[35]
I certainly am doing you no wrong, even if it were never so
true that my father refused to recognize you, though you were really his son. It
was not my part to know who were his sons, but it was his to show me whom I must
regard as a brother. Therefore, during the time in which he refused to recognize
you, I also counted you as no relative; but ever since he, adopted you, I too
regard you as a kinsman. What is the proof of this? You possess your portion of
my father's estate after his death; you share in the religious rites, and civic
privileges. No one seeks to exclude you from these. What is it that you would
have? But if he says that he is being outrageously treated, if he weeps and
wails, and makes charges against me, do not believe what he says. It is not
right that you should, since our argument is not now about these matters. But
take this attitude—that he can just as well get satisfaction under the
name of Boeotus.
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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