§1ἐπιτήδειόν μοι δοκῶ καιρὸν εἰληφέναι περὶ ὧν εἰπεῖν ἐβουλόμην πάλαι·
I think I have found a fitting opportunity to speak about those things which I have long wished to address.
πάρεισι μὲν γὰρ οἷς ἐπεγκαλῶ, πάρεισι δὲ ὧν ἐναντίον ἐπιθυμῶ μέμψασθαι τοῖς ἀδικοῦσιν ἐμέ.
For those whom I accuse are present, and those in whose presence I desire to censure my wrongdoers are also present.
καίτοι πολλῷ πλείων ἐστὶ σπουδὴ πρὸς τοὺς παρόντας· τοὺς μὲν γὰρ παρʼ οὐδὲν οἶμαι τιμήσειν, εἰ τοῖς ἐπιτηδείοις ἀνεπιτήδειοι δόξουσιν εἶναι (τὴν γὰρ ἀρχὴν οὐδʼ ἂν ἐπεχείρουν ἐξαμαρτάνειν εἰς ἐμὲ), §2τοῖς δὲ βουλοίμην ἂν δόξαι μηδὲν ἀδικῶν τούτους ὑπὸ τούτων ἀδικεῖσθαι πρότερον.
And yet, my concern is far greater toward those who are present; for I think the former will care nothing if they appear unsuitable to their close associates (for otherwise they would not have attempted to wrong me in the first place), but to the latter I should like to appear to have done no wrong to these men, but rather to have been wronged by them first.
ἀνιαρὸν μὲν οὖν ἀναγκάζεσθαι λέγειν περὶ τούτων, ἀδύνατον δὲ μὴ λέγειν, ὅταν ἐναντίον τῆς ἐλπίδος κακῶς πάσχω καὶ τοὺς δοκοῦντας εἶναι φίλους ἀδικοῦντας εὑρίσκω.
It is indeed painful to be compelled to speak of these things, but impossible not to speak, when, contrary to expectation, I suffer harm and find those who seemed to be friends doing me wrong.
§3πρῶτον μὲν οὖν, ἵνα μή τις ὑμῶν τάχα δὴ βοηθῶν οἷς ἐξημάρτηκε πρόφασιν πορίσηται τῆς ἁμαρτίας, εἰπάτω οὖν τίς ὑμῶν ὑπʼ ἐμοῦ κακῶς ἀκήκοεν ἢ πέπονθεν, ἢ τίς ἐμοῦ δεηθεὶς οὐκ ἔτυχεν ὧν ἐγώ τε δυνατὸς ἦ κἀκεῖνος ἐπήγγειλε. — τί δῆτά με κακῶς τὰ μὲν λέγειν τὰ δὲ ποιεῖν χειρεῖτε,
First of all, then, lest any of you, quickly coming to the aid of his misdeeds, should provide a pretext for the error, let him say which of you has been ill-spoken of or harmed by me, or who has made a request of me and failed to obtain what I was capable of giving and he requested. — Why then do you attempt to speak ill of me in some matters and to do me harm in others, and moreover, to slander us to those very people whom you used to slander to us?
§4καὶ ταῦτα πρὸς τούτους ἡμᾶς διαβάλλειν, οὓς πρὸς ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς διεβάλλετε; καίτοι οὕτως ἠνωχλεῖτε, ὥστε περὶ πλείονος ἐποιήσατό τις δοκεῖν ἐμοῦ κήδεσθαι, ἢ ἄλλον ἐμοὶ κατειπεῖν.
And yet, you were so troublesome that someone made it of more account to seem to care for me than for another to inform against me.
ἃ δʼ ἔλεγε, πάντα μὲν οὐκ ἂν εἴποιμι (καὶ γὰρ ἀκούων ἠχθόμην) οὐδʼ ἂν ὑμῖν ἐπικαλῶν, ὅτι ἐλέγετε κατʼ ἐμοῦ, ταὐτὰ λέξαιμι.
