BRIBERY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS Kellam ... - Historia Antigua

Conover Bribery in Classical Athens Chapter Three
other things, so that you know what kind of person I am (peri\ oi3ou tino\j o1ntoj e)mou=)
when you cast your vote” (Lys. 21.1). In the defendant’s own estimation, he is a model
citizen who should be emulated by other citizens—“pray to the gods that others are such
citizens [as I]” (21.15)—for his exemplary conduct in public and in private (cf. Lys.
21.18-19). He closes his speech by enjoining the jurors to vote for his acquittal and
thereby to continue benefiting from citizens like himself (toiou/toij…poli/taij, 21.25),
meaning the entire class of liturgy payers. 59
What kind of model citizen was the defendant? Obviously, he was considerably
wealthy, but his subtle presentation of character and financial expense suggests that he
was trying to contest the label of oligarchic sympathizer—precisely the kind of role later
played by Ergocles and Philocrates. Given his clear wealth, almost assuredly he would
have been a member of the 3,000 during the oligarchy, for the Thirty do not appear to
have confiscated his property. 60 The defendant downplays this involvement by glossing
over the year 404/3, when the Thirty were in power, even though he carefully lists his
liturgical expenses with reference to the name of the eponymous archon for every other
year. 61 Further, he seems to rebut a curious series of accusations: that he had been
pleased at the city’s misfortunes, given bad judgments as a judge, done shameful deeds or
profited e)k tw=n u(mete/rwn while in office (Lys. 21.18). This is a curious sequence, for it
reads more like a generic list of the Thirty’s crimes than as a catalogue of complaints
about a specific individual. Finally, he contrasts himself with the political guardians who
59 See Schmitz (1995: 89-90) on the use of the first-person-plural h(mete/rwn at Lys. 29.13.
60 APF 592-3, Schmitz (1995: 92-3). In this light, Schmitz (1995: 84-5) notes that the speaker could have
been an oligarchic sympathizer for his omission of ancestry or involvement in the civil war, his omission of
specific political offices, and his espousal of aristocratic ideals (ko/smion ei}nai kai\ swfro/na, Lys. 29.19).
61 He refers to the year, simply, as a ‘later’ (u3steron, Lys. 29.4) time period, sandwiched between his role
as gymnasiarch when Alexias was archon (405/4 BCE) and as chorus-leader when Euclides was archon
(403/2 BCE): Lys. 29.3-4 with APF 592-3, Schmitz (1995: 85).
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