1 senting. Should any party think proper to repudiate such an arrangement, you would regard him as a most odious pettifogger. Yet Phænippus, as if the law commanded people to perform nothing that they have agreed to, from the day when he promised to meet for a settlement and to give me his inventory and receive mine, never made his appearance. I, when I saw that he was paying no regard either to me or to the laws, gave in my inventory at the office of the Generals: Phænippus, as I said a little while ago, gave me a paper just before the trial; his sole object being, that he might appear to have delivered his inventory, without my being able to make any use of its contents. You ought, men of the jury, not to give an undue advantage to those persons, who deem their own brutality to be stronger than the laws; if you do, you'll multiply the number of people who mock at all legal ordinances: you ought rather to assist those who regard the voice of the laws as yours, and who believe that this your voice, which is heard in the court of justice,2 is raised to protect the injured, not the doers of injury. Read the depositions in proof of what I have just stated, and the laws. [The Depositions. The Laws.] I, men of the jury, after having suffered such wrong at the hands of Phænippus, made out this schedule and delivered it to the Generals. Read. [The Schedule.] By the Gods and demons, men of the jury, how else is one to prove that Phænippus is amenable to the laws which have been read, than in the manner in which I now prove it? Phenippus however has made a counter-charge against me, that I do not give a just description of my property: (so readily will persons like him misstate the facts to you :) and 1 In some cases the law expressly provided that the trial should take place on the thirtieth day after action brought. In other cases it was left to the magistrates to appoint days for appearance, trial, &c. In every case however the time might be varied by consent. See Schömann, Att. Proc. 693; and Volume III. of this work, page 387. die 2 τὴν εἰς τὸ δικαστήριον. These words are rendered by Pabst an der Stätte des Gerichts vernommen wird." Schäfer thinks the passage corrupt. he complains of the oath which I swore before making out the inventory, saying that I undertook to set forth all the rest of my property besides that in the works; as if to swear according to the laws were a ground of complaint. You know, men of the jury, for you enacted, the law which expressly so declares, that the parties to an exchange, when they take the oath before making out their inventories, shall swear in manner following-"I give a true and correct inventory of all my property, except that in the silver-works, which the laws have made exempt from duty." But I would rather you read the law itself.1 1 Respecting this law Böckh writes in his Dissertation on the silver mines thus: "One of the chief advantages enjoyed by the mine-owners was the immunity from taxes, which the laws had allowed to property vested in the mines. The fact itself is unquestionable; but, as it occurs in the speech against Phænippus, in which mention is made of relief granted by the State to the mine-proprietors, it might be thought that nothing more was meant than a temporary alleviation for the year in which they had sustained a severe loss; a supposition which is apparently confirmed by the assertion of Æschines, that Timarchus had sold his estates, including two mines, in order to escape serving the liturgies by the concealment of his property. But, as Eschines is not accustomed to weigh his words with great exactness, the fear of the liturgies entertained by Timarchus perhaps extended only to his other estates, together with which the mines were only accidentally mentioned; and even if mines did not oblige the possessor to perform liturgies, yet the possession of them strongly confirmed the idea entertained of a man's wealth, and the public opinion on this subject had no slight influence upon his nomination to an official charge. In the speech against Phænippus, however, the orator would not have omitted to remark that the immunity of the mines was only introduced a short time before for the purpose of relieving the possessors, if such had been the case; for, as the complainant is particularly earnest in urging the welfare of the people in opposition to that of the mine-owners, it would have suited his purpose to mention the privilege recently accorded to them; but, instead of this, he speaks in a general manner of the laws by which immunity had been granted to the possessors of mines. It is necessary therefore to consider this immunity as established by laws of ancient standing; but whether intended as an encouragement to mining or not, is another question. Are we to suppose that the people of Athens, from no other motive than that of favouring a particular department of industry, would have exempted a large number of their citizens from liturgies and taxes? *** What renders this the more improbable is, that a large portion of the mine-owners were extremely wealthy in certain times; and any person might, when he pleased, have withdrawn himself from the public services, by purchasing and working mines. My opinion is, that this immunity could not have been con Stop one moment, if you please. I made this proposal before to Phænippus, and now again, men of the jury, I offer it him again of my own accord-I will surrender to him the whole of my property, including that in the works, if he will only deliver up to me his piece of border-land free from incumbrances, as it was when I first went to it with witnesses, and if he will replace again the corn and wine and other things which he has carried away from the farm-buildings after removing the seals from the doors. Why do you go on talking and clamouring, Phænippus? I have in former times by my own bodily labour and exertions reaped considerable profits from the silver-works-I acknowledge it; but I have lost all my gains, except a small fraction. You, who are now selling from your farm barley at eighteen drachms and wine at twelve drachms, are a rich man, as one might expect, when you make more