Athenian Constitution E-book

                                328 BC

                      THE ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION

                             by Aristotle

                 translated by Sir Frederic G. Kenyon






Electronically Enhanced Text (c) Copyright 1996, World Library(R)



                              CHAPTER 1
-
  ...[They were tried] by a court empanelled from among the noble
families, and sworn upon the sacrifices. The part of accuser was taken
by Myron. They were found guilty of the sacrilege, and their bodies
were cast out of their graves and their race banished for evermore. In
view of this expiation, Epimenides the Cretan performed a purification
of the city.


                              CHAPTER 2
-
  After this event there was contention for a long time between the
upper classes and the populace. Not only was the constitution at this
time oligarchical in every respect, but the poorer classes, men,
women, and children, were the serfs of the rich. They were known as
Pelatae and also as Hectemori, because they cultivated the lands of
the rich at the rent thus indicated. The whole country was in the
hands of a few persons, and if the tenants failed to pay their rent
they were liable to be haled into slavery, and their children with
them. All loans secured upon the debtor's person, a custom which
prevailed until the time of Solon, who was the first to appear as the
champion of the people. But the hardest and bitterest part of the
constitution in the eyes of the masses was their state of serfdom. Not
but what they were also discontented with every other feature of their
lot; for, to speak generally, they had no part nor share in anything.


                              CHAPTER 3
-
  Now the ancient constitution, as it existed before the time of
Draco, was organized as follows. The magistrates were elected
according to qualifications of birth and wealth. At first they
governed for life, but subsequently for terms of ten years. The first
magistrates, both in date and in importance, were the King, the
Polemarch, and the Archon. The earliest of these offices was that of
the King, which existed from ancestral antiquity. To this was added,
secondly, the office of Polemarch, on account of some of the kings
proving feeble in war; for it was on this account that Ion was invited
to accept the post on an occasion of pressing need. The last of the
three offices was that of the Archon, which most authorities state to
have come into existence in the time of Medon. Others assign it to the
time of Acastus, and adduce as proof the fact that the nine Archons
swear to execute their oaths 'as in the days of Acastus,' which seems
to suggest that it was in his time that the descendants of Codrus
retired from the kingship in return for the prerogatives conferred
upon the Archon. Whichever way it may be, the difference in date is
small; but that it was the last of these magistracies to be created is
shown by the fact that the Archon has no part in the ancestral
sacrifices, as the King and the Polemarch have, but exclusively in
those of later origin. So it is only at a comparatively late date that
the office of Archon has become of great importance, through the
dignity conferred by these later additions. The Thesmothetae were
appointed many years afterwards, when these offices had already become
annual, with the object that they might publicly record all legal
decisions, and act as guardians of them with a view to determining the
issues between litigants. Accordingly their office, alone of those
which have been mentioned, was never of more than annual duration.
  Such, then, is the relative chronological precedence of these
offices. At that time the nine Archons did not all live together. The
King occupied the building now known as the Boculium, near the
Prytaneum, as may be seen from the fact that even to the present day
the marriage of the King's wife to Dionysus takes place there. The
Archon lived in the Prytaneum, the Polemarch in the Epilyceum. The
latter building was formerly called the Polemarcheum, but after
Epilycus, during his term of office as Polemarch, had rebuilt it and
fitted it up, it was called the Epilyceum. The Thesmothetae occupied
the Thesmotheteum. In the time of Solon, however, they all came
together into the Thesmotheteum. They had power to decide cases
finally on their own authority, not, as now, merely to hold a
preliminary hearing. Such then was the arrangement of the
magistracies. The Council of Areopagus had as its constitutionally
assigned duty the protection of the laws; but in point of fact it
administered the greater and most important part of the government
of the state, and inflicted personal punishments and fines summarily
upon all who misbehaved themselves. This was the natural consequence
of the facts that the Archons were elected under qualifications of
birth and wealth, and that the Areopagus was composed of those who had
served as Archons; for which latter reason the membership of the
Areopagus is the only office which has continued to be a
life-magistracy to the present day.


                              CHAPTER 4
-
  Such was, in outline, the first constitution, but not very long
after the events above recorded, in the archonship of Aristaichmus,
Draco enacted his ordinances. Now his constitution had the following
form. The franchise was given to all who could furnish themselves with
a military equipment. The nine Archons and the Treasurers were elected
by this body from persons possessing an unencumbered property of not
less than ten minas, the less important officials from those who could
furnish themselves with a military equipment, and the generals
[Strategi] and commanders of the cavalry [Hipparchi] from those who
could show an unencumbered property of not less than a hundred minas,
and had children born in lawful wedlock over ten years of age. These
officers were required to hold to bail the Prytanes, the Strategi, and
the Hipparchi of the preceding year until their accounts had been
audited, taking four securities of the same class as that to which the
Strategi and the Hipparchi belonged. There was also to be a Council,
consisting of four hundred and one members, elected by lot from among
those who possessed the franchise. Both for this and for the other
magistracies the lot was cast among those who were over thirty years
of age; and no one might hold office twice until every one else had
had his turn, after which they were to cast the lot afresh. If any
member of the Council failed to attend when there was a sitting of the
Council or of the Assembly, he paid a fine, to the amount of three
drachmas if he was a Pentacosiomedimnus, two if he was a Knight, and
One if he was a Zeugites. The Council of Areopagus was guardian of the
laws, and kept watch over the magistrates to see that they executed
their offices in accordance with the laws. Any person who felt himself
wronged might lay an information before the Council of Areopagus, on
declaring what law was broken by the wrong done to him. But, as has
been said before, loans were secured upon the persons of the debtors,
and the land was in the hands of a few.


                              CHAPTER 5
-
  Since such, then, was the organization of the constitution, and the
many were in slavery to the few, the people rose against the upper
class. The strife was keen, and for a long time the two parties were
ranged in hostile camps against one another, till at last, by common
consent, they appointed Solon to be mediator and Archon, and committed
the whole constitution to his hands. The immediate occasion of his
appointment was his poem, which begins with the words:
-
    I behold, and within my heart deep sadness has claimed its place,
    As I mark the oldest home of the ancient Ionian race
    Slain by the sword.
-
  In this poem he fights and disputes on behalf of each party in turn
against the other, and finally he advises them to come to terms and
put an end to the quarrel existing between them. By birth and
reputation Solon was one of the foremost men of the day, but in wealth
and position he was of the middle class, as is generally agreed, and
is, indeed, established by his own evidence in these poems, where he
exhorts the wealthy not to be grasping.
-
    But ye who have store of good, who are sated and overflow,
    Restrain your swelling soul, and still it and keep it low:
    Let the heart that is great within you be trained a lowlier way;
    Ye shall not have all at your will, and we will not for ever obey.
-
  Indeed, he constantly fastens the blame of the conflict on the rich;
and accordingly at the beginning of the poem he says that he fears
'the love of wealth and an overweening mind', evidently meaning that
it was through these that the quarrel arose.


                              CHAPTER 6
-
  As soon as he was at the head of affairs, Solon liberated the people
once and for all, by prohibiting all loans on the security of the
debtor's person: and in addition he made laws by which he cancelled
all debts, public and private. This measure is commonly called the
Seisachtheia [= removal of burdens], since thereby the people had
their loads removed from them. In connexion with it some persons try
to traduce the character of Solon. It so happened that, when he was
about to enact the Seisachtheia, he communicated his intention to some
members of the upper class, whereupon, as the partisans of the popular
party say, his friends stole a march on him; while those who wish to
attack his character maintain that he too had a share in the fraud
himself. For these persons borrowed money and bought up a large amount
of land, and so when, a short time afterwards, all debts were
cancelled, they became wealthy; and this, they say, was the origin of
the families which were afterwards looked on as having been wealthy
from primeval times. However, the story of the popular party is by far
the most probable. A man who was so moderate and public-spirited in
all his other actions, that when it was within his power to put his
fellow-citizens beneath his feet and establish himself as tyrant, he
preferred instead to incur the hostility of both parties by placing
his honour and the general welfare above his personal aggrandisement,
is not likely to have consented to defile his hands by such a petty
and palpable fraud. That he had this absolute power is, in the first
place, indicated by the desperate condition of the country; moreover,
he mentions it himself repeatedly in his poems, and it is universally
admitted. We are therefore bound to consider this accusation to be
false.


                              CHAPTER 7
-
  Next Solon drew up a constitution and enacted new laws; and the
ordinances of Draco ceased to be used, with the exception of those
relating to murder. The laws were inscribed on the wooden stands, and
set up in the King's Porch, and all swore to obey them; and the nine
Archons made oath upon the stone, declaring that they would dedicate a
golden statue if they should transgress any of them. This is the
origin of the oath to that effect which they take to the present day.
Solon ratified his laws for a hundred years; and the following was the
fashion in which he organized the constitution. He divided the
population according to property into four classes, just as it had
been divided before, namely, Pentacosiomedimni, Knights, Zeugitae, and
Thetes. The various magistracies, namely, the nine Archons, the
Treasurers, the Commissioners for Public Contracts (Poletae), the
Eleven, and Exchequer Clerks (Colacretae), he assigned to the
Pentacosiomedimni, the Knights, and the Zeugitae, giving offices to
each class in proportion to the value of their rateable property. To
who ranked among the Thetes he gave nothing but a place in the
Assembly and in the juries. A man had to rank as a Pentacosiomedimnus
if he made, from his own land, five hundred measures, whether liquid
or solid. Those ranked as Knights who made three hundred measures, or,
as some say, those who were able to maintain a horse. In support of
the latter definition they adduce the name of the class, which may be
supposed to be derived from this fact, and also some votive offerings
of early times; for in the Acropolis there is a votive offering, a
statue of Diphilus, bearing this inscription:
-
    The son of Diphilus, Anthemion hight,
    Raised from the Thetes and become a knight,
    Did to the gods this sculptured charger bring,
    For his promotion a thank-offering.
-
  And a horse stands in evidence beside the man, implying that this
was what was meant by belonging to the rank of Knight. At the same
time it seems reasonable to suppose that this class, like the
Pentacosiomedimni, was defined by the possession of an income of a
certain number of measures. Those ranked as Zeugitae who made two
hundred measures, liquid or solid; and the rest ranked as Thetes, and
were not eligible for any office. Hence it is that even at the present
day, when a candidate for any office is asked to what class he
belongs, no one would think of saying that he belonged to the Thetes.


