The Fall of the Athenian Empire-(A New History of the Peloponnesian War) Donald Kagan - (1987)

THE TRIAL OF THE GENERALS 371
Hellespont in 407. 59 His actions in defense of the generals is an important
refutation of the claim that factional politics played a significant
part in the trial of the generals, for a common version of that claim is
that the attack by Theramenes and Thrasybulus against the generals
was really an attack of the faction of Alcibiades against the democratic
forces hostile to him. 60 It is true that one of the accused generals,
Pericles, was his relative and another, Diomedon, was his friend, but
that someone so close to Alcibiades as Euryptolemus was the generals'
chief defender should dispose of the theory that the attack against them
was plot by the faction of Alcibiades.
Euryptolemus and others accused Callixeinus of making an illegal
proposal, thereby invoking the graphe paranomon. Under its terms, his
proposal could not be acted upon until he had been tried and acquitted
on the charge." Some applauded this action, but many more cried out
against it on the grounds that it would be terrible to prevent the people
from doing what they wished. A certain Lysiscus then rose to move
that those who had proposed the graphe should themselves be judged
by the same vote as the generals unless they withdrew their charge.
That suggestion was greeted with so much enthusiasm that the charge
was withdrawn. Next, some of the prytanies, the presiding officials
at the assembly, refused to put the original question to the vote on the
grounds that it was illegal. Callixeinus thereupon suggested that the
same charge be brought against them, and he was supported by such
an uproar that the officials were terrified and agreed to put the question.
It happened'that the philosopher Socrates was one of the prytanies on
that day, and he alone had the courage to persist in his refusal but to
no avail. His refusal was ignored, and the process went forward."
In the face of the assembly's passion and in spite of the threats and
dangers, Euryptolemus rose again to try another line in defense of the
generals, proposing a procedure different from the one put forward
by the council. He suggested that the accused be tried in accordance
with the decree of Cannon us, which provided that defendants accused
of "wronging the People" must appear before the assembly in chains;
if convicted, they were killed by being thrown into a pit, and their
59 Xen. I.J.Il-q; 4'.19.
60
Beloch, AP, 86; B. W. Henderson, The Great War between Atbenrand Sparta (London,
1927), 472; Andrewes, Phoenix XXVIII (1974), 116; W. J. McCoy, AJP XCVIII (1977),
287-289; Roberts, Accountability, 66.
61
MacDowell, The Law in Classical Athens, 188.
62 Xen. 1.7.II-16.