Cannonus,[9] which orders that man, whosoever he be, who is guilty of
treason against the people of Athens, to be put in irons, and so to
meet the charge against him before the people. If he be convicted, he
is to be thrown into the Barathron and perish, and the property of
such an one is to be confiscated, with the exception of the tithe
which falls to the goddess. I call upon you to try these generals in
accordance with this decree. Yes, and so help me God--if it please
you, begin with my own kinsman Pericles for base would it be on my
part to make him of more account than the whole of the State. Or, if
you prefer, try them by that other law, which is directed against
robbers of temples and betrayers of their country, which says: if a
man betray his city or rob a sacred temple of the gods, he shall be
tried before a law court, and if he be convicted, his body shall not
be buried in Attica, and his goods shall be confiscated to the State.
Take your choice as between these two laws, men of Athens, and let the
prisoners be tried by one or other. Let three portions of a day be
assigned to each respectively, one portion wherein they shall listen
to their accusation, a second wherein they shall make their defence,
and a third wherein you shall meet and give your votes in due order on
the question of their guilt or innocence. By this procedure the
malefactors will receive the desert of their misdeeds in full, and
those who are innocent will owe you, men of Athens, the recovery of
their liberty, in place of unmerited destruction.[10]

[9] "There was a rule in Attic judicial procedure, called the psephism
of Kannonus (originally adopted, we do not know when, on the
proposition of a citizen of that name, as a psephism or decree for
some particular case, but since generalised into common practice,
and grown into great prescriptive reverence), which peremptorily
forbade any such collective trial or sentence, and directed that a