by Demosthenes
[65] καὶ ὑμεῖς μὲν οὐδὲ τῶν εἰς ὑμᾶς ἁμαρτανόντων ὅταν τινὸς καταψηφίσησθε, οὐ πάντα τὰ ὄντ᾽ ἀφείλεσθε, ἀλλ᾽ ἢ γυναῖκας ἢ παιδί᾽ αὐτῶν ἐλεήσαντες μέρος τι κἀκείνοις ὑπελίπετε: οὗτοι δὲ τοσοῦτον διαφέρουσιν ὑμῶν, ὥστε καὶ δωρεὰς παρ᾽ ἡμῶν προσλαβόντες ἵνα δικαίως ἐπιτροπεύσωσι, τοιαῦτ᾽ εἰς ἡμᾶς ὑβρίκασι. καὶ οὐδ᾽ ᾐσχύνθησαν, εἰ μὴ ἠλέησαν, τὴν ἐμὴν ἀδελφήν, εἰ δυοῖν ταλάντοιν ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀξιωθεῖσα, μηδενὸς τεύξεται τῶν προσηκόντων, ἀλλ᾽ ὥσπερ ἔχθιστοί τινες, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ φίλοι καὶ συγγενεῖς καταλειφθέντες οὐδὲν τῆς οἰκειότητος ἐφρόντισαν.
[65] You, on your part, do not act thus even toward those who sin against you: when you give judgement against any of them, you do not take away all that they have, but in pity for their wives and children you leave something even to these. But these men are so different from you that, although they had received legacies from us to make them administer their trust faithfully, they have done us these outrageous wrongs. They felt no touch of shame for their ruthlessness toward my sister, who, though my father left two talents as the dowry due her, will now get no fitting portion. Nay, they have recked nothing of kinship, as though they had been left to us, not as friends and kinsfolk, but as bitterest enemies.
[66] ἀλλ᾽ ἐγὼ μὲν ὁ πάντων ταλαιπωρότατος πρὸς ἀμφότερ᾽ ἀπορῶ, ταύτην θ᾽ ὅπως ἐκδῶ καὶ τἄλλ᾽ ὁπόθεν διοικῶ. προσεπίκειται δ᾽ ἡ πόλις ἀξιοῦσ᾽ εἰσφέρειν, δικαίως: οὐσίαν γὰρ ἱκανὴν πρὸς ταῦτα κατέλιπέν μοι ὁ πατήρ. τὰ δὲ χρήματα τὰ καταλειφθένθ᾽ οὗτοι πάντ᾽ εἰλήφασιν.
[66] For myself, I am the most wretched of men. I am helpless both to give my sister a portion and to maintain myself. Besides this, the state is pressing me hard, demanding taxes, and with right, for my father left me an estate large enough to pay them; but these men have taken all the money left me.
[67] καὶ νῦν κομίσασθαι τἀμαυτοῦ ζητῶν εἰς κίνδυνον καθέστηκα τὸν μέγιστον. ἂν γὰρ ἀποφύγῃ μ᾽ οὗτος, ὃ μὴ γένοιτο, τὴν ἐπωβελίαν ὀφλήσω μνᾶς ἑκατόν. καὶ τούτῳ μέν, ἐὰν καταψηφίσησθε, τιμητόν, κοὐκ ἐκ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ χρημάτων, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ τῶν ἐμῶν ποιήσεται τὴν ἔκτεισιν: ἐμοὶ δ᾽ ἀτίμητον τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν, ὥστ᾽ οὐ μόνον ἔσομαι τῶν πατρῴων ἀπεστερημένος, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς ἠτιμωμένος, ἂν μὴ νῦν ἡμᾶς ὑμεῖς ἐλεήσητε.
[67] And now, in seeking to recover what is mine, I have come into the greatest peril; for if the defendant is acquitted （which heaven forbid!） I shall have to pay one-sixth of the damages, one hundred minae. The defendant, if you give judgement against him, will be liable for a sum to be determined, and will make payment, not out of his own funds, but out of mine; while in my case the sum is fixed, so that I shall not only have been robbed of my inheritance, but shall also lose my civic rights, unless you now take pity on me.
