[11]
Next, men of Athens, that it is
absolutely contrary to the national character to ratify such a law as this, I
will also endeavor to show you briefly by an example of our conduct in the past.
The Thirty Tyrants are said to have borrowed money from the Lacedaemonians for
use against the patriots in the Piraeus.1 But when unity was restored to the State and those
disputes were settled, the Lacedaemonians sent envoys to demand payment.
1 In 403 Thrasybulus and the exiled democrats had occupied the Piraeus and defeated the Thirty, whose government was then changed to that of the Ten. The Spartans were persuaded by Lysander to lend the Ten 100 talents, but shortly afterwards Pausanias, the Spartan king, who was no friend to Lysander, intervened, withdrew the Spartan son from the Acropolis, and reconciled the parties. The story of the loan is narrated by Xenophon and Plutarch; the decree of the Assembly, accepting responsibility for the repayment, is attested also by Isoc. Areop. 67.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by C. A. Vince, M. A. and J. H. Vince, M.A. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1926.
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