SYLAE
SYLAE (
σῦλαι). When a Greek state
declared war against another (
Xen. Hell.
5.1,
1 and Schol.; Dem.
c.
Mid. p. 570.173; Dem.
c. Timocr. p. 703.12, and
Wayte's note, etc.), or when it or any of its members had received an injury
or insult from some other state or some of its members, and the former was
unwilling, or not in a condition, to declare open war, it was not unusual to
give a commission or grant public authority to individuals (who sometimes.
formed a kind of company:
οἱ ἐπὶ λείαν
οἰχόμενοι, Dig. iv.
de Coll. [
ERANI]) to make reprisals. This
was called
σύλας or
σῦλα διδόναι τινὶ κατά τινος (Dem.
c.
Lacrit. p. 931.26; Bekk.
Anecd. p. 303, 27:
σῦλα δοῦναι κατὰ τῆς Χαλκηδονίων πόλεως: ἐπιγράψαι
τῆν πόλιν λῃστεῦσαι) or
λάφυρον
ἐπικηρύττειν, ῥύσια καταγγέλλειν τινί (
Plb. 4.26,
36,
53, etc.). Suidas explains
σύλας by
συλλήψεις (cf.
schol. Dem.
c. Lacrit. p. 927, and
Etym. M. s.
v.
σῦλαι). Scheibe (
Jahrb. f. class.
Philol. Suppl. i. p. 352 f.) distinguishes thus between
σῦλαι and
σῦλα:
“
σῦλον valere praedam ipsam,
σύλας autem pignora quae ob pecuniam debitam
auferantur (fere i. q.
ῥύσια);”
but see [Arist.]
Oecon. ii. p. 1347 (2.10
Didot),
σῦλον ἔχειν κατά τινος. Thus,
when the Lacedaemonians thought the Athenians had broken the treaty with
them by making incursions from Pylus, they issued a proclamation that any of
their subjects might commit depredations on the Athenians (
ληΐζεσθαι τοὺς Ἀθηναίους,
Thuc. 5.115). In Lys.
c. Nicom.
§ 22, we read
Βοιωτοὺς σύλας
ποιουμένους, because the Athenians were unable to repay two
talents which the Boeotians had probably advanced to the Athenian exiles
(for the support given to these, cf. Lys.
fr. 78;
Dinarch.
c. Dem.
[p. 2.733] § 25). Demosthenes (de
Coron.
Trierarch. p. 1232.13) declares that the deputy-captains of
triremes so misbehaved themselves in foreign countries, plundering everybody
they came near, that no Athenian could travel safely
διὰ τὰς ὑπὸ τούτων ἀνδροληψίας καὶ σύλας
κατεσκευασμένας, where
ἀνδροληψίας refers to the arrest of the person,
σύλας to the seizure of goods (see also
de Cherson. p. 96, § § 25, 28). In
the
ναυτικὴ συγγραφὴ in the speech of
Demosthenes (
c. Lacrit. p. 927.93), one of the conditions is
that goods may be landed only
ὅπου ἂν μὴ σῦλαι
ὦσιν Ἀθηναίοις, i. e. wherever the Athenians have no
rights of reprisal, and where therefore Athenian ships in their turn were
not in danger. When any booty was taken by Athenian subjects, the people of
Athens reserved to themselves the right of determining whether it was
lawfully. taken, whether it ought to be kept or restored, and what should be
done with it (Dem.
c. Timocr. p. 703.12,
ὡς ἀποχειροτονήσαθ̓ ὑμεῖς μὴ φίλια εῖναι,
cf.
argumentum, p. 695 f.; Minerva of the
Parthenon received the tithe, p. 741.129, cf. Lys.
c.
Polystr. § 24; Boeckh,
Sthh. i.3 p. 399). The same practice prevailed in other cities,
e. g. in Chalcedon:
ὑπὲρ δὲ τῶν συλῶν
διεδικάσαντο: τοῖς δὲ μὴ δικαίως συληθεῖσιν ἡ πόλις ἀπὸ τῶν
προσόδων ἀπεδίδου, [Arist.]
Oecon. ii. p. 1347. It would seem that special treaties were made
between states for the protection of property against reprisals: thus the
covenant between Oeanthia and Chaleion (Rangabé,
Ant.
Hellén. No. 356 b = Hicks,
Gr. Histor.
Inser. No. 31) prevented either state from injuring foreign
merchants whilst visiting the other's port, and gave moreover certain rules
for the court at either city before which a foreigner who had unjustly
suffered seizure might get redress (cf.
Bull. d. Corresp.
hell. ix. p. 162). Sometimes as a special privilege
ἀσυλία was granted to individuals:
C. I.
A. ii. No. 46, cf.
C. I. G. No. 2056,
εἴσπλους καὶ ἔκπλους καὶ πολέμου καὶ εἰρήνης
ἀσυλεὶ καὶ ἀσπονδεί, etc. The theatrical artists enjoyed
it: cf.
C. I. A. ii. No. 551, 1. 19 if.:
μὴ ἐξέστω δὲ μηδενὶ ἄγειν τὸν τεχνίταν μήτε
πολέμου μήτε εἰρήνης μηδὲ συλᾶν πλὴν ἐὰν χρέος ἔχων πόλει
ᾖ ὑπόχρεως καὶ ἐὰν ἰδίᾳ ᾖ ἰδιώτου ὑπόχρεως ὁ
τεχνίτας: 50.84,
μηδὲ συλᾶν μηδὲ
ῥυσιάζειν: cf. Le Bas,
As. Min. No. 84,
ἀσυλία καὶ ἀσφάλεια καθὼς καὶ τοῖς
Διονυσιακοῖς τεχνίταις. The Athenian grain fleet was
usually accompanied by a convoy of men-of-war to protect them against the
privateers (Dem.
de Cor. p. 251.77; c.
Polycl. p. 1211.17). The ancient practice may be compared
with the modern one of granting letters of marque. (Salmasius,
de
Mod. Usur. p. 211 ff.; R. Dareste,
Revue des
Études Grecques, 1889, p. 305
f.; Büchsenschütz,
Besitz und Erw. p.
543 ff.)
[C.R.K] [H.H]
