J. E. Sandys, Select Private Orations of Demosthenes

λελευκωμένον καὶ οἴκοθεν κατεσκευασμένον The plaintiff curiously argues the falsehood of the defendant's deposition from the nature of the material on which it is inscribed. The document, he points out, is ‘whitened, and must have been brought from home purposely prepared.’ This would have been proper enough for a deposition attesting to the facts of the past, in which case there is time to draw up an elaborate document. But a deposition purporting to attest a Challenge (evidence to which might be given by any duly qualified person even accidentally present) would naturally be rapidly written on the spot ἐν μάλθῃ, i.e. on a waxen tablet. This would allow of any addition or erasure being made at the request of the witnesses before they attested it. ‘The difference between these methods,’ as C. R. Kennedy remarks, ‘was much the same as between writing with a pen on paper and with a pencil on a slate’ (Dict. Ant. s.v. μαρτυρία). The distinction here drawn is (as Mr Paley observes) between a waxed tablet (δέλτος) scratched with a point like the Roman stilus, and a whitened surface on which the letters could be conveniently laid on with black pigment (μέλαν).

For λελευκωμένον cf. Dem. Or. 24 (Timocr.) § 23 Lex, ὁ τιθεὶς τὸν καινὸν νόμον, ἀναγράψας εἰς λεύκωμα, ἐκτιθέτω πρόσθε τῶν ἐπωνύμων. Arist. Const. of Athens, 47 § 2, 48 § 4. Bekker's Anecd. p. 277 λεύκωμά ἐστι πίναξ γύψῳ ἀληλιμμένος, πρὸς γραφὴν πολιτικῶν γραμμάτων ἐπιτήδειος (we may compare the Roman album and contrast the black boards of our class-rooms).

For ἐν μάλθῃ. ib. p. 278 μάλθη: μεμαλαγμένος κηρὸς ἢ ἄλλο τι τοιοῦτον, ᾧ τὰ γραμματεῖα πράττεται. Pollux X 58: ὁ δὲ ἐνὼν τῇ πινακίδι (sc. καλεῖται) κηρὸς ἢ μάλθη ἢ μάλθα. Ἡρόδοτος μὲν γὰρ κηρὸν εἴρηκεν, Κρατῖνος δὲ ἐν τῇ Πυτίνῃ μάλθην ἔφη, Ἀριστοφάνης δὲ ἐν τῷ Γηρυτάδῃ ‘τὴν μάλθαν ἐκ τῶν γραμματείων ἤσθιον.’ Harpocr. μάλθη: ὁ μεμαλαγμένος κηρός: Δημοσθένης ἐν τῷ κατὰ Στεφἀνου, Ἱππῶναξ, ἔπειτα μάλθῃ τὴν τρόπιν παραχρίσας. And similarly Hesychius and Suidas. (Becker's Charicles, Scene IX, notes 12 and 13, and Beels, diatribe p. 116—119.)

οἴκοθεν κατεσκευασμένον a ‘pregnant’ expression, equivalent in sense to οἴκοι κατεσκευας μένον καὶ οἴκοθεν ἀπηνεγμένον. Similarly below, where Reiske unnecessarily proposes οἴκοθεν ε<*>ριφεπομένας τὰς μαπτυπίας κατεσκευας μένας μαπτυπεῖν. For the general drift of the argument and its imputation of deliberate design, cf. Cic. Phil. II § 85 unde diadema? non enim abiectum sustuleras, sed attuleras domo meditatum et cogitatum scelus. προστάντας. See p. 136.

τοὺς προστάντας These words are rather obscure. Kennedy renders προστάντας as equivalent to παρόντας. Rather, perhaps, ‘who stand forward voluntarily.’ P.]

ἵν᾽, εἰ...ἐβουλήθη, ῥᾴδιον ἦν Or. 28 § 5 ἐχρῆν εἰσκαλέσαντας μάρτυρας πολλοὺς παρασημήνασθαι κελεῦσαι τὰς διαθήκας, ἵν᾽, εἴ τι ἐγίγνετο ἀμφισβητήσιμον, ἦν εἰς τὰ γράμματα ταῦτ᾽ ἐπανελθεῖν (Goodwin's Moods and Tenses, § 333, ed. 1886)