-
Skip These Ads
-
Skip These Ads|
|
 |
Click here and add this page to your favorites!
|
Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: LUP-MAL |
|
|
LYSIAS , Attic orator, was born, according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus
house
1 [W. Christ, Gesch. der griech. Lilt., gives the 'date of birth as about 450.]the Sicilian family were well known to Plato, and that their houses must often have been hospitable to such gatherings. At Thurii, the colony newly planted on the Tarentine Gulf (see PERICLES), the boy may have seen Herodotus, now -a man in middle life, and a friendship may have grown up between them. There, too, Lysias is said to have commenced his studies in rhetoricdoubtless under a master of the Sicilian schoolpossibly, as tradition said, under Tisias, the pupil of Corax, whose name is associated with the first attempt to formulate rhetoric as an art. In 413 B.C. the Athenian armament in Sicily was annihilated. The desire to link famous names is illustrated by the ancient ascription to Lysias of a rhetorical exercise purporting to be - a speech in which the captive general Nicias appealed for mercy to the Sicilians. The terrible blow to Athens quickened the energies of an anti-Athenian faction at Thurii. Lysias and his elder brother Polemarchus, with three hundred other persons, were " accused of Atticizing." They were driven from Thurii and settled at Athens (412 B.C.). Lysias and Polemarchus were rich men, having inherited property from their father; and Lysias claims that, though merely resident aliens, they discharged public services with a liberality which ' shamed many of those who enjoyed the franchise (In Eratosth. 2o). The fact that they owned house
special
list
During his later years Lysiasnow probably a comparatively poor man owing to the rapacity of the tyrants and his own generosity to the Athenian exilesappears as a hard-working member of a new professionthat of writing speeches to be delivered in the law-courts. The thirty-four extant are but a small fraction.: From 403 to about 38o B.C. his industry must have been incessant. The notices of his personal life in these years are scanty. In 403 he came forward as the accuser of Eratosthenes, one of the Thirty Tyrants. This was his only direct contact with Athenian politics. The story that he wrote a defence for Socrates, which the latter declined to use, probably arose from a confusion. Several years after the death of Socrates the. sophist Polycrates composed a declamation against him, to which Lysias replied. A more authentic tradition represents Lysias as having spoken his own Olympiacus at the Olympic festival of 388 B.e., to which Dionysius I. of Syracuse had sent a magnificent embassy. Tents embroidered with gold were pitched within the sacred enclosure; and the wealth of Dionysius was vividly shown by the number of chariots which he had entered. Lysias lifted up his voice to denounce Dionysius as, next' to Artaxerxes; the worst enemy of Hellas, and to impress upon the assembled Greeks that one of their foremost duties was to deliver Sicily from a hateful oppression. The latest work of Lysias which we can date (a fragment of a speech For Pherenicus) belongs to 381 or 380 B.C. He probably died in or soon after 38o B.C. Lysias was a man of kindly and genial nature, warm in friendship, loyal to country, with a keen perception of character. and a fine though strictly controlled sense of humour. The crates, xxix., 389 B.C. IV. Causes relating to a Scrutiny (SoKtgaata); literary tact which is so remarkable in the extant speeches is that of a singularly flexible intelligence, always obedient to an instinct of gracefulness. He owes his distinctive place to the power of concealing his art. It was obviously desirable that a speech written for delivery by a client should be suitable to his age, station and circumstances. Lysias was the first to make this adaptation really artistic. His skill can be best appreciated if we turn from the easy flow of his graceful language to the majestic emphasis of Antiphon, or to the self-revealing art of Isaeus. Translated into terms of ancient criticism, he became the model of the " plain style " (loxvos xapaKTjp, Ioxvil, Xtri7, ackeXz)s X t : genus tenue or subtile). Greek and then Roman critics distinguished three styles of rhetorical compositionthe " grand " (or " elaborate "), the " plain " and the " middle," the " plain " being nearest to the language of daily life.. Greek rhetoric began in the " grand " style; then Lysias set an exquisite pattern of the " plain "; and