This trial, men of the jury, is an important one for me. For I have at stake, not only a large sum of money, but also my reputation—for I risk being thought to covet what justly belongs to another; and that is what gives me the greatest concern. For sufficient property will be left to me even if I am defrauded of this sum; but if I should be thought to be laying claim to so large a sum of money without just cause, I should have an evil reputation as long as I live.1
1 The plea that the litigant's reputation is at stake is commonplace in the forensic orations; cf. the speeches of Lysias.
Isocrates. Isocrates with an English Translation in three volumes, by George Norlin, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1980.
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