Quae legentem fefellissent, transferentem fugere non possunt. (Plinius Epistulae 7.9.2)
Translation by Domingo Avilés
The work that goes by the name of Lexicon Rhetoricum Cantabrigense (in the following abbreviated as LRhC) consists of a series of marginal notes in the Cambridge manuscript of Harpocration (Bibl. Publ. Dd 4.63). The first scholar to realize that it was an independent work by someone other than Harpocration himself was Meier, who provided the third edition of the LRhC in 1844. Before, the work had been published by Dobree in Cambridge, once along with Harpocration’s lexicon (1822, repr. Leipzig 1823) and once separately (1832). After another edition by Nauck in 1867, the Dutch scholar E.O. Houtsma published the LRhC for the fifth and, so far, last time as his doctoral thesis in 1870; the text is accompanied by a critical apparatus and valuable notes on almost every entry with remarks on the restitution of the text and the similarities to other lexica as well as references to the passages of classical authors quoted by the anonymous writer. All these editions are difficult to come by; Houtsma’s edition, however, is contained in the volume Lexica Graeca Minora, edited by K. Latte and H. Erbse (Georg Olms Verlag, 1965, repr. 1992), p. 61-139, and thus more easily available to the interested reader.
While a few entries gloss words used by poets and other classical authors outside the realm of rhetoric, the bulk of the LRhC is devoted to the explanation of words and expressions found in the classical orators. In this respect, it often provides the reader with information not present in any other lexicon, which makes it, despite its comparative shortness, an important source in its own right for our knowledge of Attic legal language. In some cases we are even told about word meanings for which we have no direct evidence (see, for instance, the entry Rhetorike), and many of the quotations of classical authors stem from works that are no longer extant. As for those from extant works, I am generally indebted to Houtsma and his predecessors for locating them; however, they could not yet know the pseudo-Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia, on which the author of the LRhC draws abundantly. Wherever a citation can be attributed to a work that we can read today, I have added a reference in brackets. Is there no such reference, it is to be understood that the work quoted from is now lost.
The translation is based, as a whole, on Houtsma’s text; exceptions are indicated in the notes. The Greek is generally transcribed without accents or macrons; in a few cases, however, I have deemed it necessary to write the accent, that is, when the author himself points out that there are different accentuations (see e.g. Agroikos, Sphettoi), and in some others I have used a macron for the sake of clarity (for instance, to distinguish the dative singular masculine and neuter –ōi from the nominative plural masculine –oi, see e.g. Epigraphomenōi). In the notes I have tried, to the best of my ability, to solve difficulties of interpretation and cast light especially on points of Attic legal idiom.
I would like to thank Prof. D. Mirhady for his numerous and useful suggestions and A. Grudzinskas for reading over a former version of the translation. It goes without saying, though, that I am fully responsible for whatever is written both in this introduction and on the pages that follow.
Agogeus: the one who introduces the suit, the prosecutor. And the bridle for driving horses.
Agraphiou dike is a suit against someone who has failed to record the name of a state debtor or of a debtor who has paid back the creditors[1].
Antidosis: when a citizen, being tasked with a liturgy, points to another, wealthier than himself, and challenges him to perform the liturgy or by exchanging properties with the first man to be freed from it.
Agonia: fear of downfall or defeat. Of somebody about to engage in a contest; it is also improperly used to refer to fear altogether. Xenophon uses agonia to signify the contest itself, for the fear takes place precisely during the contest.
Agonothetes: the organizer of theatre contests; athlothetes is the organizer of athletic ones.
Ágauros or agaurós: a refined person; in some authors a bad one. In the Ionic dialect it means a person with no means, in Attic a profligate one.
Agenor: courageous or too wanton.
Agyrtes: a wandering beggar[2] and a throw of the dice.
Abrochiton: someone wearing luxurious clothes; abroeimon: somebody who wears shiny clothes.
