Demosthenes Against Theocrines 30

1. It appears that the father of the present speaker had proposed a decree granting to Charidemus, son of the general Ischomachus, maintenance in the Prytaneum in recognition of the services rendered to the state by his father. Charidemus had, however, been adopted by Aeschylus, and, if he accepted the honor, would have had to return to his father’s family, and in that case he would forfeit all claim to the estate of his adoptive father, which was a large one; though the speaker maintains that there was no likelihood of this result. Theocrines asserted that, in moving the decree, Epichares was acting in collusion with Polyeuctus, who had married the boy’s mother, and who wanted to get control of the property for himself. (This is most easily explained on the assumption that the mother was herself a daughter of Aeschylus, and therefore the ἐπίκληρος, or heiress. In that case her husband, as her κύριος, would control the property.) The jury found against the father of Epichares, and he was fined ten talents.

2. This building was situated in or near the agora on the north-west slope of the Acropolis; see Vanderpool in Hesperia 4. ( 1935), p. 471, note 4. In it were maintained as guests of the state Olympic victors and any who had rendered extraordinary benefactions to the state.