On the Twelve Years (1-5)

The laws have given you the right, Athenians, to acquit or punish men on trial. A doctor cannot treat his patients skilfully if he has not discerned the cause of the disease, nor can a member of a jury give a fair vote unless he has followed intelligently the rights and wrongs of the case.

Since I have myself become exposed to the full hatred of the orators, I am asking not only for divine assistance but for your help also. For they are casting aspersions on my personal history, thinking to undermine your confidence in my speech. I am of no consequence whether alive or dead; for what do the Athenians care if Demades is lost to them, too? No soldier will shed tears over my death—(How could he, when war brings him advancement and peace destroys his livelihood?); but it will be lamented by the farmer, the sailor, and everyone who has enjoyed the peaceful life with which I fortified Attica, encircling its boundaries, not with stone, but with the safety of the city.

In many cases, gentlemen of the jury, when men are serving as judges they are seriously misled. For, just as a complaint of the eyes, by confusing the vision, prevents a man from seeing what lies before him, so an unjust speech, insinuating itself into the minds of the jury, prevents them in their anger from perceiving the truth. You should therefore exercise more care in dealing with the accused than with the plaintiffs. For the latter, by virtue of speaking first, have the jury in the mood which suits them, while the former are compelled to plead their cause to judges already prejudiced by anger.

Now, if you hold me liable for the charges, condemn me out of hand; I ask no pardon. But if, on considerations of justice, law, and expediency, I prove to be innocent of these charges, do not leave me to the savagery of my prosecutors. If my death will contribute in the least, as these men say, to the common safety, I am ready to die. For it is a noble thing to win public esteem by the loss of one’s own life, so long as it is given in answer to the country’s need and not the argument of these accusers.

I entreat you by the gods, Athenians, give me free scope to explain to you my claims to fair treatment. I have, I believe, the power even to be of assistance to others, but on this occasion fear restrains my speech. Apart from that I am not afraid that the facts will convict me; all I fear is my opponents’ slander which, instead of bringing wrongdoers to justice, attaches to any with a reputation as an orator or statesman.