Delphi Complete Works of Demosthenes

by Demosthenes

  They have testified, then, in the same deposition, men of the jury, that I was unwilling to have a postponement, but that Theophemus urged it in order that he might produce the woman. That this is not true, I will show you. For if I had tendered to Theophemus this challenge to which they have deposed, requiring him to deliver up the woman, [14] he might fittingly have answered by urging that the arbitration be put off until the next meeting, in order that he might bring the woman and deliver her up to me; but as it is, Theophemus, they have deposed that it was you who desired to deliver up the woman and that I was not willing to receive her. How is it that you, who were the woman’s master, when you were on the point of tendering me this challenge, to which your witnesses have deposed, when you were forced to take refuge in this woman’s testimony to establish your case, [15] and when you had no other witness to my having assaulted you and having delivered the first blow — how is it, I ask, that you did not bring the woman with you to the arbitrator and deliver her up, having her then present in person, and being yourself her master? Nay, you state that you tendered the challenge; but no one saw the woman by means of whom you deceived the jurors, through producing false witnesses to represent that you wished to give her up. [16]

  Well, then, since the woman was not present with you at that time and the boxes had previously been sealed, did you at any time afterward bring her into the market-place or before the court? For if she was not present with you at that time, you surely ought to have delivered her up afterwards, and to have called witnesses to prove that you were willing to have the test made by the woman’s evidence in accordance with the challenge which you had tendered, as your challenge had been put in the box, and a deposition stating that you were ready to deliver her up. Well then, when you were on the point of entering upon the trial, did you ever bring the woman before the court? [17] And yet, if what they say about his tendering the challenge is true, he ought, when the court-rooms were being assigned by lot, to have brought the woman, got a herald to attend, and bidden me, if I chose, to put her to the torture, and have made the jurors as they came in witnesses to the fact that he was ready to deliver her up. But as it is, he has made deceitful statements and has produced false witnesses, but even to this day he does not dare to deliver up the woman, though I have made repeated challenges and demands, as the witnesses who were present have testified before you.

  Please read the depositions again.” Depositions “ [18]

  I wish now, men of the jury, to explain to you the origin of my action against Theophemus, in order that you may be assured that he not only secured my condemnation unjustly by deceiving the jury, but also at the same time secured by the same verdict the condemnation of the senate of five hundred, and made of no effect the decisions of your courts and of no effect your decrees and your laws, and shook your faith in your magistrates and in the inscriptions on the public stelae. How he has done this I will show you point by point. [19] I never before at any time in my life had any business transaction with Theophemus, nor yet any revel or love-affair or drinking-bout, to lead me to go to his house, because of a quarrel with him about some matter in which he had got the better of me, or under the excitement of amorous passion. No, but in obedience to decrees passed by your assembly and senate and at the bidding of the law I demanded of him the ship’s equipment which he owed to the state. For what reason, I shall proceed to tell you. [20] It chanced that some triremes were about to sail, a military force having to be despatched in haste. Now there was not in the dockyards equipment for the ships, but those from whom it was due, who had in their possession such equipment, had failed to return it; and furthermore there was not available for purchase in the Peiraeus either an adequate supply of sail-cloth and tow and cordage, which serve for the equipment of a trireme. Chaeridemus, therefore, proposed this decree, in order that the equipment for the ships might be recovered and kept safe for the state.

  Read the decree, please.” Decree “ [21]

  When this decree had been passed, the magistrates chose by lot those who owed the ship’s equipment to the state and handed over their names, and the overseers of the dockyards passed on the list to the trierarchs who were then about to sail, and to the overseers of the navy-boards. The law of Periander forced us and laid command upon us to receive the list of those who owed equipment to the state, — I mean the law in accordance with which the navy-boards were constituted. And besides this another decree of the people compelled them to assign to us the several debtors that we might recover from each man his proportionate amount. [22] Now I, as it happened, was a trierarch and overseer of the navy-board, and Demochares of Paeania was in the navy-board, and was indebted to the state for the equipment of a ship in conjunction with Theophemus here, for he had served as joint trierarch with him. Both their names, then, had been inscribed on the stelê as indebted to the state for the ship’s equipment, and the magistrates, receiving their names from those in office before them, gave them over to us in accordance with the law and the decrees. [23] It was therefore a matter of necessity for us to receive them. I must tell you that hitherto, although I had often served as your trierarch, I had never taken equipment from the dockyards, but had supplied it at my own private expense whenever need arose, in order that I might have as little trouble as possible with the state. On this occasion, however, I was compelled to take over the names in accordance with the decrees and the law. [24]

  To prove that I am speaking the truth in this, I shall produce as witnesses supporting these facts, the decree and the law, next the magistrate who gave the names over to me and who brought the case into court, and finally the members of the navy-board in which I was overseer and trierarch.

