Charidemus

If, men of Athens, the most serious offence committed by Aristocrates had been that in his decree he was so solicitous for the safety of such a man as I undertake to prove Charidemus to be that he provided a special and illegal penalty, in case anything happened to him, I should have tried to deal with that point at once, for the purpose of proving that the man is very far from deserving the favour of this decree.

but, inasmuch as one of our grievances is that certain persons make speeches and move resolutions designed to avert your suspicions and put you off your guard, you must not be greatly astonished if we convince you that this decree also is so worded that, while apparently offering some personal protection to Charidemus, it really robs our city of an honest and effective safeguard for the Chersonese.

Accordingly the persons I have mentioned began to consider by what means those commanders might be compelled to remain inactive, so that, the rival princes being friendless, Charidemus, who was striving to win the monarchy for Cersobleptes, might make himself master of the situation.

Now this man it was, fellow citizens, this past master of flattery, who, when informed through scouts of Charidemus that Philip was dead, before any one else had received the news, made up a vision for himself and lied about the gods, pretending that he had received the news, not from Charidemus, but from Zeus and Athena, the gods by whose name he perjures himself by day, and who then converse wit …

And just as, if a man attend to Ischomachus, he will make him a husbandman, and Lampis a shipmaster, and Charidemus a general, and Simon a horseman, and Perdix a huckster, and Crobylus a cook, and Archelaus a dancer, and Homer a poet, and Pyrrho a wrangler, and Demosthenes an orator, and Chrysippus a logician, and Aristotle a natural philosopher, and Plato a philosopher;

The deponent testifies that he is a relative of Polemon, the father of Hagnias, and that he heard from his father that Philagrus, the father of Eubulides, and Phanostratus, the father of Stratius, and Callistratus, the father of the wife of Sosias, and Euctemon, who was king, and Charidemus, the father of Theopompus and Stratocles, were first cousins to Polemon, their fathers all having been broth …

But to Charidemus, the son of Stratius, there was born a son Theopompus, the father of the defendant Macartatus.

and to Stratius, the brother of Hagnias, there were born Phanostratus and Charidemus, the grandfather of the defendant Macartatus.

Do you see Aristolochus, son of Charidemus?

So, when it is possible for all to behold object-lessons of such a kind and on such a scale, from which everyone would conclude that it does not pay to espouse the cause of the people, I begin to fear that some day you may become destitute of men who will speak on your behalf, especially when of the friends of the people some are being taken away by man’s natural destiny, by accident, and by the l …

that, whereas Charidemus, dispatched to Salamis in command of the infantry, and Diotimus, commanding the cavalry, when in the battle at the river some of the soldiers had been disarmed by the enemy, did at their own expense arm the younger men with eight hundred shields, it be resolved by the Council and People to crown Charidemus and Diotimus with a golden crown, and to proclaim it at the great P …

When Diotimus, and on another occasion Charidemus, had made a present of shields, they were crowned.

In that month, with a great effort, after the celebration of the Mysteries you dispatched Charidemus with ten ships, unmanned, and a sum of five talents of silver.

I had heard before, even before I saw you, a good while ago, about the death of Charidemus.

and no wonder, since such a man, had he lived on, would have been useful both to your city and to all Greece, the sort of man Charidemus was likely soon to become.

But did he enjoin anything else upon you, or converse with you, in dying?