§34φέρε πρὸς θεῶν Ὀλυμπίων·
Come, by the Olympian gods!
οὕτω γὰρ σκοπεῖτε, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί.
For look at it in this way, gentlemen of the jury.
εἴ τις ὑμῶν ἔτυχε δοὺς Τιμοθέῳ τῷ Κόνωνος τὴν θυγατέρα ἢ τὴν ἀδελφήν, καὶ ἐκείνου ἀποδημήσαντος καὶ ἐν διαβολῇ γενομένου ἐδημεύθη ἡ οὐσία, καὶ μὴ ἐγένετο τῇ πόλει πραθέντων ἁπάντων τέτταρα τάλαντα ἀργυρίου, διὰ τοῦτο ἠξιοῦτε ἂν τοὺς ἐκείνου καὶ τοὺς προσήκοντας ἀπολέσθαι, ὅτι οὐδὲ πολλοστὸν μέρος τῆς δόξης τῆς παρʼ ὑμῖν ἐφάνη τὰ χρήματα;
If any of you happened to have given his daughter or sister to Timotheus, the son of Conon, and when he went abroad and fell into disfavour his estate was confiscated, and if, after everything was sold, there did not accrue to the city even four talents of silver, would you think it right on this account that his relatives and connections should be ruined, because his property appeared to be not even a fraction of the reputation it had among you?
§35ἀλλὰ μὴν τοῦτο πάντες ἐπίστασθε Κόνωνα μὲν ἄρχοντα, Νικόφημον δὲ ποιοῦντα ὅ τι ἐκεῖνος προστάττοι.
Yet you all know this, that Conon was the commander, and Nicophemus did whatever Conon ordered.
τῶν οὖν ὠφελειῶν Κόνωνα εἰκὸς πολλοστὸν μέρος ἄλλῳ τινὶ μεταδιδόναι, ὥστʼ εἰ οἴονται πολλὰ γενέσθαι Νικοφήμῳ, ὁμολογήσειαν ἂν τὰ Κόνωνος εἶναι πλεῖν ἢ δεκαπλάσια.
It is likely, therefore, that Conon gave only a small fraction of the profits to anyone else; so that if they think that Nicophemus had much, they must admit that Conon's property was more than ten times as much.
§36ἔτι δὲ φαίνονται οὐδὲν πώποτε διενεχθέντες, ὥστʼ εἰκὸς καὶ περὶ τῶν χρημάτων ταὐτὰ γνῶναι, ἱκανὰ μὲν ἐνθάδε τῷ ὑεῖ ἑκάτερον καταλιπεῖν, τὰ δὲ ἄλλα παρʼ αὑτοῖς ἔχειν· ἦν γὰρ Κόνωνι μὲν ὑὸς ἐν Κύπρῳ καὶ γυνή, Νικοφήμῳ δὲ γυνὴ καὶ θυγάτηρ, ἡγοῦντο δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐκεῖ ὁμοίως σφίσιν εἶναι σᾶ ὥσπερ καὶ τὰ ἐνθάδε.
Furthermore, they are shown never to have disagreed, so that it is likely they held the same view also regarding their money, namely, that each left sufficient here for his son, but kept the rest with themselves; for Conon had a son and a wife in Cyprus, and Nicophemus a wife and a daughter, and they believed that their property there was just as safe for them as that which was here.
§37πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἐνθυμεῖσθε ὅτι καὶ εἴ τις μὴ κτησάμενος ἀλλὰ παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς παραλαβὼν τοῖς παισὶ διένειμεν, οὐκ ἐλάχιστα ἂν αὑτῷ ὑπέλιπε· βούλονται γὰρ πάντες ὑπὸ τῶν παίδων θεραπεύεσθαι ἔχοντες χρήματα μᾶλλον ἢ ἐκείνων δεῖσθαι ἀποροῦντες.
In addition to this, bear in mind that even if someone, not having acquired it himself but having received it from his father, distributed it to his children, he would have left not the least portion for himself; for all wish to be courted by their children when they have money, rather than to be in need of them when they are destitute.
§38νῦν τοίνυν εἰ δημεύσαιτε τὰ τοῦ Τιμοθέου, —— ὃ μὴ γένοιτο, εἰ μή τι μέλλει μέγα ἀγαθὸν ἔσεσθαι τῇ πόλει, —— ἐλάττω δὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν λάβοιτʼ ἢ ἃ ἐκ τῶν Ἀριστοφάνους γεγένηται, τούτου ἕνεκα ἠξιοῦτε ἂν τοὺς ἀναγκαίους τοὺς ἐκείνου τὰ σφέτερʼ αὐτῶν ἀπολέσαι; ἀλλʼ οὐκ εἰκός, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί·
Now, therefore, if you should confiscate the property of Timotheus—which may it not happen, unless some great good is to come to the city—and if you should obtain from it less than what has come from that of Aristophanes, would you on this account think it right that his relatives should lose their own possessions?
