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[26]
I am not a seller of perfume1 and I do not practise any other trade. I simply farm the property which my father gave me, and I was landed in the purchase by these people. Which is more probable, Athenogenes, that I set my heart on your trade in which I was not proficient, or that you and your mistress had designs on my money? Personally, I think that you are indicated. Therefore, gentlemen of the jury, you could fairly excuse me for being cheated by . . . and for having had the misfortune to fall in with a man like this, but to Athenogenes . . .
1 The general sense of this mutilated passage is restored by Colin, in his translation, as follows: “Despite his dishonest purpose, I accepted his word, and when he offered me the boy, raised no objection over the price. I thus agreed to pay 40 minas, but I now find I must produce five talents for a perfumery in which I have no interest.”
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