14
So Ariston may say whatever he pleases, gentlemen of the jury, and invent lies against me, but surely your verdict upon me must be based, not on the slanders of the prosecutor, but on a review of the whole of my life. No one in the city, whether good or bad, can deceive the community in which you live. Indeed the most reliable testimonial of character which a man can have is his past career, especially in refuting charges like the present.
15
Where the crime is one which can be committed at any time during a man’s life it should be considered in the light of the particular accusation made. But adultery is a practice which no man can begin after fifty. Either he has been a loose-liver for a long lime—and let these men prove that that is true of me—or else the charge may be presumed false.
16
Now I, gentlemen of the jury, have lived with you in Athens all my life. I have never been subjected to any discreditable charge, nor have I brought an accusation against another citizen. I have not been defendant or prosecutor in any lawsuit, but have always been a keen horsebreeder, consistently overtaxing my strength and my resources.Horsebreeding, which was carried on either for war or racing, was sometimes frowned on as a mark of wealth and ostentation. (Compare Lyc. 1.139. ). But here, though he admits extravagance, Lycophron is simply claiming to be doing his duty as a knight. I have been crowned for bravery by the order of knights and by my colleagues in office.
