Page:History of Greece Vol VIII.djvu/262

240 HISTORY OF GREECE, In execution of their design to root out evil-doers, the Thirty first laid hands on some of the most obnoxious politicians under the former democracy ; " men (says Xenophon) whom every one knew to live by making calumnious accusations, called syco- phancy, and who were pronounced in their enmity to the oligar- chical citizens." How far most of these men had been honest or dishonest in their previous political conduct under the democracy, we have no means of determining. But among them were comprised Strombichides and the other democratical officers who had been imprisoned under the information of Agoratus, men whose chief crime consisted in a strenuous and inflexible attach- ment to the democracy. The persons thus seized were brought to trial before the new senate appointed by the Thirty, contrary to the vote of the people, which had decreed that Strombichides and his companions should be tried before a dikastery of two thou- sand citizens. 1 But the dikastery, as well as all the other dem- ocratical institutions, were now abrogated, and no judicial body was left except the newly constituted senate. Even to that sen- ate, though composed of their own partisans, the Thirty did not choose to intrust the trial of the prisoners, with that secrecy of voting which was well known at Athens to be essential to the free and genuine expression of sentiment. Whenever prisoners were tried, the Thirty were themselves present in the senate- house, sitting on the benches previously occupied by the pry- tanes : two tables were placed before them, one signifying con- demnation, the other, acquittal ; and each senator was required to deposit his pebble openly before them, either on one or on the other. 2 It was not merely judgment by the senate, but judgment by the senate under pressure and intimidation by the all-power- ful Thirty. It seems probable that neither any semblance of defence, nor any exculpatory witnesses, were allowed ; but even if such formalities were not wholly dispensed with, it is certain that there was no real trial, and that condemnation was assured beforehand. Among the great numbers whom the Thirty brought before the senate, not a single man was acquitted except the in- former Agoratus, who was brought to trial as an accomplice along with Strombichides and bis companions, but was liberated 1 Lysias cont. Agorat. s. 38. *Lysias cont. Agorat. s. 40.