Greek Texts & Translations

To prove, in the first place, that I am speaking the truth in this, I shall bring before you the witnesses to establish these facts.Witnesses

37.9That, therefore, the man who sold us the property was the man who had been the original purchaser; that under the agreement the plaintiff rented the mining establishment and the slaves, recognizing them as belonging to us; that I was not present at the transactions which subsequently took place between the plaintiff and Evergus, and indeed was not even in Athens; that he brought suit against Evergus, and never made any charge against me,—all this, men of the jury, you hear from the witnesses. 37.10Well, then, when I came back, having lost practically everything I had when I sailed, I heard, and found it was true, that the plaintiff had given up the property and that Evergus was in possession and control of what we had purchased. I was distressed beyond words, seeing that the matter had got into an awkward predicament; for it was now necessary for me either to enter into partnership with Evergus for the working and management of the property, or have him for a debtor instead of Pantaenetus, and draw up a new lease and enter into a contract with him; and I liked neither of these alternatives. 37.11Being vexed at the matters of which I am telling you, and happening to see Mnesicles, who had sold us the property, I came up to him, and reproached him, telling what sort of a man he had recommended to me, and I questioned him regarding the claimants, asking what this was all about. On hearing this, he laughed at the claimants, but stated that they wished to have a conference with us. He declared that he would bring us together, and that he would urge the plaintiff to do all that was right in my regard, and he thought he would persuade him to do so. 37.12When we had our meeting—what need is there to tell you all the details?—the men came who claimed to have made loans to the plaintiff on the security of the mining property and the slaves, which we bought from Mnesicles; and there was nothing straightforward or honest about them. Then, when they were convicted of falsehood in all their statements and Mnesicles confirmed our having bought the property, they offered us a challenge, assuming that we should not accept it, either to take all our money from them and withdraw, or to settle with them by paying their claims; for the security which we held was, they claimed, worth far more than the sums we had lent. 37.13When I heard this, on the spur of the moment and without even taking thought, I agreed to take my money, and I persuaded Evergus to adopt the same course. But when the time came for us to receive our money, the matter having been brought to this conclusion, the people who had previously made the offer declared then that they would not pay us unless we became vendors to them of the property, and in this point anyway, men of Athens, they were prudent; for they saw in what baseless and malicious charges we were involved by this fellow.

To prove that I am speaking the truth in this, take, please, these depositions also.Depositions

37.14When the matter stood thus, and the people whom the plaintiff had introduced to us would not give up the money, and it was clear that we were rightfully in possession of what we had purchased, he begged, and implored, and besought us to sell the property. As he made this demand and begged me most earnestly—there is nothing he did not do—I gave way in this matter also. 37.15I saw, however, men of Athens, that he was a man of evil disposition, that at the outset he had made charges to us against Mnesicles, and then had quarrelled with Evergus, with whom he was on terms of closest friendship; that at the first, when I returned from my voyage, he pretended that he was glad to see me, but when the time came for him to do what was right, he became surly with me; that he was a friend to all men until he got some advantage and attained what he wanted, and thereafter became their foe and was at variance with them; 37.16I therefore thought it best, if I withdrew and assumed the position of vendor in this man's interest, that I should obtain a full release and discharge from all claims, and thus make a final settlement with him. This was agreed to, and he gave me a release in full, while I, as he begged me to do, assumed the position of vendor of the property, exactly as I had myself bought it from Mnesicles. Having, then, recovered my money, and having done the plaintiff no wrong whatsoever, I imagined, by the gods, that, no matter what should happen, he would never bring a suit against me.