The Many Facets of Hybris in Demosthenes' against Meidias

Author(s): Galen O. Rowe

Source: The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 114, No. 3 (Autumn, 1993), pp. 397-406
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
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 THE MANY FACETS OF HYBRIS
IN DEMOSTHENES' AGAINST MEIDIAS

Friedrich Blass, who had a remarkable facility for discerning the

stylistic individuality of Demosthenes' separate orations, called atten-
tion to the extraordinary number of pleonasms and recurrences (Hdu-
fungen und Wiederholungen)in the speech against Meidias (Oration 29).
Although both stylistic techniques appear frequently throughout the
Demosthenic corpus, in Against Meidias they are, to use Blass's expres-
sion, "countless" (unzahlig).' As interesting as their frequency, more-
over, is the manner in which Demosthenes has combined them to pro-
duce what will be called "recurrent hybris clusters." In the following
remarks I intend (1) to describe the different functions of recurrence in
Demosthenes' orations, (2) to identify the recurrent hybris clusters by
their components and locations in the speech, and (3) to account for the
importance of the clusters to Demosthenes' persuasive purpose.
Although in any text recurrence ipso facto serves the purpose of
emphasis, with Demosthenes it takes different forms in different ora-
tions. In some, such as Against Androtion and Against Leptines, the
technique enables Demosthenes to carry along and to elaborate previ-
ously introduced themes, giving a sense of the entire message at any
point in the speech.2 Other orations reveal the use of recurrent imagery
to establish a pervasive tone or mood. In the oration On the Crown
recurrent imagery establishes a tragic versus comic dichotomy; and in
the First Philippic it develops into a satiric portrait of Athens as a mun-
dus perversus, or "topsy-turvy" world.3 The speech against Meidias,
instead of reiterating themes or images, uses clusters of recurrent
words-words that tend to be abstract, have strongly moral and ethical
meanings, and are semantically related to each other.
The single most important recurrence in the speech is the root of
hybris in its various grammatical forms and parts of speech. In fact
hybris, to use the noun for every manifestation of the root, occurs in the
speech 131 times, as opposed to 274 times in the entire Demosthenic
corpus and 170 times in all the other Greek orators. The word appears,

'Attische Beredsamkeit, III.1 340.

2See Kennedy, Art of Persuasion 222.
3See Rowe, "Portrait of Aeschines," and "First Philippic."
American Journal of Philology 114 (1993) 397-406 ? 1993 by The Johns Hopkins University Press

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398 GALEN O. ROWE

often more than once, in 96 of the 227 sections of the speech (a section
averages about seven lines in an Oxford Classical Text) and is rarely
(nine times) separated from its next appearance by more than five sec-
tions. The largest separation between the word's appearance is twelve
sections, which occurs once. In general one may say that the first half of
the speech has the greatest frequency of instances, although the differ-
ence in frequency between the first and second halves is only about 15
percent. The purpose of mentioning these figures is simply to establish
that instances of hybris are pervasive and hence indicate the importance
not only of the word itself but also of the technique of recurrence as a
stylistic feature of the oration.
Repeatedly throughout the speech Demosthenes combines with
hybris one or more words which seem to be synonymous or in some
other way related in meaning. These combinations bear the rhetorical
designation of pleonasm;4 however, I use the term "hybris cluster" to
distinguish them from the many other examples of pleonasm to be
found in the speech. Section 19 offers an example of a hybris cluster:

These, men of Athens, are the licentious acts that he inflicted upon me
and my tribesmen and the wrongs that he committed during the festival
for which I brought him before the assembly. There are many other deeds
and I shall shortly tell you as many of them as I can. I can talk about the
abundance of the rest of his worthlessness, his acts ofhybris against many
of you, and the effronteries, many and strange, of this impious man. As a
result of them many of his victims, intimidated by him and by his audacity
and by his associates and by his wealth and by all his other assets, kept
silent; but some tried to get justice and failed; and there were those who
reconciled themselves to him, probably thinking it the expedient thing
to do.

4Lausberg, Handbuch 250, prefers the Latin term, adiectio, to "pleonasm," ap-
parently because Quintilian uses the latter to designate the misapplication (vitium) of the
technique; but Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Dem. 50 and 58) uses "pleonasm" in a man-
ner that is appropriate to the hybris clusters-as a manifestation of Demosthenic fullness
(cf. Wooten, "Style of Demosthenes," 580-81). Pleonasm (or adiectio) is a broader ex-
pression of fullness than other terms, such as "synonymity," insofar as it (1) consists of
semantically related but not necessarily synonymous words and (2) presents these related
words in both coordinate and subordinate positions (Lausberg 336). Both are typical
characteristics of hybris clusters. I am indebted to Wooten for calling my attention to
passages in Quintilian (6.1.17 and 6.2.24) and Hermogenes (Id. 1.11, p. 281 Rabe) which
focus on Demosthenes' fullness in the Meidias speech.

