J. E. Sandys, Select Private Orations of Demosthenes

δεινὸν. τούτους μὲν μηδὲν έγκαλεῖν. τουτονὶ δὲ συκοφαντεῖν The clause containing μὲν is coordinate with that containing δὲ, but in English must be subordinate to it. ‘Is it not atrocious, that, while my neighbours make no complaint..., the plaintiff brings a vexatious action against me<*>’ The influence of δεινὸν affects the second clause in its contrast with the first. Dem. Lept. § 9 πῶς γὰρ οὐκ αἰσχρὸν κατὰ μὲν τὴν ἀγορὰν άψευδεῖν νόμον γεγράφθαι ..ἐν δὲ τῷ κοινῷ μὴ χρῆσθαι τῷ νόμῳ τούτῳ; (Isocr. ad Dem. § 11 n. Madvig Gr, Synt. § 189 a, Cicero II Phil § 1101.6 ed Mayor, n.).

τὴν τύχην στέργειν] στέργειν, in the sense of contented submission, usually has the dative with or without ἐπὶ, e.g. Isocr. de pace § 6 στέργειν τοῖς παροῦσι. The acc, however occurs again in § 30 infra, also in Hdt. IX 117 ἔστερξαν τὰ παρεόντα, Eur. Phoen. 1685 τἄμ᾽ έγὼ στέρξω κακά, Soph. Ant. 292, and Isocr. ad Dem. § 29 στέπγε μὲν τὰ ραπόντα ζήτει δὲ τὰ βέλτ<*>στα.

ὃν ὃν εἴσεσθε σαφέστερον...ὅτι αὐτὸς ἐξημάρτηκε. The subject of the subordinate here becomes the accusative of the principal sentence, and all the words down to συμβέβηκεν inclusive form an object-sentence to the principal verb εἴσεσθε. Lysias, Or. 20 § 34 οὓς οὔπω ἴστε εἴτε ἀγαθοὶ εἴτε κακοὶ γενήσονται (Madvig, Gr. Synt. § 191. Kühner § 600, 4, p. 1083, p. 577 ed. Gerth).

στενοτέραν The old Greek grammarians (e.g. Choeroboscus) state that στενὸς (Ionic στεινὸς) and κενὸς have ο, not ω, in the comparative and superlative (cf. Ionic στεινότερος). But the forms in ω have better authority than those grammarians supposed (Kühner I § 154 note 2).

ἐξαγαγὼν...] ‘by advancing— carrying-out—his wall beyond the boundary.’ Thuc, I 93 μείζων ὁ περίβολος πανταχῆ ἐξήχθη τῆς πόλεως. § 27 infra αἱμασιὰν προαγαγόντες κ.τ.λ.

ἵνα—εἴσω Not ‘to get his trees within the road’ (Kennedy), but ‘to take in, enclose, the trees of the road.’ A thrust at the πλεονεξία of the plaintiff.

χλῆδον ‘rubbish’; the word is only found in § 27 and in a fragment of Aeschylus quoted below. Harpocrations. v. χλῆδος: Δημοσθένης ἐν τῷ ρπὸς Καλλικλέα ρεπὶ χωπίου βλάβης: ἔρειτα δὲ τὸν χλῆδον ἐκβαλὼν ἐξ ὧν ὑψηλοτέπαν καὶ στενωτέπαν τὴν αυτὴν ὁδὸν ρεροιῆσθαι συμβέβηκεν. ρᾶν ρλῆθος χλῆδος λέγεται και ἐστιν οἷον σωπός τις, μάλιστα δὲ τῶν άροκαθαπμάτων τε καὶ α<*>ροψημάτων, καὶ ἡ τῶν ροταμῶν ρπόσχωσις, καὶ ρολὺ μᾶλλον τῶν χειμα<*>ππων ὃ καὶ χέπαδος καλεῖται (Iliad XXI 319). νῦν δὲ ἔοικεν ὁ ῥήτωρ λέγειν ὅτι χοῦν καὶ φρυγανώδη τινὰ ἐκ τοῦ χωρίου σωρὸν ὁ Καλλικλῆς εἰς τὴν ὁδὸν ἐμβέβληκεν, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς ἑξῆς ὑποσημαίνει. κέχρηνται δὲ τῷ ὀνόματι πολλοί. Αὶσχύλος: Αργείοις “καὶ παλτὰ κἀγκυλητὰ καὶ χλῆδον βαλών” (fr. 16). Bekker's Anecd. Gr. 315 ὁ κλῆρος τῶν άποκαθαρμάτων, ὁ ἔχων ἰλύν τινα καὶ βοτανώδη καὶ φρυγανώδη. Hesychius χλῆδος: ὀ σωρὸς τῶν λίθων. [The article shows that χλῆδον does not here mean rubbish generally, but the soil or gravel thrown up from altering the fences. P.]

ἐξ ὧν The pl. refers to ἐξαγαγὼν...αἱμασιὰν and χλῆδον ἐκβαλών. The first adjective ὑψηλοτἐραν is explained by the latter, the second στενοτέραν by the former:—one of the many forms of χιασμὸς or ‘introverted parallelism.’ This enables the speaker to put his main point in the most emphatic positions (first and last) and the subordinate point between them (note on Isocr. ad Dem. § 7, Paneg. § 54).—αὐτίκα, sc. at the end of § 27.—τηλικαύτην δίκην, Cf. § 25 χιλίων δραχμῶν δίκην.