"Against Meidias" ( grc, Κατὰ Μειδίου) is one of the most famous judicial orations of the prominent

Athenian Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

statesman and orator

Demosthenes Demosthenes (; el, Δημοσθένης, translit=Dēmosthénēs; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual pr ...

Background

Meidias Meidias ( el, Mειδίας; lived during the 4th century BC), an Athenian of considerable wealth and influence, was a violent and bitter enemy of Demosthenes, the orator. He displayed his first act of hostility in 361 BC when he broke violently int ...

, a wealthy Athenian, punched Demosthenes, who was at the time a

choregos In the theatre of ancient Greece, the ''choregos'' (pl. ''choregoi; el, χορηγός, Greek etymology: χορός "chorus" + ἡγεῖσθαι "to lead") was a wealthy Athenian citizen who assumed the public duty, or ''choregiai'', of financ ...

at the Greater Dionysia, in the face at the theater. Meidias was a friend of

Eubulus Eubulus is the name of: People: * Eubulus (banker), 4th century BC Bithynian banker and ruler of Atarneus * Eubulus (statesman) (c. 405 BC – c. 335 BC), Athenian statesman * Eubulus (poet) Eubulus ( grc-gre, Εὔβουλος, ''Euboulos'') was ...

and supporter of the unsuccessful excursion in

Euboea Evia (, ; el, Εύβοια ; grc, Εὔβοια ) or Euboia (, ) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait (only at its narrowest poin ...

.Demosthenes, ''On the Peace''
5
He also was an old enemy of the orator, forcibly entering Demosthenes' house along with his brother Thrasylochus in 361 BC, in order to take possession of it.

The oration

Demosthenes made no resistance to Meidias' violation of the place and occasion, but after the festival, when at a special meeting of the Assembly, he entered a complaint against Meidias. The orator wrote the judicial speech "Against Meidias", but he probably never pronounced it. He retired his accusation probably for political reasonsH. Weil, ''Biography of Demothenes'', 28. although

Aeschines Aeschines (; Greek: , ''Aischínēs''; 389314 BC) was a Greek statesman and one of the ten Attic orators. Biography Although it is known he was born in Athens, the records regarding his parentage and early life are conflicting; but it seems ...

maintained that Demosthenes received money to drop the case.Aeschines, ''Against Ctesiphon''
52
"Against Meidias" is regarded as one of the most intriguing forensic speeches to survive. It gives valuable information about Athenian law and

festivals A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

, and especially about the Greek concept of hubris (aggravated assault), which was regarded as a crime not only against the citizen or city but against society as a whole.H. Yunis, ''The Rhetoric of Law in 4th Century Athens'', 206. As Galen O. Rowe points out, "the single most important recurrence in the speech is the root of hubris in its various grammatical forms and parts of speech. In fact hubris, to use the noun for every manifestation of the root, occurs in the speech 131 times, as opposed to 274 times in the entire Demosthenic corpus and 170 times in all the other Greek orators".G.O. Rowe, ''The Many Facets of Hybris in Demosthenes' against Meidias'', 397-406. This speech also gives valuable information about Athenian law. The orator underscores that a democratic state perishes, if the law is undermined by wealthy and unscrupulous men, and asserts that the citizens acquire power and authority in all state-affairs due "to the strength of the laws".Demosthenes, ''Against Meidias''
223
J. H. Vince asserts that while the speech is indisputably authentic, it seems improbable that it was published by Demosthenes himself.J. H. Vince, ''Demosthenes against Meidias, Androtion Aristocrates, Timocrates Aristogeiton'', 4. According to the same scholar, "the speech is notable as being the earliest in which the Demosthenic note of δεινότης (terrible earnestness) is heard, but it leaves an unpleasant impression. In the pathetic passages we remember the trivial occasion of the action, nor can the victim's indignation hide the fact that he accepted a compromise".

References

External links

*Demosthenes
Against Meidias
(in both Greek text and English translation, at the

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)
J.H. Vince's introduction to the speech
{{Authority control Works by Demosthenes Ancient Greek orations