Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- EDITIONS AND AUTHORITIES
- Contents
- CORRIGENDA
- ANNALS
- INTRODUCTION
- CHAPTER I ANTIPHON.—LIFE
- CHAPTER II ANTIPHON.—STYLE
- CHAPTER III ANTIPHON.—WORKS
- CHAPTER IV ANDOKIDES.—LIFE
- CHAPTER V ANDOKIDES.—STYLE
- CHAPTER VI ANDOKIDES.—WORKS
- CHAPTER VII LYSIAS.—LIFE
- CHAPTER VIII LYSIAS.—STYLE
- CHAPTER IX LYSIAS.—WORKS
- CHAPTER X LYSIAS.—WORKS
- CHAPTER XI LYSIAS.—WORKS
CHAPTER VII - LYSIAS.—LIFE
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2010
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- EDITIONS AND AUTHORITIES
- Contents
- CORRIGENDA
- ANNALS
- INTRODUCTION
- CHAPTER I ANTIPHON.—LIFE
- CHAPTER II ANTIPHON.—STYLE
- CHAPTER III ANTIPHON.—WORKS
- CHAPTER IV ANDOKIDES.—LIFE
- CHAPTER V ANDOKIDES.—STYLE
- CHAPTER VI ANDOKIDES.—WORKS
- CHAPTER VII LYSIAS.—LIFE
- CHAPTER VIII LYSIAS.—STYLE
- CHAPTER IX LYSIAS.—WORKS
- CHAPTER X LYSIAS.—WORKS
- CHAPTER XI LYSIAS.—WORKS
Summary
Lysias, though he passed most of his years at Athens, did not possess the citizenship, and, except in the impeachment of Eratosthenes, appears to have had no personal contact with the affairs of the city. Yet, as in literary style he is the representative of Atticism, so in his fortunes he is closely associated with the Athenian democracy. He suffered with it in its two greatest calamities—the overthrow in Sicily and the tyranny of the Thirty; he took part in its restoration; and afterwards, in his speeches for the law-courts, he became perhaps the best, because the soberest, exponent of its spirit—the most graceful and most versatile interpreter of ordinary Athenian life.
Kephalos, the father of Lysias, was a Syracusan, who settled at Athens as a resident alien on the invitation of Perikles. Such an invitation would scarcely have carried much weight before Perikles had begun to be a leading citizen,—i.e. before about 460 b.c.; and the story which represented Kephalos as having been driven from Syracuse when the democracy was overthrown by Gelon (485 b.c.) is therefore not very probable.
Lysias was born at Athens after his father had come to live there. The year of his birth cannot be determined. Dionysios assumes the same year as the pseudo-Plutarch—01. 80. 2., 459 b.c.; but admits, what the latter does not, that it is a mere assumption. And the ground upon which the assumption rested is evident. Lysias was known to have gone to Thurii when he was fifteen.
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- Attic Orators from Antiphon to Isaeos , pp. 142 - 157Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010