This is the law of accusation and defense, and from this the precise examination of matters is found. But he introduced a new kind of writing into the state, shooting rather at home and in a corner; and prosecuting when no one was fleeing, and alone both writing and declaring and, with himself as judge, examining and recording his opinions. But it is not so, my good sir, nor are the affairs of the defendant weighed on the opinion of the prosecutor, but the reporting of what is said rests upon the judgments of the jurors. But he, having rejected the judgment of the judges, and having set himself up as judge of those whom he prosecutes, of two things, one is true: either fearing the encounter and not daring the contest, but being afraid of the refutations of his falsehood, he is straightway condemned, or he is entirely foolish, not knowing how to arbitrate with his own passions, as he will certainly corrupt the judgment, embracing his own offspring and gazing at shadows as if they were statues. But Apelles and Lysippus, the painters, each introduced the judgment of another into his own paintings; neither did Lysippus use himself in all things, and Apelles was nowhere to be found. And that this man thought and seemed to be wiser than all is clear from the fact that, when the vote concerning the law-guardian was given, and since a great many judges and the rest of the learned men hurried to the matter and consented to the vote, no one, either of those present or of those absent, thought it necessary to say anything other than what was decided; for the testimony of the better men gathered to itself the opinions of all. But alone, as it seems, this man above the clouds, and knowing something more than the tablets of Zeus, set his own opinion against heaven and earth and fire and sea, not speaking publicly, for perhaps he would have put on a tunic of stone according to the poet, but writing his opinions in the back-chamber of the god, so that he might both write and escape notice for having written; and perhaps he would have escaped notice if the forgery of his hand <had not exposed him>, like some tomb-robber or temple-robber, the one who wrote as an offense. And if he were not dead, I would have brought him into court and demanded justice for his audacious deeds, because he annulled a vote of the emperor or hastened to annul it, and he went the opposite way to us who examined the man and so approved him; for in the things for which he blamed the one who was examined, in these he reviles those who examined him. But now let him pay the penalty there, for his intemperate tongue I mean, no less than Tantalus fearing the overhanging rock and suffering this aerial punishment; but let his argument be examined here, and let it suffer the setting of teeth on edge for the father's eating of unripe grapes. But let the examination of his argument wait a little, and let us linger on the argument concerning the law-guardian, for whom I would be ashamed defending him or being silent, and being silent or recommending him. For both are readily available to me, the one because of the folly of the one who wrote, the other because of the reverence for him and the long-standing spiritual examination; whom I thought alone had escaped the grasp of the insolent, and to have been found invincible even by those who slander, conquering on the one hand by his speech, and on the other hand subdued by his modesty and the seemliness about him. What possessed you, or rather driven by what demon, were you wickedly incited to speak and to impute irrationality to this speech, and to bring foolishness to Hermes, and lack of culture to the Muse, who was educated in every voice of grammar, and practiced the art of delivery in poetry to perfection, and yielded to no one in orthography, whichever you wish, whether that in the taking together and separation of syllables, or the other, which is now more studied? and he so strengthened his tongue with rhetoric, or strengthened rhetoric with his tongue, that he competed with the orator only up to the platform, but in other respects had nothing less than Phocion, who was called the "chopper" of that man? but if it is also necessary to give by tone

