§55εἰ μὲν γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ ἠπίστει τούτοις, δῆλον ὅτι οὔτʼ ἂν τἄλλʼ ἐπέτρεπεν οὔτʼ ἂν ταῦθʼ οὕτω καταλείπων αὐτοῖς ἔφραζε·
For if my father had distrusted them, it is clear that he would neither have entrusted the rest of his estate to them, nor have told them of this money while leaving it in this way.
μανία γὰρ δεινὴ τὰ κεκρυμμένʼ εἰπεῖν, μηδὲ τῶν φανερῶν μέλλοντʼ ἐπιτρόπους καταστήσειν.
For it would be a terrible madness to speak of hidden things when he did not even intend to appoint them as guardians of the visible property.
εἰ δʼ ἐπίστευεν, οὐκ ἂν δήπου τὰ μὲν πλεῖστʼ αὐτοῖς τῶν χρημάτων ἐνεχείρισεν, τῶν δʼ οὐκ ἂν κυρίους ἐποίησεν.
But if he trusted them, he surely would not have put the greatest part of his funds into their hands, while refusing to make them masters of the other part.
οὐδʼ ἂν τῇ μὲν μητρί μου ταῦτα φυλάττειν ἔδωκεν, αὐτὴν δʼ ἐκείνην ἑνὶ τῶν ἐπιτρόπων τούτῳ γυναῖκʼ ἔδωκεν· οὐ γὰρ ἔχει λόγον, σῴζειν μὲν τὰ χρήματα διὰ τῆς ἐμῆς μητρὸς ζητεῖν, ἕνα δὲ τῶν ἀπιστουμένων καὶ αὐτῆς καὶ τῶν χρημάτων κύριον ποιεῖν.
Nor would he have given this money to my mother to keep, and then given her as wife to this very one of the guardians; for it makes no sense to seek to preserve the money through my mother, and yet make one of the distrusted men master of both her and the money.
§56ἔτι δέ, τούτων εἴ τι ἦν ἀληθές, οἴεσθʼ οὐκ ἂν αὐτὴν λαβεῖν δοθεῖσαν ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός;
Furthermore, if there was any truth in this, do you not think that he would have taken her when she was given to him by my father?
ὃς τὴν μὲν προῖκʼ αὐτῆς ἤδη, τὰς ὀγδοήκοντα μνᾶς, ἔχων ὡς συνοικήσων αὐτῇ, τὴν Φιλωνίδου τοῦ Μελιτέως θυγατέρʼ ἔγημεν· τεττάρων δὲ ταλάντων ἔνδον ὄντων, καὶ ταῦτʼ ἐκείνης ἐχούσης, ὡς οὗτός φησιν, οὐκ ἂν ἡγεῖσθʼ αὐτὸν κἂν ἐπιδραμεῖν, ὥστε γενέσθαι μετʼ ἐκείνης αὐτῶν κύριον.
He, who already held her dowry, eighty minae, with the intention of living with her, married the daughter of Philonides of Melite instead; but if there were four talents inside, and she held them, as this man says, do you not think he would have run to her so as to become master of them together with her?
§57ἢ τὴν μὲν φανερὰν οὐσίαν, ἣν καὶ ὑμῶν οἱ πολλοὶ συνῄδεσαν ὅτι κατελείφθη, μετὰ τῶν συνεπιτρόπων οὕτως αἰσχρῶς διήρπασεν, ὧν δʼ οὐκ ἐμέλλεθʼ ὑμεῖς ἔσεσθαι μάρτυρες, ἀπέσχετʼ ἂν ἐξὸν αὐτῷ λαβεῖν;
Or did he so shamefully plunder, along with his co-guardians, the visible estate, which most of you also knew was left behind, but abstained from what you were not going to witness, when it was in his power to take it?
καὶ τίς ἂν πιστεύσειεν;
And who would believe this?
οὐκ ἔστιν ταῦτʼ, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, οὐκ ἔστιν, ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν χρήματα, ὅσα κατέλιπεν ὁ πατήρ, πάντα τούτοις παρέδωκεν, οὗτος δʼ, ἵνʼ ἧττον ἐλεηθῶ παρʼ ὑμῖν, τούτοις τοῖς λόγοις χρήσεται.
It is not so, men of the jury, it is not so; but my father delivered all the funds he left to them, and this man, in order that I might be less pitied by you, will employ these arguments.
§58πολλὰ μὲν οὖν ἔγωγʼ ἔχω καὶ ἄλλα τούτου κατηγορεῖν· ἓν δὲ περὶ πάντων κεφάλαιον εἰπών, πάσας αὐτοῦ διαλύσω τὰς ἀπολογίας.
Now, I have many other charges to bring against him; but by stating one main point about them all, I shall dissolve all his defenses.
τούτῳ γὰρ ἐξῆν μηδὲν ἔχειν τούτων τῶν πραγμάτων, μισθώσαντι τὸν οἶκον κατὰ τουτουσὶ τοὺς νόμους.
For it was in his power to have nothing to do with these troublesome affairs, by leasing the estate according to these laws.
