.53.2. Possibly πρὸς τοὺς ξύμπαντας goes with διαγνώμας ποιήσησθε, “and then as a warning to all pass sentence.” and then pass sentence, there will be less seeking of fair words after foul deeds.”
Such was the speech of the Thebans. And the Lacedaemonian judges decided that their question, whether they had received any benefit from the Plataeans in the war, would be a fair one for them to put; for they had at all other times urged them, they claimed, to maintain neutrality in accordance with the old covenant which they had made with Pausanias after the Persian defeat; and when afterwards, before the investment of Plataea was undertaken, their proposal to the Plataeans that they remain neutral in accordance with the earlier agreement had not been accepted,The text is certainly corrupt. Badham's slight change, adopted by Hude, seems to be the simplest solution of the difficulty. they thought themselves thenceforth released from all obligations of the treaty because their own intentions had been honourable, and considered that they had been wronged by the Plataeans. So they caused them to come forward again, one at a time, and asked them the same question, whether they had rendered any good service to the Lacedaemonians and their allies in the war, and when they said “no” they led them off and slew them, exempting no one.
The number of the Plataeans that perished was not less than two hundred, and of the Athenians who had taken part in the siege twenty-five;