Publisher's Synopsis
The Constitution of the Athenians is a satirical tract on Athenian democracy, which was written near the end of the fifth century BC, during the period when Pericles, for his part, praised Athenian democracy. Although it has long been attributed to Xenophon, it was in fact authored by an anonymous upper class Athenian supporter of the opposing oligarchic system of government, who is sometimes called "the Old Oligarch" by the Modern. The author condemns democracy as an unfair system, whose victims are the rich, well-born citizens, whom he calls "the valuable" and sees as the best qualified to rule. In contrast, "the worthless", the poor majority, take advantage of a system which aims at their sole interest. The opuscule explains the peculiarities of the democratic system and its consequences for different categories of people. It represents the Athenian democracy as an immoral, but very coherent system. Considered a major work by modern historians of the ancient world, the Constitution of the Athenians is a mine of information on Athenian democracy, its workings, and the opposition which it had to face.This critical edition leans on a new examination of both the Greek manuscripts and also of modern philological studies. It tries to understand the text as it has been transmitted without improving its style with pointless corrections. The translation faithfully and coherently renders the original style and reasoning. The detailed commentary accounts for the philological choices of this particular edition, and provides linguistic, literary, and historical insights on the anonymous author's ideas and their place in the history of political thought, as well as on the events and social customs mentioned. A glossary includes a large selection of words in Greek and in transcription; the selected terms are also translated and their meaningful occurrences are indexed. The volume concludes with a complete index uerborum. All this is preceded by a 160-page introduction which deals not only with the textual and critical traditions that preceded this edition, but also with whatever aspects of the historical context of the opuscule affect its interpretation: its date, its author, the genre to which it belongs, its structure, its biased representation of Athenians and others, its targets, its polemical processes, its informative value, the political ideal behind it, and its place among ancient debates on democracy. La Constitution des Atheniens est un pamphlet contre la democratie athenienne, redige a la fin du Ve siecle av. J.-C., a l'epoque ou Pericles faisait au contraire l'eloge de ce regime. Longtemps attribuee a tort a Xenophon, elle est due a un Athenien anonyme de la classe superieure, partisan d'un regime oligarchique, que les modernes surnomment parfois le Vieil Oligarque . L'auteur denonce la democratie comme un regime injuste, dont les victimes sont les riches, les bien nes, ceux qu'il appelle les honnetes gens et qui sont les mieux qualifies pour gouverner, tandis que les fripons , les pauvres, la masse profitent d'un systeme qui vise a leur seul profit. L'opuscule detaille les specificites du regime et ses consequences pour les uns et les autres. Il presente la democratie athenienne comme un regime immoral, mais tres coherent. Considere par les historiens actuels comme une oeuvre majeure, il est une mine d'informations sur la democratie athenienne, son fonctionnement et les attaques dont elle a fait l'objet.La presente edition s'appuie sur un nouvel examen des manuscrits grecs et sur les travaux des philologues modernes. Elle cherche a comprendre le texte tel qu'il a ete transmis, sans ameliorer son style par des corrections inutiles. La traduction rend ecriture et raisonnement avec fidelite et coherence. Un commentaire lineaire detaille justifie l'etablissement du texte et apporte des eclairages linguistiques, litteraires et historiques, tant sur les idees avancees et sur leur place dans l'histoire de la pensee politique que sur les evenements et pratiques dont temoigne le texte. Un glossaire recense un large choix de termes en grec et en transcription, avec leur traduction et leurs occurrences significatives. Un index uerborum complet est egalement propose. L'ensemble est precede d'une introduction de 160 pages qui traite non seulement de la tradition du texte, mais aussi de l'histoire de l'opuscule et de son interpretation: sa date et son arriere-plan historique, son auteur, le genre dont il releve, sa composition, sa representation orientee des Atheniens et des autres, ses cibles, ses procedes polemiques, sa valeur documentaire, l'ideal politique qu'il traduit et sa place dans les debats antiques sur la democratie.
