§§ 6—8. Further details of the case. I myself knew nothing of these men, but they were introduced to me by some friends of mine. They wanted a loan for trading to the Euxine, in the joint names of Artemon and Apollodorus. My friends entertained no doubt of their respectability, and Lacritus was surety for the payment. Accordingly I lent them 30 minae.
ἐκείνου τοῦ Σ. The words imply that Diophantus was well known, and all this is said to show that every reasonable precaution was taken by Androcles. [The latest certain mention we find of this Diophantus (apparently now no longer alive) is as a witness in the speech de Falsa Legatione, B.C. 343 (p. 403 § 198), and in p. 436 § 297 he is named as a man of mark, one of those who ἐπἱ καιρῶν γεγόνασιν ἰσχυροί. Melanopus, son of Diophantus, appears to have been called after his maternal uncle, the Melanopus who is attacked by Dem. in Or. 24, Timocr. §§ 125—130, and is described by Harpocration as κηδεστὴς Διοφάντου τοῦ ῥήτορος. A. Schaefer, Dem. u. s. Zeit III B 290. S.]
χρώμεθα κ.τ.λ. ‘we are as intimate as possible with one another.’ Cf. 55 Callicl. § 23. S.]
οὗτοι Thrasymedes and Melanopus, not οἱ ἄνθρωποι οὗτοι, the two brothers accompanied by Lacritus. For he goes on to say that Lacritus had somehow or other made acquaintance with them; and it is clearly implied that the whole affair was a swindle.
