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 THE 
 
 SPEECHES 
 
 Ο F 
 
 ι s je υ s 
 
 IN CAUSES CONCERNING 
 
 THE LAW OF 
 
 SUCCESSION TO PROPERTY AT 
 
 A Τ HE Ν S, 
 
 WITH 
 
 A PREFATORY DISCOURSE, 
 
 NOTES- 
 CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL, 
 
 AND 
 
 A COMMENTARY. 
 
 BY WILLIAM JONES, ESQ^ 
 
 BARRISTER AT LAW, 
 FELLOW OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, OXFORD» 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed by J. NICHOLS, 
 
 For E. and C. D I L L Y, in the Poultry, 
 
 m.dc clxx ι X.
 
 StacR 
 Annex 
 
 THE 
 
 07,0 
 
 EPISTLE DEDICATORY 
 
 τ ο 
 
 The EARL BATHURST. 
 
 W 
 
 My Lord., 
 
 ΪΓ ;re not fully apprized of Your Lordihip's contempt for 
 that fervile and adulatory ftyle, in which patrons of eminent 
 rank are too frequently addreffed; yet my own habits and 
 fentiments would iuincienfly fecure You from the uneafinefs, 
 which panegyrick moft fenfibly gives to thofe who moil highly 
 xleferve it ; nor fhould I indeed have been ambitious of ob- 
 taining any protection for the following work, which muft 
 fucceed or fail by its own worth or demerit, and cannot be 
 •fupported by the fplendour of a name, if the obligations, 
 which Your Lordihip has conferred on me, were not of fach 
 a kind, as to call aloud for the moft open and the warmeft ac- 
 knowledgement. 
 
 On fuch an occaiion, it might perhaps be pardonable' to 
 deviate a little from my former principles, and to delineate 
 Your Lordihip's character in juft, yet glowing, colours ; espe- 
 cially as my own certain and perlonal knowledge of it has 
 given me the power of drawing it to the life ; and, if one of two 
 groundlcfs imputations muft neceffarily be incurred, I fhor.kl 
 
 a ι prefer 

 
 IV 
 
 Ε Ρ I S Τ L Ε 
 
 prefer the fufpicion of being a flatterer to the charge of being 
 ungrateful ; but I muft not forget that it is Yourfelf, whom I 
 am addremng, and I could not write to You with plealure 
 what I know You would read with pain. 
 
 I check myfelf, therefore, my Lord, with reluctance, 
 and abftain from thofe topicks, to which the overflowing of 
 my zeal would naturally impell me ; but I cannot let flip 
 this opportunity of informing the publick, who have hither- 
 to indulgently approved and encouraged my labours, that, 
 although I have received many fignal marks of friendihip 
 from a number of illuftrious perfons, to whofe favours I can 
 never proportion my thanks, yet Your Lordfhip has been 
 my greateft, my only, Benefactor ; that, without any feli- 
 citation, or even reqiieit on my part, You gave me a fub- 
 ilantial and permanent token of regard, which You rendered 
 itill more valuable by Your obliging manner of giving it, and 
 which has been literally the fole fruit that I have gathered 
 from an inceffant courie of very painful toil ; that Your kind 
 intentions extended to a larger field ; and that You had even 
 determined to reward me in a manner the moft agreeable 
 both to my inclinations and to the nature of my readies, if an 
 event, which, as it procured an acceflion to Your happinefs, 
 could not but conduce to mine, had not prevented the full 
 effects of Your kindnefs. 
 
 It might here become me to fupprefs, what I cannot how- 
 ever perfuade myfelf to conceal, that Your Lordfhip was 
 pleafed to aiiign the moft flattering reafons for Your intention, 
 and to declare that You defired my promotion both for my 
 own fake, and for that of the publick ; the firft of which 
 motives I afcribe to Your candour and the goodnefs of Your 
 
 heart ;
 
 DEDICATORY. \ 
 
 heart ; the fecond, which I am wholly unconfcious of deferr- 
 ing, I can impute only to Your lingular benignity and in- 
 dulgence. 
 
 As a benefit intended is the fame in my opinion with a 
 benefit conferred, my obligation to Your Lordihip is perfectly 
 equal ; and this fentiment, I entreat You to believe, no change 
 of fituation can alter, no length of time can obliterate. I had 
 a friend, my Lord, who knew my gratitude for the former 
 inftance of Your kindnefs ; and He indeed was entitled to 
 fome mare of it, as it was He, who procured me the honour 
 of being known to Your Lordihip : with Your late favours, 
 unhappily for me, and unhappily for all who were con- 
 nected with him, he did not live to be acquainted. 
 
 Your Lordihip perceives that I fpeak of Sir J Α Μ Ε S Ρ Ο R- 
 TER ; whom You alfo called your friend, and by whom You 
 Were moil truly eiteemed and reflected. He was a man, 
 whofe focial virtues were fo tranfcendent, that his life was 
 fpent in perpetual exertions of them, and not a day of it 
 elapfed without fome intention fincerely expreffed, or ibme 
 act zealouily performed, for the pleafure or advantage of 
 another ; nor were his talents inferiour to his benevolence ; 
 for, during his embaffy at CONSTANTINOPLE, where 
 he gained a perfect acquaintance with the manners of the ex- 
 traordinary people among whom he refided, his addreis and 
 activity were fo properly exerted, that the interefts of our 
 mercantile body were never better fecured, nor the honour of 
 our nation better fupported. Of ufeful, as well as ornamental, 
 knowledge, both in literature and fcience, he had confider- 
 ably a greater portion than is uiually poflefled by men of the 
 world ; and, while he was effectually ferving his country as a 
 minuter, he juitly acquired the reputation of a fcholar. One 
 part of his character was no lefs amiable than uncommon : fo 
 
 totally
 
 Vi 
 
 EPISTLE 
 
 totally free was he from envy, the vice of little fouls, that he 
 Was always eager to encourage the appearance of literary 
 merit, wherever it could be found ; and, if any perfon had 
 cultivated a particular branch of learning more affiduoufly 
 than himfelf, he took a real pleafure in receiving information, 
 and, what was ilill more rare at his age, in renouncing ancient 
 prejudices, and retracting opinions which he allowed to have 
 been precipitately formed. 
 
 But it is needlefs to expatiate on his excellent qualities, 
 -which were known to Your Lordihip, as well as to many of 
 Your common friends ; and I need only add, that his well 
 fpent life would have been completely happy, if it had lafted 
 until he had feen You retire with dignity from the high office 
 which You fo long filled with honour, and had been witnefs of 
 the fplendid tranquillity which you now enjoy. 
 
 The nature and fcope of the following work, which I had 
 before imparted to Him, I took the liberty of explaining alfo 
 to Your Lordihip; and, if the execution of it were conform- 
 able to the defign, I might flatter myfelf, that it would ob- 
 tain your approbation : it has antiquity at leaft to recommend 
 it ; and, whatever opinion Your Lordihip may juftly entertain 
 -concerning the general utility of minute philological refearches, 
 yet You will be convinced, that ancient literature, properly 
 'directed, may be applied to many ufeful purpoies beyond 
 thofe intended at the fchool or the college. 
 
 Among other things, You will remark with fatisfacfion, 
 that, how much foever the old itates of Greece might have 
 furpaffed us in the productions of art and genius, yet the ad- 
 miniftration of juftice, on which our common lecurity de- 
 pends, now flows in a purer itream at Weitminfter, than for- 
 merly at ΑΤΗ ;, for the Archon fat in a tribunal, where 
 .2 every
 
 DEDICATORY. vii 
 
 every cafe was generally decided by a kind of political law, 
 to which no precedents were applied, and from which no 
 rules were deduced; whereas Your Lordihip prefided in a 
 court, where the great boundaries of property are not only 
 diitincT: and vifible, but irrevocably fixed, where nothing : . 
 vague or precarious, nothing left to difcretionary interpreta- 
 tion, but where Your predeceflbrs wifely eftabliihed, and 
 Your Lordihip nobly maintained, a beautiful fyirem of libe- 
 ral jurifprudence, which, while it fecures many import- 
 ant rights of our countrymen, contributes to the glory of our 
 country itfelf by attracting the admiration of all mankind. 
 
 The laws of ENGLAND are the proper fbudy of Englifli- 
 raen ; but they always ihine with greater luftre, when they 
 are compared with thofe of other nations ; and, as Your Noble 
 Father conftantly admired the eloquence of Oemoflhenes, fo I 
 am perfuaded that Your Lordihip will not be difpleafed with 
 the fpeeches of an orator, whom Demofthenes himfelf both 
 admired and imitated: if I mould not be deceived in this 
 expectation, I ill all gain a fuificient reward for my trouble in 
 tranilating him, and fhall feel Your Lordfhip's approbation of 
 my parTed, to be the itrongeft incentive to future, labours. 
 
 I am, my Lord, 
 
 with unfeigned refpedt, 
 Your Lordfhip's 
 moft obliged and 
 
 moil grateful fervant, 
 
 WILLIAM JONES.
 
 t i ] 
 
 THE 
 
 PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 
 
 Τ 
 
 THERE is no branch of learning, from which a ftudent of 
 the law may receive a more rational pleafure, or which feems 
 more likely to prevent his being difgufted with the dry elements of a 
 very complicated fcience, than the hiilory of the rules and ordi- 
 nances by which nations, eminent for wifdom and illuirrious in 
 arts, have regulated their civil polity : nor is this the only fruit 
 that he may expect to reap from a general knowledge of foreign laws 
 both ancient and modern ; for, whilft he indulges the liberal curio- 
 fity of a fcholar in examining the cuftoms and inftitutions of men, 
 whofe works have yielded him the higheft delight, and whofe ac- 
 tions have raifed his admiration, he will feel the fatisfaclion of a pa- 
 triot in obfervmg the preference due in moil inftances to the laws of 
 his own country r.bove thofe of all other irate s ; or, if his juir. prof- 
 pe£b in life give him hopes of becoming a legiflator, he may collect. 
 many ufeful hints, for the improvement even of that fabrick which 
 his anceftors have ere&ed with infinite exertions of virtue and g;e- 
 
 a niusu
 
 11 
 
 Λ 
 
 THE PREFATORY 
 
 nius, but which, like all human fyftems, will ever advance nearer 
 to perfection and ever fall ihort of it. In the courfe of his enquiries 
 he will conftantly obferve a ftriking uniformity among all nations, 
 whatever feas or mountains may feparate them, or how many ages 
 foever may have elapfed between the periods of their exiftence, in 
 thole great and fundamental principles, which, being clearly de- 
 duced from natural reafon, are equally diffufed over all mankind, and 
 are not fubject to alteration by any change of place or time ; nor will 
 he fail to remark as ftriking a diverfity in thofe laws, which, pro- 
 ceeding merely from pofitive inftitution, are confequently as various 
 as the wills and fancies of thofe who enact them : iuch,. among a 
 thoufand, are the rules by which the pofleffions of a perfon de- 
 ceafed, whether folid and permanent, or incorporeal and fluctuat- 
 ing, are tranfmitted to his heirs or fucceflbrs, and which could 
 never have been fo capriciouily diveriined, if they had been founded 
 on pure reafon, inftead of being left to the difcretion of every fo- 
 ciety, for whofe convenience they are calculated. 
 
 Sir MATTHEW HALE, to whofe learning and diligence the 
 prefcnt age is no lefs indebted than his contemporaries were to his 
 wifdom and virtue, teems to have approved the ftudy which I re- 
 commend ; and, in his Hiilory of the Common Law, has given a 
 fummary of the rules which prevailed among the ancient Hebrews, 
 Greeks, and Romans, concerning the hereditary tranfmiffion of pro- 
 pertv ; but, as he profefled to touch very ihortly on that fubject, 
 and was contented with tranfcribing the verfion of Petit, without 
 having recourfe to the authors by whom the originals are prefer-ved 
 and explained, his account of the Attick laws is remarkably fuper- 
 fi'cial and erroneous. He complains, that the text is very ohfeure : 
 it is, indeed, as he cites it, not only dark, but corrupt ; and. the 
 fenfe, which he collects from it, is by no means perfpicuous. A 
 defire of removing this obfeurity, and of fupplying a defect, how- 
 ever unimportant, in the work of fo great a man, firft induced me 
 to renew my acquaintance, which had been for many years inter- 
 rupted, with the Athenian orators, from whole private fpeeches I had 
 
 reaioa
 
 DISCOURSE. iii 
 
 reafon to expert the cleareft light on the lubject of inheritances ; 
 and I prefently recollected one of them, whole remains I had {cm 
 when I was a boy, but had been deterred, like many others, from 
 reading them, by the difficulty of the foreniick terms, which oc- 
 curred in almoit every page. 
 
 This was IS.^EUS, a lawyer of the firft. clafs at Athens, and an 
 advocate, as the ancient criticks agree, of a itrong original genius ; 
 but, as his works muff have been dry, if not unintelligible, to the 
 herd of grammarians and philologers, by whom the old monu- 
 ments of Grecian learning were faved from destruction, thev feem 
 to have been greatly neglected; for, out of at leaif fifty of his ge- 
 nuine lpeeches, which were extant in the ninth century, ten only 
 remain ; and thele, as thev all relate to the Athenian laws of here- 
 ditary and teftamentary fuccefhon, and give abundant fatisfaction 
 upon that head, I here prefent to the ftudent. of our Engliih laws in 
 his native language, not doubting but that they will yield him the 
 fame entertainment which they have afforded me : fince, however, 
 he will naturally expect fome account of an author, with whom ίο 
 few are acquainted, I will endeavour, before I refume the fubject of 
 the Attick laws, to fatisfv his expectations ; having firft apprized 
 him, that this ancient orator muff be carefully difHnguiihed from 
 another of the fame name, who feems to have flourifhed at Rome 
 in the reign of Trajan or Domitian ; for he is highly extolled in a 
 let epiftle by the younger Pliny, and incidentally by Juvenal, as a 
 wonderfully rapid fpeaker, and a iketch of his life is drawn by Phi- 
 loftratus, who calls him an Aflyrian, and adds, that in his youth he 
 was extremely addicted to the pleafures of love and \vine, and was 
 remarked for the foppery of his drefs, but that he afterwards chang- 
 ed his courfe of life, and became, as it were, anew man ; it is evi- 
 dent, that the declamer, of whom they fpeak, had nothing in 
 common with mv author but the volubility of his language, and 
 his name, which was probably affumed, as that of liberates alio was 
 taken by one of the later fophilfs who wrote the infhuctions to 
 Demonicus. 
 
 a 2 IS.EUS,
 
 iv THE PREFATORY 
 
 I S JE U S, the mailer of Demoilhenes, arid the true fountain of 
 that eloquence which afterwards flowed with fo impetuous a ftream, 
 is by fome fuppofed to have been a Chalcidian, and by others, with 
 greater appearance of probability, an Athenian : but whatever coun- 
 try may claim the honour of being his birth-place, it is certain that 
 he was educated at Athens, where he became famous as a pleader of 
 caufes after the cloie of the Peloponnefian war. The time of his 
 birth may be nearly afcertained by reafoning from the known or 
 fuppofed dates of his fpeeches ; for that on the efhte of Dicaeogenes 
 appears to have been delivered in the fourth year of the ninety-fe- 
 venth Olympiad, or two thoufand one hundred and fixty-fix years 
 ago ; now it is very probable that he was then at leail in his twenty - 
 feventh year ; for it has been remarked, that both Demoilhenes and 
 Cicero began to diftinguiih themfelves at that age ; and Dionyfius, 
 on a iimilar occaiion, fuppofes that Dinarchus mufl firil have fpoken 
 in publick at the age of twenty-five or twenty-fix ; whence we may 
 fairly conclude, that Ifieus was not born after the ninetieth Olym- 
 piad ; and we can hardly believe that he was much older, fince he 
 certainly continued to flouriih as an advocate, and compofed the 
 fpeech on the eilate of Hagnias, after the beginning of Philip's 
 reign. If this computation be juil, he could not have been regu- 
 larly a pupil of Ifocrates, who was born in the firil year of the 
 eighty-fixth Olympiad, but, according to the beil accounts, did not 
 open his fchool till the archonihip of Lyfiilratus, when Ifieus was 
 at leail in his forty-eighth year, and in the height of his reputation : 
 it is not, indeed, improbable, and no more, perhaps, than this 
 was meaned by Hermippus, that he might occafionally attend the 
 leclures of fo renowned a mailer ; but it is certain, that he took 
 pupils himfelf at that very time ; for Demoilhenes, who was then 
 but twelve years old, and who foon after deliberated on the choice 
 of an inilruitor in the art of fpeaking, preferred him to liberates, 
 not from any difference in the prices of their inflrudtions, as it is 
 vulgarlv lunpoled, but from a well-grounded opinion, as Plutarch 
 juftly imagines, that the ilyle and manner of Ifaeus were more for- 
 cible,
 
 DISCOURSE. ν 
 
 qjbie, and better adapted to the purpofes of real life, than the fine 
 poiiih, elegant turns, and fweet numbers, which Ifocrates taught 
 with fo much refinement. This ardent and nervous diction which 
 Demofthenes admired, he imitated alio with fuch fuccefs, that in 
 his feventeenth year he pronounced the fpeeches now extant againft. 
 his guardian Aphobus, and not long after delivered the two againil 
 Onetor, which fom^ of the old criticks fuppofe to have been written, 
 or at leaft corrected, by his mafrer : we may trace, indeed, the 
 manly features of the inftructor in thofe and leveral other compoli- 
 tions of the illuitrious pupil, whofe orations on publick affairs, with 
 which Ificus never interfered, exhibit fo noble a fpecimen of true 
 eloquence, that the palm has been by univerfal confent given to him 
 as the firft orator of Greece ; yet his private fpeeches are not fuperiof 
 in force or beauty to thofe of his teacher, who would probably have 
 thundered with equal energy in the aflembly of Athenian citizens, 
 if his temper and inclination had not induced him to prefer the cer- 
 tain advantages of a very ufeful profeifion to the precarious favours 
 which the giddy populace beftow and refume at their pleafure. This, 
 however, is no more than conjecture ; for even the profound anti- 
 quary and excellent critick, DION YSIUS, who has left us an admir- 
 able treatife on the ftyle of Ifaeus, profefles a total ignorance of his life 
 and conduct in civil affairs ; but it is obvious, that, if he had taken 
 any part in adminiftration, and harangued the people on important 
 occalions, a man of his great capacity and application muff foon have 
 been diitinguiihed by his contemporaries, and would have been men- 
 tioned with applaufe by the hiftoriaris of his country. My opinion 
 is likewife confirmed by the titles of his genuine fpeeches preferved 
 by Harpocration, Pollux, and Apoflolius, not one of which appears 
 to have been delivered on any national queftion ; and this may be the 
 reafon, why moil of the ancients, who are fo copious in prailing 
 the fmoothneis of Ifocrates, the graces of Lyfias, the founding pe- 
 riods of ^Efchines, the dignity of Lycurgus, the united force and 
 elegance of Hyperides, fay nothing of Ifseus ; for all the others were 
 eminent in publick life, or at leaft compofed orations on fubjedls of a 
 
 publick
 
 vi Τ' II Γ, -Ρ R-E F Λ TORY 
 
 ρΰΐ ansth : thus Lyfi-As added to his other excellent qualities an 
 
 \Lnt zeal for fibefVy, and railed five hundred men at his own ex-, 
 penfe fat the! fcrvice or* bhd ihte, in expelling the thirty tyrants, 
 ;i ng the•' popular government, which he iupported alfo by 
 his eloqutiio ; a:-:•! liberates laboured fucoefsfully to unite the 
 Greeks in a common caWfe lagfrkift their old enemy the king of Per- 
 fa': therpolitical conduct -o^-'JEichiries, Lycurgus, Hyperides, is ge- 
 nerally known ; and, although Dinarchus would not perhaps have 
 attained much celebrity by the ftrength of his own genius, yet he 
 has acquired a rank among the ten orators of Athens by his aifiduous 
 imitation of the great man, whom he could not but admire, even 
 when he impeached him : as to Andocides, his offences and misfor- 
 tunes would have preferved his name, if his harangue on a peace 
 with the Lacedemonians, had been loft ; and, if Antipho had left no 
 fpeech.es in criminal cafes, yet the place, which Thucydides, who 
 is thought to have been his pupil in rhetorick, has given him in the 
 hiflorv of the Peloponnefian war, would have rendered him fuffici- 
 ently illuitrious ; fo that, of all the ten, Ifcus alone appears to have 
 confined his talents to the narrow limits of the bar and the comno- 
 iition of forenlick arguments ; which, however intcrefting to lawyers, 
 cannot be fuppofed to attr Let the notice of fcholars in general fo much 
 as the pompous and fplemn orations on treaties and embaihrs, or the 
 various events of an obftinate war. After all, one cannot help, won- 
 dering, that, although Dionyfius lived in the very age of Cicero, and 
 was copied almoir. too clofelv by Quintilian, yet the name of. Ulcus 
 is not lb much as mentioned in the rhetorical pieces of the two Ro- 
 '//. Μ mans : for this omiiuon I can no otherwife account than by afcri- 
 
 bing it to inadvertence or to accident ; and by obferving, that the 
 fame of the Philippicks was .fo fplendid as not only to eolipfe the re- 
 putation of a mere advocate, but even to diminilh the attention due 
 to the other productions of Demofthenes himfelf, whole private 
 lpeeches have been almoft as much neglected as thofe of his mailer. 
 
 This is all that I have been able to collect concerning the life of 
 
 ISiEUS, and I now proceed to difcourfe more at large but without 
 
 4 P ro "
 
 DISCOURSE. vii 
 
 prolixity, on his profeiuonal character and the ftyle of his oratory, 
 not meaning to anticipate the judgement of the publick on the fol- 
 lowing fpeeches, but intending to ihow in what eitimation he was 
 holden by the Grecian criticks, and principally by the Halicarnaflian, 
 the moil: learned of them all ; from whom, however, I ihall more 
 than once take leave to diflent. 
 
 Firif, it is hard to conceive, why Dionyfius, in the very begin- 
 ning of his treatife, the fole object of which was to difplay the pe- 
 culiar excellence of Iikus and the originality of his genius, ihould 
 aflert, that he was chiefly illuitrious for having given inftrudtions to 
 Demofthenes ; this is not only contradictory, but the fact itfelf is fo 
 far from being true, that, if his pupil had never been born, his- re- 
 putation would probably have been greater, and he would have been 
 reckoned the firit orator of his age, or at leait the next to Hyperides ;. 
 for the judicious Hermogenes, whole rhetorical tracts are fortunately 
 pre Served, places him far above Lyflas, and below none but Demos- 
 thenes, in that mode of fpeaking which he calls popular^, and which• ΪΓΓ8 \t 
 alone feems to be calculated for real ftruggles in active life, where 
 genuine eloquence has the fulle-ft room to expand herfelf in bright 
 and natural colours. It is Surprizing too, that Iiaeus ihould all' 
 along be reprefented as the imitator of Lvfias by the very author who 
 exprefsly calls him, in his account of Dinarchus, the invent or of b;s 
 οπή original ft\lc : he could not, indeed', but admire lb fine a com- 
 puter, who was about forty years older than himfelf, and had long 
 enjoyed a very flourilhing reputation: he mult have ftudied thecom- 
 pofitions of Lyfias, and poffibly began with imitating them ; but 
 finding them too Soft and delicate for his foreniicfc combats, which 
 required ftronger nerves and hariher features, he changed his 
 courfe, and, taking nature alone for his guide, discovered and pur- 
 iued a new Species ofeloqi DemouneneS carried to Such 
 perfection, that no mortal will ever furpafs, nor perhaps equal, him, 
 until the fame habits of induftry Lidify of fudgement fliall be 
 found united in one peribn with the fame fire of imagination and 
 energy of language. One thing wc muft necefiarily take to be true 
 
 on
 
 Vill 
 
 THE PREFATORY 
 
 Which nothing could be added, and from which nothing" < 
 removed without deitroying its jufmefs and fymmetry ; 
 orations of Lyfias had all that fweet fimplicity, that 
 
 oh the credit of Dionyfius ; that many fpeeches of Ifxus were hardly 
 diitinguifhable from thole of Lyfias ; but they might have been his 
 earlieir. productions, or the fubjects of them might have required a 
 lofter and more iimple (train. 
 
 The true companion between Lyfias and Ifaeus appears to be 
 this : purity, accuracy, propriety, concifenefs, perfpicuity, (in 
 the perfect mixture or rather union of which Hermogenes makes 
 the popular ftyle confift) were common to both of them in an 
 equal degree, and both poiTefied that roundnefs of expreiuOh, to 
 which nothing could be added, and from which nothing could be 
 
 but the 
 exquifite 
 grace, that clearnefs, and, as it were, traniparency, which cha- 
 racterized the genuine Attick diction, and which may be more eafily 
 conceived than defined, admired than imitated ; for it is analogous 
 to gracefulnefs in motion, to melody in a feries of founds, and to 
 beauty in the moft beautiful of all vifible objects, the human form ; 
 the lineaments of Ifaeus were more dignified and manly, and his 
 graces rather thole of Mars than of Adonis ; for Dionyfius obierves, 
 that his figures were ftronger and more various, his compofition more 
 forcible and impetuous, and that he fin-palled Lyfias in ardour and 
 vehemence, as much as Lyfias excelled him in fimple and natural 
 charms. In refpect to the form and order of their fpeeches, there 
 appears to have bb ifihite art in both thofe orators ; but the Cri- 
 tic!•: repfeienfs the art of Lyfias as more fubtile and recondite, that of 
 Ilaeus as more ealiiy discoverable : according to him there was hardly 
 a fpeecE of my author, which had not the appearance of being 
 premeditated and moulded into a faihion the be ft adapted to the pur- 
 pofe of winning the minds of the jurymen, and of inducing their 
 • afon, if be could not convince it ; but this alio we muft take in 
 j . it meafure upon truft, for fcarce any traces of this open and ap- 
 parent art, with which both Ulcus and his pupil were reproached, 
 vifible to us in their compofition s, which breathe the fpirit of 
 truth and juilice, and feem to have been dictated by nothing more 
 ϊ thai) 

 
 r> ι s c ο υ 
 
 11 
 
 S Ε. 
 
 is 
 
 than .1 natural animation. We may argue, however, as long as we 
 pleaie : it is certain, that hoth Ifaeus and Demoilhenes had the re- 
 putation of being extremely lubtile advocates, a reputation by no 
 means favourable at the bar, as it always diminiihes and frequently 
 di . n.-oys the contidence of the jury, who, through a fear of being 
 deluded-, are apt to fufpecr a lhare in every argument of fuch a 
 fpeaker : it is no lefs certain, that, in this refpeel, the ancients" al-' 
 lowed the fuperiority of Lyiias over all pleaders of cauies who even 
 exifted ; for no artful arran gement appeared in his ipeeches, no 
 formal divifioiis, no technical mode of reafoning ; but he opened 
 his cafe with a plain nefs that captivated his audience, whilit it en- 
 lightened them ; fo that, if Truth herfelf had aflumed a human 
 voice and form, ihe could have ufed no other language. Demof- 
 thenes and Ifeus, without having any thing forced or unnatural in 
 their productions, took more pains than Lyiias in preparing the 
 minds of the judges ; in relating the fails which gave birth to the 
 litigation ; in dividing the parts of their addreis to the court ; in 
 marlhalling their evidence ; in difpofing and enforcing their obfef- 
 vations ; in digrefhng without deviation ; in returning to the iiil- 
 ject without abruptnefs ; in amplifying ; in aggravating ; in exte- 
 nuating ; and, as Dionyiius fays particularly of lia;ui, in attacking 
 their adverfaries, laying clofe liege to the underitandings, and front- 
 ing the pafiions, of the jury ; not omitting anything that might 
 tend to iecure the fruit of all foreniick labours, a verdict or 
 judgement for their clients : for this purpofe, if thecaufe was weak, 
 no inlinuation, no addrefs, no contrivance, was neglected by Ifaeus in 
 order to fupport it ; but, when he happened to have juftice on his 
 fide, his method feems to have been admirable. His manner 
 of opening was various, according to the great variety of 
 caufes in which he was employed ; fometimes he told his ftorv in 
 a natural order, with concifenefs and fimplicity, without prepara- 
 tion, without ornament, without any mixture of argumentation; 
 fometimes he divided a long narration into fe nd heads, proving 
 each of them, as he went along ; a method, of which he feems to 
 
 b have 
 
 Λ 
 
 A 
 
 /!■ 

 
 χ THE PREFATORY 
 
 have been fond, and which could not but conduce to the perfpi- 
 cuity of his fpeeches : in all cafes he made frequent ufe of that ora- 
 torial fyllogifm, which logicians call epichirema, where the pre- 
 mifes are refpectively proved by argument or evidence before the 
 fpeaker draws his conclulion ; while the enthymema, in which one 
 proportion is fupprelfed, appears to have been more agreeable to the 
 „ manner of Lyfias ; and Dionyiius, indeed, mentions this as a ftrong 
 mark of dilcrimination between the two advocates. His other 
 modes of arguing, his anticipations, recapitulations, digref- 
 fions, inveriions, variations, tranlitions, were all happily and fea- 
 ionably applied in conformity to the dilpoiition of his judges, and 
 the nature of each particular cafe ; and here I cannot forbear adding 
 the iketch of a fpeech, now unfortunately loir, againir. AR JSTO- 
 GITON and ARCHIPPUS, which the illuitrious critick, 
 whom I have lb frequently cited, has given us as a fpecimen of my 
 author's method. 
 
 It was a caufe, in which the brother of a perfon deceafed, claim- 
 ing a right to the iuccefhon, called upon a ilranger for a difcovery 
 and furrender of the perfonal eftate remaining in his hands : the de- 
 fendant pleaded to the bill, that the defunct had bequeathed his per- 
 fonalty to him ; and hence aroie two queftions ; firft, an iffue of 
 fact, Whether any luch bequeif had been made or not ; and, fecond- 
 ly, an iffue of law, Who was entitled to the poffeilion of the goods 
 in difpute pending a fuit concerning the exiftence or validity of the 
 will. Ilkus, therefore, began with explaining the general doctrine on 
 that fubject, and demonstrating in particular, that a devifee cannot 
 legally pojjefs the property devifed, until his right be judicially ejablip- 
 ed ; a point of Athenian law, which the reader will find illustrated 
 in one or two of the following fpeeches : thence he pafled to an in- 
 veitigation of the fact, and contended, that no will at all had been 
 made by his brother ; and this he proved, not by a fimple and con- 
 tinued relation of events, but, his narration being neceflarily long, he 
 diftributed it into fections, calling witneffes, as he proceeded, to 
 each head, producing his written evidence, as occafion required, 
 
 and
 
 D I S C Ο U R S E. xi 
 
 and corroborating the wliole with a number of arguments drawn 
 from all the circumftances of the caufe, which he fupported. 
 
 Various other examples are cited by Dionyfius from the works of 
 both orators in illuftration of his criticifm ; and they are all fo appo- 
 fite, that I mould be glad to entertain the Engliih reader with them, 
 if it were not almoft impoilible to convey in our language an ade- 
 quate notion of the nice diftinetion between the different originals : 
 it is very poffible, I hope, to give in a tranflation feme general idea 
 of an author's peculiar manner, and the caft of his composition ; but 
 it would be no eafy taik to find words and lentences exactly corre- 
 fpondent with the Greek, and to pronounce that, if Lyiias and Illeu3 
 had been Englishmen, the nrft would have felected fuch a word or 
 fuch a phrafe on account of its fimplicity, which the other would 
 have rejected in favour of one more energetick and fonorous. The 
 diverfity between them, in regard to the difpohtion of their argu- 
 ments, might, indeed, be made plainly dilcernible in any other 
 tongue ; but, after full confideration, I refolved to fubjoin the frag- 
 ments of Ifaeus, without tranilating any of Lyfias, efpecially as raoft 
 of his orations may now be read in Engliih, with no lefs pleafure 
 than advantage, by any one who (hall think proper to compare him 
 with my author. Had more of their productions been preferved, we 
 ihould have feen more clearly the propriety of the comparifon with 
 which the critick of HalicarnafTus illuftrates his obfervations ; for he 
 declares his opinion, that the Speeches of Lyiias refemble ancient 
 pieces of painting in the fimplicity of their colours and the graceful 
 corredtriefs of their outlines, while thoie of Ifaeus are like the more 
 modern pictures, which are lefs accurately drawn, but finifhed with 
 bolder ftrokes of the pencil, decorated w r ith a greater variety of tints, 
 and enlivened with a ftronger oppofition of light and fhade. 
 
 On the whole, the orator Pytheas might have reproached De- 
 mofthenes with fome reafon for having transferred into his practice 
 and manner of fpeaking the artifices and fubtilty of his mafter ; but 
 Dionyfius himfelf may go too far, in faying that the confummate 
 art of Ifaeus and his pupil made them liable to fulpicion, even 
 
 b 2 when
 
 xii THE PREFATORY 
 
 When truth and equity were on their fide, while the plainnefs of lib- 
 erates and Lyfias gave even a bad caufe the colour of juilice and reafon - r 
 as if a glowing and rapid ilyle, or a juil arrangement of topicks, could 
 have been fuipeoted of impoilure more than the fly infinuating air of 
 candour and opennefs, which the moil artful men often aflume. 
 
 I cannot leav r e this fubjecl:, without combating in few words an 
 opinion of Cicero intimated in all his rhetorical pieces, and ex- 
 p relied very roundly in that little fragment, which feems to have been 
 part of a preface to his trariflation of Demoilhenes and yEfchines for, 
 and againil Cteiipho, but the authenticity of which was doubted by 
 Manutius. It begins with a politive aiiertion, that " there are no 
 " diilinct fpecies of oratory, as there are of poetry ; that, although 
 " a tragick, an epick, and a lyrick, poet may be all equally perfect 
 " in their feveral ways, yet that no man can juftly be called a fpeaker, 
 " unlefs he unite in the higheft degree the powers of initrud.ing, de- 
 " lighting, and moving, every audience on every lubject." A cha- 
 r;. tier lo various, and a genius fo comprehenfive, mull necefi'arily be 
 the object, if ever it ihould exift, of general admiration ; but why it 
 is not fufficicnt to call fuch a man the greateil, without infilling that 
 he is the only, orator, or why an advocate, who never applied his ta- 
 lents to the fcnatorial fpecies of eloquence, may not attain perfection 
 in the forenlick, and fo converfely, I am at a lofs to comprehend; 
 Menander, you fay, would not have defired to be like Homer ; cer- 
 tainly not in his comedies ;, but every fpeaker ivifies to referable De- 
 moflbenes ; as certainly not, when he is addrefllng the jury on the 
 obllruction of ancient lights or the diverfion of a watercourfe. The 
 kinds of (peaking are different ; and, though one of them be more 
 exalted than another,, yet orators,, as well as poets, may in thofe dif- 
 ferent kinds feverally reach the lummit ; and this analogy may be 
 . extended to all the fine arts : Myro was not a lets perfect fculptor in 
 marble, becaufe he was unable probably to finiih gems with the de- 
 licacy of Trypho ; nor, to ipeak of modern artiils, will Rafaelle ever 
 be degraded from his high rank among painters, becaufe he might not 
 have been able to draw Cupids and Nymphs with the minute elegance 
 7 of
 
 DISCOURSE. xiii 
 
 of Albani; in the fame manner as Demofthenes will always be allowed 
 to have hurled the thunder of Grecian eloquence, although he could 
 not perhaps (whatever Tully may fuggeft to the contrary) have fpoken 
 with the iimple graces of Lyfias. Philoiophers may refine, and logicians 
 may diftinguiih, as learnedly and fubtilly as they pleafe ; it will, after 
 all, be true, that the eloquence of a lenator is of a fpecies wholly 
 different from the eloquence of an advocate ; that the two kinds 
 ought never to be confounded ; and that a complete fpeaker before a 
 jury or a fingle judge may {train his throat without effect in a popular 
 aflembly. If Cicero, indeed, meaned no more than that the title 
 of orator ihould be given only to one, who, like himfelf, excells 
 all men in every way, the argument is reduced to a mere diinute 
 about words, which every writer may apply as he thinks proper, 
 provided he apprize his reader of the new fenfe in which he means to 
 ufe them ; but, iurely, he might have aflerted, with equal propriety, 
 that he alone, who lurpafles the reft of mankind in every fort of 
 poetry, deferves the appellation of a poet ; for nothing can be mere 
 exact than the analogy between the two arts, and their near alliance 
 is often acknowledged by the great man himfelf, with whofe opi- 
 nions I am taking lb much liberty : had he faid that by the word 
 crator he meaned a fpeaker, who had cultivated every branch of his 
 art, the Romans might have thought this an innovation in their 
 language, but they would, perhaps, have adopted the definition on 
 his authority. We are not however contending about the proper ap- 
 plication of terms, or the abftracf idea of univerfal genius : the fingle 
 queftion is, Whether there are not diitinet fpecies of oratory as there- 
 are of poetry, and whether a man may not be perfect in anyone or 
 more of them, without having directed his talents to the cultivation 
 of the reft ; for the decilion of which point, I appeal to fuch of mv 
 readers as have heard ten fpeeches at our Englifh. bar, and as many 
 in either houfe of parliament. They will forgive me, for having ap 7 
 plied, and for ftill applying, the word orator to.IS.EUS, al-r 
 though his eloquence was wholly forenlick ; and I confer this! title 
 on him with more confidence, becaufe there is re α ion to believe, 
 
 that
 
 xiv THE PREFATORY 
 
 that he fometimes delivered his own fpeeches, without confining 
 himfelf entirely to the difficult, but lefs noble, taik of compoiing 
 for others ; for I muft confefs, that I can form no idea of an orator 
 without elocution and action, nor can the praife of eloquence be juftly, 
 or even without a folecifm, bellowed on mere invention and compo- 
 lition, which conftitute indeed the body of oratory, but fpeech and 
 gefture alone can give it a foul. Whether the remaining works of 
 my author will juftify the criticifm of Dionyfius and Hermogenes, 
 or whether my interpretation of them may not have weakened their 
 original force, muft be left to the impartial judgement of the reader ; 
 but this advantage will naturally refult from my prefent publication: 
 if the following fpeeches ihould be thought manly, nervous, acute, 
 pertinent, and better in moil•, refpecfs than the generality of addreffes 
 to an Engliih jury on limilar fubjects, we ihall have a kind of model, 
 by which the ftudent may form himfelf, allowing for the difference 
 of Athenian laws and manners ; and, if they ihould appear inferior 
 in all thofe qualities to the fpeeches ufually delivered by our leading 
 advocates, we ihall have reafon to congratulate our age and country, 
 and to triumph in the iuperiority of our talents ; for our leaders 
 often make the ableft and moil• fpirited replies without a poffibility of 
 premeditation ; and wonderful, indeed, muft be the parts and elo- 
 quence of thofe, whofe unprepared effufions equal or furpafs the ftu- 
 died compofitions of the ancient orators. 
 
 In whatever eftimation IS^EUS may be holden by his tranflator's 
 contemporaries, it is certain that he ftood very high in the opinion 
 of his own ; but the fite of his works has not corresponded with the 
 furie, which they procured him, while he lived: iince, for the reafons 
 before afiigned, they were fo much neglecled in the darker ages, that 
 no part of his fifty fpeeches, which were extant in the time of Pho- 
 tius, is known to exift at prefent, except what this volume con- 
 tains, with about a hundred detached words and phrafes explained 
 by Harpocration and one or two other grammarians : even thefe ten 
 fpeeches would in all probability have perifhed with the reft, if it 
 had not pleafed fome man of letters to copy them ; and it is much 
 
 2 tO
 
 DISCOURSE. xv 
 
 to be wiihed that he had added at leaft two more, one on the eftate of 
 Archipolis, and another on that of Menecles ; for we ihould then 
 have had a complete collection of the orations called κληρικό), or re- 
 lating to the fubjeit of legal and teftamentary fucceffion. This copy, 
 however, was repofited in the library belonging to a monaftery on 
 Mount Athoi, whence it was brought to Florence at the beginning 
 of the iixteenth century by Lafcaris, who had been fent to Greece by 
 Lorenzo" di "Medici to purchaie manufcripts ; and it is preferved at 
 this moment in the Medicean collection. Five years after the book 
 was in Italy, it \\ as printed at Venice, with lome other orations, by 
 the indefatigable ALDUS MANUTIUS, who gives the preced- 
 ing account of it in his preface ; and it may be prefumed, that his 
 edition, upon which the curious fet a high value, is a very exacl: 
 impreflion of the manufcript with all its inaccuracies. Towards 
 the clofe of the fame century, the celebrated HENRI ETIENNE, 
 whom we have naturalized and call Henry Stephens, reprinted the 
 Aldine edition of the Greek orators with fome judicious notes in the 
 margin ; but he feems to have taken more pains with ^Efchines and 
 Lyiias than with the others, and Ifaeus appeared under his inipedtion 
 with fcarce any greater advantage than that of a very handfome drefs:: 
 this editor, in his epiftle dedicatory, promifed to collecl all the Attick 
 laws with a comparifon between them and the inftitutions of modern 
 nations ; a work, which would have thrown an advantageous light 
 on my author, but which unhappily he never completed. Many 
 eminent fcholars, who afterwards poflefled this elegant edition, 
 among whom were Scaliger and Saumaife, fcribbled a few haity con- 
 jectures in the margin of Ikeus %. but the world at large knew little 
 of his ten fpeeches for above forty years, until one ALPHONSUS 
 MINIATUS, as he calls himlelf, undertook, in the feventy-third 
 year of his age, to tranflate them into Latin : his attempt was highly 
 laudable ; but it is clear, that he underftood neither the language 
 from which, nor that into which, he tranilated ; for every page of 
 his verfion abounds with blunders fo ridiculous, that, if any man 
 can iloop to divert himfelf at the expenie of another, he cannot find 
 
 better.
 
 χνι Τ II Ε PR Ε F Λ Τ Ο R Υ 
 
 bettor jfport than bv reading Miniattis ; and Schott of Antwerp, who 
 profefled a Friendship for him.', but muft have known Ms ignorance, 
 did wrong in fullering the old man to expoie himfelf by filch a pub- 
 Hcation. The accurate Perizohkis, whole dil J i:rtations contain 
 many. excellent remarks on my author, complained foflie time after, 
 that the very ttfeful fpeeches of Ifaus, wfrick his illiterate interpret:!•. 
 Mini at US) had uiofl uujlcil fully rendered, lay Jcandalonfy negle&ed', and 
 Fabricius exprefled his wiih, that a very good fcholar, whom he 
 names, would prefcut the world with a new tranilation of them : 
 hut even theie nublick remonftrances could not attract the attention 
 of learned men to a work, which they thought interefting to lawyers 
 only; and Taylor, who publiihed his Elements of Civil Law little 
 more than twenty vears ago, fpeaks of my author as a writer then 
 hardly known: " When I quoted I/teus, fays he, I would fuggeft to 
 *' my readers, that I mentioned an author upon many accounts 
 " very valuable, but upon none fo much as of the great light, that 
 " he is capable of throwing upon the qucftion before us, de jure hee~ 
 " reditario ; a lubjeet, in which the orations, that are left of him, 
 " raoft remarkably abound." It is probable, that io ftrong a re- 
 commend itibn from fo judicious a writer produced fome effect among 
 the fcholars of his time; but Uleus was ftill an obi cure name, till 
 REISKE ofLeipzick, about five years ago, publiihed the originals 
 of the following fpeeches, together with the treatife of Dionylius, 
 in his elaborate edition of the Greek orators. As I have confiderable 
 obligations to this learned and laborious man, whom I mention here 
 merely as the editor of Ifarns, without entering upon the other parts 
 of his work, I think it better to make this general acknowledgement 
 of them, than to moleft the reader with a fuperfluity of notes, efpe- 
 cially as my opinion of his particular corrections may be always af- 
 certained by my tranilation of the text ; and it muft be owned, that 
 although many of his annotations are hafty and even puerile, yet 
 moft of them are candid, plaufible, ingenious; and fome of his con- 
 jectural emendations are wonderfully happy : his interpretation, in- 
 deed, is a prolix paraph rafe in very harm Latin ; but, as it ihows 
 
 his
 
 DISCOURSE. xvii 
 
 his apprehenfion of the author's meaning, and, as that apprehension 
 feems to be generally right, let us be fatisfied with the utility of a 
 performance, in which elegance was not to be expected. It is with 
 pleafure that I take this opportunity of giving a due ihare or praiic 
 to fo well-intentioned and induftrious a man, who, although he was 
 not without the pride and petulance which too often accompany eru- 
 dition, fufficiently attoned for thofe faults by the integrity of his 
 heart and the intenfenefs of his application to the ftudy of ancienl 
 literature, which his labours have confiderably improved and pro- 
 moted. To his valuable work we certainly owe the late excelli i. 
 veriion of Demofthenes and vEichiues by the Abbe AUGER, who 
 promifes alfo a tranflation of my author ; and, as my Engliih Iikus 
 has the fortune to fee the light before the French, I fhall be happy 
 if it can afford any help to fo refpectable a fcholar, who, diidaining 
 the prejudices of an academician, and daring to exprefs his own julr 
 fentiments, has the courage to recommend the learning and lan- 
 guage of Athens in the heart of Paris ; nor fhall I bluih to confefs 
 any errors that I may have committed, and, with the aid of his in- 
 terpretation, to correal: my own. 
 
 As to my work, I ihall fay very little concerning it, but fairly 
 fubmit the whole to the judgement of the publick ; for I never 
 could approve the cufrom of authors, who, in their prefatory dif- 
 courfes, lay down rules of perfect writing, to which they infinuate 
 that their own productions are itriclly conformable. I will not, 
 therefore, fay with Cicero, if indeed he wrote the fragment before- 
 mentioned, that I have tranfated [feus not as an interpreter but as an 
 orator ; nor with Middleton, who was fond of imitating Cicero, that 
 I have made it my firfl care, always to prefer ve the fenfiment and my 
 next, to adhere to the words as far as I was able to exprefs them in an 
 eafy and natural fyle. 1 am fully perluaded, that there is but one 
 golden rule for good tranflation ; which is, to read the original fo 
 frequently, and ftudy it fo carefully, as to imprint on the mind a 
 complete idea of the author's peculiar air and diftinguiflung features ; 
 and then to affiime, as it were, his perfon, voice, countenance, 
 
 c gefture ;
 
 *viS THE PREFATORY 
 
 gc ft urc ; and to represent the man. himfelf fpeaking in our language 
 
 iniiead of his own : but, whether I have afited the part of IS^EUS 
 with exactnefs, whether I have juftly exprefled the peculiarity of his 
 character, whether my ftyle conveys an adequate notion of his nerves 
 and fpirit, his vigour and fharpnefs, I really cannot tell ; nor, if 1 
 could, would it become me to tell my reader. One requeft only I 
 miifi beg kave to make : that, if any perfon ihould conceive it an 
 eafv matter to tranilate into Engliih the ancient orators of Greece, 
 and ihould perfift in that opinion while he reads my tranflation, he 
 will inftantly lay afide my book, take up the original, and render 
 the next fpeech himfelf: if he mould find the talk more difficult than 
 he had imagined, he will then give me the only praife, which I de- 
 lire, that of having taken no fmall pains to inform and entertain. 
 my countrymen ; to whom, if opportunity alone had not been^ 
 wanting, I would long ago have made many greater facrifices — 
 But of myfelf enough has been laid ; and, I hope r without im- 
 propriety.. 
 
 I now refume the fubject, from which I have fo long digrefled, 
 and return to the Attick laws of hereditary and teftamentary 
 tranimiiiions ; the text of which, together with a few other ordi- 
 nances nearly related to them, I ihall prefix to the fpeeches, referv- 
 ing a fuller explanation of them for the commentary; it being my 
 lole object, in this introductory difiertation, to prepare my reader 
 for compofitions above two thoufand years old, and to explain fuch 
 allufions as may occur in them, ίο that he may underftand them., 
 without tiie perpetuaHnterruption of notes : with this intent I ihall 
 now fubjoin a ihort iketch of an Athenian fuit for the recovery of pro- 
 perry in the court of HELI./EA, the only one of the ten, which my 
 prefent fubject leads me to coniider. A more minute account of a 
 law fuit at Athens, from the original proceis to final judgement, 
 would have been fuperfluons in this place,, and even inconfiftent 
 with the fcope of my work ; but, ihould the curiofity of any learn- 
 ed reader he raiied by this fummary, he will receive ample informa- 
 tion, from various tracts in the vail repofitory of Gronovius, among 
 
 which
 
 DISCOURSE. χι\ 
 
 which I principally recommend the elegant treatiie of C A ROLL'S 
 SIGONIUS, On the Athenian Republick : that moft judicious anti- 
 quary has, indeed, ίο completely exhaufted the iubject, that 
 POTTER has done little more than tranflate his work with 
 fome additional authorities and a multitude of quotations, which art: 
 lb far from improving his book, that they render it intolerably dry 
 and tedious. M. Auger profefles to have followed Potter and Petit, 
 and has extracted from their rude materials a very perfpicuous and 
 agreeable diflertation on the jurifdiclion and laws of Athens. I have 
 turned them all over with as much attention as it feemed worth 
 while to give them ; but my remarks are chiefly drawn from the 
 pure fourceof the Greek orators themlelves, and from their beft in- 
 terpreter, Harpocratlon. I cannot help grieving, that the Commen- 
 taries on Ifaeus by DIDYMUS have not furvived the days of Go- 
 thick barbarity ; for, although they were probably nothing more 
 than glofles or grammatical notes, yet they would have been of in- 
 finite ufe in illuftrating many dark paflages, and fixing the purity of 
 the text. The works too of HERO the Athenian, who wrote a 
 treatiie On lawfuits at Athens, and another On the forenfick contejls 
 of thr old fpea^ers, would have given me no lefs entertainment and 
 inftruction than affiftance in compofing this part of my preface ; 
 and the fame may be faid of two loft books by TELEPHUS, the 
 firft, On the laws and cufoms of the Athenians, and the fiecond, On 
 their courts of judicature ; but, infteatl of wafting time in fruitlefs 
 regret, I proceed to difcourfe concilely on the lame iubject by the 
 help of luch imperfect light as remains. 
 
 It is almoft needlefs to premife, what every perion who has the 
 flighteft acquaintance with the conftitution of Athens already 
 knows, that all cauies concerning inheritances, deviles, legacies, 
 portions, adoptions, marriages, divorces, alimony, widows, heir* 
 efles, orphans, guardians, belonged to the jurifdiction of the chief 
 ARCH ON, who gave his Home to the year of his naagiftracy, and 
 was thence often called Eponvmus ; a pariidiciion, which may in 
 part be traced through the Decemvir Ί laws to that of the Roman 
 
 c 2 FILE-
 
 XX THE PREFATORY 
 
 PRyETOR, and from him, through the imperial and pontificiaf 
 conilitutions, to that of our CHANCELLOR. Either this great 
 magiitrate, whofe tribunal was in the Odeum, or one of the fix inferior 
 Archons, called The/mot beta, generally fat, crowned with myrtle, for 
 the purpofe of receiving complaints from perfons injured, of directing 
 proceis, examining the parties, allowing or difallowing the action, 
 and conducting the fuit through its various ftages ; for, when a ci- 
 tizen thought himfelf wronged and refolved to leek redrefs in a court 
 of juitice, his firft itep was to prefer his plaint and denounce the name 
 of his adverfary to the fitting magiitrate, who examined the com- 
 plainant, and, if he thought the action maintainable, permitted 
 him to fummon the defendant to appear at a certain day : it was al- 
 lowable, where an expeditious remedy was required, to attach the 
 perfon complained againit, and carry him directly before the court,, 
 of which the reader will recollect many inftances in the ancient co- 
 medies, where the fcene is ufually laid at Athens ; but, in moil 
 cafes of civil injuries, the firft procefs was by citation oxfumraons, for 
 which purpofe a number of apparitors or bailiffs, called fummoners y . 
 were conftantly at hand ;. nor can we fuppofe, that in a fmall itate: 
 governed almoft wholly by laws, which inflicted a fevere puniihment. 
 on contumacy, this monition of the Archon was often difobeyed : 
 contumacious perions were declared infamous, a fentence no lefs- 
 dreadful to an Athenian, than outlawry to an Engliihman. 
 
 When both parties were confronted before the magiitrate, he pro- 
 ceeded to a itrict examination of them, which was called the inter- 
 rogation, and the parties litigant were at. liberty to interrogate one. 
 another, as we learn from the fpeech on the eftate oiPhilociemon ; 
 whence alfo we may collect, that their, anfwers were fet down in- 
 writing and might be given in evidence againit them at the trial, and 
 that, if the Archon found it neceffary , he might adjourn the exami- - 
 nation. This was not unlike the French recol!e?nent, of which M. 
 de Beaurnarchais has given us a lively and curious dele option in one 
 of his intereiting memorials ; and the itudent will find it an hiftruc-- 
 tive.and agreeable exercile to compare thele judicial proceedings at 
 
 Athens»,
 
 DISCOURSE. xxi 
 
 Athens, not only with thofe of the civilians and canonifts, of which 
 he will fee an exact iketch in Sir Jeffrey Gilbert's Forum Romanian, 
 but alfo with thole in our own courts of law and equity, and with 
 the modes of bringing caufes to a hearing in Scotland and France : 
 to remind him at every turn of the analogy between thefe different- 
 forms of adminiftering remedial juftice, would be both idly oftenta- 
 tious and inconiiftent with my principal delign. 
 
 It was the Archon, who gave the complainant the power of im- 
 pleading his antagonift, prefcribed the proper form of the action, of 
 which the Athenians had a great variety, and, to ufe their term, 
 admitted the caufe into court ; after which preliminaries the party 
 complaining put in, as 1 conceive, his declaration, or bill, in which 
 he let forth pertinently and faccinclly the nature of the injury which 
 he had iuftained ; and then, I imagine, the parties proceeded to their, 
 mutual altercations, which the Archon moderated and directed, and 
 which, like our ancient pleadings, were delivered orally before his. 
 tribunal. If the plaintiff perfevered in demanding redrels, and the 
 defendant inlifted generally, that he bad committed no injury, or that- 
 he had a right to the property in φ flion, fo that the merits of the 
 caufe might be fairly tried in a di. c£l courfe, iffue was then joined, as 
 by the Sfionjto of the Romans, and each party depofited a ftatcd fum 
 as a pledge of profecuting his claim : nor was this all ; for the parties 
 were obliged to give in crofs-dxpofitions, in which they refpectivelv 
 fwor<?, that they relied on the juftice of their feveral cafes, and. 
 would produce evidence of the truth. The Archon then enquired 
 into the nature of that evidence, aiked the parties, if they were pre- 
 pared with their witnefles, and what was the number of them ; for, 
 if either of them was unprepared and could offer upon oath a judex- 
 cufe for his want of readinefs, the trial might b poftponed. This, 
 was alfo the time for propormg terms reciprocal! . in regard to the li- 
 tigation, as by written challenges to produce their flaves, whole teiK-.- 
 mony was always extorted by pain or>by the ppr< hi ni on of it nd 
 who could not be expoied to tccure without the conient of thei? π 
 ters, which was rarely given ; but .the £arty refufing to confi
 
 xxii Τ II Ε PREFATORY 
 
 ,aii advantage to bis adversary, λυΙιο, iniread of a&fibitlg his refuisfl 
 to humanity, conilantly imputed it to a dread of dilcloiing the whole 
 tranfaction ; of which common topick we fee a remarkable infhnee 
 in the Trapezitick lpeech of liberates, whoie very words are found in 
 that ofliaus on the eftate of Ciron, and in the firft of Demofthenes 
 againft Aphobus : this identical paflage in the three orators is adduced 
 by Eufebius among other inftances of the grofs plagiarifm with 
 which he charges the Greeks ; but it is a pallage, which, to the 
 honour of our nation, can never be copied by a Britiih advocate. 
 
