35
But he declined, asserting that no credit could be given to servants. To my mind it is surprising that, when put to the torture on their own account, they accuse themselves, in the certain knowledge that they will be executed, but when it is on account of their masters, to whom they naturally have most animosity, they can choose rather to endure the torture than to get release from their present ills by an incrimination!
36
Nay, in truth, gentlemen, I think it is manifest to all that, had I refused to deliver the men at Nicomachus’s request, I should be considered conscious of my guiltThe offer of one’s slaves for the extraction of evidence under torture was generally presumed to be a sign of one’s innocence.; so, since he declined to accept them when I offered to deliver them, it is fair to form the same opinion regarding him, especially as the danger is not equal for us both.
37
For if they had made the statements about me that he desired, I should not even have had a chance of defending myself; while if they had not supported his statements, he was liable to no penalty. It behoved him, therefore, much rather to take them than it suited me to deliver them. For my part, I was so solicitous in the matter, because I felt it was in my favour to have you informed of the truth regarding this matter, at once by torture, by witnesses, and by evidence.
38
And you should consider, gentlemen, which side you ought rather to credit, those for whom many have borne witness, or one for whom nobody has ventured to do so; whether it is more likely that this man is lying, as he can without danger,In prosecutions for impiety. and in certain other cases, the accuser was not subject to the rule that he forfeited 1000 drachmae and some of his civic rights if he failed to get a fifth of the votes of the judges. or that in face of so grave a danger I committed such an act; and whether you think that he is vindicating the cause of the State, or has been playing the slanderer’s trade in his accusation.
