PARACATATHE´CE
PARACATATHE´CE (
παρακαταθήκη,
παραθήκη: cf.
Rutherford,
New Phrynichus, p. 367) generally signifies a
deposit of something valuable with a friend or other person, for the benefit
of the owner. Thus, if I deliver my goods to a friend, to be taken care of
for me; or if I give a creditor something valuable as a pledge; or if I
deposit money with a banker (
ἀφορμή,
Harpocr.
s. v.; argum. Dem.
pro
Phorm. p. 944), to receive interest for it and to draw on him (Dem.
c. Callip. p. 1236.4; Blümner,
Griech.
Privatalt. p. 454 f.), such delivery or
bailment, or the gods bailed or delivered, or the money deposited,
may be called
παρακαταθήκη (
Hdt. 6.86; Dem.
pro Phorm. p. 946.5
f., and
c. Stephan. i. p. 1110.29 f.); and the word is often
applied metaphorically to any important trust committed by one person to
another (Dem.
c. Aphob. ii. p. 840.15; Aeschin.
c.
Tim. § 7; Dem.
c. Mid. p. 572.177,
etc.). As every bailee is bound to restore to the bailor the thing
deposited, either on demand (in case of a simple bailment) or on performance
of the conditions on which it was received, the Athenians gave a
παρακαταθήκης δίκη against a bailee who
unjustly withheld his property from the owner,
ἀπεστέρησε τὴν παρακαταθήκην (Pollux, 6.154; Schol. to
Aristoph. Pl. 373, etc.), or who used
it without the owner's permission for his own benefit. Examples of such an
action are Isocr.
Trapez. and
c. Euthyn.: a
subject of Satyrus, king of Bosporus, sues Pasion the banker for money
alleged to have been placed in his hands (
Trapez. §
§ 11, 27, etc.); Nicias had deposited three talents with Euthynus,
and, when he applied to him for the money, Euthynus repaid only two and
disclaimed knowledge of the third (
c. Euthyn. §
§ 3, 7, 9, etc.). A pledge given to a creditor could not be
recovered, except on payment of the money owed to him; but, after selling
the article and satisfying his debt out of the proceeds, he would of course
be bound to restore the surplus (if any) to the pledgor. It is not known
whether beyond restoring the thing deposited any penalty was inflicted on a
defendant who fraudulently denied that he had ever received the deposit; so
much is certain from Dem.
c. Mid. p. 528.44, that
ἀτιμία was not inflicted, as Meursius,
Them. Attica, 2.100.23, p. 120 (
τὸν μὴ ἀποδιδόντα τὴν παρακαταθήκην ἄτιμον εἶναι）
supposed (Thalheim,
Griech. Rechtsalt. p. 48, n. 5). The
difficulty of procuring safe custody for money, and the general insecurity
of movable property in Greece, induced many rich persons to make valuable
deposits in the principal temples, such
[p. 2.338]as that of
Apollo at Delphi (
Plut. Lys. 18), of Artemis
at Ephesus (Dio Chrysost. 31.54; cf. Xenoph.
Anab. 5.3, 6,
and Plaut.
Bacch. 2.3, 78), of Hera at Samus (
Cic. de Legg. 2.1. 6, 41),
etc. (Büchsenschütz,
Besitz. u. Erwerb. p.
508 f.: cf. Posidon. Apam. ft. 48, in
Fragnm. Hist. Graec.
iii. p. 48.) It may be observed that
παρακατατίθεσθαι,
in the middle voice, is always used of a person
making a deposit
for his own benefit, with the
intention of taking it up again, and
παρακατακεῖσθαι of the thing thus deposited;
κομίζεσθαι is to recover your property (Isocr.
c. Euthyn. § 4;
Trapez.
§ 8, etc.). (
Att. Process, ed. Lipsius, pp. 700 ff.)
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