[4]
Now, if you hold me liable for the charges,
condemn me out of hand; I ask no pardon. But if, on considerations of justice,
law, and expediency, I prove to be innocent of these charges, do not leave me to
the savagery of my prosecutors. If my death will contribute in the least, as
these men say, to the common safety, I am ready to die. For it is a noble thing
to win public esteem by the loss of one's own life, so long as it is given in
answer to the country's need and not the argument of these accusers.
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