^\ 
 
 t 
 
 REESE LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 DIVERSITY OF CALIFORNL 
 %eceived APR ^^ 1893 ,^^ 
 
 zylccessions Mo, Sci ^ S ^. Class No, 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
 
 in 2007 witii funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 littp://www.arcliive.org/details/aristotleonatlienOOarisricli 
 
ARISTOTLE ON THE ATHENIAN 
 CONSTITUTION. 
 
 vd^?^ 
 
UNIVERSITY 
 

 i -^^ 51^ "^ -^ ^ V r^ ^' SL 
 
 '?:.: 
 
 is*.-.,., ,.,-«„ 
 
 it']' 
 
 tM 
 
 ^s 
 
 O CO 
 
 < ? 
 
 m 
 
ARISTOTLE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 LTHENIAN CONSTITUTION 
 
 TRANSLATED WITH INTRODUCTION 
 AND NOTES 
 
 By F. G. KENYON, M.A. 
 
 Fellow of Magdalen College^ Oxford 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 GEORGE BELL AND SONS, YORK STREET, 
 
 COVENT GARDEN. 
 
 TJNIVEBSITl 
 

 ,roqS 
 
 c^^^-^ 
 
 CHISWICK PRESS .'— C. WHITTINGHAM AND CO., 
 TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LAKE. 
 
(: university) 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 nPHE re-appearance of the Aristotelian trea- 
 •^ tise on the Constitution of Athens has a 
 considerable claim to rank as the most striking 
 event in the history of classical literature for 
 perhaps the last three centuries. It is not that 
 the work itself is equal in importance to many 
 which have long been known ; but, though 
 this may be freely admitted, few would question 
 that it possesses a high intrinsic value, and the 
 manner of its re-appearance has, naturally enough, 
 invested it for the moment with a special interest 
 of its own. After the lapse of a period which' 
 some scholars had reckoned at eighteen cen 
 turies, and which none could place at less than 
 twelve, since it was last seen by mortal eye, it 
 was hardly to be held within the bounds or 
 possibility that this work, well-known though it 
 was to scholars by name, should ever be re- 
 covered in an approximately complete state. 
 
vi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The discovery of lost works of classical antiquity 
 has been the dream of scholars and of lovers of 
 literature ever since the days of the Renaissance, 
 when such discoveries were being made on 
 every side, but it is a dream which, since those 
 days, has been but scantily fulfilled. " The wreck 
 of Herculanean lore," so far from restoring to 
 us a fragment of Pindar or Simonides, has pro- 
 duced nothing but a number of works by an 
 indifferent Epicurean philosopher, with a few by 
 the master of that school himself. The monastic 
 libraries of the East, from which have been un- 
 earthed the inestimable Qij^§x^SmcUMcM^ of the 
 New Testament and several other valuable 
 theological manuscripts, have given practically 
 nothing to classical literature ; and the chance 
 of such discoveries grows less as this field is 
 more thoroughly examined. For a time there 
 were wide-spread hopes that many hitherto un- 
 
 t suspected treasures might be preserved in the 
 shape of palimpsests, such as that in which the 
 Igreat work of Gains was discovered at the be- 
 I ginning of the present century; but the libraries 
 ]of Europe have been searched, and nothing of 
 equal value has come to light. There have been 
 rumours, indeed, of treasures to be found in the 
 Sultan's library at Constantinople when the day 
 
INTRODUCTION, tK 
 
 shall come for European eyes to examine its 
 unexplored recesses ; but the basis of these 
 rumours is hard to trace. One source, however, 
 unsuspected until within this present century, has 
 of late years shown results which may revive 
 the hopes that had begun to fade. It is now 
 certain that beneath the sands of Egypt, in its 
 tombs and its buried cities, manuscripts written 
 on papyrus have been preserved, to an extent 
 which cannot be fairly estimated as yet. The 
 majority of these are, no doubt, of very slight 
 interest to the world at large, being principally col- 
 lections of magical formulas, monetary accounts, 
 leases, wills, and other private documents. But, 
 here and there, works of classical literature have 
 been discovered, though always in a more or less 
 fragmentary state. Some of them were evidently 
 copies intended to be pleasing to the eye as well 
 as profitable to the mind, and are written elegantly 
 and formally upon good papyrus ; others, perhaps 
 the majority, were rough transcripts intended for 
 the owner's private benefit without much regard 
 to appearance, written in hands which make no 
 pretence to the neatness and regularity of the pro- 
 fessional scribe, and sometimes, since papyrus was 
 valuable, on the back of sheets of which the front 
 had already been used for other purposes. Most 
 
Viii INTRO D UC TlON. 
 
 of the works thus preserved are such as we 
 ^ knew already. Homer, as is right, is by far the 
 I most largely represented, and always, it may be 
 observed, by the Iliad^ never by the Odyssey; 
 but portions of Thucydides, Euripides, Plato, 
 Demosthenes, Isocrates, and others of the great 
 writers of Greece have also been discovered, 
 though for the most part only in small fragments. 
 But there have also been occasional discoveries 
 of works hitherto known only by name and in 
 isolated quotations, though these have so far 
 been of rare occurrence. The most important, 
 until these latter days, consisted of some four 
 speeches (not all complete) of the great Athenian 
 orator Hyperides, the contemporary and col- 
 league of Demosthenes ; but these have fairly 
 been thrown into the shade by the recent 
 re-appearance of the treatise attributed to Aris- 
 totle on the constitutional history of the Athenian 
 people. 
 
 Such a work has an interest for others besides 
 professed scholars and historians, and perhaps 
 for many who lack either the wish or the ability to 
 read it in the original Greek. To these persons, 
 if there be such, this translation is primarily 
 offered ; since the original has, for the most 
 part, neither that difficulty which makes it 
 
INTRODUCTION. ix 
 
 interesting even to the best scholars to see how 
 the problem of translation has been solved, nor 
 that beauty of style which tempts translators 
 again and again to the hopeless labour of love 
 which is involved in the effort to reproduce a 
 masterpiece of literature in another tongue. But 
 there may be many persons with an interest in 
 Greek histoiy beside the scholar and the spe- 
 cialist to v/hom a translation is worse than use- 
 less. To these an English version may be of 
 service ; and it may also be useful to prefix to 
 that translation some brief account of the work 
 that is here placed before them, and of the 
 unique manuscript which has preserved its text 
 for the benefit of this late posterity. 
 
 The latter does not need a long description. 
 It belongs to the second of the classes of papyrus 
 manuscripts mentioned above, those, namely, in 
 which the matter alone has been the object, while 
 outward beauty of form has been neglected. The 
 neglect is, indeed, considerable in this case. The 
 text of the Aristotle is written on the back of four 
 rolls of papyrus, of unequal dimensions, amount- 
 ing in all to some eighteen feet eight inches in 
 length by eleven inches in height. The front of 
 this papyrus had already been used for the baser 
 purpose of recording the daily accounts of a 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 bailiff on a small Egyptian farm. The bailiff 
 was a Greek, and his accounts are therefore in 
 that language, and are not without some interest 
 of their own ; but their chief value in connection 
 with the Aristotle lies in the fact that they bear 
 dates of the years 78-79 A.D., and therefore give 
 us a clue to the probable date of the text which 
 is written on the other side. It is not likely that 
 accounts of this description would be preserved 
 for very long for their own sake, and it is there- 
 fore reasonable to suppose that the Aristotle was 
 copied on to the back of them by about the end 
 of the first century ; and this opinion is supported 
 by what little is known of the naiaeagjca^ih^ of 
 that early period. But not only is the treatise 
 written on the back of old accounts, and on rolls 
 of uneven length, but it is not even all in the 
 same hand. No less than four different styles 
 of writing appear in it, none of them very orna- 
 mental ; and the most ornamental is the least 
 correct. It is written in thirty-seven columns, 
 of very varying widths ; in one place a column 
 and a half of different matter had previously 
 been written and has been struck out ; finally 
 the early chapters of the work seem never to 
 have been transcribed, the last seven columns 
 of the MS. are hopelessly mutilated, several 
 
INTR OD UC TION. xi 
 
 lacuna^ occur elsewhere in the course of the text, 
 'andm very many places the writing has been 
 considerably rubbed and defaced. Altogether 
 the manuscript unquestionably owes its value to 
 its contents, and not to the external form in 
 which they are presented to us. 
 
 Of the nature of these contents there is, 
 speaking broadly, no doubt. Though it bears new 
 title nor author's name, no one has been foundj 
 at any rate as yet, to dispute that it is thej 
 treatise known in ancient times as Aristotle'sl 
 Constitution of Athens. Tbis treatise was oneV 
 section, and probably the longest and most 
 important section, of a collection known as "The 
 Constitutions," in which information concerning 
 the constitutional history of no less than a hundred 
 and fifty-eight states was gathered together, pre- 
 sumably to provide material on which might be 
 based the general statements on political science, 
 which Aristotle embodied in his Politics. The 
 Constiiictions is included in all the lists of 
 Aristotle's works which have been preserved, 
 and sixty-eight of the 158 sections are known to 
 us by" quotations or references of greater or less 
 length. The section on Athens was represented 
 by some ninety such quotations, nearly all of 
 which are either found in the treatise now before 
 
xii INTR OD UC TION. 
 
 US, or else evidently belong to those parts of it 
 which are imperfect in the MS. ; but no section 
 had survived entire, and the exact nature of the 
 work was therefore a matter of controversy, — a 
 controversy which will, indeed, only rage the 
 more acutely since the discovery of one of them 
 in a practically complete state, but which may 
 now hope to attain to some definite and accepted 
 conclusion. 
 
 One of the first points to which the attention 
 of scholars and historians must be directed is 
 the important one whether this is indeed the 
 very work of Aristotle himself or not. Marvellous 
 and multiform though both the knowledge and 
 the industry of the great philosopher must have 
 been, he cannot have written all the works which 
 are ascribed to him in the extant lists of his 
 writings. Some of them must have been com- 
 posed, perhaps by his instructions, perhaps with- 
 out any direct connection with him, by pupils 
 and later members of the Peripatetic school. 
 The Constitutions^ involving as it did re- 
 searches into the histories of so large a number 
 of communities, and reaching so far as Carthage 
 on the one side and the B rahrnins of India on 
 the other, suggests itself at once as a work which 
 might easily have been committed by the master 
 
INTR OD UC TION. xiii 
 
 to some of his disciples, just as Mr. Herbert 
 Spencer has availed himself of the assistance of 
 various friends in the compilation of the facts 
 (embodied in Descriptive Sociology) which he 
 used as materials for his work on The Prin- 
 ciples of Sociology. In support of this a priori 
 reasoning might be adduced the first impressions 
 of several learned and unquestionably competent 
 judges, who doubt if this treatise exhibits that 
 compression of thought or those illuminating 
 flashes of insight which we are accustomed to 
 associate with Aristotle, or if the style is as 
 abrupt and disjointed as that in which the great 
 thinker commonly conveys or conceals his mean- 
 ing. On the other hand it may fairly be urged 
 that we have no other work of Aristotle's which 
 belongs to the same class as this, and that almost 
 every writer will be more lucid and straightfor- 
 ward in narrative than in philosophy ; while the 
 general cast of the language, the soberness and 
 even dryness of the style, and the impartiality 
 of the judgments, suggest at least the influence, 
 if not the actual pen, of Aristotle. Moreover, 
 if any of the sections of the Constitutions was 
 composed by Aristotle, it would probably be 
 that dealing with Athens, as being at once the 
 most important of them and the one as to 
 
xiv INTR OD UC TION. 
 
 which criticism would be the liveliest and the 
 most capable. Finally we have the unanimous 
 testimony of antiquity, which unhesitatingly 
 assigns this extensively quoted and still more 
 extensively consulted work to the hand of Aris- 
 totle. The whole question, however, is one 
 which cannot be settled in a day ; and if the 
 most eminent authorities are divided in their 
 opinions on the matter (and many, especially 
 abroad, have expressed themselves strongly in 
 favour of actual Aristotelian authorship), it 
 is the more incumbent on lesser folk not to 
 be too positive. But one consideration of 
 the greatest importance has so far been unduly 
 overlooked by many critics. If the treatise 
 be not the actual work of Aristotle's own 
 hand, there is at least the strongest reason to 
 believe that it was composed under his direction 
 and for his use,^ and that it carried the weight 
 of his authority in subsequent ages ; nor do we 
 hear that its authenticity was ever questioned. 
 If this be so, then it carries for us still a weight 
 
 1 Aristotle died in 322 B.C., and not only is it certain, from the 
 fact that the number of the tribes is repeatedly spoken of as 
 being ten, that the work must have been written before 307 B.C., 
 in which year they were raised to twelve, but there is also 
 internal evidence (see ch. 46) that it was written before 325 B.C. 
 On the other hand, there is an allusion in ch. 54 to the year 329 
 B.C., which shows that it must have been written, or at least 
 added to, after that date. 
 
INTR OD UCTION. xv 
 
 hardly less than if it were written in the actual 
 words of Aristotle. Details about the obscurer 
 and less important states might indeed escape 
 his eye or be outside his knowledge ; but in 
 deahng with the history of Athens he must have 
 known what authorities his pupil made use of, and 
 have approved of the manner in which he dealt 
 with them. The broad statements of consti- 
 tutional and general history which it contains 
 come to us with the imprimatur of Aristotle, and 
 those who have read Aristotle most know bes»t 
 how much that means. Whatever view we take 
 as to the literary parentage of the work, its 
 historical utterances have a weight which is not 
 lightly to be put aside. 
 
 At the same time some ^ of these statements/ 
 are unquestionably startling, and it is not to be; 
 wondered at if the first instinct of many persons 
 is to reject as impossible matter which refuses 
 so uncompromisingly to conform to the recon-^ 
 structions of Greek history with which we have 
 become familiar. Still it must be remembered 
 that in many cases they are only reconstructions, 
 which have served to fill the many and serious 
 gaps in the original records on which our 
 histories are based. What we have to do is to 
 try to put ourselves in thought into the position 
 
xvi IN TR OD UC TION. 
 
 which we should occupy if the treatise on the 
 Constitution of Athens had never been lost, but 
 had come down to us together with Herodotus 
 and Thucydides and Xenophon. The state- 
 ments made in it are not indeed to be accepted 
 at once and without questioning ; but neither 
 are those of any fallible mortal who ever wrote 
 history upon earth. Still, accepted or not, they 
 must be accounted for ; and whenever the time 
 shall come that the new evidence can be weighed 
 with an equal mind, it will probably be found 
 that it ranks very high among the sources of 
 our knowledge of Athenian history. Mean- 
 while, the first reflection to which its disclosures 
 , give rise is one of scepticism as to the value of 
 I conjectural restoration of historical facts. So 
 1 many eminently reasonable theories and con- 
 1 jectures are scattered to the winds by this slight 
 addition to the ancient testimonies, that con- 
 siderable caution seems to be imposed for the 
 future alike on the propounding and the accept- 
 ing of similar and equally plausible imaginations. 
 Meanwhile it may be of use briefly to enume- 
 rate the chief points in which this treatise (which 
 in future will be spoken of as Aristotle's, as 
 being at least the outcome of his inspiration and 
 direction) tends to alter or modify the view of 
 
INTR OD UC TION. xvii 
 
 Athenian history which has been derived from 
 the sources hitherto extant. It is in the earUer 
 periods that its information is at once the most 
 novel and the most important ; and naturally so, ' 
 since it is on these periods that we have hitherto / 
 had the least trustworthy information from / 
 ancient authorities and have been left the most 
 to the conjectures and restorations of modern , 
 writers. The treatise appears to have begun with \ 
 the original settlement of Attica by the at least | 
 semi-mythical Ion, and next to have described 1 
 the changes introduced into the government of * 
 the country by Theseus. But this part of the 
 work is still lost to us, for the newly-discovered i 
 MS. is imperfect at the beginning. A portion % 
 of the papyrus has been left blank to receive the 
 earlier chapters, but they appear never to have ; 
 been transcribed, and the narrative now com- i 
 mences in the middle of a subject and even in I 
 the middle of a sentence. It is only in a retrospect " 
 of the constitution as it existed before the time 
 of Draco that any fresh light is thrown on the 
 obscure period of the kings of Attica and the 
 government which immediately succeeded them. 
 The exact bearing of the new evidence cannot 
 be settled ofF-hand ; but, in the first place, it 
 seems to clear up some of the doubt which has 
 
xviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 always attached to the change which took place 
 in the position of the kings after the death of 
 Codrus, and, secondly, it establishes in a manner 
 that will hardly be questioned the early impor- 
 tance of the Council of Areopagus. The old 
 story ran that after the heroic death of Codrus 
 on behalf of his country, the Athenians, out of 
 gratitude to his memory, decreed that no one 
 should henceforth bear the name of king. This 
 tale has naturally been suspected of concealing 
 a constitutional change to the disadvantage of 
 the monarchy, and such it proves to have been. 
 The king had previously had associated with 
 him a commander-in-chief for purposes of war, 
 with the title of Polemarch ; and after the death 
 |of Codrus a third magistrate was created, known 
 as the Archon, to whom some of the civil powers 
 of the king were delegated. Further it appears 
 that, not only these two officers, but even the 
 king himself was elected by the Council of Areo- 
 pagus, though its choice in respect of the sovereign 
 was no doubt limited to the descendants of 
 Cpdrus. Of the composition of the Areopagus 
 at this period we are told nothing, but it un- 
 questionably represented the ancient families of 
 the land, and it appears to have exercised a 
 general supervision of the state. 
 
INTRODUCTION. xtx 
 
 The next change that took place is one with 
 which we have been acquainted before. At a 
 date which is commonly fixed at the year 752 
 B.C. (though these early dates are possibly open 
 to criticism) the monarchy was altered from a 
 life magistracy to a term of ten years. At the 
 same time a change was made in the nomen- 
 clature. The name of Archon was substituted 
 for that of king as the title of the chief magis- 
 trate of the state ; the king (for the title was 
 still preserved) occupied the second post and 
 Vv^as confined chiefly to sacrificial and ceremonial 
 duties ; and the Polemarch, who had been the 
 second officer in the state, now became the third. 
 At first the office of Archon was still confined to 
 the house of Codrus ; but after four members of 
 that house had ruled on these terms, it was 
 thrown open to all the Eupatridae, a name which 
 denotes the ancient families of the land. Thirty 
 years later, in 682 B.C., according to the tradi- 
 tional dates, another change was made. The 
 ten-year term was abolished ; six new magis- 
 trates were created, with the title of Thesmo- 
 thetae or Lawgivers ; and these, together with 
 the three elder officers, formed the board subse- 
 quently known as the nine Archons, which con- 
 tinued for two centuries to be the highest official 
 
 UNIVEESITI 
 
XX * INTR OD UC TION. 
 
 body in the state. It was of annual creation, and 
 from the name of the Archon par excelle^ice^ the 
 titular chief of the state, the years were hence- 
 forth dated, just as they were in Rome by the 
 consuls. Hitherto it has been believed that the 
 change at this period was from a single magis' 
 trate to a board of nine ; but,: the pre-existence 
 of a board of three is one of the new facts con- 
 tained in the present treatise. The nine Archons 
 were elected, just as their predecessors had 
 been, by the Areopagus ; and a change was 
 made in the composition of that body which 
 must probably be assigned to this date. In 
 early times its members may have been nomi- 
 nated by the head of the state ; but from hence- 
 forward it was recruited from those who had 
 served as Archons, who passed into it at the end 
 of their year of office, a system which continued 
 in force as long as the Areopagus existed. 
 
 Such are the conclusions to be derived from 
 Aristotle's retrospect of the early history of the 
 constitution of Athens, and he next passes on to 
 describe the reforms introduced by Draco. Here 
 his information is not less novel and startling. 
 Hitherto nothinghasbeen known of Draco except 
 that he was the first person to codify the criminal 
 law of Athens, which he did on lines of great 
 
INTR OD UC TION. xxi 
 
 severity. But this work is almost ignored by 
 Aristotle, who represents him in the totally ri^w 
 light of a constitutional reformer. The details 
 of his constitution are such as to arouse the ^ 
 greatest surprise, not to say scepticism, in stu- ' 
 dents of Greek history. He is stated to have 
 given a share in the government to all persons 
 capable of furnishing themselves with the equip- 
 ment of a hea\^ infantry soldier ; that is, a 
 popular assembly was formed, including all per- 
 sons possessing this qualification, and to it was 
 committed the duty of electing the various 
 magistrates. Several of these magistrates are 
 mentioned, some of whom were not previously 
 known to have existed at so early a date ; and 
 it is stated that property qualifications of various 
 amounts were required for the holders of these 
 offices. A new Council was created, consisting 
 of 401 members ; and for the election to- this 
 and to certain other posts the principle of the 
 lot was introduced, apparently for the first time. 
 It must be noted, however, that the Areopagus 
 still continued to be the guardian of the laws 
 and the chief power in the state, and it„iiiay. be 
 suspected that the change in the constitution 
 was more apparent than real. 
 
 The reforms of Draco were the outcome of a 
 
xxii INTR OD UC TION. 
 
 long conflict between the rich and the poor, — 
 "the classes" and "the masses," if a modern 
 political phrase may be allowed, — arising from 
 the miserable condition of the poor labourers 
 and agriculturists, who, though once indepen- 
 dent yeomen, had sunk by the pressure of debt 
 into the position of serfs attached to the soil and 
 working for the benefit of their creditors. Their 
 economical condition was not, however, touched 
 by the measures of Draco, and the discontent 
 and the state of almost civil war which resulted 
 therefrom continued unabated, until, nearly thirty 
 years after the probable date of Draco, both 
 parties agreed to entrust Solon^ with full powers 
 to deal with all matters, economical and political 
 alike. With the account of the reforms of Solon 
 we reach a period as to which we have a much 
 larger amount of previous knowledge, but here 
 too something new is to be derived from the 
 present treatise. Solon has always been a 
 striking figure in the traditional history of 
 Athens ; he is not less striking in the work of 
 Aristotle. His character as a statesman, as a 
 poet (for Aristotle quotes extensively from his 
 verses), and as a man of inflexible honesty and 
 high principle stands unimpaired ; it is only the 
 details of his legislation that are altered or made 
 
INTR OD UC TION. xjtUi 
 
 more clear. The new treatise confirms the view 
 of those who regarded his celebrated measure for 
 the relief of the economic situation as having , ^ 
 consisted in a complete cancelling of all existing 1/ 
 debts. His reform of the currency is represented t 
 as unconnected with the measure just mentioned, 
 and it appears to have had a purely commercial; 
 purpose. On the political side, Solon has 
 hitherto been credited with the invention of the 
 division of the people into four classes according 
 to the value of their property ; it now appears 
 that that division existed before his time, but 
 that he adopted it as a basis for the political 
 scheme of the state, by assigning the various 
 magistracies to the several grades of this scale. 
 The most important feature of Solon's legisla- 
 tion, however, remains unchanged, namely the 
 introduction of the lowest classes into political ^ 
 life. H enceforward every ad.ultmale^ of A^^ 
 birth had a share in the government of his 
 country. It is true that at first tHat share was 
 limitedr to a seat in the popular Assembly and 
 eligibility to serve on the juries in the law-courts. 
 But these privileges were sufficient, in course of 
 time, to secure to the democracy the full control 
 of the state ; for the Assembly directed the 
 policy of the nation, and the juries (large bodies 
 
x-xi V INTR OD UC TION. 
 
 ) of several hundred members, combining in them- 
 
 / selves the functions of judge and jury) reviewed 
 
 i the conduct of every magistrate at the end of 
 
 his term of office. Solon was therefore justly 
 
 X \ ISS^J^deji in later days as the founder of the 
 
 ^ Athenian democracy. 
 
 To the character and ability of Solon, as well 
 as to the importance of his reforms, Aristotle 
 bears emphatic testimony ; but he also brings 
 out, not less clearly, a fact which has hardly 
 been realized hitherto, namely that these mea- 
 sures had at the time only a very limited success 
 in their primary object, the restoration of peace 
 to the distracted community. For four years 
 there was, indeed, comparative quiet ; but after 
 this short respite the conflict of factions began 
 again with unabated vigour, and twice within 
 five years it was found impossible to elect a 
 chief magistrate of the state at all. Solon's 
 reforms had been sweeping enough to exasperate 
 the moneyed and landed classes, while on the 
 other hand they had not gone far enough to 
 satisfy the cupidity of the lower orders. This 
 condition of chronic civil disorder was one 
 through which most Greek states passed, and 
 which led in most of them to the same result. 
 It is a result with which we are familiar on a 
 
INTR OD UC TION, xxv 
 
 larger scale in modern history, in which it has 
 more than once happened that a period of 
 revolution has only been brought to a close by 
 the establishment of a despotism. So it has 
 been in England and in France, and so it was 
 in Athens and in many another Greek state. 
 One episode of this period has been preserved 
 to us by Aristotle alone and was first revealed 
 to the modem world nine or ten years ago, 
 when two little scraps of this same treatise were 
 discovered on some fragments of papyrus in 
 Berlin. About twelve years after the reforms of 
 Solon (the exact date is a matter of dispute) one 
 Damasias was elected Archon in the ordinary 
 course of things. By some means of which we 
 know nothing he contrived to remain in office 
 during a second year ; and even after the ex- 
 piration of this he attempted to repeat the same 
 manoeuvre, and succeeded in retaining his post 
 for two additional months. His object was, 
 however, by this time sufficiently clear. He 
 hoped to establish himself gradually as despot 
 or " tyrant " of Athens ; but he had no armed 
 force on whose support he could rely when his 
 unconstitutional aim was discovered. Accor- 
 dingly he was expelled from his position without 
 much difficulty, and a mixed board of ten 
 
xxvi INTR OD UC TION. 
 