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 FACETS OF HYBRIS IN AGAINST MEIDIAS 399

The italicized words describe Meidias' behavior and character. As they

individually designate the motives, qualities, and effects of his action,
they are semantically related to the specific legal offense (a6ixrcta)
hybris, with which Demosthenes charges him; however, it is the distinc-
tive nuances of the individual words that are as important as their col-
lective similarity to each other and to the main word, hybris.5 As differ-
ent aspects-or facets-of hybris, they clarify, enrich, and expand the
meaning of a word that by itself would tend to be ambiguous and color-
less (see Appendix 1).
The facets can be classified according to four different semantic
groups. One group characterizes Meidias' hybris as a violation of hu-
man or divine law. It contains the roots ab&x(wrong), aoeFp(impious),
aaoky (licentious), axTLL (dishonorable), and [tLag (religiously polluted).
A second group, consisting of avaib (shameless), 00ao (audacious),
jXov (wealthy), ToX[t (effrontery), vejgqrva (arrogant), and owi (sav-
age), portrays the character of Meidias as perpetrator. A third group
stresses the quality of the offense as P3&Xv^ (disgusting), xax (base),
and noviQ (worthless). The final group, with the word roots p3(a) (vio-
lent), ein9Q (abusive), ntQonqkax(contumacious; lit., "to trample in the
mud"), and vTJT (beat), describes the act itself and gives particular
emphasis to its violent and physical aspect.
The clusters also contain words describing and qualifying Mei-
dias' hybris, some of which, though not recurrent,6 are synonyms or
periphrases for the recurrent facet words-for example, eovoolag (138)
and XQil,Tax'EovTeg (124) for the facet jiXov (see Appendix 2). Taking
these words into account would create additional clusters and expand
several of those already identified, giving them at the same time the
kaleidoscopic effect that is characteristic of Demosthenic recurrence.
As a result the reader experiences an undefinable sense of dejd vu com-
bined with that which is somehow fresh and different.
It is interesting that several of the Greek orators express hybris in

5In technical terms, in an action of probole, the charge against Meidias was aiL-
"to commit a crime regarding the festival" (cf. MacDowell, Meidias
xelv JCEQiTTiVEOQITTv,
14 and 16); however, as an explanation of Meidias' crime, that merely begs the question.
Demosthenes has clearly stated that all Meidias' misdeeds are a matter of hybris. Cf. 34,
javO9' 6o' 6IX,x1xeV Up[i3(oag 4atcvTaiL; and 38, Eti j6vTcov
T JTonQfQTjVO;g t'
aLveazcx
UfPQLELV.
6To qualify as "recurrent" a facet word must occur in at least three clusters with
hybris (at least once) and with other facet words apart from hybris (at least once).

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400 GALEN O. ROWE

pleonastic form;7 however, Demosthenes' hybris clusters differ from

those of the others in size and frequency of recurrence. In the speech
against Meidias eighteen word roots (facets) appear recurrently and in
clusters with hybris and with each other (see Appendix 1). Of the nine-
teen (including hybris), as many as eight appear in a single cluster; and
four to six are not uncommon. The other orators seldom use more than
three facets per cluster. With regard to frequency, one can identify
in Demosthenes' speech sixty-two clusters distributed rather evenly
from beginning to end.8 Nothing comparable to this frequency exists
elsewhere in the Demosthenic corpus or in the other Greek orators'
speeches. It therefore appears that Demosthenes in his use of clusters
has adopted and exceedingly elaborated a common, perhaps colloquial,
means of expressing the idea of hybris.9
The problem, in the speech, of the meaning of the charge against
Meidias may explain the importance of the hybris clusters to Demosthe-
nes' persuasive purpose. The law, which Demosthenes quotes in sec-
tion 47, simply identifies hybris as an offense against another person but
does not describe it. What seems especially problematic about the word
is that it conveys not a simple meaning but a complex of related aspects,
or facets, pertaining to the motives and character of the perpetrator and
to the effects that the act has upon its victim and upon those who
observe it.10 A further complication presents itself in the difficulty of
describing to anyone who was not present the depths of humiliation felt