 It was competent, however, to the defendant, to put in a dilatory 
 plea, as for inftance, to the jur ij "didlion of the magiftrate ; or to demur y 
 as we call it, to the declaration, by infixing that the action was not 
 •maintainable, or, in the language of the Athenians, not aV«ywyi/i@M 
 or adtnrjtble ; or he niight plead in bar any fact that precluded the 
 plaintiff from his fuit, as a compromife and releafe, or the expiration 
 of the limited time within which the complaint ihoulcl have been 
 preferred : this was in general jive years ; but the law of limitations 
 doth not feem to have been very rigoroufly obferved, as excufi s for 
 the non-claim were often made, and lometimes, probably, adml• d. 
 From this law there arifes nofmall difficulty in the fpeech on th eftate 
 of PYRRHUS, whofe adopted fon Endius had been in poiltfiion 
 above twenty years, yet, on his death, an attempt was made to in- 
 validate the adoption by protecting that Pyrrhus had a legitimate 
 daughter : now one would have imagined, that, had fhe been ι ally 
 legitimate, ihe would have been perpetually barred by not having 
 entered on the eft te, or oppofed the claim of Endius, within the due 
 time from the death of her father ; but the five years only ran from 
 the day when a new title accrued, and, fhe having pafted the time of 
 entering as daughter of Pyrrhus, her huiband migfit have made a 
 claim for her as pjler and heirefs of Endius lately deceafed. How- 
 ever that might be, this cauie affords a good ipecimen of Athenian 
 pleading ; for, in the original fuit, Xenocles appears to have been 
 complainant in ight of his wife Phila, and to have demanded in his 
 kill the three talents^ of which her father died pofielied : to this the 
 ι defendant,
 
 DISCOURSE, xxiii 
 
 defendant, who was the mother of Endius, pleaded, that ihe was 
 the filter of Pyrrhus, and, on the death of his adopted ion without 
 heirs, became entitled to his eftate : Xenocles replied, in the form 
 called ΰιχμκξίψοί, or a protejlation, that ihe had no title, becauie 
 Pyrrhus bad left a legitimate daughter: this the defendant traverfed 
 or denied ; and, as the iffue was found in her favour, the com- 
 plainant, who had praiefled upon oath, rauil neceffarily have been 
 perjured. I chofe to give this Attick form the name of protejlation, 
 although obtefiatiou be more literal, and although the former word 
 be reftrained in our law to a parenthetical allegation, which is not 
 (raver/able ; but I cannot too often requeft the reader of Ifaas to- 
 place himfelf at Athens^ and to drop for a time all thoughts of our 
 own forenfick dialect. This protefiation then, which aniwered 
 iometimes to a demurrer, and iometimes to a fpecial plea in bar, dif- 
 fered from the 7τα.ςιζγς<χφή or exception ; for the lirft might be entered 
 by either of the contending parties, or even by a third perfon inter- 
 vening ; as, in the litigation concerning the eftate of Dicaeogenes,. 
 when Menexenus and his couilns were going to join iffue with their 
 adverlary, Leoc/jares put in a proteftation, that the heirs at law were 
 precluded from claiming the inheritance : but the exception, which in 
 general was a dilatory plea, could only be made by the defendant.. 
 Thefe oblique modes of pleading were, however, conlidered as un- 
 fair, and were therefore diicountenanced, as tending to divert the 
 ftream of juftice, and to evade a candid investigation of the whole 
 truth : thus Thrafyllus, in the iixth fpeech, makes a merit of having 
 pleaded in a dircil form, when it was in his power to have protefied 
 fpecially, that he was the adopted fan of ApoHodorus ; and, in the 
 fifth, the fame topick is urged in favour of Chjereilratus, whofe ad- 
 vocate infills, that his opponent, inftead of prolefling, that Philoc- 
 tcmon had left legitimate ions, ihould have denied at once the vali- 
 dity or exiftence of his will.. It feems that, in all cafes of difputed 
 eftates, every devifee, and every heir, except a lineal defcendant,:, 
 was compelled to make a claim by exhibiting a bill. to the Archon : 
 if his title was controverted, the adverie claimant prefented a crofs-
 
 :.\iv THE PREFATORY 
 
 bill, called Ό^ιγραψη, and it appears from the laft mentioned caufe, 
 that this courfe might be purfued by a periOn who had protefted, 
 even after the ifl'ue on his protcfiation had been found againft him ; 
 whence it follows, that a multiplicity of trials was prevented by the 
 fu9v$iKtot or general plea. We may colled: alio from a pafi'age in the 
 fourbh of the following fpeeches, as well as from Harpocration, that 
 when a ilranger interpofed by protefting, that the ejlate was not 
 -■.'■r/.^r' or open to controverjy, it was ufual to difcontinue the origi- 
 nal action, and to try the iflue joined on the proteftation, the event 
 pf which trial muft have directed the judgement in the fir ft caufe : 
 what follows that paflage is extremely lingular ; for, when Leo- 
 chares was more than half-convicted of perjury, the puniihment of 
 which was a perpetual deprivation of all civil rights, the plaintirl• not 
 only was permitted to decline taking the verdict, but even con fen ted 
 to accept the promife of Leochares himfelf, that Dicaeogenes ihould 
 furrender the property in difpute. 
 
 Whenever, in the courfe of thefe pleadings, the parties came to a 
 fadt or a point of law (for both were determined by the fame judges) 
 aflerted on one fide and denied on the other, the Archon proceeded, 
 as if the defendant had pleaded generally : and all the writings in the 
 caufe, the bills, claims, crofs-depolit'ons, challenges, proteftations, 
 and exceptions, together with fuch inftruments as had been exhibit- 
 ed, and, I believe, with the depofitions of the witnefles, were en- 
 clofed in a veflel called ίχ,ΰ© , which could not be opened till it was 
 carried into court. 
 
 Thus was a caufe at Athens prepared for trial, and, we muft ac- 
 knowledge, in a iimple and expeditious manner ; nor was the popu- 
 lar form of pleading the general ifl'ue, and proving the fpecial matter 
 in court, liable to the objection of expofing the parties to the danger 
 of being furprized with an unforefeen cafe or unexpected evidence ; 
 iince all the circum fiances were previoufly fifted, and the depofi- 
 tions accurately fettled, in the prefence of the Archon, fo that each 
 party was fully aware of his adverfary's ftrength, and able to inftruct 
 his advocate without darknefs or perplexity ; yet if we confider the 
 
 multitude
 
 DISCOURSE. xxv 
 
 multitude of law-fuits, with which, as Ifaeus himfelf informs us; 
 Athens abounded, it muft appear ftrange how fix or feven magi- 
 strates, even with their aifeilbrs, could have time to conduit the al- 
 tercation of fo many litigants, and to perform the other important 
 duties of their office. At WeitminSter a iimilar plan would be found 
 impracticable ; nor ihall I eaiily be induced to wiih for a change of 
 our prefent forms, how intricate foever they may feem to thofe who 
 are ignorant of their utility. Our fcience of fpecial pleading is an 
 excellent Logick ; it is admirably calculated for the purpofes of ana- 
 lysing a caufe, of extracting, like the roots of an equation, the true 
 points in difpute, and referring them with all imaginable Simplicity 
 to the court or the jury : it is reducible to the Stricteit rules of pure 
 dialectick, and, if it were fcientifically taught in our publick lumi- 
 naries of learning, would fix the attention, give a habit of reafoning 
 clofely, quicken the apprehenfion, and invigorate the understanding, 
 as effectually as the famed Peripatetick fyitem, which, how ingeni- 
 ous and fubtile foever, is not/? honourable, fo laudable, or β profitable, 
 as the fcience, in which Littleton exhorts his fons to employ their 
 courage and care. It may unqueltionably be perverted to verv bad 
 purpofes ; but fo may the noblelt arts, and even eloquence itfelf, 
 which many virtuous men have for that reafon decried : there is no 
 fear, however, that either the contradiedfifi, as Zeno ufed to call it, 
 or the expanded palm, can do any real mifchief, while their blows- 
 are directed and retrained by the fuperintending power of a court. — 
 But let us return to Athens. 
 
 The next act of the Archon was to caft lots for the judges, on 
 whom I chufe in general to confer that title, becaufe they determined 
 not the fact only, but the law and equity, of every cafe : although I 
 have always been of opinion with the learned antiquarv Dr. PET- 
 TINGAL, that they might with prop riet ν be called jurymen ; and 
 that the Athenian juries differed from ours in verv few particulars." 
 It is well known, that the Ααύχςοιϊ were a Standing body of citizens, 
 all at leait thirty years old and of unblemished character, but without 
 any Stated qualification in point of fortune : before they were ad- 
 
 d mitted
 
 xxvi THE PREFATORY 
 
 mitted into the order of judges, they fwore folemnlv, among other 
 things, " that they would never accept a bribe directly or indirectly 
 " for pronouncing their fentence, nor fuffer any of their fellows to 
 " be bribed, with their knowledge, by any artifice or contrivance 
 " whatever ; that they would impartially attend to both plaintiff and 
 *' defendant, and give a juft verdict on the very point in ifliie ;" 
 which oath, a9 we may collect from Demqfthenes, they repeated be- 
 fore every trial, and the advocates feldom failed to remind them of 
 it. The number of their names drawn by lot, in caufesto be tried, 
 in the Heliasa, was ufually live hundred, as we learn from the fourth 
 fpeech ofllkus; but, on very important occaiions, a thoufand, fif- 
 teen hundred, and iometimes two thoufand, fat to decide the fame 
 caufe ; fo that they formed in reality a committee from the whole 
 iegiflative body, and hence they are frequently prefled by the orators• 
 to be guided by the laws which they had themlelves enacted : it is 
 on account of their ample powers and their mixed character,, that Γ 
 call their fentence indifferently a judgement, a verdict, or a decree m r 
 although at our bar we appropriate each of thole words to a diftinct 
 meaning. The fentence was determined by the plurality of fuffrages, 
 but the nearer the court approached to unanimity, the more brilliant 
 was the victory ; and, as he, who had not a fifth part of the votes,, 
 was fined a thoufand drachmas, I conceive, that the parties were al- 
 lowed to challenge fuch of the jurors as they could affect with a 
 reafonable fufpicion of a bias to either fide. When the judges, on; 
 the day appointed, took their feats in the HeVuea, a place in the open 
 air, but furrounded with a rope and attended by officers who kept off 
 the croud, the Archon propofed or introduced the caufe : and, if the 
 defendant made default, judgement was given againft him ;■ but it 
 was not final till two months had pafled, within which time he 
 might apply to the magiftrate, and, by alligning on oath a fiatisfac- 
 tory rcafon for his abfence, might fet it afide, and have another day 
 fixed for the trial. When the parties appeared, they ufually brought 
 with them as many powerful friends as they could aflemble, with a 
 view, no doubt, of influencing the jury ; a ihameful cuftom ! but 
 
 which
 
 DISCOURSE. xxvii 
 
 which cannot eafily be prevented in any country, and which feems 
 to have been common at Athens, as we find in fome of the old co- 
 medies, and in the beginning of the fpeech on the eftate of Cieony- 
 mus : they were accompanied alfo by their advocates and witnefies, 
 of whom it will be neceflary to fpeak with as much concifenefs as 
 the lubjeft will admit. 
 
 The office of wvrfyop&> was diftincl: from that of Ujfflrm ; as the 
 firft was the a&at caujarum, and the fecond the jurifccnfultus, of the 
 Romans ; both which characters are generally united in our counfel : 
 I call the firit an advocate ; although I have no certain knowledge 
 that the Athenian title was given to men of a particular profeffion ; 
 but am inclined to think, that any man whatever, whom friendfhip 
 or ability recommended to either party, might, with the permiffion 
 of the court, plead his caufe before the judges ; nor do I believe, 
 that this bufinefs was in general confidered as reputable ; for Nicode- 
 mus, who feems to have been a very profligate fellow, is reproached 
 by Ifieus in the fecond fpeech, for acting diihoneftly in hopes of the 
 .petty fees, which he gained by pleading caufes ; and, in the eighth, 
 Xenanetus and his aflociates, whom my author reprefents as a detect- 
 able crew, are faid to have had fuch powers in fpeaking, that they 
 were often employed as advocates. The \>ψομς were of a higher 
 clafs ; many of them, illuilrious ftatefmen ; and all, men of diftin- 
 guiihed abilities, who were frequently engaged in private caufes, 
 either at the requeit of particular friends, or, like the Roman 
 fenators, who were forbidden to take money by the C'mclan law, 
 with a view of acquiring fame and popularity : but Antipho of 
 Rhamnus is faid to have been the firil who took fees for his forenfick 
 labours. When the orators addrefled the court in perfon, they were 
 affifted, as Tul/y fays, in matters of law by follicitors or agents, who 
 were called •«^«/^«τ/κο/, and whofe profeffion was reckoned illiberal ; 
 but, moft commonly, the fpeeches were compofed by the great 
 mailers of rhetorick, and delivered either by memory or from writ- 
 ing, by the clients themfelves, or fome of their intimate friends: 
 for the Athenians were naturally quick ; their general aiiembly 
 
 d 2 was
 
 xxviii THE PREFATORY 
 
 was the beft fchool of eloquence in the world ; and, as they had 
 but one language to learn, which, was the fin eft ever fpoken by- 
 mortals, the loweft among them could not only exprefs themielves 
 with propriety, but were even the niceft judges or" the pure Attick 
 diction. Plutarch tells us, in his treatiie on Garrulity, that Lyfias 
 wrote a fpeech for a client, who brought it back with great marks 
 of uneafinefs, affuring the orator, that, "when he fir ft read it, he 
 " thought it wonderfully fine ; but that, on the fecond and third 
 " reading, it appeared quite languid and inapplicable." " What ! 
 faid Lyfias mailing, do you forget that you are to (peak it but once, 
 to the jury r" This mode would, for many obvious reafons, be hardly 
 pra&icable among us ; yet, in fome criminal cafes, we have inftances 
 of artful and elaborate defences, at leaft equal to thofe of Ant'ipho,. 
 compofed or delivered by the prifoners themfelves ; and, furely,. 
 no compoiitions require fo much delicacy and judgement, fince inno-• 
 cent men on fuch occafions are feldom eloquent. Sometimes both, 
 methods were united at the Athenian bar ; and the party, having 
 told his ftory in a fet fpeech,, was fucceeded by his advocate, who 
 pronounced the peroration in a loftier ftrain : of this we have fome 
 examples in Demofthenes, who is called up by name to finiih the 
 fpeech for Darius againft Dionyfodorus ; and that of Ificus on the 
 eftate of Nicoftratus was, I believe, of the fame kind ; for it con-• 
 tains very folid ob.fervations on laws and the nature of evidence, 
 which would have come with a bad grace from the mouth of an ordi- 
 nary client ; and it concludes with a recapitulation of proofs, none 
 of which appear in the preceding part ; fo that from thefe circum- 
 ftances we may collect, more certainly than from the opening of the 
 fpeech, that it was delivered by the orator in his own perfon ; nor is 
 it in any refpeel unworthy of his reputation. It is hardly neceflary 
 to obferve, what the reader will naturally imagine, that women and 
 infants both iued and were impleaded in the names of their hulbands, 
 guardians, or next friends; as, in the difputes about the eftate of 
 Hagnias, the prochein amy of young Stratocles exhibited the infor-. 
 mation, and delivered the charge, againft Theopompus, whole ion 
 6 was
 
 DISCOURSE. xxix 
 
 was afterwards attacked by the guardian of the third Eubulides. 
 The time, which thefe judicial fpeeches were not fuffered to exceed, 
 was previoufly fixed by the Archon according- to the nature of the 
 cauic and the number of pertinent observations which it required; 
 and this time was regulated by the dropping of water through a 
 glafs, called clepfydra, which was carefully flopped, when any ver- 
 bal or written evidence was produced, or any law, will, or other in- 
 ftrument, was read to the court : this was a reftriclion in molt 
 eafes highly expedient for the dilpatch of bufinefs ; although Taci- 
 tus confidered the Pompeian law, by which the length of a criminal's 
 defence was limited to three hours, as a check to the free courfe of 
 eloquence ; and, as the power of allotting the due quantity of water 
 feems to have been difcretionary in the magiftrate, the fuccefs of a 
 caufe might, perhaps, depend too much upon his vigilance, atten- 
 tion, and fagacity : on the whole, we proceed better, I think, with- 
 out any fuch reftraint. 
 
 It does not appear, that two or more advocates were ever heard at 
 Athens on the fame fide, as they were at Rome, and commonly are 
 with us on legal queitions. Cicero, in his pleafing book on Famous 
 Orators, objecf s warmly to this practice ; but his objections, in my 
 apprehenlion, are not weighty : when he was a boy, there were but 
 fix advocates in the fulleft bufmefs ; nor have we many more, who 
 are fure to be retained in every caufe of great importance ; to deter- 
 mine who are the Craflus. and Antonius, who the Philippus and 
 Ca?far, who the Cotta and Sulpicius, of our Engliih bar, would be 
 a talk no lefs invidious than unneceffary ; but if the moit eminent 
 were always to fpeak without any fubalterns, a young barrifter 
 might be condemned at Weftminiter to a filence of twenty years. 
 
 Ii the reader has but opened the following work, he muft have 
 oblerved, that the Athenian advocates called their witnefles and read 
 their depoiitioas, as they went along, in proof of their fevcral points, 
 inftead of crouding all their evidence together at the concluiion of 
 their fpeeches ; and, although eloquence flows more agreeably and 
 Quentatioufly in a continued ltream, yet their method kerns better 
 
 calculated
 
 xxx THE PREFATORY 
 
 calculated than ours for thepurpofe of enlightening and convincing 
 the jury; fmce, as Dionyfius remarks, a number oj proofs collected in 
 one place, and belonging to a variety of heads, is inconfifent with per- 
 fpicuiiy. The witnefies were examined, and, I doubt not, crolV 
 examined, in the preparatory if ages of the caufe ; but they were not 
 lworn till the day of the trial, when they took the oath together 
 at the altar witli all pofiible Solemnity, and were afterwards called 
 before the tribunal to confirm their depositions, or, if necefiary, to cor- 
 recl and explain them ; lb that the practice of the Athenians happily 
 united the advantages of both oral and written teftimony. This was 
 the form of a depofition in one of their moil: celebrated caufes : 
 " SO SI A depofes, that Calliifratus, his wife's father, was firft. 
 " coufin to Polemo, the father of Hagnias, and to Charidemus, the 
 " father of Theopompus ; that his mother was fecond couiin to Po- 
 " lemo ; and that (he often told him, that Phylomache, the mother 
 " of Eubulides, was hirer of the whole blood to Polemo, the fa- 
 " ther of Hagnias, and that the faid Polemo never had a brother." 
 They admitted, we fee, heariay evidence even of particular fails, 
 as it appears alfo from the fpeech on the eftare ofCiron ; and, when 
 it was expedient to perpetuate the teftimony of perfons going abroad 
 or likely to be detained by hcknefs, it was ufual, in the prelence of 
 reputable witnefies, to take their depoiitions, which were called 
 εκ[Μκςτνξί(Χί, and might afterwards be read when the caufe was ripe 
 for a hearing. If a witnels was fummoned, he was obliged to attend 
 the trial under pain of perpetual infamy ; and, if he was really igno- 
 rant of the facts in queilion, the court permitted him to abjure, or fwear 
 that he knew nothing of the matter; but, if he would neither give evi- 
 dence nor abjure, the law condemned him to pay a fine of above five- 
 and-thirty pounds, a fum by no means inconfiderable in a country 
 where money was extremely fcarce : thus Hierocles protefts his ig- 
 norance of a material fact in the caufe concerning the eftate of Afy- 
 phihis, where the fenfe directs us to read 'E^w/xcow, or abjuration, in- 
 iread of Μβψψα, or evidence, which he refilled to give. I am per- 
 fiiaded, that objections were frequently made to the competence of 
 3 witnefies ;
 
 DISCOURSE. xxxi 
 
 witnefles ; and, when they were received, many arguments were 
 ufed and Angular proofs adduced by the adverfe party to affect their 
 credibility : thus the leventh fpeech of Ifaeus clofes with a violent at- 
 tack upon Diocles, whom the orator accufes of the moil atrocious 
 crimes, and even produces evidence that he had been a diihom-lt 
 guardian and an adulterer. 
 
 In the admiffion of evidence they feem to have indulged an extra- , 
 ordinary latitude ; as in the firft caufe, on the revocation of a will, 
 they heard proof of an opinion declared by the friends and relations j 
 of the devifees, that the property of Cleonymus ought to be divided 
 among the contending parties ; and many other Angularities of this 
 kind will be feen in the reft of the fpeeches : but we muft never for- 
 get, that the h -κκςκι were judges of fact, law, and equity, with 
 ample powers of deciding according to the juftice of every cafe ; {o 
 that the parties were permitted in general to prove whatever tended 
 to place them in a favourable light ; and this accounts for the popu- 
 lar topicks to the jury, which occur fo often in Ifaeus, Demofthenes,. 
 and Lyfias, that their clients had contributed largely to defray the 
 expenfes of the irate, had furniihed gallies, ferved chargeable of- 
 fices, given handlbme entertainments, and lived parfimonioufly in 
 private, that they might act liberally in publick, while their adver- 
 faries either concealed their fortunes, or were remifs and penurious 
 in their contributions ; topicks, which no advocate in his fenfes 
 would urge before judges of the bench, but which feem well adapted 
 to the conftitution of the courts at Athens, where the democracy 
 could never have flouriihed, unlefs all the citizens had vied with 
 each other in iupporting it ; and, as in fome ftates certain offenders- 
 are excluded from the protection of the law, fo in a repnblick few 
 offences can deferve that exclusion morejuftly than a want of zealous 
 affection to the commonwealth. After all, we have no reaion to 
 regret, that, in private caufes at leaft, an Engliihman is fure to ob- 
 tain juftice, although he may not have paid his annual taxes with 
 eagernefs, or ferved the office of iheriff with great alacrity ; and we 
 may triumph in our elegant and philofophical theory of evidence,. 
 
 which
 
 χχχϋ Τ HE Ρ 11 Ε F Α Τ Ο R Υ 
 
 which Arifrotle and Plato mnft have admired, and by the frri£V rules 
 of which all trials in the world ought to be directed. 
 
 A few other particularities will be remarked in the fpeeches of 
 Ulcus ; as, an appeal by Menexenus to the knowledge of the jurors 
 themfelves, concerning ibme tranfa&ions at a former trial ; witneffes, 
 who happened to be prefent, called upon to give evidence for Ciron's 
 grandlbn ; alluiions by the brother of Aftyphilus to what was palling 
 in court ; the proiecutor openly interrogated by Theopompus at the 
 beginning of his defence : moil of theie circumftances are incon- 
 fiftent with fet Ipeeches compofed by the orator and pronounced by 
 the party ; and one would almoft be tempted to conjecture, that the 
 advocate himfelf {poke in the peribn and character of his client, if 
 the ftory before cited from Plutarch and other authorities were not 
 deciilve of the contrary. 
 
 When the defendant had clofed his lpeech (for I find no certain, 
 traces of any reply bv the complainant) the jurymen gave their fen- 
 tence by calling pellets or beans into the urns allotted to the parties, 
 and, in cafes of inheritances, every claimant in a diftinor. right had 
 a feparate urn, but a fmgle one ferved for all thole who claimed 
 under the lame title: the magiftrate then counted the pellets, and 
 declared the judgement ; and here ended his ψ/ψο-Αα., or prefidency of 
 the court ; for he had no power to direcl or influence the jury ; and 
 Lyfias afks with fome warmth, What could be wore di [grace] ul and 
 abominable, than if the Archon, in caufes concerning heireffes, f:<ould 
 dare to fo licit the judges, and dejire them to find a verdicl according to 
 his pkafure ? This regulation deferves to be applauded, and would 
 even be worthy of imitation, if the complex queftions and nice points, 
 which an Englifii jury are often required to determine, did not make 
 it ablblutely necefiary for them to receive light and afliftance from 
 the learning and experience of a judge. 
 
 If the complainant failed of fuccefs, he was amerced for his falfe 
 claim, which amercement was ufually a iixth part of the turn de- 
 manded : in all cafes the unfuccefsful party forfeited his depofit, and 
 the fines and forfeits were fpeedily collected by the rapca, or officers 
 
 of
 
 DISCOURSE. xxxiii 
 
 of the revenue, who paid them into the treaiury, where ibme of 
 them were appropriated for the payment of the jurymen, and the reit 
 applied to the fervice of the publick. 
 
 To the courts at Athens appeals lay from the deciilons of the 
 {landing arbitrators, of whom there were four hundred and forty in 
 different parts of Attica, forty-four being drawn by lot from each of 
 the ten tribes : two of them commonly gave judgement in every 
 caufe ; and we find, in the fragment againlr. the burgefles of Erchia, 
 that their tribunal was lbmetimes placed in the Delphinian temple 
 of xApollo. As very little occurs in the following fpeeches concern- 
 ing this court, it is needlefs to difcourib at large on its origin and 
 conflitution ; but we may obferve, that its decrees mull always be 
 diftinguiihed from ths awards of arbitrators freely chofen by the 
 parties themfelves, and generally fworn to do juilice, from which 
 there was no appeal. 
 
 Before I conclude this prefatory part of my work, it will be proper 
 to mention fuccinclly, that the people of Athens, who had the free- 
 dom of the city and governed the republick, were divided into ten 
 tribes ; that the tribes comprifed a number of boroughs difperfed in 
 various parts of Attica ; that each borough was fubdivided into wards, 
 and each ward compofed of diirindl families. Every legitimate 
 child, who was named on the tenth day after his birth, was preferr- 
 ed, before his feventh or eighth year, to the citizens of .his ward with 
 many ceremonies, to which we find allufions in the following 
 fpeeches : the time for prefenfing natural children was the feftival, 
 called Apaturia, which lafled four days in January ; but adopted 
 fons were admitted at the feafts of Thargelia in July, as we may 
 coiledt. from the fpeech on the eitate of Apollodorus, where the reader 
 will fee a defcription of the forms ufual on theie occafions. If the 
 members of the ward were fatisfed of the child's legitimacy, and 
 none of them removed from the altar the viclim called y.-hicv, which 
 was facrificed in their prefence and diftributed among the companv, 
 the name of the new citizen was inferibed on their common regifler ; 
 
 e but
 
 xxxiv THE PREFATORY,^, 
 
 but he was not a complete burgefs till the age of twenty years, when 
 he was regiftered on the publick roll of his father's borough. 
 
 This will be a fufficient introduction to the works of the author, 
 whom I now fend abroad in an Engliih drefs : the four orders of 
 Athenian citizens, their military and religious inlYitutions, their fu- 
 neral rites", their celebrities in honour of Ceres and Proferpine, of 
 Pallas and Prometheus, with their greater and lefs feftivals of Bac- 
 chus, are known to all, who have received the flighteft tincture of 
 Grecian learning ; but IS^EUS will give full fatisfaction to thofe 
 only, whofe imagination can for a time tranlport them to his coun- 
 try, who can live in idea two thoufand years ago, and read an Attick 
 orator with the mind, and, as it were, the eyes of an Athenian ; in 
 the fame manner as an aftronomer, to borrow a comparifon from 
 the excellent writer on Hebrew poetry, fuppofes himfelf to become 
 for a while an inhabitant of every planet, where he obierves its pe- 
 culiar qualities, and its fituation with refpect to others, meafures• 
 their distances, compares their motions, and forms a diftinct view of 
 the whole univerfe.. 
 
 ATTICK
 
 [ XXXV ] 
 
 ATTICK LAWS. 
 
 I. 
 
 WHEN A WOMAN, IN ORDER TO ENJOY THE RIGHTS OF A L. 
 FUL WIFE, HAS BEEN DULY BETROTHED BY HER FATHER, 
 OR HER BROTHER BY THE SAME FATHER, OR HER PATERNAL• 
 GRANDSIRE, HER CHILDREN BORN IN WEDLOCK ARE LEGITIMATE. 
 IF NONE OF THOSE RELATIONS BE LIVING, AND SHE BE AN HEIR- 
 ESS, LET HER NEAREST KINSMAN MARRY HER; BUT, IF SHE HAVE 
 NO KINSMAN ENTITLED TO CLAIM HER, LET HIM, WHO SHALL BE 
 APPOINTED HER GUARDIAN, GIVE HER IN MARRIAGE. 
 
 ΙΓ. 
 
 THE LEGITIMATE SONS OF HEIRESSES SHALL ENTER UPON TH 
 ESTATES AT THE AGE OF SIXTEEN YEARS, AND SHALL ALLOW 
 THEIR MOTHERS A SUITABLE MAINTENANCE. 
 
 e 2 III.
 
 XXXVI 
 
 κ 
 
 III. 
 
 IF THE NEAREST KINSMAN OF A WOMAN WITHOUT AN ESTATE 
 REFUSE TO MARRY HER, HE SHALL GIVE HER IN MARRIAGE WITH 
 A PORTION OF FIVE MINA3, IF HE BELONG TO THE FIRST ORDER OF 
 CITIZENS, OR OF THREE, IF HE BELONG TO THE SECOND, OR OF 
 Α ΜΙΝΑ AND A HALF, IF HE BE OF THE THIRD CLASS. IF SHE 
 HAVE MANY KINSMEN IN THE SAME DEGREE, THEY SHALL SEVE- 
 RALLY CONTRIBUTE TO HER PORTION ; AND IF THERE BE MANY 
 SUCH WOMEN, EACH OF THEIR KINSMEN SHALL BE OBLIGED TO 
 MARRY OR TO GIVE IN MARRIAGE ONE OF THEM ONLY. IF THE 
 NEXT OF KIN WILL NEITHER MARRY THEM NOR GIVE THEM IN 
 MARRIAGE, THE ARCHON SHALL COMPEL THEM TO DO EITHER 
 ONE OR THE OTHER; AND, IF HE NEGLECT THIS DUTY, HE SHALL 
 FORFEIT TEN MINAS TO THE TEMPLE OF JUNO. ANY CITIZEN 
 MAY PREFER A COMPLAINT BEFORE THE ARCHON AGAINST SUCH 
 AS DISOBEY THIS LAW. 
 
 IV. 
 
 LET THE ARCHON TAKE CARE OF ORPHANS AND HEIRESSES, OF' 
 DESOLATE HERITAGES, AND OF WOMEN, WHO, ALLEDGING THAT 
 THEY ARE ENCEINT, REMAIN IN THE HOUSES OF THEIR DECEASED 
 HUS3ANDS : LET HIM NOT SUFFER THEM TO BE INSULTED OR IN- 
 JURIOUSLY TREATED. IF ANY ONE SHOULD INJURE THEM, LET 
 HIM IMPOSE A FINE WITHIN THE LIMITS OF HIS AUTHORITY ; 
 AND, IF THE OFFENDER SHOULD SEEM DESERVING OF A HEAVIER 
 PUNISHMENT, LET THE ARCHON SUMMON HIM TO APPEAR WITH- 
 IN FIVE DAYS, AND, LAYING THE DAMAGES AT SUCH A SUM AS 
 HE THINKS PROPER, LET HIM BRING HIM TO A TRIAL IN THE 
 COURT OF HELI.EA, WHERE, IF HE BE FOUND GUILTY, LET THE 
 JURY INFLICT SUCH A CORPORAL PAIN, OR SET SUCH A FINE, AS 
 HE SHALL DESERVE. 
 
 5 V.
 
 LAWS. xxxvii 
 
 V. 
 
 IF A HUSBAND REPUDIATE HIS WIFE, HE SHALL RETURN HER 
 PORTION, OR PAY INTEREST FOR IT AT THE RATE OF NINE OBO- 
 LUS'S A MONTH FOR EVERY ΜΙΝΑ. HER NEXT OF KIN, UNDER 
 WHOSE PROTECTION SHE IS, MAY SUE FOR HER PORTION OR HER 
 ALIMONY BEFORE THE ARCHON IN THE ODEUM. 
 
 VI. 
 
 ALL GENUINE UNADOPTED CITIZENS MAY DEVISE THEIR ES- 
 TATES AS THEY THINK FIT, PROVIDED THAT THEY HAVE NO 
 LEGITIMATE CHILDREN, AND BE NOT DISABLED BY LUNACY OR. 
 AGE, OR POISON OR DISEASE, NOR INFLUENCED BY WOMEN, SO AS 
 TO HAVE LOST THEIR RFASON FROM ANY OF THESE CAUSES, NOR» 
 RE UNDER ANY DURESS OR CONFINEMENT. 
 
 VIL 
 
 THE WILLS OF SUCH AS HAVE LEGITIMATE SONS SHALL STAND 
 GOOD, IF THOSE SONS DIE BEEORE THEIR AGE OF SIXTEEN YEARS. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 IF A MAN HAVE LEGITIMATE DAUGHTERS, HE MAY DEVISE 
 HIS ESTATE AS HE PLEASES, ON CONDITION THAT THE DEVISEES 
 TAKE THEM IN MARRIAGE. 
 
 IX. 
 
 INFANTS AND WOMEN SHALL NOT TRANSFER OR• DEVISE MORE 
 THAN THE VALUE OF A BUSHEL OF BARLEY. 
 
 X. 
 
 ADOPTED SONS SHALL NOT DEVISE THE PROPERTY ACQUIRED 
 BY ADOPTION; EUT, IF THEY LEAVE LEGITIMATE SONS, THEY 
 
 Μ A Υ
 
 xxxviii Α Τ Τ I C Κ 
 
 MAY RETURN TO THEIR NATURAL FAMILY. IF THEY DO NOT 
 RETURN, THE ESTATES SHALL GO TO THE HEIRS OF THE PERSONS 
 WHO ADOPTED THEM. 
 
 XL 
 
 THE ADOPTED SON AND THE AFTER BORN SONS OF THE PERSON 
 WHO ADOPTED HIM, SHALL BE COHEIRS OF THE ESTATE ; BUT NO 
 ADOPTION BY A MAN, WHO HAS LEGITIMATE SONS THEN BORN, 
 SHALL BE VALID. 
 
 XII. 
 
 IF A CITIZEN DIE INTESTATE AND LEAVE DAUGHTERS, THE 
 NEAREST KINSMEN WHO MARRY THEM SHALL INHERIT THE ES- 
 TATE : BUT, IF HE DIE CHILDLESS, HIS BROTHERS BY THE SAME 
 FATHER SHALL BE HIS HEIRS, AND THE LEGITIMATE SONS OF 
 THOSE BROTHERS SHALL SUCCEED TO THE SHARE OF THEIR FA- 
 THERS. IF THERE BE NO BROTHERS, THE SISTERS ON THE FA- 
 THER'S SIDE, AND THEIR CHILDREN, SHALL INHERIT. ON FAI- 
 LURE OF SISTERS AND NEPHEWS, THE COUSINS ON THE FATHER'S 
 SIDE SHALL BE HEiRS IN THE SAME MANNER ; BUT MALES AND 
 THE CHILDREN OF MALES SHALL BE PREFERRED, ALTHOUGH IN A 
 REMOTER DEGREE, PROVIDED THAT THEY BELONG TO THE SAME 
 BRANCH. IF THERE BE NO KINSMAN ON* THE FATHER'S SIDE SO 
 NEAR AS THE SECOND COUSINS, THEN LET THOSE .ON THE MO- 
 THER'S SIDE SUCCEED TO THE ESTATE IN THE SAME ORDER. SHOULD 
 THERE BE NO MATERNAL KINSMEN WITHIN THE DEGREE ABOVE 
 LIMITED, THE NEXT PATERNAL KINSMEN SHALL BE THE HEIRS. 
 
 XI] I. 
 
 NO MALE OR FEMALE BA.STARD, BOT, Ν AFTER THE ARCHON- 
 SHIP OF EUCLID, SHALL SUCCEED EITHER TO SACRED OR CIVIL 
 RIGHTS. 
 
 XIV.
 
 A W S, xxxix 
 
 XIV. 
 
 FNHERITANCES AND HEIRESSES MAY BE CLAIMED EVERY MONTH IN THE 
 YEAR EXCEPT AUGUST, AND NO DEVISEE SHALL POSSESS AN ESTATE EXCEPT 
 BY AN ADJUDICATION OF THE COURT. 
 
 XV. 
 
 IF ANY MAN SHALL CONTROVERT THE TITLE OF ANOTHER, TO WHOM AN• 
 INHERITANCE OR AN HEIRESS HAS BEEN ADJUDGED, LET HIM CITE HIS AD- 
 VERSARY BEFORE THE ARCHON, AS IN OTHER CAUSES. THE DEMANDANTS 
 SHALL DEPOSIT A STATED SUM AS A PLEDGE OF PROSECUTION, AND, IF 
 THERE BE NO CITATION, THE JUDGEMENT SHALL BE REVERSED. IF THE 
 PERSON, TO WHOM THE ESTATE WAS ADJUDGED, BE DEAD, HIS HEIR MAY 
 BE IMPLEADED IN THE SAME FORM, PROVIDED THAT THE LIMITED TIME BE 
 NOT EXPIRED. LET THE SUIT PROCEED BEFORE THE ARCHON IN THE SAME- 
 MANNER AS THE CLAIM WAS AT FIRST MADE BY THE POSSESSOR OF THE IN- 
 HERITANCE IN DISPUTE. 
 
 NOTE.. 
 
 The Athenians made no difference between the tranfmiifion of real and perfonal' pro- 
 perty : in thefe laws, therefore, and in the following fpeeches, the words devife, heir,. 
 inheritak^e, and the like, are applied both to lands and to goods, without being reftrained 
 to the peculiar fenfe in which we ufe them. 
 
 THE
 
 C ι 1 
 
 THE 
 
 SPEECHES OF I S J£ US, 
 
 SPEECH THE FIRST. 
 
 On the Eftate of Cleonymus. 
 
 /cc P< tol- 
 
 T Η Ε 
 
 A R G U Μ Ε Ν Τ. 
 
 POLYARCHUS left three fons, Cleonymus, Dinias, and the father of 
 thole, for whom Ifaeus compofed the foil• -wing fpeech. The third fon dying, 
 his children were committed to the guardianlhip of Dinias. Thefe young 
 men were heirs to Cleonymus by the laws of Athens, and their grandfather 
 had appointed them fuccelfors to their uncle, if he ihould die childlefs. 
 Cleonymus had, however, a power to difpofe of his property ; and, in a fit of 
 anger againil his brother Dinias for fome real or imagined wrong, had made 
 a will in favour of two remoter kinfmen, Diodes and Pofidippus ; which, 
 according to the cuftom of the Athenians, he had depofited with one of the 
 magiftrates : but, after the death of Dinias, he took his nephews under his 
 care, and determined to cancel the will, by which they were difinherited. 
 With this intent he fent for the magiftrate, who kept the teftament, but 
 died unexpectedly before an aftual revocation of it. His nephews then en- 
 tered upon his eftate, as heirs at law; and the other claimants produced the 
 will ; which, as lfieus contends in the perfon of his clients, was virtually re- 
 Toked by Cleonymus. 
 
 Jj**3~%L 
 
 Β 
 
 s Ρ Ε ε c: Λ
 
 2 Θ Ν Τ Η Ε Ε S Τ Α Τ £ 
 
 SPEECH Τ HE FIRS Τ. 
 The Grandfons of Polyarchies againit Pofidippus and Diodes.. 
 
 GREAT has been the change, which our fortunes have 
 undergone by the deceafe of Cleonymus ; who, when 
 he was alive, intended to leave us his eitate, but has expoled 
 us by his death to the danger of lofing it : and with fo mo- 
 dcft a referve, judges, were we bred under his care, that not 
 even as hearers had we at any time entered a court of juitice, 
 but now we come hither to defend our whole property ; for 
 cur adverfaries dilpute our right not only to the pofleffions 
 of the deceafed, but alio to our paternal inheritance, of 
 which they boldly aflert that he was a creditor. Their own 
 friends, indeed, and relations think it juft, that we fhould 
 have an equal ihare even of thofe effects which Cleonymus 
 confeiiedly left them ; but our opponents fhemlelves have 
 advanced to fiich a height of impudence, that they leek to 
 deprive us even of our patrimony; not ignorant, judges, of 
 what is right and equitable, but conceiving us to be wholly 
 defenceless againit their attacks. 
 
 Confider then on what grounds the parties, who come 
 h< tore you, refpectively reft their claims: thefe men rely on 
 a will, which our uncle, who imputed no. blame to us, made 
 in refentment againit one of our relations, but virtually can- 
 celled before his death, having lent Pofidippus to the magis- 
 trate, for the purpofe of iolemnly revoking it ; but we, who 
 were his nearelt kinlmen, and moil intimately connected with 
 .him, derive a clear title, both from the laws, which have 
 eiiabiifhed our right of lucceflion, and from Cleonymus 
 ι himielf.
 
 Ο W C L• Ε Ο Ν Υ Μ Γ s. Η 
 
 himfelf, whole intention was founded on the fikndfihp fub- 
 iifting between us ; not to urge, that his father, and our 
 grandfather, Polyarchus, had appointed us to fucceed him, if 
 he ihould die without children : fuch and i'o juft being our 
 claim, thefe affociates, who are nearly related to us, and who 
 have no colour of juftice on their fide, are not afhamed of 
 contefting our title to an eftate, about which it would be 
 difgraceful for mere ftrangers to contend. Nor do wefeem, 
 judges, in this caufe to be affected equally towards each other; 
 for I do not confider it as the greatelt of my prefent misfor- 
 tunes to be unjuftly difturbed with litigation, but to be attack- 
 ed by thole, whom it would be improper even to repel with 
 any degree of violence ; nor mould I think it a lighter cala- 
 mity to injure my relations in my own defence, than to be 
 injured myfelf by their unprovoked affault : but they, judges, 
 have different fentiments, and appear againft us with a for- 
 midable array of friends, whom they have fummoned, and 
 advocates, whom they have retained; leaving behind them 
 no part of their forces, as if they were going to inflict ven- 
 geance on open enemies, and not to wrong thole whom they 
 were bound by every natural and focial tie to affiiti Their 
 fhamelels audacity and fordid avarice will be more clearly per- 
 ceived by you, ν hen you have heard the whole cafe, which 
 1 fliall begin to relate from that part, whence you will 
 lboneft and moil cafilv learn the irate of our controveriv. 
 
 Dinias, our father's brother, was our guardian, he being- 
 cur elder uncle, and we, orphans ; at which time, judge?, a 
 ■violent enmity fubiiited between him and Gleonymus : whe-. 
 thcr of the two had been the caufe of the difienlion, it is 
 aot, perhaps, my buiinefs to determine; but ib far at leaft. 
 I may pronounce them both defcrvedly culpatjle, that, having. 
 
 Ή a till
 
 4 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 till then been friends, and no jnft pretext arifing for a breach 
 of their ffiendihip, they fo haftily became enemies on ac- 
 count of fomc idle words. Now Cleonymus himlelf, when 
 he recovered from that illneis, in which he made his will, 
 declared, that he wrote it in anger ; not blaming us, but 
 fearing, left at his death he fhould leave us under age, and 
 left Dinias our guardian ihould have the management of our 
 eftate ; for he could not fupport the pain of thinking, that his 
 property would be poflefied during our infancy, and that fa- 
 cred rites would be performed at his fepulchre, by one, whom 
 of all his relations he molt hated, while he lived : with 
 thefe fentiments (whether laudable or not, I leave undecided), 
 he made a difpofition of his fortune ; and, when Dinias, im- 
 mediately after, aiked him publickly, whether we or our 
 father had incurred his difpleafure, he anfwered, in the pre- 
 fence of many citizens, that he charged us with no fault 
 whatever, but made the will in refentment againft fj/'m, and 
 not from any other motive : how indeed, judges, could he 
 have determined, if he preferved his ienfes, to injure us, who 
 had given him no caufe of complaint ? 
 
 But his fublequent conduct will afford the ftrongeft proof, 
 that by doing this he had no intention of wronging us ; for, 
 when Dinias was dead, and our affairs were in a diftreffed con- 
 dition, he M'as fo far from neglecting us, or fuffering us to 
 want neceflaries, that he bred us in his own houle, whither 
 he himlelf had conducted us, and faved our patrimony from 
 unjuft creditors, who fought inlidioufly to deprive us of it ; 
 nor were our concerns lefs attentively managed by him than, 
 his own : from thefe acts, therefore, rather than from his 
 written teftament, it is proper to collect his intention towards 
 us ; and not to be bialfed by what he did through anger, by 
 5 which
 
 OFCLEONYMUS. 5 
 
 which all of us are liable to be hurried into faults, but to 
 admit the clear evidence of thole facts, which afterwards ex- 
 plained his defign. Still farther : in his laft hours he mani- 
 fefted the affection, which he bore us ; for, being confined by 
 the diforder of which he died, he was defirous of revoking: 
 his will, and with that intent ordered Pofidippus to bring 
 the officer who had the care of it ; which order he not only 
 dilbbeyed, but even refufed admittance to one of the ma- 
 gistrates, who came by chance to the door: Cleonymus, en- 
 raged at this, gave the fame command on the next day to 
 Diodes; but, though he feemed not dangerouflyill, and we had 
 great hopes of his recovery, heluddenly expired that very night. 
 
 Firft then, I will prove by witneffes, that he made this will, 
 not from any diilike to us, but from a fettled averfion to Di- 
 nias ; next, that, when Dinias was no more, he Superintended 
 all our affairs, and gave us an education in his houle, to 
 which he had removed us ; and thirdly, that he fent Pofi- 
 dippus for the magistrate, who was fo far from obeying the 
 order, that, when one of the proper officers came to the 
 door, he refufed to introduce him. Call thofe who will 
 prove the truth of my affertion. witnesses. Call like- 
 wife thofe, who will fwear, that Cephilander and the other 
 friends of our adverfaries were of opinion, that the whole 
 eftate fhould be divided, and that we fhould have a third 
 part of all, which Cleonymus poffeffed. witnesses. 
 
 Now it feems to me, judges, that all thofe who contend 
 for the right of lucceffion to eitates, when, like us, they 
 have mown thefrrfelves to be both nearest in blood to the 
 peribn deceafed, and moft connected with him in friendship, 
 are difpenfed from adding a fuperfluity of other arguments: 
 but lined men, who have neither of thofe claims, have the 
 
 boldneis
 
 6 Ο Ν Τ Η Ε Ε S Τ Α Τ Ε 
 
 boldnefs to difpute with us for that which is legally ours, and 
 to fct up a fictitious title, I am willing in a few words to give 
 them ah anfwer. They ground their pretenfions on this 
 will, and admit that Cleonymus lent for the magistrate; not, 
 fay they, with an intent to cancel it, but w ith a ι clblution to 
 correct it, and to Secure the legacy more Strongly in their 
 favour : now confider, whether it be more probable, that our 
 uncle ihould wifh to recall a will made in anger, at a time 
 when he was moft intimate with, us, or ihould meditate by 
 What means he might be fureit to deprive us of his inhe- 
 ritance. Other men, indeed, ulually repent at length of the 
 wrongs, which they have done their -friends in their pallion ; 
 but our opponents would convince you, that, when he 
 Showed the warm eft regard for us, he was moil deiirous of 
 eltablifhing the will, which, through refentment againft our 
 guardian, he had made to our difadvantage : lb that, even 
 mould we confefs this idle fiction, and ihould you perfuade 
 yourfelves to believe it, you muft fuppoic him to have been 
 mad in the higheit degree; for what madncis could be greater 
 than to injure us, becaufe he had quarrelled with Dinias, 
 and to make a difpolition of his property, by which he took 
 no revenge on his enemy, but ruined his deareft friends, and 
 afterwards, when we lived with him on terms of the Stiictelt 
 friendship, and he valued us above all men, to intend that his 
 nephews alone (for Inch is their affertion) ihould have no 
 Share in his fortune? Could any man, judges, in his fenfes 
 entertain fuch a thought concerning the distribution of his 
 eState ? 
 
 Thus from their own arguments thev have made it eafv 
 to decide the caufe againft themfelves ; iince if he lent for the 
 officer, as we contend, in order to cancel the will, they have not 
 
 a ma-
 
 Ο F C L Ε Ο Ν Υ Μ U S. η 
 
 a fhadow of right ; and, if he was fo void of reafon, as to re- 
 gard ns leaft, who were moll nearly connected with him both 
 by nature and friendihip, you would juftly decree, that his 
 will was not valid. Conlider farther, that the very men,, 
 who now pretend, that Cleonymus deligned to eftablilh their 
 legacy,, durft not obey his order, but dimiifTcd the magiftrate, 
 who came to the houle ; and thus, one of two molt oppolitc- 
 things being likely to happen, either a itronger confirmation 
 of the intereit bequeathed to them, or a total lots of all inte- 
 reft in the fortune of the teftator, j they gave a plain indication 
 of what they expected, by refilling to admit the perfon who 
 kept the will. 
 
 To conclude : mice this can fe has been brought before you, 
 and fince you have power to determine the conterf, give your 
 aid both, to us and to him, who lies in the grave ; and luffer 
 him not, I adjure you by all the gods, to be thus dclpifed and 
 infulted by thele men ; but, remembering the law, by which 
 you are to judge, the oath, which you have folemnly taken, 
 and the argument^, which have been uled in the difpute, give, 
 a j uft and pious judgement, conformably to the laws. 
 
 SPEECH
 
 8- ON THE ESTATE 
 
 SPEECH THE SECOND. 
 
 On the Efhite of Pyrriius. 
 
 THE A It G U Μ Ε Ν Τ. 
 
 PYRRHUS left his eltate to Endius, one of his filler's Tons, whom he had 
 adopted; and his nephew continued in pofleffion of it above twenty years ; 
 but when, afterjus^ death, his brother claimed the inheritance as heir to 
 him, oneXenocles, who had married Phila, a natural daughter of Pyrrhus by 
 the filter of Nicodemus, entered a proteftation, that Pyrrhus had a legitimate 
 daughter, and was confequently difabled from difpofing of his eftate to an 
 adopted fon. Xenocles loft thecaufe; but, Nicodemus having fworn at the 
 trial, that he had betrothed his filter to Pyrrhus as a lawful wife, and that 
 Phila was born after their nuptials, the brother of Endius profecutes Nico- 
 demus for wilful perjury, infilling that Phila was illegitimate and actually 
 given in marriage to Xenocles as the baftard of Pyrrhus. 
 
 S Ρ Ε Ε C Η
 
 OF PYRRHUS. 9 
 
 SPEECH THE SECOND, 
 The Brother of Endius againft Nicodemus. 
 
 PYRRHUS, my maternal uncle, judges, having no legi- 
 timate children, adopted my brother Endius, who luc- 
 ceeded to his fortune, and continued in poffeiiion of it above 
 twenty years ; in which long interval not a iingle man ever 
 pretended to controvert his title, or to difpute the validity of 
 his adoption: but, laft year, on the death of my brother, this 
 Phila, who had fuffered him to enjoy the eftate without inter- 
 ruption, afTerted, that fhe was the legitimate daughter of my 
 uncle ; and her huiband Xenocles the Cyprian entered a claim 
 in her right to the effects of Pyrrhus, who had fo long been 
 dead, alledging in his bill of complaint, that he died poffefTed 
 of three talents ; and, when my mother infilled on the fupe- 
 riority of our claim, he had the confidence to proteft, that 
 ihe had no title to the eftate, becaufe Pyrrhus, to whom it 
 originally belonged, had left a daughter born in wedlock : 
 we traverfed this proteftation ; and, having brought before 
 the court the perfon who ventured to make it, we clearly con- 
 victed him of having fworn falfely, and proved his confede- 
 rate Nicodemus to be the moil impudent of men in fupport- 
 ing the other's teftimony, and daring to affert upon oath, before 
 the fame judges, that he had betrothed his own fifter to my 
 uncle, and that ihe became his lawful wife. Now that this 
 man's evidence at the former trial was falfe, the conviction of 
 Xenocles undeniably demonftrates; for, if Nicodemus had not 
 then been thought perjured, it is clear, that his aiibciate 
 
 C would
 
 ι ο ON THE ESTATE 
 
 would have iucceeded in his proteftation ; that the legitimacy 
 of this woman would have been eftablifhed; and that ihe, not 
 my mother, would have been declared my uncle's heirefs : 
 but, iince the principal actor in the caufe was convicted of 
 perjury, and the pretended daughter of Pyrrhus deiifted from 
 her claim, Nicodemus was at the fame time neceflarily found 
 guilty of giving falfe evidence ; for he fwore to the truth of 
 the fame propoiition, and they were both examined to the 
 fame point, namely, whether the woman, in whofe right 
 Xenocles claimed, was my uncle's daughter by a wife or by a 
 harlot : this was the iingle iffue between us, as you will per- 
 ceive by hearing our crofs-depofitions, the evidence of Nico- 
 demus, and the proteftation, which was over-ruled. Take 
 and read them to the court, cross-depositions, evidence. 
 
 PROTESTATION. 
 
 That the man, whom I now accufe, w r as immediately 
 thought guilty of perjury, was apparent to all who attended 
 the trial ; but it will be proper, that his guilt be proved before 
 you alfo, judges, who are afTembled to decide the iamequeftion. 
 
 I defire iirft to aik this witnels himfelf, what fortune he 
 gave with his filler to a man worth three talents ; whether 
 this betrothed wife left her hufband, whilft he was alive, 
 or departed from his houfe after his death ; from whom he 
 received his lifter's portion, when Pyrrhus was dead, to 
 whom he has fworn that he had given her in marriage ; or, 
 if it was not reftored to him, what action he thought proper 
 to inftitute, for her maintenance or her fortune, againft one, 
 who has been twenty years in poileilion of the inheritance ; 
 or whether, in fo long a period, he once demanded the por- 
 tion from the heir in any man's prefence ? On the following 
 points too I fhould be glad to interrogate him ; why nothing 
 
 of
 
 OF Ρ Υ R R Η U S. ιι 
 
 of what I have juit mentioned has been done for a widovvj 
 who, as he fwore, was lawfully married ; and, whether ilic 
 had been betrothed to any other man, either of thofe, who 
 were formerly connected with her, before Hie knew my uncle, 
 or of thofe whom ihe admitted to her favours, while ilie lived 
 with him, or of thole, who have been intimate with her 
 Ohce his deceale ? for it is notorious, that her brother gave 
 her on the fame terms to many others, who kept her as a 
 miftrefs, and whom if it were neceflary to enumerate, it 
 would give me no fmall trouble : fome of them I will men- 
 tion, if you command me ; but, if it be as unpleafant to you 
 to hear fuch tales, as it is difagreeable to me to relate them, 
 I will be contented with producing the very evidence given 
 at the former trial, no part of which they have ventured to 
 contradict ; yet, when they admit (as they have in fact ad- 
 mitted, by not attempting to impeach the teftimony of our 
 witnefles) that this woman was a common harlot, how can it 
 be conceived, that fhe was legally betrothed to Pyrrhus ? 
 You will be convinced, when you have heard the depositions, 
 both that Nicodemus has fworn what was apparently falfe, 
 and that the judges gave a proper and legal fentence, when 
 they decreed, that the fucceffion could not belong to the 
 daughter of a woman not lawfully married. Read the depo- 
 sitions, and let the water-glafs be flopped, depositions. 
 That the mother of this Phila was common to all who chofe 
 to be connected with her, and was not the betrothed wife of 
 my uncle, as Nicodemus had the boldnefs to lvvear, has 
 been proved to you by the other kinfmen and neighbours of 
 Pyrrhus, who tell you of the quarrels, riotous feaits, and con- 
 tinual dilbrders on her account, while ilie lived with him ; 
 but no man prefumes to revel at the houfes of married wo- 
 
 C 2 men,
 
 ία ON THE ESTATE 
 
 men, who never accompany even their huSbands to publick 
 entertainments, nor think it confiStent with decency to fit at 
 table with Strangers, especially with the SirSt who prelent 
 themfelves ; yet they have not attempted to invalidate this 
 evidence : now to iliow that I repeat it fairly, read, once 
 more the depoiitions of the neighbours, together with thofe 
 of the other witnefTes concerning her numerous train of 
 lovers, which will fatisfy the court, that fire was a common. 
 proStitute, and never was the mother of a legitimate child. 
 
 DEPOSITIONS. 
 
 From all this evidence, which you will carry in your me- 
 mory, it is apparent, that the filler of Nicodemus, whom he 
 fwore that he gave in marriage to my uncle, might have been 
 any man's miftrefs, but was never betrothed to any, nor ever 
 Supported the character of a matron : let us now confider the 
 circum Stances, from which it may be thought pofiible, that 
 Pyrrhus really married fo abandoned a woman, if we can lup- 
 pofe him capable of fuch indifcretion ; (for it Sometimes 
 happens indeed, that young men, inflamed with the love of 
 a harlot, and actuated by intemperate paflion, are induced by 
 their folly to ruin themfelves by fuch a marriage) and how can. 
 thefe circumftances be more clearly known, than by recollect- 
 ing the teftimony of their own witneffes in the original cauSe, 
 and by examining the probability of the whole transaction ? 
 Reflect a moment on the impudence of their affertion : this 
 Nicodemus, when he was going, as he fays, to betroth his 
 own Sifter into a family worth three talents, pretends that he 
 earned with him, on fuch an occaSion, one witneSs only, 
 named Pyretides, whoSe depofition they produced at the trial 
 of the caufe ; a depofition, which Pyretides himfelf disclaim- 
 ed; 
 
 3
 
 OF PYRRHUS. 13 
 
 ccl ; and he ilill denies, that he gave any fuch evidence, or 
 knows any thing of the matter. In confirmation of this, I 
 will mention a convincing argument, that the depofition pro- 
 duced by them was forged ; for you all know, that when we 
 are going to do any publick and deliberate act, which muft 
 be witneffed, we take with us our neareft relations and moft 
 intimate friends, in order to have the benefit of their attef- 
 tation ; but in private afts, which are often done on a fudden, 
 we are contented with fuch witnefTes, as happen to be near at 
 hand ; and, when afterwards their evidence becomes necef- 
 fary, we muft call thole, whoever they are, that were pre- 
 fent at the time of the aft ; but when w r e procure the tefti- 
 mony of a witnels, whom ficknefs prevents from giving it 
 publickly, or of one who is going, abroad, we deilre the pre- 
 ience of the moft reputable citizens, and of thofe whom w r e 
 beft know, not of one or of two, but of as many as we can af- 
 femble, to preclude the deponent at any future time from 
 the power of denying his depofition, and to give his evidence 
 more weight with you, judges, by confirming it with the at- 
 teftation of many honeft men : thus, when Xenocles went 
 to Thebes, with an intention to ejeft our fervants from the 
 mines, which had been left us, he thought it not fufficient to 
 call any perfons, who happened to be there, as witnefTe& of 
 that oufter, but he carried with him Diophantus of Sphettus, 
 who was his advocate in the original caufe, and Dorotheas of. 
 Eleufis, together with his brother Philochares r and many 
 others, whom he η ad collected at Athens, and who travelled 
 for that purpofe full three hundred furlongs ;. yet, when he 
 was going, as he fays, to take a depofition in this very city 
 concerning the marriage of his wife's mother, on which her 
 
 legitimacy
 
 J 4 ON Τ HE ESTATE 
 
 legitimacy depended, he called together none of his friends, 
 but only Dionyfius of Erchia and Ariftolochus of iEthalia; 
 in the pretence of whom it is afferted that the depofition was 
 taken in the heart of Athens. Such are the pretences of 
 thefe impoftors, none of which can find credit with any dis- 
 cerning man ! The act, which they lay Pyretides attefted, 
 was frivolous, to he lure, and of a trifling nature ; fo that 
 their negligence in this affair was not lingular. How! was 
 not that acl to have determined the very point, on which 
 Xenocles was tried for perjury, whether his wife was the 
 daughter of Pyrrhus, by a married woman, or by a harlot ? 
 Would he not, if fuch a marriage had really been contract- 
 ed, have affembled all his friends for the purpofe of attefting 
 it? Moil affuredly he would, if their if ory had not been auc- 
 tion ; but Xenocles omitted this neceflary precaution, and 
 took only two perfons, whom he accidentally met, to be pre- 
 lent at a depofition of fuch importance ; and this Nicodemus 
 himfelf pretends, that when he gave his lifter in marriage to 
 a man of fo confiderable a fortune, he carried with him no 
 witnefs but Pyretides, who abfolutely denies the fact. Ly- 
 fimenes, indeed, afferts that he was invited to the marriage, 
 together with his brothers, Chseron and Pylades ; and thefe 
 three were the uncles of the man, who was going to form fo 
 debating an alliance : but you will confider, whether this be 
 credible ; for, to reafon from probabilities, I fhould imagine, 
 that Pyrrhus would rather have kept the tranfaction fecret 
 from all his relations, if he meditated a contract fo difgrace- 
 ful to his family, than have called his own uncles to be wit- 
 neffes of their difgrace. This alfo fills me with furprize, that 
 there was no agreement concerning a portion either on the 
 6 one
 
 OFPYRRHUS. 15 
 
 one fide or on the other; for, if Nicodemus gave his filler a 
 fortune, it is to be fuppofed, that thole, who pretend to have 
 been prefent, would have recollected the fum given ; or, if 
 our uncle was, fo enflaved by his pailions, as to marry a com- 
 mon proltitute, her brother would have been ilill more foli- 
 citous to procure evidence of his giving money with her, and 
 would have affembled a number of witneffes, that Pyrrhus 
 might not have it in his power to difcard her, when he pleat- 
 ed ; for none of you are ignorant, that the inclinations of men 
 impelled by their defires are very changeable: yet this fellow 
 fwears, that he gave his lifter in marriage to fo rich a man be- 
 fore one witnefs only on his part, and without any acknow- 
 ledgement of a portion ; and the uncles afiert, that they were 
 prefent, when their nephew agreed to marry this harlot with- 
 out a fortune. 
 
