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AREIOPAGUS.
just decisions. The process was as follows: — The king archon (Pollux, viii. 90) brought the case into court, and sat as one of the judges, who were assembled in the open air, probably to guard against any contamination from the criminal. (An-tiphon, De Caede Herod, p. ISO; D-enu e. Arist. L c.; Pollux, viii. 33.) The accuser, who was said c-is "Apeiov Trayov eTntnc^TTTetj/, first came forward to make a solemn oath (5j«jWo<ria) that his accusation was true, standing over the slaughtered victims, and imprecating extirpation upon himself and his whole family, were it not so. The accused then denied the charge with the same solemnity and form of oath. Each party then stated his case with all possible plainness, keeping strictly to the subject, and not- being allowed to appeal in any way to the feelings or passions of the judges (TTpooi/AidfccrOai ovk e^v oiiSe oiKTifecrdai. Aristot. Met. i. 1 ; Pollux, viii. 117.) After the first speech (/-tera rbz/ TrpSrepoi* 6yov a criminal accused of murder might remove from Athens, and thus avoid the capital punishment fixed by Draco‘s 0ecr/x,ot, which on this point were still in force. Except in cases of parricide, neither the accuser nor the court had power to prevent this; but the party who thus evaded the extreme punishment was not allowed to return home (tyevyei aet<|>vyiaz>), and when any decree was passed at Athens to legalise the return of exiles, an exception was always made against those who had thus left their country (ot e| ‘A/>eiou irdyov (^euyoyres). See Plato, Leges, ix. 11.
The reputation of the Areiopagus as a criminal court was of long continuance, as we may learn from an anecdote of Aulus Gellius, who tells us (xii. 7) that C. Dolabella, proconsul of the Roman province of Asia, referred a case which perplexed himself and his council to the Areiopagus {lit ad judices graviores eyercitatioresque); they ingeniously settled the matter by ordering the parties to appear that day 100 years (centesimo anno adcsse). They existed in nani", indeed, till a very late period. Thus we find Cicero mentions the council in his letters (Ad Fam. xiii. 1 ; Ad Att. i. 14, v. 11); and under the emperors Gratian Jind Theodosius (a. d* 380), ‘Povfyios 4>7}<rros is called proconsul of Greece, and an Areiopagite. (Meursius, Areiop.)
Of the respectability and moral worth of the council, and the respect that was paid to it, we have abundant proof in the writings of the Athenian orators, where, indeed, it would be difficult to find it mentioned except in terms of praise. Thus Lysias speaks of it as most righteous and venerable (c. A ndoc. p. 104 ; compare Aesch. c. Timar. 12 ; Isocr. Areiop. 148) ; and so great was the respect paid to its members, that it was considered rude in the demus laughing in their presence, while one of them was making an address to the assembly on a subject they had been deputed to investigate. This respect might, of course, facilitate the resumption of some of their lost power, more especially as they were sometimes intrusted with inquiries on behalf of the state, as on the occasion to which we have just alluded, when they were made a sort of commissioners, to inquire into the state of the buildings about the Pnyx, and decide upon the adoption or rejection of some proposed alterations, Isocrates, indeed, even in his time, when the previous inquiry or had fallen into disuse, speaks well of
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ARGEI.
their moral influence ; but shortly after the age of Demetrius Phalereus, a change had taken place; they had lost much of their respectability, and were’but ill fitted to enforce a conduct in others which they did not observe themselves. (Athen. iv. p. 167.)
The case of St. Paul (Act. xvii. 22.) is generally quoted as an instance of their authority in religious matters; but the words of the sacred historian do not necessarily imply that he was brought before the council. It may, however, be remarked, that they certainly took cognizance of the introduction of new and unauthorized forms of religious worship, called eVi0eT« /epa, in contradistinction to the Trdrpia or older rites of the state. (Harpocrat. s. vv. ”EiriOeroi ‘Eoprai; Schb’mann, De Comitiis, p. 286. transl.) There was also a tradition that Plato was deterred from mentioning the name of Moses as a teacher of the unity of the Godhead, by his fear of the Areiopagus. (Justin Martyr, Cohor.ad Graec. p. 22.)
With respect to the number of the Areiopagus in its original form, a point of no great moment, there are various accounts; but it is plain that there could have been no fixed number when the archons became members of this. body at the ex piration of their year of office. Lysias, indeed, speaks of them (Heplrov Sr?KoO, pp. 110, 111 ; see Aryum. Orat. c. Awirot.) as forming a part of the Areiopagus even during that time; a statem nt which can only be reconciled with the general opinion on the subject, by supposing that they formed a part of the council during their }rear of office, but were not permanent members till the end of that time, and after passing a satisfactory examination. [R. W.J
ARENA. [amphitheatrum.]
ARETALOGI, a class of persons whose conversation foror,ed one of the entertainments of the Roman dinner-tables, (Suet. Oduv. 74.) The word literally signifies persons ivlto discourse about virtue ; and the class of persons intended seem to have been poor philosophers, chiefly of the Cynic and Stoic sects, who, unable to gain a living by their public lectures, obtained a maintenance at the tables of the rich by their philosophical conversation. Such a life would naturally degenerate into that of the parasite and buffoon ; and accordingly we find these persons spoken of contemptuously by Juvenal, who uses the phrase mendace aretalogus : they became a sort of scurrae. (Juv. Sat. xv. 15, 16; comp. Casaubon. ad Suet. L c. ; and Ruperti and Heinrieh, ad Juv. L c.) [P. S.]
ARGEI. We learn from Livy (i. 22) that Numa consecrated places for the celebration of religious services, which were called by the ponti-fices " argei." Varro calls them the chapels of the argei, and says they were twenty-seven in number, distributed in the different districts of the city. We know but little of the particular uses to which they were applied, and that little is unimportant. Thus we are told that they were solemnly visited on the Liberalia, or festival of Bacchus; and also, that whenever the flamen dialis went (wit) to them, he was to adhere to certain observances. They seem also to have been the depositaries of topographical records. Thus we read in Varro,—In sacreis Argeorum scriptum est sie: Oppms mons princeps, &c., which is followed by a description of the neighbourhood. There was a tradition that these argei were named from the chieftains who came with Hercules, the Argive,