As for what he said, I would not repeat it all (for even listening to it I was vexed), nor would I say the same things in accusing you of what you said against me.
καὶ γὰρ ἂν ἀπολύοιμι τῆς αἰτίας ὑμᾶς, εἴπερ ὑμῖν ταὐτὰ λέγοιμι περὶ ἐμαυτοῦ·
For indeed I would be releasing you from the blame, if I were to say the same things about myself to you.
§5ἃ δὲ ὑβρίζειν οἰόμενοι ἐμὲ καταγελάστους ὑμᾶς αὐτοὺς ἐποιεῖτε, ταῦτα λέξω.
But those things which you did, thinking to insult me, but making yourselves ridiculous, I will speak of.
βίᾳ γὰρ ὑμῖν ἐφάσκετέ με ξυνεῖναι καὶ διαλέγεσθαι, καὶ πάντα ποιοῦντες οὐκ ἔχειν ὅπως ἀπαλλαγῆτέ μου, καὶ τὸ τελευταῖον ἀκόντων ὑμῶν Ἐλευσῖνάδε ξυνθεωρεῖν.
For you claimed that I associated and conversed with you by force, and that though you did everything, you could not find a way to rid yourselves of me, and finally, that I went with you to Eleusis to attend the festival against your will.
καὶ ταῦτα λέγοντες οἴεσθε μὲν ἐμὲ κακολογεῖν, ἀποφαίνετε δὲ σκαιοτάτους ἑαυτούς, οἵτινες ὑπὸ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον τὸν αὐτὸν ἄνδρα λάθρᾳ μὲν ἐλοιδορεῖτε, φανερῶς δὲ φίλον ἐνομίζετε.
In saying this, you think you are speaking ill of me, but you show yourselves to be most foolish, since at the same time you were secretly abusing the very same man whom openly you regarded as a friend.
§6χρῆν γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἢ μὴ κακῶς λέγειν ἢ μὴ ξυνεῖναι, καὶ ταῦτα φανερῶς ἀπειπόντας ὁμιλίαν.
For you ought either not to speak ill of me or not to associate with me, and that after openly renouncing our acquaintance.
εἰ δὲ αἰσχρὸν ἡγεῖσθε τοῦτο, πῶς αἰσχρὸν ἦν ὑμῖν ξυνεῖναι, πρὸς οὓ οὐδὲ ἀπειπεῖν καλὸν ἡγεῖσθε;
But if you thought this was shameful, how was it shameful for you to associate with one whom you did not think it even honorable to renounce?
§7καὶ μὴν οὐδὲν αὐτὸς ἐξηῦρον ὁπόθεν ἂν εἰκότως ὑπερείδετε τὴν ἐμὴν ὁμιλίαν.
Moreover, I myself have found no reason why you should reasonably look down upon my acquaintance.
οὔτε γὰρ ὑμᾶς σοφωτάτους ἑώρων ὄντας, ἐμαυτὸν δʼ ἀμαθέστατον, οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ πολυφίλους ὑμᾶς, ἐμαυτὸν δʼ ἔρημον φίλων, οὐδʼ αὖ πλουτοῦντας, ἐμὲ δὲ πενόμενον, οὐδʼ αὖ ὑμᾶς μὲν ὑπερευδοκιμοῦντας, ἐμαυτὸν δὲ διαβεβλημένον, οὐδὲ τὰ μὲν ἐμὰ πράγματα κινδυνεύοντα, τὰ δʼ ὑμέτερα ἀσφαλῶς ἔχοντα.
For I did not see that you were the wisest of men and I the most ignorant, nor indeed that you had many friends and I was destitute of friends, nor again that you were rich and I poor, nor again that you were highly esteemed and I slandered, nor that my affairs were in danger and yours secure.
