Poine: a study in ancient Greek blood-vengeanceTreston, Hubert Joseph
History
Poine: a study in ancient Greek blood-vengeance
Treston, Hubert Joseph
Criminal law (Greek law); Greece -- Civilization; Greek drama (Tragedy) -- History and criticism; Homicide (Greek law); Vendetta
_and_ confiscation were the penalties for murder, it would, we think, be
rather ironical to describe these penalties as ‘more’ or ‘less’ severe!
We shall see presently[127] that exile without confiscation was the
penalty for wounding with intent to kill. The phrase which Demosthenes
uses, in speaking of murder-penalties, is unfortunately rather ambiguous.
He says[128]: θανάτῳ καὶ ἀειφυγίᾳ καὶ δημεύσει τῶν ὑπαρχόντων: here,
we must suppose that the first καί means ‘or,’ and we may suppose that
the second means ‘and’: and we translate ‘by death _or_ by exile and
confiscation of property.’ This juxtaposition of words suggests, on the
whole, that death absolved the murderer from confiscation.
We may support this conclusion from Pollux and from Aristotle. The
latter, speaking of the sale-commissioners (πωληταί) at Athens, says[129]
that, amongst other things, they ‘sell the estates of exiles from the
court of Areopagus and the property of State debtors.’ Pollux[130] says
of these same officers that they ‘sell the property of those who have
fled from the Areopagus after the first speech.’ If death was accompanied
by confiscation for wilful murder, why do not Pollux and Aristotle say
so? The reference of Pollux to exiles who fled ‘after the first speech’
must apply to murder-exiles, and to them alone. This whole subject has
been ably discussed by Glotz,[131] and we are glad to be in agreement
with his main conclusion, that death absolved from confiscation in cases
of wilful murder. We agree with Glotz that the phrase in Lysias,[132] ἐγὼ
γὰρ νῦν καὶ περὶ τοῦ σώματος καὶ περὶ τῶν χρημάτων καὶ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων
ἁπάντων κινδυνεύω, does _not_ prove, as Philippi[133] maintains that it
proves, the combination of death and confiscation in such cases. The word
σῶμα here, as Meier[134] and Glotz[135] point out, means civic status,
like the Latin word _caput_, and need not refer to ‘life.’ In general,
we may say of the ancient authorities what Glotz says[136] in reference
to one of Antiphon’s _Tetralogies_,[137] that if the dual punishment
was legal it could not fail to have been mentioned. If we add to this
fact of omission the force of our general reasoning as to the origin and
_raison d’être_ of the penalty of confiscation, and the plain and obvious
inferences from the Attic murder laws, we cannot come to any other
conclusion than that which we have reached. Philippi must stand alone as
the sole exponent of the opposite opinion.
PRIVATE SETTLEMENT FOR WILFUL MURDER
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