Podaci o mitu i drugim oblicima korupcije u Plutarhovim "Životopisima Kimona" i "Perikla"

Abstract

Rad je posvećen Plutarhovim Životopisima Kimona i Perikla i podacima o mitu i korupciji koji se mogu pronaći u ovim delima. I Kimon i Perikle su, prema Plutarhovom sudu, bili besprekorni u tom pogledu i označeni su kao pošteni i nepotkupljivi. Zbog toga je, naizgled, neobično što su i jedan i drugi bili predmet optužbi za primanje mita i druge koruptivne radnje. U radu se razmatra i da li su, opet, Kimon i Perikle, svaki na svoj način i na osnovu svojih mogućnosti, a zbog sopstvenih interesa, radili na "kvarenju" naroda i njegovom podmićivanju. Na podmićivanje naroda i kupovinu njegove naklonosti bi se takođe moglo gledati kao na koruptivnu delatnost svojstvenu političarima u različitim epohama, pa tako i onima u demokratskoj Atini V veka pre n. e.

As part of my research on bribery and corruption in Plutarch's biographies of prominent Athenian politicians of the fifth century BC, this paper, using evidence from the Life o f Cimon and the Life ofPericles, focuses on testimonies of bribery and other forms of corruption that can be found in these two works. Both Cimon and Pericles were, according to Plutarch, statesmen of noble and virtuous character and worthy of admiration in almost every respect. They were zealous, persistent and passionately committed to the public services they performed, proving to be invulnerable to bribery. However, as in the case of other famous Athenian statesmen whose biographies he wrote, Plutarch recorded different and conflicting accounts of accusations of bribery and corrupt activities that he found in the sources he used for writing his Lives. Plutarch defended his heroes in connection with these accusations, even when they were brought to trial on accusations of bribery. The paper also discusses the question of whether Cimon and Pericles, each in their own ways, and for the sake of their own interests, worked on "corrupting the dëmos" and bribing it. Bribing people and buying their affection to acquire mass support could also be seen as a corrupt activity in different regimes and different times, like in democratic Athens in the fifth century BC.