Lysias

Jean Dedieu (1646 - 1727): statue of Lisias. Versailles Gardens.

Lysias (Λυσίας, Athens, 458 - 380 BC) was one of the ten Attic orators.

Biography

Despite being born in Athens, he was a metic and never enjoyed the right of citizenship since his father, Cephalus, was from Syracuse. In the year 404 a. C., the oligarchic regime of the Thirty Tyrants deprived Lysias and his brother Polemarco of all his possessions. When the latter was killed, Lysias fled to a neighboring town.

He returned to Athens in 403 B.C. C., after the defeat of the Thirty Tyrants and the restoration of the democratic government. He then took legal action against Eratosthenes, the tyrant responsible for the death of his brother.

Plato alludes to Lysias and his family in the Republic and in the Phaedrus.

Work

Lysias made his living as a logographer, writing speeches for litigants and becoming the foremost figure in Attic judicial oratory. His biography is reflected in the double aspect of his work: on the one hand, dedicated to teaching rhetoric and writing commissioned speeches; and, on the other, dedicated to the political task of restoring democracy in Athens and to the persecution of tyrants through his speeches. He came to write 233 speeches, of which only about thirty have been preserved. The best known are Against Eratosthenes (Κατὰ Ἐρατοσθένους), Defense in the trial against Simon (Πρὸς Σίμωνα ἀπολογία) and On the Murder of Eratosthenes (Ὑπὲρ τοῦ Ἐρατοσθένους φόνου ἀπολογία).

Style

He had an incomparable talent for tailoring his speeches to the character of his clients. The most outstanding features of his style, as evidenced by his surviving works, were purity, simplicity and clarity.