Source edition
Lysias. Lamb, W.R.M., editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1930.
Source data
Perseus Digital Library · CC BY-SA 4.0
Cloned and adapted by Humanitext, with ongoing edits.
Summary
This work is a courtroom oration in which a defendant pleads his innocence against a charge of "premeditated wounding" arising from a dispute over a shared mistress. The defendant and the prosecutor had previously agreed to share the woman and had once reconciled after a conflict, but a subsequent clash resulted in injuries, leading to this trial. The speaker exposes the contradictions in his opponent's denial of their past reconciliation and agreement, arguing that the incident was accidental rather than premeditated. He presents the prosecutor’s refusal to allow the torture (basanos) of the shared slave woman—the key witness—as the ultimate proof of his own innocence. Ultimately, he highlights the injustice of the accusation and entreats the jurors to deliver a verdict of acquittal.