Liturgies and public service
idea · 4 works · 4 mentions · 8 anchored passages
liturgies · Trierarch · a brilliant chorus · choregus · chorus · choruses · common weal · extraordinary contributions · payments to the Treasury · private means for a public service
spoken of as
1 expressionPublic service and liturgies2 mentions
Antidosis (Greek) · The First Tetralogy (Greek)
And yet all sensible men would do well to pray the gods to endow as many of our people as possible with the power of getting means from abroad in order to make themselves serviceable to the city, even as I have done.
in the texts
The First Tetralogy
The system of wealthy Athenian citizens funding public needs (financing a warship as Trierarch, funding a dramatic chorus, and treasury payments), cited by the defendant as proof of good character and reinterpreted by the prosecution as proof of a motive to protect that wealth.
His contributions to the Treasury and his provision of choruses may be satisfactory evidence of his wealth;
On the contrary, I have made several substantial payments to the Treasury, I have more than once served as Trierarch, I have furnished a brilliant chorus, I have often advanced money to friends, and I have frequently paid large sums under guarantees given for others;
Against Meidias
Athenian public service through privately financed chorus-mastership, linked to honor, equality, and festival competition.
Two years ago the tribe of Pandionis had failed to appoint a chorus-master, and when the Assembly met at which the law directs the Archons to assign the flute-players by lot to the choruses, there was a heated discussion and mutual recrimination between the Archon and the overseers of the tribe.
Yet I shall prove to all of you beyond a doubt that Meidias, without committing any outrageous offence, without insulting or striking me, had it in his power both to cause me trouble and to display his public spirit to you in a legitimate way, so that I should not be able to open my lips against him.
When I offered myself to the Assembly as chorus-master for the tribe of Pandionis, he should have got up and offered himself as a rival master for his own tribe of Erechtheis he should have put himself on equal terms with me and spent his money as I was spending mine and tried in that way to wrest the victory from me;
On the Estate of Dicaeogenes
The Athenian system of liturgies -- choregia, trierarchy, and voluntary war subscriptions -- by which wealthy citizens funded public and military needs; Dicaeogenes (III.)'s persistent evasion of these duties, despite his inherited wealth, is contrasted with his ancestors' generous service.
Dicaeogenes (III.
Though so many extraordinary contributions for the cost of the war and the safety of the city have been made by all the citizens, Dicaeogenes (III.
This sum he promised but did not pay, and his name was posted on a list of defaulters in front of the statues of the Eponymous Heroes, which was headed:
Antidosis
Civic expenditure and service by which Isocrates claims to benefit Athens without seeking offices or public distributions.
And yet all sensible men would do well to pray the gods to endow as many of our people as possible with the power of getting means from abroad in order to make themselves serviceable to the city, even as I have done.
For possibly if they had seen that it is through hard work and sacrifice that you provide yourself with the means wherewith to discharge your public duties and to maintain your affairs in general, they would not have felt the same about it.
And if I have refrained from accepting the bounties which are distributed by the city it was because I thought it outrageous if I, who am able to maintain myself from my private resources, should stand in the way of any of those who have been compelled to get their livelihood from the city, and if because of my presence anyone should be deprived of the necessities of existence.