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Lycurgus, (Lukourgos). An Athenian orator, and one of the warmest supporters of the democratic faction in the contest with Philip of Macedon. The time of his birth is uncertain, but he was older than Demosthenes; and if his father was put to death by order of the Thirty Tyrants, he must have been born previous to B.C. 404. But the words of the biographer are, as Clinton has justly remarked, ambiguous, and may imply that it was his grandfather who was put to death by the Thirty. Lycurgus is said to have derived instruction from Plato and Isocrates. He took an active part in the management of public affairs, and was one of the Athenian ambassadors who succeeded (B.C. 343) in counteracting the designs of Philip against Ambracia and the Peloponnesus. He filled the office of treasurer of the public revenue for three periods of five years; and was noted for the integrity and ability with which he discharged the duties of his office. Bockh considers that Lycurgus was the only statesman of antiquity who had a real knowledge of the management of finance. He raised the revenue to twelve hundred talents, and also erected, during his administration, many public buildings, and completed the docks, the armory, the theatre of Bacchus, and the Panathenaic course. So great confidence was placed in the honesty of Lycurgus that many citizens confided to his custody large sums; and, shortly before his death, he had the accounts of his public administration engraved on stone, and set up in a part of the wrestling-school. An inscription, preserved to the present day, containing some accounts of a manager of the public revenue, is supposed by Bockh to be a part of the accounts of Lycurgus. After the battle of Chaeronea (B.C. 388), Lycurgus conducted the accusation against the Athenian general Lysicles. He was one of the orators demanded by Alexander after the destruction of Thebes (B.C. 335). He died about B.C. 323, and was buried in the Academia. Fifteen years after his death, upon the ascendency of the democratic faction, a decree was passed by the Athenian people that public honours should be paid to Lycurgus. A brazen statue of him was erected in the Ceramicus, which was seen by Pansanias, and the representative of his family was allowed the privilege of dining in the Prytaneum. This decree, which was proposed by Stratocles, has come down to us at the end of the lives of the Ten Orators. Lycurgus is said to have published fifteen orations, of which only one has been preserved. This oration, which was delivered B.C. 331, is an accusation of Leocrates (Kata Leokratous), as Athenian citizen, for abandoning Athens after the battle of Chaeronea, and settling in another Grecian State.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Lycurgus (c. 390-c. 324 BC) was a leading Athenian public official during the
period after the Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC), in which Athens and its allies
were defeated by Philip of Macedon. Lycurgus? special achievement was his reorganization
of Athenian finances, which doubled the amount of money raised annually. These
additional funds were used for such things as increasing Athens? military capability
and rebuilding the theater of Dionysus in stone. Lycurgus was not a logographer,
but he brought charges of corruption or treason against many officials, usually
with success. Only one speech survives, Against Leocrates (330 BC).
Life and works
We know little of Lycurgus? life before 338 except that he came from
a very old Athenian family and as a youth he studied with Isocrates and Plato.
After Chaeronea he received an appointment or mandate to restore the financial
condition of Athens; the precise nature of his position is not certain. In this
position he had great success, and he continued to control Athenian finances and
play a large role in the governance of the city for the next dozen years. Among
his accomplishments in addition to his financial reforms were increasing the fleet
and making other military improvements, refurbishing many religious and other
public structures, and having official copies made of the tragedies of Aeschylus,
Sophocles and Euripides to protect them against actors? interpolations.
Lycurgus? prosecutions of other Athenians earned him a high reputation
as a severe but honest guardian of the public interest. The one speech that survives
was one of the few in which he did not secure a conviction. He brought a charge
of treason against an ordinary citizen named Leocrates, accusing him of leaving
the city during the turmoil after Chaeronea. Leocrates? actions were probably
not illegal in a strict sense, but Lycurgus argues that such cowardice is essentially
treason. We are told by Aeschines (Aeschin. 3.252) that Leocrates was acquitted
on a tie vote.