  Read, please.” Law ““ Decree ““ Depositions “ [25]

  That it was absolutely necessary, therefore, for me to take over the names of those indebted to the state, you have heard from the law and the decrees; and that I took them over from the magistrate, the one who delivered them to me has testified. So, then, the first question for you to consider at the outset, men of the jury, is this, whether the wrongdoer was I, who was compelled to recover from Theophemus what he owed, or Theophemus, who had long owed the equipment to the state and refused to give it back. [26] For if you look at each matter severally, you will find that Theophemus was wholly in the wrong, and that this is not merely a statement of mine but a fact decided by vote of the senate and the court. For when I had received his name from the magistrate, I approached him and first demanded the ship’s equipment; when he refused to give it back on my making this statement, I subsequently fell in with him near the Hermes which stands by the little gate and summoned him before the despatching board and the overseers of the dockyards; for it was they who at that time brought into court suits regarding ship’s equipments. [27]

  To prove that I am speaking the truth, I shall produce as witnesses to these facts those who served the summons.” Witnesses”

  That he was summoned by me, then, has been testified to you by those who served the summons; now to prove that he was brought into court, take the deposition of the despatching board and the magistrates.” Deposition “ [28]

  The one who I thought would give me trouble, Demochares of Paeania, was indeed disagreeable before he was brought into court, but after he had been tried and convicted he returned the part of the ship’s equipment that was due from him. But the one whom I should never have expected to go to such an extreme of rascality that he would ever dare to rob the state of the equipment, has gone ahead with all these troublesome lawsuits. He was present in the court-room when the suit was brought in, but never made any defence, nor did he give in the name of anyone for an adjudication, as he should have done, if he claims that someone else has the equipment and that it was not his duty to give it back; but he suffered the verdict to be given against him; [29] yet after he left the courtroom he did not pay any the more because of that, but decided that for the time being he would keep out of the way and remain quiet until I should have sail
ed with the fleet, and some time should have elapsed, thinking that I should have to pay for the equipment which he owed to the state either when I returned here, or else to my successor who should come from the navy-boards to take command of the ship. For what answer could I have given this man, when he produced decrees and laws showing that I was obliged to recover the equipment? [30] And Theophemus, after a lapse of time, when I had come back and made demands upon him, would have said that he had paid back the equipment, and to show that he had paid would have insisted upon these proofs — the crisis, the urgency, and that I was not such a fool and had never been such a friend of his as to wait; for what possible reason, then, when I was serving the state as trierarch and was overseer of the navy-board, and when decrees of such a nature and such a law were in force, should I have obliged him by delaying the collection? [31] It was because Theophemus reasoned in this way that he then refused to restore the equipment but kept himself out of the way, and thought that later on he would he able to rob me; and besides this, he could take refuge in an oath and perjure himself without trouble, a thing which he has done to others also. For the greediness of the man’s character in matters where his interests are involved is dreadful, as I shall show you in fact. For Theophemus, while owing this equipment to the state, made a pretence of shifting the charge to Aphareus, but in actual fact he never reported his name for an adjudication, well knowing that he would be convicted of falsehood, if he should come into court. [32] For Aphareus proved that Theophemus had reckoned up against him the cost of the equipment and had got the money from him, when he took over the trierarchy. Now Theophemus maintains that he gave it over to Demochares, and he is suing the children of Demochares, who is now dead. But, while Demochares lived, Theophemus did not report his name for an adjudication when he was being sued by me for the equipment; he merely wished, on the pretence of the lapse of time, to rob the state of the equipment.

  To prove that I am speaking the truth, the clerk shall read you the depositions.” Depositions “ [33]

  Bearing all these facts in mind, therefore, and hearing from those who had had dealings with Theophemus what sort of a man he was in matters where his interests were involved, and failing to recover the equipment from him, I approached the despatching board and the senate, stating that Theophemus would not return to me the equipment for which he was accountable by judgement of the court. And the other trierarchs also approached the senate, all those who had not been able to recover the equipment from the persons bound to produce it. And after much argument the senate answered by a decree which the clerk shall read to you, instructing us to recover what was due in whatever way we could.” Decree “ [34]

