Against Theocrines

Inasmuch as my father, men of the jury, through this man Theocrines was brought to disaster in his relations to the state and condemned to pay a fine of ten talents, and as this fine has been doubled, so that we have not the slightest hope of deliverance, I have thought it my duty to lodge this criminal information with a view to taking vengeance upon the defendant with your aid, without taking into consideration my youth or anything else. For my father, men of the jury, whose wishes have guided me in all that I have done, declared to all his acquaintances what a misfortune it would be if I should let slip the time in which, thanks to his being still alive, I have the right to avenge myself on this man, and should make an excuse of my inexperience and my youth, and so look idly on while my father has been deprived of everything, and while Theocrines continues to write indictments contrary to the laws and to harass many citizens with baseless and malicious actions, when he has no right to do so. I, therefore, beg you all, men of Athens, and beseech you to listen to me with goodwill, first, because I am engaging in this contest to help my father and in obedience to his wishes; and secondly, because I am both young and without experience, so that I must count myself fortunate if, because your goodwill is at hand to help me, I shall be able to show what this fellow has done; and in addition to these reasons, since I, men of the jury, have been betrayed (for the truth shall be told you) by persons in whom I trusted because of their enmity to the defendant, men who after hearing the facts and promising to stand by me, have now left me in the lurch, and have come to terms with the defendant in this suit of mine; so that I shall have no one even as a fellow-pleader, unless someone from among my own kinsmen shall come to my aid.