Joseph Roisman
Lycurgus Against Leocrates
Introduction and Commentary by Joseph Roisman. Translation by Michael J. Edwards. (Oxford University Press 2019)
This volume provides readers with a new translation and up-to-date historical and rhetorical commentary on the only extant speech of the Athenian leader Lycurgus (390s/380s-324 BCE), one of Athens’ most influential statesmen and orators. His prosecutorial speech, Against Leocrates, delivered in 331BCE, indicted his compatriot for treason, claiming that he fled Athens after the battle of Chaeronea when the city was under threat of attack by Philip II of Macedonia, though the attack never materialized.
Although Leocrates was acquitted after the evenly split jury ultimately came down in favor of the defense, the speech is much more than a condemnation of an alleged misconduct: it provides valuable information on the historical and political events around Chaeronea and offers Lycurgus’ vision of what Athens could and should do in those circumstance, in light of be in light of models which he fashioned from its and other Greeks’ mythical and historical pasts. Not only his legal and rhetorical strategies and the merits of the case are examined here, but also what the speech tells about his and his contemporaries’ perceptions of patriotism, their religious beliefs, views of desirable citizenship, and the tensions between the individual and the state. A detailed introduction complements the new English translation of the speech with an authoritative account of its history and manuscript tradition, as well as an overview of Athenian democracy and judicial system in the late fourth century BCE, which will be invaluable for readers new to the text, covering Lycurgus’ career, his ideology and program for Athens, and what these meant for individual Athenians and democracy. The in-depth commentary that analyses the historical facets of this multi-layered and unique oration will be of use to both students and advanced scholars of ancient Greek history and rhetoric.