  When, then, the decree had been passed by the senate, since no one indicted it for illegality, but it became valid, I approached this man Evergus, the brother of Theophemus, since I was unable to see Theophemus; and having the decree in my hand I first demanded the return of the equipment, and bade him inform Theophemus; then, after allowing a few days to pass, since he refused to return the equipment, but only jeered at me, I took some witnesses with me, and asked him whether he had divided the estate with his brother, or whether their property was held in common. [35] On Evergus’s answering me that it had been divided and that Theophemus lived in a house by himself, but that he （Evergus） lived with his father, I thus learned where Theophemus lived, and taking with me a servant from the magistrates, I went to Theophemus’s house. As I did not find him at home, I bade the woman who answered the door to go and fetch him wherever he might be. This was the woman, whom, according to the depositions of these men, Theophemus offered to deliver up, but whom, after repeated demands, I cannot get from him, that you might learn the truth as to which party began the assault. [36] But when Theophemus came in, after the woman had gone to fetch him, I asked for the inventory of the equipment, telling him that I was now on the point of sailing; and I showed him the decree of the senate. When, on my saying this, he refused to give it up, but began to threaten me and abuse me, I bade the boy call in from the street any citizens whom he might see passing by, that I might have them as witnesses to what was said, [37] and I again made demand upon Theophemus either to go with me himself to the despatching board and the senate, and, if he denied that he was liable, to convince those who had given over the names and compelled us to seek to recover what was due, or else to pay back the equipment; otherwise, I declared that I should take goods as security in accordance with the laws and the decrees. Since he was not willing to do anything that was right, I started to lead away the woman who was standing by the door, the same one who had gone to fetch him. [38] He seized her to prevent me, and I let go of the woman, but proceeded to enter the house to take some security for the equipment due; for the door, as it happened, had been opened when Theophemus came, and he had not yet gone in. I had already informed myself that he was not married. As I was going in Theophemus struck me on the mouth with his fist, and I, calling upon those who were present to bear witness, returned the blow. [39] Now the proof that what I am saying is true, and that Theophemus began the assault, needs, I think, nothing else for its establishment than the testimony of the woman whom these witnesses have stated that Theophemus was ready to deliver up. By means of this testimony Theophemus, whose case came first into court, seeing that I did not enter a special plea or an affidavit for delay, since these measures had once been a disadvantage to me in a former suit, deceived the jurors, saying that the witnesses whom I had brought forward gave false testimony, but that this woman would tell the truth if she were put to the torture. [40] But their actions now are shown to be the very opposite of the language which they then used with such insistence; for I am unable to get the woman for examination despite repeated demands, as has been stated to you by witnesses. Since, therefore, they refuse to deliver up the woman, whom they themselves declare that I was challenged to receive, I desire to call before you the witnesses who saw Theophemus deal me the first blow. And this is what constitutes assault, when a man commits the first act of violence, especially when he strikes one who is seeking to exact payment in accordance with the laws and your decrees.

  Please read the decrees and the deposition.” Decrees ““ Deposition “ [41]

  So when the pledge which I had seized had been taken from me by Theophemus, and I had been beaten, I went to the senate and showed them the marks of the blows, and told them how I had been treated, and also that it was while I was seeking to collect for the state the ship’s equipment. The senate, angered at the treatment which I had received and seeing the plight that I was in, thinking, too, that the insult had been offered, not to me, but to itself and the assembly which had passed the decree and the law which compelled us to exact payment for the equipment, — [42] the senate, I say, ordered me to prefer an impeachment, and that the prytanes should give Theophemus two days’ notice of trial on a charge of breaking the law and of impeding the fleet’s departure, charging further that he had refused to return the ship’s equipment and had taken from me the pledge which I had seized, and beaten me when I was seeking to collect what was due and was performing my duty to the state. Well, then, the trial of Theophemus came on before the senate in accordance with the impeachment which I had preferred; and after both sides had been heard and the senators had cast their votes secretly, he was convicted in the senate-chamber and adjudged to be guilty. [43] And when the senate was going into a division on the question whether it should remand him to a jury-court or sentence him to a fine of five hundred drachmae, the highest penalty which the law allowed it to inflict, while all these men were making pleas and entreaties and sending any number of people to intercede for them, and offering us right there in the senate-chamber the inventory of the equipment due, and promising to submit the question of the assault to any one of the Athenians whom I should name, I consented that a fine of twenty-five drachmae should be imposed upon Theophemus. [44]

  To prove that I am speaking the truth in this, I beg all of you who were senators in the
archonship of Agathocles to tell the facts to those who sit by you, and I will bring before you as witnesses all those whom I have been able to find who were senators that year.” Depositions”

  I, you see, men of the jury, showed myself thus reasonable toward these men. And yet the decree ordered the confiscation of the property, not only of those who had ship’s equipment and did not return it to the state, but also of anyone who, having such equipment, refused to sell it; such a scarcity of equipment was there in the city at that time.

  Read the decree, please.” Decree “ [45]

  When I had come back from my voyage, men of the jury, as Theophemus refused to refer to anyone the matter of the blows which he had dealt me, I summoned him, and began an action against him for assault. He summoned me in a cross-action, and while the arbitrators had the causes before them, and the time came for making the award, he put in a special plea and an affidavit for postponement; I, however, being conscious that I had done no wrong, came in for trial before your court. [46] Theophemus, by bringing this testimony to which no one else has deposed, but only his brother and his brother-in-law, to the effect that he was willing to deliver up the woman, and by pretending to be a man without guile, deceived the jurors. But now I make of you a fair request, both to decide regarding the testimony whether it is true or false, and at the same time to consider the whole case from the beginning. [47] I, for my part, hold that the proof should be drawn from the very course of procedure to which the fellow at that time fled for refuge, that is, from the examination of the woman by the torture, to determine which party struck the first blow; for this is what constitutes assault. And it is for this reason that I am suing the witnesses for false testimony, because they deposed that Theophemus was willing to deliver up the woman, whereas he never would produce her in person either at that time before the arbitrator or subsequently, despite my repeated demands. [48] They ought, therefore, to suffer a double punishment, both because they deceived the jurors by bringing forward false testimony — that of the brother-in-law and the brother — , and because they wronged me while I was zealously performing a public service, doing what the state commanded me, and obeying your laws and your decrees.