[16]
The wrongs done me by Stephanus, men of Athens, which have led me to come
forward to accuse this woman Neaera, have been told you by Theomnestus. And that
Neaera is an alien woman and is living as his wife with Stephanus contrary to
the laws, I wish to make clear to you. First, the clerk shall read you the law
under which Theomnestus preferred this indictment and this case comes before
you.“LawIf an
alien shall live as husband with an Athenian woman in any way or manner
whatsoever, he may be indicted before the Thesmothetae by anyone who chooses
to do so from among the Athenians having the right to bring charges. And if
he be convicted, he shall be sold, himself and his property, and the third
part shall belong to the one securing his conviction. The same principle
shall hold also if an alien woman shall live as wife with an Athenian, and
the Athenian who lives as husband with the alien woman so convicted shall be
fined one thousand drachmae.”
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by Norman W. DeWitt, Ph.D., and Norman J. DeWitt, Ph.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1949.
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