                              CHAPTER 8
-
  The elections to the various offices Solon enacted should be by lot,
out of candidates selected by each of the tribes. Each tribe selected
ten candidates for the nine archonships, and among these the lot was
cast. Hence it is still the custom for each tribe to choose ten
candidates by lot, and then the lot is again cast among these. A proof
that Solon regulated the elections to office according to the property
classes may be found in the law still in force with regard to the
Treasurers, which enacts that they shall be chosen from the
Pentacosiomedimni. Such was Solon's legislation with respect to the
nine Archons; whereas in early times the Council of Areopagus summoned
suitable persons according to its own judgement and appointed them for
the year to the several offices. There were four tribes, as before,
and four tribe-kings. Each tribe was divided into three Trittyes
[= Thirds], with twelve Naucraries in each; and the Naucraries had
officers of their own, called Naucrari, whose duty it was to
superintend the current receipts and expenditure. Hence, among the
laws of Solon now obsolete, it is repeatedly written that the Naucrari
are to receive and to spend out of the Naucraric fund. Solon also
appointed a Council of four hundred, a hundred from each tribe; but he
assigned to the Council of the Areopagus the duty of superintending
the laws, acting as before as the guardian of the constitution in
general. It kept watch over the affairs of the state in most of the
more important matters, and corrected offenders, with full powers to
inflict either fines or personal punishment. The money received in
fines it brought up into the Acropolis, without assigning the reason
for the mulct. It also tried those who conspired for the overthrow of
the state, Solon having enacted a process of impeachment to deal with
such offenders. Further, since he saw the state often engaged in
internal disputes, while many of the citizens from sheer indifference
accepted whatever might turn up, he made a law with express reference
to such persons, enacting that any one who, in a time civil factions,
did not take up arms with either party, should lose his rights as a
citizen and cease to have any part in the state.


                              CHAPTER 9
-
  Such, then, was his legislation concerning the magistracies. There
are three points in the constitution of Solon which appear to be its
most democratic features: first and most important, the prohibition of
loans on the security of the debtor's person; secondly, the right of
every person who so willed to claim redress on behalf of any one to
whom wrong was being done; thirdly, the institution of the appeal to
the jury-courts; and it is to this last, they say, that the masses
have owed their strength most of all, since, when the democracy is
master of the voting-power, it is master of the constitution.
Moreover, since the laws were not drawn up in simple and explicit
terms (but like the one concerning inheritances and wards of state),
disputes inevitably occurred, and the courts had to decide in every
matter, whether public or private. Some persons in fact believe that
Solon deliberately made the laws indefinite, in order that the final
decision might be in the hands of the people. This, however, is not
probable, and the reason no doubt was that it is impossible to attain
ideal perfection when framing a law in general terms; for we must
judge of his intentions, not from the actual results in the present
day, but from the general tenor of the rest of his legislation.


                              CHAPTER 10
-
  These seem to be the democratic features of his laws; but in
addition, before the period of his legislation, he carried through his
abolition of debts, and after it his increase in the standards of
weights and measures, and of the currency. During his administration
the measures were made larger than those of Pheidon, and the mina,
which previously had a standard of seventy drachmas, was raised to the
full hundred. The standard coin in earlier times was the two-drachma
piece. He also made weights corresponding with the coinage,
sixty-three minas going to the talent; and the odd three minas were
distributed among the staters and the other values.


                              CHAPTER 11
-
  When he had completed his organization of the constitution in the
manner that has been described, he found himself beset by people
coming to him and harassing him concerning his laws, criticizing here
and questioning there, till, as he wished neither to alter what he had
decided on nor yet to be an object of ill will to every one by
remaining in Athens, he set off on a journey to Egypt, with the
combined objects of trade and travel, giving out that he should not
return for ten years. He considered that there was no call for him to
expound the laws personally, but that every one should obey them just
as they were written. Moreover, his position at this time was
unpleasant. Many members of the upper class had been estranged from
him on account of his abolition of debts, and both parties were
alienated through their disappointment at the condition of things
which he had created. The mass of the people had expected him to make
a complete redistribution of all property, and the upper class hoped
he would restore everything to its former position, or, at any rate,
make but a small change. Solon, however, had resisted both classes. He
might have made himself a despot by attaching himself to whichever
party he chose, but he preferred, though at the cost of incurring the
enmity of both, to be the saviour of his country and the ideal
lawgiver.


                              CHAPTER 12
-
  The truth of this view of Solon's policy is established alike by
common consent, and by the mention he has himself made of the matter
in his poems. Thus:
-
    I gave to the mass of the people such rank as befitted their need,
    I took not away their honour, and I granted naught to their greed;
    While those who were rich in power, who in wealth were glorious
        and great,
    I bethought me that naught should befall them unworthy their
        splendour and state;
    So I stood with my shield outstretched, and both were safe in its
        sight,
    And I would not that either should triumph, when the triumph was
        not with right.
-
  Again he declares how the mass of the people ought to be treated:
-
    But thus will the people best the voice of their leaders obey,
    When neither too slack is the rein, nor violence holdeth the sway;
    For indulgence breedeth a child, the presumption that spurns
        control,
    When riches too great are poured upon men of unbalanced soul.
-
  And again elsewhere he speaks about the persons who wished to
redistribute the land:
                                                         
-
    So they came in search of plunder, and their cravings knew no
        hound,
    Every one among them deeming endless wealth would here be found.
    And that I with glozing smoothness hid a cruel mind within.
    Fondly then and vainly dreamt they; now they raise an angry din,
    And they glare askance in anger, and the light within their eyes
    Burns with hostile flames upon me. Yet therein no justice lies.
    All I promised, fully wrought I with the gods at hand to cheer,
    Naught beyond in folly ventured. Never to my soul was dear
    With a tyrant's force to govern, nor to see the good and base
    Side by side in equal portion share the rich home of our race.
-
  Once more he speaks of the abolition of debts and of those who
before were in servitude, but were released owing to the Seisachtheia:
-
    Of all the aims for which I summoned forth
    The people, was there one I compassed not?
    Thou, when slow time brings justice in its train,
    O mighty mother of the Olympian gods,
    Dark Earth, thou best canst witness, from whose breast
    I swept the pillars broadcast planted there,
    And made thee free, who hadst been slave of yore.
    And many a man whom fraud or law had sold
    For from his god-built land, an outcast slave,
    I brought again to Athens; yea, and some,
    Exiles from home through debt's oppressive load,
    Speaking no more the dear Athenian tongue,
    But wandering far and wide, I brought again;
    And those that here in vilest slavery
    Crouched 'neath a master's frown, I set them free.
    Thus might and right were yoked in harmony,
    Since by the force of law I won my ends
    And kept my promise. Equal laws I gave
    To evil and to good, with even hand
    Drawing straight justice for the lot of each.
    But had another held the goad as I,
    One in whose heart was guile and greediness,
    He had not kept the people back from strife.
    For had I granted, now what pleased the one,
    Then what their foes devised in counterpoise,
    Of many a man this state had been bereft.
    Therefore I showed my might on every side,
    Turning at bay like wolf among the hounds.
-
  And again he reviles both parties for their grumblings in the times
that followed:
-
    Nay, if one must lay blame where blame is due,
    Wer't not for me, the people ne'er had set
    Their eyes upon these blessings e'en in dreams:-
    While greater men, the men of wealthier life,
    Should praise me and should court me as their friend.
                                                        
-
  For had any other man, he says, received this exalted post,
-
    He had not kept the people back, nor ceased
    Til he had robbed the richness of the milk.
    But I stood forth a landmark in the midst,
    And barred the foes from battle.


                              CHAPTER 13
-
  Such then, were Solon's reasons for his departure from the country.
After his retirement the city was still torn by divisions. For four
years, indeed, they lived in peace; but in the fifth year after
Solon's government they were unable to elect an Archon on account of
their dissensions, and again four years later they elected no Archon
for the same reason. Subsequently, after a similar period had elapsed,
Damasias was elected Archon; and he governed for two years and two
months, until he was forcibly expelled from his office. After this, it
was agreed, as a compromise, to elect ten Archons, five from the
Eupatridae, three from the Agroeci, and two from the Demiurgi, and
they ruled for the year following Damasias. It is clear from this that
the Archon was at the time the magistrate who possessed the greatest
power, since it is always in connexion with this office that conflicts
are seen to arise. But altogether they were in a continual state of
internal disorder. Some found the cause and justification of their
discontent in the abolition of debts, because thereby they had been
reduced to poverty; others were dissatisfied with the political
constitution, because it had undergone a revolutionary change; while
with others the motive was found in personal rivalries among
themselves. The parties at this time were three in number. First there
was the party of the Shore, led by Megacles the son of Alcmeon, which
was considered to aim at a moderate form of government; then there
were the men of the Plain, who desired an oligarchy and were led by
Lycurgus; and thirdly there were the men of the Highlands, at the head
of whom was Pisistratus, who was looked on as an extreme democrat.
This latter party was reinforced by those who had been deprived of the
debts due to them, from motives of poverty, and by those who were not
of pure descent, from motives of personal apprehension. A proof of
this is seen in the fact that after the tyranny was overthrown a
revision was made of the citizen-roll, on the ground that many persons
were partaking in the franchise without having a right to it. The
names given to the respective parties were derived from the districts
in which they held their lands.


                              CHAPTER 14
-
  Pisistratus had the reputation of being an extreme democrat, and he
also had distinguished himself greatly in the war with Megara. Taking
advantage of this, he wounded himself, and by representing that his
injuries had been inflicted on him by his political rivals, he
persuaded the people, through a motion proposed by Aristion, to grant
him a bodyguard. After he had got these 'club-bearers', as they were
called, he made an attack with them on the people and seized the
Acropolis. This happened in the archonship of Comeas, thirty-one years
after the legislation of Solon. It is related that, when Pisistratus
asked for his bodyguard, Solon opposed the request, and declared that
in so doing he proved himself wiser than half the people and braver
than the rest,- wiser than those who did not see that Pisistratus
designed to make himself tyrant, and braver than those who saw it and
kept silence. But when all his words availed nothing he carried forth
his armour and set it up in front of his house, saying that he had
helped his country so far as lay in his power (he was already a very
old man), and that he called on all others to do the same. Solon's
exhortations, however, proved fruitless, and Pisistratus assumed the
sovereignty. His administration was more like a constitutional
government than the rule of a tyrant; but before his power was firmly
established, the adherents of Megacles and Lycurgus made a coalition
and drove him out. This took place in the archonship of Hegesias, five
years after the first establishment of his rule. Eleven years later
Megacles, being in difficulties in a party struggle, again opened
negotiations with Pisistratus, proposing that the latter should marry
his daughter; and on these terms he brought him back to Athens, by a
very primitive and simple-minded device. He first spread abroad a
rumour that Athena was bringing back Pisistratus, and then, having
found a woman of great stature and beauty, named Phye (according to
Herodotus, of the deme of Paeania, but as others say a Thracian
flower-seller of the deme of Collytus), he dressed her in a garb
resembling that of the goddess and brought her into the city with
Pisistratus. The latter drove in on a chariot with the woman beside
him, and the inhabitants of the city, struck with awe, received him
with adoration.


