Source edition
Antiphon. Minor Attic Orators, Vol. 1. Maidment, Kenneth John, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1941 (printing); 1960 (reprint).
Source data
Perseus Digital Library · CC BY-SA 4.0
Cloned and adapted by Humanitext, with ongoing edits.
Summary
This work is an imaginary courtroom debate, structured as a tetralogy of four speeches, concerning a fatal accident that occurred during javelin practice in a gymnasium. The prosecutor, the father of the deceased boy, and the defendant, the father of the youth who threw the javelin, take turns delivering two speeches each to argue where the responsibility for the tragedy lies. The prosecution emphasizes the physical fact that the defendant's javelin caused the death, demanding a guilty verdict to cleanse the community of religious pollution (miasma). In response, the defense argues that the youth was practicing in accordance with the rules, and that the true cause of the accident was the victim's own carelessness in running into the javelin's path. The debate between the prosecutor, who focuses on the physical outcome of the action, and the defendant, who focuses on the cause of the event, runs parallel on the definitions of legal negligence and religious responsibility. Ending without a final verdict, this text demonstrates the sophisticated logical and rhetorical techniques of ancient Athenian forensic practice.