 Thefe very uncles too have fworn, that they were invited 
 by Pyrrhus to an entertainment, which he gave on the tenth 
 day after the birth of his daughter : and here I cannot fupprefs 
 the vehemence of my indignation, when I fee, that Xenocles, 
 who claims the patrimony of his wife, has called her in his 
 bill of complaint by the name of Phila, while the uncles of 
 Pyrrhus, who fwear that they were prefent on the tenth dav, 
 have declared, that her father gave her the name of her 
 grandmother Clitareta. It is aftoniihing, that a man, who 
 has now been married above eight years, ihould not know 
 the true name of his own wife ; that he could not have learn- 
 ed it before from his own witneffes; that neither his wife's 
 mother, nor her uncle Nicodemus, ihould in fo long a period 
 have informed him of it ; but that, inftead of her grand- 
 mother's name (if that name was in fact given her by Pyrrhus) 
 
 he
 
 i6 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 he mould infert the name of Phila in the very bill, by which 
 he demands her paternal inheritance. What could be his 
 motive ? Could a hufband mean to deprive his wife of her 
 grandmother's name, which her father gave, and which 
 might be urged as a proof of her legitimacy ? Is it not appa- 
 rent, judges., that thefe pretended tranfactions, which, as 
 they fwear, happened fo long ago, were invented by our ad- 
 versaries long iince the beginning of this fait ? They mani- 
 feftly were : for it is not pofiible, that thefe men, who fay 
 they were invited on the tenth day after the birth of this 
 girl, the daughter of Pyrrhus and niece of Nicodemus, fliould 
 remember fo accurately from that day, whenever it was, to 
 this, and fliould fwear in court fo pofitively, that her father 
 named her Clitareta, yet that her neareit relations, her father 
 himfelf, her uncle, and her mother, mould not know the 
 name of their own child: they muft have known and ufed it, 
 if the fact had been true ; but of this I fliall again have occa- 
 iion to fpeak. 
 
 As to the teftimony of Nicodemus, it is eafy to perceive 
 from the laws themlelves, that he was apparently guilty of 
 perjury ; for, fince, when a man gives a female relation in 
 marriage with a fum of money by way of free gift and not as 
 a portion, for which an equivalent muft be returned, he can- 
 not legally require that money to be given back, if either the 
 wife fliould leave the hufband, or the hufband difmifs the 
 wife, whoever afferts that he has betrothed his own filler 
 without a fecurity for her portion, mult neceffarily appear a 
 moft daring impoftor : for what would fuch an alliance avail 
 him, if the man to whom he was allied might repudiate his 
 wife, whenever he chofe, without inconvenience ? Yet fuch 
 would have been her condition, judges, had there been no 
 
 f.ipulation
 
 Ο F Ρ Υ R R Η U S. 17 
 
 Stipulation concerning her fortune. Would Nicodemus have 
 engaged his lifter to our uncle upon fhele precarious terms, 
 efpecially when he knew that ihe had never borne a child in 
 ib long a courie of proftitution, and that the ftipulated por- 
 tion would by law return to him, if ihe mould die childlels ? 
 Can any of you, judges, believe, that Nicodemus is fo neg- 
 ligent of lucre, as to let flip one of thefe advantages ? I can- 
 not think it probable : And is this the man, whole filler our 
 uncle chofe to marry? A man, who in an action brought 
 againft him as an intruder by one of the ward, of which he 
 pretended to be a member, obtained indeed a fentence in his 
 favour, but was adjudged a freeman of the city by a majority 
 of four votes only ? Read this deposition, in proof of what I 
 have alledged. deposition. Yet this very man, who was 
 perfectly well apprized of the law, by which he would have 
 been entitled to his lifter's fortune, had ihe died without 
 children, has ventured to fwear, that he gave her in marriage 
 to our uncle, without agreeing with him for her portion. 
 Read the laws, to which I allude, the laws. Can you, I 
 fay again, believe that Nicodemus, if there had been any 
 fuch marriage, would have been fo ftupidly neglectful of his 
 intereft, as not to provide for his own advantage with a fcru- 
 pulous attention ? No, by heaven, it feems impoffible, for 
 even thole, who give women to others, as their mi ft relies,, 
 with a fum of money, take care previoufly to bargain for the 
 benefits, which thole women are afterwards to enjoy : and. 
 was Nicodemus contented with the ceremony of betrothing his 
 lifter according to the forms of law, without bellowing a 
 thought upon any thing eKel• Nicodemus, who, for the 
 paltry fees, which he hopes to fcrape together for lpeaking 
 fometimes before you, makes no fcruole of acting with fhame-- 
 
 D lefe
 
 1 8 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 lefs difhonefty ? His infamous conduct, indeed, moil of you 
 well know, without being reminded of it ; and I am dehrous 
 of proceeding to another argument, which will demonil rate 
 the abominable impudence of his affertions. Tell me, Ni- 
 codemus, how came it, that, if you really gave your lifter 
 in marriage to Pyrrhus, and if you knew that ilie had left a 
 legitimate daughter, you neverthelefs permitted our brother 
 Endius to claim and obtain the inheritance, without regarding 
 our uncle's daughter, who was born, as you alledgc, in law- 
 ful wedlock ? Could you be ignorant, that, by his allowed 
 claim of the fucceflion, your niece was baftardized ? For, 
 whenever an adopted fon fets up a title to an eftate and obtains 
 a decree in his favour, he proves the daughter of the deceafed 
 to have been illegitimate ; as her father Pyrrhus, indeed, had 
 done long before, by adopting my brother as his own fon ; 
 for no man, who has daughters lawfully begotten, can either 
 devife his eftate from them, or aliene any part of it to 
 their difad vantage : this you will clearly underftand, judges, 
 when the laws themfelves have been read to you. the laws. 
 Does it feem probable then, that, if Nicodemus did betroth 
 his lifter, as he has raoft confidently fworn, he would have 
 fuffered my brother Endius to claim the inheritance, without 
 fetting up the adverfe title of his own niece, and without en- 
 tering a proteftation, that Endius had no right to her patri- 
 mony ? Now that our brother not only claimed this eftate, but 
 had his claim judicially allowed, and that without oppofition, 
 this depolition will convince you. deposition. When, 
 therefore, Endius inftituted a fuit for his inheritance, Nico- 
 demus neither durft difpute his title, nor thought proper to 
 proteft, that Pyrrhus left a legitimate daughter, who was his 
 xiiece : he will invent, I fuppofe, fome filly pretext for this 
 
 conduct,
 
 OFPYRRHUS. 19 
 
 conduit, and will pretend either that he was unapprized of 
 our proceeding, or that our allegations are falfe ; but the firit. 
 is impoffible, and the iecond we have difproved : let us 
 proceed to another topick. 
 
 When our brother gave your niece in marriage to Xenocles, 
 would you, Nicodemus, have iuffered a girl, whom Pyrrhus 
 lawfully begot, to be given away as the daughter of his mil- 
 trefs ? Would you not have informed the Archon, that ihe, 
 being an heirefs, was grofsly injured by an adopted fon, and 
 deprived of her paternal eftate ? efpecially as thefe informa- 
 tions alone may be made without danger to the informant,, 
 iince any man, who pleafes, may fue on behalf of an heirefs, 
 and the complainants in fuch caufes are never amerced, even 
 though the court unanimoully decide againft them; nor are 
 they obliged,, like other luitors, to depolit money as a pledge 
 of fupporting their complaint ; but the profecutors may pro- 
 ceed without inconvenience, while the defendants, if they 
 are convicted, feldom fail to fuffer an exemplary punifhment.. 
 If then, judges, the niece of Nicodemus had been really le- 
 gitimate, would he patiently have feen her difpofed of in 
 fuch a manner,, and not have informed the magiftrate that an 
 heirefs was thus infulted by a man, who had given her away• 
 as a baftard ? No -: if that, which you have now fo audaci- 
 ouily fworn, had been true, you would inftantly have taken 
 your revenge of Endius, who had injured your niece ; unlefs 
 you pretend, that you were ignorant of this fact alfo. What ! 
 did not you perceive from the very portion which Xenocles» 
 took with her, that ihe was. rejected as illegitimate ? This 
 alone ihould have excited your refentment, and induced you 
 to lay an information againfr. Endius, for claiming (as he 
 did juftly claim} an inheritance of three talents, and for giving 
 
 D ζ a leg!--
 
 ίο ON THE ESTATE 
 
 a legitimate daughter of the deceafed in marriage to a itranger, 
 with no greater portion than ten minas. — Would not this 
 have raifed his indignation ? Would he not have complained 
 to the magiftrate ? He would moil certainly, had the marriage 
 been true : nor can I perfuade myfelf, that either Endius. 
 or any other adopted fon, would have been fo abfurdly regard- 
 lei s of the laws, as to give a legitimate daughter of his father 
 in marriage to another, inftead of marrying her himfclf ; for 
 he could not but perfectly know, that the children of fuch a 
 daughter would inherit their grandfather's eftate ; and wouLl 
 any man apprized of this law give his property away to an- 
 other, efpecially lb large a fortune as thefe confederates have 
 claimed ? Can any of you imagine, that an adopted fon 
 would be fo outrageouily daring, as to betroth fuch a daugh- 
 ter, without giving her fo much as the tenth part of her own 
 patrimony ? Can you imagine, that, when this affair was in 
 -agitation, her uncle, who has fworn that he gave her to 
 Pyrrhus, would have endured fuch an infult ? I cannot be- 
 lieve it — no : he would have contended for the fucceffion ; 
 he would have entered a proteftation ; he would have inform- 
 ed the Archon ; and would have followed any courie that 
 might effectually have fecured the right of his niece. Yet, I 
 repeat it, when my brother difpofed of this girl as of a baf- 
 tard, Nicodemus, who calls her his niece, neither thought 
 fit to afTert her claim to the fortune of Pyrrhus, nor to exhi- 
 bit an information againft the man, who had thus vilified her, 
 nor was he at all indignant at the pitiful portion, which her 
 hufband received, but iliamefully acquieiced in all thefe 
 tranfactions. 
 
 On each of the points juit mentioned the laws are explicit ; 
 but read firit the depofition concerning the claim and adjudi- 
 cation
 
 OF Ρ Υ R R II U S. 21 
 
 ration of the inheritance, and afterwards that concerning the 
 pretended marriage. depositions. Next read the law. 
 the law. To clofe the whole, read once more the depofkion 
 of the defendant. deposition of nicodemus. Now in 
 what manner can an accufer more clearly convict the per- 
 ibn accnfcd, than by adducing proofs both from the man's 
 own conduct, and from the laws of his country ? Of Nico- 
 .demus, therefore, almoft enough has been faid. 
 
 Confider now, whether the very man, who married his 
 niece, may not afford a convincing argument of his guilt. It 
 has been given in evidence, that Xenocles took, the girl as an 
 illegitimate daughter of Pyrrhus, and he himfelf eilabliihed 
 the truth of that evidence by his long acquiescence ; for, had 
 he taken her from Endius as one born in lawful matrimony, 
 he would not have neglected, when fo many of his children, 
 by her were adult, to affert againft my brother her claim to 
 her paternal inheritance ; efpecially, when he was prepared 
 to deny that Endius had really been adopted by Pyrrhus, and 
 excepted to all the witneffes, who fwore that they were pre- 
 fent at the execution of the will ; as their depofition, which 
 fhall now be read, will convince you. deposition. By the 
 actions, indeed, of thefe confederates, they manifeftly ac- 
 knowledged the validity of that adoption ; for, had they 
 thought it impeachable, they would not have fubmitted to 
 the long poffeffion of the laft occupier, nor have delayed till 
 now the claim of this woman to the fortune of Pyrrhus, who 
 has been dead above twenty years, whereas Endius died only 
 laft year in the month of October, and they put in their claim 
 on the third day after his death : now the law ordains, that 
 whoever has a title to an eftate muft claim it within five years 
 after the deceafe of the laft poffefibr ; fo that Phila had only 
 
 this
 
 22 ONTHEESTATE 
 
 this alternative, either to contend with Endius, while he- 
 lived, for her paternal eftate, or, after the death of the 
 adopted ion, to claim the fortune of her brother by right of 
 iucceffion ; efpecially if Endius, as thefe men alledge, be- 
 trothed her to Xenocles, as his legitimate filter ; for we 
 all perfectly know, that it is neceffary to make a formal 
 claim to a fraternal inheritance, but that, when a man leaves- 
 children lawfully begotten, they immediately enter upon• 
 their patrimony and enjoy it without litigation. Thus you and 
 all other citizens pofTefs your paternal fortunes without fear of 
 controverfy ; yet thefe aflociates are bold enough to iniift, 
 that an adopted fon ought not to claim the fortune, which his 
 father left him, while they are claiming the patrimony of 
 Phila, whom they pretend to be the legitimate daughter of 
 Pyrrhus : the very reverfe of which is the practice eftabliihed 
 by law ; for, as I before obferved, legitimate children ought 
 not to demand a decree for their paternal inheritance, but 
 fons adopted by will are bound to fue for an adjudication of 
 the eftate deviled to them ; becaufe no man would controvert 
 the right of an heir by defcent, whereas all the relations of 
 the deceafed would eagerly engage in a conteft with an heir by 
 appointment. Left any ftranger, therefore, who pleafed, 
 Ihould commence a fuit for fuch eftates, and left others mould 
 dare to claim them as vacant inheritances, all heirs by adop- 
 tion are obliged to have their title formally allowed : none of 
 you then can luppofe, that Xenocles, if he really believed 
 his wife to be legitimate, would have claimed her patrimony 
 in court ; but ihe w r ould have entered, as lawful heirefs, on 
 the lands of her father ; and, if any one had ufed violence 
 or attempted forcibly to retain the peflefTion, lire would have 
 ejected him, as ihe might, from her paternal eftate ; nor 
 
 3 would
 
 Ο F Ρ Υ R R Η U S. 23 
 
 would Ivor opponent have been expofed to a private lawfuit 
 only, but even to a publick information before the Archon, 
 who might have inflicted a corporal puniihment, or impofed 
 a heavy fine. I may add, that thefe uncles of Pyrrhus, if 
 they had known that their nephew left a legitimate daughter, 
 and that neither Endius nor any of us would marry her, 
 would never have permitted Xenocles, who bore no relation 
 to the decealed, to take a woman, who belonged to them as 
 her next of kin : that would have been inconceivably itrange. 
 The law commands, that both inch daughters as have been 
 given in marriage to itrangers by their own fathers, (yet who 
 can determine better than a father, what may be for his 
 daughter's advantage r) and fuch as remain iingie, ihall be 
 married to their neareft relations, if their fathers die without 
 leaving fons begotten in wedlock ; and many men have had 
 their wives taken from them by force of this law: would 
 any one of Pyrrhus's uncles then have buffered Xenocles to 
 marry a daughter of their nephew, when the laws had ad- 
 judged her to one of them, and thus have made a ftranger 
 heir to fo large an eftate, inftead of themfelves ? Never believe 
 it, judges ; for no man prefers another's intereft to his own ; 
 but if they fhould pretend, that the adoption of Endius pre- 
 vented the woman from having the quality of an heirefs, on 
 which account they did not demand her in marriage for one 
 of themfelves, let them firlt be aiked, why, if they allow 
 that Endius was adopted, they took exceptions to all the wit- 
 neflcs who attefted his adoption, and why they pafled him 
 over, who was laft poflcfTor of the lands, and now illegally 
 and informally have claimed the eftate for Phila as heirefs to 
 the deceafed ? Afk them alfo (and oppofe thefe interrogato- 
 ries to their impudence) whether any legitimate child ever 
 
 thinks
 
 24 Ο Ν Τ Η Ε Ε S Τ Α Τ Ε 
 
 thinks it proper to obtain a fentence of the court for his own 
 patrimony ? That this girl however, was truly an heirefs and 
 liable to be married to her neareft kinfman, if ihe was not il- 
 legitimate, moft evidently appears from the law, which ex- 
 prefsly ordains, that every man may difpofe of his eftate by 
 will, as he pleafes, unlefs he has legitimate fons ; and that, 
 if he has daughters, he may bequeath his property, but the 
 legatees are bound to take them in marriage ; fo that a man 
 is allowed to devife his pofTeffions together with his legiti- 
 mate daughters, but without them he can neither conftitute an 
 heir by adoption, nor appoint a mcceflbr by will to any part of 
 his eftate : if Pyrrhus, therefore, adopted Endius without 
 providing for his marriage with his daughter, fuch an adop- 
 tion was illegal and confequently void ; but if he gave her to- 
 gether with his fortune to his adopted fon, how came it that 
 you, the uncles of Pyrrhus, permitted Endius, without tak- 
 ing her, if ihe was lawfully begotten, to procure a decree for 
 eftablifhing his own title to the iucceffion? efpecially if your 
 nephew, as you gave in evidence, had requefted you to fu- 
 perintend the interefts of the girl ? This too, honeft men, 
 vou will fay, efcaped your memory : yet, when ihe was be- 
 trothed and given away by Endius, you, her father's uncles, 
 iuffered the daughter of your nephew to be thus treated as 
 his baftard; you who fwear that you were prefent, when 
 Pyrrhus took her mother as his lawful wife, and that you 
 were invited by him to an entertainment on the tenth day 
 aifter the child's birth. Thus, when your nephew had en- 
 joined you (for this is the worft part of your conduct) to con- 
 lult the girl's intereft, your mode of confulting it was to let her 
 be difpoled of as bafe born, though ihe bore the name, as your- 
 felves have lworn, of your own iifter. From all this, as 
 
 well
 
 Ο F Ρ Ϋ R k Η U S. £ 5 
 
 well as from the reafon of the thing, it is manifeft, that thefe 
 confederates are the moft impudent of mortals ; for with what 
 view could my uncle, if he had a legitimate daughter, adopt 
 my brother as his ion ? Had he any nearer kinfmen than we* 
 whom he meaned to exclude from the right of demanding his 
 daughter in marriage ? But there neither exifted nor exiils 
 (for he had no fons) any nearer relation to him than our- 
 ielves ; fince he had no brothers, nor brother's ions, and we 
 are the children of his fifter. They will urge, that, had 
 Pyrrhus chofen to adopt any of his other kinfmen, he would 
 have given his daughter, together with his eftate ; yet why 
 fhould he thus openly and unneceffarily affront any one of his 
 relations ? It was in his power, if he had really married the 
 fifter of Nicodemus, to introduce his daughter by her to the 
 men of his own ward, as born in wedlock ; by which care he 
 might have made her fole heirefs of all his fortune, and might 
 have directed, that one of her fons fhould be adopted as his 
 own ; for he well knew, that, by leaving her his heirefs, 
 either one of us, his nephews, might have procured a de- 
 cree for taking her in marriage, or, in cafe of our refufal, 
 one of thefe ready witneffes, his uncles, might have married 
 her ; or, had they too declined the match, his next neareft 
 relation might have taken her, by a fentence of the court, 
 with all his property ; fo that, by introducing her as his 
 daughter to the ward, of which he was a member, and by 
 not adopting my brother, he would have left things exactly as 
 they were ; but by the adoption of Endius, . and the want of 
 admitting Phila as his daughter, he not only declared her, as 
 he ought to do, illegitimate, and deprived her of all right to 
 the fucceffion, but actually appointed my brother heir to the 
 whole eftate. 
 
 Κ Now,
 
 i6 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 Now, to convince you, that our uncle neither gave a nup- 
 tial feaft, nor thought proper to admit the girl, whom they 
 call his legitimate daughter, to his ward, according to the an- 
 cient cuftom, the teltimony of thole, who belong to the fame 
 ward, ihall be read to you — Read : and do you ftop the 
 water-glafs. deposition. Read now the proofs of my bro- 
 ther's adoption, evidence. Can you then give credit to the 
 teftimony of Nicodemus, in preference to the fuperior evi- 
 dence of my uncle's own conduct ? Will any man endeavour to 
 perfuade you, that Pyrrhus really married a common harlot ? 
 You will not be perfuaded, unlefs Nicodemus inform you, as 
 I faid in the beginning of my fpeech, with what portion he 
 betrothed his lifter to Pyrrhus; before what magiftrate lhe 
 declared, that fhe had left her hufband or his houfe ; by 
 whom her fortune was returned to him, after the death of 
 my uncle ; or, if he could not obtain a reftitution of it in the 
 courfe of twenty years, what action he brought for her ali- 
 mony or for her portion againft the occupier of the eftate : 
 let him alio declare, whether he had betrothed her to any 
 one elfe, either before or after her pretended marriage with 
 Pyrrhus, or whether fhe had children by any other man. 
 Interrogate him to thefe points, and do not forget to examine 
 him concerning the marriage- feaft luppofed to be given to 
 the members of his ward : this is no light argument againft 
 the teftimony of Nicodemus ; for, could they have prevailed 
 with him to marry the woman, he might furely have been 
 induced to give an entertainment to the men of his ward, and 
 to prefent this girl to them as his legitimate child, who, 
 if he was really married, was heirefs to a fortune of three 
 talents. He would have been obliged alfo to entertain the 
 
 wives
 
 OF PYRRH'uS, 27 
 
 wives of his companions at the feftival of Ceres, and to have 
 borne fuch offices in his borough on account of his wife, as 
 are required from a man of his poiTeifions : yet nothing of 
 this kind will appear to have been done. The members of 
 his ward have given their evidence : I ill all, therefore, con- 
 clude with theteftimony of his fellow-burgeiTes. depositions. 
 
 Ε 2 SPEECH
 
 α8 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 SPEECH THE THIRD. 
 
 On the Eftate of Nicostratus. 
 
 THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 NICOSTRATUS dying in a foreign country, Hagnon and Hagnotheus, 
 his fu-ft coufins, contend for the right of fucceffion to his eftate againft Cha- 
 riades, who claims under a will. This fpeech is by fome fuppofed to have 
 been delivered by Ifsus in his own perfonas next friend to the young men, 
 whofe caufe he fupported ; but Reiike well obferves, that no argument in 
 favour of this opinion can be drawn conclufwely from the opening of the 
 fpeech ; fince the words my intimate friends might have been ufed by 
 any other fpeaker. 
 
 SPEECH
 
 / 
 
 OF N1COSTRATUS. 29 
 
 SPEECH THE THIRD, 
 
 Hagnon and Hagnotheus againft Chariades. 
 
 SINCE Hagnon and Hagnotheus, judges, are my inti- 
 mate friends, and their father long ago was clofely con- 
 nected with me, it will hecome me to defend them with the 
 beft of my abilities : now as neither of them has ever been 
 out of Attica, it will not be pofiible for them to come pre- 
 pared with evidence of tranfa&ions in foreign parts, nor eai y 
 to confute their opponents, if they ihould tell a fictitious 
 ftory ; but what has paired in our own country will, in my 
 opinion, afford a lufficient proof, that all they, who claim 
 the fortune of Nicoftratus as legatees, aim only at deluding 
 and infulting you. 
 
 Firft then, judges, it will be proper for you to conilder- 
 the difference of the names in our refpective bills of com- 
 plaint, and to determine which claim has been made more 
 naturally and with more fimplicity ; for Hagnon and Hag- 
 notheus have alledged in their bill that Nicoftratus was the 
 fon of Thrafymachus, and declare that they are his couiins, 
 both which allegations they prove by witnefTes ; but Cha- 
 riades and his coadjutors in this caufe afTert, that one Smicrus 
 was the father of Nicoftratus, yet claim thofe effects which 
 belonged to the ion of Thrafymachus ; and, though my 
 clients neither pretend to know the name of Smicrus, nor are 
 related to any fuch perfon, but maintain, that Thrafymachus 
 was the father of their coulin, yet to this eftate alio thefe 
 
 aflbciates
 
 3Q ON THE ESTATE 
 
 affociates have fet up a title. If each party agreed in the 
 name, nothing more would he left for your deciiion, than 
 iingly, whether that Nicoftratus, whom both fides have in 
 contemplation, made a will or not ; but how can the fame 
 man be faid in the fame caufe to have two fathers ? To this 
 abfurdity has Chariades reduced hirrifelf; for having claimed 
 a right of fucceilion to Nicoftratus the fon of Smicrus, he has 
 inftituted his fuit againft thofe, who claim as next of kin to 
 the fon of Thrafymachus, and has tendered an iflue, that the 
 fon of both thefe men was one and the fame Nicoftratus. 
 Now all this is a mere trick and a preconcerted fcheme ; for 
 they are well aware, that while the cafe remains iimple and 
 not involved in this perplexity, my friends will have no diffi- 
 culty in proving, that Nicoftratus never made a will ; but, if 
 they introduce the name of a different father, and contend, 
 nevcrthelefs, for the fame eftate, they are perfectly feniible, 
 that we rauft ufe a longer argument to prove, that Nicoftra- 
 tus was the fon of Thrafymachus, than to convince you, that 
 no will was made by him : belides, had they confeffed, that 
 Nicoftratus was his fon, they could not have denied, that 
 thefe young men were coufins to the deceafed ; but by fabri- 
 cating a new father to him, they have drawn into queftion not 
 his will only, but his pedigree. 
 
 This contrivance, and not this alone, but all that has hap- 
 pened from the beginning, will convince you, that other 
 perfons, befides thofe who appear in the caufe, have brought 
 this trouble on my clients ; for, when the fucceilion to a for- 
 tune of two talents had been fix times litigated, who did not 
 fhave his head ? Who did not put on mourning cloaths ? As if 
 by a falfe fhow of forrow they were fare of fucceeding to the 
 eftate. How many fictitious kinfmen and felf- adopted fons 
 
 laid
 
 OF Ν I C Ο S Τ R A Τ U S. 31 
 
 laid claim to the goods of Nicoftratus ? Firft, one Demof- 
 thcnes pretended to be his nephew ; but, when he was con- 
 futed by the true heirs, he withdrew his demand. Telephus 
 next afferted, that the deceafed had m&de a gift to him of all 
 his property ; but he too was very foon reduced to fiience : 
 then came Amyniades, bringing to the chief magistrate a child 
 not three years old, as the Ion of Nicoftratus, who for eleven 
 years together had been abfent from Athens. Next, Pyrrhus 
 of Lampra w r as abfurd enough to alledge, that the deceafed 
 had confecrated his whole fortune to Minerva, and yet had 
 given the fame fortune to him. Laltly, Granaus and Ctelias of 
 Befa began with afTerting, that they had obtained judgement 
 for one talent in a fuit againft Nicoilratus ; and, when they 
 failed in their proof, had the impudence to declare that he- 
 had been their freedman. Theie were the men, who firft 
 led their forces againft the poiieffions of Nicoftratus : Clia- 
 riades was then at reft ; but afterwards he both fet up a title 
 for himfelf, and even produced his own child by a harlot, as 
 the fon of the deceafed, hoping either to be mafter of the 
 eftate, or to procure for his baftard the freedom of the city; 
 till perceiving, that he ihould be unable to prove him legiti- 
 mate, he difcontinued the claim of the infant, and has put in 
 iflue his own right under a will. 
 
 It were much to be wifhed, judges, that every claimant 
 of an eftate by gift or teftament, who fails in proving 
 his title, ihould not pay the ordinary cofts of the fuit, 
 but be amerced for the publick benefit to the full amount 
 of the fortune which he falfely claimed; for then, nei- 
 ther would the laws be defpifed, nor families infultcd by 
 thefe impoftors, nor fictions invented about the dead : but, 
 iince all ftrangers who pleafe may at no git at cxpence dif- 
 pute the right of fucceilion to any eftate whatever, it be- 
 hoves
 
 3 2 Ο Ν Τ HE ESTATE 
 
 lioves you to weigh the pretentions of fuch men with a fcru- 
 pulous exadtnefs, and to let no exertion of your faculties be 
 wanting in fuch a caufe. To me, indeed, it feems, that in 
 fuits concerning wills, and in them only, greater ftrefs ihould 
 be laid on circumftantial proof than on the pofitive affertion of 
 witnefles; for when other infrruments are litigated, it is not 
 always diiFicult to prove a witnefs perjured, when he fwears 
 in the lifetime and even in the prefence, as it often happens, 
 of the fuppofed party to the deed ; but when the validity of a 
 will is iu difpute, haw can it be known that falfe evidence is 
 given, unlets there be palpable contradictions in it, when the 
 teftator is no more, his family are uninformed of the tran- 
 ί action, and the mode of proof is by no means clear or con- 
 vincing ? Let me add, judges, that the generality of teftators 
 fay nothing to the witneifes concerning what they have be- 
 queathed, but call them only to attcft the iimple execution of 
 the will : now it frequently happens, that the inftrument is 
 altered, and a forged will fubitituted for the real one ; while 
 the witneifes are ignorant whether that produced in the fuit 
 be the fame with that which they attefted. Since then even 
 they, who were confenedly prefent, are liable to be deceived, 
 how much more readily will they attempt to impofe upon 
 you, who know nothing of what paifed? But the law, judges, 
 intends, that a will ihall be valid, not merely if it be exe- 
 cuted, but if the teftator be of found memory : you muft 
 firft, therefore, confider whether a will was made at all, and 
 next -whether the maker of it had his fenfes at the time; now, 
 iince we deny, that any fuch inftrument exifted, how can you 
 enquire concerning the fanity of the teitator, before you are 
 convinced, that he made his teftament ? Obferve therefore the 
 difficulty of difcovering, whether the claimants under a 
 7 will
 
 OF NICOSTRATUS. 33 
 
 TV ill have truth on their fide: but, as to thofe who claim by 
 right of fuccefiion, in the firft place no witneffes need be 
 called to fubftantiate that right, iince all agree, that the pof- 
 feffions of the dead regularly devolve to their next of kin : 
 beiides, not only the laws concerning confanguinity, but alio 
 thofe concerning the alienation of eftates, are favourable to 
 kinfmen ; for they luffer no man to difpofe of his effects, 
 who has loft his reafon either from age or ficknefs, or any of 
 thofe infirmities, which, as you know, are incident to na- 
 ture ; but the neareft relation of an inteftatc, whatever might 
 have been the ftate of his- faculties, has an undifputed title 
 to his property. Add to this, that you muft eftablifh wills 
 on the credit of witnefles, by whom you are liable to be de- 
 ceived (for if none were to fwear falfely, there would be no 
 profecutions for perjury), whilft in the other cafe you confide 
 in none but yourfelves ; for the neareft relations fucceed to 
 eftates by laws, M'hich yourfelves have enacted. 
 
 To all this likewife we may add, that, if thofe who now 
 claim under the will, had been undeniably friends to Nicof- 
 tratus, even that would not be concl alive in their favour ; 
 but there would then have been a probable ground for lup- 
 nofing the teftament to be genuine ; fince perfons, who have 
 no affection for their kinfmen, have fometimes preferred to 
 their neareft relations by blood thofe who were related to 
 them only by friendihip : but now we have fully evinced, 
 lhat thefe claimants were neither friends nor companions of 
 the fuppofed teftator, nor even of the fame ftation with him 
 in the army abroad. 
 
 Conficler too another fact, which mofc clearly proves the 
 impudence of Chariades ; for muft he not be fhamefully im- 
 pudent, who neither carried out the bodv, nor collected the 
 
 bones.
 
 34 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 bones, after it was burned, of one who had left him a large 
 eftate ; but fuffered all this to be done by perfons wholly un- 
 connected with him ? and who, though he performed none 
 of thefe holy rites enjoined by the laws, has the boldnefs to 
 claim the pofieirions of the deceafed ; and, though he neg- 
 lected his duty, has not omitted even to lay hands on the 
 goods of Nicoftratus ? Nor will he himfelf deny the greatefr. 
 part of thefe charges : he will invent, no doubt, fome fine 
 pretences and weighty reafons for his conduct ; but, what 
 juft excufe remains for a man, who plainly avows his offence? 
 By this time, judges, you mult be perfectly feniible, that 
 thefe men have no legal right to the fortune of Nicoftratus, 
 but wiih to baffle you, and to deprive his near relations of 
 that fucceflion, which the laws have given them : nor has 
 Chariades aloi\e acted thus, but many other falle claimants 
 have arifen ; and, indeed, when a man dies in a foreign 
 country, numbers often claim his fortune, who were 
 ftrangers even to his perfon ; for they think that, if they fuc- 
 ceed, they ihall enjoy the property of others, and fhall not, 
 if they fail of fuccefs, incur a confiderable lofs. In thefe 
 cafes enow may be found, who will forfwear themfelves, 
 and fuch evidence is in its nature very obfcure ; in a word, 
 there is a vail difference between the claims of the legatee and 
 the heir of the deceafed : you will iirft, therefore, enquire, 
 judges, whether a will actually exiils ; for of this both law 
 and juftice require you to be certain ; and now, fince you 
 have no perlbnal knowledge of the tranfaction, and fince the 
 witnefles to the pretended will were not friends to Nicof- 
 tratus, but ftrongly in the intcreft of Chariades, who de- 
 mands what he has no right to claim, what can be more juft 
 than to e'ive the 'roods of a coulin to his coufins, whofe ef- 
 5 fects,
 
 OF NICOSTRATUS. 35 
 
 fecl:s, had he iurvived them, Mould have come to him, as 
 their kinfmen in the fame degree ? 
 
 Our adv eriaries will perhaps affert, that Hagnon and Kag- 
 notheus are not the couiins of Nicoflratus, iince the aiibciates 
 are labouring to fupport α man who claims as legatee. Why 
 do they not rather lay claim to the eftate themfelvcs, as of 
 kin to the deceafed ? Are they fo filly as to relinquifh luch 
 poifeilions for the fake of eftablifhing a will, when by their 
 own account it will be more advantageous for them, that the 
 fortune of Nicoflratus ihould be decreed to my clients than 
 to Chariades ? If my friends, who claim as kinfmen, take 
 poifeffion of the efcate, it will at any future time be compe- 
 tent to the fupporters of our antagonift to prove, that they 
 are more nearly related to Nicoftratus, and that he was the 
 fon of Smicrus, not of Thrafymachus ; but, ihould Chariades 
 gain his caufe, no relation will ever be permitted to difturb 
 him ; for what can the kindred of a man alledge againft 
 him who claimed under a will, and for whom judgment has 
 been given ? 
 
 Whatever then each of you would think fiift, were the 
 caufe your own, let that be your determination in the cafe of 
 thefe youths : they have produced witneffes before you, who 
 have proved, firft, that they are the couiins of Nicoflratus, 
 as children of his father's brother ; and that no difagreement 
 ever iubiiited between them ; next, that they fupplied the 
 charges of his funeral ; that Chariades had no intimacy with 
 him either here or in the army, and that the connection, on 
 which he relies, is wholly fictitious. Independently too of 
 thefe proofs, it will be right for you, judges, to confider and 
 weigh the qualities of the refpective claimants. Thrafippus, 
 the father of Hagnon and Hagnotheus, had often ferved 
 
 F 2 your
 
 3 6 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 your publick offices, contributed to your expences, and been 
 in all refpects a virtuous citizen ; nor have his fons them- 
 felves ever departed from their country except by your com- 
 mand ; nor, while they flayed at home, have they been ufc- 
 lefs to the city ; but they exert themfelves in their military 
 Hation, bring their contributions with alacrity, difcharge 
 every other part of their duty with faithf ulnefs, and fet an 
 example, as all Athens knows, of decency and moderation ; 
 fo that they were far worthier than Chariades to receive be- 
 nefit from a will of Nicoftratus ; for that fellow, loon after 
 he came hither, was convicted of larceny, having been 
 caught in the very act, and committed by themagiflrates to pri- 
 fon (whence he was afterwards releafed) together with fome 
 other felons, whom you publickly fentenced to an ignominious 
 death : afterwards being accufed, before the council, of fraudu- 
 lent practices, he made default, and, having fled from juitice, was 
 abfent from this city feventeen years, and continued abroad till 
 the death of Nicoftratus ; nor has he at any time fought in your 
 defence, or contributed to your fupplies, unlefs perhaps he has 
 given a trifle fince the commencement of this fuit ; but no 
 other expeiice has he at any time fuitained for your advan- 
 tage. With this difpoiition, with this character, is he not 
 contented with eluding the punifhment due to his crimes,, 
 but muft he add to them fo audacious a claim of what be- 
 longs to others? Were my clients, indeed, malevolent and; 
 bufy informers, or like too many of their fellow-citizens, he 
 would not, I imagine, be now contending for the property 
 of Nicoftratus, but would be trembling at the confequences 
 of a criminal profecution. Let fome other perfon, judges,, 
 draw the publick vengeance on his head : be it your care to 
 2, protect:
 
 OF NICOSTRATUS. 37 
 
 protect thefe injured young men ; and favour not thofe, who 
 bafeiy grafp at the pofleffions of others, before the nearer 1 : 
 relations, and, let me add, in fome meafure the benefactors 
 of the deceafed ; but calling to mind both the laws and your 
 oaths, and reflecting on the evidence which we have laid be- 
 fore you, pronounce, a fentence. coniiilent with juftice and 
 truth. 
 
 SPEECH
 
 3« Ο Ν Τ Η Ε Ε S Τ Α Τ Ε 
 
 
 SPEECH THE FOURTH. 
 
 On the Eftate of Dic^eogenes. 
 
 THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 DICiEOGENES, whofe eftate is in difpute, had four filters, all ofvvhom 
 were married and had iiTue. When he died without children, his uncle 
 Proxenus produced a will, by which the deceafed appeared to have left his 
 coufin DiaEogenes, one of the defendants, a third part of his effects, and 
 the legacy was accordingly delivered ; but the coufin, not fatisfied with a 
 fhare, infilled that he had a right to the whole ; and, having fet up another 
 will in his favour, obtained a decree by furprize, and took the remaining 
 two thirds from the filters of the deceafed. Afterwards the ions of thole 
 filters, being prepared with their evidence, difputed the validity of the fe- 
 cond will, and proved it to have been forged; upon which Dicaeogenes un- 
 dertook to reftore the two thirds without diminution, and one Leochares was 
 his furety : but on their refufal to perform their promife, the nephews of 
 the elder Dica?ogenes commenced a fuit againit the principal and the furety 
 for a fpecifick performance of their agreement. 
 
 (& 
 
 SPEECH
 
 OF DIGiEOGENES. 39 
 
 SPEECH THE FOURTH. 
 Menexcnus and Others againit Dicaeogenes and Leochares. 
 
 IlT/E had imagined, judges, that all agreements made in 
 * * court concerning this diipute would have been fpeci- 
 fically performed ; for, when Dicaeogenes diiclaimed the re- 
 maining two thirds of this eftate, and was bound, together 
 with his lurety,. to reftore them without any controverfy, on 
 the faith of this affurance we gave a releafe of our demands : 
 but now, iince he refufes to perform his engagement, we 
 bring our complaint, conformably to the oath which we have 
 taken, both againit him and his lurety Leochares. the 
 oath. That we fwore truly, both Cephifodotus, who ftands 
 near me, perfectly knows, and the evidence, which we 
 mall adduce, will clearly demonitrate. Read the depositions. 
 
 EVIDENCE. 
 
 You have heard the tcftimony of thefe witnefTes ; and I am 
 perfuaded, that even Leochares himfelf will not venture to> 
 afTert that they are perjured ; but he will have recourfe per- 
 haps to this defence, that Dicaeogenes has fully performed his 
 agreement, and that his own office of furety is completely 
 fatisfied : if he alledge this, he will fpeak untruly, and will 
 caiily be confuted ; for the clerk mall read to you a fchedule 
 of all the effects, which Dicaeogenes, the fon of Menexenus,. 
 left behind him, together with an inventory of thqfc which 
 the defendant unjuftly took ; and, if he affirms, that our 
 uncle neither had them in his life time, nor left them to us at 
 his death, let him prove his uifertion ; or, if he infills, that 
 
 the
 
 40 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 the goods were indeed ours, but that we had them reftored 
 to us, let him call a fingle witnefs to that fact. ; as we have 
 produced evidence on our part, that Dicceogenes promifed to 
 give us back the two thirds of what the ion of Menexenus 
 poifeited, and that Leochares undertook to fee him perform 
 his promife. This is the ground of our action, and this we 
 have fworn to be true. Let the oath again be read, the oath. 
 
 Now, judges, if the defendants intended only to clear 
 themfelves of this charge, what has already been faid would 
 be fufficierit to enfure my fuccefs ; but, fince they are pre- 
 pared to enter once more into the merits of the queftion con- 
 cerning the inheritance, I am defirous to inform you on our 
 iide of all the tranfailions in our family ; that, being apprized 
 •of the truth, and not deluded by their artifices, you may give 
 a fentence agreeable to reafori and juftice. 
 
 Menexenus our grandfather had one ion named Dicaeo- 
 genes, and four daughters, of whom Polyaratus my father 
 married one ; another was taken by Democles of Phrearrhi, 
 a third by Cephifophon of Paeania ; and the fourth was ef- 
 poufed by Theopompus the father of Cephifodotus. Our 
 uncle Dicacogenes, having failed to Cnidos in the Parhalian 
 galley, was flain in a fea fight ; and, as he left no children, 
 _enus the defendant's father brought a will to our parents, 
 in which his lbn was adopted by the deceafed, and appointed 
 heir to a third part of his fortune; this part our parents, un- 
 able at that time to conteft the validity of the will, per- 
 mitted him to take ; and each of the daughters of Menexenus, 
 as we fliall prove by the teftimony of perions then prefent, had 
 a decree for her fhare of the rendu:. When they had 
 thus divided the inheritance, and had bound themfelves by 
 o^th to acquiefce in the divifion, each perfon poffeffed his al- 
 lotment
 
 OF DICIOGENES. 41 
 
 lotment for twelve years ; in which time, though the courts 
 were frequently open for the adminiitration of juitice, not 
 one of thefe men thought of alledging any unfairnefs in the 
 tranfaction ; until, when the ftate was afflicted with troubles 
 and feditions, this Dicceogenes was perfuaded by Melas the 
 Egyptian, to whom he uled to fubmit on other occaiions, 
 to demand from us all our uncle's fortune, and to aifert 
 that he was appointed heir to the whole. When he began 
 his litigation, we thought he was deprived of his fenfes ; 
 never imagining that the fame man, who at one time claim- 
 ed as heir to a third part, and at another time as heir to 
 the whole, could gain any credit before this tribunal ; but 
 when we came into court, although we urged more argu- 
 ments than our adverfary, and fpoke with juitice on our fide, 
 yet we loft our caufe ; not through any fault of the jury, 
 but through the villainy of Melas and his affociates, who, 
 taking advantage of the publick diibrders, afTumed a power of 
 feizing pofTefTions, to which they had no right, by fwearing 
 falfely for each other : by fuch men therefore were the jury 
 deceived ; and we, overcome by this abominable iniquity, 
 were mipped of our effects ; for my father died not long after 
 the trial, and before he could proiecute, as he intended, the 
 perjured witneffes of his antagonist. On the very day, when 
 Dicoeogenes had thus infamoufly prevailed againil us, he 
 ejefted the daughter of Cephiibphon, the niece of him who 
 left the eftate, from the portion allotted to her ; took from 
 the wife of Democles what her brother had - given her as co- 
 heirefs ; and deprived both the mother of Cephifodotus and 
 the unfortunate youth himfelf of their whole fortune: of all 
 thefe he was at the fame time guardian and fpoiler, next of 
 kin, and craelleft enemy ; nor did the relation, which he bore 
 
 G them,
 
 42 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 them, excite in the leaft degree his compaflion ; but the un- 
 happy orphans, deferted and indigent, became deftitute even 
 of daily neceflarics. Such was the guardianihip of Dicreo- 
 genes their neareit kinfman ! who gave to their avowed foes 
 what their father Theopompus had left them, illegally pof- 
 lefTed himfelf of the property which they had from their ma- 
 ternal uncle and their grandfather; and (what was the moft 
 open act of cruelty) having purchnied the houfe of their 
 father and demolifhed it, he dug up the ground on which 
 it ftood, and made that handfome garden for his own houfe 
 'in the City. Still further; although he receives an annual 
 rent of eighty minas from the eftate of our uncle, yet 
 mch are his iniblence and profligacy, that he lent my coufin 
 Cephifodotus to Corinth as a iervile attendant on his bro- 
 ther Harmodius ; and adds to his other injuries this cruel 
 reproach, that he wears ragged clothes and coarfe bufkins : 
 but is not this unjuit, iince it was his own violence which 
 reduced the boy to poverty ? 
 
 On this point enough has been faid : I now return to the 
 narration from which I have thus digreffed. Menexenus 
 then, the ion of Cephifbphon, and- coufin both to this young 
 man and to me, having a claim to an equal portion of the in- 
 heritance, began a profecution againit thofe who had perjured 
 themfelves in the former caufe, and convicted Lycon, whom 
 he firft brought to juftice, of having falfely fworn that our 
 uncle appointed this Dicoeogenes heir to his whole eltate : 
 •when, therefore, this pretended heir was difappointed in his 
 hopes of deluding you, he perfuaded Menexenus, who was 
 acting both for our intereft and his own, to make a compro- 
 mile, which, though I bluih to tell it, his bafenefs compells 
 
 me
 
 Ο F D I C .£ Ο G Ε Ν Ε S. 43 
 
 me to difclofe. What was their agreement ? That Menex- 
 enus mould receive a competent ihare of the effects on con- 
 dition of his betraying us, and of releafing the other falib 
 witnefles, whom he had not yet convicted : thus, injured by 
 our enemies and by our friends, we remained with filent in- 
 dignation ; bat you ill all hear the whole tranfaction from the 
 mouth of witnefles. evidence. Nor did Menexenus lole 
 the reward of his perfidy ; for, when he had di unified the 
 perfons accufed and given up our caufe, he could not recover 
 the promifed bribe from his feducer, whofe deceit he ib-highly 
 refented, that he came over again to our fide. We therefore, 
 juftly thinking that Dicaeogenes had no right to any part of th& 
 inheritance, fince his principal witnefs had been actually con- 
 victed of perjury, claimed the whole eftate as next of kin 
 to the deceafed: nor will it be difficult to prove the juftice of 
 our claim ; for, fince two wills had been produced, one of 
 an ancient date, and the other more recent ; fince by the 
 firft, which Proxenus brought with him, our uncle made the 
 defendant heir to a third part of his fortune,, which will Di- 
 creogenes himfelf prevailed upon the jury to let afide ; and 
 fince the fecond, under which he claims the whole, had been 
 proved invalid by the conviction of the perjured witnefles, 
 who fwore to its validity ; fince, I fay, both wills had been 
 ihown to be forged, and no other teftament exilted, it was. 
 impoffible for any man to claim the property a> heir by ap- 
 pointment, but the filters of the deceafed, whole daughters we 
 married, were entitled to it as heirs by birth. 
 
 Thefe realbns induced us to fue for the whole as next of 
 kin, and each of us claimed a ihare ; but when we were on 
 the point of taking the ufual oaths on both fides, this Leo- 
 ihare? put in a proteftation, that the inheritance was not con- 
 
 G 2 trovertible :
 
 44 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 trovertible : to this proteilation we took exceptions, and hav- 
 ing begun to profecute Leochares for perjury, we difcontinued 
 the former caufe. After we had appeared in court, and 
 urged the fame arguments on which we have now in lifted, 
 and after Leochares had been very loquacious in making 
 his defence, the judges were of opinion that he was 
 perjured ; and as foon as this appeared by the number of 
 pellets, which were taken out of the urns, it is needlefs 
 to inform you what entreaties he ufed both to the court and 
 to us, or what an advantage we might then have taken : but 
 attend to the agreement which we made. Upon our confent- 
 ing that the Archon mould mix the pellets together without 
 counting them, Dicoeogenes undertook to furrender two thirds 
 of the inheritance, and to refign them without any difpute to 
 the lifters of the deceafed ; and for the full performance of 
 this undertaking, Leochares was his lurety, together with 
 Mnefiptolemus the Plotian ; all which my witneffes will prove. 
 evidence. Although we had been thus injured by Leochares, 
 and had it in our power, after he was convicted of perjurv, 
 to mark him with infamy, yet we confcnted that judgement 
 Ihould not be given, and were willing to drop the profecu- 
 fion upon condition of recovering our inheritance : but after 
 all this mildnefs and forbearance, we were deceived, judges, 
 by thefe faithlefs men ; for neither has Dicxogenes reftored 
 to us the two thirds of his eftate, conformablv to his a^ree- 
 ment in court ; nor will Leochares confefs that he was bound 
 for the performance of that agreement. Now, if thefe pro- 
 miles had not been made before five hundred jurymen and a 
 croud of hearers, one cannot tell how far this denial might 
 have availed him; but, to fhow how falfely they fpeak, I 
 will call fome witneffes who were prefent both when Dicae- 
 
 ogenes
 
 OF DICUOOENES. 45 
 
 ogenes difclaimed two thirds of the fucceflion, and undertook 
 to reitore them undifputed to the iliters of our uncle, and 
 when Leochares engaged, that he ihould punctually perform 
 what he had undertaken : to confirm his evidence, judges, 
 wc entreat you, if any of you were then in court, to recol- 
 lect what parTed, and, if our allegations are true, to give us 
 the benefit of your teliimony ; for, if Dicreogenes fpeaks the 
 truth, what advantage did we reap from gaining the caufe, or 
 what inconvenience did he fuftain by loiing it? If, as he aflerts, 
 he only difclaimed the two thirds, without agreeing to reilore 
 them unencumbered,, what has he loft by relinquifhing his 
 prefent claim to an eftate, the value of which he has received ? 
 For he was not in pofTeffion of the two third parts, even before 
 we fucceeded in our fuit, but had either fold or mortgaged 
 them ; it was his duty, however, to return the money to the 
 purchafers, and to give us back our fhare of the land ; fince it 
 was with a view to this, that we, not relying fingly upon his 
 own engagement, infilled upon his finding a fnrety. Yet, 
 except two fmall houfes without the walls of the city, and 
 about fixty acres of land in the Plain, we have received no 
 part of our inheritance ; nor did w r e care to -eject the pur- 
 chafers of the reft, leit we ihould involve ourfelves in litiga- 
 tion ; for when, by the advice of Dicaeogenes, and on his 
 pro mile not to oppofe our title, we turned Micio out of a bath, 
 which he had purchafed, he brought an action againft us and 
 recovered forty minas. This lofs, judges, we incurred 
 through the perfidy of Dicasogenes ; for we, not imagin- 
 ing that he would recede from an engagement ίο ib- 
 lemnly made, allured the court, that we would fufTer 
 any evil, if Dicasogenes Ihould warrant the bath to Mi- ■ 
 <io; not that we depended on his own word, but we could 
 1 not
 
 4'6 Ο Ν Τ HE Ε S Τ Α Τ Ε 
 
 not conceive, that he would betray the fureties, who had un- 
 dertaken for him ; yet this very man, who difavowed all pre- 
 tentions to thele two thirds, and even now admits his difa- 
 vowal, had the balenefs, when he was vouched by Mick), to 
 acknowledge his warranty ; whilft I, unhappy man, who 
 had not recovered a particle of my fhare, was condemned to 
 pay forty minas for having oufted a fair purchaler, and 
 left the court opprefTed by the infults of this Dicaeo- 
 genes. To prove the tranfac~tion, I ihall call my witnefies. 
 
 EVIDENCE. 
 
 Thus have we been injured, judges, by this man ; whilft 
 Leochares, who was bound for him, and has been the caufe 
 of all our misfortunes, is confident enough to deny what has 
 been proved againft him ; becauie his undertaking was not 
 entered in the regifter of the court : now, judges, as we were 
 then in great hafte, we had time to enter part only of what 
 had been agreed on, and took care to provide faithful witneffes 
 of all the reft ; but thefe men have a convenient fubterfuge : 
 what is advantageous to them, they allow to be valid, al- 
 though it be not written, but deny the validity of what may 
 be prejudicial to their intercfes, unlefs it be in writing; nor 
 am 1 furprized, that they refufe to perform their verbal pro- 
 mifes, fince they will not even aft conformably to their 
 written agreements. That Ave fpeak truly, an undeni- 
 able proof lhall be produced : Dicaeogenes gave my lifter in 
 marriage with a portion of forty minas to Protarchides of Po- 
 ramos ; but, inftead of paying her fortune in money, he gave 
 her hufband a honfe which belonged to him in Ceramicus ; 
 now flie had the fame riffht with rav mother to a fhare of 
 'his eftate ; when Dicaeogenes, therefore, had refigned to 
 the women two thirds of the inheritance, Leochares told 
 
 Protarchides
 
 OF DIC.EOGENES. 47 
 
 Protarchides in what manner he had become a iurety, and 
 promifed in writing to give him his wife's allotment, if he 
 would furrender to him the houfe which he had taken inftead 
 of the portion : Protarchides, whofe evidence you ihall now 
 hear, coniented ; but Leochares took pofleiiion of his houfe, 
 and never gave him any part of the allotment, evidence. 
 
 As to the repairs of the bath, and the expenfes of build- 
 ing, Dicceogenes has already faid, and will probably fay again, 
 that we have not reimburied him, according to our engage- 
 ment, for .the mm which he expended on that account ; for 
 which reafon he cannot fatisfy his creditors, nor give us the 
 lhares to which we are entitled. To anfwer this, I muft in- 
 form you, that, when we compelled him in open court to 
 difclaim this part of the inheritance, we permitted him, by 
 ihe advice of the jury, to retain the profits of the eftate, 
 -which he had enjoyed fo long, by way of compenfation 
 for his expenfes in repairs, and for his publick charges ; 
 and fome time after, not by compuliion, but of our own free 
 •will, we gave him a houfe in the city, which we ieparated 
 .from our own eftate, and added to his third part. This he 
 h~ad as an additional recompenfe for the materials which he 
 had bought for his building ; and he fold the houfe to Philo- 
 nicus for fifty minas : nor did we make him this pre- 
 •ient as a reward of his probity, but as a proof that our 
 own relations, how difhoneft foever, are not undervalued 
 by us for the fake of lucre ; and even before, when it 
 •was in our power to take ample revenge of him by de- 
 priving him of all his poneffions, we would not act with 
 •the rigour of jultice, but were contented with obtaining 
 a decree for part of our own property ; whilft he, when 
 he had procured an unjuft advantage over us, plundered 
 2 us
 
 4 8 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 us with all poffible violence, and now ftrives to ruin us, as if 
 we were not his kinimen, but his inveterate foes. 
 
 We will now produce a ltriking inftance of our candour, 
 and of his knavery. When, in the month of December, 
 judges, the profecution again ft Leochares was carried on with 
 firmneis, both he and Dicaeogenes entreated me to poftpone the 
 trial, and refer all matters in diipute to arbitration ; to which 
 propofal, as if we had fuftained only a light injury, we con- 
 sented ; and four arbitrators were chofen, two by us, and as 
 many by them : we then fwore, in their pretence, that wo 
 would abide by their award ; and they told us, that they 
 would fettle our controverfy, if poffible, without being fworn ; 
 but that, if they found it impoflible to agree, they would 
 feverally declare upon oath what they thought the merits of 
 •the cafe. After they had interrogated us for a long time, 
 and enquired minutely into the whole tranfaotion, Diotiirms 
 and Melanopus, the two arbitrators, whom we had brought, 
 expreffcd their readinefs to make their award, either upon 
 oath or otherwife, according to their opinion of the truth 
 from the teftimony of both parties ; but the other two, whom 
 Leochares had chofen, rcfufed to join in any award at all ; 
 though one of them, Diopithes, was a kinfman of Leochares, 
 and an enemy to me on account of ibme former difputes, and 
 his companion Demaratus was a brother of that Mnehptole- 
 raus, whom I mentioned before, as one of the fureties for 
 Dicacogenes : thefe two declined giving any opinion, although 
 they had obliged us to fwear that we would fubmit to their 
 decilion. evidence. 
 
