On The Crown   

actions, Aeschines, was taken by them to help benefactors; nor was the
prospect before them free from danger. Yet they did not on that account
sacrifice those who fled to them for help. For the sake of glory and
honour they were willing to expose themselves to the danger; and it was a
right and a noble spirit that inspired their counsels. For the life of all
men must end in death, though a man shut himself in a chamber and keep
watch; but brave men must ever set themselves to do that which is noble,
with their joyful hope for their buckler, and whatsoever God gives, must
bear it gallantly. {98} Thus did your forefathers, and thus did the elder
among yourselves: for, although the Spartans were no friends or
benefactors of yours, but had done much grievous wrong to the city, yet,
when the Thebans, after their victory at Leuctra, attempted to annihilate
them, you prevented it, not terrified by the strength or the reputation
which the Thebans then enjoyed, nor reckoning up what the men had done to
you, for whom you were to face this peril. {99} And thus, as you know, you
revealed to all the Hellenes, that whatever offences may be committed
against you, though under all other circumstances you show your resentment
of them, yet if any danger to life or freedom overtakes the transgressors,
you will bear no grudge and make no reckoning. Nor was it in these
instances only that you were thus disposed. For once more, when the
Thebans were appropriating Euboea,[n] you did not look on while it was
done; you did not call to mind the wrong which had been done to you in the
matter of Oropus[n] by Themison and Theodorus: you helped even these; and
it was then that the city for the first time had voluntary trierarchs, of
whom I was one.[n] But I will not speak of this yet. {100} And although to
save the island was itself a noble thing to do, it was a yet nobler thing
by far, that when their lives and their cities were absolutely in your
power, you gave them back, as it was right to do, to the very men who had
offended against you, and made no reckoning, when such trust had been
placed in you, of the wrongs which you had suffered. I pass by the
innumerable instances which I might still give--battles at sea,
expeditions [by land, campaigns] both long ago and now in our day; in all
of which the object of the city has been to defend the freedom and safety
of the other Hellenic peoples. {101} And so, when in all these striking
examples I had beheld the city ever ready to strive in defence of the
interests of others, what was I likely to bid her do, what action was I
likely to recommend to her, when the debate to some extent concerned her
own interests? 'Why,' you would say, 'to remember her grudge against those
who wanted deliverance, and to look for excuses for sacrificing
everything!' And who would not have been justified in putting me to death,
if I had attempted to bring shame upon the city's high traditions, though
it were only by word? The deed itself you would never have done, I know
full well; for had you desired to do it, what was there to hinder you?
Were you not free so to act? Had you not these men here to propose it?

{102} I wish now to return to the next in succession of my political acts;
and here again you must ask yourselves, what was the best thing for the
city? For, men of Athens, when I saw that your navy was breaking up, and
that, while the rich were obtaining exemption on the strength of small
payments,[n] citizens of moderate or small means were losing all that they
had; and further, that in consequence of these things the city was always
missing her opportunities; I enacted a law in accordance with which I
compelled the former--the rich--to do their duty fairly; I put an end to
the injustice done to the poor, and (what was the greatest service of all
to the State) I caused our preparations to be made in time. {103} When I
was indicted for this, I appeared before you at the ensuing trial, and was
acquitted; the prosecutor failed to obtain the necessary fraction of the
votes. But what sums do you think the leaders of the Taxation-Boards, or
those who stood second or third, offered me, to induce me, if possible,
not to enact the law, or at least to let it drop and lie under sworn
notice of prosecution?[n] They offered sums so large, men of Athens, that
I should hesitate to mention them to you. It was a natural course for them
to take. {104} For under the former laws it was possible for them to
divide their obligation between sixteen persons, paying little or nothing