ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 357 Public Trial
Plaintiffs and defendants stand ahead of Terry Todmos.According to the law, since the plaintiff and the defendant do not necessarily understand the numerous items of the "Diolian Code", and their eloquence may not be good, they can hire lawyers to carry out court defense.However, Polyxis, who was first tried in this case, decided to defend himself. Since his crimes had far exceeded the scope of the original plaintiff (that is, the liberation of slaves), the public prosecutor appointed by the court filed a lawsuit. .And the public prosecutor was Davers' former clerk Aristocrates.

After Aristocrates obtained the preparatory citizenship of Dionia, Daves suggested that he go to work in the court, and he passed the assessment smoothly. Starting from the initial court recorder, he worked hard while studying Dionia. nia law.When he became an official citizen of Dionia, he served as a low-level judge in the circuit court. For more than a year, he has become a new star among the judges of Dionia with his dazzling achievements in adjudicating "more than 200 cases and disputes without fault".In this trial, Davos personally appointed him as the prosecutor and has high hopes for him.

Because Davos modified and transplanted the later court system to Dionia, it was different from the beginning.

You must know that the most respected Athens court of this era has no special judges, only the order officer maintains the court procedures, and the power of trial is in the hands of the jury, but the jury does not have a fixed number of people, but according to the size of the case The maximum number of jury members can reach more than 2000, and the outcome of the trial is determined by a majority vote.Therefore, no matter how big or small the case is, Athens must have a jury to participate. About three to four thousand citizens travel back and forth in various courts in the city and the port every day. It is also jokingly called "Athens are Greeks who love litigation" by other city-states.

But in Dionia, except for important cases such as murder cases, treason cases, etc., which can only be decided by a jury, other civil disputes are generally made directly by the judge, even if the defendant requests a jury. , is also likely to be rejected.The reason is that the citizens of the Dionia Alliance are relatively busy, with military training, field work, market trade, public facilities construction... they don't have so much free time to sit in the court and listen to the original and defendants talk about things that have nothing to do with them.

In Athens, because the city-state is extremely wealthy, there is monetary compensation for serving as a jury, and some citizens even make a living from it, so citizens are happy to do it.

In short, Dionia's current strength and financial resources cannot afford this time-consuming and expensive Athenian-style trial method, and it is not prepared to implement it in this way.The Dionians were affected in terms of entering the legion, holding public office, and receiving city-state rewards because they were worried about breaking the law. Really big crimes were rare.Therefore, the public rarely sees such a large court trial with a jury, and many people can say that it is the first time they have witnessed the operation of the Dionia trial.

Victory Square was quickly occupied by people, and people kept coming outside the venue...

When the liquid level of the water clock fell to the eight o'clock mark, Terry Todmus rang the bell for the opening of the court.

Since both the plaintiff and the defendant were present, the public prosecutor made the statement at the beginning.Aristocrates filed a complaint against the Temple of Emancipation of Slaves, patrols searched as usual, and found evidence... After a brief explanation, he then showed the jury the evidence he found, accusing Polyxis of illegally occupying land and restricting others Freedom and other crimes.

The people in the audience began to commotion.

Terry Todmos had to ring the bell to remind the people present to keep quiet.Then he signaled to the accused Polyxes that he could present his defence.

As a veteran of politics for a long time, Polyxis still held his head high and kept his spirits high, because he knew that if he showed decadence, the people would think he felt guilty.At the beginning, although he did not participate in the establishment of the legal trial system, he attended the whole process of Davos' persuasion of the elders, so he knew that the key to acquittal in Dionia's large trial lies in the jury on the group, so he said in a voice full of enthusiasm: "Members of the jury, at this moment I think of my father, my grandfather... As one of the earliest founders of the city of Turui, they put all their It is only with my heart and blood that I poured my heart and blood into this land that was once a wilderness that today’s prosperous city can come into being. Influenced by my father’s generation, I have been working hard for this city since I was an adult, and with you Similarly, he worked in the fields, worked as a soldier, participated in battles, served as a low-level public official, and was elected as General Turui by the people many times, and exhausted his heart and soul for this city-"

At this time, Aristocrates stood up and interrupted him: "Polyxes, as one of the former generals of Thurii, you should bear responsibility for the burning of the city of Thurii! And after the city was finally broken, At that time, as a general, you did not lead the people to meet the enemy, but disappeared, and you dared to say that you gave everything for the city! This is not true at all!" Obviously, Aristocrates had carefully investigated Polyxis life.

