Certainly I cannot be called unjust in my prosecution of Leocrates. I was even willing at
 my own risk to let the proof rest on the torture of his male and female slaves, but the
 defendant, realizing his guilt, rejected the offer instead of accepting it. Add yet,
 gentlemen, the male and female slaves of Leocrates would have been far readier to deny any
 of the real facts than to invent lies against their master. Apart from this, Leocrates will presently proclaim that he is a simple citizen and is
 falling a prey to the cunning of an orator and false informer. But I am sure you all know
 well the characteristic behavior of those unscrupulous men who try to lay false
 information; for when they choose their part they look for vantage-points on which to
 quibble against those on trial, whereas the man whose aims in going to law are honest, who
 brings proofs to bear against those who come under the herald’s curse, Before meetings of the Assembly and the Council a curse was
 pronounced by the herald against all who might be acting treasonably against the state
 (see Dem. 19.70 ). does just the opposite, as I myself
 am doing. Look at the present case yourselves in this way. Which people could not have been misled
 by cunning or a deceptive argument? The male and female slaves. Naturally, when tortured,
 they would have told the whole truth about all the offences. But it was just these persons
 whom Leocrates refused to hand over, though they were his and no one else’s. On the other hand which people could he probably impose upon by arguments, appealing to
 their softer side by his tears and so winning their sympathy? The jury. Leocrates, the
 betrayer of his country, has come into court with only one fear, namely that the witnesses
 who by certain proofs expose the criminal will be produced from the same household as the
 man whom they expose. What was the use of pretexts, pleas, excuses? Justice is plain, the
 truth easy and the proof brief. If he admits that the articles of the indictment are true and right, why does he not
 suffer punishment as the laws require? But if he claims that they are false, why has he
 not handed over his male and female slaves? When a man is up for treason he should submit
 his slaves for torture, without evading a single one of the most searching tests.