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"There is, therefore, no just measure of mercy in store for them to call upon, since as for the use of it on the occasion of their own mishaps they themselves have destroyed it. Where is it worth their while to flee for safety? To gods, whom they have chosen to rob of their traditional honours? To men, whom they have visited only to enslave? Do they call upon Demeter and Core and their Mysteries now that they have laid waste the sacred island1 of these goddesses? [2] Yes, some will say, but not the whole people of the Athenians are to blame, but only Alcibiades who advised this expedition. We shall find, however, that in most cases their advisers pay every attention to the wishes of their audience, so that the voter suggests to the speaker words that suit his own purpose. For the speaker is not the master of the multitude, but the people, by adopting measures that are honest, train the orator to propose what is best. [3] If we shall pardon men guilty of irrevocable injustices when they lay the responsibility upon their advisers, we shall indeed be providing the wicked with an easy defence! It is clear that nothing in the world could be more unjust than that, while in the case of benefactions it is not the advisers but the people who receive the thanks of the recipients, in the matter of injustices the punishment is passed on to the speakers. [4]

"Yet some have lost their reasoning powers to such a degree as to assert that it is Alcibiades, over whom we have no power, who should be punished, but that we should release the prisoners, who are being led to their deserved punishment, and thus make it known to the world that the people of the Syracusans have no righteous indignation against base men. [5] But if the advocates of the war have in truth been the cause of it, let the people blame the speakers for the consequences of their deception, but you will with justice punish the people for the wrongs which you have suffered. And, speaking generally, if they committed the wrongs with full knowledge that they were so doing, because of their very intention they deserve punishment, but if they entered the war without a considered plan, even so they should not be let off, in order that they may not grow accustomed to act offhand in matters which affect the lives of other men. For it is not just that the ignorance of the Athenians should bring destruction to Syracusans or that in a case where the crime is irremediable, the criminals should retain a vestige of defence.

1 Sicily.

Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.

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