§19ταῦτα τοίνυν ἐγὼ πάσχων ὑπὸ τούτων καὶ πόλλʼ ἕτερα καὶ δεινά, μὴ ὅτι δίκην λαβών, ἀλλὰ μὴ προσοφλὼν ἀγαπήσαιμʼ ἄν.
So, experiencing these and many other terrible things at their hands, far from obtaining justice, I should be glad if I do not have to pay in addition.
εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἦν, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, χαράδρα πάλιν ὑποδεχομένη, τάχʼ ἂν ἠδίκουν ἐγὼ μὴ δεχόμενος, ὥσπερ ἀνʼ ἕτερʼ ἄττα τῶν χωρίων εἰσὶν ὁμολογούμεναι χαράδραι· καὶ ταύταις δέχονται μὲν οἱ πρῶτοι, καθάπερ τοὺς ἐκ τῶν οἰκιῶν χειμάρρους, παρὰ τούτων δʼ ἕτεροι παραλαμβάνουσιν ὡσαύτως· ταύτῃ δʼ οὔτε παραδίδωσιν οὐδεὶς οὔτε παρʼ ἐμοῦ παραλαμβάνει.
For if, men of the jury, there were a watercourse below to receive it in turn, I might perhaps be doing wrong by not receiving it, just as in certain other lands there are acknowledged watercourses; and in these the first owners receive the water, just as torrents from houses, and from them others take it over in like manner; but here, neither does anyone hand it over to me, nor does anyone receive it from me.
§20πῶς ἂν οὖν εἴη τοῦτο χαράδρα;
How, then, could this be a watercourse?
τὸ δʼ εἰσπεσὸν ὕδωρ ἔβλαψεν οἶμαι πολλάκις ἤδη πολλοὺς μὴ φυλαξαμένους, ἔβλαψε δὲ καὶ νῦν τουτονί.
And the water that broke in has, I suppose, already often damaged many who did not take precautions, and it has damaged this man now too.
ὃ καὶ πάντων ἐστὶν δεινότατον, εἰ Καλλικλῆς μὲν εἰς τὸ χωρίον εἰσπεσόντος τοῦ ὕδατος ἁμαξιαίους λίθους προσκομίσας ἀποικοδομεῖ, τοῦ δὲ πατρός, ὅτι τοῦτο παθόντος τοῦ χωρίου περιῳκοδόμησεν, ὡς ἀδικοῦντος ἐμοὶ βλάβης εἴληχε δίκην.
And this is the most outrageous thing of all, if Callicles, when the water broke into his land, brought stones as large as wagons and walled it off, whereas against my father, because he walled it in when his land suffered this same thing, he has brought a suit for damages against me, as though he were a wrongdoer.
καίτοι εἰ ὅσοι κακῶς πεπόνθασιν ὑπὸ τῶν ὑδάτων τῶν ταύτῃ ῥεόντων ἐμοὶ λήξονται δίκας, οὐδὲ πολλαπλάσια γενόμενα τὰ ὄντʼ ἐξαρκέσειεν ἄν μοι.
Yet if all who have suffered damage from the waters flowing this way should bring suits against me, not even many times my actual property would suffice for me.
§21τοσοῦτον τοίνυν διαφέρουσιν οὗτοι τῶν ἄλλων, ὥστε πεπονθότες μὲν οὐδέν, ὡς αὐτίχʼ ὑμῖν ἐγὼ σαφῶς ἐπιδείξω, πολλῶν δὲ πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα βεβλαμμένων, μόνοι δικάζεσθαι τετολμήκασιν οὗτοί μοι.
To such an extent, then, do these men differ from others, that although they have suffered nothing, as I shall presently show you clearly, and though many others have been damaged in many great ways, these alone have had the audacity to go to law with me.
καίτοι πᾶσι μᾶλλον ἐνεχώρει τοῦτο πράττειν.
And yet it was open to everyone else rather than them to do this.
