Book 1
15.14
One should appeal to such witnesses for the past, but also to interpreters of oracles for the future; thus, for instance, Themistocles interpreted the wooden wall to mean that they must fight at sea.Hdt. 7.141. Further, proverbs, as stated,They have not been mentioned before. Spengel would therefore omit εἴρηται, and remove the commas: proverbs are, as it were, evidence. are evidence; for instance, if one man advises another not to make a friend of an old man, he can appeal to the proverb, Never do good to an old man. And if he advises another to kill the children, after having killed the fathers, he can say, Foolish is he who, having killed the father, suffers the children to live.From the Cypria of Stasinus, of the epic cycle.
15.15
By recent witnesses I mean all well-known persons who have given a decision on any point, for their decisions are useful to those who are arguing about similar cases. Thus for instance, Eubulus,Opponent of Demosthenes. Chares was an Athenian commander, both naval and military. Nothing is known of Archibius. Plato is probably the comic poet. when attacking Chares in the law courts, made use of what Plato said against Archibius, namely, that the open confession of wickedness had increased in the city.
15.16
And those who share the risk of the trial, if they are thought to be perjurers. Such witnesses only serve to establish whether an act has taken place or not, whether it is or is not the case; but if it is a question of the quality of the act, for instance, whether it is just or unjust, expedient or inexpedient,
