BRIBERY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS Kellam ... - Historia Antigua

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Conover Bribery in Classical Athens Chapter Seven Athenian Laws against dōrodokia in Action: Deliberative Politics and the dōrodokos One central hallmark of the Athenian democracy, public accountability, arose in response to purported dōrodokia. Ephialtes’ reforms of 462/1, already encountered briefly above, were connected to the infamous acquittal of Cimon. As we saw in Chapter Two, Cimon was prosecuted for dōrodokia at a euthyna after he had failed to take Macedon, even though it appears that he had never been charged to do so (Plut. Cim. 14.2-3). As our sources describe it, Cimon’s trial seems like just another prosecution of a top official on the charge of dōrodokia: the general was eventually acquitted by the Areopagus, and he was subsequently elected stratēgos again. End of story. What is crucial for our purposes is what happened after Cimon’s trial. Though apparently convicted by the Assembly, Cimon was acquitted by the Areopagus, and corruption was immediately suspected. Ephialtes subsequently prosecuted members of the court where Cimon had been tried for “doing injustice to the people” (tw=n to\n dh=mon a)dikou/ntwn, Plut. Per. 10.8, cf. AP 25.2-4). 36 We do not know the substance of this charge, but it is more than likely that a form of illicit influence—bribery is a main suspect here—was assumed. After all, in an alternate tradition one of the public prosecutors, a young Pericles, was publicly rumored to have gone soft in his prosecution of Cimon after Cimon’s sister had unsuccessfully tried to seduce him. 37 The 36 Ephialtes’ “public reputation for being adōrodokētos and just with respect to his politicking” is telling (dokw=n kai\ a)dwrodo/khtoj ei]nai kai\ di/kaioj pro\j th\n politei/an, AP 25.1). 37 Plut. Cim. 14.4, Per. 10.5. The story sounds apocryphal, but it reveals the need to explain Pericles’ unexpectedly soft behavior towards Cimon at his trial. Both the supposition of bribery and the story of Elpinice explain a bad outcome with reference to a close relationship and potential personal gain. Cf. Carawan (1987: 204, 205-6n.58), Rubinstein (2000: 208). Connor (1971: 58-64) provides background on Pericles and Cimon’s friendship. According to sources unnamed by Plutarch (Per. 10.4), earlier Cimon and Pericles had entered into a secret pact whereby Cimon could be recalled to the city only if he agreed to 315
Conover Bribery in Classical Athens Chapter Seven unacceptable acquittal of Cimon was thus attributed to corruption generally, and probably bribery specifically. 38 When Cimon left the city again on campaign, Ephialtes quickly moved to change the procedures for accountability so that public officials would be held accountable to the people: the fear of bribery enabled true democratic accountability at Athens. 39 The backdrop for Cimon’s trial and the prosecutions it enjoined was one of class conflict, according to our sources. The Areopagus Council and its predominantly elite membership had increasingly been viewed as a source of elite conservatism; even if the political body was not an instrument of class warfare, the rhetoric of pro- vs. anti- democratic views was likely employed heavily. 40 In other words, precisely because it was a dōrodokia suit, debate at the trial would have boiled down to what ‘democratic’ results should look like. 41 The Areopagus’ place within the democracy could have consequently been deemed corrupt and undemocratic. A bribery trial like that of Cimon—himself aligned with the more elite interests in the city—or those of the handle external affairs while Pericles would be given control of the city. That this rumor even existed is a good indication that at least some Athenians were concerned about the pair’s relationship. 38 Based on Plutarch’s wording of ‘doing injustice (adikountōn) to the people’, the only other plausible legal process used was a public denunciation for ‘maladministration’ (graphē adikou): cf. AP 54.2. This obscure process later came under the purview of the Council (AP 54.2) and is otherwise first attested in the 430’s when Pericles was prosecuted whether for bribery, embezzlement, or adikion (Plu. Per. 32.2). It is unclear, however, what kind of financial crime beyond bribery could have been committed by the Areopagites here. 39 Note how Aristotle suggests the same institutional change as a remedy for corruption among the Spartan gerontes: Aristot. Pol. 1271a3-6. After Ephialtes’ reforms, the Areopagus no longer had the right to initiate and conduct the euthynai of magistrates. Instead, each year ten members of the Council of 500 were designated as euthynoi in charge of lodging indictments as needed against public officials at the end of their term. Cases of treason could still be heard by the Assembly, but Ephialtes surely transferred jurisdiction over euthynai and all other cases of maladministration from the Areopagus to the Council of 500 and the newly created popular courts. 40 Cf. Wilamowitz (1893: 2.94). So, Plutarch records intonations of class conflict: Ephialtes was “terrifying to the oligarchs [i.e. the elites] and inexorable in his pursuit of euthynai and prosecutions of those who had done the dēmos injustice” (tw=n to\n dh=mon a)dikou/ntwn, Plut. Per. 10.8, cf. AP 25.4); similar language is found in Aesch. Eum. 690-2. 41 I suggest that this pro- vs. anti-democratic rhetorical positioning could have been misread later and assigned new meaning amid the patrios politeia debates of the late fifth century. Note how Plutarch frames this as a debate between democracy and aristocracy, not oligarchy in particular: Plut. Cim. 15.2-3. 316
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BRIBERY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS Kellam
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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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