Murray, the
taxiarchs
were "commanders of the infantry detachments.
Voices of Ancient Greece and Rome_nodrm
We are told, however, that few have welcomed the indulgence, and that those who did so were not happy, but were a prey to repentance and dejection for the rest of their lives, thereby inspiring the rest with superstitious fears, so that until old age and death they remained steadfast in their virginity.
But Numa bestowed great privileges upon them, such as the right to make a will during the lifetime of their fathers, and to transact and manage their other affairs . . . When they appear in public, the fasces are carried before them, and if they accidentally meet a criminal on his way to execution, his life is spared; but the virgin must make oath that the meeting was involuntary and fortuitous, and not of design. He who passes under the litter on which they are borne is put to death. For their minor offenses, the virgins are punished with stripes, the Pontifex Maximus [chief priest, as mentioned above] sometimes scourging the culprit on her bare flesh, in a dark place, with a curtain interposed. But she that has broken her vow of chastity is buried alive . . . [Tr. Bernadotte Perrin. Plutarch's Lives. Life of Numa (9, 10). Volume I. LCL, 1914. Page numbers: 337, 339, 341, 343. ]
AFTERMATH
Numa's long reign was characterized by an extended period of peace; Plutarch writes that "there is no record either of war, or faction, or political revolution while Numa was king. " There was a temple in Rome dedicated to the two-faced Roman god Janus. This temple had double doors, and when these doors were open, it signified that the Romans were at war; when closed, that peace was upon the land. (The open doors indicated that the god
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? fasces: The fasces carried by security officers called lictors. The fasces were rods bound together by leather straps, a symbol of Roman authority and power. Usually, only high-ranking government officials enjoyed protection from lictors, so the fact that they also accompanied Vestal Virgins in public is another example of the esteem and respect accorded to the Vestals.
right to make a will: The right to make a will was generally reserved for the paterfamilias, the father of the family.
Servius: Rome's sixth king (full name: Servius Tullius), who reigned ca. 579-535 BCE.
? ? ? ? ? 194
had left his temple and the city, with the Roman army, to assist it in upcoming battles; the closed doors symbolized the opposite, that no wars were being fought. ) Plutarch reports that from the beginnings of Rome, down to his own lifetime (a period of some 800 years), the temple doors had been shut only three times: once in 235 BCE, shortly after the end of the First Punic War; again after Augustus had defeated the forces of Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium in 30 BCE; and for a third time during the reign of Numa, when the doors were closed not for a brief period of time, but for the entirety of his reign.
ASK YOURSELF
1. What were the chief duties of the pontifices?
2. What privileges did the Vestal Virgins enjoy? What were they supposed to learn
during each 3 of the 10-year increments of their terms as Vestals?
3. What punishment was prescribed for a Vestal Virgin who broke her vow of chastity?
TOPICS TO CONSIDER
e Plutarch generally wrote biographies in pairs--a famous Roman matched with a famous Greek. (Hence, the title Parallel Lives is sometimes given to his biographies. ) His prime criteria for selecting the two individuals to be paired in this way were the similarities that each displayed. The Greek leader with whom Plutarch linked Numa was the Spartan king Lycurgus. Research the life of Lycurgus, and determine the commonalities between
Job Description for a Vestal Virgin
? ? ? ? SAVED BY THE VESTALS
Plutarch writes that, should a Vestal Virgin have a chance encounter with a condemned criminal on his way to execution, the criminal's life would automatically be spared. Apparently, the Vestals' power to induce pardons went beyond the realm of mere chance. In his Life of Julius Caesar, the biographer Suetonius notes that when Caesar was a young man, he married a lady named Cornelia. This Cornelia hailed from a family who was at odds with the Roman dictator Sulla; Sulla pressured Caesar to divorce his new wife, but Caesar refused to com- ply. Accordingly, Caesar's name was placed on a hit list, with the result that he had to flee for his life. However, the Vestal Virgins, as well as some of Caesar's political allies, intervened on his behalf and prevailed upon Sulla to remove his name from the list. Sulla reluctantly did so.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? WANTED: APPLICANTS FOR THE POSITION OF VESTAL VIRGIN
Would-be Vestal Virgins were required to fulfill some fairly unique and stringent requirements, as the essayist Aulus Gellius explains: "[I]t is unlawful for a girl to be chosen who is less than six, or more than ten years old; she must also have both father and mother living. She must be free too from any impediment in her speech, must not have impaired hearing, or be marked by any other bodily defect. She must not herself be freed from paternal control . . . [N]either one nor both of her parents may have been slaves or engaged in mean occupations . . . [T]he daughter of a man without residence in Italy must not be chosen. " Aulus Gellius. Attic Nights 1. 12; tr. Rolfe. ]
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196
him and Numa that likely led to Plutarch's decision to pair the two of
them.
e Which of the two derivations of the word pontifex (potens, "powerful," or
pons/facere, "bridge-builder") seems more logical? Why do you suppose
Plutarch judged the second explanation to be ridiculously erroneous?
e Plutarch does not specify the kinds of duties the Vestal priestesses were required to perform. Find out what these duties were. Why did it take
the priestesses 10 years to learn these duties?
e Plutarch writes that few Vestal Virgins married after their 30-year term of
service was completed, even though it would have been permissible for them to do so. Why do you suppose most of them did not marry?