                              CHAPTER 15
-
  In this manner did his first return take place. He did not, however,
hold his power long, for about six years after his return he was again
expelled. He refused to treat the daughter of Megacles as his wife,
and being afraid, in consequence, of a combination of the two opposing
parties, he retired from the country. First he led a colony to a place
called Rhaicelus, in the region of the Thermaic gulf; and thence he
passed to the country in the neighbourhood of Mt. Pangaeus. Here he
acquired wealth and hired mercenaries; and not till ten years had
elapsed did he return to Eretria and make an attempt to recover the
government by force. In this he had the assistance of many allies,
notably the Thebans and Lygdamis of Naxos, and also the Knights who
held the supreme power in the constitution of Eretria. After his
victory in the battle at Pallene he captured Athens, and when he had
disarmed the people he at last had his tyranny securely established,
and was able to take Naxos and set up Lygdamis as ruler there. He
effected the disarmament of the people in the following manner. He
ordered a parade in full armour in the Theseum, and began to make a
speech to the people. He spoke for a short time, until the people
called out that they could not hear him, whereupon he bade them come
up to the entrance of the Acropolis, in order that his voice might be
better heard. Then, while he continued to speak to them at great
length, men whom he had appointed for the purpose collected the arms
and locked them up in the chambers of the Theseum hard by, and came
and made a signal to him that it was done. Pisistratus accordingly,
when he had finished the rest of what he had to say, told the people
also what had happened to their arms; adding that they were not to be
surprised or alarmed, but go home and attend to their private affairs,
while he would himself for the future manage all the business of the
state.


                              CHAPTER 16
-
  Such was the origin and such the vicissitudes of the tyranny of
Pisistratus. His administration was temperate, as has been said
before, and more like constitutional government than a tyranny. Not
only was he in every respect humane and mild and ready to forgive
those who offended, but, in addition, he advanced money to the poorer
people to help them in their labours, so that they might make their
living by agriculture. In this he had two objects, first that they
might not spend their time in the city but might be scattered over all
the face of the country, and secondly that, being moderately well off
and occupied with their own business, they might have neither the wish
nor the time to attend to public affairs. At the same time his
revenues were increased by the thorough cultivation of the country,
since he imposed a tax of one tenth on all the produce. For the same
reasons he instituted the local justices, and often made expeditions
in person into the country to inspect it and to settle disputes
between individuals, that they might not come into the city and
neglect their farms. It was in one of these progresses that, as the
story goes, Pisistratus had his adventure with the man of Hymettus,
who was cultivating the spot afterwards known as 'Tax-free Farm'. He
saw a man digging and working at a very stony piece of ground, and
being surprised he sent his attendant to ask what he got out of this
plot of land. 'Aches and pains', said the man; 'and that's what
Pisistratus ought to have his tenth of'. The man spoke without knowing
who his questioner was; but Pisistratus was so pleased with his frank
speech and his industry that he granted him exemption from all taxes.
And so in matters in general he burdened the people as little as
possible with his government, but always cultivated peace and kept
them in all quietness. Hence the tyranny of Pisistratus was often
spoken of proverbially as 'the age of gold'; for when his sons
succeeded him the government became much harsher. But most important
of all in this respect was his popular and kindly disposition. In all
things he was accustomed to observe the laws, without giving himself
any exceptional privileges. Once he was summoned on a charge of
homicide before the Areopagus, and he appeared in person to make his
defence; but the prosecutor was afraid to present himself and
abandoned the case. For these reasons he held power long, and whenever
he was expelled he regained his position easily. The majority alike of
the upper class and of the people were in his favour; the former he
won by his social intercourse with them, the latter by the assistance
which he gave to their private purses, and his nature fitted him to
win the hearts of both. Moreover, the laws in reference to tyrants at
that time in force at Athens were very mild, especially the one which
applies more particularly to the establishment of a tyranny. The law
ran as follows: 'These are the ancestral statutes of the Athenians; if
any persons shall make an attempt to establish a tyranny, or if any
person shall join in setting up a tyranny, he shall lose his civic
rights, both himself and his whole house.'


                              CHAPTER 17
-
  Thus did Pisistratus grow old in the possession of power, and he
died a natural death in the archonship of Philoneos, three and thirty
years from the time at which he first established himself as tyrant,
during nineteen of which he was in possession of power; the rest he
spent in exile. It is evident from this that the story is mere gossip
which states that Pisistratus was the youthful favourite of Solon and
commanded in the war against Megara for the recovery of Salamis. It
will not harmonize with their respective ages, as any one may see who
will reckon up the years of the life of each of them, and the dates at
which they died. After the death of Pisistratus his sons took up the
government, and conducted it on the same system. He had two sons by
his first and legitimate wife, Hippias and Hipparchus, and two by his
Argive consort, Iophon and Hegesistratus, who was surnamed Thessalus.
For Pisistratus took a wife from Argos, Timonassa, the daughter of a
man of Argos, named Gorgilus; she had previously been the wife of
Archinus of Ambracia, one of the descendants of Cypselus. This was the
origin of his friendship with the Argives, on account of which a
thousand of them were brought over by Hegesistratus and fought on his
side in the battle at Pallene. Some authorities say that this marriage
took place after his first expulsion from Athens, others while he was
in possession of the government.


                              CHAPTER 18
-
  Hippias and Hipparchus assumed the control of affairs on grounds
alike of standing and of age; but Hippias, as being also naturally of
a statesmanlike and shrewd disposition, was really the head of the
government. Hipparchus was youthful in disposition, amorous, and fond
of literature (it was he who invited to Athens Anacreon, Simonides,
and the other poets), while Thessalus was much junior in age, and was
violent and headstrong in his behaviour. It was from his character
that all the evils arose which befell the house. He became enamoured
of Harmodius, and, since he failed to win his affection, he lost all
restraint upon his passion, and in addition to other exhibitions of
rage he finally prevented the sister of Harmodius from taking the part
of a basket-bearer in the Panathenaic procession, alleging as his
reason that Harmodius was a person of loose life. Thereupon, in a
frenzy of wrath, Harmodius and Aristogeiton did their celebrated deed,
in conjunction with a number of confederates. But while they were
lying in wait for Hippias in the Acropolis at the time of the
Panathenaea (Hippias, at this moment, was awaiting the arrival of the
procession, while Hipparchus was organizing its dispatch) they saw one
of the persons privy to the plot talking familiarly with him. Thinking
that he was betraying them, and desiring to do something before they
were arrested, they rushed down and made their attempt without waiting
for the rest of their confederates. They succeeded in killing
Hipparchus near the Leocoreum while he was engaged in arranging the
procession, but ruined the design as a whole; of the two leaders,
Harmodius was killed on the spot by the guards, while Aristogeiton was
arrested, and perished later after suffering long tortures. While
under the torture he accused many persons who belonged by birth to the
most distinguished families and were also personal friends of the
tyrants. At first the government could find no clue to the conspiracy;
for the current story, that Hippias made all who were taking part in
the procession leave their arms, and then detected those who were
carrying secret daggers, cannot be true, since at that time they did
not bear arms in the processions, this being a custom instituted at a
later period by the democracy. According to the story of the popular
party, Aristogeiton accused the friends of the tyrants with the
deliberate intention that the latter might commit an impious act, and
at the same time weaken themselves, by putting to death innocent men
who were their own friends; others say that he told no falsehood, but
was betraying the actual accomplices. At last, when for all his
efforts he could not obtain release by death, he promised to give
further information against a number of other persons; and, having
induced Hippias to give him his hand to confirm his word, as soon as
he had hold of it he reviled him for giving his hand to the murderer
of his brother, till Hippias, in a frenzy of rage, lost control of
himself and snatched out his dagger and dispatched him.


                              CHAPTER 19
-
  After this event the tyranny became much harsher. In consequence of
his vengeance for his brother, and of the execution and banishment of
a large number of persons, Hippias became a distrusted and an
embittered man. About three years after the death of Hipparchus,
finding his position in the city insecure, he set about fortifying
Munichia, with the intention of establishing himself there. While he
was still engaged on this work, however, he was expelled by Cleomenes,
king of Lacedaemon, in consequence of the Spartans being continually
incited by oracles to overthrow the tyranny. These oracles were
obtained in the following way. The Athenian exiles, headed by the
Alcmeonidae, could not by their own power effect their return, but
failed continually in their attempts. Among their other failures, they
fortified a post in Attica, Lipsydrium, above Mt. Parnes, and were
there joined by some partisans from the city; but they were besieged
by the tyrants and reduced to surrender. After this disaster the
following became a popular drinking song:
-
    Ah! Lipsydrium, faithless friend!
    Lo, what heroes to death didst send,
    Nobly born and great in deed!
    Well did they prove themselves at need
    Of noble sires a noble seed.
-
  Having failed, then, in very other method, they took the contract
for rebuilding the temple at Delphi, thereby obtaining ample funds,
which they employed to secure the help of the Lacedaemonians. All this
time the Pythia kept continually enjoining on the Lacedaemonians who
came to consult the oracle, that they must free Athens; till finally
she succeeded in impelling the Spartans to that step, although the
house of Pisistratus was connected with them by ties of hospitality.
The resolution of the Lacedaemonians was, however, at least equally
due to the friendship which had been formed between the house of
Pisistratus and Argos. Accordingly they first sent Anchimolus by sea
at the head of an army; but he was defeated and killed, through the
arrival of Cineas of Thessaly to support the sons of Pisistratus with
a force of a thousand horsemen. Then, being roused to anger by this
disaster, they sent their king, Cleomenes, by land at the head of a
larger force; and he, after defeating the Thessalian cavalry when they
attempted to intercept his march into Attica, shut up Hippias within
what was known as the Pelargic wall and blockaded him there with the
assistance of the Athenians. While he was sitting down before the
place, it so happened that the sons of the Pisistratidae were captured
in an attempt to slip out; upon which the tyrants capitulated on
condition of the safety of their children, and surrendered the
Acropolis to the Athenians, five days being first allowed them to
remove their effects. This took place in the archonship of
Harpactides, after they had held the tyranny for about seventeen years
since their father's death, or in all, including the period of their
father's rule, for nine-and-forty years.


                              CHAPTER 20
-
  After the overthrow of the tyranny, the rival leaders in the state
were Isagoras son of Tisander, a partisan of the tyrants, and
Cleisthenes, who belonged to the family of the Alcmeonidae.
Cleisthenes, being beaten in the political clubs, called in the people
by giving the franchise to the masses. Thereupon Isagoras, finding
himself left inferior in power, invited Cleomenes, who was united to
him by ties of hospitality, to return to Athens, and persuaded him
to 'drive out the pollution', a plea derived from the fact that the
Alcmeonidae were supposed to be under the curse of pollution. On this
Cleisthenes retired from the country, and Cleomenes, entering Attica
with a small force, expelled, as polluted, seven hundred Athenian
families. Having effected this, he next attempted to dissolve the
Council, and to set up Isagoras and three hundred of his partisans as
the supreme power in the state. The Council, however, resisted, the
populace flocked together, and Cleomenes and Isagoras, with their
adherents, took refuge in the Acropolis. Here the people sat down and
besieged them for two days; and on the third they agreed to let
Cleomenes and all his followers depart, while they summoned
Cleisthenes and the other exiles back to Athens. When the people had
thus obtained the command of affairs, Cleisthenes was their chief and
popular leader. And this was natural; for the Alcmeonidae were perhaps
the chief cause of the expulsion of the tyrants, and for the greater
part of their rule were at perpetual war with them. But even earlier
than the attempts of the Alcmeonidae, one Cedon made an attack on the
tyrants; when there came another popular drinking song, addressed to
him:
-
    Pour a health yet again, boy, to Cedon; forget not this duty to
        do,
    If a health is an honour befitting the name of a good man and
        true.


