Trapeziticus

​So then, that we made the agreement not with the intention Pasion will attempt to claim, but as I have told you, I think has been sufficiently demonstrated. And it is not to be wondered at, gentlemen of the jury, if he tampered with the document, not only because many such things have already happened, but also because some of Pasion’s associates have done things far more terrible than these. For who among you does not know that Pythodorus, called “the stage-man,” who says and does everything on behalf of Pasion, last year opened the urns and took out the judges who had been cast in by the Council?

​And yet, when a man, for the sake of small gains and at the risk of his life, dared to secretly open these urns, which had been sealed by the choregoi, were guarded by the treasurers, and lay on the Acropolis, why should one wonder if, when they stood to gain so much money, they altered a small document lying in the hands of a foreign host, either by persuading his slaves or by devising some other way they could? Concerning these matters, then, I do not know what more needs to be said.

​But Pasion has already attempted to persuade some that I had no money here at all, saying that I borrowed three hundred staters from Stratocles. It is worthwhile, therefore, to hear about these things too, so that you may know on what kind of proofs he is emboldened to deprive me of my money. For, gentlemen of the jury, when Stratocles was about to sail to the Pontus, since I wished to transfer as much of my money from there as possible, I begged Stratocles to leave his own gold here with me, and to receive the equivalent in the Pontus from my father, ​thinking that I would gain a great advantage if my money were not endangered during the voyage, especially since the Lacedaemonians ruled the sea at that time. I think, therefore, that this is no proof for him that I had no money here. But for me, the transactions with Stratocles will be the greatest proof that I did have gold in his hands.

​For when Stratocles asked who would pay him back the money if my father did not do what was instructed, and if he, having sailed back, did not find me here, I introduced Pasion to him, and Pasion agreed to return to him both the principal and the interest that might accrue. And yet, if nothing of mine had been deposited with him, do you think he would have so easily become my guarantor for such a large sum of money? Please step up, witnesses. “”

​Perhaps then, gentlemen of the jury, he will present witnesses to you for these things too: that I denied to those acting on behalf of Satyrus that I possessed anything except what I was handing over to them, and that he himself laid claim to my money while I admitted that I owed him three hundred drachmas, and that I allowed Hippolaidas, who was my guest-friend and associate, to borrow from him.

​But I, gentlemen of the jury, having fallen into such misfortunes as I have described to you, and having been deprived of everything at home, and being forced to hand over what was here to those who had arrived, and having nothing left for myself unless I could succeed in secretly saving the gold deposited with him—I admit that I also agreed that I owed him three hundred drachmas and that I did and said such things concerning the other matters by which I thought I could best persuade them that I had nothing.

​And that these things did not happen because of poverty, but so that I might be believed by them, you will easily understand. For first, I shall present to you witnesses who know that much money was brought to me from the Pontus, and next, those who saw me using his bank, and further, those from whom I bought gold at that time to the value of more than a thousand staters.