Meidias
historical figure · 4 works · 9 mentions · 21 anchored passages
this man · Meidias of Anagyrus · the defendant · blackguard · defendant · he · him · malefactor · miscreant · our cavalry-officer
in the texts
Against Meidias
Historical Athenian defendant accused by Demosthenes of assault, hubris, bribery, sacrilege, and broader contempt for public order.
But when the whole people, acting honorably and rightly, evinced such anger, such exasperation, such deep concern at the wrongs which they knew I had suffered, that, in spite of the frantic efforts of the defendant and a few supporters, they were deaf to their arguments, shut their eyes to their wealth and their promises, and condemned him by an unanimous show of hands, thereupon, gentlemen of the …
Now if, men of Athens, I were going to accuse Meidias of unconstitutional proposals or of misconduct on an embassy or of any offence of that sort, I should not feel justified in appealing for your sympathy, for I consider that in such cases the plaintiff ought to confine himself to proving his case, though the defendant may have recourse to prayers.
But Meidias cannot plead any of these excuses, for he was my enemy, and he assaulted me willfully by daylight, and not only on that, but on every occasion he has shown a deliberate intention to insult me.
Against Ctesiphon
Athenian involved in the episode where Demosthenes was struck while choregus.
or, again, that story about Meidias and the blow of the fist that Demosthenes got when he was choregus, in the orchestra, and how for thirty minas he sold both the insult to himself and the vote of censure that the people had passed against Meidias in the theater of Dionysus.
And on one occasion he got such a smashing blow that I imagine he still carries the visible marks of Meidias’ knuckles.
as pylagori you elected Meidias of Anagyrus, whom you all remember—I wish for many reasons he were still living —and Thrasycles of Oeum;
Against Conon
A man who saw the plaintiff after the assault and whose house sheltered him overnight.
It happened, men of the jury, that Euxitheus of Cholleidae, who is here in court and is a relative of mine, and with him Meidias, on their way back from a dinner somewhere, came up to me, when I was now near my home, followed after me as I was borne to the bath, and were present when men brought the surgeon.
Hellenica
Son-in-law of Mania who murdered her to seize the satrapy of Aeolis, only to be stripped of the captured cities and her treasure by Dercylidas.
Just where it is most proper that you should dwell, Meidias, —in your native city, Scepsis, and in your father’s house.
And Dercylidas, when he had sacrificed to Athena on the acropolis of Scepsis, led forth Meidias’ garrison, gave over the city to the citizens, and then, after exhorting them to order their public life as Greeks and freemen should, departed from the city and led his army against Gergis.
Now Meidias, who was expecting the coming of Pharnabazus and on the other hand was by this time afraid of his own citizens, sent to Dercylidas and said that he would come to a conference with him if he should first receive hostages.