129
Now I should like to put a question to Leptines. When you say that the public services come under the head of religious dues, in what, according to you, did the immunity consist, which our ancestors then granted and you now leave untouched? For by the old laws they are not immune from all the special war-taxes or from the equipment of war-galleys; and they enjoy no immunity from the state services, since they are included in the religious duties.
130
And yet the inscription says that they shall be immune. From what? From the tax on resident aliens, since nothing else is left? Of course not. It is from the regularly recurring services, as the inscription shows, as your law further specifies, and as all history witnesses. During all that length of time no tribe has ever ventured to nominate one of these descendants as chorus-master, and no one nominated has ever ventured to challenge them to an exchange of property. If Leptines dares to deny it, you must pay no heed to him.
131
Again,They assert that many aliens have received immunity; he challenges them to produce the decrees conferring it. He admits that many undeserving aliens have been made proxenoi (in the honorary sense explained in note on Dem. 20.60), but this distinction does not confer immunity. perhaps they will say in their haphazardLiterally, trailing the robe; hence slovenly, slipshod. style that some citizens, by claiming to be Megarians and Messenians,There is no record of any general exemption granted to these two peoples. If Weil’s conjecture is right, translate certain M. and M., by claiming to be Friends of the State. at once gain immunity, whole crowds at a time, to say nothing of slaves and jailbirds like Lycidas and Dionysius; such are the examples they select. When they hold such language, deal with them thus. Tell them, if they are speaking the truth, to produce the decrees which contain these men’s immunity; for no one in your city enjoys immunity unless granted by some decree or law.
