Delphi Complete Works of Demosthenes

by Demosthenes

  [66] Remember, therefore, men of the jury, the wickedness of these men, and remember also our ancestors, of whom Epichares, my grandfather, was victor in the foot-race for boys at Olympia and won a crown for the city, and enjoyed good report among your ancestors as long as he lived; whereas we, thanks to this god-detested fellow, have been deprived of our citizenship in that state

  [67] ὑπὲρ ἧς Ἀριστοκράτης ὁ Σκελίου, θεῖος ὢν Ἐπιχάρους τοῦ πάππου τοῦ ἐμοῦ, οὗ ἔχει ἁδελφὸς οὑτοσὶ τοὔνομα, πολλὰ καὶ καλὰ διαπραξάμενος ἔργα πολεμούσης τῆς πόλεως Λακεδαιμονίοις, κατασκάψας τὴν Ἠετιώνειαν, εἰς ἣν Λακεδαιμονίους ἔμελλον οἱ περὶ Κριτίαν ὑποδέχεσθαι, καθεῖλε μὲν τὸ ἐπιτείχισμα, κατήγαγε δὲ τὸν δῆμον κινδυνεύων αὐτὸς οὐ τοιούτους κινδύνους, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν οἷς καὶ παθεῖν τι καλόν ἐστιν, ἔπαυσε δὲ τοὺς ἐπιβουλεύοντας ὑμῖν.

  [67] in defence of which Aristocrates, son of Scelius, the uncle of my grandfather Epichares, whose name my brother here bears, performed many glorious deeds, when our country was at war with the Lacedaemonians. He razed to the ground Eetioneia, into which Critias and his faction were about to receive the Lacedaemonians, destroyed the fortress raised against us, and restored the people to their country, incurring himself dangers not like those which we are incurring, but dangers in which even disaster is glorious; and he put a stop to those who were plotting against you.

  [68] δι᾽ ὅν, εἰ Θεοκρίνῃ τουτῳὶ ὅμοιοι ὄντες ἐτυγχάνομεν, εἰκότως ἐσῴζετ᾽ ἂν ἡμᾶς, μὴ ὅτι βελτίους ὄντας τούτου καὶ δίκαια λέγοντας. οὐ γὰρ πολλάκις ὑμᾶς ταῦτα λέγοντες ἐνοχλήσομεν: οὕτως γὰρ ἡμᾶς οὗτος διατέθηκεν ὥστε, ὅπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς εἶπον, μηδ᾽ ἐλπίδ᾽ ἡμῖν εἶναι μηδεμίαν τοῦ μετασχεῖν τῆς καὶ τοῖς ξένοις δεδομένης παρρησίας.

  [68] For his sake, even if we had been like this fellow Theocrines, you would with good right have preserved us; to say nothing of our being better than he and of our pleading a cause which is just.

  We will not burden you by constantly repeating these things, for the defendant has brought us into such plight that, as I said at the outset, we have no hope of sharing in that freedom of speech which is granted even to aliens.

  [69] ἵν᾽ οὖν, εἰ καὶ μηδὲν ἄλλο, ταύτην γε ἔχωμεν παραψυχήν, τὸ καὶ τοῦτον ὁρᾶν ἡσυχίαν ἄγοντα, βοηθήσαθ᾽ ἡμῖν, ἐλεήσατε τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος ἡμῶν τετελευτηκότας, ἀναγκάσατ᾽ αὐτὸν ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς τῆς ἐνδείξεως ἀπολογεῖσθαι, καὶ τοιοῦτοι γένεσθ᾽ αὐτῷ δικασταὶ τῶν λεγομένων οἷος ἡμῶν οὗτος ἐγένετο κατήγορος,

  [69] In order, therefore, that, if we get nothing else, we may at least have the satisfaction of seeing the defendant also reduced to silence, come to our aid; have pity on those of our family who have died for their country; compel Theocrines to make his defence on the questions raised by the indictment itself; and show yourselves as judges of his words such as he showed himself as our accuser.

