Greek Texts & Translations

Please call the witnesses.Witnesses

41.7This, then, men of the jury, is one of the charges which I make against Spudias. And in this matter what stronger or more solid ground could I have in coming before you than the law which expressly ordains that, in all cases where men have given a mortgage, there shall be no right of action for them or for their heirs? But nevertheless it is to dispute this just provision that Spudias has come here. 41.8A second claim, men of the jury, is the following: Aristogenes has deposed that Polyeuctus, when about to die, charged that there were due him from Spudias two minae with interest (this was the price of a domestic slave whom the defendant had bought from Polyeuctus, but had neither paid the money nor has now entered it in the general account); and furthermore there are eighteen hundred drachmae, regarding which I am myself at a loss to know what reasonable thing he will have to say. 41.9He had borrowed the money from the wife of Polyeuctus, and there are papers which that lady left behind at her death, and the lady's brothers are witnesses, for they were present at all times and questioned her on every point, that there might be no unpleasantness between us. It is, then, an outrageous and cruel thing, men of the jury, when I on my part, for everything which I either bought from Polyeuctus during his lifetime or received from his wife, have duly paid the price and the interest as well, and am now bringing into the general account everything which I owed, 41.10that this fellow should show no regard either for your laws or for the will of Polyeuctus, or for the papers which have been left, or for those who knew the facts, but in the face of all this should have come into court to contest my plea.

Please take first the law which denies the right of action for mortgaged property against the holders of the mortgage, then the papers which were left, and the deposition of Aristogenes.Law
Papers
Deposition

41.11I wish now, men of the jury, to instruct you in detail also regarding the other claims which I make. They received from the wife of Polyeuctus a bowl, which they pawned together with some pieces of jewelry, and this they have not redeemed and brought into the general account, as Demophilus, to whom it was pawned, will testify. They have also some stuff for hangings, ^note which they received, but they do not account for this either; and many more articles of the same sort. And finally, although my wife advanced a mina of silver and expended it on her father's behalf for the feast of the dead, ^note the defendant refuses to contribute his share even of this; nay, what he has received he keeps; of other items he receives his due portion; but these claims he thus openly refuses to meet.

Now that these matters too may not be left neglected, take, please, the depositions regarding them all.Depositions

41.12It may well be, men of the jury, that Spudias will make no statement to meet these facts; for he will not be able to do so, clever though he is; but will accuse Polyeuctus and his wife, and will declare that they did all these things under my influence and as favors to me, and that he is being greatly injured in many other respects, and has brought action against me; for this is what he undertook to say before the arbitrator also. 41.13But for my part, men of the jury, in the first place I do not think that a defence of that sort is legitimate, or that it is proper, when one is manifestly shown to be in the wrong, for him to shift the charges and have recourse to accusation and calumny; nay, for his counter-charges, if he is suffering any wrong, he will plainly receive satisfaction, but for the claims made on him, he will give it. For how could I now defend myself against the slanders of these men, if I passed over the matters upon which you are to give your verdict? 41.14In the next place I wonder, if he had true and just demands to make, why it was that, when our friends wished to settle our differences, and many conferences were held, he could not abide by their decision. And yet who could better have exposed the baselessness of claims advanced by him or by me than those who were present at all these transactions, who knew the facts as well as we did ourselves, and who were impartial friends of us both? 41.15But this was plainly not to the interest of my opponent—that he should be openly convicted by our friends and find a settlement in this way. For do not imagine, men of the jury, that men who know all these facts, and who now at their own risk are giving testimony in my favor, would then, when they had been put under oath, have formed a different conclusion about them. However, though you had none of these facts to aid you, even so it is not difficult to form an opinion as to which of the two parties is speaking the truth.