Table Of ContentG
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ARIS & PHILLIPS CLASSICAL TEXTS E
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G O
REEK RATORS VIII
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Isaeus Orations 1, 2, 4 and 6 T
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The four selected speeches were composed by a professional speechwriter, Isaeus,
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for litigants contesting inheritance claims in the Athenian courts of the fourth century
V
BC. They off er some intriguing glimpses into the domestic life of (mainly wealthy)
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Athenian families, with sometimes scandalous stories of forged wills, family quarrels, I
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illegitimate children, divorce, and prostitution. The narratives feature positive and
negative Athenian stereotypes of women (dutiful wife or deceitful seductress). Is
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In the fi rst comprehensive English language commentaries on these speeches for u
over 100 years. the main focus is on legal issues as the key to understanding Isaeus’s s
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rhetorical strategy. The aim is to show that he did not, as modern scholars have
sometimes argued, ignore the law and seek to win cases for his clients on purely r
a
moral grounds. Rather, through carefully constructed narratives and persuasive but t
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sometimes convoluted argumentation, he sought to convince the judges that the law o
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was on his clients’ side.
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The combination of translations and commentaries makes the selected speeches ,
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accessible to readers with little or no knowledge of classical Greek. No familiarity
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with Athenian law is assumed, but the book will also be useful to specialists seeking 4
to explore Isaeus’s work in greater depth. a
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d
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Brenda Griffi th-Williams is Honorary Research Associate at the Department of Greek
and Latin, University College London. Her publications include A Commentary on
Selected Speeches of Isaios (Brill, 2013); Use and Abuse of Law in the Athenian B
Courts, ed. C. Carey, I. Giannadaki and B. Griffi th-Williams (Brill, 2018); The Making r ARIS & PHILLIPS CLASSICAL TEXTS
e
of Identities in Athenian Oratory ed. J. Filonik, B. Griffi th-Williams and J. Kucharski n
(Routledge, 2020). d G O
a REEK RATORS VIII
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fi Isaeus Orations 1, 2, 4 and 6
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EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION, TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY BY
www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk Brenda Griffi th-Williams
Aris and Phillips Classical Texts
Greek Orators VIII
Isaeus: Orations 1, 2, 4 and 6
Edited with an Introduction, Translation and Notes by
Brenda Griffith-Williams
LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY PRESS
First published 2022 by
Liverpool University Press
4 Cambridge Street
Liverpool
L69 7ZU
www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk
Copyright © 2022 Brenda Griffith-Williams
The right of Brenda Griffith-Williams to be identified as the author of this book
has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the
publisher.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication data
A British Library CIP record is available
ISBN 978-1-802077-31-1
eISBN 978-1-802078-95-4
Typeset by Tara Evans
Cover image: The grave stele of an Athenian cavalryman, Dexileos (394/393 BC)
in Kerameikos Archaeological Park (site of the largest cemetery in classical
Athens)
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements v
Abbreviations vii
General Introduction 1
Isaeus 1: On the Estate of Cleonymus
Introduction 14
Text and translation 25
Commentary 42
Isaeus 2: On the Estate of Menecles
Introduction 65
Text and translation 75
Commentary 92
Isaeus 4: On the Estate of Nicostratus
Introduction 121
Text and translation 129
Commentary 142
Isaeus 6: On the Estate of Philoctemon
Introduction 161
Text and translation 175
Commentary 200
Bibliography 237
Index 243
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book would not have been possible without the help, support,
and encouragement of many friends and colleagues. My warment
thanks are due, in particular, to the following. Professor Chris Carey
(University College London) and Professor Mike Edwards (Royal
Holloway University of London), have both generously sent me copies
of published and unpublished papers. Dr Janek Kucharski (University
of Silesia in Katowice) assisted me with references and comments
on Athenian judicial punishment (especially death sentences) for the
commentary on Isaeus 4. Dr Jakub Filonik (University of Silesia in
Katowice) provided information on Athenian military service for the
commentary on Isaeus 2. I am also extremely grateful to Clare Litt of
Liverpool University Press for her sympathetic help and support, and
to the series editor, Professor Alan Sommerstein, whose insightful
comments on my manuscript have significantly enhanced the finished
work. Any remaining errors or omissions are, of course, entirely my
own responsibility.
ABBREVIATIONS
Ancient authors and works
Aesch. Aeschines
Andoc. Andocides
Ant. Antiphon
Arist. Aristotle
NE Nicomachean Ethics
Rhet. Rhetoric
Ath. Pol. Athēnaiōn Politeia
Dein. Deinarchus
Dem. Demosthenes
Diog. Laert. Diogenes Laertius
Hyp. Hyperides
Isae. Isaeus
Isoc. Isocrates
Lyc. Lycurgus
Lys. Lysias
Men. Sam. Menander Samia
Plaut. Merc. Plautus Mercator
Plut. Alc. Plutarch Alcibiades
Thuc. Thucydides
Modern works
IG Inscriptiones Graecae
KA Poetae comici graeci, eds R. Kassel and C. Austin,
Berlin, 1983–2001.
LGPN Lexicon of Greek personal names
OCD Oxford Classical Dictionary
viii Abbreviations
General
c. circa
dau. daughter
ed./eds editor/edited
esp. especially
fr(r). fragment(s)
Gk. Greek
lit. literally
m. married
ms(s). manuscript(s)
n. note
trans. translator/translated
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
The four speeches in this volume were delivered by litigants involved
in disputed inheritance claims in the Athenian courts of the fourth
century BC. They were written by Isaeus, a logographer (professional
speechwriter) who apparently specialized in this area of the law.
These speeches are worth reading because they illustrate various aspects
of Athenian law and procedure, and the stories told by the litigants offer
a unique insight into the lives and values of fourth century Athenians
(although we should not assume that the situations they describe were
typical). They can be read and enjoyed as rhetoric or social history, but
a fuller understanding and appreciation of their value requires some
knowledge of the legal context in which they were written. The primary
aim of my translations and commentaries is, accordingly, to explain the
legal framework of each case and show how the logographer’s rhetorical
strategy was designed to achieve the desired legal outcome for his client.
The introduction to each individual speech sets out the basic ‘facts’ of
the case (according to the speaker), identifies the legal issues, and (where
relevant) explains the historical background.
This General Introduction provides some basic background information
about Isaeus and the Athenian legal culture within which he worked, and
introduces some of the topics of scholarly debate which are explored in
greater depth in relation to the individual speeches. The coverage of the
Athenian legal system is by no means comprehensive. Griffith-Williams
(2013, 1–31) provides a more detailed account of Isaeus’s work and of
the Athenian inheritance system. Readers who would like to find out
more about the Athenian legal system in general are advised to consult
one of the standard works such as Harrison (1968 and 1971). MacDowell
(1978) provides a simpler and (especially for the Greekless reader) more
accessible account, which is still a reliable introduction to the subject.
Todd (1993) offers a more sophisticated (and not uncontroversial)
analysis, but is also a reliable source of information.
Isaeus and his work
Isaeus is one of the so-called ‘Attic orators’, canonized in late antiquity,
whose speeches (or some of them) have survived through the mediaeval
