13
That the wounds I received, then, were not slight or trifling, but that I was brought near to death by the outrage and brutality of these men, and that the action which I have entered is far more lenient than the case deserves, has been made clear to you, I think, on many grounds. I fancy, however, that some of you are wondering what in the world there can be that Conon will have the audacity to say in reply to these charges. I wish, therefore, to tell you in advance the defence which I hear he is prepared to make. He will try to divert your attention from the outrage and the actual facts, and will seek to turn the whole matter into mere jest and ridicule.
14
He will tell you that there are many people in the city, sons of respectable persons, who in sport, after the manner of young men, have given themselves nicknames, such as Ithyphalli or Autolecythi,These words are best left untranslated (Kennedy, following Auger, renders them Priapi and Sileni). The former suggests gross licentiousness, and the latter, for which various meanings have been proposed, has been plausibly interpreted by Sandys as indicating one who carried his own oil-flask (λήκυθος). He would thus dispense with the customary slave, and be freed from having even such an one as witness to his wanton doings. and that some of them are infatuated with mistresses; that his own son is one of these and has often given and received blows on account of some girl; and that things of this sort are natural for young men. As for me and all my brothers, he will make out that we are not only drunken and insolent fellows, but also unfeeling and vindictive.Conon, the speaker says, will represent us as being as much addicted to drunkenness and violence as himself and his sons, but surly and vindictive in going to law over such trifling matters!
