DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0670
642 OK THE MISCELJLANV CUSTOMS UK GREECE.
It is not worth disputing whether signification is more pertinent in these
passages, since it is certain that both are agreeable enough to the prac-
tice of antiquity ; for as persons having relations were usually succeeded
in their estates by them, so, when any died without lawful heirs, their
possessions belonged to the prince, the commonwealth, or the supreme
magistrates, as the laws of every state directed.
The Grecian practice concerning wills was not the same in all places ;
some states permitted men to dispose of their estates ; others wholly de-
prived them of that privilege. We are told by Plutarch (1), that Solon
is much commended for his law concerning wills ; for before his time no
man was allowed to make any, but all the wealth of deceased persons be-
longed to their families ; but he permitted them to bestow it on whom
they pleased, esteeming friendship a stronger tie than kindred, and affec-
tion than necessity, and thus put every man's estate in the disposal of the
possessor ; yet he allowed not all sorts of wills, but required the follow-
ing conditions in all persons that made them :
1. That they must be citizens of Athens, not slaves or foreigners ; for
then their estates were confiscated for the public use.
2. That they must be men who have arrived at 20 years of age, for
women and men under that age were not permitted to dispose by will of
more than one medimn of barley (2).
3. That they must not be adopted ; for when adopted persons died with-
out issue, the estates they received by adoption returned to the relations
of the man who adopted them.
4. That they should have no male children of their own, for then their
estates belonged to them. If they had only daughters, the persons to
whom the inheritance was bequeathed were obliged to marry them (3).
Yet men were allowed to appoint heirs to succeed their children, in case
these happened to die under twenty years of age (4).
5. That they should be in their right minds, because testaments extort-
ed through the phrenzy of a disease, or dotage of old age, were not in
reality the wills of the person that made them.
6. That they should not be under imprisonment or other constraint,
their consent being then only forced, nor in justice to be reputed volun»
tary.
7. That they should not be induced to it by the charms and insinuations
of a wife ; for, (says Plutarch) the wise lawgiver, with good reason3
thought that no difference was to be put between deceit and necessity,
flattery and compulsion, since both are equally powerfulto persuade a man
from reason.
Wills were usually signed before several witnesses, who put seals to
them for confirmation, then placed in the hands of the trustees, called inri-
p&kqm}, who were obliged to see them performed. At Athens, some of
the magistrates, particularly the astynomi, were often present at the mak-
ing of wills (5). Sometimes the archons were also present: hence we
are told by Harpocration and Suidas, that when any thing was given in the
presence of the archons, it was termed Sodtc (6) ; for this word, though
commonly taken for any sort of gift or present, yet was by the Athenian
orators peculiarly applied to legacies, and things disposed of by will. Hence
(4) Demosth. Orat. ii. in Stephan. testero
(5) Issus de Haered. Gleoiiyirii.
(6? Voce 66a-.
(1) Solone.
^2) Issus de hasred. Aristarchs.
k3> Isaeus Orat, da Pyrrhi tosered
It is not worth disputing whether signification is more pertinent in these
passages, since it is certain that both are agreeable enough to the prac-
tice of antiquity ; for as persons having relations were usually succeeded
in their estates by them, so, when any died without lawful heirs, their
possessions belonged to the prince, the commonwealth, or the supreme
magistrates, as the laws of every state directed.
The Grecian practice concerning wills was not the same in all places ;
some states permitted men to dispose of their estates ; others wholly de-
prived them of that privilege. We are told by Plutarch (1), that Solon
is much commended for his law concerning wills ; for before his time no
man was allowed to make any, but all the wealth of deceased persons be-
longed to their families ; but he permitted them to bestow it on whom
they pleased, esteeming friendship a stronger tie than kindred, and affec-
tion than necessity, and thus put every man's estate in the disposal of the
possessor ; yet he allowed not all sorts of wills, but required the follow-
ing conditions in all persons that made them :
1. That they must be citizens of Athens, not slaves or foreigners ; for
then their estates were confiscated for the public use.
2. That they must be men who have arrived at 20 years of age, for
women and men under that age were not permitted to dispose by will of
more than one medimn of barley (2).
3. That they must not be adopted ; for when adopted persons died with-
out issue, the estates they received by adoption returned to the relations
of the man who adopted them.
4. That they should have no male children of their own, for then their
estates belonged to them. If they had only daughters, the persons to
whom the inheritance was bequeathed were obliged to marry them (3).
Yet men were allowed to appoint heirs to succeed their children, in case
these happened to die under twenty years of age (4).
5. That they should be in their right minds, because testaments extort-
ed through the phrenzy of a disease, or dotage of old age, were not in
reality the wills of the person that made them.
6. That they should not be under imprisonment or other constraint,
their consent being then only forced, nor in justice to be reputed volun»
tary.
7. That they should not be induced to it by the charms and insinuations
of a wife ; for, (says Plutarch) the wise lawgiver, with good reason3
thought that no difference was to be put between deceit and necessity,
flattery and compulsion, since both are equally powerfulto persuade a man
from reason.
Wills were usually signed before several witnesses, who put seals to
them for confirmation, then placed in the hands of the trustees, called inri-
p&kqm}, who were obliged to see them performed. At Athens, some of
the magistrates, particularly the astynomi, were often present at the mak-
ing of wills (5). Sometimes the archons were also present: hence we
are told by Harpocration and Suidas, that when any thing was given in the
presence of the archons, it was termed Sodtc (6) ; for this word, though
commonly taken for any sort of gift or present, yet was by the Athenian
orators peculiarly applied to legacies, and things disposed of by will. Hence
(4) Demosth. Orat. ii. in Stephan. testero
(5) Issus de Haered. Gleoiiyirii.
(6? Voce 66a-.
(1) Solone.
^2) Issus de hasred. Aristarchs.
k3> Isaeus Orat, da Pyrrhi tosered