A father found a treasure in his Athens house and willed every citizen a mina a year; his son paid it by collecting their grandfathers' debts

Philostratus writes that the emperor confiscated the estate of Hipparchus, grandfather of Herodes Atticus, on a charge of aiming at tyranny. His son Atticus was left poor. Then Atticus found "a prodigious treasure" in a house he owned near the theatre. He wrote to the emperor Nerva: "I have found a treasure in my own house. What commands do you give about it?" Nerva replied, "Use what you have found." Atticus wrote that it was too large for a man of his station. Nerva replied, "Then misuse your windfall." Atticus's will left every Athenian citizen a mina a year. Philostratus says his freedmen advised it, hoping to win the people's protection from his son. The Athenians agreed with Herodes to take five minae each at once. At the banks they were read contracts showing that their fathers and grandfathers owed money to Herodes's parents. Some received a small sum and others nothing. They hated him for the rest of his life. They said the Panathenaic stadium he built was well named, because it was built with money taken from all the Athenians. Herodes judged his own son Atticus a drunk and a fool. At his death he left the son only his mother's estate and gave his own fortune to other heirs. He asked to be buried at Marathon. The Athenians took the body from his freedmen and buried him in the stadium they said their money had paid for.