Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/115

 rnAI'. VII. THE RIGHl OF SUCCESSION. 109 were longer fnithful to old institutions ; among them the patrimony was indivisible, and the younger brothers iiad no part of it.' It was the same with many of the ancient codes that Aristotle had studied. He informs us, indeed, that the Theban code prescribed absolutely thftt the number of lots of land should remain un- changeable, which certainly excluded the division among brothers. An ancient law of Corinth also pro- vided that tlje number of families should remain in- variable, which could only be the c.ise where the right of the oldest prevented fomilies from becoming dis- membered in each generation.^ Among the Athenians we need not expect to find this old institution in full vigor in the time of De- mosthenes; but there still existed at this epoch what they called the privilege of the elder.^ It consisted in retaining, above his proportion, the paternal dwelling — on advantage which was materially considerable, and which was still more considerable in a religious point of view; for the paternal house contained the ancient hearth of the family. While the younger sons, in the time of Demosthenes, left home to light new fires, the oldest, the true heir, remained in possession of the pa- ternal hearth and of the tomb of his ancestors. He alone also preserved the family name.* These were the ves- tiges of a time when he alone received the patrimony. We may remark, that the inequality of the law of primogeniture, besides the fact that it did not strike the minds of the ancients, over whom religion was aU- ' Fragments of the Greek Uisiorians, Didot's Coll., t. IL 4). 211. ' Tlotn^iiix, Deraostiienes, P7-o rhorm.. 34.
 * Aristotle, Poltt., II. 9 ; II. 3.
 * Demosthenes, in Besot, de nomine.