BRIBERY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS Kellam ... - Historia Antigua

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Conover Bribery in Classical Athens Chapter Four describing the resolution to the Third Sacred War, when on Aeschines’ advice the Phocians handed over their cities to Philip, Demosthenes stresses the trust placed in Aeschines when he was giving his policy recommendations: You hear that, men of Athens...‘the Phocians are to hand over their cities’, it says, ‘to Philip’—not to the Thebans, nor the Thessalians, nor anyone else. Why? Because it was reported to you by Aeschines that Philip had come for the preservation of Phocis. They put all their trust in Aeschines (tou&tw| dh_ pa&nt' e0pi/steuon); they were guided by him in all their considerations; they were guided by him in making peace....Notice how they trusted and how they suffered (ti/ pisteu&santej ti/ e1pasxon)...No more terrible or more serious events, men of Athens, have occurred in Greece in our time, nor I think in the past either. (Dem. 19.62-4) The Phocians placed their trust in the wrong man and subsequently were devastated by Philip (cf. Dem. 19.53). Nor were the Phocians the only ones who made the fatal mistake of trusting one of Philip’s secret hirelings. We saw earlier in the Third Philippic how the destruction of Olynthus provided a vivid paradigm for the havoc that Philip might wreak, so it is telling that when Demosthenes reprises the story in On the False Embassy, he specifically points towards the Olynthians’ foolishness in trusting corrupt speakers like Lasthenes and Euthycrates. Significantly, instead of pointing to just those two traitors by name, Demosthenes says that there were (at least) two more unnamed people who joined Philip’s side; in effect, the corruption was spreading. Even as more and more people inexplicably came upon more and more riches—and all to the disadvantage of the city— the Olynthians continued to follow their pro-Macedonian leaders, trusting in them even more (cf.pistote/rouj h(gh&santo), at times even honoring them and thereby bringing upon themselves their own demise (Dem. 19.265). 18 conceivable wrong to the city (Dem. 19.184). His actions were “fine and trustworthy” (kalo\j ka)gaqo\j kai\ di/kaioj) only to his paymaster Philip; to the city they were nothing short of treason (Dem. 19.110). 18 On Lasthenes and Euthycrates, cf. Dem. 8.40, 9.66, 18.48, 19.265, 19.342; Din. 1.26; Hyp. Fr. B19.1; Diod. 16.53.2; Griffith in Hammond and Griffith (1979: 2.323). 177
Conover Bribery in Classical Athens Chapter Four For Demosthenes, a disease (no/shma) was sweeping across Greece, infecting leaders and corrupting them to stir up civil strife within their cities. This stasis sprang from a partisan, self-interested desire by otherwise trusted citizens to gratify Philip by handing the city over to him (Dem. 19.259-67). 19 Corrupted under the guise of friendship (philia) with Philip, these traitors sought to satisfy their philos even if that meant destroying their polis (Dem. 19.259; cf. 18.51-2). 20 And if the destruction across the rest of Greece was any sort of guide, Demosthenes suggests, Athens was in trouble. Within her walls were veritable traitors: Philocrates (only just in exile), Aeschines, Phrynon, Pythocles—associates of Philip, all, and they were not alone. 21 Anybody who spoke in Aeschines’ defense, even if he were otherwise considered trustworthy, was implicitly acting in Philip’s, not Athens’ interests (Dem. 19.289). Demosthenes is unequivocal about the real source of danger to the polis: in Olynthus, Megara, or Elis, he claims, though doubtless numerous men pocketed public monies, they were not the ones who 19 The image of stasis as a disease or nosos was commonplace: see Brock (2000), Kalimtzis (2000: esp. 1- 31) for further treatments of this motif. Just to get a feel for how novel was Demosthenes’ picture of dōrodokia leading to stasis, it is worth comparing this passage with two others: the near-contemporary Third Philippic of Demosthenes himself (341) and Thucydides’ Histories, written some sixty years prior. In both Demosthenic texts, dōrodokia is seen as the root cause of stasis: because of dōrodokia, patriotic citizens turn traitorous (Dem. 9.36-40, 19.259), slavery is dressed in the garb of friendship (Dem. 9.36, 19.259), while concord and virtue are traded for vice and faction (Dem. 9.39-40). Under the corrupting influence of dōrodokia, Demosthenes suggests, things have been turned into their opposites. It is precisely this alarming trend—where values are turned on their head—that is the hallmark of Thucydides’ description of the stasis that spread from Corcyra through all of Greece (Thuc. 3.82-4): “At their own will,” the historian writes, “men changed the customary meaning of words in relation to deeds” (Thuc. 3.82.4), for a brilliant explication of which see Loraux (1986b). Yet Thucydides attributes the stasis at Corcyra not to bribery, but to a greedy desire for power (archē) and an ardor for fighting once engaged in civil conflict (Thuc. 3.82.8). By contrast, Demosthenes underscores how people wanted to befriend Philip and thereby to win dōra from him—power is never mentioned, and it is altogether unclear that Demosthenes’ crop of traitors was interested more in power, which most did not obtain, than simply in dōra. In fact, Athenian bribery was rarely attributed to some excessive desire for power: von Reden (1995: 95, 103n.76). Thus, although the orator and historian paint the same terrifying picture of stasis, they differ greatly in illuminating its cause. 20 Note how Aeschines’ corrupt counsel led the dēmos to vote for the Peace of Philocrates, which Demosthenes outright calls “dangerous, perilous and not to be trusted” (e0piki/ndunoj de\ kai\ sfalera_ kai\ a1pistoj, Dem. 19.97). 21 Phrynon: Dem. 19.189, 229-30. Pythocles: Dem. 19.225, 314; cf. 18.285. That there were still more traitors in Athens is suggested at Dem. 9.29, 9.39, 18.296-7. 178
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BRIBERY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS Kellam
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© Copyright by Kellam McChesney Co
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legislating dōrodokia. Rather than
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encouragement that made me crazily
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and long-lasting patience were crit
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CHAPTER SEVEN: Athenian dōrodokia
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BRIBERY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS Kellam ... - Historia Antigua

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