Greek Anthology Book XIV: Metrodorus: 123

Arithmetical Epigram of Metrodorus

 * Take, my son, the fifth part of my inheritance,
 * and thou, wife, receive the twelfth;
 * and ye four sons of my departed son and my two brothers, and thou my grieving mother, take each an eleventh part of the property.
 * But ye, my cousins, receive twelve talents,
 * and let my friend Eubulus have five talents.


 * To my most faithful servants I give their freedom and these recompenses in payment of their service.
 * Let them receive as follows.
 * Let Onesimus have twenty-five minae
 * and Davus twenty minae,
 * Syrus fifty,
 * Synete ten
 * and Tibius eight,
 * and I give seven minae to the son of Syrus, Synetus.


 * Spend thirty talents on adorning my tomb and sacrifice to Infernal Zeus.


 * From two talents let the expense be met of my funeral pyre, the funeral cakes, and grave-clothes,
 * and from two let my corpse receive a gift.

Solution
Let $n$ be the value in of the narrator's inheritance.


 * To friends and relatives:


 * $\dfrac n 5$ goes to the son


 * $\dfrac n {12}$ goes to the wife


 * $\dfrac {7 n} {11}$ goes to $4$ grandsons, $2$ brothers and mother


 * $12$ go to the cousins


 * $5$ go to Eubulus


 * To the various servants:


 * $25$ go to Onesimus


 * $20$ go to Davus


 * $50$ go to Syrus


 * $10$ go to Synete


 * $8$ go to Tibius


 * $7$ go to Synetus


 * In addition


 * $30$ are spent on adorning the tomb and the sacrifice to Zeus


 * $2$ are spent on the funeral pyre, party food and gladrags


 * $2$ are spent on the gift for the corpse ("probably precious ointment", suggests ).

First let us add up the specific amounts.

The servants get:

Thus the total of the specific allocations:

Finally:

So the narrator's inheritance is valued at $660$, of which:


 * $132$ go to the son


 * $55$ go to the wife


 * $420$ go to the $4$ grandsons, $2$ brothers and mother

and the remaining $53$ are specifically allocated.