Dēmos · Classical Athenian Democracy · a Stoa Publication
→ § 36 (Dem. 36).
Craig Gibson, trans., edition of April 30, 2003
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(1) When he died, Pasion the banker left behind two sons by Archippe, Apollodorus and Pasicles. He put Phormio in charge as a guardian of Pasicles, the younger son. (Phormio was a domestic slave who had belonged to Pasion but who some time earlier had obtained his freedom.) He also gave Phormio the boys’ mother (a concubine who had been his) as a wife, along with a dowry. (2) Apollodorus then divided up his father’s estate with his brother, except for the bank and the shield-workshop; for Phormio had leased these from Pasion for a prescribed time. (3) In the meantime, each of them received half the rent, but later they divided up these two things, as well; Apollodorus got the shield-workshop and Pasicles got the bank. Later, when their mother died and they had divided up her estate as well, Apollodorus brought an accusation against Phormio for having a great deal of money that belonged to him. (4) Then, when Apollodorus’ relatives—Nicias, Deinias, <Lysinus,> and Andromenes—had appointed themselves as arbitrators (according to Phormio), they persuaded Apollodorus to accept five thousand drachmae and dismiss the complaints against Phormio. (5) Then later, Apollodorus again took Phormio to court over the capital (aphorme)—the Attic Greeks called aphorme what we call entheke—but Phormio indicts him for bringing an illegal prosecution, adducing the law which says that a case cannot come to trial again once someone has been granted a release and discharge. (6) However, the orator also touches on the primary case, showing that the bank did not have Pasion’s money. He does this so that his indictment for an illegal prosecution might be stronger, the unsoundness of Apollodorus’ primary case having been demonstrated.
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