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On this page: Sylae – Syllogeis – Symbola – Symbolaeon

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SYLAE.

Steph. ; Dem. de Cor. 291 ; Xenoph. Mem. ii. 9. § 4, de Rep. Aih. i. 4.) That the increase of liti­gation and perjury was in some measure owing to the establishment of clubs and political associations and the violence of party spirit, may "be gathered from various passages of the Attic writers. (Thu-cyd. viii. 54 ; Demosth. c. Boeot. de dote., 1010, c. Pantaen. 978, c. Zenotli. 885.)

The Athenian law did indeed provide a remedy against this mischievous class of men. There was a ypatyfy {rvKotyavrias tried before the Thesmothe- tae. Any person who brought a false charge against another, or extorted money by threat of legal proceedings, or suborned false witnesses, or engaged in a conspiracy to ruin the character of an innocent man, was liable to this ypa<p-fj. He might also, be proceeded against by <£a<m, ej>5ei£fs, airaycay^jy TrpoSoX'rj or elffayyeXia. (See articles phasis, &c. ; Aesch. de Fals.Leg. 47, ed. Steph.; Dem. c. Theocr. 1325.) The trial was an ay&v Ti(jw}T6s. The heaviest punishment might be in­ flicted, together with an/Aia and confiscation of property. Besides this, if any man brought a cri­ minal charge against another, and neglected to prosecute it (67re£eA.0€?i'), he was liable to a pe­ nalty of 1000 drachmas, and lost the privilege of instituting a similar proceeding in future, which was considered to be a species of ari/j.ia. (Dem. c. Mid. 548, c. Theocr. 1323.) The same conse­ quence followed, if he failed to obtain a fifth part of the votes at the trial. The eVougeAfa in civil actions was a penalty of the same kind and having the same object: viz., to prevent the abuse of legal process, and check frivolous and unjust ac­ tions. Such were the remedies provided by law, "but they were found inefficacious in practice ; and the words of Aristophanes (Plutus, 885) were not more severe than true : " there is no charm against the bite of a Sycophantes." (See Platner, Proc. und Klag. vol. ii. p. 164 ; Meier,.4#. Proc. p. 335 ; Schomann, Ant. Jur. pub. Gr. pp. 101, 185 ; Pol- lux, viii. 31, 46, 47, 88.) [C.R.K.]

SYLAE (<rDAcu). When a Greek state, or any of its members, had received an injury or insult from some other state or some of its mem­bers, and the former was unwilling, or not in a condition, to declare open war, it was not unusual to give a commission, or grant public authority to individuals to make reprisals. This was called <ruAas, or <rv\a, tii§6mi. (Demosth. c. Lacrit. 931 ; Lysias, c. Nicom. 185, ed. Steph.) Polybius (iv. 26, 36, 53) calls it Xdtyvpov or fivcrta. KarayycX-Aejj/. Thus, when the Lacedaemonians thought the Athenians had broken the treaty with them by making incursions from Pylus, they issued a proclamation that any of their subjects might commit depredations on the Athenians (Mjl'^ecrflai rovs 'AOrjvaiov?, Thucyd. v. 115). Demosthenes (de Coron. Trierarcli. 1232) declares that the deputy captains of triremes so misbehaved them­selves in foreign countries, plundering eve^body they came near, that no Athenian could travel safely &;& ras virb tovtwv aj/SpoA^ias Kal cruAas Karecr-KeuaoTjueVas-, where avSpoXyil/ias refers to the arrest of the person, o"v\as to the seizure of goods. Suidas explains cruAat by the synonym (TuAA^t//ejs. As to cb/SpoATjvJ/uxt for another purpose, see phonos. In the vavriK^] avyypa^ in the speech of Demos­thenes (c. Lacr. 927), one of the conditions is that goods may be landed only ottov Uv /xt; <ruAcu shuts , " where no hostilities are exercised

SYMBOLAEON.

against Athenians." The people of Athens passed a special decree to authorise privateering ; and when any booty was taken by Athenian subjects, they reserved to themselves the right of determin­ing whether it was lawfully taken, whether it ought to be kept or restored, and what should be done with it. (Demosth. c. Timocr. 703 ; Argum. 694, 695.) The ancient practice may be compared with the modern one of granting letters of marque and reprisal. (Harpocr. s. v. ^v\as : Schomann, de Comit. p. 284, Ant. Jur. Pub. Gr. p. 367.) [C.R.K.]

SYLLOGEIS (o-uAAo7€?s), usually called 2uA-Xoyels rov st^ou, or the Collectors of the People, were special commissioners at Athens, who made out a list of the property of the oligarchs previously to its confiscation. (Lex RJiet. p. 304, Bekker.) They formed an ap%^ (Harpocr. s. v. SuAAoyrj), and seem to have been introduced after the dominion of the Thirty Tyrants. It appears from an inscrip­tion that the Syllogeis had to attend to the sacred rites connected with the worship of Athena and the Olympian Zeus, whence Bb'ckh conjectures that they collected or summoned the citizens to certain sacred rites, in which the people were feasted, and that from this circumstance they derived their name : the property of the oligarchs, of which they are said to have made out a list for the purpose of confiscation, may have been applied to these public banquets, since confiscated property was not imfre-quently divided among the citizens. (Corpus Inscr. Graec. No. 99. pp. 137, 138, No. 157. p. 250.)

SYMBOLA. [coena, p. 304, b ; dicastes.]

SYMBOLAEON, SYNALLAGMA, SYN-THE'CE (a-i'yu.goAcuoz', tfwaAAay/xa, ow0^/oj), are all words used to signify a contract, but are dis­tinguishable from one another. iju/^gjAaio// is used of contracts and bargains between private persons, and peculiarly of loans of money. Thus, (Tv^aXtiv els avfipdiroSov is, to lend upon the security of a slave. (Demosth. c. Aphob. 822, c. Zenotli. 884, c. Phorm. 907, c. Timoth. 1185, c. Dionys. 1284.) SwaAAay/xa signifies any matter negotiated or transacted between two or more per­sons, whether a contract or anything else. (De­mosth. c. Onet. 867, 869, c. Timocr. 760.) ^,vv-6-f]Kr] is used of more solemn and important con­tracts, not only of those made between private individuals, but also of treaties and conventions between kings and states. (Thucyd. i. 40, v. 18, viii. 37 ; Xenoph. Hell. vii. 1. § 2 ; Demosth. de Rliod. 199. de Coron. 251, c. Aristog. 774 ; Di-narch. c. Demosth. 101, ed. Steph.)

As to the necessity or advantage of having written agreements between individuals, see syn-grathe. National compacts, on account of their great importance, and the impossibility of other­wise preserving evidence of them, were almost always committed to writing, and commonly in­scribed on pillars or tablets of some durable mate­rial. (Thucyd. v. 23, 47 ; see Aristoph. Acliarn. 727.) Upon a breach, or on the expiration, of the treaty, the pillars were taken down. (Demosth. pro Megalopol. 209.)

For breaches of contract actions were maintain­able at Athens, called ffvfjt,€o\a,i<av (or <T\)vQt\K.u>v} irapa€dffecas of/ecu. (Pollux, vi. 153, viii. 31.) Such actions, it is apprehended, applied only to ex­press contracts, not to obligations eoe delicto, or the aKovffia crvvah^dypara of Aristotle. (Ethic. Nicom. v. 4.) Thus, if I had promised to pay a sum of money by a certain day, and failed to perform that