Against Eratosthenes is a speech by Lysias

Lysias

Lysias was a logographer in Ancient Greece. He was one of the ten Attic orators included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace in the third century BC.-Life:According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus and the author of the life ascribed to...

, one of the ten Attic orators

Attic orators

The ten Attic orators were considered the greatest orators and logographers of the classical era . They are included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace.-The Alexandrian "Canon of Ten":* Aeschines* Andocides* Antiphon* Demosthenes*...

. In the speech, Lysias accuses Eratosthenes

Eratosthenes (statesman)

Eratosthenes of Athens was one of the Thirty Tyrants elected to rule the city of Athens after the Peloponnesian War .Having lost the war to the Spartans, the citizens of Athens elected thirty men as oligarchs...

, a member of the Thirty Tyrants

Thirty Tyrants

The Thirty Tyrants were a pro-Spartan oligarchy installed in Athens after its defeat in the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC. Contemporary Athenians referred to them simply as "the oligarchy" or "the Thirty" ; the expression "Thirty Tyrants" is due to later historians...

 who ruled Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 following the Peloponnesian War

Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnesian War, 431 to 404 BC, was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases...

, of the murder of his brother, Polemarchus

Polemarchus

Polemarchus or Polemarch was the son of Cephalus of Syracuse. He had two brothers, Lysias and Euthydemus, and a sister who married Brachyllus. Polemarchus and Lysias traveled to Thurii when the latter was 15 years old....

 (around 403 BCE).

Overview

Lysias’s career as a speech writer, or logographer

Logographer (legal)

The title of logographer was applied to professional authors of judicial discourse in Ancient Greece...

, was interrupted by the occupation of the Thirty Tyrants, an oligarchic

Oligarchy

Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...

 junta

Military junta

A junta or military junta is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term derives from the Spanish language junta meaning committee, specifically a board of directors...

 placed in power by the Sparta

Sparta

Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...

ns following their victory against Athens in the Peloponnesian War, which ended in 404 BCE. Lysias, along with a small group of fellow metic

Metic

In ancient Greece, the term metic referred to a resident alien, one who did not have citizen rights in his or her Greek city-state of residence....

s, including his brother, Polemarchus, were arrested by the pro-Spartan regime on charges of general hostility and resistance to the Thirty Tyrants. According to Lysias, the group was arrested on trumped up charges just so the Thirty Tyrants could have a reason to confiscate their substantial wealth and property. The subsequent execution of Polemarchus is one of the subjects of the speech. Eratosthenes was a member of the Thirty Tyrants who oversaw the arrest of Lysias, Polemarchus, and their fellow metics. The speech was written following the collapse of the oligarchy and the restoration of democracy

Democracy

Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

 in Athens in 403 BCE.

Lysias's speech

Considered to be among the most famous of his works, Lysias is both the author and the speaker in the speech. Upon the restoration of democracy in Athens, a general amnesty was granted to protect the former members of the oligarchy. This amnesty meant that the officials of the oligarchic government were protected from prosecution from acts they committed before the democratic government was restored except in cases where they personally committed a murder. The members of the Thirty Tyrants were not granted amnesty until they successfully defended themselves at their euthunai, a process in which government officials account for their actions that took place during their terms.

It is unclear whether this speech was delivered at Eratosthenes's euthunai, a separate homicide trial or at all. Regardless of when or in what form the speech took place, Lysias’s argument consists of two distinct sections: a general attack on Eratosthenes and the other members of the Thirty Tyrants pointing out their collective corruption before and after the pro-Spartan regime was installed and a cross-examination of Eratosthenes himself. During his cross-examination, Eratosthenes makes a very similar argument that the Nazi defendants made at the Nuremberg Trials

Nuremberg Trials

The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....

. Eratosthenes maintained that he was simply following the orders of his superiors and that he personally did not command much authority.

Uncertain outcome

Unfortunately, no evidence exists as to the outcome of the trial, or again, if the speech was ever actually delivered. As a non-citizen, Lysias would not have been able to deliver the speech himself in court. Some scholars believe that Lysias wrote the speech hypothetically and circulated it in a pamphlet just to voice his opinions on the matter.

It is also known, however, that Lysias was granted citizenship by the democracy for a period after the 30 were expelled, so he could have delivered his own speech in the court.

External links

• Against Eratosthenes original text available at the Perseus Digital Library, translated by Richard Claverhouse Jebb
  Richard Claverhouse Jebb
  Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb, OM, FBA was a British classical scholar and politician.He was born in Dundee, Scotland. His father was a well-known barrister, and his grandfather a judge...