.
EPI´BOLE (ἐπιβολή), a fine imposed by a magistrate, or other official person or body (the Areiopagus, Aeschin. F. L. § 93; the senate of Five Hundred, Pollux, 8.51; Boeckh, Seeurk. xiv. b, p. 64), for a misdemeanour; cf. Lex. Rhet. Cantabr p. 669, 14, ἔξεστι τοῖς ἄρχουσιν (Aeschin. c. Cres. § 27) ἀργυρίῳ ζημιοῦν τοὺς ἁμαρτ άνοντας. The various magistrates at Athens had (each in his own department) a summary penal jurisdiction: i. e. for certain offences they might inflict a pecuniary mulct or fine, not exceeding a fixed amount; if the offender deserved further punishment, it was their duty to bring him before a judicial tribunal, the magistrate proposing the penalty. [p. 1.746]Thus, in case of injury done to orphans and heiresses, etc. ([Dem.] c. Macart. p. 1076.75), or of misconduct at the great Dionysia (Dem. c. Mid. p. 572.179), the archon might fine the parties; Archedemus (probably as one of the Hellenotamiae) inflicted a fine on Erasinides (Xen. Hell. 1.7, 2); the generals could fine a phylarch for disobedience ([Lys.] c. Alcib. 2.5); Nicomachus incurred a fine for not discharging his task within the prescribed term (Lys. c. Nicom. § 3); the same power belonged to the τειχοποιοί (Aeschin. c. Ctes. § 27): cf. [Lys.] pro Polystr. § 14; Dem. c. Nicostr. p. 1251.14, etc. There was need of such power being given to magistrates at Athens (Xen. Mem. 3.5, 16). If the person fined would not submit to it, the magistrate had to lay the case before a court (Lys. pro Milit. § 11 ; [Lys.] c. Andoc. § 21); that was always required when a demarch imposed a fine (C. I. A. ii. No. 573 b). The amount of the fine (τὸ τέλος) which the individual magistrate might inflict, we do not know; the senate of Five Hundred was competent to fine to the extent of 500 drachmas. ([Dem.] c. Euerg. p. 1151.43; Pollux, 8.51; EISANGELIA); the priests, the πρόεδροι of the public assembly, to the amount of 50 drachmas. (C. I. A. ii. No. 841, 1. 15; Lex in Aeschin. c. Tim. § 35; cf. Plat. Legg. p. 764, B, C.)
The magistrate who imposed the fine (ἐπιβολὴν ἐπέβαλε) had not the charge of levying it, but was obliged to make a return thereof to the treasury officers (ἐπιγράφειν εἰς τοὺς πράκτορας, or ἐγγράφειν τοῖς πράκτορσιν, or ἐγγράφειν τῷ δημοσίῳ), whereupon, like all other penalties and amerciaments, it became (as we should say) a debt of record, to be demanded or recovered by the collectors (Aeschin. c. Tim. l.c.).
If the fine was not paid within the prescribed time (ἡ μὲν ἔκτισις ἠν ἐπὶ τῆς ἐνάτης πρυτανείας, Andoc. de Myst. § 73), a return of it was made to the ταμίαι of the goddess (Lys. pro Milit. § 6). At their own risk the ταμίαι could rescind a fine imposed (Lys. pro Milit. § 7; Pollux, 8.97). (Siegfried, de multa quae ἐπιβολὴ dicitur; Att. Process, ed. Lipsius, pp. 49, 50, 54, 757-8, 1016-19.)
These epibolae are to be distinguished from the penalties awarded by a jury or court of law (τιμήματα) upon a formal prosecution, and from the fine of a thousand drachmas, which the accuser in a public action incurred when he dropped his accusation or failed to obtain a fifth part of the votes (cf. SYCOPHANTES), or when a citizen refused to obey the summons to appear as a witness in court without being able to take the ἐξωμοσία: in all these cases the magistrates had no discretionary power.
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities
| Ancient Greece
Science, Technology , Medicine , Warfare, , Biographies , Life , Cities/Places/Maps , Arts , Literature , Philosophy ,Olympics, Mythology , History , Images Medieval Greece / Byzantine Empire Science, Technology, Arts, , Warfare , Literature, Biographies, Icons, History Modern Greece Cities, Islands, Regions, Fauna/Flora ,Biographies , History , Warfare, Science/Technology, Literature, Music , Arts , Film/Actors , Sport , Fashion --- |