οὗτοι μὲν γάρ, εἰ καί τι πεπόνθασιν, αὐτοὶ διʼ αὑτοὺς βεβλαμμένοι συκοφαντοῦσιν· ἐκεῖνοι δέ, εἰ καὶ μηδὲν ἄλλο, τοιαύτην γʼ οὐδεμίαν αἰτίαν ἔχουσιν.
For these men, even if they have suffered something, are bringing a vexatious suit though damaged by their own fault; whereas the others, if nothing else, at least have no such blame attached to them.
ἀλλʼ ἵνα μὴ πάνθʼ ἅμα συνταράξας λέγω, λαβέ μοι τὰς τῶν γειτόνων μαρτυρίας.
But so that I may not confuse everything by speaking of it all at once, take for me the depositions of the neighbors.
ΜΑΡΤΥΡΙΑΙ.
DEPOSITIONS.
§22οὔκουν δεινόν, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, τούτους μὲν μηδὲν ἐγκαλεῖν μοι τοσαῦτα βεβλαμμένους, μηδʼ ἄλλον μηδένα τῶν ἠτυχηκότων, ἀλλὰ τὴν τύχην στέργειν, τουτονὶ δὲ συκοφαντεῖν;
Is it not, then, monstrous, men of the jury, that these men should bring no charge against me, though they have suffered so much damage, nor any other of those who were unfortunate, but should submit to their fortune, while this fellow brings a vexatious suit?
ὃν ὅτι μὲν αὐτὸς ἐξημάρτηκεν πρῶτον μὲν τὴν ὁδὸν στενοτέραν ποιήσας, ἐξαγαγὼν ἔξω τὴν αἱμασιάν, ἵνα τὰ δένδρα τῆς ὁδοῦ ποιήσειεν εἴσω, ἔπειτα δὲ τὸν χλῆδον ἐκβαλὼν εἰς τὴν ὁδόν, ἐξ ὧν ὑψηλοτέραν τὴν αὐτὴν καὶ στενοτέραν πεποιῆσθαι συμβέβηκεν, ἐκ τῶν μαρτυριῶν αὐτίκʼ εἴσεσθε σαφέστερον,
Who, that he himself has erred, in the first place by making the road narrower by extending his wall outward so as to bring inside the trees that belonged to the road, and secondly, by throwing the rubbish into the road, as a result of which it has come to be higher and narrower, you will soon know more clearly from the depositions.
§23ὅτι δʼ οὐδὲν ἀπολωλεκὼς οὐδὲ καταβεβλαμμένος ἄξιον λόγου τηλικαύτην μοι δίκην εἴληχεν, τοῦθʼ ὑμᾶς ἤδη πειράσομαι διδάσκειν.
And that he has brought so great a suit against me, although he has lost nothing nor suffered any damage worth mentioning, this I will now try to show you.
τῆς γὰρ μητρὸς τῆς ἐμῆς χρωμένης τῇ τούτων μητρὶ πρὶν τούτους ἐπιχειρῆσαι με συκοφαντεῖν, καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλας ἀφικνουμένων, οἷον εἰκὸς ἅμα μὲν ἀμφοτέρων οἰκουσῶν ἐν ἀγρῷ καὶ γειτνιωσῶν,
For my mother was on friendly terms with their mother before they attempted to bring this vexatious suit against me, and they visited each other, as was natural, since they both lived in the country and were neighbors, and also because their husbands had been friends with each other as long as they lived.
§24ἅμα δὲ τῶν ἀνδρῶν χρωμένων ἀλλήλοις ἕως ἔζων, ἐλθούσης δὲ τῆς ἐμῆς μητρὸς ὡς τὴν τούτων καὶ ἀποδυραμένης ἐκείνης τὰ συμβάντα καὶ δεικνυούσης, οὕτως ἐπυθόμεθα πάνθʼ ἡμεῖς, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί·
And when my mother went to visit their mother, and the latter lamented the accident and showed her what had happened, it was in this way, men of the jury, that we learned all the facts.
