Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 357

[Chapter 24 Public Trial]

Plaintiff and Defendant stand in front of Terry Todmos.

According to the law, since the plaintiffs and defendants do not necessarily understand the numerous entries of the Code of Dioria, and their eloquence is not necessarily good, they can hire lawyers to conduct court prosecutions and defenses.

However, Polyxis, who was tried first in this case, decided to defend himself. Since the crimes he committed had far exceeded the scope of the original plaintiff (ie, the emancipation of slaves), the court-appointed public prosecutor brought the lawsuit. .

The prosecutor was Aristocrates, a former clerk of Davos.

After Aristocrates obtained the Dionian reserve citizenship, Davos suggested that he go to work in the court, and he also passed the examination smoothly. Starting from the initial court recorder, he worked hard and studied Dio hard at the same time. Nigerian law.

When he became a full citizen of Dionia, he served as a junior judge of the circuit court, and for more than a year, he became a rising star among the judges of Dionia with the dazzling achievements of ruling “more than 200 cases and disputes without omissions”.

In this trial, Davers personally ordered him to be the prosecutor and had high hopes for him.

Because Davos transplanted the later court system into Dionia, it was different from the beginning.

You must know that the most respected Athens court in this era has no special judge. Only the order officer maintains the court’s procedures, and the power of trial rests in the hands of the jury, but the jury does not have a fixed number, but depends on the size of the case. The maximum number of jury members can reach more than 2,000 people, and the result of the trial is decided by a majority vote.

Therefore, in Athens, no matter the size of the case, there must be a jury. Every day, about 3,000 or 4,000 citizens rush back and forth between the courts in the city and the port. They are also dubbed by other city-states as “Athens are Greeks who love litigation.”

But in Dionia, except for important cases such as homicide, treason, etc., which can only be decided by a jury, other civil disputes are generally decided directly by the judge, even if the defendant requests a jury , is also very likely to be rejected.

The reason is that the citizens of the Dionysian Alliance are relatively busy, military training, field work, market trade, public facility construction… They don’t have so much free time to sit in the courtroom and listen to the plaintiff and the defendant tell about things that have nothing to do with them.

In Athens, because the city-state is extremely rich, there is money compensation for serving as jurors, and some citizens even make a living from it, so citizens go there happily.

In short, with Dionysian’s existing strength and financial resources, he can’t afford this time-consuming and expensive Athenian-style trial, and he is not prepared to implement it.

The Dionians were affected by their fear of breaking the law in their ability to enter the legion, hold public office, and receive city-state rewards, and truly major crimes were rare.

Therefore, such a large-scale trial with a jury is rarely seen by the public, and many people can say that it is the first time to witness the operation of the Dionysian trial.

Victory Square was quickly filled with people, and people kept coming from outside the venue…

When the water clock’s liquid level fell to the eight o’clock mark, Terry Todmos rang the court bell.

Since both the plaintiff and the defendant were present, the public prosecutor made the statement at the beginning.

Aristocrates sued the Temple of the Emancipation of Slaves, the patrols searched as usual, and found evidence… After a brief explanation, he then showed the found evidence to the jury, accusing Polyxius of illegally occupying land and restricting others. liberty and other crimes.

The crowd began to riot.

Terry Todmos had to ring the bell to remind the crowd to keep quiet.

Then he signaled that the defendant Polyxis could make his defense.

As a long-time political veteran, Polyxis still held his head high and kept his spirits high, because he knew that if he showed decadence, he would be considered guilty by the public.

At the beginning, although he did not participate in the formulation of the legal trial system, he observed the whole process of Davos persuading the elders, so he knew that if he wanted to be acquitted in the large trial of Dionia,

The key lies in the jury, so he said in a warm voice: “Members of the jury, at this moment I think of my father, my grandfather… As one of the earliest founders of Turii, they put their own All of my heart and blood have been sprinkled on this piece of land that was once a wilderness, so that there is a prosperous city today. Influenced by my parents, I have been making my own efforts for this city since I was an adult. Just like you, he worked in the fields, served as a soldier, participated in battles, and served as a low-level public official. Later, he was elected by the people many times as General Turii, and he worked hard for this city-state—”

At this time, Aristocrates stood up and interrupted him: “Polyxis, as one of the former generals of Turii, you should take responsibility for the burning of the city of Turii! And at the end of the city’s destruction At that time, as a general, you did not lead the people to meet the enemy, but disappeared, and you dared to say that you have sacrificed everything for the city-state! This is not true at all!” Obviously, Aristocrates had carefully investigated Polyxis’ situation beforehand. life.