                              CHAPTER 21
-
  The people, therefore, had good reason to place confidence in
Cleisthenes. Accordingly, now that he was the popular leader, three
years after the expulsion of the tyrants, in the archonship of
Isagoras, his first step was to distribute the whole population into
ten tribes in place of the existing four, with the object of
intermixing the members of the different tribes, and so securing that
more persons might have a share in the franchise. From this arose the
saying 'Do not look at the tribes', addressed to those who wished to
scrutinize the lists of the old families. Next he made the Council to
consist of five hundred members instead of four hundred, each tribe
now contributing fifty, whereas formerly each had sent a hundred. The
reason why he did not organize the people into twelve tribes was that
he might not have to use the existing division into trittyes; for the
four tribes had twelve trittyes, so that he would not have achieved
his object of redistributing the population in fresh combinations.
Further, he divided the country into thirty groups of demes, ten from
the districts about the city, ten from the coast, and ten from the
interior. These he called trittyes; and he assigned three of them by
lot to each tribe, in such a way that each should have one portion in
each of these three localities. All who lived in any given deme he
declared fellow-demesmen, to the end that the new citizens might not
be exposed by the habitual use of family names, but that men might be
officially described by the names of their demes; and accordingly it
is by the names of their demes that the Athenians speak of one
another. He also instituted Demarchs, who had the same duties as the
previously existing Naucrari,- the demes being made to take the place
of the naucraries. He gave names to the demes, some from the
localities to which they belonged, some from the persons who founded
them, since some of the areas no longer corresponded to localities
possessing names. On the other hand he allowed every one to retain his
family and clan and religious rites according to ancestral custom. The
names given to the tribes were the ten which the Pythia appointed out
of the hundred selected national heroes.


                              CHAPTER 22
-
  By these reforms the constitution became much more democratic than
that of Solon. The laws of Solon had been obliterated by disuse during
the period of the tyranny, while Cleisthenes substituted new ones with
the object of securing the goodwill of the masses. Among these was the
law concerning ostracism. Four years after the establishment of this
system, in the archonship of Hermocreon, they first imposed upon the
Council of Five Hundred the oath which they take to the present day.
Next they began to elect the generals by tribes, one from each tribe,
while the Polemarch was the commander of the whole army. Then, eleven
years later, in the archonship of Phaenippus they won the battle of
Marathon; and two years after this victory, when the people had now
gained self-confidence, they for the first time made use of the law of
ostracism. This had originally been passed as a precaution against men
in high office, because Pisistratus took advantage of his position as
a popular leader and general to make himself tyrant; and the first
person ostracized was one of his relatives, Hipparchus son of Charmus,
of the deme of Collytus, the very person on whose account especially
Cleisthenes had enacted the law, as he wished to get rid of him.
Hitherto, however, he had escaped; for the Athenians, with the usual
leniency of the democracy, allowed all the partisans of the tyrants,
who had not joined in their evil deeds in the time of the troubles to
remain in the city; and the chief and leader of these was Hipparchus.
Then in the very next year, in the archonship of Telesinus, they for
the first time since the tyranny elected, tribe by tribe, the nine
Archons by lot out of the five hundred candidates selected by the
demes, all the earlier ones having been elected by vote; and in the
same year Megacles son of Hippocrates, of the deme of Alopece, was
ostracized. Thus for three years they continued to ostracize the
friends of the tyrants, on whose account the law had been passed; but
in the following year they began to remove others as well, including
any one who seemed to be more powerful than was expedient. The first
person unconnected with the tyrants who was ostracized was Xanthippus
son of Ariphron. Two years later, in the archonship of Nicodemus, the
mines of Maroneia were discovered, and the state made a profit of a
hundred talents from the working of them. Some persons advised the
people to make a distribution of the money among themselves, but this
was prevented by Themistocles. He refused to say on what he proposed
to spend the money, but he bade them lend it to the hundred richest
men in Athens, one talent to each, and then, if the manner in which it
was employed pleased the people, the expenditure should be charged to
the state, but otherwise the state should receive the sum back from
those to whom it was lent. On these terms he received the money and
with it he had a hundred triremes built, each of the hundred
individuals building one; and it was with these ships that they fought
the battle of Salamis against the barbarians. About this time
Aristides the son of Lysimachus was ostracized. Three years later,
however, in the archonship of Hypsichides, all the ostracized persons
were recalled, on account of the advance of the army of Xerxes; and it
was laid down for the future that persons under sentence of ostracism
must live between Geraestus and Scyllaeum, on pain of losing their
civic rights irrevocably.


                              CHAPTER 23
-
  So far, then, had the city progressed by this time, growing
gradually with the growth of the democracy; but after the Persian wars
the Council of Areopagus once more developed strength and assumed the
control of the state. It did not acquire this supremacy by virtue of
any formal decree, but because it had been the cause of the battle of
Salamis being fought. When the generals were utterly at a loss how to
meet the crisis and made proclamation that every one should see to his
own safety, the Areopagus provided a donation of money, distributing
eight drachmas to each member of the ships' crews, and so prevailed on
them to go on board. On these grounds people bowed to its prestige;
and during this period Athens was well administered. At this time they
devoted themselves to the prosecution of the war and were in high
repute among the Greeks, so that the command by sea was conferred upon
them, in spite of the opposition of the Lacedaemonians. The leaders of
the people during this period were Aristides, son of Lysimachus, and
Themistocles, son of Neocles, of whom the latter appeared to devote
himself to the conduct of war, while the former had the reputation of
being a clever statesman and the most upright man of his time.
Accordingly the one was usually employed as general, the other as
political adviser. The rebuilding of the fortifications they conducted
in combination, although they were political opponents; but it was
Aristides who, seizing the opportunity afforded by the discredit
brought upon the Lacedaemonians by Pausanias, guided the public policy
in the matter of the defection of the Ionian states from the alliance
with Sparta. It follows that it was he who made the first assessment
of tribute from the various allied states, two years after the battle
of Salamis, in the archonship of Timosthenes; and it was he who took
the oath of offensive and defensive alliance with the Ionians, on
which occasion they cast the masses of iron into the sea.


                              CHAPTER 24
-
  After this, seeing the state growing in confidence and much wealth
accumulated, he advised the people to lay hold of the leadership of
the league, and to quit the country districts and settle in the city.
He pointed out to them that all would be able to gain a living there,
some by service in the army, others in the garrisons, others by taking
a part in public affairs; and in this way they would secure the
leadership. This advice was taken; and when the people had assumed the
supreme control they proceeded to treat their allies in a more
imperious fashion, with the exception of the Chians, Lesbians, and
Samians. These they maintained to protect their empire, leaving their
constitutions untouched, and allowing them to retain whatever dominion
they then possessed. They also secured an ample maintenance for the
mass of the population in the way which Aristides had pointed out to
them. Out of the proceeds of the tributes and the taxes and the
contributions of the allies more than twenty thousand persons were
maintained. There were 6,000 jurymen, 1,600 bowmen, 1,200 Knights, 500
members of the Council, 500 guards of the dockyards, besides fifty
guards in the Acropolis. There were some 700 magistrates at home, and
some 700 abroad. Further, when they subsequently went to war, there
were in addition 2,500 heavy-armed troops, twenty guard-ships, and
other ships which collected the tributes, with crews amounting to
2,000 men, selected by lot; and besides these there were the persons
maintained at the Prytaneum, and orphans, and gaolers, since all these
were supported by the state.


                              CHAPTER 25
-
  Such was the way in which the people earned their livelihood. The
supremacy of the Areopagus lasted for about seventeen years after the
Persian wars, although gradually declining. But as the strength of the
masses increased, Ephialtes, son of Sophonides, a man with a
reputation for incorruptibility and public virtue, who had become the
leader of the people, made an attack upon that Council. First of all
he ruined many of its members by bringing actions against them with
reference to their administration. Then, in the archonship of Conon,
he stripped the Council of all the acquired prerogatives from which it
derived its guardianship of the constitution, and assigned some of
them to the Council of Five Hundred, and others to the Assembly and
the law-courts. In this revolution he was assisted by Themistocles,
who was himself a member of the Areopagus, but was expecting to be
tried before it on a charge of treasonable dealings with Persia. This
made him anxious that it should be overthrown, and accordingly he
warned Ephialtes that the Council intended to arrest him, while at the
same time he informed the Areopagites that he would reveal to them
certain persons who were conspiring to subvert the constitution. He
then conducted the representatives delegated by the Council to the
residence of Ephialtes, promising to show them the conspirators who
assembled there, and proceeded to converse with them in an earnest
manner. Ephialtes, seeing this, was seized with alarm and took refuge
in suppliant guise at the altar. Every one was astounded at the
occurrence, and presently, when the Council of Five Hundred met,
Ephialtes and Themistocles together proceeded to denounce the
Areopagus to them. This they repeated in similar fashion in the
Assembly, until they succeeded in depriving it of its power. Not long
afterwards, however, Ephialtes was assassinated by Aristodicus of
Tanagra. In this way was the Council of Areopagus deprived of its
guardianship of the state.


                              CHAPTER 26
-
  After this revolution the administration of the state became more
and more lax, in consequence of the eager rivalry of candidates for
popular favour. During this period the moderate party, as it happened,
had no real chief, their leader being Cimon son of Miltiades, who was
a comparatively young man, and had been late in entering public life;
and at the same time the general populace suffered great losses by
war. The soldiers for active service were selected at that time from
the roll of citizens, and as the generals were men of no military
experience, who owed their position solely to their family standing,
it continually happened that some two or three thousand of the troops
perished on an expedition; and in this way the best men alike of the
lower and the upper classes were exhausted. Consequently in most
matters of administration less heed was paid to the laws than had
formerly been the case. No alteration, however, was made in the method
of election of the nine Archons, except that five years after the
death of Ephialtes it was decided that the candidates to be submitted
to the lot for that office might be selected from the Zeugitae as well
as from the higher classes. The first Archon from that class was
Mnesitheides. Up to this time all the Archons had been taken from the
Pentacosiomedimni and Knights, while the Zeugitae were confined to the
ordinary magistracies, save where an evasion of the law was
overlooked. Four years later, in the archonship of Lysicrates, the
thirty 'local justices', as they were called, were re-established; and
two years afterwards, in the archonship of Antidotus, consequence of
the great increase in the number of citizens, it was resolved, on the
motion of Pericles, that no one should admitted to the franchise who
was not of citizen birth by both parents.