  [70] ὃς ἐξαπατήσας τοὺς δικαστὰς οὐκ ἠθέλησε τιμήσασθαι μετρίου τινὸς τιμήματος τῷ πατρὶ τῷ ἐμῷ, πολλὰ ἐμοῦ δεηθέντος καὶ τοῦτον ἱκετεύσαντος πρὸς τῶν γονάτων, ἀλλ᾽ ὥσπερ τὴν πόλιν προδεδωκότι τῷ πατρὶ δέκα ταλάντων ἐτιμήσατο. δεόμεθ᾽ οὖν ὑμῶν, ἀντιβολοῦμεν, τὰ δίκαια ψηφίζεσθε.

  βοήθησον ἡμῖν ὁ δεῖνα, εἴ τι ἔχεις, καὶ σύνειπε. ἀνάβηθι.

  [70] For he, after deceiving the jury, refused to propose any moderate penalty for my father, although I pleaded with him earnestly and clasped his knees in entreaty; but, as if my father had betrayed our country, he fixed the penalty at ten talents. We, therefore, beg and implore you: give us a just verdict.

  Come to our aid, anyone who has anything to say, and plead for us. Mount the platform.

  κατὰ Νεαίρας — APOLLODORUS AGAINST NEAERA

  [1] πολλά με τὰ παρακαλοῦντα ἦν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, γράψασθαι Νέαιραν τὴν γραφὴν ταυτηνὶ καὶ εἰσελθεῖν εἰς ὑμᾶς. καὶ γὰρ ἠδικήμεθα ὑπὸ Στεφάνου μεγάλα, καὶ εἰς κινδύνους τοὺς ἐσχάτους κατέστημεν ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ, ὅ τε κηδεστὴς καὶ ἐγὼ καὶ ἡ ἀδελφὴ καὶ ἡ γυνὴ ἡ ἐμή, ὥστε οὐχ ὑπάρχων ἀλλὰ τιμωρούμενος ἀγωνιοῦμαι τὸν ἀγῶνα τουτονί: τῆς γὰρ ἔχθρας πρότερος οὗτος ὑπῆρξεν, οὐδὲν ὑφ᾽ ἡμῶν πώποτε οὔτε λόγῳ οὔτε ἔργῳ κακὸν παθών. βούλομαι δ᾽ ὑμῖν προδιηγήσασθαι πρῶτον ἃ πεπόνθαμεν ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ, ἵνα μᾶλλόν μοι συγγνώμην ἔχητε ἀμυνομένῳ, καὶ ὡς εἰς τοὺς ἐσχάτους κινδύνους κατέστημεν περί τε τῆς πατρίδος καὶ περὶ ἀτιμίας.

  [1] Many indeed are the reasons, men of Athens, which urged me to prefer this indictment against Neaera, and to come before you. We have suffered grievous wrongs at the hands of Stephanus and have been brought by him into the most extreme peril, I mean my father-in-law, myself, my sister, and my wife; so that I shall enter upon this trial, not as an aggressor, but as one seeking vengeance. For Stephanus was the one who began our quarrel without ever having been wronged by us in word or deed. I wish at the outset to state before you the wrongs which we have suffered at this hands, in order that you may feel more indulgence for me as I seek to defend myself and to show you into what extreme danger we were brought by him of losing our country and our civic rights.

