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Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2001 13:26:11 -0500
To: classics@u.washington.edu
From: "James M. Pfundstein" <jmpfund@bgnet.bgsu.edu>
Subject: Re: ancient "dirty tricks" campaigns
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At 10:21 PM -0600 11/9/01, Jeffrey B. Gibson wrote:
>As we know all too well from modern political campaigns where the
>destruction of one's opponent is now as much the objective as winning
>the vote, lying maliciously and leaking manufactured charges in a stab
>at character assassination is often the first step in trying to attain
>this goal.
>
>Are there examples in Hellenistic literature of people employing "dirty
>tricks" and/or spreading "untruths" about a foe in order to destroy
>his/her reputation?

The first example that occurred to me was the rumors about Socrates 
which (according to the _Apology_) laid the groundwork for the 
condemnation of Socrates. Then it seemed to me the rivalry of 
Aeschines and Demosthenes, later on, was a still better example. 
Certainly the slander/counterslander they engaged in (cf. Aeschines 
_On the Embassy_ 2.3, _Against Ctesiphon_ 3.52ff, vs. Demosthenes _On 
the Crown_ 18.10 etc) is much like the mudslinging of modern politics 
(where legal actions are also becoming, increasingly, a tool of 
political factions).

JMP("Pe:lopoios")
.