Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War 3.63

[1] "And we will endeavour to prove now that the Grecians have been rather wronged by you and that you are more worthy of all manner of punishment. You became, you say, confederates and denizens of Athens for to be righted against us.

[2] Against us then only the Athenians should have come with you and not you with them have gone to the invasion of the rest, especially when if the Athenians would have led you whither you would not, you had the league of the Lacedaemonians made with you against the Medes, which you so often object, to have resorted unto, which was sufficient not only to have protected you from us but, which is the main matter, to have secured you to take what course you had pleased. But voluntarily and without constraint you rather chose to follow the Athenians.

[3] And you say it had been a dishonest thing to have betrayed your benefactors. But it is more dishonest and more unjust by far to betray the Grecians universally, to whom you have sworn, than to betray the Athenians alone, especially when these go about to deliver Greece from subjection and the other to subdue it.

[4] Besides, the requital you make the Athenians is not proportionable nor free from dishonesty. For you, as you say yourselves, brought in the Athenians to right you against injuries; and you co-operate with them in injuring others. And howsoever, it is not so dishonest to leave a benefit unrequited as to make such a requital, as though justly due cannot be justly done.

[1] Let this suffice to excuse us for our Medism. We will now endeavor to show that you have injured the Hellenes more than we, and are more deserving of condign punishment.

[2] It was in defence against us, say you, that you became allies and citizens of Athens . If so, you ought only to have called in the Athenians against us, instead of joining them in attacking others: it was open to you to do this if you ever felt that they were leading you where you did not wish to follow, as Lacedaemon was already your ally against the Mede , as you so much insist; and this was surely sufficient to keep us off, and above all to allow you to deliberate in security. Nevertheless, of your own choice and without compulsion you chose to throw your lot in with Athens .

[3] And you say that it had been base for you to betray your benefactors; but it was surely far baser and more iniquitous to sacrifice the whole body of the Hellenes, your fellow-confederates, who were liberating Hellas , than the Athenians only, who were enslaving it.

[4] The return that you made them was therefore neither equal nor honorable, since you called them in, as you say, because you were being oppressed yourselves, and then became their accomplices in oppressing others; although baseness rather consists in not returning like for like than in not returning what is justly due but must be unjustly paid.

„So viel sei zu unserer Rechtfertigung gesagt, warum wir
auf Seiten der Perser standen. Jetzt aber wollen wir zu beweisen
suchen, daß ihr Platäer den Hellenen viel größeres Unrecht zugefügt
habt und jede noch so harte Züchtigung viel eher verdient als wir.
Um euer Recht gegen uns zu wahren, so sagt ihr, wäret ihr
Bundesgenossen und Bürger^) der Athener geworden. Nun, dann hättet ihr
sie ja nur gegen uns zu eurer Hülfe herbeiziehen dürfen, und nicht mit
ihnen gegen Andere zu Felde ziehen; denn dieß stand ja in eurem
Belieben, auch sofern ihr von den Athenern gegen euren Willen wozu
gezwungen werden solltet, da ja bereits der Lakedämonische
Waffenbund gegen den Perser vorhanden war, auf den ihr euch in eurer
Vertheidigung immer beruft. Denn derselbe genügte, euch vor unserem
Angriffe zu schützen und, was da? Bedeutendste ist, euch Sicherheit der
freien Berathung und Entschließung zu gewähren. Aber freiwillig
und nicht mehr gezwungen habt ihr lieber die Partei der Athener
gewählt. Nun sagt ihr weiter, es sei schimpflich, seine Wohlthäter zu
verrathen; ja, aber viel schimpflicher und ungerechter war es, die
Gesammthellenen zu verrathen, zu denen ihr doch geschworen hattet, als
die Athener allein, denn diese wollen Hellas knechten, jene aber es frei
machen. Sodann ist die Art, wie ihr eure Dankbarkeit zeigt, der
Natur der Wohlthat nicht entsprechend, denn ihr habt sie zu Hülfe
gernfen, wie ihr sagt, weil euch selbst Unrecht geschah, und doch habt ihr
jenen selbst mitgeholfen, Andern Unrecht anzuthun. Oder ist es etwa
schimpflicher, einen entsprechenden Dank gar nicht abzustatten, als
einen solchen, den man zwar um der Sache der Gerechtigkeit willen
schuldig geworden ist, aber nur unter Verletzung der Gerechtigkeit
abstatten kann?" ¹

