Delphi Complete Works of Demosthenes

by Demosthenes

  [69] For no sooner had Theopompus got the award of the estate of Hagnias in the manner which you have heard, than he at once gave proof that he knew well that he was in possession of what in no sense belonged to him. The thing which was of the greatest value on the farms belonging to Hagnias, and which was most admired by the neighbors and by everybody else, was the olive trees. These they dug up and rooted out, more than a thousand trees, from which a large quantity of oil was produced. These trees our opponents rooted out and sold, and received a huge sum of money. And they did this while the estate of Hagnias was still subject to adjudication in accordance with the very law which had permitted them to cite the mother of this boy here.

  [70] ὅτι δὲ ταῦτ᾽ ἀληθῆ λέγω, καὶ ἐξεπρέμνισαν οὗτοι τὰς ἐλάας ἐκ τῶν χωρίων ὧν Ἁγνίας κατέλιπεν, μάρτυρας ὑμῖν τούτων παρεξόμεθα τούς τε προσχώρους καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οὓς παρεκαλέσαμεν, ὅτ᾽ ἐπεμαρτυρόμεθα περὶ τούτων. λέγε τὴν μαρτυρίαν.”Μαρτυρίαι

  μαρτυροῦσιν ἀκολουθῆσαι Ἀραφῆνάδε παρακληθέντες ὑπὸ Σωσιθέου εἰς τοὺς Ἁγνίου ἀγρούς, ἐπειδὴ Θεόπομπος ἐπεδικάσατο τοῦ κλήρου τοῦ Ἁγνίου, καὶ ἐπιδεικνύναι αὑτοῖς Σωσίθεον τὰς ἐλάας πρεμνιζομένας ἐκ τοῦ Ἁγνίου ἀγροῦ.”

  [70] To prove that I speak the truth in this, that they rooted up the olive trees from the farms which Hagnias left, I will produce for you as witnesses the neighbors and others whom we summoned, when we made a solemn protest against this action.

  Read the deposition.”Deposition

  The deponents testify that on being summoned by Sositheus they accompanied him to Araphen, to the lands of Hagnias, after Theopompus had had the estate of Hagnias adjudged to him, and that Sositheus showed them the olive trees being rooted up from the land of Hagnias.”

  [71] εἰ μὲν τοίνυν, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, τὸν τετελευτηκότα μόνον ὕβριζον ταῦτα διαπραξάμενοι, δεινὰ μὲν ἂν ἐποίουν, ἧττον δέ: νῦν δὲ καὶ εἰς ὅλην τὴν πόλιν ταυτὶ ὑβρίκασι καὶ παρανενομήκασιν. γνώσεσθε δέ, ἐπειδὰν τοῦ νόμου ἀκούσητε. ἀναγίγνωσκε τὸν νόμον.”Νόμος

  ἐάν τις ἐλάαν Ἀθήνησιν ἐξορύττῃ, ἐὰν μὴ εἰς ἱερὸν Ἀθηναίων δημόσιον ἢ δημοτικόν, ἢ ἑαυτῷ χρῆσθαι μέχρι δυοῖν ἐλάαιν τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ἑκάστου, ἢ ἐπὶ ἀποθανόντα δέῃ χρήσασθαι, ὀφείλειν ἑκατὸν δραχμὰς τῷ δημοσίῳ τῆς ἐλάας ἑκάστης, τὸ δὲ ἐπιδέκατον τούτου τῆς θεοῦ εἶναι. ὀφειλέτω δὲ καὶ τῷ ἰδιώτῃ τῷ ἐπεξιόντι ἑκατὸν δραχμὰς καθ᾽ ἑκάστην ἐλάαν. τὰς δὲ δίκας εἶναι περὶ τούτων πρὸς τοὺς ἄρχοντας, ὧν ἕκαστοι δικασταί εἰσι. πρυτανεῖα δὲ τιθέτω ὁ διώκων τοῦ αὑτοῦ μέρους. ὅτου δ᾽ ἂν καταγνωσθῇ, ἐγγραφόντων οἱ ἄρχοντες, πρὸς οὓς ἂν ᾖ ἡ δίκη, τοῖς πράκτορσιν, ὃ τῷ δημοσίῳ γίγνεται: ὃ δὲ τῇ θεῷ γίγνεται, τοῖς ταμίαις τῶν τῆς θεοῦ. ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἐγγράφωσιν, αὐτοὶ ὀφειλόντων.”

  [71] If now, men of the jury, it were against the dead man only that they had committed an outrage in doing this, their conduct would have been disgraceful, though in a less degree; but in reality it is against the whole city that they have committed this outrage, and they have broken your laws. You will know this, when you have heard the law.

  Read the law.”Law

  If anyone shall dig up an olive tree at Athens, except it be for a sanctuary of the Athenian state or of one of its demes, or for his own use to the number of two olive trees each year, or except it be needful to use it for the service of one who is dead, he shall be fined one hundred drachmae, to he paid into the public treasury, for each tree, and the tenth part of this sum shall belong to the goddess. Furthermore he shall be obligated to pay to the private individual who prosecutes him one hundred drachmae for each olive tree. And suits concerning these matters shall be brought before the archons, according as they severally have jurisdiction. And the prosecutor shall deposit the court fees for his share. And when a person shall have been convicted, the archon before whom the case was brought shall make a report to the collectors of the amount due to the treasury, and of the amount due to the goddess, to the treasurers of the goddess. And if they fail to make such reports, they shall themselves be liable for the amount.”

  [72] ὁ μὲν νόμος οὗτος οὕτως ἰσχυρός. ἐκεῖνο δ᾽ ἐνθυμεῖσθε πρὸς ὑμᾶς αὐτούς, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, τί ποτ᾽ οἴεσθ᾽ ἡμᾶς πάσχειν ἐν τῷ παρεληλυθότι χρόνῳ ὑπὸ τούτων καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς ὕβρεως τῆς τούτων, ὅπου ὑμῶν, πόλεως τηλικαυτησί, κατεφρόνησαν καὶ τῶν νόμων τῶν ὑμετέρων, καὶ ἃ διαρρήδην ἀπαγορεύουσιν οἱ νόμοι μὴ ποιεῖν, οὑτωσὶ καταφρονητικῶς ᾐκίσαντο τὰ χωρία ἃ κατέλιπεν Ἁγνίας. ὁ δὲ νόμος ἀπαγορεύει μηδ᾽ ἐκ τοῦ αὑτοῦ χωρίου τοῦ πατρῴου μηδὲν τούτων ποιεῖν. πολύ γε αὐτοῖς μέλει ἢ τοῖς νόμοις τοῖς ὑμετέροις πείθεσθαι, ἢ ὅπως μὴ ἐξερημωθήσεται ὁ οἶκος ὁ Ἁγνίου.

  [72] The law is thus severe. But pray ponder in your minds, men of the jury, what you must imagine us to have suffered in the past from these men and the insolence of these men, when they have shown contempt toward you, so great a people, and have done what the laws expressly forbid their doing, in thus contemptuously laying waste the farms which Hagnias left. The law forbids anyone to root up any of these things even out of his own land inherited from his fathers. Much indeed do these men care either about obedience to your laws or the saving of the house of Hagnias from extinction!

  [73] ἐγὼ δέ, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, βούλομαι περὶ ἐμαυτοῦ πρὸς ὑμᾶς εἰπεῖν διὰ βραχέων, καὶ ἐπιδεῖξαι ὅτι οὐχ ὁμοίως τούτοις ἐπιμέλειαν ἐποιησάμην τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ Ἁγνίου, ὅπως μὴ ἐξερημωθήσεται. καὶ αὐτὸς γάρ εἰμι τοῦ γένους τοῦ Βουσέλου. Ἅβρωνος γὰρ τοῦ Βουσέλου υἱέος ἔλαβεν τὴν θυγατριδῆν Καλλίστρατος, Εὐβουλίδου μὲν υἱὸς ὤν, Βουσέλου δ᾽ ὑϊδοῦς: καὶ ἐκ τῆς Ἅβρωνος θυγατριδῆς καὶ ἐκ Καλλιστράτου τοῦ ἀδελφιδοῦ τοῦ Ἅβρωνος ἐγένετο ἡ μήτηρ ἡ ἡμετέρα.

  [73] I desire, men of the jury, to speak to you in a few words about myself, and to prove to you that I have, in a very different way from theirs, shown my concern that the house of Hagnias should not become extinct. For I, too, am myself of the family of Buselus. For Callistratus married the granddaughter of Habron, the son of Buselus, being himself the son of Eubulides and grandson of Buselus; and from the granddaughter of Habron and Callistratus, the nephew of Habron, our mother was born.

