Against Timocrates

Against Timocrates was a speech given by Demosthenes in which he accused Timocrates of proposing an illegal decree.^[1] The speech provides our best evidence about the use of imprisonment as a punishment in Classical Athens.^[1] The law proposed by Timocrates would have allowed debtors to the state to go free on providing a surety, rather than being imprisoned until they could pay their debts.^[2] Democrates' speech criticises this law on the grounds that it would unfairly advantage wealthy citizens at the expense of the poor.^[3]

References

1. Allen, Danielle (1997). "Imprisonment in Classical Athens". The Classical Quarterly 47 (1): 124.
2. Allen, Danielle (1997). "Imprisonment in Classical Athens". The Classical Quarterly 47 (1): 132.
3. Allen, Danielle (1997). "Imprisonment in Classical Athens". The Classical Quarterly 47 (1): 133.

External links

• Text of the speech at the Perseus Digital Library