Apophthegmata Laconica

When someone asked him why the elders continue the trials of capital cases over several days, and why, even if the defendant is acquitted, he is none the less still under indictment, he said, They take many days to decide, because, if they make an error in a capital case, there can be no reversal of

the judgement; and the accused continues, perforce, to be under indictment of the law, because, under this law, it may be possible, by deliberation, to arrive at a better decision. [*](For the fact Cf. Plato, Apology, chap. xxvii. (37 A); Thucydides, i. 132.)