Decasmus

Decasmus


(δεκασμός) Bribery; strictly meaning a systematic bribery by division into sets of ten. There were two actions for bribery at Athens—one, called δεκασμοῦ γραφή, lay against the person who gave the bribe; and the other, called δώρων or δωροδοκίας γραφή, against the person who received it (Pollux, viii. 42). These actions applied to the bribery of citizens in the public assemblies of the people, of the Heliaea or any of the courts of justice, of the βουλή, and of the public advocates (συνηγόροι). Demosthenes, indeed, says that orators were forbidden by the law, not merely to abstain from receiving gifts for the injury of the State, but even to receive any present at all.

Actions for bribery were under the jurisdiction of the thesmothetae. The punishment on conviction was death (Isocr. De Pace. 50) or payment of ten times the value of the gift received (Dinarch. c. Demosth. 60). An additional punishment (προστίμημα) might be inflicted by the court; as in the case of Demosthenes, who was not only fined fifty talents, but thrown into prison ( Demosth. 26).

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