Aristotle’s Will

Al-Garib said, “When death attended him, he [Aristotle] stated: I have made Antipater my executor permanently over all that I have left behind. Until Nicanor [who is to marry Aristotle’s daughter] arrives, let Artisomedes, Timarchus, Hiapparchus, and Dioteles be responsible for seeking whatever there is need to seek for, and for handling whatever there may be need to take care of, on behalf of the people of my house and Herpyllis, my servant, as well as for the rest of my slave girls and slaves and those whom I have left behind.

If it is easy and feasible for Theophrastus to join them in this affair, he should also be one of their number. When my daughter gains maturity, let Nicanor have charge of her. In case she should happen to die before she marries, or afterwards before having a child, the responsibility for my son, Nicomachus, falls to Nicanor. My charge to him in this case is that he shall manage the affairs which he handles in a way both desirable and seemly.

In case Nicanor dies before he marries my daughter, or after her marriage but before she has a child, I charge that whatever Nicanor bequests in a will shall be valid and authoritative. In case Nicanor dies without a will and if it is convenient for Theophrastus, I should like to have him serve as his substitute in caring for my children and others whom I have left behind. But in case this is not agreeable to him, then let the executors whom I have named return to Antipater, so as to ask for his advice about what they should do with all that I have left. Then let them manage the affair in accordance with what they agree upon.