me. 19. These my accuser should have brought as witnesses, and not made
the charge at random. He says I stood near while my slaves cut out the
stump and the driver put the stump in his cart and went away with the
wood. 20. Then was the time, Nicomachus, for you to summon the witnesses
who were there and show up the crime. You would have left me no escape,
and if I were hated by you, you would have had revenge in this way. If
you did it from patriotism, having (21) exposed me in this manner, you
would not seem to be an informer, and if you desired gain, in this way
could you have obtained most. As the crime was clear I should have had no
means of safety if I did not bribe you. As you did none of these things,
you seem, by your assertions, to be destroying me, having said in the
prosecution that no one wishes to testify on account of my influence and
wealth. 22. If, when you said you saw me cutting down the olive, you had
brought the nine archons or some one else from the Areopagus, no further
witnesses would be needed. For thus the very men who judge the case would
have known that you spoke the truth. 23. I am placed in a very unfair
position. If he had produced witnesses he would have expected you to
believe them, but since he has none he thinks to turn this to my
disadvantage. And I do not wonder at this. For in a case like this he
would not lack witnesses and arguments at the same time. But I do not
think you hold the same opinion he does. 24. You know that there were in
the country, in other places of mine, many olives and burnt stumps which,
if I had set my heart, upon it, it would have been much easier for me to
injure, cut down and encroach upon, as my crime was likely to be less
apparent on account of the number of trees. 25. Thus I make them as much
account as my country and other possessions, running the risk I do of
losing both. I shall bring before you as witnesses those men who act as
inspectors every month, and send collectors every year. No one of these
men ever fined me for farming the ground about the olive. 26. It is very
probable that taking such care about the small fines I should pay no