J. E. Sandys, Select Private Orations of Demosthenes

Though I am no speaker myself, yet, if the court will give me their attention, the facts themselves will prove the baselessness of the present action.

οὐκ ἦν ἄρ᾽—τυχεῖν For οὐκ ἦν ἄρα, ‘there is not really after all,’ cf. Soph. O. C. 1697 πόθος καὶ κακῶν ἄρ᾽ ἦν τις, and for this use of ἦν, especially with ἄρα, to express a fact which is and always has been the same, see the examples given in Liddell and Scott, s.v. ει<*>μί, F.

For the general sense, cf. Hesiod's Works and Days 345 πῆμα κακὸς γείτων, and esp. Aristot. Rhet. II 21 § 15 εἴ τις γείτοσι τύχοι κεχρημένος...φαύλοις, ἀποδέξαιτ᾽ ἂν τοῦ εἰπόντος ὅτι οὐδὲν γειτονίας χαλεπώτερον.

‘The plaintive reflexion, οὐκ ἦν—τυχεῖν, harmonizes with the naive and expostulatory tone of the speech, and at the same time gives with refreshing novelty of form the common disclaimer of litigiousness.’ Kirk's Demosthenic Style in the Private Orations, p. 24.

συκοφαντῶν ‘by his vexatious litigation, his petty persecution.’ The word is always difficult to render, and we have generally to be guided by the context for the exact equivalent in English.

κατεσκεύασεν ‘suborned his cousin to claim it from me.’ The verb, here followed by the infinitive, most commonly takes an accusative, e.g. § 34 τὸν ἀνεψιὸν κατεσκεύασε, Or. 54 § 14.