History of the Peloponnesian War

Nay, if all leaders, like you in the present instance, should first state the facts briefly for all concerned,[*](Referring to the ἐπερώτημα βπαχὑ of 3.52.4; 3.53.2. Possibly πρὸς τοὺς ξύμπαντας goes with διαγνώμας ποιήσησθε, “and then as a warning to all pass sentence.”) and then pass sentence, there will be less seeking of fair words after foul deeds.”

Such was the speech of the Thebans. And the Lacedaemonian judges decided that their question, whether they had received any benefit from the Plataeans in the war, would be a fair one for them to put; for they had at all other times urged them, they claimed, to maintain neutrality in accordance with the old covenant which they had made with Pausanias after the Persian defeat; and when afterwards, before the investment of Plataea was undertaken, their proposal to the Plataeans that they remain neutral in accordance with the earlier agreement had not been accepted,[*](The text is certainly corrupt. Badham's slight change, adopted by Hude, seems to be the simplest solution of the difficulty.) they thought themselves thenceforth released from all obligations of the treaty because their own intentions had been honourable, and considered that they had been wronged by the Plataeans. So they caused them to come forward again, one at a time, and asked them the same question, whether they had rendered any good service to the Lacedaemonians and their allies in the war, and when they said “no” they led them off and slew them, exempting no one.