.
EXOMO´SIA (ἐξωμοσία).
1. Any Athenian citizen (probably with the exception of near relatives of the defendant, Isae. Menecl. § 33), when called upon to appear as a witness in a court of justice, was obliged by law to obey the summons, unless he could establish by oath that he was unacquainted with the case in question (Pollux, 8.55, εἰ φάσκοιεν μὴ ἐπίστασθαι ἐφ᾽ ἃ ἐκαλοῦντο: ἢ μαρτυρεῖν ἢ ἐξόμνυσθαι, Dem. de Fals. Leg. p. 396.176, etc.; Att. Process, ed. Lipsius, p. 881, n. 323). This oath was called ἐξωμοσία. Against those who refused to obey the summons without being able to take this oath, a δίκη βλάβης, or, if they had promised to give evidence, a δίκη λιπομαρτυρίου, might be brought by the parties who thought themselves injured by their having withheld their evidence, the fine going to the plaintiffs; or they were specially summoned (κλητεύειν, [Dem.] c. Neaer. p. 1354.28, ἀναγκάσω μαρτυρεῖν ἢ ἐξόμνυσθαι κατὰ τὸν νόμον, ἢ κλητεύσω αὐτόν, etc.) and threatened with the imposition of a fine of 1000 drachmas, to be paid to the state (Aeschin. Tim. § 46; Att. Process, ed. Lipsius, p. 494 ff.). Hudtwalcker (Diaet. p. 97) and Lipsius (Att. Process, p. 909, n. 409) take ἐξόμνυσθαι δίκας in Theophr. Char. 6 (Jebb 16) in the sense of ὑπόμνυσθαι, Jebb (p. 230) in that of “making oath (as witness) that he knows nothing of the matter.”
2. As a rule, candidates for an office (ἀρχὴ in its proper sense), whether they were to be chosen by lot (ἀρχαὶ κληρωταί) or by show of hands (ὰ. χειροτονηταί), gave in their names to the archons (Isocr. de Permut. § 150; [Lys.] c. Andoc. § 4; Lys. c. Phil. § 33). Suid. s. v. ληξιαρχικόν (and Schol. Aeschin. c. Tim. § 18) says, καὶ ἐκ ἐκείνων τῶν γραμματείων (sc. ληξιαρχικῶν) κληροῦσι τ̀ας ἀρχάς, wrongly connecting the name ληξιαρχικὸν with λαχεῖν τὰς ἀρχάς (see Boeckh, Kl. Schriften, iv. p. 154, n. 1); but when Plutarch (Plut. Phoc. 8） says of Phocion that he served more frequently as στρατηγὸς than any one in his time, or before his time had done οὐ παραγγέλλων οὐδὲ μετιών, it is evident that this was not invariably the rule (cf. also Xen. Hell. 1.4, 10, οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι στρατηγοὺς εἵλοντο Ἀλκιβιάδην μὲν φεύγοντα, etc.). A person chosen in such a way, or appointed to [p. 1.815]serve as ambassador or in any other public capacity, was at liberty to decline the office, if he could take an oath, either himself or by proxy (δι᾽ ἑτέρου, Pollux, 8.55; cf. Dem. de Fats. Leg. p. 379.124, and Aeschin. F. L. § 95, whence we learn that an oath of this kind had to be made before the assembly), that the state of his health or other circumstances rendered it impossible for him to fulfil the duties connected with it (ἐξόμνυσθαι τὴν πρεσβείαν, τὰς ἀρχάς; cf. Arist. Pol. 6.10 S. = 4.13 Bk. περὶ δὲ τὰς ἀρχὰς τὸ τοῖς μὲν ἔχουσι τίμημα μὴ ἐξεῖναι ἐξόμνυσθαι, τοῖς δ᾽ἀπόροις ἐξεῖναι: the arrogant man in Theophr. Char. 24 (Jebb 4) assigns the vague reason that he is “too busy” ). This oath was likewise called ἐξωμοσία (Harp. s.v. Schol. Aristoph. Eccl. 1018, n.; Schol. Aeschin. F. L. § 97). Hudtwalcker, Diaet. p. 97, calls it wrongly ὑπωμοσία. (Schömann, Assemblies, p. 329; Hermann, Gr. Staatsalt. § § 123, 148.)
3. Ἐξωμοσία is also used according to Suidas, s. v. (=Schol. Aristoph. Eccl. 1018), in the sense of objections raised by the defendant to the admissibility of the plaintiff's action (μὴ δεῖν ἐσάγεσθαι δίκην, εῖτα καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν δι᾽ ἣν οὐκ εἰσαγώγιμος ἡ δίκη, etc.), the same proceeding which is called ἀντιγραφὴ in Lys. c. Pancl. § § 5, 10, and παραγραφὴ since the law of Archinus, passed soon after the expulsion of the Thirty Tyrants (Isocr. c. Callim. § 2). Suidas' explanation probably refers to Aristoph. Eccl. 1026, and there, according to Platner (Process u. Klagen, i. p. 162 n.), ἐξωμοσία is used in the sense of declining an office (2). (Att. Process, ed. Lipsius, p. 853 ff.) [L.S] [H.H]
(Appendix). (2.) The exomosia of those enrolled by the καταλογεῖς as horsemen is mentioned in 100.49: οὗτοι (οἱ ἵππαρχοι καὶ φύλαρχοι) παραλαβόντες εἰσφέρουσι τ[ὸν] κατάλογον εἰς τῆν βουλὴν καὶ τὸν πίνακα ἀνοίξαντες, ἐν ᾧ κατασεσημασμένα τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν ἱππέων ἐστί, τοὺς μὲν ἐξομνυμένους τῶν πρότερον ἐγγεργαμμένων μὴ δυνατοὺς εἶναι τοῖς σώμασιν ἱππεύειν ἐξαλείφουσι, τοὺς δὲ κατειλεγμένους [κ]αλοῦσι, κἂν μέν τις ἐξομόσηται μὴ δύνασθαι τῷ σώματι ἱππεύειν ἢ τῄ οὐσίᾳ τοῦτον ἀφιᾶσιν, etc.
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