19
I, on my part, men of the jury, when I learned that the man had been tortured, and that he had restored the money, supposed that Olympiodorus would pay me half the amount, just as he had before paid me half of the one thousand drachmae. At first I did not press him, thinking that he would recognize his obligation and arrange matters for my interest and his own, so that each of us should have what was fair in accordance with our oaths and our mutual agreement to share equally in all that Comon left;
20
but since he delayed, and did nothing, I had a talk with this man Olympiodorus, and demanded that I receive my share of the money. But Olympiodorus here kept finding one excuse after another, and putting me off. Moreover, at this very time some other people filed claims to the estate of Comon, and Callippus, my brother on my father’s side, returned from abroad; and he too filed a claim for half the estate.
21
So Olympiodorus found in this another excuse for not paying me the money, since there were many who were laying claim to the estate; and he said that I must wait until the suits were settled. And I had to consent to this, and I did consent.
22
After this the defendant Olympiodorus and I took counsel together, as we had sworn to do, to determine the best and safest way to deal with the other claimants. And we decided, men of the jury, that the defendant Olympiodorus should lay claim to the whole estate, and that,I should claim a half, seeing that my brother Callippus claimed a half only.
23
When all the claims had been heard before the archon, and the cases were due to be tried in court, the defendant Olympiodorus and I were wholly unprepared for an immediate trial because those who had suddenly appeared as claimants were so many. However, in view of the situation that had developed, we looked into things jointly to see if in any way a postponement could be brought about for the present, so that we might get ourselves ready for the trial at our leisure.
