I could wish that you knew him as well as I do, in order that, instead of commiserating
 with him over his losses, you might bear him a grudge for what he has left. The fact is,
 though, that if I should try to tell of all the others who have been the objects of his
 plots, of the private law-suits in which he has been involved, of the public suits which
 he has entered, of the persons with whom he has conspired or against whom he has borne
 false witness, not even twice as much water The time
 allotted to the litigant for his speech in the Athenian law-courts was regulated by an
 official water-clock (the klepsydra). One has been found; cf. Hesperia 
 viii., 1939. as has been allotted me would prove sufficient. But when you have heard only one of the acts which he has committed you will readily
 recognize the general run of his villainy. Cratinus once had a dispute over a farm with
 the brother-in-law of Callimachus. A personal encounter ensued. Having concealed a female
 slave, they accused Cratinus of having crushed her head, and asserting that she had died
 as a result of the wound, they brought suit against him in the court of the Palladium The tribunal for cases of unpremeditated homicide; also for
 trials involving the murder of slaves, resident-aliens, and foreigners. Cf. Aristot. Ath. Pol. 57.3 . on the charge of
 murder. Cratinus, learning of their plots, remained quiet for a long time in order that they
 might not change their plans and concoct another story, but instead might be caught in the
 very act of committing a crime. When the brother-in-law of Callimachus had made accusation
 and Callimachus had testified on oath that the woman was actually dead, Cratinus and his friends went to the house where she had been hidden, seized her by force
 and, bringing her into court, presented her alive to all present. The result was that, in
 a tribunal of seven hundred judges, after fourteen witnesses had given the same testimony
 as that of Callimachus, he failed to receive a single vote. Please call witnesses to these
 facts. Witnesses Who, therefore, would be able to condemn his acts as they deserve? Or who would be able
 to find a more flagrant example of wrongdoing, of malicious prosecution, and of villainy?
 Some misdeeds, it is true, do not reveal in its entirety the character of the evil-doers,
 but from acts such as his it is easy to discern the whole life of the culprits.