Inasmuch as the laws, men of the jury, have granted that a special plea be entered in cases where a man, after having given a release and discharge, nevertheless brings suit, and as both of these have been given me by Pantaenetus here, I have pleaded, as you have just now heard, that his suit is not admissible. I did not think that I should forgo this right, or that, after I had proved among other things that the plaintiff had released me, and that I had got rid of him, it should be open to him to declare that I was uttering a falsehood and to try to employ the argument that, if any such release had been granted me, I should have put in a special plea to bar his suit. No, I determined to come before you relying on this plea and to prove both points—that I have never done the plaintiff any wrong, and that he is suing me contrary to law.
