Ill ill
 
 SOCIAL STRUGGLES 
 IN ANTIQUITY
 
 SOCIAL STRUGGLES 
 IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 BY 
 
 M. BEER 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 H. J. STENNING 
 
 AND 
 
 REVISED BY THE AUTHOR 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS
 
 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
 
 cf 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION ...... y 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PALESTINE ....... 20 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 GREECE ........ 51 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE PRACTICE OF COMMUNISM IN SPARTA . . 61 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS . . . 81 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 ROME ........ 128 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 ROMAN SOCIAL CRITICS ..... 166 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY ..... 182 
 
 INDEX ... ..... 219 
 
 SllZ^C
 
 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN 
 ANTIQUITY 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 I. The Meaning of the Term " Antiquity." 
 
 From the purely chronological standpoint, 
 world history is commonly divided into 
 antiquity, the middle ages, the modern times 
 and most modern times. ^ When looked at 
 closely, this historical division proves to be 
 inadequate, as it tells us practically nothing. 
 When we speak of antiquity, we think of 
 the empires of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and 
 of the old Hebrews, Greeks and Romans. 
 But had the Kelts, Teutons and Slavs no 
 antiquity? And had the ancient peoples 
 no middle ages, and no modern times? 
 World history is not the record of a homo- 
 
 1 Antiquity, from the earliest times to the dissolution 
 of the Roman Empire; middle ages, from the fourth 
 century to the discovery of America; modern times, 
 from the fifteenth century to the French Revolution; 
 most modern times, from the eighteenth century onwards. 
 
 7
 
 8 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 geneous humanity, which had remained in 
 the period of antiquity until the time of the 
 migration of races, and then entered upon the 
 consecutive stages of the middle ages, and 
 modern times. It treats rather of different 
 States, Empires, Races and Peoples, all of 
 which passed through their own stages of 
 development at different periods, without 
 waiting for others to reach the same level. 
 It does not inform us, for instance, how it 
 could come about that modern ideas may be 
 discovered in antiquity, or that the beginnings 
 of the Renaissance in Europe were mentally 
 connected with ancient Greece, and that we 
 moderns must often revert to ideas and 
 opinions which were enunciated by the 
 ancients more than two thousand years ago. 
 Were these thinkers superior to time and 
 space, and did they receive their wisdom 
 through inspiration ? 
 
 We shall get nearer the truth if we assume 
 that " antiquity " did not form a mental 
 and historical unity. Even the old Hebrews, 
 Greeks and Romans had their period of 
 antiquity, their middle ages, and their 
 modern times. It was only that they 
 appeared on the stage of human history 
 earlier than the Teutons and Slavs, and they
 
 INTRODUCTION 9 
 
 likewise passed through their different periods, 
 evolved certain institutions and ideas, which 
 everywhere corresponded more or less to 
 these periods. Thus the various peoples 
 follow each other in the order of time, but 
 their social and mental development follows 
 a parallel course, with the exception of the 
 most modern period which the ancients did 
 not pass through, having been unable to 
 produce the Industrial Revolution on the 
 application of science to industry. If, there- 
 fore, the Latins and Teutons in the fifteenth 
 and sixteenth centuries had mental affinities 
 with the Greeks of the sixth and fifth centuries 
 B.C., this happened only because the Greeks 
 of that time, having left their antiquity and 
 their middle ages behind them, were living in 
 the epoch of their renaissance, and this period 
 brought forth corresponding mental products. 
 Each of these periods has its specific social, 
 economic and intellectual features. In an- 
 tiquity, or more correctly in the youth of 
 peoples, men are everywhere linked together 
 by blood relationship in the clan and the 
 tribe, and live in common, on the basis of 
 equality, knowing neither private property 
 in land, nor monogamy, nor towns; mental 
 life is very primitive; custom and habits
 
 10 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 dominate the simple life, which is mostly 
 nomadic, and in any case not bound up 
 with specific territories. Chiefs, judges or 
 " kings " are at the head of the people. 
 The art of writing is unknown, and the tribes 
 in question do not themselves describe their 
 social institutions. For our knowledge of 
 this period we either have to thank travellers 
 from a country on a higher level of civilisation 
 who visit the district of the primitive tribes, 
 such as, for example, Caesar and Tacitus in 
 respect to the old Teutons, the discoverers 
 of America in respect to the Indian tribes, 
 or we moderns reconstruct the original insti- 
 tutions from the old legends and traditions 
 as well as from the remains of the old insti- 
 tutions which have survived into the time of 
 recorded history. And as we have discovered 
 that there is a certain regularity in the 
 development of peoples, we are justified in 
 making a generahsation or devising a theory 
 that all peoples in the primitive social stage 
 were unacquainted with individual property 
 in land, lived on the basis of equality, and 
 were organised in tribes. 
 
 The primitive period ends when the tribes 
 become settled, and are gradually organised 
 on a territorial basis (in communities, villages,
 
 INTRODUCTION 11 
 
 towns, provinces and countries), devoting 
 themselves to agriculture. The settlers en- 
 deavour to continue the old social form, as 
 they do not know of any other, but the new 
 economic conditions require a new order, 
 and soon the former homogeneous society 
 begins to disintegrate into class divisions. 
 Towns are built ; trade and commerce begins 
 to develop; and common ownership is re- 
 placed by private property. 
 
 Adaptation to the new conditions does not 
 proceed smoothly. Those who suffer injury 
 and oppression, and those who are dispossessed 
 or loaded with debts, cling to the old and 
 vanishing equality, hold it fast in their 
 memories and idealise it, partly as Paradise, 
 partly as the Golden Age. The biblical 
 account of the Garden of Eden, and the 
 expulsion from it of the first human beings 
 (second and third chapters of Genesis), and 
 the verses of the Greek poet Hesiod {Works 
 and Days, verses 108-170) upon the Golden 
 Age and its disappearance are the oldest 
 recorded expressions of this sentiment which 
 penetrated the whole of antiquity. Internal 
 conflicts arise early; the old tribal chiefs — 
 the so-called " kings " or ** judges " — yield 
 to the aristocracy, and dominion passes to
 
 12 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 the great landowners. At this point we are 
 well into the " middle ages." Writing and 
 religious dogma first arise at this stage; a 
 mythology or a theology makes its appearance ; 
 laws are written down; the ten command- 
 ments of Israel, the laws of Draco in Greece, 
 and in Rome the twelve tables of laws. The 
 " middle ages " of the Israelites commenced 
 in the tenth century B.C. ; at that time the 
 Israelites still had kings, but the real power 
 was vested in the landowners — except per- 
 haps at the time of David and Solomon. 
 The middle ages of the Greeks began about 
 the year looo, and in the eighth century in 
 the case of the Romans. 
 
 In the course of the middle ages trade and 
 industry developed, and was carried on by 
 the town burghers — the bourgeoisie. When 
 the latter was sufficiently strengthened, the 
 middle ages were nearing their close. The 
 nobles either assimilated themselves to the 
 bourgeoisie, or suffered extinction; the old 
 systems of mythological and theological 
 dogma are shaken, and new religious and 
 philosophical ideas make headway; natural 
 science comes into its own ; art acquires more 
 freedom and variety; the feudal bonds are 
 dissolved — the Renaissance has begun. It
 
 INTRODUCTION 18 
 
 commenced in Greece in the sixth century; 
 in Rome in the second century; in Israel 
 this socio-economic development was inter- 
 rupted by the national disasters : in the year 
 722 Israel (the northern Hebrew kingdom with 
 Samaria as its capital) was vanquished and 
 destroyed by Assyria; in the year 586 the 
 same fate befell Judea (the southern Hebrew 
 kingdom with Jerusalem as its centre) ; it 
 was destroyed by the Babylonians; but the 
 religious evolution was not only not inter- 
 rupted, it was reinforced. In accordance 
 with the spirit of the new time the Jews slowly 
 attained to a conception of ethical mono- 
 theism; the Greeks to moral philosophy, 
 and their leading thinkers to monotheism 
 and social ethics (Socrates, Plato and the 
 Stoics). The social struggles which broke out 
 in the middle ages became more acute in 
 the modern times; in Israel the poor against 
 the rich; in Greece the popular masses (the 
 Demos) against the usurers and expropriators, 
 later the Proletariat against Capital; in 
 Rome the Plebeians against the Patricians, 
 the destitute against the rich, the slave 
 multitudes against their oppressors. The 
 chief demands were : the cancellation of 
 debts and redistribution of the land.
 
 14 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 Social reforms were introduced, probably 
 at the beginning of the seventh century in 
 Sparta; in 621 in Judea; 594 (Solon) in 
 Athens; 367 and 133 in Rome. In Sparta 
 the class struggle was suspended for several 
 centuries; on the other hand, it raged ever 
 more furiously in Athens, and produced the 
 greatest social philosopher of ancient times : 
 Plato (born 427, died 347) ; likewise it brought 
 forth a theory of Communism and of Natural 
 Right. The social struggles of Rome exer- 
 cised little intellectual influence of a revolu- 
 tionary nature, as generally speaking the 
 Romans were not an intellectual people, and 
 contributed nothing to the advance of religion, 
 philosophy and social ideas; Roman culture 
 was a pale and belated imitation of Greek 
 culture. The Romans appeared to have ex- 
 pended their entire mental energy upon war 
 and the subjection of foreign peoples, as well as 
 upon the establishment of the right of private 
 property. In any history of intellectual 
 achievements (jurisprudence excepted) the 
 Romans occupy a quite subordinate position. 
 
 A glance at the economics and politics of 
 antiquity reveals the great difference between 
 that time and to-day. First we notice the 
 complete absence of machinery and fine
 
 INTRODUCTION 15 
 
 tools, and in their stead we find multitudes 
 of slaves; in the beginning debtors were 
 enslaved by their creditors, and then slaves 
 were recruited from prisoners of war and 
 conquered natives, or from men who were 
 captured by slave-dealers, and bought whole- 
 sale in the markets of Greece and Rome, to 
 be subjected to the most ruthless exploitation. 
 Among the Jews there were few slaves. The 
 general aspect of the State also appears to be 
 quite different. For centuries the State con- 
 noted only one town and its immediate 
 surroundings, the most famous examples 
 being Athens, Sparta and Rome. Such a 
 city-state was called by the Greeks Polls 
 (from whence " pohtics ") and in Latin civitas 
 (from whence " civihsation "). These city- 
 states were therefore small territories con- 
 taining about 30,000 to 40,000 free citizens. 
 In Greece there were several city-states of 
 this type, and likewise in Italy. Partly 
 through war, partly through treaties of 
 alliance, they united to form a great State. 
 Each free citizen was a soldier at the same 
 time, and productive labour devolved on the 
 slave multitudes. First the Romans gradually 
 created an empire (Imperium) with ruling 
 classes and subjugated peoples. Later the
 
 16 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 Romans developed feudalism and villanage, 
 when slave labour had proved to be unprofit- 
 able or inexpedient. 
 
 2. Ancient Communistic Theory : Natural 
 Rights. 
 
 We have already seen how the expropriated 
 sections of the people at the beginning of the 
 middle ages clung to the traditions of the old 
 state of equality, and idealised the past. 
 The condition of nature or the primitive 
 society became an ideal to which mankind 
 must return. In his work on " Laws " 
 (Third Book, second and third chapters), 
 Plato wrote as follows about the men of 
 primitive society : 
 
 Hence in those days mankind were not very poor, 
 nor was poverty the cause of difference among them ; 
 and rich they could not have been, having neither gold 
 nor silver — such at that time was their condition. And 
 the community which has neither poverty nor riches 
 will always have the noblest principles ; in it there is 
 no insults or injustice, nor again are there any conten- 
 tions or envyings. And therefore they were good, and 
 also because they were what is called simple-minded. 
 Would not many generations living on in a simple 
 manner, although ruder perhaps and more ignorant of 
 the arts generally, although inferior to the men of our 
 day in these respects, be simpler and more manly, and 
 also more temperate and altogether more just? They
 
 INTRODUCTION 17 
 
 could hardly have wanted lawgivers, for they had no 
 laws at this early period; they lived by habit and the 
 customs of their ancestors. 
 
 The doctrine of equality of natural con- 
 dition was then developed further, for at the 
 time of Aristotle (the disciple of Plato and 
 tutor of Alexander the Great) the opinion was 
 already widespread " that the dominion of 
 masters over slaves is against nature, and that 
 the distinction between bond and free has 
 not been made by nature, but only by human 
 laws; and as this signifies an interference 
 with the operations of nature it is therefore 
 an injustice " (Aristotle's Politics y i. 3). 
 
 Both these quotations from Plato and 
 Aristotle contain a good fragment of natural 
 rights. The perfecting and diffusion of this 
 conception was, however, the work of the 
 Stoa in the third century. The founder of 
 the Stoic school of thought was Zeno, who 
 flourished about the year 300. Since the 
 second century B.C. the disciples of this school 
 have exercised a very considerable influence 
 in Greek cultured circles, upon the thinkers 
 of the Roman Empire, and upon the whole 
 of civilised and Christian Europe until the 
 present day. All the thinkers of Utopian 
 Communism and of Anarchist Communism
 
 18 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 have, in great measure, come under this 
 influence. 
 
 The doctrine of natural rights is a protest 
 against the civil and legal institutions of the 
 State which have arisen on the basis of 
 private property. It is an ideahsation of 
 the democratic conditions of equaUty which 
 characterised primitive communism. The 
 appeal to nature, the cry, " Back to nature," 
 is a condemnation of civilisation, and likewise 
 a summons, either to revert to the old con- 
 ditions, or to adopt them as the ideal for the 
 legal and social transformation of the new 
 conditions. The new age, which gave an 
 impulse to the growth of towns, and the 
 development of trade and industry, and which 
 destroyed the remains of common property 
 in land, represented a revolt against nature, 
 agriculture and the simple manners of country 
 life, and a turning towards an unnatural, 
 artificial life, involving luxury, manifold 
 activity, and a labyrinth of legal enactments 
 and State regulations. In the primitive 
 society there were no man-made laws, no 
 State, no external coercive institutions. 
 Nature, penetrated and filled with the divine 
 spirit, was regulated by innate laws, which 
 enjoined goodness, justice and righteousness.
 
 INTRODUCTION 19 
 
 The ethics of natural laws were plainly valid, 
 and were dictated by human reason. They 
 were above human edicts, or what is called 
 positive law. They held good for all beings 
 who bore the stamp of humanity; all men 
 were free and equal. 
 
 In the primitive state of mankind, in the 
 Golden Age, and in the epoch before the Fall, 
 the laws of nature or reason prevailed; men 
 lived together without the State, without 
 external coercion, without legal regulations 
 and tutelage, and followed the natural in- 
 junctions to do good and be righteous. But 
 the succeeding generations were corrupted; 
 greed, discontent and internal strife appeared, 
 and men created the State, private property, 
 and the multitudinous laws, without thereby 
 attaining to the old happiness. Human 
 society became sick and suffered. The only 
 remedy was to abandon the artificial institu- 
 tions, and return to the natural, and live in 
 harmony with nature. 
 
 The Stoa were anarchist-communists and 
 their outlook was international. In this they 
 resembled the Jewish prophets, but the latter 
 looked only to Jahveh for guidance, while the 
 former found their lawgiver in divine nature. 
 Both tendencies met in primitive Christianity.
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PALESTINE 
 
 I. Social Conditions, 
 
 As hordes of nomads from the north Arabian 
 and east Egyptian deserts the Hebrews in- 
 vaded Canaan in the twelfth century B.C. 
 Organised in tribes and clans on the principle 
 of blood relationship, their leaders brought 
 them to conquer new fruitful territory, and to 
 settle down. Bold and easily excited, but 
 hardened by the privations of their life in the 
 wilderness, and welded together by their age- 
 long tribal discipline, they overcame, in the 
 course of protracted struggles, the resistance 
 of the Canaanites, who were superior to them 
 in civilisation, and took possession of their 
 country. The victorious barbarians divided 
 the land by lot among their tribes, and the 
 latter among their families. Individual pro- 
 perty in land was at first unknown to them; 
 the tribes regarded the partitioned land as 
 a common possession, and the families held
 
 PALESTINE 21 
 
 their lands for the benefit of the tribe (Num. 
 xxxvi.). 
 
 A special term for property is unknown 
 in Hebrew. The word which corresponds 
 nearest to this idea is " nachlah " (hereditary 
 portion). A property owner is called ** lord," 
 or " baal " in Hebrew, a common Semitic 
 word which signifies man or generator. Partly 
 as a result of uninterrupted possession and of 
 individual cultivation and enjoyment, and 
 partly as a result of the influence of Canaanite 
 civilisation, the Hebrew families became 
 accustomed to regard their possession as 
 absolute property, and to dispose of it arbi- 
 trarily. In the course of time sales and 
 mortgages undermined the old economic 
 equality, and class divisions were introduced 
 into the former homogeneous society. 
 
 The highest god of the Hebrews, who accom- 
 panied them into Canaan, was JHWH (Jahweh 
 or Jehovah), a god of the desert, of the scorch- 
 ing heat, of the consuming fire and of the 
 thunderstorm, a war hero abroad and the 
 protector of tribal cohesion at home, a just 
 legislator, who commanded men to lead a strict, 
 austere life. To the Jews Jahweh appeared as 
 the symbol of the physical characteristics of 
 the desert, as well as of the economic and
 
 22 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 moral conditions of life of hordes of tough 
 nomads. The sacrifice which they offered to 
 him was scanty, some meal and a lamb. But 
 what else could nomads of the wilderness offer ? 
 Frugal and temperate, like their lives, was the 
 god whom they worshipped and feared. In 
 the likeness of their physiographic environ- 
 ment and social organisation the Hebrews 
 created their god. 
 
 The Canaanite god Baal was of a different 
 character; like the Greek Dionysos or 
 Bacchus, he was the religious symbol of the 
 germinating powers of nature, the god of a 
 country flowing with milk and honey, and 
 corn and wine. He made men, animals, and 
 plants fruitful; he represented the mystery 
 of generation ; his consecrated mountain tops 
 and altars became noisy public places, his 
 sacrifices became luxurious banquets, his 
 sacred groves became sheltered nooks for the 
 sensual embraces of the sexes. In the eyes of 
 the prophets the service of Baal was vain 
 fornication and whoredom. The civilisation 
 of Canaan had left the stage of tribal organ- 
 isation far behind, commerce and trade were 
 carried on in towns, and private property 
 existed in all things. 
 The Hebrews (or Israelites), transplanted to
 
 PALESTINE 23 
 
 the new environment, made agriculture the 
 basis of their society, and quickly succumbed 
 to the influence of Canaanite civilisation. 
 The religious life of the nomads proved 
 inadequate for the new needs of agricultural 
 life : Jahweh could not fructify the field, the 
 vineyard and the olive tree — being a desert 
 god, he lacked this quality — and the newly 
 emerging social divisions could not be harmon- 
 ised with the commands of Jahweh. Life 
 proved to be stronger than an idea. Apostasy 
 from Jahweh set in, either by investing him 
 with qualities which belonged to Baal, and 
 modelling the service of Jahweh on the cult of 
 Baal, or by the Hebrews abandoning their old 
 god and going over to Baal. From the ninth 
 century onwards the people were convulsed 
 by a religious crisis, which assumed an acute 
 or mild form according to circumstances and 
 the outstanding personalities. Between the 
 supporters of Jahweh and those of Baal a 
 conflict arose, in which the prophets, clothed 
 as desert beduins, took their stand at the 
 head of the supporters of Jahweh, first Elijah 
 and Elisha, in whom the pure traditional 
 feeling of rehgion predominated, and later 
 such powerful preachers as Amos, Isaiah and 
 Jeremiah, who led the class struggle of the
 
 24 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 dispossessed, plainly demanded social justice, 
 and hailed Jahweh as the Judge of the world. 
 Then the crisis was sharpened by the economic 
 development of Israel, and the class division 
 of society to which it gave rise. The con- 
 ception of Jahweh acquired a meaning which, 
 as we shall see, carried with it a revolution 
 in the religious sphere. 
 
 The dissolution and transformation of the 
 primitive conditions was furthered by the 
 numerous wars, which were undertaken partly 
 to defend and partly to extend the country. 
 The wars and their vicissitudes aroused (in 
 the tenth century B.C.) among the agricultural 
 tribes the desire to form a central govern- 
 ment, and have a king, who could undertake 
 the defence of their borders against hostile 
 attacks, and take care of their interests as 
 against the foreigner. The new institution 
 appeared to commend itself. If previously 
 the tribes of Israel had to wage a desperate 
 struggle for their existence, now they soon 
 succeeded in winning a position which com- 
 pelled respect. Neighbouring nations no 
 longer dared to attack Israel, and the peace 
 seemed to be a durable one (2 Sam. vii. i ; 
 I Kings V. 4). 
 
 The tribute of precious metals was con-
 
 PALESTINE 25 
 
 siderable; agriculture prospered, and as the 
 Israelites, after subduing the Canaanites, 
 became possessed of the caravan roads and 
 a portion of the sea-coast, they entered into 
 relations with the seafaring and industrious 
 Phoenicians. The monarchy gave a powerful 
 impulse to trade. The wars with Edom in the 
 ninth and eighth centuries were trade wars; 
 Elath (Eziongeber), the Red Sea port, must 
 be conquered, so that gold may be brought 
 from Ophir and colonial goods from India. 
 The kings Jehoshaphat, Joram, Amaziah and 
 Azariah all fought near the bay of Akaba, and 
 when the Syrian King Rezin captured the port 
 of Elath, he "drove out the Jews " (2 Kings 
 xvi. 6). In the north it was the tribe of 
 Zebulun " which dwelt at the haven of the 
 sea, at the haven of ships, whose border was 
 Sidon " (Gen. xlix. 13). In agriculture and 
 trade Israel attained to the level of Canaanite 
 civilisation, and consequently surrendered to 
 the religion of Baal, and danced before the 
 golden calf. 
 
 2. Class Antagonisms and Prophets. 
 The days when Israel sat beneath the grape 
 vine and fig tree, with internal concord and 
 freedom, each one doing what seemed to him
 
 26 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 right, vanished never to return. Economic 
 inequahty increased, and with it the conflict 
 between the opposing classes : the poor and 
 the rich, the rulers and the ruled, the oppressed 
 and the oppressors. The possessing class ad- 
 hered, in conformity with the needs of their 
 material and spiritual life, to Baal, the god 
 of fertility, of enjoyment, and of gain; the 
 disinherited class clung to Jahweh, whom they 
 were accustomed to regard as the god of tribal 
 solidarity, of common ownership, of goodness 
 and mercy. How good was Israel when its 
 tribes were encamped in the desert ! How 
 beautiful were its tents ! Israel loved Jahweh, 
 and Jahweh loved Israel. To the disin- 
 herited the nomadic time and the old tribal 
 organisation appeared in the light of the Golden 
 Age. How gentle and loving are the tones in 
 which the prophets, otherwise so ruthless and 
 severe, speak of the youth of Israel ! 
 
 As we have seen, the conflict between 
 Jahweh and Baal was a class struggle brought 
 about by the alteration in the economic con- 
 ditions, worked out under religious forms. 
 
 To Jahweh and his prophets the disin- 
 herited turned in their need. " Thy servant, 
 my husband, is dead," complained a woman to 
 the prophet Elisha, " and thou knowest that
 
 PALESTINE 27 
 
 thy servant did fear Jahweh : and the creditor 
 is come to take unto him my two sons to be 
 bondmen " (2 Kings iv. i). Semitic capital in 
 Canaan assumed the same harshness and shape 
 as Arian capital in Greece and Rome, that is, 
 it was usurer's and merchant's capital. The 
 anger which the usurer aroused in Israel is 
 shown by the Hebrew expression for usurer, 
 " neshech," which means literally " to bite." 
 The increasing use of money and the develop- 
 ment of private property disintegrated the old 
 economic order and the old customs. Opu- 
 lence and luxury in the circles of the wealthy, 
 want, oppression and enslavement for debt in 
 the circles of the dispossessed. The inevitable 
 result was a class antagonism, of which it may 
 be said — so far as historical evidence goes — 
 that it did not lead to the revolts and butchery 
 which shook social life to its foundations in 
 Greece and Rome, but it created a singular 
 socio-religious ferment, of which the prophets 
 were the exponents. 
 
 These ethical heroes, who threw into the 
 struggle for social justice the unquenchable 
 ardour of their fiery souls, were gradually 
 constrained to recognise social ethics as the 
 most important element of religion. When 
 this process of religious transformation had in
 
 28 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 some degree been completed, Jahweh ceased 
 to be a tribal and local god, and became a 
 general god of righteousness. Thus the 
 prophets elevated the primitive social idol of 
 the nomadic Hebrew tribes to the position of 
 universal god of truth and humanity. 
 
 They gathered strength from their efforts, 
 and grew from national leaders into universal 
 seers, thanks also to the political condition 
 and geographical position of Palestine, which 
 plunged them into the whirlpool of world 
 politics. For, owing to its position and physi- 
 cal characteristics, Palestine formed the bridge- 
 head between Asia Minor and Egypt, and was 
 therefore a connecting link between the two 
 rival world empires of that time. It was 
 exposed to invasions, it became the cockpit of 
 the struggles of Asiatic or Egyptian Empires, 
 but these historic vicissitudes made the intel- 
 lect of its Jewish inhabitants alert, and turned 
 their mind to problems of foreign politics. 
 The leading spirits of the nation, the prophets, 
 cast their eyes over the great empires v/hich 
 strove with each other for mastery; they 
 weighed the worth of men and things, of 
 governments and countries, in the scales of 
 social righteousness ; Assyrians, Babylonians, 
 Egyptians and Persians became instruments in
 
 PALESTINE 29 
 
 the hand of Jahweh, and the world was 
 penetrated by His will and His plan. The 
 tempest raged through the wide domains of 
 history, bringing down the pride of empires, 
 humiliating the vain and shattering the 
 haughty. In the collapse of all earthly power, 
 a moral world order manifested itself, majestic 
 and unassailable, the centre of which Israel 
 occupied. The prophets became the fore- 
 tellers of the disasters which would overtake 
 Israel and Judah, and of their final purifica- 
 tion, as also of the redemption of mankind — 
 the redemption from wars and strife, from 
 struggles at home and abroad, by the triumph 
 of the spirit, by the dominion of justice and 
 right, which Jahweh, through the medium of 
 the Jews, would spread over the whole of 
 mankind. Elemental power was the life force 
 of these men, it must have been a physically 
 and intellectually strong race which could 
 produce such powerful personalities. They 
 began with purely local struggles for the 
 oppressed, and closed their imperishable 
 careers with a moral world mission. 
 
 3. Social Righteousness. 
 
 Amos, the shepherd of Tekoa, lifted up his 
 voice against the whole of the inhabitants of
 
 30 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 Syria and Palestine, and announced the woe 
 that would befall them on account of their 
 sins. " Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, 
 and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and 
 say. Assemble yourselves upon the mountains 
 of Samaria, and behold what great tumults are 
 in the midst thereof. For they know not to 
 do right, who store up violence and robbery " 
 (iii. 9, 10). They believed they could fulfil 
 the will of Jahweh by sacrifices and prayers. 
 But Jahweh said : "I hate, I despise your 
 feast days, and I will take no delight in your 
 solemn assemblies. Take thou away from 
 me the noise of thy songs ; for I will not hear 
 the melody of thy viols. But let judgment 
 roll down as waters, and righteousness as a 
 mighty stream. Did ye bring unto me sacri- 
 fices and offerings in the wilderness forty 
 years, O house of Israel? " (v. 21-25). Jahweh 
 demanded not sacrifices and prayers, but 
 justice and righteousness. The judges are not 
 to decide in favour of the rich ; the privileged 
 and possessing classes are not to oppress the 
 poor and needy; the corn-dealers must cease 
 deceiving the hungry. Amos censured the 
 princes and the mighty ones, the wealthy and 
 the upstarts, who lived in stone palaces, and 
 laid upon beds of ivory and stretched them-
 
 PALESTINE 81 
 
 selves upon their couches, and ate the lambs 
 out of the flock and the calves out of the midst 
 of the stall, and sang idle songs to the sound 
 of the viol, and drank wine out of bowls, 
 and anointed themselves with ointment, but 
 grieved not for the ill condition of the people. 
 The chastisement would not be withheld. 
 " Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel 
 shall surely be led away captive out of their 
 own land " (vii. ii). Therefore, " Seek good 
 and not evil, that ye may live. Hate the evil 
 and love the good, and establish judgment in 
 the gate; it may be that the Lord of Hosts 
 will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph " 
 
 (v. 14, 15). 
 
 Hosea reminded the children of Israel that 
 Jahweh had cause to be dissatisfied with them, 
 ** because there is no truth nor mercy nor 
 knowledge of God in the land. There is 
 nought but swearing and lying, and killing 
 and stealing and committing adultery; they 
 break out and blood touches blood " (iv. i, 2) 
 Israel has become proud of its riches. " The 
 merchant has the balances of deceit in his 
 hand; he loveth to oppress. And Ephraim 
 said, I am become rich, I have found me 
 wealth " (ii. 8, 9). In matters of external 
 policy too Israel forsook Jahweh. Like a
 
 32 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 straying dove, Israel ran here and there, form- 
 ing alternate alliances with Egypt and Assyria, 
 to secure protection against hostile invasions. 
 Therefore, the country suffers, and the people 
 are ruined. How different was Israel when 
 young, and living in the desert (xi. i, 2). But 
 now " Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have 
 reaped iniquity, ye have eaten the fruit of 
 lies " (x. 13). There is no escape from the 
 punishment. Therefore, " Sow to yourselves 
 in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up 
 your fallow ground (x. 12) . . . keep mercy 
 and judgment, and wait on thy God con- 
 tinually." 
 
 Then will Jahweh " heal their backsliding, 
 and love them," and make a covenant with 
 them, and will break the bow and the sword 
 and the battle out of the land, for the covenant 
 will rest on righteousness and judgment, on 
 lovingkindness and on mercy " (ii. 18, 19). 
 
