Against Aphobus I

This, men of the jury, to put it as briefly as possible, is a summing up of the wrongs they have done me. But of the fact that the amount of property left by my father was as much as I have stated these men themselves have proved the most convincing witnesses, for in the tax-company[*](Each of the ten Athenian tribes selected one hundred and twenty men as their richest members. These twelve hundred men were divided into twenty groups of sixty each (called συμμορίαι), and from them certain men were designated to bear the burdens of public service (the treirarchy, choregia, etc.) and of the special property-tax imposed in time of need.) they agreed on my behalf to a tax of five hundred drachmae on every twenty-five minae[*](This was a tax of 20 percent of the man’s entire property, and was the maximum.)—a tax equal to that paid by Timotheus, son of Conon,[*](Timotheus was one of the leading citizens of Athens. His father, Conon, was the famous general who in 395 had destroyed the Lacedemonian fleet at Cnidos.) and those possessing the largest fortunes. However, I had better inform you in detail what portions of the property were producing a profit and what were unproductive, and what were their respective values; for when you have accurate information regarding these matters, you will know that of all who have ever acted as trustees none have so shamelessly and so openly plundered an estate as these men have plundered ours.

I shall produce witnesses to prove, first, that in the tax-company they agreed on my behalf to be taxed to the amount which I have stated, and, next, that my father did not leave me a poor man, nor one possessing an estate of merely seventy minae. On the contrary, my estate was so considerable that these men were themselves unable to hide its value from the state.

Take,[*](These words were addressed to the clerk of the court.) please, and read this deposition.

The Deposition

From this evidence it is clear what the value of the property was. Three talents is the tax on an estate of fifteen, and this tax they saw fit to pay. But you will see this more clearly if you hear what the property was. My father, men of the jury, left two factories, both doing a large business. One was a sword-manufactory, employing thirty-two or thirty-three slaves, most of them worth five or six minae each and none worth less than three minae. From these my father received a clear income of thirty minae each year. The other was a sofa-manufactory, employing twenty slaves, given to my father as security for a debt of forty minae. These brought him in a clear income of twelve minae. In money he left as much as a talent, loaned at the rate of a drachma a month,[*](A drachma, that is, on each mina. This (12 percent) was the normal rate of interest on well-secured loans.) the interest of which amounted to more than seven minae a year.

This was the amount of productive capital which my father left, as these men will themselves admit, the principal amounting to four talents and five thousand drachmae,[*](In mercantile affairs the Greeks often preferred to reckon in thousands of drachmae instead of tens of minae.) and the proceeds to fifty minae each year. Besides this, he left ivory and iron, used in the factory, and wood for sofas, worth about eighty minae; and gall[*](This was obtained from the oak-apple and was used for staining wood or ivory.) and copper, which he had bought for seventy minae; furthermore, a house worth three thousand drachmae, and furniture and plate, and my mother’s jewelry and apparel and ornaments, worth in all ten thousand drachmae, and in the house eighty minae in silver.

To these sums left by him at home we must add seventy minae, a maritime loan to Xuthus; twenty-four hundred drachmae in the bank of Pasion, six hundred in that of Pylades, sixteen hundred in the hands of Demomeles, son of Demon, and about a talent loaned without interest in sums of two hundred or three hundred drachmae. The total of these last sums amounts to more than eight talents and fifty minae, and the whole taken together you will find on examination to come to about fourteen talents.[*](Strictly, thirteen talents and forty-six minae; see the Introduction.)

This, then, men of the jury, was the amount of property left by my father. How much of it has been squandered, how much they have severally taken, and of how much they have jointly robbed me, it is impossible to tell in the time[*](Literally, water, the time allotted to each speaker being measured by a water-clock.) allotted to one plea. I must discuss each one of these questions separately. I pass over the question as to what property of mine Demophon or Therippides are holding. It will be time enough to discuss this when I bring in my accusations against them. I shall speak to you now of the defendant and shall state what his colleagues prove that he has in his hands, and what I know he has taken. In the first place I shall show that he has the marriage-portion, the eighty minae, and after that shall take up the other matters and discuss them with the utmost brevity.

Immediately after my father’s death the defendant came and dwelt in the house according to the terms of the will, and took possession of my mother’s jewels and the plate. In these he received the equivalent of about fifty minae. Furthermore, he received from Therippides and Demophon the proceeds of the sale of the slaves until he had made up the full amount of the marriage-portion, eighty minae.

and after getting this, when he was about to set sail for Corcyra as trierarch,[*](That is, in command of a trireme which he had himself equipped for service.) he sent Therippides a written acknowledgement that he had these sums in his possession, and admitted that he had received the marriage-portion. Of these matters Demophon and Therippides, his co-trustees, are witnesses, and, besides this, his own acknowledgement of having received these moneys is attested by Demochares, of Leuconion,[*](Leuconion, or Leuconoe, was a deme of the tribe Loentis.) who is the husband of my aunt, and by many other witnesses.

For when it proved that Aphobus, though he had her fortune, would not maintain my mother, and refused to let the property, choosing rather to administer it himself in conjunction with the other guardians, Demochares remonstrated with him about the matter; and Aphobus, when he had heard him, neither denied that he had the money nor waxed indignant as one who had received nothing, but admitted the fact, and said that he was having a little dispute with my mother about her jewels, and that, when he had settled this matter, he would act regarding the maintenance and all else in such a way that I should have no ground for complaint.