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large quantity of timber on the land, he gave special notice that none should be carried away, left some servants of his own to keep watch on the premises, and desired Phænippus to make a similar examination of his (the complainant's) property.

On the eleventh day of the following month (Boedromion) the parties were sworn to furnish true accounts. They were bound by law to deliver their inventories in three days after. Phænippus however made some overture for an accommodation, and obtained an enlarge. ment of the time. It was arranged that the parties should meet on the twenty-third of Boedromion, to see if they could come to a settlement, and that Phænippus should deliver his inventory on the twenty-fifth. This arrangement was not carried out; for Phænippus failed to attend the meeting, or to deliver his inventory on the day appointed; consequently there was no alternative but to prepare for trial. A day was appointed for it, and Phænippus gave in a schedule of his effects three days before.

At the trial the important thing to be shown on behalf of the complainant was, that his adversary's estate so far exceeded his own in value, as to give him an equitable right to the interference of the court. If he could not establish this satisfactorily, the complaint would be dismissed: if he did establish it, then, as we know, the respondent would have the option, either to take the petitioner's place among the Three-hundred, or to make an exchange of properties with him. If he chose the former, it was a simple affair; if the latter, a variety of questions might arise as to the best mode of carrying out the exchange, and with respect to the accounts which each party had given in, whether they were full and correct, or whether there had been any mistake or misrepresentation or concealment. In our dearth of information upon these points, we are unable to ascertain how far the same court which first decreed relief was competent to decide upon these ulterior questions; or whether it was the practice to grant adjournments, or impanel another jury, for the purpose of any further direction. It is not improbable however, that the disclosure of facts which took place upon the first inquiry, or the expression of an opinion thereupon by the jury, would frequently induce the parties to come to a settlement out of court.

In the present case the speaker labours to show that the property of Phænippus was considerably greater than his own, and that he had resorted to illegal and unfair devices to conceal its amount. He had delayed the trial, and kept back his inventory until the last three days, evidently for a dishonest purpose. In the meantime he had broken the seals which had been placed on the doors of the farmhouse; he had carried away corn, wine, timber, and other things; he had set up notices of mortgage on the land, which were not there when the complainant first examined it, and he had made out a fraudulent inventory, pretending that his estate was subject to debts, all of which were purely fictitious.

The complainant urges his claim to relief on account of the misfortunes which he had incurred in his mining speculations. While the mining interest had been greatly depressed, the agriculturist class, to which

Phænippus belonged, had been enjoying a high degree of prosperity. It was but fair that the burden should be transferred from a dis tressed party to one who was better able to bear it. Phænippus had inherited two estates, each of which had formerly done duty to the commonwealth; since he had become possessed of them, though he had himself lived in luxury, he had contrived to shirk the taxes and official services. Public policy required, that he should be compelled to contribute, in respect of his property, to the public charges; and he should not be allowed to escape by means of such tricks as he had endeavoured to practise on the complainant. Phænippus appears to have brought counter-charges against his opponent, and (among other things) objected that he had omitted from his inventory the mines, which should have been offered with the rest of his effects for the exchange. The complainant answers, that this was in accordance with the Athenian law, as mines, being the property of the state, were not subject to property-tax, and not transferable under the exchange. In proof of this he cites the statute itself (upon which the reader will find Böckh's and Becker's observations in a note). As there was an appearance of unfairness in this regulation, and the complainant feared perhaps that a prejudice might be raised against him in the minds of the jury, he seeks to remove this by making an equitable proposal. "If" says he— 'Phænippus will give me his land free from the pretended incumbrances, and will bring back the things which he has fraudulently removed from the farm, I will include my mine-property in the exchange." The very making of this offer seems to show the uncertainty of the Athenian law; or perhaps it implies a doubt in the speaker's mind as to his ability to prove the charges which he had made against Phænippus; and it may have been a bold stroke to drive him to a compromise.

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The speech, though valuable for the light which it throws upon a very obscure subject, is feeble in its composition, and the best critics have refused to recognise it as one of the genuine works of Demosthenes.

BLESSINGS, men of the jury, upon all of you, and in particular upon Solon, who established the law respecting the exchange of estates. For if he had not clearly defined to us what is the first thing to be done by persons who tender the exchange, what the second, and so on, I cannot tell how far the audacity of the respondent Phænippus would have gone, when even now, notwithstanding that everything is prescribed to us by the law, he has disregarded its just enactments, and instead of giving me the inventory of his property according to law within three days after he was sworn, or, if he did not like that, giving it at least on the twenty-fifth day of the month Boedromion, which he got me to appoint and on which he promised to deliver the inventory-instead

of doing either the one or the other, he treated both me and the law with contempt, and delivered it in the second month, only two or three days before the cause was brought into court, and kept out of the way all the remainder of the time and again, instead of leaving the seals which I had put upon the buildings undisturbed, he went into the country and opened them, and carried away the barley and other things, as if the law had given him liberty to do whatever he pleases, not that which is right and just.

