ASTRATEIAS GRAPHE´
ASTRATEIAS GRAPHE´ (
ἀστρατείας
γραφή). Under this head we may conveniently group the principal
military offences, which at Athens were dealt with by one law. A citizen was
liable to indictment, and, if convicted, to disfranchisement for--1. Failure
to join the army--
ἀστρατείας: 2. Cowardice
in battle--
δειλίας: 3. Desertion of his
post--
λιποταξίου: 4. Desertion from the
army--
λιποστρατίου. Of these terms,
λιποταξίου was that used in the widest
sense, and might include any of the others. Prof. Jebb observes that it does
not appear quite certain whether there was a
γραφὴ
δειλίας distinct from a
γραφὴ
λιποταξίου. In Lysias (
c. Alcib. 1.6) they
appear to be identified; but in the following passages (among others) they
are distinguished:--Andoc.
de Myst. § 73; Aeschin.
in Ctes., § 175; Plato,
Legg.
12.943 D,
ῥιφθέντων in the last passage
being obviously equivalent to
δειλίας
(Jebb,
Att. Or. 1.256 n.). The two speeches of Lysias against
the younger Alcibiades--one
λιποταξίου, the
other
ἀστρατείας--are two separate
indictments for the same offence, that of serving in the cavalry when he was
drawn as a hoplite; an incident highly characteristic of Athenian procedure.
All these actions belonged to the jurisdiction of the strategi: the accuser
was any qualified citizen that chose to come forward (
ὁ βουλόμενος, οἷς ἔξεστι), and the court was composed
of soldiers who had served in the campaign. It has been objected that a
soldier could not also be a dicast: but the trial would naturally come on
after the campaign was over, and the language of Lysias is explicit
(
τοὺς στρατιώτας δικάζειν,
c. Alcib. 1.6;
οὐκ ἐπεξῆλθε μεθ̓
ὑμῶν, § 7; cf. § 15, and the concluding
words of the Second Speech). The taxiarchs and hipparchs, having the duty of
drawing up the military list, would be associated with the strategi in
getting up the case (Demosth.
c. Boeot. de Nom. p. 999.17).
The punishment of
ἀτιμία is regularly
attached to this class of offences (see, besides the passages already
referred to, Aeschin.
Timarch. § 29; Demosth.
Mid. p. 533.58,
Ncaer. p. 1353.27), with,
of course, further penalties for usurping the forfeited rights (Demosth.
c. Timocr. p. 732.103). The question whether confiscation
was not added in some cases, has been noticed under ANAUMACHIOU GRAPHÉ. The
λιποστρατίου γραφὴ must be distinguished from the much more
serious
αὐτομολία, or going over to the
enemy. The latter was not a purely military offence, and so apparently not
tried before the strategi, and was a capital crime [AUTOMOLIAS GRAPHÉ].
[
W.W]
