On the Property of Aristophanes: Against the Treasury

Besides, you have to consider that, even if a man had distributed among his sons what he had not acquired but inherited from his father, he would have reserved a goodly share for himself[*](Still more would this be the case if, like Conon’s, his wealth had been acquired by his public services.); for everyone would rather be courted by his children as a man of means than beg of them as a needy person.

So, in this case, if you should confiscate the property of Timotheus,—which Heaven forbid, unless some great benefit is to accrue to the State,—and you should receive a less amount from it than has been derived from that of Aristophanes, would this give you any good reason for thinking that his relatives should lose what belongs to them? No, it is not reasonable, gentlemen of the jury:

for Conon’s death and the dispositions made under his will in Cyprus have clearly shown that his fortune was but a small fraction of what you were expecting. He dedicated five thousand staters[*](The Attic stater was a gold coin equal to 20 drachmae.) in offerings to Athene and to Apollo at Delphi;

to his nephew, who acted as guardian and manager of all his property in Cyprus, he gave about ten thousand drachmae; to his brother three talents; and to his son he left the rest,—seventeen talents. The round total of these sums amounts to about forty talents.