At first Callimachus kept his agreement, but later in complicity with Xenotimus—that
 falsifier of the laws, corrupter of our tribunals, vilifier of the authorities, and author
 of every evil—he brought suit against me for the sum of ten thousand drachmas. But when I
 brought forward in my defense a witness to show that the suit was not within the
 jurisdiction of the court by reason of the previous arbitration, he did not attack my
 witness— for he knew that, if he did not receive the fifth of the votes cast, he would be assessed
 a penalty of one-sixth of the amount demanded—but having won over the magistrate, he again
 brought the same suit, in the belief that he risked only his court deposit-fee. And since
 I was at a loss how to cope with my difficulties, I judged that it was best to make the
 hazard equal for us both See Introduction to this
 speech. and to come before you. And these are the facts. I learn that Callimachus not only intends to speak falsely in the matter of his
 complaint, but will also deny that the arbitration took place, and that he is prepared to
 go so far as to assert that he never would have entrusted an arbitration to Nicomachus,
 whom he knew to be an old friend of ours, and further, that it is improbable that he was
 willing to accept two hundred drachmas instead of ten thousand. You must reflect, however, first, that we were not in dispute in the matter of the
 arbitration, but we committed it as an arbitration under stated terms, so that it is not
 at all strange that Callimachus chose Nicomachus as arbiter; it would have been far
 stranger if, after he had come to an agreement about the matter, he had then made
 difficulty about the choice of arbiter. In the next place, it is not reasonable to assume
 that, if ten thousand drachmas had been owing to him, he would have settled for two
 minas 10,000 drachmas=about $1800 or approximately 360
 sterling; two minas (200 drachmas)=about $36 or between seven and eight pounds. ;
 but since his charges were unjust and in the nature of blackmail, it is not astonishing
 that he was willing to take so little. Furthermore, if, after exorbitant demands, he
 exacted little, this is no proof in favor of his contention that the arbitration did not
 take place on the contrary, it confirms all the more our contention that his claim was
 unjust in the first place. I am astonished that, while he judges himself capable of recognizing that it was not
 probable that he was willing to take two hundred drachmas instead of the ten thousand, yet
 believes that I am incapable of discovering, if I had wished to lie, that I ought to have
 asserted that I had given him more. But this I ask—that in so far as it would have been an
 indication in his favor that the arbitration did not take place, if he had proved the
 falsity of the testimony, to that same extent it shall be proof in favor of my contention
 that I tell the truth concerning the arbitration, inasmuch as it is clearly shown that he
 did not dare to proceed against my witness.