1. I think, gentlemen of the jury, that I shall have no lack of
witnesses, for I see many of you sitting on the jury who were present
when Lysithous was impeaching Theomnestus for speaking in the Assembly
when it was illegal, as he had thrown away his shield. In that trial he
said I had killed my father. 2. Now if he had claimed I had killed his
father, I should have overlooked his words, (for I thought him of no
account and insignificant), (3) but now it seems a disgrace not to
punish, a man who said this in relation to my father, who benefited you
and the state so signally. And now I wish to know from you whether he
shall pay the penalty, or whether he alone of the Athenians is allowed to
act and speak illegally just as he pleases.
4. This is my thirty-third year, gentlemen of the jury, and the twentieth
since the restoration (of the Democracy). So I was clearly thirteen years
old when my father died at the hands of the Thirty. At that age I neither
understood what an oligarchy was, nor could I have helped my father under
his unjust treatment. 5. And I could not have had reason to plot against
him for the sake of the money, for my elder brother Pantaleon took
everything and as guardian took our patrimony, so that on many accounts,
gentlemen of the jury, it was for my interest to desire my father's life.
So it is necessary to call these facts to your minds, and I shall need
but few words; you know well enough that I speak the truth. And
nevertheless I will furnish evidence for these facts.