§1εἰ μὲν μὴ μεγάλα ἦν τὰ διαφέροντα, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, οὐκ ἄν ποτε εἰς ὑμᾶς εἰσελθεῖν τούτους εἴασα, νομίζων αἴσχιστον εἶναι πρὸς τοὺς οἰκείους διαφέρεσθαι, εἰδώς τε ὅτι οὐ μόνον οἱ ἀδικοῦντες χείρους ὑμῖν εἶναι δοκοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἵτινες ἂν ἔλαττον ὑπὸ τῶν προσηκόντων ἔχοντες ἀνέχεσθαι μὴ δύνωνται·
If the differences between them had not been great, gentlemen of the jury, I would never have allowed these boys to come before you, believing it to be most shameful to dispute with relatives, and knowing that not only those who commit injustice appear worse in your eyes, but also those who cannot bear to have less than their share at the hands of their kin.
ἐπειδὴ μέντοι, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, πολλῶν χρημάτων ἀπεστέρηνται καὶ πολλὰ καὶ δεινὰ πεπονθότες ὑφʼ ὧν ἥκιστα ἐχρῆν, ἐπʼ ἐμὲ κηδεστὴν ὄντα κατέφυγον, ἀνάγκη μοι γεγένηται εἰπεῖν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν.
However, gentlemen of the jury, since they have been deprived of much property and have suffered many grievous things from those who least of all should have done so, they fled to me, as their relative by marriage, and it has become necessary for me to speak on their behalf.
§2ἔχω δὲ τούτων μὲν ἀδελφήν, Διογείτονος δὲ θυγατριδῆν, καὶ πολλὰ δεηθεὶς ἀμφοτέρων τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἔπεισα τοῖς φίλοις ἐπιτρέψαι δίαιταν, περὶ πολλοῦ ποιούμενος τὰ τούτων πράγματα μηδένα τῶν ἄλλων εἰδέναι·
For I have their sister, who is also the granddaughter of Diogeiton, as my wife, and having made many entreaties to both, I first persuaded them to submit to an arbitration by friends, making it of great importance that no one else should know of their affairs.
ἐπειδὴ δὲ Διογείτων ἃ φανερῶς ἔχων ἐξηλέγχετο, περὶ τούτων οὐδενὶ τῶν αὑτοῦ φίλων ἐτόλμα πείθεσθαι, ἀλλʼ ἐβουλήθη καὶ φεύγειν δίκας καὶ μὴ οὔσας διώκειν καὶ ὑπομεῖναι τοὺς ἐσχάτους κινδύνους μᾶλλον ἢ τὰ δίκαια ποιήσας ἀπηλλάχθαι τῶν πρὸς τούτους ἐγκλημάτων,
But when Diogeiton was clearly proven to have what belonged to them, he did not dare to comply with any of his friends regarding these matters, but preferred both to evade lawsuits and to pursue non-existent ones, and to undergo the ultimate risks, rather than to do what was just and be rid of the accusations against them.
§3ὑμῶν δέομαι, ἐὰν μὲν ἀποδείξω οὕτως αἰσχρῶς αὐτοὺς ἐπιτετροπευμένους ὑπὸ τοῦ πάππου ὡς οὐδεὶς πώποτε ὑπὸ τῶν οὐδὲν προσηκόντων ἐν τῇ πόλει, βοηθεῖν αὐτοῖς τὰ δίκαια, εἰ δὲ μή, τούτῳ μὲν ἅπαντα πιστεύειν, ἡμᾶς δὲ εἰς τὸν λοιπὸν χρόνον ἡγεῖσθαι χείρους εἶναι.
I request of you, if I show that they have been so shamefully wardshiped by their grandfather as no one ever was by those who are not related at all in this city, to help them to obtain justice; otherwise, believe him in everything, and consider us to be worse in the future.
ἐξ ἀρχῆς δʼ ὑμᾶς περὶ αὐτῶν διδάξαι πειράσομαι.
I will try to inform you about them from the beginning.
§4ἀδελφοὶ ἦσαν, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, Διόδοτος καὶ Διογείτων ὁμοπάτριοι καὶ ὁμομήτριοι, καὶ τὴν μὲν ἀφανῆ οὐσίαν ἐνείμαντο, τῆς δὲ φανερᾶς ἐκοινώνουν.
Diodotus and Diogeiton, gentlemen of the jury, were brothers, born of the same father and the same mother, and they divided the invisible property but shared the visible.
ἐργασαμένου δὲ Διοδότου κατʼ ἐμπορίαν πολλὰ χρήματα πείθει αὐτὸν Διογείτων λαβεῖν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ θυγατέρα, ἥπερ ἦν αὐτῷ μόνη· καὶ γίγνονται αὐτῷ δύο καὶ θυγάτηρ.
When Diodotus made much money by trade, Diogeiton persuaded him to marry his daughter, who was his only child; and two sons and a daughter were born to him.
§5χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον καταλεγεὶς Διόδοτος τῶν ὁπλιτῶν, καλέσας τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γυναῖκα, ἀδελφιδῆν οὖσαν, καὶ τὸν ἐκείνης μὲν πατέρα, αὑτοῦ δὲ κηδεστὴν καὶ ἀδελφὸν, πάππον δὲ τῶν παιδίων καὶ θεῖον, ἡγούμενος διὰ ταύτας τὰς ἀναγκαιότητας οὐδενὶ μᾶλλον προσήκειν δικαίῳ περὶ τοὺς αὑτοῦ παῖδας γενέσθαι, διαθήκην αὐτῷ δίδωσι καὶ πέντε τάλαντα ἀργυρίου παρακαταθήκην·
Some time later, Diodotus, having been enrolled in the hoplites, called his wife, who was his niece, and her father, who was his brother-in-law and brother, and the grandfather and uncle of the children, believing that because of these close relationships, it was fitting for no one more than him to act with justice toward his children, and gave him a will and five talents of silver as a deposit.
§6ναυτικὰ δὲ ἀπέδειξεν ἐκδεδομένα ἑπτὰ τάλαντα καὶ τετταράκοντα μνᾶς, δισχιλίας δὲ ὀφειλομένας ἐν Χερρονήσω.
He also showed that seven talents and forty minae had been lent out on maritime loans, and two thousand drachmae were owed to him in the Chersonese.
ἐπέσκηψε δέ, ἐάν τι πάθῃ, τάλαντον μὲν ἐπιδοῦναι τῇ γυναικὶ καὶ τὰ ἐν τῷ δωματίῳ δοῦναι, τάλαντον δὲ τῇ θυγατρί· κατέλιπε δὲ καὶ εἴκοσι μνᾶς τῇ γυναικὶ καὶ τριάκοντα στατῆρας Κυζικηνούς.
He charged him, if anything should happen to him, to give one talent to his wife and the things in the bedchamber, and one talent to his daughter; he also left twenty minae for his wife and thirty Cyzicene staters.
§7ταῦτα δὲ πράξας καὶ οἴκοι ἀντίγραφα καταλιπὼν ᾤχετο στρατευσόμενος μετὰ Θρασύλλου.
Having done this and left copies at home, he went to serve in the army with Thrasyllus.
ἀποθανόντος δὲ ἐκείνου ἐν Ἐφέσῳ Διογείτων τέως μὲν τὴν θυγατέρα ἔκρυπτε τὸν θάνατον τοῦ ἀνδρός, καὶ τὰ γράμματα λαμβάνει ἃ κατέλιπε σεσημασμένα, φάσκων τὰ ναυτικὰ χρήματα δεῖν ἐκ τούτων τῶν γραμματείων κομίσασθαι.
When Diodotus died at Ephesus, Diogeiton for a time concealed the death of her husband from his daughter, and took the sealed documents which Diodotus had left, claiming that it was necessary to collect the maritime money from these papers.
§8ἐπειδὴ δὲ χρόνῳ ἐδήλωσε τὸν θάνατον αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐποίησαν τὰ νομιζόμενα, τὸν μὲν πρῶτον ἐνιαυτὸν ἐν Πειραιεῖ διῃτῶντο· ἅπαντα γὰρ αὐτοῦ κατελέλειπτο τὰ ἐπιτήδεια·
When in time he revealed the death to them and they performed the customary rites, they lived in Piraeus for the first year, for all their provisions had been left there.
