On The Estate of Aristarchus

That is why my father never brought a suit for the estate. Then came the Corinthian war,[*](394-386 B.C.) in which my father and I were obliged to serve, so that neither of us could have obtained justice. When peace was restored, I had unfortunate difficulties with the public treasury,[*](Debtors to the public treasury were temporarily deprived of their rights as citizens and therefore could not engage in litigation.) so that it was not easy for me to contend with my opponents. Thus we have good reasons for our conduct in the matter.

But the time has now come when it is only right that my opponent should declare who it was that gave him the estate, and what laws justify his introduction in the ward, and why it is that my mother was not heiress to this fortune. These are the points on which you must give your verdict, not as to whether we are late in demanding what is our own. If they cannot explain these points, you would be justified in deciding that the estate is mine.

I am sure they will not be able to do so; for it is difficult to argue against law and justice. But they will talk about the deceased, saying how sad it is that so brave a man has fallen in battle and declaring that it is unjust to set aside his will. I myself, gentlemen, am of opinion that any will which a man may make about his own property ought to be valid, but that wills which concern other people's property ought not to have the same validity as those in which a man disposes of what is his own. Now this property is clearly not theirs but ours;

and so, if he takes refuge in this argument and produces witnesses to testify that Aristarchus (I.) made a will, you must order him to prove also that what he devised was his own. This is only just, for it would be a most terrible state of affairs if Cyronides and my opponents, his children, are not only to possess the fortune of Xenaenetus (I.) of the value of more than four talents, but are also to receive this estate, while I, though my mother was the rightful owner and I am descended from the same ancestors as Cyronides, am not to receive even my mother's estate, especially as these men cannot indicate the person through whom it has been transmitted to them.

Yet in all justice, just as the holder of a disputed piece of land must produce the mortgagee or vendor, or else prove that he has had it adjudicated to him by the court, so ought these men to set forth their titles in detail and claim to have the estate adjudicated to them, instead of ejecting my mother, the daughter of Aristarchus (I.), from her paternal inheritance before any suit has been heard.

But no doubt, gentlemen, it is not enough for Xenaenetus (II.) to have dissipated the fortune of Aristomenes in unnatural debauchery; he thinks that he ought to dispose of this estate also in like manner. I, on the other hand, gentlemen, though my means are slender, bestowed my sisters in marriage, giving them what dowry I could; and as one who leads an orderly life and performs the duties assigned to him and serves in the army, I demand not to be deprived of my mother's paternal estate.

I have proved to you that Cyronides, the father of my opponents, was adopted into another family and did not return to his father's house; that the father of Cyronides and of my mother left this estate to Demochares; that Demochares died in his minority, and that it was upon my mother that this estate then devolved.