1
It is a suitable opportunity, I consider, that I have taken to deal with matters on which I had long been wishing to speak; for we have here present the persons against whom I have to complain, and those present also before whom I am anxious to reprove the men who have done me wrong. To be sure, one is far more earnest towards men in their presence; for although I suppose that my opponents will count it as nothing to be considered unfriendly by their friends (else they would never have made even a first attempt to offend against me),
2
to the rest I would like to show that I have done no wrong to these men, but that they were beforehand in wronging me. Now of course it is painful to be compelled to speak of these matters but it is impossible not to speak, when I meet with ill-treatment against my expectation, and find that I am wronged by those whom I took to be friends.
3
Well then, first of all, so that none of you may perchance defend his faults by scraping up an excuse for his error, let him say who among you has been ill-treated by me in speech or in act, or who has made a request of me without getting what I was able to give as he proposed. Why, I ask, do you endeavor to do me harm, sometimes in word, and sometimes in deed;
