BRIBERY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS Kellam ... - Historia Antigua

Conover Bribery in Classical Athens Chapter Three
modern audience. That everything can somehow be reduced to money is, after all, a
common anxiety about capitalism and the relationship between capitalist markets and
society. Yet in that case it is all the more striking that this perspective should appear at
Athens alongside Plato’s alignment of dōrodokia and greed. Why at this time was
financial logic so important in considerations of political justice? One reason, I argue, is
that the measures adopted by the Athenians to recover politically and financially from the
Peloponnesian War and the horrors of the Thirty transformed the landscape of social
relations both in and out of politics. The financialized view in Aristophanes was born of
these changes—specifically, the continued movement towards a more impartial,
impersonal public sphere in which all citizens, democrat and potential oligarch, could
cooperate. In order to get along after the Thirty and their financial crimes, the Athenians
actually adopted a ‘financialized’ view of polity.
Once again, we can trace this story by following the dōrodokos. Here our final
guide will be Lysias 21, a speech written (shortly) after 403/2 BCE for an unnamed
magistrate accused of dōrodokia. 55 The speech falls into roughly two halves: an
extensive list of liturgies performed by the defendant (Lys. 21.1-11), followed by an
overview of his conduct as citizen and magistrate alike (esp. Lys. 21.18-19), with some
brief concluding remarks on his civic pride and patriotism (Lys. 21.22-5). Although the
general contours of Lysias 21 resonate with numerous other forensic speeches from the
same period, this particular speech stands out for its unusually long list of liturgies and
55 The date follows Todd (2000b: 228), based on the latest event mentioned in the speech, a chorēgia in
403/2 (Lys. 21.4). Equally as likely, to my mind, is Schmitz’ (1995: 72) suggestion of placing the speech
in early 401. Given the comprehensive, year-by-year list of liturgies provided in the speech, however, it
would be difficult to assume a date much later than Schmitz’ suggestion.
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