I would reckon it of great value, gentlemen, that you become for me in this matter

judges of this sort, men of the very sort you would be had you suffered these sorts of
things for you yourselves; for well I know that, if you hold the opinion concerning other
men, which you hold concerning you yourselves, then there would not be one man not
vexed by what happened, but rather you would consider it all a small penalty for those
who make a business of this sort of deed. And these things would not be thusly reckoned
amongst you alone, but throughout the entirety of the Hellas; for concerning this
injustice alone, in both democracies and oligarchies, the same right of vengeance has
been rendered to the very weakest against those most mightily capable, such that the
lowest men obtain the same as the very best: thus, gentlemen, all men reckon this
insolence as the most terrible. And so, concerning the magnitude of the penalty here, I
believe that you are all of the same mind, and that no-one is so carelessly disposed, who
think it fit to offer a pardon or believe those culpable of these sorts of deeds merit small
penalty; yet I believe, gentlemen, that I must point this out, that Eratosthenes was
committing adultery against my wife, and further, he not only corrupted that woman but
also dishonoured my children, and he committed outrage against me as well by entering
my own house, and neither was there any hatred between me and him except this, nor
did I act for the sake of wealth, so that I might be brought out of daily labour a wealthy
man, nor again was there any other profit except rightful vengeance according to the
law. Therefore I shall exhibit all of my affairs to you from the beginning, passing over
nothing, but rather speaking the truth; for I consider this alone my salvation, if I could
tell you everything that was done.

For, dear Athenians, it was seemly to me that when I married my wife and brought her
into my home, for some time I was disposed such that I did not vex her but neither was
it too much up to her to do whatever she might wish, but I protected her so far as I was
able, and I paid attention just as it befitted me; whereas after my little boy was born,
from then on I trusted her and I surrendered everything of mine into the hands of that
woman, believing ours to be the best of kindred marriages. At first, dear Athenians, she
was the very best of all, for she was also a cunning steward, both thrifty [noble] and
strictly administering everything; but when my mother met her end, she who, by dying,
became the cause of all my misfortunes; for my wife, following after her funeral
procession, once she was seen by this man, she was, in time, ruined; for he watched out
for her handmaiden going about in the market and by making a proposal, he destroyed
her.

And so first of all, gentlemen (for it is indeed necessary to describe this for you in detail),
I have a little two-story house that is equal above as for those below for the women’s
apartments as well as for the men’s. And when a little child was born to us, its mother
was suckling it; and so that, whenever it needed to be bathed, she would not have to risk
climbing up and down the ladder, I lived above, the women below. And so this became
customary, such that my wife often went away below, sleeping with the little child, so
that she might give it her breast lest it cry out. This went on for a long time, and I was
not once suspicious, but rather I was so foolishly disposed that I considered my wife to
be the most chaste of all women in the city.
After some time had passed, gentlemen, I arrived unexpectedly from the field, and after
dinner the little child cried and was being fussy, being purposefully vexed by the
handmaiden, so that it might do this; for there was a man within; for afterward, I
learned everything. And I bid my woman to be away, and to give her breast to the little
child, so that he might cease crying. At first she refused, as if she were well-pleased to
see me after being away so long, but when I became irritated and bid her to go away, “So
that you,” she said, “might make a pass at the young girl here; like before, when you
were drunk, you groped her.” I laughed, and the woman stood up and left, closing the
door behind her, and pretending to jest, she drew the bolt. And so I, since I did not make
much of any of this, nor did I suspect, was laying down to sleep, a well-pleased man
come home from the field. But when it was nearly daylight, the woman came and she
opened the door. And when I inquired why the doors made noise during the night, she
began to explain that the lamp by the little child had gone out, and so she kindled it
from that of the neighbours. I kept silent and I believed that these things were so. It
seems to me, gentlemen, that her face was made-up, although her brother had died not
thirty days ago; nevertheless, saying nothing more about the matter and departing, I left
in silence.

After this, gentlemen, once some time had passed between, and I had been left much
unaware of my misfortunes, a certain elderly person approached me, secretly sent by a
woman whom that man had seduced, as I later heard; this woman, angered and
believing herself to have been wronged, since he no longer visited her like he used to,
was keeping watch until she found what the reason was. And so, approaching near to
me, since the woman had been keeping an eye on my house, “Euphiletus,” she said,
“believe me to be driven toward you not by any meddlesome nature; for the man who
commits insolence against you and your wife happens to be hated by both of us. If you
go seize the handmaiden while she is about in the market and ministering to you, and
you interrogate her, you will learn everything. And it is,” she said, “Eratosthenes from
Oe who is doing this, who has been corrupting not your wife alone, but also many
others; for he makes an art of it.”

By saying this, gentlemen, that woman was released, whereas I was immediately
troubled, and it all came to mind, and I was full of suspicion, and I thought carefully
about how I had been shut up in the bed-chamber, and I recalled that during that night
the inner court door and the outer court made noise, which had not ever happened
before, and it seemed to me that my wife had put on make-up. All these thoughts
entered my head and I was full of suspicion.

