Of the many
outrageous lies which Aphobus uttered in his address to you, I shall try to
refute first, that one at which I felt greater indignation than at anything else
he said. For he declared that my grandfather was a debtor to the state, and that
for this reason my father would not have the property let, for fear of the risks
he would run.1 This is
the pretence he uses; but he brought forward no proof that my grandfather died
indebted to the state. He did introduce evidence that he became a state-debtor,
but he waited until the last day,2 and
kept this evidence for his second speech, thinking that by it he would be able
to give a malicious turn to the matter. So, if he reads it, give close heed.
1 The property would be let at a public hearing before the Archon, and its value could not be concealed. If, therefore, the elder Demosthenes, as the heir of Gylon, was indebted to the state, the property might be confiscated to satisfy the debt.
2 All documents, citations of statutes, etc., pertaining to the case had to be submitted in written form before the suit was called. They were then sealed in a box （ἐχῖνος）, which might not be opened until the documents in question were wanted in the trial. By waiting until the last day to file this particular bit of evidence Aphobus prevented Demosthenes from filing any documents to combat it. The latter was therefore “ensnared by lack of time” （Dem. 28.2）.
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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