Anytus

For Anytus could not endure to be ridiculed by Socrates, and so in the first place stirred up against him Aristophanes and his friends;

And no sooner did Anytus visit Heraclea than the people of that town expelled him on that very day.

but some say that it was by Anytus.

And therefore, even if you acquit me now and are not convinced by Anytus, who said that either I ought not to have been brought to trial at all, or since was brought to trial, I must certainly be put to death, adding that if I were acquitted your sons would all be utterly ruined by practicing what I teach—if you should say to me in reply to this:

From among them Meletus attacked me, and Anytus and Lycon, Meletus angered on account of the poets, and Anytus on account of the artisans and the public men, and Lycon on account of the orators;

and I fear them more than Anytus and the rest, though these also are dangerous;

And now I will ask men who have given public proof of their outstanding worth to take my place here and give you their opinion of me.

but of the notables, those in the political clubs, and those of the exiles who had returned after the peace, desired oligarchy, while those who belonged to no club, but were otherwise thought to fall short of none of the citizens, sought the ancestral constitution.

Anytus having first shown the way, after his generalship at Pylos.

"For Anytus and Meletus might indeed kill me, but harm me they could in no way;

Timostratus of Hecalê, Xanthippus of Eroeadae, Evalces of Phalerum, Anytus of Laciadae, Euphranor of Aegilia and Nicippus of Cephalê, depose that both they and Phrastor of Aegilia are members of the gens called Brytidae, and that, when Phrastor claimed the right to introduce a son of his into the gens, they, on their part, knowing that Phrastor’s son was born of the daughter of Neaera, would not s …

Nor, then, did Socrates use his discourses or his examples idly, but in conversing with Anytus he made mention of tanners and cobblers;

Furthermore, he is certainly not unaware of this either—that Thrasybulus and Anytus, men of the greatest influence in the city, although they have been robbed of large sums of money and know who gave in lists of their goods, nevertheless are not so brazen as to bring suit against them or to bring up old grudges against them;

If, therefore, he makes use of his journey to Phyle as a plea in his defence, you must retort with the question whether Anytus was the cause of his escape from death when they were ready to do justice upon him, and whether Aesimus flung away his shield and forbade him to join in the procession.

Anytus, who was the general, said that they ought not to do that, on the ground that they were not yet in a position to punish certain of their enemies:

By that speech he was the cause of this man’s escape at Phyle:

but Anytus stated that in the previous winter, as the corn was dear, and these men were outbidding each other and fighting amongst themselves, he had advised them to cease their competition, judging it beneficial to you, their customers, that they should purchase at as reasonable a price as possible:

Now, that he did not order them to buy up the corn for holding in store, but only advised them not to buy against each other, I will produce to you Anytus himself as witness.

Testimony These statements were made by him in the time of the former Council, whereas these men evidently bought up the corn in the time of the present one.

for our friend Anytus, in the first place, is the son of a wise and wealthy father, Anthemion, who became rich not by a fluke or a gift—like that man the other day, Ismenias the Theban, who has come into the fortune of a Polycrates —but as the product of his own skill and industry;

Ah no, my dear Anytus, it looks as though virtue were not a teachable thing.

And that you may not suppose it was only a few of the meanest sort of Athenians who failed in this matter, let me remind you that Thucydides’ also brought up two sons, Melesias and Stephanus, and that besides giving them a good general education he made them the best wrestlers in Athens:

Some of these he actually treated with the greatest insolence, as, for example, Anytus, the son of Anthemion.

Alcibiades declined the invitation, but after having drunk deep at home with some friends, went in revel rout to the house of Anytus, took his stand at the door of the men’s chamber, and, observing the tables full of gold and silver beakers, ordered his slaves to take half of them and carry them home for him.

So Anytus, even though dead, still enjoys an evil repute for his son’s mischievous education and for his own hard-heartedness.

It is said also that he remarked as he saw Anytus passing by:

do you suppose that Thrasybulus and Anytus and the other exiles would prefer to have us follow here the policy which I am urging by word, or the policy which these men are carrying out in deed?