Agon has five meanings: place: “they widened the beautiful agon” (Od. 8.260); crowd, as in “the agon went apart” (Il. 24.1); a gathering, as in “Hera after the agon of the ships” (Il. 20.33); contest; and temple, as in “they will enter the gods’ agon” (Il. 7.298). Also the preparation for a contest[3].
Agnomones: ungrateful people. In Plato: ignorant people[4].
Agyia: same as amphodos (street), in common language rhyme.
Ágroikos: ignorant; agroίkos: someone dwelling in the countryside. Plato uses them the other way around, and agroiotes refers to the farming folk.
Anchisteis: those closest to the deceased, being children of his brothers, cousins or uncles either on mother’s or on father’s side. Those who are outside of the said group are simply syngeneis; those connected to the house (tois oikois) through marriage are called oikeioi.
Agora: assembly, also gathering, whence Nestor is called agoretes. Hyperides calls meetings agoras: “They often do agoras”[5]. Also agoraia dike: forensic speech[6].
Agoge: behaviour, character; also, payload or its transport; or the forming of character by habits.
Alogiou dike: whenever people take money for some public expense and fail to give account to the judges.
Antigraphe: the defendant writes a response (antigraphei) to the prosecutor’s charge, as in Demosthenes (45.46): ”Stephanos bore (false) witness against (me), testifying to what is written in the document”: so that the judges may have testimony of both sides’ denunciations: the one’s about his accusation and the other’s about his testimony.
Anthypomosanto (“they counter-swore”): as in “they contradicted the hypomosia (“sworn statement”[7]) according to which he was gone on a campaign for the city”[8].
Antilakhein and antilexis: antilakhein means the resetting of lawsuits back to the beginning; this was usually done by those who were defeated before the arbitrator in their absence against their prosecutors on the grounds that they had been convicted in a lawsuit that did not exist[9].
Apomosia[10]: the word has two usages: (1) when somebody sues against a statute deemed unconstitutional or else introduces it himself then, changing his mind, swears that he made a mistake; it is called apomosia because one is released after swearing that one neither was bribed with money nor kept quiet about it as a personal favour[11]. Demosthenes also recalls this way of speaking in On the Crown[12]. (2) In the way of imitation it is used when somebody tries to postpone a lawsuit by alleging absence from the country or illness or something similar under oath; the verb is hypomnusthai. Again, as we have already pointed out, it is called apomosia when a defendant alleges that he lacks the time to attend the lawsuit; the opponent is then said to anthypomnusthai. About this a prodikasia is held.
Aproskletos dike: a lawsuit that has not achieved the number of so-called kleteres (“summoners”[13]) required by law.
Apostasiou dike: against freedmen who turned their back on the person who freed them.
Argias dike (“lawsuit for laziness”): Lysias writes in Against Ariston that it was Draco who made this law, and Solon kept it; except that Solon, unlike Draco, did not provide the death penalty for it but the loss of civic rights if one is convicted thrice; if one is convicted once, he has to pay a hundred drachmae.
Atimetos dike: a lawsuit whose worth is the one that is written, leaving no room for counter-valuations.
Atopon: Plato uses it to mean “big and wonderful”.
Biaion dike: if someone had by a violent assault taken away another’s property from his real estate or his house then he was subjected to this kind of lawsuit. In school hypotheses the bias enklema (indictment of violence) is against offenders who have raped a girl or a freeborn boy. It is to be noted that ancient writers only write biaion and never bias.
Diadikasia is the procedure that officials and trierarchs have to face about the tasks they will have to perform in their term of office; same meaning as dokimasia.
Graphe, epigraphe and paragraphe are different from each other in some respect. Graphe is the filing with a court of a public accusation; paragraphe is a disputing in response to the filing; epigraphe is the assignation of another place to the trial, either its own place in the city in the popular court or a local place such as Phaleron or somewhere else. In public suits what is written by the prosecutor is called enklema and what is reported to the magistrates is called graphe. The same thing in private suits is called enklema, in disputes about inheritance lexis[14].
