when I spent fifteen minas. And besides I have conducted religious embassies, and superintended the Arrhephoria1 and other services of the like description, which have cost me upwards of thirty minas. And of these sums which I have enumerated, had I chosen to perform my service according to the letter of the law, I should not have expended the fourth part. * * Having run so many hazards for your sake and conferred so many benefits upon the commonwealth, I now ask, not (like other men) to receive a recompense from you, but not to be deprived of my own property, conceiving that it would be a disgrace to you to take it from me either with or without my consent. And I care not so much if I must lose my estate; but I cannot endure to be insulted, or that people who evade the public charges should imagine, that, while I am unrequited for what I have spent upon you, they are thought to have acted wisely because they have thrown none of their property away. If now you will hearken to me, you will at the same time give a righteous verdict and adopt that course which is beneficial to yourselves. You see, men of the jury, how scanty are the revenues of the commonwealth, and how they are plundered by our leading statesmen: so that you may well believe your surest revenue is the substance of those who are willing to defray the public charges. If then you are prudent, you will take as much care of my estate as you would of your own private fortunes, knowing that you will have the advantage of all that I possess the same as you had before. I think you are all aware, that I shall be a much better manager of my own finances than those who manage for you the finances of the commonwealth. Should you reduce me to poverty, you will injure yourselves likewise; and other men will divide my effects among them, as they have divided everything else." The next is 'from the Oration of Isæus on the Estate of Apollodorus, written for a person claiming as son by adoption against the nearest of kin :2 66 I beseech you to give me redress both for the sake of Apollodorus and for the sake of his father. You will find, they were not useless citizens, but as zealous as they could be in your service. His father, besides having served all the other burdensome offices, continued his whole time to do the duty of Trierarch; not getting his ship in an association like men of the present day, but at his own cost; not jointly with another, but singly; not every other year, but without (1) This was a festival, celebrated in the month of Scirophorion, in honour of Pallas in which the principal ceremony was the carrying of some sacred vessels by young girls chosen for the occasion from the best Athenian families. Some derive the name ἀπὸ τοῦ τὰ ἄῤῥητα φορεῖν, because the contents of these vessels were kept a mystery. Others say that ἀῤῥηφόρια is only another form of ἐρρηφόρια, οι éponpópia, and derive it from Erse, the daughter of Cecrops, whose worship was associated with that of Pallas. (2) Oration vii. p. 67. intermission; not in a shabby way,' but providing the best possible equipments. For which you not only honoured him in remembrance of his conduct, but prevented his son being deprived of his property, and compelled the parties in possession to restore what belonged to him. Apollodorus himself did not (like Pronapes) return a small capital, but was assessed as a knight and deemed himself worthy to hold magistracies: he was not one who sought to usurp the property of others without choosing to do any good to you, but exhibiting openly before you all that he possessed, he zealously performed whatever you required of him, and without doing any wrong endeavoured to live liberally on his own means, content to spend a moderate portion on himself, while he preserved the rest for the commonwealth, that it might be sufficient for the public charges. And out of this what office of burden did he not satisfactorily discharge? What rate was he not among the first to pay? What duty has he omitted? He gained the prize also for a chorus of boys, and that tripod stands as a memorial of his liberality. But what ought a respectable citizen to have done? Ought he not, where other men were grasping at what did not belong to them, to have abstained from such conduct, and endeavoured to have preserved his own? Ought he not, where the state requires money, to be among the first to contribute, and conceal none of his effects? Well then: such a man was he: and it will be just that you should make him this requital, giving effect to his intention concerning his own property. You will find that I also have been, considering my age, not a bad or a useless citizen. I have served the state in her campaigns: I perform what is required of me: that is the duty of people at my age. You ought then, both for their sakes and mine, to have regard for my interests; especially as my adversaries have wasted and sold and destroyed a trierarchal estate of five talents, whilst I have both already performed the official