Theomnestos describes Apollodoros’ public-spirited acts as a member of the Boule and Stephanos’ attempts to thwart Apollodoros and use the laws to ruin him and his family financially.
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ἐξήνεγκε < ἐκφέρω
προβούλευμα: a proposal put forward by the Boule to the Ekklesia (Assembly); in this case it is an “open” προβούλευμα, meaning that it does not recommend a particular course of action.
λέγον: agrees with προβούλευμα
τὸν δῆμον: accusative subject of διαχειροτονῆσαι in indirect statement
τὰ περιόντα χρήματα τῆς διοικήσεως: “the leftover money from the financial administration,” i.e., the budgetary surplus. περιόντα < περίειμι
στρατιωτικά…θεωρικά: the stratiotic fund was designed to fund military endeavors, whereas the theoric fund was designed to fund festivals.
κελευόντων…τῶν νόμων: scholars debate the relationship between Apollodoros’ proposal and these previous laws. At the very least, Theomnestos seems to be simplifying the situation. Most likely, there was one law that stated that, during wartime, any surplus was to go into the stratiotic fund, and another (later) law or laws that said that surplus should go into the theoric fund (without indicating whether this was only during peacetime). Apollodoros’ proposal likely aimed not to contradict the latter law but to leave the decision of what to do with the surplus up to the people. Carey 1992: 152-56 suggests that Apollodoros was prosecuted on the grounds that it was procedurally irregular for him to bring the matter to the Assembly (rather than putting together a board of lawmakers to sort out the conflicts between the laws).
κύριον: take as predicate adjective; governs the infinitive πρᾶξαι
ἡγούμενος: Apollodoros is the antecedent
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στρατιωτικοῖς: note the predicate position of this word; thus, “as stratiotic”
ἄν = ἐάν
ὁμολογεῖται: take impersonally.
εἰπών...πάθοι: sc. Ἀπολλόδωρος
ἐξαπατήσαντι < ἐξαπατάω; the antecedent is Stephanos, the dative is governed by ὀργίζεσθαι.
δίκαιον: sc. ἐστί
γραψάμενος…παρανόμων: “indicting [the decree] for illegality”; παρανόμων is a genitive of charge or crime: G. 514, S. 1375. The procedure, a γραφὴ παρανόμων, was a public lawsuit alleging that a motion or decree was unconstitutional, either because it violated an existing law or because it was introduced through improper procedure. As with any γραφή, any Athenian who wished could bring this kind of suit.
ὦφλε < ὀφλισκάνω, “had been a debtor to” + dat. The subject is Apollodoros.
δημοσίῳ: “public treasury,” the neuter substantive of δήμοσιος
ἐκ πέντε καὶ εἴκοσιν ἐτῶν: “for 25 years.” ἐκ used of time means “from [that time],” i.e., “for [X amount of time]” (see LSJ A.II).
εἷλε τὸ ψήφισμα: “won a verdict against the decree” of Apollodoros. εἷλε < αἱρέω = “convict” (LSJ II.4.b).
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τιμήματος: “fine, penalty.” For certain crimes, the jurors determined the penalty after hearing alternative proposals presented by the two sides; for other crimes, the penalty was fixed.
δεομένων ἡμῶν: “though we begged him” for a lighter penalty.
συγχωρῆσαι < συγχωρέω, “yield,” i.e., agree to a light penalty
πεντεκαίδεκα ταλάντων ἐτιμᾶτο: τιμάω (in the middle) as an Athenian legal term means “estimate the penalty”; ταλάντων is a genitive of price or value (G. 513, S. 1336). Fifteen talents is a very steep penalty; for reference, 6 obols = 1 drachma (the approximate amount earned per day by an unskilled laborer); 100 drachmas = 1 mna; 60 mnae = 1 talent.
ἀτιμώσειεν < ἀτιμόω. The penalty for conviction in a γραφὴ παρανόμων was generally a fine, but if one was unable to pay the fine, one could potentially be rendered ἄτιμος (disenfranchised), at least until the fine was paid off. If one died before paying off the debt, both the debt and the ἀτιμία were inherited by one’s heirs.
αὐτόν: Apollodoros
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οὐδε…πάνυ: “not quite”
τριῶν ταλάντων: genitive of value
δυνηθῆναι < δύναμαι
ἐκτεῖσαι < ἐκτίνω
μὴ ἐκτεισθέντος…τοῦ ὀφλήατος: μή + the circumstantial participle has conditional force.
ἐπὶ τῆς ἐνάτης πρυτανείας: “by the ninth prytany”; each tribe of Athens was in charge of the Boule for 1/10 of the year; this period of presidency was called a prytany.
ἐγγραφήσεσθαι < ἐγγράφω, “to inscribe [on the list of state debtors]”
ἀπογραφήσεσθαι < ἀπογράφω, “register, enter into a list,” here with its technical sense of giving a list of property belonging to the state but held by a private individual. Anyone who wished could denounce a state debtor, providing an inventory (ἀπογραφή) of the latter’s property. The state could then confiscate the property and sell it off at auction; the denouncer received part of the sale price, the state the rest, which went toward paying off the debt.
ἡ ὑπάρχουσα οὐσία Ἀπολλοδώρῳ: “the property belonging to Apollodoros,” i.e., everything he had. See LSJ υπάρχω B.III.
δημοσία: note the predicate position.
πραθείσης < πιπράσκω
