Sycophant

Scholiast, in a letter to Aristophanes, says that once during a famine in Attica, the fruits of the sacred fig trees were secretly ripped off and that during the judicial investigation of this case, those who could identify the perpetrators were called sycophants .

In the heyday of Athenian democracy, this word acquired political significance: it meant a large class of professional prosecutors, yabedniks, and sluggish people who started processes for the sake of personal gain, so that, frightening someone with a court, forcing a compensation fee or, in case of winning the process, to receive part of the selected by property court. Athenian law allowed anyone who wanted to stand as a prosecutor against violators of state laws, and for a successful prosecution, the prosecutor was given a certain part of the amount received in the form of a fine or property taken from the defendant in court. This rule itself already implies the possibility of abuse, especially since the people were envious of outstanding statesmen, speakers, generals and generally all rich and influential people, who were mainly bothered by sycophants . The more charges brought before the court, the more penalties came at the disposal of judges and the treasury. As a result, the prosecutor in the criminal case, as well as the plaintiff, was treated more condescendingly in private, and the sycophant's activity became profitable.

Sycophants chose such denunciations as their specialty, which did not personally concern them. This profession enjoyed a very bad reputation. It cannot be said, however, that the role of the voluntary prosecutor in Athens itself brought some kind of dishonor: persons who were morally immaculate, such as, for example, a fourth-century speaker. BC e. Lycurgus, more than once took on this role; but they always carefully tried to justify their appearance at the trial with one of two motives that Greek morality recognized almost equally venerable - the desire to protect public interests or personal revenge . On the contrary, sycophant is a professional scammer, guided only by the desire for profit. Sikofantov had a lot of sources of profit. In some trials, part of the property of the convicted person and the fine imposed on him by the court, came in favor of the prosecutor. This method of enrichment, although considered shameful, was at least legal. But there were dishonest methods: for example, having excited the process, they took compensation for stopping it; often there was enough threat to make the victim pay off with money; sometimes people, for some reason afraid of the sycophant, themselves themselves tried in advance to appease him. Many of the sycophants were on the salary of some statesman and acted against his enemies. Denunciation , fraud, blackmail - these were the methods of sycophants ^[1] .

Sycophants kept wealthy citizens at bay. In the biography of Nikia Plutarch writes:

He gave money both to those who could do evil to him, and to those who deserved good deeds, and in general his cowardice was a profitable article for nasty people ... He was so afraid of sycophants that he did not dine with any of his fellow citizens, did not enter into conversations, had no communication, but when he occupied the post, he was in the strategists' chamber until night, he left the council last, and he came there first.

Despite the shamelessness and venality of sycophants, they were considered to some extent a necessary element in the state. Without such voluntary prosecutors, the law and the courts would have been powerless, and yet not everyone was ready to take on this role. They themselves indicated themselves as zealous patriots. They nevertheless were exposed to some risk : according to the law, every prosecutor who did not receive one fifth of the votes of the judges in his favor was fined 1,000 drachmas and was deprived of the right to institute legal proceedings against anyone.

A bright characteristic of the sycophant is given by Demosthenes , comparing it with a snake and a scorpion, which should be destroyed.

A sycophant, in the words of some, is a demos dog that does not bite those whom it masquerades as wolves, but, on the contrary, eats the sheep whom it protects. His mind is not directed at any good state cause. Sikofant does not engage in art, or agriculture, or craft, does not enter into friendly communication with anyone. He walks around the square like a echidna or a scorpion , raising a sting, rushing here and there, looking for someone to cause trouble, reproach, evil and, catching fear on him, take money from him ... Irreconcilable, wandering, unsociable, he does not knows neither disposition, nor friendship, nothing that a decent person experiences. He walks, surrounded by what the wicked in Hades are surrounded by, as painters draw them, - curse, abuse, envy, contention, enmity.

Many Attic writers pointed to the social harm of sycophantia ( Aristophanes , Demosthenes , Aeschylus , etc.); a law was finally issued against her, but she still continued to exist as long as democracy existed. Sycophants played on ships almost the same role as demagogues in public assemblies: serving as an instrument for the fulfillment of the goals of demagogues, they constituted an element of democracy, not without strength; sometimes the class of sycophants was even justified, considering it necessary for political purposes (Aeschylus, “Against Tim.”, § 20).

In Xenophon 's Memoirs of Socrates , chapter 9 of the 2nd book describes the conversation of Socrates and Criton about sycophants. In response to Criton's complaints, Socrates advised him "to keep a man who would like and could drive away from you those who decide to attack you." After that, they found Archedemos - "a very capable, useful and poor man."

Archedem looked at the house of Cryton as his refuge and respected it. At one of the sycophants attacking Criton, he immediately discovered many crimes, and he also sought out many of his enemies; he turned to public services, where the question was decided about the sycophant, what punishment or fine should he be subjected to. The Sycophantus, who knew many bad deeds behind him, used all his efforts to get rid of Archedemos. But Archedemos did not lag behind him until he left Crete alone and gave money to Archedemos himself. (...)
Archedem happily served Criton, and not only Criton himself lived calmly, but also his friends.

• Obnorsky N.P. Sikofanty // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Büchsenschutz, "Besitz und Erwerb im Griechischen Altertum" (B., 1869);
• Lofberg J. O., Sycophancy in Athens, Chi., 1917.
• Meier und Schoemann, Der Attische Process, in the treatment of Lipsius (B., 1882-1886).