 Micah's righteous anger was directed against 
 the rich and the mighty of the country : 
 " Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house 
 of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, 
 that abhor judgment and pervert all equity. 
 They build up Zion with blood and Jerusalem 
 with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for 
 reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire,
 
 PALESTINE 33 
 
 and the prophets thereof divine for money. 
 . . . Therefore shall Zion for your sake be 
 plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become 
 heaps, and the mountain of the Lord's house 
 as the high places of a forest " (iii. 9-12). 
 The people are divided by mistrust, dissension 
 and mutual strife. Jahweh is not to be 
 placated by sacrifices. " Will the Lord be 
 pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten 
 thousands of rivers of oil? He hath shewed 
 thee, O man, what is good ; and what doth the 
 Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to 
 love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy 
 God? " (vi. 7-8). 
 
 The eloquent Isaiah, of whom Micah was 
 the potent echo, subjected the whole social life 
 of Palestine to a ruthless examination, and 
 found nothing good in it. Justice and right- 
 eousness had disappeared, and pure morals 
 had been supplanted by luxury, corrupting 
 fashions, unbridled seeking for enjoyment, 
 and the pursuit of wealth and glory. The 
 poor, the widow and the orphan were op- 
 pressed and exploited, the small peasant was 
 expropriated, and large estates were formed : 
 " Woe unto them that join house to house, 
 that lay field to field, till there be no room, 
 and ye be made to dwell alone in the midst of
 
 84 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 the land" (v. 8). The prophet cried out 
 against the legal attempts to sanction this state 
 of things : " Woe unto them that decree 
 unrighteous decrees, and to the writers that 
 write perverseness : to turn aside the needy 
 from judgment, and to take away the right 
 of the poor of my people, that widows may 
 be their spoil, and that they may make the 
 fatherless their prey " (x. 1-2). Therefore 
 has Jahweh turned his countenance from the 
 prayers and sacrifices : " Bring no more vain 
 oblations; incense is an abomination unto 
 me. Your new moons and your appointed 
 feasts my soul hateth, And when ye spread 
 forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from 
 you ; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will 
 not hear : your hands are full of blood " 
 (i. 13-15). The judgment of Jahweh will fall 
 upon all that is lofty and proud, and they 
 will be brought low; and upon all the cedars 
 of Lebanon, and upon all the oaks of 
 Bashan, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, 
 and upon all pleasant imagery (ii. 11-16). 
 Jahweh " will smite with a scab the crown of 
 the head of the daughters of Zion, and he will 
 take away the bravery of their anklets, and 
 their cauls, and their crescents, their pendants 
 and their bracelets, and their mufflers, the
 
 PALESTINE 35 
 
 head tires and the ankle chains, the sashes 
 and the perfume boxes, the amulets, the rings 
 and the nose jewels, the festival robes and the 
 mantles. . . . Thy men shall fall by the sword 
 and thy mighty in the war " (iii. 17-24). And 
 Israel will be led into captivity, its honourable 
 men will be famished, and the multitude 
 parched with thirst, and the mighty men shall 
 be humbled (v. 13-15). Then " the meek also 
 shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the 
 poor among men shall rejoice in the holy one 
 of Israel, for the terrible one is brought to 
 nought and the scorner is consumed" (xxix. 
 ig, 20). But Israel may still be saved if it 
 turns back to Jahweh, and obeys his com- 
 mands : " Wash you, make you clean ; put 
 away the evil of your doings from before mine 
 eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; 
 seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge 
 the fatherless, plead for the widow " (i. 16). 
 
 Jeremiah (circa 600 B.C.), as man and 
 thinker probably the greatest among the 
 prophets, in the name of Jahweh, reminded 
 the house of Jacob and the tribes of Israel 
 of the wilderness period : "I remember thee, 
 the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine 
 espousals, how thou wentest after me in the 
 wilderness in a land that was not sown.
 
 36 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 Israel was holiness unto the Lord. And I 
 brought you into a plentiful land, to eat the 
 fruit thereof and the goodness thereof. But 
 when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made 
 mine heritage an abomination " (ii. 2-7). The 
 prophet predicted in passionate but inexor- 
 able words the captivity of Judah and the 
 destruction of Jerusalem. This was the 
 burden of his visions, and he sought to inter- 
 cede with Jahweh on Judah's behalf; man 
 is not free in his acts, he has no freedom of 
 will : " O Lord, I know that the way of man 
 is not in himself : it is not in man that walketh 
 to direct his steps " (x. 23). But social justice 
 is the breath of the people's life, and the moral 
 system of the world must be instituted. For 
 their neglect of Jahweh the Jews must suffer, 
 and they must become fit for their historic 
 mission. 
 
 Zephaniah, an older contemporary of Jere- 
 miah, described the entire struggle in a few 
 chapters, and announced the approach of 
 Jahweh's day — the impending punishment of 
 Judah. " There shall be the noise of a cry 
 from the Fish gate (in Jerusalem) and an 
 howling from the second quarter, and a great 
 crashing from the hills. Howl, ye inhabitants 
 of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are
 
 PALESTINE 87 
 
 cut down; all they that bear silver are cut 
 off. . . . Neither their silver nor their gold 
 shall be able to deliver them in the day of the 
 Lord's wrath, but the whole land shall be 
 devoured by the fire of his jealousy " (i, lo, 
 II, i8). 
 
 With less prophetic frenzy, but with greater 
 learning and more extensive knowledge, 
 Ezekiel handled the problem at the time of the 
 Babylonian exile (about 560 B.C.). "Woe 
 unto the shepherds of Israel that do feed them- 
 selves. Should not the shepherds feed the 
 flocks ? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with 
 the wool. Ye kill the fatlings, but ye feed 
 not the sheep. The diseased have ye not 
 strengthened, neither have ye healed that 
 which was sick, neither have ye bound up that 
 which was broken, neither have ye brought 
 again that which was driven away, neither 
 have ye sought that which was lost, but with 
 force and with rigour have ye ruled over them. 
 . . . O my flock, thus saith the Lord, I judge 
 between the rams and the he-goats, between 
 the fat cattle and the lean cattle. Because 
 ye thrust with side and with shoulder, and 
 pushed all the diseased with your horns, till 
 ye have scattered them away, therefore will 
 I save my flock, and they shaU be no more a
 
 38 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 prey " (xxxiv. 2-22). Each man is responsible 
 for his actions, and to do evil or good is within 
 the choice of everyone. Therefore, Israel 
 must be converted, and shall fulfil the com- 
 mandments of Jahweh. 
 
 Interwoven with the censorious preaching 
 and the foretelling of disaster we find among 
 all the prophets a message of salvation to 
 Israel, and a firmly rooted belief in the final 
 redemption of mankind. The prophecies 
 reach their highest point with the Second Book 
 of Isaiah (from chapter xl. to the end), the 
 period being about the year 540 B.C. The 
 Jews are to be the evangels of social righteous- 
 ness. " The spirit of the Lord God is upon 
 me, because the Lord hath anointed me to 
 preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath 
 sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to pro- 
 claim liberty to the captives, and the opening 
 of the prison to them that are bound " (Ixi. i). 
 If it will take this mission on itself, this people 
 will become the centre of mankind. Long 
 despised and held to be unworthy, it will 
 become the jewel of the world. " Arise, 
 shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of 
 the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold, 
 darkness shall cover the earth, and gross 
 darkness the peoples, but the Lord shall arise
 
 PALESTINE 39 
 
 upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon 
 thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy 
 light, and kings to the brightness of thy 
 rising. ... I will also make thy officers 
 peace, and thine exactors righteousness. . . . 
 Thy people also shall be all righteous; they 
 shall inherit the land for ever " (Ix. 1-21). 
 
 His contemporary, Ezekiel, drew a picture 
 of a Jewish kingdom of God, in which equality 
 of men and of possessions was made the chief 
 condition. " Ye shall divide the land for 
 inheritance, one as well as another. . . . And 
 it shall come to pass that ye shall divide it 
 by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the 
 aliens that sojourn among you; they shall be 
 unto you as the homeborn among the children 
 of Israel; they shall have inheritance among 
 you with the tribes of Israel " {xlvii. 14-22). 
 
 With the ideal of justice and righteousness 
 that of everlasting peace was closely bound 
 up : " And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, 
 and the leopard shall lie down with the kid ; 
 and the calf and the young lion and the 
 fatling together, and a little child shall lead 
 them. . . . They shall beat their swords into 
 plowshares, and their spears into pruning- 
 hooks : nation shall not lift up sword against 
 nation, neither shall they learn war any
 
 40 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 more " (Isaiah ii. 4-1 1). Zechariah foresees 
 the time when Jehovah " will cut off the 
 chariot from Ephraim and the horse from 
 Israel, and the battle bow shall be cut off; 
 and he shall speak peace unto the nations; 
 and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, 
 even to the ends of the earth. . . . Not by 
 might, nor by power, but by the spirit shaU 
 the kingdom of God be established " (iv. 6). 
 
 And one of the last prophets, Malachi, asks 
 the human question : " Have we not all one 
 father ? hath not one God created us ? Why 
 do we deal treacherously, every man against 
 his brother? " (ii. 10). 
 
 4. Efforts at Reform. 
 
 In the last quarter of the seventh century 
 (621 B.C.) an attempt was made to enact 
 reform laws which would mitigate to some 
 extent the evils. These reform laws are laid 
 down in Deuteronomy and Leviticus : they 
 comprise the essentials of the two chief 
 demands of the dispossessed throughout 
 antiquity (even those of Hellas and Rome) : 
 relief of debtors and redistribution of the land. 
 They proclaimed that the land belonged to 
 Jahweh, in other words, that the land is the
 
 PALESTINE 41 
 
 common possession of the whole people. 
 " And the land shall not be sold for ever." A 
 return to freedom and equality is to take place 
 every fifty years. " And ye shall hallow the 
 fiftieth year, and it shall be a jubilee unto you, 
 and ye shall return every man unto his 
 possession, and ye shall return every man unto 
 his family." Meanwhile the lot of the debtor 
 is to be alleviated : "If thy brother be waxen 
 poor with thee, and sell himself unto thee, 
 thou shalt not make him to serve as a bond- 
 servant, but as a hired servant and as a 
 sojourner he shall serve with thee unto the 
 year of jubilee. And then shall he depart 
 from thee, both he and his children with him, 
 and shall return unto his own family, and unto 
 the possession of his brothers " (Lev. xxv.). 
 A year of release is to take place every seven 
 years, in which debts will be cancelled. 
 " Every creditor shall release that which he 
 hath lent unto his neighbour; he shall not 
 exact it of his neighbour, because the Lord's 
 release hath been proclaimed. Howbeit, there 
 shall be no poor among you. ... If there be 
 among you a poor man of one of the brethren, 
 thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy 
 hand from thy poor brother. Beware there 
 be not a base thought in thine heart, saying.
 
 42 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 The year of release is at hand (and my money 
 will be lost). Thou shalt surely open thy 
 hand unto thy brother, to thy needy, and to 
 thy poor in the land. And if thy brother, an 
 Hebrew man or an Hebrew woman, be sold 
 unto thee, then in the seventh year thou shalt 
 let them go free from thee" (Deut. xv.). 
 Mortgage rights are to be restricted. " When 
 thou dost lend thy neighbour any manner of 
 loan, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch 
 his pledge. Thou shalt stand without, and 
 the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring 
 out the pledge unto thee. And if he be a poor 
 man, thou shalt surely restore to him the 
 pledge when the sun goeth down, that he 
 may sleep in his own raiment " (Deut. xxiv. 
 10-13). Widows and orphans especially may 
 not be distrained upon. The wages of labour 
 are to be paid daily (xxiv. 14-15). Indicative 
 of the still strong influence of the traditions of 
 common property is the permission to pluck 
 the ears of the neighbour's corn (xxiii. 25) as 
 well as the injunctions as to forgotten sheaves, 
 the gleanings, and the leavings behind of a 
 portion of the harvest for the dispossessed. 
 There is, however, evidence to the effect that 
 the social reform laws were not entirely 
 effective.
 
 PALESTINE 43 
 
 The injunction regarding jubilee year was 
 never put into force, and the law of the year 
 of release was abolished in the post-exilian 
 epoch during the commercial prosperity. The 
 prophet Jeremiah lamented the apathy to- 
 wards this law, and in Nehemiah we again 
 hear the people complaining of the usury 
 practised by their own countrymen, of debts, 
 bondage and the mortgaging of fields and vine- 
 3^ards (about 500 B.C.). 
 
 The Talmud, which in its juridical section is 
 a codification of the laws which had grown up 
 on the basis of private property and com- 
 mercial intercourse, has transmitted to us the 
 legal formula in which the repeal of the law of 
 release was couched. The reason of this repeal 
 was of a purely economic nature. The Tal- 
 mud states in this connection : "If the fear 
 of release is to be maintained the door would 
 have to be closed to the borrowers." It goes 
 on to say that as the law relating to the year 
 of release also enjoins that " no evil thoughts 
 should be allowed to arise in the heart, so 
 that help would be refused on account of the 
 proximity of the year of release," and that 
 as such thoughts could not be avoided, the 
 Rabbis therefore decided to declare the whole 
 law null and void. In other words, the
 
 44 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 economic development proved to be stronger 
 than the social legislation. 
 
 Of the entire social legislation there re- 
 mained only an extensive Poor Law code. 
 
 The communal traditions, however, still 
 persisted among the poorer classes. Even in 
 the time of Jesus we find the following remark- 
 able indications as to the property divisions 
 which prevailed among the Jews (Pirke Ahoth, 
 V. 13) : " There are four classes among men : 
 one says, What is mine is mine, and what is 
 thine is thine; that is a sort of middle class 
 (the bourgeoisie), or, as many say, Sodom; — 
 another says, What is mine is thine, and what 
 is thine is mine, common people; — another 
 class says. What is mine is thine, and what is 
 thine is also thine — that is the pious class ; — 
 again, another says, What is mine is mine, 
 and what is thine is also mine — that is the 
 class of evildooers." This information regard- 
 ing the four categories of citizens which 
 existed at that time in Palestine, is extremely 
 instructive. We perceive the bourgeoisie at 
 the head, with their strict ideas of property ; 
 and it is observed mordantly that these are a 
 Sodomite class. Then come the Communists, 
 who recognise neither mine nor thine; they 
 are simply described as the common people,
 
 PALESTINE 45 
 
 as the 'am ha-arez. Further, there are the 
 pious, who renounce all property, and thus 
 embrace apostolic poverty, the paupertas 
 evangelica, which attained such great signifi- 
 cance in primitive Christianity and in the 
 twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 
 The fourth category requires no explanation : 
 they are the exploiters, thieves and murderers. 
 
 5. The Jewish Communists — the Essenes. 
 
 It was not merely the common people who 
 had no sense of private property. Several 
 thousands of the noblest men among the Jews 
 of Palestine made the attempt to introduce 
 Communism into practical life. 
 
 These were the Essenes, who first appeared 
 in the second century B.C. and passed as a 
 special sect. They were mentioned with high 
 esteem and admiration by all contemporary 
 writers who made any reference to them. The 
 Jewish intellectuals, like Philo and Josephus, 
 who were familiar with Greek philosophy and 
 generally with the intellectual life of the 
 Roman Empire, spoke of the communal 
 principle as the quintessence of virtue. 
 Josephus regarded Cain, the fratricide, as the 
 founder of private property (Jewish Antiqui- 
 ties, chap. ii). It is a notable fact that Cain
 
 46 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 was also the first to establish a city-state. 
 With great satisfaction, Philo narrates : 
 " There lived in Palestine 4000 virtuous men, 
 called Essenes ; they dwelt in the villages and 
 avoided the towns on account of the licenti- 
 ousness which was customary among the 
 inhabitants. Many of them carried on agricul- 
 ture, others pursued peaceful avocations, and 
 in this wise employed themselves and their 
 neighbours. They accumulated neither silver 
 nor gold, nor did they acquire lands in order 
 to procure large incomes for themselves ; but 
 they toiled merely to secure the necessary 
 means for supporting life. Thus they are 
 practically the only men who possess no 
 property, not because of the mischance of 
 fortune, but because they do not strive after 
 riches, and yet they are, in truth, the richest 
 of all, as they count as riches the absence of 
 needs and contentment. You will not find 
 among them artificers of arrows, javelins, 
 swords, helmets, breastplates and shields, nor 
 any who are engaged in the construction of 
 implements of war, or generally anything 
 which pertains to war. Commerce, liquor 
 manufacturing, and seafaring have never 
 entered their heads, for they desire to avoid 
 all things that give rise to covetousness. There
 
 PALESTINE 47 
 
 are also no slaves among them. All are free 
 and work for each other. They despise rulers 
 and governors not only because the latter are 
 unjust in violating equality, but also because 
 they are ungodly in abolishing an institution 
 of nature, which, like a mother, creates and 
 nourishes all as true and loving brothers, a 
 relationship which is destroyed by triumphant 
 cunning and avarice, which have put aliena- 
 tion in place of trustfulness and hatred in 
 place of love. The Essenes are taught the 
 principles of godliness, holiness and right- 
 eousness in the government of the house and 
 the community, in the knowledge of what is 
 good and what is evil, and they accept as their 
 three moral conceptions or principles, love of 
 God, of virtue and of mankind. The mani- 
 festations of love of mankind are benevo- 
 lence, equity and community in goods, which 
 cannot be praised too highly. We may add 
 something about the latter. First of all, none 
 has a house which does not belong to all. In 
 addition to the fact that they dwell together 
 socially, every house is open to comrades who 
 come from a distance. Also the storehouse 
 and the provisions contained therein belong to 
 all, as well as the articles of clothing; like- 
 wise the eatables are available to those who
 
 48 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 do not observe the common meal-times. And 
 generally the condition of dwelling, eating and 
 living together socially has, among no other 
 race, been carried to such a high degree of 
 perfection as among these men. For they do 
 not keep for themselves what they have earned 
 during the day, but put it together and offer 
 it for general consumption. The sick and 
 aged are treated with the greatest care and 
 gentleness." 
 
 Philo states further that the Essenes were 
 everywhere held in the greatest esteem. 
 " Even the most cruel rulers and proconsuls 
 were unable to do them harm. On the con- 
 trary, they quailed before the unsullied virtue 
 of these men, met them in a friendly spirit, 
 as such as had the right to make their own 
 laws and were free by nature; they com- 
 mended their meals in common and their most 
 praiseworthy institution of holding goods in 
 common, which was the most striking proof 
 of a full and happy life." 
 
 Josephus, too, was pleased to refer to the 
 Essenes and wrote : " They despise wealth, 
 and the common life they practise is marvel- 
 lous. Thus, it is impossible to find among 
 them any one who wishes to distinguish him- 
 self by property. For it is a law that those
 
 PALESTINE 49 
 
 who are admitted into this sect transfer their 
 property to the order. Consequently there is 
 neither privation and poverty, nor super- 
 fluity and luxury." 
 
 In regard to marriage, it is stated by some 
 that the Essenes preferred celibacy, while 
 others assert they married. It would appear 
 that in this respect they thought as the 
 Apostle Paul, who gave the preference to 
 celibacy, but did not forbid marriage. With 
 the quotations we have given from Pirke 
 Aboth and the institutions of the Essenes, we 
 have already penetrated into the intellectual 
 life of primitive Christianity. 
 
 The anti-political tendency among the 
 Essenes is noteworthy; they turned aside 
 from the State, and held social ethics and 
 social economy to be the essential things. 
 This feature was characteristic throughout 
 the entire history of the Israelites in Pales- 
 tine. In contrast to the Greeks, who were 
 engaged so vigorously with constitutional 
 questions and investigated the most various 
 forms of government, the Jews passed through 
 only a solitary political crisis, about the year 
 1000 B.C., when they progressed from tribal 
 organisation to State organisation and founded 
 a kingship. Gradually there developed among
 
 50 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 the Jews a strong antipathy to all State organ- 
 isation involving compulsion. This antipathy 
 found its first expression in a condemnation of 
 the monarchy, in i Samuel viii., which is 
 of later origin. The conduct of the great 
 imperial Powers which dominated Palestine — 
 the whole history of the great ancient empires 
 whose waves overflowed into Palestine — was, 
 in fact, not calculated to make State politicians 
 of a people which so earnestly sought after 
 righteousness. A strong sidelight on the atti- 
 tude of the Jews towards the State is thrown 
 by the following passage which is preserved in 
 the Talmud : "No person here below (on 
 earth) becomes a State official, but is con- 
 demned above (in heaven) as an evil-doer." 
 God is the sole ruler, and his commandments 
 are the principles and guides of mankind.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 GREECE 
 
 I. Economic and Social Development. 
 
 The Dorian, Ionian and ^olian tribes, 
 which came originally from the North, and 
 which made themselves masters of the south of 
 the Balkan peninsula, and became celebrated 
 in history as Hellenes or Greeks, were organ- 
 ised, on the basis of blood relationships, into 
 gentes, phratries and phylens. 
 
 Of these tribes, the Dorian conquerors of 
 Laconia (Sparta) and the Ionian conquerors 
 of Attica (Athenians) specially distinguished 
 themselves by military deeds, by social insti- 
 tutions, or by philosophical, artistic and 
 political achievements. In the annals of 
 Socialism both peoples have played a con- 
 spicuous part. 
 
 The Spartans, and the Dorians generally, 
 practised communism, whilst the lonians 
 were the theorists and provided them with 
 a philosophical basis. 
 
 51
 
 52 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 Originally, the Hellenes raised cattle and 
 tilled the land, and knew neither private 
 property nor towns. We do not know how 
 long this condition may have lasted, nor in 
 what manner it came to an end. In the last 
 half of the ninth century, when the oldest 
 Hellenic poetry — the Iliad and the Odyssey 
 — was composed, a division of classes and a 
 disintegration of society had already set in. 
 Hellas had entered upon the period of its 
 middle ages. As Plato relates in his book 
 On Laws (Book III. chap. 4), in Hellas, at 
 the time of the Trojan War, described by 
 Homer in the above-mentioned poems, towns 
 were already in existence, and rebellions broke 
 out in them against the old archaic ruling 
 caste; banishments, murders and executions 
 were often occurring. 
 
 The primitive conditions of Hellas were 
 apparently undermined by war, trading and 
 sea-faring. War was reckoned a profession 
 in Hellas, like hunting and fishing. It was 
 held in high estimation; even the greatest 
 Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, were 
 unable to conceive of eternal peace. The 
 quest of the Golden Fleece, and the protracted 
 struggles waged against Troy and to secure 
 access to the Black Sea point to the con-
 
 GREECE 53 
 
 elusion that the Hellenes found themselves 
 at that time in the conditions proper to the 
 middle ages. 
 
 Colonisation had made a start, and with it 
 trade and sea-faring. The Dorians founded 
 colonies in Crete, Rhodes and Kos, in addition 
 to Knidos and Halikarnossos (to the south 
 of the western coast of Asia Minor). Be- 
 tween 750 and 600 B.C. the Hellenes pushed 
 forward their colonial settlements; they 
 became the successors of the Phenicians. 
 Ionian settlements appeared on the coasts of 
 the Black Sea, in Sicily, Lower Italy, and 
 North Africa. In conjunction with colonising 
 activity, trade received an impetus, and soon 
 invigorated industrial activity. The lonians 
 manufactured pottery, ornaments, wine, linen, 
 cloth and weapons. Money economy replaced 
 natural economy and local barter. Even in 
 Homeric times cattle served as a measure of 
 value and medium of exchange ; later, copper 
 and iron coins were minted, and gold and 
 silver money appeared in the eighth century. 
 The thirst for wealth which had revealed 
 itself even in the Homeric period — Ulysses 
 (Odyssey) collected property and goods 
 during his wanderings — became henceforth a 
 passion with the possessing class. The first
 
 54 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 to suffer from this cause were the peasants, 
 who were sold up or expropriated. About a 
 century after the composition of the Iliad and 
 the Odyssey, we hear the first individual poet, 
 Hesiod, of Askra in Boetia, whom tradition 
 says was a small peasant, give utterance to 
 complaints at the oppression of the small 
 property owners, at the growing injustices, 
 and the excessive power of the rich. In 
 moving words he bewails the disappearance 
 of the Golden Age, when '* work was still 
 done for its own sake, and its results were 
 blessed " ; the second, third and fourth ages 
 had also disappeared, which were followed 
 by the iron age of painful and harmful 
 toil: 
 
 " Would that then I had not mingled with 
 the fifth race of men, but had either died 
 before or been born afterwards. For now in 
 truth is the iron race, neither will they ever 
 cease by day nor at all by night from toil and 
 wretchedness, corrupt as they are, but the 
 gods will give them severe cares. 
 
 " Nor will sire be like-minded to sons, nor 
 sons at all to parent, nor will brother be dear, 
 even as it was aforetime to brother. 
 
 "Might is right; and one will sack the 
 city of another ; nor will there be any favour
 
 GREECE 55 
 
 to the trusty nor the just nor the good, but 
 rather they will honour a man that doeth evil 
 and is overbearing. But the baneful griefs 
 shall remain behind, and against evil there 
 shall be no resource " (Hesiod, Works and 
 Days) . 
 
 The strong fall upon the good like birds of 
 prey. Following the above-quoted verses 
 Hesiod relates the fable of the hawk and the 
 nightingale : 
 
 " Thus the hawk addressed the nightingale 
 of variegated throat, as he carried her in his 
 talons, when he had caught her very high in 
 the clouds. 
 
 " She then, pierced on all sides by his 
 crooked talons, was wailing piteously, whilst 
 he victoriously addressed his speech to her : 
 * Wretch, wherefore criest thou ? 'tis a much 
 stronger that holds thee. Thou wilt go that 
 way by which I may lead thee, songstress 
 though thou art ; and my supper, if I choose, 
 I shall make, or shall let go. But senseless 
 is he who chooses to contend against them 
 that are stronger, and he is robbed of victory, 
 and suffers griefs in addition to indignities.' 
 So spake the fleet-flying hawk, broad- 
 pinioned bird." 
 
 Hesiod is, however, no rebel. He exhorts
 
 56 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 his people to return to honest labour, and 
 thereby attain to prosperity : 
 
 " Now, work is no disgrace, but sloth is a 
 disgrace. And if thou shouldst work, quickly 
 will the sluggard envy thee growing rich, for 
 esteem and glory accompany wealth/' 
 
 He is not a prophet of doom, or foreteller 
 of disaster, but a mild moral preacher, quite 
 in the spirit of the Proverbs of Solomon. 
 
 2. Economic Antagonisms. 
 
 The moralists, however, were not able to 
 retard the disintegrating process. The money 
 system, trade and industry, divided Hellenic 
 society into rich and poor. The small land- 
 worker fell into debt, interest was high, the 
 usurer harsh and legislation implacable, as it 
 was made in the interest of the possessing 
 classes — which is always the case when the 
 community develops into the class state. 
 Plato's observations upon this subject are 
 excellent. In his work The Laws (Fourth 
 Book) he asserts in his truly philosophic 
 manner : " Now you must regard this as a 
 matter of first-rate importance (questions of 
 law and constitution). For what is to be 
 the standard of just and unjust is once more
 
 GREECE 57 
 
 the point at issue. Men say that the law 
 ought not to regard either mihtary virtue or 
 virtue in general, but only the interests and 
 power and preservation of the established form 
 of government. This is thought by them to 
 be the best way of expressing the natural 
 definition of justice . . . and do you suppose 
 that the tyranny or democracy, or any other 
 conquering power, does not make the con- 
 tinuance of the power which is possessed by 
 them the first or principal object of their 
 laws? And whoever transgresses this law is 
 punished as an evildoer by the legislator who 
 calls the laws just." Thus speaks the sup- 
 porter of the class state. " Now according 
 to our view," declares Plato, " laws are not 
 right which are not passed for the good of the 
 whole state." In the iron age, however, class 
 government prevailed, and the small people 
 had much to suffer. The debtors who were 
 not able to pay, fell, with their families, into 
 servitude, the handicraftsmen lost their 
 independence, as also the small business 
 people. By the side of the noble class of 
 large landowners arose a rich bourgeoisie, 
 which soon intermarried, and grew into a 
 homogeneous ruling class. ** The base inter- 
 marries with the noble, and classes are
 
 58 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 confused," complains a poet. Wealth created 
 honour and power. At the end of the sixth 
 century Hellas reached the beginning of 
 modern times. Theognis of Megara, a proud 
 but impoverished squire, who despised the 
 plutocracy as much as the lower classes, 
 sketched a picture of the manners of this 
 epoch. He flourished in the third quarter of 
 the sixth century in Megara, which lay 
 between Corinth and Athens. At this place 
 about the year 649 the enraged masses had 
 fallen on the flocks of the large landowners, 
 and slaughtered them, as the increased sheep- 
 raising had led to the breaking up of numerous 
 farmsteads, similar to the state of England 
 at the time of Thomas More. In his Elegies 
 and Proverbs Theognis laments : 
 
 " It is not for nothing, Plutus, that riiortals 
 do honour thee most, for of truth thou bearest 
 distress with ease. For, verily, it is fitting 
 for the bettermost to have wealth indeed, but 
 poverty is proper for a mean man to bear. 
 Many dunces have riches, but others seek 
 what is noble though harassed by severe 
 poverty, but impossibilities of working lie 
 beside both. The one class want of riches 
 impedes — of intellect the other. For to the 
 multitude of men there is this virtue only,
 
 GREECE 59 
 
 namely, to be rich, but of the rest I wot there 
 is no use. Nay, then 'tis right that all 
 should lay up this maxim, that wealth has the 
 most power among all." 
 
 And now another poet's voice from the 
 second half of the sixth century, the drink- 
 loving and life-loving Anacreon : 
 
 " What avails ingenuous worth, 
 Sprightly wit or noble birth ? 
 All these virtues useless prove, 
 Gold alone engages love. 
 May he be completely cursed 
 Who the sleeping mischief first 
 Wak'd to hfe : 
 
 Gold creates in brethren strife, 
 Gold destroys the parent's life ; 
 Gold produces civil jars, 
 Murders, massacres and wars. 
 But the worst effect of gold, 
 Love, alas, is bought and sold." 
 
