19
But in the present instance, the prosecution themselves admit to begin with that the boy’s death was not due to premeditation or design: and secondly, everything which happened happened publicly and before numerous witnesses, men and boys, free men and slaves, who would have ensured the complete exposure of the criminal, had there been one, and the instant refutation of anyone who accused an innocent person.Antiph. 6.19 in the Greek consists of an intricate dependent clause without a main verb to complete the grammatical construction. By the time ἐξελέγχοιτο has been reached, the initial ὅπου has been forgotten.
20
Both the spirit shown by my opponents and the way in which they set to work are worth noticing, gentlemen; for their behavior towards me has been very different from mine towards them from the outset.
21
Philocrates yonder presented himself before the Heliaea of the Thesmothetaei.e. before an ordinary Heliastic court (δικαστήριον). on the very day of the boy’s burial, and declared that I had murdered his brother, a member of the chorus, by forcing him to drink poison. At that, I presented myself before the court in my turn. I told the same jury that Philocrates had no right to place legal impediments in my way by coming to court with his outrageous charge, when I was bringing suits against Aristion and Philinus on the following day and the day after: for that was his only reason for making such allegations.
22
However, I said, there would be no difficulty in proving his monstrous accusation a lie, as there were plenty of witnesses, slave and free, young and old, in fact, over fifty in all, who knew how the drinking of the poison had been accounted for and were in complete possession of the facts and circumstances.
