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LYSIAS

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 184 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LYSIAS , See also:

Attic orator, was See also:born, according to See also:Dionysius of See also:Halicarnassus and the author of the See also:life ascribed to See also:Plutarch, in 459 B.C. This date was evidently obtained by reckoning back from the See also:foundation of See also:Thurii (444 B.C.), since there was a tradition that Lysias had gone thither at the See also:age of fifteen. See also:Modern critics would See also:place his See also:birth later,—between 444 and 436 B.C.,—because,, in See also:Plato's See also:Republic, of which the See also:scene is laid about 430 B.C., Cephalus, the See also:father of Lysias, is among the dramatis personae, and the See also:emigration of Lysias- to Thurii was . said to have followed his father's See also:death. The latter statement, however, rests only on the Plutarchic life; nor can Plato's See also:dialogue be safely urged as a minutely accurate authority. The higherdate assigned by the See also:ancient writers agrees better with the tradition that Lysias reached, or passed, the age of eighty .l Cephalus, his father, was a native of See also:Syracuse, and on the invitation of See also:Pericles had settled at See also:Athens. The opening scene , of Plato's Republic is laid at the See also:house of his eldest son, Polemarchus, in See also:Peiraeus. The See also:tone of the picture warrants the inference that 1 [W. See also:Christ, Gesch. der griech. Lilt., gives the 'date of birth as about 450.]the Sicilian See also:family were well known to Plato, and that their houses must often have been hospitable to such gatherings. At Thurii, the See also:colony newly planted on the Tarentine Gulf (see PERICLES), the boy may have seen See also:Herodotus, now -a See also:man in See also:middle life, and a friendship may have grown up between them. There, too, Lysias is said to have commenced his studies in See also:rhetoric—doubtless under a See also:master of the Sicilian school—possibly, as tradition said, under Tisias, the See also:pupil of Corax, whose name is associated with the first See also:attempt to formulate rhetoric as an See also:art. In 413 B.C. the Athenian armament in See also:Sicily was annihilated.

The See also:

desire to See also:link famous names is illustrated by the ancient ascription to Lysias of a rhetorical exercise purporting to be - a speech in which the See also:captive See also:general See also:Nicias appealed for See also:mercy to the Sicilians. The terrible See also:blow to Athens quickened the energies of an See also:anti-Athenian See also:faction at Thurii. Lysias and his See also:elder See also:brother Polemarchus, with three See also:hundred other persons, were " accused of Atticizing." They were driven from Thurii and settled at Athens (412 B.C.). Lysias and Polemarchus were See also:rich men, having inherited See also:property from their father; and Lysias claims that, though merely See also:resident aliens, they discharged public services with a liberality which ' shamed many of those who enjoyed the See also:franchise (In Eratosth. 2o). The fact that they owned house property shows that they were classed as k omXeas, i.e. foreigners who paid only the same tax as citizens, being exempt from the See also:special tax (µerotiaov) on resident aliens. Polemarchus occupied a house in Athens itself, Lysias another in the Peiraeus, near which was their See also:shield manufactory, employing a hundred and twenty skilled slaves. In 404 the See also:Thirty Tyrants were established at Athens under the See also:protection of a Spartan See also:garrison. One of their earliest See also:measures was an attack upon the resident aliens, who were represented as disaffected to the new See also:government. Lysias and Polemarchus were on a See also:list of - ten singled out to be the first victims. Polemarchus was arrested, and compelled to drink See also:hemlock. Lysias had a narrow See also:escape, with the help of a large bribe.

He slipped by a back-See also:

door out of the house in which he was a prisoner, and took See also:boat to See also:Megara. It appears that he had rendered valuable services to the exiles during the reign of the tyrants, and in 403 See also:Thrasybulus proposed that these services should be recognized by the bestowal of the citizenship. The See also:Boule, however, had not yet been reconstituted, and hence the measure- could not be introduced to the See also:ecclesia by the requisite "preliminary See also:resolution" (Irpo 3ou)evµa). On, this ground it was successfully opposed. During his later years Lysias—now probably a comparatively poor man owing to the rapacity of the tyrants and his own generosity to the Athenian exiles—appears as a hard-working member of a new profession—that of See also:writing speeches to be delivered in the See also:law-courts. The thirty-four extant are but a small fraction.: From 403 to about 38o B.C. his See also:industry must have been incessant. The notices of his See also:personal life in these years are scanty. In 403 he came forward as the accuser of Eratosthenes, one of the Thirty Tyrants. This was his only See also:direct contact with Athenian politics. The See also:story that he wrote a See also:defence for See also:Socrates, which the latter declined to use, probably arose from a confusion. Several years after the death of Socrates the. sophist See also:Polycrates composed a declamation against him, to which Lysias replied. A more See also:authentic tradition represents Lysias as having spoken his own Olympiacus at the Olympic festival of 388 B.e., to which Dionysius I. of Syracuse had sent a magnificent See also:embassy.

Tents embroidered with See also:

gold were pitched within the sacred enclosure; and the See also:wealth of Dionysius was vividly shown by the number of chariots which he had entered. Lysias lifted up his See also:voice to denounce Dionysius as, next' to See also:Artaxerxes; the worst enemy of Hellas, and to impress upon the assembled Greeks that one of their foremost duties was to deliver Sicily from a hateful oppression. The latest See also:work of Lysias which we can date (a fragment of a speech For Pherenicus) belongs to 381 or 380 B.C. He probably died in or soon after 38o B.C. Lysias was a man of kindly and genial nature, warm in friendship, loyal to See also:country, with a keen See also:perception of See also:character. and a See also:fine though strictly controlled sense of See also:humour. The See also:crates, See also:xxix., 389 B.C. IV. Causes See also:relating to a See also:Scrutiny (SoKtgaata); See also:literary tact which is so remarkable in the extant speeches is that of a singularly flexible intelligence, always obedient to an See also:instinct of gracefulness. He owes his distinctive place to the See also:power of concealing his art. It was obviously desirable that a speech written for delivery by a client should be suitable to his age, station and circumstances. Lysias was the first to make this See also:adaptation really See also:artistic.

His skill can be best appreciated if we turn from the easy flow of his graceful See also:

language to the majestic emphasis of See also:Antiphon, or to the self-revealing art of See also:Isaeus. Translated into terms of ancient See also:criticism, he became the See also:model of the " See also:plain See also:style " (loxvos xapaKTjp, Ioxvil, Xtri7, ackeXz)s X t : genus tenue or subtile). See also:Greek and then See also:Roman critics distinguished three styles of rhetorical See also:composition—the " See also:grand " (or " elaborate "), the " plain " and the " middle," the " plain " being nearest to the language of daily life.. Greek rhetoric began in the " grand " style; then Lysias set an exquisite See also:pattern of the " plain "; and See also:Demosthenes might be considered as having effected an almost ideal See also:compromise. The vocabulary of Lysias is pure and See also:simple. Most of the rhetorical " figures " are sparingly used—except such as consist in the See also:parallelism or opposition of clauses. The See also:taste of the See also:day —not yet emancipated from the See also:influence of the Sicilian rhetoric —probably demanded a large use of See also:antithesis. Lysias excels in vivid description; he has also a happy knack of marking the See also:speaker's character by See also:light touches. The structure of his sentences varies a See also:good See also:deal according to the dignity of the subject. He has equal command over the " periodic " style (Karevrpatl0im X is) and the non-periodic or " continuous " (eipoµEVq, &aXeXvµEvri). His disposition of his subject-See also:matter is always simple. The speech has usually four parts—introduction (irpooiµiov), narrative of facts (&iy a'is), proofs (aioreis),: which may be either See also:external, as from witnesses, or See also:internal, derived from See also:argument on the facts, and, lastly, conclusion (iiiXoryos).

It. is in the introduction and the narrative that Lysias is seen at his best. In his greatest extant speech—that Against Eratosthenes—and also in the fragmentary Olympiacus, he has pathos and See also:

fire; but these were not characteristic qualities of his work. In See also:Cicero's See also:judgment (De Oral. iii. 7, 28) Demosthenes was peculiarly distinguished. by force (vis), See also:Aeschines by resonance (sonitus), See also:Hypereides by acuteness (acumen), Isocrates by sweetness (suavitas); the distinction which he assigns to Lysias is subtilitas, an Attic refinement—which, as he elsewhere says (See also:Brutus, 16, 64) is often joined to an admirable vigour (lacerti). Nor was it See also:oratory alone to which Lysias rendered service; his work had an important effect on all subsequent Greek See also:prose, by showing how perfect elegance could' be joined to plainness. Here, in his artistic use of See also:familiar See also:idiom, he might fairly be called the See also:Euripides of Attic prose. And his style has an additional See also:charm for modern readers, because it is employed in describing scenes from the everyday life of Athens.' Thirty-four speeches (three fragmentary) have come down under the name of Lysias; one hundred and twenty-seven more, now lost, are known from smaller fragments or from titles. In the Augustan age four hundred and twenty-five See also:works See also:bore his name, of which more than two hundred were allowed as genuine by the critics. Our thirty-four works may be classified as follows: A. EPIDEICTIC.—I. Olympiacus, xxxiii. 388 B.C.

; 2. Epitaphius, ii. (purporting to have- been spoken during the Corinthian See also:

War; certainly See also:spurious), perhaps composed about 380–340 B.C. (" soon after 387," See also:Blass). B. DELIBERATIVE.—Plea for the Constitution, xxxiv., 403 B.C. C. FORENSIC, IN PUBLIC CAUSES.—I. Relating to Offences directly against the See also:State (ypa4al Snµoolwv h&iKnµO.rwv) ; such as See also:treason, malversation in See also:office, See also:embezzlement of public moneys. I. For Poly-stratus, xx., 407 B.C. ; 2.

Defence on a See also:

Charge of Taking Bribes, xxi., 402 B.C.; 3. Against Ergocles, See also:xxviii., 389 B.C.; 4. Against Epicrates, See also:XXVIi., 389 B.c.; 5. Against See also:Nicomachus, See also:xxx., 399 B.C.; 6. Against the Corndealers, xxii., 386 B.c. (?) II. Cause relating to Unconstitutional See also:Procedure (speck) aapav6 iwv). On the Property of the Brother of Nicias, xviii., 395 B.C. III. Causes relating to Claims for See also:Money with-held from the State (&aoypacpai). I. For the Soldier, ix.

(probably not by Lysias, but by an imitator, writing for a real cause), 394 B.C. (?) ; 2. On the Property of See also:

Aristophanes, xix.,, 387 B.C.; 3. Against See also:Philo- i See further See also:Jebb, The Attic Orators from Antiphon to Isaeus, i. 142-316. especially the Scrutiny, by the See also:Senate, of Officials Designate. I. Against Evandrus, See also:xxvi., 382 B.C.; 2. For Mantitheus, xvi.; 392 B.c. 3. Against See also:Philon, xxxi., between 404 and 395 B.C.; 4. Defence on a Charge of Seeking to Abolish the See also:Democracy, See also:xxv., 401 B.C.

; 5. For the Invalid, See also:

xxiv., 402 B.C. (?) V. Causes relating to Military Offences (ypa4al a17roeaelov, horpareias). I. Against See also:Alcibiades, I. and II. (xiv., xv.), 395 B.C. VI. Causes relating to See also:Murder or See also:Intent to Murder (ypa4al covov, rpaiµaros is irpovotas). I. Against Eratosthenes, xii., 403 B.C.; 2. Against Agoratus, xiii., 399 B.C.

; 3. On the Murder of Eratosthenes, is (date uncertain) ; 4. Against See also:

Simon, iii., 393 B.C.; 5. On Wounding with Intent, iv. (date uncertain). VII. Causes relating to Impiety (wattled. iwe(3Etas). I. Against See also:Andocides, vi. (certainly spurious, but perhaps contemporary); 2. For See also:Callias, v. (date uncertain); 3.

On the Sacred See also:

Olive, vu., not before 395 B.C. D. FORENSIC, IN PRIVATE CAUSES.—I. See also:Action for See also:Libel (Sfwrt iiaKi]yoplas). AgainstTheomnestus, x.,384–383 B.C. (the so-called second speech, xi., is merely an See also:epitome of the first). II. Action by a See also:Ward against a See also:Guardian (SMKn £iriTp07rYJS). Against Diogeiton, xxxii., 400 B.C. III. Trial of a Claim to Property (SiaMsaaia). On the property of Eraton, xvii., 397 B.C.

IV. See also:

Answer toaS Special Pl(7rpdr7rapaypaq v). Against Pancleon, See also:xxiii. (date uncertain). E. See also:MISCELLANEOUS.—I.. To his Companions, a Complaint of Slanders, viii. (certainly spurious) ; 2. The EpwriKOS in Plato's See also:Phaedrus pp. 230 E-234. This has generally been regarded as Plato's own work; but the certainty of this conclusion will be doubted by those who observe (i) the elaborate preparations made in the dialogue for a See also:recital of the ipwn.Kbr which shall be verbally exact, and (2) the closeness of the criticism made upon it. If the satirist were merely analysing his own composition, such criticism would have little point.

Lysias is the earliest writer who is known to have composed 1pwrarol; it is as representing both rhetoric and a false Ipwr that he is the See also:

object of attack in the Phaedrus. F. FRAGMENTS.—Three hundred and fifty-five of these are collected by Sauppe, Oratores Attici, ii. 170–216. Two hundred and fifty-two of them represent one hundred and twenty-seven speeches of known See also:title; and of six the fragments are comparatively large. Of these, the fragmentary speech For Pherenicus belongs to 381 or 380. B.C., and is thus the latest known work of Lysias., In literary and See also:historical See also:interest, the first place among the extant speeches of Lysias belongs to that Against Eratosthenes (403 B.C.), one of the Thirty Tyrants, whom Lysias arraigns as the murderer of his brother Polemarchus. The speech is an eloquent and vivid picture of the reign of terror which the Thirty established at Athens; the concluding See also:appeal, to both parties among the citizens, is specially powerful. Next in importance is the speech Against Agoratus (399 B.C.), one of our See also:chief authorities for the internal See also:history of Athens during the months which immediately followed- the defeat at See also:Aegospotami. The Olympiacus (388 B.c.) is a brilliant fragment, expressing the spirit of the festival at See also:Olympia, and exhorting Greeks to unite against their See also:common foes. The Plea for the Constitution (4o3 B.C.) is interesting for the manner in which it argues that the wellbeing of Athens—now stripped of See also:empire—is See also:bound up with the See also:maintenance of democratic principles. The speech For Mantitheus (392 B.C.) is a graceful and animated portrait. of a See also:young Athenian irre-6s, making a spirited defence of his See also:honour against the charge of disloyalty.

The defence For the Invalid is a humorous character-See also:

sketch. The speech Against Pancleon illustrates the intimate relations between Athens and See also:Plataea, while it gives us some picturesque glimpses of Athenian See also:town life. The defence of the See also:person who had been charged with destroying a moria, or sacred olive, places us amidst the country life of See also:Attica. And the speech Against Theomnestus deserves See also:attention for its curious See also:evidence of the way in which the See also:ordinary vocabulary of Athens had changed between boo and 400 B.C. All See also:MSS. of Lysias yet collated have been derived, as H. Sauppe first showed, from the Codex Palatinus X. (See also:Heidelberg). The next most valuable MS. is the Laurentianus C (15th See also:century), which I. See also:Bekker chiefly followed. Speaking generally, we may say that these two MSS. are the only two which carry much See also:weight where the See also:text is seriously corrupt. In Oratt. i.-ix. Bekker, occasionally consulted eleven other MSS., most of which contain only the above nine speeches: viz., Marciani F, G, I, K (See also:Venice); Laurentiani D, E (See also:Florence) ; Vaticani M, N Parisini U, V ; Urbinas 0.

BIBttoGRAPiY.—Editio princeps, Aldus (Venice, 1513); by I. Bekker (1823) and W. S. See also:

Dobson (1828) in Oratores Attici; C. Scheibe (1852) and T. Thalheim (1901, Teubner See also:series, with bibliography) ; C. G. See also:Cobet (4th ed., by J. J. Hartman, 1905); with variorum notes, by J. J. See also:Reiske (1772).

See also:

Editions of select speeches by J. H. Bremi (1845); R. Rauchenstein (1848, revised by C. Fuhr, 188o–1881); H. Frohberger (1866–1871) ; H. See also:van Herwerden {1863); A. Weidner (1888); E. S. Shuckburgh (1882); A. Westermann and W. Binder (1887–189o); G. P.

See also:

Bristol (1892), M. H. See also:Morgan (1895), C. D. See also:Adams (1905), all three published in See also:America. There is a special, See also:lexicon to Lysias by D. H. See also:Holmes (See also:Bonn, 1895). See also Jebb's Attic Orators (1893) and Selections from the Attic Orators (2nd 2 Some remains of the speech against Theozotides have been found in the Hibeh papyri; see W. H. D. Rouse's The See also:Year's Work in Classical Studies (1907)1..

ed., 1888) and F. Blass, See also:

Die Altische Beredsamkeit (2nd ed., 1887—1898) ; W. L. Devries, Ethopoiia. A rhetorical study of the types of character in the orations of Lysias (See also:Baltimore, 1892). (R. C.

End of Article: LYSIAS

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