Against Phormio

More than this, men of Athens, note another fact. These very men entered a special plea last year, but dared not assert in their plea that they had paid the money to Lampis.

Now, pray take the plea itself.

The Special Plea

You hear, men of Athens. Nowhere in the plea is it stated that Phormio had paid the money to Lampis, though I had expressly written in the complaint, which you heard a moment ago, that Phormio had not put the goods on board the ship nor paid the money. For what other witness, then, should you wait, when you have so significant a piece of evidence from these men themselves?

When the suit was about to come into court, they begged us to refer it to an arbitrator; and we referred it by agreement to Theodotus, a privileged alien[*](The word is used of one who, though an alien, paid only the taxes paid by citizens without the addition of the special tax on aliens.) Lampis after that, thinking that it would now, before an arbitrator, be safe for him to testify just as he pleased, divided my money with this fellow Phormio, and then gave testimony the very opposite of what he had stated before.

For it is not the same thing, men of Athens, to give false testimony while face to face with you and to do so before an arbitrator. With you heavy indignation and severe penalty await those who bear false witness; but before an arbitrator they give what testimony they please without risk and without shame. When I expostulated and expressed strong indignation, men of Athens, at the effrontery of Lampis,

and produced before the arbitrator the same testimony as I now produce before you—that, namely, of the persons who at the first went to him with me, when he stated that he had not received the money from Phormio, and that Phormio had not put the goods on board the ship—Lampis, being so plainly convicted of bearing false witness and of playing the rogue, admitted that he had made the statement to my partner here,[*](I take the phrase πρὸς τοῦτον with εἰρηκέναι, assuming that the reference is to the partner of Chrysippus, who apparently takes the latter’s place as speaker at the beginning of the next paragraph.) but declared that he was out of his mind when he made it.

Now read me this deposition.

The Deposition

The partner of Chrysippus now speaks.

[*](It is commonly assumed that the second speaker begins with this paragraph. In Dem. 34.23 Chrysippus is referred to as οὗτος, so the fact of a change of speakers is patent.) Theodotus, men of Athens, after hearing us several times, and being convinced that Lampis was giving false testimony, did not dismiss the suit, but referred us to the court. He was loth to give an adverse decision because he was a friend of this man Phormio, as we afterwards learned, yet he hesitated to dismiss the suit lest he should himself commit perjury.

Now, in the light of the facts themselves, consider in your own minds, men of the jury, what means the man was likely to have for discharging the debt. He sailed from this port without having put the goods on board the ship, and having no adequate security; on the contrary, he had made additional loans on the credit of the money lent by me. In Bosporus he found no market for his wares, and had difficulty in getting rid of those who had lent money for the outward-voyage.

My partner here had lent him two thousand drachmae for the double voyage on terms that he should receive at Athens two thousand six hundred drachmae; but Phormio declares that he paid Lampis in Bosporus one hundred and twenty Cyzicene staters[*](The stater of Cyzicus (a town on the south shore of the Propontis, or sea of Marmora) was a coin made of electrum, an alloy of approximately three-quarters gold and one-quarter silver. It was nearly twice as heavy as the ordinary gold stater, which was worth twenty drachmae, and had a value (as stated in the text) of twenty-eight drachmae. The addition of the word there indicates that the value differed in different places according to the rate of exchange.) (note this carefully) which he borrowed at the interest paid on loans secured by real property. Now interest on real security was sixteen and two-thirds percent, and the Cyzicene stater was worth there twenty-eight Attic drachmae.

It is necessary that you should understand how large a sum he claims to have paid. A hundred and twenty staters amount to three thousand three hundred and sixty drachmae, and the interest at the land rate of sixteen and two-thirds percent on thirty-three minae and sixty drachmae is five hundred and sixty drachmae, and the total amount comes to so much.[*](That is, of course, the sum of the two items, or three thousand nine hundred and twenty drachmae. The total is not mentioned here, as it is given in the lines immediately following. Note that the speaker inexactly speaks as if the whole sum (including the interest) had been paid to Lampis (according to Phormio’s claim). The argument is, however, valid, as the sum represents the cost to Phormio of paying off the loan.)

Now, men of the jury, is there a man, or will the man ever be born, who, instead of twenty-six hundred drachmae would prefer to pay thirty minae and three hundred and sixty drachmae, and as interest five hundred and sixty drachmae by virtue of his loan, both which sums Phormio says he has paid Lampis, in all three thousand nine hundred and twenty drachmae? And when he might have paid the money in Athens, seeing that it had been lent for the double voyage, has he paid it in Bosporus, and too much by thirteen minae?

And to the creditors who lent money for the outward voyage you had difficulty in paying the principal, though they sailed with you and kept pressing you for payment; yet to this man who was not present, you not only returned both principal and interest, but also paid the penalties arising from the agreement[*](We learn from Dem. 34.33 that the contract entailed a penalty of five thousand drachmae in case a return cargo was not shipped, but of course payment could not have been exacted in Bosporus. The speaker seems to identify the overpayment of one thousand three hundred and twenty drachmae with this penalty; but the overpayment represents almost exactly the amount of the money Lampis had loaned to Phormio, plus the thirty percent interest. It is, of course, possible that the penalty of five thousand drachmae was to be paid if Phormio neither shipped the goods nor paid Lampis, and the lesser sum if payment was made to Lampis without the shipment of a return cargo.) though you were under no necessity of doing so?

And you had no fear of those men, to whom their agreements gave the right of exacting payment in Bosporus, but declare that you had regard for the claims of my partner, though you wronged him at the outset by not putting on board the goods according to your agreement in setting out from Athens? And now that you have come back to the port where the loan was made, you do not hesitate to defraud the lender, though you claim to have done more than justice required in Bosporus, where you were not likely to be punished?

All other men who borrow for the outward and homeward voyage, when they are about to set sail from their several ports, take care to have many witnesses present, and call upon them to attest that the lender’s risk begins from that moment[*](That is, from the moment of sailing.); but you rely upon the single testimony of the very man who is your partner in the fraud. You did not bring as a witness my slave who was in Bosporus or my partner, nor did you deliver to them the letters which we gave into your charge, and in which were written instructions that they should keep close watch on you in whatever you might do!