L'ambigua virtù. Philotimia nell'Atene degli oratori

Evidence for the use of philotimia as a civic virtue in IVth Cetnury Athens is clearly stated by the frequence of the world on honorary decrees, specifically whithin the so-called 'hortatory intention' . The evolution of the notion of philotimia between Fifth and Fourth Century B.C. was nonetheless complicated: not a linear path from negative meaning to a positive one, rather, a continuous oscillation between the two possible meanings. In the establishment of philotimia as a democratic civic virtue, the attic speakers have played an active and decisive role, anticipating the recognition of such status in the official lexicon of the polis of the classical and Hellenistic ages.