28 Ἐνεθυμήθητ ̓ ἀναγιγνωσκομένου τοῦ ψηφίσματος ὡς τεχνικῶς ὁ γράφων αὐτὸ τὴν διοίκησιν καὶ τὸ τῆς ἑορτῆς προστησάμενος κατεπεῖγον, ἀνελὼν τὸν ἐκ τῶν νόμων χρόνον, αὐτὸς ἔγραψεν αὔριον νομοθετεῖν, defending counsel as in a regular law-suit, it will seem probable that the numbers varied within much the samé limits as those of ordinary juries, from 201 upwards (above, § 9 n.). Here, I have little doubt that the number was suggested to the compiler of the document by the passage in § 9 δικαστηρίοιν δυοῖν εἰς ἕνα καὶ χιλίους ἐψηφι σμένων. §§ 28-31. Comments on the decree of Epicrates. The real object of the conspirators was disguised under a pretended zeal for the due splendour of the festival. When a jury of Nomothetae had been obtained, not a word more was said about 'ways and means' and 'Panathenaea,' but Timocrates proceeded quietly to pass his illegal decree. It was too bad, that the rules against over-hasty legislation should be suspended by his unconstitutional motion. It was even worse, it was nothing less than cruel, that advantage should have been taken of a public holiday to inflict an injury, not upon a chance individual, but upon the whole state-by overthrowing its fundamental laws. § 28. Ἐνεθυμήθητ'] This conjecture of Jerome Wolf's for ἐνθυμήθητ' has been adopted by all modern editors except Bekker and Benseler. The imperfect participle αναγιγνωσκομένου can only mean 'while the decree was being read:' and all sense of grammatical propriety is against joining this to an imperative. As Reiske tersely puts it 'imperativus non quadrat.' Mr Whiston points out, after Reiske, that by asserting that the judges had given attention to the document while reading, the orator adroitly pays them a compliment likely to conciliate their favour. K. however translates 'Observe in the reading of the decree,' and justifies the imperative in a note, 'notwithstanding that it is disapproved by so many commentators. It is a loose way of saying, "Observe how artfully it appears from the decree' &c. And similarly Benseler: Entnehmt aus dem vor-. gelesenen Decret.' ὁ γράφων] Clearly different from Τιμοκράτους ουτοσί. The reading Επικράτης in the last section is thus confirmed. τὴν διοίκησιν ...κατεπείγον] under pretext of financial arrangements and the urgency of the festival.' K. slightly corrected. τὸ κατεπείγον is not merely the 'wants' of the festival as regards money (already sufficiently expressed by διοίκησιν), but the urgency in point of time, the plea of which was made an excuse for hurried legislation: cf. § 18 οὐδὲν ἴσως ὑμᾶς κατεπείγει νῦν ἀκοῦσαι. ἀνελὼν τὸν ἐκ τῶν νόμων χρόνον] 'setting aside (rather than as K., 'without adverting to') the time prescribed by law;' i.e. the 709 οὐ μὰ Δί ̓ οὐχ ἵν ̓ ὡς κάλλιστα γένοιτό τι τῶν περὶ τὴν ἑορτήν (οὐδὲ γὰρ ἦν ὑπόλοιπον οὐδ ̓ ἀδιοίκητον οὐδέν), ἀλλ ̓ ἵνα μὴ προαισθομένου μηδενὸς ἀνθρώπων μηδ' ἀντειπόντος τεθείη καὶ γένοιτο κύριος αὐτοῖς ὅδε 29 ὁ νῦν ἀγωνιζόμενος νόμος. τεκμήριον δέ· καθιζομένων γὰρ τῶν νομοθετῶν περὶ μὲν τούτων, τῆς διοικήσεως καὶ τῶν Παναθηναίων, οὔτε χείρονα οὔτε βελτίω νόμον οὐδέν ̓ εἰσήνεγκεν οὐδεὶς, περὶ δὲ ὧν οὔτε τὸ ψήφισμα ἐκέλευεν οἵ τε νόμοι κωλύουσι, Τιμοκράτης οὑτοσὶ κατὰ πολλὴν ἡσυχίαν ἐνομοθέτει, κυριώτερον μὲν νομίσας τὸν ἐκ τοῦ ψηφίσματος ἢ τὸν ἐν τοῖς νόμοις εἰρημένον χρόνον, οὐδ ̓ ὁτιοῦν δὲ φοβηθεὶς εἰ ἁπάντων ὑμῶν ἀγόντων ἱερομηνίαν, καὶ νόμου κειμέ νου μήτ' ἰδίᾳ μήτε κοινῇ μηδὲν ἀλλήλους ἀδικεῖν ἐν τούτῳ τῷ χρόνῳ, μηδὲ χρηματίζειν ὅ τι ἂν μὴ περὶ ὰ τῶν γεγραμμένων τούτων Bekk. cum libris praeter Σ. third assembly of the current prytany, §§ 21, 25, τὸν τεταγμένον χρόνον § 26. Comp. Androt. § 20 ἀνελοῦσα ἡ βουλὴ τὸν νόμον. ἵνα μὴ προαισθομένου] Madvig Advers. Crit. I. p. 461 objects that un thus placed would necessarily negative τεθείη, which, as he observes, is contrary to the sense. He therefore proposes to strike out μή. Other scholars are content to take it as a repeated negative, μὴ προαισθομένου μηδένος. ὁ νῦν ἀγωνιζόμενος] which is now upon its trial:' not, of course, to be translated as a passive. § 29. περὶ μὲν τούτων] Another instance where MS. Σ stands alone in expunging a manifest gloss: cf. Androt. § 59 n. κατὰ πολλὴν ἡσυχίαν] quite at his ease' R. W.: 'in aller Ruhe' Benseler. The expression is, I think, humorous, referring to the coolness of the man and the secrecy with which his bill was smuggled through, rather than to the orderliness of the assembly in which it passed. κυριώτερον] ‘of more authority.τὸν ἐκ τοῦ ψηφίσματος = αὔριον: τὸν ἐν τοῖς νόμοις εἰρημέ vov, 19 days at least, cf. § 26. ἱερομηνίαν] ἱερομηνία is (1) the 'sacred month' of the four great games during which, as in the treuga Dei of the medieval Church, hostilities were forbidden (2) any 'holy day' or high festival, on which all private enmities and consequent molestation were required to cease. χρηματίζειν] Here in the gen τῆς ἑορτῆς ᾖ, αὐτὸς οὐχ ἕνα τὸν τυχόντα, ἀλλ ̓ ὅλην 30 ἀδικῶν φανήσεται τὴν πόλιν. καίτοι πῶς οὐ δεινὸν εἰδότα μὲν τοὺς νόμους, ὧν ὀλίγῳ πρότερον πάντες ἠκούσατε, κυρίους ὄντας, εἰδότα δ ̓ οὐκ ἐῶνθ ̓ ἕτερον νόμον ψήφισμα οὐδὲν, οὐδ ̓ ἂν ἔννομον ᾖ, νόμου κυριώτερον εἶναι, γράψαι καὶ θεῖναι νόμον ὑμῖν κατὰ ψήφισμα, ὃ καὶ αὐτὸ παρὰ τοὺς νόμους εἰρημένον 31 ᾔδει; ἢ πῶς οὐ σχέτλιον τὴν μὲν πόλιν αὐτὴν ἑκάστῳ ἡμῶν δεδωκέναι ἄδειαν τοῦ μή τι παθεῖν ἀηδὲς ἢ δεινὸν ἐν τούτῳ τῷ χρόνῳ ποιήσασαν ἱερομηνίαν, αὐτὴν δὲ μὴ τετυχηκέναι ταύτης τῆς ἀσφαλείας παρὰ 710 Τιμοκράτους, ἀλλ ̓ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ἱερομηνίᾳ τὰ μέγιστ ̓ ἠδικῆσθαι; τί γὰρ ἄν τις μείζον ἠδίκησεν ἰδιώτης ἀνὴρ ἢ καταλύων τοὺς νόμους αὐτῆς, δι ̓ ὧν οἰκεῖται ; μή om. Z Bekk. Bens. e eral sense of 'transacting business:' to be distinguished from the technical legal meaning of § 22, which however is the more common in the Attic writers. § 30. γράψαι καὶ θεῖναι] 'frame and propose a law in pursuance of a decree.' K. § 