Significance
There is general agreement that despite Lycurgus? notable political
accomplishments, his rhetorical ability ranks rather low among the ten Attic orators
included in the Hellenistic canon. He pays little attention to niceties of prose
style, and in his attacks on corruption and moralistic evocation of past glories,
he tends to belabor his arguments rather tediously. Against Leocrates is unusual
in the use it makes of citations of poetry, but although scholars are grateful
that he preserved the fifty-five lines of Euripides? lost Erectheus and thirty-two
lines of an otherwise unknown Tyrtaeus elegy, most agree that Lycurgus? purpose
would have been better served by a shorter quotation.
This text is cited August 2004 from Perseus Project URL bellow, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Lycurgus (Lukourgos), an Attic orator, was born at Athens about B. C. 396, and
was the son of Lycophron, who belonged to the noble family of the Eteobutadae
(Plut. Vit. X. Orat.; Suidas, s. v. Lukourgos; Phot. Bibl. Cod. 268). In his early
life he devoted himself to the study of philosophy in the school of Plato, but
afterwards became one of the disciples of Isocrates, and entered upon public life
at a comparatively early age. He was appointed three successive times to the office
of tmias tes koines prosodou, i. e. manager of the public revenue, and held his
office each time for five years, beginning with B. S. 337. The conscientiousness
with which he discharged the duties of this office enabled him to raise the public
revenue to the sum of 1200 talents. This, as well as the unwearied activity with
which he laboured both for increasing the security and splendour of the city of
Athens, gained for him the universal confidence of the people to such a degree,
that when Alexander the Great demanded, among the other opponents of the Macedonian
interest, the surrender of Lycurgus also, who had, in conjunction with Demosthenes,
exerted himself against the intrigues of Macedonia even as early as the reign
of Philip, the people of Athens clung to him, and boldly refused to deliver him
up (Plut. Phot. ll. cc.).
He was further entrusted with the superintendence (phulake) of the
city and the keeping of public discipline; and the severity with which he watched
over the conduct of the citizens became almost proverbial (Cic. ad Att. i. 13;
Plut. Flamin. 12; Amm. Marc. xxii. 9, xxx. 8). He had a noble taste for every
thing that was beautiful and grand, as he showed by the buildings he erected or
completed, both for the use of the citizens and the ornament of the city. His
integrity was so great, that even private persons deposited with him large sums
of money, which they wished to be kept in safety. He was also the author of several
legislative enactments, of which he enforced the strictest observance. One of
his laws forbade women to ride in chariots at the celebration of the mysteries;
and when his own wife transgressed this law, she was fined (Aelian, V H. xiii.
24); another ordained that bronze statues should be erected to Aeschylus, Sophocles,
and Euripides, that copies of their tragedies should be made and preserved in
the public archives. The Lives of the Ten Orators ascribed to Plutarch are full
of anecdotes and characteristic features of Lycurgus, from which we must infer
that he was one of the noblest specimens of old Attic virtue, and a worthy contemporary
of Demosthenes. He often appeared as a successful accuser in the Athenian courts,
but he himself was as often accused by others, though he always, and even in the
last days of his life, succeeded in silencing his enemies. Thus we know that he
was attacked by Philinus (Harpocrat. s. v. theorika), Deinarchus (Dionys. Dinarch.
10), Aristogeiton, Menesaechmus, and others.
He died while holding the office of epistates of the theatre of Dionysus,
in B. C. 323. A fragment of an inscription, containing the account which he rendered
to the state of his administration of the finances, is still extant. At his death
he left behind three sons, by his wife Callisto, who were severely persecuted
by Menesaechmus and Thrasycles, but were defended by Hyperides and Democles (Plut.
1. c.). Among the honours which were conferred upon him, we may mention, that
the archon Anaxicrates ordered a bronze statue to be erected to him in the Cerameicus,
and that he and his eldest son should be entertained in the prytaneium at the
public expense.