λαβὲ τοὺς νόμους καὶ ἀνάγνωθι.
Take the laws and read them.
ΝΟΜΟΙ.
κατὰ τούτους τοὺς νόμους Ἀντιδώρῳ μὲν ἐκ τριῶν ταλάντων καὶ τρισχιλίων ἐν ἓξ ἔτεσιν ἓξ τάλαντα καὶ πλέον ἐκ τοῦ μισθωθῆναι παρεδόθη, καὶ ταῦθʼ ὑμῶν τινὲς εἶδον· Θεογένης γὰρ ὁ Προβαλίσιος, ὁ μισθωσάμενος αὐτοῦ τὸν οἶκον, ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ ταῦτα τὰ χρήματʼ ἐξηρίθμησεν.
LAWS. According to these laws, in the case of Antidorus, more than six talents were delivered from three talents and three thousand drachmae in six years by leasing, and some of you saw this; for Theogenes of Probalinthus, who leased his estate, counted out this money in the marketplace.
§59ἐμοὶ δʼ ἐκ τεττάρων καὶ δέκα ταλάντων ἐν δέκʼ ἔτεσιν πρὸς τὸν χρόνον τε καὶ τὴν ἐκείνου μίσθωσιν πλέον ἢ τριπλάσια κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς προσῆκον γενέσθαι, τοῦτο διὰ τί οὐκ ἐποίησεν, ἐρωτᾶτʼ αὐτόν.
But as for me, since from fourteen talents in ten years, in proportion to the time and to that leasing, more than threefold ought to have accrued in all likelihood, ask him why he did not do this.
εἰ μὲν γάρ φησι βέλτιον εἶναι μὴ μισθωθῆναι τὸν οἶκον, δειξάτω μὴ διπλάσια μηδὲ τριπλάσιά μοι γεγενημένα, ἀλλʼ αὐτὰ τὰ ἀρχαῖʼ ἐμοὶ πάντʼ ἀποδεδομένα.
For if he says that it was better for the estate not to be leased, let him show, not that it has become double or triple for me, but that the capital itself has been fully returned to me.
εἰ δʼ ἐκ τεττάρων καὶ δέκα ταλάντων ἐμοὶ μὲν μηδʼ ἑβδομήκοντα μνᾶς παραδεδώκασιν, ὁ δὲ καὶ πρὸς ὀφείλοντά μʼ αὑτῷ ἀπέγραψεν, πῶς ἀποδέξασθαί τι προσήκει τούτων λεγόντων;
But if, from fourteen talents, they have delivered to me not even seventy minae, and he has even registered me as owing money to himself, how is it proper to accept anything of what they say?
οὐδαμῶς δήπουθεν.
Surely not at all.
§60τοσαύτης τοίνυν οὐσίας μοι καταλειφθείσης ὅσην ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἠκούσατε, καὶ τοῦ τρίτου μέρους πρόσοδον αὐτῆς φερούσης πεντήκοντα μνᾶς, ἐξὸν τούτοις τοῖς ἀπληστοτάτοις χρημάτων, καὶ εἰ μὴ μισθοῦν τὸν οἶκον ἐβούλοντο, ἀπὸ μὲν τούτων τῶν προσιόντων, ἐῶντας ὥσπερ εἶχεν κατὰ χώραν, ἡμᾶς τε τρέφειν καὶ τὰ πρὸς τὴν πόλιν διοικεῖν, καὶ ὅσʼ ἐξαὐτῶν περιεγίγνετο. §61ταῦτα προσπεριποιεῖν, τὴν δʼ ἄλλην οὐσίαν ἐνεργὸν ποιήσασιν, οὖσαν ταύτης διπλασίαν, αὑτοῖς τε, εἰ χρημάτων ἐπεθύμουν, μέτριʼ ἐξ αὐτῶν λαβεῖν, ἐμοί τε σὺν τοῖς ἀρχαίοις τὸν οἶκον ἐκ τῶν προσόδων μείζω ποιῆσαι, τούτων μὲν οὐδὲν ἐποίησαν, ἀποδόμενοι δʼ ἀλλήλοις τὰ πλείστου ἄξια τῶν ἀνδραπόδων, τὰ δὲ παντάπασιν ἀφανίσαντες, ἐμοῦ μὲν ἀνεῖλον καὶ τὴν ὑπάρχουσαν πρόσοδον, σφίσι δʼ αὐτοῖς οὐ μικρὰν ἐκ τῶν ἐμῶν κατεσκευάσαντο.
Since, therefore, so great an estate was left to me as you heard from the beginning, and a third part of it yielded an income of fifty minae, when it was in the power of these most greedy men, even if they did not wish to lease the estate, to support us and administer our public duties to the city from these incoming revenues, leaving the property as it was in its place, and the surplus that accrued from them to accumulate further, and by making the rest of the estate productive, which was double this amount, both to take moderate sums for themselves from it if they desired money, and to make the estate larger for me from the revenues along with the capital—they did none of these things, but by selling to one another the most valuable of the slaves, and completely making others disappear, they destroyed even my existing income, and established no small wealth for themselves out of my property.