31. ἄδειαν τοῦ μή τι παθεῖν] The usual idiom. Omitting un because in Σ it is only added by a later hand is a very rash proceeding. Demosth. would at least have written τοῦ παθεῖν τι: and Dindorf shows his superiority of judgment in retaining the common reading. §§ 32-38. Timocrates has not only treated with contempt all the rules and safeguards which fence in new legislation, by passing his law with only one day's notice, and on a holiday : he has also carried a law which contradicts an existing law, and has not taken the proper consti tutional course of first repealing the latter (32). The established law is next reviewed (33), praised for its democratic tendency (34) and care for tender consciences (35). The legislator had provided for the utmost publicity in view of any change, thereby making the people guardians of their own laws. And it is no sufficient answer to this, to say that the bad law may be indicted: we want prevention, not cure, and the legislator provides for this by blocking up the first approaches to illegality, and making it difficult for conspirators to stir a step (36, 37). Timocrates has done his best to expunge all these safeguards from the statute-book: his law is, so to speak, contrary not to one but to all the existing laws: it strikes at the very roots of the constitution (38). 32 Ὅτι μὲν τοίνυν οὐδὲν ὧν προσῆκέ τε καὶ κελεύουσιν οἱ νόμοι πεποίηκεν, εἰς τὰ προειρημένα τις σκοπῶν ἂν γνοίη. ὅτι δ ̓ οὐ μόνον κατὰ τοῦτ ̓ ἀδικεῖ, εἰ παραβὰς τὸν χρόνον τὸν ἐκ τῶν νόμων καὶ τὸ βουλεύσασθαι καὶ σκέψασθαι περὶ τούτων ὑμᾶς παντε λῶς ἀνελων οὔσης ἱερομηνίας ἐνομοθέτει, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατ ̓ ἐκεῖνο, ὅτι πᾶσιν ἐναντίον εἰσενήνοχε τοῖς οὖσι νόμοις, αὐτίκα δὴ μάλ' ἀκριβῶς μαθήσεσθε. ἀνάγνωθι δέ μοι λαβὼν τουτονὶ πρῶτον τὸν νόμον, ὃς διαρρήδην οὐκ ἐᾷ νόμον οὐδένα ἐναντίον εἰσφέρειν, ἐὰν δέ τις εἰσφέρῃ, γράφεσθαι κελεύει. ἀναγί γνωσκε. § 32. κατὰ τοῦτ ̓ ἀδικεῖ, εἰ] In the corresponding clause we have κατ' ἐκεῖνο, ὅτι with the usual love of variety (Androt. § 36 n.). The use of εἰ= ὅτι is almost confined to verbs which express some mental emotion (§ 197 κ.: Jelf, Synt. § 804, 9), such as θαυμάζειν, ἀγαπᾶν, δεινὸν ποιεῖσθαι &c. and the present is probably a solitary instance with ἀδικεῖν. The most common construction of ἀδικεῖν is with a participle, as in ἀδικεῖ Σωκράτης οὺς μὲν ἡ πόλις νομίζει θεοὺς οὐ νομίζων, Xen. Memor. init. We should also expect ἀδικεῖ τοῦτο with the accus. cognati to express 'his offence consists in this: the addition of κατὰ is pleonastic, and rare in prose. This expletive' use of κατὰ, as well as of other prepositions, is noticed as a mannerism of Sophocles by Prof. Lewis Campbell in his Introduction p. 27 (Essay on Language of Soph. § 19): his examples are Oed. Tyr. 1087 κατὰ γνώμαν ἴδρις and Trach. 