Further Information
Scheid, John. An Introduction to Roman Religion, translated by Janet Lloyd. Bloomington, IN, 2003.
Staples, Ariadne. From Good Goddess to Vestal Virgins: Sex and Category in Roman Religion. London, 1998.
Worsfold, T. Cato. History of the Vestal Virgins of Rome. Plymouth, UK, 1934. Websites
Six Vestal Virgins. http://ancienthistory. about. com/cs/rome/a/aa1114001. htm Vestal Virgins. http://www. unrv. com/culture/vestal-virgins. php
Bibliography for Document
Perrin, Bernadotte (tr. ). Plutarch's Lives. Volume I. [LCL. ] London and Cambridge, 1914. Rolfe, John C. (tr. ). The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius. Volume I. [LCL. ] Cambridge and
London, 1927.
SAFETY
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38. A CASE OF ASSAULT AND BATTERY
INTRODUCTION
The public career of ancient Athens' most famous lawyer and orator, Demosthenes (384-322 BCE), spanned over 40 years. Some 58 extant orations are credited to his name, although contemporary scholars consider several of these to have been produced by other speakers of the time. The speech Against Conon, however, is deemed to be genuine Demosthenes.
KEEP IN MIND AS YOU READ
1. Demosthenes's speeches and court cases can be conveniently divided into three cat- egories: private speeches, involving matters such as inheritances, wills, debt pay- ments, perjury, and assaults; semipublic speeches, argued on behalf of citizens directly involved in public affairs or public policy issues; and public speeches, in which orations are delivered to gatherings of citizens, on topics such as national security, military matters, and treaties. Against Conon clearly belongs in the first cat- egory, private speeches.
2. Two years before, while stationed at a military fort (Panactum) north of Athens, the young plaintiff, Ariston, had been viciously assaulted by the sons of a man named Conon; Demosthenes describes the attack in graphic detail. Then, when all of them had subsequently returned to Athens--with bad blood still apparently lingering-- Ariston was assaulted again, by the same group of muggers, this time aided by several friends and even Conon himself.
3. Note that Demosthenes speaks in the voice of his client, Ariston.
Document: Demosthenes for the Prosecution
With gross outrage have I met . . . at the hands of the defendant, Conon, and have suffered such bodily injury that for a very long time neither my relatives nor any of the attending physicians thought that I should survive. Contrary to expectation, however, I did recover and regain my strength, and then I brought
? ? ? ? ? 199
Voices of Ancient Greece and Rome
against him this action for the assault. All my friends and relatives, whose advice I asked, declared that for what he had done the defendant was liable to summary seizure as a highwayman or to public indictments for criminal out- rage. But they urged and advised me not to take upon myself matters which I should not be able to carry, or to appear to be bringing suit for the maltreatment I had received in a manner too ambitious for one so young. I took this course, therefore, and, in deference to their advice, have instituted a private suit. [Demosthenes next implores the jury to listen with open minds to his descrip- tion of Ariston's sufferings, and to his appeal for justice to be served. He then explains that Ariston had journeyed to Panactum, and that Conon's sons, who spent most of their afternoon and evening in their customary over- consumption of alcohol, had camped nearby. ]
Well, at whatever time the others might be having their dinner, these men [i. e. , Conon's sons] were already drunk and abusive, at first toward our . . . slaves, but in the end toward ourselves. For, alleging that the slaves annoyed them with smoke while getting dinner, or [inap- propriately taunted them], or whatever else they pleased, they used to beat them . . . [T]here was nothing in the way of brutality and outrage in which they did not indulge. When we saw this, we were annoyed and at first [com- plained to] them, but they mocked at us, and would not [stop], and so our whole mess in a body--not I alone apart from the rest--went to the general and told him what was going on. He rebuked them with stern words, not only for their brutal treatment of us, but for their whole behavior in camp. Yet so far from desisting, or being ashamed of their acts, they burst in upon us that very evening, as soon as it grew dark, and, beginning with abusive language, they proceeded to beat me, and they made such a clamor and tumult about the tent, that both the general and the taxiarchs came and some of the other soldiers, by whose coming we were prevented from suffering, or ourselves doing, some damage that could not be repaired, being victims as we were of their drunken violence. When mat- ters had gone thus far, it was natural that after our return home there should exist between us feelings of anger and hatred. However, on my own part I swear by the gods I never saw fit to bring an action against them, or to pay any attention to what had happened. I simply made this
resolve: in future, to be on my guard, and to take care to have nothing to do with people of that sort.
[Tr. A. T. Murray. Demosthenes: Private Orations. (Against Conon 1; 4-6). Volume VI. LCL, 1939. Page numbers: 127, 129, 131. ]
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? general: Strategos in Greek, from whence came our English words "strategy" and "strategic. " The word had a more specific meaning in the Athenian democracy of the fifth century BCE. There, 10 military leaders were elected to one-year terms, 10 annually. So these 10 strategoi became very prominent in the affairs of the state, politically as well as militarily.
mess: The Greek word is sussitoi, liter- ally "together/eat," or the people with whom one partakes of a meal; "messmates. "
summary seizure; highwayman; indictments: Summary seizure: The technical term is apagoge, referring to the capture of a crimi- nal in the act of doing the crime and bringing him before a magis- trate. Highwayman: The Greek word is lopodutes, literally "some- one who slips into someone else's clothes," a "clothes stealer. " The word then broadened in meaning to refer to any kind of a thief or robber. Indictments: The techni- cal term is graphe, from the word meaning "to write," and thence, a "written" statement.
taxiarchs: According to A. T.
