BRIBERY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS Kellam ... - Historia Antigua

Conover Bribery in Classical Athens Chapter Five
of what constituted dōrodokia—which kinds of things were ‘bad’ gifts, under which
specific circumstances a gift might be deemed ‘bad’, etc.—that definition is not in our
record.
Just as we might query scholars’ focus on the substantive aspects of dōrodokia
legislation, so, too, might we cast doubt on their functionalist conclusion for why specific
legal procedures or penalties were created for dōrodokia suits. As the orator Dinarchus
explains in a prosecution speech against Demosthenes on the charge of dōrodokia, the
laws against dōrodokia established two possible penalties. The dōrodokos was to be
punished either with death, “to ensure that anyone happening to receive this punishment
would be an example (para/deigma) to others,” or with a fine ten times the amount of
the bribe, “so that those who commit the offense would not profit” (i3na mh\ lusitelh/sh|
toi=j tou=to tolmw=si poiei=n, Din. 1.60). 14 To a degree we can readily understand both
penalties as deterrents, yet it is worth pointing out that they function as deterrents in
different ways. A financial penalty is thought to deter the original dōrodokos, while the
death penalty is intended to deter other dōrodokoi. If Dinarchus is correct, then the death
penalty was not merely a deterrent, but played a broader, one might say educative, role
within the polity. 15
More generally, therefore, a second reason for resisting the functionalist approach
taken by scholars of ancient and modern law alike is that such an approach tends to
minimize the rich variety of Athenian legislation, especially the range of penalties and
procedures created. What may appear to be ‘harsher’ penalties—adopted presumably as
14 Dinarchus’ testimony here is actually erroneous on two counts—on which, see note 3 above–but is
helpful evidence all the same that Athenians consciously crafted different penalties for dōrodokia for
different reasons.
15 Recall from the Introduction, too, how the death penalty was viewed in the case of Timagoras’ dōrodokia
as a means of deterring the Persian King from giving bribes (cf. Dem. 19.137).
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