| Demosthenes, Speeches (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose; rhetoric] [word count] [lemma count] [Dem.]. | ||
| <<Dem. 52.1 | Dem. 52.6 (Greek) | >>Dem. 52.16 |
52.3Lycon, the Heracleote, note men of the jury, of whom the plaintiff himself makes mention, was a customer of my father's bank like the other merchants, a guest friend of Aristonoüs of Decelea note and Archebiades of Lamptrae, note and a man of prudence. This Lycon, when he was about to set out on a voyage to Libya , reckoned up his account with my father in the presence of Archebiades and Phrasias, and ordered my father to pay the money which he left (it was sixteen minae forty drachmae, as I shall show you very clearly) to Cephisiades, saying that this Cephisiades was a partner of his, a resident of Scyros, note but was for the time being abroad on another mercantile enterprise.
52.4He instructed Archebiades and Phrasias to point him out and introduce him to my father, when he should return from his journey. It is the custom of all bankers, when a private person deposits money and directs that it be paid to a given person, to write down first the name of the person making the deposit and the amount deposited, and then to write on the margin “to be paid to so-and-so”; and if they know the face of the person to whom payment is to be made, they do merely this, write down whom they are to pay; but, if they do not know it, it is their custom to write on the margin the name also of him who is to introduce and point out the person who is to receive the money. For a grievous misfortune befell this Lycon.
52.5No sooner had he set out, and was sailing around the Argolic gulf, than his ship was captured by pirate vessels and his goods taken to Argos , while he himself was shot down by an arrow, and met his death. Immediately after this mischance this man Callippus came to the bank, and asked whether they knew Lycon, the Heracleote. Phormion, who is here present, answered that they knew him. “Was he a customer of yours?” “He was,” said Phormion, “but why do you ask?” “Why?” said he, “I will tell you. He is dead, and, as it happens, I am proxenos note of the Heracleotes. I demand therefore that you show me your books, that I may know whether he has left any money; for I must of necessity look after the affairs of all the men of Heraclea .”
52.6On hearing this, men of the jury, Phormion immediately showed him the books, and, when he had done so, and Callippus (it was he himself, and not another) had read them, and had seen in them the entry, “Lycon, the Heracleote, sixteen hundred and forty drachmae, to be paid to Cephisiades; Archebiades of Lamptrae will identify Cephisiades,” he went off in silence and for more than five months made no mention of the matter.
52.7After this Cephisiades, having returned to Athens , came to the bank and demanded the money, and in the presence of Archebiades and Phrasias, men of the jury, the persons whom Lycon had introduced to my father, and had hidden to identify Cephisiades, when he should return and in the presence of other witnesses also, Phormion, who is here in court, counted out and paid him the sixteen minae forty drachmae.
Athens . On my father's replying that he thought so, but, if he wanted to go down to the Peiraeus, he would find out the truth, Callippus said to him, “Do you know, Pasion, what it is that I am asking you?”—
52.9(and by Zeus and Apollo and Demeter, I shall make no false statement to you, men of the jury, but shall relate to you what I heard from my father)—“You have a chance,” he continued, “to do a good turn to me, and no harm to yourself. It happens that I am proxenos of the Heracleotes, and you would be glad, I should think, to have me get the money rather than an alien who resides in Scyros, and is a man of no account. Matters have turned out like this. Lycon was without children, and has left, as I am informed, no heir in his house.
52.10More than this, when he was brought to Argos , wounded, he gave to Strammenus, the Argive proxenos of the Heracleotes, the property which was brought in with him. I, therefore, am likewise in a position to claim the money that is here; for I think it is right that I should have it. Do you, therefore, if Cephisiades has not recovered it, say, if he should come here, that I dispute his claim; and if he has recovered it, say that I came with witnesses and demanded that the money be produced, or the person who has received it; and, if anyone tries to defraud me, let him know that he is defrauding a proxenos.”
52.11After he had spoken thus, my father answered, “Callippus, I want to oblige you (I should be mad, if I did not), but on this condition, that I shall not damage my own reputation, nor suffer any loss through the business; to suggest what you propose to Archebiades and Aristonoüs and to Cephisiades himself, can cause me no trouble; but if they do not choose to do as you say at my suggestion, you must talk to them yourself.” “Be easy in your mind, Pasion,” said he; “if you like, you will force them to do what I want.”
To prove that I am speaking the truth, the clerk shall read you the depositions which bear upon all these facts.Depositions
52.8That all I have told you is true, men of the jury, you have learned from the depositions. However, a long time after this, the plaintiff Callippus came up to my father in the city, and asked him if Cephisiades, to whom according to the entry in the book the money left by Lycon the Heracleote was to be paid, had returned to
| Demosthenes, Speeches (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose; rhetoric] [word count] [lemma count] [Dem.]. | ||
| <<Dem. 52.1 | Dem. 52.6 (Greek) | >>Dem. 52.16 |
