8
And even if they have not the support of the laws, but it seems to you that what they say is in accordance with justice and generosity, even so we withdraw our claim. However, that you may know that, while we are by descent the nearest of kin, we do not rest our case upon this alone, but upon all the other grounds as well, I will first instruct you regarding the family itself from which the inheritance comes; for I am sure that, if you follow with clear understanding this phase of the matter at issue, you will have no difficulty in grasping any of the other facts.
9
To go back to the beginning, men of the jury, there were born to Euthymachus, of Otrynê,See note 1 above. three sons, Meidylides and Archippus and Archiades, and a daughter whose name was Archidicê. After the death of their father the brothers gave Archidicê in marriage to Leostratus of EleusisEleusis was a deme of the tribe Hippothontis. ; of the three brothers Archippus lost his life at MethymnaMethymna was a town in Lesbos. while serving as trierarch, and Meidylides not long afterward married Mnesimache, the daughter of Lysippus of Crioa.Crioa was a deme of the tribe Antiochis.
10
To him there was born a daughter, Cleitomachê by name, whom he wished to give in marriage to his own brother, who was still unmarried; but since Archiades declared that he did not wish to marry, and for this reason allowed the property to remain undivided, and lived by himself in Salamis, Meidylides at length gave his daughter in marriage to Aristoteles of Pallenê,Pallenê was a deme of the tribe Antiochis. my grandfather. Of them were born three sons, Aristodemus here, my father, and Habronichus, my uncle, and Meidylides, who is now dead. Our right of inheritance, based on kinship in the family to which the estate belongs, is, men of the jury, substantially this.
