BRIBERY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS Kellam ... - Historia Antigua

Conover Bribery in Classical Athens Chapter Three
transforming his list of liturgies into an argument from logos, he opens up a
depersonalized space wherein any citizen in his position would have acted the same way
(i.e. not have taken bribes) and consequently would have merited an acquittal (as the
most profitable outcome for the polis). 78
The image of the dōrodokos in Lysias 21 negatively frames a positive image of
political justice, one predicated on impersonal—let us say ‘arms-length’—social distance.
In so doing, that image signals what was a critical shift in how politics was conducted at
the turn of the century. Earlier we saw how changes necessary for financial recovery in
the wake of both the Peloponnesian War and the debt accrued by the Thirty helped shift
the Athenians’ focus towards evaluating the outcome of an action in terms of the money
it might bring the community. As Lysias 21 obliquely suggests, moreover, Athens’
attempts at political recovery in the shadow of the Thirty also contributed to the
transformation of the dōrodokos into a greedy elite. By opening up a greater space for
arms-length ties in the public sphere, within which space the Athenians could frame
political injustice in increasingly impersonal terms, these political reforms sought to
prevent public officials from providing bads for the community’s goods, just as the Thirty
had done.
These changes began immediately with the Amnesty of 403, which signaled a
common desire to make political justice more impersonal. Recall that one hallmark of
the Thirty’s reign was an ad hominem use of political process: they had subverted the
courts to make personal attacks on elite citizens and had personally selected who could
78 That this space is effectively depersonalized, i.e. removed from any personal investment the actors may
have, is clear from the defendant’s comment that, ideally, the benefited should not judge their benefactors
(Lys. 21.22). As he himself notes, however, while such a non-private space would be ideal, it is moot in
his case precisely because he has benefited the entire community (so there is nobody left to judge him).
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