<GetPassage xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" xmlns="http://chs.harvard.edu/xmlns/cts">
            <request>
                <requestName>GetPassage</requestName>
                <requestUrn>urn:cts:pdlrefwk:viaf88890045.003.perseus-eng1:L.lycurgus_15</requestUrn>
            </request>
            <reply>
                <urn>urn:cts:pdlrefwk:viaf88890045.003.perseus-eng1:L.lycurgus_15</urn>
                <passage>
                    <TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><text xml:base="urn:cts:pdlrefwk:viaf88890045.003.perseus-eng1"><body xml:lang="eng" n="urn:cts:pdlrefwk:viaf88890045.003.perseus-eng1"><div type="textpart" subtype="alphabetic_letter" n="L"><div type="textpart" subtype="entry" xml:id="lycurgus-bio-15" n="lycurgus_15"><head><persName xml:lang="la" xml:id="tlg-0034"><surname full="yes">Lycurgus</surname></persName></head><p>(<persName xml:lang="grc"><surname full="yes">Λυκοῦργος</surname></persName>), an Attic orator, was
      born at Athens about <date when-custom="-396">B. C. 396</date>, and was the son of Lycophron, who
      belonged to the noble family of the Eteobutadae. (Plut. <hi rend="ital">Vit. X. Orat.</hi> p.
      841; Suidas, <hi rend="ital">s. v.</hi>
      <foreign xml:lang="grc">Λυκ̀οῦργος</foreign>; Phot. <hi rend="ital">Bibl.</hi> Cod. 268,
      p. 496, &amp;c.) In his early life he devoted himself to the study of philosophy in the school
      of Plato, but afterwards became one of the disciples of Isocrates, and entered upon public
      life at a comparatively early age. He was appointed three successive times to the office of
       <foreign xml:lang="grc">ταμίας τῆς κοινῆς προσόδου</foreign>, <hi rend="ital">i.
       e.</hi> manager of the public revenue, and held his office each time for five years,
      beginning with <hi rend="smallcaps">B. S.</hi> 337. The conscientiousness with which he
      discharged the duties of this office enabled him to raise the public revenue to the sum of
      1200 talents. This, as well as the unwearied activity with which he laboured both for
      increasing the security and splendour of the city of Athens, gained for him the universal
      confidence of the people to such a degree, that when Alexander the Great demanded, among the
      other opponents of the Macedonian interest, the surrender of Lycurgus also, who had, in
      conjunction with Demosthenes, exerted himself against the intrigues of Macedonia even as early
      as the reign of Philip, the people of Athens clung to him, and boldly refused to deliver him
      up. (Plut. Phot. <hi rend="ital">ll. cc.</hi>) He was further entrusted with the
      superintendence (<foreign xml:lang="grc">φυλακή</foreign>) of the city and the keeping of
      public discipline; and the severity with which he watched over the conduct of the citizens
      became almost proverbial. (<bibl n="Cic. Att. 1.13">Cic. Att. 1.13</bibl>; <bibl n="Plut. Flam. 12">Plut. Flam. 12</bibl>; <bibl n="Amm. 22.9">Amm. Marc. 22.9</bibl>, <bibl n="Amm. 30.8">30.8</bibl>.) He had a noble taste for every thing that was beautiful and
      grand, as he showed by the buildings he erected or completed, both for the use of the citizens
      and the ornament of the city. His integrity was so great, that even private persons deposited
      with him large sums of money, which they wished to be kept in safety. He was also the author
      of several legislative enactments, of which he enforced the strictest observance. One of his
      laws forbade women to ride in chariots at the celebration of the mysteries; and when his own
      wife transgressed this law, she was fined (Aelian, <bibl n="Ael. VH 13.24">Ael. VH
       13.24</bibl>); another ordained that bronze statues should be erected to Aeschylus,
      Sophocles, and Euripides, that copies of their tragedies should be made and preserved in the
      public archives. The Lives of the Ten Orators ascribed to Plutarch (p. 842, &amp;c.) are full
      of anecdotes and characteristic features of Lycurgus, from which we must infer that he was one
      of the noblest specimens of old Attic virtue, and a worthy contemporary of Demosthenes. He
      often appeared as a successful accuser in the Athenian courts, but he himself was as often
      accused by others, though he always, and even in the last days of his life, succeeded in
      silencing his enemies. Thus we know that he was attacked by Philinus (Harpocrat. <hi rend="ital">s. v.</hi>
