demonstrate, not by speaking my own words, but by showing an inscription
of your ancestors, which they graved on a brazen column and deposited in
the citadel, not for their own benefit, (they were right-minded enough
without such records,) but for a memorial and example to instruct you,
how seriously such conduct should be taken up. What says the inscription
then? It says: "Let Arthmius, son of Pythonax the Zelite, [Footnote:
Zelea is a town in Mysia. Arthmius was sent by Artaxerxes into
Peloponnesus, to stir up a war against the Athenians, who had irritated
him by the assistance which they lent to Egypt. Aeschines says that
Arthmius was the [Greek: _proxenos_] of Athens, which may partly
account for the decree passed against him.] be declared an outlaw,
[Footnote: Of the various degrees of [Greek: _atimia_] at Athens I
shall speak hereafter. I translate the word here, so as to meet the case
of a foreigner, who had nothing to do with the franchises of the
Athenians, but who by their decree was excommunicated from the benefit
of all international law.] and an enemy of the Athenian people and their
allies, him and his family." Then the cause is written why this was
done: because he brought the Median gold into Peloponnesus. That is the
inscription. By the gods! only consider and reflect among yourselves,
what must have been the spirit, what the dignity of those Athenians who
acted so! One Arthmius a Zelite, subject of the king, (for Zelea is in
Asia,) because in his master's service he brought gold into
Peloponnesus, not to Athens, they proclaimed an enemy of the Athenians
and their allies, him and his family, and outlawed. That is, not the
outlawry commonly spoken of: for what would a Zelite care, to be
excluded from Athenian franchises? It means not that; but in the
statutes of homicide it is written, in cases where a prosecution for
murder is not allowed, but killing is sanctioned, "and let him die an
outlaw," says the legislator: by which he means, that whoever kills such
a person shall be unpolluted. [Footnote: That is, his act being