References to the apobates have been collected by Reisch, Gardiner, Patrucco, Kyle and others, but the exact nature of this specialized event remains obscure. Patrucco in particular laments the scarcity of literary sources which he suggests provide little information. Yet the fullest account of the apobates appears in a lengthy passage in the corpus of Demosthenes (lxi 23-29, the Erotikos or Erotic essay) which strangely is not mentioned by any of the above scholars. I propose to update our knowledge of this contest, particularly as it relates to the fourth century B.C., in the light of this ‘new’ evidence. Because of the romantic nature of the essay, the reader should perhaps observe caution and allow for exaggeration on the part of Demosthenes, but even so several important observations can be made.