  [2] ψηφισαμένου γὰρ τοῦ δήμου τοῦ Ἀθηναίων Ἀθηναῖον εἶναι Πασίωνα καὶ ἐκγόνους τοὺς ἐκείνου διὰ τὰς εὐεργεσίας τὰς εἰς τὴν πόλιν, ὁμογνώμων καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐγένετο ὁ ἐμὸς τῇ τοῦ δήμου δωρεᾷ, καὶ ἔδωκεν Ἀπολλοδώρῳ τῷ υἱεῖ τῷ ἐκείνου θυγατέρα μὲν αὑτοῦ, ἀδελφὴν δὲ ἐμήν, ἐξ ἧς Ἀπολλοδώρῳ οἱ παῖδές εἰσιν. ὄντος δὲ χρηστοῦ τοῦ Ἀπολλοδώρου περί τε τὴν ἀδελφὴν τὴν ἐμὴν καὶ περὶ ἡμᾶς ἅπαντας, καὶ ἡγουμένου τῇ ἀληθείᾳ οἰκείους ὄντας κοινωνεῖν πάντων τῶν ὄντων, ἔλαβον καὶ ἐγὼ γυναῖκα Ἀπολλοδώρου μὲν θυγατέρα, ἀδελφιδῆν δ᾽ ἐμαυτοῦ.

  [2] When the people of Athens passed a decree granting the right of citizenship to Pasion and his descendants on account of services to the state, my father favored the granting of the people’s gift, and himself gave in marriage to Apollodorus, son of Pasion, his own daughter, my sister, and she is the mother of the children of Apollodorus. Inasmuch as Apollodorus acted honorably toward my sister and toward all of us, and considered us in truth his relatives and entitled to share in all that he had, I took to wife his daughter, my own niece.

  [3] προεληλυθότος δὲ χρόνου λαγχάνει βουλεύειν Ἀπολλόδωρος: δοκιμ
ασθεὶς δὲ καὶ ὀμόσας τὸν νόμιμον ὅρκον, συμβάντος τῇ πόλει καιροῦ τοιούτου καὶ πολέμου, ἐν ᾧ ἦν ἢ κρατήσασιν ὑμῖν μεγίστοις τῶν Ἑλλήνων εἶναι καὶ ἀναμφισβητήτως τά τε ὑμέτερα αὐτῶν κεκομίσθαι καὶ καταπεπολεμηκέναι Φίλιππον, ἢ ὑστερίσασι τῇ βοηθείᾳ καὶ προεμένοις τοὺς συμμάχους, δι᾽ ἀπορίαν χρημάτων καταλυθέντος τοῦ στρατοπέδου, τούτους τ᾽ ἀπολέσαι καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις Ἕλλησιν ἀπίστους εἶναι δοκεῖν, καὶ κινδυνεύειν περὶ τῶν ὑπολοίπων, περί τε Λήμνου καὶ Ἴμβρου καὶ Σκύρου καὶ Χερρονήσου,

  [3] After some time had elapsed Apollodorus was chosen by lot as a member of the senate; and when he had passed the scrutiny and had sworn the customary oath, there came upon the city a war and a crisis so grave that, if victors, you would be supreme among the Greek peoples, and would beyond possibility of dispute have recovered your own possessions and have crushed Philip in war; but, if your help arrived too late and you abandoned your allies, allowing your army to be disbanded for want of money, you would lose these allies, forfeit the confidence of the rest of the Greeks, and risk the loss of your other possessions, Lemnos and Imbros, and Scyros and the Chersonese.

  [4] καὶ μελλόντων στρατεύεσθαι ὑμῶν πανδημεὶ εἴς τε Εὔβοιαν καὶ Ὄλυνθον, ἔγραψε ψήφισμα ἐν τῇ βουλῇ Ἀπολλόδωρος βουλεύων καὶ ἐξήνεγκε προβούλευμα εἰς τὸν δῆμον, λέγον διαχειροτονῆσαι τὸν δῆμον εἴτε δοκεῖ τὰ περιόντα χρήματα τῆς διοικήσεως στρατιωτικὰ εἶναι εἴτε θεωρικά, κελευόντων μὲν τῶν νόμων, ὅταν πόλεμος ᾖ, τὰ περιόντα χρήματα τῆς διοικήσεως στρατιωτικὰ εἶναι, κύριον δ᾽ ἡγούμενος δεῖν τὸν δῆμον εἶναι περὶ τῶν αὑτοῦ ὅ τι ἂν βούληται πρᾶξαι, ὀμωμοκὼς δὲ τὰ βέλτιστα βουλεύσειν τῷ δήμῳ τῷ Ἀθηναίων, ὡς ὑμεῖς πάντες ἐμαρτυρήσατε ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ καιρῷ.