Murray, the taxiarchs were "commanders of the infantry detachments. "
tent: The Greek word used by Demosthenes is skene, which was also a technical term from the world of ancient theater; it referred to the painted backdrop of a stage setting. Our word "scene" is a direct descen- dant of skene.
? ? ? 200
AFTERMATH
Demosthenes goes on to describe the second attack (two years later, after having returned to Athens) that Ariston suffered at the hands of Ctesias, son of Conon. Ariston was out for a walk in the agora with his friend Phanostratus, when the two of them were set upon by Ctesias and five named men, including Conon himself, as well as "a number of others. " Ariston was nearly killed in the melee; to add insult to injury, one of the attackers "began to crow, mimicking fighting cocks that have won a battle, and his fellow [attackers egged him on to] flap his elbows against his sides like wings. " Many witnesses were called, and many depositions read, to corroborate Ariston's case. Demosthenes reminded the jury that
A Case of Assault and Battery
? ? ? ? HOW MUCH WAS TOO MUCH?
The Greeks and Romans both enjoyed parties called symposia, literally, a "drinking together. " These festive gatherings, usually held at private homes, involved discussions on popular or philosophical topics, as well as entertainments, music, and, of course, the consumption of wine, always mixed with water. (It was considered uncouth to consume unmixed wine. ) Sometimes, the symposia could get out of hand, especially if the master of ceremonies--the symposiarch--failed to regulate the flow of wine, or if the party were "crashed" by unwel- come guests who were already inebriated. The latter event happened at a famous symposium hosted at the home of an Athenian named Agathon; the details are provided by Plato in his dialogue entitled Symposium. Well after the party had gotten underway, the flamboyant young man-about-town Alcibiades showed up, already drunk, and disrupted the proceedings by refusing to cooperate with the host's request that he contribute something relevant to the topic of discussion.
A fragment from a lost play by the comic playwright Eubulus (ca. fourth century BCE) gives us a hint about the standards governing the quantity of wine consumption at a symposium, or anywhere else, for that matter. The god of wine (fittingly enough) Dionysus is the speaker: "For sensible men, I prepare only three kraters [a krater was a large bowl in which the wine was mixed, and from which it was served]: one for health, which they drink first, the second for love and pleasure, and the third for sleep. After the third one is drained, wise men go home. The fourth krater is not mine anymore--it belongs to bad behavior; the fifth is for shouting; the sixth is for rudeness and insults; the seventh is for fights; the eighth is for breaking the furniture; the ninth is for depression; the tenth is for madness and unconsciousness. "
[Symposium. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Symposium]
It would appear that Conon and his sons, and their friends, customarily kept on drinking at least as far as the fourth round of kraters.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? CRACKING DOWN ON THE DRUNKS
A legislator by the name of Pittacus (ca. 650-570 BCE), from the city-state Mytilene (the chief city of the island of Lesbos in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Asia Minor), is best remembered for his law that doubled the punishment for any convicted defendant who committed his crimes while drunk. Aristotle writes that Pittacus believed intoxicated men were more prone to committing violent crimes, and that their antisocial behavior while drunk could not be condoned or excused with the argument that they did not know what they were doing while under the influence.
Pittacus was also noteworthy for his inclusion on the list of the famous Seven Sages of Greece.
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Voices of Ancient Greece and Rome
Conon and his associates had never done any kind of useful service for Athens, but that they did have well-documented reputations for hard drinking, public brawling, and generally law- less behavior, whereas Ariston, by contrast, had always been a model citizen.
ASK YOURSELF
1. We have no indication within the document about whether Demosthenes won the case. But based upon the arguments he made, how likely do you think it is that he did prevail? Why or why not?
2. Imagine that you were the defense lawyer hired by Conon to defend him and his sons in this case. What arguments could you use in their defense? Our sources indi- cate that Ctesias (Conon's son) claimed that Ariston started the fight and then exag- gerated the extent of his injuries. And in any event, he argued, it was not a real fight, but rather some innocent horseplay that got a little out of hand, sort of a "boys will be boys" scenario. Do you think this defense would be plausible? How could Demosthenes counter it?
3. According to Demosthenes, the general in charge of the fort, when informed of the brutality of Conon's sons, "rebuked them with stern words. " Was this a sufficient response to the problem? If not, what more should the general have done? In an unquoted portion of the document, Demosthenes relates Ariston's opinion that Conon should have dealt with his sons' lawlessness. Would this have been an effec- tive approach? Why or why not?
TOPICS TO CONSIDER
e The historian Xenophon (ca. 430-355 BCE) states in his Memorabilia that the following types of criminals are liable to the death penalty: thieves, highwaymen, kidnappers, and temple robbers [1. 2. 62]. Under that defini- tion, Conon and his family would qualify for execution. What would be the arguments for and against the supreme penalty for these individuals?
e A. T. Murray, the translator of this passage, writes in an explanatory foot- note: "[Since w]e are told by Aristotle . . . that young men of military age, in the second year of their training, patrolled the country and spent their spare time in forts [such as at Panactum], it may be that no formal military expedition is meant. In that case, the loose discipline [resulting in the kinds of destructive and anti-social behavior exhibited by Conon's sons] is more understandable. " Is this a plausible explanation for their behavior? Would the jury likely be swayed? Are you?
