BRIBERY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS Kellam ... - Historia Antigua

Conover Bribery in Classical Athens Chapter Four
Demosthenes but a veritable network of corrupt statesmen. By convicting Demosthenes,
Dinarchus urged, the people could preserve Athens’ honor, her laws and her constitution.
The formal charge brought against Demosthenes was probably one of “taking
dōra against one’s country” (kata\ th=j patri/doj), as it is this specific formulation
which recurs verbatim throughout the speeches of Dinarchus and Hyperides. 65 Clearly,
then, Demosthenes and the others were thought to have committed treason by taking dōra
from Harpalus—a connection explicitly made at least nine times in Dinarchus’
speech 66 —and the prosecution is careful to point out how Demosthenes, at least, had
been implicated in betraying Thebes, too, long before he had attempted to betray his own
city. 67 In a page seemingly taken from Demosthenes’ own prosecution of Aeschines,
Demosthenes himself is portrayed as a traitor as much to his friends as to his city (Din.
1.41), a man who was of use only to the city’s enemies for the way he consistently acted
against the interests of Athens herself (Din. 1.33). In the same vein, Demosthenes is even
compared to those iconic traitors of yore, the elite leaders who overthrew Olynthus (Din.
1.26; cf. 2.24-5).
By comparing Demosthenes to the traitors who overthrew Olynthus, Dinarchus
conjures up a by now familiar paradigm of dōrodokia leading to the destruction of a city.
65
Cf. Harvey (1985: 108n.114). The phrase “against the country” (kata\ th=j patri/doj vel sim.) recurs
eleven times in Dinarchus (Din. 1.13, 1.26, 1.60, 1.64, 1.67, 2.6, 3.18, 3.22; cf. 1.3, 1.99, 2.26), two times
in Hyperides (Hyp. 5.21, 5.38). To this, add four times of “against the city” (kata\ th=j po/lewj, Din.
1.29; cf. 1.4, 2.7, 3.2) and two instances of “against the constitution” (kata\ th=j politei/aj, Din. 1.3, cf.
[e)pi\] th| = politei/a| k[ai\ toi=j] no/moij, Hyp. 5.2). Although Dinarchus more frequently refers to taking
dōra “against your [sc. the people’s] interests” (kaq’ u(mw=n)—cf. Din. 1.11, 1.15, 1.40, 1.46, 1.47, 1.53,
1.88, 1.108, 2.1, 2.3, 2.15, 2.20, 2.22, 2.23, 3.2, 3.6, 3.18; cf. Hyp. 5.40—this can easily be taken as a more
personal reformulation of the actual charge. On such ‘catapolitical’ bribes, see Harvey (1985: 108-13).
66
Din. 1.33, 1.47, 1.64, 1.66, 1.77, 1.101 (Demades), 1.103, 1.107, 1.109. Cf. Hyp. 5.22. Demosthenes
apparently admitted to receiving some funds from Harpalus as a loan to the theoric fund; crucially, the
orator thus depicted these monies as taken for, not against, the city’s interests: Hyp. 5.13.
67
Din. 1.10, 1.15, 1.18-21, 1.24, 1.26. This was a common, if untrue, attack leveled against Demosthenes:
cf. Aeschin. 3.156-7, Hyp. 5.17, 5.21 with Worthington (1992: 139-43 ad 1.10; 164-8 ad 1.21).
197