XE´NIAS GRAPHE
XE´NIAS GRAPHE (
ξενίας
γραφή). This was a prosecution at Athens for unlawfully usurping
the rights of citizenship. As no man could be an Athenian citizen, except by
birth or creation (
φύσει, γένει or
ποιήσει, δωρεᾷ), if one, having
neither of these titles, assumed to act as a citizen, he was liable to a
γραφὴ ξενίας, which any citizen might
institute against him (Lys.
c. Agor. § 60; Isae.
Pyrrh. § 37;--Dem.
c. Boeot. i.
p. 999.18, ii. p. 1020.41;
c. Timoth. p. 1204.66;
c.
Neaer. p. 1363.52, etc.); or he might be proceeded against by
εἰσαγγελία (Dinarch.
c.
Agasicl. cf. Hyper.
pro Eux. 100.19, etc.). If
condemned, his property and person were forfeited to the state, and he was
forthwith to be sold for a slave ([Dem.]
Epist. iii. p.
1481.29; Schol. Dem.
c. Timocr. p. 741, etc.). The judgment,
however, was arrested, if he brought a
δίκη
ψευδομαρτυριῶν against the witnesses who had procured his
conviction, and convicted them of giving false testimony. During such
proceeding he was kept in safe custody to abide the event (Dem.
c.
Timocr. p. 741.131). [MARTYRIA;
Journ. of Philol. vi. p. 15 f.] When a person tried on this
charge was acquitted by means of fraudulent collusion with the prosecutor or
witnesses, or by any species of bribery (Aristotle in
Lex. Rhet.
Cantabr. p. 674:
ἐάν τις δῶρα διδοὺς
ἀποφύγῃ τὴν ξενίαν: cf. Harpocr. s. v.), he wag liable to
be indicted afresh by a
γραφὴ δωροξενίας,
the proceedings in which, and the penalty, were the same as in the
γραφὴ ξενίας. The jurisdiction in these matters
belonged in the time of Demosthenes to the Thesmothetae, but anciently, at
least in the time of Lysias (
de Pecun. publ. § 8),
to the Nautodicae.
In order to prevent fraudulent enrolment in the register of the
δῆμοι, or
ληξιαρχικὸν
γραμματεῖον, which was important evidence of citizenship, the
δημόται themselves were at liberty to
revise their register, and expunge the names of those who had been
improperly admitted. From their decision there was an appeal to a court of
justice, upon which the question to be tried was much the same as in the
γραφὴ ξενίας, and the appellant, if he
obtained a verdict, was restored to the register; but, if judgment was given
against him, was sold for a slave (Dem.
c. Eubul. p. 1317.60
f.; Dionys. Halic.
de Isaeo judic. 16,
καὶ ἐὰν τὸ δεύτερον ἐξελεγχθῶσι, πεπρᾶσθαι αὐτούς,
etc. Busolt,
d. griech. Staats.-u. Rechtsalt. § 157,
in I. Müller's
Handbuch d. klass.
Altertumswissensch., probably misled by
Plut. Per. 37,
ἐπράθησαν οὖν ἁλόντες
ὀλίγῳ πεντακισχιλίων ἐλάττους, says that those whose
names were expunged from the register were sold for slaves; it was only in
case of a person not acquiescing in the verdict of the demotae and appealing
to a court of justice (
ἔφεσις), that, if
judgment there also went against him, he was sold for a slave). [DEMUS; PARENGRAPTOI.] For an example of this, see
the speech of Demosthenes against Eubulides; Isae.
pro
Euphil. (
Att. Process, ed. Lipsius, pp. 95-98,
437-441.) C. R. K.]
[
H.H]