  [4] You were at that time on the point of sending your entire force to Euboea and Olynthus, and Apollodorus, being one of its members, brought forward in the senate a bill, and carried it as a preliminary decree to the assembly, proposing that the people should decide whether the funds remaining over from the state’s expenditure should be used for military purposes or for public spectacles. For the laws prescribed that, when there was war, the funds remaining over from state expenditures should be devoted to military purposes, and Apollodorus believed that the people ought to have power to do what they pleased with their own; and he had sworn that, as member of the senate, he would act for the best interests of the Athenian people, as you all bore witness at that crisis.

  [5] γενομένης γὰρ τῆς διαχειροτονίας, οὐδεὶς ἀντεχειροτόνησεν ὡς οὐ δεῖ τοῖς χρήμασι τούτοις στρατιωτικοῖς χρῆσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ νῦν ἔτι, ἄν που λόγος γένηται, παρὰ πάντων ὁμολογεῖται ὡς τὰ βέλτιστα εἰπὼν ἄδικα πάθοι. τῷ οὖν ἐξαπατήσαντι τῷ λόγῳ τοὺς δικαστὰς δίκαιον ὀργίζεσθαι, οὐ τοῖς ἐξαπατηθεῖσιν. γραψάμενος γὰρ παρανόμων τὸ ψήφισμα Στέφανος οὑτοσὶ καὶ εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὸ δικαστήριον, ἐπὶ διαβολῇ ψευδεῖς μάρτυρας παρασχόμενος ὡς ὦφλε τῷ δημοσίῳ ἐκ πέντε καὶ εἴκοσιν ἐτῶν, καὶ ἔξω τῆς γραφῆς πολλὰ κατηγορῶν, εἷλε τὸ ψήφισμα.

  [5] For when the division took place there was not a man whose vote opposed the use of these funds for military purposes; and even now, if the matter is anywhere spoken of, it is acknowledged by all that Apollodorus gave the best advice, and was unjustly treated. It is, therefore, upon the one who by his arguments deceived the jurors that your wrath should fall, not upon those who were deceived.

  [6] καὶ τοῦτο μὲν εἰ αὐτῷ ἐδόκει διαπράξασθαι, οὐ χαλεπῶς φέρομεν: ἀλλ᾽ ἐπειδὴ περὶ τοῦ τιμήματος ἐλάμβανον τὴν ψῆφον οἱ δικασταί, δεομένων ἡμῶν συγχωρῆσαι οὐκ ἤθελεν, ἀλλὰ πεντεκαίδεκα ταλάντων ἐτιμᾶτο, ἵνα ἀτιμώσειεν αὐτὸν καὶ παῖδας τοὺς ἐκείνου, καὶ τὴν ἀδελφὴν τὴν ἐμὴν καὶ ἡμᾶς ἅπαντας εἰς τὴν ἐσχάτην ἀπορίαν καταστήσειεν καὶ ἔνδειαν ἁπάντων.

  [6] This fellow Stephanus indicted the decree as illegal, and came before a court. He produced false witnesses to substantiate the calumnious charge that Apollodorus had been a debtor to the treasury for twenty-five years, and by making all sorts of accusations that were foreign to the indictment won a verdict against the decree.

  So far as this is concerned, if he saw fit to follow this course, we do not take it ill; but when the jurors were casting their votes to fix the penalty, although we begged him to make concessions, he would not listen to us, but fixed the fine at fifteen talents in order to deprive Apollodorus and his children of their civic rights, and to bring my sister and all of us into extremest distress and utter destitution.

