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αἴρεσιν The choice lay with him by virtue of being the elder brother (§ 34). καίτοι κ.τ.λ. Phormion argues that, if the plaintiff had had any private capital of his own in the bank, he would have chosen the banking-business in preference to the manufactory. He did not, and therefore he contends there was no such fund.— ἰδία ἀφορμὴ is private bankingstock, as opposed to deposits, παρακαταθῆκαι (cf. § 11).—τάλαντον = 60 minae. τὸ μὲν γὰρ—ἀλλοτρίων ‘For the manufactory is a property free from risk, whereas the bank is a business yielding a hazardous (speculative, precarious) revenue from other people's money.’ The bank was not a κτῆμα, but only an ἐργασία, not a secure property, but a precarious trading with other people's money. ἥδιον The labour and trouble and other disagreeable incidents of manufacturing shields made such a property less desirable in itself than a banking business. But the bank business was speculative, and involved the risk of losing the deposits, and therefore the manufactory, with all its drawbacks, was preferred by Apollodorus, as being at least safe. P.]
Select Private Orations of Demosthenes, Part II. J. E. Sandys, Litt. D., and F. A. Paley, M.A., LL.D. 1910. Cambridge University Press.
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