42
That complaint, however, will serve merely to damage their case by suggesting that their statements in general are untrue; for after registering the action, the Basileus was obliged to hold three preliminary inquiries in the course of the three months following, only bringing the case into court during the fourth—as he has done today. Yet only two months of office remained to him, Thargelion and Scirophorion.The dates are roughly as given in the Introduction. The Βασιλεύς went out of office on the 21st June: Philocrates attempted to register his charge in the last week of April. Thargelion and Scirophorion were the last two months of the Attic year. It would thus clearly have been impossible for him to bring the case into court during his own period of office; and he is not allowed to hand on an action for murder to his successor; such a thing has never been done by any Basileus in this country. So, as it was a case which he could neither bring into court nor hand on to his successor, he did not see why he should break your laws by registering it.
43
There is, indeed, one very striking indication that he did not rob the prosecution of their rights: whereas Philocrates yonder tormented other magistrates who had to render account of their officeThe εὔθυναι of a magistrate consisted of public examination of his accounts and general conduct at the end of his period of office. There was a corresponding δοκιμασία, or preliminary investigation of his fitness, before his installation. with vexatious complaints, he failed to come forward with any grievance when this particular Basileus, whose conduct, we are told, had been so outrageously high handed, was rendering account of his. What clearer indication could I present to you that Philocrates had suffered no injury from either myself or him?
