149
Philochares yonder, our eldest brother, a man not of ignoble pursuits, as you slanderously assert,For Demosthenes’ taunts as to the brothers of Aeschines and those of his wife, see his speech Dem. 19.237 and 287. but a frequenter of the gymnasia, a one-time comrade of Iphicrates in the field, and a general now for the past three years, has come to beg you to save me. Our youngest brother, too, Aphobetus yonder, who as ambassador to the king of Persia has served you to the credit of the city, who administered your revenues honestly and well when you called him to the department of the treasury, who has gotten him children lawfully—not by putting his wife in Cnosion’s bed, as you, Demosthenes, did yours—he also is here, despite your slanders ;for defamation goes no further than the ears.
150
But you dared to speak about my wife’s family also—so shameless you are and so inherently thankless, you that have neither affection nor respect for Philodemus,See Aeschin. 2.152. the father of Philon and Epicrates, the man by whose good offices you were enrolled among the men of your deme, as the elder Paeanians know.Aeschines insinuates that only by some extraordinary favoritism could Demosthenes, with his strain of Scythian blood, ever have been recognized as an Athenian of pure blood, and so enrolled in the citizen-list when he came to manhood. But I am amazed if you dare slander Philon, and that, too, in the presence of the most reputable men of Athens, who, having come in here to render their verdict for the best interest of the state, are thinkingmore about the lives we have lived than what we say.
