Demosthenes, Against Leptines, James Herbert Vince (Translator), 99

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

← Previous Next →

[99] Now, to avoid dispute, I will not press the point that the old law of Solon, in accordance with which the junior archons have notified these amendments to you, clearly enjoins that if the law of Leptines is repealed by your vote, the alternative law shall be valid.¹ I will pass to another point. Leptines, in saying this, obviously admits that our law is better and fairer than his own, but bases his argument on the way in which it is to be passed.

Against Leptines. Demosthenes. James Herbert Vince (Translator). London. 1930.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Against Leptines (English) (Demosthenes. Vol. I. Olynthiacs, Philippics, Minor Public Speeches, Speech Against Leptines, I-XVII, XX. Vince, J. H., translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1930 (printing).)

Editions (1)

περὶ τῆς Ἀτελείας πρὸς Λεπτίνην Perseus (Demosthenes. Orationes, Vol. II, Part 1. Butcher, S. H., editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907.) — 99 focus

[99] ἐγὼ δʼ, ὅτι μὲν τῇ ὑμετέρᾳ ψήφῳ τοῦ τούτου νόμου λυθέντος τὸν παρεισενεχθέντα κύριον εἶναι σαφῶς ὁ παλαιὸς κελεύει νόμος, καθʼ ὃν οἱ θεσμοθέται τοῦτον ὑμῖν παρέγραψαν, ἐάσω, ἵνα μὴ περὶ τούτου τις ἀντιλέγῃ μοι, ἀλλʼ ἐπʼ ἐκεῖνʼ εἶμι. ὅταν ταῦτα λέγῃ δήπου, ὁμολογεῖ μὲν εἶναι βελτίω καὶ δικαιότερον τόνδε τὸν νόμον οὗ τέθεικεν αὐτός, ὑπὲρ δὲ τοῦ πῶς τεθήσεται ποιεῖται τὸν λόγον.

Notes on the current edition

Against Leptines

1. We may conjecture that the old law (that if the original statute was condemned, the amendment baecame law ipso facto) had in practice been superseded.

Demosthenes Against Leptines 99

James Herbert Vince (Translator)

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers