Isaeus

5. ON THE ESTATE OF DICAEOGENES

. ON THE ESTATE OF DICAEOGENES Dicaeogenes II, the son of Menexenus I, was killed in a sea battle off Cnidus, probably in 411. The wealth and prominence of his family are reflected in his service as the commander of the Paralus, one of the state triremes (5.6), but he had no sons or brothers to inherit his large estate. He did, however, have four sisters, all of whom were married and stood to share the estate, but Proxenus, a descendant of the tyrant slayer Harmodius who was married to the sister of Menexenus I, produced a will whereby Dicaeogenes II adopted his son, Dicaeogenes III, and left him one-third of the estate, the other two-thirds to be shared by the sisters. The will was not challenged, and the arrangement lasted for twelve years. At this point, Dicaeogenes III produced another will, whereby he was left the entire estate. By now, one of the sisters’ husbands, Theopompus, was dead and another, Democles, was either dead or divorced; the other two husbands, Polyaratus and Cephisophon, were still alive, and it was Polyaratus who appears to have contested the validity of the second will (5.9). He lost the case, and Dicaeogenes III enjoyed the whole estate for another ten years. Polyaratus, who had threatened to prosecute Dicaeogenes III’s witnesses for bearing false  Cf. Thuc. 8.42.  Davies (1971: 476–477) suggests that Dicaeogenes I’s daughter was Proxenus ’ mother, since Proxenus’ son Harmodius was still active in 371. This does not, however, rule out the possibility that he was born in the 440s and his mother in the 460s, just before her father’s death.  Named after his maternal grandfather, indicating that he was the younger son. F = Polyaratus F = Democles F = Cephisophon F = Theopompus F = Proxenus Menexenus I Dicaeogenes II Dicaeogenes I Harmodius Dicaeogenes III F/M Cephisodotus Menexenus II Callibius F = Protarchides Periander Bathyllus Menexenus III (the speaker) F F Stemma Stemma 78 isaeus testimony, died soon after the trial, and Cephisophon may also have died about this time, because it was his younger son, Menexenus II, who successfully prosecuted one of Dicaeogenes III’s witnesses, Lycon. To forestall further prosecutions, Dicaeogenes III bought off Menexenus II by offering to restore his mother’s share of the estate, but he failed to keep his word. Menexenus II, therefore, joined with his cousins, Menexenus III and Cephisodotus, in claiming the whole estate as next of kin, on the ground that both wills were now shown to be invalid and so Dicaeogenes II had died intestate. Dicaeogenes III responded with a declaration (diamartyria) lodged by his friend Leochares that the estate was not adjudicable. Leochares was then prosecuted for false witness, and the votes were about to be counted when Dicaeogenes III again offered to compromise by promising to surrender two-thirds of the estate. Leochares and Mnesiptolemus were to act as sureties, and the deal was sanctioned by the court. But a further dispute arose over the interpretation of the agreement. In the twenty-two years since the death of Dicaeogenes II, his successor had suffered financial problems and had sold or mortgaged much of the estate. He also claimed compensation for expenditures he had incurred on public services and on building and repair work. With little left to recover, the cousins sued Leochares as surety, and after a failed attempt at arbitration, Menexenus III prosecuted Leochares by the present speech. As Wyse (1904: 404) observed, it is easy to forget that Leochares, not Dicaeogenes III, was the defendant in this suit, since little of the speech is concerned with his acting as surety (5.19–21, 25–26). This does not indicate that the speech was a secondary speech (synēgoria) but rather that Menexenus III had good reason for adopting this approach . The prosecution case turns on the wording of the agreement, with Menexenus III claiming that Dicaeogenes III agreed to hand over two-thirds of the estate “without dispute” (5.1, 18, 20, 21), that is, free from claims and liabilities, and so he should recover and re-  Presumably on the ground that Dicaeogenes III had been recognized as Dicaeogenes II’s adopted son.  Cephisodotus was in court (cf. 5.2, 12), but Menexenus II does not appear to have been. The case may be classified as a dikē engyēs.  See Speech 2, n. 2. on...