15
And if I had attempted anything of the kind, I should be openly exposed as having incurred many severe penalties for in the first place, it was daylight when I uprooted the stump,—as though I had not to do it unseen by all, but must let all the Athenians know! If the act had been merely disgraceful, one might perhaps have disregarded the passers-by; but the case was one of my risking, not disgrace, but the severest penalty.
16
And surely I must have been the most wretched of human creatures if my own servants were to be no longer my slaves, but my masters for the rest of my life, since they would be privy to that act of mine; so that, however great might be their offences against me, I should have been unable to get them punished. For I should have been fully aware that it was in their power at once to be avenged on me and to win their own freedom by informing against me.Cf. Lys. 5.5, For Callias: Defense of a Charge of Sacrilege.
