After these, who are not bad specimens in my
opinion, hear of a third man no whit worse than
they. Eudamidas of Corinth, himself a very poor


 



man, had two rich friends, Aretaios of Corinth
and Charixenes of Sikyon. When he died he left
a will, which perhaps may seem absurd to others,
but I am not at all sure that such things do to
you, a man of virtue, who honor friendship, and
are competing for the first prize in it. The will
read: "I bequeath to Aretaios my mother to support and tend in her old age, and to Charixenes
my daughter to give in marriage, with as large a
dowry as he can afford,”—for he had an aged mother and a young daughter just of marriageable age
-"and if, in the mean time, anything happens to
either of the legatees, let the other," said the will,
"take his share." When this will was read, those
who knew the poverty of Eudamidas but were not
aware of the friendship between him and the legatees, turned the matter to a jest, and every one
of them went off laughing and saying that Aretaios
and Charixenes had come into a joyful inheritance if they were to make payment to Eudamidas,
and if they who were living were to leave their
property to a dead man.