services, and shall continue to do so, if you will effectuate the intention of Apollodorus by restoring to me this estate." In a style very similar to this is the reasoning of Demosthenes in the Oration against Aphobus:2 in the composition of which, we may remember, he is said to have been assisted by his master Isæus : (1) 'Aporiouμevos: "Doing no more than the law absolutely required: barely performing his duty: that is, doing it in a mean and shabby way." (2) Contra Aphobum, B. 842. And see the Oration against Midias, ante, p.116, &c. In the same way the Roman Ediles endeavoured to gain popularity by magnificent shows. Cicero thus remarks on the practice in his second book De Officiis, s. 16: "Omnino duo sunt genera largorum: quorum alteri prodigi, alteri liberales. Prodigi, qui epulis et viscerationibus et gladiatorum muneribus, ludorum venationumque apparatu, pecunias profundunt in eas res, quarum memoriam aut brevem, aut nullam omnino sint relicturi. Liberales autem, qui suis facultatibus aut captos a prædonibus redimunt, aut æs alienum suscipiunt amicorum, aut in filiarum collocatione adjuvant, aut opitulantur vel in re quærendâ vel augendâ. [Confer Demosth. de Coron. 316.] Itaque miror, quid in mentem yenerit Theophrasto, in eo libro quem ed divitiis scripsit: in quo multa præclare; illud absurde. Est enim multus in laudandâ magnificentiâ et apparitione popularium munerum: taliumque sumtuum facultatem fructum divitiarum putat. Mihi autem ille fructus liberalitatis, cujus exempla "It is not proper, men of the jury, either that I should be refused redress, or that my opponent should retain the wealth he has plundered. With regard to myself, though you have no actual experience of my disposition towards you, it is fair to presume that I shall not be worse than my father. Of the defendant you have some experience; and you well know that, although he has inherited a large fortune, he has not only shown no liberality to the public, but even grasps at the property of his neighbour. Bear in mind this, with the other facts of the case, and give your votes according to justice. You have the clearest evidence to guide you, the evidence of witnesses, circumstances, probabilities, these men's own acknowledgment that they took possession of my estate. They say they have spent it; a falsehood; for they have it still. But let this warn you to be careful of my interests; seeing that, if I recover my rights by your assistance, I shall naturally be grateful to you for restoring them, and glad to defray the public charges; whereas the defendant, if you let him keep what belongs to me, will do nothing of the kind: for do not suppose, that he will choose to contribute in respect of property which he denies having received: no: he will rather conceal it, to justify the verdict in his favour.' It remains to notice the services imposed on the aliens who resided at Athens. It appears, they were liable to perform the Choragia at the Lenean festival, where the actors were allowed to be foreigners: and occasionally to entertain the tribesmen at a banquet. There were also certain duties of a less honourable but not very burdensome nature, which were intended to remind them of their inferior and dependent position. These were the Hydriaphoria and Sciadephoria: the first of which was performed by their wives, who carried vessels of water before the wives of citizens, when they walked in procession at the Panathenæa; the second by their daughters, who held parasols before the Athenian maidens on the same occasion. pauca posui, multo et major videtur et certior. Quanto Aristoteles gravius et verius nos reprehendit, qui has pecuniarum effusiones non admiremur, quæ fiunt ad multitudinem deleniendam. At ii, qui ab hoste obsidentur, si emere aquæ sextarium minâ cogantur, hoc primo incredibile nobis videri, omnesque mirari; sed, cum attenderint, veniam necessitati dare: in his immanibus jacturis infinitisque sumtibus nihil nos magnopere mirari; cùm præsertim nec necessitati subveniatur, nec dignitas augeatur; ipsaque illa delectatio multitudinis sit ad breve exiguumque tempus; [Confer Demosth. c. Lept.456.] eaque a levissimo quoque; in quo tamen ipso una cum satietate memoria quoque moriatur voluptatis. Bene etiam colligit, hæc pueris et mulierculis et servis et servorum simillimis liberis esse grata; gravi vero homini, et ea quæ fiant judicio certo ponderanti, probari posse nullo modo: quanquam intelligo, in nostrâ civitate inveterasse jam a bonis temporibus, ut splendor ædilitatum ab optimis viris postuletur." A APPENDIX III. RESIDENT ALIENS. A LARGE number of foreigners took up their abode permanently at Athens, some of whom were exiles driven from their native countries by war or revolution or domestic calamity; many were attracted by the beauty and pleasantness of the city, by the charms of Athenian society and the liberality of the people; by the opportunities which it afforded for instruction, or by its advantages for carrying on mercantile business. In the best