 The social ferment which set in at the end 
 of the eighth century became stronger during 
 the following century. The mass of the 
 people, or the Demos, to use the Greek 
 expression, which consisted of enslaved 
 peasants, handicraftsmen, tradespeople and 
 sailors, had not yet forgotten the old equality, 
 which the poets had celebrated as the Golden 
 Age. In periods of great dearth they revolted
 
 60 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 against the land and money lords; struggles 
 of classes and parties broke out, which closely 
 occupied the statesmen and thinkers of the 
 lonians and Dorians. While in Athens much 
 preliminary discussion and philosophising 
 was taking place, and some moderate reforms 
 were carried out, the Spartans went to 
 work early, and accomplished a communist 
 revolution.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE PRACTICE OF COMMUNISM IN SPARTA 
 
 (i) The Lycurgian Legislation. 
 
 The conception of primitive equality per- 
 sisted in a far stronger form and for a much 
 longer period amongst the Dorians than 
 amongst the lonians. The cause of this 
 difference may be sought in the fact that the 
 Dorian settlements were of an agricultural 
 nature, and neglected trade and sea-faring. 
 Thus, in their case there were lacking two 
 important factors, which hastened everywhere 
 the process of dissolution of primitive 
 conditions. 
 
 The first legislator, to whom tradition has 
 ascribed the work of the communistic revolu- 
 tion, was Lycurgus. He is a legendary 
 figure, somewhat like Moses among the 
 Hebrews. Plutarch (born a.d. 50), to whom 
 the whole of the literary sources of Greek and 
 Roman history was accessible, wrote as 
 
 follows : " Generally speaking, nothing can 
 
 61
 
 62 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 be said with certainty respecting the legislator 
 Lycurgus, as the historians differ considerably 
 among themselves as to his origin, his journeys 
 and his death ; there is least unanimity as to 
 the period in which this man lived. ' ' Lycurgus 
 was remembered by the Spartans as a wise, 
 gentle and unselfish lawgiver, who transformed 
 the whole economic order by a political 
 reform, and firmly established communism. 
 
 " The second and boldest innovation of 
 Lycurgus," says Plutarch, " was a new division 
 of the lands. For he found a prodigious 
 inequality, the city overcharged with many 
 indigent persons who had no land, and the 
 wealth centred in the hands of a few. Deter- 
 mined, therefore, to root out the evils of 
 insolence, envy, avarice and luxury, and those 
 distempers of a State still more inveterate 
 and fatal — I mean poverty and riches — he 
 persuaded the citizens to cancel all former 
 divisions of land and to make new ones, in 
 such a manner that they might be perfectly 
 equal in their possessions and way of living. 
 Hence, if they were impatient of distinction, 
 they might seek it in virtue, as no other 
 difference was left between them but that 
 which arises from the dishonour of base 
 actions and the praise of good ones."
 
 PRACTICE OF COMMUNISM IN SPARTA 63 
 
 It is hardly credible that the owners 
 acquiesced in the surrender of their lands only 
 and solely through the persuasion of Lycurgus. 
 A more potent influence was the fact that the 
 poor and needy comprised a great multitude, 
 whilst wealth was concentrated in a few 
 hands, and the Spartans were really Spartans, 
 who knew the use of arms. Anyhow, the 
 rich were constrained to assent to the institu- 
 tion of communism. The proposal was put 
 into practice. Lycurgus made 9000 lots for 
 the territory of Sparta, which he distributed 
 among so many citizens, and 30,000 for the 
 inhabitants of the rest of Laconia. 
 
 A story goes of our legislator that some time 
 after, returning from a journey through the 
 fields just harvested, and seeing the shooks 
 standing parallel and equal, he smiled and said 
 to some that w^re by, " How like is Laconia 
 to an estate newly divided among many 
 brothers." After this, he attempted to divide 
 also the movables, but he soon perceived that 
 the people could not bear to have their goods 
 directly taken from them, and therefore took 
 another method, counteracting their avarice 
 by a stratagem. First, he stopped the 
 currency of the gold and silver coin, and 
 ordered that they should make use of iron
 
 64 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 money only, then to a great quantity and 
 heavy weight of this he assigned but a small 
 value, so that to lay up lo minae (£31 los.) 
 a whole room was required, and to remove 
 it nothing less than a yoke of oxen. When 
 this became current, many kinds of injustices 
 ceased in Laconia. Who would steal or 
 take a bribe, who would defraud or rob 
 when he could not conceal the booty, or 
 be dignified by the possession of it ? In 
 the next place he excluded unprofitable 
 and superfluous arts. Trade and shipping 
 ceased. Meals were simple and taken in 
 common; they consisted of the famous 
 black soup, bread, cheese, wine, figs and 
 vegetables, sometimes of game or other 
 meat. Eating in common was the strict 
 obligation of every citizen. Even the children 
 were admitted to these meals, in order to 
 learn from the talk of the adults. 
 
 " As for the education of youth," says 
 Plutarch, " Lycurgus began with it at the very 
 source, taking into consideration their con- 
 ception and birth by regulating the marriages. 
 He ordered the virgins to exercise themselves 
 in running, wrestling, and throwing quoits 
 and darts. In order to take away the exces- 
 sive tenderness and delicacy of the sex, he
 
 PRACTICE OF COMMUNISM IN SPARTA 05 
 
 accustomed the virgins occasionally to be seen 
 naked as well as the young men, and to dance 
 and sing in their presence on certain festivals. 
 As for the virgins appearing naked, there was 
 nothing disgraceful in it, because everything 
 was conducted with modesty and without one 
 indecent word or action. Nay, it caused a 
 simplicity of manners and an emulation for the 
 best development of the body, since the female 
 sex was not excluded from sharing, with the 
 male sex, the deeds of bravery and honour. 
 Lycurgus established a proper regard to 
 modesty and decorum with respect to mar- 
 riage, but he was equally studious to drive 
 from that state the vain and womanish passion 
 of jealousy by making it quite respectable to 
 have children in common with persons of 
 merit." The healthy children were designed 
 for nurture and education, but the sickly 
 ones were cast aside. The chief aim of 
 education was to furnish the State with 
 strong, active and fearless fighters, to imbue 
 the latter with an unshakable sense of their 
 solidarity — in short, to produce men of action, 
 and not chatterers. " In general, Lycurgus so 
 regulated his citizens that they neither knew 
 nor desired a separate private life, but, like 
 bees, they acted with one impulse for the
 
 66 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 public good, and always assembled about 
 their chief. They were possessed with a 
 thirst of honour, an enthusiasm which made 
 them forget their individual feelings, and had 
 no wish but for their country." 
 
 This communistic and military constitution 
 enabled the Spartans to retain their supremacy 
 in Peloponnesia, and, finally, to defeat even 
 the Athenians (404 B.C.) and compel them to 
 capitulate. The Spartan State appeared even 
 to the greatest minds of Greece, such as Plato 
 and Antisthenes, as the fixed pole in the whirl- 
 pool of the Hellenic States. Antisthenes, a 
 disciple of Socrates, said, " Sparta is far above 
 all other States, and, in comparison with 
 Athens, it is like a meeting of men contrasted 
 with a chattering of women in a boudoir." 
 The Lycurgian constitution was generally 
 famous throughout antiquity as far as the 
 sphere of Hellenic civilisation extended. It 
 became the ideal of many thinkers, including 
 perhaps the leaders of the slave revolts in the 
 Roman Empire. 
 
 But we, who possess to-day such immeasur- 
 ably richer experience of political questions, 
 must consider the Lycurgian State to have 
 been very one-sided. It was aristocratic and
 
 PRACTICE OF COMMUNISM IN SPARTA G7 
 
 warlike; it was based on the productive 
 labour of the helots — a multitude of enslaved 
 people who formed the means for production, 
 and belonged as common property to the 
 entire State. In this respect the Spartans 
 deprived themselves of one of the most 
 fruitful elements of human growth — pro- 
 ductive labour. Their communism consisted 
 only in having and enjoying goods in common, 
 and not in communist production. Strictly 
 speaking, it was not an educational force, but 
 a discipline imposed by the ruler and the 
 warrior. 
 
 The entire absence of democracy, which 
 might, to some degree, have curbed the rulers, 
 as well as the neglect of philosophy and the 
 arts, which might have elevated the intellectual 
 life, and finally the constant pre-occupation 
 with gymnastic and military exercises, made 
 the Spartans aggressive and warlike as 
 neighbours, and heartless as rulers of the 
 wealth-creating helots. In order to protect 
 themselves from the revolts of the oppressed 
 and exploited class, such as the rebellion 
 which broke out in the year 464, the Spartans 
 organised massacres among the helots, from 
 time to time, with the object of removing
 
 68 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 the most courageous and capable of them. 
 The morahty which Lycurgus had impressed 
 upon his fellow- citizens was a purely local 
 and State morality, and in no sense spiritual 
 and humanitarian. In any case, these con- 
 ditions were bound to create a splendid race 
 of men and women; and they would have 
 produced intellectually outstanding men, if 
 the mind and the character had been developed 
 as much as the body. When, in the third 
 century, many Spartan nobles came under the 
 influence of the Ionian philosophy and the 
 social ethics of the Stoics, their intellectual 
 natures grew to heroic proportions. The 
 first martyr of communism was a Spartan. 
 
 (2) Agis, the first Communist Martyr. 
 
 In the course of centuries war and exploita- 
 tion undermined the Spartan communism. 
 The victorious participation of Sparta in the 
 liberation wars of the lonians against the 
 Persians (494-479), as well as the struggle for 
 supremacy in Greece, which ensued forty 
 years later, followed by the Peloponnesian 
 War (431-404) and succeeding wars up to 
 the year 371, brought to the Spartans much
 
 PRACTICE OF COMMUNISM IN SPARTA 69 
 
 glory, much gold and silver, but also catastro- 
 phic defeats and internal disruption, and swept 
 away all the institutions that were bound up 
 with the Lycurgian legislation. 
 
 Plutarch relates : " The first symptoms 
 of corruption and distempers in their common- 
 wealth appeared at the time when the 
 Spartans had entirely destroyed the Athenian 
 power, and begun to bring gold and silver 
 into Lacedemonia. When the love of money 
 made its way into Sparta, and brought 
 avarice and meanness in its train, on the one 
 hand, on the other profusion, effeminacy and 
 luxury, that State soon deviated from its 
 original virtue, and sank into contempt 
 till the reign of Agis and Leonidas. Men of 
 fortune now extended their landed estates 
 without bounds, not scrupling to exclude the 
 right heirs, and property quickly coming into 
 a few hands, the rest of the people were poor 
 and miserable. There remained not above 
 700 of the old Spartan families, of which 
 perhaps 100 had estates in land. The rest 
 of the city was filled with an insignificant 
 rabble without property or honour, who had 
 neither heart nor spirit to defend their 
 country against wars abroad, and who were
 
 70 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 always watching an opportunity for changes 
 and revolutions at home." 
 
 Agis was of the royal house, and belonged 
 to one of the richest families in Sparta. By aU 
 indications he was familiar with the Stoic philo- 
 sophy, and was distinguished by great intel- 
 lectual gifts and high-mindedness. Although 
 at that time he was not yet twenty years 
 old, and had been pampered and nurtured 
 in luxury by his mother, Agistrata, and his 
 grandmother, Archidamia, he renounced all 
 enjoyment and returned to the old Spartan 
 simplicity, or, as the Stoics said, to nature. 
 Agis also declared that the kingly dignity 
 mattered nothing to him, if it would not 
 permit him to restore the old laws and the 
 primitive institutions. The young people 
 welcomed his ideas, while the old men and the 
 women opposed him. Even his own family 
 were against the proposed reform, but he 
 gained their support by convincing his mother 
 that the proposal was practicable, and would 
 prove to be to the advantage of the State. 
 He states, " It is impossible for me ever to 
 vie with other kings in point of opulence. But 
 if by sobriety, by simplicity of provisions for 
 the body, and by greatness of mind I can do
 
 PRACTICE OF COMMUNISM IN SPARTA 71 
 
 something which shall far exceed all their 
 pomp and luxury— I mean the making an 
 equal partition of property among all the 
 citizens— I shall really become a great king, 
 and have all the honour that such actions 
 demand." His mother and his grandmother 
 were won over to the plan of reform. Agis 
 then proceeded to put it into practice. Accord- 
 ing to the Spartan constitution, two kings 
 stood at the head of the country, and were 
 controlled by five Ephors (supervisory officials, 
 chosen by the noblest families), having the 
 decisive voice in the case of difference of 
 opinion between the two kings. Projects 
 of law were laid before the Senate, and then 
 remitted to the People's Assembly, which 
 decided their fate. Agis expounded his 
 legislative proposals before the Senate, namely 
 that all debts should be forgiven the debtors 
 and the whole of the land be divided afresh 
 into 19,500 equal portions : 4,500 among the 
 native Spartans, men and women, and 15,000 
 among the Periokia (descendants of the pre- 
 Dorian population) and such foreigners as 
 were fitted by their physical and mental 
 qualities to be assimilated into the polity of 
 Sparta. All the people were to be divided
 
 72 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 into groups for common meals, and to revert 
 to the modes of life of old Sparta. 
 
 The Senate was unable to agree upon this 
 legislative proposal, whereupon one of the 
 Ephors, who was in accord with Agis, brought 
 the matter before the People's Assembly, 
 and spoke against the unwilling Senators. 
 After some discussion, Agis himself spoke 
 and informed the People's representatives that 
 he would contribute largely to the institution 
 which he recommended. He would first give 
 up to the community his own great estate, 
 consisting of arable and pasture land, and of 
 600 talents in money. Then his mother and 
 grandmother and all his relations and friends, 
 who were the richest persons in Sparta, would 
 follow his example. The People's representa- 
 tives were delighted with the magnanimity 
 of Agis, but his co-regent Leonidas spoke 
 against the plan, especially as regards the 
 release from debts and the admittance of 
 foreigners. Agis replied, and the people 
 declared for his proposed law, but there was 
 considerable opposition among the Ephors 
 and in the Senate, which found a determined 
 leader in Leonidas. The latter, however, 
 could await his opportunity. In order to be
 
 PRACTICE OF COMMUNISM IN SPARTA 73 
 
 safe from attack, Agis sought refuge in the 
 temple of Neptune, which he left only to 
 bathe. Leonidas, who had surrounded him- 
 self with a posse of soldiers, organised the 
 attack on Agis. When the latter chanced to 
 find himself outside the temple, three warriors 
 approached him, overpowered him and cast 
 him into prison. Leonidas immediately ap- 
 peared with a troop of soldiers and occupied 
 the building. The Ephors and some Senators 
 then entered the prison, formed a tribunal, 
 and endeavoured by various means to induce 
 Agis to abandon his plans. When, however, 
 he assured them that he felt no repentance 
 and could retract nothing, as the Lycurgian 
 constitution was the best, they condemned 
 him to death by hanging. The request of 
 his mother and grandmother, to bring him 
 before a proper tribunal, and to conduct the 
 proceedings in public, was refused by the 
 Ephors, as they were aware of the popularity 
 of the prisoner. On the same grounds they 
 hastened the execution. Immediately after 
 sentence had been pronounced, Agis was 
 conducted to the place of execution. On the 
 way he noticed one of the servants who was 
 weeping and lamenting, and said to him,
 
 74 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 " My friend, dry up your tears, for as I suffer 
 innocently, I am in a better condition than 
 those who condemn me, contrary to law and 
 justice." So saying, he cheerfully offered his 
 neck to the executioner. Afterwards, both 
 his grandmother and mother, Agistrata, were 
 executed. When Agistrata, on reaching the 
 place of execution, saw her son lying dead on 
 the ground, and her mother hanging from the 
 rope, with the help of an attendant she took 
 down the latter and laid her by the side of 
 Agis. Then she threw herself on her son, and 
 kissed his face, saying, " Thy too great 
 gentleness, my son, thy mercy and humanity 
 have brought misfortune on thee and us." 
 Then she placed herself on the gallows, and 
 cried, " May this but promote the welfare 
 of Sparta." These events took place 240 B.C. 
 
 3. The Reforms of Cleomenes. 
 
 Five years after the execution of Agis, 
 Cleomenes (235-222 B.C.), the son of Leonidas, 
 became ruler. He had married the widow 
 of Agis, and had thoroughly mastered the 
 reform proposals of the latter. He then 
 decided to put them into practice. But he
 
 PRACTICE OF COMMUNISM IN SPARTA 75 
 
 was more warlike than Agis, being a genuine 
 Spartan, who perceived in the might of his 
 army, in battle and victory, the best means to 
 his end. He believed that only as a victorious 
 captain could he obtain sufficient authority 
 in the State to be able to remove the anti- 
 communists, the Ephors, and the rich. An 
 opportunity soon offered itself to invade a 
 neighbouring State, and to win a triumph, 
 which, however, developed into a series of 
 wars. After his first victory, Cleomenes 
 interfered with the Spartan constitution, and 
 abolished the position of Ephors; then he 
 banished eighty citizens who were hostile to 
 reform, and convoked a general assembly of 
 the people, before which he justified his 
 conduct. He accused the Ephors of usurping 
 an ever larger measure of power, contrary to 
 the spirit of the constitution, and of secretly 
 setting up their own tribunal. Further, they 
 had banished or executed those kings who 
 desired to see the excellent and admirable 
 institutions of Lycurgus restored. It had 
 therefore become necessary to put the Ephors 
 out of the way. Cleomenes then continued : 
 " Had I been able, without bloodshed, to 
 banish from Lacedemonia the diseases and
 
 76 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 crimes, luxury, love of splendour, debts and 
 usury, and the far more considerable evils of 
 riches and poverty, which have insinuated 
 themselves into our State, I should have 
 considered myself the most fortunate of all 
 kings. I have, however, made the most 
 temperate use of the force at my disposal, 
 by merely removing those who stood in the 
 way of the welfare of Lacedemonia. Among 
 all the rest I will now divide equally the whole 
 of the land ; the debtors will be forgiven their 
 debts, a selection will be made of the foreigners 
 so that only the bravest shall become Spartans 
 and help to defend the town, that we may no 
 longer see Lacedemonia fall a prey to the 
 ^tolians and the Illyrians for lack of 
 defenders." Having said this, he placed his 
 possessions at the disposal of the people. His 
 example was followed by his kinsmen and 
 friends, and then by all the remainder of the 
 citizens. The land was partitioned, a portion 
 even being allotted to the banished citizens, 
 and Cleomenes promised that they would all 
 be permitted to return as soon as the State 
 settled down again. He restored the old 
 Spartan simplicity of life, and proceeded him- 
 self to set a good example.
 
 PRACTICE OF COMMUNISM IN SPARTA 77 
 
 Had the foreign policy of Cleomenes hence- 
 forth been of a peaceful character, Sparta 
 would once more have become a model, and 
 the other Hellenic States would have been 
 obliged to introduce the Spartan social reforms. 
 But the warlike policy which he pursued made 
 enemies of his neighbours. 
 
 Instead of love, the social reforms of Sparta 
 inspired fear. In their need, the neighbouring 
 States appealed to the Macedonians, in order 
 to be able to ward off the Spartan attack. 
 For several years Cleomenes, with his trusty 
 army, was able, single-handed, to hold the 
 coalition at bay, and to defeat it, but finally 
 he succumbed. 
 
 Plutarch gives the following account of the 
 course of the war : 
 
 " Cleomenes not only inspired in his citizens 
 courage and confidence, but even by the 
 enemy he was considered an excellent general. 
 With the force of a single town to withstand 
 both the might of the Macedonians and the 
 united Peloponnesians, and not only to 
 protect Lacedemonia against every attack, but 
 also to overrun the country of the enemy, 
 and to capture such large towns — these deeds 
 seemed to betray unusual skilfulness and
 
 78 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 magnanimity. Whoever first called money 
 the nerve of all things in the world may well 
 have said this in special reference to the 
 war. ... As the Macedonians were amply 
 provided with all requisite accessories to carry 
 on the war permanently, they were bound 
 eventually to be victorious and to humble 
 Cleomenes, who could only, with great efforts, 
 pay his soldiers and provide support for his 
 citizens." 
 
 When Cleomenes was at length defeated 
 {222 B.C., at Sellasia) he advised the citizens 
 of Sparta to open the door to Antigonus, the 
 king of Macedonia. The latter took possession 
 of the town, but treated the Lacedemonians 
 with great clemency and humanity. Without 
 injuring or insulting the dignity of Sparta, 
 he gave them back their laws and constitution, 
 that is, the old laws which were in force 
 before the reigns of Agis and Cleomenes, the 
 non-communist laws. 
 
 4. Communistic Settlement in Lipara. 
 
 It is related by the Sicilian author, Diodorus, 
 that about the year 580 several Knidians and 
 Rhodians decided to leave their homes, as
 
 PRACTICE OF COMMUNISM IN SPARTA 79 
 
 they were discontented with the oppressive 
 rule of the Lydian kings. They sailed towards 
 the west, and when they landed at Lipara 
 (an island near Sicily) they were received in a 
 friendly manner by the inhabitants, and were 
 persuaded by the latter to join them in forming 
 a community. Later on, when they were 
 hard pressed by pirates from Tyre, they con- 
 structed a fleet and divided themselves in 
 such a way that a number of them tilled the 
 other island, as a common undertaking, 
 whilst the others protected them from the 
 pirates. All property was declared to be 
 held in common, and the settlers also practised 
 the eating of meals in common. This com- 
 munal mode of living lasted for some time. 
 Afterwards, the settlers divided the island of 
 Lipara, on which the town was situated, 
 among themselves, and cultivated the other 
 island on the communal principle. At length 
 both the islands were partitioned for a period 
 of twenty years, and at the expiration of this 
 term property was divided again. 
 
 The institution of communal meals was 
 also to be found in Crete. Numerous citizens 
 of Crete were provided with repasts out 
 of public funds. Plato believed that the
 
 80 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 communal meals were established with the 
 object of keeping the citizens in military trim, 
 or to protect them from want. He considered 
 the practice to be a divine necessity (Laws, 
 Book VI. chap. 21), and an institution of the 
 ideal State.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 
 
 I. Solon's Middle-Class Reforms. 
 
 At the time when Sparta became a com- 
 munistic State, the nobles ruled in Attica, 
 and gradually deprived the peasants of their 
 rights and property, enslaving them by the 
 operation of usury. The priests and the 
 judges were recruited from the ranks of the 
 ruling nobility. The producing class there- 
 fore became discontented. The economic, 
 political and judicial iniquities led to conspira- 
 cies which were suppressed with bloodshed. 
 In response to the demand of the people for 
 a code of laws, the nobles charged the juris- 
 consult, Draco, to compile a code of laws, 
 which have become proverbial for their 
 severity. Since that time a Draconian law 
 has signified a harsh, unpopular measure. 
 It goes without saying that this was not the 
 way to promote internal peace. The people 
 became ever more clamorous in their demands 
 for emancipation from the burden of debts
 
 82 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 and a fresh partition of the soil. As Attica, 
 at the beginning of the sixth century, was 
 on the eve of a popular rising, in the year 
 594 the nobles ordered Solon, who was known 
 to be a friend of the people, " to establish 
 peace between the nobles and the people, 
 and to take all legal measures that might 
 be necessary to this end." Thereupon, Solon 
 carried out an economic and political reform. 
 All debts secured upon land (mortgages) were 
 cancelled, and enslavement was forbidden. 
 This reform is known by the name of Seisach- 
 teia (throwing-off of debts). The political 
 constitution was a timocracy; it was based 
 upon a census which divided the citizens into 
 four classes, according to the revenue from 
 their landed property : (i) large landowners, 
 (2) knights, (3) peasants, (4) day labourers. 
 The members of the first class were eligible 
 to hold the highest offices ; those of the second 
 and third classes were eligible for the rest of 
 the State positions, while those of the fourth 
 class could only participate in the popular 
 assembles and the juries. On the other hand, 
 they were excused the payment of State 
 taxes. 
 
 Solon's constitution, however, satisfied
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 83 
 
 neither the nobles nor the people. The former 
 thought it too revolutionary; the latter 
 deemed it to be inadequate. After a long 
 period of internal and external confusion 
 political equality or " democracy " was 
 founded by Cleisthenes at the end of the 
 sixth century (509), but it was also based 
 on slavery. There could be no thought of 
 a real democracy, in which all the citizens had 
 equal rights. Soon after this Athens entered 
 upon the period of the Persian War (500 to 
 431), in the course of which it developed 
 a victorious navy, and gained great commercial 
 prosperity. In conjunction with the land 
 power of Sparta, it defeated the Persians, 
 and, from a small State, grew into a league 
 of States, in which industry, trade, maritime 
 commerce, mental culture, poetry and art 
 flourished. But hard upon Capitalism fol- 
 lowed Imperialism (the contest for supremacy 
 in the Hellenic world), the struggle of classes, 
 and the dissolution of Attic society into 
 individuals striving against each other. 
 
 2. Capitalism and Disintegration. 
 
 The Attic Empire, with its sea power, its 
 foreign trade, and its industrial undertakings,
 
 84 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 was quite different from the small State for 
 which the reforming laws of Solon had been 
 enacted. Agriculture, which even at the 
 beginning of the sixth century had not sufficed 
 to sustain the population, was transformed 
 in accordance with the mercantile point of 
 view. Wide tracts of land were given over 
 to the culture of olives, as oil had become a 
 profitable commodity for export. The popu- 
 lation became dependent upon foreign corn, 
 which was brought by ships from the northern 
 coasts of the Black Sea into the Attic harbours, 
 especially to Pirasus. From that district 
 cattle, fish, wood, flax, hemp and salt were 
 also imported. The handicraftsmen were 
 transferred to the factories, and worked for 
 the export trade. In this way they fell into 
 dependence upon trading capital. And in 
 the degree that commodities lost their local 
 origin, and were to be got only through the 
 large trader and the shipper, the shopkeepers 
 and the small business people forfeited their 
 independence. It goes without saying that 
 capital secured the lion's share of the profits. 
 " Aristocratic persons consequently became 
 great merchants and shippers, the landowners 
 became capitalists, and lived on their rents,
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 85 
 
 transferring their agricultural undertakings to 
 managers, who carried them on with the help 
 of slaves " (E. Mayer, History of Antiquity) . 
 
 Henceforth, the free workers had to struggle 
 against both the domination of capital and 
 the tendency of slave-labour to depress wages ; 
 the small middle-class fell ever more into 
 subjection. Consequently, the Demos waged 
 desperate and bitter struggle against the rich, 
 and in the interval the life of Attica was severely 
 shaken, and statesmen watched with growing 
 anxiety the disruption of their country. 
 The social and moral crisis was accentuated 
 by the Peloponnesian War, which broke out 
 in the year 431, partly in consequence of the 
 maritime competition between Corinth and 
 Athens, and partly because of the struggle 
 between Attica and Sparta for supremacy 
 in Hellas, and ended with the collapse and 
 surrender of Athens in the year 404. 
 
 3. Plato. 
 
 Plato had these conditions in mind when 
 he constructed the theoretical basis of a just 
 State. He was born three years after the 
 outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, and
 
 86 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 sprang from one of the noblest families of 
 Athens. One of his ancestors in the female 
 line was Solon. After he had been taught 
 by Socrates, he proceeded to Egypt and Italy 
 in order to continue his studies. By tem- 
 perament and inclination he would have 
 devoted himself to public work, but the times 
 were anything but favourable for statesmen 
 of the mental calibre of Plato. He turned 
 to philosophy, and became the most famous 
 teacher of the Hellenic world and one of the 
 greatest thinkers of all time. 
 
 Plato was no supporter of Democracy. 
 An out-and-out intellectual aristocrat, the 
 thoughtless multitude, the prey of demagogues, 
 was as obnoxious to him as the plutocracy 
 and every kind of forcible rule. His most 
 important sociological works are the Republic 
 and the Laws. The first book is the more 
 ideal in its proposals, but it is not nearly as 
 well constructed as the Laws, which in many 
 respects is more readable than the Repiihlic, 
 of whose ten books only the fifth, sixth and 
 eighth are valuable. Both works are written 
 in conversational style; the dialogues are 
 by no means ingenious, but mechanical and 
 often pedantic.
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 87 
 
 (i) The Republic is not the description 
 of an Utopia. It contains no picture of a 
 future State, and certainly not the economic 
 basis of a sociaUst society. It is rather 
 an investigation into the justice and the short- 
 comings of the various constitutions known 
 to history, and the most important remedies 
 for a diseased body pohtic. Plato's concept 
 of righteousness had almost nothing in common 
 with that of the Jewish prophets. The Hellene 
 is above aU a statesman — cool and cautious — 
 a clear-headed patriot. He would not be 
 likely to lead in a class struggle the poor and 
 disinherited, and obtain justice for them, 
 or to elevate the poor and overthrow the rich. 
 He does not reveal a trace of prophetical 
 vehemence, nor any hint of internationalism. 
 He is rather anxious to bring healing to his 
 disrupted country, and to make of it a State 
 in which social peace and concord shall 
 prevail, and in which every citizen shall go 
 about his own business without interfering 
 with the concerns of his neighbour. 
 
 Plato takes as his starting-point the notion 
 that an ideal State originally existed. He 
 does not describe it in the Republic, but refers 
 to the testimony of Hesiod.
 
