opponents' mother

In the first place, I was ready to torture the defendants’ slaves, who knew that this woman, my opponents’ mother, had planned to poison our father on a previous occasion as well, that our father had caught her in the act, and that she had admitted everything— save that it was not to kill him, but to restore his love that she alleged herself to be giving him the potion.

If I prove that my opponents’ mother murdered our father by malice aforethought, after being caught not merely once, but repeatedly, in the act of seeking his life, then first avenge the outrage against your laws, that heritage from the gods and your forefathers which enables you to sentence the guilty even as they did;

Just as this woman put her husband to death without respecting or fearing god, hero, or human being, so she would in her turn reap her justest reward were she herself put to death by you and by justice, without finding consideration, sympathy, or respect.

Well, my mother went to see theirs, and the latter told her with weeping what had happened, and showed her the effects;

and furthermore that I tendered an oath to their mother, and challenged them to have my mother swear in the same terms, (to the clerk) take, please, the depositions and the challenge

Before they undertook this malicious action against me, my mother and theirs were intimate friends and used to visit one another, as was natural, since both lived in the country and were neighbors, and since, furthermore, their husbands had been friends while they lived.