Sositheus Against Macartatus in Regard to the Estate of Hagnias (21-25)

It seems to me therefore that it would be entirely superfluous to say anything about them save only what I cannot help mentioning. Of Theopompus, however, the father of Macartatus, and of Macartatus the defendant himself, it is necessary for me to speak. Yet the story, men of the jury, is a short one. As you have just heard, Buselus had five sons. One of these was Stratius, the ancestor of Macartatus, and another was Hagnias, the ancestor of this boy.

To Hagnias was born a son, Polemon, and a daughter, Phylomachê, sister of Polemon by the same father and the same mother; and to Stratius, the brother of Hagnias, there were born Phanostratus and Charidemus, the grandfather of the defendant Macartatus. Now I ask you, men of the jury, which is nearer of kin and more closely related to Hagnias, his son Polemon and his daughter Phylomachê, or Charidemus, the son of Stratius, and nephew of Hagnias? For my part I think that to every one of us his son and daughter are more nearly related than his nephew; and not only with us does this hold good, but also among all other people whether Greeks or barbarians.

Since, then, this is admitted, you will now easily follow the rest of the argument men of the jury, and you will see how arbitrary and how reckless these men are.

To Polemon, son of Hagnias, was born a son, Hagnias, having the name of his grandfather Hagnias, and this second Hagnias died without issue.

But from Phylomachê, the sister of Polemon, and Philagrus, to whom her brother Polemon had given her in marriage, he being his first cousin (for Philagrus was the son of Eubulides, the brother of Hagnias)—from Philagrus, I say, the cousin of Polemon, and Phylomachê the sister of Polemon, there was born Eubulides the father of this boy’s mother. These sons, then, were born to Polemon and to Polemon’s sister Phylomachê. But to Charidemus, the son of Stratius, there was born a son Theopompus, the father of the defendant Macartatus.

Again, then, I ask you, men of the jury, which is nearer of kin and more closely related to the first Hagnias, Hagnias, the son of Polemon, and Eubulides, the son of Phylomachê and Philagrus, or Theopompus, the son of Charidemus and grandson of Stratius? I am of the opinion, men of the jury, that if the son and the daughter are the nearest of kin, so, too, the son’s son and the daughter’s son are more nearly related than the son of a nephew and one who is a member of another branch of the family.