49
Next, did not the dowry which was given with her awake your suspicion? This alone might well have aroused your indignation and induced you to denounce Endius, namely, that he himself was claiming as his right a fortune of three talents, but thought fit, when he was giving Pyrrhus's legitimate daughter in marriage to another man, to bestow with her a portion of only a thousand drachmas.The MS. reading gives “3000 drachmas,” which does not accord with the statement of Isaeus 3.51, where the dowry is said to be less than a tenth of Pyrrhus's estate which amounted to three talents (18,000 drachmas). Would not this have aroused the defendant's indignation and would he not have denounced Endius? By heavens he would, if his story were true.
50
I cannot imagine it possible that Endius, or any other adopted son, could be so foolish, or so regardless of the existing laws, as to give the legitimate daughter of the man who left the estate in marriage to another instead of marrying her himself; for he knew perfectly well that the children of a legitimate daughter have a right to succeed to the whole of their grandfather's estate. Knowing this, would anyone hand over his own property to another man, especially if it were of the value that our opponents claim?