times of the republic it is calculated that there were forty or fifty thousand aliens dwelling at Athens, including women and children. They were principally of Greek race, but not entirely: some were freedmen, or the descendants of freedmen, who had been brought to Athens in servitude from Asia Minor or other countries, and having afterwards been liberated by their masters, were ranked in the class of domiciliated aliens. All were under the protection of the Polemarch. Whilst they were treated on the whole with great liberality, they were not considered as forming a part of the state, or as entitled to any of the privileges of citizens. Not only were they excluded from exercising political rights, such as voting, sitting on juries, and the like; but they could not even plead their own causes in courts of justice, or transact any legal business by themselves, whether of a public or a private nature; for such purpose each of them was obliged to have a citizen for his Prostates' or Patron, who performed all necessary functions on his behalf, and was responsible for his good conduct. It was of great importance to have a respectable Patron, and the alien's own position very much depended upon it. A freedman's Patron was his former master, to whom, though free, he still owed certain duties of respect and acknowledgment, for the neglecting of which he might be sued at law.3 (1) He was said Пpostátηv éπcypávaobai, to choose a patron; whose name was of course entered in the public register. If he continued to reside for a certain time without choosing a patron, he was liable to be proceeded against by a yрa¶n àπроOracion, as to which see Meier & Schömann, Att. Proc. 315-318. (2) Isocrates (De Pace) says: τοὺς μετοίκους τοιούτους εἶναι νομίζομεν οἵους περ ἂν τοὺς προστάτας νέμωσι. And to this Aristophanes is thought to allude in the Peace, v. 685. ἀποστρέφεται τὸν δῆμον ἀχθεσθεῖσ ̓ ὅτι (3) By a diкn ȧoGraciou, in which, if convicted, he was punished with slavery; if acquitted, he was released from obligation to his former master. An alien could not contract a legal marriage with a citizen. Nor could he acquire any landed property by law. And therefore aliens lived mostly in lodging-houses,' the letting of which was a profitable speculation for wealthy citizens. A large number of them were in the Piræus, where the aliens chiefly resided for the convenience of trade and commerce. Xenophon recommended that the resident aliens, or at least the most respectable of them, should have permission to become house-proprietors, and be encouraged to build houses and invest their money in them.2 In return for the protection afforded them, each head of a family paid a yearly tax of twelve drachms; a widow paid only six; and a freedman three obols in addition. Any one refusing to pay the tax, or assuming the rank of a citizen, was liable to be prosecuted, and on conviction sold as a slave.3 Aliens were liable to the property-tax, and formed into a distinct board for that purpose. As they could not be landowners, they were rated for personal property only, and perhaps for that very reason they were assessed at a higher rate than the citizens, and doubtless were subject to a stricter inquisition in order to discover the real value of their estates. Of the offices which they were called upon to serve I have spoken in the last Appendix. Frequent mention is made by the historians of their employment in the fleets and armies. This duty does not appear to have been regular, but imposed as occasion required.5 The son of an alien born in Athens did not thereby become a citizen, nor had he any different status from his father. Citizenship depended not on the place of birth, but on parentage. It could only be conferred by the votes of two consecutive popular assemblies, in the last of which six thousand votes must have been given by ballot. In times of war and calamity, when great sacrifices became necessary, large creations of citizens took place; as after the battle of Charonea. At other times citizenship was only granted for some extraordinary merit. It was much more common however to confer upon an alien the rank of Isoteles, which, as the title imports, put him on an equal footing with citizens in regard to taxes, including exemption from the annual tribute, and dispensed with the necessity of his having a Patron. He was then permitted also to hold land and houses, and to work the mines. There were some further privileges attached to the position of an Isoteles, which are not exactly known. The better opinion is, that he was not eligible to magisterial offices, nor had the right of voting or sitting on juries, nor was registered as a member of any township. It appears however that he was capable of being (1) Called avvoιkiai. See my article under that title in the Archæological Dictionary. (2) De Vectigal. ii. 6. (3) See my article Eevias ypaph in the Archæological Dictionary. (4) Demosthenes, Cont. Androt. 612. (5) See Thucydides, i. 143, ii. 13, iii. 16, iv. 90. |