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

ATIMIA. ATIMlA. 169
foreign'to Athenian notions of justice to confiscate atimos. The only but almost impracticable mode
the property of a person who had incurred per- of obtaining release was that mentioned above in
sonal atimia by some illegal act. (Dem. c. Lept. connection with the total and perpetual atimia.
p. 504.) A third and only partial kind of atimia deprived
The crimes for which total and perpetual ati- the person on whom it was inflicted only of a pormia was inflicted on a person were as follow: - tion of his rights as a citizen. (Andocid. de Mlyst.
The giving and accepting of bribes, the embezzle- p. 17 and 36.) It was called the ar3lzfia,ac&
ment of public money, manifest proofs of cowardice irpdo4ra~Ev, because it was specified in every single
in the defence of his country, false witness, false case what particular right was forfeited by the
accusation, and bad conduct towards parents (An- atimos. The following cases are expressly mendocid. 1. c.): moreover, if a person either by deed tioned: — If a man came forward as a public acor by word injured or insulted a magistrate while cuser, and afterwards either dropped the charge or
he was performing the duties of his office (Dem. did not obtain a fifth of the votes in favour of his
e. Mid. p. 524, Pro Megalop. p. 200); if as a judge accusation, he was not only liable to a fine of
he had been guilty of partiality (e. Mid. p. 543); 1000 drachmae, but was subjected to an atimia
if he squandered away his paternal inheritance, or which deprived him of the right, in future, to apwas guilty of prostitution (Diog. Labrt. i. 2. 7), &c. pear as accuser in a case of the same nature as
We have above called this atimia perpetual; for if that in which he had been defeated or which lihe
a person had once incurred it, he could scarcely had given up. (Dem. c. Aristog. p. 803; Harever hope to be lawfully released from it. A law, pocrut. s. v. Acpoopw yppaqsC.) If his accusation had
mentioned by Demosthenes (c. Timocrst. p. 715), been a ypaspm'i &eceEe'a s, he also lest the right of
ordained that the releasing of any kind of atimoi visiting particular temples. (Andocid. de, JlIyst. p.
should never be proposed in the public assembly, 17.) Some cases are also mentioned ii which an
unless an assembly consisting of at least 6000 accuser, though he did not obtain a fifth of the
citizens had previously, in secret deliberation, votes, was not subjected to any punishment whatagreed that such might be done. And even then ever. Such was the case in a charge brought bethe matter could only be discussed in so far as the fore the first archon respecting the ill-treatment of
senate and people thought proper. It was only in parents, orphans, or heiresses. (Meier, de Bon.
times when the republic was threatened by great Damnnat. p. 133.) In other cases the accuser
danger that an atimos might hope to recover his was merely subject to the fine of 1000 drachmae,
lost rights, and in such circumstances the atimoi without incurring any degree of atimia. (Pollux,
were sometimes restored en masse to their former viii. 53.) But the law does not appear to have
rights. (Xen. Hetlen. ii. 2. ~ 11; Andocid. 1. c.) always been strictly observed. (B6ckh, Publ.
A second kind of atimia, which though in its Econ. of Athens, p. 381, 2d ed.) Andocides menextent a total one, lasted only until the person tions some other kinds of partial atimia, but they
subject to it fulfilled those duties for the neglect seem to have had only a temporary application at
of which it had been inflicted, was not so much a the end of the Peloponnesian war; and the paspunishment for any particular crime as a means of sage (De, ]lyst. p. 36) is so obscure or corrupt,
compelling a man to submit to the laws. This was that nothing can be inferred from it with any certhe atimia of public debtors. Any citizen of Athens tainty. (WVachsmuth, Hellen. Altertl. vol. ii. p.
who owed money to the public treasury, whether 198, 2d ed.) Partial atimia, when once inflicted,
his debt arose from a fine to which he had been lasted during the whole of a man's life.
condemned, or from a part he had taken hi any The children of a man who had been put to
branch of the administration, or from his having death by the law were also atimoi (Dem. c. jAsispledged himself to the republic for another person, toq. p. 779; compare HERES); but the nature or
was in a state of total atimia if he refused to pay or duration of this atimia is unknown.
could not pay the sum which was due. His chil- If a person, under whatever kind of atimia he
dren during his lifetime were not included in his was labouring, continued to exercise any of the
atimia; they remained eiirLtmol. (Dem. c. T/leocrin. rights which he had forfeited, he might immedip. 11322.) If he persevered in his refusal-to pay ately be subjected to &7raewyTyo or e6ELISzs: and ifbeyond the time of the ninth prytany, his debt his transgression was proved, he might, without
was doubled, and his property was taken and sold. any further proceedings, be punished immediately.
(Andocid. 1. c.; Dem. c. Nicostrat. p. 1255, c. The offences which were punished at Sparta
Nveaer. p. 1347.) If the sum obtained by the with atimia are not as well known; and in many
sale was sufficient to pay the debt, the atimia cases it does not seem to have been expressly
appears to have ceased; but if not, the atimia not mentioned by the law, but to have depended enonly continued to the death of the public debtor, tirely upon public opinion, whether a person was
but was inherited by his heirs, and lasted until the to be considered and treated as an atimos or not.
debt was paid off. (Den. c. Androt. p. 603, com- In general, it appears that every one who refused
pare Bdckh, Publ. Econs. of Athens, p. 391, 2d to live according to the national institutions lost
edit.; and HREas.) This atimia for public debt the rights of a full citizen (o3woOrs, Xenoph. de
was sometimes accompanied by imprisonment, as Rep. Laced. x. 7; iii. 3). It was, however, a
in the case of Alcibiades and Cimon; but whether positive law, that whoever did not give or could
in such a case, on the death of the prisoner, his not give his contribution towards the syssitia, lost
children were likewise imprisoned, is uncertain. his rights as a citizen. (Aristot. Polit. ii. 6. p.
If a person living in atimia for public debt peti- 59, ed. Gittling.) The highest degree of infamy
tioned to be released from his debt or his atimia, fell upon the coward (rpieas) who either ran away
he became subject to EfY8St1Ls: and if another per- from the field of battle, or returned home without
son made the attempt for him, he thereby forfeited the rest of the army, as Aristodemus did after the
his own property; if the proedros even ventured battle of Thermopylae (Herod. vii. 231), though
bo put the question to the vote, he himself became in this case the infamy itself, as well as its humni