Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/337

 CONDUCT 01' DEMOSTHENES REVIEWED. 305 lodfiod ill trust for Alexander, in the acropolis : a plf,ce where all the Athenian public money was habitually kept — in t le back chamber of the Parthenon. When placed in that chamber, these new treasures would come under the custody of the officers of the Athenian exchequer ; and would be just as much out of the reach of Demosthenes as the rest of the public money. What more could Phokion Idmself have done to preserve the Harpa- lian fund intact, than to put it in the recognized place of surety ? Then, as to the intermediate process, of taking the money from Harpalus up to the acropolis, there is no proof, — and in my judgment no probability, — that Demosthenes was at all con- cerned it. Even to count, verify, and weigh, a sum of above £80,000 — not in bank notes or bills of exchange, but sub- divided in numerous and heavy coins (staters, darics, tetra- drachms), likely to be not even Attic, but Asiatic — must have been a tedious duty requiring to be performed by competent reckoners, and foreign to the habits of Demosthenes. The offi- cers of the Athenian treasury must have gone through this labor, providing the slaves or mules requisite for carrying so heavy a burthen up to the acropolis. Now we have ample evi- dence from the remaining Inscriptions, that the details of trans- fering and verifying the public property, at Athens, were per formed habitually with laborious accuracy. Least of all would such accuracy be found wanting in the case of the large Harpa- lian treasure, where the very passing of the decree implied great fear of Alexander. If Harpalus, on being publicly questioned in the assembly — What was the sum to be carried up into the acropolis, — answered by stating the amount which he had originally brought and not that which he had remaining — De- mosthenes might surely repeat that statement immediately after him, without being understood thereby to bind himself down as guarantee for its accuracy. An adverse pleader, like Hyperides, might indeed turn a point in his speech' — " You told the assem- ' Frngm. Ilvperides, p. 7, ed. Babington — tv tu 6j}fjcj i—raKoaLC fi/aac elvac Tu/Mvra, V V V tu i/uiar/ av a<p e p e t^ ; In p. 26 of the same Fragments, we find Hyperides reproaching Demos thenes for not having kept effective custody over the person of Harpalus; for not having proposed any decree providing a special custody ; for not 26*