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The speaker retaliates by stressing the gravity of the offence. Two points are particularly worth noting. The first is the attempt to associate the opponent with the oligarchic coups which swept democracy aside twice in the closing years of the fifth century. Lochites himself is too young (§11) to have been politically active at the period in question, but the speaker links his attitude (of contempt for laws and for the citizen body) to that of the people who overthrew the democracy and ignored consitutional and legal restraints. His aim is to put the residual resentment against the oligarchs at the service of his prosecution of Lochites. He is also (in a manner typical of Athenian litigants) arguing that his case is not a purely private concern but is important for the city as a whole, including the judges. The second (and related) tactic of significance is his use of the concept of ‘outrage’, hybris. He has brought a private action for battery (aikeia) but he treats the assault as though he were conducting a public action for hybris. The aim is to exploit the strong emotions triggered by the concept of hybris and to present an implicit argument a fortiori (if Lochites is guilty of hybris he must be guilty on the lesser charge of aikeia).
DOI link for The speaker retaliates by stressing the gravity of the offence. Two points are particularly worth noting. The first is the attempt to associate the opponent with the oligarchic coups which swept democracy aside twice in the closing years of the fifth century. Lochites himself is too young (§11) to have been politically active at the period in question, but the speaker links his attitude (of contempt for laws and for the citizen body) to that of the people who overthrew the democracy and ignored consitutional and legal restraints. His aim is to put the residual resentment against the oligarchs at the service of his prosecution of Lochites. He is also (in a manner typical of Athenian litigants) arguing that his case is not a purely private concern but is important for the city as a whole, including the judges. The second (and related) tactic of significance is his use of the concept of ‘outrage’, hybris. He has brought a private action for battery (aikeia) but he treats the assault as though he were conducting a public action for hybris. The aim is to exploit the strong emotions triggered by the concept of hybris and to present an implicit argument a fortiori (if Lochites is guilty of hybris he must be guilty on the lesser charge of aikeia).
The speaker retaliates by stressing the gravity of the offence. Two points are particularly worth noting. The first is the attempt to associate the opponent with the oligarchic coups which swept democracy aside twice in the closing years of the fifth century. Lochites himself is too young (§11) to have been politically active at the period in question, but the speaker links his attitude (of contempt for laws and for the citizen body) to that of the people who overthrew the democracy and ignored consitutional and legal restraints. His aim is to put the residual resentment against the oligarchs at the service of his prosecution of Lochites. He is also (in a manner typical of Athenian litigants) arguing that his case is not a purely private concern but is important for the city as a whole, including the judges. The second (and related) tactic of significance is his use of the concept of ‘outrage’, hybris. He has brought a private action for battery (aikeia) but he treats the assault as though he were conducting a public action for hybris. The aim is to exploit the strong emotions triggered by the concept of hybris and to present an implicit argument a fortiori (if Lochites is guilty of hybris he must be guilty on the lesser charge of aikeia).
ABSTRACT