The ancients mention fifteen orations of Lycurgus as extant in their
days (Plut. l. c.), but we know the titles of at least twenty. With the exception,
however, of one entire oration against Leocrates, and some fragments of others,
all the rest are lost, so that our knowledge of his skill and style as an orator
is very incomplete. Dionysius and other ancient critics draw particular attention
to the ethical tendency of his oraticns, but they censure the harshness of his
metaphors, the inaccuracy in the arrangement of his subject, and his frequent
digressions. His style is noble and grand, but neither elegant nor pleasing (Dionys.
Vet. Script. cens. v. 3; Hermogen. De Form. Orat. ii.; Dion Chrysost. Or. xviii.).
His works seem to have been commented upon by Didymus of Alexandria (Harpocrat.
s. vv. pelanos, prokonia, stroter). Theon (Progymn.) mentions two declamations,
Elenes enkomion and Eurubatou phogos, as the works of Lycurgus; but this Lycurgus,
if the name be correct, must be a different personage from the Attic orator. The
oration against Leocrates, which was delivered in B. C. 330 (Aeschin. adv. Ctesiph.93),
is printed in the various collections of the Attic orators by Aldus, Stephens,
Gruter, Reiske, Dukas, Bekker, Baiter, and Sauppe. Among the separate editions,
the following deserve to be mentioned--that of J. Taylor (Cambridge, 1743, 8vo.,
where it is printed together with Demosthenes' speech against Meidias), C. F.
Heinrich (Bonn, 1821, 8vo.), G. Pinzger (Leipzig, 1824, 8vo., with a learned introduction,
notes, and a German translation), A. G. Becker (Magdeburg, 1821, 8vo.) The best
editions are those of Baiter and Sauppe (Turici, 1834, 8vo.), and E. Maetzner
(Berlin, 1836, 8vo.). Compare G. A. Blume, Narratio de Lycurgo Oratore, Potsdam,
11134, 4to.; A. F. Nissen, De Lycurgi Oratoris Vita et Rebus Gestis Dissertatio,
Kiel, 1833, 8vo.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited July 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Life of Lycurgus
Lycurgus, according to Libanius, was older than Demosthenes, though they were
practically contemporaries. He belonged to the illustrious house of the Eteobutadae,
who traced their descent from one Butes, brother of Erechtheus. The priesthood
of Posidon-Erechtheus, and other religious offices, were hereditary in this family.
The grandfather of the orator, also called Lycurgus, was put to death
by the Thirty; his father, Lycophron, is known only by name.
In the orator's extant speech, and in his recorded actions, we find
abundant proof of a sincere piety and deep religious feeling, which were natural
in the true representative of such a family. The traditions of his house may well
have turned his thoughts to the stern virtues of ancient days, the days of Athenian
greatness, when self-sacrifice was expected of a citizen. He expresses a friendly
feeling towards Sparta.
Of his earlier political life we know only that he was an ally of
Demosthenes. He came into greater prominence after Chaeronea, and was one of the
ten orators whose surrender was demanded by Alexander after the destruction of
Thebes.
In 338 B.C., when the war party came into power, he succeeded Eubulus,
the nominee of the peace party, in an important financial office. In the decree
quoted by the Pseudo-Plutarch he is called 'Steward of the public revenue' (tes
koines prosodou tamias), which is probably not his correct title, though it fairly
represents his appointment.e kept this office for twelve years. His long administration,
which was characterized by absolute probity, brought the finances of Athens to
a thoroughly sound condition. During his office he built a theatre and an odeon,
completed an arsenal, increased the fleet, and improved the harbour of Piraeus.
He also embellished the city with works of art--statues of the great poets erected
in the public places, golden figures of Victory and golden vessels dedicated in
the temples. His respect for the poets was further shown by his decree that an
official copy should be made of the works of the three great tragedians--a copy
which afterwards passed into the possession of the Alexandrine library.
