§26ἀλλὰ πεπόνθαμεν καινότατον, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί· ἐν γὰρ τῇ πόλει τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ αὐτῶν, οὐδὲν ἀδικοῦντες οὐδὲ δίκην οὐδεμίαν ὠφληκότες τούτοις, σεσυλήμεθα τὰ ἡμέτερʼ αὐτῶν ὑπὸ τούτων Φασηλιτῶν ὄντων, ὥσπερ δεδομένων συλῶν Φασηλίταις κατʼ Ἀθηναίων.
But we have suffered a most extraordinary thing, gentlemen of the jury; for in our own city, though we have done no wrong and owe no judgment to these men, we have had our own property plundered by these men who are Phaselitans, just as if rights of reprisal had been granted to Phaselitans against Athenians.
ἐπειδὰν γὰρ μὴ ἐθέλωσιν ἀποδοῦναι ἃ ἔλαβον, τί ἄν τις ἄλλο ὄνομα ἔχοι θέσθαι τοῖς τοιούτοις ἢ ὅτι ἀφαιροῦνται βίᾳ τὰ ἀλλότρια;
For when they refuse to return what they received, what other name could anyone give to such people than that they are taking away by force what belongs to others?
ἐγὼ μὲν οὐδὲ ἀκήκοα πώποτε πρᾶγμα μιαρώτερον ἢ ὃ οὗτοι διαπεπραγμένοι εἰσὶ περὶ ἡμᾶς, καὶ ταῦτα ὁμολογοῦντες λαβεῖν παρʼ ἡμῶν τὰ χρήματα.
For my part, I have never yet heard of a more abominable deed than that which these men have committed against us, and that too while admitting that they received the money from us.
§27ὅσα μὲν γὰρ ἀμφισβητήσιμά ἐστι τῶν συμβολαίων, κρίσεως δεῖται, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί· τὰ δὲ παρʼ ἀμφοτέρων ὁμολογηθέντα τῶν συντιθεμένων, καὶ περὶ ὧν συγγραφαὶ κεῖνται ναυτικαί, τέλος ἔχειν ἅπαντες νομίζουσιν, καὶ χρῆσθαι προσήκει τοῖς γεγραμμένοις.
For as many of the contract terms as are open to dispute, gentlemen of the jury, require a judicial decision; but those things which are agreed upon by both the contracting parties, and about which maritime agreements are made, everyone considers to be final, and it is proper to abide by what has been written.
ὅτι δὲ κατὰ τὴν συγγραφὴν οὐδʼ ὁτιοῦν πεποιήκασιν, ἀλλʼ εὐθὺς ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς ἀρξάμενοι ἐκακοτέχνουν καὶ ἐπεβούλευον μηδὲν ὑγιὲς ποιεῖν, ὑπό τε τῶν μαρτυριῶν καὶ αὐτοὶ ὑφʼ ἑαυτῶν ἐλέγχονται οὑτωσὶ καταφανῶς.
But that they have done absolutely nothing according to the agreement, but from the very beginning began to play tricks and plot to do nothing honest, is clearly proved both by the depositions and by themselves.
§28ὃ δὲ πάντων δεινότατον διεπράξατο Λάκριτος οὑτοσί, δεῖ ὑμᾶς ἀκοῦσαι· οὗτος γὰρ ἦν ὁ πάντα ταῦτα διοικῶν.
But you must hear the most outrageous thing of all, which this Lacritus here has done; for he was the one who managed all these matters.
ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἀφίκοντο δεῦρο, εἰς μὲν τὸ ὑμέτερον ἐμπόριον οὐ καταπλέουσιν, εἰς φωρῶν δὲ λιμένα ὁρμίζονται, ὅς ἐστιν ἔξω τῶν σημείων τοῦ ὑμετέρου ἐμπορίου, καὶ ἔστιν ὅμοιον εἰς φωρῶν λιμένα ὁρμίσασθαι, ὥσπερ ἂν εἴ τις εἰς Αἴγιναν ἢ εἰς Μέγαρα ὁρμίσαιτο· ἔξεστι γὰρ ἀποπλεῖν ἐκ τοῦ λιμένος τούτου ὅποι ἄν τις βούληται καὶ ὁπηνίκʼ ἂν δοκῇ αὐτῷ.
For when they arrived here, they did not sail into your emporium, but they came to anchor in the "Thieves' Harbor," which is outside the limits of your emporium; and anchoring in the "Thieves' Harbor" is just the same as if one were to anchor in Aegina or Megara; for from this harbor anyone who wishes can sail away to whatever destination and at whatever time he pleases.
§29καὶ τὸ μὲν πλοῖον ὥρμει ἐνταῦθα πλείους ἢ πέντε καὶ εἴκοσιν ἡμέρας, οὗτοι δὲ περιεπάτουν ἐν τῷ δείγματι τῷ ἡμετέρῳ, καὶ ἡμεῖς προσιόντες διελεγόμεθα, καὶ ἐκελεύομεν τούτους ἐπιμελεῖσθαι ὅπως ἂν ὡς τάχιστα ἀπολάβωμεν τὰ χρήματα.
And the ship lay at anchor there for more than twenty-five days, while these men walked about in our exchange (deigma); and we went up to them and talked with them, and urged them to see to it that we should get our money back as quickly as possible.