Further Information
Bonner, B. J. Lawyers and Litigants in Ancient Athens. Chicago, 1927.
Carey, C. and R. A. Reid. Demosthenes: Selected Private Speeches. Cambridge, 1985. (Note: The speeches are in Greek; however, the English-language introductions and commen-
taries are informative and useful. )
Doherty, F. C. Three Private Speeches of Demosthenes. Oxford, 1927. Kennedy, George. The Art of Persuasion in Greece. Princeton, 1963. MacDowell, Douglas M. The Law in Classical Athens. London, 1978.
? ? ? ? 202
Website
Who Was Demosthenes? http://www. toastmasters. state. ct. us/demosthenes/resources/ whowasdemosthenes. htm
Bibliography for Document
Barker, Ernest (tr. ). The Politics of Aristotle. Oxford, 1958.
Marchant, E. C. (tr. ). Xenophon: Memorabilia and Oeconomicus. Volume IV. [LCL. ]
Cambridge and London, 1923.
Murray, A. T. (tr. ). Demosthenes: Private Orations. Volume VI. [LCL. ] Cambridge and
London, 1939.
A Case of Assault and Battery
203
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39. WOMEN? TAKING OVER THE ACROPOLIS?
INTRODUCTION
Women? Taking over the Acropolis? It would have been unthinkable, the epitome of lawless behavior in ancient Athens . . . had it ever happened. But no scenario, no topic, was too far-fetched for the fertile imagination of the comic playwright Aristophanes.
KEEP IN MIND AS YOU READ
1. Aristophanes's play Lysistrata was produced in 411 BCE. Just a few years before (415 to 413), the Athenians had undertaken one of the most ill-considered and disastrous actions of the long-enduring Peloponnesian War: an invasion of the faraway island of Sicily. This scheme had been promoted by some of the most reckless demagogues in the city, but despite the vacuity of their arguments, they were wildly successful in persuading a large majority of their fellow citizens to assent to it. One of the few to oppose the plan was the famous philosopher Socrates, whose reading of various omens indicated devastation for Athens. The invasion of Sicily resulted in the near complete destruction of the Athenian navy and ushered in the beginning of the end of the Athenian cause in the Peloponnesian War.
2. Part of Aristophanes's genius was his ability to create wildly improbable--or impos- sible--comic scenes and situations. He did this time and time again, but probably nowhere more outrageously than in Lysistrata. The very idea that women--mere women--could seize and occupy the Acropolis (the citadel of Athens and location of some of the most important religious shrines and public buildings in the city) would have been laughable, completely impossible in real-life Athens. But such a scenario was completely possible in the mind of Aristophanes. The leader of the assault was the title character, Lysistrata, whose name appropriately means "army dissolver. "
3. Neither the Greeks nor the Romans had modern-style professional police forces to keep order and enforce the laws. The Athenians, however, maintained a quasi- police force made up of Scythian archers (see sidebar), under the general control of the probouloi, a "Committee of Ten for the Safety of the State. " One of these 10 probouloi, the Magistrate, appears in the document.
? ? ? ? 205
Voices of Ancient Greece and Rome
4. Three women finally emerge from behind the protective gates of the Acropolis: Lysistrata and two of her co-conspirators, Calonice and Myrrhine. A fourth woman, Stratyllis, leader of a group of old women, also appears.
Document: Ill-Behaved Women
(The situation: The women have successfully taken over the Acropolis, having just turned back a gaggle of ridiculously feeble old men who had tried to evict them. "As if in answer to their call, an elderly magistrate [a proboulos, as mentioned in "Keep in Mind as You Read"] of severe appearance enters, attended by four Scythian policemen. The women. . . await develop- ments. The Magistrate has not, in fact, come in answer to the men's appeal, and he at first takes no notice of their bedraggled appearance [they had just been doused with pitchers of water by the women]. Of the women, he takes no notice at all. ).
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Adonis: A handsome young man beloved by the goddess Aphrodite (and therefore, presumably, also by mortal women). He was killed by wild boars.
Artemis: How appropriately ironic that Lysistrata should appeal to the bow-and-arrow-equipped huntress goddess Artemis, in her threat against the Scythian archer-policeman!
Assembly: The main legislative body in the Athenian democracy. All male citizens were eligible to participate in its debates, deliberations, and votes.
Cholozyges: According to Benjamin Rogers, Demostratus's nickname was Bouzyges, "Ox-Yoker," perhaps slightly pejorative, like the modern term "dirt farmer" or "sod buster. " Aristophanes created a new nick- name for the estimable Demos- tratus, Cholozyges, "Anger-Yoker. " (Aristophanes was a master at fash- ioning neologisms, and this is yet another example. ) The document translator, Alan Sommerstein, ren- ders the word as "from Angeriae," his own neologism, which plays off the anger theme.
Demostratus was a leading demagogue of the time; in his biography of Nicias (chapter 12), Plutarch remarks that Demostratus was aggressively demonstrative in his support of the proposed Sicilian Expedition. Nicias, on the other hand, was one of the few prominent
? ? ? 206
MAGISTRATE:
I hear it's the same old thing again--the unbridled nature of the female sex coming out. All their banging of drums in honor of that Sabazius [an eastern god] . . . and singing to Adonis on the roofs of the houses, and all that nonsense. I remember once in the Assembly--Demostratus, may he come to no good end, was saying we ought to send the expedition to Sicily, and this woman, who was dancing on the roof, she cried, "O woe for Adonis!
