35
He has said this too about my mother, that she served as a nurse. We, on our part, do not deny that this was the case in the time of the city’s misfortune, when all people were badly off; but in what manner and for what reasons she became a nurse I will tell you plainly. And let no one of you, men of Athens, be prejudiced against us because of this; for you will find today many Athenian women who are serving as nurses; I will mention them by name, if you wish. If we were rich we should not be selling ribbons nor be in want in any way. But what has this to do with our descent? Nothing whatever, in my opinion.
36
Pray, men of Athens, do not scorn the needy (their poverty is misfortune enough), and scorn still less those who choose to engage in trade and get their living by honest means. No; listen to my words, and if I prove to you that my mother’s relatives are such as free-born people ought to be; that they deny upon oath the calumnious charges which this man makes regarding her, and testify that they know her to be of civic birth—they on their part being witnesses whom you yourselves will acknowledge to be worthy of credence—, then, as you are bound to do, cast your votes in my favor.
37
My grandfather, men of Athens, the father of my mother, was Damostratus of Melitê.Melitê, a deme of the tribe Cecropis. To him were born four children; by his first wife a daughter and a son Amytheon, and by his second wife Chaerestratê my mother and Timocrates. These also had children. Amytheon had a son Damostratus, who bore the same name as his grandfather, and two others, Callistratus and Dexitheus. Amytheon, my mother’s brother, was one of those who served in the campaign in SicilyThe disastrous expedition to Sicily was sent out in 415 B.C. and were killed there, and he lies buried in the public tomb.A cenotaph, of course. These facts will be proved to you by testimony.