                              CHAPTER 27
-
  After this Pericles came forward as popular leader, having first
distinguished himself while still a young man by prosecuting Cimon on
the audit of his official accounts as general. Under his auspices the
constitution became still more democratic. He took away some of the
privileges of the Areopagus, and, above all, he turned the policy of
the state in the direction of sea power, which caused the masses to
acquire confidence in themselves and consequently to take the conduct
of affairs more and more into their own hands. Moreover, forty-eight
years after the battle of Salamis, in the archonship of Pythodorus,
the Peloponnesian war broke out, during which the populace was shut up
in the city and became accustomed to gain its livelihood by military
service, and so, partly voluntarily and partly involuntarily,
determined to assume the administration of the state itself. Pericles
was also the first to institute pay for service in the law-courts, as
a bid for popular favour to counterbalance the wealth of Cimon. The
latter, having private possessions on a regal scale, not only
performed the regular public services magnificently, but also
maintained a large number of his fellow-demesmen. Any member of the
deme of Laciadae could go every day to Cimon's house and there receive
a reasonable provision; while his estate was guarded by no fences, so
that any one who liked might help himself to the fruit from it.
Pericles' private property was quite unequal to this magnificence and
accordingly he took the advice of Damonides of Oia (who was commonly
supposed to be the person who prompted Pericles in most of his
measures, and was therefore subsequently ostracized), which was that,
as he was beaten in the matter of private possessions, he should make
gifts to the people from their own property; and accordingly he
instituted pay for the members of the juries. Some critics accuse him
of thereby causing a deterioration in the character of the juries,
since it was always the common people who put themselves forward for
selection as jurors, rather than the men of better position. Moreover,
bribery came into existence after this, the first person to introduce
it being Anytus, after his command at Pylos. He was prosecuted by
certain individuals on account of his loss of Pylos, but escaped by
bribing the jury.


                              CHAPTER 28
-
  So long, however, as Pericles was leader of the people, things went
tolerably well with the state; but when he was dead there was a great
change for the worse. Then for the first time did the people choose a
leader who was of no reputation among men of good standing, whereas up
to this time such men had always been found as leaders of the
democracy. The first leader of the people, in the very beginning of
things, was Solon, and the second was Pisistratus, both of them men of
birth and position. After the overthrow of the tyrants there was
Cleisthenes, a member of the house of the Alcmeonidae; and he had no
rival opposed to him after the expulsion of the party of Isagoras.
After this Xanthippus was the leader of the people, and Miltiades of
the upper class. Then came Themistocles and Aristides, and after them
Ephialtes as leader of the people, and Cimon son of Miltiades of the
wealthier class. Pericles followed as leader of the people, and
Thucydides, who was connected by marriage with Cimon, of the
opposition. After the death of Pericles, Nicias, who subsequently fell
in Sicily, appeared as leader of the aristocracy, and Cleon son of
Cleaenetus of the people. The latter seems, more than any one else, to
have been the cause of the corruption of the democracy by his wild
undertakings; and he was the first to use unseemly shouting and coarse
abuse on the Bema, and to harangue the people with his cloak girt up
short about him, whereas all his predecessors had spoken decently and
in order. These were succeeded by Theramenes son of Hagnon as leader
of the one party, and the lyre-maker Cleophon of the people. It was
Cleophon who first granted the two-obol donation for the theatrical
performances, and for some time it continued to be given; but then
Callicrates of Paeania ousted him by promising to add a third obol to
the sum. Both of these persons were subsequently condemned to death;
for the people, even if they are deceived for a time, in the end
generally come to detest those who have beguiled them into any
unworthy action. After Cleophon the popular leadership was occupied
successively by the men who chose to talk the biggest and pander the
most to the tastes of the majority, with their eyes fixed only on the
interests of the moment. The best statesmen at Athens, after those of
early times, seem to have been Nicias, Thucydides, and Theramenes. As
to Nicias and Thucydides, nearly every one agrees that they were not
merely men of birth and character, but also statesmen, and that they
ruled the state with paternal care. On the merits of Theramenes
opinion is divided, because it so happened that in his time public
affairs were in a very stormy state. But those who give their opinion
deliberately find him, not, as his critics falsely assert,
overthrowing every kind of constitution, but supporting every kind so
long as it did not transgress laws; thus showing that he was able, as
every good citizen should be, to live under any form of constitution,
while he refused to countenance illegality and was its constant enemy.


                              CHAPTER 29
-
  So long as the fortune of the war continued even, the Athenians
preserved the democracy; but after the disaster in Sicily, when the
Lacedaemonians had gained the upper hand through their alliance with
the king of Persia, they were compelled to abolish the democracy and
establish in its place the constitution of the Four Hundred. The
speech recommending this course before the vote was made by Melobius,
and the motion was proposed by Pythodorus of Anaphlystus; but the real
argument which persuaded the majority was the belief that the king of
Persia was more likely to form an alliance with them if the
constitution were on an oligarchical basis. The motion of Pythodorus
was to the following effect. The popular Assembly was to elect twenty
persons, over forty years of age, who, in conjunction with the
existing ten members of the Committee of Public Safety, after taking
an oath that they would frame such measures as they thought best for
the state, should then prepare proposals for the public safety. In
addition, any other person might make proposals, so that of all the
schemes before them the people might choose the best. Cleitophon
concurred with the motion of Pythodorus, but moved that the committee
should also investigate the ancient laws enacted by Cleisthenes when
he created the democracy, in order that they might have these too
before them and so be in a position to decide wisely; his suggestion
being that the constitution of Cleisthenes was not really democratic,
but closely akin to that of Solon. When the committee was elected,
their first proposal was that the Prytanes should be compelled to put
to the vote any motion that was offered on behalf of the public
safety. Next they abolished all indictments for illegal proposals, all
impeachments and pubic prosecutions, in order that every Athenian
should be free to give his counsel on the situation, if he chose; and
they decreed that if any person imposed a fine on any other for his
acts in this respect, or prosecuted him or summoned him before the
courts, he should, on an information being laid against him, be
summarily arrested and brought before the generals, who should deliver
him to the Eleven to be put to death. After these preliminary
measures, they drew up the constitution in the following manner. The
revenues of the state were not to be spent on any purpose except the
war. All magistrates should serve without remuneration for the period
of the war, except the nine Archons and the Prytanes for the time
being, who should each receive three obols a day. The whole of the
rest of the administration was to be committed, for the period of the
war, to those Athenians who were most capable of serving the state
personally or pecuniarily, to the number of not less than five
thousand. This body was to have full powers, to the extent even of
making treaties with whomsoever they willed; and ten representatives,
over forty years of age, were to be elected from each tribe to draw up
the list of the Five Thousand, after taking an oath on a full and
perfect sacrifice.


                              CHAPTER 30
-
  These were the recommendations of the committee; and when they had
been ratified the Five Thousand elected from their own number a
hundred commissioners to draw up the constitution. They, on their
appointment, drew up and produced the following recommendations. There
should be a Council, holding office for a year, consisting of men over
thirty years of age, serving without pay. To this body should belong
the Generals, the nine Archons, the Amphictyonic Registrar
(Hieromnemon), the Taxiarchs, the Hipparchs, the Phylarchs, the
commanders of garrisons, the Treasurers of Athena and the other gods,
ten in number, the Hellenic Treasurers (Hellenotamiae), the
Treasurers of the other non-sacred moneys, to the number of twenty,
the ten Commissioners of Sacrifices (Hieropoei), and the ten
Superintendents of the mysteries. All these were to be appointed by
the Council from a larger number of selected candidates, chosen from
its members for the time being. The other offices were all to be
filled by lot, and not from the members of the Council. The Hellenic
Treasurers who actually administered the funds should not sit with the
Council. As regards the future, four Councils were to be created, of
men of the age already mentioned, and one of these was to be chosen by
lot to take office at once, while the others were to receive it in
turn, in the order decided by the lot. For this purpose the hundred
commissioners were to distribute themselves and all the rest as
equally as possible into four parts, and cast lots for precedence, and
the selected body should hold office for a year. They were to
administer that office as seemed to them best, both with reference to
the safe custody and due expenditure of the finances, and generally
with regard to all other matters to the best of their ability. If they
desired to take a larger number of persons into counsel, each member
might call in one assistant of his own choice, subject to the same
qualification of age. The Council was to sit once every five days,
unless there was any special need for more frequent sittings. The
casting of the lot for the Council was to be held by the nine Archons;
votes on divisions were to be counted by five tellers chosen by lot
from the members of the Council, and of these one was to be selected
by lot every day to act as president. These five persons were to cast
lots for precedence between the parties wishing to appear before the
Council, giving the first place to sacred matters, the second to
heralds, the third to embassies, and the fourth to all other subjects;
but matters concerning the war might be dealt with, on the motion of
the generals, whenever there was need, without balloting. Any member
of the Council who did not enter the Council-house at the time named
should be fined a drachma for each day, unless he was away on leave of
absence from the Council.


                              CHAPTER 31
-
  Such was the constitution which they drew up for the time to come,
but for the immediate present they devised the following scheme. There
should be a Council of Four Hundred, as in the ancient constitution,
forty from each tribe, chosen out of candidates of more than thirty
years of age, selected by the members of the tribes. This Council
should appoint the magistrates and draw up the form of oath which they
were to take; and in all that concerned the laws, in the examination
of official accounts, and in other matters generally, they might act
according to their discretion. They must, however, observe the laws
that might be enacted with reference to the constitution of the state,
and had no power to alter them nor to pass others. The generals should
be provisionally elected from the whole body of the Five Thousand, but
so soon as the Council came into existence it was to hold an
examination of military equipments, and thereon elect ten persons,
together with a secretary, and the persons thus elected should hold
office during the coming year with full powers, and should have the
right, whenever they desired it, of joining in the deliberations of
the Council. The Five Thousand was also to elect a single Hipparch and
ten Phylarchs; but for the future the Council was to elect these
officers according to the regulations above laid down. No office,
except those of member of the Council and of general, might be held
more than once, either by the first occupants or by their successors.
With reference to the future distribution of the Four Hundred into the
four successive sections, the hundred commissioners must divide them
whenever the time comes for the citizens to join in the Council along
with the rest.


                              CHAPTER 32
-
  The hundred commissioners appointed by the Five Thousand drew up the
constitution as just stated; and after it had been ratified by the
people, under the presidency of Aristomachus, the existing Council,
that of the year of Callias, was dissolved before it had completed its
term of office. It was dissolved on the fourteenth day of the month
Thargelion, and the Four Hundred entered into office on the
twenty-first; whereas the regular Council, elected by lot, ought to
have entered into office on the fourteenth of Scirophorion. Thus was
the oligarchy established, in the archonship of Callias, just about a
hundred years after the expulsion of the tyrants. The chief promoters
of the revolution were Pisander, Antiphon, and Theramenes, all of them
men of good birth and with high reputations for ability and judgement.
When, however, this constitution had been established, the Five
Thousand were only nominally selected, and the Four Hundred, together
with the ten officers on whom full powers had been conferred, occupied
the Council-house and really administered the government. They began
by sending ambassadors to the Lacedaemonians proposing a cessation of
the war on the basis of the existing position; but as the
Lacedaemonians refused to listen to them unless they would also
abandon the command of the sea, they broke off the negotiations.


