Page 42 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

Envoys and Political Communication,411–533

from fourth-century bc Athens shows that the sixty-seven recorded
strategoi rarely served as envoys; but almost a third of the remaining 300-
odd rhetors did, fifteen of them undertaking three or more embassies.
These proportions are an indication as much of the honour associated
with embassies as of the frequent need for diplomatic interchange. 40
The need for oratorical skills also tended to restrict candidacy to the
better-educated aristocracy. The task of envoys was ‘political advocacy’,
the persuasive promotion of the proposals of their state, rarely partici-
pation in actual negotiation. Diplomacy ‘by conference’, the meeting of
representatives authorised to negotiate a settlement, was little practised,
and even so-called plenipotentiaries, autocratores, were empowered only
to reach agreements within previously defined limits. 41 The task of ad-
vocacy should not be underestimated, however, for it involved more than
the mere communication of the decisions of one state to another. The
letters borne by envoys, which served as their proof of credence, probably
42
only related the assembly’s decree in sparse style. It was the envoy’s task
to persuade his recipient to agree with his own state’s proposals.
The importance of formal rhetorical training in this task of persuasion
can be seen in the change of personnel selected as envoys from the fifth
to the fourth centuries bc. In the early fifth century bc, mostAthenian
envoys were currentor former generals; a century later, as a result of
increased professionalism, embassies were dominated by rhetores, includ-
ing ‘professional’ politicians, philosophers, and other figures trained in
eloquence. Many fourth-century generals never served on an embassy,
and almostno lesser military figures did. 43 Oratorical skill was estab-
lished as the essential element of the envoy’s duty: ‘Odysseus...[was]...
44
the mirror of a diplomatist, eloquent and resourceful.’ The association
of eloquence and diplomatic representation was maintained throughout
antiquity.

40 Mosley, Envoys and Diplomacy, 43; Adcock and Mosley, Diplomacy in Ancient Greece, 158; Matthews,
‘Gesandtschaft’, 658. Athenian political figures: Hansen, ‘Rhetores and Strategoi’, 32–64.
41
D. J. Mosley, ‘Diplomacy by Conference: Almost a Spartan Contribution to Diplomacy?’, Emerita
39 (1971), 187–93; Mosley, Envoys and Diplomacy, 14, 30–8 (on plenipotentiaries); Adcock and
Mosley, Diplomacy in Ancient Greece, 155 (quote); Matthews, ‘Gesandtschaft’, 656. For a statement
of the relative responsibilities of the envoy and the assembly: Andocides, Oration 3: On the Peace
with the Spartans,c. 41.
42
Mosley, Envoys and Diplomacy, 21.
43
Mosley, ‘Diplomacy and Disunion’, 321; Envoys and Diplomacy, 21–9, 43; Adcock and Mosley,
Diplomacy in Ancient Greece, 10, 126–7; Kienast, ‘Presbeia’, 590–6; Matthews, ‘Gesandtschaft’, 657.
Rhetores and strategoi as envoys: Hansen, ‘Athenian “Politicians” ’, 20–1. Only seven of the sixty-
seven fourth-century bc strategoi in the prosopographical list of Hansen, ‘Rhetores and Strategoi’,
32–64, are attested as serving as envoys. Known Attic and Spartan envoys are listed in Kienast,
‘Presbeia’, 595–628.
44
Adcock and Mosley, Diplomacy in Ancient Greece, 9.
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