Speeches from Athenian Law

ISOCRATES 17. TRAPEZITICUS

ISOCRATES . TRAPEZITICUS introduction The defendant in this case, Pasion, is the most famous banker (trapezitēs) of classical Athens. A former slave, he was also the father of Apollodorus, the author of several speeches later included with those of Demosthenes, including Demosthenes 59 (see Trevett 1992). The acrimony into which this case must have brought Pasion apparently did no serious or long-term damage to his professional reputation. In time, he would even be granted citizenship for service to Athens. He died in 370/69. The prosecutor is a young man from the Bosporus (now the Crimea in southern Ukraine), whose father, Sopaeus, was very close to the region’s ruler, Satyrus. The Bosporus was an important area for Athens, the source of much of its imported grain. The speaker tells us that he came to Athens to see the sights and conduct some trade, and Pythodorus, a Phoenician, introduced him to Pasion. When Sopaeus temporarily fell out of favor with Satyrus, the son took steps to hide his money from Satyrus’ agents in Athens. These steps included a feigned denial that he had money on deposit with Pasion and even a (false) admission that he was in debt to the banker. When he decided to leave Athens, he asked Pasion for the money back and was refused (8–9). The obvious person to consult was Cittus, who kept the books at Pasion’s bank, but Cittus temporarily disappeared, and then his status was disputed, whether he was a free man or a slave, which confused whether the information he had could be gained from him through torture or not (11–17). For a time it appeared that a resolution would be reached, according to which both men would go to Satyrus and settle the matter before him (18–20). But accusations that Pasion had made against Menexenus, one of the trapeziticus 355 speaker’s confidants, that Menexenus had kidnapped Cittus, led to Menexenus bringing charges of his own against Pasion for slander (21–22). This complication nullified the arrangement between Pasion and the speaker, and Pasion then arranged, so the speaker claims, to have a slave alter the document that set out the conditions under which Pasion and the speaker would appear before Satyrus (21–23). The speaker begins his proofs with that document, arguing that Pasion’s version of the circumstances of its composition makes no sense of the motives of the two parties (24–34). He then anticipates that Pasion will argue that the speaker was in debt to Stratocles and had had a friend, Hippolaïdas, borrow from Pasion (rather than lending him money himself), and so he explains these circumstances (35–44). He also takes up the issue of motive again, pointing out that his original charge was made when he was in a straitened situation, when he is unlikely to have engaged in sykophancy (45–48; cf. 21.11–13). He then resumes his narrative with the report that in the end, Pasion finally sent Cittus to go with the speaker to Satyrus, but the two gave conflicting accounts to the king of why they had come to him, with the result that Satyrus sent a letter to the Athenians asking them to resolve the matter (51–52). The speaker then concludes his proof by recalling the torture that he proposed to perform on Cittus (53–55) and pointing out the services of his father and Satyrus to Athens in the past (57–58). The speech can be dated after 394, when Athens broke Sparta’s naval dominance (36). It offers insights into Athenian banking and Athens’ relations with the kingdom of Bosporus (see Trevett 1992; E. Cohen 1992). There are also many glimpses of aspects of Athenian judicial procedure, such as private arbitration and the torture of slaves. isocrates 17. trapeziticus [1] Judges, this trial is important to me. I am risking not only a lot of money but also the appearance of unjustly coveting another’s possessions. That is what concerns me most. I will still have sufficient property even if I lose, but if I appeared to be making a charge over so much money with no right to it, I would be reviled for my whole life. 356 isocrates 17 [2] The most difficult thing of all, men of the court, is the sort of opponents I am facing. Dealings with people...