οὗτοι δὲ ὡμολόγουν τε καὶ ἔλεγον ὅτι αὐτὰ ταῦτα περαίνοιεν.
And they agreed and said they were doing this very thing.
καὶ ἡμεῖς τούτοις προσῇμεν, καὶ ἅμα ἐπεσκοποῦμεν εἴ τι ἐξαιροῦνταί ποθεν ἐκ πλοίου ἢ πεντηκοστεύονται.
And we kept approaching them, and at the same time we watched to see if they were unloading anything from the ship or paying the harbor tax (the fiftieth).
§30ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἡμέραι τε ἦσαν συχναὶ ἐπιδημοῦσι τούτοις, ἡμεῖς τε οὐδʼ ὁτιοῦν εὑρίσκομεν οὔτʼ ἐξῃρημένον οὔτε πεπεντηκοστευμένον ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι τῷ τούτων, ἐνταῦθα ἤδη μᾶλλον προσεκείμεθα ἀπαιτοῦντες.
But when many days had passed during which they were in town, and we found absolutely nothing either unloaded or declared for the harbor tax in their name, then at last we pressed them more urgently, demanding payment.
καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἠνωχλοῦμεν αὐτοῖς, ἀποκρίνεται Λάκριτος οὑτοσί, ἁδελφὸς ὁ Ἀρτέμωνος, ὅτι οὐκ ἂν οἷοί τʼ εἴησαν ἀποδοῦναι, ἀλλʼ ἀπόλωλεν ἅπαντα τὰ χρήματα· καὶ ἔφη Λάκριτος δίκαιόν τι ἔχειν λέγειν περὶ τούτων.
And when we became importunate, this Lacritus here, the brother of Artemon, answered that they would not be able to repay us, but that all the goods had been lost; and Lacritus said that he had some reasonable explanation to offer about these matters.
§31καὶ ἡμεῖς, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, ἠγανακτοῦμεν ἐπὶ τοῖς λεγομένοις, πλέον δὲ οὐδὲν ἦν ἀγανακτοῦσιν ἡμῖν· τούτοις γὰρ οὐδʼ ὁτιοῦν ἔμελεν.
And we, gentlemen of the jury, were indignant at what was said, but our indignation was of no avail; for these men did not care in the least.
οὐδὲν δʼ ἧττον ἠρωτῶμεν αὐτούς, ὅντινα τρόπον ἀπολωλότα εἴη τὰ χρήματα.
None the less we asked them in what manner the goods had been lost.
Λάκριτος δὲ οὑτοσὶ ναυαγῆσαι ἔφη τὸ πλοῖον παραπλέον ἐκ Παντικαπαίου εἰς Θεοδοσίαν, ναυαγήσαντος δὲ τοῦ πλοίου ἀπολωλέναι τὰ χρήματα τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ, ἃ ἔτυχεν ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ ἐνόντα· ἐνεῖναι δὲ τάριχός τε καὶ οἶνον Κῷον καὶ ἄλλʼ ἄττα, καὶ ταῦτα ἔφασαν πάντα ἀντιφορτισθέντα μέλλειν ἀπάγειν Ἀθήναζε, εἰ μὴ ἀπώλετο ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ.
And this Lacritus here said that the ship had been wrecked while sailing along the coast from Panticapaeum to Theodosia, and that because of the shipwreck of the vessel, his brothers' goods had been lost, which happened to be on board; and that there were on board salt fish, some Cos wine, and some other things, and they asserted that all these, which had been shipped as return cargo, were to be brought back to Athens, if they had not been lost in the ship.
§32καὶ ἃ μὲν ἔλεγεν, ταῦτʼ ἦν· ἄξιον δὲ ἀκοῦσαι τὴν βδελυρίαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων τούτων καὶ τὴν ψευδολογίαν.
And these were the things he said; but it is worth while to hear the shamelessness and falsehood of these men.
πρός τε γὰρ τὸ πλοῖον τὸ ναυαγῆσαν οὐδὲν ἦν αὐτοῖς συμβόλαιον, ἀλλʼ ἦν ἕτερος ὁ δεδανεικὼς Ἀθήνηθεν ἐπὶ τῷ ναύλῳ τῷ εἰς τὸν Πόντον καὶ ἐπʼ αὐτῷ τῷ πλοίῳ (Ἀντίπατρος ὄνομα ἦν τῷ δεδανεικότι, Κιτιεὺς τὸ γένος)· τό τε οἰνάριον τὸ Κῷον ὀγδοήκοντα στάμνοι ἐξεστηκότος οἴνου, καὶ τὸ τάριχος ἀνθρώπῳ τινὶ γεωργῷ παρεκομίζετο ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ ἐκ Παντικαπαίου εἰς Θεοδοσίαν τοῖς ἐργάταις τοῖς περὶ τὴν γεωργίαν χρῆσθαι.
For, in the first place, they had no contract relating to the ship that was wrecked, but there was another person who had lent money from Athens on the freight to the Pontus and on the ship itself (the lender's name was Antipater, a Citian by birth); and as for the Cos wine, it consisted of eighty jars of sour wine, and the salt fish was being carried in the ship from Panticapaeum to Theodosia for a certain farmer, to be used by the laborers engaged in his farming.
τί οὖν ταύτας τὰς προφάσεις λέγουσιν;
Why then do they make these excuses?
οὐδὲν γὰρ προσήκει.
For they have nothing to do with the case.