LYCURGUS, the Athenian orator, the son of Lycophron, and the! grandson of Lycurgua, who is ridiculed by Aristophanes (' Birds, 1. 1296), was one of the warmest supporters of the democratical party in the contest with Philip of Macedon. The time of his birth is uncertain, but he was older than Demosthenes (Liban., Are. Aria togiton 1; and if his father was put to death by the Thirty Tyrants (' Vitas Deccm °rat.; p. 841, B.), he must have been born previous to B.C. 404 ; but the words of the biographer are, as Mr. Clinton has justly remarked (' Fast. Hell.; vol. p. 151), ambiguous, and may imply that it was his grandfather who was put to death by the Thirty.
Lycurgue is said to have received instruction from Plato and Ieocrates. He took an active part in the management of public affairs, and was one of the Athenian ambassadors who succeeded (w. 343) in counteracting the designs of Philip against Ambracia and Peloponnesus (Demoath., Philip,' iii., p. 129, ed. Reiske.) He filled the office of treasurer of the public revenue for three periods of five years, that is, according to the ancient idiom, twelve years (Diod. Sic., xvi. 88); and was noted for the integrity and ability with which be discharged the duties of his office. Beickh e Public Economy of Athens,' voL ii, p. 183, EngL trans].) considers that Lycurgus was the only statesman of antiquity who had a real knowledge of the manage ment of finance. He raised the revenue to twelve hundred talents, and also erected during his administration many public buildings, and completed the docks, the armoury, the theatre of Bacchus, and the Panathenaic course. So great confidence was placed in the honesty of Lycurgus, that many citizens confided to his custody large sums of money ; and shortly before his death he had the accounts of hie public administration engraved on stone and set up in part of the wrestling-school. An inscription, preserved to the prevent day, con taining some accounts of a manager of the public revenue, is supposed by Bockh to be a part of the accounts of Lycurgus. (See the
inscription in Bfilech's Corpus Inacriptionum Griecarum; vol. i., p. 250, No. 157.) After the battle of Chwroneia (B.c. 338) Lycurgus conducted the accusation against the Athenian general Lysicles. He was one of the orators demanded by Alexander after the destruction of Thebes, B.C. 335. Ho died about the year B.c. 323, and was buried in the Academia. (Pausan., i. 29, § 15.) Fifteen years after his death, upon the ascendancy of the democratical party, a decree was passed by the Athenian people that public honours should be paid to Lycurgus; a brazen statue of him was erected in the Ceramicua, which was seen by Pausanias (i. 8, § 3), and the representative of his family was allowed the privilege of dining in the l'rytaneum. This decree, which was proposed by Stratocles, has come down to us at the end of the Lives of the Ten Orators.' Lycurgus is said to have published fifteen orations (' Vita Dec. Grat.,' p. 843, C.; Photius, Cod.,' 268); of which only one has come down to us. This oration, which was delivered B.C. 330, is an accu sation of Loocrates (Kara ItecoKixirovs), an Athenian citizen, for abandoning Athens after the battle of Chwroneia, and settling in another Grecian state. The eloquence of Lycurgue is greatly praised by Diodorus Siculns (xvi. 88), but is justly characterised by Dionysius of Halicarnassus as deficient in case and elegance (voL v., p. 433, ed. Reiske).
The best editions of Lycurgus are by Taylor, who published ,it with the Oration of Demosthenes against Camb., 1743 ; Becker, 1821 ; Pinzger, 1824 ; Blume, 1827; Baiter and Sauppe, 1834, and Matzner, 1836. It is also included in the edition of the 'Oratores (lima,' by Reiske and Bekker, and Las been translated into French by Auger, Paris, 1783.