[40]
Nay
more, upon consideration, I cannot even see why anyone should not, if he wishes,
challenge Leucon to an exchange of property.1 For there is always property of his at
Athens, and by this law, if
anyone tries to lay hands on it Leucon will either forfeit it or be compelled to
perform public service. And it is not the question of expense that will trouble
him most, but the reflection that you have robbed him of his reward.
1 By the legal process known asἀντίδοσις, a citizen called upon to perform a public service, if he thought that a richer man had been unfairly passed over, could challenge him either to perform the service in his stead or to exchange properties. Demosthenes is here putting an extreme case, for it is difficult to believe that an honorary citizen like Leucon, resident elsewhere, could be called upon for a service, even though he had wealth deposited at Athens.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by C. A. Vince, M. A. and J. H. Vince, M.A. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1926.
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