Greek Texts & Translations

To prove that I am speaking the truth in this, the clerk shall read you the deposition dealing with these facts, and the decree of the people.Deposition
Decree

50.14Then, when we came to the Hellespont, and the term of my trierarchy had expired, and no pay had been given to the soldiers except for two months when another general, Timomachus, had come—though even he brought to the fleet no new trierarchs to relieve those in service,—many of my crew became discouraged and went off, deserting the ship, some to the mainland to take military service, and some to the fleet of the Thasians, ^note and Maronites, ^note won over by the promise of high pay and receiving substantial sums in advance. 50.15They saw also that my resources were by now exhausted, that the state was neglectful of them, that our allies were in need, and the generals not to be depended on, and that they had been deceived by the words of many of them; and they knew that the term of my trierarchy had expired and that their voyage was not to be homeward and that no successor had arrived to take command from whom they could expect any relief. For the more ambitious I had been to man my ship with good rowers, by so much was the desertion from me greater than from the other trierarchs. 50.16For the others had this advantage at any rate, that the sailors who had come to their ships drawn from the official lists, stayed with them in order to make sure of their return home when the general should discharge them; whereas mine, trusting in their skill as able rowers, went off wherever they were likely to be re-employed at the highest wages, thinking more of their gain for the immediate present than of the danger impending over them, if they should ever be caught by me.

50.17Consequently when my affairs were in the condition which I have described, and at the same time I was ordered by the general, Timomachus, to sail to Hieron ^note to convoy the grain, though he provided no pay (word had been brought that the Byzantines and the Calchedonians were again bringing the ships into port and forcing them to unload their grain), I borrowed money from Archidemus of Anaphlystus, ^note fifteen minae at interest, and I secured from Nicippus, the shipowner, who happened to be in Sestus, ^note eight hundred drachmae, as a maritime loan at 12 1/2 per cent, on condition that I should pay him principal and interest when the ship should get safely back to Athens. 50.18Further, I sent Euctemon, the pentecontarch, ^note to Lampsacus, ^note giving him money and letters to friends of my father, and bade him hire for me the best sailors he could. I myself stayed in Sestus and gave some money—all I had—to the old sailors who stayed with me, since the term of my trierarchy had expired, and I secured also some other sailors at full pay, while the general was making ready for his voyage to Hieron. 50.19But when Euctemon came back from Lampsacus, bringing the sailors whom he had hired, and the general gave the word for us to put to sea, it happened that Euctemon suddenly fell sick, and was in a very serious condition. I, therefore, gave him his pay, adding money for his journey, and sent him home; while I secured another pentecontarch and put out to sea to convoy the grain, and I stayed there forty-five days, until the vessels sailed out from Pontus after the rising of Arcturus. ^note 50.20When I arrived at Sestus, I expected to sail for home, as my term of service had expired, and I had already served two months beyond it and no successor had arrived to take over the ship. The general, Timomachus, however,—for an embassy from the Maronites had come to him, begging him to convoy their grain ships—ordered us trierarchs to make cables fast to the ships and tow them to Maroneia—a long voyage across the open sea.

50.21I have told all these facts to you from the beginning, that you may know how much I have myself expended and how burdensome my service as trierarch has been to me, and all the expenses which I subsequently bore in the interest of the defendant by serving beyond my term, since he did not come to take over the ship, and all the dangers I myself incurred from storms and from the enemy. For after we had convoyed the ships to Maroneia, and had arrived at Thasos, Timomachus came and undertook again in conjunction with the Thasians to convoy grain and a body of peltasts ^note to Strymê, ^note with the intention of taking the place himself. 50.22However, the Maronites arrayed their ships against us in defence of the place, and offered battle, and our men were tired out with their long voyage and from towing the ships from Thasos to Strymê besides, it was stormy, and the place offered no harbor, and it was impossible to go ashore and get a meal, for the country was hostile, and all around the wall bands of mercenaries and barbarians from the neighborhood lay encamped; so we were forced to ride at anchor all night long in the open sea without food and without sleep, keeping watch lest the ships of the Maronites should attack us in the night.