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Against Timocrates
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<p>"Against Timocrates" was a speech given by <a href="/facts/Demosthenes/DsHWIYlW">Demosthenes</a> in <a href="/facts/Athens/mBxlp8X1">Athens</a> in which he accused Timocrates of proposing an illegal decree. The speech provides our best evidence about the use of imprisonment as a punishment in Classical Athens. </p><p>Timocrates' law would have allowed debtors to the state to go free on providing a <a href="/facts/Surety/zzDK7dSX">surety</a>, rather than being imprisoned until they paid their debts. Demosthenes' speech criticises this law on the grounds that it would unfairly advantage wealthy citizens at the expense of the poor. </p>