Against Alcibiades: For Deserting the Ranks

Now it is reasonable, gentlemen of the jury, that men who are now trying such a case for the first time since we settled the peace[*](i.e., the peace of 404 B.C, which ended the Peloponnesian War.) should act not merely as jurors, but in fact as law-makers. For you know well that your decision upon these cases will determine the attitude of the city towards them for all time. And it is the duty, in my opinion, alike of a loyal citizen and of a just juror to put such constructions on the laws as are likely to be of benefit to the city in the future.

For some are bold enough to assert that nobody can be chargeable with desertion or cowardice, since no battle has taken place; that the law merely provides for a court-martial on anyone who, from cowardice, has deserted the ranks and retreated while the rest were fighting. But the provisions of the law apply not only to such a case, but also to that of anyone who fails to appear in the infantry lines. Please read the law.