Apollodorus Against Callippus

There is no situation harder to deal with, men of the jury, than when a man possessing both reputation and ability to speak is audacious enough to lie and is well provided with witnesses. For it becomes necessary for the defendant, no longer to speak merely about the facts of the case, but about the character of the speaker as well, and to show that he ought not to be believed on account of his reputation.

If you are to establish the custom, that those who are able speakers and who enjoy a reputation are more to be believed than men of less ability, it will be against yourselves that you will have established this custom. I beg you therefore, if you ever decided any other case upon its merits, without becoming partisans of either side, whether the plaintiff’s or the defendant’s, but looking to justice alone, to decide the present case upon these principles. And I shall set forth the facts to you from the beginning.

Lycon, the Heracleote,[*](Heraclea, a colony of the Megarians and Boeotians on the coast of Bithynia, on the Black Sea.) men of the jury, of whom the plaintiff himself makes mention, was a customer of my father’s bank like the other merchants, a guest friend of Aristonoüs of Decelea[*](Decelea, a deme of the tribe Hippothontis.) and Archebiades of Lamptrae,[*](Lamptrae, a deme of the tribe Erectheïs.) and a man of prudence. This Lycon, when he was about to set out on a voyage to Libya, reckoned up his account with my father in the presence of Archebiades and Phrasias, and ordered my father to pay the money which he left (it was sixteen minae forty drachmae, as I shall show you very clearly) to Cephisiades, saying that this Cephisiades was a partner of his, a resident of Scyros,[*](Scyros, an island in the Aegean, east of Euboea.) but was for the time being abroad on another mercantile enterprise.

He instructed Archebiades and Phrasias to point him out and introduce him to my father, when he should return from his journey. It is the custom of all bankers, when a private person deposits money and directs that it be paid to a given person, to write down first the name of the person making the deposit and the amount deposited, and then to write on the margin to be paid to so-and-so; and if they know the face of the person to whom payment is to be made, they do merely this, write down whom they are to pay; but, if they do not know it, it is their custom to write on the margin the name also of him who is to introduce and point out the person who is to receive the money. For a grievous misfortune befell this Lycon.

No sooner had he set out, and was sailing around the Argolic gulf, than his ship was captured by pirate vessels and his goods taken to Argos, while he himself was shot down by an arrow, and met his death. Immediately after this mischance this man Callippus came to the bank, and asked whether they knew Lycon, the Heracleote. Phormion, who is here present, answered that they knew him. Was he a customer of yours? He was, said Phormion, but why do you ask? Why? said he, I will tell you. He is dead, and, as it happens, I am proxenos[*](The proxenos was sort of consular agent, empowered to act in the interest of his country and his countryman in a foreign state.) of the Heracleotes. I demand therefore that you show me your books, that I may know whether he has left any money; for I must of necessity look after the affairs of all the men of Heraclea.

On hearing this, men of the jury, Phormion immediately showed him the books, and, when he had done so, and Callippus (it was he himself, and not another) had read them, and had seen in them the entry, Lycon, the Heracleote, sixteen hundred and forty drachmae, to be paid to Cephisiades; Archebiades of Lamptrae will identify Cephisiades, he went off in silence and for more than five months made no mention of the matter.

After this Cephisiades, having returned to Athens, came to the bank and demanded the money, and in the presence of Archebiades and Phrasias, men of the jury, the persons whom Lycon had introduced to my father, and had hidden to identify Cephisiades, when he should return and in the presence of other witnesses also, Phormion, who is here in court, counted out and paid him the sixteen minae forty drachmae.

To prove that I am speaking the truth, the clerk shall read you the depositions which bear upon all these facts.

The Depositions