Greek Texts & Translations

56.13When we said that we could not acquiesce in anything like this, considering that, were we to do so, it would be an admission that we too had been engaged in conveying grain to Rhodes, he became even more insistent, and came up to us, bringing a host of witnesses, asserting that he was ready to pay us the principal with interest as far as Rhodes; not that he had any more intention to pay, men of the jury, but suspecting that we should be unwilling to accept the money on account of the charges to which our action might give rise. The result made this clear. 56.14For when some of your citizens, men of Athens, who chanced to be present advised to accept what was offered and to sue for the amount under dispute, but not to admit the reckoning of the interest to Rhodes until the case should be settled we agreed to this. We were not unaware, men of the jury, of our rights under the agreement, but we thought it better to suffer some loss and to make a concession, so as not to appear litigious. But when the fellow saw that we were on the point of accepting his offer, he said, “Well, then, cancel the agreement.” “We cancel the agreement? 56.15Indeed we will not. However, as far as concerns any money you may pay we will in the presence of the banker agree to annul the agreement; but cancel it in its entirety we will not, until we get a verdict on the matters under dispute. For what just plea shall we have, or on what can we rely when we come to a contest at law, whether we have to appear before an arbitrator or before a court, if we have cancelled the agreement on which we rely for the recovery of our rights?” 56.16Such was our answer to him, men of the jury, and we demanded of this fellow Dionysodorus that he should not disturb or annul the agreement which these men themselves admitted to be binding, but that in regard to the amount he should pay us what he himself acknowledged to be due and to leave the settlement of the sum under dispute (with the understanding that the money was available) to the decision of one or more arbitrators, as he might prefer, to be chosen from among the merchants of this port. Dionysodorus, however, would not listen to anything of this sort, but because we refused to accept what he agreed to pay and cancel the agreement altogether, he has for two years kept and made use of our capital; 56.17and what is the most outrageous thing of all, men of the jury, the fellow himself gets maritime interest ^note from other people from our money, lending it, not at Athens or for a voyage to Athens, but for voyages to Rhodes and Egypt, while to us who lent him money for a voyage to your port he thinks he need do nothing that justice demands

To prove that I am speaking the truth, the clerk shall read you the challenge which I gave Dionysodorus concerning these matters.Challenge

56.18This challenge, then, we tendered to this Dionysodorus again and again, and we exposed the challenge to public view over a period of many days. He, however, declared that we must be absolute simpletons, if we supposed him to be senseless enough to go before an arbitrator—who would most certainly condemn him to pay the debt—when he might come into court bringing the money with him, and then, if he could hoodwink you he would go back keeping possession of what was another's, and if he could not, he would then pay the money. Thus he showed that he had no confidence in the justice of his case, but that he wished to make trial of you.

56.19You have heard, then, men of the jury, what Dionysodorus has done; and as you have heard I fancy you have long been amazed at his audacity, and have wondered upon what in the world he relies in coming into court. For is it not the height of audacity, when a man who has borrowed money from the port of Athens, 56.20and has expressly agreed in writing that his ship shall return to your port, or that, if she does not, he shall pay double the amount, has not brought the ship to the Peiraeus and does not pay his debt to the lenders; and as for the grain, has unladed that and sold it at Rhodes, and then despite all this dares to look into your faces? 56.21But hear what he says in reply to this. He alleges that the ship was disabled on the voyage from Egypt, and that for this reason he was obliged to touch at Rhodes and unlade the grain there. And as a proof of this he states that he chartered ships from Rhodes and shipped some of his goods to Athens. This is one part of his defence, and here is another.