§26μεμαρτυρηκότος μὲν ἡμῖν τοῦ Μίκωνος, καθʼ οὗ δοὺς Θεοκρίνης οὑτοσὶ τὴν φάσιν οὐκ ἐπεξῆλθε, καὶ πεποιηκότος αὑτὸν τούτοις ὑπόδικον, ὁμολογοῦντος δὲ τοῦ γραμματέως λαβεῖν τὴν φάσιν παρὰ τούτου, καὶ πεποιηκυίας τῆς μαρτυρίας τῆς ὀλίγον τι πρότερον ἀναγνωσθείσης αὐτὸν ὑπόδικον; ἔτι δὲ τῶν τοῦ ἐμπορίου ἐπιμελητῶν μόλις μέν, ἀλλʼ οὖν ταὐτὰ τούτοις μεμαρτυρηκότων; πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τῶν ἰδόντων ἐκκειμένην τὴν φάσιν καὶ προσελθόντων τοῖς ἄρχουσι μαρτυρούντων, ὥσπερ ὀλίγον πρότερον ἠκούσατε;
With Micon having testified for us—against whom this Theocrines, having laid the information, did not prosecute, and thus made himself liable to these penalties—and with the secretary admitting that he received the information from him, and with the testimony read a little before having made him liable; and further, with the overseers of the market, though with difficulty, yet nevertheless having testified to the same things as these; and in addition, with those who saw the information posted up and went to the magistrates testifying, just as you heard a little before?
ἀλλʼ οὐ δίκαιον, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί.
But it is not just, gentlemen of the jury.
§27οὐ γὰρ δὴ διὰ τὸν τρόπον γε τὸν τοῦ φεύγοντος καὶ τὸν βίον ψευδεῖς ὑπολήψεσθε τὰς μαρτυρίας τὰς ἀνεγνωσμένας εἶναι.
For surely you will not, because of the character and life of the defendant, suppose that the testimonies read are false.
πολὺ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ τρόπου σαφέστερον ἐπιδείκνυται Θεοκρίνης τοιοῦτος ὢν ἢ διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων.
For Theocrines is shown to be such a man much more clearly by his character than by what has been said.
τί γὰρ οὐ πεποίηκεν οὗτος ὧν ἂν πονηρὸς καὶ συκοφάντης ἄνθρωπος ποιήσειεν;
For what has he not done of the things that a rogue and a sycophant would do?
οὐ διὰ μὲν τὴν τούτου πονηρίαν ἁδελφὸς αὐτοῦ θεσμοθετῶν καὶ τούτῳ χρώμενος συμβούλῳ τοιοῦτος ἔδοξε παρʼ ὑμῖν ἄνθρωπος εἶναι, ὥστε οὐ μόνον αὐτὸς ἀπεχειροτονήθη τῶν ἐπιχειροτονιῶν οὐσῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἅπασαν ἐποίησεν;
Was it not because of this man's wickedness that his brother, when serving as a thesmothete and using him as an adviser, seemed to you to be such a man that not only was he himself deposed during the confirmation votes, but he also made the whole college be deposed?
καὶ εἰ μὴ δεομένων αὐτῶν καὶ ἱκετευόντων, καὶ λεγόντων ὡς οὐκέτι πρόσεισιν Θεοκρίνης πρὸς τὴν ἀρχήν, ἐπείσθηθʼ ὑμεῖς καὶ πάλιν ἀπέδοτε τοὺς στεφάνους αὐτοῖς, πάντων ἂν αἴσχιστα οἱ συνάρχοντες ἐπεπόνθεσαν;
And if you had not been persuaded by them begging and entreating, and saying that Theocrines would no longer approach the office, and if you had not returned their crowns to them, would not his colleagues have suffered the most shameful fate of all?
§28καὶ τούτων οὐδέν με δεῖ μάρτυρας ὑμῖν παρασχέσθαι· πάντες γὰρ ἴστε τοὺς ἐπὶ Λυκίσκου ἄρχοντος θεσμοθέτας ἀποχειροτονηθέντας ἐν τῷ δήμῳ διὰ τοῦτον.
And for none of these things do I need to provide witnesses to you; for you all know that the thesmothetae in the archonship of Lyciscus were deposed in the Assembly because of this man.
ὧν ἀναμιμνῃσκομένους ὑμᾶς χρὴ τὸν αὐτὸν ὑπολαμβάνειν εἶναι τοῦτον καὶ πρότερον καὶ νῦν.
Remembering these things, you must consider that this man is the same both then and now.
οὐ πολλῷ τοίνυν χρόνῳ ὕστερον τῆς ἀποχειροτονίας, τελευτήσαντος αὐτῷ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ βιαίῳ θανάτῳ, τοιοῦτος ἐγένετο περὶ αὐτὸν οὗτος, ὥστε ζητήσας τοὺς δράσαντας καὶ πυθόμενος οἵτινες ἦσαν, ἀργύριον λαβὼν ἀπηλλάγη.
Not long after the deposition, then, his brother having died a violent death, this man behaved in such a way towards him that, having sought out the perpetrators and found out who they were, he took money and dropped the matter.
