AGRON´OMI
AGRON´OMI (
ἀγρονόμοι),
magistrates (
ἄρχοντες), described by
Aristotle in two passages of the
Politics (6.8, 6; 7.12, 8)
as identical with the
ὑλωροὶ or foresters
[
HYLORI]. Aristotle does not
tell us in what Greek states these officers. existed; and to this question
no certain answer can be given. It is commonly assumed, from the frequent
mention of them by Plato in his
Laws, that they belonged to
Attica, and formed one of the police magistracies. (Böckh,
P. E. p. 303; Schömann,
Antiq.,
p. 138, E. T.; Caillemer, ap. D. and S.) But the correspondence of Plato's
ideal laws with actual Athenian legislation has been much exaggerated; and
on several grounds it is unlikely that in the large and varied powers he
assigns to his
ἀγρονόμοι he is describing
an Athenian institution. In one passage (6.760 B.) he assigns to them the
defence of the frontiers, which we know to have been the duty of the
Strategi; in another (8.844 B.) they have to provide for the control of
unruly torrents and the escape of flood waters. They are not mentioned in a
single passage of the orators or of the grammarians who are our chief
sources for Attic law ; yet the speech of Demosthenes against Callicles, in
an action arising out of a water-course, is precisely a case where, if the
office described by Plato. had existed at Athens, we must have found it.
Lastly, the scarcity of wood in Attica makes it improbable that any
“foresters” or “verderers,” whether under the
name of
ἀγρονόμοι or
ὑλωροὶ, can have been required.
[W.S] [W.W]