Going home, I bid the handmaiden to follow me to the market, and leading her to one of
my close friends, I started to say that I was informed of everything that happened in my
home; “For you, therefore,” I said, “it is permitted to choose which of the two you prefer,
either to go whipped to the mill-house and never once cease to be afflicted with
misfortunes of that kind, or by cataloguing the whole truth, to suffer no misfortune, but
rather obtain from me a lenient judgement of your misdeeds. Tell no falsehood, but
rather speak the whole truth.” At first the woman denied it, and she told me to do
whatever I wanted; for she had seen nothing; but when I mentioned Eratosthenes to
her, and I said that this man had been visiting my wife, she was panic-stricken, believing
that I knew everything precisely. And after that, she fell upon my knees, and after she
received an assurance that she would suffer no misfortune, she confessed first that he
was at her side after the funeral procession, and thereupon that, in the end, she took his
messages, and that in time my wife was persuaded, and his entrances, in what ways she
permitted them, and how at the Thesmophoria,1 when I was in the field, she went to the
temple with his mother; and she accurately went through everything else that happened.
And once everything had been said by her, I said, “Make sure, then, that not one person
learns these things; or else, nothing will hold valid of your agreement with me. I require
that you show me these things in the very act; for I don’t need words, but rather for the
deed to be manifest, if indeed this is so.” She promised to do this.
And after four or five days passed, [ … ]2 as I will show you with the greatest evidence.
But first I wish to go through things that were done on the following days. Sostratos was
a dear and dependable friend to me. After the sun had set, I came face to face with him
coming from the field. Since I knew that, having arrived home at that hour, he would
find no necessities, I bid him to dine with me. And coming to my house, we climbed to
the upper floor and we dined. And when he was good and done, he got up and left, and I
was going to sleep. But Eratosthenes, gentlemen, comes in, and the handmaiden woke
me up and immediately tells me that he is within. And after I told her to watch over the
doors, descending in silence, I go out, and I arrive at one friend and another, and some I
came upon within, while others I discovered were not staying at home. 3
But when I had gotten as many as I could of those who were present, I proceeded. And
after we took torches from the nearest tavern, we went in, with the doors thrown open
and made ready by the woman. Pushing through the door of my bedroom, we who
entered first saw him still lying with my wife, those afterward that he stood naked on the
couch. And I, gentlemen, I beat him and struck him down, and drawing his hands
around his back and binding him, I asked due to what did he commit insolence by
coming come into my home. And although that man agreed that he had done wrong, he
was begging and pleading me not to kill him but rather to exact payment. And I said, “I
will not kill you, but rather the law of the city will, which you, by your transgression,
considered worth less than your own pleasures, and you preferred to commit this sort of
wrong against my wife and against my children than to be obedient and orderly.”

Thus, gentlemen, that man obtained that very thing which the laws command for those
who do that sort of thing, he was not dragged in from the street, nor did he appeal to the
sacred hearth, as those men say; for how could he, anyone who, stricken, he fell in the
bedroom at once, and I had tied his hands behind him, and there were so many men
inside, whom he could not slip through, and he had neither iron nor wood nor any other
tool with which he might fend off those who came against him? But, gentlemen, I believe
that even you know that men who do what is not just do not grant that their hated
enemies speak the truth, but rather these men, by telling lies and making such
contrivances, they procure anger in those who hear them against men who do what is
just. But first, read the law.

THE LAW4
He did not dispute, gentlemen, but agreed that he did wrong, and so as not to die, he
was begging and pleading, and he was ready to pay money as atonement. But I did not
acquiesce to that man’s estimate of damages, I deemed the law of the city worthy to be
the last word, and I took that penalty, which you, believing it to be the most lawful for
those who make a business of this sort of deed, did prescribe. And now, witnesses of
these events, come forward for me.

WITNESSES

Read to me this law from the stele, the one outside the Areopagus.

THE LAW

Hear, gentlemen, that by this court here outside the Areopagus, for which it is both
ancestral custom and has been handed down to us to render judgements on murder, it is
explicitly said not to charge someone for murder who, having caught an adulterer upon
his wife might taking this right of retribution. And the lawgiver did so much consider
this to be lawful in the case of wedded wives, that even in the case of concubines, less
important, the same right has been established. Indeed it is clear that if he had any
greater retribution than this in the case of wives, he would have imposed it; and
presently, since he was unable to discover a stronger retribution than this in that case,
he deemed it good that the same occur in the case of concubines. And read to me also
this law.

