Against Stephanus II

Nay more, to prove that I was absent in command of a trireme, and that my father had been dead for some time, when the fellow married, I demanded of him the female slaves, and claimed the right of having them put to the torture to establish this very point, whether what I am saying is true—to prove all this, and that I tendered him a challenge, (to the clerk) please take the deposition.

The Deposition

The deponents testify that they were present when Apollodorus challenged Phormio, namely, when Apollodorus demanded that Phormio give up the female slaves for the torture, if Phormo denied that he had seduced my mother before the time when Phormio declares that he married her, after she had been betrothed to him by Pasio. And when Apollodorus tendered this challenge, Phormio refused to surrender the female slaves.

Now in addition to this read the law which appoints that there shall be an adjudication of all heiresses, whether alien or citizen, and that in the case of those who are citizens the archon shall have jurisdiction and shall take charge of the matter, and in the case of those who are resident aliens, the polemarch; and it shall not be lawful for anyone to obtain an inheritance or an heiress without legal adjudication.

The Law

The archon shall assign by lot days for the trial of claims to inheritances or heiresses in every month except Scirophorion[*](The month Scirophorion corresponds to the latter half of June and the prior half of July. This month may have been excepted, since it was the last month of the Attic year, and in it the magistrates vacated office and passed their audit. (Sandys)); and no one shall obtain an inheritance without adjudication.

Well then, if he had wished to proceed regularly, he ought to have entered his claim for the heiress, whether the claim was based upon a gift or upon nearness of kin, before the archon, if he claimed her as a citizen, and before the polemarch, if as an alien; and then, if he had any just claim to advance, it was his duty to convince those of you who were drawn on the jury, and so obtain the woman by their verdict and in a manner sanctioned by your laws, instead of having made laws valid for himself alone, and in that way having accomplished what he desired.

Note, too, the following law, that a will shall be valid which a father makes, even though he has sons lawfully born, provided the sons die before they reach the age of manhood.

The Law

Whatsoever will a father shall make, while he has lawfully born sons, if the sons die within two years after having reached the age of manhood, that father’s will shall be valid.

Well then, seeing that the sons are alive, the will which these men say my father left is invalid, and this man Stephanus has borne false witness in defiance of all the laws, in declaring that the document is a copy of Pasio’s will. (To Stephanus.) Why, how do you know that it is? Where were you ever present when my father made it? You are shown to have been guilty of trickery in the suit, to have given false witness yourself without scruple, to have stolen depositions which supported the truth, to have misled the jury, and to have entered into a conspiracy to defeat justice. But the laws have provided criminal suits for actions such as these.

(To the clerk.) Read the law, please.

The Law

If any man enter into a conspiracy, or join in seeking to bribe the Heliaea or any of the courts in Athens, or the Senate, by giving or receiving money for corrupt ends, or shall organize a clique for the overthrow of the democracy, or, while serving as public advocate, shall accept money in any suit, private or public, criminal suits shall be entered for these acts before the Thesmothetae.

So, in the light of all these things, I should like to ask you in accordance with what laws you have sworn to give judgement: whether according to the laws of the state, or according to the laws which Phormio enacts for himself. I bring before you, then, these laws, and I prove that both these men have transgressed them, Phormio by having at the outset wronged me and robbed me of the money which my father left me, and which that father leased to Phormio together with the bank and the manufactory[*](See Dem. 36.4); Stephanus here, by having given false testimony, and given it in defiance of the law.

Another thing also, men of the jury, deserves to be borne in mind, that no one ever makes a copy of a will; they make copies of contracts, that they may know the terms and not violate them; but not of wills. For this is the very reason why the testators leave a will—that no man may know how they are disposing of their property. How, then, do you people know that what is written in the document is a copy of Pasio’s will?

I beseech and implore you all, men of the jury, to come to my aid and to punish those who thus without scruple have given false testimony, for your own sakes, for mine, for the sake of justice and the laws.