Antiphon, On the Choreutes, ed. Kenneth John Maidment, 9

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[9] when they had the opportunity of avenging themselves on an enemy and doing the state a service by exposing and bringing home to me any public offence of which I had been guilty, as Choregus or otherwise, not one of them was able to prove that I had done your people any wrong, great or small.¹ Yet at today’s trial, when they are prosecuting for prosecution to the charge before the court,² they are seeking to achieve my downfall with a tissue of lies calculated to bring my public life into disrepute. If the state has in fact been wronged, they are compensating it not with redress, but with a mere accusation; while they are themselves demanding that reparation for a wrong which has been suffered by the state should be made to them in person.

On the Choreutes. Antiphon. ed. Kenneth John Maidment. London. 1941.

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Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

On the Choreutes (English) (Antiphon. Minor Attic Orators, Vol. 1. Maidment, Kenneth John, translator. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1941 (printing); 1960 (reprint).)

Editions (1)

Περὶ τοῦ χορευτοῦ Perseus (Antiphon. Minor Attic Orators, Vol. 1. Maidment, Kenneth John, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1941 (printing); 1960 (reprint).) — 9 focus

[9] εἴ τι ἠδίκουν ἐγὼ τὴν πόλιν ἢ ἐν χορηγίᾳ ἢ ἐν ἄλλοις τισίν, ἀποφήνασι καὶ ἐξελέγξασιν ἄνδρα τε ἐχθρὸν τιμωρήσασθαι¹ καὶ τὴν πόλιν ὠφελῆσαι, ἐνταῦθα μὲν οὐδεὶς πώποτε οἷός τε ἐγένετο αὐτῶν οὔτε μικρὸν οὔτε μέγα ἐξελέγξαι² ἀδικοῦντα τόνδε τὸν ἄνδρα τὸ πλῆθος τὸ ὑμέτερον· ἐν δὲ τούτῳ τῷ ἀγῶνι, φόνου διώκοντες καὶ τοῦ νόμου οὕτως ἔχοντος, εἰς αὐτὸ τὸ πρᾶγμα κατηγορεῖν, μηχανῶνται ἐπʼ ἐμοὶ³ λόγους ψευδεῖς συντιθέντες καὶ διαβάλλοντες τὰ εἰς τὴν πόλιν. καὶ τῇ μὲν πόλει, εἴπερ⁴ ἀδικεῖται, κατηγορίαν ἀντὶ τιμωρίας ἀπονέμουσιν, αὐτοὶ δὲ οὗ⁵ τὴν πόλιν φασὶν ἀδικεῖσθαι, τούτου ἰδίᾳ⁶ ἀξιοῦσι δίκην λαμβάνειν.

Notes on the current edition

On the Choreutes

1. This is presumably a reference to the speaker’s δοκιμασία when elected a member of the βουλή in the preceding June. All magistrates had to submit to an inquiry into their general fitness to assume public office before they were installed.

2. Cf. Antiph. 5.11 . There it is stated more explicitly that the διωμοσία ensured against irrelevant charges.

Antiphon On the Choreutes 9

ed. Kenneth John Maidment

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