- Source
- Demosthenes. Orationes, Vol. III. Rennie, W., editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1931.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0014.tlg048.humanitext-grc2:16-24
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
After the slave Moschion's theft is discovered and a portion of the money is returned, Olympiodorus secretly tortures the slave to recover a larger sum but delays sharing it. Meanwhile, other claimants, including the speaker's half-brother, file lawsuits for the estate, prompting the two to devise a joint legal strategy, which is temporarily delayed as Olympiodorus is called up for military service in Acarnania.
οὐ πολλῷ δὲ χρόνῳ ὕστερον, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, ἢ1 ἡμεῖς διειλόμεθα τὰς μερίδας, ὑποψία τις ἐγένετο καὶ αἴσθησις περὶ τἀνθρώπου τούτου· ἐκ δὲ ταύτης τῆς ὑποψίας ἐδόκει ἐμοὶ καὶ τουτῳὶ Ὀλυμπιοδώρῳ βασανίζειν τὸν ἄνθρωπον. καὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, αὐτὸς αὑτοῦ κατεῖπε, πρὶν βασανίζεσθαι, ὅτι χιλίας δραχμὰς ὑφείλετο τοῦ Κόμωνος, καὶ ἔφη εἶναι παρʼ ἑαυτῷ ὅσον μὴ ἦν ἀνηλωμένον·2 περὶ δὲ τοῦ πλείονος ἀργυρίου οὐδʼ ὁτιοῦν εἶπεν ἐν τῷ τότε χρόνῳ· καὶ ἀποδίδωσιν περὶ ἑξακοσίας τινὰς δραχμάς.
Not long after we had divided the shares, gentlemen of the jury, a certain suspicion and awareness arose concerning this man; and as a result of this suspicion, it seemed best to me and to Olympiodorus here to examine the man under torture. And the man, gentlemen of the jury, before being tortured, confessed against himself that he had stolen a thousand drachmae from Comon’s property, and said that what had not been spent was in his possession; but about the larger sum of money he said absolutely nothing at that time; and he returned some six hundred drachmae.
καὶ τούτου τοῦ ἀργυρίου, οὗ ἀπέδωκεν ὁ ἄνθρωπος, καλῶς καὶ δικαίως κατὰ τοὺς ὅρκους οὓς ὠμόσαμεν ἡμεῖς καὶ κατὰ τὰς συνθήκας τὰς κειμένας παρὰ τῷ Ἀνδροκλείδῃ τὸ μὲν ἥμισυ ἐγὼ ἔλαβον, τὸ δʼ ἥμισυ οὑτοσὶ Ὀλυμπιόδωρος.
And of this money, which the man returned, in a proper and just manner according to the oaths we swore and according to the agreement deposited with Androclides, I took one half, and Olympiodorus here took the other half.
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα οὐ πολλῷ χρόνῳ ὕστερον ἐκ ταύτης τῆς ὑποψίας τῆς πρὸς τὸν οἰκέτην περὶ τοῦ ἀργυρίου οὗ ἀπέδωκεν, ἔδησεν τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ ἐβασάνισεν αὐτὸς ἐφʼ ἑαυτοῦ, ἡμᾶς δὲ οὐ παρεκάλεσεν, ὀμωμοκὼς κοινῇ ζητήσειν καὶ πράξειν μετʼ ἐμοῦ πάντα. καὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, κατατεινόμενος ὑπὸ τῆς βασάνου προσωμολόγησε καὶ τὰς ἑβδομήκοντα μνᾶς εἰληφέναι ὑφελόμενος Κόμωνος, καὶ ἀποδίδωσιν ἅπαν τὸ ἀργύριον τοῦτο Ὀλυμπιοδώρῳ τουτῳί.
Not long after this, as a result of this suspicion against the slave regarding the money he had returned, he bound the man and tortured him on his own, and did not invite us, although he had sworn to seek in common and do everything with me. And the man, gentlemen of the jury, being racked by the torture, confessed in addition that he had taken the seventy minae also, having stolen them from Comon, and he returned all this money to Olympiodorus here.
