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τί γὰρ ἄν ‘Why should I?’ The MSS have the interpolation, ἢ διὰ τί; probably a mere explanation of τί; as equivalent to διὰ τί; δικἀζομαι..μισῶ..ἐπεξέρχομαι ‘Sue...abhor .prosecute (visit with vengeance),’ ‘he it is whom I sue and prosecute as my enemy.’ The collocation of μισῶ, expressive of inward feeling, between δικάζομαι and ἐπεξἐρχομαι, indicating outward acts, is curious. The latter word is probably immediately suggested by μισῶ, ‘not only do I hate him in my heart, but I carry out that hatred to its practical issue by prosecuting him.’ φαίνεται sc. ἀληθῆ ὄντα, not ‘appears,’ but ‘is proved to be,’ ‘is clearly true.’ μὴ παρασχομένῳ = εί μἡ παρέσχετο. εἰκότως to be taken with τὰ ψευδῆ μεμαρτυρήκασι, not with κοινωνοί. εἰ δ᾽ ἕσται κ.τ.λ. ‘If it comes to such a pass, if once certain persons are lost to all sense of shame and openly dare to give false evidence, and (consequently) truth has no advan tage, it will be an atrocious state of things.’ The simple construction would have been as follows: ἐὰν δὲ ἅπαξ ἁπαναισχυντήσωσί τινες καὶ τὰ ψευδῆ φανερῶς τολμήσωσι μαρτυρεῖν, οὐδὲν ἔσται τῆς ἀληθείας ὄφελος: εἰ δὲ ἔσται τὸ πρᾶγμα τοιοῦτον, πάνδεινον ἔσται. As it is, Demosthenes, by writing τοιοῦτον in the early part of the sentence, leads us to expect ὥστε, which however never comes; we have, instead, the clause ἐὰν κ.τ.λ., epexegetical of τοιοῦτον. Again οὐδὲν τῆς ἀληθείας ὄφελος is in sense the apodosis of ἐὰν ..τὰ ψευδῆ τολμήσωσι μαρτυρεῖν, but in construction is made part of the protasis; πάνδεινον έσται πρᾶγμα being left to do duty as an apodosis, and πρᾶγμα necessarily repeated owing to the long interval that separates the apodosis from τὸ πρᾶγμα in the protasis. For εἰ—οὐδὲν, see note on Or. 34 § 48. ἀπαναισχυντήσωσι used of unblushing effrontery. Cf. ἀπαυθαδίζεσθαι. Or. 29 § 20 τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἀπηναισχύντει, τοῦ δὲ διαιτητοῦ κελεύοντος μαρτυρεῖν ἢ ἐξομνύειν, ἐμαρτύρησε πἀνυ μόλις.
Select Private Orations of Demosthenes, Part II. J. E. Sandys, Litt. D., and F. A. Paley, M.A., LL.D. 1910. Cambridge University Press.
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