 88 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 In a somewhat mystical manner he argues 
 that mankind from generation to generation 
 has deteriorated in excellence and fallen into 
 dissensions. Many have striven after the 
 acquisition of money and the possession of 
 land, houses, gold and silver coins. A war of all 
 against all arose, and at length men reached 
 an agreement to distribute the land and houses 
 among themselves. Private property was 
 introduced, and the population was divided 
 into rulers and menials (Book VIII. chap. 3). 
 In another place Plato proceeds on psycho- 
 logical lines, and seeks to explain the origin 
 and development of the State according to 
 the nature of the human mind and the needs 
 of men (Book II. chaps. 10, 11). As an 
 isolated individual man requires help, he can 
 satisfy his physical needs only in co-operation 
 with others. Therefore, men associate with 
 one another and form a State. Each citizen 
 has his occupation — many are tillers of the 
 soil, others are handworkers, and they barter 
 their products with one another. Thus trade 
 and money come into existence. Soon men 
 cease to be contented with the satisfaction 
 of their mere necessities, and require articles 
 of luxury. Ostentation and debauchery
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 89 
 
 appear, and lead to covetousness and to wars 
 of conquest, which involve the creation of 
 military power. The State becomes more 
 complex. Riches and poverty come into 
 being. The inner harmony disappears; the 
 State splits into two hostile groups. " Even 
 the smallest town is divided into two; one 
 part is the city of the poor, the other the city 
 of the rich, both at war with each other " 
 (Book IV, chap. 2). With the growth of 
 riches and poverty the State becomes impo- 
 tent. The rich neglect their duties, and the 
 poor perform inferior work, and where riches 
 are honoured the citizens forget all virtue 
 and strive after wealth. The rich become 
 licentious, the poor servile and rebellious, 
 and the interest of the State is neglected by 
 all. The State goes under. For, finally, 
 things go so far that one half of the population 
 rejoices over incidents that plunge the other 
 half into sorrow. These evils are to be found 
 in a timocracy (Solon's four-class constitution) 
 and in an oligarchy (rule by a small number 
 of property owners), in a democracy and in a 
 tyranny (Book VIII. chaps. 3-12). All these 
 constitutions are based on private property. 
 The timocracy contained, however, many
 
 90 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 vestiges of the ideal State, such as good rulers 
 and the communal meals of the citizens. 
 It is succeeded by an oHgarchy, in which the 
 quest of profit and the acquisition of money 
 get the upper hand, so that wealth becomes 
 the measure of citizenship. Such a State 
 despises the love of wisdom, and all virtues 
 are supplanted by the greed for money. And 
 if the insatiability of the rich has for its con- 
 sequence the poverty of the mass, the struggle 
 of parties — on the slightest outside pressure — 
 leads to the triumph of the disinherited, and 
 to democracy, in which both groups lose 
 their sense of duty to the State. Finally, 
 things come to a tyranny, or the forcible 
 rule of an individual, who begins by flattering 
 the masses in order to subjugate them. 
 
 These constitutions and laws do not admit 
 of any amendment. Most amusing are those 
 people who are always setting up legal restric- 
 tions and putting forward amendments, under 
 the delusion that they can control the march 
 of events, and such trifles as we have just 
 described, not once suspecting that they 
 are really trying to cut off the heads of a 
 hydra (Book IV. chaps. 4, 5). 
 
 Thus the State cannot be reformed unless
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 91 
 
 it strikes out in a new direction, and adopts 
 another constitution under other rulers — that 
 is, renews itself. 
 
 How is the State to be renewed ? How is 
 national policy to be based on righteousness ? 
 To these questions Plato makes the famous 
 answer : 
 
 " Until either the philosophers shall be 
 made kings in States, or those who are now 
 called kings and potentates shall attain to 
 the fulness of true philosophy, and until 
 this union of political power in the same person 
 is effected, no relief will be possible for cities, 
 nor for the entire human race " (Book V. 
 chap. i8). 
 
 The philosopher kings are to guide the 
 people; they will be the guardians of the 
 State. They are to be assisted by officials 
 and warriors, who likewise will be superior 
 intellectually and morally to the multitude. 
 
 Thorough-going communism is equally 
 important, or, as Plato says : *' It is then a 
 matter upon which we are all agreed, that in a 
 State which aims at perfection wives and chil- 
 dren must be in common, and that all educa- 
 tion, and in like manner the pursuits of war 
 and peace, are to be common, and those of
 
 92 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 the citizens are to be kings who have proved 
 themselves best as philosophers and warriors " 
 (Book VIII. chap. i). Communism will put 
 an end to dissensions within the State. 
 " Does not community of pleasure and pain 
 tend to unite a State, when all the citizens, 
 as far as possible, rejoice and grieve equally 
 at the same events, happy or untoward? 
 On the other hand, does not isolation in this 
 matter tend to divide a State? Whence 
 then does this division come about, unless 
 it be when the citizens do not, on the same 
 occasion, unite in saying : ' This is mine, 
 this is not mine, this is foreign to me ' ? " 
 
 The chief thing, however, is education. 
 General compulsory instruction will result 
 in a careful selection. The future rulers 
 (guardians), officials and assistants are to 
 be carefully trained in gymnastics and music. 
 Above all the supreme guardians, the philo- 
 sopher kings. The most promising scholars, 
 who by their activity and achievements 
 shall seem to be worthy stations, are to con- 
 tinue learning until they reach the age of 
 fifty years, and distinguish themselves in 
 every branch of knowledge and all political 
 actions. Only then will they be enabled
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 93 
 
 to lift up their eyes and behold the idea of 
 the good. In the Platonic sense the idea is 
 not an intellectual, logical concept, but some 
 lofty reality, an eternal, heavenly pattern, 
 which only the most spiritual vision can per- 
 ceive and reconstruct on earth. " Our State 
 will then be perfectly ordered when it has a 
 ruler who possesses all this knowledge " 
 (Book VI. chap. 17). 
 
 The children of handworkers, labourers, etc., 
 are not capable of reaching this plane of 
 spirituality. For the great multitude enjoy- 
 ment consists in the pleasures of the senses, 
 and not of the mind. The multitude is 
 broken in body as well as crushed in soul by 
 its exhausting industrial occupations. Plato 
 is avowedly of opinion that only the most 
 considerable families, with political, scientific 
 and aesthetic culture, will be likely to produce 
 traits which, after careful cultivation, wiU 
 qualify them for the highest posts. 
 
 (2) The Laws are not so idealistic as the 
 Republic. They were written at a later date 
 than the latter. The criticism of the property 
 relations is indeed as acute as formerly, 
 but the definite communist proposals are more 
 tentative. It may be said that the Republic
 
 94 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 is revolutionary, and that the Laws are 
 reformist. Plato says (Laws, Book V.) : 
 " The first and highest form of the State and 
 of the government and of the law is that in 
 which there prevails most widely the ancient 
 saying that 'friends have all things common.' 
 Whether there is anywhere now or will ever 
 be this communism of women and children 
 and of property, in which the private and 
 individual is altogether banished from life, 
 and things which are by nature private, 
 such as eyes and ears and hands, have become 
 common, and all men express praise and 
 blame and feel joy and sorrow on the same 
 occasions, and whatever laws there are unite 
 the city to the utmost, happy are the men who 
 living after this manner dwell there. And 
 therefore to this we are to look for the pattern 
 State, and to cling to this, and to seek with 
 all our might for one which is like this. 
 The State which we have now in mind will 
 be nearest to immortality, and the only one 
 which takes the second place." How can 
 such a constitution be established? "Let 
 the citizens at once distribute their land and 
 houses and not till the land in common, since 
 a community of goods goes beyond their
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 95 
 
 proposed origin and culture and education. 
 But in making the distribution let the several 
 possessors feel that their particular lots 
 belong to the whole city." 
 
 The division of the land shall be equal, 
 as far as possible. The number of original 
 lots of land is not to be reduced, that is, 
 care must be taken that neither large land- 
 owners nor landless persons are created. In 
 general the defects of the old government 
 could only be avoided by " eradicating the 
 lust for ownership, accompanied by righteous- 
 ness " (Book v.). The possession of gold, 
 or even of silver, is forbidden ; there is to be 
 only as much minted money as is required 
 for daily exchange. In the case of marriage, 
 dowries shall neither be given nor accepted. 
 The reasonable statesman will not bother 
 himself about the political ideas of the mob. 
 The mob demands a State which shall be as 
 great and rich as possible, have gold and 
 silver in abundance, and possess the most 
 extensive dominion over land and sea. They 
 will perhaps demand, at the same time, that 
 the State shall also be virtuous and happy. 
 But both these demands together cannot 
 be compHed with. One can have either
 
 96 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 wealth and power, or virtue and happiness. 
 Wealth and virtue are never to be found 
 together. " I can never assent to the doctrine 
 that the rich man will be happy. A man who 
 spends on noble objects and acquires wealth 
 by just means only, can hardly be remarkable 
 for riches, any more than he could be very 
 poor. Our statement then is true that the 
 very rich are not good " (Book V.). If the 
 government be good, then no excessively 
 rich people will exist in the State, and where 
 there is no foolish wealth there will be no 
 mean poverty, for the former creates the 
 latter (Book V.). 
 
 Plato's legislation and proposals for reform 
 relate to the Hellenes in general, and, so far 
 as the formation of a ruling caste is concerned, 
 to the noble class of Hellas. With Plato one 
 may really speak of a Hellenist nation. This 
 nation is to be as united and solid as possible 
 in regard to property relations. On the other 
 hand, it is to be classified in respect to intel- 
 lectual and moral capacities. The intellectual 
 and cultured nobles are to rule, to lead, and 
 to make laws; the farmers and handworkers 
 are to follow their pursuits dutifully, to avoid 
 all pre-occupation, so that each of them
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 97 
 
 confines himself to his own calUng, in which he 
 can be proficient. Moreover, the Hellenes are 
 not to undertake any heavy tasks of manual 
 labour, or any mean services, but to leave 
 these to immigrant foreigners and slaves. 
 The Hellenes are to devote themselves to 
 their duties as citizens, and the higher pursuits. 
 In the Laws Plato lays the chief emphasis 
 on the removal of the sharp economic antagon- 
 isms ; in the Republic he is principally occupied 
 with the education and mode of living of 
 the philosopher kings, the officials and the 
 warriors. A superficial reading of the RepithUc 
 gives the impression — which is, in fact, shared 
 by many writers — that Plato recommends 
 communism solely for these upper sections, 
 and leaves the remaining class of the people 
 in the old conditions. This interpretation, 
 however, is wholly erroneous. From the 
 quotations we have given above it is quite 
 clear that Plato advocated communism for 
 all Hellenes. Otherwise, there would be no 
 point in the entire social criticism which he 
 levels, in both his works, against the economic, 
 political and moral conditions of his country. 
 Plato was an inspired Lycurgus ; the latter 
 was concerned only with his local State
 
 98 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 (Sparta), whereas the former was for the 
 Hellenic nation. The rest of the Hellenic 
 States were as foreign to Lycurgus as any 
 community in Asia or Africa. For Plato 
 the Hellenic States collectively were only a 
 constituent part of the Hellenic nation ; in his 
 eyes the Peloponnesian War was a civil war. 
 Both legislators, however, were unable to 
 conceive of a state of humanity without war, 
 or an international brotherhood. For Plato 
 those who were not Hellenes were barbarians, 
 a lower species of mankind, for whom it 
 were an honour and advantage to be ruled 
 by the Hellenes. The Stoics were the first 
 to spread among the Hellenes the idea of 
 the equality of the human race. 
 
 4. Aristotle versus Plato and Phaleas. 
 
 Aristotle was anti-communist and an 
 opponent of the natural rights theory. His 
 Politics is the work of an unusually prudent 
 thinker, experienced in statecraft, a man who 
 was averse from all revolutions, all extreme 
 reforms, and even all violent party struggles. 
 He regarded the establishment and mainten- 
 ance of a balance of power in the State as the 
 chief task of a statesman. The citizens in
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 99 
 
 the State must be neither too rich and power- 
 ful, nor too poor and weak, for the State is 
 endangered by every disproportionate increase 
 of riches and poverty, of influence and impo- 
 tence {Politics, Book V., where revolutions 
 and their causes are dealt with). Great 
 inequality moves those who suffer from it 
 to strive for an alteration of government, 
 and demagogues quickly appear to give the 
 watchword of rebellion to the discontented 
 masses. Likewise, it causes the anti-social 
 oligarchs to arrogate all the power to them- 
 selves, and consequently to alter the con- 
 stitution. Legislators, therefore, should aim 
 at preventing the accumulation of excessive 
 wealth in a few hands, as well as the ascen- 
 dancy of single persons. He did not believe 
 that slavery was against nature, or that 
 government was the consequence of the 
 corruption of human nature. 
 
 From this description of the second greatest 
 Greek philosopher it will easily be understood 
 that he was an opponent of Plato, whose 
 Republic and Laws, while not being prudent, 
 contained much wisdom and idealism. Aris- 
 totle (Politics, Book 11.) argues at great 
 length against the communistic ideas of his
 
 100 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 teacher, and displays great acuteness, but 
 he indulges at times in mere hair-splitting 
 and pedantic word-catching. None the less 
 it is remarkable that Aristotle urged all the 
 objections that have been raised against 
 Socialism in all ages. In his opinion, com- 
 munism was against human nature. It would 
 be detrimental to the production of wealth, 
 as each man only looks after himself, and 
 furthers his own interest. The prospect of 
 acquiring wealth is thus an incentive to 
 creative labour. Likewise, communism 
 ignores the increase of population ; that which 
 is a common concern does not promote con- 
 cord, but leads to contention. Finally : the 
 real source of evil is not private property, 
 but the inferiority of human nature. 
 
 " Indeed we see that there is much more 
 quarrelling among those who have all things 
 in common, though there are not many of 
 them when compared with the vast numbers 
 who have private property." 
 
 But eventually Aristotle comes to the 
 conclusion: "The present arrangement 
 (society based on private property), if im- 
 proved as it might be by good customs and 
 laws, would be far better and would have the
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 101 
 
 advantages of both systems. Property should 
 be in a certain sense common, but as a general 
 rule, private, for, when everyone has a distinct 
 interest, men will not complain of one another, 
 and they will make more progress, because 
 everyone will be attending to his own busi- 
 ness. And yet among the good, and in respect 
 of use, ' Friends,' as the proverb says, ' will 
 have all things common.' Even now there 
 are traces of such a principle, showing that 
 it is not impracticable, but, in well-ordered 
 States, exists already to a certain extent, 
 and may be carried further. For, although 
 every man has his own property, some things 
 he will place at the disposal of his friends, 
 while of others he shares the use with them. 
 The Lacedemonians, for example, use one 
 another's slaves, and horses, and dogs, as 
 if they were their own ; and when they happen 
 to be in the country, they appropriate in the 
 fields whatever provisions they want. It is 
 clearly better that property should be private, 
 but the use of it common; and the special 
 business of the legislator is to create in men 
 this benevolent disposition" (II. 5). 
 
 This concession to communism on the 
 part of Aristotle was without any special
 
 102 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 significance. It merely constituted one of the 
 measures for putting down excessive egoism. 
 
 There is Uttle force in the example which 
 he gives from Sparta, as in that country the 
 citizens had become accustomed to a certain 
 extent to communistic sentiments, through 
 the Lycurgian legislation, whereas Aristotle 
 rejected the principle underlying this 
 legislation. 
 
 After attacking Plato, Aristotle proceeds 
 to a criticism of the socialistic proposals of 
 the otherwise unknown Phaleas, of whom 
 he says : 
 
 " In the opinion of some, the regulation 
 of property is the chief point of all, that being 
 the question upon which all revolutions turn. 
 This danger was recognised by Phaleas of 
 Chalcedon, who was the first to affirm that 
 the citizens of a State ought to have equal 
 possessions. He thought that in a new colony 
 the equalisation might be accomplished with- 
 out difficulty, not so easily when a State was 
 already established ; and that then the shortest 
 way of compassing the desired end would be 
 for the rich to give and not to receive marriage 
 portions, and for the poor not to give but to 
 receive them " (II. 7).
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 108 
 
 Aristotle objects : 
 
 "It is not the possessions but the desires 
 of mankind which require to be equaUsed, 
 and this is impossible, unless a sufficient 
 education is provided by the State. But 
 Phaleas will probably reply that this is 
 precisely what he means and that, in his 
 opinion, there ought to be in States, not only 
 equal property, but equal education. There 
 are crimes of which the motive is want ; 
 and for these Phaleas expects to find a cure 
 in the equalisation of property, which will 
 take away from a man the temptation to be 
 a highwayman because he is hungry or cold. 
 But want is not the sole incentive to crime; 
 men desire to gratify some passion which 
 preys on them, or they are eager to enjoy 
 the pleasures which are unaccompanied by 
 pain, and therefore they commit crimes. 
 Now what is the cure of these three disorders ? 
 Of the first, moderate possessions and occupa- 
 tion; of the second, habits of temperance; 
 as to the third, if any desire pleasures which 
 depend on themselves, they will find the satis- 
 faction of their desires nowhere but in philo- 
 sophy. The fact is that the greatest crimes 
 are caused by excess and not by necessity.
 
 104 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 Men do not become tyrants in order that they 
 may not suffer cold; and hence great is the 
 honour bestowed, not on him who kills a 
 thief, but on him who kills a tyrant. Thus 
 we see that the institutions of Phaleas avail 
 only against petty crimes. . . . The beginning 
 of reform — declares Aristotle further — is not 
 so much to equalise property as to train the 
 nobler sort of natures not to desire more, 
 and to prevent the lower from getting more; 
 that is to say, they must be kept down, but 
 not ill-treated. Besides, the equalisation pro- 
 posed by Phaleas is imperfect; for he only 
 equalises land, whereas a man may be rich 
 also in slaves and cattle and money, and in 
 the abundance of what are called his movables. 
 Now either all these things must be equalised, 
 or some limit must be imposed on them, or 
 they must all be let alone. It would appear 
 that Phaleas is legislating for a small city 
 only, if, as he supposes, all the artisans are 
 to be public slaves and not to form a part of 
 the population of the city " (II. 7). 
 
 It is apparent from this criticism that 
 Phaleas' equality of possession in land tended 
 towards general State education and the 
 nationalisation of the handworkers. As it is
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 105 
 
 aho said that he was the first who wrote upon 
 equahty of possessions, he must have hved 
 even before Plato. 
 
 5. The Poets of Social Comedy. 
 
 Wit, irony and satire were among the most 
 characteristic gifts of the lonians, who were so 
 richly endowed mentally. All these qualities 
 were united in Aristophanes, a dramatic poet 
 of magical power of form. He lived through 
 the Peloponesian War, and witnessed its 
 tragic end. He was familiar with the com- 
 munistic sentiments which seized hold of the 
 dispossessed classes during this war, and even 
 after its termination. The Athenian catas- 
 trophe shook all authority, and all national 
 cohesion. The Athenian Demos, feverishly 
 groping after all that was new, yearned pas- 
 sionately for some communist transformation 
 of society. This moral condition was prepared 
 by the old traditions of the Golden Age, 
 and by the social struggles since the eighth 
 century. For these facts no direct evidence 
 is forthcoming from the dispossessed classes, 
 but there is plenty of indirect evidence, which 
 is handed down to us in the social comedies 
 of Phereakrates, Telekleides, Eupolis, and
 
 106 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 especially Aristophanes. Of the works of the 
 three first-named authors only fragments 
 remain, but the best comedies of Aristophanes, 
 the most famous of all, are preserved intact, 
 and stand incomparably higher than the 
 former. But they are still comedies; their 
 purpose is to pour good-humoured mockery 
 upon the communistic aspirations, by means 
 of exaggeration and caricature, and also to 
 chastise the plutocratic and imperialistic 
 appetites. Their authors were conservative 
 in their outlook, and ridiculed or deplored 
 subversive movements. It should be added 
 that antique communism regarded productive 
 labour as a curse. Its aim was not the 
 establishment of an empire of creative labour, 
 as at that time labour was synonymous with 
 slavery. Tools were extremely primitive; 
 mechanical power did not yet exist ; the hard 
 work was performed by the unfree, and was 
 consequently held to be degrading. 
 
 War and politics were regarded as the special 
 functions of the free citizens. This signified 
 that the free citizens formed a ruling class, 
 and not a democracy. We saw this to be the 
 case when we dealt with the Platonic State. 
 Free and impoverished citizens conceived their
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 107 
 
 salvation to be found in the emancipation from 
 physical labour. Consequently, their com- 
 munism often took the shape of desires for a 
 sluggard's paradise. The more I have studied 
 the life of antiquity, the clearer it has become 
 to me that the moral and political collapse of 
 the old world was due chiefly to slavery — in 
 short, to unfree labour, to the despising of 
 productive activity, and the resultant stagna- 
 tion of the technology of labour. The social 
 comedies which we are to deal with now are 
 directed against the dreams of idleness, the 
 desires for an opulent life without toil, which 
 the Athenians cherished, and which became 
 more urgent with the relaxation which fol- 
 lowed upon the catastrophic defeat of Athens 
 in the year 404. 
 
 Let us take first Phereakrates, Telekleides 
 and Eupolis, as they preceded Aristophanes 
 in point of time, and were also less important. 
 These authors attacked the sluggard dreams 
 of the discontented Athenians, hungering for 
 innovations, as well as the exaggerated 
 accounts of the Golden Age. The most 
 typical of the comedies of Phereakrates was 
 the Persians. The Greeks looked upon Persia 
 as a land of golden mountains, the possession
 
 108 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 of which would faciHtate the reahsation of 
 their sluggard's ideal. Two figures appear : 
 riches and poverty. The latter exhorts man- 
 kind to labour and self-control as the sources 
 of all blessings. The embodiment of riches 
 makes reply : 
 
 " What do we want with all your science 
 of yoked oxen and ploughs, of sowing and 
 mowing and hedging? You have already 
 heard that steaming broth flows through the 
 streets, and lard and fine dumplings are con- 
 veyed to us from the sources of wealth. Who 
 likes may fill his dish to the brim. And all 
 the trees on the hillsides will not bear leaves, 
 but sausages and tender baked thrushes." 
 
 Eupolis describes in the Golden Age the 
 restoration of the old vanished happiness. 
 The theme is similar to the Persians of 
 Phereakrates. Two speakers appear; one 
 defends the utility of poverty and abstinence 
 as incentive and means to the attainment of 
 happiness, while the other defends the beauty 
 of wealthy idleness : 
 
 '* Listen now to me : I will, on the con- 
 trary, introduce into the warm baths of my 
 friends water from the sea, by means of con- 
 duits supported on pillars. Thus it will flow
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 109 
 
 into everyone's tub. When it is full, he will 
 say, ' Stop.' " 
 
 In a similar fashion Telekleides, in his 
 comedy, A mphyktyonen, ridiculed the sluggard's 
 dreams of the Hellenic proletariat and slaves. 
 Amphyktyon, an ancient legendary king of 
 Athens, comes back to the upper world, and 
 brings peace and happiness to his fellow- 
 citizens : 
 
 " Above all, peace reigned in the land every 
 day, like air and water. The earth did not 
 yield fear nor sorrow, but good things in abun- 
 dance. Purple wine foamed in the brooks. 
 Fishes followed men into their houses, fried 
 themselves on the pans, and laid themselves 
 on the table, and mounted the splendid plates. 
 Soup streamed through the town, and roasted 
 legs of mutton danced; sauce trickles down 
 from the eaves ; the hungry may tarry awhile 
 and fill themselves with good things. Lard 
 cakes are despised. And the men were a 
 strong race, like giants sprung from the 
 earth." 
 
 6. Aristophanes. 
 
 Aristophanes was of quite a different calibre. 
 With a sure touch he penetrated into the entire
 
 110 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 life of Athens, showed us meetings, poHtical 
 struggles, economic aspirations, plutocratic 
 ambition, and a women's parliament manu- 
 facturing Utopias. The whole dimensions of 
 the almost unique Ionian genius, but also the 
 defects of ancient civilisation, appear before 
 our eyes, sketched by one who was an intel- 
 lectual aristocrat, who had no sympathy at 
 all, either for the turbulent economic and cos- 
 mopolitan activity of the plutocracy, or for 
 the strivings of the dispossessed for extreme 
 equality. The ideal of Aristophanes seems to 
 have been similar to that of Aristotle. From 
 this opposition to his age arose the satire, 
 the deliberate mockery, the graceful irony 
 which characterise his comedies. Of all the 
 comedies of Aristophanes, which treat satiri- 
 cally the cosmopolitan capitalist politicians, 
 the Sophists, the mania for law-suits, the 
 cloud cuckoo town, and the communists, we 
 are here only concerned with the Ecclesiazuses 
 (the Parliament of Women, played 393) and 
 Plutos (played 388). 
 
 The contents of the first may be summarised 
 as follows : the politics of the men has led 
 to the collapse of the flourishing Athenian 
 Republic : the Peloponnesian War ended (404)
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 111 
 
 with the complete capitulation of Athens. 
 The women had suffered much during the long 
 war, and their lot was rendered worse by the 
 deplorable consequences of the collapse. They 
 resolved therefore to depose the men as the 
 ruHng sex, and to take the reins of government 
 into their own hands. 
 
 In the night the women steal away from 
 their husbands, dress themselves as men and 
 summon a Parliament where female orators 
 appear and make proposals for the complete 
 reform of the country. Women, they say, are 
 economically more efficient and circumspect 
 than men, and will be able to steer the State 
 into the proper course and to maintain it. 
 The leader of this revolution was named 
 Praxagora and her husband's name was 
 Blepyros. A debate arose between the two. 
 The woman said : "I beg for order and 
 attention. Nobody is to interrupt me until 
 I have finished my speech. I have weighed 
 and considered the trend of my scheme. The 
 principle which I want to see applied is : all 
 ought to be equal, all ought to enjoy wealth 
 and pleasures on an equal footing. It should 
 no longer be tolerated that one is rich, and 
 another poor ; that one possesses broad lands.
 
 112 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 and another not sufficient to enable him to 
 have his own tomb; that one has a hundred 
 servants, and another none at all. I intend 
 to improve and reform all this. All ought to 
 participate freely and equally in the blessings ; 
 one mode of life, one system for all mankind. 
 Blepyros : And how will you make all this 
 come to pass ? Praxagora : First of all, steps 
 are to be taken to transfer to the possession 
 of the whole of society all silver, all pieces of 
 land and other kinds of property; this will 
 constitute a public fund ; out of this fund we 
 will, as good housewives, feed you men, clothe 
 and look after you. Blepyros : As far as the 
 land is concerned, I understand your proposal, 
 as land cannot be concealed. But how are 
 you going to socialise gold and silver? 
 Praxagora : Everybody will be obliged to 
 bring their property into the treasury house. 
 Blepyros : Suppose the rich should hold things 
 back; they cannot be made to comply by 
 means of an oath, for they will even perjure 
 themselves and deceive the State. How 
 otherwise have they acquired their wealth ? 
 Praxagora : Agreed ; but their property will 
 immediately become useless on their hands, 
 for want will exist no longer ; everybody will
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 113 
 
 be able to have what he may desire, even 
 without money : nuts, chestnuts, bread, cloth- 
 ing, wine, flowers, fish. All these things may 
 be taken from the public stores. What would 
 be the object, then, of accumulating money 
 in private hands ? Why should the rich want 
 to retain any longer the property acquired by 
 fraud ? Blepyros : Do you know that the 
 people who own the most property are the 
 greatest rascals and cannot refrain from steal- 
 ing and lying ? Praxagora : All this is quite 
 true when we look at the past ; under the old 
 order, which we are now abolishing, this was 
 really the case. But what is the use of private 
 property now that everything is common? 
 Blepyros : Suppose a young man courts a 
 maiden, or desires a woman, he will have to 
 bring presents ? Praxagora : Not at all : all 
 women and men will be free and in common ; 
 marriage or other compulsion will not exist. 
 Blepyros : But what will happen when a 
 beautiful girl is courted by several men, some 
 handsome and some ugly ? Praxagora : Of 
 course, a beautiful girl will have many suitors, 
 some handsome and some ugly, but before 
 one is justified in courting a beautiful girl he 
 will have to sleep with an ugly girl. Blepyros :
 
 114 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 Good. The girls will no longer have to fear 
 that they will remain old maidens all their 
 lives? But what will happen to the men? 
 It may be assumed that the maidens will 
 grant their favours only to the handsome men. 
 How will the ugly men get on ? Praxagora : 
 The State will regulate the amorous lives of 
 the maidens. By the side of the young, 
 handsome and well-developed men will be 
 ranged the small, misshapen and undersized 
 men. And before the maidens receive per- 
 mission to pair off with their lovers, they will 
 be obliged to grant their love to the men who 
 have been treated by nature in a step-motherly 
 manner. All prostitution will be abolished; 
 the degraded women will be left to the slaves, 
 so that the most vigorous men shall be reserved 
 for the citizenesses. Blepyros : How shall we 
 be able to know our children ? Praxagora : 
 They will never be recognised. All children 
 will belong to all adults. Blepyros : And who 
 will do the work of the community ? Praxa- 
 gora : The slaves will attend to this work." 
 
 The debate is continued, and Praxagora 
 sketches the future State, in which all things 
 will be in common, and all will be free and 
 equal and independent; in which all private
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 115 
 
 undertakings will be amalgamated into one 
 great single property, in which all class dis- 
 tinctions, all restrictions and all measures of 
 constraint will be abolished for ever. Like- 
 wise there will be no more courts of justice 
 and election halls. These will be transformed 
 into dining halls, where the finest dainties may 
 be had. In alphabetical order the citizens will 
 be assigned their dining numbers, and their 
 dining halls. Common meals will be invested 
 with solemnity ; in an elevated frame of mind 
 each person will leave them, with torch in 
 hand, and a floral crown in the hair, and when 
 they then wander through the streets, girls 
 and women will invite the men to themselves, 
 and solicit them to enjoy their beauty. 
 
 These debates, carried on in flowery, witty 
 and extravagant language, outline an attrac- 
 tive earthly paradise. It goes without saying 
 that Aristophanes shows that this sluggard's 
 paradise will fail ludicrously. The tragi- 
 comical developments which accompany the 
 regulation of amorous life and the neglect of 
 public affairs render existence in the future 
 State impossible. The young people are not 
 able to approach their beloved maidens, as 
 they are made wholly unhappy by the sexual
 
 116 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 tribute which they are obHged first to pay to 
 the old ladies and the faded spinsters. And 
 the citizens, who, attracted by the festive 
 dining halls, proceed to their meals with 
 highly raised expectations, are only able to 
 satisfy their hunger when they take with 
 them something from home. 
 