But Numa bestowed great privileges upon them, such as the right to make a will during the lifetime of their fathers, and to transact and manage their other affairs . . . When they appear in public, the fasces are carried before them, and if they accidentally meet a criminal on his way to execution, his life is spared; but the virgin must make oath that the meeting was involuntary and fortuitous, and not of design. He who passes under the litter on which they are borne is put to death. For their minor offenses, the virgins are punished with stripes, the Pontifex Maximus [chief priest, as mentioned above] sometimes scourging the culprit on her bare flesh, in a dark place, with a curtain interposed. But she that has broken her vow of chastity is buried alive . . . [Tr. Bernadotte Perrin. Plutarch's Lives. Life of Numa (9, 10). Volume I. LCL, 1914. Page numbers: 337, 339, 341, 343. ]
AFTERMATH
Numa's long reign was characterized by an extended period of peace; Plutarch writes that "there is no record either of war, or faction, or political revolution while Numa was king. " There was a temple in Rome dedicated to the two-faced Roman god Janus. This temple had double doors, and when these doors were open, it signified that the Romans were at war; when closed, that peace was upon the land. (The open doors indicated that the god
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? fasces: The fasces carried by security officers called lictors. The fasces were rods bound together by leather straps, a symbol of Roman authority and power. Usually, only high-ranking government officials enjoyed protection from lictors, so the fact that they also accompanied Vestal Virgins in public is another example of the esteem and respect accorded to the Vestals.
right to make a will: The right to make a will was generally reserved for the paterfamilias, the father of the family.
Servius: Rome's sixth king (full name: Servius Tullius), who reigned ca. 579-535 BCE.
? ? ? ? ? 194
had left his temple and the city, with the Roman army, to assist it in upcoming battles; the closed doors symbolized the opposite, that no wars were being fought. ) Plutarch reports that from the beginnings of Rome, down to his own lifetime (a period of some 800 years), the temple doors had been shut only three times: once in 235 BCE, shortly after the end of the First Punic War; again after Augustus had defeated the forces of Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium in 30 BCE; and for a third time during the reign of Numa, when the doors were closed not for a brief period of time, but for the entirety of his reign.
ASK YOURSELF
1. What were the chief duties of the pontifices?
2. What privileges did the Vestal Virgins enjoy? What were they supposed to learn
during each 3 of the 10-year increments of their terms as Vestals?
3. What punishment was prescribed for a Vestal Virgin who broke her vow of chastity?
TOPICS TO CONSIDER
e Plutarch generally wrote biographies in pairs--a famous Roman matched with a famous Greek. (Hence, the title Parallel Lives is sometimes given to his biographies. ) His prime criteria for selecting the two individuals to be paired in this way were the similarities that each displayed. The Greek leader with whom Plutarch linked Numa was the Spartan king Lycurgus. Research the life of Lycurgus, and determine the commonalities between
Job Description for a Vestal Virgin
? ? ? ? SAVED BY THE VESTALS
Plutarch writes that, should a Vestal Virgin have a chance encounter with a condemned criminal on his way to execution, the criminal's life would automatically be spared. Apparently, the Vestals' power to induce pardons went beyond the realm of mere chance. In his Life of Julius Caesar, the biographer Suetonius notes that when Caesar was a young man, he married a lady named Cornelia. This Cornelia hailed from a family who was at odds with the Roman dictator Sulla; Sulla pressured Caesar to divorce his new wife, but Caesar refused to com- ply. Accordingly, Caesar's name was placed on a hit list, with the result that he had to flee for his life. However, the Vestal Virgins, as well as some of Caesar's political allies, intervened on his behalf and prevailed upon Sulla to remove his name from the list. Sulla reluctantly did so.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? WANTED: APPLICANTS FOR THE POSITION OF VESTAL VIRGIN
Would-be Vestal Virgins were required to fulfill some fairly unique and stringent requirements, as the essayist Aulus Gellius explains: "[I]t is unlawful for a girl to be chosen who is less than six, or more than ten years old; she must also have both father and mother living. She must be free too from any impediment in her speech, must not have impaired hearing, or be marked by any other bodily defect. She must not herself be freed from paternal control . . . [N]either one nor both of her parents may have been slaves or engaged in mean occupations . . . [T]he daughter of a man without residence in Italy must not be chosen. " Aulus Gellius. Attic Nights 1. 12; tr. Rolfe. ]
? ? 195
Voices of Ancient Greece and Rome
196
him and Numa that likely led to Plutarch's decision to pair the two of
them.
e Which of the two derivations of the word pontifex (potens, "powerful," or
pons/facere, "bridge-builder") seems more logical? Why do you suppose
Plutarch judged the second explanation to be ridiculously erroneous?
e Plutarch does not specify the kinds of duties the Vestal priestesses were required to perform. Find out what these duties were. Why did it take
the priestesses 10 years to learn these duties?
e Plutarch writes that few Vestal Virgins married after their 30-year term of
service was completed, even though it would have been permissible for them to do so. Why do you suppose most of them did not marry?
