§48χωρὶς δὲ τούτων ἐνθυμεῖσθε ὡς ἄτοπόν ἐστιν, εἰ οὗτος τὸν πατέρα ὡς ἁμαρτόντα εἰς αὑτὸν λοιδορήσει, διὰ τὰ ἐκείνου ἁμαρτήματα ὑμέτερος πολίτης γεγενημένος.
Apart from these things, reflect how absurd it is if this man slanders his father as having wronged him, when it is through that father's wrongs that he became your citizen.
κἀγὼ μὲν διὰ τὴν τούτων μητέρα τὰ δύο μέρη τῆς οὐσίας ἀφαιρεθείς, ὅμως ὑμᾶς αἰσχύνομαι λέγειν περὶ ἐκείνης τι φλαῦρον· §49οὗτος δʼ, ὃν ἠνάγκασεν αὑτῷ πατέρα γενέσθαι, τοῦτον οὐκ αἰσχύνεται ψέγων ἐναντίον ὑμῶν, ἀλλʼ εἰς τοῦτο ἀμαθίας ἥκει, ὥστε τῶν νόμων ἀπαγορευόντων μηδὲ τοὺς τῶν ἄλλων πατέρας κακῶς λέγειν τεθνεῶτας, οὗτος, οὗ φησιν υἱὸς εἶναι, τοῦτον λοιδορήσει, ᾧ προσῆκεν καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλος ἐβλασφήμει περὶ αὐτοῦ ἀγανακτεῖν.
And I, although deprived of two-thirds of the property because of their mother, still feel too much shame before you to say anything bad about her; but this man is not ashamed of blaming before you that very father whom he compelled to become his father, but has reached such a pitch of shamelessness that, while the laws forbid speaking ill even of the deceased fathers of others, this man will slander the very one whose son he claims to be, though it would be proper for him to be indignant if anyone else spoke blasphemously of him.
§50οἴομαι δʼ αὐτόν, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, ἐπειδὰν τῶν ἄλλων ἀπορῇ, κακῶς τέ με ἐπιχειρήσειν λέγειν καὶ διαβάλλειν πειράσεσθαι, διεξιόνθʼ ὡς ἐγὼ μὲν καὶ ἐτράφην καὶ ἐπαιδεύθην καὶ ἔγημα ἐν τῇ τοῦ πατρὸς οἰκίᾳ, αὐτὸς δὲ οὐδενὸς τούτων μετέσχεν.
And I think, O judges, that when he is at a loss for other arguments, he will attempt to speak ill of me and try to slander me, detailedly recounting how I was brought up, educated, and married in our father's house, while he himself had no share in any of these things.
ὑμεῖς δʼ ἐνθυμεῖσθʼ ὅτι ἐμὲ μὲν ἡ μήτηρ παῖδα καταλιποῦσα ἐτελεύτησεν, ὥστε μοι ἱκανὸν ἦν ἀπὸ τοῦ τόκου τῆς προικὸς καὶ τρέφεσθαι καὶ παιδεύεσθαι· §51ἡ δὲ τούτων μήτηρ Πλαγγών, τρέφουσα μεθʼ αὑτῆς τούτους καὶ θεραπαίνας συχνὰς καὶ αὐτὴ πολυτελῶς ζῶσα, καὶ εἰς ταῦτα τὸν πατέρα τὸν ἐμὸν χορηγὸν ἑαυτῇ ὑπὸ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἔχουσα καὶ πολλὰ δαπανᾶν ἀναγκάζουσα, οὐκ ἴσα δήπου τῆς ἐκείνου οὐσίας ἐμοὶ ἀνήλωκεν, ὥστε πολὺ μᾶλλον προσήκει ἐμὲ τούτοις ἐγκαλεῖν ἢ αὐτὸν ἐγκλήματʼ ἔχειν ὑπὸ τούτων.
But you, reflect that my mother died leaving me a child, so that the interest on her dowry was sufficient for me to be brought up and educated; whereas their mother Plangon, keeping these men with her and many maidservants, and herself living luxiously, and having my father as her provider for these things because of his desire for her, and forcing him to spend much, surely spent from his property not equal to what was spent on me; so that it is much more fitting for me to accuse them than for me to be accused by them.
§52ὃς πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις εἴκοσι μὲν μνᾶς δανεισάμενος μετὰ τοῦ πατρὸς παρὰ Βλεπαίου τοῦ τραπεζίτου εἰς ὠνήν τινα μετάλλων, ἐπειδὴ ὁ πατὴρ ἐτελεύτησεν, τὰ μὲν μέταλλα πρὸς τούτους ἐνειμάμην, τὸ δάνειον δʼ αὐτὸς εἰσεπράχθην, ἑτέρας δὲ χιλίας εἰς τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς ταφὴν παρὰ Λυσιστράτου Θορικίου δανεισάμενος ἰδίᾳ ἐκτέτεικα.
