DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0119
OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF ATHENS. £7
CHAP XX
OF SOME OTHER COURTS OF JUSTICE.
Solon intending to make the Athenians a free people, and wisely con-
sidering that nothing would more conduce to secure the commonalty
from the oppression of the nobility, than to make them final judges of
right and wrong, enacted, that the nine archons, who till that time had
heen the supreme and last judges in most causes, should thence have lit-
tle farther power than to examine the causes brought before them, which
they were obliged to refer to the determination of other judges in the
several courts hereafter to be mentioned.
The judges were chosen out of the citizens, without distinction of qua-
lity, the very meanest being by Solon admitted to give their voices in the
popular assembly, and to determine causes, provided they were arrived
at the age of thirty years, and had never been convicted of any notoi'ious
crime.
The courts of justice were ten, beside that in areopagus. Four had
cognizance i*l <r<3v cpovix'Dv, ■x^ayixa.Tuv, of actions concerning blood ; the re-
maining six, C7ri run Stj^orixutt, of civil matters. These ten courts were
all painted with colours, from which names were given them, whence we
read of Ba.Tf><f%t£i, cfoiyfxiy?, and others. And on each of them was en-
graven one of the ten following letters. A, IS, r, A, E, Z, H, ©, I, K : whence
they are likewise'called alpha, beta, &c. Such, therefore, of the Athe-
nians as were at leisure to hear and determine causes, delivered in their
names, together with the names of their father and borough, inscribed
upon a tablet, to the thesmothetae , who returned it to them with another
tablet, whereon was inscribed the letter of one of the courts, as the lots
had directed. These tablets they carried to the crier of the several courts,
signified by the letters, who thereupon gave to every man a tablet in-
scribed with his own name, and the name of the court which fell to his
lot, and a staff or sceptre. Having received these, they were all admit-
ted to sit in the court (1). If any person sat among the judges, who had
not obtained one of the fore-mentioned letters, he was fined. It may not
be improper to mention in this place, that tfxjjVr^ov the sceptre, or staff,
was always the ensign of judicial and sovereign power ; whence in Ho*
rner it is accounted sacred, and the most solemn oaths are sworn by it;
'Ax\' Sk to; igice, 5 Itt) (jLiyxy ogicoy of/.Sf/.m,
Ntti [AtZ ToJs s-JtSjrTgOV, to [All ou7t0t2 <pVAX'JL KJtl li^CU!
$-JB-it, iTtil^Yl TTgarit TOjUMV 6v OglTUl KlK0l7TiV,
3>oAA.» ts, i. QAoiiv vuv uiirt ju/v vhz 'AfcAtlZv
'Ev 7tcL\a.fxni qogiza-i <PiKa.<r7ro\oi} o'i te S-kt/r*?
ITgOf A/OC tt^UCLTCtt--(2).
Eut this I do with solemn oath declare,
An oath, which I'll by this same sceptre swear,
Which in the wood hath left its native root,
And, sapless, ne'er shall boast a tender shoot,
Since from its sides relentless steel hath torn
The bark, but now by Grecian chiefs is borne ;
(1) Aristophanes Scholiastes in Pluto.
(2) Iliad. 4, v. 233
13
CHAP XX
OF SOME OTHER COURTS OF JUSTICE.
Solon intending to make the Athenians a free people, and wisely con-
sidering that nothing would more conduce to secure the commonalty
from the oppression of the nobility, than to make them final judges of
right and wrong, enacted, that the nine archons, who till that time had
heen the supreme and last judges in most causes, should thence have lit-
tle farther power than to examine the causes brought before them, which
they were obliged to refer to the determination of other judges in the
several courts hereafter to be mentioned.
The judges were chosen out of the citizens, without distinction of qua-
lity, the very meanest being by Solon admitted to give their voices in the
popular assembly, and to determine causes, provided they were arrived
at the age of thirty years, and had never been convicted of any notoi'ious
crime.
The courts of justice were ten, beside that in areopagus. Four had
cognizance i*l <r<3v cpovix'Dv, ■x^ayixa.Tuv, of actions concerning blood ; the re-
maining six, C7ri run Stj^orixutt, of civil matters. These ten courts were
all painted with colours, from which names were given them, whence we
read of Ba.Tf><f%t£i, cfoiyfxiy?, and others. And on each of them was en-
graven one of the ten following letters. A, IS, r, A, E, Z, H, ©, I, K : whence
they are likewise'called alpha, beta, &c. Such, therefore, of the Athe-
nians as were at leisure to hear and determine causes, delivered in their
names, together with the names of their father and borough, inscribed
upon a tablet, to the thesmothetae , who returned it to them with another
tablet, whereon was inscribed the letter of one of the courts, as the lots
had directed. These tablets they carried to the crier of the several courts,
signified by the letters, who thereupon gave to every man a tablet in-
scribed with his own name, and the name of the court which fell to his
lot, and a staff or sceptre. Having received these, they were all admit-
ted to sit in the court (1). If any person sat among the judges, who had
not obtained one of the fore-mentioned letters, he was fined. It may not
be improper to mention in this place, that tfxjjVr^ov the sceptre, or staff,
was always the ensign of judicial and sovereign power ; whence in Ho*
rner it is accounted sacred, and the most solemn oaths are sworn by it;
'Ax\' Sk to; igice, 5 Itt) (jLiyxy ogicoy of/.Sf/.m,
Ntti [AtZ ToJs s-JtSjrTgOV, to [All ou7t0t2 <pVAX'JL KJtl li^CU!
$-JB-it, iTtil^Yl TTgarit TOjUMV 6v OglTUl KlK0l7TiV,
3>oAA.» ts, i. QAoiiv vuv uiirt ju/v vhz 'AfcAtlZv
'Ev 7tcL\a.fxni qogiza-i <PiKa.<r7ro\oi} o'i te S-kt/r*?
ITgOf A/OC tt^UCLTCtt--(2).
Eut this I do with solemn oath declare,
An oath, which I'll by this same sceptre swear,
Which in the wood hath left its native root,
And, sapless, ne'er shall boast a tender shoot,
Since from its sides relentless steel hath torn
The bark, but now by Grecian chiefs is borne ;
(1) Aristophanes Scholiastes in Pluto.
(2) Iliad. 4, v. 233
13