Against Evergus and Mnesibulus

Demosthenes

Demosthenes. Vol. V. Private Orations, XLI-XLIX. Murray, A. T., translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1939 (printing).

and when you had no other witness to my having assaulted you and having delivered the first blow—how is it, I ask, that you did not bring the woman with you to the arbitrator and deliver her up, having her then present in person, and being yourself her master? Nay, you state that you tendered the challenge; but no one saw the woman by means of whom you deceived the jurors, through producing false witnesses to represent that you wished to give her up.

Well, then, since the woman was not present with you at that time and the boxes had previously been sealed, did you at any time afterward bring her into the market-place or before the court? For if she was not present with you at that time, you surely ought to have delivered her up afterwards, and to have called witnesses to prove that you were willing to have the test made by the woman’s evidence in accordance with the challenge which you had tendered, as your challenge had been put in the box, and a deposition stating that you were ready to deliver her up. Well then, when you were on the point of entering upon the trial, did you ever bring the woman before the court?