 In the Ecclesiazuses Aristophanes ridicules 
 the communistic enthusiasts. In Plutos, his 
 last comedy, he scourges the insatiable rich, 
 the unbridled lust for wealth. The problem 
 dealt with here is an old yet ever new one; 
 why are the evildoers rich and the virtuous 
 poor? The discussions are extraordinarily 
 copious. The underlying idea is : Plutos, the 
 god of wealth, is blind and does not know 
 what he does. To the question of the poor 
 but virtuous Chremylos, as to why he dis- 
 tributes his favours so unequally, Plutos 
 answers : " Zeus has made me blind. The 
 supreme god is jealous of mankind; when I 
 was very young, I used to boast that I would 
 visit only the wise and good. Consequently, 
 he made me blind, so that I should not 
 know whom I would be visiting. Chremylos : 
 Wouldst thou avoid the wicked if thou couldst 
 see ? Plutos : Yes, that I would. I would
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 117 
 
 only visit the good. All say to me that they 
 are good, but when I go to them and make 
 them rich, there is no end to their wickedness. 
 Chremylos : Thus it is. Men can have enough 
 of everything — bread, sweetmeats, figs — but 
 never sufficient wealth. If a man have thirteen 
 talents, he wants sixteen; let him have six- 
 teen, and he desires twenty, otherwise he says 
 life is miserable. Wealth is the most cowardly 
 thing." 
 
 Chremylos advises Plutos to betake himself 
 to the temple of ^Esculapius (the healing god) 
 and to pass a night there; in this temple 
 he would be cured of his blindness. Plutos 
 follows this advice, and is able to see. Now 
 poverty is to be driven out of Hellas. The 
 personification of poverty appears at this 
 juncture, and desires to prove that its exist- 
 ence is necessary. It contends with Chremylos 
 and exclaims : " Thou wilt drive me out of 
 Hellas? Thou believest that by this means 
 thou wilt bring the greatest blessings to man- 
 kind ? In reality, thou wilt inflict great harm 
 upon mankind, if thou wilt make the good 
 rich." Chremylos contests this assertion in a 
 long speech, and shows how just it would be 
 if the wicked were poor and the good were
 
 118 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 rich. To which Poverty makes reply : "If 
 all were rich, who would then take the trouble 
 to acquire science and knowledge of the arts ? 
 And if these disappeared, who would build 
 our ships, till the soil, and carry on industry ? 
 Chremylos : You talk nonsense, for our ser- 
 vants shall toil at all these things for us. 
 Poverty : Whence then will you have ser- 
 vants ? Chremylos : There would be sufficient 
 people who would bring us slaves from abroad, 
 if we paid them well for doing so. Poverty : 
 But who would expose themselves to the 
 dangers of kidnapping, if without this they 
 could be rich enough ? Do you imagine that 
 when all have plenty of money, they will still 
 be obliged to work themselves, in order to 
 create the amenities of existence? your gold 
 and silver will not even help them. To-day, 
 the rich can procure everything because there 
 are the poor, who produce the various com- 
 modities which render life possible and agree- 
 able for you. You must not confuse poverty 
 with misery ; mankind are not to be miserable, 
 neither are they to live in superfluity and 
 lose the incentive to vigorous labour. You 
 say yourself that the poor are better men than 
 the rich."
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 119 
 
 Chremylos and his friends are disconcerted 
 by these arguments. Then Plutos appears 
 cured of his blindness. He greets the Sun, 
 the beautiful Attic country, and exclaims : 
 ** I am ashamed of my past, and I blush for 
 the company I have kept for so long, while 
 I was avoiding the men who deserved my 
 friendship. Henceforth I will follow the 
 opposite road, and show mankind that when 
 I tarried with knaves and rogues it was 
 against my wishes." 
 
 The result of this change is extremely 
 remarkable. The wicked lose their wealth. 
 Now all begin to visit Plutos, but the way to 
 him lies through honesty and wisdom. And 
 the finest witticism comes at the end of the 
 comedy. The priests complain that hence- 
 forth they will be obliged to starve. One 
 priest laments, " Since Plutos has been able 
 to see, I have been exposed to hunger, 
 although I am a priest of Zeus. Before this, 
 when all men were rich, they used to come to 
 the temple and sacrifice. If a merchant was 
 saved from any danger, from the risks of 
 travel, or from penal laws he betook himself 
 to the temple, and brought presents ; or when 
 people made vows, they called in the priests.
 
 120 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 Now nobody comes. I am thinking of leaving 
 the service of Zeus. All are good, wise and 
 rich." 
 
 The meaning of this comedy can only be 
 expressed in the words of Goethe : " Let us 
 only improve ourselves, and everything will 
 soon be better." And this is also the funda- 
 mental idea of Aristotle. 
 
 7. Zeno — Communistic Descriptions. Egypt 
 under the Ptolemies. 
 
 The communist idea, or at least the idea 
 of equality, must have been very strong in 
 Hellas when an intellect of so individualist 
 and middle-class a type as that of Aristotle 
 was obliged to make concessions to it. Then 
 comes the Stoic school, who, as already ex- 
 plained in our introduction, propagated the 
 principles of Anarchist communism and of 
 international brotherhood. Of their founder 
 Zeno little is known. His writings are lost, 
 save for a few fragments from which it appears 
 that he regarded natural law as the sole valid 
 guiding principle of life. Thus : no political 
 government, no courts of justice, no man-made 
 laws, but goods in common, equality of the 
 sexes, brotherhood of all mankind.
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 121 
 
 Two politico-geographical events contributed 
 to the spread of Platonic ideas by the Stoa. 
 First, the expedition of Alexander the Great 
 to anterior Asia and India (334-323), which, 
 while it did not lead to the establishment of 
 a permanent world empire, opened up to the 
 Hellenic language and culture the lands from 
 the Adria to the Indus, and from the Danube 
 to the Nile. Secondly, the subsequent ap- 
 pearance of the Roman Empire, which added 
 still further territory in the west and north, 
 and which permitted the growth of uniform 
 and universal mental tendencies. In the 
 Roman Empire the universal intellectual force 
 was Hellenism, in which the philosophy of 
 Plato and the social ethics of the Stoa pre- 
 dominated. To hold property in common 
 was esteemed the highest social virtue, and 
 pleasure was found in delineating social-reform 
 legislators and kings, as well as communist 
 thinkers and settlements. We find these ten- 
 dencies with Philo and Josephus touching the 
 Essenes, and with Plutarch respecting the 
 Spartan legislators and reformers. 
 
 There was a similar readiness to describe 
 unknown communistic colonies. Diodorus 
 (about the middle of the first century before
 
 122 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 Christ) collected several of these accounts in 
 his Historical Library (Book II. chaps. 55-60, 
 Book V. chaps. 41-46). We read there of 
 some peculiar men who were discovered upon 
 an island in the Indian Ocean by a certain 
 Yambulos and his friend, while on a voyage 
 of business to the spice lands. " The inhabit- 
 ants (of admirable physical proportions) live 
 united according to kinship, in families and 
 tribes, but never more than 400 in one 
 community. They dwell on pastures and 
 meadows, as the country provides them with 
 abundant sustenance; the soil of the island 
 is excellent, the air being of the finest. Cereal 
 plants grow of themselves in greater abun- 
 dance than they are required. There are also 
 rich springs, partly warm for bathing, which 
 quickly cure every fatigue, partly cold, of 
 great sweetness and healing power. They 
 devote much attention to science, especially 
 to astronomy. Marriage is not known there, 
 and the children who are born are brought 
 up in common, and loved by all equalty. 
 While they are small, it often happens that 
 the nurses exchange their charges so that 
 mothers do not know their own children. 
 Consequently, there is no ambition among
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 123 
 
 these people, and they hve without internal 
 unrest and rebellions, and put concord above 
 everything else. Everybody observes a tem- 
 perate mode of living, and only consume 
 as much food as their needs require. The 
 cookery is simple; special arts of cookery 
 and of making sauces and varieties of sausages 
 are unknown to them." Here we find the 
 ideal state of Plato realised. 
 
 Another account of Diodorus relates to State 
 socialism. It is taken from the Greek writer 
 Euhomeros, a contemporary of Zeno, who in 
 his Sacred Records seeks to demonstrate that 
 the gods were not supernatural beings, but 
 heroic men, who were deified by mankind. 
 Euhomeros professes to have obtained this 
 knowledge from inscriptions in the island of 
 Hiera (either off the Southern Arabian or the 
 Southern Egyptian coast) . Next he describes 
 the institutions of this island, which corre- 
 spond to the ideal of Egyptian State socialism. 
 The soil of the country is divided among the 
 inhabitants, and the most fertile tract is the 
 share of the king. The people who dwell on 
 the island are called Panchsens. The whole 
 of the citizens are divided into three classes : 
 the first class are the priests, to which class the
 
 124 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 handworkers also belong; the second are the 
 tillers of the soil; the third are the warriors 
 and shepherds. The priests have the supreme 
 direction of all things ; the peasants cultivate 
 the soil, and bring in the produce to the 
 common store ; in a similar fashion the shep- 
 herds supply the sacrificial animals and the 
 other fruits of the flock to the community, 
 everything being most exact as to number 
 and weight. For it is a law that nobody may 
 himself own more than one house and one 
 garden; all the products and returns are 
 received by the priests, who equitably allot 
 to each person his share; they themselves, 
 however, receive a twofold share " (Book V. 
 chaps. 41-46). 
 
 This description of the Panchaens seems to 
 be an idealisation of the condition of Egypt 
 under the Hellenic administration. Alexander 
 the Great also conquered Egypt and besieged 
 the capital, Alexandria, which had become a 
 chief centre of Hellenic culture. After his 
 death (323) the Macedonian world empire 
 dissolved into numerous small States, and 
 into three great States : Macedonia (with 
 Greece), Syria (anterior Asia) and Egypt, 
 where Alexander's leading generals founded
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 125 
 
 dynasties. In Egypt the Ptolemies reigned 
 in the place of the old Pharaohs. In the 
 Ptolemaic period, the property relations de- 
 veloped on the following lines : the king or 
 the State was the sole proprietor of the land 
 and soil. Private property existed only in 
 houses, gardens and vineyards, while the whole 
 of the cornfields were royal or State property, 
 and leased to the peasants; the lease was 
 hereditary or for a term, but was in any 
 case accompanied by certain conditions. The 
 Ptolemies confiscated the priestly and feudal 
 possessions, which had survived from former 
 times, and the priests and feudal lords thence- 
 forth became part of the order of officials who 
 administered the system of leasing taxation. 
 The legal position of the peasant was a good 
 one, but the more urgent the fiscal exigencies 
 became, the more arbitrary became the atti- 
 tude of the State towards the agricultural 
 population, until they were eventually de- 
 graded into a state of servitude. (Rostowzew, 
 Studien zur Geschichte des romischen Kolonats, 
 pp. II, 15, 58, 61.)
 
 126 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 8. The Downfall of Greece. 
 
 The Peloponnesian War and the consequent 
 struggles of the separate States (Sparta, 
 Athens and Thebes) for supremacy (404-362) 
 resulted in the destruction of all the national 
 independence of this poetic, philosophical and 
 experimenting community. Its misfortune 
 was its inability to establish a uniform 
 Hellenic empire. It fell under the dominion 
 of the Macedonians, and about the middle of 
 the second century B.C., together with the 
 latter, under the sway of the Romans. 
 
 During all these external wars, vigorous 
 social struggles broke out at home between 
 the haves and the have-nots, between social 
 democrats and plutocratic oligarchies; redis- 
 tribution of the soil, relief of debtors, banish- 
 ments and massacres were frequent occur- 
 rences in periods of acute crisis. The hatred 
 between the two classes was inextinguish- 
 able. A glimpse of it may be obtained 
 from Aristotle's indication that there were 
 oligarchies in Hellas, in which the supreme 
 authorities swore the following oath upon 
 entering into office : "I will be an enemy of 
 the people, and will contrive to inflict as much
 
 COMMUNISTIC THEORIES IN ATHENS 127 
 
 damage upon them as possible " (Politics, 
 5, 9, 11). Isocrates testifies that the senti- 
 ments of the rich were so bitter that they 
 would sooner throw their belongings into the 
 sea than give them to the poor. What the 
 ideas of the Demos were we have seen from 
 Plato, Aristophanes and the other social poets, 
 for all these thinkers and poets have their 
 roots not only in the economic and political 
 conditions of their time, but also in the 
 moral condition and in the complaints of 
 the struggling dispossessed sections of the 
 population. The Hellenes were plain-spoken, 
 and they were endowed in rich measure with 
 speech which expressed their thoughts and 
 emotions. They were remarkably free from 
 hypocrisy. This was one of the impediments 
 which unfitted them to pursue an imperialist 
 policy, to found a great empire or to pre- 
 serve it.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 ROME 
 
 I. Character of Roman Historical Writing. 
 
 Roman history until 300 B.C. is for the 
 greater part fabulous; it is based on oral 
 traditions, and the Roman archives were 
 destroyed in the year 390 B.C. by the invasion 
 of the Celtic races. It was not until the 
 second century B.C. that Roman annalists 
 appeared, under the literary influence of the 
 Greeks, and a century later, Roman historians 
 who wrote the history of their country, first 
 in the Greek, and then in the Latin languages, 
 but always with a conservative, patriotic and 
 anti-revolutionary bias. Even the Greek 
 writers like Polybius,^ Plutarch ^ and Appian,^ 
 
 1 Polybius wrote ac the end of the second century B.C. 
 
 2 Plutarch composed in the second century a.d. a 
 series of comparative Greek and Roman biographies of 
 great men of both peoples. His works are very readable. 
 
 3 Appian, a younger contemporary of Plutarch, is 
 
 specially notable for his description of the Roman 
 
 civil wars. 
 
 128
 
 ROME 129 
 
 who wrote Roman history in their mother 
 tongue, were swayed by Roman influence. 
 The Roman historians, hke Sallust,^ Livy ^ 
 and Tacitus,^ were seldom just to reformers. 
 To revolutionary movements they were simply 
 hostile and regarded their instigators and 
 leaders as mere criminals. In national 
 matters, in struggles against revolutionaries 
 and external enemies the Romans were in- 
 spired by ruthless egoism and self-righteous- 
 ness, in their eyes all adversaries of Rome were 
 perjurers, traitors, violators of treaties and 
 disturbers of the peace. And this was also 
 the opinion of their Latin historians, who now 
 constitute the source upon which we must 
 draw for our judgment of the reformers, 
 revolutionaries and rebels who challenged 
 Roman traditions. The Greek writers we 
 have previously mentioned were, it is true, less 
 disposed to condemn in the lump all opponents 
 of Rome, but still they wrote for the Latins, 
 and were certainly not immune from flattery, 
 
 ^ Sallust, a contemporary and disciple of Julius 
 Caesar, born 86, died 35 B.C., is known for his account 
 of the rebellion of Catilina. 
 
 2 Livy, born 59, died 17 B.C. 
 
 2 Tacitus, born about 55, died about 120 a.d.
 
 130 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 or they allowed themselves to be influenced 
 too often by Roman prejudices. The rebels 
 who suffered most from this were Cataline 
 and Spartacus, who became really dangerous 
 to the Romans as leaders of revolution and 
 rebellion. Moreover, the Romans were not 
 an intellectual people who could have found 
 pure joy in great movements and ideas when 
 such went counter to Roman interests. 
 Among the Romans we find no Plato, no 
 Aristophanes and no Sophocles. Men like 
 the Hebrew prophets were quite inconceivable 
 with the Romans. It is consequently a very 
 difficult task to write a revolutionary history 
 of Rome. 
 
 2. Patricians and Plebeians. 
 
 The traditions and institutions of the 
 Romans imply that they were originally 
 organised into gentes and tribes, and were 
 unacquainted with individual property. At 
 the head of the community, which originally 
 did not extend beyond the town of Rome, 
 were ** kings," that is, chieftains, who were 
 at the same time captains in the field, high 
 priests and judges. According to the legend, 
 the founder of the town of Rome was Romulus,
 
 ROME 131 
 
 who, like Cain, was a fratricide. In very 
 early times we find two classes there, the 
 Patricians and the Plebeians, which were 
 engaged in mutual struggle. 
 
 The Patricians were substantial peasants, 
 who occupied all important positions, and 
 grew into the dominant class. The Plebeians 
 were small peasants, who, although free, 
 were excluded from political power. This 
 antagonism was not a class struggle; the 
 Plebeians aspired to no other kind of econo- 
 mic order, and represented no more ideal 
 philosophy than the Patricians. Both classes 
 were always ready to enslave and exploit 
 other tribes. The Plebeians demanded from 
 the Patricians merely equal opportunities 
 of economic and political exploitation. Sup- 
 ported by their political power, the Patricians 
 expropriated the greater part of- the State 
 domains {ager fuhlicus) ; the Plebeians lapsed 
 into servitude, and gradually became the 
 debtors of the Patricians ; the debt laws were 
 harsh, and interest was high. The Plebeians 
 demanded a share in political power, and 
 especially in the State domains. The latter 
 seem to have been originally a vestige of 
 common property; later it consisted of
 
 132 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 conquered territory, which was transformed 
 into pubhc lands. 
 
 At the beginning of the sixth century the 
 old Gentile conditions were so far disin- 
 tegrated that the Patricians abolished the 
 " kings," and founded a republic of nobles, 
 in which the most prominent Patricians 
 arrogated to themselves all the power which 
 still remained to the kings. At the head of 
 the republic were two consuls, who appointed 
 two subordinate officials (Quastoria) as 
 directors of the finances and the records. 
 In times of necessity and danger one of the 
 consuls appointed a dictator for a maximum 
 perico of six months, and invested with 
 absolute powers. 
 
 The antagonism of interests between the 
 two sections, which had softened to some 
 extent during the epoch of the " kings," 
 then became more acute, as, in the meantime, 
 Rome had made war upon its neighbours, 
 and acquired new State domains, which 
 mostly fell to the Patricians. In the year 
 494 B.C. the Plebs had sunk so low that they 
 turned their backs on their native city and 
 withdrew to the holy mountain, in order to 
 found their own community. The Patricians,
 
 ROME 133 
 
 having constant need of soldiers for their war 
 pohcy, were impelled to make concessions, 
 and they allowed the Plebs to appoint two 
 tribunes, whose duties would consist in pro- 
 tecting the small peasants from the arbitrary 
 rule of the Patrician officials, and in convening 
 meetings of Plebeians to pass resolutions 
 (Plebiscites). The Plebiscites, however, had 
 merely the value of resolutions passed by 
 meetings. They remained pious wishes, with- 
 out legal effect. The struggle went on, not 
 unaccompanied by bloodshed. But in the 
 degree in which the Patricians developed their 
 foreign war policy, and enriched themselves, 
 they became more complaisant towards the 
 Plebeians at home, as, without the co- 
 operation of the latter, they could not carry 
 out their foreign policy. In the fourth 
 century the Plebs made important political 
 and economic progress. In the year 367 the 
 legislative projects of Licinius were adopted. 
 They considerably relieved the debt burdens of 
 the Plebeians ; fixed the maximum appropria- 
 tion of the State domains at 500 acres, which 
 would enable the Plebs to receive the share 
 of the conquered territories; and appointed 
 one Plebeian as consul. Further pohtical
 
 134 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 concessions were made from time to time, and 
 in the year 287 the Plebs were admitted to 
 complete equaUty of rights. Henceforth they 
 were able to participate in all the economic 
 advantages of conquest, for, during this en- 
 tire period, the Patricians did not cease to 
 subjugate the Italian tribes, one after another, 
 and to extend the domination of Rome over 
 all Italy. 
 
 This was in itself a first-class political 
 achievement, and it was chiefly the work 
 of the Roman Patricians. These tenacious, 
 superstitious, common-sense and militarily 
 efficient peasants completed in Italy a work 
 which the intellectual, highly cultivated and 
 philosophical class of nobles in Hellas could 
 never have accomplished. 
 
 Soon after the unity of classes had been 
 effected, a new nobility arose out of the richer 
 Patricians and Plebeians, which seized all 
 the positions for its adherents. Hence- 
 forth foreign policy overstepped national 
 boundaries; it became world policy, which 
 at that time signified the mastery of the 
 Mediterranean and its coasts.
 
 ROME 135 
 
 3. World Policy and Dissolution, 
 
 The years 264 to 133 B.C. witnessed the rise 
 of Rome to the position of greatest world 
 power. This progress was accompanied by 
 a transformation of the economic bases of 
 Rome. Money economy and speculation sup- 
 planted the peasant economy which had 
 hitherto been prevalent. In the year 269 
 silver coinage was introduced; five years 
 later the first Punic War broke out : the war 
 against Carthage, at that time the greatest 
 commercial power in the Mediterranean. 
 Carthage dominated the North African coast, 
 Southern Spain, Sardinia and West Sicily. 
 In this war, which lasted from 264 to 
 241, Sicily and Sardinia were conquered by 
 Rome, and the Romans realised the import- 
 ance of mastery of the sea; consequently 
 they built a great fleet, which partly served 
 the purposes of war, and partly the interests 
 of commerce. Ship-builders and trading 
 companies came into existence. The second 
 Punic War (218 to 201), in which the Semitic 
 general, Hannibal, one of the greatest military 
 geniuses of all time, became the terror of 
 Rome, might have put an end to Roman
 
 136 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 conquests if the Carthaginian plutocracy had 
 been more statesmanhke, or the Roman 
 Senate less determined, or the Roman people 
 less patriotic. These circumstances nullified 
 the military achievements of Hannibal.^ 
 
 Carthage was overthrown and completely 
 destroyed in the third Punic War (149 to 
 146), with all the brutal and hypocritical 
 cruelty of which the Romans were capable. 
 In the meantime, the Romans had subjugated 
 Greece, Asia Minor and Spain. A stream of 
 precious metals and slaves had flowed to 
 Rome and undermined the old and vigorous 
 peasant State. 
 
 The work of destruction was all the easier 
 as the wars, especially the second Punic War, 
 had destroyed the greater part of the old 
 classes of Patricians and Plebeians. From 
 this draining of strength Rome never re- 
 covered. When at the summit of its material 
 power, Rome was already at the beginning 
 of its moral downfall. The descent was slow 
 but sure, and in the first century B.C. its 
 symptoms became clearly defined. 
 
 ^ The Roman historian, Livy, expresses this opinion 
 still more strongly : " Not the Roman people, but the 
 disfavour of the Carthaginian Senate defeated Hannibal " 
 {Roman History, XXX. 20).
 
 ROME 137 
 
 Or, as the Roman historian Sallust narrates : 
 " The victors knew neither measure nor Umit. 
 Riches became a means of distinction and 
 glory, power and influence followed their 
 possession. As a result, the edge of virtue 
 was dulled and poverty was accounted a 
 disgrace. But the passion for defilement, 
 gluttony and all other kinds of indulgence had 
 kept pace with that for wealth. Each sex 
 alike trampled on their modesty." 
 
 The war favoured the growth of capitalist 
 merchants and trading companies, which 
 made loans to the State and supplied ships, 
 provisions and war materials at exorbitant 
 prices. They leased the State domains and 
 mines in the conquered countries, collected 
 the taxes, and supplied slaves for large-scale 
 agriculture. Roman capital was not in- 
 dustrially productive, like modern European 
 capital, in the period of the industrial 
 revolution. It resembled the hyaenas of the 
 Roman battlefields; it gorged itself with 
 the spoils of the Roman legions and squeezed 
 the conquered countries. The senatorial 
 families and officials were drawn into the 
 business; the highest State officials became 
 corruptible, and from i6o even the Senate
 
 138 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 was reputed to be bribable. The peasantry, 
 which had been decimated during the long 
 wars, gradually disappeared, partly in con- 
 sequence of the competition of the cheap corn, 
 which was imported from the provinces 
 (conquered territories), partly as a result of 
 being bought out by the new rich, who wished 
 to attach to themselves a noble appendage 
 in the shape of landed property. The old 
 peasant farms were superseded by the lati- 
 ftmdia, large-scale agricultural undertakings, 
 with much vine culture and pasturage. 
 
 Productive labour was carried on more and 
 more by slaves, while the free rural and urban 
 workers fell into unemployment, drifted to 
 Rome, where they lived as vagabonds upon 
 the public supplies of corn, and were kept in 
 a good humour by the public games, and 
 were used as voting cattle. Wealth was 
 concentrated in a few hands; in the year 
 104 B.C. a tribune complained that scarcely 
 2000 rich persons existed in the whole State. 
 The causes of violent social unrest were there- 
 fore operative. They manifested themselves 
 in two ways : (i) the reform movements for 
 the restoration of the peasants (Gracchi), 
 or for the redistribution of property (Catiline) ;
 
 ROME 139 
 
 (2) slave insurrections, of which that of 
 Spartacus was the most famous. 
 
 4. Reform Struggles — Gracchus, Catiline and 
 
 Cicero. 
 
 The attempt to restore the status of the 
 peasant was undertaken by the brothers 
 Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, who sprang 
 from the old Roman nobility. Tiberius was 
 the people's tribune in the year 134 B.C., and 
 was summoned by the poor citizens to secure 
 for them the enjoyment of the State domains. 
 One year later he made the proposal to limit 
 the appropriation of the State domains, and 
 to create unalienable homesteads on hereditary 
 leases of twenty acres out of the land thus liber- 
 ated. It appears that the former owners of 
 the surrendered land were to be compensated, 
 and the small peasant was likewise to receive 
 State assistance in procuring stock. As the 
 nobles offered opposition, Tiberius set on foot 
 a comprehensive agitation, and in a descrip- 
 tion of the privations of the people he said : 
 " The wild beasts of Italy have their caves to 
 retire to, but the brave men who spill their 
 blood in her cause have nothing left but air 
 and light. Without houses, without any
 
 140 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 settled habitation, they wander from place 
 to place with their wives and children, and 
 their generals do but mock them when, at 
 the head of their armies, they exhort them 
 to fight for their sepulchres and household 
 gods, for among such numbers there is not 
 perhaps one Roman who has an altar that 
 belonged to his ancestors or a sepulchre in 
 which their ashes rest. The private soldiers 
 fight and die to advance the wealth and 
 luxury of the great; and they are called 
 masters of the world, while they have not a 
 foot of ground in their possession " (Plutarch, 
 " T. S. Gracchus "). 
 
 As the time approached when the Popular 
 Assembly would vote upon the proposed 
 legislation, Tiberius, as Appian reports (Civil 
 Wars, Book i, chap, ii), delivered a long 
 speech and asked "if it were not just that 
 communal goods should be communally 
 shared; if the citizen was not always better 
 than the slave, the warrior more useful than 
 those unfit for war? " After the Romans, 
 so he continued, had already conquered most 
 countries by force of arms, and had also 
 directed their hopes upon the remaining 
 inhabited countries, they were confronted
 
 ROME 141 
 
 with the alternative of either conquering the 
 remaining countries by their hosts of warUke 
 men, or of losing even their present possessions 
 through their weakness and envy. 
 
 He warned the wealthy, in view of these 
 circumstances, to abandon their lands, as a 
 voluntary offering, and upon their own 
 initiative, to those who brought up children 
 for the State, and not to overlook the most 
 important things while disputing about trifles. 
 According to Appian, then, Gracchus was 
 chiefly influenced by the desire to furnish 
 numerous and warlike citizens for the Roman 
 State, to afford it the opportunity of main- 
 taining its conquests and extending them. 
 In any case, the proposed reform was a social 
 conservative measure. 
 
 The enthusiasm of the people for Tiberius 
 Gracchus was so overpowering that the Senate 
 finally accepted the proposal, but great 
 difficulties arose in its execution. Tiberius 
 was therefore obliged to offer himself as a 
 candidate for the tribunate of the year 132, 
 and held election meetings. In one of these 
 meetings, the supporters of the Senate's 
 party appeared with cudgels and sticks and 
 slew Tiberius and many of his supporters.
 
 142 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 Nevertheless the Agrarian Law was not 
 inoperative; about 80,000, small peasant 
 homesteads were created. 
 
 The work of Tiberius was resumed by his 
 brother Caius in the year 123. Elected as a 
 people's tribune, he carried through a measure 
 that a certain quantity of corn should be 
 served out to the people every month at the 
 expense of the State. He reformed the 
 judiciary, caused long roads to be constructed 
 throughout Italy, in order to give employment 
 to the workless, and also tried to democratise 
 the franchise and to take in hand a compre- 
 hensive internal colonisation. Eventually, 
 Caius shared the fate of his brother; he was 
 slain in 121. 
 
 It accords perfectly with Roman hypocrisy 
 that a Temple of Concord was built upon the 
 spot where the murder of the Gracchi and 
 their supporters took place. 
 
 In spite of the concord extremely mur- 
 derous slave insurrections and civil wars soon 
 broke out. In the year 100 the so-called 
 democrat Marius was instrumental in mur- 
 dering 50 senators and 1000 knights, his 
 opponent Sulla (82), 40 senators and 1600 
 knights.
 
 ROME 143 
 
 Their property was confiscated; the pro- 
 ceeds of the confiscation of Sulla's property 
 amounted to about four million pounds 
 sterling ; usury and mercantile capital bought 
 up the sequestrated goods, which were worth 
 four times the purchase price. In the year 
 'j^ the Spartacus rebellion broke out, which 
 we will deal with presently. These con- 
 ditions furnished the inflammable materials 
 for the conspiracy of Catiline, in the year 
 63 B.C. The Roman historian Sallust, who 
 wrote of the events from his social conserva- 
 tive standpoint, thought that the Roman 
 people at that time found themselves in a 
 lamentable state of mind : " From the setting 
 to the rising of the sun its arms had subdued 
 every land to obedience; at home there was 
 tranquillity and wealth in abundance, and 
 yet there were found citizens with minds 
 hardened to undertake their own and their 
 country's destruction. Two decrees of the 
 Senate had been passed, but of all that host 
 not one was enticed by the reward offered to 
 betray the conspiracy, not one deserted the 
 camp of Catiline; so virulent was the disease 
 that had settled like a plague on the minds of 
 many citizens. Nor was this mental disorder
 
 144 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 confined to those who had been admitted to 
 the conspiracy ; it may be said that the whole 
 of the common people, in their eagerness for 
 revolution, approved the designs of Catiline " 
 {Catiline s Conspiracy, chaps. 36, 37). 
 