than fifteen hundred bushels of corn and above seven thousand gallons of wine. Ought I then to continue in the same class, if the same fortune does not attend me as in former days? Never allow ceded as an encouragement to mining, but only upon a legal principle. The mine-proprietor was a tenant in fee-farm, who was permitted the use of public property in consideration of the payment of a sum of money, and of a portion of the yearly produce as rent. But the property-taxes and liturgies only fell upon freehold property, while the mines, being conveyed by the people subject to the payment of rent, were for this reason tax-free. Whether slaves were included among the property vested in mines, I do not venture to determine: there being however no reason of any cogency why a tax should not have been imposed upon them, it appears to me more probable that by the property in the silver-mines, we are only to understand the mines which had been granted. A legal consequence of the exemption of the mines from taxes was their exclusion from the property which was made over in the exchange." The following are the remarks of A. G. Becker in reference to this provision of the Athenian law, and to the tricks practised on one another by the parties to an exchange. "Phænippus made the same kind of charges against his opponent as had been made against himself, as one sees from page 1044; and nothing indeed was easier, than that a person intending to offer the exchange to another should contrive some time before to invest his money in mines, which by Solou's law (singularly enough) were not included in the property that passed by the exchange. From all this it is clear, that the regulation in question, though it tended to maintain equality among the citizens of Athens, must in a degenerate age have led to a corruption of their morals." such a thing as this; it would be contrary to justice! Take your turn, Phænippus; enter for a short time into the rank of those who serve the public offices; since the people in the works have been unfortunate, and you agriculturists enjoy more than your fair share of prosperity. You have been for a pretty long period receiving the income of two estates, that of your natural father Callippus, and that of him who adopted you, Philostratus the orator; and you have never done anything for your countrymen. The inheritance which my father left to each of us, my brother and myself, was only forty-five minas, on which it is not easy to live: but your fathers possessed such riches, that there stands a tripod offered by each of them in honour of their choragic victories at the Dionysia.. And I do not grudge the honour; for men of wealth ought to make themselves useful to their fellowcitizens. Show, Phænippus, that you have expended a single copper coin for the benefit of the state-you who have inherited two properties liable to public charges! You cannot show it; for you have learnt the trick of concealment and evasion and doing everything to escape the public service. I, on the contrary, will show that I have expended large sums of money-I who received so slender an inheritance from my father! First however read me that law which declares that no mining property shall be included in the inventory. Read also the challenge, and the depositions showing that the respondent Phænippus has inherited two estates liable to public charges. [The Law. The Challenge. The Depositions.] There is one thing, men of the jury, and one thing only, in which Phænippus the respondent can be shown to have displayed public spirit. He is a clever and spirited breeder of horses, being young, rich, and strong. What is the positive proof of this? He has given up riding on horseback, and in lieu of his war-horse, which he has sold, has purchased for himself a chariot, (young as he is,) that he may not travel on foot; so luxurious is he become. He has put down the chariot for me in his schedule, but of the barley and the wine and the rest of the farm-produce not a tenth part. He deserves to be let off now, (doesn't he?) when he has been so public-spirited and useful both in his person and in his property. He deserves something very different, I should say. While it is the duty of an honest jury to give a respite, in case of need, to those citizens who in their time of prosperity cheerfully serve public offices and remain in the list of the Three-hundred; you should deal otherwise with those who regard all money spent in the public service as lost; you should bring them into the foremost class of tax-payers, and not suffer them to run away from their obligations. Read me first the deposition, and afterwards his inventory. [The Deposition. The Inventory.] Never mind that. True it is, men of the jury, Phænippus carried away many things from the buildings, opening the chambers that were sealed, as has been proved in evidence, and leaving just what he liked; and two months afterwards he gave me the inventory of his property. However, no more of that. Read from the words- 66 upon this property I owe the debts following " [The Inventory.] Stop. This Aristonoe, men of the jury, is the daughter of Philostratus, and mother of the respondent. He says that a debt is owing to her for her marriage portion, of which the laws make him the owner; he tells a falsehood therefore, and makes out his inventory incorrectly. How is it, Phænippus, that I, although my mother is alive and remains a member of our family and brought a marriage portion into it, do not schedule the portion as a debt to her and try to impose on the jury, but allow my mother to share what I possess, whether I have my own estate or that of Phænippus? The reason, my good sir, is, that the laws so command me. But you violate the laws in everything. Read another. [The Inventory.] You hear, men of the jury. He says that he owes upon the land a talent to Pamphilus and Phidolaus of Rhamnus jointly, and four thousand drachms to antides of Phlyus, and fourteen minas to Aristomenes of Anagyrus. How comes it, Phænippus, when I asked you in the presence of witnesses if you owed anything upon your border-farm, and when I requested you to show me any tablet of mortgage that was |