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therefore Demetrius, one of the Family of the Phalerean, being cenfur'd by them as a loose Liver, told them plainly that, if they defign'd to make a Reformation in the City, they must begin at Home, for that even amongst them there were several Perfons of as bad, and worse Lives, than himself, and, which was a more unpardonable Crime, than any that he had been guilty of, feveral, that debauch'd and corrupted other Mens Wives, and were themselves corrupted and feduc'd by Bribes *.

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CHA P. XX.

Of fome other Courts of Justice.

SOLON intending to make the Athenians a free People, and wifely confidering that nothing would more conduce to fecure the Commonalty from the Oppreffion of the Nobility, than to make them final Judges of Right and Wrong; enacted, that the nine Archons, who till that Time had been the fupreme and last Judges in most Causes, should thence have little farther Power than to examine the Causes brought before them, which they were oblig'd to refer to the Determination of Other Judges in the feveral Courts hereafter to be mention'd.

The Judges were chofen out of the Citizens without Distinction of Quality, the very meanest being by Solon admitted to give their Voices in the popular Affembly, and to determine Caufes, provided they were arriv'd at the Age of thirty Years, and had never been convicted of any notorious Crime.

The Courts of Juftice were ten, befide that in Areopagus. Four had Cognizance ἐπὶ τῶν φονικῶν πραμάτων,of Altions concerning Blood: The remaining fixἐπὶ τῶν δημοτικῶν, of Civil Matters. There ten Courts were all painted with Colours, from which Names were given them; whence we read of Batexxiov, doivinev, and others. And on each of them was engraven one of the ten following Letters, A, B, г, A, E, Z, H, O, I, K: Whence they are likewife call'd Alpha, Beta, &c. Such therefore of the Athenians, as were at Leifure to hear and determine Caufes, deliver'd in their Names, together with the Names of their Father and Borough infcrib'd upon a Tablet, to the Thefmothete: who return'd it to them with another Tablet, whereon was infcrib'd the Letter of one of the Courts, as the Lots had directed. These Tablets they carried to the Crier of the feveral Courts, fignify'd by the Letters, who thereupon gave to every Man a Tablet infcrib'd with his own Name, and the Name of the Court, which fell to his Lot, and a Staff or Scepter. Having receiv'd thefe, they were all admitted to fit in the Court (¿). If any Perfon fat among the Judges, who had not obtain❜d one of the foremention'd Letters, he was fin'd. It may not be improper to mention in this Place, that lov, the Scepter, or Staff, was always the Enfign of Judicial and Sovereign Power:

* Arbenæus Dei@voooq. (i) Ariftophanis Scholiaftes in Pluto.

whence

whence in Homer it is accounted facred, and the most folemn Oaths are fworn by it:

1

̓Αλλ ̓ ἔκ τοι ἐρέω, καὶ ἐπὶ μέγαν ὅρκον ομᾶμαι,

Ναὶ μὲ τόδε σκῆπον, τὸ μὲν ἔποτε φύλλα καὶ ὄζες
Φύσει, ἐπειδὴ πρῶτα τιμὴν ἐν ὄρεσσι λέλοιπεν,
Ουδ' ἀναθηλήσει, περὶ γρά ἐ χαλκὸς ἔλεψε
?
Φύλλα τε, καὶ φλοιόν· νῦν αὐτέ μιν υἱες Αχαιῶν
Ἐν παλάμης φορέεσι δικάσπολοι, οἵ τε θέμιςας
Πρὸς Διὸς εἰρύαται·
(k).

But this I do with folemn Oath declare,

An Oath, which I'll by this fame Scepter fwear,
Which in the Wood hath left its native Root,
And fapless ne'er shall boast a tender Shoot,
Since from its Sides relentless Steel has torn
The Bark, but now by Grecian Chiefs is born,
Chiefs that maintain the Laws of mighty Jove,
Committed to their Charge.-

Mr. Hugh Hutchin, of Line. Coll.

Sometimes we find the Scepters of Kings, and great Perfons adorn'd with Studs of Silver, or Gold :

Ποτὶ δὲ σκῆπτρον βάλε γαίη

Χρυσείοις ἥλοισι πεπαρμαίνου

He caft his Scepter on the Ground

Embofs'd with Studs of Gold.

To return, the Athenian Judges, having heard the Caufes they were ap pointed to take Cognizance of, went immediately and deliver'd back the Scepter to the Prytanes, from whom they receiv'd the Reward due to them. This was term'd finasinòv (m), or μidòs dinasinos. Sometimes it was an Obolus for every Caufe they decided; fometimes three Oboli, being fometimes raised higher than at others, by the Inftance of Men, who endeavour'd by that Means to become popular (2). No Man was permitted to fit as Judge in two Courts upon the fame Day (0), that looking like the Effect of Covetoufness. And if any of the Judges was convicted of Bribery, he was fin'd (p).

