Lysias was the son of a well-to-do Hellene from Syracuse called Cephalus, who had migrated to Attica at the invitation of Pericles in 450 or thereabouts. It cannot have been long after this that Lysias was born. Though a metic family, Lysias and his household achieved substantial status in Athenian society. That Plato chose their house as the setting for his dialogue Republic, and that Cephalus and his sons were characters in it, was no accident.
Lysias and his brother were two of an elite group of Athenians who left for Athens' new colony of Thurii. Others were Herodotus and Protagoras. Lysias was to remain at Thurii for twenty years, leaving only after the Sicilian catastrophe. On his return to Athens, he and his brothers continued, despite the political situation, to do well financially, by running a shield factory. When the Thirty Tyrants seized power, Lysias' brother was put to death and Lysias himself fled for his life to Megara. Here he was able to assist Thrasybulus and the Athenians in exile in their struggle to restore democracy at Athens, providing them with money and a fair number of shields. Thrasybulus tabled a motion that Lysias should receive the honorary rank of Athenian citizen, but this was rejected and Lysias remained isoteles ('a metic taxed on a par with true citizens') until his death in 380. |
 |
Lysias' putting on trial one of the Thirty Tyrants called Eratosthenes proved to be a turning point in his life. His prosecution speech (Versus Eratosthenes) won him a reputation as a speech-writer, and its text is regarded as one of the best specimens of the art of rhetoric. Thirty-five of his speeches have come down to us whole or in part, and of these thirty are forensic speeches written (with the exception of the 'Versus Eratosthenes') to defend a client. In those speeches which deal with relations between private persons, details of Athenian social life are frequent. This makes Lysias' works one of our best sources for private life in classical Athens.
 |
 |
|
| |
|||
| |||