 It is abominable then, that Leochares fhould requeft you 
 V/ pronounce a fentence in his favour, which his own rela- 
 tion Diopithes refufed to pronounce ; and how can you, 
 
 judges,
 
 OF D I C JE Ο G Ε Ν Ε S. 49 
 
 judges, with propriety decree for this man, when even 
 his friends have virtually decreed againft him ? For ali 
 thefe reafons I intreat you, unlefs you think my requeft 
 mconfiitent with juitice, to decide this caufe againlt Leo- 
 chares. 
 
 As for Dicoeogenes, he deferves neither your companion as 
 an indigent and unfortunate man, nor your indulgence as a 
 benefactor in any degree to the ftate : I ihall convince you, 
 judges, that neither of thefe characters belongs to him ; 
 ihall prove him to be both a wealthy and a profligate 
 citizen, and Ihall produce initances of his bale conduct 
 towards his friends, his kinfmen, and the publick. Firlt, 
 though he took from us an eftate, from which he an- 
 nually received eighty minas, and though, he enjoyed the 
 profits of it for ten years, yet he is neither in poflciflon 
 of the money, nor will declare in what manner he has em- 
 ployed it. It is alfo worthy of your confideration, that, 
 when he prefided over the games of his tribe at the feaft of 
 Bacchus, he obtained only the fourth prize, and was the laft 
 of all in the theatrical exhibitions and the Pyrrhick dances : 
 thefe were the only offices that he has ferved, and thefe too 
 by compuliion ; and fee how liberally he behaved with lb 
 large an income ! Let me add, that, in a time of the greateft 
 publick calamity, when io many citizens furniihed veifels of 
 war, he would not equip a lingle galley at his own expenfe, 
 nor even joined with another ; whilir. others, whole entire 
 fortune was not equal to his yearly rents, bore that expenlive 
 office with alacrity : he ought to have remembertd, that it 
 was not his father who gave him his eftate; but you, iudges, 
 who eftablifhed it by your decree; fo that, even if he had 
 
 Η not
 
 50 ON ΤΗ RESTATE 
 
 not been a citizen, gratitude fhould have prompted him to 
 confult the welfare of the city. 
 
 Again ; when contributions were continually brought by 
 all who loved their country, to fupport the war and provide 
 for the fafety of the ftate, nothing came from Dicaeogenes : 
 when Lechaeum indeed was taken, and when he was preiTed' 
 by others to contribute, he promifed publickly, that he would 
 give three minas, a fum lels than that which Cleonymus 
 the Cretan voluntarily offered : yet even this promile he 
 never performed; but his name was hung upon the ftatues 
 of the Eponyv/i, with an infeription, afTerting, to his eternal 
 diihonour, that he had not paid the contribution, which he 
 promifed in publick, for his country's fervice. Who now 
 can wonder, judges, that he deceived me, a private indivi- 
 dual, when he lb notorioully deluded you all in your com- 
 mon affembly ? Of this traniadtion you lhall now hear the 
 
 proofs. EVIDENCE. 
 
 Such and ib fplendid have been the fervices which Dicceo- 
 gencs, poffelled of fo large a fortune, has performed for the 
 city ! You perceive, too, in what manner he conduces him- 
 felf towards his relations; fome of whom he has deprived, 
 as far as he was able, of their property ; others he has bafely 
 neglected, and forced, through the want of mere necefTaries, 
 to enter into the fervice of fome foreign power. All Athens 
 law his mother fitting in the temple of llithyia, and heard 
 her accufe him of a crime, which I blulh to relate, but 
 which he bluih.ee! not to commit. As to his friends, he has 
 now incurred the violent hatred or Melas the Egyptian, who 
 had been fond of him from his early youth, by refuting to 
 pay him a fum of money, which he had borrowed r his other 
 ι com-
 
 Of D I C Μ Ο G Ε Ν Ε S. ςί 
 
 companions he has either defrauded of funis, which they lent 
 him, or has failed to perform his promife of giving them pari. 
 of his plunder, if he fucceeded in his caufe. 
 
 Yet our anceftors, judges, who firft acquired this eftate, 
 and left it to their defendants, conducted all the publick 
 games, contributed liberally towards the expenfe of the war, 
 and continually had the command of gallies, which they 
 equipped : of thefe noble a<5ts the prefents, with which they 
 were able, from what remained of their fortune after then 
 necefTary charges, to decorate the temples, are no lefs unde- 
 niable proofs, than they are lafting monuments of their vir- 
 tue ; for they dedicated to Bacchus the tripods, which they 
 won by their magnificence in their games ; they gave new 
 ornaments to the temple of the Pythian Apollo ; and adorned 
 the Ihrine of the goddefs in the citadel, where they offered 
 the firft fruits of their eftate, with a great number, if we 
 confider that they were only private men, of itatues both in 
 brafs and ftone. They died fighting refolutely in defence of 
 their country; for Diaeogenes, the father of my grandfather 
 Menexenus, perifhed in the battle of Eleufis, where he 
 had a command ; his fon Menexenus fell at the head of 
 the Olyfian legion in Spartolus ; and his fon, my uncle, loll 
 his life at Cnido^, where he commanded the Parhalian 
 galley. 
 
 His eftate, Ο Dicoeogenes, thou haft unjuftly feized, and 
 fhamefully wafted ; and, having converted it into money, haft 
 the afTurance to complain of poverty. How haft thou fpent 
 that money? Not for the ufe of the ltate, or of your friends ; 
 fince it is apparent, that no part of it has been employed 
 for thole purpoies : not in breeding fine horfes j for thou 
 
 II 2 never
 
 52 Ο Ν Τ Η Ε ESTATE 
 
 never waft in pofleffion of a horfe worth more than three 
 minas : not in chariots; for, with fo many farms and lb 
 great a fortune, thou never had ft a fingle carriage even drawn 
 by mules : nor haft thou redeemed any citizen from -captivity; 
 nor haft thou conveyed to the citadel thofe ftatues, which Me- 
 nexenus had ordered to be made for the price of three 
 talents, hut was prevented by his death from confecrat- 
 ing in the temple ; and, through thy avarice, they lie 
 to this day in the ihop of the ftatuary : thus haft thou pre- 
 lumed to claim an eft ate, to which thou had ft no colour 
 of right, and haft not reftored to the gods the ftatues, 
 which were truly their own. On what ground, Dicseogenes, 
 canft thou aik the jury to give a fentence in thy favour ? 
 Is it becaufe thou haft frequently ferved the public k offices ; 
 expended large fums of money to make the city more re- 
 spectable, and greatly benefited the ftate by contributing 
 bountifully towards fupporting the war? Nothing of this fort- 
 can be alled^ed with truth. Is it becaufe thou art a valiant fol- 
 dier ? But thou never once could ft be perfuaded to ferve in 
 ib violent and fo formidable a war, in which even the 01 yn- 
 thians and- the iilanders lofe their lives with eagernefs, lince 
 they fight for this country ; while thou, who art a citizen, 
 wouldft never take arms for the city. 
 
 Perhaps, the dignity of thy anceftors, who flew the ty- 
 rant, imboldens thee to triumph over us : as for them, in- 
 deed, I honour and applaud them, but cannot think that a; 
 fpark of their virtue animates thy bofom ; for thou haft pre- 
 ferred the plunder of our inheritance to the glory of being 
 their defcendant, and wouldft rather be called 'he ion of 
 Dicieogenes than of Harmodius ; not regarding the right of 
 
 being
 
 OFDICiEOGENES. 53 
 
 being entertained in the Prytaneum, nor fetting any value 
 on the precedence and immunities which the poilerity of 
 thofe heroes enjoy : yet it was not for noble birth, that Har- 
 modius and Ariftogiton were fo tranfcendently honoured, but 
 for their valour and probity ; of which th©u,-Dioeogenes, hail 
 not the fmalleft ihare. 
 
 SPEECH
 
 .Η Ο Ν Τ Π Η Ε 8 Τ Α Τ Ε 
 
 SPEECH Τ HE FT F Τ Η, 
 
 On the Eftate of Phiioctemqn. 
 
 THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 Ρ 1; Ϊ LO CTEMON, one of Eu&eroon's fons, having adopted Chasreftratus, 
 the ion of Phanoftratus and his younger filter, depofited his will with Chse- 
 reas, his elder fitter's hufband, and died in the lifetime of his father.• When 
 he aifo was dead, Chajreitratus claimed the inheritance according to law ; 
 •aid, when one Androcles protefted that the cftate could not be the fubject 
 of litigation, becaufe Euftemon had left two legitimate fons Antidorus and 
 another, the friends of Chcereftratus excepted to the proteftation, averring that 
 both Antidorus and his brother were illegitimate, and relying upon the law of 
 Solon, which exprefsly declared, that baftards, whether male or female, fhould 
 rot inherit : the clients of Ifceus, therefore, maintain the affirmative in two 
 •iilues; in one, that Philo&emon adopted Chaereftratusj in another, that 
 Antidorus was a baftard. 
 
 I 
 
 SPEECH
 
 OF Ρ Η I L Ο C Τ Ε Μ Ο Ν. 55 
 
 SPEECH THE FIFTH. 
 
 Chaereftratus againft Androcles. 
 
 THAT Γ am intimately connected, judges, with Pha- 
 noftratus,. and with Chaereftratus, who now appears 
 before you, many of you, I believe, perfectly know: but 
 thofe, who are unacquainted with our friendfhip, fhall hear 
 how ftrong a proof I gave of it ; for, when Meneftratus failed 
 to Sicily with the naval command, I, who had before been or 
 a fimilar expedition, forefaw all the perils which eniued ; yet, 
 at the requeft of thefe dear friends, I was the companion both 
 of their voyage and of their misfortunes: now I ftlould act 
 moft abfurdly, if I voluntarily expoied tnyielf to fuch im- 
 minent danger, becaufe I was connected with them and valued- 
 that connection, hut mould now decline the taik of {peaking . 
 for them, that you may decide their caufe agreeably to your 
 oaths, and that they may obtain complete juftice from your 
 verdict. I intreat you therefore to indulge me with your fa- 
 vour, and to hear me with benevolence ; for this is no trifling 
 conteft, but a queftion of the . higheft importance to the hap- 
 pinefs of my friends. 
 
 Philoctemon of Cephifia, the fon of Euetemon, had ίο great 
 a regard for Chaereftratus, that he adopted him by will and 
 appointed him lucceffor to his eftate : when, therefore, Chae- 
 reftratus claimed his iuccemon in due form (at which time any 
 Athenian had a right to let up an adverfe claim in a direct • 
 courle of law, and, if he. could prove a. better title, would 
 
 have
 
 δ 6 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 have enjoyed the fortune) this Andfocles, inftead of bringing 
 
 a fair and regular action, entered a proteftation that the eftate 
 was not liable to controverfy, intending to prevent my friend 
 from fuppoiting his claim, and you from determining who is 
 the rightful heir of Philoctemon : thus in a imgle caufe and 
 by a imgle decree he hopes to obtrude upon the deceafed two 
 fictitious brothers, who bear no relation to him ; to poflefs 
 the property himfelf without a competitor; to diipofe as he 
 pleaies of Philocremon's lifter ; and to deftroy the efficacy of 
 his teftament. 
 
 Of the many audacious falllties, which the proteftation of 
 Androcles contains, that concerning the will mall be iirft con- 
 futed; and I will prove not only that Philoctemon made a 
 will, but that he appointed Chaereftratus to be his Ion and 
 fucceffor; for, as he had no children by his wife, as the 
 war was carried on wdth violence, and as his frequent ex- 
 peditions both by land and fea expoled him to continual 
 danger, he reiblved, left his inheritance mould efcheat for 
 want of an heir, to nominate one by his will: his two 
 brothers had both died childleis ; and one of his lifters, who 
 had been many years married to Chaereas, had borne him no 
 male child ; but his other fifter, the wife of my friend Pha- 
 noftratus, had two fons, the elder of whom, Chaereftratus, he 
 adopted as his own, and declared in his teftament, that, . if 
 his wife was not delivered of a fon, Chaereftratus ihould have 
 his eftate. This will, which he depofited with his brother- 
 in-law Chaereas, fhall now be read to you ; and then attend 
 to the witnefles who were prefent at the execution of it. 
 
 THE WILL. EVIDENCE. 
 
 You have heard the proof of his will, and have obferved 
 how his eftate is given by it to my client : now to prove that 
 
 he
 
 OF Ρ Η I L Ο C Τ Ε Μ Ο Ν. 57 
 
 he had a power of making fuch a teftamentary diSpoSition, 
 the law itfelf mail be produced, from which you will eafdy 
 perceive the juftice of the whole transaction, the law. 
 
 This law, judges, which equally binds us all, permits every 
 man, who has no legitimate children, to difpofe by will of his 
 property, unlefs his faculties be impaired by age, or by dis- 
 order, or by any of the infirmities which are Specified in the 
 Jaw: now that Philoclemon had not one of thefe infirmities, 
 I will in few words demonft rate ; for what man can have the 
 hardinefs to impeach the understanding of So excellent a ci- 
 tizen, who, while he lived, received the higheft honours 
 from you, was ads^anced to the moft important offices, 
 and died in battle againft your enemies r That he made his 
 will then in his perfect fenfes, as the law permitted him, you 
 have heard clearly proved ; So that on this head the falfe af- 
 fertions of Androcles are apparent : but, as he has protested 
 alSo that Antidorus was the legitimate Son of Euctemon, this 
 too I will mow to be untrue. 
 
 Euctemon, judges, had no other Sons than Philoctemon, 
 Ergamenes, and Hegemon ; he had alSo two daughters ; and 
 their mother was the daughter of Mixiades the CephiSian: 
 thele are known to all his acquaintance, to thoSe of the fame 
 ward, and to many of the fame borough, as they will pre- 
 fently give in evidence ; but, that he ever married another 
 woman, of whom Antidorus was born, no man can pretend 
 to know or ever to have heard in the lifetime of Euctemon. 
 The relations of the family muft have known all that paSSed, 
 and w r e may Suppofe them to be the moil credible witnefSes : 
 call them, therefore, firft; and then read the depositions of 
 others, witnesses and depositions. 
 
 I Yet
 
 58 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 Yet further : I will convince you, that our opponents 
 themfelves have in fadft given the fame evidence ; for, at the 
 examination before the Archon, when they depofited the 
 irated fum, and contended that thcfe young men were the 
 legitimate ions of Euetemon, being aiked by us, who was 
 their mother, and whole daughter ihe was, they were un- 
 able to inform us, though we protefted agamft their allega- 
 tion, and the Archon preffed them to aniwer, as the law re- 
 quired. Could they, indeed, be allowed, judges, to contend 
 and proteft that the ions were legitimate, when they could 
 not declare, who their mother was, nor mention any one 
 of her relations ? Then, to be fine, they delayed the fuit by 
 pretending, that ihe was a Lemnian ; but, when they came 
 afterwards to be re-examined, they laid, before any queifion 
 was propofed, that the mother of the young men was Cal- 
 lippe, the daughter of Piiloxenus ; thinking it iufficient to 
 pronounce a name, which they had probably invented r 
 when we aiked who this Piiloxenus was, and whether he 
 was living or not, they anfwered, that he died fighting in 
 Sicily, and left his only daughter to the care of Euctemon, 
 to whom, while he was her guardian as well as hufband, ihe 
 borethefe twofons. A moil audacious aifertion, and palpable 
 fi&ion ! as I will prove to you by their very anfwers at the 
 examination ; for two and fifty vears have elapfed from the 
 Archonihip of Arimneftus, when our armament embarked 
 for Sicily, and the elder of thefe youths, whom they pretend' 
 to be the ions of Eudtemon and Callippe, has not palled 
 his twentieth vear : if then we deduot his acre from the time 
 iince the Sicilian expedition, there remain above thirty years ; 
 fo that Callippe could neither be in ward at that age, nor 
 could ihe have remained fo long unmarried and childlefs, but 
 ι muil
 
 OF Ρ II I L Ο C Τ Ε Μ Ο Ν. 5Ί 
 
 muft have had a huiband either by the authority of a guar- 
 dian, or by an adjudication of the court. Befides, ilie mult 
 have been known by the friends of Euctemon, and by his 
 fervants, if fhe really was married to him and lived ίο many 
 years in his houfe ; for it is not enough to produce mere 
 names at an examination, but it is ncceilary to ihow that the 
 perfons actually exifted, and to prove their exigence bv the 
 teitimony of thole who were connected with them : yet when 
 we challenged them to fiunmon any of Euctemon's friei ;.!■;, 
 who knew that fuch a woman as Callippe lived with him or 
 was his ward, and urged them to decide the controverly b\ 
 the evidence of fuch domefticks as were full alive, or to de- 
 liver up to us any of their ilaves, who might be compelled to 
 difclofe what they remembered of the tranfaotion, they would 
 neither give up their own ilaves to be queftioned, nor take 
 ours for that purpofe. Officer, read their anfwer, together 
 with our depolitions and challenges, answer, depositions. 
 
 CHALLENGES. 
 
 So decilive a mode of proof have they declined; but it ihall 
 be my care to inform you, who this woman and her children 
 are, and to defcribe to you thole, who have declared them to 
 be legitimate, and are ftriving to procure for them the inhe- 
 ritance of Euctemon. It may perhaps be unpleafant to Pha- 
 noftratus, to hear the misfortunes of his father-in-law opened 
 to the court ; but it is expedient to lay a few words concern- 
 ing them, that, when you are apprized of the truth, you 
 may be more able to decide according tojuitice. 
 
 Euctemon lived fix and ninety years, the greater part of 
 which time he pafTed with apparent profperity ; for he had 
 an affluent fortune, a wife and hopeful children, with other 
 ingredients of happinefs ; but in his advanced age he met 
 
 I 2 with
 
 6ο Ο Ν Τ Η Ε Ε S Τ Α 
 
 with no {mail calamity, which threw his whole fahi 
 diforder, coniumed a great part of his etlate, and < 
 a diflenfion between him and his moft intimate friends : wi 
 was the lburce of this evil, and in what manner it hap'v 
 I will explain as concilely as I am able. 
 
 He had a freedwoman, who inhabited a houfe of his in the 
 Piraeus, where ihe kept feveral female flaves, and amo 
 them one named Alee, whom, I fancy, moft of you kno\ : 
 after this Alee had been bought, fhe lived many years in that 
 houfe, but, when me grew older, was removed from it. 
 While me continued there, one Dio, a freedman, was con- 
 nected with her, and by him, as fhe herlelf declared, Ihe 
 became the mother of thefe two young men, whom Dio edu- 
 cated as his own ; till, having committed a great mifdemeanor, 
 and fearing a proiecution, he ftole away to Sicyon : after which 
 Euctemon gave Alee the care of his houfe in Ceramicus by the 
 little gate, where they fell wine. When fhe was fent thither, 
 judges, me was the occafion of many and great diibrders ; 
 for Euctemon, going frequently to collect his rents, paffed a 
 confiderable part of his time in that houfe, and even lbme- 
 times fat at table with the woman, having left his wife and 
 children in the houfe, which he ufually inhabited ; and, 
 though his family were highly difpleafed, yet he periifted in 
 his courfe, and lpent his whole time with Alee, having cither 
 by poilon, or by diforder, or by fome other infirmity, fo totally 
 loft his underftanding, that he was perfuaded by her to offer 
 the elder of her two boys to the men of his ward under his 
 own name ; but when Philoctemon oppofed his admiffion, and 
 the members of the ward refufed to admit him, or to accept of 
 the victim ufually given on fuch occafions, the old man, be- 
 ing enraged againft his ion, and defiring to diftrefs him, made a 
 
 propofal
 
 OF Ρ Η I L Ο C Τ Ε Μ Ο Ν. 6ι 
 
 propofal of marriage to the filler of Democrates the Aphidnean, 
 with an intent to educate and adopt her children as his own, 
 if Philoclemon would not confent to have the other admitted : 
 upon which his relations, knowing that he could have no more 
 children at his age, hut that fuppofitiiious fons might he 
 produced, which would raife mil more violent animofhies, 
 advifed Philoctemon, judges, to give his confent that his 
 father fhould introduce the hoy to the ward, as he deiired, 
 and allot a farm for his fupport. In this advice Philoftemon 
 acquiefced, heartily alhamed of his father's dotage, hut not 
 knowing how elfe to fecure himfelf from the calamity which 
 threatened him : when therefore an agreement was made to 
 that effect, and the hoy was admitted as a member of the 
 ward, Euilemon dropped his projedt of marrying, by which, 
 he lhowed that his defign had not been formed with a view 
 to having children of his own, but for the fake of admitting 
 the baftard of his miftrefs ; for what occafion, judges, had he 
 to marry, if, as they infill:, he had ions born in wedlock with 
 a citizen of Athens? Who could have prevented his admitting 
 them to their freedom ? Why fhould he introduce them upon 
 certain conditions, when the law had ordained, that all chil- 
 dren, begotten in matrimony, fhould have an equal fhare of 
 their paternal fortune ? Or why, Partly, did he admit into his 
 ward the elder only of the boys, and pay no regard to the 
 younger, whom from the day of his birth he had not men- 
 tioned either to Philoctemon whilft he was alive, or to any of 
 his friends ? Thefe are the men, Androcles, whom you have 
 averred, in your proteitation, to be the legitimate ions of Euc- 
 temon. Now, to prove the truth of my a(lert ; ons, let the de- 
 pofitions be read, depositions. 
 
 AOer
 
 62 Ο Ν Τ Η Ε Ε S Τ Α Τ Ε. 
 
 After this tranfaction Philoctemon was flain at Chios in a 
 naval engagement, in which he had the command of a galley ; 
 and Euctemon declared, in open court, that he was defirous of 
 recording his agreement with his fon ; at the fame time Pha- 
 noftratus, accompanied by bis kinfman Chcereas, was on the 
 point of failing with the fleet, which Timotheus conducted ; 
 and the veffel, which he commanded, was juft weighing anchor 
 at Munichia, when Euctemon went thither attended by lb me. 
 friends, and, having written a will declaratory of the condi- 
 tions on which he adopted this Antidorus, he depofited the 
 inilrument with his relation Pytbodorus of Cephiiia. Now, 
 that he acted in this manner, not as if he had legitimate 
 children, both Androcles has proved, and the fact itfelf Suf- 
 ficiently demonitrates ; for no man bequeaths any thing as a 
 legacy to his own fons, fmce the law gives every fon the 
 poifefiions of his father, and permits not any man, who has 
 children begotten in wedlock, to difpofe of his eftate by 
 will. 
 
 When the writing had lain almoft two years with Pytbo- 
 dorus, and Chasreas in the mean time was dead, thefe aiib- 
 ciates, being fubfervient to the inclinations of Alee, perceiv- 
 ing the property of Euctemon to be continually wafted, and 
 concluding from his dotage, that a fair opportunity piefented 
 itfelf, began their attack in concert ; and firft they prevailed 
 with Euctemon to revoke his will, as difadvantageous to the 
 boys ; becaufe his daughters only and their children would in- 
 herit his viiible property, but, if he fold part of his land and 
 left the ium which he received for it, the adopted fon and his 
 friends would take firm poffeffion of the money. The old man, 
 perfuaded by this reafoning, demanded his will of Pythodorus, 
 and inftituted a iuit for the production of it : when Pythcdo- 
 
 rus,
 
 OF Ρ Η I L Ο C Τ Ε Μ Ο Ν. 63 
 
 his, therefore, appeared before the Archon, Euctemon de- 
 clared that he wifhed to cancel his will ; and his kinfman 
 afllired both him, and Phanoitratus who was prefent, that 
 he did not oppofe his intention, but, as Chaereas, who had, 
 joined with Euctemon in depofiting the will, had left a 
 daughter, he thought it proper to defer the revocation of it 
 till ihe could give her confent, and have a huiband or guardian, 
 who might confirm her aot : as the Archon was of the fame 
 opinion, Euotemon, having made a declaration before the 
 magiftrate and his afTeffors, in the hearing of many witneffes 
 whom he called, that his teftament was no longer valid, left 
 the court. 
 
 Soon after this they proceeded to thofe aots, with a view to 
 which they had perfuaded him to refcind his will : they fold 
 the Athmonian eftate for feventy-five minas to Antiphanes ; 
 the Serangian bath to Ariftolochus for thirty ; and the houfe 
 in the city, which had been mortgaged for four and forty 
 minas, they conveyed to the hierophant : next they difpofed 
 of his goats, together with the goatherd, for thirteen minas ; 
 and two carriages to be drawn by mules, one for eight minas, 
 and the other for five and a half ; not omitting any of the 
 Haves, who worked for his benefit. The fum, which they 
 collected from the fale of thefe effects very foon after the 
 death of Philoctemon, amounted to more than three talents. 
 1 Will• now call witneffes, who will fwear to the truth of all 
 my affertions. evidence. 
 
 Thus were thefe pofTeilions aliened : the deftrucuon of the 
 reft they foon meditated, and contrived for that purpofe the 
 moft infamous artifice, to which you ihould particularly at- 
 tend ; for, perceiving that Euotemon was entirely fuperan- 
 nuated, and could not even rile from his bed, they delibe- 
 rated•
 
 64 Ο Ν Τ HE ESTATE 
 
 rated how they might after his death effectually fecure his 
 property to themielves. What was the refult of this delibe- 
 ration ? They announced the two boys to the Archon as 
 having been adopted by the two deceaied fans of Eudtemon ; 
 and, feigning themielves to be their guardians, petitioned the 
 magiftrate that the lands and houles of thofe orphans might be 
 expofed to auction, fo that fome part of their eftate might be 
 let, and fome of it pledged as a fecurity for the rents ; that 
 the latter might be diftingui'hed by columns and inferiptions, 
 and that they themielves, while Eudtemon was alive, might 
 receive the profits. As loon therefore as the courts were full, 
 the magiftrate caufed the auction to be proclaimed, and a party 
 of theie confpirators began to bid for the lots ; when forne, 
 who were prefent, ran to inform our friends of the con- 
 trivance, and they, coming without delay, apprized the judges 
 of the whole trani action : upon this the court would not iuffer 
 the houles to be let ; but, if the lcheme had not been detected, 
 the whole eftate would have been loft. Call thofe who were 
 witnefles of this affair, evidence. 
 
 Before thefe men were connected with this artful woman, 
 and, in conjunction with her, confpired againft Eudtemon, he 
 poffefted ίο large an eftate, that both he and his fon Philo- 
 dtemon filled the raoft expenfive offices for your fervice, and 
 were ib far from aliening their ancient pofleilions, that they 
 were continually making new purchafes with the money, 
 which they had faved ; but, when Philodtemon died, iuch 
 was the diforder which prevailed, that not half of his former 
 eftate remained, and the rents were all extinguifhed. Nor 
 were they iatisfied, judges, with confuming this property ; 
 but, as foon as Eudtemon was dead, and his body was lying in 
 the houfe, they were audacious enough to detain the fervants 
 4 with
 
 Ο F Ρ Η I L Ο C Τ Ε Μ Ο Ν. 
 
 with them, that his death might not he mentioned to Liif 
 daughters, or to his widow, or to any of his relation ; 
 while they, together with Alee, removed all the money and 
 furniture to the next houfe, which had heen rented, and was 
 then inhabited, by one of their crew, this very Antidorus ; 
 nor, when the widow and daughters heard of Euctemon".- 
 death from others, and came to the door, would they fuller 
 them to enter ; but infilled, that it was not their bufinefs to 
 bury the deceafed. Thus were they prevented from going in 
 till juft before fun let; and when they entered, they found 
 the body, which had lain, as the fervants declared, unburied 
 for two days, and perceived that all the goods had been re- 
 moved by thefe confederates. The women, therefore, cm- 
 ployed themfelves, as their duty required, in preparing the 
 corfe for burial, while my clients were mowing to fome 
 friends, who accompanied them, the miferable condition of 
 the houfe ; and aiked the fervants, in the prefence of the af- 
 fociates, to what place the furniture had been carried : when 
 they anfwered, that Androcles and the reft had conveyed 
 them to the houfe next adjoining, Phanoftratus and his com- 
 panions thought it neceffary to make a legal enquiry into the 
 robbery, and demanded the naves, who had carried the goods, 
 to be delivered up to them ; but the contrivers of the mil- 
 chief would not content to this act of juftice. In confirma- 
 tion of my narrative, read thefe depolitions, and this inventory 
 of the goods which were removed. depositions, inven- 
 tory. Thus having conveyed fo many valuable effects from 
 the houfe, having received the money ariling from the fale of 
 fo large an eftate, and having divided among themfelves the 
 rents which became due in fo long an interval, they imagine 
 
 Κ that
 
 66 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 that they lhali be mailers of the whole ; and to fuch a height 
 of confidence have they advanced, though they durft not 
 meet us in a direct form of action, that they have averred the 
 legitimacy of our two opponents by way of prate it ation ; 
 not coniidering, that they fpeak both falfely and inconfiftcntly 
 with their previous conduct; fince, when they appeared 
 before the Archon, they ftyled one of them the adopted lbn 
 of Philoctemon, and the other of Ergamenes, whereas they 
 now proteit them both to be the fons of Euetemon : yet 
 had they been lawfully begotten, and had they been adopted, 
 as they firft alledged, not even then could they have been 
 called the fons of Euetemon ; for the law forbids a fon by 
 adoption to return into the family, from which he was eman- 
 cipated, unlefs he leave a legitimate fon of his own in the 
 family which adopted him ; lb that, even from their own be- 
 haviour, it is manifeft, that their evidence is falfe. If they 
 had then completed their fcheme of letting the houfes, my 
 clients would now be precluded from ailerting their right ; 
 but as the judges declared that it was not their bufinefs to 
 let them, thefe men have not ventured to difpute our title in 
 a regular courfe of law, but have proteited, with exceiiive 
 audacity, that the very perfons whofe claim you rejected 
 were lawful heirs to the eftate. Obferve too the affurance of 
 Androcles, who firlt claimed for himfelf the daughter of 
 Euetemon, as if fhe had been the heirefs, and infilled on his 
 right to a fifth part of the property, as if it had been liable to 
 litigation, yet has now averred that Euetemon left a legiti- 
 mate ion. Has he not by this clearly convicted himielf of 
 having given falfe evidence ? He certainly has; for had a fon. 
 of Euetemon begotten in wedlock been living, his daughter 
 could not have been heirefs, nor could the eftate have been 
 5 open
 
 OF Ρ Η I L Ο C Τ Ε Μ Ο Ν. 67 
 
 open to controvcrfy : to prove that he iirft made iuch a claim, 
 rhcJe depoiltions fhall be read to you. evidence. 
 
 The very reverfe, therefore, has now happened of that 
 which the law ordains ; for it is enacted, that, from the 
 Archonlhip of Euclid, no male or female bafbrd ihail have 
 any right of confanguinity either in civil or facred matters: 
 but Androcles and Antidorus think themlelves entitled to 
 ft rip the daughters of Euctemon and their Ions of their inhe- 
 ritance, and to feize the poiTeflions both of him and of Phi- 
 loctemon ; while this woman, who impaired Euctemon's un- 
 derftanding, and has pollened herlelf of fo vail a fum, has 
 inlolence enough, through their perfuaiion, not only to un- 
 dervalue her late mailer's friends, but even to treat the whole 
 city with contempt. A fingle circumftance, which you ihall 
 hear, will eaiily convince you of her lawlefs impudence; but. 
 firft let the law be read, the law. 
 
 This ordinance, judges, have you fo pioafly and folemnly 
 made, thinking it of high importance to the date, that Ceres 
 and Proferpine, as well as all the other deities, fhould be 
 adored with reverence ; but the mother of my adverfaries, 
 who was confeiledly a ilave, whofe whole life had been mark- 
 ed with infamy, and who confequently ought neither to have 
 entered the temple, nor to have feen any thing that it con- 
 tained, had the boldnefs, when divine rites were performed to 
 thefe goddeues, to accompany the proceffion, to walk into 
 the temple, and to infpect what it was unlawful for her to 
 lee : the decree of the fenate concerning her proves the truth 
 of my allegations, the decree. 
 
 You muft then confider, judges, whether a fon of this 
 woman fhould fucceed to the eftate of Philoctemon, and per- 
 form holy ceremonies at his tomb, or the fon of his own 
 
 Κ. 2 filler,
 
 68 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 lifter, whom he had himfelf adopted; and whether the filler 
 of Philoctemon, who was married to Chaereas, and is now a 
 widow, fhould be at their difpofal, either to be given in mar- 
 riage to any man, whom they chufe, or to grow old in a State 
 of widowhood, or whether me ought not, as a legitimate 
 daughter, to be dilpoled of by yourfelves as your wifdom mall 
 direct : on this point muft your judgment now be given, for 
 to this dangerous crifis are my clients reduced by the protes- 
 tation. Should thefe confederates fail of luccels in the preient 
 conteft, and mould the eState be declared open to controversy, 
 they may again bring the queftion before you in another 
 action : yet, if a will was made by Philoctemon, which he 
 had no power to make, his power ought now to have been 
 difputed ; but, if he undeniably had inch a right, and the 
 fact only of his having deviled his property be denied, they 
 mould not have oppoled our claim by this collateral mode of 
 litigation, but fhould have brought the matter in due form to 
 a regular iffue. At preient, what clearer method can be 
 found of proving this man's teftimony to be falfe, than by in- 
 terrogating him thus r Whence, Androcles, do you know, 
 that Philoctemon neither made a will nor adopted ChaereStra- 
 tus ? For it is reafonable, judges, that a man fhould give evi- 
 dence of thofe traniactions of which he was eye witnefs, or 
 he may on ibme occafions even repeat what he has heard from 
 others. You have expreSsly averred, that Philoctemon never 
 made a will and died childlefs; but how is it pofiible, judges, 
 for this to be known by him ? It is the fame, as if he were to 
 aver, that he knows what all of you are doing every day. 
 This at lealt, audacious as he is, he will not aflert, that he 
 was perpetually in Philoctemon's company, and knew every 
 action of his life ; for of all men living the deceafed abhorred 
 ι him
 
 OF PHIL. OCTEMON. 69 
 
 him moft, both for his general improbity, and becaufe he- 
 alone of all his relations confpired with Alee to embezzle the 
 goods of Euctemon, and acted in concert with her in the 
 manner before defcribed. 
 
 Above all it mult neceffarily move our indignation, that 
 they fhould ίο impudently abuie the name of Euctemon, t! 
 grandfather of Chaereftrati s ; for if, as they alledge, Philoc- 
 temon had no power to appoint an heir, and if the eitate was 
 Euctemon's, is it not more jure that his poiieilions ihould be 
 inherited by his daughters, who were indilputably legitimate,., 
 and by us, who are their Ions, than by men, who bear no 
 relation to him* and who are confuted not only by our argu- 
 ments, but alio by the conduct of thefe provident guardians ? 
 This, judges, I iupplicate and adjure you particularly to re- 
 member, as I before related it, and as you have it in evidence : 
 that Androcles firit declared himlelf their guardian, as if they 
 were the legitimate Ions of Euctemon, and then claimed for 
 his own ufe the property of their iuppoied father : now, in 
 the name of the immortal gods, is it not abominable, judges, 
 that, if thefe men be legitimate, their guardian fhould claim 
 for himlelf both their fortune and the daughter of the deceafed 
 Euctemon, as if me was the object of a judicial conteit, anil 
 that, if they are illegitimate, he mould now make an aver- 
 ment of their legitimacy ? Thefe are plain contradictions: ίο 
 that the falhty of his teitimony has been proved not only b$ 
 witneiTes, but alfo by his own behaviour. 
 
 As to Chaercftratus, no man gives him ailiftance by pro- 
 fiting that the eitate is not open to litigation ; but he deiires 
 to proceed in the regular courfe ; while this fellow prevents 
 all others from aflerting their claims,, and, having averred 
 
 than
 
 70 ON Τ' Η Ε ESTATE 
 
 that Euclemon left children begotten in matrimony, imagines 
 that you are to be deluded with impertinent digreiiions, be- 
 lieving that, if he wholly omits the material heads of argu- 
 ment, or very flightly touches them, but pours forth his 
 abufe againft us with a loud voice, and exclaims that my 
 clients are rich, whilft he is indigent, it will inilantly appear 
 to you, that the children were legitimate. Now my clients, 
 judges, have fpent a greater part of their fortune in the iervice 
 of the ftate, than for their own advantage : fevcn times has 
 Phanoitratus equipped a galley ; he has ferved all the publick 
 offices, and obtained many honours for the magnificence of 
 his fhows. Chcereftratus too, when he was very young, fur- 
 niihed a veflel at his own expence ; fince which time he has 
 conducted the theatrical entertainments, and prefided over the 
 exercifes at the feitival of Torches. Both of them have 
 brought their contributions amonq- the citizens of the richeit 
 clafs ; hitherto they have ferved together, and now the 
 younger of the two brothers conducts the chorus in the tra- 
 gedies, has been enrolled among the three hundred, and 
 contributes his fhare to defray the publick charges; lb that 
 my friends ought not to be envied ; but thefe afTociates them- 
 felves, I fwear by Jupiter and Apollo, will be far jufter objects 
 of envy, if they obtain what they have no right to claim ; for, 
 fhould the fortune of Philoctemon be decreed to Chiereftra- 
 tus, he will difpenfe it liberally for your benefit ; and, as he 
 has hitherto done, or even with greater alacrity, will fuftain 
 every burden, which you ihall impofe upon him : but ihould 
 thefe men be mailers of fuch an eftate, they will begin by 
 diffipating it, and end with claiming again the property of 
 fome other perfon. I therefore entreat you, judges, left you 
 
 ihould
 
 OF PHILOGTEMON. 71 
 
 fhouid be deceived by thefe confederates, to pay a fcrupulwus 
 attention to tbeir proteftation, concerning which yon are 
 now to decide ; and command them to make their defence 
 confiftent with that writing, as we have opened our charge 
 in conformity to it : they have there averred, that Philoc- 
 teraon neither aliened nor devifed his eftate, which aver- 
 ment has been proved falfe ; for we have ihown that he 
 both made a will and difpoied of his fortune, as thole, who 
 were prelent at the tranfacHon, have teftified. What elie 
 have they afferted ? That Philoctemon died without chil- 
 dren — yet how can a man be faid to have died childlefs, 
 who had adopted his nephew as his fon, to whom the law 
 gives his inheritance as regularly as if he were an imme- 
 diate defcendant? And it is exprefsly ordained, that, if a 
 man having a fon by adoption, has afterwards another 
 child, both of them fhall equally inherit his poffeiiions. 
 Let him demonstrate, therefore, the legitimacy of thefe 
 children, as each of you can demonftrate his own : for this is 
 not proved by mentioning the mother's name, but by de- 
 claring the truth, by producing the relations, and thofe who 
 know that fhe was married to Euctemon ; by examining the 
 members of the fame borough and ward, if they have at any 
 time heard, or can fay from their own knowledge, that he 
 was at any publick expenfe on her account ; by informing 
 you where file was buried, where her monument ftands, 
 and where her children, who furvived her, ftill perform 
 facred rites ; by fhowing, laftly, who law fuch rites per- 
 formed by Eudlemon, and who, either among the fervants 
 or among the citizens in general, knows any of thefe tran- 
 factions. All this would be a proof, but mere invective 
 
 is
 
 7 2 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 is none ; and, if you compel my antagonift, judges, to prove 
 the very fads, which he has averred to be true, you will make 
 a pious decree according to the laws, and my clients will obtain 
 fubitantial jultice. 
 
 SPEECH
 
 OF APOLLODORUS- 73 
 
 SPEECH THE SIXTH. 
 
 On the Eitate of Apollodorus. 
 
 THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 THERE were three brothers, Eupolis, Thrafyllus, and Mnefon ; the 
 youngeft of whom died without iffue ; the fecond left a fori named Apol- 
 lodorus. Eupolis, the furviving brother, was appointed guardian to his 
 nephew, and had two daughters living, one of whom was married to iEf- 
 chines, the other to Pronapis, the complainant in this caufe. 
 
 The widow of Thrafyllus married Archedamus, who, perceiving that 
 Apollodorus, his wife's fon, was injured by his guardian, affiited him in ap- 
 plying to a court of juftice, and obtained redrefs for him in two ailions. 
 This Archedamus had a daughter by the mother of Apollodorus, and that 
 daughter, who married Lacratides, had a fon, whom Apollodorus, on the 
 death of his own fon, adopted in his lifetime and caufed to be regiftered in 
 the books of his kindred and ward by the name of Thrafyllus. 
 
 APOLLODORUS died ; and Pronapis, in right of his wife, claimed 
 the eitate of the deceafed, alledging that Thrafyllus was not entered in the 
 regifter according to the true intent of his uncle, but that the adoption was 
 a mere fiction and artifice. 
 
 The caufe is, in the language of the Ancients, conjectural ; or, in the 
 dialect of our bar, it is an iffue, " Whether Thrafyllus was really adopted 
 by Apollodorus, or not." 
 
 f, SPEECH
 
 74 ONTHE ESTATE 
 
 SPEECH THE SIXTH. 
 
 Thrafyllus againft Pronapis. 
 
 I Did imagine, judges, that fuch adoptions as were made by 
 a man in his perfect fenies, who had conducted his adopted 
 fon to the fhrine of his ancestors, had prefented him to his 
 kinfmen, had inferted his name in their common regifter, 
 and had performed in perfon all the ufual ceremonies, were 
 not to be controverted in a court of juftice ; but that, if a 
 man, appreheniive of his approaching end, had bequeathed 
 his eftate to another, had lealed his teftament, and commit- 
 ted it to the care of a friend, the validity of his will might 
 afterwards be juftly difputed ; fince by the former mode of 
 alienation the intent of the party is openly manifefted, and 
 the whole tranfaclion made valid by the law, while the in- 
 tention of a teftator, being more fecretly and obfcurely expreff- 
 ed, is" liable to fulpicion ; whence many have contended 
 againft the claimants under a will, that the initrument itfelf 
 was forged and void : but I now perceive this diftinction to 
 be of little avail ; for, though my adoption was a facl: of ge- 
 neral notoriety, yet the daughter of Eupolis with her huf- 
 band and their advocates come to conteft my right to the pof- 
 leffions of Apollodoi us. 
 
 Now had I obferved, that you were better pleafed with 
 
 the oblique form of a proteftation than with a direct courfe of 
 
 proceeding, I could have produced witnefles to prove that my 
 
 6 right
 
 OF APOLLODORUS. 75 
 
 right was inconteftable, becaufe I am the fon of the deceafed by 
 a regular adoption ; but as I am fenfible that the true merits of 
 the caufe cannot be known by this method, I come to inform 
 you of the whole tranfaclion, and ihall thus preclude them 
 from the power of imputing to me an unwillingnefs to meet 
 them on the faireft ground: I will demonitrate then, not 
 only that the many injuries, which Apollodorus had iuftained 
 from his neareft relations, prevented him from leaving his 
 fortune to them, but that he legally and juftly adopted me, 
 who am his nephew, and the fon of his greateil benefactor. 
 
 I entreat you all, judges, to indulge me with a benevolent 
 hearing ; and, if I convince you, that thefe afTociates have 
 moft audacioully claimed an eltate to which they have no 
 colour of title, amrt me in obtaining jultice : I will fpeak as 
 concifely as I am able, in relating, the whole affair from the 
 beginning of it. 
 
 Eupolis, judges, Thrafyllus, and Mnefon, had the fame 
 father and mother ; and their patrimony, which they di- 
 vided equally among themfelves, was fo confiderable, that 
 each of them was appointed by you to fill the moft expen- 
 five offices : two of thefe brothers perifhed nearly at the fame 
 time ; Mnefon died in the city, unmarried and childlefs ; and 
 Thrafyllus, whole fon Apollodorus afterwards adopted me, 
 fell in the Sicilian expedition, in which he had been elected 
 to command one of our gallies. The lurviving brother, Eu- 
 polis, feized for his own ufe no fmall part of the inheritance : 
 he took for himfelf, under the pretence of a legacy, the 
 whole of Mnelbn's property, one half of which belonged to 
 Apollodorus ; and fo faithful was he in his guardianihip, that 
 he was condemned to refund three talents, of which he had 
 defrauded his nephew; for my grandfather Archedamus, 
 who had married the mother of Apollodorus, and was grieved 
 
 L 2 to
 
 7 6 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 to fee him ftripped of all his fortune, took both my grand- 
 mother and him to his houfe, where he gave him an educa- 
 tion, as if he had been his own fon, and, when he was adult, 
 affifted him in claiming a moiety of Mnefon's eftate, and all 
 the effects of which this careful truftee had deprived him. 
 Thus, having obtained a decree for him in two fuits, he reco- 
 vered his whole patrimony; on which account Apollodorus re- 
 tained a violent enmity againftEupolis, as long as he lived, whilft 
 a firm friendihip fubfifted, as it ought, between him and Arche- 
 damus : but from his lubfequent conduct we may draw the 
 moil certain conclufion, that Apollodorus was defirous of re- 
 warding his benefactors for the advantages which they had 
 procured him ; for, when my grandfather had the misfortune 
 to be made captive by the enemy, Apollodorus contributed 
 largely towards the payment of his ranfom, and even gave a 
 hoftage for him, till he was able to raife the whole mm ; 
 after which, when Archedamus was reduced from affluence 
 to urgent neceflity, this truly grateful man undertook the 
 management of his affairs, giving him a competence out of 
 his own fortune. Yet more ; when he was going with the 
 army to Corinth, he left his. eftate by will to his half-lifter,, 
 whofe fon I am, and gave her in marriage to Lacratides, who 
 has fince been appointed hierophant : luch were his kindnefs 
 and gratitude towards us, who had originally preferved him 
 from ruin. Now that my aflertions are true, and that Eu- 
 polis was actually caft in two actions, one for his diihoneil 
 guardianihip, and the other for a moiety of Mnefon's pro- 
 perty, in both which caufes my grandfather was the advifer 
 and advocate of Apollodorus, who by our means recovered 
 his pofleffions, and afterwards requited the obligation with 
 2 fuch
 
 OF APOLLODORUS. 77 
 
 iuch liberality, I will prove by the cleareft evidence : call the 
 witneiTes hither, witnesses. 
 
 Such then and ib great were the benefits, which we had 
 conferred on him ; bat luch was his hatred of Eupolis, who 
 had attempted to rob him of ib large a fortune, that there was 
 no poilibility of a reconciliation between them, nor can it be 
 alledged that their connection was ever reftored : of their 
 unalterable antipathy there cannot be a clearer proof, than 
 that Eupolis, who was defcended from the fame common 
 anceitor with Apollodorus, and knew him to be a wealthy 
 man, offered him neither of his two daughters in mar- 
 riage ; yet fuch alliances have a natural power to appeafe 
 the animofities not of relations only, but of any indifferent 
 men, when they intruft each other with the deareft pledges 
 of their affection : whether Eupolis, therefore, was to blame 
 for not offering his daughter, or Apollodorus for not accept- 
 ing her, this fad: alone proves the continuance of their 
 diffenfion. 
 
 What has alreadv been faid concerning their difao-reement, 
 will,. I think, be fufficient ; for I am periuaded, that many 
 of the oldeft among you recollect, their difputes and litigation ; 
 fince the importance of the caufes, and the two decrees which 
 Archedamus obtained againit Eupolis, gave celebrity to the 
 affair : but 1 requeft you, judges, to hear with attention the 
 proofs, that he adopted me in his lifetime and in per ion, and 
 that he appointed me fucceffor to his eitate, having inferibed 
 my name in the records of his family, and in the publick re- 
 giiter of his ward. 
 
 Apollodorus had a fon, wJSOM he both educated and 
 cherifhed, as it became him ; and whom he hoped to leave 
 heir to his fortune ; but the boy dying of a fevere illnefs in 
 
 the
 
 78 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 the month of December in the laft year, his father deprefied 
 by fo cruel a misfortune, and defpairing at his age of having 
 another child, called to his remembrance that family, from 
 which in his youth he had received a fignal obligation ; and, 
 going to my mother, his half-filter, for whom he had the 
 tendereft regard, he declared his intention to adopt me, and 
 requeited her to refign me to him as his lbn : fire granted his 
 requeft ; and lb eager was he to execute his refolution, that 
 he carried me inftantly to his own houfc, and intrwfted the 
 whole management of it to my care ; confidering, that he 
 was no longer capable of fuperintending all his affairs in 
 perfon, and that I grew continually more and more able to 
 traniadt. them. At the feftival of the Thargelia, therefore, 
 he conducted me to the altars among thofe of the fame family 
 and ward : now it is a rule with them, that whoever intro- 
 duces to them either his own lbn, or a fon by adoption, mult 
 fwear by the facred rites, that the perfon introduced was born 
 of an Athenian citizen in lawful marriage ; when this oath 
 has been taken, the other members of the lbciety determine 
 by ballot whether he fhall be admitted ; and, if they decide 
 in his favour, he may then, but not before, have his name 
 inferibed in the regiiter : with fuch exactnefs are their ordi- 
 nances and cuftoms obferved. This then being their law, 
 the whole affembly, not doubting the veracity of Apollodo- 
 rus, to whom they had adminiftered the ufual oath, and 
 knowing that I was the fon of his filter, voted unanimoufly 
 for the enrollment of my name ; and thus was I adopted by 
 him in his lifetime, as the law permitted him to adopt me, 
 and regiftered by the name of Thrafyllus, the fon of Apol- 
 lodorus : read thefe depofitions, which prove the truth of 
 what I have related, depositions. 
 
 Ι ί up-
 
 OF APOLLODORUS. 79 
 
 I fuppofed therefore, judges, that you would readily give 
 credit to the witnefTes, Mho have fworn, and to his rela- 
 tions, whole behaviour has manifeftly declared, that Apol- 
 lodorus performed the ceremony of my adoption conform- 
 ably to law; for Eupolis left two daughters; one, who was 
 married to Pronapis, and is a claimant in this caule ; and an- 
 other, the wife of ^Efchines the Luiian, who died leaving a 
 Ion, then of full age, named Thrafybulus : now there is a 
 law, that, if a brother by the lame father die childleis and 
 inteftate, his effects fliall be divided equally between his iur- 
 viving lifter, and the ion of another filler, who died before 
 him ; nor were my opponents ignorant of this law, as their 
 very conduct has manifefted; for, when the fon of Eupolis 
 was dead without children, Thrafybulus took a moiety of his 
 eftate, which may be fairly eftimated at five talents. Thus 
 the law gives the lifter and the filler's fon an equal fliare of 
 their father's and their brother's fortune ; but, when a coufir 
 dies, or any kinfman in a remoter degree, the male relation: 
 are called to the fucceflion before the female ; for it is enacted. 
 that males and the children of males, if any be living, fhall 
 be preferred, although they are lefs nearly related to the de- 
 cealed. The wife, therefore, of Pronapis ought not to have 
 claimed even a part of this inheritance, but Thrafybulus 
 would have contended for the whole, if he had not thought 
 my adoption valid ; whereas he neither at the beginning dif- 
 puted my title, nor at any time fince has claimed the fortune 
 of Apollodorus, but confeffes that I was legally appointed his 
 fuccefTor; whilft her advocates have attained fuch a height of 
 impudence, that they have prefumed to claim the whole 
 eftate. Take the laws, which my adverfaries have violated, 
 and read them to the court, first law. By this law the lur- 
 
 viving
 
 So ON THE ESTATE 
 
 viving filler and her (liter's ion are entitled to an equal fhare 
 of their brother's property. Now read the other, by which 
 females are excluded in the fucceffion to the fortune of their 
 couiins. second law. Read this alio which enacts, that, if 
 there be no firft nor fecond couiins on the part of the father, 
 thole on the mother's part fhali fucceed to the eftate according 
 to the rules there expreffed. third law. 
 
 Such being the law, this male relation has not even claim- 
 ed a part of the inheritance, while the hufband of a female 
 has contended in her right for the whole: thus imagining, 
 that mere audacity will avail them, they puih it to any length 
 in this caufe, and alledge, as a realbn for their exorbitant de- 
 mand, that Thralybulus was adopted into the houfe of Hip- 
 polochides, and emancipated from his own ; which I allow to 
 be true, but in lift that it is nothing to the purpofe ; for how 
 was he lels entitled to claim this eftate ? It was not in right of 
 his father iEfchirres, but of his mother, that he fucceeded to 
 half the fortune of Apollodorus, the ion of Eupolis ; and by 
 the fame right he would have made a juft claim to the prefent 
 fucceffion, as he was preferred to any female claimant, had 
 he not been convinced, that my adoption was legal and re- 
 gular ; but Thralybulus is not fo daring : now a title to a ma- 
 ternal eftate is not loft by emancipation, but every man conti- 
 nues to have the fame mother, whether he remain in his 
 father's houfe or be emancipated ; fo that he was not deprived 
 of his fucceffion to his maternal uncle Apollodorus, but re- 
 ceived an equal portion with the furviving daughter of Eu- 
 polis, as the witneffes, whom I fhall now call, will prove. 
 
 EVIDENCE. 
 
 It is apparent then, that not only the men of the fame fa- 
 mily and ward bore teftimony to my adoption, but that Thra- 
 lybulus
 
 OF APOLLODORUS. 8i 
 
 fybulus himfelf has in fait acknowledged, by not claiming 
 the fortune, that he believed the act of Apollodorus to be 
 conformable to lav.', and coniequently valid ; for, if that had 
 not been his opinion, he would never have waived his right 
 to fo large an inheritance : of this transaction I can produce 
 other witnefles ; for, before my return from the Pythian 
 games, Apollodorus apprized his fellow-burgeffes, that he 
 had appointed me his heir, and had enrolled me among the 
 members of his ward ; informing them at the fame time, that 
 he had committed his eftate to my care, and requeuing them, 
 if any accident fhould befal him, to enter me in the publick 
 regifter by the name of Thrafyllus the fon of Apollodorus, 
 and by no other name. When they heard this declaration, 
 (though the friends of Pronapis complained in their aiiembly, 
 and difputed the validity of my adoption, yet) the burgefTes, 
 from their own knowledge of the fact, took the accuftomed 
 oath, and inlerted my name in their regifter, as Apollodorus 
 had enjoined them, being fully perfuaded that my adoption 
 was perfectly legal: call the witnefles to thele facts, wit- 
 nesses. So clear, judges, is the evidence of my adoption, 
 an inveterate enmity having iubiifted between the dcceafed 
 and the family of Eupolis, and the ftricteft friendfhip having 
 been maintained between him and us, to whom alio he was 
 nearly related : but, had he neither deteited them nor loved 
 Our family, he would never, as I hope eafily to convince 
 you, have left his poiTeilions to my antagonifts ; for all they, 
 who think their end approaching, look forward with a pru- 
 dent care that their houies may not become defolate, but that, 
 there may be fome pcrfon to attend their funeral rites, and 
 to perform the legai ceremonies at their tombs ; if, therefore, 
 they have no children, yet they leave heirs by appointment : 
 
 Μ
 
 Si Ο Ν Τ HE ESTATE 
 
 nor is this merely the cuftem of private men, but it is ordain- 
 ed by the publick and common laws, which command the 
 Archon to provide that families be not extinguifhed : now 
 Apollodorus was perfectly fenfible, that, if he were to leave 
 his eftate to thefe men, he fhould occafion the defertion of 
 his houfe. Whv for Becaufe hehadfeen thefe two lifters in- 
 herit the pofleihons of Apollodorus their brother, without 
 appointing a fucceffor to him, although they had ions of their 
 own, whom they might have appointed ; he had feen their 
 hufbands fell the lands and all the effects which they had 
 inherited, to the amount of five talents, which money they 
 divided among themfelves, and he had obferved the fhame- 
 firl and deplorable defolation of the family. Since then he 
 law that the memory of a brother was fo little revered, how 
 could he have expected, even had friendfhip fublifted be- 
 tween them, to be treated with due veneration, when he was 
 a coufin only, and not a brother? He could not hope it. 
 Now that they appointed no heir to fupport the family of that 
 Apollodorus, yet are in poffeffion of his fortune, and have 
 wafted an eftate, which was known to fupply the expenfe of 
 equipping gallies, the witneffes, who ihall next be called, will 
 give ample proof, evidence. 
 
