Greek Texts & Translations

48.18Not long after this, as a result of the suspicion against the slave in regard to the money, the defendant had the man bound and again put to the torture. He did this independently by himself without calling me in, although he had sworn to make all inquiries and do everything in concert with me. And the fellow, men of the jury, when racked by the torture made further confession that he had stolen from Comon the seventy minae; and he restored this entire sum to the defendant Olympiodorus. 48.19I, on my part, men of the jury, when I learned that the man had been tortured, and that he had restored the money, supposed that Olympiodorus would pay me half the amount, just as he had before paid me half of the one thousand drachmae. At first I did not press him, thinking that he would recognize his obligation and arrange matters for my interest and his own, so that each of us should have what was fair in accordance with our oaths and our mutual agreement to share equally in all that Comon left; 48.20but since he delayed, and did nothing, I had a talk with this man Olympiodorus, and demanded that I receive my share of the money. But Olympiodorus here kept finding one excuse after another, and putting me off. Moreover, at this very time some other people filed claims to the estate of Comon, and Callippus, my brother on my father's side, returned from abroad; and he too filed a claim for half the estate. 48.21So Olympiodorus found in this another excuse for not paying me the money, since there were many who were laying claim to the estate; and he said that I must wait until the suits were settled. And I had to consent to this, and I did consent.

48.22After this the defendant Olympiodorus and I took counsel together, as we had sworn to do, to determine the best and safest way to deal with the other claimants. And we decided, men of the jury, that the defendant Olympiodorus should lay claim to the whole estate, and that,I should claim a half, seeing that my brother Callippus claimed a half only. 48.23When all the claims had been heard before the archon, and the cases were due to be tried in court, the defendant Olympiodorus and I were wholly unprepared for an immediate trial because those who had suddenly appeared as claimants were so many. However, in view of the situation that had developed, we looked into things jointly to see if in any way a postponement could be brought about for the present, so that we might get ourselves ready for the trial at our leisure. 48.24And it happened by a piece of good luck that you were persuaded by the politicians to despatch troops into Acarnania, ^note and the defendant Olympiodorus was among those called to service, and he departed with the others on the expedition. Thus had come about, as we thought, an excellent ground for postponement, the defendant being abroad on military service. 48.25So, when the archon summoned into court all those who were filing claims according to law, I entered a sworn statement, asking postponement on the ground that the defendant Olympiodorus was abroad on military service, but to this sworn statement our adversaries opposed another, attacking Olympiodorus; and as they had the last word, they induced the jurors to decide that the defendant was absent on account of the trial and not on public service. 48.26When the jurors had thus decided, the archon Pythodotus ^note in accordance with the law struck out the claim of the defendant; and when this claim was stricken out I necessarily had to abandon my claim to half the estate. After these steps had been taken, the archon adjudged the estate of Comon to our opponents; for the laws compelled him to do so. 48.27They, as soon as they had won the adjudication, went at once to the Peiraeus and proceeded to take over all that either of us had received from the division. I, being at home, voluntarily gave over to them what I had (for it was necessary to obey the laws), but since Olympiodorus was abroad, they carried off all his effects except the money which he had separately taken from the man—the slave whom he had put to the torture; for they had no means of getting hold of that money.

48.28Such were the events which happened in the absence of Olympiodorus, and such the benefit I derived from my association with him. But when he returned with the rest of the troops, the defendant Olympiodorus was indignant, men of the jury, at what had occurred, and thought he had been outrageously treated. However, when he was at the height of his indignation, we again looked matters over, the defendant Olympiodorus and I, and took counsel together to see how we could get back something of what we had lost.