As soon as he finished speaking, someone in the audience responded: “He’s right! I was in the team against the Crotone people at the beginning, and many people died in the battle, including Neonsis, but from start to finish I’ve never seen you, Polyxis!”

“coward!”

…

Someone in the audience started yelling.

“Quiet! Quiet!” Terry Todmos had to ring the small bell again, reminding the public to keep quiet, and at the same time warned: “You two don’t talk about topics that have nothing to do with this defense, and come back to the accused issue. .”

It should be said that since there are not many large-scale trial cases in the courts of Dionysus, a young judge like Aristocrates lacks the experience, otherwise, when Polyxis just opened his mouth, he can protest.

But their initial confrontation has attracted the attention of the public.

The courtroom is like a battlefield, arguing, and the relationship between life and death is far more risky and intense than watching a drama.

The Dionian people began to widen their eyes, looking forward to their next more exciting debate.

Polyxis was quite embarrassed. Selfishly, he really forgot that he had been a deserter. He originally wanted to continue to promote his hard work in the Senate, but it was no play.

He took a deep look at his opponent, and then began to say: “As the senator of the Dionysian Senate, I have always looked up to Archon Davos as an example and responded to Hades’ revelation, so I ignored my own family. Loss, a lot of freedom was given to the slaves in the family. So far, 57 slaves have been freed, and 6 of them have become full citizens. I think there is no other citizen in Dionia who treats slaves as kindly as I do. No!” Polyxis looked around with an awe-inspiring expression.

“The freed slaves, out of gratitude and repayment, gave me some money and goods in return every year. I couldn’t refuse their kindness, so I reluctantly accepted it. Because with more money, I can buy more slaves , to set more slaves free!… Alas, but I never imagined that I would be mistaken for corruption! This… This is really a huge part of my passion for learning from Lord Davos. The blow! This is a misunderstanding!…” He looked aggrieved towards the jury.

Aristocratic said coldly: “Is Polyxis corrupt, please allow me to question witnesses, Your Honor.”

Terry Todmos nodded in agreement.

Aristocrates called a total of ten witnesses, all of whom were freed slaves of Polyxis, some who had just been freed, some who had become probationary citizens, and some who were already full citizens.

These few witnesses with citizenship did not want to appear in court, but were enforced by the court because it was the duty of Union citizens.

After they swore to the god Hades that they would not lie, Aristocrates asked him questions one by one, each sharper than the last.

During this time, Polyxis tried to interrupt several times, but was reprimanded by Judge Terry Todemos.

The witnesses saw that Polyxis was in a bad situation, and they were afraid of being accused of lying again, and were sentenced to “blasphemy”, so they revealed everything.

Now the people near the wooden platform have understood: first of all, the location of the land owned by these witnesses is already enviable, and it is all fertile land on the Shibari Plain.

You must know that when the alliance was first established, there were more people and less land. In order to prevent the land from being desolate, a lot of land was rented by freedmen and liberated slaves.

Later, the renting of the land in Subari began to be tense, and it was not enough to distribute it to the reserve citizens. How could the free people rent the land, and the slaves who had just been freed by Polyxis could rent the land. This is a very big problem. ;

Secondly, after these witnesses have paid the tax of the Union, they have to pay another 40% of the land income of Polyxis;

Again, a witness who became a full-fledged citizen even gave Polyxis 5% of his own land income every year.

Why did the official citizen take the initiative to send him money?

Because Polyxis bought some people from the Ministry of Agriculture, and when allocating “land” to these people who became full citizens, he was a hand in measuring the land, more than one and a half acres.

Because their “allotments” are often in relatively remote places, they are not easy to be found.

Therefore, these citizens from the Polyxis family have benefited, but they are afraid that the land will be taken back when the Ministry of Agriculture checks the land every year, so they take the initiative to benefit Polyxis.

After Aristocrates finished his question, Polyxis had already felt the anger of the people in the audience, and he hurriedly said loudly: “They are all lying! They are all lying! I have never done these things at all, someone is framed. I! Afraid that I might shake his opinion of Dionia—”