Page:History of Greece Vol VIII.djvu/301

 THRJSYBULt'S AT A.1HENS. 279 should take pla< e, and that no man should be molested for past acts, except the Thirty, the Eleven (who had been the instruments of all executions), and the Ten who had governed in Peineus. But Eleusis was recognized as a government separate from Athens, and left, as it already was, in possession of the Thirty and their coadjutors, to serve as a refuge for all those who might feel their future safety compromised at Athens in consequence of their past conduct. 1 As soon as these terms were proclaimed, accepted, and sworn to by all parties, Pausanias with all the Lacedaemonians evacuated Attica. Thrasybulus and the exiles marched up in solemn pro- cession from Peiraaus to Athens. Their first act was to go up to the acropolis, now relieved from its Lacedaemonian garrison, and there to offer sacrifice and thanksgiving. On descending from thence, a general assembly was held, in which unanimously and without opposition, as it should seem the democracy was restored. The government of the Ten, which could have no basis except the sword of the foreigner, disappeared as a matter of course ; but Thrasybulus, while he strenuously enforced upon his comrades from Peiroeus a full respect for the oaths which they had sworn, and an unreserved harmony with their newly acquired fellow-citizens, admonished the assembly emphatically as to the past events. " You city-men (he said), I advise you to take just measure of yourselves for the future ; and to calculate fairly, what ground of superiority you have, so as to pretend to rule over us ? Are you juster than we ? Why the demos, though poorer than you, never at any time wronged you for purposes of plunder ; while you, the wealthiest of all, have done many base deeds for the sake of gain. Since then you have no justice to boast of, are you superior to us on the score of courage ? There cannot be a better trial, than the war which has just ended. Again, can you pretend to be superior in policy ? you, who, having a fortified city, an armed force, plenty of money, and the Pelo- ponnesians for your allies, have been overcome by men who had nothing of the kind to aid them ? Can you boast of your hold over the Lacedremonians ? Why, they have just handed you over like a vicious dog with a clog tied to him, to the very demo? Xcnopli. Hellcn. ii, 4, 39 ; Diodor. xiv, 33