LXIII. « C’est bien plutôt vous qui avez trahi les Grecs, et mérité tous les châtiments, nous allons tâcher de le démontrer : c’est, dites-vous, pour vous venger de nous, que vous êtes devenus alliés et citoyens d’Athènes. Mais alors il fallait vous borner à appeler les Athéniens contre nous, et ne pas marcher avec eux contre les autres Grecs ; vous le pouviez, quand bien même ils eussent voulu vous contraindre, puisque vous aviez antérieurement contracté avec les Lacédémoniens, contre les Mèdes, une alliance dont vous vous réclamez sans cesse. Cette alliance suffisait du moins pour arrêter notre marche contre vous, et, ce qui est d’un grand poids, pour vous permettre de délibérer sans crainte. Mais vous avez choisi volontairement, et avant d’y être forcés, le parti des Athéniens. Et vous prétendez qu’il eût été honteux de trahir vos bienfaiteurs ! Il était bien plus honteux et plus injuste de vous montrer traîtres à tous les Grecs, à qui vous liaient vos ser- ments, qu’aux Athéniens seuls. Ceux-ci travaillent à l’asservissement de la Grèce, ceux-là à son affranchissement. Et d’ailleurs votre reconnaissance a été au delà du service reçu ; elle vous a couverts de honte : car c’est pour repousser l’oppression, dites-vous, que vous les avez appelés à votre secours, et c’est pour opprimer les autres que vous vous êtes faits leurs complices. Cependant il y a moins de honte encore à ne pas témoigner une reconnaissance égale au service, qu’à consentir à l’injustice pour satisfaire à une obligation légitime.

« Nous essayerons maintenant de démontrer que c’est vous plutôt qui êtes coupables envers la Grèce et qui méritez les derniers châtiments. A vous entendre, c’est pour vous venger de nous que vous êtes devenus alliés des Athéniens et que vous avez reçu droit de cité chez eux. Mais, s’il en était ainsi, vous auriez dû les appeler contre nous seuls, au lieu de vous joindre à eux pour opprimer les autres. Supposé même qu’ils vous entraînassent malgré vous à leur suite, il ne tenait qu'à vous de réclamer cette alliance conclue avec les Lacédémoniens contre les Mèdes, qui est votre éternel refrain. Elle suffisait amplement pour vous mettre à l’abri de nos attaques et — chose essentielle — pour assurer la liberté de vos délibérations. Mais non, c’est de vôtre plein gré, sans aucune espèce de contrainte, que vous avez pris le parti des Athéniens. Vous ne pouviez, dites-vous, abandonner sans honte des bienfaiteurs. Il était bien plus honteux et plus injuste de trahir tous les Grecs, qui avaient reçu vos serments, que les seuls Athéniens, dès l'instant que ceux-ci travaillaient à l’asservissement , ceux-là à l’affranchissement de la Grèce. Vous ne leur avez pas témoigné une reconnaissance égale ni exempte de déshonneur ; car vous les avez appelés, dites-vous, pour vous garantir de l’oppression, et vous vous êtes joints à eux pour opprimer les autres. Or il y a moins de honte à ne pas s’acquitter d’une dette qu’à reconnaître par des actes injustes des services loyalement rendus.

[1] "We will now try to show that you Plataeans have wronged the Hellenes more than we and are more deserving of any punishment, however severe. You became allies and citizens of Athens that you might, as you claim, ¹ obtain protection against us.

[2] In that case you ought only to have invoked their aid against us, instead of assisting them in their aggressions against others; such a course was certainly open to you, in case you were ever being led on by the Athenians against your will, since the alliance of the Lacedaemonians here had already been organized against the Persians—the alliance of which you are always reminding us. ² That would have been enough to keep us from interfering with you, and, what is more important, to enable you to take your own counsel without fear. Nay, it was willingly and not now under compulsion that you embraced the Athenian cause.

[3] You say, however, that it would have been dishonourable to betray your benefactors; but it was far more dishonourable and wicked to betray to their destruction all the Hellenes, with whom you had sworn alliance, than merely the Athenians, when they were endeavouring to enslave Hellas, the others to liberate her.

[4] And the recompense you made them is not equal, nor indeed free from dishonour. For you were being wronged, as you claim, when you invoked their aid, but they were wronging others when you became their helpers. And yet, surely, not to repay favours with like favours is dishonourable; but it is not so when, though the debt was incurred in a just matter, it can only be repaid by wrong-doing. ³

[1] "But that it is you, [Plataeans,] who have both done more injury to Greece, and are more deserving of extreme punishment, we will now attempt to prove. It was for vengeance against us, you say, that you became allies and fellow-citizens of the Athenians.

[2] Then you ought to have introduced them for aid against us alone, and not to have joined with them in attacking others; such a course having certainly been open to you, in case of your being at all led on by the Athenians against your will, since the confederacy against the Mede had already been formed by these Lacedaemonians here, which you yourselves bring forward most prominently [in your own defence]. Surely this was strong enough to divert us from attacking you, and, what is the greatest advantage, to enable you to take counsel in security. But of your own accord, and not by compulsion, you still took the part of the Athenians by preference.

