He will say that he has made the statement in a fit of anger. But your reflection on this must be that the lawgiver grants no indulgence to anger; he punishes the speaker, unless he proves the truth of his words. I have borne witness twice in regard to this man: for I was not aware that you punished the persons who had seen the deed, but pardoned those who had done the throwing away. I therefore request you to condemn him.

For although at this moment I am prosecuting for slander, yet at the same casting of your vote I am prosecuted for murdering my father: no trial could be more serious for me than this; and I alone, when certified of age, indicted the Thirty before the Areopagus. Vindicate, therefore, both my father and me.