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[2]

You will find that our legislators also have had the greatest concern for our persons. For, in the first place, it is for this one kind of misdemeanor only that they have instituted public and private actions that require no preliminary court-deposit,1 with the intent that each of us, according to what may happen to be within his power and agreeable to his wish, may be able to exact punishment from those who wrong him. In the next place, in the case of other charges, the culprit may be prosecuted by the injured party only; but where assault and battery is involved, as the public interest is affected, any citizen who so desires may give notice of a public suit to the Thesmothetes2 and appear before your court.

1 The court-deposit refers to money deposited in court by a claimant and forfeited by him in case of failure to establish his claim.

2 The Thesmothetes were the six junior archons. They had jurisdiction over many offenses against the state.

Isocrates. Isocrates with an English Translation in three volumes, by George Norlin, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1980.

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