Thus not one of the charges brought against me has any foundation. But even if the probabilities, as distinct from the facts, point to me as the murderer, it is acquittal that I deserve from you far more than anything else; since first, it is clear that if I struck back, it was only because I was being deeply wronged; had that not been so, it would never have been thought likely that I was the murderer; and secondly, it is the murderers, not those accused of the murder, whom it is your duty to convict.i.e. (1) Even if he can be proved guilty, there are extenuating circumstances which will make it impossible to condemn him. (2) But he cannot be proved guilty in any case.

As I am completely cleared of the charge, it is not I who will profane the sanctity of the gods when I set foot within their precincts, any more than it is I who am sinning against them in urging you to acquit me. It is those who are prosecuting an innocent man like myself, while they let the criminal escape, to whom dearth is due; it is they who deserve in full the penalty which they say should be inflicted upon me, for urging you to become guilty of impiety.

If this is the treatment which the prosecution deserve, you must put no faith in them. I myself, on the other hand, as you will see by examining my past life, do not form plots or covet what does not belong to me. On the contrary, I have made several substantial payments to the Treasury,The εἰσφορά was an extraordinary property-tax levied on citizens and metics in time of war. I have more than once served as Trierarch,One of the most important liturgies or public services which the richer members of the community were obliged to undertake from time to time. The τριήραρχος served for a year as the commander of a trireme; and although the State furnished rigging etc., and pay for the crew, the trierach was to expend large sums on repairs and to make up shortages in the payment of his men from his own pocket. The average cost of a Trierarchy was 50 minae. I have furnished a brilliant chorus,i.e. as Choregus he had paid for the training and equipment of a chorus at one of the dramatic or choral festivals so frequent at Athens and throughout Greece in general. I have often advanced money to friends, and I have frequently paid large sums under guarantees given for others; my wealth has come not from litigation, but from hard work;The Greek is a deliberate jingle, which cannot be rendered convincingly in English. Perhaps . . . not from litigation, but from application might serve. and I have been a religious and law-abiding man. If my character is such as this, you must not deem me guilty of anything sinful or dishonorable.

Were my enemy alive and prosecuting me, I should not be resting content with a defense; I should have shown what a scoundrel he was himself and what scoundrels are those who, while professedly his champions, seek in fact to enrich themselves at my expense over the charge which I am facing.Implying that the defendant’s property would be confiscated upon his conviction and a percentage given to the prosecution. See Antiphon 5.79, , for a similar complaint. However, more out of decency than in fairness to myself, I shall refrain. Instead, I entreat you, gentlemen, you who are empowered to decide the most critical of issues; take pity on my misfortune and remedy it; do not join my opponents in their attack; do not allow them to make an end of me without regard to justice or the powers above.

It is an outrage to misfortune that he should use it to cloak his crime, in the hope of concealing his defilement. Neither does he deserve your pityThe ἀτυχία and ἐλεεῖσθαι of course echo the ἐλεήσαντας τὴν ἀτυχίαν μου at the close of the preceding speech for the defense. he did not consult his victim’s wishesIt is important to distinguish between the various meanings of ἀκούσιος Whereas ἑκούσιος is always willing or voluntary, ἀκούσιος can mean one of three things; (a) unwilling, (b) accidental or involuntary, (c) non-voluntary. In (a) I do or suffer something against my will; in (b) I do or suffer something voluntarily, but the consequences are other than I willed them to be; in (c) I do or suffer something unconsciously or in entire ignorance (e.g. I may be hypnotized and unknowingly commit murder, or I may be the unsuspecting victim of sudden death, as here); my will does not enter into the matter at all. in bringing doom upon him: whereas he did consult his own before exposing himself to danger. We proved in our first speech that he is the murderer; we shall now endeavor to show by examination that his defense was unsound.