Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 1.djvu/337

 53, 53] SPEECH OF THE PLATA EANS 221 now in the last stage of weakness, surrendered the city ; and for a few days, until the five men who were appointed judges came from Lacedaemon, the Peloponnesians supplied them with food. On the arrival of the judges no accusation was brought against them ; they were simply asked one by one, Whether they had done any kind of service to the Lacedaemonians or to their allies in th(present war. Before making their reply they requested leave to speak at length, and appointed two of their number, Astymachus the son of Asopolaus, and Lacon the son of Aeimncstus, who was the Lacedae- monian proxenus, to be their advocates. They came forward and spoke as follows : — ' Men of Lacedaemon, we surrendered our city because 53 we had confidence in you ; we were ive ho/^rd to have a under the impression that the trial to ^eg^i trial and to rc- which we submitted would be legal, f"''^>*"'^ «' ^■«."'-, . , . hands, but we are dts- and of a very different kind from this ; appointed. We nan- fear and when we accepted you and you that ivc are to be sani- alone to be our judges, which indeed f"^ «> the Thebans. you are, we thought that at your hands we had the best hope of obtaining justice. But we fear that we are doubly mistaken, having too much reason to suspect that in this trial our lives are at stake, and that you will turn out to be partial judges. So we must infer, because no accusation has been preferred against us calling for a defence, but we speak at our own request ; and because your question is a short one, to which the answer, if true, condemns us, and, if false, is exposed at once. In the extremity of our helplessness, our only and our safest course is to say something, whatever may be our fate ; for men in our condition are sure to reproach themselves with their silence, and to fancy that the unuttered word, if spoken, would have saved them. ' But by what arguments can we ever convince you ? If we were unacquainted with one another we might with advantage adduce in evidence matters of which you were