62,63] REPLY OF THE THEBANS 229 aggressive and endeavoured to subjugate us as well as the rest of Hellas. Owing to our divisions they actually con- quered the greater part of the country ; but we defeated them at Coronea, and liberated Boeotia*^; and at this moment we are zealously co-operating in the liberation of Hellas, providing cavalry and munitions of war more largely than any of the allies. Thus much in answer to the charge respecting our Persian tendencies.
- And now we will proceed to show that you, and not 63
we, have done the greater wrong to b.h they 0/ their ozun Hellas, and are deserving of every sort freeivUl abetted the of punishment. You say that you be- -^'^'euimis in their ag- , , . , . . r A 1 • sressioiis upon Hellas. came allies and citizens of Athens in ^,^^^ ^^^^^^ obUgation, order that you might be protected but no obligation can against us. If so, you ought to have j"siify a cnme. invited their aid only against us, and not to have assisted them in their attacks upon others ; such a course was cer- tainly open to you : even if you had been in some degree constrained against your will by the Athenians, you had pre- viously made the alliance with the Lacedaemonians against the Persians, to which you are so fond of appealing. That alliance would at any rate have restrained our hands, and above all would have secured to you freedom of deliberation. But you acted willingly, and were no longer under compul- sion when you made common cause with the Athenians. Your allegation is that they were your benefactors and that you could not honourabl}' betray them ; but how far more dishonourable and wicked to betray all the Hellenes with whom you had sworn alliance, than the Athenians only, the one the liberators, the other the enslavers of Hellas ! The return which you made to them is unequal, na}', in- famous; you say that you invited them to assist you because you were wronged, and then you became their accomplices in wronging others. Surely ingratitude is shown in refusing to return an honourable kindness, when it can be done honourably, not in refusing to return ^ Cp. iv. 92 fin.
