Apollodorus Against Polycles

I have told all these facts to you from the beginning, that you may know how much I have myself expended and how burdensome my service as trierarch has been to me, and all the expenses which I subsequently bore in the interest of the defendant by serving beyond my term, since he did not come to take over the ship, and all the dangers I myself incurred from storms and from the enemy. For after we had convoyed the ships to Maroneia, and had arrived at Thasos, Timomachus came and undertook again in conjunction with the Thasians to convoy grain and a body of peltasts[*]( Light-armed troops.) to Strymê,[*]( Stryme, a town on the southern coast of Thrace.) with the intention of taking the place himself.

However, the Maronites arrayed their ships against us in defence of the place, and offered battle, and our men were tired out with their long voyage and from towing the ships from Thasos to Strymê besides, it was stormy, and the place offered no harbor, and it was impossible to go ashore and get a meal, for the country was hostile, and all around the wall bands of mercenaries and barbarians from the neighborhood lay encamped; so we were forced to ride at anchor all night long in the open sea without food and without sleep, keeping watch lest the ships of the Maronites should attack us in the night.

Nor was this all. It was our lot to have by night rain and thunder and a violent wind at that season of the year (for the time was just at the setting of the Pleiades[*]( Roughly the end of October, when the stormy season had set in.)); so can you not imagine, men of the jury, what despondency fell upon our men, and what an amount of desertion I had again to face after this? For the old sailors had borne many hardships and received but little compensation—merely what I was able to borrow and give to each man in addition to what they had had from me before, since the general did not supply enough even for their daily sustenance. By now I had served three months beyond my term, and the defendant had not yet come to take over the ship; but I borrowed money and hired sailors to replace those who had deserted.

The defendant alone of the trierarchs appointed to succeed us has no excuse left him for not having come to take over the ship long before. For Euctemon, the pentecontarch, after he was sent home from the Hellespont on account of his sickness, when he reached port and heard that Polycles had been appointed to relieve me, knowing that the term of my trierarchy had expired and that I was now serving over time, took with him my father-in-law, Deinias, and coming up to Polycles in the sample market, bade him set sail and take over the ship with all speed, telling him that the expenses which were incurred every day in addition to the provision money supplied by the general were very heavy.

He told him in detail of the pay given each month to the rowers and the marines, both to the sailors whom he had himself hired at Lampsacus and to those who came on board subsequently to replace those who had deserted, and also of the additional sums which I had given to each of the old sailors at their request after the term of my trierarchy had expired, and all the rest of the money expended upon the ship from day to day. With all these matters Euctemon was thoroughly acquainted, for it was through him as pentecontarch that all purchases and disbursements were made.

He told him, too, about the ship’s equipment, that it was wholly my own, and that I had nothing from the public stores. Therefore, he said, plan to come to an agreement with him, or sail from here taking your own equipment with you. I think, however, he added, that he will readily come to terms with you; for he owes money there, which he will be glad to pay from the price of the equipment. When the defendant heard these words from Euctemon and Deinias my father-in-law, he made no answer to them regarding the matters of which they spoke but, they said, he broke into a laugh, and said, The mouse has just tasted pitch[*]( A familiar proverb of those who fall into difficulties through their own folly. See Theocritus 14.51. The second clause fits the present situation: Pasion had sought Athenian citizenship: Apollodorus is now paying the price.); for he wanted to be an Athenian.

Well, when he paid no heed to what he heard from Euctemon and Deinias, later on Pythodorus of Acharnae,[*]( Acharnae, a deme of the tribe Oeneïs.) and Apollodorus of Leuconoë, [*]( Leuconoe, a deme of the tribe Leontis.) friends and connections of mine, again approached him, and urged him to go and take over the ship, as he had been designated as my successor; and they told him about the equipment, that it was wholly my own, and that I had nothing from the public stores.

So, if you want to make use of that, they said, leave money here, and do not run the risk of carrying it abroad. For they wanted to redeem the farm for me by paying Archeneüs and Thrasylochus thirty minae. Regarding the wear and tear of the ship’s equipment they were willing to draw up an agreement with him, and themselves to be sureties for me, that he would assuredly have the terms which the other trierarchs gave to their successors.

To prove that I am speaking the truth in all this, the clerk shall read you the depositions bearing upon these matters.

The Depositions