Men of the jury

But now I make of you a fair request, both to decide regarding the testimony whether it is true or false, and at the same time to consider the whole case from the beginning.

I, therefore, beg of you hear me with goodwill, while I rehearse all the facts from the beginning, in order that from these you may see the magnitude of the wrongs I have suffered, and know that the jurymen were deceived and that these men have given testimony which is false.

They ought, therefore, to suffer a double punishment, both because they deceived the jurors by bringing forward false testimony—that of the brother-in-law and the brother—, and because they wronged me while I was zealously performing a public service, doing what the state commanded me, and obeying your laws and your decrees.

So, since they had formed their plot in this way, and each backed up the other’s charges against us, when the four ballot-boxes were set out according to law, the jurymen, naturally enough, as I think, were deceived and could not agree with one another, and being led astray by this trick, they voted each as chance determined.

and whichever of these two shall in your judgement speak most in harmony with justice and the laws, to him, it is plain, you jurymen will give your votes.

Yet if Theopompus, the father of the defendant, is dead, the laws are not dead, nor is justice, nor are the jurymen with whom the verdict rests.

I also know that I formerly obeyed you, a lisping child of six years old, and bought you a go-cart at the Diasia, with the first obolus I received from the Heliaea.

When, a man has thus given judgement against himself that he is properly Boeotus, what verdict can he demand that you sworn jurors shall give?

It was not from any love of litigation I protest by the gods, men of the jury, that I brought this suit against Boeotus, nor was I unaware that it will seem strange to many people that I should bring suit because somebody thought right to have the same name as myself;

To prove that I am speaking the truth in this, take the decision setting aside the judgement for non-appearance and this complaint.

I beg you all, men of the jury, to listen to me with goodwill, while I speak as best I can;

Nothing is more painful, men of the jury, than when a man is addressed by name as brother of certain persons, whom in fact he regards as enemies, and when he is compelled, on account of the many cruel wrongs which he has suffered at their hands, to come into court;

But do not, men of the jury, I beg you by Zeus and the Gods, do not be overwhelmed by the noise he makes.

Is it not, then, an outrageous thing, men of the jury, that, while these people have made no complaint against me, although they suffered such heavy damages, nor has anyone else of those who suffered misfortune, but they have accepted their lot, this man should bring a malicious suit?

It is worth your while, men of the jury, to hear some remarks also about the other statements made by Callicles.

Do not, then, men of the jury, I beg you in the name of Zeus and the gods, leave me as the prey of these men, when I have done no wrong.

Therefore, men of the jury, since I have shown you all the just arguments which I have to present, and have furthermore added an oath, it is but right that you should feel toward Conon on my behalf the same resentment which each one of you, had he been the victim, would have felt toward the one who did the wrong, and not to regard an act of this sort as a private matter which might fall to the lot of any man.

For, grievous as was the injury which at that time fell to my lot, it was no more so than the subsequent insults of the defendant.

With gross outrage I have met, men of the jury, at the hands of the defendant, Conon, and have suffered such bodily injury that for a very long time neither my relatives nor any of the attending physicians thought that I should survive.

If he can so prove it to you who sit to decide cases of mercantile contracts, I certainly concede that he is the cleverest of men.

If you do this, you will be found to have decided in accordance with your own interests, and will rid yourselves of all the rascalities of unprincipled men, which certain ones of them are employing in regard to maritime contracts.

but I beg of you, men of the jury, to give me a favorable hearing in regard to this matter and, if I prove to you that he has wronged us, who lent the money, and you as well, to render us the aid that is our due.

It is the fault of Leochares, the defendant, men of the jury, that he is himself being brought to trial, and that I, despite my youth, am addressing you, for he claims the right to inherit what does not belong to him, and has made a false affidavit of objections before the archon in support of his claim.

All the facts of the case, then, you have heard, men of the jury, all that took place at the first in connection with this inheritance, and all that occurred subsequently, as soon as we commenced our suit.

I beg you, men of the jury, to come to the aid of my father and myself, if our pleading shall seem just, and not suffer men who are poor and without influence to be crushed by the lawless men marshalled against us.

You hear the law, men of the jury, expressly stating the several cases in which there shall be no actions.

Inasmuch as the laws, men of the jury, have granted that a special plea may be entered in cases where a man, after giving a release and discharge, nevertheless brings suit, and as both of these have been given to our father by Nausimachus and Xenopeithes who have commenced suit against us, we have pleaded, as you have just now heard, that their suit is not admissible.

Now, men of the jury, that you may know that they not only have suffered no wrong in the present case, but that they are bringing suit in defiance of all your laws, I wish to cite to you this statute also, which expressly states that, if five years have elapsed and they have brought no suit, it is no longer permitted to orphans to bring suit regarding claims connected with guardianship.

and I entreat you—and not I only, but my wife also, the sister of this Olympiodorus, and my daughter, his niece,—we all beg and implore you, men of the jury, (for I would have you imagine that these women are here present before you), if it be possible, to prevail upon this fellow Olympiodorus not to do us wrong, but if he refuses, and you cannot prevail upon him, then to bear in mind all that has …

The defendant Olympiodorus was the first to plead, and he said whatever he pleased and offered whatever testimony he saw fit, while I, men of the jury, sat in silence on the opposite platform.

