10
After the loss of our ships,At Aegospotami, 405 B.C. when the revolution was being arranged, CleophonSee Lys. 13.7, note. reviled the Council, declaring that it was in conspiracyi.e., with the oligarchs. and was not seeking the best interests of the State. Satyrus of Cephisia,An Attic township about 9 miles north-east of Athens. one of the Council, persuaded them to arrest him and hand him over to the court.
11
Those who wished to do away with him, fearing that they would fail of a death-sentence in the law-court, persuaded Nicomachus to exhibit a law requiring the CouncilMainly consisting of oligarchs, and so likely to condemn Cleophon. to partake in the trial as assessors. And this man, the worst of villains, was so open in his support of the plot that on the day of the trial he exhibited the law.
12
Now against Cleophon, gentlemen of the jury, one might have other accusations to urge; but one thing is admitted on all sides,—that the subverters of the democracy desired to get him out of their way more than any other of the citizens, and that Satyrus and Chremon, who were members of the Thirty, accused Cleophon, not from any anger at your fate, but in order that, having put that man to death, they might injure you themselves.
