Demosthenes
XLIX
ΠΡΟΣ ΤΙΜΟΘΕΟΝ ΥΠΕΡ ΧΡΕΩΣ
Μηδενὶ ὑμῶν ἄπιστον γενέσθω, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, εἰ Τιμόθεος ὀφείλων ἀργύριον τῷ πατρὶ τῷ ἐμῷ, φεύγει νῦν ὑπ᾿ ἐμοῦ ταύτην τὴν δίκην. ἀλλ᾿ [1185]ἐπειδὰν ὑμᾶς ἀναμνήσω τόν τε καιρὸν ἐν ᾧ τὸ συμβόλαιον ἐγένετο, καὶ τὰ συμβάντα τούτῳ ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ χρόνῳ, καὶ εἰς ὅσην ἀπορίαν κατέστη οὗτος, τόθ᾿ ἡγήσεσθε τὸν μὲν πατέρα τὸν ἐμὸν βέλτιστον γενέσθαι περὶ Τιμόθεον, τοῦτον δ᾿ οὐ μόνον ἀχάριστον εἶναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀδικώτατον πάντων 2ἀνθρώπων, ὅς γε τυχὼν παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ ἐμοῦ ὅσων ἐδεήθη καὶ λαβὼν ἀργύριον ἀπὸ τῆς τραπέζης, ἐν πολλῇ ἀπορίᾳ καὶ κινδύνοις τοῖς μεγίστοις καθεστηκὼς περὶ τῆς ψυχῆς, οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἀπέδωκε χάριν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ δοθὲν ἀποστερεῖ με. καίτοι σφαλέντος μὲν τούτου ἀπώλλυτο καὶ τῷ πατρὶ τῷ ἐμῷ τὸ συμβόλαιον· οὔτε γὰρ ἐπ᾿ ἐνεχύρῳ οὔτε μετὰ μαρτύρων ἔδωκε· σωθέντος δὲ ἐπὶ τούτῳ ἐγίγνετο, ὁπότε βούλοιτο εὐπορήσας 3ἡμῖν ἀποδοῦναι. ἀλλ᾿ ὅμως, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί,
Against Timotheus
XLIX
Apollodorus Against Timotheus, in the Matter of a Debt
Let no one of you think, men of the jury, that it is a thing beyond belief that Timotheus should have owed money to my father and is now being prosecuted by me in this suit. On the contrary, when I have called to your minds the occasion on which the loan was contracted and the events in which the defendant was at that time involved and the straits to which he was reduced, you will then hold that my father was most generous to Timotheus, and that the defendant is not only ungrateful, but is the most dishonest of humankind; for he got from my father2 all that he asked, and received from the bank money at a time when he was in great need and when he was in grievous danger of losing his lifea; yet he has not only made no return, but even seeks to rob me of the money which was granted him. And yet, if matters had gone badly with Timotheus, my father’s money, too, was lost, for he lent it without security and without witnesses; but, if the defendant got off safe, it rested with him to choose when, having the funds available, he should pay us back. But for3 all that, men of the jury, my father did not count the