Antidosis

But I can show you also where you may see, if you desire, the names of our trouble-makers and of the men who are really liable to the charges which these people apply to the sophists. They are published by law on the tablets which the magistrates set up: public offenders and sycophants have their names published by the Thesmothetae; malefactors and their instigators, by the Eleven; and private offenders and authors of unjust complaints, by the Forty.[*](When a case was accepted for trial, the appropriate court fixed a day for the preliminary hearing, and published the charge on white tablets set up in the market place. See Lipsius, Das attische Recht p. 820. The “Thesmothetae” (see 38, note) were responsible for bringing to trial mainly offenders against the state, including sycophants. See Lipsius, Das attische Recht pp. 374 ff. The “Eleven,” besides being a board for the care of prisons and for the execution of condemned criminals, dealt with malefactors such as robbers, burglars, pickpockets, kidnappers, etc. See Lipsius, Das attische Recht p. 78. “The Forty,” four selected by lot from each of the ten tribes, had jurisdiction over the great mass of private litigation, involving mainly property rights (torts), themselves settling without more ado all petty cases involving sums not exceeding ten drachmas. See Lipsius, Das attische Recht pp. 8l ff.)

In these lists you will find the names of this fellow and his friends recorded many times, but you will not find my name nor that of anyone of my profession published in a single one of them. On the contrary, you will find that we so order our own affairs as to stand in no need of your lawsuits.

And yet, when men keep clear of these troubles, when they live decently and have had no part in any disgraceful act, why do you not give them their due of praise instead of subjecting them to trial? For it is evident that the principles which we instil into our students are such as we practice in our own lives.