On The Estate of Apollodorus

As a result of these principles, what public service did he fail perfectly to discharge? To what war-tax was he not among the first to contribute? What duty has he ever failed to perform? When he undertook the provision of a choir of boys, he was victorious in the competition, and the well-known tripod still stands as a memorial of his honorable ambition. And what is the duty of a respectable citizen? Was it not his duty, while others were trying to take by force what did not belong to him, to do no such thing himself but to try and preserve what was his own? Is it not his duty, when the state needs money, to be among the first to contribute and not to conceal any part of his fortune?

Such then was Apollodorus; and you would make a just return for his services if you ratified his intentions as to the disposal of his own property. As for myself, you will find me, as far as my youth allows, neither a bad nor a useless citizen. I have served on your military expeditions, I perform all the duties which are laid upon me; for this is the function of men of my age.

For the sake, then, of Apollodorus and his father and for the sake of me and my family you would be justified in considering our case with benevolence, especially since our adversaries have made away with and sold an estate that supported the trierarchy and reduced it to desolation, whereas we have already supported public burdens and will continue to do so in the future, if you ratify the intentions of Apollodorus by restoring to us this estate.

But, in order that I may not seem tedious by dwelling any longer on these facts, I should like, before I step down, to lay before you, by way of brief reminder, the points on which each party bases its claim. My mother was Apollodorus's sister, and a close affection, never interrupted by any quarrel, existed between them; being his nephew and having been adopted by him as his son during his lifetime and when he was in full possession of his faculties, and having been registered with the members of the families and of the ward, I claim to possess the estate which he gave me and demand that my opponents should not be in a position to make his house desolate. What does Pronapes claim on behalf of the plaintiff?

He claims to keep half of the estate of his wife's brother, valued at two-and-a-half talents, and also to receive this estate, although there are others more nearly related to the deceased than his wife; yet he has not given him a son by posthumous adoption but has left his house desolate, and he would similarly fail to give Apollodorus a son by adoption and would leave his house likewise desolate; and he makes this claim although such enmity existed between them and no subsequent reconciliation took place.

You must take these facts into consideration, gentlemen, and remember that I am the nephew of the deceased, while the plaintiff is only his cousin; that she claims two estates, I claim only one, to which I have a right by adoption; that she was not on good terms with him who left the property, whereas I and my grandfather have been his benefactors. Having considered all these points and weighing them in your own minds, give your verdict in accordance with justice.

I do not know of anything more that I need say; for I think that no part of my argument has escaped your attention.