desires it, I will afterwards refer to the ribald language that has been
so incontinently used.

{12} The offences charged against me are many; and for some of them the
laws assign heavy and even the most extreme penalties. But I will tell you
what is the motive which animates the present suit. It gives play to the
malice of a personal enemy, to his insolence, his abuse, his contumelies,
and every expression of his hostility: and yet, assuming that the charges
and the imputations which have been made are true, it does not enable the
State[n] to exact a penalty that is adequate, or nearly adequate, to the
offences. {13} For it is not right to seek to debar another from coming
before the people[n] and receiving a hearing, nor to do so in a spirit of
malice and envy. Heaven knows, it is neither straightforward, nor citizen-
like, nor just, men of Athens! If the crimes by which he saw me injuring
the city were of such a magnitude as he just now so theatrically set
forth, he should have had recourse to the punishments enjoined by the laws
at the time of the crimes themselves. If he saw me so acting as to deserve
impeachment, he should have impeached me, and so brought me to trial
before you; if he saw me proposing illegal measures, he should have
indicted me for their illegality. For surely, if he can prosecute
Ctesiphon on my account, he would not have failed to indict me in person,
had he thought that he could convict me. {14} And further, if he saw me
committing any of those other crimes against you, which he just now
slanderously enumerated, or any other crimes whatsoever, there are laws
which deal with each, and punishments, and lawsuits and judgements
involving penalties that are harsh and severe: to all of these he could
have had recourse; and from the moment when it was seen that he had acted
so, and had conducted his hostilities against me on that plan, his present
accusation of me would have been in line with his past conduct. {15} But
as it is, he has forsaken the straight path of justice; he has shrunk from