Mortgage pillars

Then he seeks now to deceive and beguile you by claiming that he set up the pillars before judgement was given against Aphobus.

He removes the pillars from the house, and declares that the marriage-portion was a talent only, which sum was guaranteed by a mortgage on the land.

and he set up pillars on the house for two thousand drachmae, and on the land for a talent, wishing to preserve both the one and the other for Aphobus.

Why, then, Phaenippus, when I asked you in the presence of witnesses whether you owed anything on your farm, and bade you show me the pillar of mortgage, if one were set up anywhere upon it, and and adjured you not to have any fictitious creditors to be brought to light later on to my prejudice—why, pray, did you not reveal any of these debts then?

And first I led them around the farm, the circuit of which was more than forty stades, and pointed out to them, and called them to witness in the presence of Phaenippus, that there were no mortgage-pillars on the farm, and I bade Phaenippus, if he said there were, to declare it at once and point them out to me, for fear some debt existing against the property might be brought to light later on.

For all his property had been mortgaged, pillars had been set up on it, and other people were in control.

When he was deposed, he reported in the account which he rendered, that he had at that time himself given those seven minae for the ships from the military fund, but, fearing lest the trierarchs should give evidence against him and he should be convicted of lying, he borrowed privately from each one of them seven minae, and gave them a mortgage on his property.