§1.1νενόμισται μὲν ὀρθῶς τὰς φονικὰς δίκας περὶ πλείστου τοὺς κρίνοντας ποιεῖσθαι διώκειν τε καὶ μαρτυρεῖν κατὰ τὸ δίκαιον, μήτε τοὺς ἐνόχους ἀφιέντας μήτε τοὺς καθαροὺς εἰς ἀγῶνα καθιστάντας.
It is rightly established as a custom that those who judge homicide cases should treat them with the utmost importance, and that those who prosecute and those who bear witness should do so in accordance with justice, neither letting the guilty go free nor bringing the innocent into trial.
§1.2ὅτε γὰρ ὁ θεὸς βουλόμενος ποιῆσαι τὸ ἀνθρώπινον φῦλον τοὺς πρώτους γενομένους ἔφυσεν ἡμῶν, τροφέας τε καὶ σωτῆρας παρέδωκε τὴν γῆν καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν, ἵνα μὴ σπάνει τῶν ἀναγκαίων προαποθνῄσκοιμεν τῆς γηραιοῦ τελευτῆς.
For when God, wishing to create the human race, brought into being the first of us, he gave the earth and the sea as nourishers and preservers, so that we might not, through a lack of necessaries, die before our natural end in old age.
ὅστις οὖν, τούτων ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀξιωθέντος τοῦ βίου ἡμῶν, ἀνόμως τινὰ ἀποκτείνει, ἀσεβεῖ μὲν περὶ τοὺς θεούς, συγχεῖ δὲ τὰ νόμιμα τῶν ἀνθρώπων.
Whoever, therefore, when our life has been deemed worthy of these things by God, unlawfully kills anyone, commits impiety against the gods and subverts the laws of men.
§1.3ὅ τε γὰρ ἀποθανών, στερόμενος ὧν ὁ θεὸς ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ, εἰκότως θεοῦ τιμωρίαν ὑπολείπει τὴν τῶν ἀλιτηρίων δυσμένειαν, ἣν οἱ παρὰ τὸ δίκαιον κρίνοντες ἢ μαρτυροῦντες, συνασεβοῦντες τῷ ταῦτα δρῶντι, οὐ προσῆκον μίασμα εἰς τοὺς ἰδίους οἴκους εἰσάγονται·
For the deceased, deprived of what God gave him, naturally leaves behind, as a divine vengeance, the hostility of avenging spirits; and those who judge or bear witness contrary to justice, sharing in the impiety of the perpetrator, bring into their own homes a pollution that does not belong to them.
§1.4ἡμεῖς τε οἱ τιμωροὶ τῶν διεφθαρμένων, εἰ διʼ ἄλλην τινὰ ἔχθραν τοὺς ἀναιτίους διώκοιμεν, τῷ μὲν ἀποθανόντι οὐ τιμωροῦντες δεινοὺς ἀλιτηρίους ἕξομεν τοὺς τῶν ἀποθανόντων προστροπαίους, τοὺς δὲ καθαροὺς ἀδίκως ἀποκτείνοντες ἔνοχοι τοῦ φόνου τοῖς ἐπιτιμίοις ἐσμέν, ὑμᾶς δὲ ἄνομα δρᾶς πείθοντες καὶ τοῦ ὑμετέρου ἁμαρτήματος ὑπαίτιοι γιγνόμεθα.
And we, the avengers of the slain, if we should prosecute the innocent out of some other enmity, by not avenging the dead will have the avenging spirits of the deceased as terrible tormentors, and by unjustly putting the innocent to death, we become liable to the penalties of murder, and by persuading you to act unlawfully, we become responsible for your sin.
§1.5ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν δεδιὼς ταῦτα, εἰς ὑμᾶς παράγων τὸν ἀσεβήσαντα καθαρὸς τῶν ἐγκλημάτων εἰμί· ὑμεῖς δὲ ἀξίως τῶν προειρημένων τῇ κρίσει προσέχοντες τὸν νοῦν, ἀξίαν δίκην τοῦ πάθους τῷ εἰργασμένῳ ἐπιθέντες, ἅπασαν τὴν πόλιν καθαρὰν τοῦ μιάσματος καταστήσετε.
I, therefore, fearing these things, by bringing the perpetrator of impiety before you, am free from the charges; and you, paying attention to the trial in a manner worthy of what has been said, and imposing a fitting penalty for the suffering upon the one who did it, will make the whole city clean of the pollution.
§1.6εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἄκων ἀπέκτεινε τὸν ἄνδρα, ἄξιος ἂν ἦν συγγνώμης τυχεῖν τινός·
For if he had killed the man unintentionally, he would have been worthy of some pardon.
ὕβρει δὲ καὶ ἀκολασίᾳ παροινῶν εἰς ἄνδρα πρεσβύτην, τύπτων τε καὶ πνίγων ἕως τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπεστέρησεν αὐτόν, ὡς μὲν ἀποκτείνας τοῦ φόνου τοῖς ἐπιτιμίοις ἔνοχός ἐστιν, ὡς δὲ συγχέων ἅπαντα τῶν γεραιοτέρων τὰ νόμιμα οὐδενὸς ἁμαρτεῖν, οἷς οἱ τοιοῦτοι κολάζονται, δίκαιός ἐστιν.
But since, out of insolence and licentiousness, acting in a drunken rage against an elderly man, he struck and choked him until he deprived him of life, he is liable to the penalties of murder as one who killed, and as one who subverted all the customary respect due to elders, it is right that he should miss out on none of the punishments with which such men are chastised.
§1.7ὁ μὲν τοίνυν νόμος ὀρθῶς ὑμῖν τιμωρεῖσθαι παραδίδωσιν αὐτόν· τῶν δὲ μαρτύρων ἀκηκόατε, οἳ παρῆσαν παροινοῦντι αὐτῷ.
The law, therefore, rightly delivers him to you for punishment; and you have heard the witnesses who were present when he was acting in his drunken rage.
ὑμᾶς δὲ χρὴ τῇ τε ἀνομίᾳ τοῦ παθήματος ἀμύνοντας, τήν τε ὕβριν κολάζοντας ἀξίως τοῦ πάθους, τὴν βουλεύσασαν ψυχὴν ἀνταφελέσθαι αὐτόν.
You must defend against the lawlessness of the deed, and punishing the insolence in a manner worthy of the suffering, take away in return the soul that planned it.