Meta Description: Join Ad Navseam Ep. 217 as Dr. David Noe and Dr. Jeff Winkle explore the fascinating life of Lysias, Attic oratory, and the dramatic Murder of Eratosthenes.
Welcome back, classical gourmands, to episode 217 of the Ad Navseam podcast! Prepare to get your fill with another delectable discussion of Greco-Roman civilization, tracing the profound depths of antiquitas from the ancient Minoans and Mycenaeans straight through the Renaissance to the present day.
Broadcasting directly from Parnassus Vomitorium Central—affectionately rebranded this week as “Spider Central”—your devoted hosts return to the microphones. Dr. David C. Noe is in high spirits, thrilled that the deluvian rains have finally ceased and spring has arrived. Meanwhile, Dr. Jeffrey T. Winkle is trapped indoors, buried under a mountain of “Blue Bookery” (grading exams) as he pushes through the final week of the semester.
And, Jeff has a bone to pick with one of the forty-eight contiguous states: South Dakota. While reviewing the podcast’s download analytics, he discovered that the top three listener states are California, Illinois, and their home state of Michigan. Shockingly, while even the least populous state of Wyoming registers downloads, South Dakota has an all-time total of zero.
How can a state boasting Mount Rushmore and the Badlands entirely ignore the classics? Dave suggests a road trip to Pierre, South Dakota, simply to download an episode and return, ensuring the map is finally covered before they go “Crazy Hoarse” over the statistics.
Shout-Outs and Marital Advice
This week’s listener shout-out goes to Titus Alexander (a phenomenally Greco-Roman name!), a senior at Patrick Henry College. Titus is graduating with a degree in classical liberal arts before starting an online bachelor’s in accounting at Franklin University. As the hosts note, Titus is perfectly following the advice of the famous economist Nassim Nicholas Taleb: study something incredibly old and “useless” (like Latin and Greek) to enrich your soul, and then study something highly practical (like accounting) to put bread on the table!
Titus is also moving to Missouri to get married, and he asks the hosts for marital advice. Jeff offers a highly practical rule: “Never take the last of anything” (with a minor exception if the item is rotting). Dave adds his own hard-earned wisdom: “If you ever start a podcast, don’t insist that your wife listen to it.”
Introducing Lysias: The Wealthy Metic
Turning to the main course, Jeff introduces the topic with a quote from classical scholar H.J. Rose regarding the great orator Lysias. Born to Cephalos, an immigrant from Syracuse, Lysias lived in the port city of the Piraeus as a metic (a resident alien). The family’s immense wealth and high social standing are best evidenced by Plato’s Republic, which opens with a sympathetic portrait of Cephalos chatting with Socrates.
As metics, the family lacked full Athenian voting rights but paid taxes and were expected to perform civic duties like serving as a choragos. A choragos was an incredibly wealthy individual tapped by the city to fund the dramatic performances at the Dionysia. As Jeff jokes, they had to pay for everything: the snacks, the lodging for the theater kids, the lawyers when the talent fought, and the ancient equivalent of auto-tune!
Lysias is celebrated as one of the ten canonical Attic Orators. Unlike the florid, wordy, and highly decorated prose of Demosthenes or Cicero, Lysias was the master of the “plain style.” He was the Cormac McCarthy of ancient speechwriting—clear, direct, and stripped of unnecessary verbal fireworks.
The Thirty Tyrants and the Extortion of Peison
To understand Lysias, one must understand his tragedy. In 404 BC, Athens lost the Peloponnesian War, and Sparta installed a ruthless, pro-Spartan oligarchy known as the Thirty Tyrants. The city was broke, so the Thirty decided to replenish their coffers by targeting wealthy metics. Much like the proscriptions of the late Roman Republic, the Tyrants used political pretexts to murder men and confiscate their estates.
This brings us to Lysias’s most famous surviving work: Speech 12: Against Eratosthenes. This speech was not a murder trial for Eratosthenes; rather, it was Lysias’s attempt to revoke Eratosthenes’s amnesty and secure revenge for the murder of his brother, Polemarchos.
Reading directly from the Greek text (translated in the Hackett edition by Wolpert and Kapparis), Dave and Jeff explore the harrowing narrative. Lysias recounts how the Tyrants behaved like sycophants (a mysterious Greek word literally meaning “fig-showers,” which Dave
theorizes might mean bringing out the dessert too early to impress guests).
