THE ORATIONS OF DEMOSTHENES.*
ONE often wishes that we knew more about the every-day life of Greece and Rome. We may be sure that it would have been full of interest for us. It would have had, in a number of directions, very much of a modern and nineteenth-century character about it. As it is, there are whole worlds into which we only get occasional peeps. We will answer for it that many men who have taken high classical honours at our Universities have carried away with them the very dimmest and vaguest conceptions about the finance and commerce of the ancients. Fortunately, this is a subject on which we are able to put together a fair amount of information, though by no means so much as we should like to possess. A good deal of light is thrown on the mercantile busi-
* Select Private Orations of Demosthense, with Introdadion and English Notes. By
F. A. Paley and J. E. Sandys. Cambridge University Press.
ness of Athens in the fourth century B.C. by the Private Speeches, as they are called, of Demosthenes. These speeches deal with cases arising out of various sorts of trade-contracts and loans of money on all kinds of securities. As the editors of the volume before us say in their preface, Demosthenes is to the private life of
his own times what Ariatophanes was to that of half a century earlier. Ile is indeed more, for we get from him a number of details of domestic life and business transactions which, as far as we know, are to be found nowhere else. It would seem that the commercial rogue was a well.known type at Athens. He had plenty of opportunities. Athens, soon after her humiliation at the close of the Peloponnesian war, attracted a considerable trading popu- lation, and was the centre of a commerce which spread itself through the islands of the Archipelago, and extended to the shores of the Euxine, to Asia Minor, and to Egypt. Its popula- tion at this time was perhaps nearly 200,000, and of this a large proportion were men of business. These were generally the reai- dent aliens, /.4frotscot, as they were termed, who, though they were taxed heavily, and were liable to military service just as much as Athenian citizens, still found that it paid them to live at Athens. Of course, here were the elements of abundant litigation, and of this we have many interesting specimens in Demosthenes' Private Speeches. Boekh's learned work on the public economy of Athens is greatly indebted to them. Their style and language, too, are well worth a scholar's acquaintance. The latter is particularly homely and vigorous. As in Aristophanes, we have a good many words which are evidently used in a slangy way. The orator's invective is sometimes very amusing, and quite up to the mark even of Dr. Kenealy. The argument is often extremely subtle and dexterous, and there can hardly be much doubt that Demosthenes knew well how to make the very best of a very bad case. As might be ex- pected, these speeches abound in difficulti,s. There are the technical phrases of Athenian law, and there is the difficulty arising out of the circumstance that we have only one side of the case. This naturally makes some of the speeches obscure. It is a good test, both of a man's scholarship and also of his acuteness, to put before him a passage taken from any one of them. Every Cam- bridge man who aspires to classical honours takes care to make their partial acquaintance. A really good scholar who had omitted to do this, would come to as much grief when con- fronted with such a passage, as he would were he to be plunged into an ode of Pinder which be had never seen. If he thinks of the classical tripos, he will be sure to be told that he must master at least a few of these Private Speeches. And, indeed, it is a very capital exercise. It will not only improve his scholarship ; it will also very much sharpen his wits. But, as the late-Mr. Charles Hann Kennedy, who has given us an admirable translation of all Demosthenes' orations, says, it cannot be any use to an English gentleman to cram his head with the terms of Attic law, when he is utterly ignorant of those of his own country. So a student who would read these speeches with any profit and satisfaction must from time to time look through the law reports in the newspapers, and endeavour to pick up just enough legal knowledge to under- stand the leading phrases. If he fails to do this, he will never be able to produce in examination anything like a decent trans- lation of a difficult passage from one of them. The chances are that he.will betray himself as a man who has merely "crammed" a quantity of phrases, of the meaning of which he has not the faintest comprehension.
