Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/297

 TYRANNICIDE ACQUITTED. 27 chief ? Had he been my enemy and your friend, I should un- doubtedly have done wrong to kill him in your city ; but as he is a traitor, playing you false, how is he more my enemy than yours? I shall be told that he came hither of his own accord, confiding in the laws of the city. Well ! you would have thanked me for kil- ling him anywhere out of Thebes ; why not in Thebes also, when he has come hither only for the purpose of doing you new wrong in addition to the past ? Where among Greeks has impunity ever been assured to traitors, deserters, or despots ? Recollect, that you have passed a vote that exiles from any one of your allied cities might be seized as outlaws in any other. Now Euphron is a con- demned exile, who has ventured to come back to Sikyon without any vote of the general body of allies. How can any one affirm that he has not justly incurred death ? I tell you in conclusion, men of Thebes, if you put me to death, you will have made yourselves the avengers of your very worst enemy, if you ad- judge me to have done right, you will manifest yourselves publicly as just avengers, both on your own behalf and on that of your whole body of allies." 1 This impressive discourse induced the Theban Senate to pro- nounce that Euphron had met with his due. It probably came from one of the principal citizens of Sikyon, among whom were most of the enemies as well as the victims of the deceased despot It appeals, in a characteristic manner, to that portion of Grecian morality which bore upon men, who by their very crimes pro- cured for themselves the means of impunity ; against whom there was no legal force to protect others, and who were therefore con- sidered as not being entitled to protection themselves, if the dag- gers of others could ever be made to reach them. The tyrannicide appeals to this sentiment with confidence, as diffused throughout all the free Grecian cities. It found responsive assent in the The- ban Senate, and would probably have found the like assent, if set 1 Xen. Hellen. vii, 3, 7-11. To the killing of Euphron, followed by a defence so characteristic and emphatic on the part of the agent, Schneider and others refer, with great probability, the allusion in the Rhetoric of Aristotle (ii, 24, 2) Kal nepl TOV QTjfiijaiv uiro'davovTog, nepl ov iKefavs Kpivai, el diKaiof qv airo-davelv if OVK utilKOV OV UTTOKTELVai TOV filKa'iU