Against Macartatus

Demosthenes

Demosthenes. Vol. V. Private Orations, XLI-XLIX. Murray, A. T., translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1939 (printing).

or that Eubulides was not the son of Phylomachê, or of Philagrus, the cousin of Hagnias; or this, that the still-living Phylomachê is not the daughter of Eubulides, the cousin of Hagnias, and this boy not his son, adopted according to your laws into the family of Eubulides or that Theopompus, the father of the defendant, Macartatus, belonged to the branch of Hagnias. Let anyone give testimony in his favor on whatever one of these points he chooses. But I know well that no mortal man will be so daring or so senseless.

However, that it may be the more clear to you, men of the jury, that in the former trial they got the upper hand through their shameless audacity, and that they advanced no just arguments, (to the clerk) read all the depositions that remain.

The Depositions

The deponent testifies that he is a relative of Polemon, the father of Hagnias, and that he heard from his father that Philagrus, the father of Eubulides, and Phanostratus, the father of Stratius, and Callistratus, the father of the wife of Sosias, and Euctemon, who was king,[*](That is, king-archon.) and Charidemus, the father of Theopompus and Stratocles, were first cousins to Polemon, their fathers all having been brothers, and that Eubulides, with reference to his father Philagrus, stood in the same degree of relationship as the sons of these men and Hagnias, while with reference to his mother Phylomachê, he was recognized as the first cousin of Hagnias on his father’s side, since he was the son of the paternal aunt of Hagnias.

Another

The deponents testify that they are relatives of Polemon, the father of Hagnias, and of Philagrus, the father of Eubulides, and of Euctemon, who was king, and that they know that Euctemon was brother by the same father to Philagrus, the father of Eubulides, and that when suit for the adjudication of the estate of Hagnias was instituted by Eubulides against Glaucon, Euctemon was still living, being first cousin to Polemon, the father of Hagnias, their fathers having been brothers, and that Euctemon did not dispute with Eubulides his title to the estate of Hagnias, nor did anyone else on the score of kinship on that occasion.

Another

The deponents testify that their father Strato was a relative of Polemon, the father of Hagnias, and of Charidemus, the father of Theopompus, and of Philagrus, the father of Eubulides, and that they heard from their father that Philagrus took for his first wife Phylomachê, the sister of Polemon, the father of Hagnias, born of the same father and the same mother, and that Philagrus had by Phylomachê a son Eubulides, and that after the death of Phylomachê Philagrus took a second wife Telesippê, and there was born a brother to Eubulides, namely Menestheus, of the same father but not of the same mother; and that when Eubulides made claim to the estate of Hagnias on the score of kinship, Menestheus did not dispute his title to the estate of Hagnias, nor did Euctemon, the brother of Philagrus, nor did anyone else on the score of kinship dispute the title of Eubulides on that occasion.

Another