 If fuch therefore were their difpofitions, and lb violent was 
 their enmity to Apollodorus, by whom I was adopted, how 
 could he have acted more wifely than as he did act? Should 
 he have taken a child from any of his friends, and left his 
 property to him r Yet it would have been uncertain even to 
 the parents of that child, by reafon of his tender age, whether 
 he would be a virtuous or a worthleis man; but of my good 
 qualities he had received a fufncient fpecimen; for he well 
 knew, how affectionately I had behaved to my father and 
 
 mother,
 
 OF Α Ρ Ο L L Ο D Ο R U S, 83 
 
 mother, how attentively to my friends, how prudently 1 
 managed my own affairs, how far removed I had been in my 
 magiffracy from injuftice or corruption : of all this he was 
 fully convinced, when he committed his pofleiiions to my 
 care ; nor was I a ftranger to him, but his filter's fon, nor 
 were the benefits inconfiderable, which we had conferred on 
 him ; nor was I lowminded and unambitious enough to alienc 
 his property, as my opponents have aliened the fortune of 
 their brother, but was willing and eager, after his example, 
 to furniih and command your fhips, to lead your armies, to 
 conduct your entertainments, to perform whatever, you ihould 
 order. If then I was both his kinfman, his friend, and his 
 benefactor, both of an exalted mind and of approved virtue, 
 who can doubt that his adoption of me was the act of a pru- 
 dent and a grateful man ? Even in this very year I have per- 
 formed one of thofe duties, which Apollodorus himfelf would 
 have applauded : I prefided over the exercifes in the Prome- 
 thean games with liberality and magnificence, as the whole 
 tribe know, and as many of them will now teftify. witnesses. 
 Thefe, judges, are the lawful and reafonable grounds of 
 our prefent claim : we therefore entreat you to affi.it us in fup- 
 porting it, for the fake both of Apollodorus and of his father, 
 whom you will find, if you reflect upon their conduct, to 
 have been no ufelefs citizens, but infpired with all poilible 
 zeal to promote your intereft ; for his father Thrafyllus not 
 only filled every other expenfive office, but continued, as 
 long as he lived, to command a galley, which was not built 
 by contribution, as many veflels are now made, but at his own 
 expenfe; nor was he fecond only in the command, but flood 
 alone ; nor did he intermit his duty for two years, as he 
 might have done, but performed it conftantly ; and not with 
 
 Μ ι neajijcm c
 
 84 G NTHE ESTATE 
 
 negligence or in hafte, but with the moil fplendid prepara- 
 tions ; for which noble conduct you approved and honoured 
 him, and, remembering his laudable actions,- would not 
 fuffer his foil to be ftripped of his property, but compelled 
 his falfe guardian to reftore it. Nor was Apollodorus himfelf 
 like this Pronapis, who, to defraud the publick, pretended 
 that his fortune was fmall, but taking his rank among thofe 
 of the equeftrian order, he fuitained the charges of the 
 higher!: magiftracies ; not endeavouring by violence to take the 
 property of others, and contriving that you iliould reap no ad- 
 vantage from it, but openly declaring the full amount of his 
 eftate, and bearing with alacrity whatever burden you im- 
 pofed : thus he ftrove to live with elegance on his own in- 
 come, without injuring any man ; thinking it incumbent on 
 him to be moderate in his private expenfes, that he might be 
 able to dedicate the remainder of his fortune to the fervice of 
 the publick. With this overplus what office did he not com- 
 pletely fill ? What fum was he not the firft to contribute ? In 
 what part of his duty was he deficient? He obtained the prize 
 in the youthful games,, which he conducted ; and yonder tripod 
 remains a monument of his liberality on thatoccafion. What' 
 are the duties of a virtuous citizen ? To preferve his own for- 
 tune ; not, like dhTolute and abandoned men, to attack the 
 property of others ; and, if the ftate has need of fupplies, to 
 contribute among the firft,. without concealing any part of 
 his ponefTions. Such then was Apollodorus ; and you will 
 make but a jail return for his ardour in ierving you, if you 
 eftablifh his adoption of me according to his clear intent : 
 nor will you find even me, as far as my youth has qualified 
 me for your fervice, either a bad or an idle citizen ; for I 
 have borne arms in all your expeditions, and continue to obey 
 
 the
 
 OF APOLLODORUS. 85 
 
 die commands of my country, as men of my age ihould obey 
 them. For the fake, therefore, of Apollodorus and his 
 father, as well as of me and my• family, confider o^r caufc 
 with attention ; eipecially as our adverlaries have never fur- 
 nifhed a fingle galley, but have difupaited and reduced to 
 nothing an eftate of five talents : whereas we have already 
 filled your molt chargeable offices, and will again fill them 
 with eagernefs, if you effeifuate the intention of my- uncle, 
 and give me the eftate, which he appointed me to inherit. 
 That I may not feem tedious in expatiating longer on thefe 
 facts, I will defcend, as foon as I have fuccinctly recapitulated 
 to you the feveral points, on which we reft our refpective 
 claims. 
 
 As my own mother was the lifter of Apollodorus, as an in- 
 timate friendihip fubiifted between us, never interrupted by 
 any difagreement, I, whom he adopted as his foil, when he 
 was living and in his perfect fenfes, I, who was enrolled 
 among thofe of the fame family and ward with himfelf, de- 
 mand the eftate which he gave me, and defire that thefe men• 
 may not have it in their power to extinguifh fo illufkious a 
 family : but what are the preteniions of Pronapis ? He firft 
 took a moiety of the fortune, which had been left by his wife's 
 brother, and now he claims this inheritance, though others 
 are more nearly related to the deceafed than his wife can pre- 
 tend to be : yet he has neither appointed a fon to iupply the 
 place of his brother, but has fuffered his family to become ex- 
 tinct, nor would he have acted otherwife wit . regard to my 
 uncle; and he makes this claim, though Apollodorus had fo 
 great an averiion to him,, and a reconciliation never after- 
 wards took'place between them.. This, judges^ you will con- 
 fider; and will alfo recollect, that I am the nephew of the, 
 
 deceaied ?
 
 86 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 deceafed, and that the wife of Pronapis is only his coufm t 
 that fhe has inherited two eftates, whilft I fucceed to this 
 alone as a fon by adoption; that ihe laftly was not well in- 
 clined to him, whofe property we claim, but that I and my 
 father were his real benefactors. Thus reflecting and reafon- 
 ing with yourfelves, give a fentence agreeable to juftice : it 
 would be fuperfluous to add more ; for I am perfuaded, that 
 no part of my argument has efcaped your attention. 
 
 SPEECH
 
 OF G I R Ο Ν. 87 
 
 SPEECH THE SEVENTH. 
 
 On the Eftate of Ciron. 
 
 THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 CIRON being dead without leaving a fon, his nephew entered upon his 
 eftate; and the clients of Ifasus brought an aftion to recover it, infilling that they 
 had the better title as grandfons ofjhe deceafed by his legitimate daughter : 
 there are two queftions in the caufe, an llfue of fair, whether the com- 
 plainants were lawfully defcended from Ciron or not ; and an iiTue in law, 
 whether a daughter's or a brother's fon has more right to the property of an 
 inteftate. The writer of the Greek argument to this fpeech appears to have 
 miftaken the law of Athens, which will be more fully explained in the com- 
 mentary. 
 
 SPEECH
 
 88 ON Τ Η Ε . Ε S Τ ;Α Τ Ε 
 
 SPEECH THE SEVENTH. 
 
 The jGrandfons of Giro η againft his Nephew. 
 
 IT is impoflible, judges, to fupprefs 'our juft indignation, 
 when men are not only bold enough to claim the property 
 of others, but even hope by their ibphifms to refine away 
 the found rules of law, as our adverfaries are now attempting 
 to do ; for, although my grandfather Ciron died not childlefs, 
 but left me and my brother, the fons of his legitimate daugh- 
 ter, yet thefe men have both claimed his eftate, as his next 
 of kin, and infult us with aflertirig that we are not his grand- 
 ions, and that he never had a daughter in his life: to this au- 
 dacity have they been incited by their fordid love of gain, and 
 allured by the value of Ciron's eftate, which they violently 
 feized, and now unjuftly poffefs ; being abfurd enough to alledge 
 that he died in indigence, yet contending at the fame time that 
 they have a right to his fortune. Now I confider myfelf as con- 
 tending in this caufe, not with the nominal party to the fuit, 
 but with Diodes of Phlya, whole mad violence has procured 
 him the name of Oreftes; for it was he, who firft mitigated 
 my opponent to give us this trouble, with an intent to deprive 
 us of our fucceifion to the property of our grandfather, and 
 has thus expofed us to danger, that he may not be compelled 
 to reftore the goods which he has embezzled, if he can per- 
 iuade you by his falfe allegations to pronounce your decree 
 
 3 m
 
 OF G I R Ο Ν. 89 
 
 in his favour. Thefe being their machinations, it is necefTary 
 for you to be informed of the whole tranfaclion, that, when 
 you are fully apprized of every circumftance, you may decide 
 the caufe from your perfect knowledge of it ; and, if you 
 have ever attended to any other caufe, hear this, I intreat 
 you, with attention : juilice indeed requires it ; for in the 
 many fuits with which Athens abounds, no man will be 
 found to have invaded the poffeilions of another with more 
 impudence and a greater contempt of decency than thefe con- 
 federates. It is no eafy taik, judges, for one, wholly void of 
 experience in courts, to enter into a conteil of fo great im- 
 portance againft the premeditated quibbles of fubtle lpeakers, 
 and againit witneffes prepared to violate the truth ; yet I am 
 not without hopes of being reitored to my right by your len- 
 tence, and of fpeaking fo far at lealt with tolerable propriety 
 as to lupport my juft demand, unlefs fome fuch misfortune 
 mould befall me as I cannot even now help fearing: I fuppli- 
 cate you therefore, judges, to hear me with candour, and, 
 if you think me injured, to redrefs the injury which I have 
 fuftained. 
 
 Firlt, then, I will convince you, that my mother was the 
 legitimate daughter of Ciron, and will prove by hearfay evi- 
 dence what happened a long time ago, ami by living witneffes 
 what it is ftill poffible for them to remember : to this I will 
 add a number of circumitances, which are often more de- 
 ciiive than the teitimonv of fallible men ; and when I have 
 evinced the truth of this point beyond a doubt, I will demon- 
 ftrate, that we have a jufter claim than our adverfaries to the 
 eftate of the deceafed. I will begin my narrative from that 
 part of the cafe, whence they alfo began their argument. 
 
 Ν My
 
 oo ON THE ESTATE 
 
 My grandfather Ciron, judges, married his firil coufin, the 
 daughter of his mother's filter, who bore my mother, and 
 died three years after marriage. Ciron, having this only 
 daughter, took for his fecond wife the lifter of Diocles, by 
 whom he had two fons : with her and her children my mo- 
 ther was educated, and, when ihe attained a proper age, was 
 given by her father in marriage to Naufimenes of Cholargia, 
 with a fortune of twenty-five minas, together with clothes 
 and ornaments of gold. Three or four years after this, Naufi- 
 menes died of a violent diforder, leaving no children by my 
 mother, whom Ciron received again into his family (but 
 without her entire portion, as her huiband had been in diftrefs) 
 and gave her to my father with a fortune of a thoufand 
 drachmas. That all thefe tranfactions really palled, as I re- 
 late them, and fully difprove the falfe pretences on which 
 our adversaries now infift, I difcovered a method of evincing 
 with the utmoft clearneis ; for, whether my mother was, or 
 was not, the daughter of Ciron, whether ihe made part of 
 his family or not, whether he folemnized her two nuptials, 
 and what fortune he gave with her to each of her huibands, 
 all this rauft neceffarily be known to his fervants of both 
 fexes : defiling therefore in addition to the evidence, which I 
 ihall adduce, to confirm thefe facts by an extorted confeffion, 
 that you might give the greater credit to fuch witneffes as had 
 previoufly exhibited a proof of their veracity, I propofcd to 
 my antagonilts, that the male and female flaves ihould be 
 queftioned on the rack concerning their knowledge of thefe 
 occurrences ; but this very Diocles, who will prefently in- 
 treat you to believe his witneffes, declined fo eafy a mode of 
 difcovering the truth. If then his refufal to accept my 
 ■offer, which muft be imputed to his fear of fo decifive an 
 
 inveftigation,
 
 OF C I R Ο Ν. 9i 
 
 inveftigation, be clearly proved, what remains to be thought 
 of his witnefles ? Nothing, in my opinion, but that they 
 are forefworn : in proof of this fact., read firft the depoiition, 
 which I have brought, deposition. 
 
 Now you are all, I believe, perfuaded, that an inquiiltion 
 by torture, both in publick and private caufes, is the belt and 
 fureft mode of inveftigating truth; nor, when both free men 
 and ilaves are prefent, and it is expedient to obtain a difco- 
 very of facts, is it your cuftom to examine the free men, but 
 to rack the ilaves, and thus to extort a true relation of all that 
 has happened : in this refpect you think and act wifely, 
 judges ; for you well know, that many perfons examined in 
 the ufual form have given evidence indubitably falfe ; but of 
 all thofe, who have been expofed to torture, none have ever 
 been convicted of falihood : and will this moft audacious of 
 men requeil you to believe his artful pretences, and his wit- 
 nefles, who fwear againft truth, when he declines a mode of 
 proof fo exact and concluflve ? Our conduit is widely diffe- 
 rent ; and, as we firft propofed to difcover the whole tran- 
 iaction by the means of torture, to which propofal we have 
 proved that they would not confent, we think it reafonable, 
 that our witnefles ihould be credited. Read next thefe depo- 
 sitions, which prove my mother's legitimacy, depositions. 
 
 Whom can we fuppoie acquainted with what happened fo 
 long ago ? Thofe, no doubt, who were intimate with my 
 grandfather : their teftimony then has been repeated by many 
 who heard them afleit the truth of it. Who muft unavoid- 
 ably know, that my mother was given in marriage ? Thofe, 
 who betrothed her, and thofe who were prefent at the time of 
 the affiance : to this point, therefore, we have adduced the 
 evidence of perfons, who were connected both with my father 
 
 Ν 2 and
 
 9α ON THE ESTATE 
 
 and with Naufimenes. Who rauft be confcious that fhe was 
 bredin the houfe of Ciron, and that ihe was his legitimate 
 daughter? My adverfaries themfelves have iliown this to be 
 true, by declining the difcovery propofed ; lb that you can- 
 not jultly diibelieve our witneffes, but have great reafon to fuf- 
 pect the credibility of theirs. 
 
 - To thefe arguments may be added many circumftances, 
 which prove that our mother was the daughter of Ciron ; for, 
 as it became a man to treat the Ions of his own daughter, he 
 never made a facrifice without us; but, whether he folem- 
 nized the greater fellivals or the leis, we were always prefent 
 and always partook of them ; nor were we invited to thefe only, 
 but he conft antly carried us into the country to the Dionyfian 
 feafts : with him we fate to view the games, and at his houfe 
 we paired every holiday. Befides, he molt affiduoufly paid 
 his adorations to Jupiter the Enricher, into whofe temple he 
 admitted no flave whatever, nor any freemen who were not 
 of his family, but conducted the whple ceremony himfelf; 
 yet even of this celebrity were we partakers, performing the 
 holy rites together with him, and aihfting him in the opera- 
 tions of the facrifice : he then prayed the deity (as a grand- 
 father would naturally pray) to grant us good health and 
 ample gains; nor, had he not believed us to be his daughter's 
 children, and the only lineal defcendants, whom he was to 
 leave behind him, would he have iliown us this parental af- 
 fection, but would have taken for his companion the man, 
 who now pretends to be his nephew ? The truth of all this 
 muft be accurately known by my grandfather's flaves, whom 
 this man will not fuffer to be interrogated on the rack ; but 
 the fame facts were notorious alfo to fome of his intimate 
 
 friends,
 
 OF C I R Ο Ν. 93 
 
 friends, whofe evidence iliall now be produced: take their de- 
 positions, and read them to the court depositions. 
 
 Nor from thele tranfadtions alone is it manifeit, that our 
 mother wag the legitimate daughter of Ciron, but alio from 
 the conduct of our own father, and from the manner in 
 which fhe herfelf was treated by the women of the fame bo- 
 rough ; for, when my father married her, he gave an enter- 
 tainment, to which he invited three of his acquaintance, be- 
 tides his particular friends, and prefented thofe of his ward 
 with the nuptial victim, according to their inftitutions : after 
 this the wives of his fellow-burgeffes elected her, together 
 with the wife of Diodes the Pithian, to lead the proceffion 
 and perform divine rites at the temple of Ceres ; and my father, 
 when we were born, introduced us to his ward, having pre- 
 viouily fworn, as the law requires, that we were his fans by 
 a citizen of Athens, whom he had legally efpoufed; nor did a 
 tingle man of the ward, although many were prefent who 
 fcrupuloufly examine iuch matters, fay a fv liable againft our 
 admiilion, or entertain a doubt of his veracity. Now it can- 
 not be imagined, that if our mother had been what thefe men 
 falfely pretend, our father would have celebrated his con- 
 nection with her by a nuptial feaft and the ulual facritice ; he 
 would rather have kept the whole affair lecret ; nor would the 
 matrons of his ward have chofen her, with the w tie of Diodes, 
 to perform their facred rites and to prefide over the iblemnitv, 
 but would have given that refpectable charge to another; noi 
 would the members of the ward have received us, but would 
 have objected to our admifiion, and juftined their objection, 
 had it not been allowed on all fides, that our mother was 
 Ciron's legitimate daughter: the truth, indeed, of this fo.ct is 
 now ίο apparent, and io many perfons have a perfect know- 
 ledge
 
 94 Ο Ν Τ Η Ε Ε S Τ Α Τ Ε 
 
 ledge of it, that it is no where difputed. Call up the wit- 
 nefles, who will prove what I have laft aiferted. evidence. 
 Yet further, judges; that we are the acknowledged grand- 
 sons of Ciron, the behaviour of Diodes himfelf, after my 
 grandfather's death, will clearly demonitrate ; for I went, 
 accompanied by one of my friends, a coufin of my father, to 
 bring the body to my own houfe, from which I intended to 
 begin the funeral proceffion : Diodes was not within ; but, 
 when I entered, and was directing the affiftants, whom I 
 had brought, to remove the corie, my grandfather's widow 
 intreated me to begin the funeral from her houfe, offering to 
 affift us in laying out and embalming the body : ihe wept 
 and fupplicated, judges, till ihe prevailed; and, meeting 
 Diodes, I told him before witnefles, that, as his fitter had 
 requefted me, the remains of Ciron fhould be carried to the 
 place of burial from the houfe in which he died : to this he 
 made no objection, but laid that he had brought fome things 
 necefTary for the funeral, and had given earneft for them ; 
 he therefore exacted a promife from me to pay what they 
 coil, and deiired me to give hmi back the earneft, engaging 
 to bring me to thofe who had received it of him : foon after 
 indeed he affected to iniinuate, that Ciron died infolvent, 
 though I had not then fpoken a word about his fortune. 
 Now if he had not known me to be the grandfon of Ciron, 
 he would never have made fuch an agreement with me, but 
 would rather have addreifed me thus. — What man are you ? 
 What concern have you with the burial ? I know you not : 
 come not within my doors. This he lhould then have laid 
 himfelf, which he has now fuborned others to fay : nothing 
 however of the kind was even intimated by him, but he re- 
 i queried
 
 Ο F C I R Ο Ν. 95 
 
 queited me to bring him the money on the next morning ; 
 and here, to prove the truth of this narrative, let the wit- 
 nefles be called, evidence. 
 
 Nor was he alone iilent on this head ; but even the prefent 
 claimant of the eitate advanced nothing in oppofition to my 
 right, till he was mitigated by this fellow to difpute it ; for 
 when I carried the money on the following day, Diodes re- 
 filled to accept it, alledging that he had received it from my 
 adverfary ; yet I was not prevented from joining in the funeral 
 rites, but affilted at the whole ceremony; the expenfes of 
 which were not borne by my opponent, but were defrayed 
 out of the money which Ciron left : now it would have be- 
 come him, if the deceafed had not been really my grand- 
 father, to have thruit me out, to have expelled me, and to 
 have hindered me from conducting the burial in conjunction 
 with them. Our iituations in this relpect were by no means 
 limilar ; for I permitted him, as the nephew of my grand- 
 father, to act in concert with me ; but he ihould not have 
 nattered me to join with him, if that had been true, which 
 they now have the impudence to alledge. To fuch a degree, 
 indeed, was he confounded with the truth of my altertions, 
 when in my funeral oration I acculed him by name of an 
 attempt to invade my property, and of inciting my antagonift 
 to make this unjuft claim, that he durft not even mutter a 
 iyllable againit me, much lefs infinuate what he now fo au- 
 daciouily advances. Call thofe alfo who will prove this fact. 
 
 WITNESSES. 
 
 What now, in the name of the gods, can induce us to 
 believe what we hear afTerted ? Is it not the teitimony of wit- 
 nefles ? I think it undeniable. How can their evidence be 
 procured ? Is it not by the fear of torture ? Moit afluredly. 
 
 Why
 
 96 ONTHE ESTATE 
 
 Why then ihould you give no credit to the allegations of my 
 adverfaries ? Is it, becaufe they declined fo complete a proof? 
 yes, beyond a doubt. How is it poilible, therefore, to de- 
 monftrate more clearly, that my mother was Ciron's legiti- 
 mate daughter, than by producing hearfay evidence of what 
 happened many years ago, and by giving you the pofitive 
 teftimony of living witneffes, who know that ilie was edu- 
 cated in his houfe, was coniidered as his child, was twice 
 betrothed by him, and twice given in marriage ; and by mow- 
 ing moreover, that they refufe to examine the flaves who had 
 a perfect knowledge of all thefe tranfactions ? The whole of 
 this I have given in evidence ; and a more convincing proof, 
 by all the deities of heaven, cannot be produced ; but what 
 has already been advanced ieems fully fufficient to evince the 
 juifice of my demand. 
 
 I now proceed to give you entire conviction, that I have by 
 law a greater right than my antagonist to the eftate of Ciron; 
 and it is apparent, I believe, to all of yon, that thoie who 
 are delcended only from the fame flock with the deceafed are 
 not more nearly related to him than thoie who are defcended 
 fromhimfelf: how, indeed, ihould it be fo, when the firil 
 are his collateral kinfmen, and the others his lineal defen- 
 dants ? Since however they are daring enough to argue 
 again it the manifeft reafon of the thing, 1 will prove my 
 point more diftufely by arguments drawn from the laws 
 themfelves : firit, if my mother, the daughter of Ciron, were 
 itill living, if her father had died inteftate, and if this man 
 had been his brother inftead of his nephew, he would have 
 a power, indeed, to marry his daughter; but no man Mould 
 have a right to his create, except her children, to whom the 
 law would give it at the age of lixtecn years •, if, then, were 
 6 ihe
 
 Ο F C I R Ο Ν. '97 
 
 fhe alive, he would not have been entitled to her fortune, but 
 her ions would have been the lawful heirs, it is evident, that, 
 as ihe died leaving children, they only, not thefe confede- 
 rates, fnould fucceed to her pofrefTions. Nor does this law 
 only confirm my title ; but that concerning diitreifed parents 
 eftabliihes the point, for which 1 contend : had my grand- 
 father been alive and in want of neceffaries, the guilt of 
 fufferino- him to continue in diltrefs would have been im- 
 puted, not to our adverfary, but to us ; for the law enjoins 
 us to fupport our parents, by whom are meant our fathers 
 and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers, and their fa- 
 thers and mothers, if they are living ; lince, as they are the 
 root and ftock of the family, and as their defcendants regu- 
 larly fucceed to their property, it is juft and natural to main- 
 tain them, how little foever they have to leave. Can it then 
 be thought realbnable, that, even if they had had nothing, 
 we mould have been liable to a proiecution for not fupport- 
 ing them, yet, if they leave a fortune, that thefe men, not 
 we, mould fucceed to it ? By no means. 
 
 I will begin, then, with the neareft of a man's collateral 
 relations, and will call for your fentiments on the compa- 
 nion between them and his lineal defcendants ; for this me- 
 thod will eaiily convince you. Who was more nearly re 
 to Ciron, his daughter or his brother ? No doubt, his dan. 
 ter; for ihe defcended immediately from him, but he on 
 derived his defcent from the fame anceflor. Is the brother 
 to be preferred in the order of lucceihon, or the daughters 
 foils ? Her Ions indifputably ; for theirs is a direct defcent, 
 not a collateral relationihip : fince then we are lb far nearer 
 than a brother, we mnft have considerably a better claim 
 than this man, who is only a nephew. But 1 fear, left, by 
 
 Ο dwelling
 
 5>S ON THE ESTATE 
 
 dwelling too long on a point which cannot fairly be difputed, 
 I ifhoukl tire your patience ; for all of you inherit the pof- 
 fefTions of your fathers, grandfathers, and anceftors of a 
 higher degree, by the uncontrovertible title of a lineal defcent: 
 the cafe is fo clear, that I cannot believe there ever before 
 was fuch a conteft. I fhall therefore conclude this part of 
 my argument with reading the law concerning the diftrefles 
 ΌΪ parents ; and ihall then explain to you the motives which 
 induced my opponents to harafs me with this caufe. the 
 
 LAW. 
 
 The property of Ciron, judges, confifted of a farm in 
 Phlya well worth a talent, and two houfes in the city, one 
 of which, near the temple of Bacchus in the Marines, was 
 occupied by a tenant, and might be fold for twenty minas ; 
 the other, which he inhabited, was worth thirteen : he had, 
 be fides, fome ilaves who worked for his advantage, two 
 female fervants and a girl, together with utenfils and houfe- 
 hold furniture, which, with the ilaves, were worth as much 
 as the houie. His whole real eftate may be valued at rather 
 more than a talent and a half; and he had no inconii- 
 derable fum of money out at intereit, from which he re- 
 ceived a good annual income. Diodes and his niter had 
 long projected to poileis themfelves of this fortune ; and, as 
 icon as the two fans of Ciron were dead, he did not remove 
 her from the old man (though fhe might then have borne 
 children by another huiband), fearing left, if they were fe- 
 parated, he fhoukl diipofe, as he ought to have done, of his 
 poiTeihons ; but perfuaded her to continue with him, to pre- 
 tend that me was enfeint, and afterwards to alledge that ihe 
 had mifcarried ; for he knew, that, if Ciron could entertain 
 hopes of having other children, he would not adopt either 
 
 of
 
 OF C I R Ο Ν. 93 
 
 of us. As to my father, Diodes perpetually calumniated him, 
 afTerting that he had confpired to feize the property of Ciron : 
 his next ftep was to defraud my grandfather of all his mo- 
 ney, while he pretended to execute the office of receiving 
 his intereft, and managing his landed property. Thus did 
 he inveigle the old man by adulation and ierv-ility, till he 
 had all his effects within his grafp ; yet, well knowing that 
 after Ciron's death I ihould have a juft claim to his fortune, 
 he did not prevent me from attending and converiing with 
 him : he feared, I imagine, the confequences of my reient- 
 ment at that time ; but he has now fuborned a man to con- 
 trovert my right to the fucceflion, and, if he ihould be victo- 
 rious, would allow him a fmall lhare of the plunder, while 
 he means to fecure the whole inheritance for himielf ; yet, 
 even to this very man, he did not at firft acknowledge that 
 Ciron left any eftate, but afTerted that he died in abfolute in- 
 digence. As foon as my grandfather was dead, this Diodes 
 made preparations for the funeral ; the expenfe of which, 
 as you have heard from the witnefles, he required me to 
 defray ; yet he afterwards refufed to accept the money from 
 me, on pretence that he had before received it from my op- 
 ponent ; thus artfully intending to let it appear, that he him- 
 felf, not I, was preparing to bury the deceafed : when, there- 
 fore, he raifed this controverfy, both concerning Ciron T s 
 lioufe and his other pofTeiTions, yet ilupidiy infifted, in 
 the fame moment, that he had left nothing at all, I thought 
 it an improper time (and the opinion of my friends coincided 
 with mine") to remove the body by force ; but I aflifted them, 
 and attended the burial, the charges of which were iup'-^ed 
 out of Ciron's eftate. In this manner was I compelled to act ; 
 but, left it ihould give them an advantage over me, if they 
 
 Ο ι could
 
 ioo ON THE ESTATE 
 
 could fay with truth that I bore no part of the expcnfe, Ϊ 
 contributed my ihare, by the advice of a lawyer whom I 
 conf ulted ; and I performed lacred rites in the handibmeit 
 manner on the ninth day after the funeral, both that they 
 might be prevented from the impiety of performing them, 
 and might not-feem to have expended the whole fum with- 
 out my participation. 
 
 Thefe, judges, are the tranfa£lions which relate to my 
 caufe, and thefe are the reafons which induced my enemies 
 to attack me ; but, were you perfectly acqLiainted with the 
 ihamelefs impudence of Diodes, you would not hefitate a 
 moment in giving full credit to my whole narrative; for this 
 wretch actually robbed his three half-fiilers, who were left 
 heirefles to their father, of the fine eftate which makes him 
 now fo fplendid, by pretending that he was the adopted fon 
 of their father, who, in reality, made no will, on purpofe 
 to exclude him : and when thofe who had married two of 
 his lifters commenced a fuit againft him for their fortunes, 
 he fo malignantly entangled the hufband of the eldeft in the 
 ihares of perverted law, that he caufed him unjuftly to bi 
 marked with infamy ; for which, though an aftion has been 
 brought againft him, he has not yet fuffered the puniihmeijt 
 he deferves; and, having hired ailave to aflamnate the huf- 
 band of the fecond fifter, he privately fent the aflaffin out of 
 Attica, and accufed the wife of the murder: then, inti- 
 midating her with his audacioufhefs, and compelling her to 
 be iilent, he obtained the guardianihip of her lbn by the de- 
 ceafed, and ftripped him of his properf, keeping all the 
 cultivated land in his own pofleflion, and giving his ward by 
 way of compenfation a few Irony fields. There are perfons 
 now prefent, who know this to be true: they are afraid, 
 
 deed,
 
 OF C I R Ο Ν. ιοί 
 
 deed, of Diodes ; but, perhaps they will be ready to give 
 their evidence ; if not, I will produce others, who have an 
 equal knowledge of the facts. Firft, however, call up tliofe 
 who are prefent. witnesses. 
 
 This man then, fo profligate and fo rapacious, who plun- 
 dered the inheritance of his filters, is not contented with that 
 plunder; but, becaufe a juft puniihment has not yet over- 
 taken him, he comes to deprive me alfo of my grandfather's 
 eitate, and having, as we are credibly informed, promifed to 
 give my adverfary two minas out of the fpoils, has expofed 
 us to the danger of loling not our fortune only, but our coun- 
 try ; iince, if he can deceive you into a belief, that our mo- 
 ther was not a citizen of Athens, neither are we citizens ; for 
 we were born after the archonfhip of Euclid. Is this litiga- 
 tion then, which his lies have let on foot againft me, of 
 trifling confequence ? When my grandfather and father were 
 alive, no charge whatever was brought againft us, and our 
 right was always connderecl as indifputable ; but iince their 
 death, it will be fome reproach to us, even if we are fuccefT- 
 ful, that our title was ever dilputed ; a reproach, for which 
 we may thank this execrable monfter, this frantick Oreftes, 
 who, having been caught in adultery, and fuffered the chaf- 
 tifement which he deierved, cannot even now defiit from his 
 crimes, as many, who well know his guilt, can teftify. 
 
 The difpofition and character of this fellow you have now 
 partly heard, and fliall hear it more at large when I have 
 brought him to a trial in a profecution, which I meditate : in 
 the mean time, I fupplicate and adjure you, permit him not 
 to triumph over me, by itripping me of the fortune which 
 my grandfather left ; but, as far as each of you is able, give 
 me afliftance. Sufficient evidence has been laid before you; 
 
 we
 
 ios ON THE ESTATE 
 
 we have read our depofitions, have opened to you what their 
 ilaves would infallibly have confeiTed, and have produced the 
 laws themfelves ; by all which we have proved, that we are 
 the ions of Ciron's legitimate daughter, and confequently that 
 his eftate comes not to them, but to us, as his lineal defen- 
 dants : calling therefore to your remembrance the oaths, by 
 which you are bound to decide impartially, and the laws, 
 which have been adduced, pronounce your fentence agreeably 
 to juftice. I fee no occafion for a longer argument, as I be- 
 lieve you perfectly comprehend the whole cafe: let the of- 
 ficer, however, read this remaining depolition, that Diodes 
 was taken in adultery, deposition. 
 
 SPEECH
 
 OFASTYPHILUS. 103 
 
 SPEECH THE EIGHTH. 
 
 On the Eltate of Astyphilus. 
 
 THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 THE mother of the defendant in this caufe had a fon named ASTYPHI- 
 LUS, by her firft husband Euthycrates, whofe nephew Cleon, after the 
 death of Aftyphilus, produced a will, by which Cleon's fon was appointed 
 to inherit the fortune of the deceafed. The client of Ifteus contends that 
 the will of his half-brother was forged. 
 
 SPEECH
 
 i-o4 ON Τ II Ε Ε S Τ Λ Τ Κ 
 
 SPEECH THE EIGHTH. 
 
 .The Son of Theophraftus again ft Cleon. 
 
 ■ x 
 
 - 
 
 ASTYPHILUS, for whofe ertate we contend in this 
 caufe, and who was my half-brother, judges, by the 
 iame mother, died at Mitylene, whither he had failed with 
 the army ; and that he never adopted a fon, nor ever aliened 
 his eftate, or difpoled of it by will, fo that no man but my- 
 felf has a right to his pofTeihons, I ihall endeavour to prove, 
 agreeably to the oath which I have previoufly taken. This 
 Cleon, my antagonift, was the firft couiin to the deceafed by 
 his father's fide, and it is his own fon, whom he pre- 
 tends that Aftyphilus adopted : now Cleon s father was trans- 
 ferred by emancipation into another houfe, in which the 
 whole crew of confederates are ftill refident, lb that by law 
 they bear no relation at all to the laft pofleffor of this eftate ; 
 but, as there could be no queftion on this head, they have 
 produced a will, which I lhall demonftrate, 1 think, to be 
 forged, and are now ftriving, judges, to rob me of my bro- 
 ther's fortune. So confident, indeed, was Cleon (nor has his 
 confidence, it feerns, forfaken him) of his exckrfive title to 
 the eftate in difpute, that no fooner was Aftyphilus reported 
 to be ilain, while my father was confined by illnefs, and I 
 %vas bearing arms abroad, than he ruihed upon the land and 
 2 claimed
 
 OF A S Τ Υ Ρ Η Γ L U S. ι : , 
 
 claimed all• my brother's effects in right of his ion, not wait- 
 ing, as he ought, for your determination in his favour ; yet, 
 when the remains of. their coufin were brought to Athens, 
 this fictitious Ion of his, ncit her laid out the body nor buried 
 it; but fome of his friends and fellow- fokliers, confidering 
 the malady of my father, and my abience from the eity, per- 
 formed the laft honours to the dead by affiifing at his funeral 
 rites, and led my lick father to the tomb, well knowing that 
 his piety would be acceptable to the departed fpirit ; ah which 
 fails will be attefted by the friends themlelves who were pre- 
 fent at thefe ceremonies, witnesses. That Aityphilu 
 not interred- by my opponent, has been given in evidence ; 
 nor will he himielf deny it. 
 
 On my return then from the war, when } found that thefe 
 aflbciates were enjoying the fruits of my eftate, and heard 
 Cleon affert that the will, by which my brother adopted his 
 fon, had been left with Hierocles of Hephseftia, I went to 
 Hierocles ; not ignorant of his clofe connection with Cleon, 
 but believing that he would hardly dare to fpeak faliely con- 
 cerning the decealed, efpecially as he was our uncle : yet, 
 when 1 interrogated him on the fubjecSt, he anfwered, (re- 
 gardlefs of thefe confederations) that the will, which he had 
 received from Aftyphilus, was then in his poifeiiion ; and 
 here, to prove that he made this anfwer, let a depofition be 
 read, deposition. Since, therefore, judges, none of my 
 brothers friends were prefent at his death, and fmce his body 
 was brought hither in my abfence, it is neceffary for me to 
 convince you, by arguments drawn from their own affer- 
 tions, that the will which they produce was fabricated by 
 them, and that no will at all was made by Altyphilus ; for 
 it is realbnable to fupnofe, that, if he had intended to leave an 
 
 Ρ heir
 
 i.o6 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 heir by adoption, he would have provided effectually for the 
 fecurity of his appointment, and taken care that his adopted 
 fon ihould not only poifefs his eftate, but have accefs to the 
 ihrines of his anceftors, and perform the accuftomed rites 
 both to their ihades, and to his own : he muft have been 
 ienilble too, that his intentions would take effect, not if he left 
 a will unattefted by his friends, but if he firft convoked his re- 
 lations ; next, thofe of the fame borough and ward ; and 
 laftly, as many of his intimate acquaintance as he could af- 
 femble, to attend -the execution of lb important an inftrument; 
 for fuch precaution would have made it eafy to refute any 
 perfon whatever, who might falfely claim the eftate as legatee 
 or as next of kin ; but nothing of this fort appears to have 
 been done by Aftyphilus, who called together none of his 
 friends to atteft this pretended will, as I fhall prove by the 
 teftimony of thofe friends themfelves, unlefs any one of them 
 has been fuborned by Cleon, to declare that he was fummoned. 
 
 EVIDENCE. 
 
 Now Cleon will probably contend, that the evidence, juft 
 given by thele witnefles of their entire ignorance that Afty- 
 philus ever made a will, is not conclufive; but, in my appre- 
 henfion, when the controverfy turns upon the exiftence of ?. 
 teftament and the adoption- of a fon, the declarations of inti- 
 mate friends, that they were not prefent at a tranfac~tion of ib 
 much confequence, ought to have far more weight than the al- 
 legations of mere ftrangers that they were prefent ; nor would 
 Cleon himfelf, who was never remarked for ilmplicity, have 
 neglected to convene any relations of Aftyphilus, who were 
 in the city, or any other perfons whom he knew to be at all 
 connected with him, that they might atteft a will, by which 
 his own fon was appointed heir to an eftate; for no man- 
 could
 
 Ο F AS TV Ρ Η ί L U S. ϊό 7 
 
 could have prevented the teftator from difpofing as he pleafed 
 of his own property, and fdeh conduct: would have removed 
 the fufpicion naturally arifing from a will made in fecret. 
 Had it been the defign of 'Aftyphilus, judges, to conceal from 
 all men, that he had appointed the fon of Cleon as his heir, 
 or that he had left any teitament whatever, it mud be fup- 
 pofed, that no witnefs at all would have fubferibed his 
 name ; but, finte they lhow you the names of witnefTes, 
 and thofe not of his acquaintance, but of any itrangers 
 whom he might happen to meet, it is not pofTible to conceive 
 that the will can be genuine ; for 1 cannot perfuade myfelf 
 that a man, who was going to nominate an heir, would fum- 
 mon any witnefTes, but fuch as were to be partakers for the 
 future of the fame rights and the fame communion with the 
 perfon to be nominated : the deceafed, however, could have 
 no inducement to keep this tranfaftion fecret ; for, as the law 
 permits every one to difpofe of his property according to his 
 inclination, no man needs be afhamed to have fuch an inftru- 
 ment attetled by any number of witnefTes. 
 
 Now confider, judges, the time when Aftyphilus made, as 
 they aflert, a teltamentary difpoiition of his fortune ; for they 
 alledge, that he made it when he was at the point of failing 
 with the forces to Mitylene : by this account he mull have 
 had a lingular foreknowledge of events ; for he firft ferved 
 at Corinth, next in ThefTaly, and during the whole Theban 
 war ; nor did he fail, wherever he heard that an army was 
 railed, to offer his fervice ; yet not on one of thele occafions 
 did he make a will, but deferred that ceremony till his laft ex- 
 pedition to Mitylene, in which he perilhed. Can it feem 
 credible then to anyone among you, that, when Aftyphilus 
 was formerly preparing for his other campaigns, and veil 
 
 Ρ 2 km
 
 ιο8 Ο Ν Τ Ή Ε Ε S Τ Α Τ Ε 
 
 knew the danger of them all, he left no directions whatever 
 concerning his affairs, but that, when he was going to fail as 
 a volunteer, in which character he was lefs expofed to peril, 
 and mull have entertained hopes of returning fafe, he ihould 
 then only write his' will, and ihould lofe his life in the adven- 
 ture ? Can it be thought credible, that the contingency of 
 events ihould have correfponded fo exactly with his conduct? 
 Without purfuing this argument farther, I will lay before 
 you, judges, the ilrongeft evidence that the allegations of my 
 adverfaries are falfe ; for I will prove that Aityphilus bore the 
 moil violent enmity to Cleon ; fo violent, that, rather than 
 adopt the fon of the man, whom he moil deteiled, he would 
 have ordered in his will, that none of his relations mould have 
 the leaft communication with him ; for Thudippus, Cleon's 
 father, having quarrelled with Euthycrates, the father of Af- 
 typhilus, concerning the diviiion of his inheritance, fo cruelly 
 beat him, that he expired after languilhing for a few days, 
 and his death was indubitably occaiioned by the blows, which 
 he had received : the truth of this can be proved by many of 
 the Araphenians, who were at that time employed in Culti- 
 vating the adjacent lands; but it is not in my power to call 
 any of them, who will pofitively accufe Thudippus of fo atro- 
 cious a crime- As to Hierocles, who faw him ftrike his bro- 
 ther, I know his unwillingnefs to give any evidence tending 
 to defeat the will which he now produces, and which, as he 
 alledges, was left in his cuftody : let him be called, however, 
 that he may either publickl y confirm the truth of my afier- 
 tion, or refufe to be examined, witness. 
 
 This, 1 was perfectly Jure, would be his anfwer ; for it is 
 cpnfiftent ν ith the conduct of a man, who wiihes to perfuade 
 you that he knows to be true what in fact never happened, to 
 
 decline
 
 OF ASTYPHILUS. 109 
 
 decline giving evidence of what he really knows to be true : 
 but I will call another witnefs, who is married to the grand- 
 mother of Aftyphilus, and who will fwear that Euthy crates, 
 jure before he died, commanded his friends to prevent any 
 of Thudippus's family from approaching his tomb, evidence. 
 When Aftyphilus, therefore, heard this fact related in his 
 childhood, both by thefe witneffes and by his other kinfmen, 
 he determined, as foon as his reafon began to dawn, rather 
 to perifh than hold any converfation with Cleon ; thinking it 
 impious to converfe with the fon of that man, who was ac- 
 cufed of having murdered his father: that his deteftation of 
 Cleon continued through his whole life, I will prove by the 
 teftimony of witneffes, who know the truth of my affertion, 
 
 WITNESSES. 
 
 Had it not been for this reafon, it mnft be imagined, that 
 whenever Aftyphilus attended thofe feafts, which other Athe- 
 nians ufually attend, he would have gone to them, accompanied 
 by no man but Cleon, who bore ib near a relation to him, who 
 belonged to the fame borough, and whofe fon, above all, he 
 was going to adopt ; but the deposition of his fellow-burgeffes, 
 which the officer ihall read, will prove that he never once ap- 
 peared at the feafts in company with Cleon. deposition. 
 
 With no better claim to the affection of Aftyphilus, this 
 man has the boldnefs to produce his own fon as heir by ap- 
 pointment to the deceafed ; but why iliould Cleon alone be 
 cenfured ? Even Hierocles, our uncle, is audacious enough 
 to come with a will which was never executed, and to aflat 
 that my brother committed it to his care. This conduit, 
 Hierocles, is a forry compenfation for the many marks of 
 kindnefs which you received when your fortune was more 
 narrow than at prefent, as well from Theophraftus my father,
 
 no ON THE ESTATE 
 
 as from Aityphilus himfelf ; for you are attempting to ex- 
 clude me, who am the foil of your benefactor and of .your 
 own iifter, from that fucceffion which the law has allotted 
 me, to injure by your falfe alfertion the memory of the dead, 
 and, as far as you can prevail, to give his eftate to the man 
 whom he abhorred. Before the inheritance, judges, was 
 even formally claimed, this very Hierocles, who was con- 
 fcious that none but myfelf had a right to the eftate of Afty- 
 philus, applied lucceffively to all the acquaintance of the de- 
 ceafed, offered- the whole fortune to fale, and incited entire 
 itrangers to let up a title, alledging that he was the uncle j 
 Aftyphilus, and promifingj if any one would give him a due 
 ihare of the plunder, to produce a will of his nephew in fa- 
 vour of his confederate ; yet now, when he has concluded 
 his bargain with Cleon, and has contracted for a divilion of 
 the fpoils, he has the confidence to expect that his ftory will 
 gain credit, and would be ready, I dare fay, to fori wear him- 
 felf, if an oath were tendered to him by my adverfaries : thus, 
 for the fake of me, who am his kinfman, he would not even 
 give in evidence what was ftrictly true; but, for the benefit 
 of one who has not a ihadow of right, he has not fcrupled to 
 propagate lies, and comes with a forged inftrument to make 
 you believe what never happened, thinking the fordid arts of 
 bale lucre more beneficial to him, than his connection with 
 me. I will now bring the teftimony of a man, to whom he 
 made an application, and promifed, on condition that he 
 might partake of the inheritance, to contrive a will in his fa- 
 vour, evidence. 
 
 What name then, judges, muft be given to this man, who 
 fo readily, for his own profit, invents a falfity concerning the 
 dead ? This evidence too wall abundantly convince you, that 
 
 he
 
 OF ASTYPHILUS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 he produced this will, not without a compenfation, but for 
 a ftipulated reward. Such are the artifices which they em- 
 ploy in concert againft me, for each of them imagines, that 
 whatever he can filch from the poffeffions of Aftyphilus will 
 be clear gain, and as it were a gift of fortune. 
 
 Now that the will cannot be genuine, but that Cleon and 
 Hierocles have confpired to delude you, I have proved, as 
 clearly as I am able ; and I will proceed to demonftrate, 
 that even had I borne no relation to the deceafed, yet our 
 early and uninterrupted friendihip would have given me a 
 better claim to his inheritance, than Cleon and his fon can 
 produce for themfelves ; for when my father Theophraitus 
 took the mother of Aftyphilus in marriage from her brother 
 Hierocles, me brought her infant fon to his houfe, where 
 he continued for a number of years, and was educated under 
 my father's care : when, therefore, I was old enough to be 
 capable of receiving inftruction, I went with him to the fame 
 publick fchool, as you ihall hear from our friends, who know 
 this to be true, and from the very mailers who inftructed us 
 both. DEPOSITIONS. 
 
 I will alio prove, that my father cultivated the paternal 
 eftate of Aftyphilus, and fo confiderably improved it by plan- 
 tation and tillage, that he doubled its value : let the witnefles 
 come up. evidence. 
 
 When my brother then had proved his full age before the 
 magiftrate, he received his whole patrimony fo juftly and re- 
 gularly, that he never once made the flighteft complaint of his 
 guardian : beiides, my father had given the fifter of Aftyphi- 
 lus in marriage to a man whom he highly approved ; and this 
 conduit, as well as the pains which he had taken in managing 
 fome other affairs, gave complete fatisfaclion to the young 
 man, who thought that my father, by whom he was edu- 
 4 cated
 
 i ι 2 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 caled in his infancy, had anbrded him the clearer! proof of 
 his care and affection. The circumftances of his iiiler's mar- 
 riage lhall be proved by peri bus who were perfectly acquaint- 
 ed with them, witnesses. 
 
 Let me add to this, that my father conftantly took. Aity- 
 philus, together with me, to the fhrmes of his family, and 
 even introduced him to the feafts of Hercules, as the members 
 of that fraternity will depofe, in order to procure his admif- 
 iion into their ibciety. evidence. 
 
 Revolve now in your minds, judges, the nature of my con- 
 nection with Aityphilus: firit, we were bred together from 
 our childhood ; and fecondly, there never was theleaft cool- 
 nefs between us, but he loved me with conftant affection ; as 
 all our common friends and companions, whom I will call be- 
 fore you, will teftify from their own knowledge, witnesses. 
 
 Can you believe then, judges, that Aityphilus, to whom. 
 Cleon was £o extremely odious, and on whom my father had 
 conferred fuch benefits, would have adopted the foil of Ids 
 enemy, and given his eitate away from his neareft relations 
 and benefactors? I ihould not think it poflible, if Hierocles 
 Were to produce ten fuch wills ; but mould infift that I, as his 
 brother and his deareft friend, muit have been the object of 
 his benevolence, and not the ion of Cleon : thefe men, in- 
 deed, have not the leaft pretence for fuggefling that they 
 were entitled to his favour, iince they had no intercourf. with 
 him while he lived, and neglected even to inter his body, but 
 invaded his poffeiiions, before juit honours had been per- 
 formed to his ihade. Nevertheleis, they have the audacity 
 to claim his eitate, not only relying on the will, but even let- 
 ting up a title as his kinfmen, becaufe Clecn was the ion of 
 his paternal uncle : to this argument, judges, you will pay no 
 
 attention,.
 
 OF A S Τ Υ Ρ Η I L U S. 113 
 
 attention ; for Cleon s father, as you before heard, was 
 adopted by another family, and no man thus emancipated can 
 fucceed to the property, which he has relinqniihcd, unlels 
 he be allowed in due form of law to return into the houfe 
 from which he came : and, as to the pretended "adoption of 
 Cleon's fon, the relations of Aftyphilusfo firmly believe it 
 to be a fiction, that they never would r admit the boy to their 
 table in the feftival of Apaturia, but always difmifled him 
 when be came to demand his mare of the feaft, as I will prove 
 
 by undoubted evidence, deposition. 
 
 Now, juitly weighing in your minds what each of us has de- 
 pofed, pronounce a fentence agreeable to truth. Cleon, you 
 find, aflerts, that his fon was adopted by Aftyphilus ; and that 
 the will, which he produces, was made by the deceafed : this I 
 abfolutely deny, and alledge that I, who, as they know, am 
 his brother, have a jufr. claim to the whole inheritance. Be- 
 ware then, judges, of appointing an heir to Aftyphilus, whom 
 he, when he was alive, would not have appointed ; but let 
 the laws, which yourfelves have enacted, be your guide in 
 my caufe : by thofe very laws am I protected, and requeil 
 you, judges, (nor can any requelt be more facred) to eftabliih 
 my right of fucceilion to my brother. I have aflerted that he 
 never difpofed of his eftate, and have confirmed my afTertion 
 by unanfwerable evidence : airift me then in this diitrefs ; 
 and, if Cleon furpafTes me in the powers of elocution, let not 
 his talents avail him in defiance of juftice and law ; but exert 
 your own underftandino;s in the decifion of this caufe, fince 
 for no other end are you anembled, than that the audacious 
 may not reap advantage from their boldnefs, but that the 
 timid and unexperienced may fupport their jure claims, with 
 a full conviction that your minds are intent upon nothing but 
 
 Q the
 
 ΙΓ4 ONTHEESTATE 
 
 the truth. Let your verdidt, therefore, judges, be favourable 
 to me ; and coniider what evils will enfue from your decree 
 in favour of Cleon : firft, you will fend to the monument, and 
 the fhrines of Aftyphilus, thole men who were objects of his 
 abhorrence ; next, you will difregard the commands of his 
 father, who gave them with his laft breath, and will convic/t 
 the deceafed of confummate folly ; (for who that hears fuch 
 a decree, will not believe, that a man who could adopt the 
 fon of his greateft enemy had loft his reafon through illnefs, 
 or that his fenfes were impaired by poifon ?■) and, laftly, you 
 will fuffer me, who was nurfed and educated with my bro- 
 ther, to be ftripped of my fortune by this Cleon. I fupplicate, 
 therefore, and implore you, judges, to decide the caufe in my 
 favour ; for thus will you give fatisfaotion to the departed fpirit 
 of Aftyphilus, and will defend me from a flagrant injury. . 
 
 SPEECH
 
 OF ARISTARCHUS. 115 
 
 SPEECH THE NINTH. 
 On the Eftate of Aristarchus. 
 
 Τ II Ε ARGUMENT. 
 
 ARISTARCHUS having two fons, Cyronides and Demochares, and two 
 daughters, one of whom was the mother of the complainant, gm ^p ci p^ted 
 Cyronides and caufed him to be appointed rcprefentative of his maternal 
 grandfather Xenametus ; leaving his other children to inherit his own 
 eft ate. Demochares died without iiTue, and one of his daughters alfo died 
 childlefs; fo that the whole fortune of Ariftarchus came by law to the com- 
 plainant's mother, who was the furviving daughter. 
 
 After the death of Ariftarchus, his brother Afiftomenes, who was lawful 
 guardian to his children, gave his own daughter in marriage to Cyronides, 
 and engaged to fupport his claim to all the poiTeffions of his father, by whom 
 he had been emancipated. Cyronides had a fon, who was named Ariftar- 
 chus, and was admitted by Ariftomenes to the houfe and property of his 
 grandfather, as if this had been conformable to the will of the. deceafed. 
 This grandfon died young, having by will left the fortune to a brother of 
 his, named Xenasnetus. 
 
 While thefe things weretranfafled, and the younger Xensnetus poiTefted 
 the eftate of the elder Ariftarchus, the fon of the furviving daughter before- 
 mentioned brought his bill of complaint, infilling that he alone ought juftly 
 to take the inheritance ; that Cyronides was wholly excluded by his eman- 
 cipation ; that the deceafed, having a legitimate fon, Demochares, could not 
 legally have adopted another by his will ; and that Demochares hirafelf, 
 being under age, was difabled, as well as his fifter who died, from intro- 
 ducing a fon by adoption to their father's family : fo that the admifiion of the 
 younger Ariftarchus to the pofleffions of the elder being illegal, the will of 
 the perfon fo admitted was invalid ; iince he could not transfer to another 
 what he had not legally obtained. Ifteus contends, therefore, that this laft- I 
 mentioned will being fet afide, the property devolves of courfe to the com- 
 plainant, who reprefents the legitimate daughter of the elder Ariftarchus. 
 The fpeech is argumentative ; and the caufe turns upon the validity of fuch a. 
 will, and the comparative merits of both claimants. 
 
 Q 2 SPEECH
 
 n6 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 I*iY*f 
 
 .? 
 
 SPEECH THE NINTH. 
 
 The Grandibn of Ariftarchus againil Xenaenetus. 
 
 I Cannot help wiihing, judges, that as this Xenaenetus has 
 been taught to fpeak falfely with confidence, I on my part 
 were able to declare the truth in this caufe with equal bold- 
 llefs ; for then, I am perfuaded, you would fpeedily deter- 
 mine, whether we are unreafonable in claiming the fortune in 
 difpute, or they unjuft in withholding it fo long from the 
 rightful heirs ; but at prefent, judges, the conteft between us 
 is by no means equal, lince thefe men have Inch powers in 
 fpeaking and fuch activity in foliciting favour, that they have 
 often been employed to manage the caules of others ; whilit 
 1, who have been io far from acting for other men, that I 
 never before have pleaded even for niyfelf, can only reft my 
 hopes on your attention and indulgence. 
 
 I was compelled, judges, when I found it impoffible to 
 obtain redrefs without litigation, to declare on my examina- 
 tion before the magiftrate, that my mother was the daughter 
 of Ariftarchus and lifter of Cyronidcs, and thus to enter her 
 ;v,ime on the pnblick tables : nor will this make it leis eafy 
 for you to decide the caufe ; for the iingle point, which 
 muft be determined by law, is, Whether Ariftarchus left 
 his own property to the defendant, or difpofed of an eftate 
 
 which
 
 OF ARISTARCHUS. τ r 7 
 
 which he had no right to poffefs ? This is the true queftion ; 
 for the laws permit every one to leave his own as he pleafes, 
 but have given no man a power to part with the poiTerfions 
 of another : if therefore you will hear me with benevolence, 
 I will firft inform you, that this eftate belonged not originally 
 to thefe aflbciates, but was my mother's patrimony ; and will 
 afterwards endeavour to convince you, that Ariltarchus occu- 
 pied it by no law whatever, but, in violation of every law, 
 confpired with his confederates to injure my mother. I will 
 Ικ -gin my narration from that period, whence you will be able 
 to form the clearer!: conception of the whole cafe. 
 
 Aristarchus, judges, of Sypalletus married a daugh- 
 ter of Xensenetus the Acharnean, and by her had two fons, 
 Cyronides and Demochares, with as many daughters, one of 
 whom was my mother : now Cyronides, the father of the 
 defendant and of the other Ariltarchus, who wrongfully kept 
 pofTeihon of this eftate, was received by adoption into an- 
 other family, and confequently waived all right to the fortune 
 of that houfe, from which he was emancipated. On the 
 death of old Ariltarchus, his fon Demochares inherited his 
 poffeiTions ; but, he and his other lifter dying without lime, 
 my mother became fole heirefs of the family eftate ; vet, al- 
 though her neareft relation ought to have married her and de- 
 fended her property, ihe was treated on that occafion, judges, 
 with extreme iniquity ; for, Ariftomenes the brother of Aril- 
 tarchus, having a fon and a daughter, and having the option 
 either to take my mother himfelf, or to caufe her bv an adju- 
 dication of the court to be wedded to his fon, did neither 
 one nor the other, but gave his own daughter, together with 
 ray mother's whole fortune, to Cyronides, of whom this Xe- 
 nsenetus and Ariftarchus 3 now deceafed, were the fons. After 
 
 this
 
 1 1 8 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 this he Mas plcafed to give my mother in marriage to my fa- 
 ther ; and, Gyronides dying, the brother of Xenaenetus was 
 let into pofleiTion as the adopted ion of the elder Ariitarchus, 
 whole name he bore : now that Inch conduct can be juftified 
 by no law, 1 will prove to you, judges, by many deciiive ar- 
 guments ; and, firit, I will produce evidence, that Cyronides 
 was emancipated and adopted into the family of old Xenae- 
 netus, in whole houfe he died ; next, that Ariitarchus, the 
 firit purchafer of this eftate, died before his fon Demochares ; 
 that Demochares and his younger lifter both died infants ; 
 and, by conlequence, that the inheritance came legally to my 
 mother. Call up the witneiTes. evidence. 
 
 This is our title, judges, to the eftate in queilion ; for, 
 Gvronides being adopted into the family of Xenaenetus, it de- 
 feended from Ariitarchus to his fecond fon Demochares, and 
 from him to my mother, who was one of his lifters : but, 
 iince they fet no limits to their audacity, and prefume to claim 
 our property without any colour of juftice, it is necefTary to 
 convince you, that the younger Ariitarchus was admitted to 
 the ward of the elder by no legal courfe whatever ; for, when 
 you are apprized of this, you will clearly apprehend, that no 
 man can lawfully devife an eftate, which he unlawfully pof- 
 fefled. 
 