 Archons, containing representatives of all classes 
 in the community, ruled for the remainder of the 
 year ; after which it is to be presumed that the 
 constitution of Solon was restored. 
 
 The attempt of Damasias was, however, only 
 a foretaste of the fate to come ; and the manner 
 of its coming is known to all. On the time of 
 Pisistratus Aristotle throws little new light. The 
 narrative of his altemate periods of government 
 and exile is much the same as that which we 
 have known already, and indeed is largely taken 
 from Herodotus. The chief additions consist of 
 some chronological details, though it may be 
 questioned whether these do not raise as many 
 difficulties as they lay. It should be noticed, 
 however, that Aristotle expressly confirms the 
 view that the -administration of Pisistratus was 
 mild and considerate, and the main principle of 
 his policy was to keep the people occupied and 
 contented. In this attempt he was successful, 
 and he was able to hand down his government 
 to his sons without difficulty and without ques- 
 tion. The rule of Hippias a,nd Hipparchus was 
 uneventful and is passed over briefly, as being a 
 mere continuation of that of their father, until 
 the sudden and unexpected catastrophe of the 
 assassination of the younger brother by Har- 
 
TNTR ODUC TION. xx vii 
 
 modius and Aristogeiton. The narrative of Aris- 
 totle is chiefly remarkable here for one express 
 correction of the account given by Thucydides 
 (who is not, however, mentioned by name), and 
 for several departures from it in minor points. 
 The rest of the story of the expulsion of the 
 Pisistratidae is evidently taken from Herodotus, 
 and there is no occasion to repeat its details 
 here. 
 
 The fall of the house of Pisistratus brought 
 about the restoration of the democracy, and in 
 the hands of its new leader, Cleisthenes, that 
 democracy assumed a new form. Once back 
 again on the ground of constitutional alterations, 
 the record of Aristotle again becomes novel and 
 important, at any rate to the students of Athe- 
 nian constitutional history. The main reform of 
 Cleisthenes consisted in the abolition of the four 
 ancient tribes, and the division of the citizen- 
 body (which was considerably increased in 
 numbers by additions from outside) into ten new 
 ones. Collaterally with this innovation he made 
 the " deme^"^or parish, the unit of the national 
 organization. Demes apparently had existed 
 before ; but the arrangement of them was now 
 altered, and they were for the first time made an 
 integral portion of the political system, taking 
 
xxviii INTR OD UC TION. 
 
 the place which had formerly been occupied by 
 the bodies known as Naucraries. Aristotle does 
 something to clear up a point which has hitherto 
 been somewhat obscure. It has been recognized 
 that a characteristic feature of this re-organi- 
 zation of Cleisthenes consisted in the sub-division 
 of the tribes into separate geographical sections. 
 Aristotle explain^ Jiow^this was done. Attica 
 included three districts of distinct physical cha- 
 racters, the Lowland, tlie Cbast, and the High- 
 lands, and these had formed the basis of the 
 political parties whose strife had so long dis- 
 tracted the state. Cleisthenes divided each of 
 these districts into ten parts, and he gave one 
 part from each to each of his ten tribes. Each 
 
 I tribe consequently included within itself repre- 
 I) fsentatives of each of the three rival districts, 
 
 I and controversy on the ancient lines became 
 
 ^'^ the future impossible. 
 
 So far Aristotle only confirms and amplifies 
 the received view of the work of Cleisthenes ; 
 but in certain other respects he departs from it 
 widely. One great innovation which has often 
 been ascribed to Cleisthenes with some con- 
 fidence is the introduction of the system of the 
 lot as the method of conducting elections to 
 poHtical offices. Aristotle makes it clear that it 
 
 .rrf L 
 
INTRODUCTION. «*i* 
 
 was not so, at any rate in the case of the higher 
 magistrates. When the democracy was firmly 
 estabhshed the lot might safely be instituted as ' 
 a truly levelling measure, which gave the poor 
 and obscure man an equal chance with the rich 
 and powerful ; but when a despotism had but 
 recently been overthrown, and party passions 
 ran high, it would have been the enemies of the 
 democracy who would have gained by the use 
 of the lot. At such a time the people, if left free 
 to choose, would be sure to elect leaders after 
 their oWn heart, and it was necessary to secure 
 the state against an accidental intrusion from 
 some of the friends of the tyrants. Therefore, 
 so far from establishing the method of the lot, 
 Cleisthenes rejected even the modified form of 
 it which had been in existence at an earlier time. 
 Solon had enacted that, for the election of the 
 nine Archons,each of the four tribes then existing 
 should nominate ten candidates, and that then 
 the lot should select the required nine from this 
 body of forty. Cleisthenes, on the other hand, 
 appears to have given the popular Assembly, or 
 Ecclesia, the direct election of the Archons, and ] 
 it was not till some twenty years later that the / 
 lot was once more called into existence. 
 Another institution which is closely connected 
 
XXX JNTR OD UC TION. 
 
 with the name of Cleisthenes is that of Ostra- 
 cism ; and here Aristotle supports the existing 
 tradition, but adds details as to the earhest 
 occasions of its use. It was originally intended, 
 of course, as a safeguard against powerful in- 
 dividuals, such as Pisistratus had been, who, 
 without having made themselves in any way 
 amenable to the ordinary laws, might yet be 
 regarded as dangerous to the state. For over 
 twenty years, however, this weapon remained in 
 its scabbard ; and the reason which Aristotle 
 assigns is noteworthy. He ascribes it to "the 
 usual leniency of the democracy" ; and this 
 testimony is the more remarkable since Aristotle, 
 as appears later, was far from being an un- 
 qualified admirer of popular government. It 
 was not till after the first Persian invasion had 
 shown that there was still danger to be feared 
 from the partisans of the exiled tyrants, that the 
 law of ostracism was put in force against the 
 most prominent men of that faction ; though 
 when the democracy had once tasted blood, it 
 was not unwilHng to seek for fresh victims in 
 other quarters. 
 
 / The period between the reforms of Cleisthenes 
 and the Persian wars is comparatively un- 
 
 ..everitful, and Aristotle passes over it very briefly, 
 
INTRODUCTION. xxxi 
 
 telling us merely that Athens grew with the 
 growing democracy. With the victory of Mara- 
 thon a fresh stimulus was given to political 
 life, and Aristotle gives us the main outline of 
 the progress which followed. First there came 
 the earliest application of the law of ostracism, \ 
 already alluded to, by which Hipparchus, the 1 
 son of Charmus, the leading representative of I 
 the friends of the tyrants, was sent into ban- ^ 
 ishment. Then, since the democracy now felt 
 itself firmer in its seat, the Solonian method of 
 electing Archons was restored, though, as there 
 were now ten tribes instead of four, the total 
 number of candidates among whom the final lot 
 was cast was one hundred. Next came an event 
 which, though not apparently of political bear- 
 ing, was in its results one of the greatest 
 importance to Athens. Silver mines were dis- ^ 
 coveredJn Attica, and, through the shrewdness 
 and foresight of Themistocles, the profit which 
 the' stale' d^^ed from them was devoted, not 
 to a mere distribution among the citizens, but 
 to ship-building, and the hundred triremes 
 thus obtained were the nucleus of the fleet with 
 which, three years later, Athens fought and won 
 the decisive battle of Salamis. 
 
 When the danger from Persia was over, 
 
xxxii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Athens entered on a course of political deve^ 
 lopment, on the details of which Aristotle throws 
 much new light. Whatever view may be taken 
 of the authorship of this treatise, the precise 
 dates with which it abounds remain a factor 
 j which all future historians of Greece must take 
 I into account. For the period now under con-^ 
 sideration we have hitherto had the brief, 
 though invaluable, outline contained in the first 
 book of Thucydides, and the interesting, but 
 inexact, narratives given by Plutarch in his 
 Lives. Hence there was certainly room for a 
 record which should enable us to affix precise 
 dates to known events, and to substantiate as 
 facts what were previously conjectures. As an 
 instance of the first, we have the alliance be- 
 tween Athens and the maritime states of the 
 ^gean and Asia Minor, known as the Con- 
 federation of Delos, which is here assigned to 
 478 B.C., instead of 476 B.C. as has been usually 
 ^supposed. An instance of the second is the 
 ^account which Aristotle gives of the revival of 
 the power of the Areopagus, owing to the 
 prestige which it acquired by its spirited con- 
 duct at the crisis of the struggle with Persia. 
 Aristotle, in passing, gives a brief commenda-^ 
 tion to its administration, which deserves to be 
 
INTR OD UC TION. xxxiii 
 
 noted ; but ultimately this renewed vitality of 
 a body, all the traditions of which were aristo- 
 cratic and exclusive, necessitated the struggle 
 in which the popular Assembly, led by Ephialtes, 
 struck clown the obstacle which prevented the 
 fuller expansion of the democracy. Here again 
 Aristotle provides us with new material of a 
 striking kind. Not only does he fix the date 
 of the downfall of the Areopagus (462 B.C.), 
 which was not hitherto precisely known, but he 
 gives a new and somewhat startling story of the 
 way in which it was accomplished. The ap- 
 pearance of Themistocles in Athens at this 
 time, and as taking an important part in this 
 controversy, is indeed surprising ; and though 
 the story, the details of which will be found in 
 the text, is undeniably characteristic of that 
 clever but unprincipled politician, it will cer- 
 tainly be scrutinized with the utmost jealousy 
 by historians, even by those who do not go on 
 the principle that whatever is new is probably 
 not true. 
 
 Additional details as to the extension of the 
 range of eligibility to the archonship, though 
 valuable as showing the error of the belief that 
 the office was thrown open to all classes shortly 
 after the Persian wars, may be passed over 
 
xxxiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 here ; and with the middle of the century we 
 reach the period of the supremacy of Pericles. 
 Here the narrative of Aristotle is at least as 
 remarkable for what it does not say as for what 
 it does. It is clear that Pericles does not re- 
 present to Aristotle so great a figure as he does 
 tQ^^Thucydides. Aristotle does, indeed, recog- 
 nize the loftiness of his character and his free- 
 dom from sordid motives ; but it is clear that 
 he considers the methods of his statesmanship 
 as disastrous, from their opening the door to 
 abuses which baser imitators were prompt to 
 introduce after his death. It was he, according 
 to Aristotle, who first introduced the practice 
 of bribing the people with their own money, J|:)y 
 establishing pay Tor service on the juries in the 
 law-courts. Further, it was he who led the 
 people to dwell on thoughts of a great maritime 
 empire, raising in them expectations which 
 Aristotle apparently thinks were beyond their 
 reach. On both points it may be held that 
 the policy of Pericles admits of defence, and 
 Aristotle fully concedes that during his life- 
 time no evil effects resulted from it. It was 
 only after his strong hand and commanding 
 character had been removed that these effects 
 were visible. Pericles had taught the popular 
 
INTR OD UC TION. xxxv 
 
 Assembly to regard itself as master, and he had 
 taught aspiring politicians how to win its favour. 
 Aristotle's opinion of the "demagogues,' 
 Cleon, Cleophon, and the rest, will be found in 
 the text ; and it need only be observed here 
 that the fact that this opinion is strongly adverse 
 to them cannot be held to destroy the claim of 
 this treatise to impartiality. Sobriety of judg- 
 ment is not inconsistent with definiteness of 
 opinion ; and if Aristotle, in the light of a cen- 
 tury of subsequent history, passed a severe 
 condemnation on the popular leaders who suc- 
 ceeded Pericles, who is there who, looking* at 
 that same history, will venture to say him nay ? 
 But that is a question which cannot now "be 
 argued ; all that is required in this summary of 
 the contents of this treatise, is to note that this 
 judgment is expressed clearly, if not at great 
 length. On the rest of the historical portion of 
 Aristotle's work it will not be necessary to dwell 
 long. The full development of the democracy 
 through all its successive stages is completed 
 with the ascendancy of Pericles, and it only 
 remains to record the vicissitudes which befell 
 it in the last eleven years of the century. Twice 
 was the democracy overthrown, and twice re- 
 stored. Aristotle tells in considerable detail 
 
*^^ 
 
 xxxvi INTR OD UC TION. 
 
 the story both of the Four Hundred and of the 
 Thirty, and there is no occasion to paraphrase 
 his narrative here. It is only to be observed 
 that in reference to the former his account of 
 the constitution set up by the oligarchs (which 
 is described at great length) differs in several 
 points from the shorter version of Thucydides ; 
 and that his narrative of the period of the 
 Thirty is frequently irreconcilable with Xeno- 
 phon. To describe all the points Involved 
 would be wearisome, and for the most part they 
 interest only the professed historian ; neither 
 is it possible, without a more prolonged con- 
 sideration of the evidence, to determine how 
 far the new treatise is to be accepted as the 
 final guide in these matters. 
 
 With the expulsion of the Thirty Tyrants and 
 the restoration of the democracy, in the year 
 403 B.C., Aristotle closes his review of the his- 
 torical development of the Athenian constitution. 
 He had traced it from its earliest beginnings 
 under a monarchy to the final establishment of 
 a complete and unfettered democracy ; and he 
 sums it up in a table of eleven stages through 
 which it had passed (ch. 41). The three-quarters 
 \ of a century which separated his own time from 
 Hhe events just recorded seem to have offered 
 
INTRODUCTION. xxxvii 
 
 to him nothing of interest from the point of viev/ 
 of constitutional history. The democracy was 
 established to the fullest extent, and there was 
 no room for further development of it. All that 
 could be done was to set forth the nature of 
 that democracy in its matured working. It 
 would have been exceedingly interesting if Aris 
 totle had elected to illustrate this by concrete 
 instances of the treatment of great questions by 
 the sovereign Assembly, and to show how the 
 good and bad features of democratic govern- 
 ment were brought out in actual practice. But 
 it can easily be understood that there might be 
 many reasons to deter him from such a study 
 of contemporary history ; and accordingly his 
 representation of the completed democracy 
 takes the form of a statement of the machinery 
 of government as it existed in his own dajr. /• 
 This forms the second part of the treatise (ch. 
 42— end), and in the course of it he describes 
 the method of enrolling citizens, the manner of 
 conducting business in the Council and the 
 Assembly, the duties of the Council and the 
 magistrates who act in concert with it, the 
 numbers and duties of the magistrates in 
 general (with an especially detailed account of 
 the functions of the Archons), the payment 
 
xxxviii INTR OD UC TION. 
 
 which the magistrates received, and finally the 
 procedure of the law-courts. The last section, 
 which was also the longest, is unfortunately 
 mutilated in such a way as to make the deci- 
 pherment of the text Hopeless ; but in the rest 
 of this portion of the treatise we have an in- 
 valuable hoard of information for all who are 
 interested in the minuter details of Athenian 
 life and government. Much of it has, it is true, 
 been known before ; for the compilers of lexi- 
 cons and the writers of commentaries in the 
 early centuries of our era made free use of so 
 precise and excellent an authority. Still many 
 fresh details are brought to light, many conjec- 
 tures confirmed and not a few refuted, and 
 throughout the authority of a contemporary 
 author (whether that author be Aristotle or 
 another) is substituted for the unequal and 
 uncertain value of the compilations in which 
 the information was hitherto embedded. No 
 doubt the contents of this portion of the treatise 
 are mainly of interest to the professed student 
 and historian ; but still there they are, and who- 
 ever may desire to read them has the satisfaction 
 of knowing that he is dealing with a first-hand 
 authority. 
 
 This sketch of the leading features of the 
 
INTRODUCTION. xxxlx 
 
 Constitution of Athens has necessarily been 
 very incomplete. It is impossible to explain 
 briefly the precise bearing of each of its state- 
 ments on the history as we have hitherto 
 known it ; but it may have been possible to 
 show something of the nature of the work, 
 and of the directions in which it may be ex- 
 pected to modify the received tradition. The 
 main outlines, no doubt, remain the same ; 
 and indeed it would not have inspired con- 
 fidence in the new treatise if it had been 
 found to contradict materially authorities so 
 good as Herodotus and Thucydides. It is rather 
 in supplementing them where they are deficient, 
 and in giving precision where they are obscure, 
 that the value of the new material is greatest. 
 Wliat precisely that value is it is impossible to 
 say at present. Certainly it must be looked for 
 in the matter, not in the manner. There is no 
 attempt _at an attractive Hterary style in the^ 
 original, and the reader cannot expect to find 
 more in the translation. The st^le is sober, 
 plain, straightforward, sometimes flat and dry. 
 - But the matter is plentiful and close-packecl, and 
 / touches at every point on things of the greatest 
 ) interest to the historian. It may be that this 
 generation, which has been brought up on 
 
Jtl INTRODUCTIOJ^. 
 
 histories uninfluenced by the evidence of Aris^ 
 totle, is not in a position to weigh it accurately 
 and fairly, without predispositions either for it 
 01: against it, simply bicause it is new. It may 
 be that only a later age will be able to make 
 full and proper use of the material which this 
 age has been fortunate enough to discover ; but 
 no superiority in dispassionateness and judg- 
 ment which future generations may possess can 
 outweigh the pleasure and the excitement of 
 having been present at such a resurrection of 
 the dead ; of having had the privilege to read 
 as new . >vork written more than two thousand 
 years ago. and which for some twelve or thir^ 
 teen hundred years no mortal eye had seen ; 
 and of knowing that this may be only the fore- 
 runner of many such discoveries, Which may 
 give back to us yet other masterpieces of the 
 literature of that marvellous race to which the 
 modern world owes the greater part of its culture 
 and of its artistic inspiration. 
 
 The duty of a trahslatbr of such a work as 
 
 ^this is coniparatively simple. Where there is 
 
 / little or no literary style in the Original, any 
 
 attempt at such a style would be out of place in 
 
 V a'translation. Thfe manner of the writer is not 
 
INTRODUCTION. jtll 
 
 SO involved or idiomatic as to justify or require 
 any considerable departure from the structure 
 of the original. The most that can be aimed 
 at is faithfulness to the meaning of the text> 
 with such amount of precision and directness 
 of expression as that text may seem to contain. 
 At the same time it would be too much to hope 
 that a final interpretation of all doubtful pas- 
 sages has been reached. Even the text of the 
 original is not yet in a settled condition, and 
 will not be so for a long time to come. Under 
 these circumstances a certain amount of indul- 
 gence may perhaps be claimed, though it is to 
 be hoped that in all material points the sense of 
 the original has been truly represented. 
 
 A translation of such a work is not offered to 
 scholars and specialists, who have no need to 
 look beyond the original. At the same time, 
 as this translation may possibly be consulted by 
 some who use the Greek text, all departures 
 from the printed text which involve any altera- 
 tion of meaning have been mentioned in foot- 
 notes. But for the most part a translation is 
 necessarily meant for those who hav? not access 
 to the original, and therefore the majority of 
 the notes which have been added are intended 
 to make the obscurer passages and allusiOTis 
 
jtlH INTR OD UC TIO.V. 
 
 clear to those who do not use any annotated 
 edition of the Greek. 
 
 • There remains only the pleasant duty of re- 
 turning thanks to those who have given their 
 assistance to this work. This is, perhaps, hardly 
 the place to refer to the many kind and friendly 
 criticisms which have been received, both from 
 home and from abroad, with reference to the 
 published edition of the Greek text ; but full use 
 has been made of these criticisms, so far as they 
 assisted the very necessary work of reforming the 
 text to be translated, or were otherwise available 
 for the present purpose. But especially I wish 
 to thank most sincerely my friends Mr. F. 
 Haverfield, assistant-master of Lancing Col- 
 lege, and Mr. A. H. Cruickshank, Fellow of 
 New College, Oxford, and assistant-master of 
 Harrow School, for their kindness in revising 
 the proofs of the translation, and for the many 
 improvements which they have suggested. 
 Finally, the translation has profited greatly by 
 the advice and criticisms of a sister, to whom, 
 in other respects also, I owe more than a mere 
 acknowledgment can repay. 
 
 Aprils i8qi. 
 
XJNIVEESITl 
 
 ARISTOTLE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 
 
 .... [They ^ were tried] by a court empanelled 
 from among the noble families, and sworn upon 
 the sacrifices. The part of accuser was taken 
 
 1 The narrative opens with the trial of the Alcmeonidae for 
 sacrilege. Cylon, a young noble, had attempted to seize des- 
 potic power by force ; but his attempt failed, and his adherents 
 fled to sanctuary, which they were only induced to leave under 
 a safe conduct. This was violated by the archon Megacles, one 
 of the great house of the Alcmeonidae, who caused them all to 
 be put to death ; a sacrilege which was supposed to be the cause 
 of the misfortunes which subsequently befell Athens, until the 
 Alcmeonidae submitted themselves to trial. The date of Cylon's 
 attempt to set himself up as tyrant has hitherto been doubtful, 
 but it is clear from this treatise that it occurred before the time 
 of Draco ; and, as Cylon was an Olympic victor in 640 B.C., and 
 was apparently still a young man at the time of his attempt, the 
 latter (which took place in an Olympic year) may be assigned to 
 6^2 B.C. The expulsion of the Alcmeonidae did not take place 
 till many years afterwards ; and the visit of Epimenides, to 
 purify the city from the pollution which still seemed to briiig 
 ill-fortune on it, probably took place about 596 B.C., shortly 
 B 
 
2 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. i. 
 
 by Myron. They were found guilty of the sacri- 
 lege, and their dead were cast out of their 
 graves and their race banished for evermore. 
 Moreover, in addition to this,^ Epimenides the 
 Cretan performed a purification of the city. 
 p^i. After this event there was contention for a 
 long time between the upper classes and the f 
 populace. Not only was the constitution at this 
 time oligarchical in every respect, but the poorer 
 classes, men, women, and children, were in 
 •absolute slavery to the rich. They were known 
 as Pelatae^andalsoas Hectemori,^ because they 
 cultivated the lands of the rich for a sixth part 
 of the produce.^ The whole country was in the 
 hands of a few persons, and if the tenants failed 
 to pay their rent they were liable to be haled into 
 slavery, and their children with them. Their 
 persons were mortgaged to their creditors, a 
 custom which prevailed until the time of Solon, 
 who was the first to appear as a leader of the 
 people. But the hardest and bitterest part of 
 the condition of the masses was the fact that 
 
 befare the legislation of Solon. Aristotle is here carrying down 
 the story of Cylon's attempt to its conclusion, and he subse- 
 quently goes back to the reforms of Draco, which, chrono- 
 logically, intervene between the conspiracy of Cylon and the 
 expulsion of the Alcmeonidae. 
 
 1 Or, "Upon this " ; the chronological relation of the visit of 
 Epimenides to the expulsion of the Alcmeonidae is uncertain. 
 
 2 This word is used by Plutarch to represent the Roman 
 ** client," but the position of the Greek pelates seems to have 
 been one of more marked inferiority than that of the Roman 
 client, and to correspond to the serf in early English history. 
 
 3 i.e. those who recei^Cd a sixth portion. 
 
CH. 3.] A THENIAN CONSTITUTION. 3 
 
 they had no share in the offices ^ then existing 
 under the constitution. At the same time they 
 were discontented with every other feature of 
 their lot ; for, to speak generally, they had no 
 part nor share in anything. 
 
 3. Now the ancient constitution, as it existed 
 before the time of Draco, was organized as 
 follows. The magistrates were elected according 
 to qualifications of birth and wealth. At first 
 they governed for life, but subsequently for terms 
 of ten years.^ The first magistrates, both in date 
 and in importance, were the King, the Pole- 
 march [ = commander in war], and the Archon. 
 The earliest of these offices was that of the 
 King, which existed from the very beginning. 
 To this was added, secondly, the office of Pole- 
 
 1 The word corresponding to this in the Greek is illegible in 
 the MS., and it is uncertaiif whether this is the right restoration. 
 
 2 The absolute monarchy appears to have ended with Codrus, 
 whose traditional date is about 1066 B.C. With the accession of 
 his son, Medon, a change was evidently made in the nature of 
 the kingly power, which appears to be described in the first part 
 of this sentence. It seems that the Areopagus (as to the origin 
 of which we know nothing, but which certainly existed from a 
 very early time and possessed very considerable power) hence- 
 forth elected the king for life from the members of the kingly 
 house ; and with him were associated the Polemarch and the 
 Archon, the latter officer, as stated below, being called into 
 existence at that time. In 752 B.C. the title of Archon was 
 transferred from the third to the chief magistrate of the state. 
 He was still elected from the royal house, but his term was 
 limited to ten years ; and the title of king was transferred to the 
 second magistrate, with functions chiefly sacrificial. After four 
 Archons had ruled on these conditions, the office was thrown 
 open to all the Eupatridae, or nobles; and in 682 B.C. the board 
 of nine annual archons was substituted for the decennial archon. 
 
4 ARISTOTLE ON THE [cH. 3. 
 
 march, on account of some of the kings being 
 feeble in war; for which reason lon^ was invited 
 to accept the post on an occasion of pressing 
 need. The last of these three offices was that of 
 the Archon, which most authorities state to have 
 come into existence in the time of Medon. 
 Others assign it to the time of Acastus,^ and 
 adduce as proof the fact that the nine Archons 
 take oath to administer the state "as in the 
 days of Acastus," which seems to suggest that . 
 \i was in his reign that the descendants of 
 jtodrus abandoned a part of their prerogative in 
 favour of the Archon.^ It is not a matter of much 
 importance, however, and in any case the office 
 came into existence about that period ; but that 
 it was the last of these magistracies to be created 
 is shown by the fact that the Archon has no 
 part in the ancestral sacrifi«es, as the King and 
 the Polemarch have, but only in those of later 
 origin.* So it is only at a comparatively late 
 date that the office of Archon has become of 
 great importance, by successive accretions of 
 power. The Thesmothetae ^ were appointed 
 many years afterwards, when these offices had 
 
 1 Ion was said to have come to the assistance of his grand- 
 father Erechtheus, when the latter was engaged in war ^ith 
 Eumolpus of Eleusis, and to have been made Polemarch, or 
 commander-in-chief, of the Athenians. 
 
