possessions, but should be worth more and not unjustly be on trial for my
life. If I had committed the crime with which he charges me I should have
gained nothing, but only brought myself into difficulty. 33. You all
would agree that it is more just to accept weighty proofs in a great case
and to regard as more trustworthy those things to which the whole city
testifies, than those which the prosecutor alone asserts.

34. Look at the case, (members of the) Boule, from what took place
besides. I went to him, and in the presence of witnesses said that I now
had all the slaves of which I had been possessed at the time I bought the
place, and I was ready, if he wished, to give them up to be tortured,
thinking that this would be the strongest test of his assertions and of
the facts. 35. But he would not take them, saying that there was no
trusting slaves. It seems to me strange that slaves when tortured make
damning statements about themselves, knowing well that it will kill them,
but prefer to be tortured than to inform on their masters to whom they
are naturally ill-disposed, when by doing so they could free themselves.
36. If Nicomachus had asked for them, and I had refused to give them up,
it would be evident that I thought them conscious of my guilt. As he did
not wish to take them when offered, you rightly can have the same opinion
about him, for the danger was not by any means evenly divided. 37. Had
they denounced me, there would have been no escape for me. If they had
not testified what he wished he would have suffered no penalty. So that
it devolved a great deal more on him to take them than on me to offer
them. But I was thus zealous, thinking it was for my interest to have you
learn the truth of the matter either from the evidence of slaves or
freedmen or facts.

38. Consider then, (members of the) Boule, whether you ought to trust me
for whom many persons have given testimony, or my accuser for whom no one