Abstract
Abstract
The Athenian envisions civic participation as the primary venue for the expression of thumos. The central books develop a novel political system that both involves ordinary citizens and does justice to superior virtue. Through their participation in elections and courts, on the one hand, all citizens play a role in determining what meets the lawgiver’s standards. Ordinary citizens have gifts to offer, and, in participating politically, they develop their own faculties of judgment. On the other hand, the Athenian suggests that the city’s top officials will be superior in talent and education; but he leaves readers in suspense as to who they are and how they will be elected. The city’s elite courts are paradigmatic: leading magistrates, functioning as judges, oversee high-stakes cases, while educating other citizens in judicial process and forensic judgment. The Athenian introduces a Socratic ambition to the courts, which different judges will realize to different degrees.