Any 37 Anytus of Euonymon, son of Anthemion I Pl. Meno 90a speaker [PA/APF 1324 LGPN2 4 PAA 139460 DPhA Pl. Ap. 18b, 23e, & 227 RE 3 OCD3 PP !Aνυτ%ς 'Aνθεµι+ων%ς schol. present (Eυ' ωνυµευ+ ς)] Xen. Apol. 29–31 ≤443–>396 Xen. Hell. 2.3.42, 44 father of an unnamed son Andoc. 1.150 prosecutor of Socrates Lys. 13.78–9, 22.8 Isocr. 18.23–4 D. S. 13.64–6, 14.37.7 Hell. Oxy. 6.2 Aristoph. Thesm. 809, unnamed Arch. Fishes fr. 31 (K 30) Theo. Strat. fr. 58 (K 57) [Aristot.] Ath. Pol. 27.5, 34.3 Life. Anytus was the son of a self-made man who was highly praised in Plato’s Meno (90a): Anthemion, son of Diphilus, a thete who became a hippeus ([Aristot.] Ath. Pol. 7.4; Poll. 8.131) “through his own wisdom and effort” (Meno 90a). His demotic is virtually certain (Raubitschek 1949). If Anytus was in fact a lover of Alcibiades III (Pl. Ap. schol.), his date of birth should be earlier than 451, and nothing that is known about his career makes that early date implausible. If this datum falls away, however, as suggested in detail in APF, Anytus’ birth would be no later than 443, if he served on the Council in 413/2, and no later than ±440 in any case. Anytus inherited a successful tannery from his father (Xen. Apol. 29; Pl. Ap. schol.), but the comic playwrights reduced his occupation to one rather more common for slaves, “shoemaker” (Theo.; Arch.). He was also said to have been the father of an unnamed, drunken, son who followed Anytus into the tanning trade, for whom Xenophon’s Socrates prophesied a career of vice (Apol.). Career. The claim that Anytus served as a member of Council in 413/2 rests on the argument of Maas that Aristophanes (Thesm.) refers to him; if so, then Anytus was a corrupt member of Council. If he does not, then Anytus’first appearance in the record is his service as general in 409. Pylos, which had been taken in 425 by Athens, was retaken in 409 by Sparta. Anytus led thirty Athenian triremes to retake Pylos but was thwarted by bad weather from rounding Cape Malea ([Ari- stot.] Ath. Pol. 27.5); he was subsequently prosecuted for failing to prevent the loss of Pylos, but escaped punishment by bribing the large jury with his ample inheritance (D. S. 13; [Aristot.] 27); his bribery method, which is not well under- stood, was later given the special name dekazein and was made punishable by death (cf. MacDowell 1978: 173). Anytus supported Theramenes’ faction of the Thirty in 404 ([Aristot.] 34), but was later banished by the Thirty nevertheless; the many slaves his tannery would have employed were presumably confiscated (cf. Lys. 12). Theramenes identifies Anytus, along with Thrasybulus and Alcibiades III, as a capable democratic leader 38 Any whom it would have been better that the Thirty not have banished; doing so had raised the hopes and number of supporters of the democracy (Xen. Hell. 2.3.42). Indeed Anytus had been made strate¯gos of the democrats at Phyle 404/3; there he gave his protection to an informer for the Thirty who later escaped (Lys. 13). Despite that blot, he returned with Thrasybulus to the Piraeus and became one of the political leaders of the newly restored democracy. In a speech dated 402, Isocrates praised Anytus as a respected supporter of the restored democracy, crediting him with refraining from vendettas: although Anytus had been robbed of much of his wealth at the time of his exile and knew who had betrayed his holdings to the Thirty, he had not brought charges against those enemies because, at least according to Isocrates, he respected the amnesty (18.23–4). In early 402, however, details of the reconciliation agreement were still being worked out, protecting both sides, and it was not until much later that some grudges found their way into court (cf. Exc. 4). In Plato’s Meno of 402 (cf. App. I), Anytus is introduced as the son of a fine father (90a) who educated Anytus to the satisfaction of the Athenians, who had in turn elected Anytus to Athens’ highest offices. Anytus is Meno’s host in Athens (Meno 90b), and cannot abide sophists (91c, 92e). When the worthiness of Anytus’ father is placed in the context of the whole conversation in which Anytus participates with Socrates and Meno, the implicit conclusion is that Anytus is not the man his father was. Plato offers a fair number of examples to show that the sons of the best men do not turn out to be their fathers’ equals in virtue. Anytus makes a veiled threat against Socrates, warning him not to be so quick to speak ill of others because it is easy to harm people (94e), whereupon Anytus leaves the scene. Thus “Anytus here will” should be “Anytus will” at PCW 987 (99e). Anytus appears in the record once more before Socrates’ trial; he serves as a character witness for Andocides IV who had been charged with impiety by Meletus of Athens s.v. in 400 (Andoc. 1.150). In 399, Anytus prosecuted Socrates on behalf of craftsmen and politicians (Pl. Ap. 23e; Xen. Apol.; D. S. 14), but the Accusation of Socrates, said to have been spoken by Anytus at Socrates’ trial, was actually written by Polycrates s.v. sometime after 393/2. As in other hagiographic traditions, evil was supposed to have befallen the opponents of the innocent man unjustly executed, so Diodorus tells how Socrates’ accusers, Anytus and Meletus II, were put to death without trial by the angry Athenians, in their remorse following Socrates’ death (D. S., or his source, appears not to know of Lycon: 14.37.7). Diogenes says the repentant Athenians executed Meletus II and banished the others, meanwhile honoring Socrates with a bronze statue by Lysippus. Further, when the fugitive Anytus reached Heraclea Pontica, the citizens there, having heard the news of Socrates’ death, exiled Anytus on the same day (D. L. 2.43)—or stoned him to death (Them. 20.239c). But P describes Anytus as an orator with the party of Thrasybulus and Aesimus address- ing the Assembly in 396, neither dead nor dishonored. Prosopographical notes. The name of Anytus’ son is considered lost by APF— unless the son is the Anytus, PA 1322, who was a grain inspector (sitophylax) in the Piraeus in 388/7 (pace Hansen 1995: 32, who says the inspector was Anytus himself)..