7Aeschin. Tim. 188-89; And. Alcib. 21-22; Demad. fr. 48; Is. Dicaeo. 11; Isoc.
Lochit. 16-17; Lys. Cripple 15.
81 have not found any universally valid criteria for demarcating the clusters from
each other. The criteria that come readily to mind, such as separation by punctuation and/
or number of lines, are accidents of modern editing. There are twelve instances, involving
29 clusters, in which separate clusters are identified in contiguous sections of the OCT. If
the 29 clusters were consolidated into twelve, the total number (45) of clusters would still
be impressive; however, this consolidation in most cases would not accord with Demos-
thenes' meaning and rhetorical intention. It is, of course, equally possible to argue for a
greater, rather than a smaller, number of clusters.
9Theon (Progymn. 63.27) states that Demosthenes in the speech against Meidias
adapted material from the speeches regarding hybris that were written by Lysias, Lycur-
gus, and Isaeus. Perhaps the borrowed material included hybris clusters. Weil, Plaidoyers
politiques 103 n. 2, believed that Lycurgus' name appears in Theon's statement only
because of a scribal error. Despite this indication of a possible literary influence for
Demosthenes' hybris clusters, the tendency to express the idea of hybris with more than
one word could have been a colloquial practice.
0Cf. MacDowell, Meidias 18-23, and "Hybris."

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 FACETSOF HYBRISIN AGAINSTMEIDIAS 401

by the victim and of depravity exhibited by the perpetrator in an act of

hybris (see 72), a crime that could leave no visible effects-no loss of
life or property and no permanent physical incapacity. The challenge to
the accuser, therefore, was to establish and to maintain a definition of
hybris that encompassed its most important facets; to illustrate and to
carry along in the course of the speech these several facets; to make
them appear, individually and collectively, as a serious threat to the
state; and to associate them inseparably with the ethos of the perpetra-
tor, as not merely a personal adversary but more importantly a public
menace. The recurrent hybris clusters constitute Demosthenes' re-
sponse to the challenge."

GALEN O. ROWE
UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Blass, Friedrich.Die attischeBeredsamkeit.3 vols. Leipzig: Teubner,1893.

Butcher,S. H., ed. DemosthenisOrationes.Vol. II.1. Oxford:ClarendonPress,
1907.
Kennedy,George. TheArt of Persuasionin Greece. Princeton:PrincetonUni-
versity Press, 1963.
Lausberg,Heinrich.HandbuchderliterarischenRhetorik.2 vols. Munich:Hue-
ber, 1960.
MacDowell,Douglas M. "Hybrisin Athens."G&R23 (1976)14-31.
, ed. Demosthenes,Against Meidias. Oxford: ClarendonPress, 1990.
Rowe, Galen. "Demosthenes' First Philippic:The Satiric Mode." TAPA99
(1968)361-74.
. "The Portraitof Aeschines in the Orationon the Crown."TAPA97
(1966)397-406.
Weil,Henri, ed. Lesplaidoyerspolitiquesde Demosthene.Paris, 1883.Reprinted
Hildesheim:Olms, 1974.
Wooten, Cecil. "Dionysiusof Halicarnassusand Hermogeneson the Style of
Demosthenes."AJP 110(1989)576-88.

1I thank the Department of Classics of the University of North Carolina at Chapel

Hill for its gracious and stimulating hospitality in the fall of 1989, while I conducted the
research for this study.

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402 GALEN O. ROWE

APPENDIX 1
HYBRIS CLUSTERS IN DEMOSTHENES' AGAINST MEIDIAS
Facets (instances

QJ
Cluster l
^_- v
Locationa C D x
1.1-7 1 1 1
2.3-12 I 1 1
6.1-7.7 I
9.5-10.2 I I
14.5-15.5 2
19.1-20.3 1 1 1
23.2-3 I
27.2-5 1 1
31.2-32.6 1 2
33.7-34.3 2
45.1-46.7 2 2
51.2-3 1
55.7-9 I
56.6-57.6 1 1
58.5 1
61.10
62.3-4 1
66.8-10 1
67.7-8 1
68.6
69.5 1 1
72.2-9 1
76.5-6 I
77.3 I 1
81.6-82.4 1 I
83.2-5
88.6-7 1
91.1-2 1 1
92.7-9 1
96.2
97.1-98.9 I 1 1
aReferences are to section and lines of the OCT, ed. Butcher.
bTo qualify as a facet, a word root must (1) occur in at least three clusters, (2)
appear in at least one cluster with hybris, (3) appear in at least one cluster without hybris,
(4) directly or indirectly refer to Meidias, and (5) be semantically related to hybris.