καὶ λέγω μὲν ἅπερ ἤκουσα τῆς μητρός, οὕτω μοι πόλλʼ ἀγαθὰ γένοιτο, εἰ δὲ ψεύδομαι, τἀναντία τούτων·
And I am repeating exactly what I heard from my mother—so may many blessings be mine, but if I lie, the opposite!
ἦ μὴν ὁρᾶν καὶ τῆς τούτων μητρὸς ἀκούειν ἔφη, κριθῶν μὲν βρεχθῆναι, καὶ ξηραινομένους ἰδεῖν αὑτήν, μηδὲ τρεῖς μεδίμνους, ἀλεύρων δʼ ὡς ἡμιμέδιμνον· ἐλαίου δʼ ἀποκλιθῆναι μὲν κεράμιον φάσκειν, οὐ μέντοι παθεῖν γʼ οὐδέν.
She declared that she indeed saw, and heard from their mother, that of barley, not even three medimnoi were soaked—and she herself saw them being dried—and of flour, about half a medimnos; and as for oil, she said they claimed a jar had tipped over, but indeed it suffered no damage.
§25τοσαῦτʼ, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, τὰ συμβάντʼ ἦν τούτοις, ἀνθʼ ὧν ἐγὼ χιλίων δραχμῶν δίκην ἀτίμητον φεύγω.
Such, men of the jury, were the occurrences that befell them, in return for which I am defending a suit with damages unassessed for a thousand drachmae.
οὐ γὰρ δὴ τειχίον γʼ εἰ παλαιὸν ἐπῳκοδόμησεν, ἐμοὶ καὶ τοῦτο λογιστέον ἐστίν, ὃ μήτʼ ἔπεσεν μήτʼ ἄλλο δεινὸν μηδὲν ἔπαθεν.
For surely, if he rebuilt a small old wall, I am not to be charged with this too, which neither fell down nor suffered any other serious harm.
ὥστʼ εἰ συνεχώρουν αὐτοῖς ἁπάντων αἴτιος εἶναι τῶν συμβεβηκότων, τά γε βρεχθέντα ταῦτʼ ἦν.
So that, even if I admitted to them that I was the cause of all that had occurred, these were at least the only things that were soaked.
§26ὁπότε δὲ μήτʼ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὁ πατὴρ ἠδίκει τὸ χωρίον περιοικοδομῶν, μήθʼ οὗτοι πώποτʼ ἐνεκάλεσαν τοσούτου χρόνου διελθόντος, οἵ τʼ ἄλλοι πολλὰ καὶ δεινὰ πεπονθότες μηδὲν μᾶλλον ἐγκαλοῦσιν ἐμοί, πάντες θʼ ὑμεῖς τὸ ἐκ τῶν οἰκιῶν καὶ τὸ ἐκ τῶν χωρίων ὕδωρ εἰς τὴν ὁδὸν ἐξάγειν εἰώθατε, ἀλλʼ οὐ μὰ Δίʼ εἴσω τὸ ἐκ τῆς ὁδοῦ δέχεσθαι, τί δεῖ πλείω λέγειν;
And since from the beginning my father was not doing wrong in walling in the land, nor did these men ever make any complaint though so much time has elapsed, and since the others, though they have suffered many serious losses, bring no charge against me any more than they do, and since you are all accustomed to lead water from your houses and from your lands out into the road, but, by Zeus, certainly not to receive it from the road into your property, what need is there to say more?
οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐκ τούτων ἄδηλον ὅτι φανερῶς συκοφαντοῦμαι, οὔτʼ ἀδικῶν οὐδὲν οὔτε βεβλαμμένων ἅ φασιν.
For from these facts too it is not unclear that I am patently being sued vexatiously, while having done no wrong and while they have suffered none of the damages they claim.