τοῦτο τὸ δίκαιον sc. τὴν πρόκλησιν.
For εἰ...οὐ (Dind.) cf. § 33 ad fin.
προσεκαλεσάμην ‘I cited, summoned him,’ served him with a πρόσκλησις, not to be confounded with προὐκαλεσάμην, ‘I challenged him, put in a πρόκλησις.’ Several MSS actually have προεκαλεσάμην,—a manifest blunder.—‘If he did not know this serious responsibility, and if, having (as he will now tell you) this plea on his side (i.e. the offer of the slave), he took no precautions against so serious a peril (i.e. the charge of murder), yet at least, when on my recovery I issued a summons against him, in our first meeting before the Arbitrator he would have shown himself willing to give up the slaves.’