Ἐπὶ Παλλαδίω was a Court of Judicature inftituted in the Reign of Demophoon, the Son of Thefeus, upon this Account; fome of the Argives under the Conduct of Diomedes, or, as others fay, of Agamemnon, being driven in the Night upon the Coafts of Attica, landed at the Haven of Phalerus, and, fuppofing it to be an Enemy's Country, went out to spoil and plunder it. The Athenians presently took the Alarm, and having united themselves into one Body, under the

(4) Iliad. d. v. 233. (7) Iliad. d. v. 245: (m) Hefychius, v. Sinasinov. (n) Hefychius, ibid. Aristophanes Scholiaftes ex Ariftotele de Repub. (0) Demofthenes & Ulpia. zus in Timocrat. (p) Thucydidis Scholiaftes. lib. VI,

Condu&

Conduct of Demophoon, repuls'd the Invaders with great Lofs, killing a great many of them upon the Place, and forcing the reft to retire into their Ships; but, upon the Approach of Day, Acamas, the Brother of Demophoon, finding amongst the dead Bodies the Palladium, or Statue of Minerva brought from Troy, discover'd that the Perfons they had kill'd were their Friends and Allies; whereupon (having first advis'd with an Oracle) they gave them an honourable Burial in the Place where they were flain, confecrated the Goddess's Statue, erected in a Temple to her, and inftituted a Court of Juftice, in which Cognizance was taken of fuch as were indicted for involuntary Murders. The first, that was arraign'd in it, was Demophoon, who, in his Return from the foremention'd Conflict, kill'd one of his own Subjects by a sudden Turn of his Horse. Others report, that Agamemnon being enrag'd at the Lofs of his Men, and diffatisfied at Demophoon's rafh and hafty Attempt upon them, referr'd the Quarrel to the Decifion of fifty Athenians, and as many Argians, whom they call'd Εφέται, διὰ τὸ παρ ̓ ἀμφοτέρων ἐφεθῆναι αὐτῖς τὰ τῆς κρίσεως, becaufe both Parties committed the Deternination of their Cause to them.

2

Afterwards, the Argians were excluded, and the Number of the Ephetæ reduc'd to fifty one by Draco, whom some affirm to have been the firft Inftitutor of them; but others, with more Probability, report, that he regulated and reform'd them, augmented their Power, honour'd them with many important Privileges, and made them fuperior to the Senate of Areopagus. In this State they continu'd till Solon's Time, by whom their Power was leffen'd, and their Authority restrain'd; the Causes, which had formerly been try'd by them, were discharg'd from their Cognizance, and only thofe about Man-flaughter, and Chancemedley, and, as fome fay, Confpiracies againft the Lives of the Citizens, that were discover'd before they took Effect, left to them.

Fifty of them were appointed by Election, five being chofe out of every Tribe, but the odd Man was appointed by Lots; all of them were Men of good Characters, and virtuous Lives, of fevere Manners, and a fettled Gravity, and no Perfon under the Age of fifty Years was admitted into their Number.

Cauíes were entered in this Court by the Bartheus, and the Proceedings were in fome things agreeable to thofe of the Areopagus, for both Parties, the Plaintiff and Defendant, were oblig'd to confirm their Allegations by folemn Oaths and Curfes, and then, the Orators having perform'd their Parts, the Judges proceeded to give Sentence (q).

'ETì Aengive was a Court of Juftice in the Temple of Apollo Delphinius, and Diana Delphinia. Under its Cognizance came all Murders wherein the Prifoner confefs'd the Fact, but pleaded that it was committed by Permiffion of the Laws, as in the Cafe of Self-prefervation, or Adultery, for it was allow'd any one to kill an Adulterer, if he caught him in the Act (r). The first Person, that was try'd in this Court, was Thefeus, who, in his Journey to Athens, had flain the Rob

(9) Paufanias, Harpocration, Suidas, Pollux, lib. VIII. cap. 10. (r) Plutarch. Salone, Hefychius, c. Ainasпpia.

bers

bers that infested the Ways between Trazen and that Place; and afterwards the Sons of Pallas, that raised a Rebellion against him (S).

Eai Пgularea, was a Court of Judicature, which had Cognizance of Murders committed by Things without Life, or Senfe, as Stones, Iron, Timber, &c. which, if they kill'd a Man by Accident, or by the Direction of an unknown Hand, or of a Perfon that had escaped, had Judgment pafs'd upon them in this Place, and were ordered to be caft out of the Territories of Athens by the puλoßacies. This Court was as ancient as Erechtheus, and the firft Thing, that was brought to Trial in it, was an Ax, wherewith one of Jupiter's Priefts kill'd an Ox, (an Animal accounted very facred in thofe Days) that had eaten one of the confecrated Cakes, and, as foon as they committed the Fact, fecured himself by Flight (t). This Place alfo was the Common-Hall, in which publick Entertainments were made, and the facred Lamp, that burn'd with a perpetual Fire, was kept by Widows, who, having paffed the Years and Defires of Marriage, were devoted to the Mother of the Gods; which Lamp, as Plutarch, in the Life of Numa, tells us, was extinct under the Tyranny of Ariftion; it was always managed with the fame Rites and Ceremonies that were ufed at Rome, about the Vefal Fire, which, he faith, was ordained and instituted after the Pattern of this, and another holy Fire of the fame Nature amongst the Delphinians.

