Against Spudias

These papers were left by the wife of Polyeuctus, as I just now said. The seals being acknowledged both by the defendant’s wife and by mine, we both, being present, broke them and took copies, and then sealed up the papers again, and deposited them in the hands of Aristogenes.

Now, note this, men of the jury, note this, I beg of you. There was in the papers mention of the two minae, the price of the slave—and it was not only Polyeuctus on his death-bed who had made this claim—and there was mention of the eighteen hundred drachmae. When he read this, if what was written did not concern him at all and was untrue, why pray did he not at once protest about it? Why did he join in sealing again papers which were false and of no worth? This of course no one in the world would do, if he did not concur in all that was written.

But surely, men of the jury, this is an outrageous thing if these men are to be permitted now to dispute matters to which they have themselves given assent, and you are to find no basis for judgement in the fact that all of us are wont, when charges are made against us that are unjust and untrue, not to keep silent, but to dispute them on the spot, and that those who do not do this, if they contest them subsequently, are accounted rascals and tricksters.

Now Spudias knows this as well as I, and I think even better, inasmuch as he comes oftener before your court, yet he feels no shame in saying things that contradict all that he has himself done. And yet full often when you become conscious of one single piece of fraud, you treat it as evidence against the other charges; but the defendant is found to have been convicted by himself of falsehood on every point.

Take, please, the deposition, proving that the seals of the papers were acknowledged at the time by the wife of the defendant, and that the papers are now deposited, sealed by Spudias.

The Deposition

Since, then, these facts have been so convincingly established, there is no further need, I think, of more words. For when I am able to produce both laws and witnesses in support of everything that I have said, and also admissions made in my favor by my opponent himself, what further need can there be for a long argument? However, if Spudias perchance waxes indignant about the marriage portion and maintains that he is being defrauded to the amount of one thousand drachmae, he will be lying. For, while he disputes my claim to this sum, he has received not less, but more, as will presently be made clear to you.

Nay more, even if all these statements of his were indeed true, it is not just, I take it, if the laws are good for anything, that I should lose the marriage portion which was promised me, or that Polyeuctus, if he chose to give a smaller portion to one daughter and a larger to the other, should now be thwarted. For it was open to you, Spudias, not to marry his daughter, unless the thousand drachmae were given to you as well as to me. However you received no less than I, as I shall show.

(To the clerk.) But, first, take the deposition which shows on what terms the lady was given to him.

The Deposition

But how can it be that he has received as much as I, one may ask, if in his case the jewelry and the apparel, to the value of a thousand drachmae, were reckoned in the forty minae, while to me the ten minae were paid separately and in addition? This is precisely what I am going to explain. For Spudias, men of the jury, received his wife from Leocrates with the jewelry and apparel on which Polyeuctus set a value to Leocrates of more than a thousand drachmae, while in my case, if you set what was sent to me over and above the marriage portion—all that I have in my possession—over against what was given to Spudias, you will find them practically equal over and above what was reckoned in the thousand drachmae;

so that it was only fair that these articles should be included in the forty minae, seeing that Polyeuctus had charged them against Leocrates, and they were more than had been given me.

(To the clerk.) Now please take this inventory and read to the jurymen what each of us has in his possession; after that, read the deposition of the arbitrators, that they may see that Spudias has received even far more than I, and that Leocrates made complaint regarding this, and that the arbitrators rendered this decision.

The Inventory. The Deposition

Is it not plain, then, that the defendant has long had in his possession forty minae as his wife’s marriage portion, whereas I received the thirty minae, just as he did, but not only did not receive the thousand drachmae, but am now actually in jeopardy regarding them, charged with possessing them wrongfully. It was for this reason, men of the jury, that Spudias would not leave to our friends the settlement of his claims against me, since the result would have been that all these falsehoods of his would have been exposed, for they had been present at all these transactions and knew all about them, and would therefore not have permitted him to say whatever he pleased; whereas in your court he thinks that by his falsehoods he will get the better of me and my statement of the truth.

And yet I have set forth to you clearly all my charges, as well as I could do it myself, while my opponent evaded coming before those acquainted with the facts thinking that he would be unable to lead them astray. Do not you, then, men of the jury, do not you any more than they suffer him to have recourse to lies and calumnies, but bear in mind what you have heard; for you know all the facts of the case, unless perhaps I have omitted something, since I have been forced to speak with but scant water in the water-clock.