[68] δέομαι οὖν ὑμῶν, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, καὶ ἱκετεύω καὶ ἀντιβολῶ, μνησθέντας καὶ τῶν νόμων καὶ τῶν ὅρκων οὓς ὀμόσαντες δικάζετε, βοηθῆσαι ἡμῖν τὰ δίκαια, καὶ μὴ περὶ πλείονος τὰς τούτου δεήσεις ἢ τὰς ἡμετέρας ποιήσασθαι. δίκαιοι δ᾽ ἔστ᾽ ἐλεεῖν οὐ τοὺς ἀδίκους τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλὰ τοὺς παραλόγως δυστυχοῦντας, οὐδὲ τοὺς ὠμῶς οὕτως τἀλλότρι᾽ ἀποστεροῦντας, ἀλλ᾽ ἡμᾶς τοὺς πολὺν χρόνον ὧν ὁ πατὴρ ἡμῖν κατέλιπεν στερομένους καὶ πρὸς ὑπὸ τούτων ὑβριζομένους καὶ νῦν περὶ ἀτιμίας κινδυνεύοντας.
[68] I beg you, therefore, men of the jury, I entreat, I implore you, to remember the laws and the oaths which you took as jurors, to render me the aid that is my due, and not to count the pleas of this man of higher worth than mine. It is your duty to show pity, not toward the guilty, but toward those in unmerited misfortune; not upon those who so cruelly rob another of his goods, but upon me, who have for so long a time been deprived of my inheritance and treated with outrage by these men, and who am now in danger of losing my civic rights.
[69] μέγα δ᾽ ἂν οἶμαι στενάξαι τὸν πατέρ᾽ ἡμῶν, εἰ αἴσθοιτο τῶν προικῶν καὶ τῶν δωρεῶν ὧν αὐτὸς τούτοις ἔδωκεν, ὑπὲρ τούτων τῆς ἐπωβελίας τὸν αὑτοῦ υἱὸν ἐμὲ κινδυνεύοντα, καὶ ἄλλους μέν τινας ἤδη τῶν πολιτῶν οὐ μόνον συγγενῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ φίλων ἀνδρῶν ἀπορούντων θυγατέρας παρὰ σφῶν αὐτῶν ἐκδόντας, Ἄφοβον δὲ μηδ᾽ ἣν ἔλαβεν προῖκ᾽ ἐθέλοντ᾽ ἀποδοῦναι, καὶ ταῦτ᾽ ἔτει δεκάτῳ.
[69] Loudly methinks, would my father groan, should he learn that I, his son, am in danger of being forced to pay the sixth part of the marriage-portions and legacies given by himself to these men; and that, while others of our countrymen out of their own funds have dowered the daughters of impoverished kinsfolk and even friends, Aphobus refuses to pay back even the marriage-portion which he took, and that too in the tenth year.
κατὰ Ἀφόβου Β — AGAINST APHOBUS 2
[1] πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλ᾽ ἐψευσμένου πρὸς ὑμᾶς Ἀφόβου, τοῦτ᾽ αὐτὸν ἐλέγξαι πειράσομαι πρῶτον, ἐφ᾽ ᾧ μάλιστ᾽ ἠγανάκτησα τῶν ῥηθέντων. εἶπεν γὰρ ὡς ὁ πάππος ὤφειλε τῷ δημοσίῳ, καὶ διὰ ταῦθ᾽ ὁ πατὴρ οὐκ ἐβούλετο μισθωθῆναι τὸν οἶκον, ἵνα μὴ κινδυνεύσῃ. καὶ τὴν μὲν πρόφασιν ποιεῖται ταύτην, ὡς δ᾽ ὀφείλων ἐτελεύτησεν ἐκεῖνος, οὐδεμίαν παρέσχετο μαρτυρίαν: ἀλλ᾽ ὡς μὲν ὦφλεν, ἐνεβάλετο τηρήσας τὴν τελευταίαν ἡμέραν, ταύτην δ᾽ εἰς τὸν ὕστερον λόγον ὑπελίπετο, ὡς διαβαλεῖν τὸ πρᾶγμ᾽ ἐξ αὐτῆς δυνησόμενος.
