Greek Texts & Translations

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. 50.23Nor was this all. It was our lot to have by night rain and thunder and a violent wind at that season of the year (for the time was just at the setting of the Pleiades ^note); so can you not imagine, men of the jury, what despondency fell upon our men, and what an amount of desertion I had again to face after this? For the old sailors had borne many hardships and received but little compensation—merely what I was able to borrow and give to each man in addition to what they had had from me before, since the general did not supply enough even for their daily sustenance. By now I had served three months beyond my term, and the defendant had not yet come to take over the ship; but I borrowed money and hired sailors to replace those who had deserted.

50.24The defendant alone of the trierarchs appointed to succeed us has no excuse left him for not having come to take over the ship long before. For Euctemon, the pentecontarch, after he was sent home from the Hellespont on account of his sickness, when he reached port and heard that Polycles had been appointed to relieve me, knowing that the term of my trierarchy had expired and that I was now serving over time, took with him my father-in-law, Deinias, and coming up to Polycles in the sample market, bade him set sail and take over the ship with all speed, telling him that the expenses which were incurred every day in addition to the provision money supplied by the general were very heavy.