ἐγὼ δʼ, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, ἐπειδὴ ἐπυθόμην περὶ τῆς βασάνου τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καὶ ὅτι ἀποδεδωκὼς εἴη τὸ ἀργύριον, ἐνόμιζόν μοι ἀποδώσειν τοῦτον τὸ ἥμισυ τοῦ ἀργυρίου, ὥσπερ καὶ τὸ πρότερον ἀπὸ τῶν χιλίων δραχμῶν ἀπέδωκε.3 καὶ εὐθὺς μὲν οὐ πάνυ τι ἠνώχλουν τούτῳ, ἡγούμενος αὐτὸν τοῦτο γνώσεσθαι καὶ διοικήσειν καὶ ἐμοὶ καὶ ἑαυτῷ, ὅπως ἑκάτερος ἡμῶν ἕξει τὰ δίκαια κατὰ τοὺς ὅρκους καὶ τὰς συνθήκας τὰς πρὸς ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς περὶ τοῦ ἰσομοιρεῖν ἁπάντων ὧν Κόμων ἦν καταλελοιπώς·
But I, gentlemen of the jury, when I learned about the torture of the man and that he had returned the money, expected that this man would give me my half of the money, just as he had previously given me my share from the thousand drachmae. And at first I did not trouble him much, believing that he would recognize this and manage it both for me and for himself, so that each of us might have our rights according to the oaths and the agreement between ourselves to share equally in all that Comon had left behind.
ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐνδιέτριβεν καὶ οὐδὲν ἐποίει, διελεγόμην τουτῳὶ Ὀλυμπιοδώρῳ, καὶ ἠξίουν ἀπολαμβάνειν τὸ ἐμαυτοῦ μέρος τοῦ ἀργυρίου. οὑτοσὶ δὲ Ὀλυμπιόδωρος ἀεί τι προὐφασίζετο καὶ ἀναβολὰς ἐποιεῖτο. καὶ ἐν τούτῳ τῷ καιρῷ ἕτεροί τινες ἔλαχον τοῦ κλήρου τοῦ Κόμωνος, καὶ ὁ Κάλλιππος ἐπεδήμησεν ἐκ τῆς ἀποδημίας, ὁ ἐμὸς ἀδελφὸς ὁ ὁμοπάτριος· καὶ οὗτος ἔλαχεν εὐθὺς τοῦ ἡμικληρίου.
But when he delayed and did nothing, I spoke with Olympiodorus here, and demanded to receive my own share of the money. But Olympiodorus here was always making some excuse and putting things off. And during this time, certain other persons brought suits for the estate of Comon, and Callippus, my brother by the same father, returned from abroad; and he immediately brought a suit for half the estate.
καὶ τουτῳὶ Ὀλυμπιοδώρῳ πρόφασις καὶ αὕτη ἐγένετο πρὸς τὸ μὴ ἀποδιδόναι μοι τὸ ἀργύριον, ἐπειδὴ πολλοὶ ἦσαν οἱ ἀμφισβητοῦντες, καὶ ἔφη χρῆναί με περιμεῖναι, ἕως ἂν οἱ ἀγῶνες γένωνται. καὶ ἐμοὶ ἀνάγκη ἦν ταῦτα συγχωρεῖν, καὶ συνεχώρησα.
And for Olympiodorus here, this also became a pretext for not paying me the money; since there were many claimants, he said that I ought to wait until the trials should take place. And it was necessary for me to agree to this, and I did agree.
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐβουλευόμεθα καὶ ἐγὼ καὶ οὑτοσὶ Ὀλυμπιόδωρος κοινῇ, ὥσπερ καὶ ὠμόσαμεν, ὅντινα τρόπον ἄριστα καὶ ἀσφαλέστατα προσοισόμεθα πρὸς τοὺς ἀμφισβητοῦντας. καὶ ἔδοξεν ἡμῖν, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, τουτονὶ μὲν Ὀλυμπιόδωρον τοῦ κλήρου ὅλου ἀμφισβητεῖν, ἐμὲ δὲ τοῦ ἡμικληρίου, ἐπειδὴ καὶ Κάλλιππος ὁ ἀδελφὸς ὁ ἐμὸς τοῦ ἡμικληρίου μόνον ἠμφεσβήτει.
