For Phormion

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For Phormion is a speech by the Athenian speaker Demosthenes, delivered for Phormion around 350–49 BC. It is the 36th speech in the Demosthenic corpus. Phormion had once been a slave who was freed for his good service and later became guardian of Pasion’s youngest son, managing Pasion’s estate.

The speech covers a dispute between Apollodoros of Acharnae (Pasion’s elder son) and Phormion over Apollodoros’ inheritance. Apollodoros said Phormion hadn’t repaid an 11-talent loan and sued for repayment with interest (20 talents total). Phormion countered that Apollodoros had previously declared all Phormion’s debts settled, so he had no right to sue. The speech was written to be spoken by a Phormion supporter, since Phormion himself could not speak well due to illness, old age, or limited Greek. It is not certain whether Demosthenes delivered the speech, but Dinarchus notes that Demosthenes did speak for Phormion in a trial, likely referring to this one.

This is one of the few ancient Athenian speeches where we know the outcome: Apollodoros’ first speech, “Against Stephanos,” shows that Phormion’s countersuit was successful, and he won the case.