47
How could one show more clearly that he has made havoc of the whole estate, sparing nothing, however small, than by proving, as I have done by so many witnesses and proofs, that he admitted having received the marriage-portion, and that he acknowledged in writing to the guardians that he had it; that he enjoyed the profits of the factory, but makes report of none;
48
that of our other effects he has sold some without paying to us the proceeds, while others he has taken to himself and hidden; that according to the account which he has himself rendered, he has embezzled large sums; that in addition to all this he has made away with the will, sold the slaves, and in all other respects has administered the estate as not even the bitterest enemies would have done? I do not see how anyone could prove the matter more clearly.
49
He had the audacity to say before the arbitratorThe public arbitrators at Athens were chosen from a body of citizens of advanced age. To one or another of these men (selected by lot) the magistrate would refer civil cases before trial in hopes of bringing about a settlement of the points at issue out of court. that he had paid many debts for me out of the estate to Demophon and Therippides, his fellow-guardians, and that they received a large part of my property, yet neither of these facts was he able to prove. He did not show by the books that my father left me in debt, nor has he brought forward as witnesses the men whom he says he paid; nor, again, is the amount of money which he charged against his fellow-guardians equal to the amount which he is shown to have received himself. On the contrary, it is much less.
