that you listen to them even when they denounce him by anticipation for
his alleged intentions--well, what _can_ one say?

{24} The possible effect of this is a matter which some of you require to
understand, and I will speak without reserve; for indeed I could not speak
otherwise. All the commanders who have ever yet sailed from Athens--if I
am wrong, I consent to any penalty that you please[n]--take money from the
Chians, from the Erythraeans,[n] from any people from whom they can
severally get it--I mean, any of the Asiatic settlers who are now in
question. {25} Those who have one or two ships take less, those who have a
larger force take more. And those who give to them do not give either
little or much for nothing; they are not so insane: in fact, with these
sums they buy immunity from injury for the merchants who sail from their
ports, freedom from piracy, the convoying of their vessels, and so on.
They call the gifts 'benevolences',[n] and that is the name given to the
sums thus obtained. {26} And in the present case, when Diopeithes is there
with his army, it is obvious that all these peoples will give him money.
From what other source do you imagine that a general can maintain his
troops, when he has received nothing from you, and has no resources from
which he can pay his men? Will money drop from the sky? Of course not. He
subsists upon what he can collect or beg or borrow. {27} The real effect,
therefore, of the accusations made against him here, is simply to warn
every one that they should refuse to give him anything, since he is to pay
the penalty for his very intentions, not to speak of any action that he
may have taken or any success that he may have achieved. That is the only
meaning of the cry that 'he is preparing a blockade', or 'he is
surrendering[n] the Hellenes'. Do any of his critics care about the
Hellenes who live in Asia? {28} Were it so, they would be more thoughtful
for the rest of mankind than for their own country. And the proposal to
send another general to the Hellespont amounts to no more than this. For