Against Timocrates

Against Timocrates was a speech given by Demosthenes in which he attacked a law introduced by Timocrates. Demosthenes claimed that this law would deprive Athens of a great deal of money.

I should like, gentlemen of the jury, to give you a description of the method of legislation among the Locrians (Zaleucus). It will do you no harm to hear an example, especially one set by a well-governed community. In that country the people are so strongly of opinion that it is right to observe old-established laws, to preserve the institutions of their forefathers, and never to legislate for the gratification of whims, or for a compromise with transgression, that if a man wishes to propose a new law, he legislates with a halter round his neck. If the law is accepted as good and beneficial, the proposer departs with his life, but, if not, the halter is drawn tight, and he is a dead man.^[1][2]

References

External links

• Text of the speech at the Perseus Digital Library