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 FACETS OF HYBRIS IN AGAINST MEIDIAS 403

per cluster)b
x
?
?
<g. -9-
Q P. 0 o ifferent
Different Total
Total
P$ ..Q$, 9
1.4x oi a,~00 <
e_ et et - a Facetsc Facetsd
2 4 5
3 3
5 2 6
1 3 3
1 2 3
1 1 1 1 1 8 8
1 3 3
2 2
4 3 7
2 2 4
4 3 8
1 2 2
1 2 2
1 3 3
1 2 2
1 1 2 2
1 2 2
1 1 3 3
1 1 3 3
1 1 2 2
2 2
1 2 3 4 7
1 2 2
2 2
2 3 4
1 1 2 2
1 2 2
2 2
2 2 3
1 1 2 2
I 3 1 6 8
cNumberof differentfacets containedin the same cluster.
dTotalnumberof facets, includingthose appearingmore than once, in the same
cluster.
Table continues on following page.

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404 GALEN O. ROWE

APPENDIX 1 (cont'd)
HYBRIS CLUSTERS IN DEMOSTHENES' AGAINST MEIDIAS
Facets (instances

Cluster x l w . C x
Locationa sC t c_ c w x

99.9-100.4 1 1
104.2-6 1 2
105.2-9 1 1
106.9-107.2 1 1
109.2-8 2 1 1
114.1 1
117.1-2 1
123.8-124.3 1 I
126.2-8 3 1
128.2-4 1 I 1
130.6-7 1 1
131.4-9
132.9 1
135.4-5
137.2-138.4 1 2
143.4-8 I
148.4-5 1
151.1 1 1
172.2 1
174.9
183.4-9 1
185.4 1
186.6 1 1
189.6-10 1
194.1-195.8 1 1 1
197.1-199.5 1 1
201.5-6 1 1
204.1-9 3
211.2-212.1
217.4-5 1 1
219.1-220.3 1 1

aReferences are to section and lines of the OCT, ed. Butcher.

bTo qualify as a facet, a word root must (1) occur in at least three clusters, (2)
appear in at least one cluster with hybris, (3) appear in at least one cluster without hybris,
(4) directly or indirectly refer to Meidias, and (5) be semantically related to hybris.

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 FACETS OF HYBRIS IN AGAINST MEIDIAS 405

per cluster)b
X ?

P. ,- V QJ ? Different Total
.e e et - p 3 Facetsc Facetsd
2 3 4
1 3 4
1 3 3
2 3 4
1 1 1 1 7 8
1 2 2
2 2
1 3 3
2 3 6
1 4 4
1 3
1 1 2 2
1 2 2
1 1 2 2
1 1 2 1 7 9
I 2 3 4
1 1 3 3
I 3 3
1 2 2
1 1 2 2
1 2 3 4
1 2 2
2 2
1 2 2
1 1 1 1 1 8 8
1 1 4 4
1 4 4
1 2 3 6
1 2 2 3
2 3 4
1 1 1 5 5
cNumberof differentfacets containedin the same cluster.
dTotalnumberof facets, includingthose appearingmore than once, in the same
cluster.

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406 GALEN O. ROWE

APPENDIX 2
NONRECURRENT SYNONYMS/PERIPHRASES
Recurrent
Facet NonrecurrentSynonym/Periphrasis
a6Lx JTaQavevorlx0gc; (9)
JraotQ.jUCVTrg TOVg vO6LOUg(57)
TOU(atVEQwOg TOV5giRETEQOVg VO'6OVg E)' i5U3QEl
jroTQa vovTog
(92)
E:rjTQ? EiLP3ovuXEu6oivog,EitEoU0XEuVEv(126)
Eka(131)
OeQao oV6i xaoXTO6v (2)
JTnvav UJTOoTS.EJIJTLV
xali TQ@lod.(114)
[tlaQ 0?oigiEXOov (197)
nkov ooOiaSg(2)
&courldv(98)
nxQLovo(tLa (110)
XQCicta'EXovrTg(124)
&qoQdlv (137)
Eiovoicag (138)
TUVJTT JTXrlyg Vrn'avcTOOXkao36v(1)
7XTklyg ?inl4)g (6)
ovyxo&ag (57)
t86?IO tT XT
ooalCrog0 1QeT?keV)C6v &rUoX0)(oOaLtaov (69)
xov6UootL (72)
oix E0kBeLgEXElvjrnaQaoecamU TO)XciQE(204)
itE,aifoe (219)
v7Ge8QTJ TOVg6? xa0CdlQtlaT, To;g 6' o%6'
ITOo)gLEVJTTWOXOU;,
avO0Q6couvgjoXto[a6pvov (185)
TO'U xaO06QataTa xal JITcoXoLxai o06'
xal JravTe;gE?CTLL
av0QWnoL(198)
xail jTWXo'Xu;
n:ToxactX (211)
wC[ oayv[otovca(97)
TO:V [T]6V' EkeoUVTOrV (100)
T(OVd&VyyvoLov6wv (100)

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