[1] Of the many outrageous lies which Aphobus uttered in his address to you, I shall try to refute first, that one at which I felt greater indignation than at anything else he said. For he declared that my grandfather was a debtor to the state, and that for this reason my father would not have the property let, for fear of the risks he would run. This is the pretence he uses; but he brought forward no proof that my grandfather died indebted to the state. He did introduce evidence that he became a state-debtor, but he waited until the last day, and kept this evidence for his second speech, thinking that by it he would be able to give a malicious turn to the matter. So, if he reads it, give close heed.
[2] ἐὰν οὖν ἀναγνῷ, προσέχετ᾽ αὐτῇ τὸν νοῦν: εὑρήσετε γὰρ οὐχ ὡς ὀφείλει μεμαρτυρημένην, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ὦφλεν. τοῦτ᾽ οὖν ἐλέγξαι πειράσομαι πρῶτον, ἐφ᾽ ᾧ φρονεῖ μάλιστα: ὃ καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀμφισβητοῦμεν. εἰ μὲν οὖν �
�ότ᾽ ἐξεγένετο καὶ μὴ τῷ χρόνῳ τοῦτ᾽ ἐνηδρεύθημεν, παρεσχόμεθ᾽ ἂν μάρτυρας ὡς ἐξετείσθη τὰ χρήματα καὶ πάντ᾽ αὐτῷ διελέλυτο τὰ πρὸς τὴν πόλιν: νῦν δὲ τεκμηρίοις μεγάλοις ἐπιδείξομεν ὡς οὔτ᾽ ὤφειλεν οὔτ᾽ ἦν κίνδυνος οὐδεὶς ἡμῖν φανερὰ κεκτημένοις τὰ ὄντα.
[2] For you will find that the evidence adduced proves not that my grandfather is a state-debtor, but that he was one. I shall undertake first to refute this charge of which he thinks to make so much, and which we declare to be false. If I had been able to do so, and had not been thus ensnared by lack of time, I should have brought forward witnesses to prove that the money was paid in full, and that everything was settled between my grandfather and the state; as it is, I shall show by strong proofs that he was not indebted at the time of his death, and that we incurred no risks in letting our wealth be known.
[3] πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ Δημοχάρης, ἔχων ἀδελφὴν τῆς ἐμῆς μητρός, θυγατέρα δὲ Γύλωνος, οὐκ ἀποκέκρυπται τὴν οὐσίαν, ἀλλὰ χορηγεῖ καὶ τριηραρχεῖ καὶ τὰς ἄλλας λῃτουργίας λῃτουργεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν τῶν τοιούτων δέδοικεν. ἔπειτ᾽ αὐτὸς ὁ πατὴρ τήν τ᾽ ἄλλην οὐσίαν καὶ τέτταρα τάλαντα καὶ τρισχιλίας φανερὰς ἐποίησεν, ἃς οὗτοι γραφῆναί τ᾽ ἐν ταῖς διαθήκαις καὶ λαβεῖν σφᾶς αὐτοὺς κατ᾽ ἀλλήλων καταμαρτυροῦσιν.
[3] In the first place Demochares, who married my mother’s sister, a daughter of Gylon, has not concealed his property, but acts as choregus and as trierarch, and performs other public services, without any fear of such consequences. In the second place, my father voluntarily revealed the rest of his property, and in particular the four talents and three thousand drachmae, which these men by their accusations against one another admit to have been mentioned in the will, and to have been received by them.
