Against Epicrates and his Fellow-envoys: Supplementary

The accusations that have been made, men of Athens, against Epicrates and his fellow-envoys are sufficient: but you should bear in mind the assertion that you have often heard from the mouths of these men, whenever they sought to ruin somebody unjustly,—that, unless you make the convictions that they demand, your stipends will not be forthcoming.

They are none the less deficient today; so that through their act the suffering and the disgrace fall to you, and the profit to them. For they have found by experiment that, whenever they and their speeches seem likely to induce you to give your votes against justice, they easily obtain money from the guilty parties.

Yet what hope of safety can be ours, when the preservation or the ruin of the city depends on money, and when these men,—the guardians that you have set up, your chastisers of the guilty,—both rob you and do anything for bribes? And this is not the first time that they have been caught in criminal acts: they have been tried before now for taking bribes.