Against Alcibiades 1

I do not believe, gentlemen of the jury, that you desire to hear any excuse for the action of those who have resolved to accuse Alcibiades: for from the outset he has shown himself so unworthy of the citizenship that it is the duty of anyone, even in the absence of a personal wrong suffered at his hands, to regard him none the less as an enemy because of the general tenor of his life. His offences are not slight or entitled to indulgence, nor do they offer a hope of his reform in the future: they have been committed in such a manner, and have carried villainy to such lengths, that even his enemies feel ashamed for some of the things on which he prides himself. Yet I, gentlemen, since our fathers were previously at feud, and since my long-standing sense of his rascally character has now been increased by maltreatment at his hands, will try with your aid to make him pay the penalty for all that he has done. The main indictment has been sufficiently delivered by Archestratides; for he has exhibited the laws and produced witnesses to everything. But on certain points that he has omitted I will give you particular information.