[4] ἔτι δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς Ἄφοβος μετὰ τῶν συνεπιτρόπων τῇ πόλει τὸ πλῆθος τῶν καταλειφθέντων χρημάτων ἐμφανὲς ἐποίησεν, ἡγεμόνα με τῆς συμμορίας καταστήσας οὐκ ἐπὶ μικροῖς τιμήμασιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ τηλικούτοις ὥστε κατὰ τὰς πέντε καὶ εἴκοσι μνᾶς πεντακοσίας εἰσφέρειν. καίτοι εἴ τι τούτων ἦν ἀληθές, οὐδὲν ἂν αὐτῶν ἐποίησεν, ἀλλὰ πάντ᾽ ἂν ηὐλαβήθη. νῦν δὲ καὶ Δημοχάρης καὶ ὁ πατὴρ καὶ αὐτοὶ οὗτοι φαίνονται φανερὰ ποιοῦντες, καὶ οὐδένα τοιοῦτον κίνδυνον δεδιότες.
[4] Furthermore, Aphobus himself in conjunction with his co-trustees revealed to the state the amount of the property left me, when he appointed me leader of the tax-group and that at no low rating, but at one so high as to entail a payment of five hundred drachmae on each twenty-five minae. And yet, if there were any truth in what he says, he would not have acted thus, but would have taken every precaution. But, as it is, Demochares, and my father, and these men themselves have manifestly let their wealth be known; they plainly feared no such risk as that of which he speaks.
[5] πάντων δ᾽ ἀτοπώτατόν ἐστιν, λέγοντας ὡς ὁ πατὴρ οὐκ εἴα μισθοῦν τὸν οἶκον, τὴν μὲν διαθήκην μηδαμοῦ ταύτην ἀποφαίνειν, ἐξ ἧς ἦν εἰδέναι τἀκριβές, τηλικαύτην δ᾽ ἀνελόντας μαρτυρίαν οὕτως οἴεσθαι δεῖν εἰκῇ πιστεύεσθαι παρ᾽ ὑμῖν. ἀλλ᾽ ἐχρῆν, ἐπειδὴ τάχιστ᾽ ἐτελεύτησεν ὁ πατήρ, εἰσκαλέσαντας μάρτυρας πολλοὺς παρασημήνασθαι κελεῦσαι τὰς διαθήκας, ἵν᾽ εἴ τι ἐγίγνετ᾽ ἀμφισβητήσιμον, ἦν εἰς τὰ γράμματα ταῦτ᾽ ἐπανελθεῖν καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν πάντων εὑρεῖν.
[5] Strangest of all is it that, though they allege that my father would not permit them to let the property, they should never produce this will from which one could have learned the truth, and that having destroyed so important a piece of evidence, they should expect you to believe them on their mere word. It was their duty on the contrary, as soon as my father died, to call in a number of witnesses and to bid them seal the will, so that, in case any dispute should arise, it would have been possible to refer to the writing itself, and so learn the whole truth.
[6] νῦν δ᾽ ἕτερα μὲν παρασημήνασθαι ἠξίωσαν, ἐν οἷς πολλὰ τῶν καταλειπομένων οὐκ ἐγέγραπτο, ὑπομνήματα δ᾽ ἦν: αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν διαθήκην, δι᾽ ἧς τούτων ὧν ἐσημήναντο γραμμάτων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων χρημάτων ἐγίγνοντο κύριοι, καὶ τοῦ μὴ μισθοῦν τὸν οἶκον τῆς αἰτίας ἀπελέλυντο, ταύτην δ᾽ οὐκ ἐσημήναντο, οὐδ᾽ αὐτὴν ἀπέδοσαν. ἄξιόν γε πιστεύειν αὐτοῖς ὅ τι ἂν περὶ τούτων λέγωσιν.
[6] But, as it is, they thought proper to have some other papers sealed, in which many items of the property left were not inscribed — papers which were mere memoranda; but the will itself, which gave them possession of the papers to which they affixed their seals, and all the rest of the property, and which acquitted them of all responsibility for not letting the estate, they did not seal, nor yet produce. You ought presumably to believe them in anything they say about this matter.