Further Information
Scheid, John. An Introduction to Roman Religion, translated by Janet Lloyd. Bloomington, IN, 2003.
Staples, Ariadne. From Good Goddess to Vestal Virgins: Sex and Category in Roman Religion. London, 1998.
Worsfold, T. Cato. History of the Vestal Virgins of Rome. Plymouth, UK, 1934. Websites
Six Vestal Virgins. http://ancienthistory. about. com/cs/rome/a/aa1114001. htm Vestal Virgins. http://www. unrv. com/culture/vestal-virgins. php
Bibliography for Document
Perrin, Bernadotte (tr. ). Plutarch's Lives. Volume I. [LCL. ] London and Cambridge, 1914. Rolfe, John C. (tr. ). The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius. Volume I. [LCL. ] Cambridge and
London, 1927.
SAFETY
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38. A CASE OF ASSAULT AND BATTERY
INTRODUCTION
The public career of ancient Athens' most famous lawyer and orator, Demosthenes (384-322 BCE), spanned over 40 years. Some 58 extant orations are credited to his name, although contemporary scholars consider several of these to have been produced by other speakers of the time. The speech Against Conon, however, is deemed to be genuine Demosthenes.
KEEP IN MIND AS YOU READ
1. Demosthenes's speeches and court cases can be conveniently divided into three cat- egories: private speeches, involving matters such as inheritances, wills, debt pay- ments, perjury, and assaults; semipublic speeches, argued on behalf of citizens directly involved in public affairs or public policy issues; and public speeches, in which orations are delivered to gatherings of citizens, on topics such as national security, military matters, and treaties. Against Conon clearly belongs in the first cat- egory, private speeches.
2. Two years before, while stationed at a military fort (Panactum) north of Athens, the young plaintiff, Ariston, had been viciously assaulted by the sons of a man named Conon; Demosthenes describes the attack in graphic detail. Then, when all of them had subsequently returned to Athens--with bad blood still apparently lingering-- Ariston was assaulted again, by the same group of muggers, this time aided by several friends and even Conon himself.
3. Note that Demosthenes speaks in the voice of his client, Ariston.
Document: Demosthenes for the Prosecution
With gross outrage have I met . . . at the hands of the defendant, Conon, and have suffered such bodily injury that for a very long time neither my relatives nor any of the attending physicians thought that I should survive. Contrary to expectation, however, I did recover and regain my strength, and then I brought
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against him this action for the assault. All my friends and relatives, whose advice I asked, declared that for what he had done the defendant was liable to summary seizure as a highwayman or to public indictments for criminal out- rage. But they urged and advised me not to take upon myself matters which I should not be able to carry, or to appear to be bringing suit for the maltreatment I had received in a manner too ambitious for one so young. I took this course, therefore, and, in deference to their advice, have instituted a private suit. [Demosthenes next implores the jury to listen with open minds to his descrip- tion of Ariston's sufferings, and to his appeal for justice to be served. He then explains that Ariston had journeyed to Panactum, and that Conon's sons, who spent most of their afternoon and evening in their customary over- consumption of alcohol, had camped nearby. ]
Well, at whatever time the others might be having their dinner, these men [i. e. , Conon's sons] were already drunk and abusive, at first toward our . . . slaves, but in the end toward ourselves. For, alleging that the slaves annoyed them with smoke while getting dinner, or [inap- propriately taunted them], or whatever else they pleased, they used to beat them . . . [T]here was nothing in the way of brutality and outrage in which they did not indulge. When we saw this, we were annoyed and at first [com- plained to] them, but they mocked at us, and would not [stop], and so our whole mess in a body--not I alone apart from the rest--went to the general and told him what was going on. He rebuked them with stern words, not only for their brutal treatment of us, but for their whole behavior in camp. Yet so far from desisting, or being ashamed of their acts, they burst in upon us that very evening, as soon as it grew dark, and, beginning with abusive language, they proceeded to beat me, and they made such a clamor and tumult about the tent, that both the general and the taxiarchs came and some of the other soldiers, by whose coming we were prevented from suffering, or ourselves doing, some damage that could not be repaired, being victims as we were of their drunken violence. When mat- ters had gone thus far, it was natural that after our return home there should exist between us feelings of anger and hatred. However, on my own part I swear by the gods I never saw fit to bring an action against them, or to pay any attention to what had happened. I simply made this
resolve: in future, to be on my guard, and to take care to have nothing to do with people of that sort.
[Tr. A. T. Murray. Demosthenes: Private Orations. (Against Conon 1; 4-6). Volume VI. LCL, 1939. Page numbers: 127, 129, 131. ]
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? general: Strategos in Greek, from whence came our English words "strategy" and "strategic. " The word had a more specific meaning in the Athenian democracy of the fifth century BCE. There, 10 military leaders were elected to one-year terms, 10 annually. So these 10 strategoi became very prominent in the affairs of the state, politically as well as militarily.
mess: The Greek word is sussitoi, liter- ally "together/eat," or the people with whom one partakes of a meal; "messmates. "
summary seizure; highwayman; indictments: Summary seizure: The technical term is apagoge, referring to the capture of a crimi- nal in the act of doing the crime and bringing him before a magis- trate. Highwayman: The Greek word is lopodutes, literally "some- one who slips into someone else's clothes," a "clothes stealer. " The word then broadened in meaning to refer to any kind of a thief or robber. Indictments: The techni- cal term is graphe, from the word meaning "to write," and thence, a "written" statement.
taxiarchs: According to A. T.
