[2]
I
know that the plaintiff has instituted this suit, not because he believes he can
convict anyone of having borne false witness against him, but because he thinks
that the large amount of damages which he was condemned to pay will give rise to
a feeling of prejudice against me, and of compassion toward himself. For this
reason he is now seeking to defend himself against charges made in a suit that
has already been decided, regarding which he had at the time no reasonable
defence to make. I, for my part, men of the jury, if I had proceeded to execute
the judgement against him and had been unwilling to make any reasonable
concession, should even so have done no wrong in exacting the damages awarded by
your decision; but for all that it might have been said that I had shown undue
ruthlessness and enmity toward a man who is a relative in depriving him of all
his property.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by A. T. Murray, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1939.
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