[Meaning] power, exemption.[1]
"They granted freedom of speech with a knife."[2]
But the [sc. Attic] orators used 'freedom of speech' in application to those intending to reproach their listeners, when those speaking made mention of things in the past that ought not to have been done. An instance is Aeschines in the [speech] Against Timarchus: "Nicodemus [of Aphidna] has died a violent death at the hands of Aristarchus -- the poor man had both of his eyes knocked out and his tongue cut out, the one with which he had been exercising freedom of speech, trusting in the laws [and in you]."[3] And in the [speech] On the Mismanaged Embassy: "my choice has been to exercise freedom of speech and at the same time to seek safety in speaking freely and truthfully".[4]