Philochorus F 67 and the Return of the Exiles

Abstract

DIONYSIUS OF HALICARNASSUS in his study of the life and works of the orator Dinarchus found it necessary, in order to assess the genuineness or otherwise of the numerous speeches attributed to his subject, to establish first of all the dates and length of the orator's banishment from Athens. In the course of his researches (in which he shows a justifiable pride) he went to two main sources: an unquestionably genuine autobiographical speech delivered by Dinarchus himself at Athens in his old age,' and the seventeenbook local history of Athens (the Atthis) of Philochorus, a younger contemporary of Dinarchus.2 From Dinarchus himself he learned that the orator, a Corinthian by birth and never an Athenian citizen, had, upon the downfall of his friend and protector Demetrius of Phalerum in mid-summer 307 B.c., deemed it prudent not to stand trial for his part in the activities of the discredited regime but instead to flee to Chalcis. Here he remained for fifteen years until a change of circumstances in Athens allowed him to return, in the archonship of Philippus (292/1), when he was already seventy years of age.3 So much Dionysius was able to find in Dinarchus himself, and he turned next to Philochorus, whose Atthis he used elsewhere in his historical researches and whom he trusted for accurate information on Athens.4 In Book 7, listed under the archon Anaxicrates (307/6), he found what he wanted about the flight of Demetrius of Phalerum and many of the citizens and their condemnation to death in absentia. Although there was no specific reference to Dinarchus himself (or Dionysius could hardly have failed to record it) the passage amply confirmed Dinarchus' own notice of the circumstances surrounding his flight to Chalcis, and Dionysius duly incorporated it, slightly summarized, in his study of Dinarchus, where it has survived to become Fragment 66 of Philochorus in Jacoby's collection. Turning now to the later books of the Atthis Dionysius looked for confirmation of the date of the orator's return to Athens, and found what