Conon

but before he arrived, the Athenians had chosen as generals Alcibiades, who was still in exile, Thrasybulus, who was absent, and as a third, from among those at home, Conon.

After this Conon set sail from Andros, with the twenty ships which he had, to Samos, there to assume command of the fleet in accordance with the vote which the Athenians had passed.

When, meanwhile, Conon had arrived at Samos, where he found the Athenian fleet in a state of despondency, he manned with full complements seventy triremes instead of the former number, which was more than a hundred, and setting out with this fleet, in company with the other generals, landed here and there in the enemy’s territory and plundered it.

Then again, in the time of Conon, when they won the sea-battle off Cnidus, did they wrestle and sing better?

And indeed you remember that ridiculous thing which your excellent Conon did, coming forward where most of your multitude was gathered, and showing a small spot proclaimed that, if he himself came forward there, he would be victorious and you must depart by yourselves and yield;

And here I say that—even if some reader of this advice, of the very exact sort, should blame me—one must not be inexperienced even in the more recent men of a little before our time;

Who enabled Conon to fight the engagement at sea which lost her her maritime supremacy?

or again, Conon from the sea-fight with the Lacedaemonians.

By both these statutes, then, the defendant Conon is amenable for what he has done;

With gross outrage I have met, men of the jury, at the hands of the defendant, Conon, and have suffered such bodily injury that for a very long time neither my relatives nor any of the attending physicians thought that I should survive.

This oath I was at that time ready to take, and now, to convince you and those who stand gathered about, I swear by all the gods and goddesses that I have in very truth suffered at the hands of Conon this wrong for which I am suing him;

Now I assert—and I earnestly appeal to you, Athenians, not to take offence at what is coming, but to consider whether it is true—I assert that in proportion as openness is better than secrecy, and it is more honorable to gain one’s end by victory than by trickery, so Conon deserves more credit than Themistocles for building the walls.

In order, then, that you may give a closer attention to my words, the clerk shall read the actual decrees which you then passed in favor of Conon.

First of all, then, in the case of Conon, ask yourselves whether dissatisfaction with the man or his performances justifies the cancelling of the gifts conferred on him.

or, from the several states of the Alliance, Such-and-such a city crowned the People by whom they were delivered, or The liberated Euboeans, for example, crowned the People, or again Conon from the sea-fight with the Lacedaemonians, Chabrias from the sea-fight off Naxos.

and long ago Conon denounced Adeimantus after serving with him as general.

Nor is it the name alone which continues, but that principle also which Conon calls the constitutional system of the body, and Philo the spirit, that holds it together.

Conon of Paeania took theoric money for his son who was abroad.

For when all Hellas fell under the power of Athens, after the naval victory of Conon and the campaign of Timotheus, we were not able to hold our good fortune any time at all, but quickly dissipated and destroyed it.

Or, again, that during the rule of the Thirty the Lacedaemonians were our masters, but that when the exiles returned and dared to fight for freedom, and Conon won his naval victory, ambassadors came from the Lacedaemonians and offered Athens the command of the sea?

for Conon was a native son of Athens, and Evagoras, because of his many generous benefactions, had legally been given citizenship by the Athenians.

And although all this was accomplished with Conon as commander, yet Evagoras both made the outcome possible and furnished the greater part of the armament.

but who does not know about Conon, first among the Greeks for his very many glorious deeds, that when his own city had met with ill-fortune, hechose out of all the world Evagoras and came to him, believing that for himself Evagoras would provide the most secure asylum and for his country the most speedy assistance.

I do not know what I need to take the time to say further about them except that after they had been defeated in the naval battle by the forces of the King and by the leadership of Conon they made a peace of such a character that no one can point out in all history one more shameful, more reprehensible, more derogatory to the Hellenes, or more contradictory to what is said by certain eulogists of …

and at the head of his forces was Conon, who was the most competent of our generals, who possessed more than any other the confidence of the Hellenes, and who was the most experienced in the hazards of war;

Take the case of Conon, who, as commander in the service of Asia, brought an end to the power of the Lacadaemonians:

Now if Alcibiades in exile, and Conon after a disastrous defeat, and Dionysius, a man of no repute, and Cyrus, with his pitiable start in life, advanced so far and achieved such mighty deeds, how can we fail to expect that you, who are sprung from such ancestors, who are king of Macedonia and master of so many peoples, will effect with ease this union which we have discussed?

The career of Conon, not many years later, is a counterpart to that of Alcibiades.

And not only did he rebuild the walls of his country, but he restored Athens to the same high repute from which she had fallen.

And I think that, if Conon and Timotheus were still alive, and Diophantus had returned from Asia, they would have supported me most enthusiastically, since they would wish that I might obtain all I request.

Conon, too, who was in command at Naupactus, came to them, with information that the five and twenty Corinthian ships stationed opposite to the Athenian squadron did not give up hostilities, but were prepared for an engagement.

He begged them therefore to send him some ships, as his own eighteen were not competent to fight the enemy's five and twenty.