Source edition
Demosthenes. Orationes, Vol. III. Rennie, W., editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1931.
Source data
Perseus Digital Library · CC BY-SA (per Perseus's terms)
Cloned and adapted by Humanitext, with ongoing edits.
Summary
This work is a court speech delivered in Athens by a young prosecutor who denounces the infamous "sykophant" (professional informer) Theocrines for various illegal acts. The young speaker takes legal action driven by his personal circumstances, as his father had been fined a huge sum by Theocrines and thus deprived of his civil rights. Throughout the speech, the prosecutor exposes, using specific testimonies and laws, how Theocrines embezzled public funds to become a state debtor and illegally withdrew numerous prosecutions in exchange for bribes. Furthermore, he unmasks Theocrines' hypocrisy in posing as a defender of the laws while secretly colluding with other politicians and professional informers. Ultimately, the speaker strongly condemns the harmful influence of such informers on the Athenian state, pleading with the jurors for a just verdict, severe punishment for the defendant, and relief for his own unjustly impoverished family.