 2 The successor of Medon. 
 
 3 This sentence, after the word " Codrus," is mutilated in 
 the MS., and the sense is here supplied conjecturally. 
 
 4 The passage is mutilated in the MS., and the supplement is 
 partly due to Mr. Wyse. 
 
 5 The six junior archons. 
 
CH. 3-] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 5 
 
 already become annual ; and the object of their 
 creation was that they might record in writing 
 alljiegal decisions, and act as guardians of them 
 with a view to ' executing judgment upon trans- 
 gressors of the law. Accordingly their office, 
 alone of those which kave been mentioned, was 
 never of more than annual duration. 
 
 So far, then, do these magistrates precede all 
 others in point of date. At that time the nine | 
 Archons did not all live together. The King / 
 occupied the building now known as the Buco- 
 lium, near the Prytaneum, as may be seen from 
 the fact that even to the present day the marriage 
 of the King's wife to Dionysus ^ takes place 
 there. The Ar'chon lived in the Prytaneum, 
 the Polemarch in the Epilyceum. The latter 
 building was formerly called the Polemarcheum, 
 but after Epilycus, during his term of office as 
 Polemarch, had rebuilt it and fitted it up, it was 
 called the Epilyceum. The Thesmothetae occu- 
 pied the Thesmotheteum. In the time of Solon, 1 
 however, they all came together into the Thes- 
 motheteum. They had power to decide cases 
 fmaily on their own authority, not, as now, 
 merely to hold a preliminary hearing. Such, 
 then, was the arrangement of the magistracies. 
 The Council of Areopagus had as its constitu- 
 * tionally assigned duty the protection of the laws ; 
 but in point of fact it administered the greater 
 
 1 The wife of the king-archon every year went through the 
 ceremony of marriage to the god Dionysus, at the feast of the: 
 Antiiestiiria. 
 
6 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 3. 
 
 and most important part of the government of 
 the state, and inflicted personal punishments and 
 fines summarily upon all who misbehaved them- 
 selves. This was the natural consequence of the 
 facts that the Archons were elected under qualifi- 
 cations of birth and wealth, and that the Areo- 
 pagus was composed of those who had served as 
 Archons; for which latter reason the member- 
 ship of the Areopagus is the only office which 
 has continued to be a life-magistracy to the 
 present day. 
 
 4. Such was, in outline, the first constitution ; 
 but not very long after the events above re- 
 corded, in the archonship of Aristaichmes,^ Draco 
 drew up his legislation. The organization he 
 established had the following form. The ffan- 
 /chise was given to all who could furnish them- 
 \_^selves with a military equipment. The nine 
 Archons and the Treasurers were elected by 
 this body from persons possessing an un- 
 encumbered property of not less than ten 
 minas, the less important officials from those 
 who could furnish themselves with a military 
 equipment, and the generals [Strategi] and com- 
 m.anders of the cavalry [Hipparchi] from those 
 who could show an unencumbered property of 
 not less than a hundred minas, and had children 
 born in lawful wedlock over ten years of age. 
 This qualification was to apply to the Prytanes,^ 
 
 1 The name of this archon is not otherwise knowTi, but the 
 traditional date of Draco is 621 B.C. 
 
 2 The Prytanes were the presidents of the Council and Assem- 
 
CH. 4.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 7 
 
 the Strategi, and the Hipparchi/ .... There 
 was also to be a Council, consisting of four 
 hundred and one members, elected by lot from 
 among those who possessed the franchise. Both 
 for this and for the other magistracies ^ the lot 
 was cast among those who were over thirty 
 years of age ; and no one might hold office twice 
 until everyone else had had his turn, after which 
 they were to cast the lot afresh. If any member 
 of the Council failed to attend when there was a 
 sitting of the Council or of the Assembly, he paid 
 a fine, to the amount of three drachmas, if he was 
 a Pentacosiomedimnus,^ two if he was a Knight, 
 and one if he was a Zeugites. The Council of 
 Areopagus was guardian of the laws, and kept 
 watch over the magistrates to see that they 
 
 bly in later days ; see ch. 43. They have not hitherto been 
 known to have existed so early as Draco, but presumably they 
 were created as presidents of the new Assembly which he called 
 into existence, consisting of all those who could furnish them- 
 selves with the full equipment of a heavy infantry soldier. 
 
 1 The rest of the sentence is mutilated in the MS., and it is 
 impossible to be certain of the sense of it. 
 
 2 i.e. the other magistracies to which election was made by 
 lot. It does not mean that all the magistrates were at this time 
 elected by lot, which certainly was not the case. This is the 
 first appearance of the principle of the lot in Athenian politics, 
 and, if the record is correct, it is certainly surprisingly early for 
 it to have been adopted ; but, as Dr. H. Jackson has pointed 
 out, the conclusion of this sentence shows that the idea upon 
 which it rested was that every person holding the franchise was 
 qualified for office and was expected to hold it in turn, and the 
 lot simply determined in what order they should serve. 
 
 3 The meanings of these terms are explained in ch. 7. It has 
 not hitherto been known that this division into classes according 
 to property existed before the time of Solon. 
 
8 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 4. 
 
 executed their offices in accordance with the 
 laws. Any person who felt himself wronged 
 might lay an information before the Council of 
 Areopagus, on declaring what law was broken 
 by the wrong done to him. But, as has been 
 said before, the persons of the people were mort- 
 gaged to their creditors, and the land was in the 
 hands of a few. 
 
 5. Now seeing that such was the organization 
 
 of the constitution, and that the many were in 
 
 slavery to the few, the people rose against the 
 
 upper class. The strife was keen, and for a 
 
 long time the two parties were face to face with 
 
 /one another, till at last,^ by common consent, 
 
 /they appointed Solon to be mediator and 
 
 lArchon, and committed the whole constitution 
 
 \ to his hands. The immediate cause of his 
 
 appointment was his poem, which begins with 
 
 the words, — 
 
 I see, and within my heart deep sadness has claimed its place, 
 As I look on the oldest home of the ancient Ionian race : ^ 
 
 and so he continues,^ fighting and disputing on 
 behalf of each party in turn against the other, 
 and finally he advises them to come to terms 
 and put an end to the quarrel existing between 
 
 1 The traditional date for Solon's legislation is 594 B.C. 
 
 2 A passage of considerable length, which evidently comes 
 from the same poem, is quoted by Demc^thenes {de Fals. Leg. 
 ch. 255), but this beginning of it has not hitherto been known, 
 nor yet the four lines quoted just below. 
 
 3 The reading of the MS. is extremely doubtful here, and 
 perhaps it should be restored ** and so throughout the poem he 
 figiits and disputes," etc. 
 
4 
 
 CH. 6.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION 
 
 them. By birth ^ and reputation Solon was one j 
 of the foremost men of the day, but in wealth and I 
 position he was of the middle class, as is mani- | 
 fest from many circumstances, and especially 
 from his own evidence in these poems, where he 
 exhorts the wealthy not to be grasping. 
 
 But ye who have store of good, who are sated and overflow. 
 Restrain your swelling soul, and still it and keep it low : 
 Let the heart that is great within you be trained a lowlier way ; 
 Ye shall not have all at your will, and we will not for ever obey. 
 
 Indeed, he constantly ascribes the origin of the 
 conflict to the rich ; and accordingly at the 
 beginning of the poem he says that he fears 
 " the love of wealth and an overweening mind," 
 evidently meaning that it was through these 
 that the quarrel arose. 
 
 6. As soon as he was at the head of affairs, 
 Solon liberated the people once and for all, by 
 prohibiting all loans on the security of the| 
 person of the debtor : and at the same time he ! 
 made laws by which he cancelled all debts, j 
 public and private. " Tliis measure is comriionly \ 
 calleSTThF^etsachtheia [== removal of burdens], ) 
 since thereby the people had their loads removed \ 
 from them. In connection with it some persons 
 try to traduce the character of Solon. It so 
 happened that, when he was about to enact the 
 Seisachtheia, he announced his intention to 
 some members of the upper class, and then, as 
 
 1 Reading <i}i<TH for po-fi. It might also be rendered " In cha- 
 racter." 
 
lo ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 6. 
 
 the partisans of the popular party say, his friends 
 stole a march on him, while those who wish to 
 attack his character ^ maintain that he too had a 
 share in the fraud himself. For these persons! 
 borrowed money and bought up a large amount off 
 land, and so, when, a short time afterwards, all|( 
 debts were cancelled, they became wealthy / \ 
 and this, they say, was the origin of the families! \ 
 which were afterwards looked on as possessing! '^ 
 wealth from primeval times. However, the story 
 of the popular party is by far the most probable. 1 
 A man like Solon, who was so ^ moderate an4.'^ 
 just in all his other actions, that although he 
 might have put the laws beneath his feet and 
 have established himself as tyrant, he preferred / 
 instead to incur the hostility of both parties by ! 
 placing his honour and the general welfare above 
 his personal aggrandisement, is not likely to 
 have consented to defile his hands by such a 
 petty and unworthy transaction. That he had 
 this absolute power and that he remedied the 
 diseases of the body politic, he both testifies 
 himself repeatedly in his poems, and it is ad- 
 mitted by all ; and therefore we are bound to 
 consider this accusation to be false 
 
 7. Next Solon drew up a constitution and 
 enacted new laws ; and the statutes of Draco 
 ceased to be used with the exception of those 
 relating to murder. The laws were inscribed 
 
 1 Reading o< [^ooXo]/ixevoi ^Xa(n$)»)/u6~v, as suggested by Prof. J. 
 E. B. Mayor. 
 
 2 Reading \w<r\r for [S/ua] t, as suggested by Dr. Jackson. 
 
>^-^' 
 
 CH. 7.] A THEN I A N CONS TITUTION, x 1 
 
 on the pillars,' and set up in the King's Porch, 
 and all swore to obey them ; and the nine 
 Archons made oath upon the stone ^ and 
 declared that they would dedicate a golden 
 statue if they should transgress any of them.^ , ^^ 
 This is the origin of the oath to that effect which \ tfe^ 
 they take to the present day. Solon ratified his :)' -'iWij^ 
 laws for a hundred years ; and the following 
 was the fashion of his organization of the consti- . 
 tution. He made a division of all rateable pro- 
 perty into four classes, just as it had been 
 divided before,^ namely, Pentacosiomedimni, 
 Knights, Zeugitae, and Thetes/ The various 
 magistracies, namely, the nine Archons, the Trea- 
 surers, the Commissioners for Public Contracts 
 [Poletae], the Eleven,^ and the Exchequer Clerks 
 [Colacretae],^ he assigned to the Pentacosio- 
 
 1 i.e. the well-known pillars, or, as they are rather believed 
 to have been, triangular tablets forming a pyramid, made of 
 wood. 
 
 2 See ch. 55, near the end. 
 
 3 This division has hitherto been universally ascribed to Solon. 
 What he actually did was apparently to take this property qualifi- 
 cation, which hitherto had no direct connection with the political 
 organization, and make it the basis of the constitution, substi- 
 tuting a qualification of wealth for the qualification of birth. 
 
 4 The name Pentacosiomedimnus means one who possesses 
 500 measures, as explained in the text below ; that of Knight, or 
 Horseman, implies ability to keep a horse ; that of Zeugites, 
 ability to keep a yoke of oxen ; while the Thetes were ori- 
 ginally serfs attached to the soil. 
 
 5 The superintendents of the state prison ; see ch. 52. 
 
 6 These officers, whose original function was said to have been 
 to "collect the pieces after a sacrifice," were the Treasury 
 officials in early times, who received the taxes and handed 
 them over to be kept by the Treasurers. In later times the 
 
X2 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 7. 
 
 meclimni, the Knights, and the Zeugitae, giving 
 
 . offices to each class in proportion to the value 
 
 \ of their rateable property. To those who ranked 
 
 J among the Thetes he gave nothing but a place in 
 
 j the Assembly and in the juries. A man had 
 
 to rank as a Pentacosiomedimnus if he made, 
 
 from his own land,^ five hundred measures, 
 
 whether liquid or solid. Those ranked as 
 
 Knights who made three hundred measures, or, 
 
 as some say, those who were able to maintain a 
 
 hor^e. In support of the latter definition they 
 
 adduce the name of the class, which may be 
 
 supposed to be derived from this fact, and also 
 
 some votive offerings of early times ; for in the 
 
 Acropolis there is a votive offering, a statue of 
 
 Diphilus,^ bearing this inscription : — 
 
 The son of Diphilus, Anthemion hight, 
 Raised from the Thetes and become a Kniglit, 
 Did to the gods this sculptured charger bring. 
 For his promotion a thank-offering. 
 
 And a horse stands beside the man, which seems 
 to show that this was what was meant by be- 
 longing to the rank of Knight. At the same 
 
 Colacretae seem to have ceased to exist, and they are not 
 mentioned in Aristotle's enumeration of the officials in his own 
 day. 
 
 1 Reading ynq, as suggested by Mr. By water, for the MS. rrj^ 
 
 2 Mr. A. S. Murray has pointed out that this must be a mis- 
 take, either of Aristotle, or, more probably, of the copyist. The 
 statue set up by Anthemion must have been his own, not his 
 father's, since the latter, as the inscription proves, could not 
 properly have been represented with a horse, as he was only a 
 member of the Thetes. We should therefore read '* a statue of 
 Anthemion, son of Diphilus." 
 
CH. 8.] ATHENIAN constitution: 13 
 
 time it seems more reasonable to suppose that 
 this class, like the Pentacosiomedinmi, was 
 defined by the possession of an income of a 
 certain number of measures. Those ranked as 
 Zeugitae'^-^^ho'made two hundred measures, 
 liquid or solid ; and the rest ranked as Thetes, 
 and were not eligible for any office. Hence it is 
 that even at the present day, when a candidate 
 for any office is asked to what rank he belongs, 
 no one would think of saying that he belonged 
 to the Thetes. 
 
 8. The elections to the various offices Solon 
 enacted should be by lot, out of candidates 
 selected ^y each of the ^tribes. Each tribe 
 selected ten candidates for the nine archonships, 
 and among these the lot was cast. Hence it 
 is still the custom for each tribe to choose ten 
 candidates by lot, and then the lot is again cast 
 among these. A proof that Solon regulated the 
 elections to office according to the property 
 classes may be found in the law which is still 
 in force for the election of the Treasurers, 
 which enacts that they shall be chosen from 
 the Pentacosiomedimni.^ Such was Solon's 
 legislation with respect to the nine Archons ; 
 whereas in early times the Council of Areopagus ^ 
 
 1 That this qualification was, in Aristotle's own time, purely 
 nominal, appears from ch. 47, where It is stated that the person 
 on whom the lot falls holds the office, be he ever so poor. 
 
 2 This statement is of great value, as nothing has hitherto 
 been known concerning the way in which the archons and other 
 magistrates were appointed previo-is t-j the time of So on. The 
 elections by the Areopagus, which may have begun as early as the 
 
14 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 8. 
 
 summoned suitable persons according to its own 
 
 judgment and appointed them for the year to 
 
 the several offices. There were four tribes, as 
 
 before, and four tribe-kings. Each tribe was 
 
 divided into three Trittyes [= Thirds], with twelve 
 
 Naucraries ^ in each ; and the Naucraries had 
 
 officers of their own, called Naucrari, whose 
 
 duty it was to superintend the current receipts 
 
 and expenditure. Hence among the laws of 
 
 Solon now (as is natural) obsolete, it is written 
 
 that the Naucrari are to receive and spend out 
 
 \ of the Naucraric fund. Solon also appointed a 
 
 i Council of four hundred, a hundred from each 
 
 , ■ tribe ; but he still assigned to the Areopagus 
 
 j J the duty of superintending the laws. It con- 
 
 I \ tinned, as before, to be the guardian of the 
 
 ^ constitution in general ; it kept watch over the 
 
 citizens in all the most important matters, and 
 
 corrected offenders, having full powers to inflict 
 
 either fines or personal punishment. The money 
 
 received in fines it brought up into the Acropolis, 
 
 without assigning the reason for the punishment ; 
 
 and Solon also gave it the power to try those 
 
 who conspired for the overthrow of the state. 
 
 first successors of Codrus, apparently lasted till the reforms of 
 Draco, by which the franchise was conferred on all who could 
 furnish a military equipment, and the magistrates were presumably 
 thenceforward elected in the general Ecclesia or Assembly. 
 
 1 It appears from ch. 21 that the Naucraries were local divi- 
 sions, which, under the constitution of Cleisthenes, were re- 
 placed by the demes. The division of tribes into Trittyes 
 and Naucraries existed before the time of Solon, as appears 
 from Herodotus (v. 71), and they are only mentioned here as 
 continuing under Solon's constitution, not as created by him. 
 
CH. 9-] 
 
 ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 
 
 Such were Solon's regulations concerning the 
 Areopagus. Further, since he saw the state 
 often engaged in internal disputes, while many 
 of the citizens from sheer indifference waited ^ 
 to see what would turn up, he made a Jaw: with- 
 express reference to such persons^enacting. that 
 anyone who, in a time of civil factions, did not 
 take. up arms with either party, should lose his 
 rights as a citizen and cease to have any part in 
 the state. 
 
 .9. Such, then, was his legislation concerning 
 the magistrates of the state. There are three 
 points in the constitution of Solon which appear 
 to be its most democratic features : first and 
 most important, the , orohibition of loans on the 
 security of the debtor's per slon'^r secondly, the 
 right of every person who so willed to bring an 
 action ^ on behalf of anyone to whom wrong was 
 being done ; thirdly, the institution of the appeal 
 to the law-courts ; and it is by means of this 
 last, they say, that the masses have gained 
 strength most of all, since, when the democracy 
 is master of the voting-power, it is master of 
 the constitution.^ Moreover, since the laws were 
 
 ^^^A^[ 
 
 1 Reading irfpt/u-gvovraf. 
 
 2 Reading ypa<pe<r&(xi, as in Plut. Sol. 18, or some equivalent 
 word. The MS. is imperfect here. 
 
 3 This was, unquestionably, one of the most important factors 
 in the development of the Athenian democracy. The larp:e 
 juries (consisting of several hundreds of members) which sat 
 in the Athenian courts, and appointed the sentence as well as 
 decided on the guilt of the accused, practically represented the 
 voice of the people ; and as all magistrates had to submit to 
 
i6 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 9. 
 
 not drawn up in simple and explicit terms (but 
 like the one concerning inheritances and wards 
 of state), disputes inevitably occurred, and the 
 courts had to decide in every matter, whether 
 public or private. Some persons in fact believe 
 that Solon deliberately made the laws indefinite, 
 in order that the people might have something 
 left to its final decision. This, however, is not 
 at all probable, and the reason no doubt was 
 that it was impossible to attain ideal perfection 
 when framing a law in general temns ; for we 
 must judge of his intentions, not from the actual 
 results in the present day, but from the general 
 tenor of the rest of his legislation. 
 
 10. These seem to be the democratic features 
 of his laws ; but in addition, before the period of 
 his legislation, he made his abolition of debts, and 
 ^r after it his increase in the standards of weights 
 and 'measui-es, andof the currency. During his 
 term of office the measures were made larger 
 than those of Pheidon, and the mina, which 
 previously contained about seventy ^ drachmas, 
 was raised to the full hundred. The standard 
 coin in earlier times was the two-drachma piece. 
 
 examination before the law-courts at the end of their term of 
 office, the democracy had a ready means of securing obedience 
 to its wishes. The " voting-power " is consequently that which 
 was exercised in deciding the verdict and the sentence. 
 
 1 The exact number was seventy-three ; that is. seventy-three 
 of the old drachmas were coined into one hundred of the new. 
 The effect of this was to substitute the Euboic for the Aeginetan 
 standard of coinage ; and Solon's object, no doubt, was to en- 
 courage Athenian trade with the great coiT,mercial cities of 
 Euboea and Asia Minor, which used the same standard. 
 
CH. II.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION, 17 
 
 He also appointed as the standard of currency 
 the proportion of sixty minas ^ to the talent, and 
 the mina was also distributed into staters ^ and 
 the other values. 
 
 II. When he had completed his organization 
 of the constitution in the manner that has been 
 described, he found himself beset by people^ 
 coming to him and harassing him concerning 
 his laws, criticising here and questioning there, y 
 till, as he neither wished to alter what he had | 
 decided on nor yet to be an object of ill will 1 
 to ever>^one by remaining in Athens, he set off 
 on a journey to Egypt, to the neighbourhood of 
 the city of Canopus, for ten years, with the 
 combined objects of trade and travel. He con- 
 sidered that there was no call for him to expound 
 the laws personally, but that everyone should 
 obey them just as they were written. Moreover, 
 his position at this time was such that many 
 members of the upper class had been estranged 
 from him on account of his abolition of debts, 
 and both parties were alienated through their 
 disappointment at the condition of things which 
 he had created. The mass of the people had | 
 expected him to make a complete redistribution ' 
 of all property, and the upper class hoped he \.^ 
 would restore everything to its former position 4. V; 
 
 1 The MS. has "sixty- three," but this must certainly be a 
 mistake, as there is no evidence that the number of minas in a 
 talent was ever other than sixty. 
 
 2 The stater was a four-drachma pieces 
 
 3 Substituting aury, the true reading of the MS., for the 
 printed Travxef. 
 
 C 
 
iB ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. ii. 
 
 and since he disappointed these expectations he 
 was regarded with hostiUty by both classes. He 
 might have made himself a despot by attaching 
 himself to whichever party he chose, but he 
 preferred, though at the cost of incurring the 
 enmity of both, to save the country and establish 
 the best laws that were possible, 
 
 12. The truth of this view of Solon's policy is 
 established alike by the common consent of all, 
 and by the mention which he has himself made 
 of it in his poems.^ Thus : — 
 
 I gave to the mass of the people such rank as befitted their 
 
 need, 
 I took not away their honour, and I granted naught to their 
 
 greed ; 
 But those who were rich in power, who in wealth were glorious 
 
 and great, 
 I bethought me that naught should befall them unworthy their 
 
 splendour and state ; 
 And I stood with my shield outstretched, and both were safe in 
 
 its sight. 
 And I would not that either should triumph, when the triumph 
 
 was not with right. 
 
 Again he declares how the mass of the people 
 ought to be treated : — 
 
 1 The first two quotations were known previously, though the 
 last couplet of the second occurs in the collection ascribed to 
 Theognis and only the first line of it was known to be Solon's. 
 The third passage is mostly new, but the fourth and fifth lines 
 are quoted by Plutarch, and part of the sixth and seventh by 
 Aristides. The three remaining passages, which all belong to 
 one poem, were mostly known before ; but the first two lines 
 are new, and also the second of the three quotations, and the 
 recurrence in the opening of the third passage of a phrase used 
 in the first has hitherto caused some confusion of the two quota- 
 tions. 
 
CH. 12.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 19 
 
 But thus will the people best the voice of their leaders obey, 
 When neither too slack is the rein, nor violence holdeth the 
 
 sway ; 
 For satiety breedeth a child, the presumption that spurns 
 
 control, 
 When riches too great are poured upon men of unbalanced soul. 
 
 And again elsewhere^ he speaks about the 
 persons who wished to redistribute the land : — 
 
 So they came in search of plunder, and their cravings knew no 
 
 bound, 
 Every one among them deeming endless wealth would here be 
 
 found, 
 And that I with glozing smoothness hid a cruel mind within. 
 Fondly then and vainly dreamt they ; now they raise an angry 
 
 din. 
 And they glare askance in anger, and the light within their 
 
 eyes 
 Bums with hostile flames upon me. Yet therein no justice lies. 
 All I promised, fully wrought I with the gods at hand to cheer, 
 Naught 2 beyond of folly ventured. Never to my soul was dear 
 With a tyrant's force to govern, nor to see the good and base 
 Side by side in equal portion share the rich home of our race. 
 
 Once more he speaks of the destitution of the 
 poorer classes and of those who before were 
 in servitude, but were released owing to the 
 Seisachtheia : — 
 
 Wherefore I freed the racked and tortured crowd 
 
 From all the evils that beset their lot, 
 
 Thou, when slow time brings justice in its train, 
 
 mighty mother of the Olympian gods, 
 
 Dark Earth, thou best canst witness, from whose breas 
 
 1 swept the pillars 3 broad-cast planted there. 
 
 1 Reading 11 aWo^i irou, as suggested by Mr. Bywater, for 
 JtayvwSi TToO', the writing in the MS. being nearly obliterated. 
 
 2 Reading ov for aZ. 
 
 3 These were the pillars set up pn mortga^d lands, to recortj 
 the fact of the encumbrance. ' 
 
so ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 12. 
 
 And made thee free, who hadst been slave of yore. 
 And many a man whom fraud or law had sold 
 Far from his god-built land, an outcast slave, 
 I brought again to Athens ; yea, and some. 
 Exiles from home through debt's oppressive load, 
 Speaking no more the dear Athenian tongue, 
 But wandering far and wide, I brought again ; 
 And those that here in vilest slavery 
 Crouched 'neath a master's frown, I set them free. 
 Thus might and right were yoked in harmony, 
 Since by the force of law I won my ends 
 And kept my promise. ( Equal laws I gave 
 To evil and to good, witli even hand 
 Drawing straight justice for the lot of each. 
 But had another held the goad as I, 
 One in whose heart was guile and greediness, 
 He had not kept the people back from strife. 
 For had I granted, now what pleased the one. 
 Then what their foes devised within their hearts,! 
 Of many a man this state had been bereft. 
 Therefore I took me strength from every side 
 And turned at bay like wolf among the hounds. 
 