As soon as he finished speaking, someone in the audience responded: "He is right! I was in the team that faced the Crotones, and many people died in the battle, including Neances, but from the beginning to the end I’ve never even seen you, Polluxes!”

"coward!"

"coward!"

……

Someone in the audience started yelling.

"Quiet! Quiet!" Terry Todmos had to ring the small bell again to remind the people to keep quiet, and at the same time warned: "You two, don't talk about topics that have nothing to do with this defense, and return to the issue of being accused .”

It should be said that because there are not many large-scale court cases in the courts of Dionysia, young judges like Aristocrates lack experience, otherwise they can protest when Polyxis just opens his mouth.

But their initial confrontation has attracted the attention of the public.The court is like a battlefield, with swords and swords, life and death, the risk and intensity of which are far better than watching a drama.The people of Dionia began to open their eyes wide, looking forward to their next more exciting debate.

Polixis was quite embarrassed. He was so selfish that he really forgot that he had been a deserter. He originally wanted to continue to promote his hard work and achievements in the Senate, but now there is no chance.He took a deep look at his opponent, and then began to say: "As a senator of the Dionia Senate, I have always regarded Archon Davos as an example and responded to Hades's revelation, so I ignored my own family's Loss, a large number of freedoms have been given to the slaves in the family. So far, 57 slaves have been freed, and 6 have become official citizens. I don’t think there is any citizen in Dionia who treats slaves as well as me except Lord Davos. !No!" Polyxis looked around with a stern expression.

"The emancipated slaves, out of gratitude and repayment, gave me some money and goods every year in return. I couldn't refuse their kindness, so I reluctantly accepted it. Because with more money, I can buy more slaves. , to give more slaves freedom!... Alas, but I never expected that everyone would mistake it for corruption! This... This is really a huge blow to my enthusiasm for learning from Lord Davos. A blow! This is a misunderstanding!..." He looked at the jury with an aggrieved look.

Aristocrates said coldly: "Whether Polluxes is corrupt, please allow me to question the witnesses, your honor."

Terry Todmos nodded in agreement.

Aristocrates called a total of ten witnesses, all of whom were freed slaves of Polyxes, some who had just been freed, some who had become preliminary citizens, and some who were already full citizens.These few citizen witnesses did not want to appear in court, but were compelled by the court because it was an obligation of Union citizens.

After they had sworn to the god Hades not to lie, Aristocrates asked each of them questions, each more pointed than the last.During this period, Polyxes tried to interrupt several times, but was scolded by Judge Tritodemus.

When the witnesses saw that Polluxes was in bad condition, they were afraid of being accused of lying again and being sentenced to "blasphemy", so they revealed everything.

Now the people near the wooden platform have understood: First of all, the location of the land owned by these witnesses is already enviable, and it is all fertile land on the Subari Plain.You must know that when the Alliance was first established, there were many people and little land. In order to prevent the land from becoming barren, a lot of land was leased to freedmen and freed slaves.Later, the renting of land in Subari began to be tense, and it was not enough to distribute it to the reserve citizens. How could freedmen rent it? The slaves just released by Polyxis could still rent good land. This is a very big problem. up;

Secondly, after these witnesses have paid the alliance's taxes, they must also pay 40% of the land revenue to Polyxes;

Thirdly, witnesses who became official citizens actually had to give Polyxes 5% of their land income every year.Why do formal citizens take the initiative to send him money?Because Polyxis bought some people from the Ministry of Agriculture, and when allocating the "land" to these people who became full citizens, they did a trick when measuring the land, and it was one and a half mu more.Because their "portions" are often in relatively remote places, they are not easily discovered.Therefore, these citizens from the Polyxis family have benefited, but they are afraid that they will be taken back when the Ministry of Agriculture spot checks the land every year, so they take the initiative to give benefits to Polyxis.

By the time Aristocrates finished asking, Polyxius had already felt the anger of the people in the audience. He hurriedly shouted: "They are all lying! They are all lying! I have never done any of these things. Someone is framing me. Me! Afraid that I might sway his love for Dionia—"

(End of this chapter)