Source edition
Lysias. Lamb, W.R.M., editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1930.
Source data
Perseus Digital Library · CC BY-SA 4.0
Cloned and adapted by Humanitext, with ongoing edits.
Summary
This oration exposes the deceit of those who pretended to be friends while secretly spreading calumny, and declares a definitive break with them. In the first half, the speaker denounces the duplicity of these so-called friends and details the background of a financial dispute involving a transaction of horses as collateral. In the second half, the speaker thoroughly deconstructs the opponents' sophistry and slander, demonstrating how they have ended up accusing themselves through their own contradictory actions. Ultimately, the speaker declares his departure from this toxic friendship and concludes by predicting that those left behind will eventually destroy themselves through mutual conflict.