Against The Corn-Dealers

But in fact, gentlemen of the jury, I believe they will not have recourse to this argument, but will repeat, perhaps, what they said before the Council, — that it was in kindness to the city that they bought up the corn, so that they might sell it to you at as reasonable a price as possible. But I will give you a very strong and signal proof that they are lying.

If they were doing this for your benefit, they ought to have been found selling it at the same price for a number of days, until the stock that they had bought up was exhausted. But in fact they were selling at a profit of a drachma[*](i.e., six times the legal profit on each measure.) several times in the same day, as though they were buying by the medimnus[*](About the same as the phormus in Lys. 22.5.) at a time. I adduce you as witnesses of this.