t of guilty against this man from a
strange land for a crime which you would severely punish even in the
case of one of your own citizens."

Having thus spoken, the remorseless prosecutor suspended his vindictive
utterance, and the court crier straightway ordered me to begin my
defense, if I had any to make. At first I could not sufficiently
control my voice to speak, although less overcome, alas, by the
harshness of the accusation than by my own guilty conscience. But at
last, miraculously inspired with courage, I made answer as follows:

"I realize how hard it is for a man accused of murder, and confronted
with the bodies of three of your citizens, to persuade so large a
multitude of his innocence, even though he tells the exact truth and
voluntarily admits the facts. But if in mercy you will give me an
attentive hearing, I shall easily make clear to you that far from
deserving to be put on trial for my life, I have wrongfully incurred
the heavy stigma of such a crime as the chance result of justifiable
indignation.

"I was making my way home from a dinner party at a rather late hour,
after drinking pretty freely, I won't attempt to deny--for that was the
head and front of my offense--when, lo and behold! before the very
doors of my abode, before the home of the good Milo, your
fellow-citizen, I beheld a number of villainous thieves trying to
effect an entrance and already prying the doors off from the twisted
hinges. All the locks and bolts, so carefully closed for the night, had
been wrenched away, and the thieves were planning the slaughter of the
inmates. Finally, one of them, bigger and more active than the rest,
urged them to action with these words:

"'Come on, boys! Show the stuff you are made of, and strike for all you
are worth while they are asleep! No quarter now, no faint-hearted
weakening! Let death go through the house with drawn sword! If you find
any in bed, slit their throats before they wake; if any try to resist,
cut them down. Our only chance of getting away safe and sound is to
leave no one else safe and sound in the whole house.'

"I confess, citizens, that I was badly frightened, both on account of
my hosts and myself; and believing that I was doing the duty of a good
citizen, I drew the sword which always accompanies me in readiness for
such dangers, and started in to drive away or lay low those desperate
robbers. But the barbarous and inhuman villains, far from being
frightened away, ha