[20]
An overflow of water has ere now,
I imagine, often done damage to many who have not guarded against it, just as it
has in this case to the plaintiff. But this is the thing that is most outrageous
of all, that Callicles, when the water overflows on his land, brings up huge
stones and walls it off, but has brought suit for damages against me on the
ground that my father was guilty of wrongdoing, because when the same thing
happened to his land, he built an enclosing wall. And yet, if all those who have
suffered loss because water has flooded their lands in this region are to bring
suit against me, my fortune, even if multiplied many times, would not meet the
costs.
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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