Lycurgus, Against Leocrates, ed. J. O. Burtt, 125

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[125] For they established it by decree and oath that anyone who found a person aspiring to tyranny or attempting to betray the city or overthrow the democracy should be guiltless if he killed him.¹ They thought it better that imagined culprits should perish than that they themselves should have a real experience of slavery, holding that citizens must simply live in such a manner as to avoid the very suspicion of any of these crimes. Please take the decree.

Against Leocrates. Lycurgus. ed. J. O. Burtt. London. 1954.

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Current edition Perseus

Against Leocrates (Greek) (Lycurgus. Minor Attic Orators, Vol. 2. Burtt, J. O., translator. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Κατὰ Λεωκράτους Perseus (Lycurgus. Minor Attic Orators, Vol. 2. Burtt, J. O., editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954 (printing).) — 125 focus

[125] ἐψηφίσαντο γὰρ καὶ ὤμοσαν, ἐάν τις τυραννίδι ἐπιτιθῆται¹ ἢ τὴν πόλιν προδιδῷ ἢ τὸν δῆμον καταλύῃ, τὸν αἰσθανόμενον καθαρὸν εἶναι ἀποκτείναντα, καὶ κρεῖττον ἔδοξεν αὐτοῖς τοὺς τὴν αἰτίαν ἔχοντας τεθνάναι μᾶλλον ἢ πειραθέντας μετὰ ἀληθείας αὐτοὺς δουλεύειν· ἀρχὴν γὰρ οὕτως ᾤοντο δεῖν ζῆν τοὺς πολίτας, ὥστε μηδʼ εἰς ὑποψίαν ἐλθεῖν μηδένα τούτων τῶν ἀδικημάτων. καὶ μοι λαβὲ τὸ ψήφισμα.

Notes on the current edition

Against Leocrates

1. The decree of Demophantus is mentioned below ( Lyc. 1.127 ). It was passed in 410 B.C. on the restoration of the democracy and not, so far as is known, re-enacted after the downfall of the Thirty. It is quoted in full by Andocides ( Andoc. 1.96 sq.).

Lycurgus Against Leocrates 125

ed. J. O. Burtt

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