                              CHAPTER 33
-
  For about four months the constitution of the Four Hundred lasted,
and Mnasilochus held office as Archon of their nomination for two
months of the year of Theopompus, who was Archon for the remaining
ten. On the loss of the naval battle of Eretria, however, and the
revolt of the whole of Euboea except Oreum, the indignation of the
people was greater than at any of the earlier disasters, since they
drew far more supplies at this time from Euboea than from Attica
itself. Accordingly they deposed the Four Hundred and committed the
management of affairs to the Five Thousand, consisting of persons
possessing a military equipment. At the same time they voted that pay
should not be given for any public office. The persons chiefly
responsible for the revolution were Aristocrates and Theramenes, who
disapproved of the action of the Four Hundred in retaining the
direction of affairs entirely in their own hands, and referring
nothing to the Five Thousand. During this period the constitution of
the state seems to have been admirable, since it was a time of war and
the franchise was in the hands of those who possessed a military
equipment.


                              CHAPTER 34
-
  The people, however, in a very short time deprived the Five Thousand
of their monopoly of the government. Then, six years after the
overthrow of the Four Hundred, in the archonship of Callias of Angele,
the battle of Arginusae took place, of which the results were, first,
that the ten generals who had gained the victory were all condemned by
a single decision, owing to the people being led astray by persons who
aroused their indignation; though, as a matter of fact, some of the
generals had actually taken no part in the battle, and others were
themselves picked up by other vessels. Secondly, when the
Lacedaemonians proposed to evacuate Decelea and make peace on the
basis of the existing position, although some of the Athenians
supported this proposal, the majority refused to listen to them. In
this they were led astray by Cleophon, who appeared in the Assembly
drunk and wearing his breastplate, and prevented peace being made,
declaring that he would never accept peace unless the Lacedaemonians
abandoned their claims on all the cities allied with them. They
mismanaged their opportunity then, and in a very short time they
learnt their mistake. The next year, in the archonship of Alexias,
they suffered the disaster of Aegospotami, the consequence of which
was that Lysander became master of the city, and set up the Thirty
as its governors. He did so in the following manner. One of the terms
of peace stipulated that the state should be governed according to
'the ancient constitution'. Accordingly the popular party tried to
preserve the democracy, while that part of the upper class which
belonged to the political clubs, together with the exiles who had
returned since the peace, aimed at an oligarchy, and those who were
not members of any club, though in other respects they considered
themselves as good as any other citizens, were anxious to restore the
ancient constitution. The latter class included Archinus, Anytus,
Cleitophon, Phormisius, and many others, but their most prominent
leader was Theramenes. Lysander, however, threw his influence on the
side of the oligarchical party, and the popular Assembly was compelled
by sheer intimidation to pass a vote establishing the oligarchy. The
motion to this effect was proposed by Dracontides of Aphidna.


                              CHAPTER 35
-
  In this way were the Thirty established in power, in the archonship
of Pythodorus. As soon, however, as they were masters of the city,
they ignored all the resolutions which had been passed relating to the
organization of the constitution, but after appointing a Council of
Five Hundred and the other magistrates out of a thousand selected
candidates, and associating with themselves ten Archons in Piraeus,
eleven superintendents of the prison, and three hundred 'lash-bearers'
as attendants, with the help of these they kept the city under their
own control. At first, indeed, they behaved with moderation towards
the citizens and pretended to administer the state according to the
ancient constitution. In pursuance of this policy they took down from
the hill of Areopagus the laws of Ephialtes and Archestratus relating
to the Areopagite Council; they also repealed such of the statutes of
Solon as were obscure, and abolished the supreme power of the
law-courts. In this they claimed to be restoring the constitution and
freeing it from obscurities; as, for instance, by making the testator
free once for all to leave his property as he pleased, and abolishing
the existing limitations in cases of insanity, old age, and undue
female influence, in order that no opening might be left for
professional accusers. In other matters also their conduct was
similar. At first, then, they acted on these lines, and they destroyed
the professional accusers and those mischievous and evil-minded
persons who, to the great detriment of the democracy, had attached
themselves to it in order to curry favour with it. With all of this
the city was much pleased, and thought that the Thirty were doing it
with the best of motives. But so soon as they had got a firmer hold on
the city, they spared no class of citizens, but put to death any
persons who were eminent for wealth or birth or character. Herein they
aimed at removing all whom they had reason to fear, while they also
wished to lay hands on their possessions; and in a short time they put
to death not less than fifteen hundred persons.


                              CHAPTER 36
-
  Theramenes, however, seeing the city thus falling into ruin, was
displeased with their proceedings, and counselled them to cease such
unprincipled conduct and let the better classes have a share in the
government. At first they resisted his advice, but when his proposals
came to be known abroad, and the masses began to associate themselves
with him, they were seized with alarm lest he should make himself the
leader of the people and destroy their despotic power. Accordingly
they drew up a list of three thousand citizens, to whom they announced
that they would give a share in the constitution. Theramenes, however,
criticized this scheme also, first on the ground that, while proposing
to give all respectable citizens a share in the constitution, they
were actually giving it only to three thousand persons, as though all
merit were confined within that number; and secondly because they were
doing two inconsistent things, since they made the government rest on
the basis of force, and yet made the governors inferior in strength to
the governed. However, they took no notice of his criticisms, and for
a long time put off the publication of the list of the Three Thousand
and kept to themselves the names of those who had been placed upon it;
and every time they did decide to publish it they proceeded to strike
out some of those who had been included in it, and insert others who
had been omitted.


                              CHAPTER 37
-
  Now when winter had set in, Thrasybulus and the exiles occupied
Phyle, and the force which the Thirty led out to attack them met with
a reverse. Thereupon the Thirty decided to disarm the bulk of the
population and to get rid of Theramenes; which they did in the
following way. They introduced two laws into the Council, which they
commanded it to pass; the first of them gave the Thirty absolute power
to put to death any citizen who was not included in the list of the
Three Thousand, while the second disqualified all persons from
participation in the franchise who should have assisted in the
demolition of the fort of Eetioneia, or have acted in any way against
the Four Hundred who had organized the previous oligarchy. Theramenes
had done both, and accordingly, when these laws were ratified, he
became excluded from the franchise and the Thirty had full power to
put him to death. Theramenes having been thus removed, they disarmed
all the people except the Three Thousand, and in every respect showed
a great advance in cruelty and crime. They also sent ambassadors to
Lacedaemon to blacken the character of Theramenes and to ask for help;
and the Lacedaemonians, in answer to their appeal, sent Callibius as
military governor with about seven hundred troops, who came and
occupied the Acropolis.


                              CHAPTER 38
-
  These events were followed by the occupation of Munichia by the
exiles from Phyle, and their victory over the Thirty and their
partisans. After the fight the party of the city retreated, and next
day they held a meeting in the market-place and deposed the Thirty,
and elected ten citizens with full powers to bring the war to a
termination. When, however, the Ten had taken over the government they
did nothing towards the object for which they were elected, but sent
envoys to Lacedaemon to ask for help and to borrow money. Further,
finding that the citizens who possessed the franchise were displeased
at their proceedings, they were afraid lest they should be deposed,
and consequently, in order to strike terror into them (in which design
they succeeded), they arrested Demaretus, one of the most eminent
citizens, and put him to death. This gave them a firm hold on the
government, and they also had the support of Callibius and his
Peloponnesians, together with several of the Knights; for some of the
members of this class were the most zealous among the citizens to
prevent the return of the exiles from Phyle. When, however, the party
in Piraeus and Munichia began to gain the upper hand in the war,
through the defection of the whole populace to them, the party in the
city deposed the original Ten, and elected another Ten, consisting of
men of the highest repute. Under their administration, and with their
active and zealous co-operation, the treaty of reconciliation was made
and the populace returned to the city. The most prominent members of
this board were Rhinon of Paeania and Phayllus of Acherdus, who, even
before the arrival of Pausanias, opened negotiations with the party in
Piraeus, and after his arrival seconded his efforts to bring about the
return of the exiles. For it was Pausanias, the king of the
Lacedaemonians, who brought the peace and reconciliation to a
fulfillment, in conjunction with the ten commissioners of arbitration
who arrived later from Lacedaemon, at his own earnest request. Rhinon
and his colleagues received a vote of thanks for the goodwill shown by
them to the people, and though they received their charge under an
oligarchy and handed in their accounts under a democracy, no one,
either of the party that had stayed in the city or of the exiles that
had returned from the Piraeus, brought any complaint against them. On
the contrary, Rhinon was immediately elected general on account of his
conduct in this office.


                              CHAPTER 39
-
  This reconciliation was effected in the archonship of Eucleides, on
the following terms. All persons who, having remained in the city
during the troubles, were now anxious to leave it, were to be free to
settle at Eleusis, retaining their civil rights and possessing full
and independent powers of self-government, and with the free enjoyment
of their own personal property. The temple at Eleusis should be common
ground for both parties, and should be under the superintendence of
the Ceryces, and the Eumolpidae, according to primitive custom. The
settlers at Eleusis should not be allowed to enter Athens, nor the
people of Athens to enter Eleusis, except at the season of the
mysteries, when both parties should be free from these restrictions.
The secessionists should pay their share to the fund for the common
defence out of their revenues, just like all the other Athenians. If
any of the seceding party wished to take a house in Eleusis, the
people would help them to obtain the consent of the owner; but if they
could not come to terms, they should appoint three valuers on either
side, and the owner should receive whatever price they should appoint.
Of the inhabitants of Eleusis, those whom the secessionists wished to
remain should be allowed to do so. The list of those who desired to
secede should be made up within ten days after the taking of the oaths
in the case of persons already in the country, and their actual
departure should take place within twenty days; persons at present out
of the country should have the same terms allowed to them after their
return. No one who settled at Eleusis should be capable of holding any
office in Athens until he should again register himself on the roll as
a resident in the city. Trials for homicide, including all cases in
which one party had either killed or wounded another, should be
conducted according to ancestral practice. There should be a general
amnesty concerning past events towards all persons except the Thirty,
the Ten, the Eleven, and the magistrates in Piraeus; and these too
should be included if they should submit their accounts in the usual
way. Such accounts should be given by the magistrates in Piraeus
before a court of citizens rated in Piraeus, and by the magistrates in
the city before a court of those rated in the city. On these terms
those who wished to do so might secede. Each party was to repay
separately the money which it had borrowed for the war.