  [74] ἐγὼ δὲ ἐπειδὴ ἐπεδικασάμην τῆς τούτου μητρὸς καὶ ἐγένοντό μοι υἱεῖς μὲν τέτταρες, θυγάτηρ δὲ μία, τὰ ὀνόματα ἐθέμην τούτ
οις, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, τῷ μὲν πρεσβυτάτῳ τὸ τοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ ἐμαυτοῦ ὄνομα, Σωσίαν, ὥσπερ καὶ δίκαιόν ἐστιν, καὶ ἀπέδωκα τῷ πρεσβυτάτῳ τοῦτο τὸ ὄνομα: τῷ δὲ μετ᾽ αὐτὸν γενομένῳ τούτῳ ἐθέμην Εὐβουλίδην, ὅπερ ἦν ὄνομα τῷ πατρὶ τῷ τῆς μητρὸς τοῦ παιδὸς τουτουί: τῷ δὲ μετὰ τοῦτον Μενεσθέα ἐθέμην （καὶ γὰρ ὁ Μενεσθεὺς οἰκεῖος ἦν τῆς ἐμῆς γυναικός）: τῷ δὲ νεωτάτῳ ἐθέμην ὄνομα Καλλίστρατον, ὃ ἦν ὄνομα τῷ πατρὶ τῆς ἐμῆς μητρός. ἔτι δὲ πρὸς τούτοις καὶ τὴν θυγατέρα ἔδωκα οὐδαμόσε ἔξω, ἀλλὰ τῷ ἀδελφιδῷ τῷ ἐμαυτοῦ, ὅπως, ἐὰν ὑγιαίνωσιν, καὶ οἱ ἐκ τούτων ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ γένους ὦσιν Ἁγνίᾳ.

  [74] I myself, when I had been awarded the hand of the mother of this boy, and four sons and one daughter had been born to me, gave them, men of the jury, the following names: to the eldest I gave, as was fitting, the name of my father Sosias, and thus I gave to the eldest this name that was his due; to the son born next after him I gave the name Eubulides, which was the name of the father of this boy’s mother; to the next after him I gave the name Menestheus, for Menestheus was a relative of my wife; and to the youngest I gave the name Callistratus, which was the name of my mother’s father. In addition to all this, I did not give my daughter in marriage into another family, but to my own brother’s son, in order that, if they had health, the children born of them should be of the same family as Hagnias.

  [75] ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον διῴκησα, ὅπως ἂν διασῴζωνται ὅτι μάλιστα οἱ οἶκοι οἱ ἀπὸ τοῦ Βουσέλου: τούτους δὲ ἐξετάσωμεν πάλιν. καὶ πρώτιστον μὲν τὸν νόμον τουτονὶ ἀνάγνωθι.”Νόμος

  ὁ ἄρχων ἐπιμελείσθω τῶν ὀρφανῶν καὶ τῶν ἐπικλήρων καὶ τῶν οἴκων τῶν ἐξερημουμένων καὶ τῶν γυναικῶν, ὅσαι μένουσιν ἐν τοῖς οἴκοις τῶν ἀνδρῶν τῶν τεθνηκότων φάσκουσαι κυεῖν. τούτων ἐπιμελείσθω καὶ μὴ ἐάτω ὑβρίζειν μηδένα περὶ τούτους. ἐὰν δέ τις ὑβρίζῃ ἢ ποιῇ τι παράνομον, κύριος ἔστω ἐπιβάλλειν κατὰ τὸ τέλος. ἐὰν δὲ μείζονος ζημίας δοκῇ ἄξιος εἶναι, προσκαλεσάμενος πρόπεμπτα καὶ τίμημα ἐπιγραψάμενος, ὅ τι ἂν δοκῇ αὐτῷ, εἰσαγέτω εἰς τὴν ἡλιαίαν. ἐὰν δ᾽ ἁλῷ, τιμάτω ἡ ἡλιαία περὶ τοῦ ἁλόντος, ὅ τι χρὴ αὐτὸν παθεῖν ἢ ἀποτεῖσαι.”

  [75] I, then, administered matters in this way, in order that the families springing from Buselus should as completely as possible be preserved. As for our opponents, let us examine them once more.

  And first of all read this law.”Law

  Let the archon take charge of orphans and of heiresses and of families that are becoming extinct, and of all women who remain in the houses of their deceased husbands, declaring that they are pregnant. Let him take charge of these, and not suffer anyone to do any outrage to them. And if anyone shall commit any outrage or any lawless act against them, he shall have power to impose a fine upon such person up to the limit fixed by law. And if the offender shall seem to him to be deserving of a more severe punishment, let him summon such a person, giving him five days’ notice, and bring him before the court of Heliaea, writing upon the indictment the penalty which he thinks is deserved. And if there be a conviction, let the court of Heliaea appoint for the one convicted what penalty he ought to suffer or pay.”

  [76] πῶς ἂν μᾶλλον ἐξερημώσαιεν ἄνθρωποι οἶκον, ἢ εἴ τινες τούς τε γένει ὄντας ἐγγυτάτω Ἁγνίᾳ, τούτους ἐξελαύνοιεν ἐξ ἑτέρου οἴκου ὄντες, τοῦ Στρατίου, καὶ πάλιν εἰ τὸν μὲν κλῆρον ἀξιοῖ ἔχειν τὸν Ἁγνίου ὡς γένει προσήκων, τὸ δ᾽ ὄνομα, ὅ ἐστιν αὐτῷ, μὴ ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ Ἁγνίου οἴκου, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ἐκ τοῦ Στρατίου ἐστὶν τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ προγόνου, οὐδὲ τῶν ἄλλων ἀπογόνων τῶν Βουσέλου, τοσούτων γενομένων, οὐδενὸς ἔχει τὸ ὄνομα;

  [76] How, now, could people more effectively bring a house to extinction than if, being themselves of another house, that of Stratius, they should dispossess those nearest of kin to Hagnias? Or again, if one should claim to possess the estate of Hagnias as being related by blood, when he bears a name that is not only not derived from the family of Hagnias, but not even from that of Stratius, the claimant’s own ancestor — no, when he has not the name of any other of all the descendants of Buselus, many as they are?

