8. When Thersites spoke, he broke the rules of aidos,
the aristocratic virtue of respect and self-respect.
Homer represents his aristocrats endowed with “gentle
aidos” (Odyssey VIII, 172). Hesiod, who remembered
Homer's lines, described the kings from whom gracious
words flow (Theogony 84). Theognis has an implicit
rebuke for those who believe that aidos is a virtue of
the eyes only, not also of the mouth. The writers of
the fifth century still emphasize the value of aidos, in-
sofar as speech is concerned. But in the same century
a new notion spread, the notion that freedom of speech
is a positive, or at least a remarkable, achievement.
Prometheus is affectionately accused: “you speak too
boldly.” A free tongue is an essential element of the
ideal democracy of Aeschylus' Suppliants. The same
Aeschylus describes in the Persae how, among the
Persians, after the defeat of Salamis, “the tongue is
no longer in fetters.” Pindar, the aristocrat, was obvi-
ously suspicious of this change of attitude towards free
speech. It has been suggested that when he spoke with
horror of panglossia in the second Olympian Ode, he
had in mind the word parrhesia. This may or may not
be the case, but certainly panglossia, like parrhesia,
denotes a readiness to utter anything. In another pas-
sage of the second Pythian Ode, Pindar is at pains to
explain that frankness is free from political connota-
tions. He hated what he called the slander and envy
of people.
The word parrhesia, however, is to be found neither
in Pindar, nor in Aeschylus and Sophocles, and first
appears in Euripides' Hippolytus (line 422; performed
in 428 B.C.) and Ion (lines 672, 675; of uncertain date).
In both cases the word is used in connection with
Athens. In other passages (most notably in the Electra,
lines 1049, 1056; of uncertain date), Euripides uses
parrhesia to mean freedom of speech in private rela-
tions (cf. also Orestes, line 905; Bacchae, line 668;
Phoenician Women, line 391; frag. 737, Nauck, 2nd ed.).
But, in his only passage mentioning parrhesia, Aristo-
phanes also uses it in a political sense (Thesmophoria-
zusae, line 540). Finally, Democritus says in a fragment
(226D) that parrhesia is inherent in eleutheria. We
conclude that in the late fifth century parrhesia became
a popular word in Athens, denoting freedom of speech
chiefly in political matters, but occasionally also in
private situations.
If we turn to Herodotus (V, 78) and Pseudo-Xenophon
(“the Old Oligarch”), Constitution of Athens (1, 12),
we find that neither of them uses the word parrhesia.
Both indicate democracy by the word isegoria. Isegoria
was not necessarily a democratic virtue: it meant
equality of rights in the matter of freedom of speech
and could easily apply to a restricted number of aristo-
crats. Isagoras, who was an aristocratic contemporary of
Cleisthenes, was probably born about 550. It is hard
to believe that his father called him Isagoras because
he wanted to encourage democratic virtues in his son.
But in the fifth century isegoria, like isonomia, came
to mean democracy. parrhesia represented democracy
from the point of view of equality of rights. There was
an old-fashioned flavor about isegoria. We are not
surprised that Herodotus and the Old Oligarch pre-
ferred it to parrhesia, while Euripides chose the more
modern word parrhesia.
Thucydides, of course, knew both words and, of
course, used neither. Not simply because he was never
satisfied with simple formulas. Discussion he appreci-
ated above all things, but he recognized that freedom
of speech is inseparable from good faith, both in the
speaker and in the listener, and must be used to foster
reason against unreason. The debate between Cleon
and Diodotus is not only the most profound discussion
about imperialism ever held in the ancient world be-
fore Saint Augustine; it is also the most searching
analysis of the conditions in which discussion is useful
in a democracy. If you attack, not the objective valid-
ity, but the good faith of your opponent, you introduce
an element which will poison democratic proceedings.
Even more than Pericles' Funeral Speech, Diodotus'
speech represents Thucydides' contribution to the the-
ory of freedom of speech.
In the fourth century parrhesia became more popu-
lar than isegoria. Demosthenes uses parrhesia twenty-
six times as against three or possibly four instances of
isegoria; Isocrates has parrhesia twenty-two times,
isegoria only once; Aeschines parrhesia eight times, but
isegoria once. In some of the Demosthenic speeches
of doubtful authenticity parrhesia is most emphatically
the right of the Athenian citizen. But other texts say
that in Athens everyone enjoyed freedom of speech,
including foreigners and slaves. At the same time
parrhesia was frequently used to mean either the virtue
of frankness or the vice of loquacity. Plato, of course,
knows parrhesia both in the political and in the non-
political sense, but Aristotle, remarkably enough,
knows parrhesia only in the nonpolitical sense, except
in an anecdote about Pisistratus (The Constitution of
Athens 16, 6).
We have learnt from J. Sundwall's epoch-making
studies that in the fourth century Athens was ruled by
a minority of wealthy people. Both the Macedonian
and the anti-Macedonian parties had wealthy leaders.
These people emphasized the right to say all that they
wanted (parrhesia) rather than equality of freedom of
speech (isegoria). But the interest in democratic insti-
tutions was declining. People were more interested in
private life and private virtues and vices than in politi-
cal achievements. Menander replaced Aristophanes,
and parrhesia as a private virtue replaced parrhesia
as a political right.