 Thus the sentiments of the masses were 
 revolutionary. However, the historian repre- 
 sents Catiline, the leader of this movement, 
 as the most horrible monster of world history. 
 In his biography of Theseus, Plutarch says 
 a very wise thing : "It appears to be danger- 
 ous, in fact, to make oneself hated by a State 
 in which eloquence and poetry flourish." 
 The same thing applies to individual cases. 
 Catiline had the misfortune to have for his 
 political and personal enemy, Cicero, one of 
 the greatest orators of all times. Two 
 characters more opposed to each other could 
 not exist. Catiline sprang from the highest 
 nobility of Rome; Cicero was a provincial 
 upstart. The former was an officer, always 
 ready to represent the cause of the oppressed 
 in the State with the highest courage; the 
 latter was a lawyer and the type of an anxious, 
 moralising lower middle-class man, careful of 
 his property. Both confronted each other 
 in the year 63 as candidates for the Consular
 
 ROME 145 
 
 dignity, Cicero as representative of the 
 property interests, Catiline as leader of the 
 dispossessed and as a reformer, whose pro- 
 posals aimed at securing a share in the land 
 to all the dispossessed, relieving them of their 
 burden of debts, introducing a stricter super- 
 vision over the State finances, and generally 
 at promoting the welfare of the masses of the 
 people by social and political measures ; like- 
 wise, he seems to have stood for an alleviation 
 of the lot of the peoples subjugated by Rome. 
 What Cicero thought about these questions 
 may be clearly seen from the opinions which 
 he expressed in his book the Duties (Book II. 
 chaps. 22-24): "But they who wish to be 
 popular, and upon that account either attempt 
 the agrarian affair that the owners may be 
 driven out of their possessions, or they that 
 borrowed money should be released to the 
 debtors, sap the foundations of the con- 
 stitution; for this is the peculiar concern of 
 a State and city, that every person's custody 
 of his own property be free and undisturbed. 
 Now what justice is it that lands which have 
 been preoccupied for many years or for 
 several ages, he who was possessed of none 
 should get, but he who was in possession should
 
 146 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 lose? And on account of this kind of in- 
 justice, the Lacedemonians expelled their 
 Ephorus Lysander, and put to death their 
 king Agis, a thing which never before had been 
 among them. And from that time such 
 great dissensions ensued that a constitution 
 admirably established fell to pieces. Nor 
 did it fall alone, but also overthrew the rest 
 of Greece by the contagion of evil principles, 
 which, having sprung from the Lacedemonians, 
 flowed far and wide. Was it not the agrarian 
 contentions that destroyed our own Gracchi? 
 Should any dwell free of expense in another 
 man's house? Why so? Is it that when I 
 shall have bought, built, repaired, expended, 
 you, without my will, should enjoy what is 
 mine? What else is this but to take from 
 some what is theirs, and give to some what is 
 another man's ? But what is the meaning of 
 the abolition of debts unless that you should 
 buy an estate with my money, that you should 
 have the estate and I should not have my 
 money? " 
 
 Holding these opinions, Cicero was obliged, 
 when chosen Consul in opposition to CatiJine, 
 to take up the struggle for law, order and 
 property. And, in doing so, he made use of
 
 ROME 147 
 
 his best weapons : eloquence, demagogic 
 special pleading, the branding of his opponents 
 as men bereft of all morality, all propriety, 
 and all honour. This caricature of Catiline 
 by Cicero has been transmitted to posterity. 
 The Roman historian Sallust, a social con- 
 servative patriot, who wrote two decades 
 later, followed Cicero, and even the historians 
 of Rome who wrote in Greek, like Plutarch 
 and Appian, made no attempt to do justice 
 to Catiline. Plutarch even repeats quite 
 uncritically the most absurd stories about 
 Catiline and his friends. This much, how- 
 ever, is certain, that Catiline identified himself 
 with all the dispossessed and oppressed, and 
 was venerated unreservedly by the masses. 
 The spirit which animated the Catilinarians 
 is evident from the letter which their military 
 leader, Manlius, sent to the Roman general 
 Marcius : " We do not demand dominion or 
 wealth, which are the sources of all the wars 
 and quarrels in the world; we ask only for 
 freedom." 
 
 Catiline offered himself twice as a can- 
 didate for the Consular dignity, in order to 
 obtain the legal power " to draw the teeth 
 of the few potentates who possessed the
 
 148 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 State as their exclusive property, and restore 
 to the people their liberty and rights." In 
 the elections the party of order triumphed. 
 Catiline was defeated. As the legal way 
 was closed to him, he proceeded to make 
 preparations for an insurrection, and to 
 organise the masses of the discontented. 
 Cicero, the victorious opponent of Catiline, 
 had his spies everywhere, who were able to 
 perform their work all the more easily, as 
 Catiline had departed to the country, in 
 order to get into touch with the Roman army 
 there. 
 
 The preparations for the rebellion were 
 discovered in Rome on the 5th December, 
 63 B.C., and the ringleaders were executed. 
 Catiline and his troops were defeated by 
 the superior forces of the Romans, in open 
 battle, not far from Florence, in the year 62. 
 Catiline and Manlius were among the slain. 
 The stubborn character of the fighting may 
 be inferred from the description in Sallust's 
 concluding chapter : "It was only after the 
 battle was decided that it could be fully seen 
 with what daring and resolution Catiline's 
 army had been inspired. Almost the exact 
 position which each had taken up while living
 
 ROME 149 
 
 he now in death covered with his body. 
 Catihne, however, was found at a distance 
 from his own men among the enemies' dead. 
 He continued to breathe for a short time and 
 retained on his countenance that savage 
 courage that had marked him in hfe." 
 
 The corrupt and ohgarchical republic was 
 rapidly approaching its end. Two years after 
 the death of Catihne Rome saw the military 
 triumvirate of Pompey, Crassus and Julius 
 Caesar. The military monarchy was knocking 
 at the doors of the Roman world empire. 
 
 5. Slave Insurrections. 
 
 Since the conclusion of the second Punic 
 War (201 B.C.), and since the victorious wars 
 against the Macedonians and Syrians, there 
 had been an increase in the cultivation of the 
 large estates by multitudes of slaves. And as 
 national economy was operated on capitalist 
 Unes, and the Romans, as masters of the 
 world, despised labour and the disinherited 
 class, the lot of the unfree worker became 
 more and more arduous. Likewise, almost 
 all industry and all domestic labours were 
 performed by slaves. Innumerable unfree 
 workers were employed in luxurious building
 
 150 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 and the construction of villas. Mountains 
 were demolished, lakes were formed, according 
 to the whims of the plutocrats. 
 
 The everlasting wars in all parts of the 
 world furnished hundreds of thousands of 
 prisoners, who were put into the slave yoke, 
 but could not, however, satisfy the needs 
 of the Roman masters. Consequently, man- 
 hunts were organised, and kidnapping was 
 practised, in order to fill the slave markets. 
 Rome became the tyrant of three-quarters 
 of the world. The treatment of the slaves 
 became ever harsher. The measure of the 
 severity is shown by the conduct of the elder 
 Cato, a Roman famed for his great virtues, 
 who simply sold his old slaves, after they 
 had exhausted all their labour-power in his 
 service. No wonder the slaves began to 
 murmur, or inclined towards rebellion, or 
 seized every opportunity for flight. To pre- 
 vent them from absconding, slaves working 
 on the land were branded with glowing irons, 
 like cattle, and chained to their work. Flight 
 was punished with death by crucifixion. The 
 deepest degradation, however, was reserved 
 for those slaves who, being distinguished by 
 physical strength, were trained as gladiators
 
 ROME 151 
 
 in order to furnish the spectacle of human 
 slaughter in the arena to the Roman mob, 
 the Patrician nobles and Plebeian populace. 
 
 Educated prisoners of war and hostages, 
 like the Greeks, or slaves who were otherwise 
 adept in business, like the Syrians, found 
 positions as domestic teachers or adminis- 
 trators, and were gradually emancipated. 
 One of these released hostages was the Greek 
 historian Polybius, whose books are among 
 the best works on Roman history. The 
 Roman nobility and plutocracy had nothing 
 but contempt for the Greeks, and lamented 
 their influence on Roman civilisation. There 
 were, indeed, exceptions, but generally speak- 
 ing the dominant Romans despised Hellenism. 
 
 The concentration of slaves, these masses 
 of men filled with the bitterest hatred, was 
 certain sooner or later to lead to conspiracies 
 and rebellions, and then it only depended on 
 the presence of energetic leaders to bring the 
 rebellions to a head. The first Italian slave 
 insurrection broke out in Apulia, 187 B.C. 
 It was soon put down; 7000 slaves were 
 crucified. Incomparably more bloody and 
 more protracted were the two great slave 
 insurrections in Sicily (134-132, 104-101).
 
 152 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 This fertile island offered an extensive field 
 for slave labour. The State domains there 
 were latifundia, broad cornfields, olive plan- 
 tations and sheep walks. Masses of slaves 
 cultivated the soil, tended the trees, guarded 
 the flocks of sheep, and made Sicily the 
 granary of Rome. The rebellion which broke 
 out there in 134 developed into a protracted 
 war. The leaders of the rebels were the 
 Syrian Eunus and the Macedonian Kleon, 
 who gathered around them 70,000 men 
 capable of bearing arms, and the island came 
 almost completely into their power. For 
 several years they maintained their position 
 against the Roman armies, but eventually 
 they were defeated, partly by starvation and 
 partly by force of arms. This took place at 
 the same time as Gracchus was agitating 
 Rome. The other Sicilian rebellion was like- 
 wise led by a Syrian named Salvius, and a 
 Macedonian named Athenion. The Romans 
 only succeeded in mastering the rebellion 
 after the leaders had been slain in battle. 
 
 The years of the Gracchian agitation were 
 generally a period of insurrections. Even in 
 Asia Minor both the possessing class and the 
 slaves rebelled against the extension of the
 
 ROME 153 
 
 Roman domination. In the year 133, King 
 Attalos III died in Pergamon. He was a 
 mentally deficient and degenerate monarch, 
 who had succumbed to the Roman influence. 
 Either by force or by fraud the Romans 
 received from him a testament, in which 
 Attalos bequeathed to Rome his very con- 
 siderable property, in addition to his land. 
 At the same ^imc, Pergamon was trans- 
 formed into a complete political democracy; 
 the whole of the inhabitants, native and 
 foreign, property-owning and disinherited, 
 received the franchise and the independent 
 administration of their State. 
 
 Now, when the Romans entered into their 
 heritage and sought to extend their dominion 
 over the country, a rebellion broke out, the 
 leadership being assumed by Aristonikos, a 
 half-brother of Attalos. He hved in Leuka, 
 a small port between Smyrna and Pdokea. 
 Several towns declared in his favour, but 
 others, like Ephesus, ranged themselves on 
 the side of the Romans. A war broke out, 
 in which Aristonikos was at first defeated. 
 Soon, however, he reappeared as a liberator 
 of the slaves, and summoned aU unfree 
 workers to take part in the struggle against
 
 154 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 the Romans. Multitudes of slaves answered 
 his appeal, and, with them, he founded a 
 Sun town or a Sun State (heliopolis). What 
 this foundation implied is not clear; the 
 historical records leave us here quite in the 
 dark. 
 
 It might, however, be mentioned that this 
 is conjectured to have been a communist 
 society. Ai the close ul antinnitv. as well as 
 in the middle ages, a Sun State was under- 
 stood to mean a communist establishment. 
 The citizens of the Sun State, who were led 
 by Aristonikos, that is, the freed slaves, 
 organised themselves rapidly and made a 
 victorious progress through the Pergamonic 
 country. The Romans, who rather feared 
 the loss of their rich heritage, sent troops to 
 Pergamon, in the year 131, and placed them 
 under the chief command of a Consul. It 
 must therefore have been an army of con- 
 siderable size ; nevertheless, it was constantly 
 defeated by Aristonikos. But the war was 
 continued until the year 129, and the sun- 
 dwellers were finally defeated. Aristonikos 
 was taken prisoner, brought to Rome, and 
 executed.
 
 ROME 155 
 
 6. Spartaciis. 
 
 The innumerable sacrifices to Roman 
 covetousness were to find in Spartacus such 
 an avenger as Rome had never known. The 
 rebellion of the exploited and oppressed under 
 the leadership of this man (from the year 73 
 to 71 B.C.) was the only affair that terrified 
 the masters of the world, and prepared for 
 them hun.iliations and defeats which covered 
 them with ridicule and shame. It was slaves 
 of the lowest order, gladiators, who measured 
 their strength with the consular armies of 
 Rome, victoriously opposed them, and fre- 
 quently inflicted crushing defeats upon them 
 in open battle. The depth of degradation 
 into which Rome was plunged by this rebel- 
 hon is shown by the observation of the 
 Roman historian Florus {Roman History, 
 Book III. chap. 20) : 
 
 " The shame of a slave war is still to be 
 borne. Slaves, however degraded by fate, 
 still belong to the second order of humanity, 
 and are able to demand the privileges of 
 freedom. But I do not know how to describe 
 the war with Spartacus. Here slaves were 
 warriors, and gladiators were generals. The
 
 156 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 former from the lowest class, the latter from 
 the most despised class, added the element of 
 ridicule to the element of danger." 
 
 Spartacus was a general and organiser of 
 the greatness of Hannibal. With sufficient 
 numbers of properly equipped forces he could 
 have overthrown the dominion of Rome. 
 Plutarch (Life of Crassiis) describes him as 
 " extremely strong and earnest, wise and 
 humane above his station, more like a true 
 Greek than a barbarian." Coming from a 
 Hellene like Plutarch, this is very great praise. 
 
 Extremely little is known of his youth, and 
 of his life generally up till 73 B.C. He was a 
 Thracian, and was born in a nomadic tribe. 
 He came to Rome as a prisoner of war, and 
 was sold as a slave. He escaped, became a 
 hired soldier, and was eventually sold to the 
 proprietor of a fencing school in Capua, in 
 order to be trained as a gladiator. Spartacus 
 found himself with about 200 other slaves, 
 Thracians and Gauls, who conspired to break 
 loose on the first favourable opportunity, and 
 to win freedom. The conspiracy was be- 
 trayed, but Spartacus and some 70 with him 
 managed to break through. On their way, 
 they plundered a waggon containing arms,
 
 ROME 157 
 
 which they soon used with success against 
 the pursuers, who had been despatched by 
 their owner. This success quickly became 
 known in the district, and brought them fresh 
 supporters and fighters. Henceforth they 
 numbered 200 men, who behaved towards 
 the proprietors without ceremony. At first 
 they were regarded as a dangerous band of 
 robbers, against which the Roman authorities 
 sent the Praetor, Cladius Pulcher, with 3000 
 men, in order to put a stop to the depreda- 
 tions. Spartacus took up a position on the 
 summit of Vesuvius, at that time inactive, 
 and totally defeated his enemies. Camp, 
 baggage and arms fell into his hands. From 
 this moment Spartacus was a famous man. 
 His name was known throughout Italy. He 
 declared himself openly to be an enemy of 
 Rome, and called upon all who were slaves 
 or oppressed to rally round him, and to engage 
 in the struggle for emancipation. Multitudes 
 of slaves and dispossessed, foreigners and 
 Italians, responded to his appeal. Country 
 people left their holdings, shepherds their 
 sheep, slaves their masters, prisoners broke 
 their bars, conscripted workers broke their 
 chains — all flocked to him, the chastiser of
 
 158 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 Rome. Out of the hordes which came to- 
 gether Spartacus formed an army, which gave 
 a good account of itself in battle, but even his 
 genius did not succeed in inducing these 
 bitter and hate-breathing men to observe 
 proper behaviour towards non-combatants. 
 Plundering and burning, they marched 
 through the country, devastated the blooming 
 Campania, their light troops even penetrating 
 into the districts which bordered on Rome, 
 everywhere spreading f rightfulness. The lust 
 of the troops for plunder was one of the 
 causes which sometimes prevented Spartacus 
 from utilising his victories or attacking the 
 enemy at an opportune moment. Likewise, 
 he found it very difficult to maintain in a state 
 of permanent unity the various ethnical 
 elements, Thracians, Syrians, Gauls, Ger- 
 mans, Italians, etc., of which his army was 
 composed. 
 
 The news of the defeat of the Praetor, 
 Claudius Pulcher, was received in Rome with 
 incredulity and astonishment. An army of 
 8000 to 10,000 men was quickly raised — the 
 proper Roman legions were not used in such 
 expeditions; moreover, at that time, they 
 were engaged in Spain and on the Lower
 
 ROME 159 
 
 Danube, under the great generals Pompey 
 and Lucullus — and placed under two Praetors. 
 Spartacus was circumspect, and did not 
 venture to offer open battle to his enemies. 
 But his subordinate generals, especially the 
 Gauls, regarded his foresight as timidity, 
 attacked the Romans with 3000 men, and 
 were beaten. Only then did the remainder 
 recognise the wisdom of their leader, sub- 
 mitted themselves to his orders, and con- 
 sented to the retreat, which was carried out 
 without loss. Spartacus, however, soon found 
 an opportunity to retrieve the defeat. After 
 several successful skirmishes and raids, it 
 came to a battle, which ended in a brilliant 
 victory for Spartacus. All Lower Italy fell 
 as booty to the gladiators. 
 
 The slave army rejoiced and plundered, 
 while Spartacus became more and more 
 serious. Having a good knowledge of the 
 Roman power, he knew that the campaign 
 up to the present had signified merely a small 
 outpost fight, and had scarcely touched the 
 power of Rome. His mind was, above all, 
 bent upon the liberation of the slaves, and he 
 believed he could perform this work to a 
 large extent. The slaves of Lower Italy
 
 160 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 were already free. His idea now was to 
 march rapidly northwards, range through 
 the whole of Italy, and beat down all the 
 obstacles that stood in the way of his work 
 of liberation, before the Romans gained time 
 to recover from their fright, and recalled 
 their great generals, Pompey and LucuUus, 
 with their legions. This train of thought 
 revealed great statesmanlike insight. But 
 his subordinate generals, and also the troops, 
 who had tasted Roman blood, offered violent 
 and stubborn opposition to this plan. In vain 
 Spartacus reminded them that they had not 
 yet measured their strength with the real 
 legions of Rome, in vain he described to them 
 the whole extent of the power of this world 
 empire. It might, indeed, be surprised for 
 a time, but it was scarcely likely to be over- 
 come when it collected together all its 
 resources. The army was divided in opinion : 
 the Gauls and the Germans, under the leader- 
 ship of the subordinate general Crixius, were 
 for a march upon the city of Rome; the 
 Thracians and the southern Italians adhered 
 to Spartacus. Meanwhile Rome made com- 
 prehensive preparations to meet the gladia- 
 torial army with all its strength. The original
 
 ROME 161 
 
 disparagement had given place to caution. 
 Three powerful armies were soon sent into 
 the field, two under Consuls, and therefore 
 under the highest officials of Rome, and one 
 under a Praetor. In face of this Roman 
 armament, Spartacus and Crixius patched 
 up their differences, but a real union was not 
 effected. Henceforth they marched separ- 
 ately; Spartacus with 40,000 men, Crixius 
 with 30,000 men. Soon Crixius met the 
 Roman Prsetorian army, which fell into 
 disorder and took to flight upon being 
 attacked by the Gauls and Germans. As the 
 pursuit was dilatory, the Praetorian army 
 collected itself on the following day, fell 
 upon the unsuspecting Gauls and over- 
 powered them. Crixius himself was killed 
 in battle. About 10,000 men were able to 
 save themselves by flight, and forced their 
 way to Spartacus. The victorious Praetorian 
 army then made a junction with one of the 
 two Consular armies, which, divided into two 
 columns, sought out Spartacus. The latter 
 did not keep them waiting. With the greater 
 part of his army — the smaller part he ordered 
 to hold the other Consular army in check — 
 he hurled himself upon the first Consular
 
 162 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 army, and completely defeated it. He 
 speedily joined the remaining section of his 
 army, attacked the same day the second 
 Consular army, and also obtained a complete 
 victory over the latter. The baggage and a 
 great multitude of prisoners fell into the 
 hands of Spartacus. Unwearied he con- 
 tinued his march northwards, defeating the 
 troops which were hastily thrown against him 
 by the Roman Praetors and Pro-consuls. 
 He seemed invincible. His next enterprise 
 was something that was felt in Rome to be 
 the most painful humiliation. He arranged 
 a solemn funeral for Crixius, and, on this 
 occasion, compelled 300 Roman prisoners to 
 appear as gladiators and engage in mortal 
 combat, in the sight of the entire Spartacist 
 army. The despised slaves were now the 
 spectators — the proud Romans were the prize- 
 fighters in the arena. Of all the news con- 
 cerning the losses which had hitherto been 
 suffered in this gladiatorial war, not any 
 wounded the Romans so deeply, so bitterly as 
 this. The death as gladiators of 300 Roman 
 warriors inflicted the most ignominious insult 
 upon the majesty of Rome, and made an 
 indelible stigma upon its honour.
 
 ROME 163 
 
 To treat kings and princes, taken as 
 prisoners, with cold, calculated cruelty, to 
 let them starve, be tortured, and die the 
 most painful death in prison; to dispose of 
 entire peoples as if they were herds of cattle — 
 all this seemed to the citizens of Rome, the 
 so-called first and noblest people on earth, 
 as their proper prerogative. But that their 
 captured citizens should also be compelled 
 to engage in mutual slaughter, such an 
 outrage, or even its bare possibility, had 
 never entered a Roman's head. And who 
 shamed them in this fashion? A man upon 
 whose life and death only a few months 
 before the outstretched or closed thumbs of 
 some Plebeians could have decided. A man 
 who, together with fifty or sixty of his kind, 
 would have been compelled to die if it had 
 pleased the whim of a young Roman Patrician 
 to make a sacrifice to his deceased aunt. 
 
 Spartacus was now at the height of his 
 power. It was possible for him to execute 
 his original design, to liberate a multitude 
 of slaves, to dissolve his army, and live 
 in the consciousness of having humiliated 
 Rome, the oppressor of the world. But he 
 suddenly altered his plans. Instead of cross-
 
 164 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 ing the Po, he turned back and made for 
 the south. In Italy it was assumed that he 
 intended to march against the city of Rome. 
 To obstruct the road thither, a new Praetorian 
 army was hurled at him; in the Picenian 
 territory a great battle was fought, from which 
 Spartacus once more emerged as victor. 
 Rome now fell into a state of consternation. 
 Spartacus, however, marched by Rome, and 
 led his army into Lower Italy, occupied 
 Thuria, declared it to be a free port, and 
 promulgated benevolent laws. There are 
 indications that Spartacus conceived the plan 
 of establishing in Lower Italy a State upon 
 the model of Lycurgian Sparta. He abolished 
 the use of gold and silver, fixed low prices 
 for all the means of life, encouraged the simple 
 Spartan mode of living, welded into a brother- 
 hood the refugees from the various nations 
 who lived under his protection, and educated 
 them to a state of military efficiency. Occu- 
 pied with these political plans, Spartacus 
 forgot that the enemy, to whom he had 
 allowed time to recover from his fright, was 
 arming with all his strength. A strong, well- 
 disciplined army was raised, and the Praetor 
 Crassus, who was experienced in war, was
 
 ROME 165 
 
 appointed supreme commander. The Romans 
 now behaved with much greater caution, and 
 also utihsed their technical knowledge, in 
 which they were superior to their enemies. 
 Nevertheless, at the beginning they suffered 
 defeats. Only when dissensions broke out 
 in the camp of Spartacus — once more it was 
 the hot-headed, undisciplined Gauls who 
 operated independently under their own 
 generals, and suffered great losses in the 
 struggles with the Romans — did the position 
 of Crassus become more favourable. Spar- 
 tacus, indeed, won several victories over him, 
 but eventually he succumbed to the Roman 
 forces in the year 71. He was himself 
 mortally wounded in the battle. Some 6000 
 men of his army fell into the hands of Crassus, 
 who crucified them, whereas in the camp of 
 Spartacus 3000 Roman prisoners were found 
 alive. The " lowest " category of mankind, 
 the warriors of Spartacus, had spared the lives 
 of their foes. It was several decades before the 
 Romans were able to divest themselves of the 
 terrors inspired in them by the gladiatorial 
 war. The Roman mothers among the common 
 people used to frighten their naughty children 
 with the cry, " Hush ! Spartacus is coming."
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 ROMAN SOCIAL CRITICS 
 
 I. The Laments of the Dispossessed. 
 
 The social developments which have been 
 sketched (in the preceding chapter) became 
 even more pronounced towards the end of 
 the Republican epoch. From the struggles 
 and wars which the Roman legions waged 
 from the Rhine to the Euphrates, from the 
 Danube to the Sahara deserts, the large- 
 landed proprietor and the large capital that 
 was bound up with the military apparatus 
 emerged as the real victors. Julius Caesar, 
 once the secret friend of Catiline, later the 
 victorious general, who aspired to the laurels 
 of the social monarchy, made an attempt to 
 rouse the Roman and Italian masses, to 
 reorganise the provinces, and to heal the 
 wounds inflicted upon them by large landed 
 property and large capital, but the whole of 
 his reformist endeavours bore a dictatorial 
 
 1 66
 
 ROMAN SOCIAL CRITICS 1G7 
 
 character. On the 15th March, 44 B.C., he 
 was murdered, but thirteen years later the 
 Roman Empire became a monarchy. Augustus 
 was the first Roman Emperor (31-14 B.C.). 
 
 The years of this poHtical upheaval repre- 
 sented a period of high intellectual civilisa- 
 tion, so far as the Romans generally were 
 capable of such. The Latin poets Virgil 
 (70-19 B.C.), Ovid (43 B.C. to A.D. 9), Horace 
 (65-8 B.C.) were the literary ornaments of this 
 period. And, as we have seen, the historians 
 Sallust and Livy also belonged to this epoch. 
 They marked the acme of the Latin intel- 
 lectual civilisation. This was also the period 
 in which the elements of a new world religion 
 — Christianity — were gathered among the 
 lower strata of the people, and in the seats 
 of learning of Palestine and Alexandria. 
 
 From the social economic point of view 
 nothing had altered in the meantime. Italy 
 was covered with latifundia, which were 
 operated by slaves and small holders for the 
 exclusive advantage of their proprietors. 
 The expulsion of peasants and the expro- 
 priation of the State domains were the means 
 employed by the founders of the latifundia in 
 Italy; and the provinces were disposed of
 
 168 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 by the tax farmers, who received broad lands 
 in Asia and Africa, and ruthlessly exploited 
 the real tillers of the soil. Population 
 decreased, general compulsory service was 
 replaced by mercenary armies, and when 
 later the great wars ceased, the number of 
 slaves also diminished. The native Italian 
 energy began to dry up. The famous saying 
 of Pliny the elder (born 23, died a.d. 79), 
 " The latifundia have ruined Italy, and are 
 now ruining the provinces too " (Natural 
 History, XVIII. 6, 35), describes the condi- 
 tions which had begun to develop in the last 
 century B.C. Pliny wrote about the middle of 
 the first century, but long before this a 
 proverb had been in vogue that a man 
 signified only as much as he possessed. 
 
 The Roman poet Horace, who was anything 
 but a demagogue, complained [Odes, II. 18) : 
 
 " What though you move the ancient bound, 
 That marks your humble neighbour's ground, 
 And avariciously o'erleap 
 The Hmits right should bid you keep ? 
 Where lies your gain that driv'n from home 
 Both wife and husband forth must roam, 
 With squahd babes upon their breast ? " 
 
 Seneca the elder, or the Rhetorician (54 B.C.
 
 ROMAN SOCIAL CRITICS 169 
 
 to A.D. 38), reports the complaint of a country- 
 man, whose neighbour had burned down huts 
 because the trees pleased him : " You rich 
 own the countryside, and fill the towns and 
 their environs with your palaces. So that 
 your villas, lying in all directions, may be 
 warm in the winter and cool in the summer, 
 and be unaffected by changes in the seasons, 
 so that there may be artificial woods and 
 navigable lakes on your highest ridges, we 
 see now simple slaves in the fields who formerly 
 counted as a people, and the sphere of power 
 of their masters extended farther than that of 
 kings." 
 
 In another complaint of a poor man against 
 a rich, the peasant tells the story of his 
 sufferings : "At first I did not have a rich 
 man for neighbour. All around me pro- 
 prietors of equal fortune were settled upon 
 numerous farms, and cultivated their modest 
 domains in neighbourly concord. How 
 different now ! The country which once 
 supported all these citizens is now become a 
 single great plantation, which belongs to a 
 single rich man. His property has pushed 
 forward its boundaries on all sides. The 
 peasant farmsteads which it swallowed up
 
 170 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 are levelled to the ground, and the sanctuaries 
 of the fathers are destroyed. The old pro- 
 prietors have taken leave of the protective 
 god of the paternal house, and are obliged 
 to travel afar, with wife and children. Uni- 
 form desolation reigns over the countryside. 
 Everywhere I am enclosed by wealth as by a 
 wall; here the gardens of the rich; there 
 their fields ; here their vineyards ; there their 
 woods and pastures. And this wholesale 
 annexation only stopped short at the proper- 
 ties of other rich persons." 
 
 These complaints are the last despairing 
 cry of the decaying Roman peasantry. And 
 things were no better with the urban prole- 
 tariat. The overseas expansion of Rome 
 inflicted irreparable damage upon the Roman 
 and Italian industrial workers. 
 
 The expropriation of the peasantry and 
 overseas expansion are also the characteristic 
 features of the beginning of the modern times 
 of Western Europe. Why was the outcome 
 of the two processes so different ? In Rome 
 it was followed by decay. In Christian 
 Europe it was followed by economic and 
 political prosperity. 
 
 In Western Europe the expropriated peasant
 
 ROMAN SOCIAL CRITICS 171 
 
 wandered to the towns, and found employ- 
 ment in industry and manufactures. The 
 overseas conquests supphed raw material. 
 The manufactured goods found a sale in the 
 growing demand and the expanding market. 
 In Rome the expropriated peasant wandered 
 to the town, and found the superior competi- 
 tion of slaves. The overseas conquests were 
 countries upon a higher level of civilisation 
 than Rome. Asia Minor and Egypt were 
 masters of industrial processes and products 
 which the free Romans did not possess, and 
 could not create. Just as the Greeks intel- 
 lectually defeated their victors, so Asia Minor 
 and Egypt proved themselves to be far 
 superior to the Romans as producers. Rome 
 became the market for the provinces. Its 
 impoverished masses were obliged to live 
 either by State doles or private benevolence, 
 or to return to the land as small holders upon 
 such conditions as the large landlords imposed 
 on them. 
 