§29καὶ τὴν μὲν ἀρχὴν ἣν ἐκεῖνος ἄρχων ἐτελεύτησεν, ἱεροποιὸς ὤν, παρὰ τοὺς νόμους ἦρχεν οὗτος, οὔτε λαχὼν οὔτʼ ἐπιλαχών· ὑπὲρ ὧν δʼ ἔπαθεν ἐκεῖνος, μέχρι τούτου σχετλιάζων περιῄει καὶ φάσκων εἰς Ἄρειον πάγον Δημοχάρην προσκαλεῖσθαι, ἕως διελύσατο πρὸς τοὺς τὴν αἰτίαν ἔχοντας.
And as for the office which that man was holding when he died, being a hieropoios, this man held it contrary to the laws, having been chosen neither by lot nor as a substitute; but regarding what that man had suffered, he went around expressing indignation up to a point, and claiming that he was summoning Demochares to the Areopagus, until he made a settlement with those who were accused.
χρηστός γʼ ἐστὶ καὶ πιστὸς καὶ κρείττων χρημάτων.
A worthy man indeed, and trustworthy, and superior to money!
οὐδʼ ἂν αὐτὸς φήσειεν.
Not even he himself would say so.
οὐ γὰρ τοσούτων δεῖσθαί φασι δεῖν τὸν δικαίως καὶ μετρίως τῶν κοινῶν ἐπιμελησόμενον, ἀλλὰ πάντων τούτων εἶναι κρείττω διʼ ὧν ἀναλίσκουσιν εἰς ἑαυτοὺς ἃ λαμβάνουσιν.
For they say that one who is to manage public affairs justly and moderately does not need to be free of just some temptations, but must be superior to all those things through which they spend on themselves what they receive.
§30καὶ τὰ μὲν πρὸς τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτῷ πεπραγμένα τοιαῦτά ἐστιν· ἃ δὲ πρὸς τὴν πόλιν προσελθὼν διῴκηται (δευτέρους γὰρ ὑμᾶς φήσει φιλεῖν μετὰ τοὺς οἰκείους) ἄξιον ἀκοῦσαι.
And such are his actions regarding his brother; but what he has managed in coming before the city (for he will say that he loves you second only to his relatives) is worth hearing.
ἄρξομαι δʼ ἀπὸ τῶν πρὸς ἡμᾶς αὐτῷ πεπραγμένων.
And I will begin with his actions regarding us.
τοῦ γὰρ πατρὸς κατηγορῶν, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, ὅτε τὴν τῶν παρανόμων αὐτὸν ἐδίωκε γραφήν, ἔλεγεν ὡς ἐπιβεβουλευμένος ὁ παῖς εἴη περὶ οὗ τὸ ψήφισμα γεγραμμένον ἦν, ἐν ᾧ τὴν σίτησιν ἔγραψεν Χαριδήμῳ ὁ πατὴρ τῷ Ἰσχομάχου υἱῷ, §31λέγων ὡς, ἐὰν ἐπανέλθῃ εἰς τὸν πατρῷον οἶκον ὁ παῖς, ἀπολωλεκὼς ἔσται τὴν οὐσίαν ἅπασαν ἣν Αἰσχύλος ὁ ποιησάμενος αὐτὸν υἱὸν ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ, ψευδόμενος· οὐδενὶ γὰρ πώποτε, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, τοῦτο τῶν εἰσποιηθέντων συνέβη.
For when accusing my father, gentlemen of the jury, when he prosecuted him on the indictment for illegal proposals, he said that the boy had been plotted against, concerning whom the decree had been written, in which my father proposed maintenance for Charidemus, the son of Ischomachus, claiming that if the boy should return to his paternal house, he would lose the entire property which Aeschylus, who had adopted him as a son, had given him—lying; for this never yet happened to any of those who were adopted, gentlemen of the jury.
καὶ τούτων πάντων αἴτιον ἔφη Πολύευκτον γεγενῆσθαι τὸν ἔχοντα τὴν μητέρα τοῦ παιδός, βουλόμενον ἔχειν αὐτὸν τὴν τοῦ παιδὸς οὐσίαν.
And he said that Polyeuctus, who had married the boy's mother, was the cause of all these things, because he wanted to keep the boy's property for himself.
ὀργισθέντων δὲ τῶν δικαστῶν ἐπὶ τοῖς λεγομένοις, καὶ νομισάντων αὐτὸ μὲν τὸ ψήφισμα καὶ τὴν δωρεὰν κατὰ τοὺς νόμους εἶναι, τῷ δὲ ὄντι τὸν παῖδα μέλλειν ἀποστερεῖσθαι τῶν χρημάτων, τῷ μὲν πατρὶ δέκα ταλάντων ἐτίμησαν ὡς μετὰ Πολυεύκτου ταῦτα πράττοντι, τούτῳ δʼ ἐπίστευσαν ὡς δὴ βοηθήσαντι τῷ παιδί.
But the judges, having become angry at these statements and believing that, while the decree itself and the gift were in accordance with the laws, yet in reality the boy was about to be deprived of his property, assessed the penalty against my father at ten talents, on the ground that he was doing these things in collusion with Polyeuctus, and they believed this man on the ground that he was helping the boy.