Demosthenes, Against Boeotus I, Augustus Taber Murray (Translator), 10

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[10] Again, suppose Mantitheus, son of Mantias, of Thoricus should be summoned as judge,¹ what should we do? Should we go, both of us? For how is it to be clear whether he has summoned you or me? Or, by Zeus, suppose the state is appointing to any office by lot, for example that of Senator,² that of Thesmothet,³ or any of the rest; how will it be clear which one of us has been appointed?—unless some mark shall be attached to the tablet,⁴ as there might be to anything else; and even then people will not know to which of us two it belongs. Well then, he will say that he has been appointed, and I shall say that I have.

Against Boeotus I. Demosthenes. Augustus Taber Murray (Translator). London. 1936.

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Current edition Perseus

Mantitheus Against Boeotus I (English) (Demosthenes, Vol. IV: Private Orations, Vol 1. Murray, A. T., translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936 (printing).)

Editions (1)

πρὸς Βοιωτὸν περὶ τοῦ Ὀνόματος Perseus (Demosthenes. Orationes, Vol. II, Part 2. Rennie, W., editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1921.) — 10 focus

[10] φέρε, εἰ δὲ κριτὴς καλοῖτο Μαντίθεος Μαντίου Θορίκιος, τί ἂν ποιοῖμεν; ἢ βαδίζοιμεν ἂν ἄμφω; τῷ γὰρ ἔσται δῆλον πότερον σὲ κέκληκεν ἢ ἐμέ; πρὸς Διός, ἂν δʼ ἀρχὴν ἡντινοῦν ἡ πόλις κληροῖ, οἷον βουλῆς, θεσμοθέτου, τῶν ἄλλων, τῷ δῆλος ὁ λαχὼν ἡμῶν ἔσται; πλὴν εἰ σημεῖον, ὥσπερ ἂν ἄλλῳ τινί, τῷ χαλκίῳ προσέσται· καὶ οὐδὲ τοῦθʼ ὁποτέρου ἐστὶν οἱ πολλοὶ γνώσονται. οὐκοῦν ὁ μὲν ἑαυτόν, ἐγὼ δʼ ἐμαυτὸν φήσω τὸν εἰληχότʼ εἶναι.

Notes on the current edition

Against Boeotus I

1. The word κριτής does not signify a judge in a court of law, but apparently a judge in some festival contest.

2. In Athens the members of the senate ( βουλή) of five hundred— fifty from each of the ten tribes—were chosen by lot.

3. The six minor archons bore this name; see note on Dem. 33.1

4. Every candidate had an identification tablet inscribed with his full name (that is, his given name, the name of his father, and the name of his deme), and this was placed in the urn for drawing.

Demosthenes Against Boeotus I 10

Augustus Taber Murray (Translator)

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