Murray, the taxiarchs were "commanders of the infantry detachments. "
tent: The Greek word used by Demosthenes is skene, which was also a technical term from the world of ancient theater; it referred to the painted backdrop of a stage setting. Our word "scene" is a direct descen- dant of skene.
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AFTERMATH
Demosthenes goes on to describe the second attack (two years later, after having returned to Athens) that Ariston suffered at the hands of Ctesias, son of Conon. Ariston was out for a walk in the agora with his friend Phanostratus, when the two of them were set upon by Ctesias and five named men, including Conon himself, as well as "a number of others. " Ariston was nearly killed in the melee; to add insult to injury, one of the attackers "began to crow, mimicking fighting cocks that have won a battle, and his fellow [attackers egged him on to] flap his elbows against his sides like wings. " Many witnesses were called, and many depositions read, to corroborate Ariston's case. Demosthenes reminded the jury that
A Case of Assault and Battery
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The Greeks and Romans both enjoyed parties called symposia, literally, a "drinking together. " These festive gatherings, usually held at private homes, involved discussions on popular or philosophical topics, as well as entertainments, music, and, of course, the consumption of wine, always mixed with water. (It was considered uncouth to consume unmixed wine. ) Sometimes, the symposia could get out of hand, especially if the master of ceremonies--the symposiarch--failed to regulate the flow of wine, or if the party were "crashed" by unwel- come guests who were already inebriated. The latter event happened at a famous symposium hosted at the home of an Athenian named Agathon; the details are provided by Plato in his dialogue entitled Symposium. Well after the party had gotten underway, the flamboyant young man-about-town Alcibiades showed up, already drunk, and disrupted the proceedings by refusing to cooperate with the host's request that he contribute something relevant to the topic of discussion.
A fragment from a lost play by the comic playwright Eubulus (ca. fourth century BCE) gives us a hint about the standards governing the quantity of wine consumption at a symposium, or anywhere else, for that matter. The god of wine (fittingly enough) Dionysus is the speaker: "For sensible men, I prepare only three kraters [a krater was a large bowl in which the wine was mixed, and from which it was served]: one for health, which they drink first, the second for love and pleasure, and the third for sleep. After the third one is drained, wise men go home. The fourth krater is not mine anymore--it belongs to bad behavior; the fifth is for shouting; the sixth is for rudeness and insults; the seventh is for fights; the eighth is for breaking the furniture; the ninth is for depression; the tenth is for madness and unconsciousness. "
[Symposium. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Symposium]
It would appear that Conon and his sons, and their friends, customarily kept on drinking at least as far as the fourth round of kraters.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? CRACKING DOWN ON THE DRUNKS
A legislator by the name of Pittacus (ca. 650-570 BCE), from the city-state Mytilene (the chief city of the island of Lesbos in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Asia Minor), is best remembered for his law that doubled the punishment for any convicted defendant who committed his crimes while drunk. Aristotle writes that Pittacus believed intoxicated men were more prone to committing violent crimes, and that their antisocial behavior while drunk could not be condoned or excused with the argument that they did not know what they were doing while under the influence.
Pittacus was also noteworthy for his inclusion on the list of the famous Seven Sages of Greece.
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Conon and his associates had never done any kind of useful service for Athens, but that they did have well-documented reputations for hard drinking, public brawling, and generally law- less behavior, whereas Ariston, by contrast, had always been a model citizen.
ASK YOURSELF
1. We have no indication within the document about whether Demosthenes won the case. But based upon the arguments he made, how likely do you think it is that he did prevail? Why or why not?
2. Imagine that you were the defense lawyer hired by Conon to defend him and his sons in this case. What arguments could you use in their defense? Our sources indi- cate that Ctesias (Conon's son) claimed that Ariston started the fight and then exag- gerated the extent of his injuries. And in any event, he argued, it was not a real fight, but rather some innocent horseplay that got a little out of hand, sort of a "boys will be boys" scenario. Do you think this defense would be plausible? How could Demosthenes counter it?
3. According to Demosthenes, the general in charge of the fort, when informed of the brutality of Conon's sons, "rebuked them with stern words. " Was this a sufficient response to the problem? If not, what more should the general have done? In an unquoted portion of the document, Demosthenes relates Ariston's opinion that Conon should have dealt with his sons' lawlessness. Would this have been an effec- tive approach? Why or why not?
TOPICS TO CONSIDER
e The historian Xenophon (ca. 430-355 BCE) states in his Memorabilia that the following types of criminals are liable to the death penalty: thieves, highwaymen, kidnappers, and temple robbers [1. 2. 62]. Under that defini- tion, Conon and his family would qualify for execution. What would be the arguments for and against the supreme penalty for these individuals?
e A. T. Murray, the translator of this passage, writes in an explanatory foot- note: "[Since w]e are told by Aristotle . . . that young men of military age, in the second year of their training, patrolled the country and spent their spare time in forts [such as at Panactum], it may be that no formal military expedition is meant. In that case, the loose discipline [resulting in the kinds of destructive and anti-social behavior exhibited by Conon's sons] is more understandable. " Is this a plausible explanation for their behavior? Would the jury likely be swayed? Are you?
