Greek Texts & Translations

To prove that I tendered him this challenge, the clerk shall read you the deposition of the persons in whose presence I tendered it. Read the deposition.Deposition

48.50How, then, could it be made more plain that the fellow is unwilling to act justly toward me in any way, that he thinks to rob me of what I ought to receive by advancing excuses and preferring charges, and that he determined that you should not hear the agreement which he asserts I have broken? But I challenged him then before the witnesses who were present, and I challenge him again now before you jurymen, and I demand that he consent, and I myself do consent, to have the articles of agreement opened here in the court-room, to let you hear them, and to have them sealed up again in your presence. 48.51Androcleides is present here; for I gave him notice to come and bring the articles of agreement. I consent, men of the jury, that they be opened during the defendant's speech, in either his first or his second, it makes no difference to me. But I wish you to hear the agreement and the oaths which Olympiodorus the defendant and I swore to one another. If he consents, let this be done, and do you hear for yourselves the articles when he shall see fit; and if he refuses to take this course, will it not be plain without further proof, men of the jury, that he is the most shameless of humankind, and that you may rightly refuse to accept as true anything whatever that he says?

48.52But why am I so earnest in urging this? The defendant himself knows well that he has sinned against me and sinned against the gods in whose name he swore, and that he is a perjurer. But something has deranged him, men of the jury, and he is not in his senses. I am pained and I feel shame, men of the jury, at what I am about to tell you, but I am forced to tell it, in order that you, in whose hands the verdict lies, may hear all the facts before you reach the conclusion regarding us which may seem to you best. 48.53For my mentioning the things which I am about to tell you this fellow is himself to blame, since he refused to settle our differences among our relatives, but chose to brazen the matter out. For you must know, men of the jury, that this fellow Olympiodorus has never married an Athenian woman in accordance with your laws; he has no children nor has ever had any, but he keeps in his house a mistress whose freedom he had purchased, and it is she who is the ruin of us all and who drives the man on to a higher pitch of madness. 48.54Is it not indeed a proof of his madness that he refuses to do anything whatever that was stipulated in the agreement which was entered into with his full consent and with my own, and which was confirmed by an oath?—especially when I am striving, not in my own interest only, but in the interest of her to whom I am married, his own sister, born of the same father and the same mother, and in the interest of his niece, my daughter. For they are being wronged not less than I, but even more. 48.55Can anyone, indeed, say that they are not wronged and are not suffering outrageous treatment, when they see this fellow's mistress, in defiance of all decency, decked out with masses of jewels and with fine raiment, going abroad in splendid state and flaunting the luxury purchased with what is ours, while they are themselves too poor to enjoy such things? Are they not suffering a wrong even greater than my own? And in adopting such a manner of life is not Olympiodorus not manifestly mad and beside himself?

Now, that he may not claim, men of the jury, that I am speaking thus with a view to slandering him because of this suit, the clerk shall read you a deposition from his relatives and mine.Deposition

48.56The defendant Olympiodorus, then, is a person of this sort. He is not only dishonest, but in the opinion of all his relatives and friends is proved by the manner of life which he has adopted to be mentally deranged; to use the language of the lawgiver Solon, he is beside himself as no other man ever was, for he is under the influence of a woman who is a harlot. And Solon established a law ^note that all acts shall be null and void which are done by anyone under the influence of a woman, especially of a woman of her stamp. 48.57In this matter the lawgiver made wise provision; 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), 48.58if 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 been said and give whatever verdict shall seem to you best and most in accordance with justice. If you do this, you will reach a decision that is fair and one that is to the advantage of us all, and especially to the advantage of this fellow Olympiodorus himself.