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. . . on behalf of them . . . we made peace. . . . to be rendered to it by each of us. The prosecuting in court and the exposing of those who had received the money and taken bribes against their country it allotted to us, the chosen accusers. The reporting of the names of the recipients it assigned to the Areopagus, who gave these men's names to the people. Punishment of the criminals . . . to you . . . the Areopagus. If the vote goes contrary to law or justice, that is a responsibility, gentlemen of the jury, which will rest with you. You must all therefore . . . the safety of the city and the good fortune which in other ways you all enjoy in this country both collectively and individually. Remember the tombs of your ancestors and punish the offenders in the interests of the whole city. Do not allow their plausibility in argument . . . the men who have taken bribes against their country and defied the laws. And do not let the tears of Hagnonides1 affect you. Remember this . . . but this man would have no right to shed tears, any more than pirates who cry upon the wheel when they need not have embarked in the boat. The same is true of Demosthenes. What excuse will he have for tears when he need not have accepted . . .
1 Hagnonides, who is described by Plutarch as a sycophant, and against whom, if Reiske's emendation is correct, Dinarchus composed a speech, was probably acquitted. He fled from Athens after the Lamian war but later returned and was condemned to death. Compare Din. Fr. 9; Plut. Phoc. 38.
Hyperides. Minor Attic Orators in two volumes, 2, with an English translation by J. O. Burtt, M.A. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1962.
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