 And again he reviles both parties for their 
 grumblings in the times that followed : — 
 
 Nay, if one must lay blame where blame is due, 
 
 Wer't not for me, the people ne'er had set 
 
 Their eyes upon these blessings e'en in dreams : — 
 
 But greater men, the men of wealthier life. 
 
 Should praise me and should court me as their friend. 
 
 For had any other man, he says, received this 
 exalted post, — 
 
 He had not kept the people back, nor ceased 
 Till he had robbed the richness of the milk. 
 But I stood forth, a landmark in the midst, 
 And barred the foes from battle. 
 
 1 Restoring, in the latter part of the line, the reading, a^fljf V u 
 Totriv ovTspgi [or ouT€f?o»] <ppa<raiotro, which, with a slight alteration, 
 is that of the MS. 
 
CH. 13.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. ix 
 
 13. Such, then, were Solon's reasons for his 
 departure from the countr>\ After his retire- 
 ment the city was still torn by divisions. For 
 four years, indeed, they lived in peace ; but in 
 the fifth year after Solon's government they were 
 unable to elect" an Mete the 
 
 dissensions, and again four years later they 
 elected no Archon for the same reason. Sub- 
 sequently, after a similar period had elapsed,^ 
 Damasias was elected Archon ; and he governed 
 for 't\va yedTT and two months, until he was 
 forcibly expelled from his office. After this it 
 was agreed, on account of the dissensions, to 
 elect ten Archons, five from the Eupatridae, three 1 
 from the Agroeci, and two from the Demiurgi ;'^ | 
 and these officers ruled for the year following | 
 Damasias. It is clear from this that the Archon 
 was at that time the magistrate who possessed 
 
 1 i.e., in 582 B.C. This episode of Damasias is not mentioned 
 elsewhere. It evidently represents an attempt to establish a 
 despotism by the process of refusing to quit office when it had 
 bean once obtained. Damasias was successful in remaining in 
 office for a second year ; but when he tried to continue his rule 
 for a third year he was summarily expelled, evidently by a com- 
 bination of all classes in the state, since the provisional govern- 
 ment which succeeded him was composed of representatives of 
 all. 
 
 2 These three classes, the Eupatridae or nobles, the Agroeci 
 orhusbandmen;"ahd the Demiurgi or artisans, were the primitive 
 divisions of the inhabitants of Attica. The reversion to this 
 classification at the time of Damasias seems to show that the 
 Solonian classification by property had given offence, pre- 
 sumably to the noble families, and that the latter, being obliged 
 to admit the lower orders to a share in the government, preferred 
 to do so under the nomenclature of the older divisions. 
 
aa . ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 13. 
 
 the greatest power, since it is always in connec- 
 tion with this' oiffice that conflicts are seen to 
 arise. But altogether they were in a continual 
 state of internal disorder. Some found the 
 cause and justification of their discontent in 
 the abolition of debts, because thereby they 
 had been reduced to poverty ; others were dis- 
 satisfied with the political constitution, because 
 it had undergone a revolutionary change ; while 
 with others the motive was found in personal 
 rivalries among themselves. The parties at this 
 time were three in number. First there was the 
 party of the Shore, whose leader was Megacles 
 the son of Alcmeon,^ which was considered to 
 aim at a moderate form of government ; then 
 there were the men of the Plain, who desired an 
 oligarchy and were led by Lycurgus ; and thirdly 
 there were the men of the Highlands, at the 
 head of whom was Pisistratus, who was looked 
 on as an extreme democrat. To this latter party 
 were attached those who had been deprived of 
 the debts due to them, from motives of poverty, 
 and those who were not of pure descent, from 
 motives of personal apprehension.^ A proof of 
 this is seen in the fact that after the tyranny^ 
 
 1 This, and not Alcmaeon, seems to be the most correct 
 spelling of the name, according to inscriptions of good date, 
 which are our earliest evidence on the subject. The MS. of 
 this treatise also supports this view. 
 
 2 They were afraid of losing their position as citizens if the 
 party of the extreme oligarchs triumphed. 
 
 3 The name of " tyrants " has been so universally applied to 
 the Greek despots, that it would be pedantry to avoid using it 
 
CH. 14.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 23 
 
 was overthrown^ a resolution was passed to the 
 effect that many persons were partaking in the 
 franchise without having a right to it. The 
 names given to the respective parties were de- 
 rived from the districts in which they held their 
 lands. 
 
 14. Pisistratus had the rejputatioij, jof beiiig ?tU 
 extreme democrat, and Tie also had distinguished 
 himself greatly in the war with Megara.'* Taking 
 advantage of this, he wounded himself, and by 
 representing that his injuries had been inflicted 
 on him by his political rivals, he persuaded the 
 people, through a motion proposed by Aristion, 
 to grant him a body-guard. After he had 
 got these "club-bearers," as they were called, 
 he made an attack with them on the people and 
 seized the AcropoHs. This happened in the 
 
 as the translation of rupawoi, but it will of course be understood 
 that not all the persons thus described were ** tyrants " in the 
 modem unpleasant sense of the word. Pisistratus himself, as 
 Aristotle testifies, was a notable instance to the contrary. 
 
 1 Reading xaraXucrtv, which appears to be the real reading of 
 the MS., instead of yLaTajtrroLViW , and restoring 5<a'4'>i<|>»(r/xov imme- 
 diately afterwards for lia^r\yn<ryihy. 
 
 2 It has been commonly supposed, on the authority of Plu- 
 tarch, that Pisistratus gained his distinction in the war against 
 Megara for the recovery of Salarais, which was undertaken 
 at the instance of Solon, about 600 B.C. This, however, would 
 make him hardlj' less than sixty at his first assumption of the 
 tyranny, eighty when he finally secured himself in it, and over 
 ninety at his death, — ages which are impossible when we con- 
 sider the ordinary duration of life in those days. Moreover, a 
 distinction gained in 600 b.c. would hardly have helped him in 
 an enterprise forty years later. It is therefore tolerably certain 
 that the war with Megara here alluded to is a much later one, 
 which must have taken place about 565 B.C. See ch. 17. 
 
24 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 14. 
 
 , archonship of Corneas, thi^ty-qne^ years, after 
 the legislation of Solon. It is related that, when 
 Pisistratus asked for his body-guard, Solon op- 
 posed the request, and declared that in so doing 
 he proved himself wiser than half the people and 
 braver than the rest, — wiser than those who 
 did not see that Pisistratus designed to make 
 himself tyrant, and braver than those who saw 
 it and kept silence. But when all his words 
 availed nothing he carried forth his armour and 
 set it up in front of his house, saying that he 
 had helped his country so far as lay in his power 
 (he was already a very old man), and that he 
 called on all others to do the same. Solon's 
 exhortations, however, proved fruitless, and 
 Pisistratus assumed the sovereignty. His ad- 
 ministration was far more like a constitutional 
 government than the rule of a tyrant ; but 
 before his power was firmly established, the 
 adherents of Megacles and Lycurgus made a 
 coalition and drove him out. This took place 
 in the archonship of Hegesias, five years after 
 the first establishment of his rule. Eleven years 
 later ^ Megacles, being in difficulties in a party 
 
 ; 1 The date of Pisistratus' first tyranny is fixed, by means of 
 ithe archon, at 560 b.c. ; and the accepted date of Solon is 594 
 B.C. Either, thiereTore, Solon's legislation should be placed three 
 years later (which will also involve altering the date of Dama- 
 sias), or Aristotle has made a mistake in his chronology. 
 
 2 There is some error in Aristotle's chronology of the life of 
 Pisistratus, for while he states below that, of the thirty-three 
 years between his first accession and his death, nineteen were 
 spent in possession of the tyranny and fourteen in exile, in the 
 
CH. 15.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 25 
 
 Struggle, again opened negotiations with Pisis- 
 tratus, proposing that the latter should marry his 
 daughter ; and on these terms he brought him 
 back to Athens, by a very primitive and simple- 
 minded device. He first spread abroad a rumour 
 that Athena was bringing back Pisistratus, and 
 then, having found a woman of great stature and 
 beauty, named Phye (according to Herodotus, 
 of the deme of Paeania, but as others say a 
 Thracian flower-seller of the deme of Colyttus), 
 he dressed her in garb resembling that of the 
 goddess and brought her into the city with 
 Pisistratus. The latter drove in on a chariot 
 with the woman beside him, and the inhabitants 
 of the city, struck with awe, received him with 
 adoration. 
 
 15. In this manner did his first return take 
 place. He did not, however, hold his power 
 long, for about six years after his return he was 
 again expelled. He refused to treat the daughter 
 of Megacles as his wife, and being afraid, in con- 
 
 A- 
 
 actual enumeration of years he gives twenty-one years of exile 
 and consequently only twelve of rule, of which only one can be 
 assigned to his last period of government, which is always 
 spoken of as the longest. It is therefore tolerably certain that 
 one of the periods of exile is wrongly dated ; and as the ten 
 years of the second exile are confirmed by Herodotus, it may 
 be concluded that the eleven years here assigned to the first 
 exile are wrong, and should be reduced to four. It should be 
 noticed that in the Politics it is stated that Pisistratus was ac- 
 tually in power only seventeen years out of the thirty-three ; 
 but this would reduce the duration of his third tenure of power 
 lower than is at all probable, unless we suppose that the length 
 of the two earlier terms is wrongly given here. 
 
 UNTVEBSITl 
 
t» ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 17. 
 
 manded in the war against Megara for the re- 
 covery of Salamis. It will not harmonize with 
 their respective ages, as anyone may see who will 
 reckon up the years of the life of each of them, 
 and the dates at which they died. After the 
 death of Pisistratus his sons took up the govern- 
 ment, and conducted it on the same system. 
 He had two sons by his first and legitimate ^ wife, 
 Hippias and Hipparchus, and two by his Argive 
 consort, lophon and Hegesistratus, who had 
 the surname of Thessalus. For Pisistratus took 
 a wife from Argos, of the name of Timonassa, 
 the daughter of a man of Argos, named Gor- 
 gllus ; she had previously been the wife of 
 Archlnus of Ambracia, one of the descendants 
 of Cypselus. This was the origin of his friend-^ 
 ship with the Argives, and a thousand of them 
 were brought over by Hegesistratus ^ and fought 
 on his side in the battle at Pallene. Some autho- 
 rities say that this marriage took place after his 
 •first expulsion from Athens, others while he was 
 in possession of the government. 
 
 18. Hippias and Hipparchus assumed the 
 control of affan-s on grounds alike of standing 
 and of age ; but Hippias, as being the elder 
 and being also naturally of a statesmanlike and 
 shrewd disposition, was really the head of the 
 government. Hipparchus was youthful in dis- 
 
 1 Pisistratus' second wife was a foreigner, and therefore not 
 legitimate according to strict Athenian law. 
 
 2 'Hyrio-jo-rpaTou, and not nejo-jorpaTou, is probably the reading of 
 the MS., as Mr. J. B. Mayor has suggested. 
 
CH. i8.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 31 
 
 position, amorous, and fond of literature, and it 
 was he who invited to Athens Anacreon, Simo- 
 nides, and the other poets. Thessalus was much 
 junior in age, and was violent and headstrong in 
 his behaviour. It was from the character of Hip- 
 parchus ^ that all the evils arose which befell the 
 house. He became enamoured of Harmodius, 
 and, since he failed to win his affection, he lost all 
 restraint upon his passion, and after several other 
 insults he finally manifested his rage by forbid^ 
 ding the sister of Harmodius to take the part of 
 a basket-bearer in the Panathenaic procession, 
 insulting Harmodius at the same time by alleging 
 as his reason that he was a person of loose life. 
 The result of this was that Harmodius and 
 Aristogeiton, in a frenzy of wrath, did their 
 celebrated deed, in conjunction with a number 
 of other citizens.^ But while they were watching 
 Hippias in the Acropolis during the Panathenaea 
 (Hippias, at this moment, was initiating the 
 sacrifice,^ while Hipparchus was organizing the 
 procession) they saw one of the persons privy to 
 
 1 As the words stand in the original, this sentence ought to 
 apply to Thessalus, and not to Hipparchus ; but it is so well estab- 
 lished from other sources that it was Hipparchus who was the 
 cause of the conspiracy of Harmodius and Aristogeiton, that it is 
 evident that the sentence relating to Thessalus must be taken 
 as parenthetical, and that Aristotle is continuing to speak of 
 Hipparchus, 
 
 2 Thucydides states expressly that the conspirators were few 
 in number, and it is probable that there is some error in the 
 text here, 
 
 3 Reading /uev aa.ra.p'jfiiJLevcq, but it is very doubtful if this is 
 the right word. 
 
s6 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 15. 
 
 sequence, of a combination of the two opposing 
 parties, he retired from the country. First he 
 led a colony to a place called Rhaicelus, in the 
 region of the Thermaic gulf ; and thence he 
 passed to the country in the neighbourhood of 
 Mt. Pangaeus. Here he acquired wealth and 
 hired mercenaries ; and not till ten years had 
 elapsed did he descend on Eretria and make an 
 attempt to recover the government by force. In 
 this he had the assistance of many allies, notably 
 the Thebans and Lygdamis of Naxos, and also 
 the Knights who held the supreme power in the 
 constitution of Eretria. After his victory in the 
 battle at Pallene he recovered the sovereignty, 
 and when he had disarmed the people he at last 
 established his tyranny securely, and was able 
 to proceed to Naxos and set up Lygdamis as 
 ruler there. He effected the disarmament of the 
 people in the following manner. He held a 
 review in full armour in the Theseum,^ and 
 began to make a speech to the people. He 
 spoke, however, in a low voice ; and when the 
 people called out that they could not hear him, 
 he bade them come up to the entrance of the 
 Acropolis, in order that his voice might be better 
 heard. Then, while he continued to speak to 
 them at great length, men whom he had ap- 
 pointed for the purpose collected the arms and 
 locked them up in the neighbouring chambers 
 of the Theseum, and came and made a signal 
 
 1 This, and not Anaceura, is the true reading of the MS. 
 
CH. 16.] A THEN/AN CONSTITUTION, 27 
 
 to him. Pisistratus accordingly, when he had 
 finished the rest of what he had to say, told 
 the people also what had happened to their 
 arms ; and he exhorted them not to be surprised 
 or alarmed, but to go home and attend to their 
 private affairs, while he would for the future 
 manage all the business of the state. 
 
 16. Such was the origin and such the vicis- 
 situdes of the tyranny of Pisistratus. His 
 administration was temperate, as has been said 
 before, and more like constitutional government 
 than a tyranny. Not only was he in every 
 respect ^ humane and mild and ready to forgive 
 those who offended, but, in addition, he advanced 
 money to the poorer people to help them in their 
 labours, so that they might make their living by 
 agriculture.^ In this he had two objects, first that 
 they might not spend their time in the city but 
 might be scattered over all the face of the country, 
 and secondly that, being moderately well off and 
 occupied with their own business, they might 
 have neither the wish nor the time to attend to 
 public affairs. At the same time his revenues 
 were increased by the thorough cultivation of 
 the country, since he imposed a tax of one tenth 
 on all the produce. For the same reasons he 
 instituted the local justices,^ and often made 
 expeditions in person into the country to inspect 
 
 1 aXXotf appears to be the MS. reading, not 6[£<r/u,o7f], as printed. 
 
 2 The true reading of the MS. is $iarpe<pe(rdai yswpyovvroci. 
 
 3 See ch. 53, where it is stated that their number was at first 
 thirty, but was subsequently increased to forty. 
 
a ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. i6. 
 
 it and to settle disputes between individuals, 
 
 that they might not come into the city and 
 
 neglect their farms. It was in one of these 
 
 progresses that, as the story goes, Pisistratus 
 
 had his adventure with the man in the district 
 
 /6f Hymettus, who was cultivating the spot after- 
 
 j' wards known as " Tax-free Farm." He saw a 
 
 I man digging and working at a very stony piece 
 
 I of ground with a stake, and being surprised at 
 
 \ his implement he sent and asked what he got 
 
 \ out of this plot of land. " Aches and pains," said 
 
 4 the man ; " and out of these Pisistratus has got to 
 
 I have his tenth." The man spoke without know- 
 
 ; ing who his questioner was ; but Pisistratus was 
 
 j so pleased with his frank speech and his industry 
 
 that he granted him exemption from all taxes. 
 
 And so in matters in general he burdened the 
 
 people as little as possible with his government, 
 
 but always cultivated peace and kept them in 
 
 all quietness. Hence the tyranny of Pisistratus 
 
 |} was often spoken of proverbially as " the age of 
 
 > gold";^ since later the government became 
 
 much harsher, owing to the excesses of his 
 
 sons. The quality which gave most satisfaction 
 
 of all was his popular and kindly disposition. 
 
 In his whole administration he was accustomed 
 
 to observe the laws, without giving himself any 
 
 exceptional privileges. Once he was summoned 
 
 on a charge of homicide before the Areopagus, 
 
 and he appeared in person to make his defence ; 
 
 1 Literally "the age of Cronos," or, in its Latin parallel, 
 ** the Saturnianage." 
 
CH. 17.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. ap 
 
 but the prosecutor was afraid to present himself 
 and abandoned the case. For these reasons his 
 government continued long, and whenever he 
 was expelled he regained his position easily. 
 The majority alike of the upper class and of the 
 people were in his favour ; the former he won ^ 
 by his social intercourse with them, the latter 
 by the assistance which he gave to their private 
 purses, and his nature fitted him to win the 
 hearts of both. Moreover, the laws in reference 
 to tyrants at that time in force at Athens were 
 very mild, especially the one which applies more 
 particularly to the subject.^ The law ran as 
 follows : " These are the ancestral statutes of 
 the Athenians ; if any persons shall make an 
 attempt to establish a tyranny, or if any person 
 shall join in setting up a tyranny, he shall lose 
 his civic rights, both himself and his whole house." 
 17. Thus did Pisistratus grow old in the 
 possession of power, and he died a natural death 
 in the archonship of Philoneos,^ three and thirty 
 years from the time at which he first established 
 himself as tyrant, during nineteen of which he 
 was in the possession of power ; the rest he 
 spent in exile. It is evident from this that the 
 story is mere gossip which states that Pisistratus 
 was the youthful favourite of Solon and com- 
 
 1 The MS. has TrpooiiyeTo. 
 
 2 It is possible that the passage (which is corrupt in the MS.) 
 should be restored so as to run " to the establishment of the 
 tyranny. " 
 
 3 527 B.C. 
 
3a ARISTOTLE ON THE [ctt. 18. 
 
 the plot talking familiarly with him. Thinking 
 that he was betraying them, and desiring to do 
 something before they were arrested, they rushed 
 down and made their attempt without waiting 
 for the rest of their confederates, and killed 
 Hipparchus near the Leocoreum while he was 
 engaged in arranging the procession. This, 
 however, ruined the design as a whole ; and, of 
 the two leaders, Harmodius was killed on the 
 spot by the guards, while Aristogeiton was 
 arrested later, and perished after suffering long 
 tortures. While under the torture he accused 
 many persons who belonged by birth to the most 
 distinguished families and were also personal 
 friends of the tyrants. At first the government 
 could find no clue to the conspiracy ; for the 
 current story, ^ that Hippias made all who were 
 taking part in the procession leave their arms, 
 and then detected those who were carrying secret 
 daggers, cannot be true, since at that time they 
 did not bear arms in the processions, this being 
 a custom instituted at a later period by the de- 
 mocracy. According to the story of the popular 
 party, Aristogeiton accused the friends of the 
 tyrants with the deliberate intention that the latter 
 might commit an impious act, and at the same 
 time weaken themselves ^ by putting to death 
 innocent men who were their own friends ; 
 others say that he told no falsehood, but was 
 
 1 This is the version given by Thucydides, which Aristotle 
 evidentlj' wishes to correct. 
 
 2 The reading of the MS. is probably oc-SevfTj, not ayevveTf. 
 
CH. 19.] ATHEh^IAN CONSTITUTION. 33 
 
 betraying the actual accomplices. At last, 
 when for all his efforts he could not obtain 
 release by death, he promised to give further 
 information against a number of other per- 
 sons; and, having induced Hippias to give 
 him his hand to confirm his word, as soon 
 as he had hold of it he reviled him for giving 
 his hand to the murderer of his brother, 
 till Hippias, in a frenzy of rage, lost control 
 of himself and drew out his dagger and des- 
 patched him. 
 
 19. After this event the tyranny became much 
 harsher. In consequence of his vengeance for his 
 brother, and of the execution and banishment of 
 a large number of persons, Hippias became a dis- 
 trustful and an embittered man. About three 
 years after the death of Hipparchus, finding his 
 position in the city insecure, he set about for- 
 tifying Munychia, with the intention of removing 
 thither. While he was still engaged on this work, 
 however, he was expelled by Cleomenes, king 
 of Lacedaemon, in consequence of the Spartans 
 being continually warned by oracles to overthrow 
 the tyranny. The oracles were obtained in the 
 following way. The Athenian exiles, headed 
 by the Alcmeonidae, could not by their own 
 power effect their return, but failed continually 
 in their attempts. Among their other failures, 
 they fortified.a post in Attica, Lipsydrium, above 
 Mt. Parnes, and were there joined by some 
 partisans from the city ; but they were besieged 
 by the tyrants and reduced to surrender. After 
 D 
 
34 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 19. 
 
 this disaster the following became a popular 
 drinking song : — 
 
 Ah ! for Lipsydriiim, name of woe 
 
 And treachery ; ah I for the men laid low. 
 
 Nobly born and great in deed ; 
 
 Well did they prove themselves at need 
 
 Of noble sires a noble seed. 
 
 Having failed, then, in every other method, they 
 took the contract for rebuilding the temple at 
 Delphi,^ using for that purpose the considerable 
 wealth which they possessed, with the view of 
 securing the help of the Lacedaemonians. The 
 Pythia accordingly was continually enjoining on 
 the Lacedaemonians who came to consult the 
 oracle, that they must free Athens ; and very 
 soon she succeeded in turning the Spartans in 
 that direction, although the house of Pisistratus 
 was connected with them by ties of hospitahty. 
 At the same time the resolution of the Lacedae- 
 monians was at least equally due to the friendship 
 which had been formed between the house of 
 Pisistratus and Argos.^ Accordingly they first 
 sent Anchimolus by sea at the head of an army ; 
 but he was defeated and killed, through the arri- 
 val of Cineas of Thessaly to support the sons of 
 Pisistratus with a force of a thousand horsemen. 
 Then, being roused to anger by this disaster, 
 they sent their king, Cleomenes, by land at the 
 
 1 The temple at Delphi had been burnt, as is recorded by 
 Herodotus (ii. 180). 
 
 2 Argos being the ancient rival of Sparta for the supremacy 
 of the Peloponnesus. 
 
CH. 20.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 35 
 
 head of a larger force ; and he, after defeating 
 the Thessahan cavalry when they attempted to 
 intercept his march into Attica, shut up Hippias 
 within what was known as the Pelargic wall and 
 blockaded him there with the assistance of the 
 Athenians. While he was sitting down before 
 the place, it so happened that the sons of the 
 Pisistratidae were captured in an attempt to make 
 their escape from the country ;^ upon which the'- 
 tyrants capitulated on condition of the safety of - 
 their children, and surrendered the Acropolis to \ 
 the Athenians, five days being first allowed them / 
 to remove their effects. This took place in the 
 archonship of Harpactides,-^ after they had held 
 the tyranny for about seventeen years since 
 their father's death, or in all, including the period 
 of their father's rule, for nine and forty years. 
 
 20. After the overthrow of the tyranny, the 
 rival leaders in the state were Isagoras son of 
 Tisaiider^-a-parti^anoltbe tyraiits,.and Cleis- 
 tlienes, who belonged to the family of the \ 
 Alcmeonidae. Cleisthenes, being beaten in the 
 political clubs, attracted the people to his side by 
 giving the franchise to the masses. Thereupon 
 Isagoras, finding himself left inferior in power, 
 invited Cleomenes, who was united to him by ties 
 of hospitality, to return to Athens, and persuaded 
 
 1 Reading v/ire^tovraf, which is confirmed by Herodotus' 
 account (v. 65), which Aristotle seems to be following. 
 
 2 The archon's name has not been previously known, but the 
 date is established independently as the year 511-10 B.C. (the 
 Athenian official year beginning in July), apparently in the 
 spring of 510 B.C. 
 
36 ARISTOTLE ON THE [cH. 20. 
 
 him to " drive out the pollution," ^ a plea derived 
 from the fact that the Alcmeonidae were supposed 
 to be under the curse of pollution. On this, 
 Cleisthenes, with a few of his adherents, retired 
 from the country, and Cleomenes expelled, 
 as polluted, seven hundred Athenian families. 
 Having effected this, he next attempted to 
 dissolve the Council, and to set up Isadoras and 
 three hundred of his partisans as the supreme 
 power in the state. The Council, however, 
 resisted, the populace flocked together, and Cleo- 
 menes and Isagoras, with their adherents, took 
 refuge in the AcropoHs. Here the people sat 
 down and besieged them for two days ; and 
 on the third they agreed to let Cleomenes and 
 all his followers depart, while they sent to 
 summon Cleisthenes and the other exiles back 
 to Athens. When the people had thus obtained 
 the command of affairs, Cleisthenes was their 
 chief and the leader of the people.^ And this was 
 natural ; for the Alcmeonidae were perhaps the 
 chief cause of the expulsion of the tyrants, and 
 for the greater paj*t of their rule they were at 
 
 1 i.e. to expel the house of the Alcmeonidae, which was still 
 supposed to be polluted by the sacrilege in the affair of Cylon. 
 ■It is the same phrase as was afterwards made use of by the 
 Spartans, when, just before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian 
 war, they called on the Athenians to " drive out the pollution," 
 in order to secure the disgrace of Pericles, who was connected 
 with the house of the Alcmeonidae. 
 
