Well, to recount all that was spoken in that place would make this a long story; but with such violence did his supporters and the man himself behave that, while Nicomedes on his part, and the woman on hers, were both willing to let him go if somebody should either vindicate him as a freeman or arrest him on the claim of owning him as a slave, they did nothing of the sort, but carried him off and departed. Now, to prove that security was taken for him on that condition the day before, and that they then carried him off with them by force, I will produce to you witnesses. So please stop the water. Witnesses It is easy, then, to make sure that even Pancleon himself, far from regarding himself as a Plataean, does not suppose himself to be even a freeman. For when a man has chosen, on being carried off by force, to make his own associates liable to action for assault rather than to be vindicated as a freeman by legal process and to get damages from those who were arresting him, nobody can have difficulty in perceiving that he was so conscious of his being a slave that he was afraid to provide guarantors and to face a trial concerning his civil status. Now, that he is far from being a Plataean, I think you perceive pretty clearly from these statements; and that even the man himself, who is most fully aware of his own position, did not expect you to believe that he was a Plataean, will be readily impressed on you by his own conduct. For in his counter-deposition at the proceedings brought against him by Aristodicus, here present, when he contended that his case did not lie before the Polemarch, he was declared on evidence In certain disputes the evidence itself sufficed for the decision, unless the convicted person could incriminate the witness: the first step to this was a denunciation ἐπίσκηψις . not to be a Plataean. But although he denounced this witness, he did not pursue the matter, but allowed Aristodicus to obtain a verdict against him. And when he failed to pay on the appointed date, he discharged the debt on such terms as he could arrange. To prove the truth of all this, I will produce to you witnesses. So please stop the water. Witnesses Now, before making this agreement with him, he had removed from the city through fear of Aristodicus, and was living as an alien in Thebes . But I think you understand that, if he was a Plataean, he might be expected to live as an alien anywhere rather than in Thebes . Well, to prove that he lived there a long time, I will produce to you witnesses. So please stop the water.