 None of you, I believe, can be ignorant, that teftamen- 
 tary adoptions are legal only when the teftator has exprefsly 
 appointed and nominated the perfon adopted : now, if any 
 one lhould fay, that Ariitarchus made fuch an appoint- 
 ment, he would fpeak untruly ; for, while Demochares, his 
 legitimate fon, was living, he neither could have the incli- 
 nation, nor would he by law have the power, to adopt an- 
 other ; or, if they aflert, that, after the death of Ariitarchus, 
 
 fuch
 
 OF A R I S Τ A R C Η U S. 119 
 
 ilich an adoption was made by Demochares, they will again 
 fpeak falfely ; for an infant is not permitted to make a will, 
 the law exprefsly ordaining that neither an infant nor a wo- 
 man ill all do an ait for the difpofal of a fum exceeding the 
 price of one bnihel of barley : but it has been proved, that 
 Ariftarchus died before his foil Demochares, and that he too 
 died not long after ; fo that even on a fuppoiition of their 
 having made their wills, which they never did make, it 
 would not have been lawful for the younger Ariftarchus to 
 inherit thefe poiTeilions. Read the laws, by which both the 
 father and the ion are forbidden, under iimilar circumftances•, , 
 to difpofe by will of their eitates. the laws. 
 
 It is then apparent, judges, that Cyronides had no power 
 to appoint an heir to his father ; he might indeed, if he had 
 left a fon of his own in the houfe of Xenoenetus, have return- 
 ed to his father's family ; but, if they affert that he did return 
 to it, they will fpeak againft truth. Thus, if they iniiit 
 that any third perfon appointed the deceafed as heir to his 
 grandfather, fuch an appointment would have been illegal ; 
 and, if they urge, that his grandfather him felf adopted him, 
 they will not be able to produce any law by which fuch an 
 adoption can be juftified ; but, not to expatiate on what they 
 may probably alledge, it will appear frill more glaringly to 
 you from what they actually do alledge, that they are in pof- 
 feiTion of my mother's inheritance againft law and againft 
 decency. 
 
 It is certain, that neither Ariftomenes, nor his fon Apollodo- 
 rus, to one of whom my mother flioukl have been given in, 
 marriage, had any fuch right as that for which they contend ; 
 for it would be ftrange, when neither of thofemen, had my 
 mother been married to one of them, could legally have dif- - 
 
 7 poled
 
 120 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 pofed of her eilate (fince the law gives the fortune of an 
 heirefs to her ions in the fecond year after their age of puberty) 
 if yet, when they difpofed of her to another, they might no- 
 minate an heir to her pofleilions : harih and abfurd, indeed, 
 Would be ftich a conftruc"tion of the law. Yet more, her own 
 father, even had there been no male children, could not have 
 left his ettate without her ; for the law permits a man, who 
 has no fons, to devife his property to whom he pleaies, pro- 
 vided that the devifee take his daughter in marriage. And 
 fli all a man, who neither thought proper to marry her hirn- 
 ielf, ncr bore any nearer relation to her than that of couiin, 
 be allowed, in defiance of all laws, to appoint an heir to her 
 fortune ? Can luch an appointment be valid ? Who among 
 you can perfuade himfelf of its validity ? For my own part, 
 judges, I am fully convinced, that neither Xenrenetus, nor 
 any other mortal, can difprove my mothers right to this 
 eftate, which defcended to her from her brother Demochares; 
 but, if they have the confidence to infill upon that point, 
 command them to produce the law, by which the adoption of 
 Ariitarchus can be fupported, and to declare who adopted 
 him: this at leaft will be jure ; but I well know that they 
 can produce rio inch law. 
 
 Now that the property in difpute was my mother's at firit, 
 and that fhe was unjuitly deprived of it by thefe plunderers, 
 has been, I think, furTiciently demonitrated by the arguments 
 which have been adduced, the evidence which has been 
 laid before you, and the laws which you have heard : 
 indeed the confqderates themfelves appear lb perfectly con- 
 vinced of their wrongful intruilon, that they reft not their 
 argument folelv upon the legality of Ariitarchus's admiffion 
 to the ward of his grandfather, but add, that his father had 
 
 a lien
 
 OF A II I S Τ A R C Η U S. tli 
 
 a lien upon the eitate for expenfes incurred by him in defend- 
 ing a fuit concerning it ; lb that, if their claim mould be 
 proved unjuft on the firit ground, they may feem on the fe- 
 cond at leaft to have juftice on their fide. Yet that there is no 
 truth, judges, in this afiertion, I will convince you by the 
 ftrongeft arguments ; for, had the fortune been really incum- 
 bered, as they alledge, they would not have difburfed their 
 money to pay the debt : it was not in fact their buiinefs ; 
 but thofe, who might have demanded my mother in mar- 
 riage, fhould have deliberated on that affair ; nor would they 
 have appointed Ariitarchus to fuch an inheritance, from which 
 they could have received no kind of benefit, but muft have 
 fuftained a confiderable lofs. Moft people, indeed, when 
 their circumftances are diftreffed, ufually emancipate their 
 fons, and remove them .to fome other family, that they may 
 efcape the ignominy of their father's misfortune ; and did thefe 
 men difengage themfelves from theii own families, and pafs 
 by adoption into a houfe burdened with debts, that they 
 might lole even what before belonged to them ? It cannot be : 
 no ; the eftate was clear from incumbrances, and defcended 
 regularly to my mother ; but my adverfaries, eager for gain, 
 have injured her, and invented thefe palpable lies to cover 
 their iniquity. 
 
 Some one among you, judges, may be furprized, w r hen 
 he reflects on the time, which we fuiFered to elaple, fince 
 we were difpoffeffed of this eitate, without afferting our 
 right to it in a court of judicature, and may aik why after 
 fuch an interval we are at length induced to fet up our title : 
 now, though I cannot but think it unjuft, that any man 
 ihould lofe his property, if either through inability or neglect 
 he has omitted to make his claim, (for the time is not to be 
 
 B. coniideredf
 
 hi ON THE ESTATE 
 
 confidered, but the juilice of his demand,) yet even for this 
 delay, judges, we can affign a very reaibnable caufe ; for 
 my father, having engaged himielf to my mother, married 
 her with a portion, and thus waived her right as heirels ; 
 while theie men, therefore, enjoyed the fruits of her eilate, it 
 was not in his power to commence a fuit ; and when at my 
 mother's requeft he called them to account, they threat- 
 ened to have her adjudged to them, unlefs he would be fa- 
 tisfied to take her with the portion ; but, rather than be de- 
 prived of her, my father would have permitted them to pof- 
 fefs an eilate of twice the value, and for this reafon he neg- 
 lected to prefer his complaint againft them. After this came 
 the Corinthian war, in which both he and I were obliged to 
 enter the field, lb that neither of us was able to attend a 
 court ; and when peace was concluded, I had the misfortune 
 of being a debtor to the publick revenue ; nor would it then 
 have been eafy for me to have contended with fuch antago- 
 nists: fo juft are our excufes for this delay; but it is now ex- 
 pedient, that my opponents mould declare, by whofe gift 
 Ariftarchus paffeiTed the eftate, by virtue of what law he was 
 admitted into his grandfather's ward, and for what reafon my 
 mother was not fole heirefs of all his poifefhons. Thefe are 
 the queftions which your fuffrages rauft decide ; not, whether 
 we averted our title a little later than the ufual time ; and, if 
 they are unable to difprove our right, you cannot with juilice 
 avoid pronouncing a lentence in our favour : that they will be 
 unable to difprove it, I am firmly perfuaded ; for it is not 
 eafy for them to contend againft both law and reafon •; but 
 they will endeavour to move your pity, by telling you in a 
 mournful ilrain, that Ariftarchus was a brave man and pe- 
 liilicd in battle, whence they will take occafion to infill on 
 
 the
 
 OF A R I S Τ A R C Η L , c '.. 
 
 ί 2 
 
 the cruelty of letting afidc his teftament. I ton, j;tid'ges ; , ajn 
 2>erjfe<5tly lenllble, that, if any man dSfjiofee by will of his 
 own, fuch will ought to be binding ; but that no difpoiiiion 
 of another man's property ought in like manner to be iubilan- 
 tiated ; now this fbiuujie -appears to have been ours, not the 
 teftator's ; fo that, if they have recourle to this argument, 
 and bring evidence of Ariitarchus's will, oblige them to ihow, 
 as juifice requires, that he legally deviled his own ; for it 
 would be the hardeit thing imaginable, if Cyronides, and 
 thole who claim by deicent from him, fhould not only have 
 inherited an eftate of above four talents from old Xenxnetus, 
 but fhould alfo feize this additional inheritance, whilft I, who 
 am defcended from the lame common anceftor with Cyronides, 
 am deprived of my mother's fortune, to which fhe had an in- 
 difputable right, efpecially when they cannot ihow in them- 
 felves even a colourable title : yet, as every pofieiibr of an 
 eftate, whofe right is contefted, muft declare who was the 
 mortgagor or vendor of it, or prove that he recovered it by 
 a decree of the court, fo fhould thefe men, judges, have en- 
 titled themfelves to your verdict, by fhowing in what manner 
 their right accrued, and not by ejecting my mother before the 
 trial from her paternal inheritance. 
 
 I fufpect indeed, that this Xensenetus is not fatisfied with 
 having lavifhed the wealth of Ariftomenes in his unnatural 
 excefles, but willies to fpend my fortune alfo with the fame 
 difgraceful profufion ; whilft I, judges, with a contracted in- 
 come, have given my filler in marriage with as large a por- 
 tion as I could afford ; and, confeious of having conducted 
 myfelf with decency, complied with the laws of my country, 
 and ferved in its wars, have applied to this tribunal, that I may 
 not be wholly (tripped of my pofTefiions. 
 
 11 2 To
 
 124 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 To recapitulate the whole : I have proved that Cyronides, 
 the father of thefe men, was emancipated and removed into 
 another family, from which he never returned, that the fa- 
 ther of Cyronides and of my mother let this eilate defcend to 
 his fon Demochares, and that, he dying childlefs, it devolved 
 upon my mother. 
 
 SPEECH
 
 ξι 

 
 OF Η A G Ν 1 A S. 
 
 I2 S 
 
 SPEECH THE TENTH. 
 
 On the Eftate of Η ag ν ι as- 
 
 THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 AN attentive inflection of the annexed pedigree will give a clearer idea of 
 this interefting cauie, than can be conveyed by words : it will there be feen 
 that Stratius and the elder Hagnias were brothers, Charidemus and Polemo 
 firft coufins ; and thatTTATGNTAS, whofe eftate is in quedion, was fecond 
 coufin both to Stratocles, whofe fon is the complainant, and to I'heopompus, 
 whom Iftcus defends. 
 
 On the death of HAGNIAS, firft his niece, and then his half-brother - ! 
 Glauco, took pofleffion of his effefts, on pretence that the deceafed had left 1 
 them by will to his niece, with a remainder to Glauco ; but Philomache, the 
 daughter of his coufin Eubulides > proved the will to be forged, and obtained 
 a decree for the eftate. Theopompus then difputed the title of Philomache, 
 and the former decree was reverfed in• his favour; but the fon of Stratocles, 
 who was in ward to Theopompus, claimed a moiety of the eilate, alledging, 
 that he had an equal right with his uncle. This was not a private fv.it, but a 
 publick profecution, or information, againft a guardian for injuring his ward. 
 
 SPEECH.
 
 125 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 SPEECH THE TEN Τ Η. 
 
 Theopompus againil the Son of Stratocles. 
 
 BEGIN my defence, judges, with a recital of the laws, 
 becaufe my adverfary has falfely contended that, by the firft 
 of them, the fon of Stratocles has a juft claim to a moiety of 
 this eltate which was left by my fecond coufin Hagnias. You 
 will obferve that, when a man dies inteftate and childlefs, the 
 law firft calls to the lucceffion the brothers of the deceafed, 
 if he had any by the fame father, and the children of thofe 
 brothers, for they are related to him in the neareft degree; 
 if he had no brothers, his lifters by the fame father, and 
 their children, are -his fuccefibrs; on failure of thefe alio, thofe 
 in the third degree are called, and they are the firft and fecond 
 couftns of the deceafed by the father's fide: if thefe too fail, 
 the law returns to the firft degree, and gives the inheritance 
 to the brothers or lifters by the fame mother, and to the 
 other kinfmen on the maternal iide, in order as thofe on the 
 paternal fide would have inherited. The legillator prefcribes 
 thefe rules of fucceflion and limits thefe degrees in terms 
 more concife than thofe which I ufe; but his intention is 
 clearly the fame: now this boy is not related to Hagnias in 
 on.e of thefe degrees, but is wholly excluded; and, that you 
 7 may
 
 Ο F Η A G Ν I A S. 127 
 
 may form a diftindt idea of the point which you mull decide, 
 let my antagoniit. fhow, without fuperfiuous words, in which 
 of the degrees juft mentioned the boy is related to the laft 
 owner of this eftate; for, if he can prove his relationihip in 
 any one of them, I willingly allow that half of the inheritance 
 belongs to him; but, if nothing of this kind can be fhown, 
 will he not clearly conviot himfelf of having calumniated me, 
 and attempted to delude you in defiance of the law? I will, 
 therefore, bring him up to your tribunal, and interrogate 
 him, as the heads of the law are read by the officer; for thus 
 will you foon be informed, whether, or no, this youth has 
 anv claim to the fortune of Hao;nias. 
 
 Come, thou who art fo fkilful in accufing others, and in 
 perverting the laws; and do you (to the clerk) take the law 
 and read, the law. 
 
 There ftop. — Now let me propofe a few queftions to my 
 adverfary: is the boy, whom you fupport, the brother of 
 Hagnias? No. — Or his nephew either by his brother or his' 
 lifter? No. — Or his fir ft or fecond coufin either on his 
 father's fide or on his mother's? In which of thofe degrees, I 
 lay, that are legally called to the fucceiflon, was lie related to 
 the deceafed? — Anfwer me not that he is my nephew; for 
 my eftate is not now in difpute, as I am living; but had I 
 died chikllefs, and had there been a fuit concerning my pro- 
 perty, then would fuch an anfwer have been proper. You 
 now pretend, that the fon of Stratocles has a right to a moiety 
 of this eftate; it is therefore incumbent on you to name the 
 degree, in which the claimant was related to Hagnias. His 
 anfwers, judges, are foreign to the purpofe, and apply to 
 every thing but that which you wifh to know: yet a man, 
 w Y ho intends to do juftice, ought not to hefitate, but to fpeak 
 
 diredtly,
 
 ί28 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 directly, and not only to anfwer with candour, but upon oath, 
 and to produce evidence of the fact which he afferts, that you 
 may the more readily believe his aflertion; but now lb fhame- 
 leis is his impudence, that, without giving one explicit 
 anfwer, without calling a fingle witnels, without taking an 
 oath, without citing any laws, he has hopes of perfuading 
 you to convict me, againft all law, in' a caufe which you are 
 iworn to decide according to the laws of your country. In 
 this moft iniquitous way of proceeding I will by no means 
 imitate him, but will openly evince my relation to the deceafed, 
 will explain the grounds on which I claim his eitate, and will 
 demonftrate to your general iatis faction, that both this boy, 
 and all thofe who have before contended againft me for the 
 fame property, are utterly excluded from the limits of iuc- 
 eefiion : but it will be neceffary to relate from the beginning 
 what has happened in our family» that you may diftinctly per- 
 ceive the weaknefs of their claim, and the folidity of mine. 
 
 Myfelf and Hagnias, judges, and Eubulides, and Stratocles, 
 and Stratius, whofe fifter was the mother of Hagnias, were the 
 children of three iirft coufins; for our fathers were the fons 
 of as many brothers : now Hagnias, when he was preparing 
 to embark on an embaffy concerning fome affairs of great 
 advantage to the Irate, made his will, in which, inftead of 
 leaving his fortune, in cafe of any accident, to us his neareft 
 relations, he appointed his niece to be his heirefs, and ordered 
 that, on her deceafe, his eitate mould go to Glauco, his half- 
 brother. Some time after his death, both Eubulides died, and 
 the niece whom Hagnias had adopted; upon which Glauco 
 took poffeffion of the inheritance by virtue of the limitation to 
 him; nor did we then conceive it juft to conteft the validity 
 of the will, but candidly acquiefced in it, and thought that 
 
 the
 
 . Ο F Η Λ G Nl AS. 129 
 
 the intention of the deceafed ought to l>e effectuated: yet 
 Phylomachc, the daughter of Eubulides, affifted by her con- 
 federates, claimed the eftate, and by furprize obcained a fen^• 
 tence in her favour again it the claimants under the will, 
 although die was not in the regular line of fuccefiion; but 
 II 1 c hoped, it feems, that we would not oppofe her, as we 
 had not difputed the teftament of Hagnias: we, however 
 (I mean Stratius and Stratocles and myfelf) perceiving that 
 the inheritance was now open to the next of kin, were pre- 
 paring to inftitute a fuit: but, before our claim could be regu- 
 larly and formally made, both Stratocles and Stratius died, 
 leaving me the only furviving fecond coufin of Hagnias, to 
 whom the law gives the right of fuccefiion, after the death 
 of all thofe who flood in the fame degree of confanguinity. 
 Who will prove to you, that I am thus entitled to the eftate, 
 and that the children of my brothers, of whom this boy is one, 
 are entirely excluded? The law itfelf; for it is confeffed on all 
 fides that the inheritance goes to the fecond coufin s on the 
 father's fide, but whether it can defcend to the children of 
 thofe con fins, is now to be confidered. Take the law, and 
 read it to the jury, the law. But if there be no kinfmen on 
 the father's fide fo near as the fecond coujins, then let thofe on 
 the mother's fide fucceed to the efate in the fame order. 
 
 You mull remark, judges, that the legiilator hath not faid, 
 if there be no nearer kinfmen on the father's fde, let the children 
 of the fecond coufins have the eftate, but has given it, on 
 failure of relations in the fame degree with my brother and 
 me, to thofe on the maternal fide, to the brothers or lifters 
 and their children, and fo to the reft, as it has been before 
 obferved, whilit our children are completely barred from 
 claiming any fhare: fince then,, had 1 been dead, .the, law 
 
 S would
 
 i 3 o ON THE ESTATE 
 
 would not have called them to the fucceflion, how can they 
 conceive, that, whilft I am living and legally pofTefTed of the 
 property, they can have any title to the inheritance? It cannot 
 be: fmce the others, therefore, whofe fathers were in the 
 fame degree with me, have not the ihadow of a title, no more 
 has this boy, whofe father Stratocles was my brother. It is 
 then moft abominably iniquitous in my adverfaries, when the 
 laws have fo explicitly given me the fucceffion, and fo mani- 
 feftly excluded all others, to load me with calumny; and, 
 when I put in my claim, neither to controvert my right, nor 
 to give pledges of proving their own (although that was the 
 time for contending with me, had juiliee been on their fide) : 
 but now to harafs me in the boy's name, and expofe me by 
 a publick profecution to the greateit of all dangers, and, 
 without acculing me of having embezzled the property, 
 which belongs confeliedly to my ward, and which if I had 
 unjuftly or dilhoneftly lavifhed, as they have done, I fhould 
 have deferved this rigour ; without pretending, I fay, to bring 
 any fuch charge, to attack me with lb much violence for an 
 eftate, which you, judges, having permitted any one who 
 pleafed to litigate my claim, decided folemnly to be mine, 
 is an excefs of audacious iniquity. 
 
 What has already been urged, judges, has, I believe, convinced 
 you, that I neither injure this boy in any refpedt, nor am in the 
 leaft degree guilty of the crimes which they impute to me; but 
 I- think you will be able to form a more accurate judgement, 
 when you have heard in what manner I claimed this ellate, 
 and for what reafons my claim was determined to be juft. At 
 the time, judges, when I began the fuit, neither did my 
 prefent accufer think proper to give pledges of lupporting the 
 title of this youth, nor had the children of Stratius, who 
 
 ftand
 
 OFHAGNIAS. 131 
 
 ftand in the fame degree with him, any idea of oppofing me, 
 but all imagined that my right was on no pretence to be 
 difputed; nor would this very man have now molefted me, 
 if 1 had luffered him to periiit in plundering the boy's effects 
 at his pleafure, and had not given a timely check to his rapa- 
 ciouihefs: this part then of the family, as I juft informed 
 you, being perluaded that they were not in the order of 
 fucceilion, remained inactive; but the agents of Phylomache, 
 the daughter of Eubulidcs, who was in an equal degree with 
 the fon of Stratius, together with thofe to whofe care the 
 mother of Hagnias was committed, had the boldnefs to con•, 
 tend with me; yet fo uncertain were they what title to fet 
 forth in their bill of complaint, that Phylomache, who was 
 in poifeffion of the eftate, and the advocates, who fupported 
 her claim, not daring to difclofe the truth, and having afierted 
 a palpable faliity, were eafily confuted by me ; while the fup-r 
 porters of Hagnias's mother, who, being the fifter of Stratius, 
 was in the fame degree with mylelf, but was excluded by the 
 law, which gives a preference to males, waived that part of 
 her pretended title, and, thinking to overpower me with their 
 arguments, inilfted that ihe was the mother of the deceafed; 
 a relation, 1 admit, the neareft of all by nature, but not recog- 
 nifed by law among the degrees of fucceilion : having there- 
 fore proved myfelf to be a fecond coufin, and having ihown 
 the claims of thefe two women to be groundlefs, I obtained 
 your decree; nor did it avail the firil of them to have 
 triumphed over thofe who relied on the will, nor the fecond, 
 to have given birth to the laft pofTefTor of the eftate; but fo 
 high a value did the jury fet both on their oaths and on juftice, 
 that they eftabliihed by their fuffrages the legality of my 
 title. If then I prevailed in this manner againil thefe female 
 
 S 2 claimants,
 
 132 Ο Ν' Τ Η Ε Ε S Τ Α Τ Ε 
 
 claimants, by demonftrating that they could not legally fuc- 
 ceecT, if this falfe accufer durft not at that time claim a moiety 
 of the inheritance for the ion of Stratocles, if the children of 
 Stratius, who Hand on the fame ground with him, do not even 
 now think it juft to conteft my right, if I am in pofTeffion of 
 the lands and money by virtue of your ientence, and if 1 prove 
 that myadverfary cannot now iliow in what legal degree the 
 boy was related to Hagnias, what elfe, judges, have you to 
 learn? What further can you deli re to hear in this caufe? I 
 perfuade myfelf, that what has been laid will be fullv lufficient 
 for men of your folid underftanding. Yet this calumniator, 
 who fcruples not to circulate whatever his malignity can fug- 
 gelt, and flatters himfelf that his iniquity will continue uncen- 
 iured, had the confidence to accufe me of many bad actions, 
 (for which defamation I fhall, perhaps, call him to account) and 
 particularly of having made a bargain with Stratocles, when we 
 were preparing our fuit, concerning a partition of the inheri- 
 tance ; a bargain which we alone of all perlbns, who were going 
 to law, could not poihbly have made : the daughter of Eubu- 
 lides, indeed, and the mother of Hagnias, who claimed by two 
 diitind't titles, might have agreed, when they thought proper to 
 Oppofe me, that whoever was fuccefsful ihould refign a ill are 
 to the other, for a feparate urn was placed on the ballot for 
 each of them; but our cafe was totally different; for as our 
 title was precifely the fame, although each of us claimed a 
 moiety, a lingle urn would have ferved for us both, lb that it 
 was impofhble for one to fucceed and the other to fail, lince 
 the danger was common to both of us : no agreement then of 
 this nature could have been made by us; but, when Stratocles, 
 before we had put in our refpctftive claims, was prevented by 
 death From proiccuting his fuit, and his ion was diiabled by 
 5 the
 
 Ο F II A G Ν I A S. 133 
 
 the law from renewing it, fo that the whole fucceffion devolved 
 upon me as laft in order, and it became neceifary to evict the 
 wrongful poffeiTors of the eitate, my accufer invented this 
 idle calumny, expecting ealily to delude you by his falfe pre- 
 tences. That no fuch compact, indeed, could have been 
 made to any purpoie, but that the fixed and regular courfe of 
 proceeding wholly prevented it, the law itielf will evince ; 
 which take and read to the court, the laws. Does this law 
 feem to have put it in our power to make fuch a compromife ? 
 Does it not render it impracticable, even if an agreement had 
 been idly formed, by ordaining expreffly that each party liti- 
 gant mall lue for his diifinct portion, but that a fingle urn 
 fhall ferve for thole who claim under the fame title, and that 
 all fuch caufes fhall be conducted in a iimilar manner? Yet 
 has this man, not regarding the pofitive direction of the law, 
 not confidering the impoflibility of fuch a fcheme, had the 
 boldnefs to make this heavy charge againft me without either 
 truth or reafon; nor has he been contented with this, but has 
 aiTerted the moil inconfiftent things imaginable, to which, 
 judges, I requeft your ferious attention. 
 
 He avers, that I engaged to give the boy a moiety of the 
 eitate, if I prevailed over thofe who were in poffeffion of it; 
 yet, if he had a right to fuch a portion, by nearnefs of blood,, 
 as my adverfary pretends, what occafion was there for fuch a 
 promifc on my part? If they fpeak truly, he had an equal 
 power with me of exhibiting a bill for his moiety ; • and, if 
 he had no kind of title as next of kin, what could pofiibly 
 have induced me to make fuch an engagement, v. hen the .law 
 clearly gave me the whole elf ate? Could not I have put in 
 my claim without obtaining their confent? This they cannot 
 fay ; for the law permits any man to claim a vacant inheritance. 
 
 Had
 
 134 ON THE ESTATE 
 
 Had they any evidence then of my title, by fuppreffing 
 which they might have prevented a decree in my favour? 
 No fuch evidence was necefTary, as I claimed by defcent and 
 not under a will. If it was impoiiible, therefore, for Strato- 
 cles, while he lived, to make any compromife with me, if he 
 could not leave any part of thefe effects to his fon, as he had 
 no decree, and the property never vefted in him, if it is highly 
 improbable, that I ihould have promifed to give the boy a 
 moiety, let your verdict on this day iubitantiate myjuft claim 
 to the whole; and, if thefe confederates never inftituted a 
 iuit for this eftate, nor ever thought proper to contend againft 
 me, can you poffibly give credit to their allegations? I think 
 you cannot : but as you may reaibnably be furprized, that they 
 neglected at that time to demand their moiety, my opponent 
 afferts, that my promife of refigning a fhare ]">revented them 
 from attacking the other parties, and that they could not 
 legally enter into a conteft with me, becaufe an orphan cannot 
 bring an action againft his guardian; both which aflcrtions 
 are falfe; for neither can they produce a law, which would 
 have precluded my ward from afferting his claims (fince the 
 laws would by no means have reltrained him, but, as they 
 allow a criminal profecution againft me, fo they give both me 
 and him a mutual right of maintaining civil actions), nor 
 were they deterred from litigating the title of others by any 
 promife of mine, but folely by their confeioufhefs that no 
 part of the inheritance juftly belonged to them; and I am 
 fully perfuaded, that, had 1 even fuffered the boy to obtain 
 judgement againft me for a moiety, his advocates and friends 
 would not have attempted to take pofleffion of it, nor would 
 thev have permitted him to poffefs it, being perfectly aware 
 of the danger; fince, as they would have taken an eftate 
 
 without
 
 OF HAGNIAS. 135 
 
 without being in the legal order of fucceiTion, thofe in a 
 nearer degree might inftantly have applied to the court arid 
 would infallibly have evicted them; for, as I began with 
 obferving, the law wholly excludes from the inheritance the 
 fons of relations in the fame degree with me, and, if our 
 degree fails, it calls to the fuccefTion thofe on the mother's 
 lide; fo that Glauco, the half-brother of Hagnias, might have 
 contended with them for the eftate, in which contention they 
 would have been fo far from producing a better title, that they 
 could have produced no title at all; or if Glauco had relin- 
 quished his claim, the mother of him and of Hagnias might 
 then have juftly entered into litigation for the property of 
 her fon ; and, as me would have difputed with perfons by no 
 means admiilible to the fucceffion, Hie would clearly have 
 obtained your fentence for the moiety, both law and natural 
 juilice confpiring in her favour- It is apparent, therefore,, 
 that my accufer was not prevented, from, fupporting the boy's 
 demand either by my undertaking or by any law whatever; 
 but, having by falfe pretexts and iniquitous calumnies con- 
 trived this information,, and now having opened his pretended, 
 charge againft me, he has hopes of removing me from the 
 guardianihip and of transferring it to himfelf; imagining, 
 that by this contrivance he fhows his art and dexterity, fince,, 
 if he fails of fuccefs, he will fuftain. no lofs, and, if he attains 
 the object of his machinations, he will diilipate with fafety 
 the pofTeilions of this youth: you will, not then liften to the 
 allegations of my adverfary, nor encourage the practice of 
 profecuting criminally,, when the laws have provided a remedy 
 by a civil action. So perfectly iimple and lb intelligible is 
 the juitice of my cafe: I will, therefore, in few words, reca- 
 pitulate the heads of it, and having, as it were, depofited 
 
 them
 
 ι -G ON Τ Η Ε ESTATE 
 
 them in vour memory, will afterwards proce iu to the other part 
 of my defence againit the remaining articles of accufatio. . 
 
 What then is the real equity of my caufe, and how ihall I 
 
 define it? This it clearlv is: if my opponent avers, that the 
 
 youth, from his relation to Hagnias, has a right to a 
 
 moiety of his eftate, let him fue for it in the court of the 
 
 Archon; and if you there decide in his favour, let him, as the 
 
 laws direct, take what he demands; but, if he abandons this 
 
 claim, and infifts upon my promife to divide the property, 
 
 which I abfolutely deny, let him bring his action; and if he 
 
 can prove any fuch undertaking on my part, let him, as 
 
 juftice requires, have pofTeffion of his ftipulated fhare : again, 
 
 if he alledges that my ward could not legally controvert my 
 
 right or iupport an action againit me, let him cite the law, 
 
 which reitrains him, and if he can fairly produce it, let him 
 
 on that ground obtain a verdict for his moiety. Yet farther, 
 
 if he urges that it was neither competent to claim half the 
 
 eftate, nor to bring an action on the fuppoied promiie, but 
 
 that he has, neverthelefs, a legal title, let him petition the 
 
 Archon, to make a leafe of the poffeilions in difpute, and let 
 
 the leffee demand a moiety from me as belonging to the fon 
 
 of Stratocles. It would have been confonant to juftice, and 
 
 agreeable to the directions of the law, to have followed any 
 
 one of thefe methods; but it is neither juft nor legal to harafs 
 
 me with a publick profecution, when a private action was 
 
 maintainable ; and to expole even my perfon to danger, becaufe 
 
 I will not refign to this boy the property which I recovered by 
 
 your fuffrages from thofe who unjuftly poiierTed it: had I 
 
 indeed, managed any of thofe effects, which are indifputably 
 
 his, with difhonefty and to his detriment, then would an 
 
 infor-
 
 Ο F Η A G Ν I A S. 137 
 
 information againft me have been juftifiable; but not when I am 
 guilty of no other crime than a refolution to keep my owneftate. 
 
 Now, that my antagonift has not acted juftly in any one 
 of thefe inftances, that he has not fpoken truth on any of 
 the other points, but has fabricated this accufation from fordid 
 motives of intereft, warping the laws to his own fenfe, and 
 endeavouring to circumvent both you and me againft equity 
 and reaibn, I think, by all the Gods, that none of you can be 
 ignorant; lb that all further arguments on this head leem 
 unnecefTary. 
 
 I obferve, judges, that my adverfary principally dwells in 
 his charge on a companion of the boy's fortune with mine, 
 and reprefents his circumftances as extremely narrow, but 
 expatiates on the imaginary wealth, which he bellows on me; 
 accufing me at the fame time of fuch avarice, that, although 
 Stratocles left four daughters, I have not given a portion to 
 any of them, even whilft I am in pofTeilion, as he aflerts, 
 of their brothers eftate : this allegation I think it proper to 
 refute; for he hopes, by his flouriihing harangue, to raife 
 your envy of me on account of my accumulated riches, and 
 •to excite your companion for the children of my brother by 
 deploring their pretended indigence. Of thefe facts, there- 
 fore, you mult not be ignorant, but ihall hear an exact itatt 
 of them, which will convince you, that my accufer ipeaks 
 falfely on this head, as he has fpoken on all the others; for 1 
 ihould acknowledge myfelf to be the bafeft of mortals, if 
 Stratocles had died in want, and I being wealthy had taken no 
 care of his children; but if he left them a fortune both more 
 ample and more fecure than my own, fo ample, indeed, that 
 the girls were married with handfome portions, and the boy 
 was made rich with what remained, if I have fo dijigently 
 
 Τ managed
 
 138 ON Τ Η- Ε ESTATE. 
 
 managed their affairs, as to raife their eftate coniiclerably, I 
 cannot juftly incur any cenfure for not reiigning my own 
 property to augment theirs, but rather deferve commendation 
 for my prudence and induftry : that all this is true, I can 
 eafily demonftrate ; and, firit, I will apprize you of our refpec- 
 tive fortunes, after which 1 will mow in what manner I have 
 regulated the concerns of my nephew. 
 
 The patrimony of Stratocles and myfelf was fuch as might 
 content us, but not iufficient to defray the expenfe of publick 
 offices: what proves it is, that neither of us received more 
 tli a η twenty minas with our wives, and lb fmall a portion is 
 not ufually given to men of affluent fortunes; but it hap- 
 pened, that Stratocles had the addition of two talents and a 
 half to his paternal inheritance; for Theophon, his wife's- 
 brother, died, having adopted one of his daughters, to whom 
 he gave a farm in the diftric"t. of Eleuiis worth two talents, 
 together with fixty fheep,.an hundred goats, his houlehold fur- 
 niture, a fine boric on which he rode when he commanded a 
 troop, and all his other effects; of which Stratocles having 
 enjoyed the profits for nine whole y-ears, left a fortune of 
 five talents and a half, including his patrimony, but exclu— 
 lively of what Theophon had given to his daughter. His. 
 eftate was this : a farm at Thrioe, worth two talents and a 
 half; a houfe at Melite, which has been fold for half a ta- 
 lent, and another in Eleufis, worth five minas : fuch was- 
 the real eftate of Stratocles, and thefe were the yearly rents 
 of it; of the farm, twelve minas; of the houfes, three: he 
 had, befides, forty minas out at intereft, which,- at the rate 
 of nine obolus's a month for every mina, bring in annually 
 feven minas and twenty drachmas ; his whole income, there- 
 fore, Mas more than twenty two minas. In addition to thefe 
 
 he.
 
 Ό F Ιϊ A G Ν I A S. j 3) 
 
 he left furniture, fheep, corn, wine, fruit ; all which have 
 been fold for forty minas : he had alfo nine minas in 
 money; and to them we may add his debts, which were 
 called in, to the amount of near ten minas, and which the 
 widow of Stratocles acknowledged before witnefies to be the 
 boy's property. I fay nothing of the other effects which he 
 ■left and which they conceal ; but I fpeak only of what ap- 
 pears, and what they are willing to admit. Call the wit- 
 neffes to all thefe facts, witnesses. 
 
 Such was the fortune of Stratocles, and even larger than 
 this ; but I lhall have fome other occafion to call them to account 
 for the o'oods, which they have embezzled. Now what is mv 
 prefent eftate ? A farm in CEnea worth only fifty minas, and 
 the inheritance of Hagnias amounting to two talents and 
 fifty minas, which fums together are lefs by one hundred 
 and ten minas than the fortune of this youth : in this calcu- 
 lation too I have comprifed the effects of my ion, whom I eman- 
 cipated, but have not added to the oppofite fide the property 
 which Theophon left his daughter by adoption, and which 
 may fairly be valued at two talents and a half; with that ad- 
 dition, which however 1 have not made, their eftate will 
 amount to eight talent^. Moreover, the inheritance of 
 Hagnias is not yet well fecurcd to me, fince fome actions 
 hrought againft the witnefies for perjury will make it necef- 
 lary for me to obtain a fecond adjudication ; but Stratocles 
 left his poffefiions to his fon uncontrovertcd and incontro- 
 vertible. Now let thefe depofitions be read, to prove that 
 my effects, together with thofe of my fon, amount to no 
 more than what I have mentioned, and that actions are de- 
 pending againft fome witnefies in the caufe concerning the 
 eftate of Hagnias. deposition's. 
 
 Τ 2 Is
 
 ι 4 ο Ο Ν Τ Η Ε ESTATE 
 
 Is the difference then trifling between our refpective for- 
 tunes ? Or rather, is it not lb great, that mine appears almoft 
 as nothing in comparifon of that which was left to the chil- 
 dren of Stratocles ? You cannot therefore give credit to the af- 
 lertions of this man, who, although the boy has a flourilh- 
 ing eftate of his own, has ventured to prefer lb violent and fo 
 groundlefs a charge againft me, and iniifts on three eftates, 
 which he luppoles me to have inherited, together with the 
 vaft wealth which 1 have amaffed ; all which, he fays, 1 have 
 iecreted, that the publick may reap no advantage from my 
 opulence. Such are the calumnies, which men, who have 
 nothing equitable to alledge, are forced to invent, that they 
 may confound the innocent with the boldnefs of their accu- 
 fations ! You will all, however, teftify for me, that my wife's 
 two brothers, Cheereleos and Macartatus, were not in the 
 rank of thofe who bear expenfive offices, but were in circum- 
 itances extremely contracted : you know, that Macartatus, 
 having fold his farm, bought a galley, which he armed, and 
 failed in it to Crete ; nor was this a private act, but of fuch 
 notoriety, that it was mentioned in the affembly of the peo^ 
 pie, where fome were appreheniive that the Lacedaemonians 
 would coniider fuch an expedition as a breach of the peace, 
 and would confequently renew hoitilities. Chaereleos, indeed, 
 left an eftate in Profpalta not worth more than half a talent, 
 and died before Macartatus, who foon afterwards perifhed in 
 battle, where the veffel and all the goods, with which he had 
 embarked, were taken. When the Profpaltian farm became 
 the property of my wife, the perfuaded me to emancipate one 
 of my fons, that he might continue the name and preferve the 
 family of her deceafed brother Macartatus; not that my parting 
 with that eftate might exempt me from ferving publick offices, 
 4 for
 
 Ο F Η A G Ν I A S. 141 
 
 for that made no difference, as I had ferved before it came 
 to me, and was among the readieft to join in contributions, 
 and to perform all the duties which you required of me ; fo 
 that this informer moil falfely charges me with being an ufe- 
 lefs, yet an opulent, citizen. 
 
 To conclude ; I will mm up the whole caufe in one word 
 by a propofal, which you will allow, I am perfuaded, to be 
 juft : I offer to bring my whole eftate, large or fmall, into 
 hotchpot with that of my ward, and when they are mixed 
 together, let each of us fairly take a moiety of the aggregate 
 value, fo that neither of us may poffefs more than the other ; 
 but to this, 1 know, my adverfary will never confent. 
 
 FRAG-
 
 f 142 3 
 
 FRAGMENTS OF ISJEUS. 
 
 1. 
 
 From a fpeech for Euphiletus againft- the burgefles of Erchia. 
 
 THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 THE law, by which every oorough Γη Attica was commanded to make a 
 review of its members, and to rejeft all fuch as were not genuine citizens, 
 gave the rejecled a power of appealing to the courts of juftice at Athens; 
 ■but ordained, that, if the appellants failed in proving their right, they 
 Ihould be fold for Haves, and their property confifcated. 
 
 EUPHILETUS, the fon of Hegefippus, had been disfranchifed by the 
 Erchians in confequence of fome private quarrel; and the difpute was at firft 
 referred to two arbitrators, who made an award in his favour ; but, as the 
 burgeiTes perfifted in their refufal to admit him, he was not deterred by the 
 rigour of the law from bringing his appeal. Ifous, who compofed the 
 fpeech for one of the appellant's brothers, began with an exaft narrative of 
 the whole tranfaftion, and, having called witneffes in confirmation of it, 
 fupported their credibility with the following judicious -obfervations. 
 
 Τ ΓΙ A Τ
 
 FRAGMENT S. 143 
 
 -^ **» *j- . 
 
 THAT Euphiletus, judges-, is really our brother by 
 the fame father, you have heard proved by the tefti- 
 mony not of us only, but of all our kinfmen. Now confider 
 firft what could have induced our father to invent a falfity, 
 and to take by adoption a fon, whom he had not by nature ; 
 for you will find, that all adoptions are made by men, who 
 either have no children lawfully born, or are compelled by 
 their poverty to adopt fome wealthy foreigners, from whom 
 they expect a pecuniary acknowledgment for the benefit, con- 
 ferred on them by making them citizens of Athens : but our 
 father had neither of thefe motives; for we two are his legi- 
 timate fons, fo that he could not have been in want of an heir; 
 nor had he any need of fupport from this adopted fon, fince 
 he pofTefled a handfome competence of his own ; and it has, 
 moreover, been proved to you, that he maintained Euphile- 
 tus from his infancy, conducted his education, and introduced 
 him to the members of his ward, of all which the expenfes 
 are by no means inconfiderable. It cannot then be thought 
 probable, judges, that my father would have acted fo unjuftly 
 without any profpecl: of advantage : Hill leis can any mortal 
 fuppofe me to be capable of fuch confummate folly, as to give 
 felfe evidence in favour of another man,, in order, to make my 
 patrimony diitributable among a greater number ; for I fhould 
 preclude myfelf from the power of contending on a future oc- 
 caiion that he was not my brother ; nor would any of you 
 endure even the found of my voice, if, having taken a part 
 in the prefent litigation, and given in evidence my nearneis 
 ef blood to the appellant, I fhould afterwards attempt to con- 
 5 iradi£k
 
 144 FRAGMENTS OF 
 
 tradict my own teftimony. It is reafonable too, judges, for 
 you to believe, that not only we, but all his other kinfmen, 
 have fpoken conformably to the truth; for you will firft ob- 
 ierve, that thofe who married our lifters, would never have 
 fworn faliely in his favour ; iince their wives are only the 
 daughters-in-law of his mother, and ftep-mothers are in ge- 
 neral apt to be at variance with the children of their hufbands; 
 lb that, even had Euphiletus been the child of any other mail 
 than our father, it is not to be imagined, that our lifters ΛνουΚΙ 
 iiave delired their own hufbands to be witneffes for the fon of 
 their ftep-mother : coniider alio, that the next witnefs, our 
 maternal uncle, but in no degree related to the appellant, 
 would never have gratified His mother by making a depolition, 
 not only falfe, but, if Euphiletus had indeed been a foreigner, 
 manifeilly injurious to his own nephews. 
 
 Yet more : — Who among you, judges, can fuppofe Dema- 
 ratus, and Hegemon, and Nicoftratus, to be guilty of per- 
 jury ; men, who, in the firft place, will be found unble- 
 mifhed with any bad imputation, and who, moreover, being 
 intimately connected with us, and perfectly acquainted with 
 our family, have refpe&ively acknowledged upon oath the 
 relation which they bear to Euphiletus ? I would gladly, 
 therefore, afk even the moft refpectable of our opponents, 
 by what other mode he could prove himfelf to be a citizen of 
 Athens, unlefs by that which we have ufed in evincing the 
 right of the appellant ; for I cannot conceive, that he could 
 fuggeft any other method, than to fhow that both his father 
 and his mother were citizens, and to adduce the teftimony of 
 his kinfmen in fupport of his allegations. Were our adver- 
 saries, indeed, expoied to the danger of loiing their own 
 franchifes, they would think it juft, that you fhould attend 
 
 to
 
 I S j£ V S. 145 
 
 to the depofitions of their friends and relations rather than to 
 the defamatory charges of their accufers ; and now, when 
 we give evidence exactly fimilar to that which they would 
 have given for themfelves, iliall they perfuade you to be de- 
 luded by their pretences, inltead of believing the father of 
 Euphiletus, myfelf, and my brother, the members of our 
 ward, and all our kindred ; efpecially iince the burgefies are in 
 no dangerous fituation, but keep up this conteft to gratify 
 their private refentment ; while we, who bear witnefs in the 
 caufe of our friend, are liable to animadverfion, if we fpeak 
 falfely, in a court of juftice? 
 
 To thefe arguments, judges, I mull add, that Euphile- 
 tus's mother, whom our antagonifts allow to be a citizen, 
 was ready to make oath before the two arbitrators in the Del- 
 phinian temple, that Euphiletus was the fon of her and of our 
 father ; and who could poflibly know this more furely than 
 herfelf? Our father too, judges, who, next to her, muil be 
 luppoled to have the more certain knowledge of his own fon, 
 both defired at that time, and defires now, to fwear, that Eu- 
 philetus was his child by an Athenian citizen, whom he had 
 lawfully married. Myfelf alfo, judges, who was juft thir- 
 teen years old, as I before informed you, when the appellant 
 was born, am ready again to depofe that this Euphiletus is 
 actually my half-brother. You will juftly therefore be of 
 opinion, that our oaths deferve greater credit than the bare 
 affertions of our opponents ; for we, with a perfect know- 
 ledge of the truth, are defirous of declaring it in favour of 
 our kinfman, while they fpeak only what they have heard 
 from his enemies, or rather what they have themfelves in- 
 vented : we too, judges, both laid before the arbitrators, and 
 :iow lay before you, the teftimony of his relations, who can- 
 
 T J not
 
 i±b FRAGMENTS OF 
 
 not be reaibnably diibelieved ; while they, when Enphiletus 
 preferred his former complaint, as well againft the burgeffes 
 of Erchia as againft the mayor, who is fince dead, and when 
 the matter had been two years in a courfe of arbitration, were 
 never able to produce a fingle witnefs of his being the fon of 
 any other man than of Hegeiippus, which appeared fo ftrong 
 a mark of their falfe preteniions, that both arbitrators were 
 unanimous in condemning them. Read now the proof of the 
 former conteit, and the event of it. evidence. 
 
 You have heard it proved, judges, that the award was un- 
 favourable to our adverfaries ; and, as they would have re- 
 lied on a contrary determination as a decifive argument, that 
 our friend was not the fon of Hegefippus, fo we may fairly 
 rely, as an argument no lefs decifive in his favour, on the de- 
 termination, that the name of an Athenian had been inju- 
 riouily expunged from the roll of his borough, in which it 
 had firft been properly inferibed. On the whole, you have 
 heard, I am convinced, very fufficient proof, that Enphiletus 
 is really our brother and your fellow-citizen, and that he has 
 been rejected with unjuft indignity by the burgeffes of Erchia. 
 
 II. From
 
 I S JR U S, 147 
 
 II. 
 
 From afpeech for Eumathes. 
 
 THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 A flave, named Eumathes, had been regularly manumitted by Epigenes his 
 mailer, and had opened a banker's houfc at Athens, where he refided in 
 the capacity of a freed-man, till Dionyfius, his matter's heir, claimed him as 
 part of his eftate, infixing either that there had been no manumiflion, or 
 that it was irregular and void. This claim was oppofed by a citizen who pa- 
 tronized Eumathes, and employed Ilaeus to compofe his defence, of which- 
 all but the opening is unfortunately loft. 
 
 U a ON
 
 148 FRAGMENTS OF 
 
 Ν a former occafion, judges, I gave my amftance, with 
 good reafon, to the defendant Eumathes, and will now 
 endeavour, as far as I am able, to co-operate with you in 
 preferring him from ruin ; but, left any of you ihould ima- 
 gine, that a forward petulance or ill-deflgned officioufnefs have 
 induced rne to intereft myfelf in his affairs, I intreat you to 
 hear a fhort explanation of my conduct. When I commanded 
 a galley in the archonihip of Cephilbdotus, and a ftrong re- 
 port of my death in a naval engagement had reached the ears 
 of my friends, Eumathes, with whom I had depofited fome 
 valuable effects, called together my relations, to whom he 
 difcovered the depofit, and reiigned my property to them with 
 the moil rigorous exadlnefs : in return for this honeft beha- 
 viour, when ί was wholly out of danger, I cultivated a 
 ftridter friendihip with him, and, when he fet up his bank, 
 advanced him a fora of money to increafe his capital ; and af- 
 terwards, when Dionyiius claimed him as a flave, I prepared, 
 to affert his liberty, having pofitive knowledge, that Epjgenes 
 had enfranchifed him in open court. 
 
 JII. Fn R
 
 I S Μ U S. 149 
 
 III. 
 From a defence of a guardian againft his ward. 
 
 Ϊ Should have been happy, judges, not only if I hadefcaped 
 the fcandalous imputations of laying mares for the property 
 of others, and inftituting fuits with that view, (imputations, 
 which I am ίο perfectly confcious of having never delerved) 
 hut alfo, if my nephew, inftead of grafping at my eftate,, 
 would have taken due care of his own paternal fortune, which 
 we juilly furrendered to him, a fortune not inconfiderable,. 
 but ample enough to fuftain the burden of the molt expeniive 
 offices ; for then he would have been efteemed by all as a 
 worthier man, while, by preferving and increasing his patri- 
 mony, he would have proved himfelf a ufeful citizen : but, 
 iince he has aliened part of it, and conlumed the reft in a 
 manner that gives me pain ; fince, relying on the number of 
 his aflbciates and the preconcerted quirks of his advocates, . 
 he has invaded my pofTeffions, I cannot but confider it as a 
 misfortune, that a kinfman of mine Ihould act fo difgrace- 
 fully, and I muft enter upon my defence, with all the activity 
 in my power, againft his direct accufation and the impertinent 
 calumnies which accompanied it. 
 
 Now this is the plan which I have followed, that the truth' 
 may be juftly extorted from the ilavcs ; while my adverfary, 
 like a man deilrous only of circumventing, has recourie to in- 
 vectives and idle fophilms: were he willing, indeed, to ob- 
 tain iuftice, inftead of feeking to baiiie and delude ; 
 
 1 . minds 
 
 1
 
 ι SO FRAGMENTS OF 
 
 minds, he would not ait in this manner, but would come to 
 a fair account, bring his own proofs, and thus interrogate me 
 to every diitincl: article in my bill. How many taxes have you 
 reckoned ? So many, I mould have anfwered, or fo many. 
 To what mm do they amount ? To fo much or fo much. By 
 what decrees of the people were they exacted ? By thefe in my 
 hand. Who received the money ? Thefe witnefTes, who will 
 fvvear to their receipt of it. He ought next to have examined 
 minutely the number of the contributions, the fums paid, the 
 decrees, the receivers ; and, if all appeared juft, to have al- 
 lowed my account ; if not, to have proved what falfity or un- 
 fairnefs he could find in it. 
 
 IV. From
 
 Ι 9 Μ U S. 151 
 
 IV. 
 
 From a fpeech againft the members of his borough, con- 
 cerning a farm. 
 
 Should principally have defired, judges, to have fuftained 
 -*- no injury at all from any citizen whatever ; and next, if 
 an injury were inevitable, to have fuftained it from adverfa- 
 ries, whom I might bring to juilice without concern ; but I 
 now find myfelf reduced to a moil afflicting alternative; for 
 I am injured by my fellow burgeffes, whofe invafion of my 
 property it is not eafy to pafs over without complaint, and 
 whofe attacks it is unpleafant to repel with animofity, fince 
 neceiTity obliges me to meet them often on occafions of public 
 bufinefs. It 'is difficult alfo to contend with many antago- 
 nifts, whofe number alone has a coniiderable effect in giving 
 them the appearance of fpeaking truth ; yet, relying on the 
 merits of my cafe, and having fuffered many enormous hard- 
 ihips, I conceived that I fhould no longer decline attempting to 
 obtain redrefs by your fentence : give me therefore your in- 
 dulgence, if, young as I am, I have ventured to open my 
 lips in a court of judicature; for the fenfe of my wrongs com- 
 pels me in this inftance to depart from my former habits of re- 
 ferve ; and I fliall now endeavour to apprize you of the whole 
 tranfa&ion, relating it from the beginning as concifely as I 
 am able. 
 
 V. From
 
 j 5 2 FRAGMENTS OF IStEUS. 
 
 < 
 
 V. 
 
 From a fpeecli in an action of debt. 
 
 * * * 
 
 r |~^ HI S moil abandoned of men, without producing thofe 
 -» witnefTes, before whom he aflerts the money to have 
 been paid, affects to think it juft, that you iliould give greater 
 credit to them, who alledge that it was reilored, than to us 
 who deny that we have ever received it; yet it is well known, 
 I believe, to all, that, as in the fluuriihing itate of their father's 
 fortunes they would not have difcharged the debt without com- 
 pulfion, fo after his difgrace and total ruin we could not even 
 .have compelled them to difcharge it. 
 
 NOTES
 
 [ 153 ] 
 
 NOTES ON ISiEUS. 
 
 PAGE 2. — of which they boldly aflert that he was a creditor.] A 
 flight variation in the text would make it neceflary to alter the tranflation 
 of this paflage •, and, inftead of the words above cited, to read — *' which 
 they aflert that he had encumbered with debts :" it feems, however, more 
 probable, that the devifees pretended to have a lien on the paternal eftate of 
 the young men for lbme money due to the deceafed, than that Cleonymus 
 ihould have mortgaged the property of his nephews, which we can hardly 
 fuppofe that he had a power of doing. 
 
 3. — Polyarchies] Rei/ke has fubftituted Poliarchus, ruling the city, 
 inftead of Polyarchus, with extenfive /way ; but the firft proper name appears 
 to be unfupported by analogy, and the fecond ftands foremoft in the lift, 
 which Xenophon has given us, of the thirty tyrants. 
 
 4. Cleonymus himfelf, when he recovered from that illnefs, in which he 
 made his will, declared, that he wrote it in anger.] The conftruclion, which 
 Taylor propofed, and which Reifke thought unintelligible, feems to convey 
 a clear and obvious meaning, as I have rendered ir. 
 
 5. When one of the proper officers came to the door] The text has Ar- 
 chonides, a proper name, which I cannot help fufpecting, as the Archon is 
 mentioned a few lines before; and the fimilarity of found might have milled 
 the tranferiber. 
 
 7. — one of two moil oppofite things] I have fupplied a chafm in the 
 original, as well as I was able, and have given the paflage a tolerable fenfe. 
 Taylor fuppofes this fpeech to be very imperfeft, and imagines that half of it 
 is loft, becaufe the names of Pherenicus and Simo, who are not mentioned in 
 the oration, occur in the argument; but it muft be obferved, once for all 
 
 X that
 
 254 NOTES OK 
 
 that the Creek arguments are for the moft part erroneous, and feem to have ■ 
 been written by fome very ignorant grammarian. 
 
 g. — the Cyprian] Not a native of the iiland Cyprus, but member of a 
 borough in Attica fo named. Reifke. 
 
 — pofleffed of three talents] I ufed to value the Attick talent, on the au- 
 thority of Arbuthnot, at 193I. 15s. and to think it confiderably underrated 
 by Tourreil and Prideaux ; but my friend Mr. Combe, whofe knowledge of 
 ancient coins is no lefs exact than extenfive, has convinced me that Arbuth- 
 not himfelf has undervalued it ; for, by weighing with great accuracy thir- 
 ty of the finefl Athenian tetradrachms in the collection of Dr. Hunter, and - 
 by comparing the average of their weight with the ftandard price of filver, 
 he fhowed to my full fattsfafHon, that the Attick drachma was worth about 
 ei^ht-pence half-penny, the fixth part of which was the obolus, or one 
 penny, and five twelfths ; the mina therefore, which Solon railed from fixty - 
 to a hundred drachmas, was equal in value to three pounds ten fhillings and 
 ten pence, and the talent, or fixty minas, to two hundred and twelve pounds 
 tenjhillings. Three talents then, of which Pyrrhus was poifeffed, were fix 
 hundred and thirty-feven pounds ten {hillings., a frrrail fortune in England, 
 but not inconfiderable at Athens, where filver was fcarce, and even the fu- 
 perfluities of life eafy to be procured. Wherever Attick money is mentioned 
 In thefe fpeeches, the reader will in a moment reduce it to Engliih money by 
 the help of this note. 
 
 12 . — one witnefs only, named Pyretides] I have left the word σ/«- 
 arpaTjo/xi^-untranflated, although it is emphatical in itfelf, and feems to have 
 no fmall force in the original ; but its common acceptation is hardly reconcil- 
 able with the context; for it implies an ailual fubornation of Pyretides, who 
 yet was but a pretended witnefs, and difclaimed any knowledge of the affair. 
 Can it be rendered thus — " Pyretides, whom he hired to attend him V Or 
 thus — " Pyretides, whom he attempted to fuborn ? . 
 
 13. — when Xenocles went to Thebes with an intention to eject our fer- 
 vants from the mines] It is impoffible not to agree with Reiike that this 
 paffage abounds with difficulties ; nor could I have made it intelligible in a 
 verbal tranflation. As to the words, ας το l^yagr^m ίο -^tspov ιις.Ίκ iyyoc, . 
 it is obfervable that Demofthcnes has a fimilar repetition in the beginning of 
 his ipeech againit Pant;vnetus, where the caufe relates to a difpu'.e about a , 
 f ©under y in Maronea. Perhaps, on the authority of that parallel pafiage, 
 we might here read h τοΐς ϊςγοις. How there came to be works in the terri- 
 tory of Thebes, or how an Athenian could have property in the Theban do- 
 minions,
 
 Ϊ S Μ ϋ S. 155 
 
 minions, I cannot tell . It once occurred to me, that if Θηζχζε were the true 
 reading, and not ΘςίνΟ or Θόρχζί, there might have been a diitrift in Attics 
 of that name •, but that was mere conjefturc ; and the diftance from Athen> 
 to Thebes in Bccotia appears in the bed maps of ancient Greece to be juil 
 three hundred ftadia. 'Εξαγωγή is a foreniick term exactly anfwering to 
 onfier ; and in this technical fenfe the verb Ιξάγειν, to oufl, is ufed by Ifffius, 
 once in this fpeech, and twice in that on the eitate of Dica:ogenes. Reifke 
 fuppofes, in one of his notes, that the fervants of Xenoclcs were oufted by 
 the brother of Endius ; but why ihould Xenocles carry fo many witneifes 
 out of Attica, to attett an ail which he could not pofitivety forefee? The 
 learned editor's note and tranflation are at variance in the interpretation of 
 this dark paiTage. I have chofen the lead exceptionable fenfe, although one 
 does not eafily fee the neceffity of travelling fo far to claim the eftate of 
 Pyrrhus, the title to which was foon after brought before the court in an- 
 other form : the reafoning, indeed, of Ifreus in this place proves, that the 
 aft of Xenocles was frivolous. 
 