102 ὦ κρατιστεύων κατ' W. D. § 65 η. Androt. ἐναντίον] ‘The policy of the Athenian lawgiver was not to allow two inconsistent laws to remain together in his code; and there was no such thing among the Athenians as repealing a statute by implication.' K. What to us seems so obvious, the introduction into the new law of a clause 'So-and-so is hereby repealed,' must have been less easy for the Greeks in the absence of a convenient mode of reference such as modern legislation, even when so amorphous as the English, invariably supplies. γράφεσθαι κελεύει] γράφεσθαι is of course the middle voice, 'to impeach or indict.' Requires that it should be indicted' is K.'s translation. The indictment, however, lay equally against the law itself and the proposer (ἐάν τις εἰσφέρῃ): cf. § 10 η. γραψάμενοι τὸν νόμον. 33 ΝΟΜΟΣ. [Τῶν δὲ νόμων τῶν κειμένων μὴ ἐξεῖναι λῦσαι μηδένα, ἐὰν μὴ ἐν νομοθέταις. τότε δ ̓ ἐξεῖναι τῷ βουλομένῳ Αθηναίων λύειν, ἕτερον τιθέντι ἀνθ ̓ ὅτου ἂν λύῃ. διαχειροτονίαν δὲ ποιεῖν τοὺς προέδρους περὶ τούτων τῶν νόμων, πρῶτον μὲν περὶ τοῦ κειμένου, εἰ δοκεῖ ἐπιτήδειος εἶναι τῷ δήμῳ τῷ ̓Αθηναίων ἢ οὐ, ἔπειτα περὶ τοῦ τιθεμένου. ὁπότερον δ ̓ ἂν χειροτονήσωσιν οἱ νομοθέται, τοῦτον κύριον εἶναι. ἐναντίον δὲ νόμον μὴ ἐξεῖναι τιθέναι τῶν νόμων τῶν κειμένων μηδενί. ἐὰν δέ τις λύσας τινὰ τῶν νόμων τῶν κειμένων ἕτερον ἀντιθῇ μὴ ἐπιτήδειον τῷ δήμῳ τῷ Αθηναίων ἢ ἐναντίον τῶν κειμένων τῳ, τὰς γραφὰς g * τὸν κύριον Ζ Bens. cum Σ. § 33. ΝΟΜΟΣ. There is no reason to think this document any more genuine than those previously considered: though it has been held (see § 20 n.) to be composed out of genuine materials. ἐν νομοθέταις] before a jury of Nomothetae.' We have seen that there might be more than one such jury impanelled, §§ 21 N., 27 n. The rendering of the English and German translators, before the Nomothetae,' is inexact. διαχειροτονίαν] §§ 20 n., 25 n. τοὺς προέδρους] The Proedri are here introduced instead of the Thesmothetae, as the Prytanes were in the psephism of § 27, by a confusion between the Ecclesia and the law-courts. ἐναντίον τῶν κειμένων τῳ] The case here supposed is evidently that, after the repeal of a given law on the ground of repugnancy has been carried by the pro 5 ἢ om. Bens. cum prΣ. poser of the new law, other laws not contemplated by him are subsequently discovered to be inconsistent with his new legislation: a further ground for a γραφὴ παρανόμων. We need not be surprised that the previous sanction of the Nomothetae did not exempt the proposer from indictment: there is no reason to doubt the statement that he might be impeached on the vague charge that the law was 'contrary to public policy” (μὴ ἐπιτήδειον) as well as on more definite grounds: but after the time limit of a year (προθεσμία) the law only, and not the proposer, was liable to prosecution. The sovereign people was unwilling to recognise any limit to its power of taking all executive and legislative authority into its own hands, and suspending constitutional checks: but it was well aware of its own fallibility, and |