BRIBERY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS Kellam ... - Historia Antigua

Conover Bribery in Classical Athens Chapter Four
the same nuance, namely, that the dēmos expected Callias to have an honest and
adōrodokētos character, but apparently he did not on his embassy to the Persian King
(Dem. 19.274). And the other, in the phrase dikai/wj kai\ a)dwrodokh/twj, might pick
up on the language from a euthyna at which Demosthenes would have been prosecuted
for dōrodokia but acquitted as having acted “justly and adōrokētōs” (Dem. 18.250).
Based on these comparanda, it appears that the adverb adōrodokētōs on inscriptions
might very well have indicated that someone had been accused, but absolved, of having
committed dōrodokia.
Still, while the strict meaning of the adverb adōrodokētōs might simply be “not
having engaged in dōrodokia,” those inscriptions which praise an official for having
acted adōrodokētōs indicate that he was rightly praised for pursuing the very honors and
virtues praised by the community rather than for seeking money. Rather than take
monies symbolic of treason, he had worked within the civic economy of public honors.
In the first and last of these inscriptions, for instance, the honorand is later praised for
acting “for the sake of honor (aretē) and [a sense of justice (dikaiosynē)] towards the
dēmos.” 83 Note, too, how in the third inscription the speaker is explicitly said to be
acting with philotimia. Given how at this time public officials were honored for
exhibiting philotimia even when they merely discharged the duties of their office
satisfactorily, we might posit that where dōrodokia—and a job unsatisfactorily done—
began, philotimia ended. 84 Officials vindicated and praised for behaving adōrodokētōs
83 a)reth=j e4neka kai\/[dikaiosu/nhj th=]j ei)j to\n dh=mon (IG ii² 1148.8-9, IG ii² 223A12).
84 For this phenomenon, see the examples provided by Whitehead (1983: 73n.32). Note how, by the time
of Aristotle’s Constitution of Athens (late 330’s to early 320’s), the Council regularly received a dōrea of a
gold crown after successfully submitting its accounts: AP 46.1; Aeschin. 1.111-12, Dem. 22.36, 22.38-9;
cf. Dem. 22.8-20.
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