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Now the proof that what I am saying is true, and that Theophemus began the assault, needs, I think, nothing else for its establishment than the testimony of the woman whom these witnesses have stated that Theophemus was ready to deliver up. By means of this testimony Theophemus, whose case came first into court, seeing that I did not enter a special plea or an affidavit for delay, since these measures had once been a disadvantage to me in a former suit, deceived the jurors, saying that the witnesses whom I had brought forward gave false testimony, but that this woman would tell the truth if she were put to the torture.
40
But their actions now are shown to be the very opposite of the language which they then used with such insistence; for I am unable to get the woman for examination despite repeated demands, as has been stated to you by witnesses. Since, therefore, they refuse to deliver up the woman, whom they themselves declare that I was challenged to receive, I desire to call before you the witnesses who saw Theophemus deal me the first blow. And this is what constitutes assault, when a man commits the first act of violence, especially when he strikes one who is seeking to exact payment in accordance with the laws and your decrees.
40
Please read the decrees and the deposition.
40
The Decrees
40
The Deposition
41
So when the pledge which I had seized had been taken from me by Theophemus, and I had been beaten, I went to the senate and showed them the marks of the blows, and told them how I had been treated, and also that it was while I was seeking to collect for the state the ship’s equipment. The senate, angered at the treatment which I had received and seeing the plight that I was in, thinking, too, that the insult had been offered, not to me, but to itself and the assembly which had passed the decree and the law which compelled us to exact payment for the equipment,—
