Unknown Pleader Against Phaenippus, On an Exchange of Properties (3-4)

For my part, men of the jury, I should be most happy to see myself enjoying the material prosperity which was mine before, and remaining in the group of the Three Hundred,[*] but since, partly through having to share in the misfortunes common to all those who are engaged in mining works, and partly through having met heavy reverses in my private business, I have lost my estate, and now at the last must pay three talents to the state, a talent for each share (for I too was a partner, as I wish I had not been, in the confiscated mine),[*] I am compelled to try to substitute in my place a man who is not only richer than I am now, but was richer even before my losses, and who has never borne any state services, nor made any contribution to the state.

I therefore beg of you all, men of the jury, that, if I prove that Phaenippus here has both transgressed the just provisions of the law and is a richer man than myself, you will succor me, and appoint him in the list of the Three Hundred in my stead; for it is on this account that the laws every year provide for the tendering of exchanges, because to enjoy unbroken prosperity is not wont to be the permanent fortune of any large number of our citizens. But I will tell you all that has been done regarding the exchange from the very beginning.