[67]
And surely no one could find grounds to praise the mildness1 of the Thirty as against that of the people's rule! For when the Thirty took over the city, by vote of the Assembly,2 they put to death fifteen hundred Athenians3 without a trial and compelled more than five thousand to leave Athens and take refuge in the Piraeus,4 whereas when the exiles overcame them and returned to Athens under arms, these put to death only the chief perpetrators of their wrongs and dealt so generously and so justly by the rest5 that those who had driven the citizens from their homes fared no worse than those who had returned from exile.
1 An example of irony （litotes）, a figure sparingly used by Isocrates. Cf. “outworn” in Isoc. 4.92.
2 Under duress. See Xen. Hell. 2.3.2.
3 The same number is given in Isoc. 20.11.
4 Only those enjoyed the franchise under the Thirty who were in the catalogue of the approved “three thousand.” See Isoc. 18.17.
5 Cf. Plat. Menex. 243e.
Isocrates. Isocrates with an English Translation in three volumes, by George Norlin, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1980.
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