Demosthenes might be considered as having effected an almost ideal compromise. The vocabulary of Lysias is pure and simple. Most of the rhetorical " figures " are sparingly usedexcept such as consist in the parallelism or opposition of clauses. The taste of the day not yet emancipated from the influence of the Sicilian rhetoric probably demanded a large use of antithesis. Lysias excels in vivid description; he has also a happy knack of marking the speaker's character by light touches. The structure of his sentences varies a good deal according to the dignity of the subject. He has equal command over the " periodic " style (Karevrpatl0im X is) and the non-periodic or " continuous " (eipoEVq, &aXeXvEvri). His disposition of his subject-matter is always simple. The speech has usually four partsintroduction (irpooiiov), narrative of facts (&iy a'is), proofs (aioreis),: which may be either external, as from witnesses, or internal, derived from argument on the facts, and, lastly, conclusion (iiiXoryos). It. is in the introduction and the narrative that Lysias is seen at his best. In his greatest extant speechthat Against Eratosthenesand also in the fragmentary Olympiacus, he has pathos and fire; but these were not characteristic qualities of his work. In Cicero's judgment (De Oral. iii. 7, 28) Demosthenes was peculiarly distinguished. by force (vis), Aeschines by resonance (sonitus), Hypereides by acuteness (acumen), Isocrates by sweetness (suavitas); the distinction which he assigns to Lysias is subtilitas, an Attic refinementwhich, as he elsewhere says (Brutus, 16, 64) is often joined to an admirable vigour (lacerti). Nor was it oratory alone to which Lysias rendered service; his work had an important effect on all subsequent Greek prose, by showing how perfect elegance could' be joined to plainness. Here, in his artistic use of familiar idiom, he might fairly be called the Euripides of Attic prose. And his style has an additional charm for modern readers, because it is employed in describing scenes from the everyday life of Athens.' Thirty-four speeches (three fragmentary) have come down under the name of Lysias; one hundred and twenty-seven more, now lost, are known from smaller fragments or from titles. In the Augustan age four hundred and twenty-five works bore his name, of which more than two hundred were allowed as genuine by the critics. Our thirty-four works may be classified as follows: A. EPIDEICTIC.I. Olympiacus, xxxiii. 388 B.C. ; 2. Epitaphius, ii. (purporting to have- been spoken during the Corinthian War; certainly spurious), perhaps composed about 380340 B.C. (" soon after 387," Blass). B. DELIBERATIVE.Plea for the Constitution, xxxiv., 403 B.C. C. FORENSIC, IN PUBLIC CAUSES.I. Relating to Offences directly against the State (ypa4al Snoolwv h&iKnO.rwv) ; such as treason, malversation in office, embezzlement of public moneys. I. For Poly-stratus, xx., 407 B.C. ; 2. Defence on a Charge of Taking Bribes, xxi., 402 B.C.; 3. Against Ergocles, xxviii., 389 B.C.; 4. Against Epicrates, XXVIi., 389 B.c.; 5. Against Nicomachus, xxx., 399 B.C.; 6. Against the Corndealers, xxii., 386 B.c. (?) II. Cause relating to Unconstitutional Procedure (speck) aapav6 iwv). On the Property of the Brother of Nicias, xviii., 395 B.C. III. Causes relating to Claims for Money with-held from the State (&aoypacpai). I. For the Soldier, ix. (probably not by Lysias, but by an imitator, writing for a real cause), 394 B.C. (?) ; 2. On the Property of Aristophanes, xix.,, 387 B.C.; 3. Against Philo
i See further Jebb, The Attic Orators from Antiphon to Isaeus, i. 142-316. especially the Scrutiny, by the Senate, of Officials Designate. I. Against Evandrus, xxvi., 382 B.C.; 2. For Mantitheus, xvi.; 392 B.c. 3. Against Philon, xxxi., between 404 and 395 B.C.; 4. Defence on a Charge of Seeking to Abolish the Democracy, xxv., 401 B.C. ; 5. For the Invalid, xxiv., 402 B.C. (?) V. Causes relating to Military Offences (ypa4al a17roeaelov, horpareias). I. Against Alcibiades, I. and II. (xiv., xv.), 395 B.C. VI. Causes relating to Murder or Intent to Murder (ypa4al covov, rpaiaros is irpovotas). I. Against Eratosthenes, xii., 403 B.C.; 2. Against Agoratus, xiii., 399 B.C. ; 3. On the Murder of Eratosthenes, is (date uncertain) ; 4. Against Simon, iii., 393 B.C.; 5. On Wounding with Intent , iv. (date uncertain). VII. Causes relating to Impiety (wattled. iwe(3Etas). I. Against Andocides, vi. (certainly spurious, but perhaps contemporary); 2. For Callias, v. (date uncertain); 3. On the Sacred Olive, vu., not before 395 B.C.D. FORENSIC, IN PRIVATE CAUSES.I. Action for Libel (Sfwrt iiaKi]yoplas). AgainstTheomnestus, x.,384383 B.C. (the so-called second speech, xi., is merely an epitome of the first). II. Action by a Ward against a Guardian (SMKn iriTp07rYJS). Against Diogeiton, xxxii., 400 B.C. III. Trial of a Claim to Property (SiaMsaaia). On the property of Eraton, xvii., 397 B.C. IV. Answer toaS Special