      <foreign xml:lang="grc">θεωρικά</foreign>), Deinarchus (Dionys. <hi rend="ital">Dinarch.</hi> 10), Aristogeiton, Menesaechmus, and others. He died while holding the office
      of <foreign xml:lang="grc">ἐπιστατής</foreign> of the theatre of Dionysus, in <date when-custom="-323">B. C. 323</date>. A fragment of an inscription, containing the account which he
      rendered to the state of his administration of the finances, is still extant. At his death he
      left behind three sons, by his wife Callisto, who were severely persecuted by Menesaechmus and
      Thrasycles, but were defended by Hyperides and Democles. (Plut. 1. c. p. 842, &amp;c.) Among
      the honours which were conferred upon him, we may mention, that the archon Anaxicrates ordered
      a bronze statue to be erected to him in the Cerameicus, and that he and his eldest son should
      be entertained in the prytaneium at the public expense.</p><div><head>Works</head><div><head>Orations attributed to Lycurgus in antiquity</head><p>The ancients mention fifteen orations of Lycurgus as extant in their days (Plut. <hi rend="ital">l.c.</hi> p. 843; Phot. <hi rend="ital">l.c.</hi> p. 496b), but we know the
        titles of at least twenty. (Westermann, <hi rend="ital">Gesch. d. Griech. Beredt.,</hi>
        Beilage vi. p. 296.)</p><p>With the exception, however, of one entire oration against Leocrates, and some fragments
        of others, all the rest are lost, so that our knowledge of his skill and style as an orator
        is very incomplete. Dionysius and other ancient critics draw particular attention to the
        ethical tendency of his oraticns, but they censure the harshness of his metaphors, the
        inaccuracy in the arrangement of his subject, and his frequent digressions. His style is
        noble and grand, but neither elegant nor pleasing. (Dionys. <hi rend="ital">Vet. Script.
         cens.</hi> 5.3; Hermogen. <hi rend="ital">De Form. Orat.</hi> ii. p. 500; Dion Chrysost.
         <hi rend="ital">Or.</hi> xviii. p. 256, ed. Mor.) His works seem to have been commented
        upon by Didymus of Alexandria. (Harpocrat. <hi rend="ital">s. vv.</hi>
        <foreign xml:lang="grc">πέλανος, προκωνια, στρωτήρ</foreign>.)</p></div><div><head><foreign xml:lang="grc">Ἑλένης ἐγκώμιον</foreign> and <foreign xml:lang="grc">Εὐρυβάτου ψόγος</foreign></head><p>Theon (<hi rend="ital">Progymn.</hi> pp. 71, 77) mentions two declamations, <foreign xml:lang="grc">Ἑλένης ἐγκώμιον</foreign> and <foreign xml:lang="grc">Εὐρυβάτου
         ψόγος</foreign>, as the works of Lycurgus; but this Lycurgus, if the name be correct, must
        be a different personage from the Attic orator.</p></div><div><head><title xml:id="tlg-0034.001">Against Leocrates</title></head><p>The oration against Leocrates was delivered in <date when-custom="-330">B. C. 330</date>
        (Aeschin. <hi rend="ital">ad v. Ctesiph.</hi> § 93).</p><div><head>Editions</head><p>The <title>Against Leocrates</title> is printed in the various collections of the Attic
         orators by <bibl><editor role="editor">Aldus</editor></bibl>, <bibl><editor role="editor">Stephens</editor></bibl>,
           <bibl><editor role="editor">Gruter</editor></bibl>, <bibl><editor role="editor">Reiske</editor></bibl>,
           <bibl><editor role="editor">Dukas</editor></bibl>, <bibl><editor role="editor">Bekker</editor></bibl>,
           <bibl><editor role="editor">Baiter</editor></bibl>, and <bibl><editor role="editor">Sauppe</editor></bibl>.</p><p>Among the separate editions, the following deserve to be mentioned--that of <bibl>J.
          Taylor (Cambridge, 1743, 8vo., where it is printed together with Demosthenes' speech
          against Meidias)</bibl>, <bibl>C. F. Heinrich (Bonn, 1821, 8vo.)</bibl>, <bibl>G. Pinzger
          (Leipzig, 1824, 8vo., with a learned introduction, notes, and a German
         translation)</bibl>, <bibl>A. G. Becker (Magdeburg, 1821, 8vo.)</bibl></p><p>The best editions are those of <bibl>Baiter and Sauppe (Turici, 1834, 8vo.)</bibl>, and
          <bibl>E. Maetzner (Berlin, 1836, 8vo.).</bibl></p></div></div></div><div><head>Further Information</head><p>Compare G. A. Blume, <hi rend="ital">Narratio de Lycurgo Oratore,</hi> Potsdam, 11134,
       4to.; A. F. Nissen, <hi rend="ital">De Lycurgi Oratoris Vita et Rebus Gestis
        Dissertatio,</hi> Kiel, 1833, 8vo. </p></div><byline>[<ref target="author.L.S">L.S</ref>]</byline></div></div></body></text></TEI>
                </passage>
            </reply>
            </GetPassage>