Antidosis (26-30)

He is confident that he will win easily; for he sees that you are over-ready to accept slanders and calumnies, while I, because of my age and my lack of experience in contests of this kind,[*] shall not be able to reply to them in a manner worthy of my reputation;

for I have so lived all my life till now that no man either under the oligarchy or under the democracy has ever charged me with any offense, whether of violence or injury,[*] nor will any man be found to have sat either as arbitrator[*] or as judge upon my actions. For I have schooled myself to avoid giving any offense to others, and, when I have been wronged by others, not to seek revenge in court but to adjust the matter in dispute by conferring with their friends.

All this has availed me nothing; on the contrary, I who have lived to this advanced age without complaint from anyone could not be in greater jeopardy if I had wronged all the world. Yet I am not utterly discouraged because I face so great a penalty;[*] no, if you will only hear me with good will, I am very confident that those who have been misled as to my pursuits and have been won over by my would-be slanderers will promptly change their views, while those who think of me as I really am will be still more confirmed in their opinion.

But in order that I may not overtax your patience by speaking at undue length before coming to the subject, I shall leave off this discussion and attempt forthwith to inform you on the question which you are to vote upon. Please read the indictment.[*]

Here in the indictment my accuser endeavors to vilify me, charging that I corrupt young men[*] by teaching them to speak and gain their own advantage in the courts contrary to justice, while in his speech he makes me out to be a man whose equal has never been known either among those who hang about the law-courts or among the devotees of philosophy; for he declares that I have had as my pupils not only private persons but orators, generals, kings, and despots;[*] and that I have received from them and am now receiving enormous sums of money.