Demosthenes, Theomnestus and Apollodorus Against Neaera, Augustus Taber Murray (Translator), 52

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[52] Stephanus brought suit for alimony against him in the Odeum¹ in accordance with the law which enacts that, if a man puts away his wife, he must pay back the marriage portion or else pay interest on it at the rate of nine obols a month for each mina²; and that on the woman’s behalf her guardian may sue him for alimony in the Odeum. Phrastor, on his part, preferred an indictment against Stephanus before the Thesmothetae, charging that he had betrothed to him, being an Athenian, the daughter of an alien woman as though she were his own. This was in accordance with the following law.

(To the clerk.)

Read it, please.

The Law

If anyone shall give an alien woman in marriage to an Athenian man, representing her as being related to himself, he shall lose his civic rights and his property shall be confiscated, and a third part of it shall belong to the one who secures his conviction. And anyone entitled to do so may indict such a person before the Thesmothetae, just as in the case of usurpation of citizenship.

Theomnestus and Apollodorus Against Neaera. Demosthenes. Augustus Taber Murray (Translator). London. 1939.

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Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Theomnestus and Apollodorus Against Neaera (English) (Demosthenes, Vol. IV: Private Orations, Vol 3. Murray, A. T., translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1939 (printing).)

Editions (1)

κατὰ Νεαίρας Perseus (Demosthenes. Orationes, Vol. III. Rennie, W., editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1931.) — 52 focus

[52] λαχόντος δὲ τοῦ Στεφάνου αὐτῷ δίκην σίτου εἰς Ὠιδεῖον κατὰ τὸν νόμον ὃς κελεύει, ἐὰν ἀποπέμπῃ τὴν γυναῖκα, ἀποδιδόναι τὴν προῖκα, ἐὰν δὲ μή, ἐπʼ ἐννέʼ ὀβολοῖς τοκοφορεῖν, καὶ σίτου εἰς Ὠιδεῖον εἶναι δικάσασθαι ὑπὲρ τῆς γυναικὸς τῷ κυρίῳ, γράφεται ὁ Φράστωρ Στέφανον τουτονὶ γραφὴν πρὸς τοὺς θεσμοθέτας, Ἀθηναίῳ ὄντι ξένης θυγατέρα αὐτῷ ἐγγυῆσαι ὡς αὑτῷ προσήκουσαν, κατὰ τὸν νόμον τουτονί. καί μοι ἀνάγνωθι αὐτόν.

ΝΟΜΟΣ.

ἐὰν δέ τις ἐκδῷ ξένην γυναῖκα ἀνδρὶ Ἀθηναίῳ ὡς ἑαυτῷ προσήκουσαν, ἄτιμος ἔστω, καὶ ἡ οὐσία αὐτοῦ δημοσία ἔστω, καὶ τοῦ ἑλόντος τὸ τρίτον μέρος. γραφέσθων δὲ πρὸς τοὺς θεσμοθέτας οἷς ἔξεστιν, καθάπερ τῆς ξενίας.

Notes on the current edition

Theomnestus and Apollodorus Against Neaera

1. Actions for alimony were carried before a tribunal which sat in the Odeum, a building properly devoted to musical contests

2. That is, at the rate of 18 per cent.

Demosthenes Theomnestus and Apollodorus Against Neaera 52