22
Is it not, then, an outrageous thing, men of the jury, that, while these people have made no complaint against me, although they suffered such heavy damages, nor has anyone else of those who suffered misfortune, but they have accepted their lot, this man should bring a malicious suit? But that he is himself at fault, first in that he made the road narrower by extending his wall beyond the property line, in order to enclose the trees of the road, and, secondly, in that he threw the rubbish into it, from which actions it resulted that he made the road higher as well as narrower—of this you will presently gain clearer knowledge from the depositions.
23
But I shall now endeavor to show you that he has brought a suit for such heavy damages against me without having suffered any loss or damage worthy of mention. Before they undertook this malicious action against me, my mother and theirs were intimate friends and used to visit one another, as was natural, since both lived in the country and were neighbors, and since, furthermore, their husbands had been friends while they lived.
