§§ 18—21. Anticipation of the arguments likely to be brought forward by the plaintiff. He will repeat what he stated before the arbitrator, that his mother destroyed his father's papers at the defendant's instigation. If so (1) how came the plaintiff to make a partition of his patrimony, without any papers to determine its amount? Unless those claims were false and fraudulent, which the plaintiff will scarcely admit, he must have gained possession of his father's papers, and his mother could not have made away with them. (2) Why was no question raised when the plaintiff's younger brother came of age and was receiving from his guardians an account of their trust? (3) On what papers did the plaintiff base all his many law-suits for the recovery of large sums due to his father?
τὰ μὲν οὖν κ.τ.λ. Transition from the διήγησις or πρόθεσις to the πίστεις or ‘proofs’ (Ar. Rhet. III 13), from the brief recital of the transactions between plaintiff and defendant (§§ 4—17) to the legal and other arguments.
τῷ διαιτητῇ Pollux VIII 126 πάλαι δ᾽ οὐδεμία (?) δίκη πρὶν ἐπὶ διαιτητὰς ἐλθεῖν εἰσήγετο. Cf. 54 § 26, ἡ δίαιτα n.
τὰ γράμματα Not Pasion's will, but his private papers and ledgers or banking-books, τὰ γράμματα πὰ τραπεζιτικά (Or. 49 §§ 43, 59 quoted below in note on § 21, ἐκ ποίων γραμμάτων). Cf. Or. 49 § 5 οἱ τραπεζῖται εἰώθασιν ὑπομνήματα γράφεσθαι ὧν τε διδόασι χρημάτων, κ.τ.λ. and Or. 52 § 4.
ἠφάνικε Cf. § 20 διεφθαρκέναι.