ὁ γὰρ Κόνωνος θάνατος καὶ αἱ διαθῆκαι, §39ἃς διέθετο ἐν Κύπρῳ, σαφῶς ἐδήλωσαν ὅτι πολλοστὸν μέρος ἦν τὰ χρήματα ὧν ὑμεῖς προσεδοκᾶτε· τῇ μὲν γὰρ Ἀθηναίᾳ καθιέρωσεν εἰς ἀναθήματα καὶ τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι εἰς Δελφοὺς πεντακισχιλίους στατῆρας· τῷ δὲ ἀδελφιδῷ τῷ ἑαυτοῦ, §40ὃς ἐφύλαττεν αὐτῷ καὶ ἐταμίευε πάντα τὰ ἐν Κύπρῳ, ἔδωκεν ὡς μυρίας δραχμάς, τῷ δὲ ἀδελφῷ τρία τάλαντα· τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ τῷ ὑεῖ κατέλιπε, τάλαντα ἑπτακαίδεκα.
But it is not likely, gentlemen of the jury; for the death of Conon and his will, which he made in Cyprus, clearly showed that his property was a mere fraction of what you expected; for to Athena he dedicated for offerings, and to Apollo at Delphi, five thousand staters; and to his own nephew, who guarded and managed everything for him in Cyprus, he gave about ten thousand drachmae, and to his brother three talents; and the rest he left to his son, seventeen talents.
τούτων δὲ κεφάλαιόν τι γίγνεται περὶ τετταράκοντα τάλαντα.
The sum total of these is about forty talents.
§41καὶ οὐδενὶ οἷόν τε εἰπεῖν ὅτι διηρπάσθη ἢ ὡς οὐ δικαίως ἀπεφάνθη· αὐτὸς γὰρ ἐν τῇ νόσῳ ὢν εὖ φρονῶν διέθετο.
And no one can say that it was plundered or that it was not correctly declared; for he himself made the will when he was ill but of sound mind.
καί μοι κάλει τούτων μάρτυρας.
And call the witnesses of these things for me.
§42Μάρτυρες
ἀλλὰ μὴν ὁστισοῦν, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, πρὶν ἀμφότερα δῆλα γενέσθαι, πολλοστὸν μέρος τὰ Νικοφήμου τῶν Κόνωνος χρημάτων ᾠήθη ἂν εἶναι.
Witnesses But surely anyone, gentlemen of the jury, before both were made clear, would have thought that the property of Nicophemus was a tiny fraction of that of Conon.
Ἀριστοφάνης τοίνυν γῆν μὲν καὶ οἰκίαν ἐκτήσατο πλεῖν ἢ πέντε ταλάντων, κατεχορήγησε δὲ ὑπὲρ αὑτοῦ καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς πεντακισχιλίας δραχμάς, τριηραρχῶν δὲ ἀνήλωσεν ὀγδοήκοντα μνᾶς.
Aristophanes, then, acquired land and a house of more than five talents, and he served as choregos on behalf of himself and his father at a cost of five thousand drachmae, and in serving as trierarch he spent eighty minae.
§43εἰσενήνεκται δὲ ὑπὲρ ἀμφοτέρων οὐκ ἔλαττον μνῶν τετταράκοντα.
And he paid in war-tax contributions on behalf of both of them not less than forty minae.
εἰς δὲ τὸν ἐπὶ Σικελίας πλοῦν ἀνήλωσεν ἑκατὸν μνᾶς.
And for the voyage to Sicily he spent a hundred minae.
εἰς δὲ τὸν ἀπόστολον τῶν τριήρων, ὅτε οἱ Κύπριοι ἦλθον καὶ ἔδοτε αὐτοῖς τὰς δέκα ναῦς, καὶ τῶν πελταστῶν τὴν μίσθωσιν καὶ τῶν ὅπλων τὴν ὠνὴν παρέσχε τρισμυρίας δραχμάς.
And for the dispatch of the triremes, when the Cyprians came and you gave them the ten ships, he provided thirty thousand drachmae for both the pay of the peltasts and the purchase of their arms.
καὶ τούτων κεφάλαιον πάντων γίγνεται μικροῦ λείποντος πεντεκαίδεκα τάλαντα.
And the sum total of all these comes to little short of fifteen talents.
§44ὥστε οὐκ ἂν εἰκότως ἡμᾶς αἰτιῷσθε, ἐπεὶ τῶν Κόνωνος, τῶν ὁμολογουμένων δικαίως ἀποφανθῆναι ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ ἐκείνου, πολλαπλασίων δοκούντων πλεῖν ἢ τρίτον μέρος φαίνεται τὰ Ἀριστοφάνους.
So you could not reasonably accuse us, since, while Conon's property—which is admitted to have been correctly declared by himself—was thought to be many times greater, that of Aristophanes is shown to be more than a third of it.
καὶ οὐ προσλογιζόμεθα ὅσα αὐτὸς ἐν Κύπρῳ ἔσχε Νικόφημος, οὔσης αὐτῷ ἐκεῖ γυναικὸς καὶ θυγατρός.
And we do not include in the calculation all that Nicophemus himself had in Cyprus, where he had a wife and a daughter.