When the Tyrant Peison arrived at Lysias’s house, Lysias attempted to bribe him with a massive sum: a talent of silver (roughly ten years’ wages for an ordinary citizen). Peison swore an oath to spare him. But when Lysias opened his chest, Peison saw the true hoard: three talents of silver, 400 Cyzicenes, 100 darics, and four silver cups. Peison confiscated absolutely everything, refusing to leave Lysias even enough pocket change for travel fare.
While Lysias narrowly escaped, other Tyrants, including Melobius and Mnesitheides, arrested his brother Polemarchos, who was summarily executed.
Law & Order in the Athenian Court
In one of the most gripping sections of the speech, Lysias calls Eratosthenes to the podium for a rapid-fire cross-examination that feels entirely modern. Taking on the roles of the prosecutor and the defendant, Dave and Jeff read the exchange.
Lysias demands: “Did you or did you not arrest Polemarchos?” Eratosthenes relies on the classic Nuremberg defense: “I did what the rulers commanded out of fear… I spoke against it in order that you not be killed.”
Lysias brilliantly undercuts this defense. He points out the utter absurdity of claiming to be a “good man” who opposed the execution in committee, yet willingly carried out the physical arrest when he alone had the power to let Polemarchos go. As Jeff notes, Lysias corners Eratosthenes, demanding that the tyrant finally “face the music” and pay the penalty (diken dounai).
In the powerful peroration (conclusion), Lysias does not just appeal to abstract law; he appeals to the physical devastation of the city. He gestures to the polluted temples and the demolished dockyards, reminding the jury that the dead are watching their verdict. If the jury acquits Eratosthenes, they are condemning the victims all over again.
The Legacy of a Logographer
We do not know the verdict of this trial, nor if the speech was even delivered in a physical courtroom. Rose’s commentary suggests it did not achieve its end, and Lysias’s brief grant of citizenship was revoked.
Forced to support himself, Lysias became a highly successful logographer (professional speechwriter). He mastered the art of ethopoeia—the ability to perfectly capture the character of his clients, making the speeches sound natural and honest rather than slick and professional. According to Plutarch, there were over 400 speeches attributed to Lysias in antiquity. He became so wealthy that the orator Demosthenes later snidely noted Lysias could afford the most exclusive Corinthian courtesans.
Sponsors and Support
Before closing the doors of the vomitorium, the hosts extend a massive thank you to the sponsors keeping the Ad Navseam podcast fully operational!
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- Hackett Publishing: For decades, Hackett has produced affordable, highly readable, and attractive academic texts, including the Legal Speeches of Democratic Athens anthology used in today’s episode. Build your library of historia Romana and Greek history at hackettpublishing.com and use code AN2026 for a spectacular 20% off your entire order plus free shipping.
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If you are eager to bypass translations and read these texts directly, head over to latinperdiem.com. Dr. Noe will guide you from neophyte to erudite using the Moss Method for Greek (featuring 4 modules, hand-graded homework, and exams) or through advanced Latin masterclasses. In honor of Rome’s birthday (April 21), search the site for a special coupon to get 20% off any Latin course, or use the standard code 10PLUS for 10% off your entire order!
Do not forget to write to the hosts with your thoughts, questions, or Corrigenda (Will and Ron, take note!). Email dave@adnavseam.com or jeff@adnavseam.com. Remember, there is a “V” in Navseam!
Credits & Gustatory Parting Shot
A huge thank you goes out to our “distant” audio wizard, Mishka, for expertly editing the show, and to the incredibly talented Jeff Scheetz for his rock-infused tracks, Thrillseeker and Rush Hour.
The topic for next week is “TBND” (To Be Nailed Down), so stay tuned!
We leave you today with our Gustatory Parting Shot, pulled from Lysias’s Speech 1: On the Murder of Eratosthenes (sections 22 and 23). Because it mentions eating, it firmly qualifies for the segment:
“As I knew that, arriving in that hour, he would find none of his circle at home, I invited him to dine with me. We came to my house, mounted to the upper room, and had dinner. When he had made a good meal, he left me and departed. Then I went to bed.”
Thanks for reading, and we will catch you next week!
