Plea of Chrysipus and Partner Against Phormio (3-4)

With reference to the special plea my argument is a brief one. For even the defendants do not absolutely deny that a contract was made on your exchange[*]; but they claim that there exists no longer any obligation on their part due to the contract, for they have done nothing that contravenes the terms of the agreement.

The laws, however, in accordance with which you sit as jurors, do not use this language. They do indeed allow the production of a special plea when there has been no contract at all at Athens or for the Athenian market; but if a man admits that a contract was made, yet contends that he has done everything that the contract requires, they bid him to make a defence on the merits of the case, and not to make the plaintiff a defendant.[*] Not but that I hope to prove from the facts of the case itself that this suit of mine is admissible.