Demosthenes, On the False Embassy, Charles Anthony Vince (Translator), James Herbert Vince (Translator), 213

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[213] To prove the truth of these statements, please call the witnesses.¹

If, however, he says scurrilous things about me, not pertinent to the question of the embassy, there are many reasons why you should not listen. I am not on my trial today, and I shall have no second opportunity² of speaking. It will only mean that he is destitute of honest arguments. No culprit would deliberately choose to prefer accusations, if he had any defence to offer.

On the False Embassy. Demosthenes. Charles Anthony Vince (Translator), James Herbert Vince (Translator). London. 1926.

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Current edition Perseus

On the Embassy (English) (Demosthenes, Vol. II: De Corona, De Falsa Legatione, XVIII, XIX. Vince, C. A. and Vince, J. H., translators. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1926 (1939 reprint).)

Editions (1)

περὶ τῆς παραπρεσβείας Perseus (Demosthenes. Orationes, Vol. I. Butcher, S. H., editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903.) — 213 focus

[213] ὡς τοίνυν ταῦτʼ ἀληθῆ λέγω, κάλει μοι τούτων τοὺς μάρτυρας.

ἀλλὰ μὴν ἄν γέ τι ἔξω τῆς πρεσβείας βλασφημῇ περὶ ἐμοῦ, κατὰ πόλλʼ οὐκ ἂν εἰκότως ἀκούοιτʼ αὐτοῦ. οὐ γὰρ ἐγὼ κρίνομαι τήμερον, οὐδʼ ἐγχεῖ μετὰ ταῦθʼ ὕδωρ οὐδεὶς ἐμοί. τί οὖν ἐστι ταῦτα πλὴν δικαίων λόγων ἀπορία; τίς γὰρ ἂν κατηγορεῖν ἕλοιτο κρινόμενος, ἔχων ὅ τι ἀπολογήσεται;

Notes on the current edition

On the False Embassy

1. Here and elsewhere (e.g. Dem. 19.233 ) Demosthenes has time to insert a few remarks while the witnesses are being collected and before their depositions are read.

2. no second opportunity: lit. no one will hereafter pour water for me, i.e. into the clepsydra [57].

Demosthenes On the False Embassy 213

Charles Anthony Vince (Translator), James Herbert Vince (Translator)

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