Against Leochares

But after the funeral rites were finished, what law will be found to justify him, when the family was extinct, in driving us, the nearest of kin, from the estate of the deceased? Because, they will say, he was father to the dead man. Yes, but he had returned to the family of his fathers, and was no longer master of the estate over which he had left his son in charge. Otherwise what is the use of the laws?

Well, after our ejectment had taken place (to omit most of the details) we brought suit for the inheritance before the archon, inasmuch as the deceased had no son, as I stated, and had not adopted any according to the laws. After this, Leostratus here made a deposit for costs, as being the son of the aforesaid Archiades, not taking into account that he had returned to the Eleusinians, or that adopted children are made such, not by themselves but by those who adopt them.

But the truth is, I presume his one simple idea was that he must by fair means or foul lay claim to the property of others. And first he had the audacity to go and enroll himself on the assembly list[*](This was a list of all those who had the right to vote in the popular assembly (ἐκκλησία).) of the Otrynians, although he was an Eleusinian, and managed to put this through; then, before his name was entered on the adult register[*](This was the official list of the members of the deme, in which every young man who passed the scrutiny was registered when he reached the age of eighteen. Each deme had its own assembly, presided over by the demarch, or borough-president.) of the Otrynians, he sought to claim a share in the public benefits in flagrant defiance of law, because of his greed for gain.

We, seeing what was going on, called witnesses and put a stop to it, holding the view that it was necessary that the right of inheritance should first be decided in your court before anyone should be named as the adopted son of Archiades. He was thwarted then, and convicted in the presence of many witnesses of fraudulent action, both in the matter of the list, and in the assembly for the election of the deme’s officers, yet nevertheless he persisted in trying to force his way in, and by his intrigues to prove himself stronger than your laws. What is the proof of this?