                              CHAPTER 40
-
  When the reconciliation had taken place on these terms, those who
had fought on the side of the Thirty felt considerable apprehensions,
and a large number intended to secede. But as they put off entering
their names till the last moment, as people will do, Archinus,
observing their numbers, and being anxious to retain them as citizens,
cut off the remaining days during which the list should have remained
open; and in this way many persons were compelled to remain, though
they did so very unwillingly until they recovered confidence. This is
one point in which Archinus appears to have acted in a most
statesmanlike manner, and another was his subsequent prosecution of
Thrasybulus on the charge of illegality, for a motion by which he
proposed to confer the franchise on all who had taken part in the
return from Piraeus, although some of them were notoriously slaves.
And yet a third such action was when one of the returned exiles began
to violate the amnesty, whereupon Archinus haled him to the Council
and persuaded them to execute him without trial, telling them that now
they would have to show whether they wished to preserve the democracy
and abide by the oaths they had taken; for if they let this man escape
they would encourage others to imitate him, while if they executed him
they would make an example for all to learn by. And this was exactly
what happened; for after this man had been put to death no one ever
again broke the amnesty. On the contrary, the Athenians seem, both in
public and in private, to have behaved in the most unprecedentedly
admirable and public-spirited way with reference to the preceding
troubles. Not only did they blot out all memory of former offences,
but they even repaid to the Lacedaemonians out of the public purse the
money which the Thirty had borrowed for the war, although the treaty
required each party, the party of the city and the party of Piraeus,
to pay its own debts separately. This they did because they thought it
was a necessary first step in the direction of restoring harmony; but
in other states, so far from the democratic parties making advances
from their own possessions, they are rather in the habit of making a
general redistribution of the land. A final reconciliation was made
with the secessionists at Eleusis two years after the secession, in
the archonship of Xenaenetus.


                              CHAPTER 41
-
  This, however, took place at a later date; at the time of which we
are speaking the people, having secured the control of the state,
established the constitution which exists at the present day.
Pythodorus was Archon at the time, but the democracy seems to have
assumed the supreme power with perfect justice, since it had effected
its own return by its own exertions. This was the eleventh change
which had taken place in the constitution of Athens. The first
modification of the primaeval condition of things was when Ion and his
companions brought the people together into a community, for then the
people was first divided into the four tribes, and the tribe-kings
were created. Next, and first after this, having now some semblance of
a constitution, was that which took place in the reign of Theseus,
consisting in a slight deviation from absolute monarchy. After this
came the constitution formed under Draco, when the first code of laws
was drawn up. The third was that which followed the civil war, in the
time of Solon; from this the democracy took its rise. The fourth was
the tyranny of Pisistratus; the fifth the constitution of Cleisthenes,
after the overthrow of the tyrants, of a more democratic character
than that of Solon. The sixth was that which followed on the Persian
wars, when the Council of Areopagus had the direction of the state.
The seventh, succeeding this, was the constitution which Aristides
sketched out, and which Ephialtes brought to completion by
overthrowing the Areopagite Council; under this the nation, misled by
the demagogues, made the most serious mistakes in the interest of its
maritime empire. The eighth was the establishment of the Four Hundred,
followed by the ninth, the restored democracy. The tenth was the
tyranny of the Thirty and the Ten. The eleventh was that which
followed the return from Phyle and Piraeus; and this has continued
from that day to this, with continual accretions of power to the
masses. The democracy has made itself master of everything and
administers everything by its votes in the Assembly and by the
law-courts, in which it holds the supreme power. Even the jurisdiction
of the Council has passed into the hands of the people at large; and
this appears to be a judicious change, since small bodies are more
open to corruption, whether by actual money or influence, than large
ones. At first they refused to allow payment for attendance at the
Assembly; but the result was that people did not attend. Consequently,
after the Prytanes had tried many devices in vain in order to induce
the populace to come and ratify the votes, Agyrrhius, in the first
instance, made a provision of one obol a day, which Heracleides of
Clazomenae, nicknamed 'the king', increased to two obols, and
Agyrrhius again to three.


                              CHAPTER 42
-
  The present state of the constitution is as follows. The franchise
is open to all who are of citizen birth by both parents. They are
enrolled among the demesmen at the age of eighteen. On the occasion of
their enrollment the demesmen give their votes on oath, first whether
the candidates appear to be of the age prescribed by the law (if not,
they are dismissed back into the ranks of the boys), and secondly
whether the candidate is free born and of such parentage as the laws
require. Then if they decide that he is not a free man, he appeals to
the law-courts, and the demesmen appoint five of their own number to
act as accusers; if the court decides that he has no right to be
enrolled, he is sold by the state as a slave, but if he wins his case
he has a right to be enrolled among the demesmen without further
question. After this the Council examines those who have been
enrolled, and if it comes to the conclusion that any of them is less
than eighteen years of age, it fines the demesmen who enrolled him.
When the youths (Ephebi) have passed this examination, their fathers
meet by their tribes, and appoint on oath three of their fellow
tribesmen, over forty years of age, who, in their opinion, are the
best and most suitable persons to have charge of the youths; and of
these the Assembly elects one from each tribe as guardian, together
with a director, chosen from the general body of Athenians, to control
the while. Under the charge of these persons the youths first of all
make the circuit of the temples; then they proceed to Piraeus, and
some of them garrison Munichia and some the south shore. The Assembly
also elects two trainers, with subordinate instructors, who teach them
to fight in heavy armour, to use the bow and javelin, and to discharge
a catapult. The guardians receive from the state a drachma apiece for
their keep, and the youths four obols apiece. Each guardian receives
the allowance for all the members of his tribe and buys the necessary
provisions for the common stock (they mess together by tribes), and
generally superintends everything. In this way they spend the first
year. The next year, after giving a public display of their military
evolutions, on the occasion when the Assembly meets in the theatre,
they receive a shield and spear from the state; after which they
patrol the country and spend their time in the forts. For these two
years they are on garrison duty, and wear the military cloak, and
during this time they are exempt from all taxes. They also can neither
bring an action at law, nor have one brought against them, in order
that they may have no excuse for requiring leave of absence; though
exception is made in cases of actions concerning inheritances and
wards of state, or of any sacrificial ceremony connected with the
family. When the two years have elapsed they thereupon take their
position among the other citizens. Such is the manner of the
enrollment of the citizens and the training of the youths.


                              CHAPTER 43
-
  All the magistrates that are concerned with the ordinary routine of
administration are elected by lot, except the Military Treasurer, the
Commissioners of the Theoric fund, and the Superintendent of Springs.
These are elected by vote, and hold office from one Panathenaic
festival to the next. All military officers are also elected by vote.
  The Council of Five Hundred is elected by lot, fifty from each
tribe. Each tribe holds the office of Prytanes in turn, the order
being determined by lot; the first four serve for thirty-six days
each, the last six for thirty-five, since the reckoning is by lunar
years. The Prytanes for the time being, in the first place, mess
together in the Tholus, and receive a sum of money from the state for
their maintenance; and, secondly, they convene the meetings of the
Council and the Assembly. The Council they convene every day, unless
it is a holiday, the Assembly four times in each prytany. It is also
their duty to draw up the programme of the business of the Council and
to decide what subjects are to be dealt with on each particular day,
and where the sitting is to be held. They also draw up the programme
for the meetings of the Assembly. One of these in each prytany is
called the 'sovereign' Assembly; in this the people have to ratify the
continuance of the magistrates in office, if they are performing their
duties properly, and to consider the supply of corn and the defence of
the country. On this day, too, impeachments are introduced by those
who wish to do so, the lists of property confiscated by the state are
read, and also applications for inheritances and wards of state, so
that nothing may pass unclaimed without the cognizance of any person
concerned. In the sixth prytany, in addition to the business already
stated, the question is put to the vote whether it is desirable to
hold a vote of ostracism or not; and complaints against professional
accusers, whether Athenian or aliens domiciled in Athens, are
received, to the number of not more than three of either class,
together with cases in which an individual has made some promise to
the people and has not performed it. Another Assembly in each prytany
is assigned to the hearing of petitions, and at this meeting any one
is free, on depositing the petitioner's olive-branch, to speak to the
people concerning any matter, public or private. The two remaining
meetings are devoted to all other subjects, and the laws require them
to deal with three questions connected with religion, three connected
with heralds and embassies, and three on secular subjects. Sometimes
questions are brought forward without a preliminary vote of the
Assembly to take them into consideration.
  Heralds and envoys appear first before the Prytanes, and the bearers
of dispatches also deliver them to the same officials.


                              CHAPTER 44
-
  There is a single President of the Prytanes, elected by lot, who
presides for a night and a day; he may not hold the office for more
than that time, nor may the same individual hold it twice. He keeps
the keys of the sanctuaries in which the treasures and public records
of the state are preserved, and also the public seal; and he is bound
to remain in the Tholus, together with one-third of the Prytanes,
named by himself. Whenever the Prytanes convene a meeting of the
Council or Assembly, he appoints by lot nine Proedri, one from each
tribe except that which holds the office of Prytanes for the time
being; and out of these nine he similarly appoints one as President,
and hands over the programme for the meeting to them. They take it and
see to the preservation of order, put forward the various subjects
which are to be considered, decide the results of the votings, and
direct the proceedings generally. They also have power to dismiss the
meeting. No one may act as President more than once in the year, but
he may be a Proedrus once in each prytany.
  Elections to the offices of General and Hipparch and all other
military commands are held in the Assembly, in such manner as the
people decide; they are held after the sixth prytany by the first
board of Prytanes in whose term of office the omens are favourable.
There has, however, to be a preliminary consideration by the Council
in this case also.


                              CHAPTER 45
-
  In former times the Council had full powers to inflict fines and
imprisonment and death; but when it had consigned Lysimachus to the
executioner, and he was sitting in the immediate expectation of death,
Eumelides of Alopece rescued him from its hands, maintaining that no
citizen ought to be put to death except on the decision of a court of
law. Accordingly a trial was held in a law-court, and Lysimachus was
acquitted, receiving henceforth the nickname of 'the man from the
drum-head'; and the people deprived the Council thenceforward of the
power to inflict death or imprisonment or fine, passing a law that if
the Council condemn any person for an offence or inflict a fine, the
Thesmothetae shall bring the sentence or fine before the law-court,
and the decision of the jurors shall be the final judgement in the
matter.
  The Council passes judgement on nearly all magistrates, especially
those who have the control of money; its judgement, however, is not
final, but is subject to an appeal to the law-courts. Private
individuals, also, may lay an information against any magistrate they
please for not obeying the laws, but here too there is an appeal to
the law-courts if the Council declare the charge proved. The Council
also examines those who are to be its members for the ensuing year,
and likewise the nine Archons. Formerly the Council had full power to
reject candidates for office as unsuitable, but now they have an
appeal to the law-courts. In all these matters, therefore, the Council
has no final jurisdiction. It takes, however, preliminary cognizance
of all matters brought before the Assembly, and the Assembly cannot
vote on any question unless it has first been considered by the
Council and placed on the programme by the Prytanes; since a person
who carries a motion in the Assembly is liable to an action for
illegal proposal on these grounds.


