Against Aphobus I (11-15)

To these sums left by him at home we must add seventy minae, a maritime loan to Xuthus; twenty-four hundred drachmae in the bank of Pasion, six hundred in that of Pylades, sixteen hundred in the hands of Demomeles, son of Demon, and about a talent loaned without interest in sums of two hundred or three hundred drachmae. The total of these last sums amounts to more than eight talents and fifty minae, and the whole taken together you will find on examination to come to about fourteen talents.[*]

This, then, men of the jury, was the amount of property left by my father. How much of it has been squandered, how much they have severally taken, and of how much they have jointly robbed me, it is impossible to tell in the time[*] allotted to one plea. I must discuss each one of these questions separately. I pass over the question as to what property of mine Demophon or Therippides are holding. It will be time enough to discuss this when I bring in my accusations against them. I shall speak to you now of the defendant and shall state what his colleagues prove that he has in his hands, and what I know he has taken. In the first place I shall show that he has the marriage-portion, the eighty minae, and after that shall take up the other matters and discuss them with the utmost brevity.

Immediately after my father’s death the defendant came and dwelt in the house according to the terms of the will, and took possession of my mother’s jewels and the plate. In these he received the equivalent of about fifty minae. Furthermore, he received from Therippides and Demophon the proceeds of the sale of the slaves until he had made up the full amount of the marriage-portion, eighty minae.

and after getting this, when he was about to set sail for Corcyra as trierarch,[*] he sent Therippides a written acknowledgement that he had these sums in his possession, and admitted that he had received the marriage-portion. Of these matters Demophon and Therippides, his co-trustees, are witnesses, and, besides this, his own acknowledgement of having received these moneys is attested by Demochares, of Leuconion,[*] who is the husband of my aunt, and by many other witnesses.

For when it proved that Aphobus, though he had her fortune, would not maintain my mother, and refused to let the property, choosing rather to administer it himself in conjunction with the other guardians, Demochares remonstrated with him about the matter; and Aphobus, when he had heard him, neither denied that he had the money nor waxed indignant as one who had received nothing, but admitted the fact, and said that he was having a little dispute with my mother about her jewels, and that, when he had settled this matter, he would act regarding the maintenance and all else in such a way that I should have no ground for complaint.