HKB
the prizes they struggled for, the bodies of the Argives, they buried them in their own Eleusis. Such were they (who fought) for the dead of the Seven at Thebes.
And afterwards, after Heracles had disappeared from men, and his children fled from Eurystheus and were hunted by all the Greeks, who, though ashamed indeed of what they did, feared the power of Eurystheus, they came to this city and took refuge at the altars. 12. And though Eurystheus demanded it, the Athenians would not give them up, but they reverenced the bravery of Heracles more than they feared their own danger, and they thought it more worthy of themselves to contend for the weak on the side of justice than to please those in power and surrender those wronged by them. 13. And when Eurystheus marched on them at that time at the head of the Peloponnesus, they did not change their minds on the approach of danger, but held the same opinion as before, though the father (Heracles) had done them no special good, and the Athenians did not know what sort of men these (children) would turn out to be. 14. But they thought it was a just course of action, though there was no previous reason for enmity with Eurystheus, and they had no longer hope of reward except that of a good reputation; so they incurred this danger for the boys, because they pitied the down-trodden, and hated the oppressors, and tried to hinder the latter and aid the former, believing it a mark of liberty to do nothing by compulsion, and of justice to aid the wronged, and of courage to die, if need be, fighting for both. 15. And both were so proud that Eurystheus and his party did not seek to gain any favor from willing men, and the Athenians were unwilling that Eurystheus, even if he came as a suppliant, should drive out their suppliants. So they summoned a force and fought and conquered the army from the whole of Peloponnesus, and brought the children of Heracles to safety, dispelled their fear and freed their souls, and because of their father's courage they crowned them with their own perils. 16. And they, while children, were much more fortunate than their father; for he, though bringing much happiness to all men, made his own life full of toil and strife and emulation, and punished others who were wrong-doers, but he could not punish Eurystheus who was his enemy and had sinned against him. But his sons through this city saw on the same day their own safety and the punishment of their enemies.
So many occasions came to our ancestors for fighting for this idea of justice. For the commencement of their life was just. For they were not, like many, collected from all quarters, and they did not settle here after expelling the earlier inhabitants, but they sprang from the soil and it was both their mother and country. 18. And they were the first and only ones at that time to banish the ruling families and establish a democracy, in the belief that freedom of all is the greatest harmony, and making the rewards of their dangers common, they administered the government with free minds, (19) by law honoring the good and punishing the bad, for they thought the wild beasts struggle with one another, but it is fitting for men to define justice by law, and to obey argument, and to serve these by their actions ruled by law and taught by argument.