For the study of these Private Speeches, even a good scholar wants the help of explanations and notes. It seems strange, that with the exception of a little volume, now out of print, by the late Mr. Penrose, nothing of the sort has been hitherto attempted, even in Germany. We wonder that no Cambridge scholar thought of supplying a want which must have been much felt by candi- dates for classical honours. All the more will such men feel grate- ful to Messrs. Paley and Sandys for the present volume. We can assure them that these two distinguished scholars have done much to enable them to dispense with the help of a private tutor. Before one attempts to read one of these speeches, he should get a clear idea Of the subject-matter and of the general argument, or, unless we are much mistaken, he will make but little way with them. Evidently, this is the opinion of the present editors, and so they have prefixed to each speech a short introduction, explaining the nature of the case and the question at issue. And they give further help. To the foot-notes are added little summaries of each paragraph. We strongly recom- mend the student to read these summaries successively, at on,, time, before he begins the speech. If he does this, after having clearly got the introduction into his head, he will be well equipped for his work. There are six speeches in this volume, and we are promised a second volume with another six. These speeches illustrate dif- ferent aspects of the Athenian mercantile world. One common practice was to lend money on bottomry, as it may be called, that is, on a ship's cargo. The interest in this case on the loan was very high, varying from 30 to 36 per cent. This branch of business appears to have been extremely fertile in law-suits, and one can easily conceive how it might give rise to many phases of fraud. We have a case of this kind in the speech against Lacritus, an interesting speech for several reasons. It is an example of what in Greek law-language was called a 7t-apaypaq)4, answering to our "demurrer," or a special plea showing grounds against the admissibility of an action. The plaintiff had lent money on bottomry to Artemo, Lacritus's brother. Lacritus had been present at the transaction, and had undertaken, by word of mouth, to see that the money was repaid. Artemo died before the debt had been discharged, and Lacritus was sued as his brothers's heir, and also as having by his promise made himself responsible for the repay- ment. The brothers lived at Phaselis, in Pamphylia, and the merchants of that place had, it seems, the character of being slippery people. The speech begins with some good round abuse of them. "There is nothing new," the speaker says, 4,in what the men of Phaselis are doing ; it is just their usual way. They are uncommonly fond of borrowing money, and as soon as they have got it, they instantly forget the duty of repayment, and they positively think, if they do repay it, that they have lost something which belongs to them- selves. Instead of repaying, they invent all sorts of excuses and shuffles, and they are the greatest rogues and cheats in the world, as is proved by the fact that they have more actions brought against them than all the other merchants put together." In this particular case matters were aggravated by the circumstance that Lacritus was a professional sophist. He had been, indeed, a pupil of Isocrates, and he thought himself a great "swell" (fti-icc -a-pii-,7446). He had a number of pupils himself, and he was, ac- cording to Demosthenes, the prime organiser of the fraud which was now under the consideration of the Court. Messrs. Paley and Sandys have noted an allusion to his profession which seems to have escaped Mr. Kennedy. Lacritus said that on a certain paint he could give a just explanation (Bixatog zt), and this our ecntors think is a satire on the sophist. Very possibly it may be so, as Uzaioc was a hackneyed word in the Sophists' schools, and Demosthenes, we may be sure, would lose no opportunity of a sneer. Our editors note a singular use of the word itgirmats, in reference to wine which had turned bad,—"gone off," as we say. The phrase, we fancy, would be apt to puzzle a student, unless he happened to think of the kindred and more familiar usage of the word, as applied to a man out of his senses. We cannot be sure whether Messrs. Paley and Sandys, in a note at the end of the same speech, are right in differing from Mr. Kennedy's ren- dering of the words vrepictipiseaBe rinft Tressps Teic ramover'ag cincioag. They translate this, "You will rid yourselves of all the villanous artifices of these unprincipled men." Mr. Kennedy's Tendering is, "You will deprive the swindlers of those artifices." IIspimpiis constantly has this meaning, when followed by a genitive and an accusative, but no doubt, in this case the editors would say that Mr. Kennedy has overlooked the force of the middle voice. Either translation yields a satisfactory sense, and is, we think, grammatically defensible. We incline, with some hesitation, to Mr. Kennedy's, which strikes us as a little more vigorous, and as perfectly reconcilable with the use of the middle voice. Clearly, the jurors would be benefiting themselves and the State, by cutting away the possibility of such artifices from under the feet of rogues and swindlers.
