The only direct source of evidence which we possess for the historical murder-laws of Attica—for the murder-laws of other Greek States we have no direct evidence at all—is a fragmentary inscription of the year 409-8 B.C., containing a few lines written in the old Attic alphabet, which, though ‘restored’ in a manner sufficiently satisfactory to render it trustworthy and intelligible, gives us nevertheless the most rudimentary information about the Attic murder-code. The real value of this inscription has been indicated by Lipsius.[1] The fragments of laws which are found on the inscription are so closely identical with the corresponding portions of the Draconian laws as they are cited by Demosthenes that they must, he says, be regarded as furnishing a convincing proof of the validity of the remaining laws which Demosthenes has cited. Now, these remaining laws are written in the Ionic alphabet, which was used by Athenian writers in the fourth century and in the latter half of the fifth century B.C., and it so happens that the date of the change in the alphabet used in Attic inscriptions, namely, the year 403-2 B.C., was also the date of what Glotz[2] describes as ‘la grande révision législative qui signala l’archontat d’Euclide.’ If, then, any changes occurred in Attic murder-law, in the period which elapsed between Dracon and Eucleides, it was probably in the year 403-2 B.C. that such changes were finally incorporated in the written code. We shall see that there is no reference to the Areopagus in our fragment, but it may of course have been mentioned in the missing portion of the inscription which referred to wilful murder. Pollux and Plutarch[3] state that the Areopagus was created by Solon. We shall see later[4] what elements of truth this dictum may contain. The only change which we believe to have been made in the period from Dracon to Eucleides was the isolation of the Areopagus from the general list of the Ephetae courts.[4] This change we attribute to Solon, and with this exception we accept the murder-laws which are quoted by Demosthenes as the original code of Dracon. We have already[5] argued against the theory of Glotz that the clause μηδ’ ἀποινᾶν was a Solonian innovation. The alteration which we attribute to Solon was not properly speaking a change in the murder-code, but merely a change in the distribution of pleas in the judicial system. Hence we accept the ancient tradition[6] that ‘Solon changed all the laws of Dracon except those relating to homicide.’ The Solonian legislation was less severe and more humane than Dracon’s code. If Solon did not alter the murder-laws, it was probably because they were, so to speak, so non-Draconian, because they did not bear the stamp of Dracon’s own peculiar genius. They were, we have said,[7] an eclectic codification of the unwritten laws of the Ephetae and the Exegetae. Religiously consecrated by their joint tribal and Apolline inspiration, they stood above the gales of Athenian political ferment. It was only in the personnel of the judicial system that a loophole was left open for political intrigue. In this respect alone was alteration easy and obvious: and in this respect alone do we suppose that alterations took place.
The original inscription of 409-8 B.C. consists of forty-eight lines, of which six are undecipherable, and nine others badly mutilated. We will give here just four of the best lines, from which the condition of the remainder may be inferred.
11. και εαμ . εκ . ρονο..ς .τ.... ... .... ....... .ι
12. καζεν δε τος βασιλεας αιτ . ο . φο... ε... ... ........ .. ...λ
13. ευσαντα τος δ. εφετας διαγν.... ........ .... ... ..... ε
14. ι ε αδελφο. ε Ηυες Ηαπα.... ε το . .ο...... ..... ... .. .. .υ
The most important portion of the inscription, as restored by Köhler, is given by Dareste,[8] and transliterated into the Ionic alphabet reads as follows:
11. καὶ ἐὰμ μ’ ἐκ προνοίας κτείνῃ τίς τινα, φεύγειν, δι-
12. κάζειν δὲ τοὺς βασιλέας αἰτιῶν φόνου ἢ ἐάν τις αἰτιᾶται ὡς βουλ-