Dekazein and dekazesthai: Aeschines in Against Timarchos (Aes. 1.87) calls the cheating of the judges dekazein[15]. The word is coined according to the fact that the judges were hired in groups of ten.
Diagraptos dike (“crossed-out suit”), also called diexysmene (“erased”[16]), is a suit that has been overpowered by the paragraphe, so that it has been done away with. For it is inadmissible, having been invalidated by the paragraphe.
Diagraphe (“crossing out”)[17]: when the defendant is freed from the accusation by either the prosecutor’s concession or a decision made by the authority in charge, and is no longer charged with anything, this is called diagraphe of the suit. It is so called also when he undergoes several penalties.
Diapsephisis is what takes place whenever the inhabitants of a certain deme gather to vote about those suspected of being illegally enlisted (on the civic register) though not really being Athenian citizens[18]. Whoever carries the vote is a full citizen; those who are voted down, on the other hand, if they find fault with the diapsephisis, can appeal to the whole citizen body.
Diamartyria is a suit filed when those contesting inheritances bring suit. It contains the accusation (enklema) and the grounds by which each one claims the estate to be his. Where the name comes from is easily explained: what one says as a witness when another disputes it is attested for oneself in the graphe of the charge.
Dike refers to (1) paying a penalty and (2) a lawsuit one files over private transactions, the amount of the penalty being fixed in advance. Graphe is the name of a kind of lawsuit, but one that is filed over matters of public interest and concerns the whole city; and if the defendant is convicted, the court decides what he must suffer or pay.
Diomosia: it was customary for complainants to swear that they were prosecuting actual deeds, and for the defendants to swear that they were not liable. This happened mostly when the suit was about an intentional deed.
Eisangelia (“impeachment”) is against new and unwritten offenses. This is Caecilius’ opinion. Theophrastus, on the other hand, writes in the fourth book of “On Laws” that it is used if a rhetor subverts the democracy or receives a bribe for not giving the best political advice, or if someone betrays a military position or ships or an infantry unit, or if someone goes over to the enemy or lives among them or serves in their army or receives gifts. Theophrastus’ definition is confirmed by the eisangelia against Themistokles which according to Krateros was raised by Leobotes, son of Alkmaion, from Agryle. But some orators used to call even unimportant offenses by that name. Sometimes they attacked the victims of sycophants with eisangeliai [19], according to Philochoros, with a thousand judges sitting or, according to Demetrius of Phaleron, with fifteen hundred. Caecilius, on the other hand, defined it as follows: eisangelia is what the laws have allowed to be brought against non-regulated offenses. It is also a typical exercise in sophistic disputations.
Eis dateton hairesin (“to the appointment of liquidators”): a challenge to a distribution of inheritance or some public sale. It is said of those who distribute shared property for some, as Aristotle writes in Athenaion politeia (56.6): “With the magistrates are filed especially suits eis dateton hairesin, when a man is unwilling for property to be administered in partnership”[20].
Ekkleton also means “gathered”, as wrote Euripides (Orest. 612): “Going into the ekkleton mass of the Argives”, that is, the assembled mass.[21]
Endeixis differs from phasis in that one cannot object to the former, as when Demosthenes filed an endeixis against Aristogeiton[22] for speaking while owing money to the city, but claiming not to. A phasis, on the other hand, happens when one reveals that someone possesses something public without having bought it. It is also said of the homes of the orphans: whenever a guardian did not offer the orphans’ house for let, a volunteer could report him to the magistrate in order for it to be let. He could also report if it was let for less than its value.
Hene kai nea (“old and new [day]”): in Athens, the thirtieth day of the month. They say Solon named it since half of it belongs to the month just passed, the other half to the next month. This very lapse of time, in which the moon catches up with the sun, is called a month; it consists, to be sure, of twenty nine and a quarter days, so the thirtieth day arguably belongs to both months. The “henon” – with aspiration – means the “past”. The following day is called “noumenia”, being the first day to belong to only one month, i.e., the new month. The day that follows they call “second” – just as we do – adding the “histamenou” (“of the rising [month]”); the next one is the “third histamenou” and then the fourth and so on up to the tenth; from then on they call it “first after ten”, “second after ten”, “third after ten” and so on up to the tenth day, which sometimes they call “twentieth” as the others do, sometimes “second tenth”. The day after this one they call, conversely and in the opposite order, “ninth of the waning (month)”, “eighth”, and so on downward, adding the word “waning” – until the first one, which is the twenty-ninth, but some call “first”; the thirtieth that closes the series[23] they call hene kai nea. Those days that follow the twentieth are all also called apophradas (“fencing off”), because the moonlight has been fenced off during them.
Epangellein is also said of delivering a prosecution speech against those accused of having led an inappropriate life. This is clear from Aeschines saying in the speech Against Timarchos (Aes. 1.2): “I called for (epengeila) a scrutiny of him”.
Epitole is the rising of the stars, anatole of the sun.
Eis emphanon katastasin (“to the placing in the open”)[24]: this was the name of the suit whenever it was necessary to lay open a disputed estate or stolen goods for the judges. It is also called ephegesis.
Epibole: magistrates may fine offenders; the fine is called epibole. And also the Council and the Assembly, seeing someone being bold, shout epibale (“fine him!”).
Epidemios archon: a magistrate ruling over any of the Attic demes.
Episkemma and episkepsis: it is said when somebody objects to documents or witness testimony; he keeps objecting until they decide[25] about the issue.
An epitimion (fine) was devised for those who failed to pursue a graphe (after filing it)[26]. Lysias in the speech Against Antigenes for causing a miscarriage: “Look at what Antigenes here has done: although he filed a graphe against our mother he demands to marry our sister and sees fit to face a lawsuit in order not to pay the thousand-drachmae fine one has to pay when one fails to prosecute after filing a graphe...” Demosthenes uses the same expression in the speech Against Theokrines (Dem. 58.6).
Epithaumazein: to welcome with gifts. Aristophanes (Nub. 1147): “epithaumazein the teacher.”
Epitagma: two units of cavalry, 9096 men in total.
Epigrapheas: people appointed to write down how much each person has to pay into the public treasury.
Epigraphomenōi: a person who guarantees something or appropriates it for himself.
Eponymos archon: the official during whose term the city does business. He has the task to appoint the people who are to defray the costs of the production of choruses for the Dionysia and Thargelia festivals. He is responsible for the embassies that are sent from Athens to Delos and elsewhere. He is also the magistrate with whom graphai are filed and he introduces suits to the popular court.
Eirgmou dike: suit against anyone who has unjustly[27] imprisoned or detained someone, as Alkibiades is accused to have done by Demosthenes in Against Midias (Dem. 21.147): “He detained (eirxe) the scribe Agatharchos”.
Euthynai: an audit of magistrates or ambassadors or, generally, anyone who has managed anything for the city.
Thesmotheton anakrisis: according to Aristotle, the thesmothetai belong to the nine archons and are six themselves. Those appointed for this office except the secretary are scrutinised by the Council of the Five Hundred and the popular court: they are asked who their fathers are, also from which demes they are, whether they have an Apollon Patrios and a Zeus Herkeios, whether they treat their parents well, whether they pay their taxes and have taken part in the military campaigns on behalf of their city. All of this the Athenians logically called “thorough enquiry” (anakrisis).
Theoroi: those who are sent to foreign sacrifices performed on behalf of their homeland, at sacred games or at other festivals; the roads they travel on are called theorides. And when Herodotus (1.59.1) writes: “Hippocrates, who was a private person and theoreonti at Olympia,” he does not say theomenōi (“watching”), but theoreonti, that is, “having been sent there to be a theoros”[28].
Hieros gamos: people getting married perform ritual marriages in honour of Zeus and Hera.
Isai hai psephoi autōi egenonto (“the votes were equal for him”): [...] equal number of votes, as Aristotle writes in the Athenaion politeia (69.1): “The ballots in favour of the prosecutor had a hole, those in favour the defendant were filled. Whichever of them got more ballots won; if they got equally many, the defendant was acquitted”; so also Theodektes in the Apology of Socrates.
Iteaios (“Itean”): used by Lysias in Against Nikides. Itea is a deme of the tribe Akamantis, whence the inhabitants carry the name “Iteaios”.
Kakegorias dike: if someone insults any of the dead, even if he has been insulted by one of the dead person’s children, on conviction he is liable to pay five hundred drachmae to the city and thirty to the individual. Hyperides, on the other hand, writes in Against Dorotheos that whoever maligns the dead is to pay a thousand, but five hundred if he maligns the living.
Kemos (“muzzle”): a device put on the jars in the popular courts. In the beginning it was made of rushes and looked like a melting pot; later on it was made of lead. The ballots were cast through it in order that they might not be seen while being cast, for the kemos had raised lips so as to conceal them.
Kerykes: as Androtion writes in the first book of his Atthis, Kekrops had three daughters: Agraulos, Herse, and Pandrosos. The last-named gave birth to Keryx after having intercourse with Hermes.
Kleteres (“summoners”) and martyres (“witnesses”) are different. When lawsuits are introduced in court, witnesses reveal that something relevant has happened or the opposite; when, on the other hand, the litigant has been summoned to justice before the archon or the polemarchos or whoever is in charge, summoners attend the summoning so the summoned person cannot escape the suit in any way. Kleteres is also the name of those who are sent by the judges to summon to court people who have to face a lawsuit because of a debt or any other accusation.
Kyameuontai: they are selected by lot. The Athenians made use of beans (kyamoi), black and white, to select their magistrates. Whoever drew the white one was appointed.
Kybeutikos phimos (“dice-muzzle”): it was a wicker-work device in form of a wheel, which is put on a board to keep the knucklebones[29] from falling out.
Kyria ekklesia (“regular assembly”): Demetrius of Phaleron writes in the second book of On the legislation of the Athenians [that the regular assembly[30]] managed most public affairs or the most important ones; but he says [...[31]]. One might rightly criticize him, though: for if the Athenians had thought kyrias ekklesias to be [...] they paid [...]. Aristotle’s explanation is better: he says that in such assemblies the magistrates were elected by show of hands and whoever wanted could submit impeachments (eisangeliai), and they managed all other necessary matters such as food supply, protection of the territory, reading out the registers of taxation, and inheritance claims[32]. During the sixth prytaneia, in addition to these things, a preliminary vote was taken on ostracism, whether or not it was to take place[33].
Kolakretai: the treasurers tasked with paying the judges and managing the cultic expenses.
Leitourgein: The Achaeans called the town hall leiton, the Athenians used the word to mean the state; hence they call any offer of money or service to the state leitourgein.
Logistai and synegoroi: Aristotle writes in the Athenaion politeia (54.2)[34]: they choose ten logistai, with whom all magistrates have to account for the incomes and expenses; in addition, ten synegoroi, who examine together with them. The outgoing magistrates have an audit with them first, and then they are referred to the court of the five hundred and one.
Lykos heros (“the Hero Lykos”): a hero who had his sanctuary in law courts and was to them the patron of the judicial system itself, as in Isaios’ speech Temenikos. Hence the expression Lykou dekas (“Lykos’ ten”), because they used to be hired in groups of ten around his shrine.
Mesokrineis: this is the name of the pillars in underground work places, which hold the weight of the things above the mines. They are supports built from the earth itself.
Me ousa dike (“non-existing [= inadmissible] lawsuit”)[35]: Demetrius of Phaleron writes that some defendants tried to manipulate the prosecutors by filing that there was no suit: for whoever sued for more than ten drachmae had to take arbitrators for each suit, so there was a law that prohibited filing a suit before having the question examined in front of the arbitrators. Some people, having a weak case and fearing an unfavourable decision by the arbitrators, threw in delays and whatever objections seemed plausible, and first wrote paragraphai[36], then swore[37] to being sick or abroad, and finally failed to show up at the appointed time for the arbitration, so they could file the me ousa counter-suit against their victorious opponent, which led to their having the suit start over again without disadvantage. According to some, the antilexis is also open to anyone against whom rehearing is possible[38]. These authors either altered it or picked it up entirely from the speeches, and the reason for it is the end of that practice: for the motion for rehearing a lawsuit (antilexis) has been abolished along with the arbitrators. One could file it within ten days.
Naukleros: Hyperides uses the word not only in the customary way, but also of somebody who is paid to exact the rent for either a one-family house or a shared one.
Nymphagogos: it was customary that whoever had failed once at living together and marriage, if he wanted to marry a second or more time, would not take over the bride himself but send someone else in his place.
Nomophylakes are different from the thesmothetai, as Philochoros writes in his seventh book: the magistrates[39] went to the Areopagos wearing a crown, the nomophylakes, on the other hand, holding white bands, and during festivals they sat opposite to the magistrates, and they took part in the procession for Pallas Athena. They forced the magistrates to obey the laws and sat in the Council and the Assembly alongside the chairmen, preventing any motion that might harm the city. They were seven and were instituted (so Philochoros) when Ephialtes left to the tribunal of the Areopagos only capital matters.
The graphe xenias and the graphe doroxenias are two different things. Aristotle writes in the Athenaion politeia (59.3) when discussing the thesmothetai: “They are also in charge of some lawsuits requiring a money deposit, namely xenias and doroxenias”. The former means one is accused of being a foreigner and non-citizen, the latter means that “one has escaped non-citizenship[40] through bribery”.
Horos and horismos are different things. The former is more general: it can refer to entrenched champs and setting boundaries, or else to definition; the latter, on the other hand, refers only to definitions, so every horismos is a horos, but not every horos is a horismos. A horismos is different from a hypographikos horismos, for it consists only of terms of definition with substantial content, while the hypographikos is mixed, as in: a human being is a verbal, mortal, and flat-nailed animal.
Orosanges, sangandes, parasanges and angaros are different things. Orosangai are bodyguards, as Sophokles writes in Wedding of Helen and Troilos; Herodotus (8.85.3) claims that “the king’s benefactors are called orosangai in Persian.” Nymphis from Heraclea writes in the second book of his On Heraclea that among the Persians they were officials with the highest rank, and were called “the king’s guests” in that language. Sangandai is how dispatched servants are called. Sophokles in The shepherds and Euripides in The Scyrians call them parasangai, though, but they should have said sangandai. For a parasanges is a measure of road length, as in the second book of Herodotus (2.6.3): “A parasanges amounts to 30 stadia[41], and each schoinos, an Egyptian measure unit, amounts to sixty stadia." The angaroi, on the other hand, are the ambassadors, as in Theopompos’ thirteenth book: “He sent ambassadors, whom the Persians call angaroi.” Irenaeus, however, writes in his Commentary on Herodotus that this is the name of passover royal messengers, whence we also call the carrying of something as a service to the king angareuein, those who bring news aggaroi. Hence also the word angarion[42], and forcing someone to serve is angareuein.
Orgas: a bushy, mountainous spot that is not worked upon; it is called so from the wetting of the woods to increase growth. Similarly, an alsos (grove) takes its name from the alsis (causing growth).
Ostrakismou tropos: Philochoros expounds ostracism in his third book in this way: the demos had a preliminary vote before the eighth prytany about whether to carry out the ostracism process or not[43]; when they decided to do it the agora was enclosed with planks, and they left ten gates. Through these the citizens entered by tribes and cast the ostraca[44], the written side turned down. The nine archons and the Council presided. After the potsherds were counted, the person who got the most, and no less than six thousand, had to pay off or get paid whatever amount was still due from his private business and leave the city within ten days for ten years (later on, the years became only five). He had to live from his own income and might not enter the territory within Geraistos, the Eubean promontory. Hyperbolos was the only person without distinction to be ostracized, because of the corruption of his character and not out of fear he might become a tyrant. After this occurrence the custom was lost; it had begun at the time of Cleisthenes’ legislation, when he deposed the tyrants and wanted to send their friends into exile as well.
Paralos and Salaminia: the Athenians kept these triremes all the time for urgent services, for which they also appointed some treasurers. They used them if a general was to be fetched and brought to trial, as in the case of Alcibiades. The Paralos got her name from some local hero. The Paralos and Salaminia are mentioned in the third book of Thucydides (33.1 and 77.3) and in Aristophanes’ Birds (1204). Aristotle knows the Ammonias and Paralos and so does Deinarchos in Against Timokrates; Philochoros, on the other hand, in his sixth book knows about four of them: first the Ammonias and Paralos, then came to them the Demetrias and the Antigonis. Those who manned the Paralos were called “Paraloi”, as in Aeschines (3.162); those who did the Salaminia, “Salaminioi”.[45]
Paregrapsanto: anyone who files a graphe paranomon against a statute or a decree writes on a board the statutes that he alleges the text in question to contradict. These boards are then taken to court and they read the laws from them. These laws are called paragegrammenoi as though written alongside (para) the criticised texts.
Paregoroumai means “report” as well as “speak publicly”.
Penestai: what the Helots were to the Spartans, the Penestai were to the Thessalians. They are people caught in battle and therefore forced to be slaves of the victors.
Pinakion: also the name of the judges’ token.
Probole is the indictment of a manifest wrong, a phasis the revealing of a hidden one. Caecilius claims that a phasis is that which they file against those who secretly dig into the public mines and, generally speaking, against anyone who steals what belongs to the community; he also claims it can mean revelations in commercial affairs.
The prytaneia seems to have been a kind of fee that the parties had to pay according to the value of the suit.
Proskaleitai (“is summoned”) and prokaleitai (“is challenged”) are different in that prokaleitai refers to submitting a slave to torture, proskaleitai to summoning the opponent to court. Hence the judges’ clerks are named kleteres after the prosklesis.
Prostimon is a fine devised for any plaintiff who did not get at least one-fifth of the votes, as Theophrastus explains in the fifth book On Laws; in public suits[46] they were fined a thousand drachmae plus some form of disfranchisement prohibiting them from filing a graphe paranomon, a phasis or an ephegesis[47].The same thing happens to whoever fails to prosecute after filing such a suit[48]. In the case of an eisangelia, if one fails to get at least one-fifth of the votes, the amount of the fine is established by the judges.
Rhetorike[49]: Isaeus uses the word in Against Eukleides on the real estate to signify the opinions[50] brought to court along with a decree. And Hyperides in Against Autokles for treason speaks of “rhetorike from the people”, for there is also one from the Council, as when the Assembly and the Council made the same decision.
Sphettioi: a municipality of the tribe Akamantis; they are also called Sphettoí. In comedy they are stereotyped as quick to anger, just as the Acharnians are coarse and the Potamioi easily welcoming the illegally registered[51].
[1] The text of the second meaning is doubtful; one would expect something like “or against (an official) who has not deleted from the list the name of a debtor who has indeed paid back in full”. Lacking clear information from other grammarians on this kind of lawsuit, we cannot decide the question with any certainty.
[2] Especially a priest of Cybele.
[3] The last sentence is probably due to a conflation with some other gloss. If included, the given meanings are six and not five as the text purports.
[6] Or simply a request speech given in front of the assembly (?).
[7] See the second entry below.
[9] Cf. the entry me ousa dike.
[10] Unlike Houtsma, I keep the reading of the manuscript, which displays ap- in the substantive and hyp- in verb forms. This is almost surely a mistake due to the easy confusion of the two prefixes (as well as the prepositions themselves) in the transmission, as is shown by the verb forms and by the fact that in Dem. 18.103 (see below) we read hyp-; but it is a mistake shared by the author of the LRhC (which is made patent by the very fact that this entry is under alpha), and I see no reason to change the text at will to correct the author’s mistakes. Besides, it is incoherent and confusing for the reader when Houtsma leaves ap- in line 21 (heteros... hos ephamen apomosia).
[11] Probably the prosecutor in a graphe paranomon had to address the question why he did not take action when the statute in question was being passed in the first place.
[14] This may be a textual corruption for klesis.
[15] The scholion ad. loc., on the other hand, explains it as “to bribe”, which is accepted by modern scholars.
[16] That is, deleted from the list of suits to be held. See also the following entry.
[17] In the translation I omit the kai, which was probably left over from a longer lemma that our author copied from. Cf. the foregoing entry.
[18] I read kata ton dokounton engegraphthai me onton Athenaion (the reading of the manuscript except for the deletion of kai before me). The omission of the last three words does not reflect Houtsma’s intention, as he makes clear in the note to the entry and in the Addenda.
[19] The words emballontes tous sykophantoumenous are hardly understandable and very probably corrupt.
[20] The translation from “when” on is that by Rackham. According to Suda and Harpocration, this suit could be filed by members of a partnership who wanted it to be dissolved against the opposition of other members. The text of this entry is used to restore that of Ath Pol. 56.6, which is encumbered by unclear letters and a lacuna in the papyrus. The reading of the manuscript has been doubted (for instance, some scholars want to correct koina ta onta into ta koina onta, which would lead to translating “for shared property to be divided”), but I do not see any compelling reason to change it.
[21] The basic meaning of the word is “selected”; it usually refers to councils of chosen citizens acting as umpires or appellate courts. This connotation is probably to be seen also in the Euripidean passage.
[25] I read diakrinosi, as proposed by Dobree.
[26] I follow Houtsma’s interpretation of the odd expression siopan ten graphen, which the previous editors tried to emend.
[27] Adikōs often amounts to “illegally”.
[28] This explanation prompted Houtsma to propose to insert eis before ta Olympia in Herodotus’ text, for the verb theorein seems to take the construction of a verb of movement when used to mean “to be sent as a theoros”.
[30] The text has a lacuna, but the basic meaning is clear.
[31] The words enen ton dedemenon make no sense to me.
[32] See the entry Graphe kai paragraphe kai epigraphe at the end.
[33] See the entry Ostrakismou tropos.
[34] Some scholars think that the reference to Ath. Pol. is mistaken, since the text that follows is a loose paraphrase at best.
[35] See the entry Antilachein kai antilexis, and cf. Dem. 39.37-8.
[36] Special pleas against the admissibility of a suit.
[37] Cf. the entry Apomosia above.
[38] The transmitted text is corrupt, and the wording as printed by Houtsma still seems wrong to me: the tenses of the main and the subordinate clause do not fit each other and, unlike Houtsma, I still find the meaning quite obscure.
[39] That is the nine archontes, to whom the thesmothetai belonged.
[40] That is, has been acquitted in the xenia lawsuit.
[41] A stadion was about 200 meters.
[42] Meaning unknown, but cf. aggareion “post-system” (which may even be the correct reading here).
[43] See the entry Kyria ekklesia.
[44] Ostraka means literally “potsherds”, on which each citizen wrote the names of the people he wanted to be ostracised.
[45] After this entry the manuscript exhibits a lemma Parastasis, which is left out by the editors because it is identical to the corresponding entry in Photius and Harpocration.
[47] Ephegeisthai is an Attic law-term referring to the possibility for an informant to lead the magistrate to the place where a criminal was hiding instead of seizing him himself.
[49] The speeches cited here are lost and specimens of the usage alleged here are missing altogether.
[50] This may refer to the speeches by which the rhetor introduced his proposal in the assembly. In inscriptions from the 5th century onward they are reported along with the text of the decree (whereas archaic inscription contain only the text of a statute or decree itself and no mention is made of the foregoing discussions).
[51] Houtsma (see the Addenda and the note to the entry) would like to read parengraphous instead of parengraptous.