Further Information
Bonner, B. J. Lawyers and Litigants in Ancient Athens. Chicago, 1927.
Carey, C. and R. A. Reid. Demosthenes: Selected Private Speeches. Cambridge, 1985. (Note: The speeches are in Greek; however, the English-language introductions and commen-
taries are informative and useful. )
Doherty, F. C. Three Private Speeches of Demosthenes. Oxford, 1927. Kennedy, George. The Art of Persuasion in Greece. Princeton, 1963. MacDowell, Douglas M. The Law in Classical Athens. London, 1978.
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Website
Who Was Demosthenes? http://www. toastmasters. state. ct. us/demosthenes/resources/ whowasdemosthenes. htm
Bibliography for Document
Barker, Ernest (tr. ). The Politics of Aristotle. Oxford, 1958.
Marchant, E. C. (tr. ). Xenophon: Memorabilia and Oeconomicus. Volume IV. [LCL. ]
Cambridge and London, 1923.
Murray, A. T. (tr. ). Demosthenes: Private Orations. Volume VI. [LCL. ] Cambridge and
London, 1939.
A Case of Assault and Battery
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39. WOMEN? TAKING OVER THE ACROPOLIS?
INTRODUCTION
Women? Taking over the Acropolis? It would have been unthinkable, the epitome of lawless behavior in ancient Athens . . . had it ever happened. But no scenario, no topic, was too far-fetched for the fertile imagination of the comic playwright Aristophanes.
KEEP IN MIND AS YOU READ
1. Aristophanes's play Lysistrata was produced in 411 BCE. Just a few years before (415 to 413), the Athenians had undertaken one of the most ill-considered and disastrous actions of the long-enduring Peloponnesian War: an invasion of the faraway island of Sicily. This scheme had been promoted by some of the most reckless demagogues in the city, but despite the vacuity of their arguments, they were wildly successful in persuading a large majority of their fellow citizens to assent to it. One of the few to oppose the plan was the famous philosopher Socrates, whose reading of various omens indicated devastation for Athens. The invasion of Sicily resulted in the near complete destruction of the Athenian navy and ushered in the beginning of the end of the Athenian cause in the Peloponnesian War.
2. Part of Aristophanes's genius was his ability to create wildly improbable--or impos- sible--comic scenes and situations. He did this time and time again, but probably nowhere more outrageously than in Lysistrata. The very idea that women--mere women--could seize and occupy the Acropolis (the citadel of Athens and location of some of the most important religious shrines and public buildings in the city) would have been laughable, completely impossible in real-life Athens. But such a scenario was completely possible in the mind of Aristophanes. The leader of the assault was the title character, Lysistrata, whose name appropriately means "army dissolver. "
3. Neither the Greeks nor the Romans had modern-style professional police forces to keep order and enforce the laws. The Athenians, however, maintained a quasi- police force made up of Scythian archers (see sidebar), under the general control of the probouloi, a "Committee of Ten for the Safety of the State. " One of these 10 probouloi, the Magistrate, appears in the document.
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4. Three women finally emerge from behind the protective gates of the Acropolis: Lysistrata and two of her co-conspirators, Calonice and Myrrhine. A fourth woman, Stratyllis, leader of a group of old women, also appears.
Document: Ill-Behaved Women
(The situation: The women have successfully taken over the Acropolis, having just turned back a gaggle of ridiculously feeble old men who had tried to evict them. "As if in answer to their call, an elderly magistrate [a proboulos, as mentioned in "Keep in Mind as You Read"] of severe appearance enters, attended by four Scythian policemen. The women. . . await develop- ments. The Magistrate has not, in fact, come in answer to the men's appeal, and he at first takes no notice of their bedraggled appearance [they had just been doused with pitchers of water by the women]. Of the women, he takes no notice at all. ).
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Adonis: A handsome young man beloved by the goddess Aphrodite (and therefore, presumably, also by mortal women). He was killed by wild boars.
Artemis: How appropriately ironic that Lysistrata should appeal to the bow-and-arrow-equipped huntress goddess Artemis, in her threat against the Scythian archer-policeman!
Assembly: The main legislative body in the Athenian democracy. All male citizens were eligible to participate in its debates, deliberations, and votes.
Cholozyges: According to Benjamin Rogers, Demostratus's nickname was Bouzyges, "Ox-Yoker," perhaps slightly pejorative, like the modern term "dirt farmer" or "sod buster. " Aristophanes created a new nick- name for the estimable Demos- tratus, Cholozyges, "Anger-Yoker. " (Aristophanes was a master at fash- ioning neologisms, and this is yet another example. ) The document translator, Alan Sommerstein, ren- ders the word as "from Angeriae," his own neologism, which plays off the anger theme.
Demostratus was a leading demagogue of the time; in his biography of Nicias (chapter 12), Plutarch remarks that Demostratus was aggressively demonstrative in his support of the proposed Sicilian Expedition. Nicias, on the other hand, was one of the few prominent
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MAGISTRATE:
I hear it's the same old thing again--the unbridled nature of the female sex coming out. All their banging of drums in honor of that Sabazius [an eastern god] . . . and singing to Adonis on the roofs of the houses, and all that nonsense. I remember once in the Assembly--Demostratus, may he come to no good end, was saying we ought to send the expedition to Sicily, and this woman, who was dancing on the roof, she cried, "O woe for Adonis!