He conceived it as his mission to raise the standard of public and
private life. Himself almost an ascetic, he enacted sumptuary laws; as a religious
man by instinct and tradition, he built temples and encouraged religious festivals;
an ardent patriot by conviction, he thought it his duty to undertake the ungrateful
part of a public prosecutor, pursuing all who failed in their sacred duty towards
their country. In this way he conducted many prosecutions, which were nearly all
successful. He was never a paid advocate or a writer of speeches for others; indeed
he would have thought it criminal to write or speak against his convictions. His
indictments were characterized by such inflexible severity that his contemporaries
compared him to Draco, saying that he wrote his accusations with a pen dipped
in death instead of blood.
He died a natural death in 324 B.C. (Suda), and was honoured by a
public funeral. His enemy Menesaechmus, who succeeded to his office, accused him
of having left a deficit, though, according to one story, Lycurgus, on the point
of death, had been carried into the ecclesia and successfully defended himself
on that score. His sons were condemned to make restitution, and, being unable
to pay, were thrown into prison, in spite of an able defence by Hyperides. They
were released on an appeal by Demosthenes, then in exile.
Works
Fifteen speeches of Lycurgus were preserved in antiquity, nearly all
accusations on serious charges. He prosecuted Euxenippus, whom Hyperides defended;
he spoke against the orator Demades, and, in alliance with Demosthenes, against
the sycophant Aristogiton. Other speeches known to us by name are Against Autolycus,
Against Leocrates, two speeches Against Lycophron, Against Lysicles, against Menesaechmus,
a Defence of himself against Demades, Against Ischyrias, pros tas manteias (obscure
title), Concerning his administration, Concerning the priestess, and Concerning
the priesthood.
Only one speech is now extant, the impeachment of Leocrates.
Leocrates, an Athenian, during the panic which succeeded the battle
of Chaeronea, fled from Athens to Rhodes, and thence migrated to Megara, where
he engaged in trade for five years. About 332 B.C. he returned to Athens, thinking
that his desertion would have been forgotten; but Lycurgus prosecuted him as a
traitor.
Only a small part of the speech is really devoted to proving the charge.
By §
36 Lycurgus regards it as generally admitted. The remaining 114 sections consist
mostly of comment and digressions which aim at emphasizing the seriousness of
the crime and produce precedent for the infliction of severe punishment in such
cases.
Analysis
1. Introduction. Justice and piety demand that I should bring Leocrates to trial
(§§ 1-2);
the part of a prosecutor is unpopular, but it is my duty to undertake it (§§
3-6). This is a case of exceptional importance, and you must give your decision
without prejudice or partiality, emulating the Areopagus (§§
7-16).
2. Narrative. The flight of Leocrates to Rhodes. Evidence (§§
17-20). His move to Megara and occupation there. Evidence (§§
21-23).
3. Argument. Comments on the narrative. Possible line of defence (§§
24-35). The case is now proved. It remains to describe the circumstances of
Athens at the time when Leocrates deserted her (§ 36).
4. The panic after the battle of Chaeronea (§§
37-45). Praise of those who fell in the battle there (§§
46-51). Acquittal is impossible (§§
52-54). Another ground of defence cut away (§§ 55-58). Further excuses disallowed
(§§
59-62). Attempt of his advocates to belittle his crime refuted by appeal to
the principles of Draco (§§
63-67). They appeal to precedent--the evacuation of the city before the battle
of Salamis: this precedent can be turned against them (§§
68-74). The sanctity of oaths and punishment for perjury. Appeals to ancient
history. Codrus (§§
75-89). Leocrates says he is confident in his innocence--quem deus vult perdere,
prius dementat (§§
90-93). Providence (§§
94-97). Examples of self-sacrifice; quotations from Euripides and Homer (§§
97-105). Praise of Sparta. Influence of Tyrtaeus on patriots. Thermopylae
(§§
106-110). Severity of our ancestors towards traitors (§§111-127).