E. MISCELLANEOUS.I.. To his Companions, a Complaint of Slanders, viii. (certainly spurious) ; 2. The EpwriKOS in Plato's Phaedrus pp. 230 E-234. This has generally been regarded as Plato's own work; but the certainty of this conclusion will be doubted by those who observe (i) the elaborate preparations made in the dialogue for a recital of the ipwn.Kbr which shall be verbally exact, and (2) the closeness of the criticism made upon it. If the satirist were merely analysing his own composition, such criticism would have little point. Lysias is the earliest writer who is known to have composed 1pwrarol; it is as representing both rhetoric and a false Ipwr that he is the object of attack in the Phaedrus. F. FRAGMENTS.Three hundred and fifty-five of these are collected by Sauppe, Oratores Attici, ii. 170216. Two hundred and fifty-two of them represent one hundred and twenty-seven speeches of known title; and of six the fragments are comparatively large. Of these, the fragmentary speech For Pherenicus belongs to 381 or 380. B.C., and is thus the latest known work of Lysias., In literary and historical interest
chief
All MSS. of Lysias yet collated have been derived, as H. Sauppe first showed, from the Codex Palatinus X. (Heidelberg). The next most valuable MS. is the Laurentianus C (15th century), which I. Bekker chiefly followed. Speaking generally, we may say that these two MSS. are the only two which carry much weight where the text is seriously corrupt. In Oratt. i.-ix. Bekker, occasionally consulted eleven other MSS., most of which contain only the above nine speeches: viz., Marciani F, G, I, K (Venice); Laurentiani D, E (Florence) ; Vaticani M, N Parisini U, V ; Urbinas 0. BIBttoGRAPiY.Editio princeps, Aldus (Venice, 1513); by I. Bekker (1823) and W. S. Dobson (1828) in Oratores Attici; C. Scheibe (1852) and T. Thalheim (1901, Teubner series , with bibliography) ; C. G. Cobet (4th ed., by J. J. Hartman, 1905); with variorum notes, by J. J. Reiske (1772). Editions of select speeches by J. H. Bremi (1845); R. Rauchenstein (1848, revised by C. Fuhr, 188o1881); H. Frohberger (18661871) ; H. van Herwerden {1863); A. Weidner (1888); E. S. Shuckburgh (1882); A. Westermann and W. Binder (1887189o); G. P. Bristol (1892), M. H. Morgan (1895), C. D. Adams (1905), all three published in America. There is a special, lexicon to Lysias by D. H. Holmes (Bonn, 1895). See also Jebb's Attic Orators (1893) and Selections from the Attic Orators (2nd2 Some remains of the speech against Theozotides have been found in the Hibeh papyri; see W. H. D. Rouse's The Year's Work in Classical Studies (1907)1.. ed., 1888) and F. Blass, Die Altische Beredsamkeit (2nd ed., 18871898) ; W. L. Devries, Ethopoiia. A rhetorical study of the types of character in the orations of Lysias (Baltimore, 1892). (R. C. J.; X.) End of Article: LYSIAS If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/LUP_MAL/LYSIAS.html"> LYSIAS </a> |
|
|
(Previous) LYSANIAS |
(Next) LYSIMACHUS (c. 355281 B.C.) |
Jesus Christ Saves Ministries, P.O. Box 70696, Pasadena, CA 91117JCSM is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization. Copyright © 1997-present. |
Free & Cheap Cell
Phones |
Cheap Long Distance
Phone Service Carriers |
Talk America Local Phone Service
|
Ztel & MCI - Unlimited Long Distance
Compare
Cell Phone Plans & Companies |
International Calling Cards & Prepaid Phone Cards |
Voice Over IP Broadband Internet Phone
Service | Wireless
Phone Plans & Cheap Cell Phones
|
_____________________________________________________________________________
Online First Aid and CPR Certification . The Online Christ Centered Ministries . The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained . The Inerrancy Discussion Board . Free Email Accounts . Home Equity Loans . JasonGastrich.com . The Missions, Apologetics, and Creation Bible Conference . Young Earth Creation Science . San Diego Music Lessons . 10,000 Wise Quotes and Spiritual Sayings . Gastrich.net . Maximizing the Internet: 12 Keys to Success . Louisiana Baptist University . NKJV Web Hosting and Services . Michael Newdow . San Diego Soccer Training . Christian Guitar Lessons . Jesus Christ Saves Ministries . Eternal Security