 2 This phrase almost amounts to an official title, denoting the 
 person who, at any given time, was regarded as the accepted 
 leader of the democracy. A list of such leaders is given in 
 ch. 28, where see note. 
 
CH. 21.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 37 
 
 perpetual war with them. But even earlier than 
 the attempts of the Alcmeonidae, Cedon ^ made 
 an attack on the tyrants ; whence there was 
 also a popular drinking song, addressed to 
 him : — 
 
 Pour a health yet again, boy, to Cedon; forget not this duty to do, 
 If a health is an honour befitting the name of a good man and 
 true. 
 
 21. The people, therefore, had good reason to 
 place confidence in Clgisthenes. Accordingly 
 when, at this time, He Found himself at the 
 head of the masses, three years after the ex- 
 pulsion of the tyrants, in the archonship of 
 Isagoras,^ his first step was to distribute the 
 whole population into ten tritDes in place of the 
 existing four, with the object of intermixing'" tKe 
 members of the different tribes, so that more 
 persons might have a share in the franchise.^ 
 
 1 Nothing has hitherto been known of this person except the 
 song quoted below, and that was not sufficient to establish his 
 date or the character of his achievements, 
 
 ^ 508 B.C. 
 
 3 It is not at first sight evident why a mere redistribution of 
 the population into ten tribes instead of four should give more 
 persons a share in the franchise. But the object of Cleisthenes 
 was to break down the old family and tribal feelings on which 
 political contests had hitherto baen based. To do this, he estab- 
 lished a new division into tribes, which corresponded to no existing 
 subdivision of the old one.s, and at the same time he introduced a 
 large number of new citizens by the enfranchisement of emanci- 
 pated slaves and resident aliens. There would have been end- 
 less difficulties in the way of introducing them into the old 
 tribes, which were organized into clans and families on the old 
 aristocratic basis ; but they were easily included in the new 
 tribes, which had no such associations connected with them. 
 
38 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 21. 
 
 From this arose the saying " do not look at the 
 tribes," addressed to those who wished to scru- 
 =^tinize the Usts of the clans. ^ Next he made the 
 Council to consist of five hundred members 
 instead of four hundred, each tribe now contribu- 
 ting fifty, whereas formerly each had sent a hun- 
 dred. The reason why he did not organize the 
 people into twelve tribes was that he might not 
 have to divide them according to the already 
 existing Trittyes ; for the four tribes had twelve 
 Trittyes, so that he would not have achieved his 
 object of redistributing the population in fresh 
 combinations. Further, he divided the country 
 by demes^ into thirty parts, ten from the districts 
 about the city, ten from the coast, and ten from 
 the interior. These he called Trittyes ; and he 
 assigned three of them by lot to each tribe, in 
 such a way that each should have one portion in 
 each of these three divisions. All who lived in 
 
 1 Apparently this means that since the tribes now bore no 
 relation to the ancient clans, it was useless to look at the lists of 
 the tribes if anyone wish to examine the rolls of the clans. 
 Hence the phrase seems to have become a proverbial one for 
 making useless distinctions or refinements. The clans (together 
 with the larger units known as phratries) were ancient divisions 
 of the four old tribes, on the basis of kinship, and mainly for 
 social and religious purposes. 
 
 2 The total number of demes, or parishes, is not given, but 
 from Herodotus it appears to hav-e been a hundred. It 
 gradually increased with the growth of population, and in the 
 third century B.C. there were 176 demes. The demes composing 
 each trittys appear to have been contiguous, but each trittys 
 was separate from its two fellows, so that the party feeling of 
 the tribe was spread over three local divisions, and the old feuds 
 between the different districts of Attica became impossible. 
 
CH. 21.] A THENIAN CONSTITUTION. 39 
 
 any given deme he declared fellow-demesmen, 
 to the end that the new citizens might not be 
 exposed by the habitual use of family names, 
 but that men might be known by the names of 
 their demes ; ^ and accordingly it is by the 
 names of their demes that the Athenians still 
 speak of one another. He also instituted De- 
 marchs, who had the same duties as the pre- 
 viously existing Naucrari, — the demes being 
 made to take the place of the naucraries. He 
 gave names to the demes, some from the locali- 
 ties to which they belonged, some from the 
 persons who founded them, since some of them 
 no longer corresponded to localities possessing 
 names. On the other hand he allowed everyone 
 to retain his family and clan and religious rites 
 according to ancestral custom.^ The names 
 given to the tribes were the ten which the Pythia 
 appointed out of the hundred selected national 
 heroes. 
 
 1 The meaning of this is that if the people continued to speak 
 of one another merely by their family names as hitherto, newly 
 enfranchised citizens, whose fathers had been slaves or aliens, 
 would be markedly distinguished from the older citizens who 
 belonged to ancient families ; but by making the name of the 
 deme part of the necessary description of every citizen it was 
 easy for any man to establish his claim to citizenship by naming 
 the deme to which he belonged, even though his father's name 
 might be foreign or unfamiliar. Thus in later times we find 
 Athenians officially described by the name of their deme as well 
 as that of their father, e.g. " Hipparchus, son of Charmus, of 
 Colyttus," (ch. 22); and sometimes, in non-official language, by 
 the deme alone, e.g. " Callicrates of Paeania" (ch. 28). 
 
 2 Thus the ancient divisions were maintained for the benefit 
 of the older families, but they ceased to be part of the regular 
 organization of the community for political purposes. 
 
40 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 22. 
 
 22. By these reforms the constitution became 
 much more democratic than that of Solon. 
 The laws of Solon had been obliterated by dis- 
 use during the period of the tyranny^ while, 
 those which replaced them were drawn up by 
 Cleisthenes with the object of securing the 
 goodwill of the masses. Among these was the 
 la,;^J^^noernirjg ostracisnj. Four years ^ after 
 the establishment of this system, in the archon- 
 ship of Hermoucreon, they first imposed upon 
 the Council of Five Hundred the oath which 
 they take to the present day. Next they be- 
 gan to elect the generals according to tribes, 
 one from each tribe, while the Polemarch was 
 the commander of the whole army. Then, eleven 
 years later, they won the victory of Marathon, in 
 the archonship of Phaenippus ; and two years 
 after this victory, when the people had now 
 gained self-confidence, they for the first time 
 made use of the law of ostracism. It was 
 originally passed as a precaution against men in 
 high office, because Pisistratus took advantage 
 of his position as a popular leader and general 
 to make himself tyrant ; and the first person 
 ostracised was one of his relatives, Flipparchus 
 
 1 This, if correct, would place this event in 504 B.C. But, iii 
 the first place, that year belongs to another archon ; and 
 secondly, it is inconsistent with the statement below, that the 
 battle of Marathon occurred eleven years later. Marathon was 
 fought in 490 B.C., therefore the archonship of Hermoucreon 
 should be assigned to 501 B.C., for which year no name occurs in 
 the extant lists of archons. Whether the mistake in the present 
 passage is due to the author or a copyist it is impossible to say. 
 
CH. 22.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 41 
 
 son of ChaiTnus, of the cleme of Colyttus, the very 
 person on whose account especially Cleisthenes 
 had passed the law, as he wished to get rid of him. 
 Hitherto, however, he had escaped ; for the Athe- 
 nians, with the usual leniency of the democracy, 
 allowed all the partisans of the tyrants, who had 
 not joined in their evil deeds in the time of the 
 troubles, to remain in the city ; and the chief 
 and leader of these was Hipparchus. Then in 
 the very next year, in the archonship of Tele- 
 sinus,^ they for the first time since the tyranny 
 elected the nine Archons by lot out of the five 
 hundred ^ candidates selected by the demes, all 
 the earlier ones having been elected by vote ; '^ 
 and in the same year Megacles son of Hippocrates, 
 
 1 487 B.C. The name of the archon for this year has not 
 hitherto been known. The date here given is valuable, because 
 it has hitherto been a matter of doubt whether Callimachus, the 
 polemarch at Marathon, on whose casting vote the fighting of 
 that battle depended, was elected by lot or by open vote. The 
 words of Herodotus, strictly interpreted, imply the former ; but 
 it has always been repugnant to common sense to suppose that 
 an officer holding so important a position was elected by lot, and 
 it is now clear that, until three years after Marathon, the Ar- 
 chons were still elected by direct vote, and, as stated above in 
 this same chapter, the polemarch was the chief of the army, the 
 ten generals (who subsequently became the chief military com- 
 manders) being his subordinates. 
 
 2 It is probable that there is a mistake in this number. It 
 appears from ch. 8 that under the Solonian constitution the 
 number of candidates nominated by each tribe was ten, and that 
 the same was the number in the writer's own day ; and it is 
 hardly likely that the higher number of fifty ever prevailed at 
 an intermediate period. The Greek numerals for 100 and 500 
 are easily confused. 
 
 3 This statement can only apply to the period after the expul- 
 sion of the tyrants and the reforms of Cleisthenes, since under 
 
AM ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 22. 
 
 of the deme of Alopece, was ostracised. Thus 
 for three years they continued to ostracise the 
 friends of the tyrants, on whose account the law 
 had been passed ; but in the following year 
 they began to remove others as well, including 
 anyone who seemed to be more powerful than 
 was expedient. The first person unconnected 
 with the tyrants who was ostracised was Xan- 
 thippus son of Ariphron.^ Two years later, in 
 the archonship of Nicodemus,^ the mines of 
 Maroneia were discovered, and the state made a 
 profit of a hundred talents from the working of 
 them. Some persons advised the people to 
 make a distribution of the money among them- 
 selves, but this was prevented by Themistocles. 
 He refused to say on what ^ he proposed to 
 spend the money, but he bade them lend it 
 to the hundred richest men in Athens, one 
 talent to each, and then, if the manner in which 
 it was employed pleased the people, the ex- 
 penditure should be charged to the state, but 
 otherwise the state should receive the sum back 
 from those to whom it was lent. On these terms 
 
 the Solonian constitution (ch. 8) the archons were elected by lot 
 out of forty candidates selected by the tribes. 
 
 1 The father of Pericles. 
 
 2 483 B.C. Aristotle is, however, wrong in saying that this 
 was two years later than the event last recorded, which was the 
 ostracism of Xanthippus in 486 B.C. It should be " three years 
 later " ; and, to counterbalance this, for the " three years later " 
 below, we should have " two years later." Aristotle evidently 
 placed the archonship of Nicodemus in 484 B.C., but there is 
 considerable independent evidence for placing it in 483 B.C. 
 
 3 Reading tj for ot». 
 
b( 
 
 CH. 23.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 43 
 
 he received the money and with it. he had a 
 hundred triremes built, each of the hundred 
 individuals building one ; and it was with these 
 ships that they fought the battle of Salamis 
 against the barbarians. About this time Aristides • 
 the son of Lysimachus was ostracised. Three i 
 years later, however, in the archonship of 
 Hypsichides,* all the ostracised persons were 
 recalled, on account of the advance of the army 
 of Xerxes ; and it was laid down for the future 
 that persons under sentence of ostracism must 
 live between Geraestus and Scyllaeum,^ on pain 
 of losing their civic rights irrevocably. 
 -- 23. Up to this point had the city progressed 1 
 by this time in gradual growth, the democracy ^~ -' 
 growing with it ; but after the Persian wars the,^ 
 Council of Areopagus once more developed . 
 strength ancf assuraeH the control of the state. ^ \ 
 
 1 481 B.C. The name of this archon is new. 
 
 2 So the MS., but one of the grammarians, who probably 
 drew from this passage, says that ostracised persons were com- 
 pelled to live outside these boundaries ; and it is possible that 
 the MS. reading here should be altered from Jvrof to Uroq. Cer- 
 tainly in later times we find ostracised persons living beyond 
 these limits ; but they might have defied the law, or th-i law 
 might have lapsed. Geraestus is at the extreme south of 
 Euboea, and Scyllaeum at the extreme east of Argolis. 
 
 3 The supremacy of the Areopagus after the Persian wars is 
 alluded to by Aristotle in the Politics (viii. 4, p. 1304), but the 
 allusion has never been clearly explained hitherto. It may be 
 compared to the increase of power which the senate gained at 
 Rome, by a similar (but much greater) display of competence in 
 military matters, at the time of the Punic wars. The story of 
 the way in which the Areopagus distinguished itself is also told 
 by Plutarch. 
 
 J 
 
44 • ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 23. 
 
 It did not acquire this supremacy by virtue of 
 any formal decree, but because it had been the 
 cause of the battle of Salamis being fought. When 
 the generals were utterly at a loss how to meet 
 the crisis and made proclamation that everyone 
 must see to his own safety, the Areopagus pro- 
 vided a donation of money, distributing eight 
 drachmas to each member of the ships' crews, 
 and so prevailed on them to go on board. 
 On these grounds it obtained a great advance 
 in public estimation ; and during this period 
 Athens was well administered. At this time 
 they devoted themselves to the prosecution of 
 the war and were in high repute among the 
 Greeks, and the command by sea was con- 
 ferred upon them, in spite of the opposition of 
 .the Lacedaemonians.}!^ The leaders of the people 
 f during this period \#re Aristides, son of Lysi- 
 machus, and Themistocles, son of Neocles, of 
 whom the latter devoted himself to the conduct 
 of war, while the former had the reputation of 
 being a clever statesman and the most upright 
 man of his time.^ Accordingly the one was 
 usually employed as general, the other as a 
 political adviser. The rebuilding of the fortifi- 
 cations they conducted in combination, although 
 they were political opponents ; but it was Aris- 
 tides who guided the public policy in the matter 
 of the defection of the Ionian states ^ and the 
 
 1 Sc. from the leadership of Sparta. It is possible that the 
 text is corrupt in the following words, and that the passage 
 should run '* the defection of the Ionian states from the Spartan 
 alliance." 
 
CH. 24.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 45 
 
 alliance with Sparta, seizing the opportunity 
 afforded by the discredit brought upon the 
 Lacedaemonians by the misconduct of Pausanias. 
 It follows that it was he who arranged the tribute 
 from the various allied states, which was first 
 instituted two years after the battle of Salamis, 
 in the archonship of Timosthenes ; ^ and it was 
 he who took the oath of offensive and defensive 
 alliance with the lonians, on which occasion 
 they cast the masses of iron into the sea.^ ^, 
 
 24. After this, seeing the state growing in fv*^**' 
 confidence and much wealth accumulated, he^** ^SH 
 advised the people to lay hold of the leadership 
 of the league, and to quit the country dis- 
 tricts and settle in the city. He pointed out to 
 them that all would be able to gain a living 
 there, some by service in the army, others in the 
 garrisons, others by taking a part in public 
 affairs ; and in this way they would secure 
 the leadership. This advice was taken ; and 
 when the people had assumed the supreme 
 control they proceeded to treat their allies in 
 a more imperious fashion, with the exception 
 of the Chians, Lesbians, and Samians. These 
 they maintained to protect their empire, leaving 
 their constitutions untouched, and allowing 
 
 1 478 B.C. The date of the formation of the confederacy of 
 Delos has hitherto generally been placed two years later. 
 
 2 This ceremony, as a sign of a determination which should 
 last until the metal floated to the top of the sea, is also mentioned 
 by Herodotus (i. 165) and Horace (Epod. xvi. 25, 26) in the 
 story of the emigration of the Phocaeans from their native land 
 to the West, where they ultimately founded Massilia. 
 
46 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 24. 
 
 them to retain whatever dominion they then 
 possessed. They also secured an ample mainte- 
 nance for the mass of the population in the way 
 which Aristides had pointed out to them. Out of 
 the proceeds of the tributes and the taxes and 
 the contributions of the allies more than twenty 
 thousand persons were maintained. There were 
 600 jurymen, 1,600 bowmen, 1,200 Knights,^ 500 
 members of the Council, 500 guards of the dock- 
 yards, besides lifty guards in the city. There were 
 some 700 magistrates within the city, and some 
 700 whose jurisdiction lay outside it. Further, 
 when they subsequently went to war, there were 
 in addition 2,500 heavy armed troops, twenty 
 guard-ships,^ and other ships which collected the 
 tributes, with crews amounting to 2,000 men, 
 selected by lot ; and besides these there were 
 the persons maintained at the Prytaneum, and 
 orphans, and gaolers, since all these were sup- 
 ported by the state. 
 yT^25. In this way the people earned their Hve- j 
 ^iihood. The supremacy of the Areopagus lasted, I 
 "however, for about seventeen years after the 
 Persian wars, although gradually declining. But 
 F I as the strength of the masses increased, Ephial- 
 i tes, son of Sophonides, a man with a reputa- 
 ~^on for incorruptibility and possessing a high 
 public character, who had become the leader 
 
 1 The citizen cavalry' ; see ch. 7. 
 
 2 The normal crew of a trireme was 200 men. At that rate 
 these twenty guard-ships represent 4,000 men, and the 2,000 men 
 mentioned in the next clause presumably represent ten ships. 
 
CH. 25-] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 
 
 47 
 
 of the people, made an attack upon that Council. 
 First of all he caused the destruction of many 
 of its members by bringing actions against 
 them with reference to their administration. 
 Then, in the archonship of Conon,^ he stripped 
 the Council of all the acquired prerogatives from 
 which it derived its guardianship of the consti- 
 tution, and assigned some of them to the Council 
 of Five Hundred, and others to the Assembly 
 and the law-courts. In this revolution he was 
 assisted by Themistocles,^ who was himself a 
 member of the Areopagus, but was expecting to be 
 tried before it on a charge of treasonable dealings 
 with Persia. This made him anxious that it 
 should be overthrown, and accordingly he warned 
 Ephialtes that the Council intended to arrest 
 him, while at the same time he informed the 
 Areopagites that he would reveal to them certain 
 persons who were conspiring to subvert the con- 
 stitution. He then conducted the representatives 
 
 1 462 B.C. This date has not been accurately known hitherto. 
 
 2 This is one of the most striking of the new facts brought to 
 light by the reappearance of Aristotle's work, as it has hitherto 
 been believed that Themistocles was ostracised about 471 B.C., 
 that the charge of complicity with Pausanias in his intrigues 
 with Persia was brought against him about 466 B.C., and that he 
 reached Persia in his flight about 465 B.C., the year in which 
 Artaxerxes succeeded Xerxes. It now appears (if the evidence 
 of this work is to be accepted) that he was in Athens in 462 B.C., 
 and his ostracism cannot, therefore, be placed earlier than 
 461 B.C., and his flight to Persia may have occurred in 460 B.C. 
 The main difiiculty is how to reconcile this with the statement 
 of Thucydides (i. 137) that in his flight he was nearly captured 
 by the Athenian fleet then engaged in the siege of ITaxos, which 
 is generally assigned to the year 466 B.C. 
 
48 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 25. 
 
 delegated by the Council to the residence of 
 Ephialtes, promising to show them the conspi- 
 rators who assembled there, and proceeded to 
 converse with them in an earnest manner. 
 Ephialtes, seeing this, was seized with alarm and 
 took refuge in suppliant guise at the altar. 
 Everyone was astounded at the occurrence, and 
 presently, when the Council of Five Hundred met, 
 Ephialtes and Themistocles together proceeded 
 to denounce the Areopagus to them. This they 
 repeated in similar fashion in the Assembly, 
 until they succeeded in depriving it of its power. 
 Not long afterwards, however, Ephialtes was 
 assassinated by Aristodicus of Tanagra. In this 
 way was the Council of Areopagus deprived of 
 its guardianship of the state. 
 
 26. After this revolution the administration of 
 the state became more and more lax, in conse- 
 quence of the eager rivalry of candidates for 
 popular favour. During this period the moderate 
 party, as it happened, had no real chief, their 
 leader being Cimon son of Miltiades, who was a 
 comparatively young "man, and also was late in 
 entering public life ; and at the same time the 
 mass of the people suffered great losses by war. 
 The soldiers for active service were selected at 
 that time ^ from the roll of citizens, and as the 
 generals were men of no military experience, 
 who owed their position solely to their family 
 
 1 In contrast with the time at which the author was writing, 
 when mihtary service was, and had been for some time, princi- 
 pally performed by hired mercenaries. ** 
 
CH. 26.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 49 
 
 Standing, it continually happened that some 
 two or three thousand of the troops perished 
 on an expedition ; and in this way the best 
 men alike of the lower and the upper classes 
 were exhausted. The result was that in most 
 matters of administration less heed was paid 
 to the laws than had formerly been the case. 
 No alteration, however, was made in the 
 metho(^ of election of the nine Archons, except 
 that five years after the death of Ephialtes it 
 was decided that the candidates to be submitted 
 to the lot for that office might be selected from 
 the Zeugitae as well as from the higher classes.^ 
 The first Archon from that class was Mnesithei- 
 des ; ^ up to this time all the Archons had 
 been taken from the Pentacosiomedimni and 
 Knights, while the Zeugitae were confined to the 
 ordinary magistracies, save where an evasion of 
 the law was overlooked. Four years later, in the 
 archonship of Lysicrates,^ the thirty " local jus- 
 tices," ^ as they were called, were re-established ; 
 and two years afterwards, in the archonship of 
 Antidotus,^ in consequence of the great increase 
 
 1 It is evident from ch. 7 that the eligibility to the archonship 
 was never, strictly speaking, extended beyond this, though in 
 practice members of the lowest order, the Thetes, often held the 
 office. 
 
 ^ The archonship of Mnesitheides was in 457 B.C. ; and as the 
 death of Ephialtes was in 462 B.C., and it has just been stated 
 that the alteration in the law was made five years later, it follows 
 that a Zeugites was elected for the first year in which the mem- 
 bers of that order were eligible. 
 
 3 453 BC. 
 
 4 See chafers 16 and 53. 5 451 b.c. 
 
 E 
 
50 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 26. 
 
 in the number of citizens, it was resolved, on the 
 motion of Pericles, that no one should be ad- 
 mitted to the franchise who was not of citizen 
 birth by both parents. 
 
 27. After this Pericles ^ assumed the position 
 ""ol^^l^pftlKT^nreacrer, having first distinguished 
 himself while still a young man by prosecuting 
 Cimon on the audit of his official accounts as 
 general. Under his auspices the constitution 
 became still more democratic. He took away 
 some of the privileges of the Areopagus, and, 
 above all, he turned the policy of the state in 
 the direction of naval dominion, which caused 
 the masses to acquire confidence in themselves 
 and consequently to take the conduct of affairs 
 more and more into their own hands. Moreover, 
 forty-eight years after the battle of Salamis, in 
 the archonship of Pythodorus,^ the Pelopon- 
 nesian war broke out, during which the populace 
 was shut up in the city and became accus- 
 
 1 It will be observed that Aristotle dates the leadership of 
 Pericles from about 450 B.C., but it is probable that for some 
 years past he had been the most prominent statesman in Athens. 
 It is stated below that he prosecuted Cimon after the latter had 
 been general, and the evidence of Plutarch places this event in 
 463 B.C. Pericles was then a young man, and it is clear from 
 Aristotle that he did not take the prominent part in the over- 
 throw of the Areopagus which has commonly been assigned to 
 him ; but he must have established the system of payment for 
 service in the law-courts some little time before the death of 
 Cimon, which occurred in 449 B.C., and we find him commanding 
 an expedition in the Crissean Gulf in 454 B.C. (Thuc. i. in). 
 
 2 432-1 B.C. ; and as the war broke out four months before 
 the end of Pythodorus' year of office (Thuc. ii. 2), the actual 
 date fells in the spring of 431 B.C. 
 
CH. 27.] 
 
 ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 
 
 tomed to gain its livelihood by military service, 
 and so, partly voluntarily and partly involun- 
 tarily, determined to assume the administration 
 of the state itself. Pericles was also the first to 
 institute pay for service in the law-courts^,,?L^,a 
 bid for popular favour to counterbalance the 
 wealth of Cimon. The latter, having private 
 possessi6ns of royal splendour, not only per- 
 formed the regular public services ^ magnifi- 
 cently, but also maintained a large number 
 of his fellow-demesmen. Any member of the 
 deme of Laciadae could go every day to Cimon's 
 house and there receive a reasonable provision ; 
 and his estate was guarded by no fences, so that 
 anyone who liked might help himself to the fruit 
 from it. Pericles' private property was quite 
 unequal to this magnificence, and accordingly 
 he took the advice of Damonides of Oia (who 
 was commonly supposed to be the person who 
 prompted Pericles in most of his measures,^ and 
 was therefore subsequently ostracised), which 
 was that, as he was beaten in the matter of private 
 possessions, he should make presents to the 
 people from their own property ; and accor- 
 dingly he^sHtiiteK'^payToVtTie members of the 
 juries. Some persons accuse him of thereby 
 causing a deterioration in the character of the 
 
 f 
 
 ■j^' 
 
 1 Such as the equipment of a chorus for a tragedy, or the 
 furnishing of the crew and fittings of a trireme, which were 
 duties performed by the wealthier citizens at their own expense. 
 
 - The true reading of the MS. is ttoXXwv, not ttoXe/xw as at first 
 printed. 
 
52 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 27 
 
 jmies^ since it was always the inferior people who 
 were anxious to submit themselves for selection 
 as jurorsj rather than the men of better position. 
 ; IVloreover, bribery came into existence aft^Y this, 
 i the first person to introduce it being Anytus, 
 after his command at Pylus.^ He was prose- 
 cuted by certain individuals on account of his 
 loss of Pylus, but escaped by bribing the jury. 
 
 28. So long, however, as Pericles was leader 
 of the people, things went tolerably well with the 
 state ; but when he was dead there was a great 
 change for the worse. Then for the first time 
 did the people choose a leader who was of no 
 reputation among people of good standing, 
 whereas up to this time men of good standing 
 were always found as leaders of the democracy. • 
 The first leader of the people,^ in the very begin- 
 ning of things, was Solon, and the second was 
 Pisistratus, both of them men of birth and posi- 
 tion. After the overthrow of the tyrants there 
 was Cleisthenes, a member of the house of the 
 Alcmeonidae ; and he had no rival opposed to 
 him after the expulsion of the party of Isagoras. 
 
