Greek Texts & Translations

39.13Very well; but in these cases it is the state that is injured: what harm does it do me individually? Observe in what serious ways I am harmed, and consider if there be anything in what I say. Indeed the wrong done to me is far more grievous than what you have heard. You all know, for instance, that he was intimate with Menecles during his lifetime, and with his crowd, and that he now associates with others no better than Menecles, and that he has cherished the same ambitions, and desires to be thought a clever fellow ^note; and, by Zeus, I dare say he is. 39.14Now, if, as time goes on, he undertakes to set on foot any of the same practices as these men (these are indictments, presentments for contraband, informations, arrests) and on the basis of one of these he is condemned to pay a fine to the state (for there are many vicissitudes in mortal affairs, and you know well how to keep in due bounds even the most clever people on any occasion when they overreach themselves), why will his name be entered on the record any more than mine? 39.15“Because,” it may be said, “everybody will know which of us two was fined.” Very good; but suppose (what might very well happen) that time passes and the debt is not paid; why is there any greater likelihood that the defendant's children will be entered on the list of state debtors any more than my own when the name of the father and the tribe, and all else are identical? Suppose, now, somebody should bring a suit for ejectment against him, and should state that he had nothing to do with me, but, having had the writ registered, should enter the name, why will the name he has entered be that of my opponent any more than my own? What if he fails to pay any of the property-taxes? 39.16What if the name be involved in the filing of any other suit, or, in general, in any unpleasant scandal? Who, among people at large, will know which of the two it is, when there are two Mantitheuses having the same father? Suppose, again, that he should be prosecuted for evasion of military service, and should be serving as chorister when he ought to be abroad with the army—as, a while ago, when the rest went over to Tamynae, ^note he was left behind here keeping the feast of Pitchers, ^note and remained here and served in the chorus at the Dionysia, ^note as all of you who were at home saw; 39.17then, after the soldiers had come back from Euboea, he was summoned on a charge of desertion, and I, as taxiarch of our tribe, ^note was compelled to receive the summons, since it was against my name, that of my father being added; and if pay had been available for the juries, ^note I should certainly have had to bring the case into court. If this had not occurred after the boxes ^note had already been sealed, I should have brought you witnesses to prove it. 39.18Well then; suppose he were summoned on the charge of being an alien. And he does make himself obnoxious to many, and the way in which my father was compelled to adopt him is no secret. You, on your part, while my father was refusing to acknowledge him, believed that his mother was telling the truth; but when, with his parentage thus established, he makes himself odious, you will some day on the contrary conclude that my father's story was true. Again, what if my opponent, in the expectation of being convicted of perjury for the services ^note which he freely grants his associates, should allow the suit to go by default? Do you think it would be a slight injury that I should be my whole life long a sharer of his reputation and his doings?