 31. — ihould not pay the ordinary cofts of the fuitjj In the original 
 fj,vi κκτά το τ'ίλ@~> ζημιίίο-Βοα, upon which paflage Pieifke has the following in- 
 genuous note: " Locus difficilis, dictio perambigua et inexplicabilis ! Sufpi- 
 " cabar aliquando tantundem hoc efle atque κατ Ιπω&ίΚίαν, non folummodo 
 " fe.xta parte fummas univerfce, quam valent bona petita mulclari, fed rota 
 " fumma. Nunc dubito, an potius fignificet pro cenfu. Cenfebatur civis 
 " quilque quantum in bonis haberet, atque pro iilo cenfu major aut minor 
 " cuique mulfta irrogabatur. Chuerant peritiores." Without pretending 
 to be one of thofe, to whom the candid annotator refers for a fohuion of this 
 difficulty, I will follow him in fairly confeffing my doubts and even my errors. 
 I once imagined with him, that nothing more was meaned than the fine of 
 an obolus for every drachma, or a fixth part of the fum claimed ; and I amuf- 
 ed myfelf with conjefturing that KATATOTEAOC might have been writ- 
 ten by an ignorant transcriber for KATOBO AOTC ; but I foon acquitted the 
 tranferiber and laughed at my own criticifm. As to the fuppofltion that the 
 party who made a falfe claim was amerced in proportion to his rank or cenfus, 
 I never could adopt it : there is no authority for fuch an interpretation ; and 
 the wife Athenians would not have allowed a practice, which would have 
 been a check to the wealthy only, who were lefs likely to inftitute iniquitous 
 fuits, while the low and indigent might have difturbed the titles of their 
 fellow-citizens without much danger. My next idea is expreffed in my tranf- 
 lation : as ■ύ'/.ος was anciently ufed for expenfe, whence evrfaia fignifkd fru- 
 
 X 2 gal'ty]
 
 τ 5 6 Ν Ο Τ Ε S ON 
 
 gality, and πολυτέλεια, profufiun •, I conceived that Ifirus meaned only the 
 coils of fuit, or expen/a litis, in quibus, to ufe the words of the Roman code, 
 viclor viStori condemnandus eft ; and the Athenians, I fuppofed, had the 
 fame maxim. In this notion I acquiefced, till the very learned editor of Eu- 
 ripides favoured me with his opinion, that τέλος was a generick name for a 
 tax or duly, and comprehended, among other branches of the revenue, the 
 Tx^mocvitu, or dcpofits, which are mentioned by Ariftophanes, and by Ifeus 
 himfelf in his fecond fpeech, and which were forfeited to the publick by the 
 unfuccefsful claimant : he thought, therefore, that the Greek words ought 
 to be rendered — " not only to be puniihed by a forfeiture of his depofits." 
 This feemed plaufible ; but it appears from the fcholiait of iEfchines, that 
 thole forfeited depofits were the perquifires of the jury, and I am now con- 
 vinced without a ihadow of doubt, that the paffage mull: be tranflated thus : 
 " It would be right, judges, that every claimant of an elf ate, by gift or tef- 
 " tament, who fails in proving his title, ihould not be amerced by the limited 
 " power of the magiftratc, but Ihould forfeit to the ftate the full value of the 
 " fortune which he falfely claimed." It was inconfiilent with a free govern- 
 ment that any magiflrate ihould have an unlimited power of impofing fines : 
 the fenate itfelf could impofe none exceeding five minas, which was lefs than 
 eighteen pounds ; and, in the fpeech of Demoflhenes againil Euergus and 
 Mnefibulus, that venerable body are faid to have deliberated whether they 
 Ihould fet a fine upon Theophemus to the full extent of their legal fewer , or 
 • ihould deliver him over to a court of juftice, that he might be more feverely 
 puniihed- Now among the various lenfes of τίλ©-• it denotes, according to 
 Ulpian, the power of a magiftratc; and the very words of Ifaeus are taken 
 from the law of Solon preierved by Demoflhenee in his fpeech againfi; Ma- 
 cartatus : " Let the archon take care of orphans and hcireffes, and proteft 
 ** them from violence : if any one ihoukl injure them, he may fine the delin- 
 " quent κ«τ« τοιίλος" — which Potter tranflates very properly, as fir as the 
 limits of his power extend. If the magiilrate thought he deferved a heavier 
 penalty, he was directed by the fame law to prefer an accufation againil him, 
 in the nature of an information ex officio, in the court of Heliaea ; where a 
 corporal puniihment might be inflicled, or a larger mulit impofed, by the 
 verdift of a jury. This paffage in Demoflhenes puzzled Wolfius, who feems 
 to have been diffatisfied with his own explanation of it •, and Reiike, though 
 he was apprized of Petit's interpretation, ilill returns to his old opinion, that 
 ήλος there fignified the fortune and rank of the offender, an opinion unfup- 
 ported, as I intimated before, either by reafon or authority. 
 
 3*.
 
 I S J£ U S. i 57 
 
 36. — committed by the magiftrates to prifon (whence he was afterwards 
 releafed) together with fome other felons, whom you publickly fentenced to 
 an ignominious death] The text is, τνςωτον //iv tig το ΰέσ-μωτηςιον dzcrr^B-/;, 
 τΰχο αφοιιρεΒεις, ^S ετιρων τίνων υπα τύίνενοίκχ, XioyuJfrmtM'om'^vusigo&ex.TsfvoiTS. 
 A moil: perplexing paflage ! If the relative belong to the eleven, initead of 
 the criminals, it muit be tranflated in this manner : " he was firfl committed 
 " to prifon, and afterwards fet at liberty with feveral others, by thofe eleven, 
 " all of whom were publickly executed according to your fentence." It is 
 Well known that the office of the eleven at Athens correfponded in fome re- 
 fpecls to that of our juilices of peace, and in others to that of our flieriffs ; 
 they had power to commit felons, and were obliged to fee them executed 
 after their conviftion. Now had the Athenians at any time put fo many magi- 
 ftrates to death for fuffering criminals to efcape, or for any other mifbehaviour, 
 hiftory would certainly have recorded fo extraordinary a feet. There were, 
 indeed, eleven minifters of the thirty tyrants, who are mentioned by Plato, 
 and who were moil probably executed with their employers. Xenophon 
 fays, that, after the reftoration of the popular government by Thrafybulu;•, 
 the thirty tyrants, the ten governors of the Piraeus, and the eleven who 
 ruled in the city, were excluded from the benefit of the general amnefty. 
 Hence the oath taken by the citizens, that they would not remember the 
 injuries done by any, except the thirty and the eleven. If we fuppofe Ctia- 
 riades to have been releafed by thefe men, who muit have been killed in the 
 fecond year of the ninety-fourth Olympiad, we may form-a plaufible guefs 
 concerning the date of this fpeech ; for, if he fled from the Areopagus in the 
 year after his releafe from prifon ; if Nicoftratus died feventeen years after 
 that ; and if two years were fpent in the controverfies among the ί\\ firft 
 claimants of his eflate ; this caufe, in which Ifaeus was employed, might have 
 been tried in the twenty-firft year after the archonfhip of Euclid, in which- 
 year Demofthenes was born. After all, how uncertain are thefe conjectures 
 upon conjectures ! 
 
 40. Let the oath again be read.] Why fo ? Could it fo foon have been 
 forgotten ? I am perfuaded, that thefe words were repeated by miilake ,• and 
 that in this place were read the fchedule and inventory mentioned in the- 
 preceding pages. 
 
 40. — having failed to CnidosJ This could not have been the fea-fight 
 at Cnidos, in which Conon obtained a fignal viilory over Pifander. It is- 
 probable that the naval engagement, in which Dicseogenes fell, was that 
 defcribed by Thucydides in his eighth book, which happened in the firil year 
 
 of.
 
 ϊ 5 8 NOTES ON 
 
 I of the ninety-fecond Olympiad, and the twentieth of the Peloponnefian war i 
 when Ailyochus defeated Charniiniu at Syme ruar Cnidos : now if we fup- 
 pofe,• as we reafonably may, that the fortune of the deceafed was diilri- 
 buted among his relations in the fame year, each of them mutt have pofleifed 
 Jiis (hare till the fecond year of the ninety-fifth Olympiad. The troubles, to 
 which Iikus alludes, began in the archonthip of Pythodorus, but laded fome 
 time after that of Euclid : in that interval the defendant Dicieogenes was in- 
 ftigated by Melas to claim the whole eitate, although he did not obtain 
 judgment for it, till twelve years had elapfed from the firft diftnbution j 
 and, as he enjoyed the profits of the eitate fur ten years, this fpeech was 
 probably delivered in the kit year of the ninety-feventh Olympiad, or two 
 thoufand one hundred and fixty-fix years ago, and may therefore be confider- 
 cd as one of the moil ancient monuments now extant in the world of the litiga- 
 tion, which naturally followed the liberty of tranfmitting property by will. 
 
 42. — having purchafed the houfe of their father and demoliflied it J 
 Reilke alters the punctuation of the text, and gives it this fenfe : that Di- 
 csogenes bought the houfe of Theopompus, and, having dug up the garden, 
 which feparated it from his own houfe, filled the intermediate fpace, and 
 made one very large manfion for himfelf. Surely, this is a forced confiruc- 
 tion founded on a very uncertain conjecture. The cruelty of the act feems 
 to have confifted in his having demoliflied the dwelling houfe and dug up the 
 area, as if Theopompus had been a traitor. The fentence againft Antipho 
 the orator and Archeptolemus is preferved, and part of it was, that their 
 houfespould be demolijhed. The word yMlc/.o-wifln)/, which is ufed both in that 
 fentence and by lfasus, feems applicable to a building, but not to a garden. 
 I perceive, on revifing this paflage, that the words παίΐων ovjcuv τύτων, "while 
 they were boys, are -left untranflated. Few trantlations, not ftriftly verbal, 
 are free from fuch overfights. 
 
 42. — he fent my coufin Cephifodotus to Corinth") Probably at the be- 
 ginning of the ninety-fixth Olympiad, when the Corinthian war broke out. 
 
 43. — but the fitters of the deceafed whofe daughters we married.] 
 If we fuppofe that the fitters of Dicaeogenes had daughters, who intermarried 
 with their firfl: couiins, we need not have recourfe to Reifke's conjecture, 
 that this part of the fpeech was delivered by a different perfon. 
 
 50. — when Lechagum was taken] That is, in the fourth year of the 
 ninety-fixth Olympiad, three hundred and ninety-two years before Chrift. 
 
 50. — the Eponymi] We are here obliged to Reifke for an excellent 
 
 emendation : the old reading was ομωνύμων, which can have no meaning, un- 
 
 7 left
 
 I S JE U S. 159 
 
 lefs we fuppofe that ilatues had been erected to the memory of the brave citi- 
 zens, who bore the fame name with Dicceogenes : but the Eponymi were the ten 
 heroes, from whom the ten tribes of Attica were named, and manypublick in- 
 ftruments were hung up on their flatties, which ftood in the moil confpicuous 
 part of the city. 
 
 51. — in the battle of Elcufis] That venerable fcholar and foldier, M. 
 Paumierde Grentcmefnil, has taken great pains to elucidate this paffage of 
 Ifeus ; but feems, after all, to have left it as dark as he found it. Whe- 
 ther Dicaeogenes, the plaintiff's great-grand-father, periihed, as Reilke ima- 
 gines, in the irruption made by Pliftoanax into the diftrict of Eleufis, or 
 whether he fell in one of the preceding ikirmiihes with the Corinthians, 
 mentioned both by Thucydides and Diodorus, I muft leave undecided, and 
 that without much regret. The battle of Spartolus, which the hiftorlan ofl 
 the Peloponnefran war has fully defcribed, was fought in the fourth year of 
 the eighty-ieventh Olympiad, the fame year in which the death of Pericles ■ 
 was more than compenfated by the birth of Plato. The conjedlure of i'au-j 
 mier, who would read ΌΧνΛίκς itiftead of Όλιχτίας, and would render it 
 Spartolus in the Olynthian territory, is ingenious but not convincing. Spar- 
 tolus was known without an adjunct : had any been neceflary, it would have 
 been Bo-ijtKrji but a place, where Athens loft four hundred and thirty gallant 
 men, with all their general officers, mud have acquired a dreadful celebrity. 
 Still lefs can we be fatisfied with the hypothefis of Pieiike, who propofes to 
 read 'OSpucrfas, although the Odryfians had nothing to do with Spartolus ; but 
 the orator, fays he, might not have been fiilled in geography, and might have 
 confounded Odryfia with Botti&a. His other conceit, to which he was lefs 
 partial, that the troop, which Menexenus commanded, was called Odyffean 
 from Ulyffes, has more ingenuity in it. By what names the Athenians dif- 
 tinguifhed their legions, I have not learned : Μ'Όλυα-'ας be the true reading, 
 the name may bear fome affinity to the words oXcog or ολί9ρφ>, deflruclive. 
 
 52. — the Olynthians] 'OkinQiot. *' Sufpcctum hoc nomen. Olyn- 
 <( thios, qui femper Athenienfibus infeiti fuiflent, pro his occubuifle dimican- 
 " tes adverfus Peloponnefios, unde ipfi orti eifent, id vero miror, neqne 
 " memini ufpiam legere." Reifke. It is abfolutely certain, that the Corin- 
 thian, not the Peloponnefian, war is here meaned by Ifceus : now the Olyn- 
 thians had actually begun to diftinguifh themfelves as an ambitious and mar- 
 tial people at the very time when this caufe was heard. I was unwilling, 
 therefore, to alter the word in the text, although I have always fufpeeted, . 
 that ΌπούνΙιοι was the genuine reading. The Locri Opuntii, who, both on 1 
 
 thcii
 
 i6o NOTES ON 
 
 their own coins and in the Greek books, are called fometimes Locrians, and 
 fometimes Ofuntians only, were the fir ft promoters of this war •, and it can- 
 not be conceived, that they remained inactive, when their fupporters the 
 Thebatis had engaged Athens in their quarrel. 
 
 52. — thy ancestors, who flew the tyrant] The fong of Calliftratus, which 
 every fchool-boy in the higher clafles can fay by heart, has made the name 
 and itory of Harmodius familiar to all. If the defendant Dica:ogenes defend- 
 ed from that line through his father Proxenus, and not through his mother, 
 the pedigree prefixed to this fpeech mult be corrected ; and, indeed, there 
 does not feem to be fufficient reafon for fuppofing that Proxenus and the frit 
 Mencxenus were brothers. 
 
 53. — thou, Dicceogenes] Contempt and indignation cannot be more 
 ilrongly marked, than by the pofition of the proper name at the end of this 
 ipeech ; but it would not have the fame effect in our language without voice, 
 look, and geiture, to enforce it. The Angle name of Dica-ogenes, as it (lands 
 in the original, fupplies the place of epithets, and inflantly fuggefts the 
 idea of every thing defpicable. 
 
 55. — when Meneftratus failed to Sicily] Who Meneftratus was, I 
 know not ; but have not ventured to depart from the text. The date of this 
 Ipeech may be fixed with the greateft certainty ; tor likus afterwards fays, 
 that fifty-two years had elapfed from the fatal expedition to Sicily in the 
 archonihip of Arimneftus, that is, from the fir ft year of the ninety-rirft 
 Olympiad; fo that, if from be exclufwe, and complete years be meaned, the 
 caufe was tried in the fecond year of the hundred and fourth Olympiad, when 
 Chariclides was Archon. This was the year after Demofthencs, who was 
 then in all probability a pupil of Ifceus, had fpoken in his own caufe againft 
 his guardians. 
 
 62. Philoftemon was flain at Chios] Μ ο ft probably in one cf the engage- 
 ments mentioned by Thucydides in his eighth book. Timotheus, whom 
 Phanoftratus accompanied, was perhaps the fon of Conon, who afterwards 
 acquired fuch fame by his victory at Leucas ; and Choreas, who married the 
 daughter of Euctemon, might have been the fon of Archeftratus, whofe ac- 
 tions are recorded by the hiftorian. 
 
 63. — more than three talents] That is, including the price of the flaves, 
 without which the fums enumerated amount to lefs than three talents by four 
 minas and fifty drachmas. The text is extremely clear, but Reifke's note gives 
 me infinite trouble ; nor can I yet comprehend by what method of computa- 
 tion
 
 I S ΛΖ U S. 161 
 
 tion he made the whole fum rife to four talents, wanting fifteen minas. Ik- 
 was not, fn-footb, with all his learning, a great arithmetician. 
 
 71. — yet how can a man be faid to have died cldldlcis] We mail: here 
 give Reifke the applaufe, which he juflly deferves, for a moil: happy and in- 
 genious emendation. The original, in the edition of Stephanus, is, •ατως xv 
 A'vny.& τις ; but, in that of Aldus, ic is, ΠΠΣ OTN ΛΝΑΙΣΙΜΟΣ ΤΙΣ, 
 which was manifeftly corrupted by the change of three letters from ΠΏΣ 
 OTN ΑΙΙΑΙΣ ΗΝ ΟΣΤΙΣ ; fo that the imaginary pe if nape, A iir.uis, va- 
 niflies at once, and there remains a perfpicucus intelligible fentence. An- 
 other correction, which I cannot adopt, was propofed by the wrher of a few 
 notes on a loofe piece of paper, now preferred at Eton, in an edition of the 
 Greek orators, which formerly belonged to Mr. TOpham. Thefe notes were 
 tranferibed by Taylor, and his tranicript was fent by Dr. Afkew to Reifke, 
 who conftantly cites it by the name of liber Tophanh, during thr.t no bo.iy 
 will afk him who Tcphanis was, and frankly declaring that he could not tell. 
 I mention this trifle for the fake of thofe, whofe curiofity may be raifed by 
 feeing the references to this unknown critick. 
 
 76. — who has fince been appointed hierophant] The Ίίροφαηης, who 
 conducted the ceremony of initiation into the myfteries, was not permitted 
 to marry after his appointment to that facred office; but a previous ftate of 
 celibacy was not a neceflary qualification. Lyfias, in his fpeech agaiuft Ando- 
 cides, mentions one Diodes, foil of Zacorus the hierophant. 
 
 This caufe was probably heard a fhort time after the Corinthian war. 
 
 89. — I am not without hopes] It is remarkable, that this paflage of 
 Ifeus is copied almoft word for word by Demoflhenes in his fir ft fpeech 
 againft his guardian Aphobus, as the reflexions upon torture, [p. 91.] are 
 repeated by him in one of thofe againft Onetor. Demoftheoes was very 
 young, when he delivered thofe four fpeeches ; but I cannot fee fufficient 
 ground for believing that Ifceus compofed them, although he might have 
 given them a few touches with his pencil : they are not too highly finiftied 
 for a boy of eighteen, who had ftudied under fuch a mailer, whofe language 
 and manner he zealoufly imitated. 
 
 100. — a few ftony fields] In the old editions, <p&£oc&ot γμςίοί i 
 SjSwxs. I wonder that Reifke fhould entertain a doubt concerning the ge- 
 nuine reading of this paflage, when he cites Harpocration, who fays expreff- 
 ly, that Ifxus, in this very fpeech, ufes psTasec for αβοην place -where goats 
 broivfe. The orator wrote, ψίλίώχς δί, which fome reader thought proper 
 
 Υ to
 
 ί6ί 
 
 NOTES 
 
 Ο Ν 
 
 to explain imperfeclly in the margin by^/>. '.v. ISu, flclds Jo called; and, when 
 tlii ; rude glofs found its way into the text, the original itillf was corrupted. 
 
 ιοί. — when I have brought him to a trial] Diocles was afterwards pro- 
 fecuted ; and Ifeus compofed a fpeech againil him, from which ten or eleven 
 words are cited by Harpocration. 
 
 ίο.}. Aftyphilus died at Mitylene, whither he had failed with the army] 
 I once imagined that he might have failed with Thrafybulus, who was fent 
 on an expedition againfl Lefbos in the archonihip of Philocles, the year afte r 
 \λ\ /J ( /^tbe taking of Lcchxum ; but, as it afterwards appears, that he had ferved 
 at Corinth, in Theffaly, and during the whole Theban war, which was not 
 36&& /.concluded till the third year of the hundred and third Olympiad, I am at a 
 lofs to determine~on what occafion he could have gone with the army to Mi- 
 tylene, u nlefs it was in the focial war, in which Lesbos, probably, took 
 fame pari, as her neighbour C'hio., was ίο warmly engaged in it. T l my con- 
 '. λ ."'.;; e be jufl, this was, perhaps, one of the Lift fpeeches written by 
 Ifeys.-; who, according to~the hypotEeiii~Tn my prefatory difcourfe, muft 
 have been at Icaft fixty years old when he compofed it. 
 
 i\6. — the daughter of Ariftarchus and filler of Cyronides] This was 
 the truth ; but the text, which I think imperfetft, makes him declare his 
 mother to be the fifter of Ariftarchus. She would, indeed, have been the 
 fifter of the younger Ariftarchus, if his adoption had been legal ; bAit why 
 it was ncun.irv to admit the legality of that adoption before the mag 
 and even to acknowledge it on record, I cannot conceive. 
 
 i227"^~ATter this came the Corinthian warj It follows from this paflage, 
 that the fpeech was delivered fome time after the ninety-fixth Olympiad, al 
 one-and-twenty centuries ago. 
 
 126. I begin my defence, judges, with a recital of the laws] I fuppofe 
 that the laws of Solon concerning inheritances were read by the clerk, before 
 Thcopompus opened his defence. 
 
 129. Phylomache obtained a fentence in her favour] The year in which 
 this fentence was pronounced is fixed with the utmoft certainty by a depofi- ■ 
 tion preferved in the fpeech of Demoillienes againfl Macartatus, concerning 
 which I intend to difcourfe at large in the commentary. The witneffes de- 
 , " that they were prefent before the arbitrator in the archonihip of 
 " Nicophemus, when Phylomache, the daughter of Eubulides, obtained a 
 " decree for the eftate of I lagnias againfl all her opponents." Now Nicophe- 
 mus was archon in the fourth year of the hundred and fourth Olympiad, three 
 haodred and fixty-one years before Chrilt. Some time muft have been fpent 
 ι in
 
 I S & US. 
 
 in the litigation which followed before this caufe could have been ripe for 
 a hearing ; and we cannot be very far from the mark, if we conclude th 
 was heard two thoufand one hundred and thirty-five years ago. 
 
 138. I will fliow in what manner I have regulated the concerns of my ne• 
 phew J The orator promifes to enlarge upon two heads, and he only 
 touches upon the firft, namely, the comparifon between the fortunes of Tl 
 pompus and Stratocles : hence it is manifeit, that part of the fpeech is un- 
 happily Ιοί!. 
 
 j 3 b' . His eilate was this :] 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Stratoclks. 
 
 T. 
 
 M. 
 
 D. 
 
 Til EO POM Γ us, 
 
 T. 
 
 M. 
 
 D. 
 
 Thriafian farm 2 
 
 3° ■ 
 
 
 
 CEnean farm - 
 
 
 
 5° 
 
 
 
 '! wo houfes ... 
 
 35 
 
 
 
 Inheritance of Hagnias 
 
 2 
 
 5° 
 
 
 
 Money out at interefl 
 Goods and caili 
 
 40 
 49 
 
 
 
 
 
 Deficiency - - - - 
 
 1 
 
 5° 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 46 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 5 
 
 3° 
 
 
 
 Patrimony 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 3° 
 
 
 
 
 The patrimony of Theopompus muft have been included in the farm at 
 
 CEnea; and it is neceffary to read -usiv\&.Ki<ryp\ic<.i in the valuation of Hagnias's 
 
 eilate. The interefl of the forty minas at nine obolus's a month is properly 
 
 computed ; and the young man's fortune, including the legacy of Theophon, 
 
 was exadlly eight talents, or feventeen hundred pounds. Nothing can be 
 
 more clear than the text, nothing more fimple than the calculation j yet the 
 
 perplexity, to which Reiike was reduced, is perfectly ridiculous ; for, by 
 
 jumbling the principal with the interefl, and the rents with the va'ue of the 
 
 eilate, and by adding together all the lums named in the whole paragraph, 
 
 h; makes the property of Stratocles amount to more than ten talents. 
 
 " Verum fatebor enim, fays he, ad calculandum et omnes omnino artes ma- 
 
 " thematicasinvita Minerva natus fum." He then attempts a corrcclion, but, 
 
 finding even that irreconcileable with the computation which follows, he 
 
 concludes in cefpair — " ut brevis fim, in componendis hike rationibus pecu- 
 
 " niariis cxitum non reperio." 
 
 140. The Lacedcemonians would coniider fnch an expedition as a breach 
 of the peace] This was, probably, the general peace concluded in the 
 third year of the hundred and third Olympiad, and broken the next year in 
 
 Υ 2 the
 
 i64 NOTES ON I S ϋ U S. 
 
 the archonfhip of Chio. The Macartatus, againft whom Demofthenes com- 
 pofed his fpeech, was the fon of Theopompus, mentioned in this page, who 
 was appointed to preferve the name and family of the bold adventurer, his 
 maternal uncle. 
 
 148. When I commanded a galley in the archonfhip of Cephifodotus.] 
 That is, in the third year of the hundred and third Olympiad; but if Cc- 
 phif dorus be the true reading, as Sylburgius was inclined to believe, 
 this fpeech muft have been compofed either during the focial war, or after 
 it ; and Ifanis muft have had the happinefs of feeing his pupil advance to- 
 wards the perfection of eloquence ; for the oration againft Leptines was de- 
 livered nearly at the fame time. It appears from Harpocration, who cites 
 three lines from this fpeech, that the citizen, who aflerted the freedom of Eu- 
 mathes, was named Xenocles. 
 
 A C Ο Μ-
 
 [ ι6 5 ] 
 
 COMMENTARY 
 
 Ο Ν 
 
 I S JE U S. 
 
 Τ Η Ε ten fpceches of IfcEus are the moil ancient in the world 
 on the intereiling fubje'cl: of legal and teftamentary fucceffion 
 to property, except, perhaps, that of liberates on the eftate of Thra- 
 fylochus in iEgina, which has rather the air of a rhetorical exercife 
 than of a real addrefs to a court of judicature, and tends very little to 
 elucidate the topicks, which it is now my intention to difcufs : next 
 to thefe in order of time on the fame fubjecT:, are two fpceches of 
 Demofthenes, one againfr. Leochares, and the other againir. Macar- 
 tatus ; from the fecond of which I have received fo much light, 
 that, if it had not been extant, I ihould not have underftood 
 many paflages in my author. It was my firil deiign to fubjoin at 
 full length this very curious monument of Athenian jurifprudence ; 
 but, as the fpeech cor.fifts chiefly of depofitions and recitals of various 
 laws, which give it very much the refemblance of a well drawn 
 2 brief.
 
 366 Λ COM Μ Ε Ν Τ A II Υ 
 
 !, 1 think it better to fum up the evidence in the caufc, with 
 
 ions a.; will render it perfpicuous, and to illuftrate the 
 
 wh ■ ha complete pedigree of the family, which will alio be 
 
 -ul in f iing other parts of the Attick law. Demoftru 
 
 himfelfhad intended, as he tells the court, to draw a genealogical 
 table for their infpection ; but, reflecting that thofe jurymen who 
 iat at a diitance would be unable to have a diilinct view of it, he 
 thought it ncceliarv to explain it by words, which all of them might 
 
 r : what Demoithenes chofe to omit, I have performed with great 
 
 : for the convenience of the reader ; and here we may take no- 
 tice of the advantage which juiiice derives among us in fimilar 
 caufes from the facility of multiplying copies ; for, as a number of 
 pedigrees may be printed at an expenfc not to be coniidered in im- 
 portant trials, the court, the jury, and the bar, may eafily go along 
 with the Lading connlel, and form a perfect idea of the queition be- 
 fore thefti. The difficulty, indeed, of explaining a long genealogy 
 by words alone, efpecially where many of the perfons bear exactly 
 the lame name, together with the number of miftakes occaiioned by 
 the negligence of copyifts, made the fpeech againft Macartatus fo 
 dark and perplexed, that the learned almoft gave it up as inexplica- 
 ble ; and, when Oporinus complained to Wolfius that he could not 
 comprehend the whole of his Latin vernon, " Do you," laid the 
 translator, " underitand the Greek ?" " No," iaid the other. " Then," 
 replied Wolfius, " we are even ; and we ihall, I believe, have 
 ■" many companions in our ignorance." The grave editor's remark, 
 that, " although the fpeech takes its title from Macartatus or mojl 
 •" happy, yet it makes the interpreter mofl miferable, and although it 
 " relate to the inheritance of Haguws, a name iignificative of purity, 
 " yet the text of it is by no means pure" may fhow with how bad 
 a grace a lcholar attempts to be witty. I confefs, that the whole 
 compolition appeared to me more obi cure than the oracles which 
 .are cited in it ; until I perceived, before I had even feeu the Leipzick 
 edition, that the tenth fpeech of Ifaeus was delivered in a previous 
 Aife concerning the fame eftate ; that it was cornpofed by the great 
 
 mailer
 
 ON IS JE U S. 167 
 
 mafter in defence of the very Theopompus, whom his ilruftrious 
 pupil afterwards attacked ίο vehemently; and that the two fpeecl• 
 chough each of them apart was extremely dark, reflected fo ftrong a 
 light on each other, that both became perfectly luminous. The ac- 
 count, which I ihall now give, of the numerous family, in whi 
 fuch caufes arofe as employed the firft advocates of Greece, will in- 
 clude a commentary on both their fpeeches, and neceflarily comprife 
 an explanation of fevcral heads in the laws of Solon. 
 
 BUSELUS, a burgefs of OEon, was father of five fens, among 
 whom he diftributed his property ; and they became the heads of as 
 many diftincT: branches, which continued to flouriih and fpread 
 themfelves, till HAGNIAS died childlefs, and, though an attempt 
 was made to prove the contrary, inteftate. His fortune was not 
 much more than fix hundred pounds ; but no fortune ever gave birth 
 to fo much litigation, and, confecujently, to fo much knaverv. 
 Two very different ftories are told concerning the merits of the firft 
 claimants ; one, which the reader will recoiled, by Ifasus in the 
 perfon of Theopompus, and another by Demofthenes in the perfon of 
 Solitheus, who married Phylomache, the fecond of that name. If 
 we believe Theopompus, who does not appear in a very favourable 
 light, Hagnias actually made a will in favour of his niece, with a 
 iubftitution to Glauco after her death ; but ] ;s no particular ac- 
 
 count, how Phylomache, if the will was valid, was able to obtain 
 a fentence againft Glauco, and to difj oflefs him : Soiitheus, on the 
 other hand, aflerts, that the will was proved to be a forgery, znd 
 that the whole was the contrivance of Theopompus himfelf, who 
 gave the principal evidence for Glauco, and a brother ■ named 
 
 Glaucus. It is agreed, that Theopompus aft commenced a 
 
 fuit againft Phylomache, and fucceeded in it ; butlfaeus a lit 
 
 fucceis to the fuperiority of his title, while Demofthenc,-. imputes it to 
 
 artifice by which the jury were circumvented ; for he avers, . that 
 the two half-brothers of Hagnias, dellgning to aiiift Theopompus in 
 their turn, joined with him and one Eupolemus in the 
 
 eftate ; that the archon, therefor.•, | itted the claimants to lp<
 
 168 A C Ο Μ Μ Ε Ν Τ Λ R Υ 
 
 four times as long as the defendant, for each of them had the fame 
 quantity of water in his clepfydra ; that the confederates gave falfe 
 evidence for one another, and told a number of grofs lies, which 
 Phylom'ache's advocate had not time to refute; that the jurymen 
 were perplexed and divided ; but that Theopompus gained his caufe 
 by a vevy fmall majority. 
 
 The next fuit, which the fortune of Hagnias produced, was the 
 information againil Theopompus, for whom Ilkus wrote his tenth 
 ipeech ; and in that alfo (whether juftly or not we ihall afterwards 
 examine) he had a verdict in his favour ; for, after his death, we 
 find his fon, the younger Macartatus, in poflefiion of the difputed 
 eftate ; and it is he, againil: whom the huiband of Phvlomache fet 
 up a claim for the third Eubulides : what was the event of this la ft 
 fuit, it is impofiible to difcover with certainty; but, in order to fix 
 with tolerable accuracy the reipective merits of all the claimants, I 
 ihall recapitulate the Athenian laws of inheritances and devifes, com- 
 paring them, as I proceed, with thoie of fome other nations, ancient 
 and modern, and ihall thence take occafion to illuftrate the nine pre- 
 ceding fpceches of Ulcus. 
 
 I ihall firft review the laws of heirihip bv proximity of blood ; 
 and, fecpndly, the laws of heirihip by appointment, which was 
 either by adoption during life, or by teftamentary difpoiition ; and, 
 under the laft head, I ihall coniider firft how wills were made at 
 Athens, and next how they were revoked. 
 
 T. Had Hagnias died leaving only male iifue, his fons would have 
 taken equal ihares of his inheritance, like heirs in gavelkind ; a law no 
 lefs favourable to that juft balance of property which Solon meaned 
 to eftablilh, than the law of primogeniture is agreeable to the mili- 
 tary ariftocracies, in which it has prevailed ; but there was another 
 principle in the Athenian government, which, without counteract- 
 ing the fpirit of equality, kept the partibility of eftates within pro- 
 per limits ; for, as the moft expenfive offices were filled by men of 
 a certain cenfus, it was highly expedient that there ihould always 
 .be a number of citizens moderately rich, who might contribute to 
 
 the
 
 ON I S Μ U S. 169 
 
 the publick charges, without being too much elevated by opulence 
 above the common level. Hence proceeded the complaints againil 
 men, who had diffipated or aliened an eilate, out of which gallies 
 uied to be furniihed, and entertainments provided. 
 
 Thus, in the lixth fpeech, Thrafyllus urges with vehemence, and 
 even calls witnefles to prove, that the fortune of Apollodorus, which 
 was known to have contributed largely to the naval expenfes, had 
 been reduced to nothing by the negligence and profulion of his ad- 
 verfaries ; and he afterwards declares the duty of a good citizen to 
 conliil in preferving his eilate, and in paying his contributions with 
 alacrity : fo, in the tenth, Theopompus guards againil any iulpicion 
 of having aliened a certain farm with a view to an exemption from 
 ferving the publick offices ; and, in the third fragment, the guar- 
 dian cenfures his ward for having fold and difperfed his patrimony» 
 which he might have rendered ferviceable to his country and honour- 
 able to himfelf. Now, as thefe accufations were attended with very 
 i'erious ill confequences to thofe who deferved them, as moil of 
 the Athenians were animated by a true fpirit of patriotifm, and as a 
 gentleman, proud, poor, and idle, -was a moniler unknown in their 
 ilate, I cannot help conlidering the law of partible inheritances as 
 ftot only the moil natural, but at Athens even the wifeil, and the 
 law of primogeniture as a great evil introduced into fome countries 
 for the prevention of greater. It were fuperfluous to add, as the 
 f abject has been exhauiled by others, an enumeration of the many 
 illuilrious nations, who have ihown no preference to the ftrft-born, 
 or to difcourfe, after Selden and the Milna, on the double portion 
 of the Hebrews : but it may be necetfary to obferve, that the fuccci- 
 fion inflirpes prevailed, moil probably, at Athens in the defend- 
 ing line, as it certainly did in the collateral : thus, had BuTelus died 
 worth five talents, leaving his ions Cleocritus, Stratius, Hagnia •, 
 Habron, and the children only of his fon Eubulides, each of the 
 four ions would have taken one talent, and Philager, Euclemon, 
 Calliftratus, reprefenting their father, would have fuccecded to 
 twenty minas each. This would have occafioned a iubdivilion of 
 
 Ζ the
 
 iyo A COMMENTARY 
 
 the fortune left by Bufclus ; but the induftry of bis grandfons, in— 
 cited and rewarded by the fpirit of the conftitution, would foon have 
 raifed their property to a juft height, as a well almoft exhaufted by 
 too large draughts is quickly and plentifully fupplied by the fpring. 
 
 II. If Hagnias had left ifiiie male and female, the fons would have 
 taken equal {hares of his eftate, but muft have afligned fuitable portions 
 to their lifters : thus if Solitheus had died worth three talents, Eu- 
 bulides, whom he had emancipated, would have been entitled to no 
 part of them, but Sofia, Meneilheus, and Calliftratus, would have 
 received each a talent, and muft have contributed to their filler's for- 
 tune ; and thus, on the death of the firft Hagnias, his only foil. 
 Polemo would have inherited his whole eftate, but muft have given 
 Phylomache in marriage with a portion conformable to his inherit- 
 ance : what ihare of it was in this manner transferred to the lifters, 
 I cannot determine ; but am inclined to think that the alignment 
 of it was left to the affection and liberality of the brothers. It was• 
 reckoned highly difgraceful to be ungenerous on thefe occafions ; and, 
 in the fpeech on the eftate of Ariftarchus, the complainant recom- 
 mends himfelf to the favour of the jury, by informing them, that, 
 al though his pojftjjions were inconjideraole, he bad given hisji/ler in 
 marriage -with as handfime a portion as he could fpare. Befides, a fuf- 
 picion of illegitimacy was caft upon girls, who were married with a 
 lfnall fortune in proportion to the eftate of their fathers ; thus, when 
 Pyrrhus left three talents, and his daughter Phila was taken by Xe- 
 nocles with a thoufand drachmas only, there was great reafon to be- 
 lieve, arid Ifaeus warmly contended, that her huiband knew her to 
 be illegitimate, fince he married her without even a tenth part of her 
 paternal ejate : but here I cannot help diffenting from Perizonius, 
 who feems to have collected from this paflage, that the tenth part 
 of the inheritance was the ufual portion given to lifters among the 
 Athenians, as it was among the Hebrews ; for I find no trace in the 
 other fpeeches of any' fixed rule ; and even, in the very caufe to 
 which I have juft alluded, eighteen minas, or the tenth part of three 
 talents, would have been thought a moderate portion out of an in- 
 heritance,
 
 ON I S JE U S. 171 
 
 heritance, which at Athens was efteemed confiderable ; hut Phila 
 had not near fo much ; and it happened, that the fortune or" a thou- 
 fand drachmas, which fhe received from her brother by adoption, 
 was exactly the «$«#, or baflard's part, which was ufually allotted 
 to an illegitimate child. It is probable, that the portion was often 
 adapted to the circumitances of the huiband ; for twenty minas were 
 given to Stratocles, and as many to Theopompus, with their re- 
 fpective wives, whence the latter proves the fcantinefs of his own 
 fortune, urging that β fmall a fum would not have been given to a 
 man of large pojjejjions ; and the huiband, indeed, was commonly 
 bound in the os^oivmov, or marriage fettlement, to affign a part or his 
 own eilate of equal value at leair. with the portion, as a fecurity for 
 its being reftored to the perfon who gave it, in cafceither ot a di- 
 vorce or of the wife's death without iflue ; and the property thus 
 fettled was diftinguiihed, like all other hypothecated eftaf.es, by 
 fmall columns and infcriptions, called 'όροι, erected on the land, or 
 affixed to the houfes, and containing a fpecifkation of the fum for 
 which they were pledged. This method, which refembled the 
 donatio propter nupiias of the ancient Romans, appears more fimple 
 than our modern fettlements ; and, as the Athenian άττο-ψψχτοί. or 
 hypothecations were open and notorious, like our old feoffments, they 
 feem to have provided for the iflue of the marriage no lefs erredfually 
 than the eitates in ftricl fettlement fo ftrongly tied by our convey- 
 ancers ; but, as to the fortunes of daughters, our trulls and long 
 terms, over which our courts of equity have fo ample a jurildidion, 
 fecure a provifion for them with more determinate exadtnefs than 
 the law of Athens ; where however it is reafonable to believe, that 
 the Archon could compel the fons to aflign competent portion?. 
 
 In this place I cannot forbear mentioning an initance in our own 
 law, where juiHce, reafon, and fair analogy, are not yet, as I appre- 
 hend, completely difengaged from the ihackles of feudal ilricfnefs. 
 The celebrated rule, that, " wherever an eftate of freehold is given 
 " to the anceftor, and a fubfequent limitation is made, in the fame 
 *' conveyance, to his heirs, or the heirs of his body, he ihall -take in 
 
 Ζ 2 " the
 
 17*. A COMMENTARY 
 
 " the firft cafe a fee-fimple, and in the iecond, a fee-tail," has cer- 
 tainly prevailed for near five hundred years ; and, as it is not onlv 
 venerable on account of its antiquity, but has been the bafis of rnoft 
 titles in the kingdom, let us hope that it will prevail for as many 
 centuries more, without caring whether it was originally contrived, 
 that the lord might not lofe his wardihip, relief, and other profits of 
 His feignory, or whether it was deiigned to facilitate the alienation 
 of property, and to prevent the inconvenience of leaving the fee in 
 abeyance ; or, laftly, whether it only means that, in general, thofe 
 who take by the name of heirs, muft take in. the capacity of heirs,., 
 that is by defcent, and confequently that their anceftor muft have & 
 defcendible eftate. Whatever might have been the reafon of the rule, 
 (and each of the juft-mentioned reafons is iupported by great autho- 
 rities,) it could only have been a fubfidiary or fuppletory rule, cal- 
 culated to ascertain the intention of parties, where other evidence of. 
 intention was either wanting or doubtful : but, where the meaning- 
 is clear beyond a ihadow of doubt, that theperfons defcribed as heirs 
 are not to take in that quality, and efpecially where hardihips and 
 contradictions woidd follow fuch a conftruclion, the rule ought in. 
 fenfe and reafon to give way, or rather it ought not to be called in 
 aid, when the intent is plain without it. Let us therefore fuppofe 
 that, in confideration of an intended marriage, the father of the wife 
 fettles an eftate upon the hufiand for his life, remainder to the wife for 
 her life, remainder to the heirs of his body on her to be begotten : no man 
 can harbour a doubt of the intention to fecure a proviiion for the if- 
 fue of the marriage ; yet what can reftrain the parents from levying 
 a fine or fuffering a recovery ? What can hinder the huiband from 
 aliening the eftate, diifipating the money arifing from it, like Xe- 
 naenetus in the eighth fpeech of Ifa?us, and leaving his children in 
 extreme indigence ? Had articles only been made before marriage in 
 the fame words, or had there been both articles and a fettlement re- 
 ferring exprefsly to them, equity would have made the huiband te- 
 nant for life with remainder in tail to the iflue ; but, if there had 
 been no executory agreement, and only a deed executed, I do not 
 
 j know
 
 ON I S JE U S. 173 
 
 know that any court would interfere, or even incline to give relief on 
 the ground of miitake, the parties having inadvertently ufed words, 
 which carry an eftate-tail, when they clearly intended a itricl: fet- 
 tlement ; yet if the intent be not indubitable, a court of equity 
 ought not to depart from the technical import of the terms even in 
 articles, and, if it be unqueftionable, a court of law, one would 
 imagine, ought to give it efficacy over artificial words, even in a 
 deed ; nor would refpectable authorities be wanting, if this were the 
 place for producing them, to prove, that " the words heirs or heirs 
 " of the body, are not to be conilrued as words of limitation, cither 
 " in a will or in a deed* when the intention of the teilator or of the 
 '■' parties is plainly declared, or manifeftly appears, that they ihall 
 f be conilrued as words of purchafc." This queition, indeed, is 
 not likely to arife on a marriage-fettlement, in which it is ufual to 
 give eftates for life to the parents, with contingent remainders in tail 
 to the firft and every other fon, after the interpofition of truftees to 
 preferve them ; but Γ have feen fettlements in the form above fup- 
 pofed ; and I thought this digremon proper enough in comparing the 
 laws of England with thofe of Athens, to which we will now. 
 return. 
 
 If the brother was an infant, and the fitters marriageable, it may 
 naturally be imagined, that the guardian allotted their portions out 
 of his ward's eilate ; and we find, that the four daughters of Strato- 
 cles were married with handfome fortunes during the guardianihip of 
 their uncle Theopompus : thus it appears, in the fourth caufe, that 
 Dicaeogenes gave the fitter of the complainant to Protarchides, with 
 a houfe in Ceramicus worth forty minas ; a large portion, if we con- 
 fider the many ihares into which the eftate had been divided, and the 
 inhuman conduot of Dica:ogenes towards his couiins. 
 
 It may feem ftrange that the law of SOLON, mentioned by 
 Plutarch, which prohibited the φίμη or portion, (as it is commonly 
 rendered) and ordained " that a bride mould bring in marriage no 
 " more than three robes and fome utcniils of fmall value," mould 
 in lefs than two centuries be fallen totally into difufe, efpecially as 
 
 ' all
 
 174 AGO Μ Μ Ε Ν Τ A R Υ 
 
 all Solon's ordinances had been made perpetual after the archonfhip 
 of Euclid by the law of Diodes ; but, although the words φψ:] and 
 ■ατξοιξ be generally ufed as fynonymous, yet Petit with great reafoa 
 fuppoles that they were different : the iegiflator could never have 
 forbidden the latter, or the fortune given by heirs with their female 
 relations, for which his inftitutions carefully provided ; but, as the 
 luxury of new-married women in apparel, trinkets, and furniture, 
 had become exceifive, he gave a feafonable check to it by reftraining 
 the φψ;κΙ or bridal prefents to three robes and a few moveables. Thus, 
 when Ciron gave his daughter to Nauiimenes with twenty-five 
 minas, together with clothes and fome little ornaments of gold, the 
 money appears to have been the ^ξοΊζ, and the reft, what was pro- 
 perly called φίρνη ; although the motive afligned by Plutarch for So- 
 lon's regulation, namely, that he would not have marriage confidered 
 as a vile traffick for gain, but as a contract founded on affection, and 
 intended for purpofes beneficial to the ftate, might have induced him 
 to aboliih or limit both the one and the other. At the fame time I 
 am aware, that the Ιξύττρακα of the more modern Greek jurifts were, 
 probably, the fame with the τσοίξάφψ/α,, or goods over and above the 
 portion, which are mentioned by Ulpian in the Digeft, and from 
 which our term paraphernalia is apparently borrowed ; but, on the 
 whole, I am perfuaded that there was a diftinction between the two 
 words in the ancient Attick dialect. In fome refpects the -προιζ itfelf 
 refembled our paraphernalia, as it was not devilable by the hufband, 
 nor confidered as his abfolute property ; but it had this further ad- 
 vantage, that it was not liable to the claims of his creditors, even 
 on a deficiency of aflets. 
 
 It will not be foreign from the fubject, to remark in this place, 
 that the cuftomary law of the old Arabians obliged every brother to 
 give his fifter in marriage with a fortune ; and that, in order to evade 
 this law, it was ufual among them to contract double marriages, one 
 man taking the fifter of another without a portion, and giving his 
 own fifter in return on the fame terms ; but this practice, which 
 they called Shigar 7 was declared illegal by Mahomed. The divifion 
 
 of
 
 ON I S JE U S. 175 
 
 of an inheritance enjoined in the fourth chapter of the Alcoran is 
 very remarkable ; it is there ordered generally, that a male β> all hare 
 the fare of 'two females', fo that, by the Mahomedan rule, Chari- 
 demus would have had two thirds, and Phanoitrate one third, of the 
 eftate left by their father Stratius : tor Selden is miilaken in fuppof- 
 ing, that each would have fucceeded to a moiety. Perhaps, this 
 ordinance of the Aiiatick lawgiver was more conlbnant to natural 
 juftice than that of Solon, who feems to have made the fortunes of 
 Athenian women too vague and precarious. 
 
 III. Let us now put the cafe,, that Hagnias had died leaving only 
 female iflue : the next of kin, who would have been entitled to the 
 fucceffion, had there been no children, might have claimed the 
 daughters in marriage, together with their inheritance, of which 
 their fons born in wedlock would have taken pofleihon at their full 
 age. If a fon was left, as in the former cafe, his fitter was called 
 ίττίττροίχ^ or porticnefs ; but a daughter, who had no brother, was 
 dittinguiihed by the name of επ/κλ'/?^,. or heirefs ; and this I men- 
 tion, becaufe the latter word occurs perpetually in the fpeeches of 
 Ifieus. Thus, in the ninth caufe, when the daughter of Arittarchus, 
 on the emancipation of Cyronides, and the death both of Demo- 
 chares and her fitter, became fole heirefs, her father's brother Arif- 
 tomenes, or, on his refufal, her firft coufin Apollodorus might have 
 applied to the Archon, and obtained a decree for taking her in mar- 
 riage; and, in the fame manner, Phylomache, the only daughter 
 of Eubulides, was claimed and married by Sofitheus, whofe title will 
 appear in a fubfequent part of this commentarv. The right of the 
 neareft kinfman to marry the heirefs was fo firmly ettabliihed, that- 
 even the act of her own father could not fuperfede it;: and hence 
 arole the moil iniquitous and intolerable of all the Athenian laws, 
 an odious remnant of the ancient inttitution, which Solon in part 
 abolilhed, that fates fjouhi remain for ever in the family of the de- 
 ceafed ; for we learn from the fecund fpeech, that even if a father had 
 given his daughter in marriage to a perfon whom he approved, yet, 
 if he died without legitimate ions, the next of kin might take her 
 
 frora
 
 ϊ 7 6 A C Ο Μ Μ Ε Ν Τ Κ R0Y 
 
 from her hufixmd and many her himfelf, and Ifirus mentions ic 
 •a known facl, that many men had by this law been deprived of then' 
 wives ι but Petit was clearly deceived in imagining, that the fame 
 law prevailed, when the father had devifed his property together 
 with his daughter ; for in that cafe the next heir was wholly ex- 
 cluded. Yet farther ; when the unjuft guardian Ariftomenes, in 
 defiance of the laAv, gave his niece without her eftate, and with 
 η portion only,, to the father of the complainant, and when her huf- 
 band afterwards applied to her kinfmen for the inheritance, to which 
 ihe was entitled, and which they illegally poflefied, they compelled 
 him to defift from his claim by threatening to dillblve his matrimo- 
 nial union, and to demand his wife for one of them, as her neareft 
 relation. 
 
 Nothing can be conceived more cruel than the {late of vaffalage 
 in which women were kept by the polilhed Athenians, who might 
 have boafted of their tutelar goddefs Minerva, but had certainly no 
 pretentions on any account to the patronage of Venus. All unnecef•• 
 fary reftraints upon love, which contributes ib largely to relieve the 
 anxieties of a laborious life, and upon marriage, which conduces lb 
 eminently to the peace and good order of fociety, are odious in the 
 higheft degree ; yet at Athens, whence arts, laws, humanity, learn-• 
 ing, and religion are faid to have fprung, a girl could not be legally 
 united with the object of her affection, except by the confent of her 
 τιΰςι(&• or controller, who was either her father or her grandfire, her 
 brother or her guardian : their do?nination over her was transferred 
 to the huiband, by whom ihe was uiually confined to the minute de- 
 tails of domeftick economy, and from whom ihe might in fome in- 
 fiances be torn, for the fake of her fortune, by a fecond coufin$ 
 whom probably ihe detefted ; nor was her dependence likely to 
 ceafe ; for we may collecf from the fpeech on the eftate of Philo- 
 c~t emon, that even & widow was at the difpolal of her neareft kinf- 
 man, either to be married by him, or to be given in marriage, ac" 
 cording to his inclination or caprice. Yet more ; a huiband might 
 bequeath his wife, like part of his eftate, to any man whom he' 
 
 chofe
 
 ON I S Μ U S. 177 
 
 chofe for his fucceflbr ; and the mother of Demoilhenes was actually 
 left by will to Aphobus, with a portion of eighty miaas : the form 
 of fuch a bequefr, is preferved in the fufr. fpecch againif. Stephanus, 
 and runs thus : — " This is the laft will of Pafio the Acharnean. 
 " I give my wife Archippe to Phormio, with a fortune of one talent 
 " in Peparrhethus, one talent in Attica, a houfe worth a hundred 
 ?* minas, together yvith the female flaves, the ornaments of gold, 
 *' and whatever elle may be in it." For all thefe hardihips, which 
 the Athenian women endured, a very poor compenfation was made 
 by the law of Solon, which ordered their huibands to ileep with 
 them three times a month. 
 
 Whether the fairer, but weaker, part of our ipecies ihould, in 
 well-ordered ftates, fucceed to an entire inheritance, and dilpofe of 
 it as their pamon or fancy prompts them, may admit of fome doubt; 
 and we find on this point a remarkable diveriity in the laws of dif- 
 ferent nations, and of the fame nation in different ages ; on which 
 iubject Perizonius has written a learned diflertation. The moil an- 
 cient fuit, perhaps, of which any account remains, was that infli- 
 tuted by the five daughters of Zelophehad, who died without fons, 
 for a pojfejfion among the brethren of their father : they gained their 
 caufe ; and it was thenceforth a rule among the Jews, that "if a 
 " man died, having no ion, his inheritance ihould go to his daugh- 
 " ter ;" but when it was remunerated, that, if Mahla, Noa, Hagla, 
 jVIilca, and Tirza, were to marry the fons of other tribes their in- 
 heritance would be taken from the tribe of their father, the divine le- 
 giflator anfwered, Let the daughters of Zelophehad marry whom they 
 think bef ; only in the family of their father s tribe let them marry ; 
 and if Solon had made no other reftriction, his ordinance would 
 have been more conformable to nature and reaibn ; but the narrow 
 policy of keeping an. eftate confined in a fingle ii.mily can be j uni- 
 fied by no good principle whatever. 
 
 The pagan Arabs, although divided into tribes, had no fuch re- 
 ftraint upon their natural inclinations ; for there is not a more com- 
 mon topick in their ancient elegiack poems than the il-paration of two 
 
 Α ά lover?
 
 178 A COMMENTARY 
 
 lovers by the removal of die tents belonging to their refpe&ivc tribes,' 
 which were not connected, like thole of the Hebrews and Greeks, 
 bv any regular bond of union, but feem to have been diftincf : 
 independent communities : as their inflitutions, indeed, were per- 
 fectly military, they excluded women, who were unable to ie-v< 1 
 their wars, from all right of fucceffion to property ; but Mahomed, 
 like another Jultinian, abolilhed this law of his countrymen, and 
 ordained exprefsly, that females fiould have a determinate part of what 
 their parents and kinfmen left, whether it 'were little or •whether it were 
 much, allowing a double portion to the males, on account, fays he, of 
 the advantages which God has given them over the other fix. 
 
 Among the early inhabitants of Rome, both males and females 
 were permitted to inherit the poiTeinons of their anceftors ; and this 
 appears to have been the law of the twelve tables, which were de- 
 rived in part from the inftitutions of Solon ; but the middle jurif- 
 ptndence, departing from the old fimplicity fo favourable to legif- 
 lation, admitted fillers only to a fraternal inheritance, and rejected 
 all other female relations from the agnatick fucceffion, as if they 
 had been perfect ftrangers, till the Praetorian equity mitigated this 
 rigour by degrees ; and Juitinian, whofe benevolence in this reipect 
 has been highly commended, reftored the Decemviral law,' with 
 fome additional directions of his own. The feudal law, like that of 
 the old Arabians, and from the fame principle of military policy, 
 generally excluded daughters, unlefs there had been a fpecial invef- 
 titure of their father in favour of them; and it is almoft fuperfluous to 
 mention the ftrictnefs of the Salick feudifts, who preferred one fex 
 to the total excluiion of the other : our own laws obferve a medium 
 between their feverity and the latitude of the imperial conftitution. 
 
 IV. If we fuppofe that Hagnias had left neither fons nor daugh- 
 ters, but grandchildren only, fome difficulties may arife in adjufting 
 the divifion of his inheritance: there might have been grandlbns 
 alone, or granddaughters alone, or both grandfons and granddaugh- 
 ters ; and if they had all been the children of one fon or one daugh- 
 ter, I conceive that the three preceding rules are exactly applicable 
 
 to
 
 ON I s M- : U S. 179 
 
 to thefe three cafes ; for it is certain, that, in the descending line, 
 no diiHnclion was made at Athens between a title conveyed through 
 a female or through a male, as there was in Rome, till the new or- 
 dinances relaxed the ancient ftri&nefs. This appears evidently from 
 the fecond fpeech, where Ifaeus reprefents it as impoiiible for Endius 
 to have been ignorant, that, had Phila been the only legitimate 
 daughter of Pyrrhus, her childre?i would have fucceeded to their grand- 
 father 's whole e/late ; and this was the very title of Ciron's grandlons; 
 for the writer of the Greek argument to the feventh fpeech was tin- 
 queitionably miitaken in luppofmg the caufe to befrong in equity 
 but weak in law, and in imagining that the orator moit artfully fup- 
 prefled the rule concerning the preference given to thofe who claim 
 through males ; a rule which did not relate to lineal defendants, as 
 we learn with certainty from the fpeech on the eftate of Apollodorui : 
 had the fecond Phylomache, therefore, died before her father Eubu- 
 lides, her four fons and daughter would have been, on his death, 
 in the fame fituation, as if they had been his children. We may 
 next conceive, that BUSELUS had furvived his five fons, and 
 then died, leaving as many talents to be diitributed among all their 
 iflue : it is probable, that Oenanthe would have taken, as heirefs, 
 the ihare of her father Cleocritus ; and that the daughter of Habron 
 alfo would have had one talent ; fecondly, that Charidemus and Po- 
 lemo would have taken each a fifth part of the inheritance, giving 
 marriage-portions relpeilively to their fillers ; and thirdly, that the 
 remaining talents would, as I remarked before, have been divided 
 equally among the three fons of Eubulides ; and thus, if Charide- 
 mus had been dead, the great-grandfons Theopompus, Stratocles, 
 and Stratius would have received each of them a third part of his al- 
 lotment, or twenty minas ; and, had Polemo been gone, his talent 
 would have defcended to HAGNIAS with the fame obligation to 
 give his filler a fortune : in fact the inheritance of Hagnias was two 
 talents and fifty minas, fo that Bufelus muft have left fourteen ta- 
 lents and ten minas, or above three thouiand pounds fterling, un- 
 
 A a 2 . lefs
 
 i8o A COM Μ EN Τ A R Υ 
 
 lels we fuppofe, that his fon Hagnias, and his grandfon Polemo, nad' 
 augmented their fortune by diligence or parfimony. 
 
