Trapeziticus

So then, the fact that we made the agreement, not as Pasion will try to explain, but as I have related to you, I think has been sufficiently established. And it should not occasion surprise, men of the jury, that he falsified the memorandum, not only for the reason that there have been numerous frauds of such nature, but because some of Pasion's friends have been guilty of conduct far worse. For instance, is there anyone who is ignorant that Pythodorus, called “the shop-keeper,”[*](Cf. Dem. 54.7.) whose words and acts are all in Pasion's interest, last year opened the voting-urns[*](These contained the names of those who had been nominated as possible judges of the dramatic contests of the festival of Dionysus.) and removed the ballots naming the judges which had been cast by the Council?

And yet when a man who, for petty gain and at the peril of his life, has the effrontery to open secretly the urns that had been stamped by the prytanes[*](The Prytanes (Presidents), a committee of 50, one-tenth part of the Council of 500, managed for one-tenth of the year the affairs of the Council and of the Assembly.) and sealed by the choregi,[*](The Choregi were well-to-do Athenians, who were chosen to defray the costs of bringing out the choruses in the dramatic festivals.) urns that were guarded by the treasurers and kept on the Acropolis, why should there be surprise that men, who hoped to make so great a profit, falsified an insignificant written agreement in the possession of a foreigner, gaining their ends either by the bribery of his slaves or by some other means in their power? On this point, however, I do not know what more I need say.

Already Pasion has tried to persuade certain persons that I had no money at all here, asserting that I had borrowed three hundred staters[*](The stater was a coin of a certain weight. The Persian gold stater, or daric, was worth a little more than a pound sterling. These were probably Cyzicene staters of Asia Minor.) from Stratocles. It is worth while, therefore, that you should hear me also on these matters, in order that you may understand how flimsy is the proof which encourages him to try to defraud me of my money. Now, men of the jury, when Stratocles was about to sail for Pontus, I, wishing to get as much of my money out of that country as possible, asked Stratocles to leave with me his own gold and on his arrival in Pontus to collect its equivalent from my father there,

as I thought it would be highly advantageous not to jeopardize my money by the risks of a voyage, especially as the Lacedaemonians were then masters of the sea. For Pasion, then, I do not think that this is any indication that I had no money here; but for me my dealings with Stratocles will constitute the strongest proof that I had gold on deposit with Pasion.