Trapeziticus (31-35)

But here is the strongest proof of all that in the agreement Pasion was not absolved from his debt, but on the contrary had agreed to repay the gold: when Menexenus lodged his suit against him, which was before the memorandum had been tampered with, Pasion sent Agyrrhius[*], a friend of both of us, to beg that I either appease Menexenus or annul the agreement I had made with himself.

And yet, men of the jury, do you think that he would desire the annulment of this agreement, which he could use to convict us of falsehood? At any rate, this was not what he was saying after they had altered the memorandum; on the contrary, in all details he appealed to the agreement and ordered the memorandum to be opened. In proof that Pasion at first was eager for the suppression of the agreement I will produce Agyrrhius himself as witness. Please take the stand.

Testimony

So then, the fact that we made the agreement, not as Pasion will try to explain, but as I have related to you, I think has been sufficiently established. And it should not occasion surprise, men of the jury, that he falsified the memorandum, not only for the reason that there have been numerous frauds of such nature, but because some of Pasion’s friends have been guilty of conduct far worse. For instance, is there anyone who is ignorant that Pythodorus, called “the shop-keeper,”[*] whose words and acts are all in Pasion’s interest, last year opened the voting-urns[*] and removed the ballots naming the judges which had been cast by the Council?

And yet when a man who, for petty gain and at the peril of his life, has the effrontery to open secretly the urns that had been stamped by the prytanes[*] and sealed by the choregi,[*] urns that were guarded by the treasurers and kept on the Acropolis, why should there be surprise that men, who hoped to make so great a profit, falsified an insignificant written agreement in the possession of a foreigner, gaining their ends either by the bribery of his slaves or by some other means in their power? On this point, however, I do not know what more I need say.

Already Pasion has tried to persuade certain persons that I had no money at all here, asserting that I had borrowed three hundred staters[*] from Stratocles. It is worth while, therefore, that you should hear me also on these matters, in order that you may understand how flimsy is the proof which encourages him to try to defraud me of my money. Now, men of the jury, when Stratocles was about to sail for Pontus, I, wishing to get as much of my money out of that country as possible, asked Stratocles to leave with me his own gold and on his arrival in Pontus to collect its equivalent from my father there,