 1 Pylus was recaptured by the Spartans, owing to the neglect 
 of Anytus to relieve it, in 411 B.C. Anytus was one of the 
 leaders of the moderate aristocratical party (ch. 34), and one of 
 the prosecutors of Socrates. 
 
 2 It is evident that this designation "leader of the people" 
 became a sort of semi-official title. There is no sufficient 
 evidence that there was ever a regular process of appointment to 
 the post ; but there was always some recognized chief of the 
 democratical party to whom the name was given. The leader 
 of the aristocratic party does not seem to have had any equally 
 well recognized designation. 
 
CH. 28.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 53 
 
 After this Xanthippus was the leader of the 
 people, and Miltiades of the upper class. Then 
 came Themistocles and Aristides,^ and after 
 them Ephialtes as leader of the people, and 
 Cimon son of Miltiades of the wealthier class. 
 Pericles followed as leader of the people, and 
 Thucydides, who was connected by marriage 
 with Cimon, of the opposition. After, the death 
 of Pericles, Nicias, who subsequently fell in 
 Srcily, appeared as leader of the aristocracy, and 
 Cleon son of Cleaenetus as that of the people. 
 The latter seems, more than anyone elSi&, to '"'"^ 
 have been the cause of the corruption of the 
 democracy by his wild undertakings ; and he 
 was the first to use unseemly shouting and 
 coarse abuse on the Bema,^ and to harangue the 
 people with his cloak girt up short about him, 
 whereas all his predecessors had spoken decently 
 and in order. These were succeeded by Thera- 
 menes son of Hagnon as leader of the one party, 
 and Cleophon the lyre-maker of the people. It 
 was Cleophon who first granted the two-obol 
 donation for the theatrical performances,^ and 
 for some time he continued to give it ; but then 
 
 1 Themistocles and Aristides were both of them leaders of the 
 democracy, as is stated in ch. 23. It is a mistake to regard 
 Aristides as an aristocratic leader. 
 
 2 The Bema was the platform or tribune from which orators 
 spoke in the Athenian Assembly. 
 
 3 Two obols was the price of a seat in the theatre ; and after 
 the time of Cleophon (the date has hitherto been placed earlier, 
 Plutarch appearing to assign the measure to Pericles) the neces- 
 sary sum was provided, for all citizens who chose to apply for it, 
 by the state. 
 
54 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 28. 
 
 Callicrates of Paeania ousted him by promising 
 to add a third obol to the sum. Both of these 
 persons were subsequently condemned to death ; 
 for the people, even if they are deceived for a 
 time, in the end generally come to detest those 
 who have beguiled them into any unworthy 
 action. After Cleophon the popular leadership 
 ., was occupied successively by the men who chose 
 to talk the biggest and pander to the tastes of 
 the majority, with their eyes fixed only on the 
 interests of the. moment. The best of the 
 statesmen at Athens, after those of early times, 
 seem to have been Nicias, Thucydides, and 
 Theramenes. As to Nicias and '»Thucydides, 
 nearly everyone agrees that they were not merely 
 men of birth and character, but also statesmen, 
 and that they acted in all their public life in a 
 manner worthy of their ancestry. On the merits 
 of Theramenes opinion is divided, because 
 it so happened that in his time public affairs 
 were in a very stormy state. But those who 
 give their opinion deliberately find him, not, 
 as his critics falsely assert, overthrowing every 
 kind of constitution, but supporting every kind 
 so long as it did not transgress the laws ; thus 
 showing that he was able, as every good citizen 
 should be, to live under any form of constitution, 
 while he refused to countenance illegality and 
 was its constant enemy. 
 
 29. So long as the fortune of the war con- 
 tinued even, the Athenians preserved the demo- 
 cracy; but after the disaster in Sicily, when the 
 
CH. 29.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 55 
 
 Lacedaemonians had gained the upper hand 
 through their alHance with the king of Persia, 
 they were compelled to abolish the democracy 
 and establish in its place the constitution of the 
 Four. Hundred. The speech recommending this 
 course before the vote was made by Melobius, 
 and the motion was drawn up by Pythodorus ; 
 but the real argument which persuaded the 
 majority was the belief that the king of Persia 
 was more likely ^ to form an alliance with them 
 if they should establish an oligarchy. The 
 motion of Pythodorus was to the following effect. 
 The popular Assembly was to elect twenty per- 
 sons, over forty years of age, who, in conjunction 
 with tlie existing ten members of the Committee 
 of Public Safety,^ should take an oath that they 
 would frame such proposals as they thought best 
 for "the state, and should then draw up proposals 
 for the public safety. In addition, any other 
 person was free to make any proposition he 
 liked, so that the people might be able to 
 choose the best of all the courses suggested to 
 them. Cleitophon concurred with the motion of 
 Pythodorus, but proposed that the committee 
 should also investigate the ancient laws drawn 
 up by Cleisthenes when he created the demo- 
 cracy, in order that they might have these too 
 l)efore them before deciding on what was the 
 
 1 Reading [/utaXXo]v for [ao-/asyo]v. 
 
 2 This committee is probably the same as that which we know 
 from Thucydides to have been appointed immediately after the 
 news of the Sicilian disaster was received in Athens. 
 
56 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 2gt 
 
 best ; his suggestion being that the constitution 
 ■ of Cleisthenes was not really democratical, but 
 ^ closely akin to that of Solon. When the com- 
 i,^^ ^^n\\\XQ.^ was elected, their first proposal was that 
 ^.^-^l^//' the Prytanes* should be compelled to put to the 
 ;i -'^^ K vote any motion that was offered on behalf of 
 ^ )f)tw^'^^ public safety. Next they abdlished all in- 
 ""/^^ dictments for illegal proposals, all impeachments 
 ^ and public prosecutions, in order that every 
 
 Athenian should be free to give his counsel on 
 the situation, if he chose ; and they decreed that 
 if any person imposed a fine on any other for his 
 acts in this respect, or prosecuted him or sum- 
 moned him before the courts, he should, on an 
 information being laid against him, be summarily 
 arrested and brought before the generals, who 
 should dehver him to the Eleven ^ to be put to 
 death. After these preliminary measures, they 
 drew up the constitution in the following manner. _ 
 The rej^,ejiues of the state were not to be spent 
 / . on any purpose except the war. All magistrates 
 Pi shiould serve without remuneration, so long as 
 '^^ the \var should last, except the nine Archons and 
 the Prytanes for the time being, who should 
 each receive three obols a day. 3 The general 
 franchise was to be committed, so long as the 
 war should last, to all Athenians who were most 
 capable of serving the state personally or pecu- 
 niarily, to the number of not less than five 
 - thousand. ^ This body was to have full powers, 
 
 1 See ch. 43. 2 See ch. 52. 
 
/ 
 
 CH. 30.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. S7 
 
 to the extent even of making treaties with whom- 
 soever they willed ; and ten men, over forty years 
 of age, were to be elected out of each tribe to 
 draw up the list of the Five Thousand, after 
 taking an oath on a full and perfect sacrifice. -^ 
 . 30. These were the proposals put forward by 
 ^he committee • and when they had been ratified 
 the Five Thousand ^ elected from their own 
 numb^r^srhuMred commissioners "to cJraw up 
 the constitution. They, on their appointment, 
 drew up and produced the following propositions. 
 There should be a Council, holding office for a 
 year, consisting of men over thirty years of age, 
 serving without pay. To this body should belong 
 the Generals, the nine Archons, the Amphic- 
 tyonic Registrar [Hieromnemon],^ the Taxiarchs, 
 tHe Hipparchs, the Phylarchs,^ the commanders 
 of garrisons, the Treasurers of Athena and the 
 
 1 This mention of the Five Thousand appears to be in direct 
 contradiction to the statement in ch. 32, that the Five Thousand 
 were only nominally selected, which is also in accordance with 
 the statement of Thucydides (viii. 92). There are two possible 
 explanations : either all persons possessing the necessary quali- 
 fication of being able to furnish arms were temporarily called 
 the Five Thousand until the list of that body could be properly 
 drawn up (thus the so-called Five Thousand which took over 
 the government after the fall of the Four Hundred actually 
 included all persons able to furnish arms) ; or the Five Thousand 
 nominated by the hundred persons mentioned at the end of the 
 last chapter was only a provisional body, and a fresh nomination 
 was to be made when the constitution had been finally drawn up. 
 
 2 This is the title of one of the two members sent by each 
 Amphictyonic state to the general councils. He served as sec- 
 retary, while the other, the Pylagoras, was the actual represen- 
 tative of his state. 
 
 3 For these military of&cers see ch. 61. 
 
58 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 30. 
 
 Other gods, ten in number, the Hellenic Treasu- 
 rers [Hellenotamiae],^ the Treasurers of the 
 other non-sacred moneys, to the number of 
 twenty, the ten Commissioners of Sacrifices 
 [Hieropoei] and the ten Superintendents of the 
 mysteries. All these were to be appointed from 
 a larger number of selected candidates, chosen 
 from the members of the Council for the time 
 
 ' being. The other offices were all to be filled by 
 • ) lot, and not from the members of the Council. 
 
 ""The Hellenic Treasurers who actually adminis- 
 tered the funds were not to be members of the 
 Council.^ As regards the future, four Councils 
 were to be created, of men of the age already 
 mentioned, and one of these was to be chosen 
 by lot to take office at once, while the others 
 were to receive it in turn, in the order decided 
 by the lot. For this purpose the hundred com- 
 missioners were to distribute themselves and the 
 other three hundred ^ as equally as possible into 
 four parts, and cast lots for precedence, and the 
 
 1 These were the officers appointed to receive the contribu- 
 tions of the allied states of the Confederacy of Delos, or, as 
 these states subsequently became, the subject-allies of the 
 Athenian empire. After the loss of the empire by the result of 
 the Peloponnesian war these officers were no longer required, 
 and consequently ceased to exist. 
 
 2 If this is not to be taken as directly contradicting the state- 
 ment made just above, it must be supposed that the actual 
 handling of the money was confined to a few of the Helleno- 
 tamiae (probably in rotation), the duties of the rest being to 
 advise and superintend. 
 
 3 These are probably the three hundred co-opted members of 
 the original Four Hundred, who are mentioned by Thucydides 
 (viii. 67). 
 
CH. 3I-] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 59 
 
 selected body should hold office for a year. 
 They were to administer that office as seemed to 
 them best, both with reference to the safe custody 
 and due expenditure of the finances, and gene- 
 rally with all other matters to the best of their 
 ability. If they desired to take a larger number 
 of persons into counsel, each member might call 
 in one assistant of his own choice, subject to the 
 same qualification of age. The Council was 
 to sit once every five days, unless there was any 
 special need for more frequent sittings. The 
 casting of the lot for the Council was to be held 
 By the nine Archons ; votes on divisions were 
 to be coimted by five persons chosen by lot from 
 the members of the Council, and of these one 
 was to be selected by lot every day to act as 
 president. These five persons were to cast lots 
 for precedence between the parties wishing to 
 appear before the Council, giving the first place 
 to sacred matters, the second to heralds, the 
 third to embassies, and the fourth to all other 
 subjects ; but matters concerning the war might 
 be dealt with, on the motion of the generals^ 
 whenever there was need, without balloting.^ 
 Any member of the Council who did not enter 
 the Council-house at the time named should be 
 fined a drachma for each day, unless he was 
 away on leave of absence from the Council. 
 
 31. Such was the constitution which they 
 drew up for the time to come, but for the im- 
 mediate present they devised the following 
 sch'eittlr^' jtliere should be a Council of Four 
 
jA- 
 
 60 ARISTOTLE ON THE [cH. 31. 
 
 Hundred, as in the ancient constitution/ forty 
 from each tribe, chosen out of candidates of 
 more than thirty years of age, selected by the 
 members of the tribes. This Council should 
 appoint the magistrates and draw up the form 
 ...^ of oath which they were to take j'knd in all 
 that concerned the laws, in the examination of 
 official accounts, and in other matters generally, 
 it might act according to its discretion. It must, 
 however, observe the laws that might be enacted 
 with reference to the constitution of the state, and 
 had no power to alter them nor to pass others. 
 The generals should be provisionally elected 
 from the whole body of the Five Thousand, but 
 so soon as the Council came into existence ^ it 
 was to hold an examination of military equip- 
 ments, and thereon elect ten persons, together 
 with a secretary, and the persons thus elected 
 should hold office during the coming year with 
 full powers, and should have the right, whenever 
 they desired it, of joining in the deliberations of 
 the Council. The Five Thousand ^ was also to 
 elect a single Hipparch and ten Phylarchs ; but for 
 the future the Council was to elect these officers 
 according to the regulations above laid down. 
 Neither these offices nor any others, except those 
 
 1 i.e.y as in the constitution of Solon. 
 
 2 Reading xaTao-T»7 for the MS. xaTacmio-f/. 
 
 3 The subject is not expressed in the original, but as it is 
 stated that in the future the Council was to elect these officers, 
 it seems certain that the provisional arrangement was that the 
 Five Thousand should elect them, as in the case of the generals, 
 the Council not being yet properly constituted. 
 
CH. 32.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 6i 
 
 of member of the Council and of General, might 
 be held more than once, either by the first occu- 
 pants or by their successors. With reference to 
 the future distribution of the Four Hundred into 
 the four successive sections, the hundred com- 
 missioners must divide them whenever the 
 citizens shall be admitted to a share in the 
 Council along with the rest.^ 
 
 32. The hundred commissioners appointed by 
 the Five Thousand drew up the constitution as 
 just stated ; and after it had been ratified by the 
 general voice, under the presidency of Aristo- 
 machus, the Council was dissolved before it had 
 completed its tenn of office. It was dissolved 
 on the fourteenth day of the month Thargelion, 
 in the archonship of Callias,^ and the Four 
 Hundred entered into office on the twenty-first ; 
 whereas the regular Council, elected by lot, 
 ought to have entered into office on the fourteenth 
 of Scirophorion.^ Thus was the oligarchy estab- 
 
 1 This sentence is obscure and possibly corrupt. The ** four 
 successive sections" are those mentioned in the preceding 
 chapter. Possibly the sense of the passage should be that the 
 division into the four sections should take place so soon as the 
 remaining members of the Council had been associated with the 
 hundred original members who were drawing up the consti- 
 tution. 
 
 2 Callias' year of office began in 412 B.C., and was now within 
 two months of its end. The date of the entry of the Four 
 Hundred into^fl^is consequently in May, 411 B.C. 
 
 3 Roughly ^^^Blent to June, the last month of the official 
 year at AtheflPB:he "regular Council" means the Council 
 which, in the ordinary course of things under the democracy, 
 should have been elected by lot to succeed that belonging to the 
 year of Callias. 
 
62 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 32. 
 
 lished, in the archonship of Callias, just about 
 a hundred years after the expulsion of the tyrants. 
 The chief promoters of the revolution were Pisan- 
 der, Antiphon, and Theramenes, all of them men 
 of good birth and with high reputations for ability 
 and judgment. When, however, this constitution 
 had been established, the Five Thousand were 
 only nominally selected, and the Four Hundred, 
 together with the ten officers on whom full 
 powers had been conferred, occupied the Coun- 
 cil-house and really administered the govern- 
 ment. They began by sending ambassadors to 
 the Lacedaemonians proposing a cessation of 
 the war on the terms of the statics quo; but as 
 the Lacedaemonians refused to listen to them 
 unless they would also abandon their maritime 
 empire, they abandoned the negotiations. 
 
 33. For about four months the constitution of 
 the Four Hundred continued, and Mnasilochus 
 held office as Archon of their nomination for 
 two months of the year of Theopompus, who was 
 Archon for the remaining ten. After the loss of 
 the naval battle of Eretria,^ however, and the 
 revolt of the whole of Euboea except Oreum, the 
 indignation of the people was greater than at any 
 of the earlier disasters, since they drew far more 
 supplies at this time from Euboea than from Attica 
 
 1 This is the engagement mentioned by Thucydides (viii. 95). 
 A squadron of forty-two Peloponneisian ships, after threatening 
 Piraeus, where they hoped to find treacherous assistance, made 
 for Euboea, to promote a revolt there. Thirty-six Athenian 
 ships followed in great haste and much disorder, and were 
 completely defeated, with a loss of twenty- tv/o of their number. 
 
CH. 34-] ATHENIAN CONSTIl'UTION. 6^ 
 
 itself.^ Accordingly they deposed the P^our Hun- 
 dred and committed the management of affairs 
 to the Five Thousand, who consisted of persons 
 possessing a miHtary equipment. At the same ^ 
 time they voted that pay should not be given for ' 
 any public office. The persons chiefly responsible 
 for the revolution were Aristocrates and Thera- 
 menes, who disapproved of the action of the Four 
 Hundred in retaining the direction of affairs en- 
 tirely in their own hands, and referring nothing 
 to the Five Thousand. (The constitution of the^ 
 state seems to have been admirable during this 
 period, since it was a time of war and the fran- 
 chise was in the hands of those who possessed a 
 military equipment.^ ^^" 
 
 34. The people, however, in a very short time 
 deprived the Five Thousand of their monopoly 
 of the franchise.^ Then, six years after the 
 overthrow of the Four Hundred, in the archon- 
 ship of Callias of Angele,^ the battle of Arginusae 
 took place, of which the results were, first, that 
 the ten generals who had gained the victory were 
 all ^ condemned by a single vote, owing to the 
 
 1 Owing to the occupation of Decelea by the Spartans, which 
 made the cultivation of Attica for the most part impossible. 
 
 " This is an echo of the commendation which Thucydides 
 expresses at greater length (viii. 97). 
 
 3 Probably this event took place after the battle of Cyzicus, 
 in 410 B.C., when the fleet, which was strongly democratical in 
 its sympathies, returned to Athens. 
 
 4 406 B.C. This was, however, five years after the overthrow 
 of the oligarchy, not six, so that Aristotle must have made a 
 miscalculation. 
 
 5 This is probably inexact. Two of the generals, Conon and 
 
64 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 34. 
 
 people being led astray by persons who aroused 
 their indignation ; though, as a matter of fact, 
 some of the generals had actually taken no 
 part in the battle, and others were themselves 
 picked up by other vessels/ Secondly, when 
 the Lacedaemonians proposed to evacuate Dece- 
 lea and make peace on terms of the status quo^ 
 although some of the Athenians supported this 
 proposal, the majority refused to listen to them. 
 In this they were led astray by Cleophon, who 
 appeared in the Assembly drunk and wearing 
 his breast-plate, and prevented peace being 
 made, declaring that he would never accept 
 peace unless the Lacedaemonians abandoned 
 their claims on all the cities allied with them.- 
 They mismanaged their opportunity then, and in 
 a very short time they learnt their mistake. 
 The next year, in the archonship of Alexias, they 
 
 Leon, can hardly have been inchided in the accusation, as Conon 
 was blockaded in Mytilene and Leon is never mentioned in 
 connection with either the battle or the trial. It is true that 
 Aristotle says below that some of the condemned generals had 
 not taken part in the battle, but if this had actually been the 
 case, Xenophon could hardly' have helped noticing it. Xeno- 
 phon does expressly name the eight generals who were present 
 at the battle, and states their positions in the Athenian line ; 
 and, of these eight, six stood their trial and were executed, 
 while the remaining two declined to return to Athens and were, 
 no doubt, condemned in absence. 
 
 1 And therefore were in no condition to be picking up the 
 survivors on other disabled ships, for neglecting which they were 
 condemned. 
 
 2 Cleophon retorted against the Lacedaemonians the ground 
 on which they had refused to accept the Athenian overtures in 41 1 
 B.C. (ch. 32) ; which, though perhaps logical, was hardly wise in 
 the exhausted condition of Athens. 
 
CH. 35.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 65 
 
 suffered the disaster of Aegospotami, the result 
 of which was that Lysander became master of 
 the city, and set up the Thirty as its governors. 
 He did so in the following manner. One of the 
 terms of peace stipulated that the state should be 
 governed according to "the ancient constitution." 
 Accordingly the popular party tried to preserve 
 the democracy, while that part of the upper 
 class which belonged to the political clubs,^ to- 
 gether with the exiles who had returned since 
 the peace, desired an oligarchy, and those who 
 were not members of any club, though in other 
 respects they held a position in the state inferior 
 to none, were anxious to restore the ancient con- 
 stitution. The latter class included Archlnus, 
 Anytus, Cleitophon, Phormisius, and many others, 
 but their most prominent leader was Theramenes. 
 Lysander, however, threw his influence on the 
 side of the oligarchical party, and the popular 
 Assembly was compelled by sheer intimidation 
 to pass a vote establishing the oligarchy. The 
 motion to this effect was proposed by Dracon- 
 tides of Aphidna. 
 
 35. In this way were the Thirty established 
 in power, in the archonship of Pythodorus.^ 
 As soon, however, as they were masters of the 
 city, they ignored all the votes which had been 
 passed relating to the organization of the consti- 
 tution,^ but appointed a Council of Five Hundred 
 
 1 i.e. the extreme oligarchs. 
 
 2 The year 404-403 B.C. 
 
 3 The Thirty were appointed avowedly to draw |ip a scheme 
 
 F 
 
66 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 35. 
 
 and the other magistrates out of the thousand 
 selected candidates/ associated with themselves 
 ten archons in Piraeus, eleven superintendents of 
 the prison, and three hundred " lash-bearers " 
 as attendants, and with the help of these they 
 kept the city under their own control. At first, 
 indeed, they behaved with moderation towards 
 the citizens and pretended to administer the 
 state according to the ancient constitution. In 
 pursuance of this policy they took down from the 
 hill of Areopagus the laws of Ephialtes and 
 Archestratus relating to the Areopagite Council ; 
 they also repealed such of the statutes of Solon 
 as were obscure,^ and abolished the supreme 
 power of the law-courts. In this they claimed 
 to be restoring the constitution and freeing it 
 from obscurities ; as, for instance, by making the 
 testator free once for all to leave his property as 
 he pleased, and abolishing the existing limita- 
 tions in cases of insanity, old age, and undue 
 female influence, in order that no opening might 
 be left for professional accusers.^ In other 
 
 for the constitution, just as the thirty commissioners mentioned 
 in ch. 29 drew up the constitution of the Four Hundred. (Xen. 
 ^^//. Il.iii. 2.) 
 
 1 Or "out of candidates selected from the thousand " ; but 
 nothing is known about any such body, and the text is probably 
 corrupt. 
 
 2 See ch. 9. 
 
 3 Solon's law allowed a man who had no legitimate children 
 to leave his property as he chose, provided his will was made 
 while he was of sound mind and subject to no undue influence. 
 These provisions were reasonable enough in themselves, but a 
 class of hangers-on of the law-courts had sprung up, who made 
 
CH. 36.3 A THENIAN CONSTITUTION. 67 
 
 matters also their conduct was similar. At 
 first, then, they acted on these lines, and they 
 destroyed the professional accusers and those 
 mischievous and evil-minded persons who, to 
 the great detriment of the democracy, had at- 
 tached themselves to it in order to curry favour 
 with it. With all of this the city was much 
 pleased, and thought that the Thirty did it with 
 the best of motives. But so soon as they had 
 got a firmer hold on the city, they spared no 
 class of citizens, but put to death any persons 
 who were eminent for wealth or birth or cha- 
 racter. Herein they aimed at removing all whom 
 tliey had reason to fear, and they also wished to 
 lay hands on their possessions ; and in a short 
 time they put to death not less than fifteen 
 hundred persons. 
 
 36. Theramenes, however, seeing the city thus 
 falling into ruin, was displeased with their pro- 
 ceedings, and counselled them to cease such 
 unprincipled conduct and let the better classes 
 have a share in the government. At first they 
 opposed his suggestions, but when his proposals 
 came to be known abroad, and the masses began 
 to be on friendly terms with him, they were seized 
 with alarm lest he should make himself a popu- 
 lar leader and destroy their despotic power. 
 Accordingly they drew up a. list of three thou- 
 
 a profession of challenging the legality of testamentary disposi- 
 tions on these grounds, no doubt in the hope of extorting 
 money. In order to put an end to this trade the Thirty abolished 
 the qualifications in the law of Solon on which they were based. 
 
68 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 36. 
 
 sand^ citizens, to whom they proposed to give a 
 share in the constitution. Theramenes, however, 
 criticised this scheme also, first on the ground 
 that, while proposing to give all the respectable 
 classes a share in the constitution, they were 
 actually giving it only to three thousand per- 
 sons, as if all merit were confined within that 
 number ; and secondly because they were doing 
 two inconsistent things, since they made the 
 government rest on the basis of force, and yet 
 made the governors inferior in strength to the 
 governed. However, they took no notice of his 
 criticisms, and for a long time put off the publi- 
 cation of the list of the Three Thousand and 
 kept to themselves the names of those who had 
 been placed upon it ; and whenever they did 
 decide to publish it they proceeded to strike out 
 some of those who had been included in it, and 
 insert others from outside. 
 
 yj. Now when winter had set in, Thrasybulus 
 and the exiles occupied Phyle, and the force 
 which the Thirty led out to attack them met 
 with a reverse. Thereupon the Thirty decided 
 to disarm the bulk of the population and to get 
 rid of Theramenes ; which they did in the follow- 
 ing way. They introduced two laws into the 
 Council, which they commanded it to pass ; the 
 first of them gave the Thirty absolute power to 
 put to death any citizen who was not included 
 
 1- The MS. says two thousand, but this must be a copyist's 
 error, as the Three Thousand is mentioned immediately below, 
 and that number is confirmed by the other authorities. 
 