[3] And you say that it had been base for you to betray your benefactors; but much more base and criminal was it so utterly to betray the whole body of the Greeks, with whom you confederated, than to give up the Athenians alone, who were enslaving Greece, while the others were its liberators.

[4] And it was no equal return of favour that you made them, nor one free from disgrace. For you introduced them, as you say, when you were being injured; but you became co-operators with them in injuring others. And yet not to return equal favours is more disgraceful than to fail in those which, though justly due, will be returned in furtherance of injustice.

[1] « vos autem majorem injuriam Graeciae fecisse et quolibet supplicio digniores esse demonstrare conabimur.

[2] Societatem, ut aitis, cum Atheniensibus iniistis, et cives illorum facti estis, ut nos ulcisceremini. Oportebat igitur vos adversus nos tantum illos adducere, neque una cum iis alios invadere, praesertim quum id vobis liceret, si quo forte inviti ab Atheniensibus ducebamini, quippe quibus horum Lacedaemoniorum societas jam tum contra Medum contracta aderat, quam vos ipsi tantopere jactatis; nam et vim nostram a vobis arcere, et, quod maximum est, sine metu deliberandi facultatem vobis praebere potuisset. Sed volentes, et non jam coacti Atheniensium partes sequi maluistis.

[3] Et dictitatis, turpe fuisse, bene de vobis meri* tos prodere; imo vero longe turpius et iniquius erat, universos Graecos, cum quibus jurejurando adhibito societatem feceratis, quam solos Athenienses prodere, quum hi quidem Graeciam in servitutem redigebant, illi vero eam in libertatem vindicabant.

[4] Atque non parem, nec dedecoris expertem gratiam iis retulistis; vos enim, ut dicitis, eos ascivistis, quod injuriam pateremini; sed iisdem in injuria aliis facienda vos socios praestitistis. Atqui turpe potius est, parem gratiam non referre, quam referre eam, quae juste quidem contracta est, sed tamen injuste refertur.

[1] Muss also dies Beides, die ungewisse Furcht vor dieser dunkeln Macht und die bereits drohende Gefahr durch die Anwesenheit der Athener, uns bange machen, und können wir solchen Hindernissen gegenüber vollkommen über das Zurückbleiben hinter unsem etwaigen Erwartungen und Entwürfen uns trösten, wohlan so lasset uns die lauernden Feinde aus dem Lande schicken und unter uns wo möglich einen ewigen Frieden, zum wenigsten aber einen möglichst langen Stillstand schliessen und unsern Bruderzwist auf die Zukunft vertagen. Mit einem Worte: folget ihr mir, dann werden unsere Städte insgesamt der Freiheit gemessen, die uns in den Stand setzt, als ein unabhängiges Volk Wohlthaten oder Anfeindungen gleich sehr nach Gebühr zu erwidern. Hören wir aber nicht, sondern unterwerfen uns Fremden, dann ist es zu spät mit Befreiungsversuchen ¹ , dann ist, selbst wenn uns alles nach Wunsch geht, Verbrüderung mit dem Erbfeind und ein Zustand unnatürlicher Feindschaft unwiderruflich unser Loos.

« Ora poi ci sforzeremo di dimostrare che voi , O Plateesi, avete maggiormente danneggiato i Greci, e che la gravezza del vostro fallo è maggior d' ogni pena. Voi (secondo che dite) diveniste alleati e cittadini degli Ateniesi per vendicarvi di noi : dovevate dunque condurli contro noi solamente, e non unirvi con loro ad assaltar gli altri. E bene il potevate fare (ove pur fosse vero che a vostro malgrado eravate strascinati dagli Ateniesi ) , atteso che già contro il Medo era stata fatta la lega di questi Lacedemoni, della quale menate sì gran vanto. Dessá era certamente bastevole a divertir noi da voi, e (che grandissima cosa è) a procacciarvi agio di prender tranquillamente le vostre deliberazioni. Dunque a buon grado e non forzatamente continovaste a preferire la parte degli Ateniesi. Voi dite, che era vergogna tradii' dei benefattori : ma vergogna e ingiustizia maggiore era tradir bruttamente i Greci tutti insieme coi quali giuraste , piuttosto che i soli Ateniesi ; dappoiché questi mettevano in ¿schiavitù la Grecia , quelli la tornavano in libertà. Nè già avete reso ad essi in contraccambio un egual benefizio , nè scevro d’infamia : poiché , a dir vostro , invitaste gli Ateniesi quando eravate gli offesi, ed avete poi cooperato con loro quanda offendevano gli altri. Eppure il non ricàmbiar altrui di pari beuefizi è vitupero maggiore, che negar quelli i quali , tuttocchè per ogni dritto dovuti, non vanno immuni » rendendoli, da nota di malignità.