Sparta was equally severe (§§
128-129). Due severity will discourage treachery, and the treachery of Leocrates
is of the basest sort (§§
130-134). His advocates are as bad as he is (§§
135-140). Appeal to the righteous indignation of the judges (§§
141-148). Epilogue (§§
149-150):
Style, etc.I have come to the succour of my country and her religion and her laws, and have pleaded my case straightforwardly and justly, neither slandering Leocrates for his general manner of living, nor bringing any charge foreign to the present matter; but you must consider that in acquitting him you condemn your country to death and slavery. Two urns stand before you, the one for betrayal, the other for salvation; votes placed in the former mean the ruin of your fatherland, those in the latter are given for civil security and prosperity. If you let Leocrates go, you will be voting for the betrayal of Athens, her religion, and her ships; but if you put him to death, you will encourage others to guard and secure your country, her revenues, and her prosperity. So imagine, Athenians, that the land and its trees are supplicating you, that the harbours, the dockyards, and the walls of the city are imploring you; that the temples and holy places are urging you to come to their help; and make an example of Leocrates, remembering what charges are brought against him, and how mercy and tears of compassion do not weigh more with you than the safety of the laws and the commonwealth. §§ 149-150
This, with the exception of a slight imperfection of style already noticed, is good in its way, in the style which tradition had established as appropriate to such subjects. It is less conventional and, in spite of its bold metaphors, less insincere than Gorgias, avoiding as it does the extravagance of his antithetical style.And if I may use a paradox which is bold but nevertheless true, they were victorious in death. For to brave men the prizes of war are freedom and valour; for both of these the dead may possess. And further, we may not say that our defeat was due to them, whose spirits never quailed before the terror of the enemy's approach; for to those who fall nobly in battle, and to them alone, can no man justly ascribe defeat; for fleeing from slavery they make choice of a noble death. The valour of these men is a proof, for they alone of all in Greece had freedom in their bodies; for as they passed from life all Greece passed into slavery; for the freedom of the rest of the Greeks was buried in the same tomb with their bodies. Hence they proved to all that they were not warring for their personal ends, but facing danger for the general safety. So, Gentlemen, I need not be ashamed of saying that their souls are the garland on the brows of their country. §§ 49-50.
His use of examples from ancient history is similar to that of Isocrates, e.g. in the Philip and the Panegyric; but many of these episodes are forcibly dragged into a trial of the kind with which Lycurgus was concerned, whereas those of Isocrates always help to convey the lesson which he is trying to enforce. Thus the following passage, which succeeds a quotation from Homer, leads up to a digression on Tyrtaeus, accompanied by a lengthy quotation from his works. There is only a bare pretence that all this has anything to do with the case:And because they showed reason in the exercise of their courage, you, men of Athens, alone of all the Greeks, know how to honour noble men. In other States you will find memorials of athletes in the market-places; in Athens such records are of good generals and of those who slew the tyrant. Search the whole of Greece and you will barely find a few men such as these, while in every quarter you will easily find men who have won garlands for success in athletic contests. So, as you bestow the highest honours on your benefactors, you have a right to inflict the severest punishments on those by whom their country is dishonoured and betrayed. § 51.
Here Lycurgus has reverted to the antithetical style of Antiphon, the opposition of 'word' and 'deed', 'private' and 'public', and the like. We are also from time to time reminded of Antiphon by the prominence given in the Leocrates to religious considerations. The digressions may be partly explained by the speaker's avowed motive in introducing some of them -his wish to be an educator. He introduces a very moral tale of a young Sicilian who, tarrying behind to save his father, on the occasion of an eruption of Etna, was providentially saved while all the others perished. This is his excuse -'The story may be legendary, but it will be appropriate for all the younger men to hear it now' (§ 95); and the manner of the lecturer is evident elsewhere -'There are three influences above all which guard and protect the democracy and the welfare of the city', etc. 'There are two things which educate our youth: -the punishment of evil-doers and the rewards bestowed on good men'.Hearing these lines and emulating such actions, our ancestors were so disposed towards manly courage that they were content to die not only for their own fatherland but for all Greece, as their common fatherland. Those, at any rate, who faced the barbarians at Marathon, conquered the armament of all Asia, by their individual sacrifice gaining security for all the Greeks in common, priding themselves not upon their fame but on doing deeds worthy of their country, setting themselves up as champions of the Greeks and masters of the barbarians; for they made no nominal profession of courage, but gave an actual display of it to all the world. § 104.
