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But Boeotus feels no shame in disparaging before you the man whom he compelled to become his father, and has even come to such a pitch of vulgarity that, although the laws forbid speaking ill even of other men’s fathers after they are dead, he will slander the man whose son he claims to be; whereas it would be proper for him to show resentment if anyone else spoke evil of him.
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I fancy, men of the jury, that, when he is at a loss for anything else to say, he will undertake to speak evil of me, and will try to bring me into disrepute, rehearsing at length how I was reared and educated and married in my father’s house, while he had no share in any of these advantages. But I bid you bear in mind that my mother died leaving me a child, so that the interest of her marriage-portion was sufficient to rear and educate me;
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whereas Plangon, the mother of these men, maintained them and a host of female servants in her own house, and herself lived lavishly, having my father ready, because of his passion for her, to supply the funds for all this, and forcing him to heavy expenditures. She therefore spent far more of his property than I did, so that I might with far better reason bring charges against them than they against me.
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For, besides all the rest, in connection with my father I borrowed twenty minae from Blepaeus the banker, for the purchase of some mining properties, and after my father’s death I shared the mines with these men, but had to pay the loan myself. I also borrowed another thousand drachmae from Lysistratus of Thoricus for my father’s funeral, and have personally paid the debt.
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That I am speaking the truth on these matters also you will learn from these depositions.
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The Depositions