Ev pearlo, Ev opeάr, was feated upon the Sea-fhore in the Pyraeus, and receiv'd its Name wò re opéal, because it stood in a Pit, and therefore Pollux calls it Ev pedre, or, as is more probable, from the Hero Phreatus. The Caufes, heard in this Court, were fuch as concern'd Perfons that had fled out of their own Country for Murder ; or those that fled for involuntary Murder, and had afterwards com, mitted a wilful and deliberate Murder. The first Person that was tried in this Place, was Teucer, who, as Lycophron, reports, was banish'd out of Salamis by his Father Telamon, upon a groundlefs Sufpicion, that he had been acceffary to Ajax's Death. The Criminal was not permitted to come to Land, or fo much as to caft Anchor, but pleaded his Caufe in his Bark, and, if found guilty, was committed to the Mercy of the Winds and Waves; or, as fome fay, fuffered there condign Punishment; if innocent, was only clear'd of the fecond Fact, and (as 'twas customary) underwent a Twelve-month's Banifhment for the former (u).

And thus much may fuffice concerning the Courts for capital Offences; it remains that I give you an Account of those, which had the Cognizance of Civil Affairs.

f) Pollux loc. cit. Paufanias. (t) Idem Alian. V. H. lib. VIII. cap. 3, Harpom cration, (u) Demoftben, in Arift, Harpocrat, Pollux loc. cit. Hesychius,

CHAP.

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Of fome other Courts of Juftice, their Judicial Procefs, &c.

AedBusov, was either fo call'd, as being a Court of no great Credit or Reputation, having Cognizance only of trivial Matters, whofe Value was not above one Drachm; or because it was fituate è dọavē τόπῳ τῆς πόλεως· in an obfcure Part of the City. Pollux reports, there were two Courts of this Name, one of which was called Пaegbusov μάζον, and the other Παράβυσον μέσον. The Perfons, that fat as Judges in the latter of thefe, were the 11 Magiftrates, call'd oi "Erdena (zu). On which Account, it is, by fome, not placed among the ten Courts, the Commons of Athens being all permitted to judge in them; and instead hereof, another Court is reckon'd into the ten, called T Kauvor, the new Court, which is mentioned by Ariftophanes * :

Ὁ δ ̓ αὐτῷ τυμπάνῳ

Αίξας, ἐδίκαζεν εἰς τὸ Καινὸν ἐμπεσών.

Teifwvov, was, in all Probability, fo call'd, because it was triangular (x). Tiwi Auxx, received its Name from the Temple of the Hero Lycus, in which it was erected. The fame Perfon had a Statue in all the Courts of Juftice, by which he was reprefented with a Wolf's Face, and therefore Auns Senas, fignifies Sycophants, and rs Sapodoxurlas, those who took Bribes, who, by Tens, that is, in great Numbers, frequented thofe Places (y).

To Marix, was called from one Metichus, an Architect, by whom it was built (2).

The Judges in all thefe Courts were obliged to take a folemn Oath, by the Paternal Apollo, Ceres, and Jupiter the King, that they would give Sentence uprightly, and according to Law, if the Law had determin'd the Point debated; or, where the Law was filent, according to the best of their Judgments. Which Oath, as also that which was taken by those that judged in the Helica, was given in a Place near the River Iliffus, called Arde tus, from a Hero of that Name, who, in a publick Sedition, united the contefting Parties, and engaged them to confirm their Treaties of Peace by mutual Oaths in this Place. Hence common and prophane Swearers came to be call'd "Apn7701 (a).

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Of all the Judicial Courts that handled Civil Affairs, 'Haidia was far the greatest, and most frequented, being fo call'd & die, from the People's thronging together (b), or rather Hais, because it was an open Place, and expofed to the Sun (c).

(w) Harpocrat. Suidas, Paufanias Atticis. * Vefpis, p. 430. Edit. Amftelodam. (x) Idem. (y) Ariftoph. Schol. Vefp. Zenobius, Harpocrat. Pollux, Suidas, &c. (≈) Pollux, &c, (a) Etymolog. Pollux, Suidas, Hefych. Harpocrat. (b) Ulpian, in Demoft. (c) Idem. Ariftoph. Schol, Nub, Equit. Vefp. Suidas."

The

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