Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, page 578 (original) (raw)

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On this page: Grammatophylacium – Graphe

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GBAPHE.

Leg. p. 419 ; de Coron. p. 314 ; Antiphon, rf<; _Choreut._ p. 792 ; Lysias, _c. Nicomach*_ p. 864). These persons were either public slaves or citizens of the lower orders, as appears from the manner in which Demosthenes speaks of them, and were not allowed to hold their office for two succeeding years. (Lysias, _c. Nicomacli._ p. 8(>4, according to.the interpretation of this passage by Bockh, PuU. Econ. p. 188, note 168.)

Different from these common clerks were the ctvTiypaQeTs, checking-clerks or counter-scribes, who must likewise be divided into two classes, a lower and a higher one. The former comprised those who accompanied the generals and cashiers of the armies (Demosth. de Cherson. p. 101), who kept the control of the expenditure of the sacred money, &c. (Bockh, PuU. Econ. p. 187). The higher class of avriypatyets, on the other hand, were public officers. Their number was, according to Harpo-cration (s. v.\ only two, the avriypatyebs rys SiOi/djcrewy, and the avriypa<=vs ttjs j8oi?/\^s. The office of the former was to control the expenditure of the public treasury (Sioi/ojcm) ; the latter was always present at the meetings of the senate, and recorded the accounts of money which was paid into the senate. (Compare Pollux, viii. 98 ; Suidas, s. v.} He had also to lay the accounts of the public revenue before the people in every prytan y. so that he was a check upon the aTroSe/craz. ' lie was at first elected by the people by x€lPorov/iai but was afterwards appointed by lot. (Aeschin. c. Ctesiph. p. 417 ; Pollux, I. c.)

The great number of clerks and counter-clerks at Athens was a necessary consequence of the in­ stitution of the evOvvni, which could not otherwise have been carried into effect. (See Schomann, de Comit, p, 302, &c. ; Bockh, /. c. ; Hermann, Polit. Antiq. § .127. n. 17 and 18.) [L. S.J

**GRAMMATOPHYLACIUM. [tabula-

RIUM.]

**GRAPHE (ypa</>77), in its most general accept­ation, comprehends all state trials and criminal prosecutions whatever in the Attic courts ; but in its more limited sense, those only which were not distinguished as the ev6vvr)t €v$€i£i$9 el&ayyeAta by a special name and a peculiar conduct of the proceedings. The principal characteristic differ­ences between public and private actions are enu­merated under dike, and the peculiar forms of public prosecutions, such as those above men­tioned, are separately noticed. Of these forms, together with that of the. GrapJte^ properly so called, it frequently happened that two or more were applicable to the same cause of action ; and the discretion of the prosecutor in selecting the most preferable of his available remedies was at­tended by results of great importance to himself and the accused. If the prosecutor's speech (/ccmjyopra), and the evidence adduced by him, were insufficient to establish the aggravated cha­racter of the wrong in question, as indicated by the form of action he had chosen, his ill-judged .rigour might be alleged in mitigation of the punish­ment by the defendant in his reply (aTroAoyta), or upon the assessment of the penalty after judgment given ; and if the case were one of those in which the dicasts had no power of assessing (art^ros ypa.fp'f}), it might cause a total failure of justice, pud even render the prosecutor liable to a fine or other punishment. (Dem. c. Androt. p. 601, c. Meid. p. 523.)

GRAPHS.

The courts before which public causes could be tried were very various; and, besides the ordinary Heliastic bodies under the control of the. nine archons or the generals or logistae, the council and even the assembly of the people occasionally be­came judicial bodies for that purpose, as in the caso of certain Docimasiae and lusangeliae. (Meier, Alt. Proc. pp. 205. 268.) The proper court in which to bring a particular action was for the most part determined by the subject-matter of the ac­cusation. In the trial of state offences it was in general requisite that the ostensible prosecutor should be an Athenian citizen in the full posses­sion of his franchise ; but on some particular occa­sions (Thuc. vi. 28 ; Lys. pro Call. p. 186) even slaves and resident aliens were invited to come forward and lay informations. In such cases, and in some Eisangeliae and other special proceedings, the prosecution and conduct of the cause in court was carried on by advocates retained by the state (£ur^yopoj) for the occasion ; but with the excep­tion of these temporary appointments, the protec­tion of purely state interests seems to have been left to volunteer accusers.

In criminal causes the prosecution was con­ducted by the Kvpios in behalf of the aggrieved woman, minor, or slave ; his TrpocrTcCr^s probably gave some assistance to the resident alien in the commencement of proceedings, though the accusa­tion was in the name of the person aggrieved, who also made his appearance at the trial without the intervention of the patron (Meier, Ait. Proc. p. 661) ; and a complete foreigner would upon this occasion require the same or a still further protection from the proxenus of his country With the exception of cases in which the Apagoge, Ephegesis Endeixis, or Eisangelia were adopted, in the three first of which an arrest actually did and in the last might take place, and accusations at the Euthynae and Docimasiae, when the accused was or was supposed by the law to be present, a public action against a citizen commenced like an ordinary law-suit, with a summons to appear be­fore the proper magistrate on a fixed day. (Plato, Eutliypli,. init.) The anacrisis then followed [AxACRisis] ; but the bill of accusation wag called a ypa<p^, or <}>d(ns, as the case might be, and not- an ey/cA^/xa or Ar/£ts, as in private actions ; neither could a public prosecution be referred to an arbitrator [diaetetae], and if it were com­promised, would in many cases render the accuser liable to an action KaOu^eVecos, if not ipso facto to a fine of a thousand drachmae. (Meier, Alt, Proc. p. 355.) The same sum was also forfeited when the prosecutor failed to obtain the voices of a fifth of the dicasts in all cases except those brought before the arch on that had reference to injury (/caKcocm) done to women or orphans; and besides this penalty, a modified disfranchisement, as, for instance, an incapacity to bring a similar accusa­tion, was incurred upon several occasions. Upon the conviction of the accused, if the sentence were death, the presiding magistrate of the court deli­vered the prisoner, who remained in the custody of the Scythae during the trial, to the Eleven, whose business it was to execute judgment upon him. If the punishment were confiscation of pro­perty, the demarchs made an inventory of the effects of the criminal, which was read in the as­sembly of the people, and delivered to the poletae, that they might make a sale of the goods, and pay