In addition to other things, having borrowed twenty minae along with our father from Blepaeus the banker for the purchase of some mines, when our father died, I divided the mines with these men, but the loan was exacted from me alone; and having borrowed another thousand drachmae for our father’s burial from Lysistratus of Thoricus, I have repaid it privately.
ὡς δʼ ἀληθῆ καὶ ταῦτα λέγω, ἐκ τούτων τῶν μαρτυριῶν εἴσεσθε.
And that I speak the truth in these things too, you will know from these depositions.
ΜΑΡΤΥΡΙΑΙ.
DEPOSITIONS.
§53τοσαῦτα τοίνυν ἐμοῦ ἐλαττουμένου φανερῶς, οὑτοσὶ νῦν σχετλιάζων καὶ δεινοπαθῶν καὶ τὴν προῖκά με τῆς μητρὸς ἀποστερήσει;
When I am thus visibly disadvantaged in so many things, shall this man now, with his complaints and his clamoring about hard treatment, deprive me of my mother's dowry?
ἀλλʼ ὑμεῖς, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, πρὸς Διὸς καὶ θεῶν, μὴ καταπλαγῆτε ὑπὸ τῆς κραυγῆς τῆς τούτου· πολὺς γάρ, πολὺς καὶ τολμηρός ἐστιν ἅνθρωπος, καὶ οὕτως κακοῦργος, ὥστε περὶ ὧν ἂν μὴ ἔχῃ μαρτυρίας παρασχέσθαι, ταῦτα φήσει ὑμᾶς εἰδέναι, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, ὃ πάντες ποιοῦσιν οἱ μηδὲν ὑγιὲς λέγοντες.
But you, O judges, by Zeus and the gods, do not be dismayed by this man's clamor; for the fellow is loud, very loud and audacious, and so knavish that, regarding things for which he cannot produce depositions, he will assert that you know them, O judges—a trick which all those practice who have nothing sound to say.
§54ὑμεῖς οὖν, ἐάν τι τοιοῦτον τεχνάζῃ, μὴ ἐπιτρέπετε αὐτῷ, ἀλλʼ ἐξελέγχετε, καὶ ὅ τι ἂν μὴ ἕκαστος ὑμῶν εἰδῇ, μηδὲ τὸν πλησίον δοκιμαζέτω εἰδέναι, ἀλλʼ ἀξιούτω τοῦτον ἀποδεικνύναι σαφῶς ὑπὲρ ὧν ἂν λέγῃ, καὶ μὴ ὑμᾶς φάσκοντα εἰδέναι, περὶ ὧν αὐτὸς οὐδὲν ἕξει εἰπεῖν δίκαιον, ἀποδιδράσκειν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐγώ, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, πάντων ὑμῶν εἰδότων ὃν τρόπον ἀναγκασθεὶς ὁ πατήρ μου ἐποιήσατο τούτους, οὐδὲν ἧττον δικάζομαι νῦν αὐτοῖς καὶ μάρτυρας ὑποδίκους παρέσχημαι.
If, then, he plays any such trick, do not permit him, but cross-examine him; and whatever any one of you does not know of his own knowledge, let him not assume that his neighbor knows it, but require him to prove clearly whatever he says, and not to escape the truth by asserting that you know things about which he will have nothing just to say; since even I, O judges, although all of you know in what manner my father was compelled to adopt these men, am nonetheless now suing them and have provided witnesses who are liable to prosecution.
§55καίτοι οὐκ ἴσος γʼ ἡμῖν ἐστιν ὁ κίνδυνος, ἀλλʼ ἐμοὶ μέν, ἐὰν ὑμεῖς νυνὶ ὑπὸ τούτων ἐξαπατηθῆτε, οὐκ ἐξέσται ἔτι δικάσασθαι περὶ τῆς προικός· τούτοις δʼ, εἰ φασὶν ἀδίκως ἀποδιαιτῆσαί μου τὸν διαιτητὴν τὰς δίκας, καὶ τότʼ ἐξῆν εἰς ὑμᾶς ἐφεῖναι καὶ νῦν ἐγγενήσεται πάλιν, ἐὰν βούλωνται, παρʼ ἐμοῦ λαβεῖν ἐν ὑμῖν τὸ δίκαιον.
And yet the risk is not equal for us: for on my part, if you are now deceived by these men, it will no longer be open to me to sue for the dowry; whereas for them, if they assert that the arbitrator unjustly decided the suits in my favor, it was both open to them then to appeal to you, and it will now be possible for them again, if they wish, to obtain justice from me before you.