LYSIAS, one of the most celebrated of the Greek orators, was born at Athens 458 b. c., and died, at the age of eighty, B. c. 378. He was the contemporary of some of the greatest men that Athens ever produced, of Thucydides and Xenophon, of Euripides and Sophocles. He was the son of Cephalus, a Syracusan, and is himself sometimes said to have been a native of this city; but he was born at Athens, whither his father was induced to emigrate by the advice of his friend Pericles. Cephalus was distinguished both for his great riches and for his virtues. It was at his house that Plato placed the scene of the most celebrated of his works, his Dialogues on the Republic. Cephalus no doubt procured the best masters to forward the education of his son; but Lysias left Athens at a very early age (b. c. 443), and proceeded to Thurium in the south of Italy, to which place the Athenians were sending a colony. He was accompanied by the two celebrated historians Herodotus and Thucydides, and remained there for many years, during which time he is said to have studied the art of eloquence under two Syracusans, Tisias and Nisias. After the unsuccessful expedition of the Athenians to Sicily (b. c. 413), it would appear that Thurium, with their other dependencies in Magna Graecia, refused to submit any longer to Athenian supremacy. All those who remained well affected towards the parent state were obliged to fly, and Lysias on that occasion (b. c. 411) returned with his brother Polemarchus to Athens. Here he employed himself in commercial pursuits, and we are told that the two brothers employed one hundred and twenty slaves in the manufacture of shields. We do not hear that he took any active part in the stormy politics of Athens, now approaching the conclusion of her war with Sparta. Athens fell into the hands of Lysander, and thirty tyrants were appointed to administer the affairs of the city. The patriotism and riches of Polemarchus and of his brother Lysias marked them out as fit objects for persecution to the tyrants. Polemarchus was put to death, and Lysias with great difficulty saved his life by flying to Megara (b. c. 404). Here he engaged in the conspiracy to restore the independence of his country, and is said to have furnished three hundred men at his own expense to assist Thrasybulus. The tyrants were expellee!, and Lysias returned to Athens (b. c. 403), where he commenced his new career as an orator. It does not appear that he was much employed in the assemblies of the people, but that he confined himself principally to writing accusations or defences, at the desire of such persons as had occasion to impeach the conduct of others, or to defend their own. As a reward for his services, Thrasybulus proposed to the people that he should be admitted to the freedom of the state; but Archinus procured its rejection, because the proposal had not been made first to the senate, as the law required. Plutarch states that there were extant in his time no less than 475 orations ascribed to Lysias, of which only 235 were genuine, according to Dionysius. We are likewise told that he composed institutions of oratory, epistles, and panegyrics; but of all these writings only thirty-four orations have come down to us, some of which are in an imperfect state. The pleadings of Lysias contain a curious detail of the domestic manners and internal economy of the Greeks. Dionysius of Halicarnassus has written a critique on the works and style of Lysias; and, according to him, the orator was particularly distinguished for simplicity and precision, as well as for the fidelity with which he depicted the manners of the age. Quintilian compares him to a clear and pure rivulet rather than to a majestic river, whilst Cicero considers him as the model of a perfect orator. The earliest edition of the orations of Lysias is that of Aldus, 1513; but the best is that of Taylor, Gr. et Lat. London, 1739, and of Reiske, Leipzig, 1772. The latest edition is by Foertoch (Lips. 1829); and he has also published separately, Observationes criticae in Ly∙ siae Orationes, Lips. 1829. See also Franzius, Dissertatio inaug. de Lysia oratore Attico Greece scripta, Norimb. 1828. There is an English translation of the Orations by Gillies, London, 1778.
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