Osage Valley banner. (Tuscumbia, Miller County, Mo.) 1879-1881, 1881-06-16
TO say IN a will; aud he appoints no less
III han SIX eyopttOrs

document of some length aud very
minute in its provisions. He decides
who is to marry his little daughter
wlen she grows up. He frees several OF
his slaves, aud orders that the children
of the rest when they are Of age shall be
set ree, ''if they have deserved itA
We see from his will, and from other
wills of the period, why so many ship
loads Of statues have been found in
Greece. Every man of substance ap-
pears 10 have had statues made. either
Of his friends Oroi the gods Aristotle
expressly requires that the statues he
had ordered SHOULD be finished and
4liaesad whore be meant them ~ be- lie
gives a Ceres which bad once belonged
TO his mother, to be deposited in-a tenn.
pie, He adds this provision.
- fu.ther wish the rour stone animals
promlsed ll me as Votive oIcrings for the
pIeser'ation ~ Nlcanor ms destined son-in.
laws ~ 6c plafsci at Stagvra TO Jupiter and
" nervt' They are 20 be four cuhits six feet
high
There are similar bequests hi the will
OF ThgOpbrastus, n pnpil Of Aristotle.
His viii. indeed, is. interesting on many
accounts, and shows TO what point Of
AN'tIfilltiA Nliti fAtA tliull vi lllilAl u ltffF
of the Greeks of that age had attained.
He had cousecrated n small garden To
the MUSES., and this he orders in his will
shall be finished according to his plan,
and adorned with statues OF the god
desses, executed in the highest style Of
art. In the little temple appertaining
to this sacred garden, he ordered his
portrait OF Aristotle To be placed, as
well as his ''maps of the world.n and
"a richly worked altar. He specially
charges the immortal sculptor, Praxit-
eles, TO finish a statue which he had
ordered OF him. aud to spare no money
required for its perfection. He leaves
his house and garden to eleven of his
philosophical friends, to be held aud
used by them In common as sort of
Concord School OF Philosophy. There
they were to meet and discuss high
questions, and the property should be
held forever for that purpose. He also
freed several of his slaves, and be-
queathes slaves to some of those whom
he emaneipated Two of them were to
have their freedom IN four years, dur
ing which they were 10 work in the
garden and 10 behave well.
Under the Romans. the art aud mys-
terry OF will-making were so complete-
ly developed that the lapse OF fifteen
centuries has added very little to them.
At first the Romans wrote their wills
upon tablets OF wood or wax, and it
was necessary for each OF the five wit
nesses To make mark with his ring
upon the wax, besides writing his
name. The most minute provisions
were made concerning the form and
adiuncts OF the will II had to be tied
with threefold thread in just such q
place. perforated and sealed in Just
such methods, or else the win was void.
When il was finished it could be de-
posted either with q friend or in one
OF the temples, or with the Yestal Yir-
gins. ~ M
After the testator's death the win
was opened and read with the most
particular formality in the presence OF
the witnesses, or as. many of them as
could be found. First, the witnesses
had TO acknowledge their signatures as
genuine; the three-fold thread was
formally severed, and then the will was
read. Finally "A copy was made and
the original, sealed with the public
seal, was deposited in an office pro-
yided for the purpose, from which
new copy could be drawn if the first
should be lost or defaced.
The Romans might well guard their
last wills with formality, for, If we may
belieye the statements OF the elder
l'linY, there have never been such rich
people m the world as some OF the no
bic Romans We're According to this
aathor, q certain MaFcls CIassus used
TO say that no man could beaproperly
oalledyjGh who could not maintain ten
thousand soldiers upon his income
tlone- Grassus had a landed estate of
many thousands OF acres; but Pliny
leclares that he had himself known,
since the days of Crassus, many eman-
,ipatod slaves richer than he. He mem
ions one man who declared IN his last
will thai, though he had suffered great
losses through the civil war, ho was
itill able to bequeath 4. ZIG. slaves,
.. 600 pairs of oxen, 257, 600 of other
,attle, besides some millions in ready
money.
Probably the industrious Pliny exag-
gerated a good deal for we observe in
,ur own day that ii a man has million
lollars IN unmistakable propsrty, he is
Isually credited with tan millions at
east, The same Pliny speaks of a GER
ain Ptolemy, who lived near Jadea,
md was not a King, Who entertained
800 horsemen, hndton giving a feast
oa thousand guests, set before each
4 them drinking cup OF gold, and !
cups at every course. /
II certainly behooved people who had |
o much property as this. or only a
part of il, to be very careful I
n making their wills; and, m fact. it |
would require a volume OF Ofconsiderable
ize toleNhibit fully the laws aud Gus.
oms Of the Romans with regardto will !
making -JdDes Parton, IN NeW Ybrk |
'eager % THNa09n