to the Barathron and perish, and the property of such an one
is to be confiscated, with the exception of the tithe which falls to the
goddess. I call upon you to try these generals in accordance with this
decree. Yes, and so help me God--if it please you, begin with my own
kinsman Pericles for base would it be on my part to make him of more
account than the whole of the State. Or, if you prefer, try them by that
other law, which is directed against robbers of temples and betrayers
of their country, which says: if a man betray his city or rob a sacred
temple of the gods, he shall be tried before a law court, and if he be
convicted, his body shall not be buried in Attica, and his goods shall
be confiscated to the State. Take your choice as between these two laws,
men of Athens, and let the prisoners be tried by one or other. Let three
portions of a day be assigned to each respectively, one portion wherein
they shall listen to their accusation, a second wherein they shall make
their defence, and a third wherein you shall meet and give your votes in
due order on the question of their guilt or innocence. By this procedure
the malefactors will receive the desert of their misdeeds in full, and
those who are innocent will owe you, men of Athens, the recovery of
their liberty, in place of unmerited destruction. (10)

(9) "There was a rule in Attic judicial procedure, called the psephism
of Kannonus (originally adopted, we do not know when, on the
proposition of a citizen of that name, as a psephism or decree for
some particular case, but since generalised into common practice,
and grown into great prescriptive reverence), which peremptorily
forbade any such collective trial or sentence, and directed that a
separate judicial vote should in all cases be taken for or against
each accused party." Grote, "Hist. of Greece," vol. viii. p. 266
(2d ed.)

(10) Reading {adikos apolountai}.

"On your side, in trying the accused by recognised legal procedure, you
will show that you obey the dictates of pious feeling, and can regard
the sanctity of an oath, instead of joining hands with our enemies the
Lacedaemonians and fighting their battles. For is it not to fight their
battles, if you take their conquerors, the men who deprived them of
seventy vessels, and at the moment of victory sent them to perdition
untried and in the teeth of the law? What are you afraid of, that you
press forward with such hot has