[7] ἀλλ᾽ ἐγὼ οὐκ οἶδ᾽ ὅ τι τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν. οὐκ εἴα μισθοῦν τὸν οἶκον οὐδ᾽ ἐμφανῆ τὰ χρήματα ποιεῖν ὁ πατήρ. πότερον ἐμοί; ἢ τῇ πόλει; φαίνεσθε γὰρ τοὐναντίον ἐκείνῃ μὲν φανερὰ ποιήσαντες, ἐμοὶ δὲ παντάπασιν ἀφανῆ πεποιηκότες, καὶ οὐδὲ ταῦτ᾽ ἀποφαίνοντες ἐξ ὧν τιμησάμενοι τὰς εἰσφορὰς εἰσεφέρετε. δείξατε γὰρ ταύτην τὴν οὐσίαν, τίς ἦν καὶ ποῦ παρέδοτέ μοι καὶ τίνος ἐναντίον.
[7] I, for my part, cannot understand what it is they mean. My father, they say, would not suffer them to let the estate, or to disclose the value of the property. To me, do you mean, or to the state? Quite the contrary: you have plainly disclosed it to the state, but have hidden it absolutely from me. You have not even revealed the fund which was the basis for your assessment in the payment of the property-tax. Show me this fund. What was it? Where did you deliver it over to me, and in whose presence?
[8] τὰ μὲν γὰρ δύο τάλαντα καὶ τὰς ὀγδοήκοντα μνᾶς ἀπὸ τῶν τεττάρων ταλάντων καὶ τρισχιλίων ἐλάβετε, ὥστ᾽ οὐδὲ ταύτας ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ εἰς τὸ δημόσιον ἐτιμήσασθε: ὑμέτεραι γὰρ ἦσαν ἐν ἐκείνοις τοῖς χρόνοις. ἀλλὰ μὴν ἔκ γε τῆς οἰκίας καὶ τῶν τεττάρων καὶ δέκ᾽ ἀνδραπόδων καὶ τῶν τριάκοντα μνῶν, ἅ μοι παρεδώκατε, τὴν εἰσφορὰν οὐχ οἷόν τε γενέσθαι τοσαύτην ὅσην ὑμεῖς συνετάξασθε πρὸς τὴν συμμορίαν.
[8] Of the four talents and three thousand drachmae, you received the two talents and eighty minae, so that you did not include even these in the return you made on my behalf to the public treasury; for at that t
ime they were your property. But the house and the fourteen slaves and the thirty minae which you gave over into my hands, could not have been assessed at any such sum as that which you agreed to pay to the tax-group.
[9] ἀλλ᾽ ἀνάγκη μεγάλη τὰ καταλειφθέντα, πολλῷ πλείον᾽ ὄντα τούτων, πάνθ᾽ ὑμᾶς ἔχειν ἐστίν, ἃ φανερῶς ὅτι διηρπάκατ᾽ ἐξελεγχόμενοι τοιαῦτα πλάττεσθαι τολμᾶτε. καὶ τοτὲ μὲν εἰς ἀλλήλους ἀναφέρετε, πάλιν δ᾽ εἰληφέναι κατ᾽ ἀλλήλων μαρτυρεῖτε. φάσκοντες δ᾽ οὐ πολλὰ λαβεῖν μεγάλων ἀναλωμάτων λόγους ἀπενηνόχατε.
[9] Nay; it is absolutely certain that the property left by my father was much more than this, and that it is all in your possession. It is because you are plainly proved to have made havoc of it that you have the audacity to make up such falsehoods. Sometimes you refer the responsibility to one another; again you mutually accuse one another of having received funds; you claim to have received but little, yet you have made reports of large expenditures.
[10] πάντες δὲ κοινῇ μ᾽ ἐπιτροπεύσαντες ἰδίᾳ μετὰ ταῦθ᾽ ἕκαστος μηχανᾶσθε. καὶ τὴν μὲν διαθήκην ἠφανίκατε, ἐξ ἧς ἦν εἰδέναι περὶ πάντων τὴν ἀλήθειαν, φαίνεσθε δ᾽ οὐδέποτε ταὐτὰ περὶ ἀλλήλων λέγοντες.