We may not know much about Charondas of Catania, but we know he was a man of principal. He lived in Catania, in Sicily, some time in the early 6th century BC.
Intriguingly, this would place him in the right region at the right time to be a pupil of Pythagoras, and some have indeed concluded that he must have been taught by the great (although slightly nutty) philosopher. The more cautious have concluded that we simply cannot tell.
We do know that he was known to Plato, and Aristotle, both of whom are recorded as talking about him. Charondas was a lawmaker, and his actions and recognition of the importance of laws and the social contract were what raised him to legend.
A Lawgiver and a Poet
Charondas had been chosen by the people of Catania as the best among them, to create a legal framework under which the citizens of the city might live. Charondas accepted this weighty task and drew up a list of laws which would apply to all equally.
This was an important point, as the concept of legal frameworks which were agnostic as to the guilty party was still coming to the fore. Democracy, and the recognition of the rights of the common man had only been conceived for around one hundred years by this point, and the very concept of the individual was in its infancy.
We are told that Charondas wrote his laws in verse, proving the man a poet as much as a lawmaker. And we also know that these laws were seen as just and fair, as they were adopted by other cities and principalities in Sicily and southern Italy.
The laws seem to have endured for another hundred years, until they were expanded and adapted by another legal mind: Anaxilas of Rhegium, a city in the far southern “toe” of Italy. But the laws of Charondas stand out for two reasons: their exacting detail, and how the man himself applied them.
Aristotle spoke very highly of these laws, noting their prescriptive nature and limited room for interpretation. The ability to apply legal principles free from the muddying hand of “intention” can be an extremely beneficial facet of a good legal framework, something the drafters of the US Constitution might have benefitted from recognizing.
And Charondas, in creating these rigid laws, also recognized that they applied to him as a citizen of Catania. He was not exempt, any more than any one person should feel themselves to be above the laws by virtue of their status or wealth. There was no room for tyrants in Charondas’s Catania.
This very principal would be the downfall of Charondas himself. Entering the public assembly one day, he had absentmindedly forgotten to surrender his sword, and bearing weapons into this place was strictly forbidden.
When it was pointed out to him that he had violated his own laws, Charondas cried out in agreement. His recognition that he had broken the sacred laws of Catania, laws that he himself had written, left him with only one choice.
He drew his sword in the assembly and stabbed himself to death with it. And with that single act his recognition that nobody, not even himself, was above the law ensured his place in history.
Top Image: Charondas recognized that he himself was not above the law. Source: Unknown Author / Public Domain.
By Joseph Green
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