ἐκείνων δὲ ἐπιλειπόντων τοὺς μὲν παῖδας εἰς ἄστυ ἀναπέμπει, τὴν δὲ μητέρα αὐτῶν ἐκδίδωσιν ἐπιδοὺς πεντακισχιλίας δραχμάς, χιλίαις ἔλαττον ὧν ὁ ἀνὴρ αὐτῆς ἔδωκεν.
But when these failed, he sent the children up to the city, and gave their mother in marriage, adding five thousand drachmae as dowry, which was a thousand less than her husband had given.
§9ὀγδόῳ ἔτει δοκιμασθέντος μετὰ ταῦτα τοῦ πρεσβυτέρου τοῖν μειρακίοιν, καλέσας αὐτοὺς εἶπε Διογείτων, ὅτι καταλίποι αὐτοῖς ὁ πατὴρ εἴκοσι μνᾶς ἀργυρίου καὶ τριάκοντα στατῆρας.
In the eighth year after this, when the elder of the two boys was registered as a citizen, Diogeiton called them and said that their father had left them only twenty minae of silver and thirty staters.
ἐγὼ οὖν πολλὰ τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ δεδαπάνηκα εἰς τὴν ὑμετέραν τροφήν.
"I, therefore, have spent much of my own money on your support.
καὶ ἕως μὲν εἶχον, οὐδέν μοι διέφερεν· νυνὶ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπόρως διάκειμαι.
While I had it, it made no difference to me; but now I myself am in straitened circumstances.
σὺ οὖν, ἐπειδὴ δεδοκίμασαι καὶ ἀνὴρ γεγένησαι, σκόπει αὐτὸς ἤδη πόθεν ἕξεις τὰ ἐπιτήδεια. §10ταῦτʼ ἀκούσαντες ἐκπεπληγμένοι καὶ δακρύοντες ὤχοντο πρὸς τὴν μητέρα, καὶ παραλαβόντες ἐκείνην ἧκον πρὸς ἐμέ, οἰκτρῶς ὑπὸ τοῦ πάθους διακείμενοι καὶ ἀθλίως ἐκπεπτωκότες, κλάοντες καὶ παρακαλοῦντες με μὴ περιιδεῖν αὐτοὺς ἀποστερηθέντας τῶν πατρῴων μηδʼ πτωχείαν καταστάντας, ὑβρισμένους ὑφʼ ὦν ἥκιστα ἐχρῆν, ἀλλὰ βοηθῆσαι καὶ τῆς ἀδελφῆς ἕνεκα καὶ σφῶν αὐτῶν.
You, therefore, since you have been registered and have become a man, consider for yourself from now on where you will get your provisions." Hearing this, astounded and weeping, they went to their mother, and taking her with them, they came to me, in a pitiful condition from their distress and miserably cast out, weeping and begging me not to allow them to be deprived of their patrimony nor to fall into poverty, insulted as they were by those who least should have done so, but to help them both for the sake of their sister and for themselves.
§11πολλὰ ἂν εἴη λέγειν, ὅσον πένθος ἐν τῇ ἐμῇ οἰκίᾳ ἦν ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ χρόνῳ.
It would be a long story to tell how much grief there was in my house at that time.
τελευτῶσα δὲ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτῶν ἠντεβόλει με καὶ ἱκέτευε συναγαγεῖν αὐτῆς τὸν πατέρα καὶ τοὺς φίλους, εἰποῦσα ὅτι, εἰ καὶ μὴ πρότερον εἴθισται λέγειν ἐν ἀνδράσι, τὸ μέγεθος αὐτὴν ἀναγκάσει τῶν συμφορῶν περὶ τῶν σφετέρων κακῶν δηλῶσαι πάντα πρὸς ἡμᾶς.
At last their mother implored and entreated me to assemble her father and their friends, saying that, even if she had not been accustomed before to speak among men, the magnitude of her misfortunes would compel her to declare everything to us concerning their evils.