Isocrates Against Callimachus 2

[2] Now after your return to the city from Piraeus, ¹ you saw that some of the citizens were bent upon bringing malicious prosecutions and were attempting to violate the Amnesty ² ; so, wishing to restrain these persons and to show to all others that you had not made these agreements under compulsion, but because you thought them of advantage to the city, you enacted a law, on the motion of Archinus, to the effect that, if any person should commence a lawsuit in violation of the oaths, the defendant should have the power to enter a plea of exception, the magistrates should first submit this question to the tribunal, and that the defendant who had entered the plea should speak first;