Lysias (d. ca. 380 BC), Attic orator, was born, according to . The Olympiacus (388 BC) is a brilliant fragment, expressing the spirit of the festival at Olympia, and exhorting Greeks to unite against their common foes. The Plea for the Constitution (403 BC) is interesting for the manner in which it argues that the well-being of Athens--now stripped of empire--is bound up with the maintenance of democratic principles. The speech For Mantitheus (392 BC) is a graceful and animated portrait, of a young Athenian iirirthr, making a spirited defence of his honor against the charge of disloyalty. The defence For the Invalid is a humorous character-sketch, The speech Against Pancleon illustrates the intimate relations between Athens and Plataea, while it gives us some picturesque glimpses of Athenian town life. The defence of the person who had, been charged with destroying a mona, or sacred olive, places us amidst the country life of Attica. And the speech Against Theomnestus deserves attention for its curious evidence of the way in which the ordinary vocabulary of Athens had changed between 600 and 400 BC.

All manuscripts of Lysias yet collated have been derived, as H Sauppe first showed, from the Codex Palatinus X. (Heidelberg). The next most valuable manuscript is the Laurentianus C (15th century), which Immanuel Bekker chiefly followed. Speaking generally, we may say that these two manuscripts are the only two which carry much weight where the text is seriously corrupt. In Oratt. i.-ix. Bekker, occasionally consulted eleven other manuscripts, most of which contain only the above nine speeches: viz., Marciani F, G, I, K (Venice); Laurentiani D, E (Florence); Vaticani M, N; Parisini U, V; Urbinas O.

The Orations of Lysias

Bibliography

Editio princeps, Aldus (Venice, 1513); by Immanuel Bekker (1823) and WS Dobson (1828) in Oratores Attici; C Scheibe (1852) and T Thalheim (1901, Teubner series, with bibliography); CG Cobet (4th ed., by JJ Hartman, 1905); with variorum notes, by JJ Reiske (1772). Editions of select speeches by JH Bremi (1845); R Rauchenstein (1848, revised by C Fuhr, 1880-1881); H Frohberger (1866-1871); H van Her~verderi (1863); A Weidner (1888); ES Shuckburgh (1882); A Westermann and W Binder (1887-1890); GP Bristol (1892), MH Morgan (1895), CD Adams (1905), all three published in America. There is a special; lexicon to Lysias by DH Holmes (Bonn, 1895). See also Jebb's Attic Orators (1893) and Selections from the Attic Orators (2nd ed).

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This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.

Lysias National Museum Naples

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