One of the speeches in this volume turns on rather a singular question. An Athenian, it seems, was legally described by one name, with that of his father and of his deme, or parish, appended to it. It was as if we were to speak of a person as John, son of Smith, of Marylebone. The point at issue in this speech was whether two brothers could legally claim the same name. Mantitheus, the son of Mantias, brings an action against his half-brother, Bceotus, who called himself Man- titheus. Bceotus was the son of a woman who was indeed an Athenian citizen, but who had merely been his father's mistress. There seems, too, to have been some little doubt about the paternity of Bceotus in the mind of Mantias; however, Bceotus had contrived to appear in the light of an injured man, and he claimed to be recognised as Mantias's son. The end of it was -that the father, to avoid an action with which he was threatened, had him duly enrolled and registered as a citizen's son by the name of Bceotus. When a person came of age, a second form of registration had to be gone through, and it was on this occasion that Bceotus, Mantias having in the meanwhile died, got himself registered under the name of Mantitheus. He did not like the name Bceotus, and pretended that his father had given it him on pur- pose to annoy him. It had, no doubt, disagreeable associations, and people would think of the proverb, " Bceotian hog." It would be something like " chawbacon " among ourselves. Man- titheus, however, would not quietly allow his name to be appro- priated by his half-brother, whom he seems to have really treated well, and to have recognised as his co-heir. No Athenian citizen, it is said in this speech, had ever called two sons of his own by the same name. The possible inconveniences of such a thing are set forth in an amusing passage, and we are reminded of letters we now and then see in the papers, in which Mr. Smith assures us that he is not the Mr. Smith who has just had an interview, against his will, with a London police magistrate. Bceotus, according to his half-brother's statement, was fond of questionable company, and this might give rise to unpleasant complications. He might not pay his income-tax, or he might refuse to serve in the army, or he might have scandalous stories told about him, or he might even be indicted for perjury, and all this would be extremely painful for Mantitheus. It would appear, hoNiever, that Bceotus gained the day. He figures in another speech, in a case arising out of claims on his father's property. Mantitheus is again the plaintiff, and as he does not assert that he had established his sole right to that name, we may be pretty sure that the former action had gone against him. He claims, in this second case, a sum of money as due to him from his mother's dower. She, it appears, was a lady of fortune, while Bceotus's mother, it is hinted, was pennyless, her father having died in debt to the State. There was now an intensely bitter feeling between the two brothers, and, if we may trust this speech, Bceotus was a terrible thorn in his brother's side. Mantitheus had a number of grievances. More of his father's money, he says, was spent on the mistress and her son than on his own education. Altogether, Boeotus seems to have been a vulgar, offensive scoundrel.
We have a speech which is interesting as something unique in the Greek orators. It is against a certain Pantaenetus, and is concerned with mining property. It contains phrases to be found nowhere else, and it is just one of those speeches which a student will do well to master. There is one more speech dealing with a case of a loan on bottomry and non-fulfilment of contract. The defendant had been lent money to engage in the corn trade between Athens and Egypt. Egypt was then governed by a prefect, Cleomenes, who had been appointed by Alexander. He had the credit with the people of Athens of having contrived to raise the price of corn, and used some of the Athenian corn merchants as his tools. It is suggested in this speech that the defendant and his partners were in collusion with him. This would have the effect of exciting a strong prejudice in the minds of the jurors against them. Anything like an attempt to deprive the community of cheap corn would of course provoke great indignation. This is the last speech in the volume. It will be seen from what we have said that the speeches are so selected as to give us an insight into more than one branch of Athenian trade. Messrs. Paley and Sandys have put together a book which should be in the bands of all candidates for classical honours at Cambridge. A painstaking student will hardly require more help than he will find here supplied.
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