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

372 THE FALL OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE
property was confiscated, with a tenth of it going to Athens. If the
assembly did not like that proposal, he offered them still another
choice. They could use the procedure employed against those accused
of robbing temples or of treason: they were tried before a popular
court, and if convicted, they were killed, their bodies buried outside
Attica, and their property confiscated with a tenth going to Athena.
Any of these severe procedures he urged the assembly to choose, as
long as the defendants were tried separately and each given a full day
to make his defense!' Euryptolemus clearly believed that the passion
of the Athenian assembly was momentary, having been fanned by the
emotional experience of the Apaturia. Given time to recover and to
listen to reasoned argument, they would not condemn the generals.
His eloquent defense of the generals' actions; his refusal to blame the
captains, even as he pointed out the responsibility they had borne; his
warnings against illegal procedures; and his reminder that the accused
had just won a great victory for Athens almost swayed the angry and
excited Athenians. His motion to try the generals under the provisions
of the decree of Cannonus at first won approval as indicated by the
show of hands. A certain Menecles, however, raised some technical
objection, whose nature we are not told. On a second vote the motion
of the council prevailed. The assembly condemned all eight generals,
including the two who had fled, Erasinides, and the five others, and
the six in Athens were put to death. 64
Diodorus attributes the decision to the relatives of the dead and their
many friends and to Therarnenes and his associates. 65 Others were
required to achieve the majority against the generals, but we may well
believe that these two groups played the greatest part in the decision,
one because of its numbers and the other because of its role in the
debate and its effective organization. The behavior of the friends and
relatives of the dead need no explanation, but the actions of Theramenes,
Thrasybulus, and their associates deserves further examination.
If we reject factional politics as an important motive, as the
evidence demands, we must ask why they were so insistent on the
condemnation of the generals. The evidence permits no more than
conjecture, but the analysis we have made suggests that the events
after the battle, not planned or arranged by any individual or group,
6 lXen. I.].I6-2J.
64
Xen. I.].l