| 1. How you, men of Athens, have
been affected by my accusers, I do not
know; but I, for my part, almost forgot
my own identity, so persuasively did
they talk; and yet there is hardly a word
of truth in what they have said. But I
was most amazed by one of the many
lies that they told–when they said that
you must be on your guard not to be
deceived by me, because I was a clever
speaker. For I thought it the most
shameless part of their conduct that
they are not ashamed because they will
immediately be convicted by me of
falsehood by the evidence of fact,
when I show myself to be not in the
least a clever speaker, unless indeed
they call him a clever speaker who
speaks the truth; for if this is what they
mean, I would agree that I am an
orator–not after their fashion. Now
they, as I say, have said little or nothing
true; but you shall hear from me
nothing but the whole truth. Not,
however, men of Athens, speeches
finely tricked out with words and
phrases, as theirs are, nor carefully
arranged, but you will hear things said
at random with the words that happen
to occur to me. For I trust that what I
say is just; and let none of you expect
anything else. For surely it would not
be fitting for one of my age to come
before you like a youngster making up
speeches. And, men of Athens, I
urgently beg and beseech you if you
hear me making my defence with the
same words with which I have been
accustomed to speak both in the
market place at the bankers tables,
where many of you have heard me, and
elsewhere, not to be surprised or to
make a disturbance on this account.
For the fact is that this is the first time I
have come before the court, although I
am seventy years old; I am therefore an
utter stranger to the manner of speech
here. Hence, just as you would, of
course, if I were really a stranger,
pardon me if I spoke in that dialect and
that manner in which I had been
brought up, so now I make this request
of you, a fair one, as it seems to me,
that you disregard the manner of my
speech–for perhaps it might be worse
and perhaps better–and observe and
pay attention merely to this, whether
what I say is just or not; for that is the
virtue of a judge, and an orator's virtue
is to speak the truth. | Student name:
Next section
|