THE LAW

Hear, gentlemen, that it commands, if anyone should disgrace a free person or a child by
force, that they owe twice the penalty; and if against a woman, in those cases for which it
is permissible to kill, that he is subject to the same; thus, gentlemen, it considers those
who use force to be worthy of a lesser penalty than those who use persuasion: for it
condemned the latter to death, whereas it imposed twice the penalty to the former,
believing that while those who accomplish their goals by force are hated by those who
suffer violence, those who use persuasion so corrupted their very souls that they make
women belonging to another closer kin to themselves than to their own husbands, and
the whole household is put in their power, and it is unclear whose of the two the
children happen to be, the husband’s or the adulterer’s. In requital for which, the
established law makes death the penalty for them. Therefore, gentlemen, the laws have
not only acquitted me of doing wrong, but have also commanded me to take this right;
whereas it is on you whether it is befitting that these be powerful or worth nothing.

For I believe that all cities established their laws for this, so that concerning those sorts
matters which we have in view, we might, by going to them, scrutinize what it is that
must be done by us. These laws, therefore, concerning matters of this sort exhort those
who have been wronged to take this very right. With respect to which, I expect you to
hold the same opinion; or else, you will make this an amnesty for adulterers, such that
you would incite even thieves to say that they are adulterers, since they will well know
that if they claim this crime for themselves, and allege that they entered the house of
another for this purpose, no one will lay hold of them. For everyone will know that he
should kiss off the laws for an adulterer, and dread your ballot; for that is the most
authoritive thing of all in the city.

Look close, gentlemen; for they charge of me that I commanded the handmaiden on that
day to go after the young man. But I, gentlemen, would believe it to be working justice,
by any means whatsoever that I might catch the man who ruined my wife: for if, with
words spoken but no deed done, I commanded her to go after him, I would have been
unjust: but if, once everything had been done, and he had come into my house many
times, if I caught him by any means whatsoever, I would consider myself to be
restrained.

And consider that they also tell lies in this regard: you will easily understand by the
following. For, to me, gentlemen, as I already said earlier, since Sostrates was a dear
friend and in a kindred spirit, when he came from the field and met me around sunset,
he dined with me, and once he was well-fed, he got up and left. And therefore,
gentlemen, first consider that if I were contriving against Eratosthenes on that night,
which would have been better for me, to dine elsewhere myself or to bring along
someone to dine with me? For thus, that man would have been less likely to dare come
into the house. And next, does it seem right to you that I, having discharged my dinner
partner, would be left alone and be on my own, or would I have bid that man to stay, so
that he could exact vengeance on the adulterer with me? And further, gentlemen, does it
not seem to you that I would send word to dependable men during the day, and bid
them to gather in the closest house of one of my friends, rather than run around during
the night as soon as I perceived, not knowing whom I would encounter at home and
whom away? And since I came to both Harmodious and also a certain other man, who
were not at home (for I did not yet know this), and others I found were not within, once
I got those whom I could, I proceeded. And furthermore, had I known beforehand, does
it not seem to you that I would have prepared the servants, and sent for my friends, so
that I might go in as sure-footed as possible (for why would I have already known
whether that man also had iron), and also so that I might exact my vengeance with the
most witnesses? But as it was, since I knew nothing of what was to be on that night, I
took along those whom I was able. Indeed, come forward for me, witnesses of these
events.

WITNESSES

You have heard from the witnesses, gentlemen: examine amongst yourselves thus
concerning this affair, and seek whether there was ever any hatred between me and
Eratosthenes aside from this. For you will find nothing. For he did not slander by
indicting me with a public charge, nor did he try to cast me out of the city, nor did he
take me to court for personal trials, nor had he been privy to any evil for which I, fearing
lest someone learn it, set my heart on destroying him, nor, having accomplished this,
could I hope to receive wealth from somewhere: for there are some who, for the sake of
these sorts of things, do contrive death for one another.

So far, therefore, was any reproach, or drunken behaviour, or any other disagreement
from having occurred between us, that I had not ever even seen the man, except on that
night. For desire of what, would I hazard a risk of this sort, unless I had been wronged
the greatest of wrongs by him? Furthermore, would I then commit sacrilege, having
myself summoned witnesses, although it was possible for me, if indeed I had set my
heart on destroying him unjustly, that no one else might bear witness against me of the
deed?

So then, gentlemen, I consider this retribution to be not personal, enacted on my own

behalf, but rather on behalf of the whole city: for those who do this sort of thing, seeing
what sort of prizes are proposed for misdeeds of this sort, will less commit wrongs
towards others, if they see that you hold the same opinion. Or else, it would be much
better to blot out the laws laid down and establish others, ones that would fine penalties
against those who protect their women, and upon those who would commit misdeed
against them, impose a great amnesty. For thus would be much more just than for
citizens to be ambushed by the law, which command, if someone should capture an
adulterer, that he do whatever he might wish, whereas the trials have come to be more
terrible for those who are done wrong than for those who, contrary to the law, have
shamed the wives of other men. For now, concerning my person, and concerning my
wealth, and concerning everything else, I run a risk simply because I was obedient to the
laws of the city.