Demosthenes, Against Nausimachus and Xenopeithes, Augustus Taber Murray (Translator), 6

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

← Previous Next →

[6] that, when fourteen years have elapsed from the time when they gave my father a release, and twenty-two years after they had first indicted him,¹ when my father was now dead, with whom the settlement had been made and also the guardians who after his death had charge of our property, when their own mother, too, was dead, who was well-informed regarding all these matters, and the arbitrators, the witnesses, and almost everybody else, if I may so say, counting our inexperience and necessary ignorance a boon to themselves, they have instituted these suits against us, and have the audacity to make statements which are neither just nor reasonable.

Against Nausimachus and Xenopeithes. Demosthenes. Augustus Taber Murray (Translator). London. 1936.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

One of the Sons of Aristaechmus Against Nausimachus and Xenopeithes (English) (Demosthenes, Vol. IV: Private Orations, Vol 1. Murray, A. T., translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936 (printing).)

Editions (1)

παραγραφὴ πρὸς Ναυσίμακον καὶ Ξενοπείθην Perseus (Demosthenes. Orationes, Vol. II, Part 2. Rennie, W., editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1921.) — 6 focus

[6] ὥστε τεττάρων μὲν καὶ δέκʼ ἐτῶν γεγενημένων ἀφʼ οὗ τὸν πατέρʼ ἡμῶν ἀφεῖσαν, εἴκοσι δὲ καὶ δυοῖν ἀφʼ οὗ τυγχάνουσιν ἐγγεγραμμένοι, τετελευτηκότος δὲ καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ ἡμετέρου, πρὸς ὃν αὐτοῖς ἐγένονθʼ αἱ διαλλαγαί, καὶ τῶν ἐπιτρόπων, οἳ μετὰ τὸν ἐκείνου θάνατον τῶν ἡμετέρων ἐγένοντο κύριοι, καὶ τῆς ἑαυτῶν μητρός, ἥτις ἅπαντα ταῦτʼ ᾔδει, καὶ διαιτητῶν καὶ μαρτύρων καὶ πάντων τῶν πλείστων ὡς εἰπεῖν, τὴν ἡμετέραν ἀπειρίαν καὶ τὴν ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἄγνοιαν τῶν πεπραγμένων ἕρμαιον νομίσαντες ἑαυτῶν, τὰς δίκας ἡμῖν ἔλαχον ταυτασί, καὶ λόγον οὔτε δίκαιον οὔτʼ ἐπιεικῆ τολμῶσι λέγειν.

Notes on the current edition

Against Nausimachus and Xenopeithes

1. This passage offers difficulties. The best established text can be rendered only as above; but the question at once arises: why the long lapse of time between the filing of the suit and the settlement? Again, the use of γεγραμμένοι of a civil suit is suprising, although this difficulty might be met by assuming (with Kennedy) that a public prosecution is meant; but even so the eight year period remains unexplained. If with MS. A we read ἐγγεγραμμένοι and render, after they had been enrolled as citizens, we still have to ask why they should have waited eight years after attaining their majority before seeking an accounting from their guardians.

Demosthenes Against Nausimachus and Xenopeithes 6

Augustus Taber Murray (Translator)

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers