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THERAMENES (d. 4o3 B.c.)

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 793 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THERAMENES (d. 4o3 B.c.) , Athenian statesman, was the adopted son of Hagnon, a prominent conservative who in 430 impeached See also:Pericles, and after the Sicilian expedition became one of the ten probuli (irp6f3ovXot, commissioners) appointed to devise economies in the See also:administration. As a See also:pupil of the sophist Prodicus he acquired facility in public speaking. Under his See also:father's patronage he joined in the conservative reaction which came to a See also:head in 411, when hopes of a See also:Persian See also:alliance or See also:peace with See also:Sparta strengthened the existing dissatisfaction with the democratic See also:rule. Theramenes specially studied the constitutional See also:side of this See also:movement and formulated a new party-cry, " the constitution of our fathers." It was no doubt largely due to his advocacy that the probuli, strengthened by further members, were commissioned to draft new See also:measures on behalf of the public safety and to examine See also:Cleisthenes' " ancestral See also:code." In their See also:report the following measures were recommended: (i.) annulment of the See also:act against promulgating illegal measures; (ii.) abolition of pay, See also:save for the troops in the See also:field and the archons; (iii.) restriction of the See also:franchise to 5000 able to serve "with See also:person and See also:purse"; (iv.) the See also:appointment of a See also:special See also:board to choose the 5000. When these proposals were passed (apparently in a packed See also:assembly outside the walls), a Constituent Assembly of too was elected, nominally by the 5000, who as yet were a See also:mere phantom See also:body, in point of fact by the leading conspirators. The new constitution provided for a See also:boule whose members were to be recruited by See also:lot from all citizens above See also:thirty; the functions of this body to be exercised by four sections succeeding one another by yearly rotation and serving without pay; all high officials to be chosen by it out of its own members. This See also:scheme embodied the See also:chief reforms desired by Theramenes, and marks the See also:triumph of his policy. But before it could be carried into effect it was superseded by a " provisional constitution," which gave un-limited See also:power to a boule of 400 (chosen by a roundabout See also:system which favoured intrigue) and its nominees, the ten " See also:absolute " generals. This extreme reaction displeased Theramenes, who in return began to agitate for the calling of the 5000 into real existence. Furthermore he warned See also:Athens against the See also:treason of the extreme oligarchs, and induced the troops to raze a See also:mole erected to facilitate a Spartan descent on See also:Peiraeus. After the disaster of See also:Eretria (see PELOPONNESIAN See also:WAR), which caused the fall of the extremists and the institution of a See also:government of " 5000 " (i.e. all citizens who could afford a suit of See also:armour), Theramenes stood in high esteem.

After assisting in the See also:

prosecution of his former colleagues he received the command of a See also:squadron with which he helped to win the See also:great victory at See also:Cyzicus (410) and to recover the See also:Bosporus. After the triumph of the See also:radical democrats which followed upon these successes he lost his high command. At Arginusae (406) he fought as a See also:simple See also:ship's See also:captain, but after the See also:battle was commissioned by the generals to See also:rescue some drowning crews, an See also:order which, with his See also:ill-trained and exhausted troops, in a heavy See also:storm, he was unable to carry out. For this failure the generals were severely criticized at Athens; an inquiry by the boule led to their See also:arrest, and before the See also:ecclesia they aggravated their See also:case by See also:pleading (i.) that the storm made a rescue impossible, (ii.) that Theramenes was to blame. Theramenes in reply brought out the implied See also:contradiction in these statements, and in consequence the assembly condemned the accused to See also:death and subsequently returned Theramenes See also:general. See also:Late in 405 Theramenes went as plenipotentiary to See also:Lysander (q.v.) to obtain peace terms; after See also:long negotiations he proceeded to Sparta and arranged a See also:settlement which the Athenians ratified (See also:April 404). In spite of this peace the disorder in Athens did not abate. The restored fugitives selected five " ephors," including See also:Critias, to organize a revolution, while the radicals opposed that return to the " ancestral constitution " for which Theramenes had stipulated. Hereupon Lysander returned to Athens and had a Constituent See also:Committee elected, of whom ten members were nominees of each See also:section. In this body Theramenes at first assumed the chief See also:part, . and the new measures rescinding the See also:laws against the See also:Areopagus and sup-pressing sycophancy were well received. But, exactly as in 411, a more violent party under Critias, forgetting its real duties, appointed an autocratic boule of its own creatures, and proceeded by judicial murders and confiscations to See also:earn for the new government the name of " the Thirty Tyrants." Theramenes protested, and managed to get a See also:citizen-body of 3000 admitted to a See also:share of the government. Critias, however, fearing a renewal of the collapse of 411, disarmed the See also:people and decided to remove Theramenes before he could create a new democratic party.

The latter successfully repelled Critias' denunciation of treason, but was led away by violence and forced to take See also:

poison. His well-known gibe, " Here's to the See also:noble Critias," attests his strength of mind at the See also:hour of death.' Theramenes demonstrably had a definite policy throughout his career. His ideal was a return to a 6th See also:century constitution, which his contemporaries could equally regard as a moderate See also:oligarchy or a restricted See also:democracy. The See also:main features of his See also:programme were: (I) See also:property qualification for franchise; (ii.) abolition of pay; (iii.) transference of some judicial See also:powers from the popular courts to a restored Areopagus. At times he seemed likely to succeed, but amid the violent oscillations of party he could not definitely join any one See also:faction, and so earned the See also:nickname K6Bopvos (a See also:stage-See also:boot fitting either See also:foot). See also:Aristotle, however, discerned Theramenes' real policy, and, like See also:Cicero and See also:Caesar, in later years ranked him among the greatest Athenian statesmen. See also:SouRCES.—The Constitution of Athens with its numerous documents affords much valuable knowledge, but does not give the inner See also:history of 411. Thucydidcs viii. supplies this, but his ' The attempted rescue by Isocrates (Pseudo-See also:Plutarch, Vitae X. Oratorum) is improbable; but Theramenes may have taught Isocrates in See also:oratory. knowledge of the constitutional side of the revolution and of Theramenes' activity is somewhat fragmentary. See also:Xenophon (Hellenica, i., ii.) was an See also:eye-See also:witness in 406–403, but is clearly inaccurate in his details and prejudiced throughout. See also:Lysias (c.

Eratosth. and c. Agorat.) gives an avowedly hostile See also:

account of Theramenes. Diodorus xiii., xiv., goes too far in making Theramenes a pure democrat. See also Plutarch, Cicero, See also:chap. 59; Cicero, de Oratore, iii. 16, 59; Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Aristoteles and Athen (See also:Berlin and See also:Leipzig, 1893), ii. p. 113 sqq.; E. See also:Meyer, Forschungen zur See also:alien Geschichte (See also:Halle, 1899), ii. pp. 406 sqq.; B. Perrin in See also:American See also:Historical See also:Review, ix. (1904), pp. 649-69.

(M. 0. B.

End of Article: THERAMENES (d. 4o3 B.c.)

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