 Christian Europe pushed its way through 
 from the Renaissance to the modern era, 
 developed technology, enriched its sources 
 of material aid, and completed the economic 
 revolution. Rome, however, retrograded; it
 
 172 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 created feudal conditions and forced the small 
 tenants to become bondsmen. This was the 
 so-called colonate, which struck root every- 
 where after the first century of the Imperial 
 epoch. 
 
 It goes without saying that the whole of 
 this Roman retrogression exposed the urban 
 proletariat to privation, poverty and ruin. 
 The discontent and the rebellious sentiments 
 which had inspired all those who were dis- 
 possessed and heavily in debt, and proletarian 
 existences generally at the time of Spartacus 
 and Catiline, were bound, under such cir- 
 cumstances, to be considerably heightened. 
 
 Why is it, however, that we do not hear of 
 any communistic movements on the part of 
 the Roman proletariat ? Before we answer 
 this very important question we will digress 
 for a while among the Roman writers who 
 could not avoid giving expression here and 
 there to critical social sentiments. 
 
 2. Longings for Simplicity, Freedom and 
 Harmony. 
 
 As in Hellas, in times of sharp social 
 divisions ai.^ proletarian movements, so the 
 Latin poets and thinkers also glance back at
 
 ROMAN SOCIAL CRITICS 173 
 
 that period of primitive communism when 
 men had Hved in simpHcity, in freedom and 
 harmony. These poets either glorified or 
 longed for the return of the Golden Age, which 
 is equivalent to pronouncing a condemnation 
 of the age of private property, violence, trade 
 speculation, and war at home and abroad. 
 
 Sallust, in his Catiline, sighed regretfully 
 for the time when the life of man was yet 
 free from covetousness, and man contented 
 himself with his own. Virgil is more pointed 
 in his Georgics (I. 125-28), where he extols 
 the time when Saturn still reigned (and not 
 Jupiter, the god of the iron age, which 
 brought so much trouble and pain) : 
 
 " Before the rule of Jove no tillers used to 
 subdue the fields. It was impious then e'en 
 to mark the field or distinguish it by bounds. 
 Men's gains were for the common stock; of 
 her own free-will more readily the earth did 
 all things bear when none solicited her 
 gifts." 
 
 Here Virgil puts forward the idea that in the 
 time of primitive communism the soil of the 
 earth was much more fertile, and showered 
 its gifts on mankind without effort. This 
 notion corresponds to the Biblical account of
 
 174 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 Paradise. Only after the fall from grace did 
 the earth bear thorns and thistles. In Virgil 
 the hope persisted indestructible that the 
 Golden Age, the reign of Saturn, would soon 
 return, and bring back to mankind the 
 blessings of that primitive period (Bucolics, 
 Eclogue 4) : 
 
 " The mighty line of cycles begins its round 
 anew. Now too the maiden Astraea ^ returns, 
 the reign of Saturn returns. Now a new 
 generation of men is sent down from the 
 height of heaven. Only be thou gracious to 
 the birth of the child,^ beneath whom the 
 iron brood shall first begin to quail, and the 
 golden race to arise in all the world." 
 
 And Horace sings of the simplicity of the 
 
 ^ The maiden Astraea is the goddess of righteousness, 
 but, according to Roman ideas, had left the earth in 
 the iron age. When this goddess returns, it would 
 signify the beginning of a new age of righteousness, or 
 the Golden Age. 
 
 2 By child Virgil here means the child of his pro- 
 tector and benefactor Pollio, who was Roman Consul. 
 The poem was written about the year 42 B.C. in honour 
 of the said Pollio, whose wife was near her confinement. 
 Catholic theologians perceive in this Eclogue a prophecy 
 relating to Jesus and Mary. In any case, this verse is 
 very remarkable, showing as it does some acquaintance 
 with Jewish Messianic ideas.
 
 ROMAN SOCIAL CRITICS 175 
 
 barbarians and their communism, and con- 
 demns riches (Odes, III. 23) : 
 
 " The Scythians of the plains, 
 More happy are housed in their wandering wains ; 
 More blessed the Getan stout, 
 Who not from acres marked and meted out 
 Reaps his free trees and grain, 
 Pour into the Capitol, 
 Or down the nearest ocean roll, 
 Our jewels, gems and gold attire. 
 Nutriment of loss and miseries untold." 
 
 This yearning after the simple natural life 
 remote from luxury, and the complexities 
 and cares and conflicts of civilisation was 
 widespread in cultured circles in the first 
 century of the Empire. This is the distinct 
 expression of the stoical influence, which is 
 embodied most definitely in Seneca the 
 philosopher (son of the Rhetorician, born 
 4 B.C., died A.D. 65, by his own hand, in 
 consequence of Nero's condemnation to death 
 hanging over him). In his Letters (90) he 
 describes the fascination of the simple natural 
 life, and of primitive communism, and ex- 
 claims : 
 
 " How happy was the primitive age when 
 the bounties of nature lay in common and 
 were used promiscuously. They enjoyed
 
 176 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 all nature in common, which thus gave them 
 secure possession of the public wealth. Why 
 should I not think them the richest of all 
 people among whom there was not to be 
 found one poor man ? 
 
 " But avarice broke in upon a condition 
 so happily ordained, and by its eagerness to 
 lay something away and to turn it to its own 
 private use, made all things the property of 
 others, and reduced itself from boundless 
 wealth to straitened need. It was avarice 
 that introduced poverty and by craving much 
 lost all. And so although she now tries to 
 make good her loss, although she adds one 
 estate to another, evicting a neighbour either 
 by buying him out or by wronging him, 
 although she extends her country estates to 
 the size of provinces and defines ownership as 
 meaning extensive travel through one's own 
 property — in spite of all these efforts of hers no 
 enlargement of our boundaries will bring us 
 back to the condition from which we have 
 departed. It was possible for no man either 
 to surpass another or to fall short of him. 
 What there was was divided among unquar- 
 relling friends. Not yet had the stronger 
 begun to lay hands upon the weaker. Not
 
 ROMAN SOCIAL CRITICS 177 
 
 yet had the miser, by hiding away what lay 
 before him, shut off his neighbour from even 
 the necessities of hfe. Each cared as much 
 for his neighbour as for himself/' 
 
 Seneca was, in fact, one of the most remark- 
 able thinkers that Rome produced. He extols 
 the day of death as the birthday of everlasting 
 life and the peaceful blessedness of beyond. 
 He vigorously recommends benevolence to- 
 wards slaves, and even towards enemies. His 
 mental outlook was in many respects so near 
 to Christianity that many Church Fathers 
 supposed him to have been a friend of St. 
 Paul. This assumption, however, has been 
 proved to be unfounded. Seneca is merely 
 another proof that the later moral teaching 
 of the Stoa tended in the same direction as 
 the Jewish teaching in Palestine, or the 
 Hellenic- Jewish teaching in Alexandria. 
 Collectively they were the outcome of the 
 intellectual, social and political development 
 of the Roman Empire during the last cen- 
 tury of the Republican period and the first 
 century of the Empire. 
 
 The yearning for a harmonious, natural, 
 personally free social order ran parallel with 
 the intellectual search for a higher order of 
 
 M
 
 178 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 ethics and religion. And whenever a beheving 
 world seeks for a noble, humane and pure 
 morality, the result is a spiritualisation of 
 doctrine and of belief in God. We have seen 
 this in the case of the Jewish prophets. As 
 soon as the conviction of a moral world order 
 made headway among them, Jehovah lost 
 his local and physical characteristics and 
 was elevated to the position of universal 
 God of justice and righteousness. The con- 
 cept of Jehovah became more abstract. And 
 this also came to pass on the comprehensive 
 stage of the Roman Empire. The old gods 
 lost their prestige. Cultured Roman men 
 and women turned to the stoical moral 
 philosophy as well as to Oriental cults. 
 Egyptian and Asiatic mysteries exercised a 
 fascination over Roman minds, and Judaism 
 gained many adherents among them. This 
 was already happening in Hellenic circles. 
 The five books of Moses (the Pentateuch) had 
 been translated into Greek in the third 
 century B.C., and were known under the title 
 of the Septuagint. In the catastrophic up- 
 heavals throughout the broad Roman- 
 Hellenic dominions, evoked by the world wars 
 of Pompey and Caesar, as also by the social
 
 ROMAN SOCIAL CRITICS 179 
 
 fissures and internal struggles in the Roman 
 Empire, the nobler spirits were easily sus- 
 ceptible to the new ideas and sentiments 
 which arose, partly from the agitations of the 
 m.asses of the people, and partly from the 
 connection with Greek and Oriental thought. 
 A new intellectual epoch was about to break 
 upon mankind. We mean Christianity. 
 
 It is obvious that the new ideal world did 
 not make the same impression upon the 
 various sections and classes of people in the 
 Roman dominion. Material position, educa- 
 tion, tradition, the political and geographical 
 conditions of the manifold groups of men were 
 too diverse to permit of the exercise of an 
 equal degree and kind of influence. As a 
 whole, however, the effects were of two kinds. 
 The dispossessed and subjugated aimed above 
 all at a just distribution of the goods of the 
 world, at freedom from oppression, dependence 
 and the anxieties of existence. Their funda- 
 mental ideas were social righteousness, the 
 putting down of the proud and the rich, and 
 the setting up of the lowly and poor. Their 
 goal was a communistic revolution. On the 
 other hand, the noble and learned sections, 
 who were influenced by mental motives,
 
 180 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 sought after religious consolation, a new 
 belief and firm metaphysical truths, in order 
 to allay the unrest of their souls and to fill 
 the void in their hearts, which was caused by 
 the dissolution of the old gods; in other 
 words, they desired to gain a new philosophy, 
 a new religion. We have therefore to do 
 with two tendencies : communism and 
 doctrinal truth. The first tendency gradually 
 enveloped the masses, the other embraced 
 the higher and cultured elements. The latter 
 section created the Christian theology, the 
 disputes over dogmas and orthodoxy. Both 
 tendencies were combined in many theological 
 leaders of the masses. 
 
 We do not propose here to deal with religious 
 and ethical dogmas, as we are not writing 
 a history of the origin of Christianity, but 
 a history of socialist thought. Our task is 
 therefore confined to elucidating the com- 
 munistic trend of thought in Christianity, as 
 it was chiefly through this agency that 
 Christianity became the ideology of the 
 proletariat in the Roman Empire. We are 
 now in a position to answer the question 
 thrown out in the preceding chapter — Why 
 the Roman proletariat, with all its struggles
 
 ROMAN SOCIAL CRITICS 181 
 
 and opportunities, did not evolve any com- 
 munistic system of thought. Christianity 
 was the communism of the Roman proletariat. 
 Just as the ruling sections of Rome were 
 incapable of creating their own philosophy 
 and religion, but took over these from the 
 defeated Hellenes, so also the Roman and 
 ItaHan lower classes were not able to create 
 their own proletarian ideology, but received it 
 from the envoys of Jewish-Hellenic circles of 
 culture.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 
 
 I. Pre-Christian Palestine. 
 
 In the last two centuries B.C. the pohtical 
 and moral conditions of the Jews had become 
 immeasurably tragic. After their return 
 from the Babylonian exile, the Jews formed 
 themselves into a religious community. The 
 government was theocratic, but politically 
 Palestine formed an insignificant province, 
 first of the Persian Empire, then of the Mace- 
 donian Empire, and, after the fall of the 
 latter, it became a part of Syria, under the 
 rule of Seleukidians, who gradually effected 
 the Hellenisation of the Jews. But when 
 Antiochus Epiphanes (i68) tried to root out 
 by force the worship of Jehovah, and had 
 made many martyrs, the pious inhabitants 
 of the country rebelled, defeated the Syrian 
 troops, and achieved political independence 
 under Judas Maccabeus. These few years of 
 the deepest humiliation and of wonderful
 
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 183 
 
 salvation strengthened Judaism to an extra- 
 ordinary extent. From this time dates the 
 Book of Daniel, in which the destruction of 
 the Imperialist world empire and the emer- 
 gence of the kingdom of God under the 
 supremacy of the Jews is prophesied : ** And 
 as for the rest of the beasts, their dominion 
 was taken away. And behold, there came 
 with the clouds of heaven one like unto the 
 Son of Man, and he came even to the ancient 
 of days. And the kingdom and the dominion 
 and the greatness of the kingdoms under the 
 whole heaven shall be given to the people 
 of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom 
 is an everlasting possession." 
 
 A kingdom of righteousness is to be estab- 
 lished, under Jewish supremacy, in place of 
 the predatory Imperialist empire. This was 
 the ideal. 
 
 Meanwhile, government was carried on by 
 the Maccabees. Three tendencies manifested 
 themselves among the Jews : the Sadducees, 
 the Pharisees and the Essenes. The Saddu- 
 cees were composed of the priestly nobles 
 and other educated persons, who inclined 
 towards Hellenism, and did not believe in a 
 special Jewish mission. They were the states-
 
 184 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 manlike, practical politicians to whom the 
 idea of a Jewish world dominion appeared 
 impossible and ridiculous. They formed a 
 small minority. The Pharisees comprised 
 the middle classes, which observed strict 
 Jewish legal ordinances : the Jews were to 
 become a holy people, a nation of priests. 
 National and religious sentiments were most 
 closely associated amongst the Pharisees. 
 The third tendency was the Essenean : a 
 small portion of the Jews turned aside, as 
 related above, from all national and State 
 objectives. The Essenes aspired to a morally 
 pure humanity, a real kingdom of God, with- 
 out State or coercion, without laws from the 
 government or the priesthood, and where the 
 sole service rendered would be the voluntary 
 performance of social tasks for the benefit of 
 the community. They held themselves aloof 
 from all party disputes, from all thirst for 
 dominion, and were unperturbed by the 
 quarrels between Sadducees and Pharisees. 
 
 The political independence of Judsea lasted 
 for about a century. The national economic 
 life became vigorous, agriculture flourished, 
 handicrafts and industry were esteemed, 
 and even the Rabbis and scholars regarded
 
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 185 
 
 it as a duty to perform physical labour as the 
 basis of their existence. Thrift, trade, the 
 piety and morality of the lower middle-class 
 were the prevailing sentiments. This con- 
 dition was soon to change. In the year 63 
 Pompey conquered Syria, invaded Palestine, 
 and in the midst of the priestly disputes which 
 were raging in Jerusalem the Roman cohorts 
 stormed the city, and — to the indignation 
 of the Jews — Pompey entered the holy of 
 holies of the Temple. Henceforth the country 
 lost its independence, the Jewish kings 
 became dependent upon Rome, Roman pro- 
 curators levied tribute on the people, who 
 resented the Roman oppression, partly by 
 conspiracies and insurrections, and partly 
 by passive resistance. The old hope of a 
 coming kingdom of God blazed forth with 
 passionate ardour. Have the prophets pro- 
 phesied falsely? Has not Judaism kept the 
 commandments of God in the most trying 
 times? And has the blood of the Jewish 
 martyrs been spilled in vain ? No ! The 
 Messiah, the King anointed by God, must 
 soon appear, and assume world dominion. 
 Popular leaders sprang up, new parties were 
 formed, among which was one with terrorist
 
 186 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 tactics; the national soil was in a state of 
 upheaval. Nor was this all. The nation 
 was split socially. The sentiments which 
 prevailed at that time are indicated in the 
 Gospel of Luke, where Mary, the mother of 
 Jesus, on the discovery of her pregnancy, 
 praises God and says of him : " He has 
 scattered the proud. He hath put down the 
 mighty from their seats and hath exalted 
 them of low degree. The hungry he hath 
 filled with good things, and the rich he hath 
 sent empty away " (i. 51-53). 
 
 Internally and externally Judaea was a 
 seething furnace in which the most sublime 
 national and social passions blazed. As was 
 so often the case in Jewish history, when heavy 
 oppressions weighed upon the people, or 
 when world-shaking political events were 
 happening, the feeling spread among the Jews : 
 the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God 
 is at hand ; the arrival of the Messiah cannot 
 be far off. 
 
 2. Jesus. 
 
 " Not by might nor by power, but by my 
 spirit " (Zech. iv. 6).
 
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 187 
 
 In this overheated atmosphere Jesus 
 appeared. 
 
 He was born in a handworker's family in 
 Nazareth, in North Palestine, attended a 
 Jewish school in that village, listened to the 
 speeches in the Synagogue, made a pilgrimage 
 each year to Jerusalem to the Feast of the 
 Passover, Jerusalem being the centre of the 
 intense mental life of the Jews. 
 
 The bent of his mind was soon apparent. 
 Even as a youth he was in the thick of the 
 fierce strivings of his people. He was fond 
 of Isaiah, and read the wonderful passage, 
 " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Because 
 he hath anointed me to preach the gospel 
 to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the 
 broken-hearted, to proclaim release to the 
 captive, and recovering of sight to the blind, 
 to set at liberty them that are bruised, to 
 preach the acceptable year of the Lord " 
 (Luke iv. 17-20). 
 
 Such was the prologue. It summarised 
 the life of Jesus. He soon attracted the 
 attention of his fellows. Nobody could be 
 indifferent to his personality. His inter- 
 vention was challenging. Many perceived 
 in him one of the future leaders in the libera-
 
 188 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 tion struggle against the Romans, and en- 
 deavoured to gain his support for one of the 
 rebelHons in course of preparation. For what 
 other purpose had God endowed him with 
 such great gifts? And what object could be 
 more exalted than to free his sorely oppressed 
 people ? 
 
 At first Jesus seems to have been not 
 immune from this temptation. The national 
 passions burned fiercely and inflamed so 
 many pure-minded men for the liberation 
 struggle against Rome. Why not him too? 
 From this short period of solidarity with 
 his people the saying probably dates, " I 
 come not to bring peace, but a sword," as it is 
 quite incongruous with the later period in 
 which it is placed by the Gospel of Matthew 
 (x. 34). Gradually Jesus attained to quite 
 a different way of thinking. Not by the 
 sword, not by force, but by spiritual and 
 peaceful means, by sacrifice and inward 
 purification will Judaea, as well as Rome, be 
 redeemed from evil. Temporal power fails 
 and must always fail. Temporal power 
 derives from the principle of evil. 
 
 The whole plan of insurrection then appeared 
 to him as a temptation of Satan. Forty
 
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 189 
 
 days and forty nights he wrestled with it in 
 the wilderness. And if we should defeat 
 the Romans and win their empire and their 
 glory? What then? Would mankind be 
 any the better, to receive in exchange for it 
 an empire of Pharisees, of human ordinances 
 and priestly regulations? No. "It is 
 written, Thou shalt worship God and serve 
 him alone." And what the will of God is 
 has been proclaimed to mankind by the 
 prophets. 
 
 Social righteousness and the redemption 
 of the poor, contempt and condemnation of 
 riches, abolition of all coercive rule, love 
 to all men, a humanity which bears the king- 
 dom of God within it, in the life of its soul 
 — such is the secret of the kingdom of God. 
 
 And all the revolutionaries and nationalists 
 forsook him. But the simple people flocked 
 around him. He gained supporters and 
 disciples. As the multitude assembled about 
 him he ascended a mountain and spoke : 
 
 " Blessed are the poor, they that mourn, 
 the meek, the merciful and the peacemakers, 
 they which are persecuted for righteousness' 
 sake. Blessed are they that resist not evil, 
 but return good for evil. Blessed are they
 
 190 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 which do not have Courts of Justice, and know 
 not penal laws, but love their enemies, and 
 pray for their persecutors. For all men have 
 but one Father, who is in heaven. May his 
 kingdom come, his will be done. For his is 
 the kingdom, the power and the glory for 
 ever." 
 
 Jesus said to his well-tried comrades : 
 political struggles, revolutionary insurrections, 
 national wars, murder and sudden death, 
 legal reforms and national autonomy will 
 not help you to realise the ideal of the old 
 prophecies. The kingdom of God is not of 
 this world — it does not mean the domination 
 and power of the Jews over all peoples, of 
 amassing more wealth than other nations, 
 nor does it mean observing the Temple service, 
 or the Synagogue ceremonies, priestly purifi- 
 cation and juridical ordinances, nor the 
 keeping alive of patriotic interests and holding 
 aloft national colours. All these things are 
 ephemeral. The kingdom of God rather 
 means : regeneration of the whole of life 
 on the l>asis of infinite love of humanity — 
 loving-kindness towards all who are weak 
 and errant, endless compassion upon all men, 
 the melting of all class differences, labour in
 
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 191 
 
 common for all. This alone will be enduring, 
 and redeem mankind from evil. This is the 
 kingdom of God. 
 
 Jesus was the spiritual quintessence of 
 the prophetical development, as we have out- 
 lined it in Chapter I. sections 2 and 3. His 
 influence was avowedly anti-national and, 
 in the opinion of the Jewish authorities, also 
 anti-religious. His propaganda was com- 
 munist. It was the later stoical ethics, 
 purified, enriched and deepened by the results 
 of the intense religious culture of Exilic 
 and post-Exilic Judaism. No Hellene ever 
 had the consciousness of sin, and the feeling 
 of holiness, of fear of God and joy in God 
 to the same extent as the Jews in the time 
 of Jesus. 
 
 It was this feeling which enabled the Jews 
 to rebel against the Roman tyranny, and to 
 carry on for years a heroic struggle with 
 prodigal sacrifices. But Jesus went beyond 
 Judaism. He broke through national bound- 
 aries, and destroyed the traditional religious 
 structure, which had been erected with so 
 much suffering and anguish of heart by the 
 great Masters. He was a revolutionary, 
 although a peaceful one, but his peacefulness
 
 192 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 was surprisingly revolutionary. Perhaps the 
 Jews would have forgiven him everything if 
 he had used his popularity to further the 
 national revolt against Rome. They begged 
 for the life of Barabbas, who was to have 
 been crucified on account of insurrection 
 against the Roman domination (Mark xv. 
 7). But Jesus and his disciples were already 
 so remote from Jewish life that the evangelist 
 Mark described the national-patriotic deed 
 of Barabbas as a murder. From the point 
 of view of religion, politics and social arrange- 
 ments, Jesus stood outside the pale of Jewish 
 and Roman civilisation, and had to be con- 
 demned and hung on the cross. 
 
 3. Communism in the Primitive Communities. 
 
 There was not one among the immediate 
 disciples of Jesus who had distinguished 
 himself by his personality or knowledge, 
 or was in a position to continue the work of 
 the Master on the same lines. The manner 
 in which the authors of the Gospels relate 
 so much that is secondary or legendary in 
 the life of their hero, and enclose the ever- 
 lasting kernel of his spirit in worthless husks,
 
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 193 
 
 is sufficient proof that they did not compre- 
 hend Jesus. The period in which he exerted 
 his decisive influence and himself became 
 conscious of his mission was also too short 
 to permit of training worthy successors. 
 These circumstances, some years later, pro- 
 vided Paul with the opportunity of assuming 
 the role of organiser of Christianity. Paul 
 was a stranger to the Jewish-proletarian 
 thoughts and sentiments. He was a Pharisee 
 and man of learning, whose conscience was 
 extremely troubled by the impossibility of 
 fulfilling the accumulating laws and prescrip- 
 tions. The seventh chapter of his Epistle 
 to the Romans gives us a profound insight 
 into the conflicts which raged in his mind 
 over the substance and influence of the Jewish 
 laws. It is not impossible that in this he 
 was also influenced by Stoical and Gnostic 
 interpretations of the laws as expressing 
 the corruptibility of man fallen from the 
 primeval state. Nevertheless, Paul assimi- 
 lated the teaching of Jesus, so far as it could 
 be assimilated by the intellect and con- 
 science of a learned man. His whole 
 personality and education constrained him 
 to impart a dogmatic bias to this teaching.
 
 194 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 His strong personality, marked by holiness, 
 overflowing love of humanity, and boundless 
 doctrinal ardour, forced the proletarian and 
 communist elements into the background. 
 These elements fought against St. Paul for 
 a sufficiently long time, but his strength of 
 will and self-sacrificing propaganda assured 
 him the victory. The new doctrine triumphed 
 over the communist practice. It was his 
 great other-worldliness, the complete detach- 
 ment of St. Paul from the material interests 
 of life, which rendered it easy for him so to 
 despise the institutions of this world that to 
 maintain opposition against them was not 
 worth the trouble. The main point was the 
 salvation of the soul, which was assured by 
 belief in Jesus. As long as there was an 
 opportunity to keep alive this belief, it was a 
 matter of indifference who exercised temporal 
 power, or how it was exercised. 
 
 In the years which immediately followed 
 the martyrdom of Jesus the first communities, 
 which were almost exclusively composed 
 of Jewish proletarians, were conducted either 
 on a communistic basis, or in the spirit of 
 the communistic ideal. They were proud of 
 their poverty, they were the " Ebionites,"
 
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 195 
 
 the poor and needy, the trustees of social 
 righteousness. " Ye cannot serve God and 
 Mammon," declared Jesus to the disciples, 
 in his plain and decisive manner. And as they 
 desired to serve God, they turned their backs 
 on Mammon. The primitive communities 
 either lived on communistic principles, or 
 aspired to the communist mode of living. 
 " And all that believed were together, and 
 had all things common; and they sold their 
 possessions and goods, and parted them 
 to all, according as every man had need " 
 (Acts of the Apostles, h. 44, 45). " And the 
 multitude of them that beheved were of one 
 heart and of one soul, and not one of them 
 said that aught of the things which he pos- 
 sessed was his own; but they had all things 
 common (Ihid. iv. 32). Riches were con- 
 sidered a disgrace, and poverty bore an 
 almost holy character. All were convinced 
 that the service of Mammon, the thirst for 
 wealth and riches, was inevitably bound up 
 with sin, whilst poverty signified a renuncia- 
 tion of worldly pleasures and temporal power. 
 The increase in the number of Christians, 
 the diffusion of the communities, the ascend- 
 ancy of the Pauline propaganda and conception
 
 196 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 of Christianity weakened communism, which 
 was supplanted by generous almsgiving and 
 a benevolent provision for the poor brothers 
 and sisters. Gradually, however, class differ- 
 ences made their appearance in Christendom ; 
 among the Christians there were rich and poor, 
 employers and workers, and the old brother- 
 liness disappeared. The class antagonism 
 found its theoretical expression in the struggle 
 between " faith " and " works." This con- 
 flict is reflected in the Epistle of James, 
 the author of which contrasted the doctrines 
 of Jesus with those of Paul : " What doth it 
 profit if a man say he hath faith, but have not 
 works? can that faith save him? " The 
 Epistle of James describes the pride of the 
 rich in their belief, their claim to special 
 honour in the Christian assemblies, their 
 hypocrisy towards their poor fellow-believers, 
 and declares : "So faith apart from works 
 is dead." He reminds the rich that God 
 chose the poor, who are still exploited by the 
 rich, and dragged before the judges. There- 
 fore, exclaims the author, "Go to now, ye 
 rich men, weep and howl for your miseries 
 that are coming upon you. Your riches 
 are corrupted, and your garments are moth-
 
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 197 
 
 eaten. Your gold and your silver are rusted. 
 Ye have heaped treasure together in the last 
 days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who 
 have mowed your fields which is of you kept 
 back by fraud crieth out, and the cries of them 
 that have reaped have entered into the ears 
 of the Lord " (James v. 1-4). 
 
 The complaints in the Epistle of James 
 need not, however, be generalised. In the 
 first three centuries after Christ the commun- 
 istic spirit was still strong in Christian com- 
 munities. Even if passive obedience was 
 rendered to the laws and institutions of the 
 Roman Empire, the majority of Christians 
 were not at all disposed to recognise them as 
 being just. The Greek and Latin Fathers 
 of the Church strictly adhered, at least in 
 theory, to the anti-governmental and com- 
 munistic doctrines; they condemned private 
 property, and the claims of the State to 
 power, military service and patriotism. 
 
 4. The Spirit of Christianity and of the 
 Patristics. 
 
 The third and fourth centuries of the youth 
 of Christianity and the influence of the Greek
 
 198 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 and Latin Church Fathers bequeathed to 
 the middle ages a social tradition which 
 was hostile to the dominion of Mammon 
 and the supremacy of private economic, 
 worldly and State interests, and favoured the 
 ascetic and communistic modes of life. More 
 especially was it the accounts given by 
 " Acts " of the primitive community at 
 Jerusalem which kept alive the longing for 
 a communal life in the breasts of the nobler 
 members of the new religion. Everything 
 which Ernest Renan has written about the 
 Apostolic age is excellent, from a psycho- 
 logical point of view, and reveals deep insight 
 into the Judaic-Christian world : 
 
 " All, then, lived in common, having but 
 one heart and one soul. No one possessed 
 aught that was his own. In becoming a 
 disciple of Jesus a man sold all he had and 
 gave the proceeds to the society. The con- 
 cord was perfect; there was no quarrel over 
 dogma, no dispute about precedence. The 
 tender memory of Jesus effaced all dissensions. 
 Joy was in all hearts, keen and profound. 
 (No literature has so often repeated the word 
 * love ' as the New Testament.) The morality 
 was austere. They grouped themselves by
 
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 199 
 
 households to pray and give themselves 
 up to the ecstatic exercises. The recollection 
 of these first two or three years lingered as 
 that of an earthly paradise, which Christianity 
 was thenceforth to pursue in all its dreams, 
 and was vainly to seek to recover " (Ernest 
 Renan, The Apostles). 
 
 Just as the Golden Age formed the ideal of 
 the ancient poets and thinkers, so the primi- 
 tive community of Jerusalem was the model 
 for the Church Fathers and all earnest 
 Christians. In the course of the first cen- 
 tury this ideal became transfused with the 
 millennial expectations, as well as with the 
 most valuable results of Hellenic-Roman 
 thought ; the communistic, religio-ethical and 
 natural rights doctrines of Plato, of the Stoa 
 and neo-Platonists, which collectively were 
 idealist, that is, they regarded the idea, the 
 spiritual, the godly, as the primary supreme 
 power in human life, to which the latter must 
 subordinate itself ; the ideal was the real and 
 typical. 
 