After this, both I and Olympiodorus here consulted in common, just as we had sworn, as to how we might best and most safely deal with the claimants. And it seemed best to us, gentlemen of the jury, that Olympiodorus here should claim the whole estate, and that I should claim half the estate, since my brother Callippus also was claiming only half the estate.
καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἀνεκρίθησαν πρὸς τῷ ἄρχοντι ἅπασαι αἱ ἀμφισβητήσεις καὶ ἔδει ἀγωνίζεσθαι ἐν τῷ δικαστηρίῳ, ἀπαράσκευοι ἦμεν τὸ παράπαν πρὸς τὸ ἤδη ἀγωνίζεσθαι ἐγὼ καὶ Ὀλυμπιόδωρος οὑτοσὶ διὰ τὸ ἐξαίφνης ἐπιπεπτωκέναι ἡμῖν πολλοὺς τοὺς ἀμφισβητοῦντας· ἐκ δὲ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων4 ἐσκοποῦμεν κοινῇ, εἴ πως ἀναβολή τις γένοιτο ἐν τῷ παρόντι, ὥστε παρασκευάσασθαι ἡμᾶς καθʼ ἡσυχίαν πρὸς τὸν ἀγῶνα.
And when all the claims had been examined before the archon and it was necessary to contest them in the court, I and Olympiodorus here were altogether unprepared to contest them immediately, because many claimants had suddenly fallen upon us; so, under the circumstances, we considered in common whether some delay might be obtained for the present, so that we could prepare ourselves for the contest at our leisure.
καὶ κατὰ τύχην τινὰ καὶ δαίμονα ὑμεῖς ἐπείσθητε ὑπὸ τῶν ῥητόρων εἰς Ἀκαρνανίαν στρατιώτας ἐκπέμπειν, καὶ ἔδει καὶ τουτονὶ Ὀλυμπιόδωρον στρατεύεσθαι, καὶ ᾤχετο μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων στρατευόμενος. καὶ συνεβεβήκει, ὡς ᾠόμεθα ἡμεῖς, αὕτη καλλίστη ἀναβολή, δημοσίᾳ τούτου ἀποδημοῦντος στρατευομένου.
And by some chance and divine fortune you were persuaded by the orators to send out soldiers to Acarnania, and Olympiodorus here also had to perform military service, and he went off serving with the others. And this turned out, as we thought, to be the finest delay, since he was abroad on public military service.
- 16οὐ πολλῷ δὲ χρόνῳ ὕστερον ... ἢ
The conjunction ἤ is used after the comparative adverb ὕστερον (later) in the sense of 'than'. Literally, 'not by much time later than we divided the shares', meaning 'not long after we had divided the shares'.
- 16ὅσον μὴ ἦν ἀνηλωμένον
The relative pronoun ὅσον is followed by the negative particle μή instead of οὐ to express a conditional or generic limitation ('as much as was not spent' or 'all that which happened not to have been spent'). The past indicative (periphrastic imperfect/pluperfect ἦν ἀνηλωμένον) refers to the state at that specific past moment.
- 19ἀπὸ τῶν χιλίων δραχμῶν ἀπέδωκε
This refers to the division of the roughly six hundred drachmae returned from the initial thousand drachmae mentioned in §17. The preposition ἀπό signifies a portion taken from the whole (the 1,000 drachmae confessed). The subject of ἀπέδωκε is Olympiodorus, who passed on the half share to the speaker, not the slave, consistent with the context of keeping oaths.
- 23ἐκ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων
Literally 'from the existing circumstances' or 'out of what was available', this is an idiomatic expression meaning 'under the circumstances' or 'with the means at hand', describing their attempt to find the best possible option given their lack of preparation.