For my own part, men of the jury, I should have been only too glad to see myself in prosperous circumstances, as I used to be, and remaining in the body of Three-hundred : but, since I have shared the general misfortunes of all those engaged in the works, and have also incurred special losses of a ruinous nature in my own business, and now on this last occasion I have to pay to the state three talents, a talent for every share-(for I was a partner, I am sorry to say, in the confiscated mine)1-I am under the necessity of endeavouring to substitute in my place a man who is richer than myself, and indeed always was richer, and who has never served any public office or contributed anything to the property tax. I therefore entreat of you all, men of the jury, that, if I prove the respondent Phænippus to have transgressed the regulations of the law and to be a richer person than myself, you will afford me relief, and place him in my stead in the list of the Three-hundred: for it is on this account that the laws every year allow the tendering of the exchange, because it is a rare thing that any of our citizens can permanently maintain their prosperity. I will tell you all that has taken place concerning the exchange from the beginning.

On the second day of the month Metagitnion, men of the jury, the Generals held a court for proposing the exchanges to the Three-hundred. At this court I cited the respondent Phænippus according to law. Having cited him, I took with me some of my friends and relations and proceeded to Cytherus, to his farm on the borders. And first

1 The mine having been forfeited to the state, probably for nonpayment of rent, the speaker had to pay this money to obtain a re-grant of it.

See Böckh, on the Silver Mines of Laurium, pages 467, 479 (translation).

2 See Böckh, I. 86. Trans.

I led them round the farm, a circuit of more than forty furlongs, and I pointed out to them in the presence of Phænippus, and requested them to take notice, that there was no tablet of mortgage on the boundary; and I required Phænippus, if he said there was any, to declare it at once and show it to us; for I was anxious that no debt should rise up on the estate at a later period. Then I sealed the buildings, and required Phænippus to come and inspect my property. After that I asked him, where his threshed corn was; for, by the Gods and Goddesses,1 men of the jury, there were two barns on the farm, each of them nearly a hundred feet in circumference. He replied, that part of the corn was sold, part laid up in the granary. At lengththat I may not be tedious-I put some persons inside to watch, and, by Jupiter, I gave notice to the ass-drivers, and stopped them carrying timber off the land; (for, among other sources of wealth which Phænippus enjoys, this also brings him a large revenue, men of the jury; he has six asses carrying wood all the year round, and he receives more than twelve drachms a day;) I told the ass-drivers, as I say, not to touch the wood, and then, after giving notice to Phænippus to attend the sacrifice 2 according to law, I went back to the city.

I will first produce to you the evidence in support of these statements, and then you shall hear the other facts of the case fully and accurately. You will find, men of the jury, that Phænippus began from the very first day to set justice. at defiance. I sealed up the buildings, as the law had allowed me; he unsealed them. And he acknowledges having removed the seal, but does not acknowledge that he opened the door, as if he removed the seals for any other purpose but to open the doors.

Again, I gave notice that no wood should be carried away; he carried it away every day except that on which I gave the notice. There was no debt charged upon the

"Formula jurisjurandi non magis, opinor, Demosthenica, quam quæ legitur, p. 1044, πρὸς τῶν θεῶν καὶ δαιμόνων. Schäfer. The prayer in the exordium called forth a similar remark. And other critics, besides Schäfer, have doubted the genuineness of this oration.

2 For the purpose of taking the oath.

land; he now puts down a number of debts.

In short, he does just what he pleases, not what the laws require. Read the depositions, first those concerning the mine, and then the others.

[The Depositions.]

The wrongs which Phænippus began to do me on the very first day after the citation you have heard, men of the jury, both from me and from the witnesses.. His subsequent conduct goes beyond this; it is an offence not only against me, but against the laws, which you are all bound to vindicate.

After he had sworn on the eleventh of the month Boedromion to give a true and just inventory of his effects, the law expressly declaring that the inventory shall be given within three days after the day of the oath, he came up to me at the court, with Polyeuctus of Crioa and some other persons, and requested me, first, to meet him and see if we could settle the matter, assuring me that he would do everything that was right; secondly, to give him time for making out the inventory, but he only asked a few days, for he was aware of my position. As I considered it became a respectable citizen, who eschewed quarrels and offences, not to rush headlong into a court of law, I gave my consent, (for I need not dwell upon the details,) that the meeting for a settlement should be on the twenty-third of the month Boedromion, and the inventory of effects should be given on the twenty-fifth.

Notwithstanding that he had obtained both his requests from me, Phænippus did not attend on either of those days; and now he appears before you as the violator not of one law only, but of two laws: first, that which requires a man to deliver the inventory of his effects within three days after he has been sworn, secondly, that which declares that mutual covenants, entered into in the presence of witnesses, shall be valid. Why, there is not one of you, men of the jury, who does not know, that the day prescribed by law and the day agreed to by the parties are equally necessary to be observed. It frequently happens that, although the thirtieth day is prescribed by statute, we appoint another for ourselves by consent, and in every office the magistrates put off trials and other proceedings for the parties, upon their mutually con

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