  [77] ἀλλὰ πόθεν δή ἐστι τὸ ὄνομα ὁ Μακάρτατος; ἐκ τῶν πρὸς μητρός. εἰσεποιήθη γὰρ οὗτος εἰς τὸν οἶκον τὸν Μακαρτάτου τοῦ Προσπαλτίου, ἀδελφοῦ ὄντος τῆς μητρὸς τῆς τούτου, καὶ ἔχει καὶ ἐκεῖνον τὸν οἶκον. καὶ οὕτως ἐστὶν ὑβριστής, ὥστε γενομένου αὐτῷ υἱέος τοῦ μὲν εἰσαγαγεῖν εἰς τὸν οἶκον τὸν Ἁγνίου υἱὸν τῷ Ἁγνίᾳ ἐπελάθετο, καὶ ταῦτα ἔχων τὸν κλῆρον τὸν Ἁγνίου καὶ φάσκων πρὸς ἀνδρῶν αὐτῷ προσήκειν:

  [77] Whence, then, does he get the name Macartatus? From his mother’s family. For he was adopted into the family of Macartatus of Prospalta, who was his mother’s brother, and he possesses that estate also. And so regardless of right is he that, when a son was born to him, he forgot to introduce him into the family of Hagnias, as a son to Hagnias, and that too while he was in possession of the estate of Hagnias, and claimed that he was related to him by male descent.

  [78] τοῦτον δὲ τὸν υἱὸν τὸν γενόμενον τῷ Μακαρτάτῳ εἰσπεποίηκεν τῷ πρὸς μητρὸς εἰς τοὺς Προσπαλτίους, τὸν δὲ Ἁγνίου οἶκον εἴακεν ἔρημον εἶναι τὸ τούτου μέρος: φησὶ δὲ τὸν πατέρα τὸν ἑαυτοῦ Θεόπομπον προσήκειν Ἁγνίᾳ. ὁ δὲ νόμος κελεύει ὁ τοῦ Σόλωνος κρατεῖν τοὺς ἄρρενας καὶ τοὺς ἐκ τῶν ἀρρένων: οὗτος δὲ οὑτωσὶ ῥᾳδίως κατεφρόνησεν καὶ τῶν νόμων καὶ τοῦ Ἁγνίου, καὶ εἰσεποίησεν τὸν υἱὸν εἰς τὸν οἶκον τὸν πρὸς μητρός. πῶς ἂν γένοιντο τούτων ἄνθρωποι παρανομώτεροι ἢ βιαιότεροι;

  [78] This son who was born to him Macartatus has introduced by his mother’s descent into the Prospaltians, and has suffered the family of Hagnias to become extinct, so far as this boy is concerned; but he alleges that his own father Theopompus was related to Hagnias. Yet the law of Solon ordains that males and the sons of males shall have precedence; but the defendant has thus lightly shown contempt both for Hagnias and for the laws, and has had his son introduced into the family of his mother. How could there be people more scornful of law or more arbitrary than these?

  [79] οὐ τοίνυν ταῦτα μόνον, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταί, ἀλλὰ καὶ μνήματος ὄντος κοινοῦ ἅπασιν τοῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ Βουσέλου γενομένοις （καὶ
καλεῖται τὸ μνῆμα Βουσελιδῶν, πολὺς τόπος περιβεβλημένος, ὥσπερ οἱ ἀρχαῖοι ἐνόμιζον）, ἐν τούτῳ τῷ μνήματι οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι ἅπαντες οἱ ἀπὸ τοῦ Βουσέλου κεῖνται, καὶ ὁ Ἁγνίας καὶ ὁ Εὐβουλίδης καὶ ὁ Πολέμων καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι ἅπαντες τοσοῦτοι ὄντες συγγενεῖς, οἱ ἀπὸ τοῦ Βουσέλου, ἅπαντες οὗτοι κοινωνοῦσιν τοῦ μνήματος τούτου:

  [79] Now this is not the only thing, men of the jury. There is a place of burial common to all those descended from Buselus （it is called the burial-place of the Buselidae, a large area, enclosed, after the manner of the men of old）. In this burial-place lie all the other descendants of Buselus and Hagnias and Eubulides and Polemon, and all the rest of the host of those descended from Buselus, all these hold in common this place of burial.