DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0122
K'O of the civil government. of athens.
for involuntary murder, and had afterwards committed a wilful and de-
liberate murder. The first person that was tried in this place was Teu-
cer, who, as Lycophron reports, was banished out of Salamis by his father
Telamon, upon a groundless suspicion that he had been accessory to Ajax's
death. The criminal was not permitted to come to land, or so much as
to cast anchor, but pleaded his cause in his bark, and, if found guilty, was
committed to the mercy of the winds and waves ; or, as some say, suffer-
ed there condign punishment ; if innocent, was only cleared of the second
fact, and (as it was customary) underwent a twelvemonth's banishment
for the former (1).
And thus much may suffice concerning the courts for the capital offen-
ces ; it remains that 1 give you an account of those which had the cogni-
zance of civil affairs.
CHAP. XX F.
of Some other courts of justice, their judiciat, process, &c.
HAPABY2T0N, was either so called, as being a court of no great credit
or reputation, having ccfgnizance only of trivial matters, whose value was
not above one drachm ; or because it was situate h ct<pays7 roVw tvs froAswj,
in an obscure part of the city. Pollux reports there were two courts of this
name, one of which was called IIa^«.bufov fJt-s«<§a*3 and the other n<xpa£Wav
fi/stfev. The persons that sat as judges in the latter of these were the
eleven magistrates called o< 3fS,iK» (2). On which account it is by some
not placed among -the ten courts, the commons of Athens being all per-
mitted to judge in them ; and instead hereof another court is reckoned
into the ten, called To Kcuvov, the new court, which is mentioned by Aris-
tophanes (3) ;
--'O if' eil'Tcc Tv;jL?rava>
Alt*.;, \aUx^i\< uc ro Kruwv ifj.TriTuv-
Tplyavov was, in ail probability, so called because it was triangular (4).
To eft Avkov, received its name from the temple of the hero Lycus in
which it vvas erected. The same person had a statue in all the courts of
justice, by which he was represented with a wolf's face, and therefore
Xvxov J'iras signifies sycophants, and <rivg iuPBdcxisvrac;, those who took
bribes, who, by tens, that is, in great numbers, frequented those places (5).
To MijT/^oy, was so called from one Metichus, an architect, by whom it
was built (6).
The judges in all these courts were obliged to take a solemn oath, by
the paternal Apollo, Ceres, and Jupiter the king, that they would give
sentence uprightly, and according to law ; if the law had determined the
point debated : or, when the law was silent, according to the best of their
judgments. Which oath, as also that which vvas taken by those that judged
(1) Demosthen. in Arist. Harpocrat. Pollux,
loc. cit. Hesychius.
(2) Harpocrat. Suidas, Pausan. Atticis.
i3) Vespis, p. 430. edit. Arnstelodam.
(4) Vespis, p. 430. edit. Arnstelodam.
(5) Aristoph. Schol. Vesp. Zenobhis, Harpo*
crat. Pollux, Suidas, &c.
(6) Pollux, &c.
for involuntary murder, and had afterwards committed a wilful and de-
liberate murder. The first person that was tried in this place was Teu-
cer, who, as Lycophron reports, was banished out of Salamis by his father
Telamon, upon a groundless suspicion that he had been accessory to Ajax's
death. The criminal was not permitted to come to land, or so much as
to cast anchor, but pleaded his cause in his bark, and, if found guilty, was
committed to the mercy of the winds and waves ; or, as some say, suffer-
ed there condign punishment ; if innocent, was only cleared of the second
fact, and (as it was customary) underwent a twelvemonth's banishment
for the former (1).
And thus much may suffice concerning the courts for the capital offen-
ces ; it remains that 1 give you an account of those which had the cogni-
zance of civil affairs.
CHAP. XX F.
of Some other courts of justice, their judiciat, process, &c.
HAPABY2T0N, was either so called, as being a court of no great credit
or reputation, having ccfgnizance only of trivial matters, whose value was
not above one drachm ; or because it was situate h ct<pays7 roVw tvs froAswj,
in an obscure part of the city. Pollux reports there were two courts of this
name, one of which was called IIa^«.bufov fJt-s«<§a*3 and the other n<xpa£Wav
fi/stfev. The persons that sat as judges in the latter of these were the
eleven magistrates called o< 3fS,iK» (2). On which account it is by some
not placed among -the ten courts, the commons of Athens being all per-
mitted to judge in them ; and instead hereof another court is reckoned
into the ten, called To Kcuvov, the new court, which is mentioned by Aris-
tophanes (3) ;
--'O if' eil'Tcc Tv;jL?rava>
Alt*.;, \aUx^i\< uc ro Kruwv ifj.TriTuv-
Tplyavov was, in ail probability, so called because it was triangular (4).
To eft Avkov, received its name from the temple of the hero Lycus in
which it vvas erected. The same person had a statue in all the courts of
justice, by which he was represented with a wolf's face, and therefore
Xvxov J'iras signifies sycophants, and <rivg iuPBdcxisvrac;, those who took
bribes, who, by tens, that is, in great numbers, frequented those places (5).
To MijT/^oy, was so called from one Metichus, an architect, by whom it
was built (6).
The judges in all these courts were obliged to take a solemn oath, by
the paternal Apollo, Ceres, and Jupiter the king, that they would give
sentence uprightly, and according to law ; if the law had determined the
point debated : or, when the law was silent, according to the best of their
judgments. Which oath, as also that which vvas taken by those that judged
(1) Demosthen. in Arist. Harpocrat. Pollux,
loc. cit. Hesychius.
(2) Harpocrat. Suidas, Pausan. Atticis.
i3) Vespis, p. 430. edit. Arnstelodam.
(4) Vespis, p. 430. edit. Arnstelodam.
(5) Aristoph. Schol. Vesp. Zenobhis, Harpo*
crat. Pollux, Suidas, &c.
(6) Pollux, &c.