Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 1.djvu/163

 ISÆUS and had bound themselves by oath to acquiesce in the division, each person possessed his allotment for twelve years; in which time, tho the courts were frequently open for the administration of justice, not one of these men thought of alleging any unfairness in the transaction; untill, when the state was afflicted with troubles and seditions, this Dicæogenes was persuaded by Melas the Egyptian, to whom he used to submit on other occasions, to demand from us all our uncle's fortune and to assert that he was appointed heir to the whole.

When he began his litigation we thought he was deprived of his senses; never imagining that the same man, who at one time claimed as heir to a third part, and at another time as heir to the whole, could gain any credit before this tribunal; but when we came into court, altho we urged more arguments than our adversary and spoke with justice on our side, yet we lost our cause; not through any fault of the jury, but through the villainy of Melas and his associates, who, taking advantage of the public disorders, assumed a power of seizing possessions to which they had no right, by swearing falsely for each other. By such men, therefore, were the jury deceived; and we, overcome by this abominable iniquity, were stripped of our effects; for my father died not long after the trial and before he could prosecute, as he intended, the perjured witnesses of his antagonist.

On the very day when Dicæogenes had thus 103