On the Estate of Dicaeogenes

Amongst his intimates he deprived Melas the Egyptian, who had been his friend from youth upwards, of money which he had received from him, and is now his bitterest enemy; of his other friends some have never received back money which they lent him, others were deceived by him and did not receive what he had promised to give them if he should have the estate adjudicated to him.

And yet, gentlemen, our forefathers, who acquired and bequeathed this property, performed every kind of choregic office, contributed large sums for your expenses in war, and never ceased acting as trierarchs. As evidence of all these services they set up in the temples out of the remainder of their property,[*](The expenses would be incurred in providing monuments, of which the well-known Choregic Monument of Lysicrates is a speciman, to support the tripods won as prizes.) as memorials of their civic worth, dedications, such as tripods which they had received as prizes for choregic victories in the temple of Dionysus, or in the shrine of Pythian Apollo.

Furthermore, by dedicating on the Acropolis the first-fruits of their wealth, they have adorned the shrine with bronze and marble statues, numerous, indeed, to have been provided out of a private fortune. They themselves died fighting for their country; Dicaeogenes (I.), the son of Menexenus, the father of my grandfather Menexenus (I.), while acting as general when the battle took place at Eleusis;[*](Nothing is known of any battle at Eleusis. Dobree reads Ἁλιεῦσι(cf. Thuc. 1.104).) Menexenus (I.), his son, in command of the cavalry at Spartolus in the territory of Olynthus;[*](In 429 B.C. (cf. Thuc. 2.79).) Dicaeogenes (II.), the son of Menexenus (I.), while in command of the Paralus[*](See Isaeus 5.6 and note.) at Cnidus.

It is the property of these men, Dicaeogenes, that you inherited and have wickedly and disgracefully squandered, and having converted it into money you now plead poverty. On what did you spend it? For you have obviously not expended anything on the city or your friends. You have certainly not ruined yourself by keeping horses—for you have never possessed a horse worth more than three minae—, nor by keeping racing teams—for you never owned even a pair of mules in spite of possessing so many farms and estates. Nor again did you ever ransom a prisoner of war.

You have never even transported to the Acropolis the dedications upon which Menexenus (I.)[*](If the text is correct, the reference must be to Menexenus I.; but in that case, it would have been the duty of Dicaeogenes II. to set up the statues after his father's death.) expended three talents and which his death prevented him from setting up, but they are still knocking about in the sculptor's workshop; and thus, while you yourself claimed the possession of money to which you had no title, you never rendered up to the gods statues which were theirs by right.

What possible reason will you give, Dicaeogenes, that the judges should acquit you? Will you allege that you have performed many public services for the city and added to the dignity of the city by lavish expenditure? Will you say that as trierarch you have inflicted heavy losses upon the enemy, or bestowed great benefits upon your country in her hour of need by contributing to the expenses of the war? No, you have done none of these things.

Do you claim acquital on the ground that you have proved yourself a good soldier? But you never served at all in the whole course of the long and critical war, during which the Olynthians and the islanders are dying fighting against the foe in the defence of our land,[*](Probably in the Corinthian War (394-386 B.C.).) but you, Dicaeogenes, though you were an Athenian citizen, have never served at all. Perhaps you will claim an advantage over me for the sake of your forefathers, because they slew the tyrant?[*](Hipparchus.) I pay them all due homage, but I do not think that you have any share of their valor.

In the first place, you preferred to possess our property rather than their glory, and wished to be called son of Dicaeogenes rather than of Harmodius,[*](i.e., was willing to be adopted into another family in order to inherit money.) despising the right of dining in the town hall and disdaining the seats of honor and the immunities granted to the descendants of those heroes.[*](The senior male representatives of the families of Harmodius andAristogeiton enjoyed the right to dine with the prytaneis in the town hall (θόλος), seats of honor at public functions, and certain immunities from taxation.) Further, the great Aristogeiton and Harmodius were honored, not because of their birth but because of their bravery, of which you, Dicaeogenes, have no share.