 The Church Fathers — Barnabas (in the 
 first third of the second century), Justin the 
 Martyr (about the middle of the second 
 century), Clement of Alexandria (in the last
 
 200 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 quarter of the second and first quarter of the 
 third century), his successor Origen (died 254), 
 Tertullian (contemporary of Clement of Alex- 
 andria, flourished in North Africa), his 
 successor Cyprian (contemporary of Origen), 
 Lactantius (flourished at the beginning of 
 the fourth century in North Africa, Asia 
 Minor and Trier), Basilius of Caesarea (died 
 379), John Chrysostom (Bishop of Constanti- 
 nople, died 407), Ambrosius (Bishop of 
 Mailand, died 397), Augustine (354-430, 
 Bishop of Hippo, North Africa) were the 
 custodians of this religious, ethical and 
 philosophical knowledge, and all of them 
 were partly hostile to Mammon, and partly 
 inclined towards communism, or at least in 
 theory they regarded the communistic way 
 of living as virtuous, and as the ideal of a 
 Christian. 
 
 Barnabas, who was nearest to the Apostolic 
 age, exhorted, in the Epistle to the Christians, 
 which is ascribed to him, " to communicate 
 in all things with thy neighbour ; thou shalt 
 not call things thine own; for if ye are 
 partakers in common of things that are 
 incorruptible, how much more should ye be 
 of those things which are perishable."
 
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 201 
 
 Justin the Martyr appealed to the Gospels 
 (Matthew v. 42, 45; vi. 19, 20, 25, 31; 
 Mark viii. 36; Luke vi. 34; ix. 25; xii. 22, 
 31, 34), and declared in his Apology (I. 14, 
 15), " We who loved the path to riches and 
 possessions above any other now produce 
 what we have in common, and give to every- 
 one who needs." Clement of Alexandria, 
 who was influenced most strongly by Stoic 
 ideas, declared : " Let it then be granted that 
 good things are the property only of good 
 men, and Christians are good. Accordingly 
 good things are possessed by Christians alone. 
 But what is possession? It is not he who 
 has and keeps it, but he who gives away, he 
 is rich " (Pcedag. III. 6). He is also respon- 
 sible for the saying, " Lust of money is the 
 citadel of sin." In these opinions he was 
 followed by Origen. 
 
 Tertulhan, although the son of a Roman 
 captain in Carthage, was an implacable 
 opponent of the Roman Imperial power, and 
 considered it to be incompatible with the 
 duties of a Christian to occupy any position 
 in a heathen State : " There is no agreement 
 between the divine and the human sacrament, 
 the standard of Christ and the standard of
 
 202 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 the devil, the camp of hght and the camp of 
 darkness " (Idolatry, chap. 19). He was also 
 neither patriotic nor statesmanlike. In the 
 year 197 he wrote : " But as those in whom 
 all ardour in the pursuit of glory and honour 
 is dead, we have no pressing inducement to 
 take part in your public meetings, nor is 
 there aught more entirely foreign to us than 
 politics. We acknowledge one all-embracing 
 commonwealth — the world" (Apology, chap. 
 38). In the same work, which consists of a 
 defence of the Christians against the heathen 
 Romans, he also says : " Only those are good 
 brothers who are good men. But on this 
 very account perhaps we are regarded as 
 having less claim to be held true brothers 
 that no tragedy makes a noise about our 
 brotherhood, or that the family possessions 
 which generally divide brotherhood among 
 you create fraternal bonds among us. One in 
 mind and soul, we do not hesitate to share 
 our earthly goods with one another. All 
 things are common among us but our wives." 
 Cyprian becomes enthusiastic in his descrip- 
 tion of the primitive Jerusalem community, 
 and says : " All that comes from God is for 
 our common enjoyment, and from His benefits
 
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 203 
 
 and gifts none is excluded, so that the whole 
 human race may share equally in God's 
 munificence. . . . For whatsoever is of God 
 is in our using common, nor is any man shut 
 out from His bounties and gifts, to the end 
 the whole human race may equally enjoy 
 God's goodness and bounty. In which 
 example of equality the earthly possessor 
 who shares his gains and his fruits with the 
 brotherhood, free and just in his voluntary 
 bounties, is imitator of God the Father." 
 
 Cyprian vigorously declaims against the 
 attachment to property : " You are captive 
 and slave of your money. You are fast in 
 the chains and bonds of covetousness ; whom 
 Christ had once loosened, again you are 
 become bound." 
 
 Lactantius was powerfully influenced by 
 Plato's Republic, and considered economic 
 communism to be possible, if its disciples 
 revered God as the source of wisdom and 
 rehgion. But he was decisively against com- 
 munity in women. Like Plato, Lactantius 
 would also like to see the present age revert 
 to the happy conditions of the primeval 
 time, that age of Saturn, when righteousness 
 still dwelt here below, when the earth was
 
 204 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 yet the common possession of all, and all 
 lived a common life (Epitome, 35 to 38). 
 
 Basilius the Great (of Csesarea) complains 
 in his Homilies : " Nothing withstands the 
 power of wealth, and everything bows before 
 its tyranny. . . . Are ye not thieves and 
 robbers? The bread thou hast belongs to 
 the hungry, the mantle thou wearest belongs 
 to the ill-clad, the shoes thou hast on belong 
 to the unshod, the silver thou hast heaped up 
 belongs to the needy. Thou doest injury to 
 as many men as thou couldst give to." His 
 fight against wealth did not remain a negative 
 criticism. Basil advocated common owner- 
 ship : " We who are gifted with reason show 
 ourselves to be more cruel than the irrational 
 animals. The latter make use of the natural 
 products of the earth as common things. 
 The herds of sheep feed on one and the same 
 pasture. Horses browse all together on one 
 and the same meadow. But we make things 
 to be our own which are common, and possess 
 all that belongs to the community." Finally, 
 Basil recommended living according to the 
 Lycurgian laws : " Let us imitate the Hel- 
 lenes and their mode of living, which was full 
 of humanity. There are people among them
 
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 205 
 
 with the excellent habit of all citizens 
 assembling in one building around a table 
 for meals in common." 
 
 Gregory Nazianzen writes quite in sym- 
 pathy with the communistic and natural 
 rights tendencies of the Church teaching of 
 his time. Freedom and serfdom, poverty 
 and riches are a reversion from the primitive 
 condition, and the consequence of greed, 
 envy, discords, and sin. " But thou, O 
 Christ, lookest upon the original freedom, 
 and not upon the subsequent separation, 
 supportest with all thy strength Nature, 
 honourest the original freedom, and consolest 
 poverty." 
 
 Chrysostom recommends communistic ex- 
 periments, and recalls the primitive com- 
 munity of Jerusalem : " For they did not give 
 in part and in part reserve, nor yet in giving 
 all gave it as their own, and they lived more- 
 over in great abundance. They removed all 
 inequality from among them, and made a 
 goodly order. But to show that it is the 
 living separately that is expensive and causes 
 poverty, let there be a house in which are 
 contained children and the wife and the man. 
 Let the one work at her wool, the other bring
 
 206 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 his earnings from his outdoor occupation. 
 Now tell me in which way would these spend 
 most, by taking their meals together and 
 occupying one house, or by living separately ? 
 Of course, by living separately, for if the ten 
 children must live apart they would need ten 
 several rooms, ten tables, ten attendants, 
 and the income otherwise in proportion. 
 Is it not for this very reason that where there 
 is a great number of slaves they have all one 
 table, that the expense may not be so great ? 
 For so it is division always makes diminution, 
 concord and agreement make increase. The 
 dwellers in the monasteries live just as the 
 faithful did. Now did ever any of these die 
 cf hunger? Now it seems people are more 
 afraid of this than of falling into a boundless 
 and bottomless deep. But if we did make 
 actual trial of this, then indeed we boldly 
 venture upon this plan." So spoke Chry- 
 sostom in a sermon delivered in Constantinople 
 in the year 400. 
 
 Ambrose held private property to be sinful ; 
 it was first called into existence by sin. He 
 defends the stoical principle : " Nature pro- 
 vides everything for all to have in common. 
 God has, in fact, created all things, so that
 
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 207 
 
 enjoyment may be common to all and the 
 earth may be the common possession of all. 
 Nature therefore creates the right to com- 
 munism, but coercion makes of it the right 
 to private property." ** Our Lord God has 
 willed that this earth should be the common 
 possession of all mankind, and its produce to 
 be shared by all, but covetousness has divided 
 up this right of possession " (De Nabuthe, 
 I, 2; Expositio in Lucam, xii. 15, 22, 23). 
 
 Even Augustine, the disciple of Ambrose, 
 was inclined to communism in theory : 
 " Consider this, beloved, that on account of 
 private possessions exist lawsuits, enmities, 
 discords, wars among men, riotous dissensions 
 against one another, offences, sins, iniquities, 
 murders. On account of what ? On account 
 of what we each possess. Let us therefore, 
 brethren, abstain from the possession of 
 private property or from the love of it if we 
 may not from its possession " (Commentary 
 to Psalm cxxxi.) . Augustine declares further : 
 " For we have many superfluities if we keep 
 nothing but what is necessary. Find out 
 how much he hath given thee, and take of 
 that what is enough. All other things which 
 remain as superfluities are the necessaries of
 
 208 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 others. The superfluities of the rich are the 
 necessaries of the poor. Seek what is enough 
 for God's sake, not what is sufficient for your 
 greediness " (Commentary to Psalm cxlvii. 12). 
 This was merely theory, which was made 
 use of in preaching. In the same century 
 (the fourth to the fifth) as Ambrose and 
 Augustine gave expression to these thoughts, 
 the landworkers in North Africa were engaged 
 in a struggle for common ownership, or, at 
 least, equality of possession, and for freedom 
 and equality. This rural labour movement 
 against the large landowners was known by 
 the name of the Circumcellion, and threw in 
 its lot with the Donatist movement, which 
 was originally a purely religious or reformist 
 tendency within the Church, led by Bishop 
 Donatia, and named after him. The Dona- 
 tists chiefly directed themselves against the 
 abuses in the Church hierarchy (priestly 
 domination), and pursued such objects as 
 Church reforms. They were joined by the 
 rural proletarians, who were held in subjection 
 by the big landlords. The Circumcellionists 
 even resorted to force. Church and State, 
 dogmatic erudition and Roman exploiters 
 united and finally defeated the agricultural
 
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 209 
 
 proletarians. St. Augustine wrote (411) against 
 the Donatists and Circumcellionists, arguing 
 that the just only had a right to property, 
 whereas the Donatists and Circumcellionists 
 could not have this right, as they had turned 
 against civil and ecclesiastical authority. 
 
 It was not any kind of theory which caused 
 Augustine to direct his spiritual arms against 
 the rural proletariat of North Africa striving 
 after economic equality. He was familiar 
 with the Hellenic-Roman natural rights, as 
 well as with the spirit of primitive Christianity 
 and the Gnosis. He was one of the most 
 learned bishops of the Catholic Church. But 
 communism, or even economic equality, did 
 not form a part of the official dogmas of the 
 Church. And what was officially recognised 
 did not have its origin in theory, but in 
 practical policy, which was usually deter- 
 mined by real or supposed class interests. 
 We perceive here the tragical conflict between 
 theory and practice, between the spiritual 
 ideal and material life. 
 
 This tragical conflict cuts athwart the whole 
 history of religion, of ethics and ol communism. 
 It is evidence of the imperfection of human 
 nature, or of a dualism of forces which struggle
 
 210 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 with each other. It constitutes the pecuHar 
 problem of the reUgious, philosophical and 
 communist thought of late antiquity, of the 
 middle ages, and of modern Socialism. The 
 Stoa conceived the origin of this conflict to 
 lie in the ascendancy of private property 
 and of civilisation; in the abandonment of 
 the primitive communistic state. Christian 
 theology ascribed it to the fall from grace. 
 The later Gnosis explained it by the existence 
 of two elemental antagonistic forces : good and 
 evil, light and darkness. Utopian Socialism 
 saw its cause in the irrational and defective 
 organisation of society. Marxism regards it 
 as the product of an economic development, 
 which will disappear as soon as society attains 
 to the level of economic and spiritual com- 
 munism. 
 
 5. The Millennium — Communistic Kingdom 
 of God. 
 
 During the first three centuries the belief 
 was almost universal among the Christians 
 that Jesus would soon return, and establish a 
 kingdom of God on earth, in which he would 
 reign as king. This was imagined to be the
 
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 211 
 
 return of the golden age of primitive com- 
 munism, in which complete equality would 
 prevail, and in which Nature, freed from the 
 blight of the fall from grace, or from the harsh 
 dominion of Jupiter, would again bring forth 
 her gifts, without effort and in wonderful 
 abundance. The sources of this belief are 
 easily discovered by those who have atten- 
 tively read our previous chapters ; the Jewish 
 prophets, Hesiod, Virgil. The old prophets 
 prophesied that the Jews, purified by suffer- 
 ing, oppression and atonement, would be 
 called to world dominion, under the direction 
 of Jahweh, and this world dominion would 
 establish social righteousness, eternal peace 
 in history and nature, and joyful life for all. 
 An application of this belief to the Christians 
 is made by the Revelation (Apocalypse) of 
 John (chap. xx. i-6), which was written after 
 the persecution of the Christians by Nero. 
 It is stated there that God will chain up the 
 devil (worldly power) for a period of a thou- 
 sand years, and cast him into the pit, when 
 the Martyrs will rise again, and with Christ 
 will govern this thousand years' kingdom. 
 This kingdom of God is therefore called the 
 thousand years' kingdom, the Millennium, and
 
 212 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 belief in it is called Chiliasm [chilioi is Greek 
 for thousand) . The Hellenic and Roman Chris- 
 tians identified Chiliasm with the return of 
 the Golden Age, as described by Hesiod and 
 Virgil. It is thus not surprising that the 
 kingdom of God was conceived as a time of 
 great material and spiritual joy, as a com- 
 pletely communistic state, in which the 
 Christians, sinless like the first men, would 
 be rewarded for all their suffering and persecu- 
 tions. The masses clung to this belief with 
 great tenacity, and, in their imagination, were 
 not likely to fail to endow the coming mil- 
 lennial kingdom with every excellence. Even 
 so eminent a Father of the Church as Irenaeus 
 (Bishop of Lyons towards the end of the second 
 century) and Lactantius (beginning of the 
 fourth century) regarded the fantastic de- 
 scriptions of the kingdom of God as doctrinal 
 truths. Special pleasure was taken in describ- 
 ing the effortless increase in the production 
 of the earth. 
 
 Gradually the Chiliastic belief became 
 weaker, and likewise the theologians were at 
 pains to explain away the communistic spirit 
 of the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles by 
 interpretations. In the fourth century Chris-
 
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 213 
 
 tianity became a buttress of the State. Com- 
 munism fled to the cloisters and to the heretics, 
 but the communistic and Chihastic aspira- 
 tions revived with every rebeUion during the 
 middle ages and the modern times, especially 
 with the Anabaptists and in the English 
 Revolution. Christianity, however, was the 
 sole vital organisation of the Empire. In the 
 third century the Roman Emperors became 
 distinctly aware of its power, but they did 
 not know of its internal transformation from 
 a social revolutionary movement to a con- 
 servative force. Once more they instituted 
 extensive persecutions of the Christians. Soon 
 after they abandoned those futile tactics and 
 conceded to Christianity a status equal with 
 that of other religions (313) . Towards the end 
 of the fourth century Christianity became the 
 State Church. It triumphed because it had 
 adapted itself to the institution of private 
 property and governmental politics. No longer 
 did it strive after communistic ideals, but it 
 wrangled over dogmas and metaphysical 
 articles of belief. The masses became mute, 
 the theologians became the spokesmen.
 
 214 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 6. Downfall of the Ancient World. 
 
 The retrogression of the Roman Empire 
 proceeded inevitably. The feudahsation of 
 landlordism, the binding of the small tenant 
 to the soil, the organisation of the urban hand- 
 workers in guilds, were partly the cause, and 
 partly the effect of the economic paralysis 
 and retrogression. The depressed condition 
 of the agricultural population was obviously 
 not calculated to attract the town proletarians 
 back to the land. Further, with the increas- 
 ing subjection of the country people there 
 began an emigration to the towns, where, 
 however, relatively few workers could find 
 employment. 
 
 The restriction of production and the 
 diminution of the means of subsistence ex- 
 pressed themselves in a decrease of the popula- 
 tion, and a reduction of the amount of labour 
 power. And this happened at a time when 
 the German tribes, Goths, Allemans, Vandals, 
 Burgundians and Franks, began to press more 
 and more strongly upon the confines of the 
 Empire. The Empire needed soldiers, but 
 the landlords needed workers, and the man- 
 power requirements of both forces could not
 
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 215 
 
 be satisfied, because, as stated, the popula- 
 tion decreased. Large-scale landownership 
 was victorious, and retained the workers. 
 The defence of the Empire became weakened 
 to an increasing extent, so that the Germans, 
 Huns, Avars and other surging tribes event- 
 ually succeeded in overrunning Rome. The 
 soldier Emperor Diocletian made some 
 attempt at re-organisation, on comprehensive 
 and absolutist lines, at the turn of the third 
 century. He transformed the Roman Empire 
 into a Caesarian and military despotism, at- 
 tached the whole population to their callings, 
 in caste fashion, regulated all and everything, 
 but the Empire was suffering from social and 
 economic sickness, and could not be healed. 
 This was the period of the rise of the Christian 
 Church, the period of the death struggle of 
 the Roman world empire. At the end of the 
 fourth century it dissolved into two portions : 
 the Empire of the West and the Empire of the 
 East. The former succumbed to the Germans, 
 and the latter subsisted for some time as the 
 Byzantine Empire.
 
 216 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 7. Causes of the Downfall of the Ancient 
 World. 
 
 In the preceding chapter we have described 
 the last phases of the Roman Empire or the 
 Ancient World. We spoke of the incurable 
 sickness which had fallen upon this Empire. 
 We do not yet know, however, what, in the 
 last resort, was the cause which prepared the 
 end of a political organism once so powerful. 
 Overwhelming hostile forces could indeed 
 destroy a great deal, but the German tribes 
 and the Huns were superior to the Romans 
 neither in numbers nor in organisation. The 
 success of these tribes was finally possible only 
 because Rome was already sick and could not 
 discover within itself the means to social 
 recovery. What then was the real cause 
 which accomplished the downfall of Rome, 
 and, therefore, of the ancient world? 
 
 The cause is to be found solely in the 
 incapacity of Rome to develop the productive 
 forces, to increase production, and to satisfy 
 the material needs of such a great empire. 
 Had Rome remained an agricultural empire, 
 based upon a numerous and independent 
 peasantry, or had it developed a technically
 
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY 217 
 
 progressive industrial life, alongside of the 
 latifundia economy, it would have been in a 
 position to supply the population with the 
 necessary means of life. The result would 
 have been a constantly growing population, 
 which would have been able to furnish suffi- 
 cient troops, technical means and the neces- 
 sary finances to defend the boundaries of the 
 Empire. 
 
 But Rome remained, on the one hand, 
 wedded to relatively primitive modes of pro- 
 duction, and, on the other hand, the latifundia 
 economy made an end of the free peasantry. 
 The consequence was a shrinkage in the oppor- 
 tunities for existence, and therefore a con- 
 stant decrease of the number and strength of 
 the population. The despotism of Diocletian, 
 the regulations of the State and the police, 
 instead of remedying, aggravated this evil, 
 by narrowing still more the already slender 
 basis of life. 
 
 Why, however, did Rome remain attached 
 to primitive modes of production ? Because it 
 was based on unfree labour. 
 
 The material retrogression was the conse- 
 quence of this. Slavery and dependence 
 impressed the stamp of degradation and
 
 218 SOCIAL STRUGGLES IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 dishonour upon productive labour. The best 
 minds and the most gifted artists turned away 
 from productive labour, which they held to 
 be unworthy of a free man. In this state of 
 affairs technical progress was impossible. As 
 soon as the means of existence proved insuffi- 
 cient, the Romans did not seek new labour 
 methods, scientific and mechanical inven- 
 tions, improved tools, etc., but helped them- 
 selves by force, by war, by conquest, and by 
 robbery. Not higher production of labour, 
 but tribute from defeated countries, was the 
 object of Rome. As, however, Rome had 
 conquered and plundered the ancient world, 
 and had squandered the wealth of which it 
 had been despoiled, the material basis of the 
 Empire became so narrow that it could no 
 longer support the superstructure. The im- 
 pact of the undisciplined barbarian peoples 
 which were set in motion sufficed, therefore, 
 to overthrow the last great Empire of the 
 Ancient World.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Agis, King of Sparta, 69; 
 
 Communist martyr, 74 
 Ambrose, Church Father, on 
 
 natural right, 206 
 Amos, Jewish prophet, 29 
 Anacreon, on power of money, 
 
 59 
 
 Antiochus Epiphanus, at- 
 tempts forcible Hellenising 
 of Jews, 182 
 
 Antique world, collapse of, 
 214; causes, 216 
 
 Antiquity and the present 
 time, 15 
 
 Antiquity and modern times, 
 170 
 
 Antiquity, essence and sig- 
 nificance of, 7-1 1 
 
 Apocalypse (Revelation of 
 John), 211 
 
 Appian, Roman historian, 128; 
 on Tiberius Gracchus, 140 
 
 Aristonikos, leader of slave in- 
 surrection, 153 
 
 Aristophanes, Greek comedy 
 writer against Communism 
 and against avarice, 109 
 
 Aristotle, 1 7 ; against Com- 
 munism, 98-103 ; on causes 
 of social necessity, 102 
 
 Augustine, Church Father, on 
 private property, 207 
 
 Baal and Jahweh, 21-27 
 Barabbas, Jewish revolution- 
 ary, 192 
 
 Barnabas, Church Father, on 
 Communism, 200 
 
 Caesar and the Teutons, 10; 
 and social monarchy, 166 
 
 Catiline, 143-149 
 
 Chiliasm, 212 
 
 Christianity and the Prole- 
 tariat in the Roman Empire, 
 i8o 
 
 Chrysostom, Church Father, 
 on Communism, 205 
 
 Church Fathers and Com- 
 munism, 199-208 
 
 Cicero, opponent of Catiline, 
 143; anti-social, 146-147 
 
 Class antagonisms, origin of, 
 13; sharpening of, 14; 
 among the Israelites, 24-40 ; 
 among the Greeks, 54-60; 
 in Sparta, 62 ; in Athens, 
 82; Plato on, 88; Aristotle 
 on, 98; in Rome, 132; 
 Tiberius Gracchus on, 139; 
 Catiline on, 148; Horace 
 on, 168; Seneca the elder 
 on, 169; in Judaea, 182; in 
 primitive Christianity, 196 
 
 Class State, Plato on, 57 
 
 Cleomenes, Spartan King, 74 
 
 Communal meals, 64, 72, 80 
 
 Communist descriptions, 121 
 
 Community of women, 65, 91, 
 113, 122, 202 
 
 Corn supplies and the Roman 
 proletariat, 142 
 
 219
 
 220 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Daniel, book of, 183 
 
 Debts cancellation, 14, 40, 72, 
 
 82, 145 
 Democracy in Athens, 83 ; 
 
 Plato's objection to, 86 
 Demos, significance of, 59 
 Diodorus, Greek historian, 78 
 Draco, Athenian law-giver, 12, 
 
 81 
 
 Ebionites, 194 
 
 Education in Sparta, 64 ; in 
 
 Plato's Ideal State, 92 ; Aris- 
 totle on, 93 
 Egypt, Hellenic, 123; social 
 
 economic conditions, 123 
 Essenes, Jewish Communistic 
 
 sect, 45 ; their mode of 
 
 living, 46-49 
 Ethics, influence on religion, 
 
 179 
 Eupolis, Greek social comedy 
 
 writer, 108 
 Ezekiel, Jewish prophet, 39 
 
 Gladiators, slaves as, 155 
 Golden Age, 11, 19, 54, 107, 
 
 108, 173, 199 
 Gracchi, 139 
 
 Helots in Sparta, 67 
 Hesiod, Greek poet, 54 
 History, divisions of, 7 
 Hosea, Jewish prophet, 31 
 
 Isaiah, Jewish prophet, 38 ; 
 on the social life of Pales- 
 tine, 38 ; on eternal peace, 
 39 
 
 Jahweh, significance of, 21 ; 
 conflict with Baal, 23 ; and 
 Hebrew primitive society, 
 26 ; as universal God, 29 
 
 James, Epistles of, 196; 
 against PauUne doctrines, 
 
 196; against rich Chris- 
 tians, 197 
 
 Jeremiah, Jewish prophet, 35 
 
 Jesus, 186; social atmosphere 
 of his influence, 187; origin, 
 187 ; bent of his mind, 187 ; 
 prologue of his life course, 
 187; early solidarity with 
 his people, 188; change in 
 his world outlook, 188; his 
 life mission, 188; against 
 force, 190 ; for spiritual re- 
 demption of mankind, 190; 
 turns from his people, 192 ; 
 martyrdom, 192 
 
 Josephus, Jewish historian, 45 ; 
 on the Essenes, 45 
 
 Jubilee year, 41 ; Jewish re- 
 form efforts, 41 
 
 Judas Maccabeus, Jewish hero, 
 182 
 
 Labour, despised in antiquity, 
 67 ; cause of downfall c f 
 Rome, 217 
 
 Land, redistribution of, 14, 
 40, 62, 71, 82, 145 
 
 Latifundia in Rome, 138, 167, 
 217 
 
 Love conflicts in Communist 
 society, 114 
 
 Lipara, Communistic settle- 
 ment, 78 
 
 Livy, Roman historian, 129 
 
 Lycurgus, Spartan lawgiver, 
 61 ; establishes Communism 
 in Sparta, 62 ; his consti- 
 tution famous throughout 
 antiquity, 66; defects of 
 Lycurgian constitution, 67 
 
 Malachi, Jewish prophet, 40 
 Mary, the mother of Jesus, 186 
 Messiah, 186 
 
 Micah, Jewish prophet, 32 ; on 
 eternal peace, 32
 
 INDEX 
 
 221 
 
 Modem times, characteristic 
 
 of, 15 
 Monotheism, ethical, 13, 28 
 Moral philosophy, 13 
 Mythology and theology, 12 
 
 Natural rights : theory of 
 Communism, 16; Plato and 
 Aristotle on, 16, 17; essence 
 of natural rights, 17, 18; 
 founded by Zeno, 17 ; propa- 
 gated by Stoics, 17; in- 
 fluence on civilisation, 17; 
 Philo on, 46; Seneca on, 
 169; Church Fathers on, 
 200 
 
 Natural state of peoples : 
 fables of Paradise and 
 Golden Age, 11, 174; Plato 
 on, 16; Virgil and Horace 
 on, 175 
 
 Panchaens, 124 
 
 Patricians and Plebeians, 136 
 
 Paul, Apostle, 193 ; his char- 
 acter, 193 ; organisation of 
 Christianity, 194; on mar- 
 ried life, 49 
 
 Peloponnesian War : social 
 effect on Sparta, 85 ; on 
 Plato, 98 ; on social struggles 
 in Athens, 126 
 
 Phaleas of Chalcedon, Com- 
 munist reformer, 102 
 
 Pharisees, Jewish party, 184 
 
 Phereakrates, social comedy 
 writer in Greece, 106 
 
 Philo, Jewish religious philo- 
 sopher, 45 ; description of 
 Essenes, 46 
 
 Philosopher kings, 91 ; as 
 saviours of the State, 91 ; 
 their education, 92 
 
 Plato, Greek philosopher, 85 ; 
 on natural right, 97 ; on 
 war, 98 ; on class state, 86 ; 
 
 on communal meals, 90; 
 difference between Plato and 
 Lycurgus, 97 ; Aristotle 
 against, 98 
 Plebeians, 130; unrest among, 
 
 131 
 
 Plebiscite, 133 
 
 Pliny on Roman Latifundia, 
 168 
 
 Plutarch on Lycurgus, 62 ; 
 on Tiberius Gracchus, 139; 
 character of Spartacus, 156 
 
 Polybius, Roman historian, 
 128 
 
 Pompey, Roman general, con- 
 quers Palestine, 185 
 
 Poverty and riches, 59 ; Theo- 
 gnis on, 59 
 
 Power, temporal, 50, 190 
 
 Prophets, Hebrew, 27 ; their 
 character, 28 ; universal out- 
 look of, 28 ; creators of 
 social ethics, 29; of Mono- 
 theism, 29 ; of ideal of 
 eternal peace. 39 
 
 Renaissance, 8 
 
 Righteousness, Jewish pro- 
 phets on, 30 
 Romans, character of, 129 
 
 Sadducees, Jewish party, 183 
 Sallust, Roman historian, 129; 
 
 on Catiline conspiracy, 143 
 Seisachteia (throwing-off of 
 
 burdens), 82 
 Seneca, Roman philosopher, 
 
 168; and Apostle Paul, 177 
 Slave insurrections in Roman 
 
 Empire, 149; in Apulia, 
 
 151; in Sicily, 151; in 
 
 Asia Minor, 153 ; under 
 
 Spartacus, 155 
 Social legislation among the 
 
 Jews, 40 
 Solon, Athenian reformer, 82
 
 222 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Spartacus, 155; history of his 
 struggles, 155-165 
 
 Stoic school, 1 7 ; propagates 
 natural right, 17; is Anar- 
 chist-Communist, 
 leader Zeno, 17; 
 on Christianity, 
 Paul, 193 
 
 Sun State, significance of, 154 
 
 19; its 
 influence 
 177; on 
 
 Telekleides, Greek comedy 
 
 writer, 109 
 TertuUian, Church Father, 201 
 Theognis, Greek poet, 58 
 
 Usury in antiquity, 56, 131 
 
 Virgil, Roman poet, 174; on 
 the Golden Age, 174 
 
 War, revolutionary effect of, 
 25 ; Jewish prophets against, 
 
 29 
 Women's Parliament and Com- 
 munism, no 
 
 Zachariah, Jewish prophet, 40 
 Zephaniah, Jewish prophet, 
 36 
 
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