Unknown Pleader Against Apaturius (9-11)

In this way, then, Apaturius here got rid of his creditors. Not long after this, the bank having failed, and Heracleides for a time having gone into hiding, the plaintiff schemed to send the slaves from Athens, and to remove the ship from the harbor. This was the cause of my first quarrel with him. For Parmeno, learning of the fact, laid hands on the slaves as they were being taken away, and prevented the sailing of the ship; then he sent for me, and told me of the affair.

When I heard him, thinking this fellow a most impious wretch because of his attempt, I set about considering how I might myself get free from my guaranty to the bank, and how the foreigner[*] might avoid the loss of the money he had lent this fellow through me. After stationing men to guard the ship I told the whole story to the sureties of the bank and turned the security over to them, telling them that the foreigner had a lien of ten minae on the ship. Having arranged this, I attached the slaves, in order that, if any shortage occurred, the deficiency might be made up by the proceeds of their sale.

In this way, when I found that Apaturius was a rascal, I set matters right in my own interest and in the interest of the foreigner. But Apaturius, as though the wrong was on my side, and not on his, made complaint to me, and asked if it were not enough for me to be released from my guaranty to the bank, without also attaching the ship and the slaves to secure his money for Parmeno, and thus making an enemy of himself in the interest of one who was an exile.