For Euphiletos. [Or. XII.]—This speech—or rather fragment ¹ —is the only extant specimen of its author's work which is not concerned with the law of inheritance. It belongs to a case of Appeal ( ἔφεσις) from the decision of demesmen to an ordinary heliastic jury ² .

Every Attic deme from time to time revised the ³ register of its members ( ληξιαρχικὸν γραμματεῖον) ⁴ . At such revision, the name of each member was subjected to a separate scrutiny ( διαψήφισις). If the voting decided that he was to be struck off the register ( ἀποψηφίζεσθαι)—in other words, that he was not a true-born citizen—he had an appeal to a law-court,—at peril, however, of being sold as a slave and having his goods confiscated if the decision on the appeal went against him.

Euphiletos, son of Hegesippos (§ 12) by a second wife, had been struck off the register of the deme of Erchia on the ground that he was illegitimate. He then brought an action against the deme, represented by its demarch or president, and the issue was referred to one of the Public Arbitrators. The case was pending for two years; and during that time nothing was proved against the legitimacy of Euphiletos. A second Arbitration—in which the deme was represented by a new president—had the same result ⁵ . Redress being still refused, Euphiletos has now appealed to an ordinary court. The speaker is the son of Hegesippos by his first wife, and is therefore half-brother of Euphiletos, who was thirteen years his junior (§ 11). The extant part of the speech opens after the facts have been stated and the witnesses called. Dionysios seems to connect this cause ⁶ with a general revision of deme-lists throughout Attica ⁷ . The only such general revision of which we know belongs to the year of Archias, Ol. 108. 3, 346 B.C. On this view, the speech would fall in 343,—ten years later than any other work of Isaeos known to us. Probably, however, the revision meant in the speech was not general, but merely local and ordinary. In that case, we have no clue to the date.

All the kinsmen of Euphiletos have now borne witness ⁸ to his legitimacy,—his father—his brother, the speaker— the husbands of the speaker's sisters—his uncle: friends, too, have testified: and all these are trustworthy (§§ 1—6). How could any member of the deme prove his legitimacy better? (§§ 7—8). Further, the mother of Euphiletos has offered to take an oath; and his father and the speaker are ready to do the same (§§ 9—10). The arbitrators to whom the case was formerly referred gave it for Euphiletos (§ 11). As a different decision would have told against him, so ought their actual decision to be taken as evidence that his name has been removed from the register by a conspiracy ⁹ (§ 12).