πόθεν ἂν οὖν εἰκότως ὑπώπτευον ἄχθεσθαί μοι συνόντι;
From what source, then, could I have reasonably suspected that you were vexed at my presence?
§8καὶ ταῦτα δʼ ὅτε πρὸς τοὺς τελευταίους ἐλέγετʼ οὐκ ᾤεσθε ἀπαγγελεῖν ἡμῖν, κἀνταῦθα σόφισμα καλὸν ἡγούμενοι περιήλθετε πάντας ὑμῶν αὐτῶν κατηγοροῦντες ὅτι πονηροῖς ἑκόντες ὁμιλεῖτε.
And furthermore, when you said these things to those last persons, did you not think they would report them to us? And in this, thinking it a fine device, you went about accusing yourselves to everyone that you associated with wicked men voluntarily.
περὶ μὲν οὖν τοῦ λέγοντος οὐδὲν ἂν περαίνοιτε πυνθανόμενοι.
Therefore, as concerning the informer, you would accomplish nothing by inquiring.
πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ εἰδότες ἐρήσεσθε τὸν εἰπόντα μοι· πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἴστε πρὸς ὃν ἐλέγετε τὸν λόγον;
For first, you will ask who told me although you already know; for how can you not know to whom you spoke the words?
§9ἔπειτα κακὸς ἂν εἴην, εἰ ταὐτὰ ποιήσαιμι αὐτὸν ἅπερ ἐκεῖνος ὑμᾶς.
Secondly, I should be a base man if I were to do the same to him as he did to you.
οὐ γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐκεῖνος ἡμῖν ἀπήγγελλεν, ἐφʼ οἷσπερ ὑμεῖς ἐλέγετε πρὸς ἐκεῖνον.
For he did not report it to us with the same intent as you had when speaking to him.
ἐκεῖνος μὲν γὰρ ἐμοὶ χαριζόμενος ἀπήγγειλε τοῖς ἐμοῖς ἀναγκαίοις, ὑμεῖς δὲ βλάπτειν ἐμὲ βουλόμενοι πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἐλέγετε.
For he reported it to my relatives to do me a favor, whereas you spoke to him wishing to harm me.
καὶ ταῦτα εἰ μὲν ἠπίστουν, ἐξελέγχειν ἂν ἐζήτουν· νῦν δὲ (ξυμβαίνει γὰρ καὶ ταῦτα τοῖς πρὸ τοῦ, καὶ ἐμοὶ σημεῖα ταῦτα μὲν ἐκείνων ἐστίν, §10ἐκεῖνα δὲ τούτων ἱκανά) πρῶτον μὲν ἅπαντα διʼ ὑμῶν πράξαντά με περὶ τῆς θέσεως τοῦ ἵππου πρὸς Ἡγέμαχον, κάμνοντα τὸν ἵππον ἀνάγειν με βουλόμενον Διόδωρος οὑτοσὶ ἀποτρέπειν ἐπειρᾶτο, φάσκων οὐδὲν ἀντιλέξειν περὶ τῶν δώδεκα μνῶν Πολυκλέα, ἀλλʼ ἀποδώσειν.
And if I had disbelieved these things, I would have sought to investigate them; but as it is (for these things agree with what happened before, and these are to me proofs of those occurrences, and those are sufficient proofs of these), first, when I was transacting through you everything regarding the pledging of the horse to Hegemachus, and when, as the horse fell ill, I wished to return it, this Diodorus here tried to dissuade me, asserting that Polycles would make no objection about the twelve minae, but would return them.
τότε λέγων ταῦτα, μετὰ τὸν θάνατον τοῦ ἵππου κατέστη τελευτῶν ἀντίδικος μετὰ τούτων, λέγων ὡς οὐ δίκαιόν με εἴη κομίσασθαι τὸ ἀργύριον.
Having said these things then, after the death of the horse he finally stood as my opponent in the lawsuit along with these men, saying that it was not just for me to recover the money.