Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

AREIOPAGUS. ARGEL. 129
just decisions. The process was as follows: - The their moral influence; but shortly after the age of
king archon (Pollux, viii. 90) brought the case Demetrius Phalereus, a change had taken place;
illto court, and sat as one of the judges, who were they had lost much of their respectability, and
assembled ill the open air, probably to guard were'but ill fitted to enforce a conduct in others
against any contamination from the criminal. (An- which they did not observe themselves. (Athen.
tiphon, De Coetde Ie0rod. p. 130; Dem. e. Arist. iv. p. 167.)
I..; Pollux, viii. 33.) The accuser, who was The case of St. Paul (Act. xvii. 22.) is generally
said c-Is "Apetov -rdTyov e'rLoK17reLt, first came for- quoted as an instance of their authority in religious
ward to nmake a solemn oath (6tiooloota) that his matters; but the words of the sacred historian do
accusation was true, standing over the slaughtered not necessarily imply that he was brought before the
victims, and imprecating extirpation upons himself council. It may, however, be remarked, that theyand his whole family, were it not so. The accused certainly took cognizance of the introduction of
then denied the charge with the same solemnity new and unauthorized forms of religious worship,
and fobrm of oath. Each party then stated his called eir[Ocea iepad, in contradistinction to the.
case with all possible plainness, keeping strictly to?rdropla or older rites of the state. (Harpocrat. s. vv.
the subject, and not- being allowed to appeal in'Ewr0e-roL'Eop'rai; Schomann, De Co(itiis, p. 286.
any way to the feelings or passions of the judges transl.) There was also a tradition that Plato was
(srpooilpdue-o al oat ss ob oiKTciFce-oOaL. deterred from mentioning the name of Moses as a
Aristot. lihet. i. 1; Pollux, viii. 117.) After the teacher of theunityof the Godhead, by his fear of the
first speech (iera' -rby vrpiTepoav Xhyos), a criminal Areiopagus. (Justin Martr, CJokeor ad Gmrec. p. 22.)
accused of nimrder might remove from Athens, With respect to the number of the Areiopagusand thus avoid the capital punishment fixed by in its original form, a point of no great moment,
i)raco's OecUotl, which on this point were still in there are various accounts; but it is plain that
force. Except in cases of parricide, neither the there could have been no fixed number when the
accuser nor the court had power to prevent this; archons became members of this. body at the exbut the party who thus evaded the extreme punish- piration of their year of office. Lysias, indeed,
ment was not allowed to return home (peVyel E speaks of them (lepil O v.KoV, pp. ll0, Ill; see
aetlvyiaav), and when any decree was passed at A yema. Orat. c. 1 sl/rot.) as forming a part of the
Athens to legalise the return of exiles, an exception. Areiopagus even during that time; a statem nt
was always made against those who had thus left which can only be reconciled with the general
their country (of Et'ApEioU lrT-yoV pevYOY'Tes). opinion on the subject, by supposing that they
See Plato, Leges, ix. 11. formed a part cof the council during their yeiar of
The reputation of the Areiopagus as a criminal office, but were not permanent members till the
court was of long continuance, as we may learn. end of that time, and after passing a satisfactory
from an anecdote of Aulus Gellius, who tells us examination. [R. W.]
(xii. 7) that C. Dolabella, proconsul of the Ro- ARE NA. [AMPHtTHEATRUM.]
man province of Asia, referred a case which per- ARETA'JLOGI, a class of persons whose conplexed himself and his council to the Areiopagus versation fori.ed one of the entertainments of the
(lt adr jucldices grasior'es exercitatioresque); they Roman dinner-tables. (Suet. Octrcv. 74.) The
ingeniously settled the matter by ordering the word liteLally signifies persons sc-to discourse alout
parties to appear that day 100 years (certesiro, 7-idtue; and the class of persons intended seeml to
uano adesse). They existed in namnn, indeed, till have been poor philosophers, chiefly of the Cynic
a very late period. Thus we find Cicero mentions and Stoic sects, who, unlable to gain a living by
the council in his letters (Ad Fain. xiii. I; Ad their public lectures, obtained a mnaintenalnce at
rAtt. i. 14, v. 1); and under the emperors Gratian the tables of the rich by their philosophical conand Theodosius (A. D. 380),'Poivplos Pior'os is versation. Such a life would naturally degenerate
called proconsult of Greece, and an Areiopagite. into that of the parasite and buffoon; and accord(Meursits, Areiop.) ingly we find these persons spoken of contemnpOf the respectability and moral worth of the tuously by Juvenal, who uses the phrase se-elseaX
council, and the respect that was paid to it, we aretia.loogs: they became a sort of scetr'a. (Juv.
have abundant proof in the writings of the Athe- Sat. xv. 15, 16; comp. Casaubon. ad Suet. /. c.;
nian orators, where, indeed, it would be difficult to and Ruperti and Heinrich, ad Juv. 1. c.) [P. S.]
find it mentioned except in terms of praise. A'RGEI. We learn from Livy (i. 22) that
Thus Lysias speaks of it as most righteous and Numa consecrated places for the celebration of
venerable (c. A4ldoc. p. 104; compare Acsch. c. religious services, which were called by the pontiTimar. 12; Isocr. Areiop. 148); and so great was fices " argei." Varro calls them the chapels of the
the respect paid to its members, that it was con- argei, and says they were twenty-seven in numsidered rude in the demus laughing in their pre- her, distributed in the different districts of the
sence, while one of them was making an address city. We know but little of the particular uses
to the assembly on a subject they had been de- to which they were applied, and that little is unputed to investigate. This respect might, of course, important. Thus we are told that they were
facilitate the resumption of some of their lost solemnly visited on the Liberalia, or festival of
power, more especially as they were sometimes Bacchus; and also, that whenever the flamen
intrusted with inquiries on behalf of the state, dialis went (ieit) to them, he was to adhere to
as on the occasion to which we have just alluded, certainobservances. They seem also to have been
when they were made a sort of commissioners, to the depositaries of topographical records. Thus
inquire into the state of the buildings about the we read in Varro, —In sacreis.Aryeorumn scriptuam
Pnyx, and decide upon the adoption or rejection est sic: Oppius mons princeps, &c., which is folof some proposed alterations. Isocrates, indeed, iowed by a description of the neighbourhood. There
even in his time, when the previous inquiry or was a tradition that these argei were named from
miaavlnia had fallen into disuse, speaks well of the chieftains who came with Hercules, the Argive,
K