οὖτος ὁ νόμος κατηγορίας καὶ ἀπολογίας, κἀντεῦθεν ἡ ἀκριβὴς τῶν πραγμάτων δοκιμασία εὑρίσκεται. ὁ δὲ καινὸν εἶδος γραφῆς εἰς τὴν πολιτείαν εἰσήγαγεν, οἴκοι μᾶλλον καὶ ἐν παραβύστῳ τοξεύων· καὶ διώκων μὲν οὐδενὸς φεύγοντος, μόνος δὲ καὶ γράφων καὶ ἀποφαινόμενος καὶ παρ' ἑαυτῷ κριτῇ δοκιμάζων καὶ ἐγγράφων τὰ δόξαντα. Ἀλλ' οὐχ οὕτως ἔχει, ὦ βέλτιστε, οὐδ' ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ διώκοντος δόξῃ τὰ τοῦ φεύγοντος ταλαντεύεται πράγματα, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ ταῖς τῶν δικαζόντων γνώμαις ἡ τῶν λεγομένων κεῖται ἀναφορά. ὁ δὲ τὴν κρίσιν τῶν δικαστῶν ἀπωσάμενος, ἑαυτὸν δὲ καθίσας ὧν διώκει κριτήν, δυοῖν, θάτερον, ἢ τὴν ἔμμιξιν δεδιὼς καὶ οὐ θαρρῶν τὸν ἀγῶνα, ἀλλὰ τοὺς τῆς ψευδολογίας ἐλέγχους φοβούμενος, αὐτόθεν τυγχάνει κατάκριτος, ἢ ἀνόητός ἐστι πάντη, τοῖς ἰδίοις πάθεσι διαιτᾶν οὐκ εἰδώς, ὡς δεκάσει πάντως τὴν κρίσιν, τὰ οἰκεῖα περιέπων γεννήματα καὶ ὡς ἀγάλμασιν ἐνατενίσειε ταῖς σκιαῖς. ἀλλ' Ἀπελλῆς μὲν καὶ Λύσιππος οἱ γραφεῖς τὴν ἑτέρου κρίσιν ἕκαστος εἰς τὰς οἰκείας παρεισῆγε γραφάς· οὔτε δὲ Λύσιππος ἑαυτῷ ἐν πᾶσιν ἐχρᾶτο, καὶ Ἀπελλῆς ἦν οὐδαμοῦ. ὅτι δὲ οὗτος ᾤετο καὶ τῶν πάντων πλέον ἐδόκει φρονεῖν, δῆλον ἐξ ὧν, τῆς περὶ τὸν νομοφύλακα ψήφου δοθείσης, καὶ πλείστων ὅτι δικαστῶν καὶ τῆς λοιπῆς λογιότητος ἐπισυνδραμόντων τῷ πράγματι καὶ συναινεσάντων τῇ ψήφῳ, οὐδεὶς οὔτε τῶν παρόντων οὔτε τῶν ἀπόντων ἄλλο τι παρὰ τὰ δόξαντα λέγειν ᾤετο δεῖν· τῶν γὰρ κρειττόνων ἡ μαρτυρία πρὸς ἑαυτὴν τὰς πάντων δόξας συνήθροιζε. Μόνος δέ, ὡς ἔοικεν, οὗτος ὁ ὑπερνέφελος, καὶ πλέον τι τῶν τοῦ ∆ιὸς δέλτων εἰδώς, οὐρανῷ καὶ γῇ καὶ πυρὶ καὶ θαλάσσῃ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γνώμην ἀντέθηκεν, οὐ δημοσίᾳ φωνήσας, τάχα γὰρ ἂν λάϊνον ἔδυ χιτῶνα κατὰ τὸν ποιητήν, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸν ὀπισθόδομον τοῦ θεοῦ γράψας τὰ δόξαντα, ἵνα καὶ γράψῃ καὶ λάθῃ γράψας· καὶ τάχ' ἂν ἔλαθεν εἰ μὴ τῆς χειρὸς ἡ ἀπισημασία <αὐτὸν ἐφώρασεν>, ὥσπερ τινὰ τυμβωρύχον ἢ ἱερόσυλον τὸν γράψαντα ὡς ἀτόπημα. εἰ δὲ μὴ θανὼν ἦν, καὶ εἰς δικαστήρια ἂν εἰσῆγον καὶ δίκας τῶν τετολμημένων ἀπῄτησα, ὅτι βασιλέως ἀνεῖλε ψῆφον ἢ ἀνελεῖν ἔσπευσε, καὶ τοῖς δοκιμάσασιν ἡμῖν τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ οὕτως ἐγκρίνασι τὴν ἐναντίαν ἐβάδισεν· οἷς γὰρ τῷ δοκιμασθέντι ἐμέμψατο, τούτοις κακίζει τοὺς δοκιμάσαντας. νῦν δὲ ὁ μὲν ἐκεῖθεν τιννύτω τὰς δίκας, τῆς ἀκολάστου γλώσσης φημί, οὐδὲν ἧττον ἢ Τάνταλος ὑπερτέλλοντα πέτρον φοβούμενος καὶ τιμωρίαν ταύτην ἐναέριον ὑφιστάμενος· ὁ δὲ λόγος ἐνταῦθα ἐξεταζέσθω, καὶ τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς ὀμφακοφαγίας ὑφιστάσθω τὴν αἱμωδίαν. Ἀλλ' ἡ μὲν εὐθύνη τοῦ λόγου ὀλίγον ἀναμεινάτω, τῷ δὲ περὶ τὸν νομοφύλακα λόγῳ ἐνδιατρίψωμεν, ὅν αἰσχυνοίμην ἀπολογούμενος ἢ σιγῶν, καὶ σιωπῶν ἢ συνιστάμενος. ἀμφότερα γάρ μοι ἀμφιδεξίως περίεστι, τὸ μὲν διὰ τὴν τοῦ γεγραφότος ἄνοιαν, τὸ δὲ διὰ τὴν περὶ αὐτὸν αἰδῶ καὶ ψυχικὴν πάλαι ἀνάκρισιν· ὃν ᾤμην μόνον ἐγὼ τὰς λαβὰς ἐκπεφευγέναι τῶν ὑβριστῶν, καὶ ἀνάλωτον εὑρεθῆναι καὶ αὐτοῖς τοῖς βασκαίνουσι, τὸ μὲν λόγῳ νικῶντα, τὸ δὲ αἰδοῖ χειρούμενον καὶ τῇ περὶ αὐτὸν κοσμιότητι. ὃν τί σὺ παθών, ἢ μᾶλλον ποίῳ συνελαθεὶς δαίμονι, κακῶς ἐπήρθης εἰπεῖν καὶ ἀλογίαν τῷ λόγῳ προστρίψασθαι, καὶ τῷ Ἑρμῇ μὲν τὸ ἀνόητον, τῇ δὲ μούσῃ τὴν ἀμουσίαν προσενεγκεῖν, ὃς γραμματικῆς μὲν πᾶσαν ἐξεπαιδεύθη φωνήν, ποιητικῆς δὲ τὸ ὑποκριτικὸν εἰς ἄκρον ἐξήσκησεν, ὀρθογραφίας δὲ οὐδενὶ παρεχώρησεν, ὁποτέρας βούλει εἴτε τῆς ἐν συλλήψει καὶ διαστάσεσι συλλαβῶν, εἴτε τῆς ἄλλης, ἢ νῦν μᾶλλον σπουδάζεται; ῥητορικῇ δὲ οὕτω τὴν γλῶτταν ἐνίσχυσεν, ἢ ῥητορικὴν τῇ γλώττῃ ἐκράτυνεν, ὡς μέχρι μόνου τοῦ βήματος ἁμιλλᾶσθαι τῷ ῥήτορι, τὰ δ' ἄλλα μηδὲν Φωκίωνος ἔχειν τὸ ἔλαττον, ὃς κἀκείνου κόπις ὠνομάζετο; εἰ δὲ καὶ τόνῳ δεῖ δοῦναι