  [7] ἡ μὲν γὰρ οὐσία οὐδὲ τριῶν ταλάντων πάνυ τι ἦν, ὥστε δυνηθῆναι ἐκτεῖσαι τοσοῦτον ὄφλημα: μὴ ἐκτεισθέντος δὲ τοῦ ὀφλήματος ἐπὶ τῆς ἐνάτης πρυτανείας, διπλοῦν ἔμελλεν ἔσεσθαι τὸ ὄφλημα καὶ ἐγγραφήσεσθαι Ἀπολλόδωρος τριάκοντα τάλαντα ὀφείλων τῷ δημοσίῳ: ἐγγεγραμμένου δὲ τῷ δημοσίῳ, ἀπογραφήσεσθαι ἔμελλεν ἡ ὑπάρχουσα οὐσία Ἀπολλοδώρῳ δημοσία εἶναι, πραθείσης δ᾽ αὐτῆς εἰς τὴν ἐσχάτην ἀπορίαν καταστήσεσθαι καὶ αὐτὸς καὶ παῖδες οἱ ἐκείνου καὶ γυνὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς ἅπαντες.

  [7] For the property of Apollodorus did not amount to as much as three talents to enable him to pay in full a fine of such magnitude, yet if it were not paid by the ninth prytany the fine would have been doubled and Apollodorus would have been inscribed as owing thirty talents to the treasury, all the property that he has would have been scheduled as belonging to the state, and upon its being sold Apollodorus himself and his children and his wife and all of us would have been reduced to extremest distress.

  [8] ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἡ ἑτέρα θυγάτηρ ἀνέκδοτος ἔμελλεν ἔσεσθαι: τίς γὰρ ἄν ποτε παρ᾽ ὀφείλοντος τῷ δημοσίῳ καὶ ἀποροῦντος ἔλαβεν ἄπροικον; οὐκοῦν τηλικούτων κακῶν αἴτιος ἡμῖν πᾶσιν ἐγίγνετο, οὐδὲν πώποτε ὑφ᾽ ἡμῶν ἠδικημένος. τοῖς μὲν οὖν δικασταῖς τοῖς τότε δικάσασι πολλὴν χάριν κατά γε τοῦτο ἔχω, ὅτι οὐ περιεῖδον αὐτὸν ἀναρπασθέντα, ἀλλ᾽ ἐτίμησαν ταλάντου, ὥστε δυνηθῆναι ἐκτεῖσαι μόλις: τούτῳ δὲ δικαίως τὸν αὐτὸν ἔρανον ἐνεχειρήσαμεν ἀποδοῦναι.

  [8] And more than this, his other daughter would never have been given in marriage; for who would ever have taken to wif
e a portionless girl from a father who was a debtor to the treasury and without resources? Of such magnitude, you see, were the calamities which Stephanus was bringing upon us all without ever having been wronged by us in any respect. To the jurors, therefore, who at that time decided the matter I am deeply grateful for this at least, that they did not suffer Apollodorus to be utterly ruined, but fixed the amount of the fine at one talent, so that he was able to discharge the debt, although with difficulty. With good reason, then, have we undertaken to pay Stephanus back in the same coin.

  [9] καὶ γὰρ οὐ μόνον ταύτῃ ἐζήτησεν ἀνελεῖν ἡμᾶς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος αὐτὸν ἐβουλήθη ἐκβαλεῖν. ἐπενέγκας γὰρ αὐτῷ αἰτίαν ψευδῆ ὡς Ἀφίδναζέ ποτε ἀφικόμενος ἐπὶ δραπέτην αὑτοῦ ζητῶν πατάξειε γυναῖκα καὶ ἐκ τῆς πληγῆς τελευτήσειεν ἡ ἄνθρωπος, παρασκευασάμενος ἀνθρώπους δούλους καὶ κατασκευάσας ὡς Κυρηναῖοι εἴησαν, προεῖπεν αὐτῷ ἐπὶ Παλλαδίῳ φόνου.