 I mud here obferve, that I have no certain authority for this fuc- 
 ceffion in jtirpes to a grandfather's eftate at Athens : it is clear, in- 
 deed, from the fixth fpeech of Ifeus, that a daughter fiared her pa- 
 ternal inheritance equally with a grandfon by another daughter deceafed; 
 but if the firit Hagnias had furvived both Polemo and Phylomache, 
 I cannot fee what claim Eubulides II. could have made to his pro- 
 perty, except on a fuppofition, that the grandchildren fucceeded in 
 capita ; for he could have gained nothing by reprefenting his mother^ 
 who was herfelf no heirefs, but a portionefs only, and would have 
 been wholly excluded by her brother. 
 
 There is a difficult paffage in the fpeech on the eftate of PHI- 
 LOCTEMON, which relates to the queftion now before us, and 
 which feems to have been imperfectly explained by Dejiderius Heral- 
 dus, whofe Animadverfions on Sahnafius, although equal in virulence 
 to the invectives of Milton, are a very rich mine of learning on the 
 fubject of Attick and Roman law. His words are thefe : " The 
 " S7[ thxeea-ic», or contefl for marrying an heirefs, took place, not only 
 ** if one or more daughters were left without a brother, but alio if 
 " one of them remained fingle, after their father had given the reft 
 '* in marriage ; as we may fairly collect from the fpeech of Ifasus on 
 " the inheritance of Phihclemon, where it appears, that Euctemon had 
 " left leveral daughters, one of whom was unmarried, together with 
 " a fon who furvived him ; and that a man, who called himfelf their 
 " neareft kinfman, claimed this daughter, whofe fhare of Eucte- 
 *' mon's eftate was become liable to context. Now that Eucte- 
 " mon had feveral daughters, and that one of them was unmarried, 
 " is evident from the fpeech ; and the following paflage alludes to 
 " the ίτηίικκα-ία : ** Obferve too the afurance of Androcles, who firfi 
 *' claimed for himfelf the daughter of Euclemon, as iffhe had been the 
 heirefs, and infifled on his right to a fifth part of the property, as if 
 it had been liable to litigation, yet has WW averred that Euttemon 
 left a legitimate fon. Has he not by this clearly conviSled himfelf of 
 4 *' having
 
 ON I S JE U S. 181 
 
 *' having given falfe evidence? He certainly has; for, had a Jon of 
 " liuclemon begotten in wedlock been living, his daughter could not have 
 " been heirefs, nor could the eflate have been open to controverfy. By 
 " theie words he impeached the proteftation of Androcles, whoaflert- 
 " ed the right of Antidorus to Euctemon's inheritance, as his legiti- 
 " mate fon, but had himfelf dtmonftrated the faliity of his own 
 " averment, by claiming the unmarried daughter of the decealed as 
 " her next of kin, together with a fifth part of the eftate, (we mu ft 
 " iuppofe that four daughters were married) which he could never 
 " have done, had a legitimate ion of Euftemon been alive; lince, 
 " in that cafe, the daughters were excluded from the fucceihon, and 
 " received portions from their father or their brother." How plau~ 
 iible this appears ! but I&us exprefsly tells the court, that Eucfemon 
 had only two daughters, the widow of Chaereas, who had one 
 daughter, and the wife of Phanoftratus, -who had two fon s : now 
 Ergamenes, Hegcmon, and Philoctemon all died without iffue be- 
 fore their father, and we muft imagine, when we are examining the 
 claim of Androcles, that the laft of them had no fon by adoption or 
 will ; in which cafe, if the wives of Chasreas and Phanoftratus took 
 as daughters and heirefles of Euclemon, each of them would have 
 been entitled to a moiety of iris fortune, or, if the fecond daughter 
 had been alio dead, her fhare would have been divided between Chas- 
 reftratus and his brother ; but I am inclined to believe, that they 
 claimed as reprefintatives of their three brothers, and it will pre- 
 fently be mown in the proper place, how the widow, whom Andro- 
 cles demanded in marriage, might have had a right to no more than 
 zfijth part of the inheritance. 
 
 V. In regard to the melancholy fuccejfiov, as it was juftly called, of 
 parents to the pofteflions of their deceafed children, there has been 
 a great variety in the ordinances or cuftoms of ancient and modern 
 nations both in Europe and Alia. The Jewiih law of inheritances 
 depended almoft wholly on the following rules, ι . The children of 
 the deceafed luccecded to his property, and, on failure of them, his 
 father inherited. 2. The heir being dead, he was n.prelented by 
 
 his
 
 1 82 A C Ο Μ Μ Ε Ν Τ Α Ρ, Υ 
 
 his iti'ue. 3. Males were preferred to females in equal degrees. If 
 SofitheiiSj therefore, had been a native of Judea, his eftate would 
 h&ve defcended to his four ions, the eldeiT, Sofia, taking his double 
 ilia re ; but if all of them had been dead without children, the daugh- 
 ter would have taken the whole : ihe dying childleis, the property 
 would have attended to Sofia 1. the father of Solitheus ; and his heir 
 would have been traced exactly in the lame manner ; that is, the 
 brothers of the decealed would have fucceeded as parceners, but the 
 eldeft would not have been entitled to a double portion : on detault 
 of brothers and their ifluc, the lifters would have been called to the 
 fucceffion ; and, none of them or their children being alive, the in- 
 heritance would have gone up to Calliftratus the grandfather, if 
 living ; or, if not, to his fons, the uncles of Solitheus, and their 
 ifiue, or, on failure of that line, to the aunts ; but, had they too 
 been dead without children, and had the great-grandfather Eubu- 
 lides I. been alive, it would frill have afcended to him, or devolved 
 upon Philager and Eu&emon the great uncles, and the heirs of 
 their bodies ; and thev alfo failing, it would have been inherited by 
 the other fons of the anceiror Bufelus, and their defcendants repre- 
 fenting them, lb as to be diitributed, according to the flocks, among 
 all the agnatick branches, the half-blood and the maternal relations 
 being wholly rejected. Thele rules of defcent, which are conciiely 
 laid down in the book of Numbers, and fully explained in the Mif- 
 na, have the merit of extreme fimplicity ; and are in truth no more 
 than limitations to all the anceftors fucceflively, and the heirs male 
 of their bodies, with remainders to their ifluc female, in the fame 
 manner as the children of the perfon decealed inherit his eftate, but 
 without the fame regard to primogeniture. 
 
 At Athens, as well as at Jerufalem, the mother was excluded 
 from the inheritance of, her ion : this we learn from the fpeech on 
 the eftate of Hagnias, where Theopompus mentions the claim let 
 up for the mother of the deceafed; a relation, he admits, the nearef of 
 all by nature ; but not recognifed by law among the degrees of fucceffion ; 
 and he prevailed, accordingly, by the fuperior ftrength of his title. 
 
 There
 
 ON I S Μ U S. 183 
 
 There is, indeed, another part of the fame fpeech, which might 
 lead us at firft to imagine, that fhe was only poftponed to all the heirs 
 on the paternal fide, and that fhe took an equal mare with a brother 
 of the half blood ; but the preceding pafi'age is exprefs, that fhe was 
 not admilhble to the inheritance ; and it may be remembered, that 
 flie bore a double relation to Hagnias, both as his mother and his fe- 
 cond coufin ; for fhe was the iifter of Stratius, and the Joror germane 
 of Theopompus himfelf. 
 
 The Decemviral law, which feems in this inftance to have been 
 borrowed from that of Solon, excluded mothers from the right of 
 fucceffion to their children ; but this rigour was mitigated by the le- 
 nity of the Praetors, who fometimes gave relief, on the ground of 
 proximity, by their edicls Unde Cognati ; and Claudius Casfar would 
 not fuffer a mother to be deprived of the fmall confolation, which the 
 fortune of her deceafed fon could afford her. It appears from the 
 fpeech of Cicero for A. Cluc-ntius, that, by the municipal law of 
 Larinum, a borough-town of Italy, the poiTeiTions of Avitus would 
 have gone to his mother SaiFra, if he had died inteftate ; but the 
 law of the twelve tables prevailed at Rome, till after the fubverfion of 
 the republick : the amendment of that unnatural ftriclnefs was be- 
 gun by the juft-mentioned Emperor, promoted by the Senatus con- 
 jullum TertuHteMum in the time of Hadrian', and completed, with 
 fome reafonable re ft notions, by the Juftinianean code. 
 ■ Our ftatuteof diftributions, which was penned by a civilian, and 
 in fome meafure refembles the Roman law, gives the perianal effects 
 of inreftates, who die without wife or ifllie, to his mother, as well 
 as his father, in excluiion of their other children ; and the ftatuteof 
 James the Second, like the novel conifitutions, ordained, that the 
 mother ihould take an equal fhare with the brothers and filers, and 
 the reprefentatives of them : but the principles of the feudal policy, 
 from which our fyftem of real property was derived, made it impof- 
 fible for lineal anceftors to inherit ; and, although our Henrv the 
 Firft, like the enapetor Claudius, reftored the right of fucceffion in 
 the afcending line, yet the old rigour lull prevails in England, as 
 
 the
 
 i84 A C Ο Μ Μ Ε Ν Τ A R Υ 
 
 the lame rule, drawn from the fame fource, obtains alfo in France. 
 Whether a Circular maxim was adopted by the ancient Arabs, to 
 whole military inftitutions it l'eems agreeable, I have no certain 
 knowledge ; few monuments of that people remaining, except their 
 wild longs on the lubjects of love and war ; but Mahomed exprefsly 
 ordered, that " even if a man left a child, his parents mould have 
 " each of them a iixth part of his poffefiions ; that, if he died child- 
 " lefs, his mother fhould take a third part, or if he had brethren, 
 " a lixth, after payment of his debts and legacies :" as a reafon for 
 this ordinance he adds, " You know not whether your parents or 
 " your children confer upon you the greater benefit." The fuccef- 
 ϋυη of attendants might have been repugnant to the very eflence of 
 feuds ; but our laws would have been more natural, as well as con- 
 venient, if the tranfmilrion of all property had been directed by near- 
 Iv the lame rules, and the diftinction between lands and goods had 
 been left to philolbphical analyfts and fpeculative lawyers. 
 
 The maxim in Littleton prohibited only the lineal afcent of an in- 
 heritance ; but at Athens the collateral afcendants alfo were exclud- 
 ed from the lucceffion ; and this appears to have been the reafon, 
 why, if no teftamenfary guardian had been appointed, the Archon 
 ufually gave the guardianship of the infant heir to his uncle, in con- 
 formity to the la\v of Solon, which directed that none βιοηΐά be nomi- 
 nated guardians, who would inherit the εβ ate on the death of the minor; 
 an ordinance, which confirms the wifdom of our common law. 
 When the heir had feveral uncles, the magiftrate chofe one of them 
 according to his dilcretion : thus Dmias was appointed guardian to 
 his nephews, the grandfons of Polyarchus ; for, although on failure 
 of their paternal and maternal kinlmen within the limited degrees, 
 he might by poffibility have Succeeded jure agnationis, yet fo remote 
 a contingency was not confidered ; and guardians are exprelsly named 
 by the old grammarians among the y$g*i<i<4 or dijlant relations, by 
 whom Pha?nops complains in Homer that his poflefhons would be 
 divided, fince his two Ions, Xanthus and Thoon, had perifhed in 
 battle. Ariftomenes, for the fame reafon, was nominated guardian 
 
 to
 
 ON I s Μ U S. 185 
 
 to his brother's children ; and here we may take occafion to illuftrate 
 or correcl; the rule as to the marriage of he* relies to their nearefl kinf- 
 inen, who, if t bey had not been living, would have inherited the ejlate; 
 for the orator fays, that Ariltomenes had the option either to tflkf 
 his niece him/elf 'or demand her in marriage for his fon ; iince if ihe 
 had been dead, the fortune of Ariftarchus would have devolved upon 
 him, Cyronides having been previoufly emancipated : but no fmali 
 difficulty arlles from the fecond fpeech, in which it is faid more 
 than once, that, if Phila had been a legitimate child, and neither 
 of her coufins would have married her, fhe might have been claimed 
 by Lyiimenes, or Pylades, or Chaeron, who, if they were the ma- 
 ternal uncles of Pyrrhus, as I firft imagined, could not poffibly have 
 been his heirs, and, if they were his paternal uncles, muil have 
 been poftponed to all his kinfmen, as far as the fecond coufins, both 
 on his father's and on his mother's fide ; fo that we muft fuppofe, 
 either that he had no fuch kinfmen, or that the rule before laid 
 down is erroneous, and that an heirefs might be claimed by her re- 
 lation* in the nearejl degree, whether he could have inherited the 
 eftate or not. 
 
 The perpetual exclufion of the maternal uncle from the right of 
 fucceilion, would naturally induce the Archon to appoint him guar- 
 •dian to his filter's fon ; but, if any juft exception could be made to 
 him by the mother he rfelf or any other friend, he might certainly 
 be fuperleded : thus Diocles, a man accufed of the blackeft crimes, 
 obtained the guardianihip of his nephew, by intimidating his filler, 
 and preventing her from oppofing his claim ; but Thudippus, who 
 had been at variance with his brother Euthycrates, and was even fuf- 
 pefted of having occafioned his death, was not thought a fit perfon 
 to manage the affairs of young Jftypbilus, whom the magiftrate 
 therefore committed to the care of his father-in-law Thcophraftus. 
 
 In the fourth fpeech we fee this delicate and important office given 
 to Dicicogefles III. who moil: infamoully abufed his trull, and who, if 
 his father Proxenus was really uncle to the deceafed, mull have been 
 propior fckrinus, or oncle o. la mode de Bretag?:e, as the French ex- 
 
 B b pref»
 
 1 86 Λ C Ο Μ Μ Ε Ν Τ A R Υ 
 
 prefs that relation, or Welch uncle, as we fometimes call if, to his 
 ward Cephifodotus and the other complainants ; whence it may be 
 inferred, that he was not within the degrees of fucceflion ; but this 
 point I cannot determine with pofitive certainty. 
 
 Among other articles of a guardian's duty at Athens, he was re- 
 quired bv the law to let the eltateof the minor to the bell advantage, 
 taking good fecurity from the leflees for the payment of the rents; 
 for which purpofe the guardian presented a petition^ and a jury was 
 chofen toeftabliih by their verdict the propriety of the tranfaction : 
 but a very remarkable paflage in the fifth ipeech of Ifaeus, ihows 
 how negligently this duty was performed ; for, when the aflbciates 
 of Alee, who had a complete afcendant over old Euclemon, falfely 
 fet forth in their petition, that her two haftards were the adopted 
 ions of Philodtemon and Ergamenes, and that they were teftamen- 
 tary guardians of the infants, praying that their eftates might be 
 let to farmers, the court not only neglected to call for proofs of thofe 
 allegations, but proceeded as of courfe, and would actually have de- 
 livered the property of Crurreftratus to a vile fet of impoftors, if 
 fome of his friends had not feafonably been informed of the confede- 
 racv. It is probable, indeed, that, when the proclamation was 
 made, the crier called upon all perfons interefted, to mow caule why 
 the land or houfes ihould not be let ; but they ihould have had longer 
 notice ; and the whole paflage is ίο difficult, that the more I reflect 
 on the nature and con equences of luch a confpiracy, the lefs I un- 
 derftand, how it could ultimately have availed the confpirators ; nor 
 is it poiiible, that luch a tranfaction could long have been kept fecret 
 at Athens, where ίο flagrant an infult on publick juftice would have 
 been punifhed with the lafl: feverity. Hera/Jus, who of all modern 
 iarifts has made the beft ufe of Ifaeus, comments at large on this paf- 
 lage, but exprefles fome little doubt of its true meaning : his inter- 
 pretation, however, coincides in general with mine ; and I incline 
 to agree alio with Petit, who conceives that the eftates of minors 
 were let in the month of September, or the beginning of the Attick 
 year, when the old kales ufually expired; at which time, as^heaf- 
 6 ferts,
 
 ON I S JE U S. 187 
 
 forts, the courts of juftice were fupplied with their proper complement 
 of jurymen, whence he explains the words of my author, " as loon 
 " as the courts were full," which Heraldus tranflates, prox'nnh judi- 
 cus et frequenti joro. I may add, that a fentence in the eighth 
 book of Pollux favours the notion of Petit ; but the investigation of 
 theie minute points belongs properly to notes. 
 
 It appears from many paflages of my author, as well as from the ele- 
 gant fpccch of Lyfias againft Diogiton, ard the known cafe of Demoft- 
 heneshimfelf, how frequently and fcandaloufly the Athenian guardians 
 injured their wards : thus Archedamus, who afiifted APOLLO- 
 DOR US as his advocate and advifer, gained two decrees by a great 
 majority againft Eupolis, who had defrauded his nephew of above 
 iix hundred pounds ; while the conduct of Dicceogenes and of Dio- 
 des was ftill more iniquitous. At the age of lixteen a ward might 
 compel his guardian to account by a fuit brought in his own name ; 
 and Demofthc-nes proceeded againft Aphobus in his feventeenth year ; 
 but it feerris to have been doubtful, whether, during his minority, 
 he could have maintained a civil action againft his guardian for an 
 eftate, to which he was entitled ; for, when Theopompus com- 
 plained that he was cruelly and unneceflarily harafled with an 
 εαταγίέλία or publick profecution, and urged, as an argument in his fa- 
 vour, that the friends of young Stratocles had not regularly claimed 
 his moiety of the inheritance, they anfwered, that a minor could not 
 bring a civil αδί'ιοη againfi his guardian : this he denied, and chal- 
 lenged them to produce the law, by which fuch an action was for- 
 didden ; nor does there feem, indeed, any good reafon for fuch a 
 prohibition. Had it been really as they contended, yet Theopompus 
 intimated an ingenious mode of obtaining juftice : " let a petition, 
 " fays he, be prefented to the Archon, that the eftate may be let 
 " to farm, and then will the leflee have a right to commence a fuit 
 " againft me, if I refufe to give him poiieiuon." 
 
 VI. As Hagnias in fact died childlefs, his brothers, the ions of 
 Polemo, would have inherited his poiieilions together, and their 
 children would have fucceeded to the flares of their fathers, by the 
 
 Β b 2 exprefs
 
 1 88 A COMMENTARY 
 
 exprefs words of Solon, to the exclufion, ,1 imagine, of the fillers; 
 and, if none of his brothers or their children had been living, the 
 lifters would have been called to the fucceffion ; but as the legiflator 
 has not faid that the children of fillers ihould fucceed to the ihares of 
 their mothers, it is natural to conclude, that they took in capita-; 
 and this is the only way, in which I am able to folve the difficulty 
 in the fpeech on the eftate of Philoclemon, where it appears that 
 Androcles claimed the widow of Chaereas with a fifth part of the in- 
 heritance ; for ihe would have been entitled to a greater ihare as 
 heirefs either of her father or of her brothers, unlefs we fuppofe, that 
 the property of Euflemon was divided in equal proportion among 
 the two fifters and their three children. Had Phanoftratus and his 
 wife been dead, leaving only one ion, and had the other lifter been 
 iingie or childlefs, the eftates of her brothers, dying inteftate and 
 without iflue, would have gone in moieties to Chasreftratus and his 
 »unt, according to the cafe of Thrafybulus, who took an equal ihare 
 with the wife of Pronapis, of the fortune left by his uncle the fon of 
 Eupolis ; but it feems probable, that if the wife of ^Efchines had 
 been alive, Ihe would have been entitled to a third part of the in- 
 heritance, 
 
 Tims, on the death of DICtEOGENES, his four lifters and all 
 their children feem to have had a title to equal portions of his eftate ; 
 for Menexenus and Cephilbdotus are laid exprefsly to have claimed 
 she fame ihare with their coufin, who fpoke in the caufe, and ivhofe 
 lifter (for I adopt the emendation propofed by Reiike) is alio faid to 
 have been entitled equally with her mother. Thefe rights were va- 
 ritaifly blended by the intermarriages of the firft coulins ; and here- 
 it may beobferved, that a brother was permitted at Athens, as we 
 learn from the feventh fpeech of Ifaeus, to marry the daughter of his 
 father, not of his mother; but I recollect no Athenian law by which 
 a man was reftrained from marrying the lifter of his widow, a con- 
 trail forbidden by the Alcoran, and commonly fuppofed to be prohi- 
 bited by the eighteenth chapter of Leviticus: my opinion on that 
 iubjecl, which I have had no reafun to change, has already been 
 
 made
 
 ON I S Μ U 9. 189 
 
 made publick by my much-lamented friend Mr. ALLE YNE, whofe 
 virtues, learning, and talents promifed nolefs honour to himfelf than 
 advantage to his country. We might here enumerate thirty cafes, 
 in which the pofleffions of a perfon deceafed were diftributable at 
 Athens to his Ions or daughters, brothers or lifters, or their children, 
 feverally or in concurrence ; but, if a diitinclion be made between 
 tbofe who claim throxigh females and thofe who derive their title 
 through males, the number will amount to ninety-fix ; and in all 
 the poliible cafes, the refpective claims may, I think, cafily be ad- 
 jufted by the help of the preceding rules.. 
 
 VII. I now proceed to the coufins of Hagnias, and muft begin 
 with remarking, that Solon made an efl'ential difference between 
 them and the lineal defcendants of a perfon deceafed, or his brothers 
 and fifters and their children ; for the_preference_JLQ males and the 
 ifiiie of males was applied to coufins only, and M. Auger is certainly 
 miftaken in fuppofing that nieces or the children of nieces were pofl- 
 poncd to nephews or their fons. The grammarian, who wrote the 
 Greek arguments to Ifasus, fell into the fame error; although the 
 diftinction is fully explained by the orator himfelf in the lixth fpeech ; 
 where lie fays, " that the law gives the fifter and the filter's fon an 
 *' equal fhare of their father's and their brother's fortune : but that 
 *' when a coufin dies, or any kinfman in a remoter degree, the 
 " male relations are called to the fucceiiion before the female ; for 
 " it is ena&ed, that males and the children of males, if any be 
 " living, ihall be preferred, although they are Ids nearly related to 
 " the deceafed." The children, therefore, of Chart's daughter had 
 a better title than his nephew, whether he was a brother's or a 
 idler's fon ; and the fine reafoning of Ifaeus on that point was, in- 
 deed, as he intimates himfelf, almoll luperfiuous ; but the filler of 
 Stratius II. who flood in the lame degree of relation to Hagnias with 
 Theopompus, was wholly excluded from the fuccefiion : thus, if 
 APOLLODORUS had died without having appointed an heir,, 
 his eftate would have defcended to Thrafybulus, his firlt conlin once 
 x-emoved, in preference to th. «fPronapis, who was nearer by 
 
 •one degree ; but as he waived his right and admitted the adoption of 
 7 ThrafylLus r
 
 iqo Λ C Ο ιλί Μ Ε Ν Τ Α Κ Υ 
 
 Thraiyllus, the female couiin and her huiband fet up a claim to thf 
 inheritance. 
 
 The Attick laws preierv-ed by Demoilhenes, and the recitals of 
 them in Ilkus, mutually correct and explain each other : thus the 
 law of inheritances in the ipeech againft Macartatus is fupplied by 
 the opening of the fpeech on the eftate of Hagnias ; and the paflage 
 above cited from my author mull: be amended from the compoiition 
 of his immortal pupil, bv adding the words provided that they behng 
 to the fame branch ; on which provifo the title of young Eubulides 
 i'olely depended. M. Auger has tranllated this paflage in the follow- 
 ing manner : " males and the children of males ihall have the prefe- 
 " rence, provided that they ftand in the fame degree, and be not 
 " farther removed ;" but he unqueftionably mifunderftood it ; and 
 the article of ' fuccejjlons, indeed, is the leaft perfect of any in his va- 
 luable work. 
 
 Few words in the Greek and Latin languages are more vague than 
 thofe, which exprefs the different relations of <χν;φ^? or caiifinage ; 
 but I muft leave a precife interpretation of them to philologers, and 
 ' be contented here with obferving, that, in Ifa?us and Demoilhenes, 
 άνίφιοι always mean the fons of brothers and lifters, or firfi couiins, 
 whofe children, or the fecond couiins, were called d vr^ic^ol bv the 
 Athenians, and by the Romans, fobrini ; which laft relation both 
 Eubulides II. bv his father Philacer, and the three fons of Chari- 
 demus, bore to Hagnias, whofe property was in difputc. A firft 
 coulin once removed was alio diftinguiilied by the name o f an φια^ς , 
 or fon of the ανφος : thus Cleon and ASTYPHILUS were firft 
 couiins ; and the fon of Cleon was «κψ/«3»ί to the deceafed, but not, 
 I believe, converfely ; although the fons of Aityphilus and of Cleon 
 A\ould have been reciprocally t£vs$u£ol to each other. The attentive 
 reader muit. have anticipated my remark, that Cleon would have been 
 heir at law to his firft coulin, if his father Thudippus had not been 
 adopted by another family ; and this was the title of Hagnon and 
 Hagnotheus to the eftate of NICOSTRATUS: thus, on the 
 death of Hagnias, the fon of his aunt Phylomache was entitled to 
 
 the
 
 ON I S Μ U S. 191 
 
 the fuccefiion ; for, although he derived his relation to the deceafed 
 through a female, yet Theopompus, who claimed wholly through 
 males, belonged to a different branch or family, namely, to that of 
 Stratius I. ; and Woliius, as Perizonius ohferves, was miftaken in 
 iuppoiing that Theopompus had the better title. Had a brother of 
 Polemo, indeed, left a fon, he would have excluded Eubulides, 
 and not only he, but his fon too, although in a remoter degree, would 
 have been preferred. On failure of firft coufins and their children, 
 the J.cond coulins on the lather's fide were admitted to the inherit- 
 ance, which they took, as in their own right, in capita ; although 
 the firft coulins once removed would have taken infiirpes, as repre- 
 fienting their fathers : fo Theopompus, Stratocles, Stratius, Eubu- 
 lides, and Meneftheus, would have fucceeded to fifth parts of the 
 eftate, the daughter of Calliftratus being rejected, as well as Strato- 
 nides, the ion of Oenanthe ; but Theopompus, the only furviving 
 fecond coufin, would have been entitled to the whole, if Eubulides 
 had not borne a double relation to Hngnias, one part of which Ulcus 
 very artfully iupprefles. As to the claim fet up by the fon of Stra- 
 tocles, it feems to have been incapable of lupport ; for, although 
 there be fome little variation in the different copies of the law, yet 
 we may fafely conclude, that the children of fecond coulins were not 
 within the legal degrees of fucceffiori ; and fo the court at Athens 
 determined, for Theopompus died in poflemon of the whole fortune. 
 No fecond coufins being alive, the half-blood was admitted in the 
 fame order ; that is, the brothers and fillers, nephews and nieces, 
 on the mother's fide, or, on failure of them, the firft coufins and 
 their children, and, laftly, the fecoud coufins, but no farther ; for, 
 if no maternal kinfmen exifted within thole degrees, the agnati, or 
 next of kin on the paternal fide, were the heirs of law ; and their 
 proximity was traced by counting the degrees from the common an- 
 ceftor : thus, if Theopompus too had been gone, the half-brother 
 Glauco would have fucceeded ; or, he being dead without iifue, the 
 maternal firft coufins or iflue of Stratius II. and, perhaps, of Theo- 
 pompus and Stratocles. I mufl here again mention a moil difficult 
 
 pa!
 
 ι 9 ι A COMMENTARY 
 
 pafi'age in the tenth ipeech, to which I before alluded. It is there 
 faid exprefsly, that, " if Glauco had relinquiihed his claim, the 
 " mother of him and of Hagnias might then have juftly entered into 
 " litigation for the property of her fon ; and, as ihe would have 
 " diiputcd with perfons by iio means admiilible to the fucceffion, 
 " ihe would clearly have obtained a ientence for the moiety, both 
 " law and natural juftice confpiring in her favour." Now the mo- 
 ther of Hagnias was his fecond couiin on the father's fide; and, as 
 fuch, would have been entitled to his inheritance on failure of 
 males m the fame degree, to the exclufion, as one would have ima- 
 gined, of the half-blood : how then could her fon Glauco have 
 claimed before her ? What occafion had ihe to wait for a waiver of 
 Jlis right ? Was a female paternal fecond couiin poftponed to nfrater 
 uterinus by the words of the law, which gave a preference to males ? 
 The more I confider this paflage, the more it perplexes me ; and I 
 have not yet found any fatisfaftory folution of the difficulty. 
 
 I will clofe this fe£tion with obferving, that, if the preceding in* 
 terpretation of the laws be right, and males were only preferred in 
 the fame branch, the title of the fecond Phylomache was better than 
 that of Theopompus, who muft, therefore, as Demofthenes af- 
 ferts, have gained a verdict in his favour by fome contrivance or 
 lurprife. 
 
 VIII. I have all along proceeded on a fuppofition that the heirs of a 
 per fon. deceafed were legitimate children, who are denned by the firft 
 Attick law to be thole born in wedlock of a woman duly betrothed ; but 
 the thirteenth law, which excluded baftards from the fucceffion to 
 (acred or civil rights, muft have been re-enaoted after the time of 
 Solon, who was appointed legiflator one hundred and eighty years 
 before the archonlhip of Euclid. We have already obferved that his 
 laws were made only for a century, and, though they were all per- 
 petuated by Diocles, yet that concerning baflards is laid to have been 
 revived by Pericles and Ar'ifiophon, who added to the definition of le- 
 gitimacy, that both parents mtfl be citizens; and this point we fee 
 carefully proved in the fragment of the ipeech for Euphiktus. The 
 
 laws
 
 ON I S Μ V S. I<J3 
 
 laws of the Greek iflands, however, feem to have differed in this re- 
 fpect from thole of Athens; for in .rEgina, as we learn from lib* 
 crateo, the illegitimate fitter of Thrafylochus inftituted a fuit again ft 
 his devifee, who, inftead of refting his defence on her inability to in- 
 herit, was fatisfled with proving the will, anddifcourfing at large on 
 the friendlhip which had fubfifted between him and the deceafed. 
 
 I come now to the iecond part of my commentary, in which I 
 propofed to explain the modes of appointing an heir among the Athe- 
 nians, on failure of natural heirs or lineal descendants. 
 
 I. Frequent mention is made by the Grecian orators of defolate he- 
 ritages, as they are called by ISAIAH: now a family was confi- 
 dered as £^pj?/*w/A&@H or become defolate, when the laft occupier of 
 an eftate left no fon by nature or by appointment, who might per- 
 form holy rites at his tomb, preferve his race, and, by tranfmit- 
 ting his name to a perpetual chain of fuccefl'ors, . confer on him a 
 kind of immortality. As this idea nruft have been extremely pleaf- 
 ing to men, whole views of a better life were rather faint glimmer- 
 ings of hope than well-founded expectations* they were very early 
 indulged with the power of adopting Ions i hence, as Ifaeus obferves 
 in the lixth fpeech, " all they, who thought their end approaching, 
 " took a provident care that their families might not become ex- 
 ** tintf. ; and if they had no heirs by birth, yet they left fons at 
 *' leaft by adoption." The prefervation of names might have been 
 one reafon for the preference given to males in the Attick laws of 
 iuccelhon ; and it is very remarkable, that, both in Hebrew and 
 Arabick, the word for a male implies remembrance^ and that for a 
 female, oblivion ; but this diftinclion would not have exiiled, if it 
 had been enacted, that the huiband of an heirefs ihould either af- 
 fume the name of her anceilor, or give it to one of his fons : even 
 in our own country, and in very modern times, we fee a number of 
 devifes to men on condition that they take the names of the devifors, 
 or to women, provided thai they marry perlbns of a particular name; 
 fuch has been the fondneis of mankind, in moil ages and na- 
 tions, for the jingle of empty founds ! At Athens children were. 
 
 C c named
 
 194 A COMMENTARY 
 
 named on the tenth day after they were born, as on the luflrkal 
 day of the Romans; and male infants, as we fee in the pedigree of 
 Hagnias, ufually received the names of their grandfathers, or.fome 
 compounds of them, a method recommended in the laws of Plato. 
 Thus one would have thought, that the fon of Oeuanthe ihould 
 have been called Cleocritus, and that the name of Stratonides ihould 
 have been given to a grandfon of Stratius ; but parents were at li- 
 berty to impofe names as they pleafed ; and Southern in Demo- 
 fthenes mentions the motives which induced him to call his four fons, 
 Sofias, Eubulides, Meneftheus, and Calliftratus. Female children 
 alio were frequently named after their grandmothers : thus the name 
 of Phylomache defcended to her grand-daughter ; and the uncles of 
 PYRRHUS aflerted, that he gave his daughter Phila the name of 
 his own mother Clitareta, which would have been a ilrong argu- 
 ment for her legitimacy. This cuitom was ufeful in keeping the 
 branches of a family diftincl, efpecially as males were preferred only 
 in the fame branch ; and it was forcibly urged againfl Theopompus, 
 that neither his brethren nor his anceftors bore the name of Hagnias, 
 or of Eubulides, nor any fimilar to them, fuch as Hagnon, Hagno- 
 theus, or Eubulus ; while the other two branches were equally clear 
 of any name like that of Stratius, from whom he defcended : it may 
 be worth while to add, that a change of names often took place at 
 Rome, as M. Brutus, who had been adopted by his uncle, is named 
 Q. Caspio Brutus in a decree of the fenate; but it was ufual, on fome 
 occafions, to alter the termination only, as O&avius, after the death 
 of his adopter C. Caefar, was called Oftavianus ; and, for a fimilar 
 reafon, one of Cicero's letters is addrefl'ed to T. Pomponianus Atticus. 
 The publick intereft alfo was greatly concerned in preventing the 
 defolation of heritages; for it was expedient, that eftates, which 
 contributed to defray the general expenfes, ihould be preferved as long 
 as pofhble ; and this mode was preferable in a free government to the 
 laws of efcheats and fifcal claims to vacant inheritances : hence we 
 find, that SOLON directed the chief magiftrate to prevent the 
 total extinction of families ; and hence, if a man died inteftate and 
 
 childlefs,
 
 ON I S J£ U S. 195 
 
 childlefs, it was incumbent on the next heir to emancipate one of his 
 own Tons or near relations, and appoint him, by a kind of adoption, 
 fon to the deceafed, together with his name and a confiderable por- 
 tion of his eftate. Thus, on the death of Apollodorus the fon of 
 Eupolis, one of his fillers ought to have given her own fon both his 
 name and part of his fortune ; but, as this duty was neglected by the 
 wives of Pronapis and ./Efchines, their firft coulin took care to adopt 
 Thrafylhis, whilft he lived ; and the fpeech on the eftate of APOL- 
 LODORUS is fo clear and full a commentary on this method of adop- 
 tion during life, that it were quite fuperfluous to write more diffufely 
 on the fubjecl : a few obfervations, however, may be added without 
 impropriety. 
 
 Both at Athens, as we learn from If;eus, and at Rome, as A. 
 Gellius informs us, an adopted fon acquired all the rights, both fa- 
 cred and civil, and lucceeded to all the advantages and burdens, of 
 the new family into which he was introduced; nor was he coniider- 
 ed in any other light than that of a fon by nature born in lawful 
 wedlock, whence the orator aiks, " how Philoclemon could have 
 " died without a child, when he had actually adopted his nephew ;" 
 but all pretenfions whatever to the inheritance of his natural father 
 were wholly loft by adoption or emancipation : thus Cleon was firft 
 coufin to ASTYPHILUS, but as his father had been adopted by 
 another perfon, he no longer bore any relation to the deceafed ; yet, 
 if Thudippus had left a ion in the houfe of his adopter, and return- 
 ed, as he lawfully might, into his ancieat family, and if Cleon had 
 been born after that return, either he or his fon would have been 
 heir to Aftyphilus, in preference to the half-brother. A maternal 
 inheritance, indeed, was not loft by adoption; for the father only 
 was changed : fo, when Thrafybulus was adopted by Hippolochides, 
 fee ftill retained and aflerted his title to the eftate of his mother's 
 brother, a moiety of which he actually received ; and he would have 
 taken, as male coufin, the whole fortune of Apollodorus, if the 
 adoption of Thralyllus had been illegal. 
 
 Ccz When
 
 ί 9 6 A COMMENTARY 
 
 When the adopted foil died without children, and confequently 
 without having returned to his natural family, the poffeifions of the- 
 adoptcr defcended to his right heirs; as, on the deceafe of Endius, 
 the lifter of PYRRHUS demanded and obtained his eftate, thejl- 
 legitimacv of Phiia and the legality of the adoption being clearly 
 proved : had Phila been legitimate, it appears from the pleadings in 
 flie caufe, that an adverfe poiTeffion- of twenty years would not have 
 barred her title ; and we rauft fuppofe, that the limitation of five 
 years related only to aclions brought, and not to protefiations or en- 
 tries made by lineal defcendants, who took poffeffion, if they pleaf- 
 ed, without inftituting a fuit for their inheritance.. The fpeech of 
 Demofthenes, in the .caufe between Arijlodemus and Leochares, con- 
 tains a great deal of curious learning concerning adoptions ; for the 
 principal queftion was, whether an adopted fin could himfielf adopt 
 another, and the argument of Demofthenes, who maintained the 
 negative, was in fubftance this : " An adopted fon cannot devifie 
 *' the property acquired by adoption, for Solon gave the power of 
 *' deviling only to unadopted citizens ; he cannot, therefore, by 
 " adopting a fon, give him a right to the fame property, for a de- 
 " vife is in fact: a lpecies of adoption, and both kinds were prohibited 
 " together ; befides, there cannot be two adopted fons at the fame 
 " time ; and the law permits the return of the firft in one cafe only, 
 " that is, when he leaves a legitimate fon of his own in the family 
 " of the perfon who adopted him." As to the other queftion, who 
 was heir at law to Archiades, there was no kind of difficulty in it : 
 for the complainant defcended from a brother, and was therefore pre- 
 ferred by the exprefs words of the law to the iflue of zffier ; but 
 how Ariftoteles could be confidered as heir to Leocrates, who was 
 related to him in the ninth degree of the civilians, I am at a lofs to 
 determine : there are many other dark paiiages in the fpeech, which 
 I leave to the interpreters of Demofthenes, it being my fole bufinefs 
 at prefent to illuftrate likus. One thing only I may remark with 
 M. Auger ; that no obioduon was taken to the adoption of Leocrates, 
 becaufe the fuppofed adopter had never been married ; and I at firft 
 
 7 thought
 
 ON I S JE U S. 197 
 
 thought with him, that the adopted fon mufi necejfarily have been a 
 genuine citizen ; hut the fragment in defence of Euphiletus feems to 
 prove, that foreigners were ibmetimes adopted, unlefs we fuppofe, 
 as I think we may, that Iikus was there fpeaking of fuppofititious, 
 not of adopted, ions. The true end and efTential conditions of. an 
 adoption at Rome are explained with admirable perfpicuity by Ci- 
 cero, in his noble fpeech for the refitution of his Palatine hcufe, in 
 which he proves that C/odhes had been illegally adopted : it appears 
 from that whole bulinels, that a Roman, properly qualified in other 
 refpecls, might adopt a man of a different rank from himfelf ; but 
 fuch an adoption, it feems, was forbidden by the laws of Mgina 
 and Sipbnus, either during life or by teftament, whence Ifocrates 
 takes pains to (how, that the devifee of Thralylochus was a citizen 
 infer wur to none of the Siphnians, and educated in the fame manner 
 with his friend. 
 
 II. The power of devifmg property, which SOLON introduced 
 at Athens but two hundred years before the birth of Demoithenes, 
 is next to be confidered ; and the preceding fpeeches evidently ihow 
 how much litigation and impofture followed the introduction of it ; 
 an objection, indeed, which lies in fonie degree againft the laws of 
 iucceffion ; for, when NICO STRATUS was dead, there appear- 
 ed no fewer than feven falfe claimants of his eftate by a variety of 
 fictitious titles. I cannot afcribe the deitruction of Athenian liberty 
 to this alteration made in the ancient law, and am inclined to doubt 
 the fail of its having produced exceffive wealth in fome citizens, 
 whilft others were impoverifhed : there are many inilances in the 
 Greek orators of perlbns, who had fucceeded, as heirs, to feveral 
 eftates ; but the difadvantages and odium, which attended an excefs 
 of riches, were considerably greater at Athens than the benefits or 
 pleafure arifing from affluence. Various caufes contributed to the 
 fubverhon of the Athenian ftate : had Philip never exiiled, or been 
 lefs ambitious, had Hyperides and Demoirhenes underitood the art 
 of war as well as that of rhetorick, had the gold of Perfia and Mace- 
 donia been lefs powerful, and the abettors of tyranny lefs aifiduous, 
 
 Athens
 
 193 A COMMENTARY 
 
 Athens might have Continued to flouriih in fplendour and freedom, 
 whether Solon's inilitution had taken place, or the former ftrictnefs 
 had prevailed. Plutarch, indeed, whole judgement is highly to be 
 reflected, afcribes the decline of theSpartan government to a limilar 
 relaxation of the old ie verity by the law of Epitadeus, which per- 
 mitted, a devife of lands or goods from the natural heir, in oppofition 
 to the ordinance of LYCURGUS, which prohibited any aliena- 
 tion of them ; and he imputes even the propofal of fuch a law to a 
 motive of refentment or of covetoufnefs ; for Epltadeus, fays he, 
 was a proud feditious man, and had quarreled bitterly with his own 
 fon ; but the permiffion given by him to alien an eftate at all, and 
 not merely to leave it by will, was the evil of which the hiftorran 
 complains ; for, when moil of the inheritances in Lacedaemon had 
 been transferred from the lawful heirs, there remained only feven 
 hundred genuine citizens, among whom not more than one hundred 
 were in poiTeffion of lands : yet, if the Athenian fdver had not 
 found its way into Sparta, the law would have been innocent, al- 
 though lefs expedient in a military, than in a commercial, nation. 
 
 Whether the law of Solon was politick or not, it had the merit of 
 concifenefs and fimplicity, and the ftudent may not be difpleafed to 
 compare it with the ftatute of our Henry the Eighth, who certainly 
 was not a Solon : but it would be foreign from my deiign to difcourie 
 upon it at large, much lefs to fubjoin a treatife on devifes, or to 
 analyfe every word in the well-known definition of Modejinus. So 
 many books have been written upon wills by civilians and common 
 lawyers, that the fubjecT; is almoft exhaufted, and the paffages in 
 my author, where mention is made of them, are fo clear as to re- 
 quire very little explanation : it will be fufficient, therefore, to con- 
 clude this commentary, as I at firft propofed, with a few remarks 
 on the execution and revocation of an Athenian will. I have already 
 obferved, that the appointment of an heir by a man's laft teftament 
 was regarded at Athens as a mode of adopting a fon ; and of this tes- 
 tamentary adoption, for fo the Greek orators call it, we have feveral 
 examples in I feus : thus the devife of Pbiloflemon is treated all along 
 
 as.
 
 ON I S j£ U S. 199 
 
 as an adoption ; but his power to devife or adopt in the lifetime of 
 his father is fomewhat queitionable, fince in fa£t he nominated a 
 reprefentative of himfelf as ion of Euftemon. His power, however, 
 being admitted, let us examine the manner in which it was exer- 
 ciled. We may take notice in the firft place, that, although Cato 
 the Cenfor repented of his having pafled a fingle day without a wi//, 
 yet the old Athenians were not fo provident ; for they commonly de- 
 ferred the execution of their wills, till they were impelled by the 
 apprehenfion of fome approaching danger : thus, when. Apollodorus 
 was on the point of failing with the army to Corinth, he left his 
 eftate, in cafe of his death, to the daughter oi Arch e damns ; and it 
 was argued by the fon of Theophraitus, that, , fince Ajlyphilus, who 
 was a foldier by profeflion, had made no will before his campaigns 
 in the Cor'mthian and Theban wars, it was very improbable that he 
 ihould have chofen to make one, juft before his adventure to Mitylene^ 
 in which he was lefs expofed to peril. Theopompus alfo, whofe 
 bufmefs it. was to infiit, that Hagnias had devifed his fortune to 
 Glauco, mentions, as a reafon why he deviled it at all, that he was 
 preparing to fail on a publick embajfy ; and Philottemon is faid to have 
 adopted Chaereftratus by will, left he ihould periih in one of his fre- 
 quent expeditions by land or fea : if, in thefe cafes, pofleflion of the 
 eitates had been given to the donees, they would have been complete 
 donationes mortis caufd, many examples of which may be found irt 
 the ancient poets and hiftorians of Greece ; but they feem to have 
 been regular devifes according the law of Solon. The exprefs words 
 of that law, as well as the common fenfe of mankind, required 
 that a teftator mould have the full enjoyment of his reafon and li- 
 berty, without which no inftrument executed by a man can with- 
 any propriety be called his will: thus it -was contended, that Phi- 
 loctemon's difpofition of his property was exactly agreeable to the 
 law, fince he had no legitimate children, and had been advanced by. 
 his fellow-citizens to the higheit honours on account of his fupe- 
 riour talents ; and it was no uncommon dilemma, of which we have 
 examples at the conclufion of the firft and eighth fpeeches, " that 
 
 " either
 
 200 Λ COMMENTARY 
 
 " either no will at all had been made by the deceafed, or that, if if 
 " had, it was invalid, fince he could not have difinherited his rela- 
 " tion, whom he always loved, or adopted a perfon, whom he al- 
 " ways abhorred, without having loft his fenfes by the erFe&s of 
 " poiibn or difeale." Frorb this Jpecious mode of reasoning proceed- 
 ed the Roman doclrine of inofficious teftaments, which were Jet afi de 
 on a prefumption of infanity, or of fuch caprice as amounted to 
 folly : thus the will of JEbutius, who, having two daughters of 
 equal merit, left his eftate to one of them exclulively of the other, 
 was confidered as a proof of madnefs. 
 
 The power and underftanding of an Athenian teftator being indif- 
 putable, he wrote his will in the limpleft and cleareft manner, and 
 commonly in the following form : " Philoclemon the Cephiilan 
 " made this teftament. If any accident ihould befal me, and if my 
 " wife ihould not be delivered of a child, I give all my eftate and 
 " intereft to my nephew Chasreftratus, whom I adopt as my fon; 
 " and I bequeath one talent to my wife, together with my houfe at 
 " Cephifia." We may collect from a paflage in the eighth fpeech, 
 that it was not abfolutely neceffary for a will to be attefted ; it was 
 ufual, however, to have witnefles, and prudent to convene as many 
 friends and relations as could be aflembled, in whefe prefence the 
 will was acknowledged by the teftator, but the contents of it were 
 feldom difclofed : it was then fialed up for the purpofe of fecrecy, 
 and generally committed to the care of fome kinfman, who was not 
 interested in the deftru&ion of it, or whole integrity was wholly un- 
 fufpecled. Thus the teftament of old EtitJetnon v/as deposited with 
 his friend Pythodorus, and that of his fon with his brother-in-law 
 Chaereas ; and the pretended will of AfiyphUus was faid to have been 
 left in the cuftody of his uncle Hierocles ; but the Athenian wills 
 were fometimes placed, for greater fecurity, in one of the publick 
 temples, a method frequent alio at Home ; and the will of Cleony- 
 mus was, probably, fecured in this manner, fince, when he wiihed 
 to cancel it, he fent Pofidippus for the κςυνό^^ or /Edile, who had 
 the care of all the great buildings at iUhens. Notwithftanding thefe 
 
 precautions,
 
 ON I S JF, U S. 201 
 
 precautions, a number of forged wills were continually fet up ; and, 
 •notwithstanding the wile provifions of the law, as great a number 
 were obtained by improper influence; but, though the profligacy of 
 the Athenians has been afcribed to the form of their government, 
 yet, if we confider the multitude of forgeries and impofitions of the 
 fame kind, which almoft every circuit in England brings to light, 
 we ihall be forced to confefs, that the people of Attica were profli- 
 gate, not becaufe they had a popular government, but although they 
 had it ; and we muft look for another fource of their wickcdnefs and 
 of our own, which I conceive to be this ; that, " in artificial i'o- 
 " ciety, money foon acquires a value inconfiftent with virtue and 
 " honeity." 
 
 There is a vein of juft reafoning on the evidence of wills in the 
 fpeech on the eflate of Nicoflratus, whofe teftament, as well as that 
 of Jflyphilus, appears to have been forged ; but he mud be an un- 
 ikillful advocate, who cannot make his own cafe plauiible ; and, as 
 the arguments on the other fide are not extant, it is impoflible for us 
 to decide the caufes with juitice : the fame may be obferved as to all 
 the queftions of mere fact, which arife in the fpeeches of Ulcus ; but 
 ϊο many dilinterefted witneffes, whofe depofitions are preferved by 
 Ijis pupil, confirm the pedigree of HAGNIAS, that it is equally 
 impoflible for us to doubt the truth of it. 
 
 If PHILOCTEMON had adopted Chaereflratus in his life- 
 time, an afterborn child would have been coheir with his adopt- 
 ed fon ; but he might have deiired to leave his entire pofleflions to 
 his own iffue ; and fuch an adoption would have been irrevocable, 
 except for the moft weighty reafons, whilft a teitamentary appoint- 
 ment might be revoked at plcalure. The revocation of wills was 
 ufually performed at Athens with great ceremony, and in the pre- 
 fence of a magiilrate ; for thofe, with whom they had been deposit- 
 ed, would not furrender or ttnfeal them, except by the authority of 
 the court, left they ihould at any time be charged with having al- 
 tered them : hence Pythodorus refufed to give up the teftament of 
 Euctemon, and, when he was called before the Archon, declared 
 
 D d that
 
 2θ2 A COMMENTARY 
 
 that he could have no wiih to detain it, but in lifted, that, as Chac- 
 reas was prefent, when Euclemon committed the will to his charge, 
 and as an infant daughter of Chaereas was living, whole ihterefts 
 might be affected by the revocation of it, he was authorized to keep 
 it, until her guardian or hufband could fecure him from any trouble 
 on her account ; and the court approved of his caution ; but the will" 
 was revoked, it feems, by the pul'iick declaration of Euclemon, that 
 it was no longer valid. 
 
 The fpeech on the eilate of CJeonymus clearly ihows the forma- 
 litv with which a teftament was refcinded ; and the queftion on the 
 virtual revocation is diicufled with elegance ; nor could Ilieus be ea- 
 lilv anfwered,. if the attual revocation was in truth prevented by the 
 contrivance of the devifees, from which both realon and juftice 
 would have forbidden them to derive advantage. I have hitherto 
 purpolely abftained from citing EngUft) cafes on the important fubjecl:' 
 ofdevifcsand revocations, becaufe I wilhed to avoid even the ap- 
 pearance of profeflionaloftentation, and becaufe the books, in which 
 they may be read, are on the fhelves of every ftudent, who will' 
 find it an agreeable exercife to conlider how thefe Athenian caufes. 
 would have been decided at Weftminfter ; but I cannot help al- 
 luding to the cafe of Burton and Gowell in the thirty-fifth year 
 of Elizabeth, where a man executed a devift at Pulham, and after- 
 wards lying lick at Sterfton, faid, ςς my -will made at Pulham β: all 
 " ηοίβαηά" " and it was holden that thefe words revoked the will, 
 becaufe the verb apparently future denoted a prefent relolution, but 
 a declaration of a future intention would 'not have been fuificient : 
 fuch words, however, fpoken in private, would not have amounted' 
 to a revocation at Athens, any more than with us after the ftatute 
 of frauds. 
 
 Before I conclude this commentary, I muft take notice of a few 
 circu-mftancts in one or two of the fpeeches ; and, firft, of a paflage 
 in that juft- mentioned, where Polyarchies is laid to have directed, 
 that " if bis fon Cleonymus died without iflue, the eftate fhould go 
 " to his grand tons ι" now, if this direction had been contained in 
 
 a will
 
 ON I S Μ U S. 203, 
 
 a will of the grandfather, Cleonymus could hardly have been em- 
 powered to deprive the perfons in remainder of their interefr, fmce 
 the Athenians had not even an idea of eftates-tail by implication,, 
 much lefs of recoveries by which thofe entails might be barred ; we 
 muft, therefore, luppofe, that this was only a dtjtre ox recommenda- 
 tion of Polyarchus, which his ion might legally, although not very 
 decently, difregard. Next, it may be remarked,, that, in the real 
 teftament of Philoclcmon and in the pretended one of Ilagnias, we 
 may difcover the rudiments of thofe fubflituiions, which form fo large 
 a part of our modern fyftems : Hagnias is fuppofed to have deviled 
 his property to his niece, and, after her death, to his half-brother 
 Glauco, who, when me died, entered upon the eftate by virtue of 
 the remainder, which had been veiled in him ; but inch limitations 
 were, I believe, uncommon among the Athenians, whofe jurifpru- 
 dence was not entangled with the fubtile doclrine of contingent and 
 veiled interefts, or the multitude of perplexing queftions, to which 
 the capricious fancy of teftators, with a little help from conveyan- 
 cers, has constantly given birth in England ; nor would the ancient 
 courts have fuffered juilice to be impeded by the technical niceties 
 which confined our countrymen, to whom devifes, on their firft intro- 
 duction, appeared, they laid, of a marvellous nature ; and a lingle 
 queiiion, in the caufe of Curius and Coponius, which the Roman 
 tribunal decided juftly in one day, was agitated in our courts for near- 
 forty years. I check myfelfon the pro fpecT: of the vail field, into 
 which this fubjecT: would lead me, remembering, that it is the fole 
 duty of a commentator to illuftrate his author ; and the fpeeches of 
 IStEUS are made, I flatter mylelf, fufficiently clear by the preced- 
 ing obfervations ; although, I confefs, that fome few clouds and dark 
 places are left in them, which more leifure than my late engagements 
 have permitted me to enjoy, might perhaps have enabled me to 
 difperle and elucidate. I am fully fenfible, that deep refearches 
 into the legal antiquities of Greece and Rome are of greater ufe to 
 icholars and contemplative perfons, than to lawyers and men of bu- 
 iinefs.; that Bradon and Littleton, Coke and Rolle, are the propt ι 
 5 objefts
 
 204 A COMMENTARY. 
 
 objects of our ftudy ; and that, if a client were to aik his counfel 
 whether he had an eitate for life or in tail, he would receive little 
 fatisfa&ion from being told, that, whatever eitate he had, he might 
 devife it by the law of Solon y provided the devifee took his daughter 
 in marriage ; but the ablefr. advocates and wifeft judges have fre- 
 quently embellifhed their arguments with learned allulions to ancient 
 cafes ; and fuch allulions, it muft be allowed, are often ufeful, al- 
 ways ornamental ; and, when they are introduced without pedantry, 
 never fail to pleafe. So delightful, indeed, is the itudy of laws, 
 general and particular, ancient and modern, Aliatick and European, 
 that even the fine arts are not more alluring ; and it is with plealure, 
 as well as firmnefs, that I adopt the refolution of CICERO, which 
 cannot be more forcibly or concifely exprefled than in the very words 
 of his letter to Varro: " Mihi hicc videntur — fi nemo utetur opera, 
 " tamen et fcribere et legere vrote-tusa^ et fi minus in curia atque in 
 " foro, at in Uteris et libris, ut dotftiiiimi vetercs ficerunt, navare 
 " rempublicam, et de moribus ac legibus quaererd" 
 
 THE END.
 
 CORRECTIONS. 
 
 P. vi. I.26. — is not fo much as mentioned.] This was anoverfight: it is barely mentioned 
 
 by Quintilian, but not in the place where it was moft likely to be found. 
 
 Read, is not particularly diftinguiihed. 
 P. 3. I. 9. for, be affected equally, read, have the fame difpofitions. 
 P. 5. 1. 30. for, are difpenfed, read, may be excufed. 
 P. 8. 1. 6. for, his brother claimed the inheritance as heir to him, read, his mother 
 
 claimed the inheritance as her brother's heirefs. 
 P. 16. I. 23. for, returned, read, fettled. 
 P. 18. 1. 27. for, this depofition, read, this piece of evidence. 
 P. 25. 1. 24. for, fo that, by introducing her, — he would have left things exactly as they 
 
 were, read, this he would have effected by introducing her, &c. 
 P. 26. 1. 29. for, was, read, had been. 
 P. 56. 1. 18. for, efcheat, read, become defolate. 
 P. 65. 1. 18. for furniture, read effects. 
 P. 83. 1. 12. omit both. 
 P. 95. 1. 21. for he, read Diocles. 
 P. 1 19. 1. 11. for under, read in. 
 P. 120. 1. 28. for convinced, read confcious. 
 P. 123. 1. 21. for the, read any. 
 P. 133. 1. 8. for LAWS, read LAW. 
 P. 155.I. 6. for onfler, read oufier. 
 P. 166.I. 2d. for takes, read take. 
 P. 179. 1. 25. for talents, read talent. 
 P. 183. 1. 7. for germana read confangu'mea. 
 P. 183. 1. 26. for inteftates, read an inteftate. 
 P. 188. 1. 31. for widow, read deceafed wife. 
 P. 191, 1. 39. for of law, read at law.
 
 
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