Source edition
Hyperides. Minor Attic Orators, Vol. 2. Burtt, J. O., editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954 (printing).
Source data
Perseus Digital Library · CC BY-SA 4.0
Cloned and adapted by Humanitext, with ongoing edits.
Summary
This work is a courtroom oration in which a simple Athenian farmer, who has been trapped into assuming a massive debt, sues the perfumer Athenogenes to declare their contract void. The narrator, who is the plaintiff, explains how he was deceived by Athenogenes and his accomplice Antigona into signing an agreement to purchase the slave Midas and his sons, along with what he believed to be minor debts of the perfumery. After the signing, however, a ruinous amount of hidden liabilities was revealed. The plaintiff argues for the invalidity of the contract by citing various Athenian laws, including Solon's statutes and the principles of honesty in the Agora, which nullify agreements made under deception. To further damage his opponent's credibility, the narrator exposes Athenogenes' shameful past, including his desertion during the Battle of Chaeronea and his misdeeds in Troezen. Ultimately, the speaker entreats the jurors to punish the wicked Athenogenes and save an innocent man from ruin.