CH. 38.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 69 
 
 in the list of the Three Thousand, while the 
 second incapacitated all persons from participa- 
 tion in the franchise who should have assisted 
 in the demoHtion of the fort of Eetioneia,^ or 
 have acted in any way against the Four Hundred 
 or against those who had organized the previous 
 oligarchy. Theramenes had done both, and 
 accordingly, when these laws were ratified, he 
 became excluded from the franchise and the 
 Thirty had full power to put him to death.'^ 
 Theramenes having been thus removed, they 
 disarmed all the people except the Three Thou- 
 sand, and in every respect showed a great 
 advance in cruelty and crime. They also sent 
 ambassadors to Lacedaemon to blacken the 
 character of Theramenes and to ask for help ; 
 and the Lacedaemonians, in answer to their 
 appeal, sent Callibius as harmost^ with about 
 seven hundred troops, who came and occupied 
 the Acropolis. 
 
 38. These events were followed by the occu- 
 pation of Munychia by the exiles from Phyle, 
 and their victory over the Thirty and their 
 
 1 The Four Hundred had begun to build this fort, which com- 
 manded the entrance to the Piraeus, in the later days of their 
 rule ; but Theramenes and others of the moderate party, sus- 
 pecting that it was intended to enable the oligarchs to betray 
 the port to the Spartans, incited the populace to destroy it. 
 This was one of the most serious blows dealt to the power of the 
 Four Hundred. 
 
 2 This is quite different from Xenophon's dramatic account 
 of the totally illegal arrest and execution of Theramenes. 
 
 3 The title of the military governors sent by Sparta to various 
 cities during the time of her supremacy. 
 
70 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. jS. 
 
 partisans. After the fight the party of the city 
 retreated, and next day they held a meeting in 
 the market-place and deposed the Thirty, and 
 elected ten citizens, on whom they conferred 
 full powers to bring the war to a termination. 
 When, however, the Ten had taken over the 
 government they did nothing towards the object 
 for which they were elected, but sent envoys to 
 Lacedaemon to ask for help and to borrow 
 money. Further, finding that those who pos- 
 sessed the franchise were displeased at their 
 proceedings, they were afraid lest they should be 
 deposed, and consequently, in order to strike 
 terror into them (in which design they suc- 
 ceeded), they arrested . . emaretus,^ one of the 
 most eminent citizens, and put him to death. 
 This gave them a firm hold on the government, 
 and they also had the support of Callibius and 
 his Peloponnesians, together with several of the 
 Knights ; for some of the members of this class 
 were the most zealous among the citizens to pre- 
 vent the return of the exiles from Phyle. When, 
 however, the exiles in Piraeus and Munychia 
 began to gain the upper hand in the war, through 
 the defection of the whole people to them, the 
 party in the city deposed the original Ten, and 
 elected another Ten,^ consisting of the men who 
 
 1 The MS. is defective at the beginning of this name. 
 
 2 No other authority seems to distinguish between these two 
 boards of Ten. Practically, the rule of the first is ignored, and 
 only that of the second, which brought the war to a conclusion, 
 is recognized ; but the appointment of this board is assigned to 
 the days immediately following the defeat of the Thirty, and it 
 
 
CH. 39-] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 71 
 
 possessed the highest character. Under their 
 administration, and with their active and zealous 
 co-operation, the treaty of reconcib'ation was 
 made and the democracy returned to the city. 
 The most prominent members of this board 
 were Rhinon of Paeania and Phayllus of Acher- 
 dus,^ who, even before the arrival of Pausanias, 
 opened negotiations with the party in Piraeus, 
 and after his arrival seconded his efforts to bring 
 about the return of the exiles. For it was Pau- 
 sanias, the king of the Lacedaemonians, who 
 brought the peace and reconciliation to a fulfil- 
 ment, in conjunction with the ten commissioners 
 of arbitration who arrived later from Lace- 
 daemon, chiefly at his earnest request. Rhinon 
 and his colleagues received a vote of thanks for 
 the good will shown by them to the democracy, 
 and though they received their charge under an 
 oligarchy and handed in their accounts under a 
 democracy, no one, either of the party that had 
 stayed in the city or of the exiles that had re- 
 turned from the Piraeus, brought any complaint 
 against them. On the contrary, Rhinon was 
 immediately elected general on account of his 
 conduct in this office. 
 
 39. The following were the terms on which 
 the reconciliation was effected, in the archonship 
 
 is not recognized that a considerable time, apparently about six 
 months, elapsed between this event and the restoration of the 
 democracy. 
 
 1 Following Mr. Bywater's emendation, 'Ax,«p5ou<r»of for 
 
72 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 39. 
 
 of Eucleides.^ All persons who, having remained 
 in the city during the troubles, were now anxious 
 to leave it, were to be free to settle at Eleusis, 
 retaining their civil rights and possessing full 
 and independent powers of self-government, and 
 with the free enjoyment of their own personal pro- 
 perty. The temple at Eleusis should be common 
 ground for both parties, and should be under 
 the superintendence of the Ceryces and the 
 Eumolpidae,^ according to primitive custom. 
 The settlers at Eleusis should not be allowed to 
 enter Athens, nor the people of Athens to enter 
 Eleusis, except at the season of the mysteries, 
 when both parties should be free from these 
 restrictions. The secessionists should pay their 
 share to the fund for the common defence out of 
 their revenues, just like all the other Athenians. 
 If any of the seceding party wished to take a 
 house in Eleusis, the people would help them to 
 obtain the consent of the owner ; but if they 
 could not come to terms, they should appoint 
 three valuers on either side, and the owner 
 should receive whatever price they should ap- 
 point. Of the inhabitants of Eleusis, those 
 whom the secessionists wished to remain should 
 be allowed to do so. The list of those who 
 desired to secede should be made up within 
 seven days after the taking of the oaths in the 
 
 1 i.e.y late in the summer of 403 B.C. 
 
 2 The Ceryces (or Heralds) and Eumolpidae were two ancient 
 Athenian families, who from the earliest times had retained the 
 duty of superintending the Eleusinian mysteries. See ch. 57. 
 
CH. 40.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 73 
 
 case of persons already in the country, and their 
 actual departure should take place within twenty 
 days ; persons at present out of the country 
 should have the same terms allowed to them 
 after their return. No one who settled at Eleusis 
 should be capable of holding any office in Athens 
 until he should again be inscribed on the roll 
 as a resident in the city. Trials for homicide 
 should be conducted according to the primitive 
 fashion, which required that any person who 
 killed another should pay a penalty, which he 
 consecrated to the gods.^ There should be an 
 universal amnesty concerning past events to- 
 wards all persons, except the Thirty, the Ten, 
 the Eleven, and the magistrates in Piraeus; and 
 these too should be included if they should 
 submit their accounts in the usual way. Such 
 accounts should be given by the magistrates in 
 Piraeus for all matters coming within the limits 
 of Piraeus, and by the magistrates in the city for 
 all that came within the limits of the city.^ On 
 these terms those who wished to do so might 
 secede. Each party was to repay separately the 
 money which it had borrowed for the war. 
 
 40. When the reconciliation had taken place 
 on these terms, those who had fought on the 
 side of the Thirty felt considerable apprehen- 
 sions, and a large number intended to secede. 
 But as they put off entering their names till the 
 
 1 The reading of this passage is rather doubtful. ' 
 
 2 The exact reading of this passage also is doubtful, but the 
 general sense appears to be that here given. 
 
74 ■ ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 4a. 
 
 last moment, as people will do, Archmus, ob- 
 serving their numbers, and being anxious to 
 retain them as citizens, cut off the remaining 
 days during which the list should have remained 
 open ; and in this way many persons were com- 
 pelled to remain, though they were very un- 
 willing to do so until they recovered confidence. 
 This is one point in which Archinus appears to 
 have acted in a most statesmanlike manner, and 
 another was his prosecution of Thrasybulus on 
 the charge of illegality, for a motion by which 
 he proposed to confer the franchise on all who 
 had taken part in the return from Piraeus, al- 
 though some of them were notoriously slaves. 
 And yet a third such action was when one of 
 the returned exiles began to violate the amnesty, 
 whereupon Archinus haled him to the Council 
 and persuaded them to execute him without 
 trial, telling them that now they had an oppor- 
 tunity of showing whether they wished to pre- 
 serve the democracy and abide by the oaths 
 they had taken ; for if they let this man escape 
 they would encourage others to imitate him, 
 while if they executed him they would set an 
 example to all men. And this was exactly what 
 happened ; for after this man had been put to 
 death no one ever again broke the amnesty. On 
 the contrary, the Athenians seem, both in public 
 and in private, to have behaved in the most un- 
 precedentedly admirable and public-spirited way 
 with reference to the preceding troubles. Not 
 only did they blot out all memory of former 
 
f 
 
 !i 
 
 CH. 41.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 75 
 
 offences, but they even repaid to the Lace- 
 daemonians out of the public purse the money 
 which the Thirty had borrowed for the war, 
 although the treaty required each party, the 
 party of the city and the party of Piraeus, to 
 pay its own debts separately. This they did 
 because they thought it was a necessary first 
 step in the direction of restoring harmony ; but 
 in other states, so far from the democratic parties 
 making advances from their own possessions, 
 they rather make a general re-distribution of the 
 land. A further reconciliation was made with 
 the secessionists at Eleusis two years after the 
 secession, in the archonship of Xenaenetus.^ 
 
 41. This, however, took place at a later date ; 
 kt the time of which we are speaking the 
 people, having secured the control of the state, 
 established the constitution which exists at the 
 present day. Pythodorus was archon at the 
 time, but the democracy seems to have assumed 
 the supreme power with perfect justice, since it 
 had effected its own return by its own exertions.^ 
 This was the eleventh change which had taken 
 place in the constitution of Athens. First of all 
 came the original establishment by Ion and 
 those who assisted him in forming the settle- 
 
 1 401 B.C. The date of this event has not hitherto been known 
 accurately, and it has generally been placed earlier. 
 
 2 There is some doubt whether the text here is not corrupt. 
 There is no natural contrast between the fact that Pythodorus 
 was archon and the assumption of the control of the state by the 
 democracy, since the archon had for a long time been nothing 
 more than a figure-head. 
 
Ttf- ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 41. 
 
 ment, when the people was first divided into the 
 four tribes, and the tribe-kings were created. 
 Next, and the first organization of the constitu- 
 tion following this,^ was that which took place 
 in the reign of Theseus, consisting in a slight 
 deviation from absolute monarchy. After this 
 came the constitution formed under Draco, when 
 the first code of laws was drawn up. The third 
 was that which followed the civil war, in the time 
 of Solon ; from this the democracy took its rise. 
 The fourth was the tyranny of Pisistratus ; the 
 fifth the constitution of Cleisthenes, after the 
 overthrow of the tyrants, of a more democratic 
 character than that of Solon. The sixth was 
 that which followed on the Persian wars, when 
 the Council of Areopagus had the direction of 
 the state. The seventh, succeeding this, was the 
 constitution which Aristides sketched out, and 
 which Ephialtes brought to completion by over- 
 throwing the Areopagite Council ; under this 
 the nation, misled by the demagogues, made 
 the most serious mistakes on account of its 
 maritime empire. The eighth was the establish- 
 ment of the Four Hundred, followed by the 
 ninth, the restored democracy. TlaeTentlT^^as 
 the tyranny of theTWrty^nd the Ten. The 
 eleventh was that which follovve^nthe return 
 from Phyla and Piraeus ; and this has continued 
 
 1 This is the first of the eleven changes to which Aristotle 
 has just referred. The constitution of Ion is not reckoned in 
 the enumeration, since it was the original establishment and not 
 a change. 
 
CH. 42.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 77 
 
 . from that day to this, with continual accretions 
 • of power to the masses. The democracy has 
 made itself master of everything and administers 
 everything by its votes in the Assembly and by 
 the law-courts, in which it holds the supreme 
 power. Even the jurisdiction of the Council | 
 has passed intothe hands of the people at large ; ^ 
 and this appears to be a judicious change, , 
 since small bodies are more open to~corruption, \ 
 \ jwhethSnby actual rnone^ qr^>r7nliuence7than 
 jlargj&J^Sesr At' first they refused to allow pay- 
 ment for attendance at the Assembly ; but the 
 result was that people did not attend, and often 
 votes were passed by the Prytanes alone. Con- 
 sequently, in order to induce the populace to 
 come and ratify the votes, Agyrrhius,^ in the 
 first instance, made a provision of one obol a 
 day, which Heracleides of Clazomenae,^ nick- 
 named " the king," increased to two obols, and 
 Agyrrhius again to three. 
 
 42. The present state of the constitution is as 
 
 1 Agyrrhius was a politician of no very great repute, who 
 flourished at the end of the fifth century and in the early part 
 of the fourth. It is clear from many allusions in the Ecclesia- 
 zusae of Aristophanes that the rate of pay had been raised to 
 three obols shortly before the performance of that play in 392 B.C.; 
 and the first establishment of payment for attendance at the 
 Assembly cannot be placed many years before that date. 
 
 2 Heracleides is only known otherwise by a mention in the 
 Ion attributed to Plato, in which he is referred to as a foreigner 
 who had held office at Athens. 
 
78 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 42. 
 
 follows,^ The franchise is open to all who are 
 of citizen-birth by both parents. They are en- 
 rolled among the demesmen at the age of 
 eighteen. On the occasion of their enrolment 
 the demesmen give their votes on oath, first as 
 to whether they appear to be of the age pre- 
 scribed by the law (if not, they are dismissed 
 back into the ranks of the boys), and secondly 
 as to whether the candidate is free born and of 
 such parentage as the laws require. Then if 
 they decide that he is not a free man, he appeals 
 to the law-courts, and the demesmen appoint 
 five of their own number to act as accusers ; 
 and if the court decides that he has no right to 
 be enrolled, he is sold by the state as a slave, 
 but if he wins his case he has a right to be en- 
 rolled among the demesmen without further 
 question. After this the Council examines 
 those who have been enrolled, and if it comes 
 to the conclusion that any of them is less than 
 eighteen years of age, it fines the demesmen 
 who enrolled him. When the youths [Ephebi] 
 have passed this examination, their fathers 
 meet by their tribes, and appoint on oath 
 three of their fellow tribesmen, over forty 
 years of age, who, in their opinion, are the 
 best and most suitable persons to have charge 
 of the youths ; and of these the Assembly 
 elects one from each tribe as guardian, together 
 
 1 Here begins the second part of the treatise, in which the 
 author describes the constitution as it existed in his own day, 
 three-quarters of a century after the events last recorded. 
 
CH. 42.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 79 
 
 with a superintendent,^ chosen from the general 
 body of Athenians, to control the whole. These 
 persons take charge of the youths, and first of 
 all they make the circuit of the temples ; then 
 they proceed to Piraeus, and some of them 
 garrison Munychia and some the south shore.^ 
 The Assembly also elects two trainers, with 
 subordinate instructors, who teach them to fight 
 in heavy armour, to use the bow and javelin, 
 and to discharge a catapult. The guardians 
 receive from the state a drachma apiece for 
 their keep, and the youths four obols apiece. 
 Each guardian receives the allowance for all the 
 members of his tribe and buys the necessary 
 provisions for the common stock (since they 
 mess together by tribes), and generally super- 
 intends everything. In this way they spend the 
 first year. The next year, when the Assembly 
 is held in the theatre,^ after giving a public dis- 
 play of their military evolutions, they receive a 
 shield and spear from the state ; after which they 
 patrol the country and spend their time in the 
 forts. For these two years they are on garrison 
 duty, and wear the military cloak, and during 
 this time they are exempt from all taxes. They 
 also can neither bring an action at law, nor have 
 
 1 The reading of this word in the MS. is not absolutely 
 certain. 
 
 2 "AxT^=the southern side of Piraeus. 
 
 3 This was on the occasion of the great Dionysiac festival 
 in each year, when the whole people was gathered together in 
 the theatre, together with numbers of visitors from foreign 
 countries. 
 
8o ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 42. 
 
 one brought against them, in order that they 
 may not be mixed up in civil business ; though 
 exception is made in cases of actions concern- 
 ing inheritances and wards of state/ or of any 
 sacrificial ceremony connected with the clan^ 
 of any individual. When the two years have 
 elapsed they at once take their position among 
 the other citizens. Such is the manner of the 
 enrolment of the citizens and the training of the 
 youths. 
 
 43. All the magistrates that are concerned with 
 the ordinary routine of administration are elected 
 by lot, except the Military Treasurer, the Commis- 
 sioners of the Theoric fund,^ and the Superin- 
 tendent of Springs.^ These are elected by vote, 
 
 1 When a man died leaving a daughter, but no son, his estate, 
 though not becoming her property, was attached to her, and the 
 nearest of kin could claim her in marriage ; and the property 
 went to the sons born of such marriage. If she was poor, the 
 nearest of kin was obliged either to marry her or to provide her 
 with a dowry. If there were more daughters than one, the 
 estate seems to have been divided among them under similar 
 conditions. These heiresses were under the special protection 
 of the archon (see ch. 56), and may therefore be described as 
 wards of state. 
 
 2 Only the older families belonged to " clans," which was one 
 of the earliest subdivisions of the population of Attica, and these 
 had sacrificial observances connected with them. See ch. 21, 
 where it is said that Cleisthenes, though breaking up the old 
 tribal organization and introducing new citizens, allowed the 
 clans and the sacrificial observances to remain according to the 
 ancient system. 
 
 3 This was the fund which provided the populace with the 
 price of admission to the theatre (and, eventually, with some- 
 thing in addition) at the festivals. 
 
 4 Athens was scantily supplied with fresh water, and conse- 
 quently this officer was of some importance. 
 
CH. 43-3 ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 8i 
 
 and the magistrates thus elected hold office from 
 one Panathenaic festival to another.^ All mili- 
 tary officers are also elected by vote. The 
 Council of Five Hundred is elected by lot, fifty 
 from each tribe. Each tribe holds the office of 
 Prytanes in turn, the order being detennined by 
 lot ; the first four serve for thirty-six days each, 
 the last six for thirty-five, since the reckoning is 
 by lunar years.* The Prytanes for the time 
 being, in the first place, mess together in the 
 Tholus,^ and receive a sum of money from the 
 state for their maintenance ; ard, secondly, they 
 convene the meetings of rhe Council and the 
 Assembly. The Council they convene every 
 day, unless it is a holiday, the Assembly four 
 times in each prytany. It is also their duty to 
 draw up the programme of the matters with 
 which the Council has to deal, and to decide 
 what subjects are to be dealt with on each par- 
 ticular day, and what are not within its compe- 
 tence. They also draw up the programme for 
 
 1 The Panathenaic festival was at the end of the first month 
 of the Attic year (July). The other magistrates probably came 
 into office at the beginning of that month; the archons certainly 
 did so. 
 
 2 The ordinary Attic year was of 354 days, divided into twelve 
 lunar months of thirty and twenty-nine days alternately. The 
 deficiency was made up by inserting intercalary months, at 
 first every alternate year, then three in eight years, and subse- 
 quently seven in nineteen. In an intercalary year the duration 
 of the prj'tanies was thirty-nine and thirty-eight days, in place 
 of thirty-six and thirty-five. 
 
 3 The official residence of the Prytanes, supposed to represent 
 the centre of the public life of Athens. 
 
 G 
 
82 ARISTOTLE ON THE [cH. 43. 
 
 the meetings of the Assembly. The first of 
 these in each prytany is called the " sovereign " 
 Assembly ; in this the people have to vote on 
 the question whether the magistrates are per- 
 forming their duties properly, and to consider 
 the supply of corn and the defence of the 
 country. On this day, too, impeachments are 
 introduced by those who wish to do so, the lists 
 of property confiscated by the state are read, and 
 also applications for inheritances antl wards of 
 state, ^ so that nothing may paSs without the 
 cognizance of any person concerned. In the 
 sixth prytany, in addition to the business just 
 stated, the question is also put to the vote 
 whether it is desirable to hold a vote of ostra- 
 cism or not ; and complaints against profes- 
 sional accusers, whether Athenian or aliens domi- 
 cileo in Athens, are received, to the number 
 of not more than three of either class, together 
 with cases in which an individual has made some 
 promise to the people and has not performed it. 
 The second Assembly of the prytany is assigned 
 to suppliants, and at this meeting anyone is 
 free, on depositing the supphant's olive-branch, 
 to speak to the people concerning any matter, 
 public or private. The two other meetings are 
 occupied with the remaining subjects, and the 
 laws require them to deal with three questions 
 
 1 If there was no direct heir, the next of kin had to apply to 
 the state, in the person of the archon, to have his claim recog- 
 nized. The claims on wards of state have been mentioned in 
 note I, p. 80. 
 
CH. 440 ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION, 83 
 
 connected with religion, three connected with 
 heralds and embassies, and three on secular 
 subjects. Sometimes questions are brought 
 forward without the Assembly first voting them 
 precedence. Heralds and envoys appear first 
 before the Prytanes, and the bearers of des- 
 patches also deliver them to the same officials. 
 
 44. There is a single President of the Prytanes, 
 elected by lot, who presides for a night and a 
 day ; he may not hold the office for more than 
 that time, nor may the same individual hold it 
 twice. He keeps the keys of the sanctuaries in 
 which the treasures and public records of the 
 state are preserved, and also the public seal ; 
 and he is bound to remain in the Tholus, to- 
 gether with one third of the Prytanes, named by 
 himself. Whenever the Prytanes convene a 
 meeting of the Council or Assembly, he appoints 
 by lot nine Proedri, one from each tribe except 
 that which holds the office of Pr>^tanes for the 
 time being ; and out of these nine he similarly 
 appoints one as President, and hands over the 
 programme for the meeting to them. They take 
 it and see to the preservation of order, and put 
 forward the various subjects w^hich are to be 
 considered, decide the results of the votings, 
 and direct the proceedings generally.-^ They 
 also have power to dismiss the meeting. No 
 
 1 In the fifth century it appears that the Prytanes themselves 
 acted as presidents at meetings of the Council and Assembly ; 
 but in the fourth century the Proedri appear to have been insti- 
 tuted, as here described. 
 
84 ARISTOTLE ON THE [cH. 44. 
 
 /one may act as President more than once in the 
 [iyear, but he may be a Proedrus once in each 
 prytany. Elections to the offices of General and 
 Hipparch and all other military posts are held 
 in the Assembly, in such manner as the people 
 decide ; and they are held after the sixth pry- 
 tany by the first board of Prytanes in whose 
 term of office the omens are favourable. There 
 has, however, to be a preliminary consideration 
 by the Council in this case also.^ 
 
 45. In former times the Council had full 
 powers to inflict fines and imprisonment and 
 death ; and it was when it had dragged off 
 Lysimachus^ to the executioner, and he was 
 sitting in the immediate expectation of death, 
 that Eumeleides of Alopece deprived it of its 
 powers,^ maintaining that no citizen ought to 
 be put to death except after a hearing by a 
 court of law.* Accordingly there was a trial in a 
 law-court, and Lysimachus was acquitted, re- 
 ceiving henceforth the nickname of "the man 
 from the drum-head" ; ^ and the people deprived 
 
 1 As in all business submitted to the Assembly : see the end 
 of the next chapter. 
 
 2 This person cannot be identified with certainty, nor is the 
 story here related of him otherwise known. 
 
 3 Or "rescued him from its hands." 
 
 4 It should be observed that throughout the treatise a "law- 
 court " (5txa<rr^p»ov) always means one of the large popular jury- 
 courts described on p. 15, note 3. 
 
 5 This, though verbally close to the original, is rather ?- para- 
 phrase than a translation. The original apparently denotes that 
 Lysimachus was about to be executed by the method of beating 
 or bastinadoing to death. 
 
CH. 46.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 85 
 
 the Council thenceforward of the power to in- 
 flict death or imprisonment or fine, passing a 
 law that if the Council condemn any person for 
 an offence or inflict a fine, the Thesmothetae 
 shall bring the sentence or fine before the law- 
 court, and the decision of the jurors shall be the 
 final judgment in the matter. The C ouncil pas ses 
 jud gmen t^jiiL-near]y aU magistratesj especially 
 those whoJiayeJL]i£_£ontrQl of money ; its judg- 
 mentj'Iibwever, is not final, but is subject to an 
 appeal to the law-courts. Private-Jndividuals, 
 also, may^jmpeach any magist rate they please 
 for not obeying the laws, but her e too th ere is 
 anjippeal to the law-courts if the Council declare 
 the charge proved. The Council also examines 
 those who are to be its members for the ensuing 
 year, and also the nine Archons.^ Formerly 
 the Council had full power to reject candidates 
 for office as unsuitable, but now these too 
 have an appeal to the law-courts. In all these 
 matters, therefore, the Council has no final juris- 
 diction. It has, however, a preliminary con- 
 sideration of all meters brought before the 
 Assembly, and the Assembly cannot vote on 
 any question unless it has first been considered 
 by the Council and placed on the programme 
 by the Prytanes ; since a person who carries a 
 motion in the Assembly is liable to an action for 
 illegal proposal on these grounds. 
 46. The Council also superintends the tri- 
 
 1 See ch. 55. 
 
86 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 46. 
 
 remes that are already in existence, with their 
 tackle and she^SjL^^nd builds new triremes or 
 'quajfirem^^ j^hichever the~~7^sembly votes, 
 with tackle and sheds to match. The Assembly 
 appointslnaster-builders for the ships by vote ; 
 and if they do not hand them over completed to 
 the next Council, the old Council^ cannot receive 
 the customary donation, — that being normally 
 given to it during its successor's term of office. 
 For the building of the triremes it appoints ten 
 ship-builders, chosen out of the whole body of 
 the people. The Council also inspects all pub- 
 lic buildings, and if it is of opinion that the state 
 is being defrauded, it reports the culprit to the 
 Assembly, and after itself condemning him hands 
 him over to the law-courts. 
 
