古典时代阿提卡演说辞的史料价值初探

The Historical Value of Classical Attic Oratory

将古典时代阿提卡演说辞广泛运用于社会经济史的研究始于20世纪70年代。然而,出于胜诉或宣传的目的,演说家、陈述者、"刊发者"可能会编造、增删、修改事实;因此,保存至今的阿提卡演说辞的可信度受到质疑。此外,由于控辩双方人员构成未必具有代表性,且演说辞的保存受到强烈的人为因素影响,如今所见的内容可能并非社会经济史研究最关键的材料。尽管如此,社会经济史的目标并非还原引发诉讼的事实,演说辞的可信度和代表性虽存在问题,但控辩双方"无意"中留下的材料无疑是更为可靠的第一手证据。客观认识存在的问题,充分结合考古、铭文、纸草、图像等其他史料补充印证,阿提卡演说辞将成为古典时代雅典社会经济史研究重要的史料来源。

The Classical Attic oratory was widely used in the study of Greek socio-economic history from 1970s. However, in order to win over the lawsuits or to propagandize themselves, the orators, the narrators or the ＂publishers＂ might fabricate, add, delete or amend the facts. Thus, the reliability of the surviving speeches should be questioned. Besides, because both the accusers and the defenders were not necessarily the most representative ones and the speeches were kept up to now only after the scrutiny and the choice of the scholars and the priests in different ages, what were recorded in the speeches might not be the most critical evidences. Even so, the aim of soeio-economie study is not to restore the facts of the litigations, but to interpret the Athenians＇ life from the more reliable first-hand materials unintentionally kept in the speeches by the litigants. Evaluating the shortcomings of the surviving speeches, supplement and verifying what were recorded with the help of the archeological, inscriptional, pictorial evidences and papyrus, we will find that Attic oratory is one of the most important materials for the study of Athenian soeio-economic life in Classical Ages.