Against Callimachus

The government of the Ten, who had succeeded the Thirty, was then in control when Patrocles, a friend of mine, was the King-Archon,[*](The most important of the Athenian nine archons was not the King-Archon, as the name might suggest, but the Archon Eponymus, who gave his name to the year in which he held office. The King-Archon had charge of public worship and the conduct of certain criminal processes.) and with him one day I happened to be walking. Patrocles, an enemy of Callimachus who is now prosecuting me in this suit, met him as he was carrying a sum of money, laid hold of him, and claimed that this money had been left by Pamphilus and belonged to the government; for Pamphilus was a member of the party of the Piraeus.[*](Cf. Isoc. 18.2 note 1.)

Callimachus denied this and as a violent quarrel ensued many others came running up; among them by chance Rhinon, who had become one of the Ten, approached. So Patrocles immediately laid information with him concerning the money and Rhinon led them both before his colleagues. These officials referred the matter to the Council[*](During the rule of the Thirty, and of their successors the Ten, the judicial functions of the Athenian juries were usurped by the Council.); after an adjudication, the money was declared the property of the state.

Later, after the return of the citizen-exiles from Piraeus, Callimachus brought a charge against Patrocles and instituted proceedings against him on the ground that he was responsible for his loss. And when he had effected with him a settlement of the matter and had exacted from him ten minas of silver, Callimachus maliciously accused Lysimachus. Having obtained two hundred drachmas from him, he began to make trouble for me. At first he charged me with being the accomplice of the others; in the end, he came to such a pitch of impudence that he accused me as responsible for everything that had been done, and it may be that even now he will have the effrontery to make just such an accusation.

In rebuttal, however, I will present to you as witnesses, first, those who were present at the beginning of the affair, who will testify that I did not arrest Callimachus nor did I touch the money; second, Rhinon and his colleagues, who will tell you that it was Patrocles, and not I, who denounced him to them; and finally, the members of the Council, who will attest that Patrocles was the accuser.& Please call witnesses of these facts.

Although so many persons had been present when the events took place, Callimachus here, as if no one had any knowledge of the matter, himself mixed with the crowds, sat in the workshops, and related again and again his story, how he had suffered outrageous treatment at my hands and had been of his money. And some of his friends came to me and advised me to settle the dispute with him, and not deliberately to risk defamation and great financial loss, even though I had the greatest confidence in my cause; and they went on to say that many decisions rendered in the tribunals were contrary to the expectation of litigants,

and that chance rather than justice determined the issue in your courts. Consequently, they asserted, it was in my interest to be freed of serious charges by paying a petty sum, rather than by paying nothing to run the risk of penalties of such gravity. Why need I relate to you all the details? They omitted none of the arguments which are customarily urged in such cases. In any case I was finally prevailed upon (for I will tell you the whole truth) to give him two hundred drachmas. But in order that it might not be in his power to blackmail me again, we committed the arbitration under stated terms[*](A similar example of arbitration under the stated terms(i.e., limited arbitration, where the arbitrator had no discretonary power) is found in Isoc. 17.19. Cf. Jebb. Attic Orators ii. p. 234.) to Nicomachus of Bat---[*](A lacuna is here indicated by Blass, perhaps kai\ moi ka/lei tou/twn ma/rturas“Please call witnesses to these facts”)

At first Callimachus kept his agreement, but later in complicity with Xenotimus—that falsifier of the laws, corrupter of our tribunals, vilifier of the authorities, and author of every evil—he brought suit against me for the sum of ten thousand drachmas. But when I brought forward in my defense a witness to show that the suit was not within the jurisdiction of the court by reason of the previous arbitration, he did not attack my witness—

for he knew that, if he did not receive the fifth of the votes cast, he would be assessed a penalty of one-sixth of the amount demanded—but having won over the magistrate, he again brought the same suit, in the belief that he risked only his court deposit-fee. And since I was at a loss how to cope with my difficulties, I judged that it was best to make the hazard equal for us both[*](See Introduction to this speech.) and to come before you. And these are the facts.