The whole speech is pervaded by references to religion; Rehdantz has noted that the word theos occurs no less than thirty-three times; and other words of religious import are very frequent, though the orator never uses ejaculations such as the o ge kai theoi of Demosthenes. This reiteration is of less significance than the serious tone of the passages in which such references occur; his opening sentences indicate the attitude which he is to maintain:I too, shall follow justice in my prosecution, neither falsifying anything, nor speaking of matters extraneous to the case. For most of those who come before you behave in the most inappropriate fashion; for they either give you advice about public interests, or bring charges, true or false, of every possible kind rather than the one on which you are to be called on to give your verdict.
There is no difficulty in either of these courses; it is as easy to utter an opinion about a matter on which you are not deliberating as it is to make accusations which nobody is going to answer. But it is not just to ask you to give a verdict in accordance with justice when they observe no justice in making their accusations. And you are responsible for this abuse, for it is you who have given this licence to those who appear before you. . . . §§ 11-12.
Passages later in the speech deepen this impression, and contain definite statements of belief which we cannot disregard:Justice and Piety will be satisfied, men of Athens, by the prosecution which I shall institute, on your behalf and on behalf of the gods, against the defendant Leocrates. For I pray to Athena and the other gods, and to the heroes whose statues stand in the city and in the country, that if I have justly impeached Leocrates; if I am bringing to trial the betrayer of their temples, their shrines and their sanctuaries, and the sacrifices ordained by the laws, handed down to you by your forefathers, they may make me to-day a prosecutor worthy of his offences, as the interests of the people and the city demand; and that you, remembering that your deliberations are concerned with your fathers, your children, your wives, your country, and your religion, and that you have at the mercy of your vote the man who betrayed them all, may prove relentless judges, both now and for all time to come, in dealing with offenders of this kind and degree. But if the man whom I bring to trial before this assembly is not one who has betrayed his fatherland and deserted the city and her holy observances, I pray that he may be saved from this danger both by the gods and by you, his judges. §§ 1-2.
The following fragment deserves quotation as an example of his dignified severity:For the first act of the gods is to lead astray the mind of the wicked man; and I think that some of the ancient poets were prophets when they left behind them for future generations such lines as these:
For when God's wrath afflicteth any man,
By his own act his wits are led astray,
And his straight judgment warped to crooked ways,
That, sinning, he may know not of his sin.
The older men among you remember, the younger have heard, the story of Callistratus, whom the city condemned to death. He fled the country, and hearing the god at Delphi declare that if he went to Athens he would obtain his due, he came here, and took sanctuary at the altar of the twelve gods; but none the less he was put to death by the city.
This was just; for a criminal's due is punishment. And the god rightly gave up the wrong-doer to be punished by those whom he had wronged; for it would be strange if he revealed the same signs to the pious and the wicked
But I am of opinion, Gentlemen, that the god's care watches over every human action, particularly those concerned with our parents and the dead, and our pious duty towards them; and naturally so, for they are the authors of our being, and have conferred innumerable blessings on us, so that it is an act of monstrous impiety, I will not say to sin against them, but even to refuse to squander our own lives in benefiting them. §§ 92-94.
This text is cited July 2005 from Perseus Project URL bellow, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Editor's Information
The e-texts of the works by Lycurgus are found in Greece (ancient country) under the category Ancient Greek Writings.
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