Isaeus

10. AGAINST XENAENETUS ON THE ESTATE OF ARISTARCHUS

. AGAINST XENAENETUS ON THE ESTATE OF ARISTARCHUS Aristarchus I, the brother of Aristomenes, had two sons, Cyronides and Demochares, and two daughters. Cyronides was adopted as the son of his maternal grandfather Xenaenetus I and so passed out of the family, leaving Demochares as heir (10.4). When Aristarchus I died, Aristomenes became the children’s guardian, but Demochares died when still a minor along with one of his sisters; hence (the speaker argues), the surviving daughter of Aristarchus I became the heiress to the estate, which in the normal course of events would have passed to her son when he reached maturity. Since she was unmarried , she could now be claimed by Aristomenes as next of kin or by his son Apollodorus, but Aristomenes instead gave her in marriage to an unnamed man outside the family. Before this Aristomenes had married his own daughter to Cyronides and had handed over to him the estate of Aristarchus I (10.5), even though he had forfeited his claim to it by his adoption. Cyronides in turn had two sons, Xenaenetus II and Aristarchus II. On his death, Aristarchus II was introduced (illegally, according to the speaker) to the phratry of Aristarchus I as his son by posthumous adoption (10.6). Aristarchus II then held the estate until his death in battle and, being childless, bequeathed it to his brother Xenaenetus II. But his ownership was challenged by the unnamed son of the daughter of Aristarchus I, who claims that his mother had been  Strictly speaking, the estate of her brother (cf. 10.8, 14) rather than her father . But it seems that, either way, she was entitled to the rights enjoyed by an heiress (epiklēros). See Speech 6, n. 1. 162 isaeus defrauded of her rightful inheritance by the machinations of Aristomenes and Cyronides. Was this, however, a fraud at all? On the face of it the speaker seems to have a good case, and it may have been the law that an adopted son (here Aristarchus II) was not permitted to bequeath the property he had thereby acquired, though interestingly the speaker does not use this argument. There were complicating factors, however, as the claimant lets slip during the course of his speech. First, the Archon had insisted that the speaker declare his mother was the sister of Aristarchus II (10.2). In doing so he was actually recognizing the posthumous adoption of Aristarchus II as the son of Aristarchus I, the very thing he argues was illegal. The Archon therefore seems to have accepted the position of Aristarchus II and to have allowed the speaker to make a claim (assuming his mother was dead) not as the grandson of Aristarchus I but as the nephew of Aristarchus II. Second, why had the speaker or his mother not claimed the estate before? The alleged fraud by Aristomenes and Cyronides, both of whom were now dead, must have taken place well over thirty years earlier. Against the an-  It is unclear whether his mother was still alive and he was claiming as her legal representative (kyrios), or she was dead and he was claiming the estate for himself.  Since ex hypothesi Aristarchus I now had a son, and so the estate in question was that of Aristarchus II.  See below, 18n. M (the speaker) F F Aristarchus II (adopted by Aristarchus I) Xenaenetus II (the opponent) Demochares F F F = Cyronides (adopted by Xenaenetus I) Apollodorus Aristomenes Aristarchus I = F Xenaenetus I X Stemma against xenaenetus on the estate of aristarchus 163 ticipated objection on these lines, he contends that his father had indeed tried to take action but had backed down under the threat that otherwise his wife would be claimed in marriage by her next of kin and so he would be obliged to divorce her. He and his son were afterwards prevented from acting by military service, as was the son on his return by legal disqualification because he was a state debtor (10.18–21). These arguments are less than fully convincing, and the obvious counter to them is that Aristarchus II had long been accepted as the rightful heir to Aristarchus I. The posthumous adoption of Aristarchus II might be represented as a piece of chicanery, but it had been recognized by the Archon, and the speaker gives away the probable reason for this at 10.15: Cyronides had paid a debt...