3
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;
4
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,This is commonly believed to be a fling at Demosthenes. 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.
