| Demosthenes, Speeches (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose; rhetoric] [word count] [lemma count] [Dem.]. | ||
| <<Dem. 47.1 | Dem. 47.9 (Greek) | >>Dem. 47.19 |
47.6The defendants themselves practically admit in their deposition that I was anxious to receive the woman for the torture, and that Theophemus urged me to postpone the action, whereas I was unwilling to do so. And yet it was regarding this woman, whom I demanded for the torture, but whom Theophemus offered to give up, as these men say; whom, however, no one ever saw present in person either at that time before the arbitrator or afterwards in the court-room, or produced at any other place,—it was regarding her that these witnesses deposed that Theophemus was ready to give her up, and made the offer with a challenge;
47.7and the jury thought that the testimony was true, and that I was seeking to evade the evidence which the woman might have given in regard to the assault and the question as to which one of us delivered the first blow (for this is what constitutes assault). Is it not, then, a necessary inference that these witnesses have given false testimony, men who even up to this day dare not deliver up the woman in person, as according to their statement Theophemus offered to do, and as they testified for him? And they dare not establish by actual fact the truth of their testimony
47.8and free the witnesses from the risk of a trial by making Theophemus, since he then refused to do so, deliver up the woman in person, to be put to the torture regarding the assault for which I am suing Theophemus, and so make the proof result from the very statements made at that time by Theophemus with a view to deceiving the jurors. For he said in the course of the trial for assault that the witnesses who had been present and who testified to what had taken place by a deposition in writing, as the law provides, were false witnesses and had been suborned by me; but that the woman who had been present would tell the truth, deposing, not to a written document, but under torture, giving thus the strongest kind of evidence as to which party delivered the first blow.
47.9This is what he said at that time, using the most vigorous language and bringing forward witnesses to support his statements, and by this means deceiving the jurors; but now all this is proved to be false; for he does not dare to deliver up the woman, whom the witnesses have declared that he was ready to deliver up, but prefers that his brother and his brother-in-law should have to stand trial on a charge of giving false testimony, rather than that he should deliver up the woman in person, and so be well rid of his troubles in a fair and legal way, and that they should not try by arguments and entreaties to find a means of escape by deceiving you, if they could;
47.10although I challenged him again and again, and asked for the woman, demanding to receive her for the torture both at that time and after the trial, and again when I paid them the money, and in my suit for assault against Theophemus, and in the examination before the magistrate in the trial for false testimony. These men do not try to hide anything; their words are perjury, their act is to refuse to deliver up the woman; for they knew well that, if she should be put to the torture, it would be proved that they were the wrongdoers and not the parties wronged.
To prove that I am speaking the truth in this, the clerk shall read you the depositions concerning these matters.Depositions
47.11That, despite my frequent challenges and demands for the delivery of the woman for examination, no one has ever delivered her up, has been shown to you by witnesses. But in order that you may know from circumstantial proofs also that they have given false testimony, I will prove it. For if what they state were true, namely, that Theophemus tendered the challenge and offered to give up the woman in person, these men, I take it, would not have produced two witnesses only, a brother and a brother-in-law, to testify to what was true, but many others as well. 47.12For the arbitration took place in the Heliaea, note where those serving as arbitrators for the Oeneïd and Erectheïd tribes hold their sessions; and when challenges of this sort are given, and a party brings his slave in person, and delivers him up for examination by the torture, hosts of people stand forth to hear what is said; so that they would not have been at a loss for witnesses, if there had been the least truth in the deposition.
47.13They have testified, then, in the same deposition, men of the jury, that I was unwilling to have a postponement, but that Theophemus urged it in order that he might produce the woman. That this is not true, I will show you. For if I had tendered to Theophemus this challenge to which they have deposed, requiring him to deliver up the woman, 47.14he might fittingly have answered by urging that the arbitration be put off until the next meeting, in order that he might bring the woman and deliver her up to me; but as it is, Theophemus, they have deposed that it was you who desired to deliver up the woman and that I was not willing to receive her. How is it that you, who were the woman's master, when you were on the point of tendering me this challenge, to which your witnesses have deposed, when you were forced to take refuge in this woman's testimony to establish your case, 47.15and when you had no other witness to my having assaulted you and having delivered the first blow—how is it, I ask, that you did not bring the woman with you to the arbitrator and deliver her up, having her then present in person, and being yourself her master? Nay, you state that you tendered the challenge; but no one saw the woman by means of whom you deceived the jurors, through producing false witnesses to represent that you wished to give her up.
| Demosthenes, Speeches (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose; rhetoric] [word count] [lemma count] [Dem.]. | ||
| <<Dem. 47.1 | Dem. 47.9 (Greek) | >>Dem. 47.19 |
