3
I think you have been well advised both in becoming reconciled to your fellow-citizens and, while trying to reduce the number of exiles, in increasing that of the participants in public life and also in imitating AthensA reference to the moderation of the Athenian democracy in 403 B.C. in handling the sedition. You are especially deserving of praise because you are restoring their property to the exiles who return; for thus you show and make clear to all that you had expelled them, not because you coveted the property of others, but because you feared for the welfare of the city.
4
Nevertheless, even if you had adopted none of the measures, and had received back no one of the exiles, the restoration of these individuals is to your advantage, I think; for it is disgraceful that while your city is universally acknowledged to be most devoted to music and the most notable artists in that field have been born among you,e.g., Terpander, Alcaeus, and Sappho. yet he who is the foremost authority of living men in that branch of culture is an exile from such a city; and that while all other Greeks confer citizenship upon men who are distinguished in any of the noble pursuits, even though they are foreigners, yet you suffer those who are both famous among the other Greeks and share in your own racial origin to live abroad in exile.