I beg of you, therefore, men of the jury, when you have heard us both and have sifted the matter for yourselves, preferably to find some settlement of our quarrel and dismiss us, and thus become benefactors of us both;

and the indignation of the jurymen, who were misled by the plaintiff, found him guilty in the matter upon which they sat in judgement.

I wish to tell you also the means by which he misled the former jury, and convicted Evergus, that you may realize that in this trial also there will be no limit to his impudence and that he will shrink from no falsehoods.

Since, however, the plaintiff, though he has suffered no wrong, as I know well you will yourselves agree when you have heard the facts, elated by the success of his suit against Evergus, brings a malicious and baseless action, there is no other course left me, men of the jury, than to prove in your court that I am guilty of no wrong whatever, to produce witnesses in support of what I say, and to e …

For it is the duty of honest jurymen to give respite to those citizens, when they have need of such help, who, when prosperous, willingly perform public services and remain in the list of the Three Hundred;

For why is it that I, Phaenippus, while my mother—who brought with her a marriage portion—is living and dwelling in my house, do not declare the marriage portion as a debt due to her, and thus try to lead the jurymen astray, but permit her to share in all that I have, alike whether it shall prove to be the estate of Phaenippus or my own?

For I made this offer before to Phaenippus, and now again, men of the jury, I tender it freely:

It was for this reason, men of the jury, that Spudias would not leave to our friends the settlement of his claims against me, since the result would have been that all these falsehoods of his would have been exposed, for they had been present at all these transactions and knew all about them, and would therefore not have permitted him to say whatever he pleased;

) Now please take this inventory and read to the jurymen what each of us has in his possession;

Well then, men of the jury, in the matter of the one thousand drachmae, to prove that Polyeuctus mortgaged the house to me honestly, and for an existing debt, I have the testimony of my opponent himself and his wife in addition to these other witnesses whose depositions have been put in;

I bid adieu to this fellow and appeal to those to whom my father left me as my helpers and friends—to you, men of the jury.

and in the interest of the laws and of the oaths which you have taken as jurors punish the man who has robbed me of a verdict by giving false testimony, and make him an example to others, remembering all that you have heard from me and bearing it in mind, if they attempt to mislead you, and meeting them at every point.

You must each of you consider what slave he left at home, and then imagine that you have suffered from him the same treatment that I have suffered from Phormio.

Now I wish to prove to you that he has given evidence contrary to another law also, that you may know that Phormio, having no harbor of refuge from the grievous wrongs he has committed, had made a pretence of the challenge, but actually has given evidence for himself, screening himself behind the testimony of these men, by which the jurymen were deceived, assuming that they were testifying to the …

I beseech and implore you all, men of the jury, to come to my aid and to punish those who thus without scruple have given false testimony, for your own sakes, for mine, for the sake of justice and the laws.

If any man enter into a conspiracy, or join in seeking to bribe the Heliaea or any of the courts in Athens, or the Senate, by giving or receiving money for corrupt ends, or shall organize a clique for the overthrow of the democracy, or, while serving as public advocate, shall accept money in any suit, private or public, criminal suits shall be entered for these acts before the Thesmothetae.

That Callippus is able to achieve his ends contrary to the laws and contrary to justice, you have heard, men of the jury, from the deposition.

There is no situation harder to deal with, men of the jury, than when a man possessing both reputation and ability to speak is audacious enough to lie and is well provided with witnesses.

If you do this, you will have rendered a decision both just and in accordance with the laws, and moreover one that is worthy of yourselves and of my father;

When it came to fixing the penalty, the jurymen wished to impose a sentence of death upon him, but I begged them to do nothing like that on a prosecution brought by me, and I agreed to the fine of a talent which these men themselves proposed,—not that I wished to save Arethusius from the death penalty (for he deserved death on account of the wrongs which he had committed against me), but that I, P …

Nicostratus, whom you see here in court, men of the jury, was a neighbor of mine in the country, and a man of my own age.

Of this you will find convincing proof, men of the jury, in the amount of the valuation, and in my having filed the information in my own name.

In cases where the charges indeed are of a private nature, but the injury is public, it is surely fitting that you should listen and decide aright.

Be assured that it will be no more in my interest than in your own that you will punish Polycles, nor will you be showing concern merely for those who have served as trierarchs in the past;

And by the gods, men of the jury, I beg you not to think that I am talking idly, if I set forth at some length what I have expended and what I have done, to show that my several services were rendered opportunely, and that they were helpful to the state.

All matters, men of the jury, in proof of which I was able to provide witnesses, have been proved to you by witnesses;

Let no one of you think, men of the jury, that it is a thing beyond belief that Timotheus should have owed money to my father and is now being prosecuted by me in this suit.

But for all that, men of the jury, my father did not count the holding of large sums of money as important a matter as to supply Timotheus with what he needed in the time of his distress.

Both jurisdictions were substantially transferred in the end to the Heliæa, the High Court of Popular Justice, and the functions of the Archons and the Areopagus became either merely ministerial or quite insignificant.