ABSTRACT
Ian Worthington's arguments are not to be lightly dismissed, but deserve detailed consideration. They are of two kinds. On the one hand, he maintains that specific passages of Greek texts which seem to refer to completion of trials for public offences in one day do not prove that this was true of all such trials; on the other hand, that the existence of very long speeches and the use of several prosecutors in some cases would have made it impracticable to complete every trial within one day. It is clear that what we have was written after the trial was over, even though it may incorporate passages written in advance. For example, Aischines at the beginning of his defence speech On the False Embassy, in the text we have, refers to what Demosthenes said in his prosecution speech about Aischines' maltreatment of an Olynthian lady, and expresses his pleasure that the jury 'threw out' Demosthenes, that is, shouted him down.
