Between Vengeance and Punishment A study of public prosecution in Classical Athens

古典雅典的公诉是根据法律改革家梭伦介绍的传统进行的。该制度的特点是严重依赖志愿检察官。然而，志愿检察官经常被怀疑为私人目的滥用公共惩罚，雅典人中出现了区分公共和私人领域的强烈倾向。然而，当合法的公共复仇最初被制度化时，所谓的目标是对社区内某些私人的损害赔偿。就损害的个人而言，很难忽视使用公共诉讼的私人方面。有趣的是，表示私人复仇的术语可以适用于公共惩罚：timoria。我认为，当适用于公诉时，这一术语并没有变成合理化和抽象的法律惩罚。通过对法医演讲和《反对梅迪亚斯》一词的分析，我得出了以下结论。首先，即使在公元4世纪，像梭伦一样，公共惩罚仍然依赖于私人复仇情绪的扩大。从4世纪的法庭演讲中，我们可以看到共同复仇的精神。其次，志愿检察官可以通过两种不同的方式使其承诺合法化：一种是作为个人关心犯罪行为的普通公民，另一种是作为官方关注犯罪行为的公民。后一种承诺方式可能是避免被指责为拍马屁的更安全的方式。第三，Demosthenes区分了针对社区内受损害者的公共诉讼和关于城邦政府的其他诉讼。这反映了他有别于城邦国家的公民共同体意识。

Public prosecution in Classical Athens was according to the tradition introduced by the legal reformer Solon. The characteristic of the system was its heavy reliance on volunteer prosecutors. Volunteer prosecutors were often suspected of abusing the public punishment for private purposes, however, and here appears a strong tendency among the Athenians to distinguish between public and private sphere.Nevertheless, when the legal public vengeance was originally institutionalized, the supposed targets were the damages against certain private individuals within the community. So far as it concerned the damaged individuals, it is difficult to dismiss the private aspects in the use of public suits.Interestingly, the very term that denotes the private vengeance could be applied to the public punishment : timoria. I have argued that, when applied to pubic prosecutions, the term has not changed into rationalized and abstract legal punishment. Analyzing the use of the term in the forensic speeches and the Demosthenic "Against Meidias" particularly, I arrived at the following conclusions. Firstly, even in the 4^<th> century, public punishment still relied on the enlargement of private feeling of vengeance as Solon did. We can find the spirit of shared vengeance for public offence in the lawcourt speeches in the 4^<th> century. Secondly, a volunteer prosecutor could legitimize his commitment in two different ways : one as a private citizen who has personal concern with the offense, and the other as a citizen who has official concern with the offense. The latter way of commitment could be the safer way to avoid the reproach as sycophantes. Thirdly, Demosthenes distinguished between public suits for the damaged within community and the others concerning the polis government. This reflect his awareness of civic community distinct from the polis-state.