                              CHAPTER 46
-
  The Council also superintends the triremes that are already in
existence, with their tackle and sheds, and builds new triremes or
quadriremes, whichever the Assembly votes, with tackle and sheds to
match. The Assembly appoints master-builders for the ships by vote;
and if they do not hand them over completed to the next Council, the
old Council cannot receive the customary donation- that being normally
given to it during its successor's term of office. For the building of
the triremes it appoints ten commissioners, chosen from its own
members. The Council also inspects all public buildings, and if it is
of opinion that the state is being defrauded, it reports the culprit
to the Assembly, and on condemnation hands him over to the law-courts.


                              CHAPTER 47
-
  The Council also co-operates with other magistrates in most of their
duties. First there are the treasurers of Athena, ten in number,
elected by lot, one from each tribe. According to the law of Solon-
which is still in force- they must be Pentacosiomedimni, but in point
of fact the person on whom the lot falls holds the office even though
he be quite a poor man. These officers take over charge of the statue
of Athena, the figures of Victory, and all the other ornaments of the
temple, together with the money, in the presence of the Council. Then
there are the Commissioners for Public Contracts (Poletae), ten in
number, one chosen by lot from each tribe, who farm out the public
contracts. They lease the mines and taxes, in conjunction with the
Military Treasurer and the Commissioners of the Theoric fund, in the
presence of the Council, and grant, to the persons indicated by the
vote of the Council, the mines which are let out by the state,
including both the workable ones, which are let for three years, and
those which are let under special agreements for [ten?] years. They
also sell, in the presence of the Council, the property of those who
have gone into exile from the court of the Areopagus, and of others
whose goods have been confiscated, and the nine Archons ratify the
contracts. They also hand over to the Council lists of the taxes which
are farmed out for the year, entering on whitened tablets the name of
the lessee and the amount paid. They make separate lists, first of
those who have to pay their instalments in each prytany, on ten
several tablets, next of those who pay thrice in the year, with a
separate tablet for each instalment, and finally of those who pay in
the ninth prytany. They also draw up a list of farms and dwellings
which have been confiscated and sold by order of the courts; for these
too come within their province. In the case of dwellings the value
must be paid up in five years, and in that of farms, in ten. The
instalments are paid in the ninth prytany. Further, the King-archon
brings before the Council the leases of the sacred enclosures, written
on whitened tablets. These too are leased for ten years, and the
instalments are paid in the [ninth] prytany; consequently it is in
this prytany that the greatest amount of money is collected. The
tablets containing the lists of the instalments are carried into the
Council, and the public clerk takes charge of them. Whenever a payment
of instalments is to be made he takes from the pigeon-holes the
precise list of the sums which are to be paid and struck off on that
day, and delivers it to the Receivers-General. The rest are kept
apart, in order that no sum may be struck off before it is paid.


                              CHAPTER 48
-
  There are ten Receivers-General (Apodectae), elected by lot, one
from each tribe. These officers receive the tablets, and strike off
the instalments as they are paid, in the presence of the Council in
the Council-chamber, and give the tablets back to the public clerk. If
any one fails to pay his instalment, a note is made of it on the
tablet; and he is bound to pay double the amount of the deficiency,
or, in default, to be imprisoned. The Council has full power by the
laws to exact these payments and to inflict this imprisonment. They
receive all the instalments, therefore, on one day, and portion the
money out among the magistrates; and on the next day they bring up the
report of the apportionment, written on a wooden notice-board, and
read it out in the Council-chamber, after which they ask publicly in
the Council whether any one knows of any malpractice in reference to
the apportionment, on the part of either a magistrate or a private
individual, and if any one is charged with malpractice they take a
vote on it.
  The Council also elects ten Auditors (Logistae) by lot from its
own members, to audit the accounts of the magistrates for each
prytany. They also elect one Examiner of Accounts (Euthunus) by lot
from each tribe, with two assessors (Paredri) for each examiner,
whose duty it is to sit at the ordinary market hours, each opposite
the statue of the eponymous hero of his tribe; and if any one wishes
to prefer a charge, on either public or private grounds, against any
magistrate who has passed his audit before the law-courts, within
three days of his having so passed, he enters on a whitened tablet his
own name and that of the magistrate prosecuted, together with the
malpractice that is alleged against him. He also appends his claim for
a penalty of such amount as seems to him fitting, and gives in the
record to the Examiner. The latter takes it, and if after reading it
he considers it proved he hands it over, if a private case, to the
local justices who introduce cases for the tribe concerned, while if
it is a public case he enters it on the register of the Thesmothetae.
Then, if the Thesmothetae accept it, they bring the accounts of this
magistrate once more before the law-court, and the decision of the
jury stands as the final judgement.


                              CHAPTER 49
-
  The Council also inspects the horses belonging to the state. If a
man who has a good horse is found to keep it in bad condition, he is
mulcted in his allowance of corn; while those which cannot keep up or
which shy and will not stand steady, it brands with a wheel on the
jaw, and the horse so marked is disqualified for service. It also
inspects those who appear to be fit for service as scouts, and any one
whom it rejects is deprived of his horse. It also examines the
infantry who serve among the cavalry, and any one whom it rejects
ceases to receive his pay. The roll of the cavalry is drawn up by the
Commissioners of Enrolment (Catalogeis), ten in number, elected by
the Assembly by open vote. They hand over to the Hipparchs and
Phylarchs the list of those whom they have enrolled, and these
officers take it and bring it up before the Council, and there open
the sealed tablet containing the names of the cavalry. If any of those
who have been on the roll previously make affidavit that they are
physically incapable of cavalry service, they strike them out; then
they call up the persons newly enrolled, and if any one makes
affidavit that he is either physically or pecuniarily incapable of
cavalry service they dismiss him, but if no such affidavit is made the
Council vote whether the individual in question is suitable for the
purpose or not. If they vote in the affirmative his name is entered on
the tablet; if not, he is dismissed with the others.
  Formerly the Council used to decide on the plans for public
buildings and the contract for making the robe of Athena; but now this
work is done by a jury in the law-courts appointed by lot, since the
Council was considered to have shown favouritism in its decisions. The
Council also shares with the Military Treasurer the superintendence of
the manufacture of the images of Victory and the prizes at the
Panathenaic festival.
  The Council also examines infirm paupers; for there is a law which
provides that persons possessing less than three minas, who are so
crippled as to be unable to do any work, are, after examination by the
Council, to receive two obols a day from the state for their support.
A treasurer is appointed by lot to attend to them.
  The Council also, speaking broadly, co-operates in most of the
duties of all the other magistrates; and this ends the list of the
functions of that body.


                              CHAPTER 50
-
  There are ten Commissioners for Repairs of Temples, elected by lot,
who receive a sum of thirty minas from the Receivers-General, and
therewith carry out the most necessary repairs in the temples.
  There are also ten City Commissioners (Astynomi), of whom five
hold office in Piraeus and five in the city. Their duty is to see that
female flute- and harp- and lute-players are not hired at more than
two drachmas, and if more than one person is anxious to hire the same
girl, they cast lots and hire her out to the person to whom the lot
falls. They also provide that no collector of sewage shall shoot any
of his sewage within ten stradia of the walls; they prevent people
from blocking up the streets by building, or stretching barriers
across them, or making drain-pipes in mid-air with a discharge into
the street, or having doors which open outwards; they also remove the
corpses of those who die in the streets, for which purpose they have a
body of state slaves assigned to them.


                              CHAPTER 51
-
  Market Commissioners (Agoranomi) are elected by lot, five for
Piraeus, five for the city. Their statutory duty is to see that all
articles offered for sale in the market are pure and unadulterated.
  Commissioners of Weights and Measures (Metronomi) are elected by
lot, five for the city, and five for Piraeus. They see that sellers
use fair weights and measures.
  Formerly there were ten Corn Commissioners (Sitophylaces), elected
by lot, five for Piraeus, and five for the city; but now there are
twenty for the city and fifteen for Piraeus. Their duties are, first,
to see that the unprepared corn in the market is offered for sale at
reasonable prices, and secondly, to see that the millers sell barley
meal at a price proportionate to that of barley, and that the bakers
sell their loaves at a price proportionate to that of wheat, and of
such weight as the Commissioners may appoint; for the law requires
them to fix the standard weight.
  There are ten Superintendents of the Mart, elected by lot, whose
duty is to superintend the Mart, and to compel merchants to bring up
into the city two-thirds of the corn which is brought by sea to the
Corn Mart.


                              CHAPTER 52
-
  The Eleven also are appointed by lot to take care of the prisoners
in the state gaol. Thieves, kidnappers, and pickpockets are brought to
them, and if they plead guilty they are executed, but if they deny the
charge the Eleven bring the case before the law-courts; if the
prisoners are acquitted, they release them, but if not, they then
execute them. They also bring up before the law-courts the list of
farms and houses claimed as state-property; and if it is decided that
they are so, they deliver them to the Commissioners for Public
Contracts. The Eleven also bring up informations laid against
magistrates alleged to be disqualified; this function comes within
their province, but some such cases are brought up by the
Thesmothetae.
  There are also five Introducers of Cases (Eisagogeis), elected by
lot, one for each pair of tribes, who bring up the 'monthly' cases to
the law-courts. 'Monthly' cases are these: refusal to pay up a dowry
where a party is bound to do so, refusal to pay interest on money
borrowed at 12 per cent., or where a man desirous of setting up
business in the market has borrowed from another man capital to start
with; also cases of slander, cases arising out of friendly loans or
partnerships, and cases concerned with slaves, cattle, and the office
of trierarch, or with banks. These are brought up as 'monthly' cases
and are introduced by these officers; but the Receivers-General
perform the same function in cases for or against the farmers of
taxes. Those in which the sum concerned is not more than ten drachmas
they can decide summarily, but all above that amount they bring into
the law-courts as 'monthly' cases.


                              CHAPTER 53
-
  The Forty are also elected by lot, four from each tribe, before whom
suitors bring all other cases. Formerly they were thirty in number,
and they went on circuit through the demes to hear causes; but after
the oligarchy of the Thirty they were increased to forty. They have
full powers to decide cases in which the amount at issue does not
exceed ten drachmas, but anything beyond that value they hand over to
the Arbitrators. The Arbitrators take up the case, and, if they cannot
bring the parties to an agreement, they give a decision. If their
decision satisfies both parties, and they abide by it, the case is at
an end; but if either of the parties appeals to the law-courts, the
Arbitrators enclose the evidence, the pleadings, and the laws quoted
in the case in two urns, those of the plaintiff in the one, and those
of the defendant in the other. These they seal up and, having attached
to them the decision of the arbitrator, written out on a tablet, place
them in the custody of the four justices whose function it is to
introduce cases on behalf of the tribe of the defendant. These
officers take them and bring up the case before the law-court, to a
jury of two hundred and one members in cases up to the value of a
thousand drachmas, or to one of four hundred and one in cases above
that value. No laws or pleadings or evidence may be used except those
which were adduced before the Arbitrator, and have been enclosed in
the urns.
  The Arbitrators are persons in the sixtieth year of their age; this
appears from the schedule of the Archons and the Eponymi. Th