| Demosthenes, Speeches (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose; rhetoric] [word count] [lemma count] [Dem.]. | ||
| <<Dem. 59.59 | Dem. 59.68 (Greek) | >>Dem. 59.76 |
59.65He sent for him to come to the country under pretence of a sacrifice and then, having surprised him in adultery with the daughter of this Neaera, intimidated him and extorted from him thirty minae. As sureties for this sum he accepted Aristomachus, who had served as Thesmothete, and Nausiphilus, the son of Nausinicus, who had served as archon, note and then released him under pledge that he would pay the money.
59.66Epaenetus, however, when he got out and was again his own master preferred before the Thesmothetae an indictment for unlawful imprisonment against this Stephanus in accordance with the law which enacts that, if a man unlawfully imprisons another on a charge of adultery, the person in question may indict him before the Thesmothetae on a charge of illegal imprisonment; and if he shall convict the one who imprisoned him and prove that he was the victim of an unlawful plot, he shall be let off scot-free, and his sureties shall be released from their engagement; but if it shall appear that he was an adulterer, the law bids his sureties give him over to the one who caught him in the act, and he in the court-room may inflict upon him, as upon one guilty of adultery, whatever treatment he pleases, provided he use no knife.
59.67It was in accordance with this law that Epaenetus indicted Stephanus. He admitted having intercourse with the woman, but denied that he was an adulterer; for, he said, she was not the daughter of Stephanus, but of Neaera, and the mother knew that the girl was having intercourse with him, and he had spent large sums of money upon them, and whenever he came to Athens he supported the entire household. In addition to this he brought forward the law which does not permit one to be taken as an adulterer who has to do with women who sit professionally in a brothel or who openly offer themselves for hire; for this, he said, is what the house of Stephanus is, a house of prostitution; this is their trade, and they get their living chiefly by this means.
59.68When Epaenetus had made these statements and had preferred the indictment, this Stephanus, knowing that he would be convicted of keeping a brothel and extorting blackmail, submitted his dispute with Epaenetus for arbitration to the very men who were the latter's sureties on the terms that they should be released from their engagement and that Epaenetus should withdraw the indictment.
59.69Epaenetus acceded to these terms and withdrew the indictment which he had preferred against Stephanus, and a meeting took place between them at which the sureties sat as arbitrators. Stephanus could say nothing in defense of his action, but he requested Epaenetus to make a contribution toward a dowry for Neaera's daughter, making mention of his own poverty and the misfortune which the girl had formerly met with in her relations with Phrastor, and asserting that he had lost her marriage portion and could not provide another for her.
59.70“You,” he said, “have enjoyed the woman's favors, and it is but right that you should do something for her.” He added other words calculated to arouse compassion, such as anyone might use in entreaty to get out of a nasty mess. The arbitrators, after hearing both parties, brought about a reconciliation between them, and induced Epaenetus to contribute one thousand drachmae toward the marriage portion of Neaera's daughter.
To prove the truth of these statements of mine, I will call as witnesses to these facts the very men who were sureties and arbitrators:
59.71Witnesses
Nausiphilus of Cephalê and Aristomachus of Cephalê depose that they became sureties for Epaenetus of Andros, when Stephanus asserted that he had caught Epaenetus in adultery; and that when Epaenetus had got away from the house of Stephanus and had become his own master, he preferred before the Thesmothetae an indictment against Stephanus for illegal imprisonment; that they were themselves appointed as arbitrators, and brought about a reconciliation between Epaenetus and Stephanus, and that the terms of the reconciliation were those which Apollodorus produces.
Terms of Reconciliation.
The arbitrators brought about a reconciliation between Stephanus and Epaenetus on the following terms: they shall bear no malice for what took place regarding the imprisonment; Epaenetus shall give to Phano one thousand drachmae toward her marriage portion, inasmuch as he has frequently enjoyed her favors; and Stephanus shall put Phano at the disposal of Epaenetus whenever he comes to Athens and wishes to enjoy her
59.72Although this woman, then, was acknowledged beyond all question to be an alien, and although Stephanus had had the audacity to charge with adultery a man taken with her, these two, Stephanus and Neaera, came to such a pitch of insolence and shamelessness that they were not content with asserting her to be of Athenian birth; but observing that Theogenes, of Cothocidae, note had been drawn by lot as king, note a man of good birth, but poor and without experience in affairs, this Stephanus, who had assisted him at his scrutiny and had helped him meet his expenses when he entered upon his office, wormed his way into his favor, and by buying the position from him got himself appointed his assessor. note He then gave him in marriage this woman, the daughter of Neaera, and betrothed her to him as being his own daughter; so utterly did he scorn you and your laws.
| Demosthenes, Speeches (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose; rhetoric] [word count] [lemma count] [Dem.]. | ||
| <<Dem. 59.59 | Dem. 59.68 (Greek) | >>Dem. 59.76 |