 47. The Council also co-operates with the 
 other magistrates in most of their duties. First 
 there are the treasurers of Athena,* ten in 
 
 1 i.e., the sheds in which the ships were laid up when in dock. 
 
 2 Quadriremes (as Mr. C. Torr has pointed out) were first 
 built at Athens a few years before 330 B.C., and in 325 B.C. 
 they began to build quinqueremes. As the latter are not men- 
 tioned here, we seem to get a lower limit of date for the com- 
 position (or revision) of the treatise. The upper limit is fixed 
 in ch. 54 as 329 B.C. 
 
 3 Grammatically the subject of this sentence should be the 
 master-builders, but we know from the speech of Demosthenes 
 against Androtion that the Council received a donation of a 
 golden crown, which was withheld if it did not hand over its 
 quota of new triremes to its successor ; and his language is so 
 exactly parallel to that which is used by Aristotle that it is diffi- 
 cult to believe that they are not speaking of the same custom. 
 
 4 Each of the temples seems to have possessed a treasury, but 
 that of the temple of Athena was by far the most important. 
 
CH. 470 ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION, 87 
 
 number, elected by lot, one from each tribe. 
 Accof3mg to the law of Solon — which is still in 
 force — they must be Pentacosiomedimni, but in 
 point of fact the person on whom the lot falls 
 holds the office even though he be quite a poor 
 man. These officers take over charge of the 
 statue of Athena, the figures of Victory and all 
 the other ornaments of the temple, together v/ith 
 the money, in the presence of the Council. Then 
 there are the Commissioners fo^PublkCon-^ 
 ^tractsJPoletae], ten in number, one elected by 
 lot from each tribe. These officers^ faniLOiit-the 
 public con tracts^and^Jease the mines, and, in 
 conjunction with the military treasurer and the 
 commissioners of the Theoric fund, confirm the 
 farming out of taxes, in the presence of the 
 Council, to the persons whom the latter appoints. 
 They also lease, in the presence of the Council, 
 such workable mines as are let out by the state, 
 which are let for three years, and the conces- 
 sions which are let for [three] years, ^ and also 
 the property of those who have gone into exile 
 from a sentence of the Areopagus, and of state- 
 debtors ;^ and the nine Archons ratify the con- 
 tracts. They also hand over to the Council lists 
 of the taxes which are farmed out for the year, en- 
 tering on whitened tablets the name of the lessee 
 
 1 This is probably the true reading of the passage, but the MS. 
 is considerably damaged in this part. The rest of this chapter 
 is much mutilated, and the sense cannot in all cases be supplied 
 with certainty. 
 
 2 The MS. appears to have hipu'hiTwv, 
 
88 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 47. 
 
 and the amount paid. They make separate Hsts, 
 first of those who have to pay their instalments 
 in each prytany, on ten several tablets, next of 
 those who pay at the end of the year, with a 
 separate tablet for each instalment, and finally 
 of those who pay in the ninth prytany. They 
 also draw up a list of farms and dwellings which 
 are leased or farmed out, and place it in the law- 
 court ; for these too come within their province. 
 In the case of dwellings the value must be paid 
 up in five years, and in that of farms, in ten. 
 The instalments are paid in the ninth prytany. 
 Further, the King-archon brings before the 
 Council the leases of the sacred enclosures, 
 written on whitened tablets.^ These too are 
 leased for ten years, and the instalments are 
 paid in the [ninth] prytany ; consequently it is in 
 this piytany that the greatest amount of money 
 is collected. The tablets containing the lists of 
 the instalments are carried into the Council, and 
 the public clerk takes charge of them. When- 
 ever a payment of instalments is to be made 
 he delivers to the Receivers-General the precise 
 columns containing the sums which are to be 
 paid and struck ofif on that day. The rest are 
 keep apart, in order that no sum may be struck 
 ofif before it is paid.^ 
 
 1 The restoration of this sentence is partly due to Mr. Wyse 
 and Dr. Jackson. 
 
 2 This represents what is believed to be the true reading of the 
 M S. in this passage, which had not been fully deciphered when 
 the Greek text was printed. 
 
CH. 48.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 89 
 
 48. There arejtenJR.ecei vers- General [Apo- 
 dectae], elected by lot, one frorrTeach tribe. These 
 officers receive the tablets, and strike off the in- 
 stalments as they are paid, in the presence of the 
 Council in the Council-chamber, and give the 
 tablets back to the public clerk. If anyone fails to 
 pay his instalment, a note is made of it from this 
 record, together with the cause ; and he is bound 
 to make good the deficiency, or, in default, to 
 be imprisoned. The Council has full power by 
 the laws to exact these payments and to inflict 
 this imprisonment. They receive the money, 
 therefore, on one day, and portion it out among 
 the magistrates ; and on the next day they bring 
 up the report of the apportionment, written on a 
 wooden notice-board, and read it out in the 
 Council-chamber, after which they ask publicly 
 in the Council whether anyone knows of any 
 malpractice in reference to the apportionment, 
 on the part of either a magistrate or a private 
 individual, and if anyone is charged with mal- 
 practice they put the question to the vote. 
 
 The Council also elects ten Auditors [Logistae] 
 Jjy lot from its own members, to audit the 
 accoimfs^ of th'e magistrates for each prytany. 
 They also elect one Examiner of Accounts 
 [Euthunus] by^lot from each tribe, with two 
 assessors [Paredri] for each examiner, whose 
 duty it is to sit in the market-place,^ each oppo- 
 site the statue of the eponymous hero of his tribe ; 
 
 A The word is doubt^jl.4»iiTe'ox»gio^. 
 
 CMVEBi 
 
96 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 4&. 
 
 and if anyone wishes, on the ground of some 
 private difference, to question the accounts of any 
 magistrate who has given in his accounts before 
 the law-courts, within three days of his having 
 given them in, the assessor enters on a whitened 
 tablet the name of this person^ and that of the 
 magistrate prosecuted, together with the mal- 
 practice that is alleged against him. Then he 
 enters his claim ^ for a penalty of such amount as 
 seems to him fitting, and gives in the record to 
 the Examiner. The latter takes it and hears 
 the charge, and if he considers it proved he 
 hands it over, if a private case, to the local 
 justices who introduce cases ^ for the tribe con- 
 cerned, while if a public case he enters it on the 
 register of the Thesmothetae. Then, if the 
 Thesmothetae accept it, they bring the accounts 
 of this magistrate once more before the law- 
 court, and the decision of the jury stands as the 
 final judgment. 
 
 49. The Council also exam ines^ the horses 
 belonging To"the state. If it finds one which, 
 though sound, will not go well,^ it mulcts it of 
 some of its corn ; while those which cannot go 
 
 1 Or, reading TO aurou as proposed by Prof. Blass, "he(/.^., 
 the complainant) enters . . . his own name." 
 
 2 Reading eTFiypu<p6iJ,svog, as suggested by Mr. Wyse. 
 
 3 All cases had to be brought before the courts by some 
 magistrate. Several instances in which one of the archons, or 
 the thesmothetae collectively, or the arbitrators, or some other 
 magistrate, performed this function for specific classes of cases 
 are mentioned in the following chapters. 
 
 4 Reading rpix^iv, as suggested by Prof. Lewis Campbell. 
 
CH. 49.] A THENIAN CONSTITUTION. 91 
 
 or which will not obey the rein, it brands with a 
 wheel on the jaw,^ and the horse so marked is 
 disqualified for service. It also examines those 
 who appear to be fit for service as couriers, and 
 anyone whom it rejects is deprived of his horse. 
 It also examines the unmounted couriers,^ and 
 anyone whom it rejects ceases to receive his 
 pay. The roll of the 'cavalry is drawn up by 
 the Commissioners of Enrolment [Catalogeis], 
 ten in number, elected by the Assembly by open 
 vote. They hand over to the Hipparchs and 
 Phylarchs the list of those whom they have 
 enrolled, and these officers take it and bring it 
 up before the Council, and there open the tablet 
 in which the names of the cavalry ^ are sealed 
 up. If any of those who have been on the roll 
 previously make affidavit that they are physically 
 incapable of cavalry service, they strike them 
 out ; then they call up the persons newly en- 
 rolled, and if anyone makes affidavit that he is 
 either physically or pecuniarily incapable of 
 cavalry service they dismiss him, but if no such 
 
 1 Filling the lacuna with yvaSov, which Mr. Wyse and Mr. 
 Hicks have shown to be the true reading. 
 
 2 Retaining the MS. reading av/mrouf, this seems the only 
 reasonable sense to be assigned to it. But it would be easy to 
 restore a/x/Trirouf, as Mr. Newman suggests, in which case it 
 means infantry who fought among the ranks of the cavalry. 
 Then 7rpo5po/u.o» above should also be taken as a military term, 
 meaning light cavalry who acted as advance guard or skir- 
 mishers. There was a special corps so named in the army of 
 Alexander. 
 
 3 i.e.^ the names of those already in the cavalry, before the 
 new enrolment. 
 
92 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 49. 
 
 affidavit is made the Council votes whether the 
 
 fidual in question is suitable for the purpose 
 tt. If they vote in the affirmative his name 
 tered on the tablet ; if not, he is dismissed 
 with the others. 
 
 Formerly the Council used to decide on the 
 plans for public buildings and the contract for 
 making the robe^^fcth^hJr; ^ but now this work 
 is doi^ bv a iuiil^ P^ie law-courts appointed by 
 
 «ot, sm^WWBouncil was considered to have 
 jhown favouritism in its decisions. The Council 
 also has a share in the superintendence of the 
 manufacture of the images of Victory and the 
 prizes at the Panathenaic festival, in conjunction 
 with the Military Treasurer. 
 
 The Council also examines infirm paupers ; 
 for there is a law which enacts that persons 
 possessing less than three 'minas, who are so 
 
 ^£iPP]^„?:lBPl-lP— ^^^^i^ ^^ ^^ ^^y work, are, 
 after examination by the Council, to receive two 
 obols a day from the state for their support. A 
 treasurer is appointed by lot to attend to them. 
 
 The Council also, speaking broadly, co- 
 operates in most of the duties of all the other 
 magistrates ; and this ends the list of the func- 
 tions of that body. 
 
 50. There are ten Commissioners Jbr Repairs 
 of Temples^ elected by lot, who receive a sum of 
 
 1 This was the robe which was carried in procession at the 
 great Panathenaic festival. It was embroidered with mytho- 
 logical subjects, and was woven on each occasion by a number 
 of girls, under the superintendence of two of superior family. 
 
CH. 51.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 93 
 
 thirty minas from the Receivers-General, and 
 therewith carry out the most necessary repairs 
 in the temples. 
 
 There are also ten City Commissioners [Asty- 
 nomi], of whom five hold office in Piraeus and 
 five in the city. Their duty is to see that female 
 flute- and harp- and lute-players are not hired at 
 more than two drachmas, and if more than one 
 person is anxious to hire the same girl, they cast 
 lots and hire her out to the person to whom the 
 lot falls. They also provide that no collector of 
 sewage shall shoot any of his sewage within ten 
 stadia of the walls ; ^ they prevent people from 
 blocking up the streets by building, or stretching 
 barriers across them, or making drain-pipes in 
 mid-air so as to pour their contents into the 
 street, or having doors'^ which open outwards ; 
 and they remove the corpses of those who die in 
 the streets, for which purpose they have a body 
 of sTate slaves assigned to them. 
 
 51. Mark et Commissioners [Agoranomi] are 
 elected by lot, five for Piraeus, five for the city. 
 The duty assigned to them by law is to see that 
 all articles offered for sale in the market are 
 pure and unadulterated. 
 
 Commissioners pf_^ Weights _an^^^ Measures 
 [Metronomi] are elected by lot, five for the 
 city, and five for Piraeus. They see that sellers 
 use fair weights and measures. 
 
 1 Following Prof. J. E. B. Mayor's restoration of this passage, 
 IvTCf i rra^iwv tou rtiyovg. 
 
 2 Or possibly "windows." 
 
94 ARISTOTLE ON THE [cH. 51* 
 
 Formerly there were five Corn Commissioners 
 [Sitophylaces], elected by lot, for Piraeus, and 
 five for the city ; but now there are twenty for 
 the city and fifteen for Piraeus. Their duties 
 are, first, to see that the unprepared corn in the 
 market is offered for sale at reasonable prices, 
 and secondly to see that the millers sell barley 
 meal at a price proportionate to that of barley, 
 and that the bakers sell their loaves at a price 
 proportionate to that of wheat, and of such 
 weight as the Commissioners may appoint ; for 
 the law requires them to fix the standard weight. 
 There are ten Superintendents of the Mart, 
 elected by lot, whose duty is to superintend the 
 Mart, and to compel merchants to bring up into 
 the city two-thirds of the corn which is brought 
 by sea to the Corn Mart.^ 
 
 , 52. The Eleven also are appointed by lot to 
 f take care of those who are in the state gaol. 
 Thieves, kidnappers, and pickpockets are 
 brought to them, and if they plead guilty they 
 are executed, but if they deny their crime the 
 Eleven bring the case before the law-courts ; if 
 the prisoners are acquitted, they release them, 
 but if not, they then execute them. They also 
 bring up before the law-courts the list of farms 
 and houses claimed as state-property ; and if it 
 
 1 This is the reading of the MS., but it is possible that we should 
 substitute for it the word used by Harpocration, who quotes the 
 sentence with the variation "Attic Mart" for "Corn Mart." 
 The name "Attic Mart " is found in Demosthenes as an official 
 designation of Piraeus. Another authority which quotes the 
 passage gives the name as the " City Mart." 
 
CH. 53.] A THENIAN CONSTITUTION. 95 
 
 is decided that they are so, they deliver them to 
 the Commissioners for Public Contracts. The 
 Eleven also bring up informations laid against 
 magistrates alleged to be disqualified ; this 
 function comes within their province, but some 
 such cases are brought up by the Thesmothetae. 
 There are also five Introducers of Cases 
 [Eisagogeis], one for each pair of tribes, who 
 bring up the " monthly " cases ^ to the law-courts. 
 " Monthly " cases are these : refusal to pay up a 
 dowry where a party is bound to do so, refusal to 
 pay interest on money borrowed at 12 per cent., or 
 where a man desirous of setting up business in the 
 market has borrowed from another man capital 
 to start with ; also cases of slander, cases arising 
 out of clubs or partnerships, and cases concerned 
 with slaves, cattle, the office of trierarch, or with 
 banks. These are brought up as "monthly" 
 cases and are heard by these officers; but the 
 Receivers-General perform the same function in 
 cases for or against the farmers of taxes. Those 
 in which the sum concerned is not more than 
 ten drachmas they can decide summarily, but all 
 above that amount they report to the law-courts 
 as " monthly " cases. 
 
 53. Forty persons ^ are also elected by lot, 
 four from each tribe, before whom suitors bring 
 
 1 i.e.y cases which have to be decided within a month, as being 
 considered to be of a pressing nature. 
 
 2 These are the officials elsewhere described as the local 
 justices, who were instituted by Pisistratus (oh. 16) and revived 
 in 453 B.C. (ch. 26}. 
 
96 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 53. 
 
 all other cases.^ Formerly they were thirty in 
 number, and they went on circuit through the 
 demes to hear causes ; but after the oligarchy 
 of the Thirty they were increased to forty;. 
 They have full powers to deal with cases in 
 which the damages claimed do not exceed ten 
 drachmas, but anything beyond that amount 
 they hand over to the Arbitrators. The Arbi- 
 trators take up the case, and, if they cannot 
 bring the parties to an agreement, they give a 
 decision. If their decision satisfies both parties, 
 and they abide by it, the case is at an end ; 
 but if either of the parties appeals to the law- 
 courts, the Arbitrators enclose the evidence, the 
 pleadings, and the laws quoted in the case in 
 two urns, those of the plaintiff in the one, and 
 those of the defendant in the other. These they 
 seal up and, having attached to them the decision 
 of the arbitrator, written out on a tablet, hand 
 them over to the justices whose function it is to 
 introduce cases on behalf of the tribe of the 
 defendant. These officers take them and bring 
 up the case before the law-court, to a jury of 
 Jwojvundred and one members in cases up to 
 the value oT a thousand drachmas, or to one 
 of four hundred and one in cases above that 
 value. No laws or pleadings or evidence may 
 beu^ed except those which were adduced before 
 
 1 That is (supposing the MS. to be correct here, which may te 
 questioned), leave to bring a suit has in the first instance to be 
 obtained from these magistrates. It does not mean that they 
 actually tried the cases. 
 
CH. 53-] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 97 
 
 the Arbitrator, and which have been enclosed in 
 the urns. 
 
 The^ Arbitrators are persons ofjsixty_years 
 of^age, as is clear^rom~the Archons and the 
 Eponymi. There are two classes of Eponymi, 
 the ten who give their names to the tribes, 
 and the forty-two of the years of service.^ 
 The names of the youths, on being enrolled 
 among the citizens, were formerly inscribed 
 upon whitened tablets, and the names were 
 appended of the Archon in whose year they were 
 enrolled, and of the Eponymus who had been in 
 course in the preceding year ; at the present 
 day they are written on a bronze pillar, which 
 stands in front of the Council-chamber, near the 
 Eponymi of the tribes. Then the Forty take the 
 last of the Eponymi of the years of service, and 
 assign the arbitrations to the persons belonging 
 to that year, casting lots to determine which 
 arbitrations each shall undertake ; and everyone 
 is compelled to carry through the arbitrations 
 
 1 The nature of these Eponymi is extremely doubtful, and they 
 are unknown except from this passage and quotations from it in 
 the grammarians. It would appear that, just as the Eponymi of the 
 tribes were the ten heroes who gave their names to the ten tribes, 
 so a cycle of forty-two years was arranged, to each of which the 
 name of a hero was assigned as its Eponymus. Then, as every 
 Athenian was liable to military service for forty-two years 
 (from 18 to 59 inclusive), each man had to go through the 
 complete cycle before he was free from liability to serve. 
 When he had completed the cycle he was required to serve for 
 one year as an arbitrator ; and accordingly each year the Forty 
 took the list of those who were completing their last year of 
 military service, and assigned to them the duties which they 
 were to undertake as arbitrators during the following year. 
 H 
 
98 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 53. 
 
 which the lot assigns to him. The law enacts 
 that anyone who does not serve as Arbitrator 
 when he has arrived at the necessary age shall 
 lose his civil rights, unless he happens to be 
 holding some other office during that year, or 
 t5~^e out of the country. These are the only 
 persons who escape the duty. Anyone who 
 suffers injustice at the hands of the Arbitrator 
 may appeal to the whole board of Arbitrators,^ 
 and if they find the magistrate guilty, the law 
 enacts that he shall lose his civil rights. The 
 persons thus condemned have, however, in their 
 turn an appeal. The Eponymi are also used in 
 reference to militaiy expeditions ; when the men 
 of military age are despatched on service, a 
 notice is put up stating that the men from such- 
 and-such an Archon and Eponymus to such- 
 and-such another Archon and Eponymus are to 
 go on the expedition. 
 
 54. The following magistrates also are elected 
 by lot : Ten Commissioners of Roads [Hodo- 
 poei], who, with an assigned body of public 
 slaves, are required to keep the roads in order : 
 and ten Auditors, with ten assistants, to whom all 
 persons who have held any office must give in 
 their accounts. These are the only officers who 
 audit the accounts of those who are subject to 
 examination,^ and who bring them up for exami- 
 
 1 Restoring the MS. reading SjoM-mra?, which Mr. W. R. 
 Hardie justifies from Demosthenes. 
 
 2 Every person who had held any public office had to submit 
 himself and his accounts to examination before a jury at the end 
 
CH. 54.3 ATHENIAN CONSTITUTIO^\ 99 
 
 nation before the law-courts. If they detect any 
 magistrate in embezzlement, the jury condemn 
 him on a charge of embezzlement, and he is 
 obliged to repay tenfold the sum he is declared 
 to have misappropriated. If they charge a 
 magistrate with accepting bribes and the jury 
 convict him, they fine him for corruption, and 
 this sum too is repaid tenfold. Or if they 
 convict him of unfair dealing, he is fined on 
 that charge, and the sum assessed is paid with- 
 out increase, if payment is made before the ninth 
 prytany, but otherwise it is doubled. A ten-fold 
 fine is not doubled, however. 
 
 The Clerk of the Prytany, as he is called, is 
 also elected by lot. He is the chief of all the clerks, 
 and keeps the resolutions which are passed by 
 the Assembly, and records all other business and 
 attends at the sessions of the Council. Formerly ^f ; ' 
 he was elected by open vote, and the most dis- %ft^ '"' 
 tinguished and trustworthy persons were elected 
 to the post, as is known from the fact that the 
 name of this officer is appended on the pill?irs ffer 
 cording treaties of alliance and grants of consul- 
 ship ' and citizenship. Now, however, he is elected 
 by lot. There is, in addition, a Clerk of the 
 Laws, elected by lot, who attends at the sessions 
 of the Council ; and he too records all the laws. 
 The Assembly also elects by open vote a clerk 
 to read documents to it and to the Council ; but 
 
 of his term of office ; on which occasion any citizen might im- 
 peach his conduct during his office. 
 1 i.e., of representation of a foreign state. 
 
too ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 54. 
 
 he has no other duty except that of reading 
 aloud. 
 
 The Assembly also elects by lot ten Commis- 
 sio ners of Reli£i on [Hieropoei], known as the 
 Conirnis^ioners_jfor_^a£rifi^ who offer the 
 sacrifices appoint ed by oracle, and, m _conj unc- 
 tionj^Tth the seers, take the auspices whenever 
 thereTs occasion. It also elects by lot ten 
 others, known as Annual Commissioners,, who 
 offer certain sacrifices and administer all the 
 quadriennial festivals except the Panathenaea. 
 There are the following quadriennial festivals, 
 first that of Delos (where there is also a septennial 
 festival), secondly the Brauronia, thirdly the 
 Heracleia, fourthly that at Eleusis, and fifthly the 
 Panathenaea/ No two of these are celebrated 
 in the same place ; ^ [and the regulations for 
 them] are set forth [in the decrees passed] in 
 the archonship of Cephisophon.^ 
 
 An Archon is also elected by lot for SalamJs, 
 and a Demarch for Piraeus. These officers 
 celebrate the Dionysia in these two places, and 
 appoint Choregi. In Salamis, moreover, the 
 name of the Archon is publicly recorded. 
 
 1 As regards the two last festivals this translation depends on 
 a doubtful conjectural restoration of the passage. 
 
 2 The reading is rather doubtful, and the meaning may be 
 ^' no two of them take place in the same year " ; but in the fifth 
 century, at any rate, the Delian and Panathenaic festivals seem 
 both to have fallen in the third year of the Olympiad ; and this 
 was apparently also the year of the Heracleia in the fourth century. 
 
 3 The restoration of this passage is purely conjectural ; but 
 the date (329 b.c.) is certain, and we thus get a limit of time 
 after which this work must have been written, or at least revised. 
 See note 2, p. 86, on ch. 46. 
 
CH. 55-] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. loi 
 
 55. All the foregoing magistrates are elected 
 by lot, and their duties are those which have 
 been stated. To pass on to t he nine Archons, 
 as they are called, the manner of their appoint- 
 ment from the earliest times has been described 
 already. At the present day_sixjrh.esmothetae 
 are elected by lot, together with their clerk, and 
 in addition to these an Archon, a King, and a 
 Polemarch. One is elected from each tribe. 
 THey are examined first ofair^Tthe Council of 
 Five Hundred, with the exception of the clerk. 
 The latter is examined only in the law-court, 
 like other magistrates ^or all magistrates, 
 whether elecfed byTot or by open vote, are ex- 
 amined before entering on their offices) ; but 
 the hln^ Archons are examined both in the 
 Council and again in the laj^-court. Formerly 
 no one could hold the office if the Council re- 
 jected him, but now there is an appeal to the 
 law-court, which is the final authority in th& 
 matter of the examination. When they are ex- 
 amined, they are asked, first, "Who is your 
 fatherland of what deme ? who is your father's^ 
 father } who is your mother ? who is your 
 mother's father, and of what deme ? " Then the 
 candidate is asked" whether he possesses an 
 ancestral Apollo and a household Zeus, and 
 where their sanctuaries are ; next if he possesses 
 a family tomb, and where ; then if he treats 
 his parents well, and pays his taxes, and has 
 served on the required military expeditions. 
 When" the examiner has put these questions, he 
 
 \ 
 
102 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 55. 
 
 proceeds, " Call the witnesses to these facts " ; 
 and when the candidate has produced his wit- 
 nesses, he next asks, " Does anyone wish to 
 make any accusation against this man?" If 
 an accuser appears, he gives the parties an 
 opportunity of making their accusation and 
 defence, and then puts it to the Council to 
 pass the candidate or not, and to the law-court 
 to give the final vote. If no one wishes to 
 make an accusation, he proceeds at once to 
 the vote. Formerly a single individual gave 
 the vote, but now all the members are obliged 
 to vote on the candidates,^ so that if any un- 
 principled candidate has managed to get rid of 
 his accusers,^ it may still be possible for him to 
 be disqualified before the law-court. When the 
 examination has been thus completed, they 
 proceed to the stone on which are the pieces 
 of the victims,^ and on which the Arbitrators 
 take oath before declaring their decisions, and 
 witnesses swear to their testimony. On this 
 stone the Archons stand, and swear to execute 
 their office uprightly and according to the laws. 
 
 1 Reading vuv V uvcc/kv^ iroivrag Jot* 5ta-4/>)4»/(£(rfiat, as proposed by 
 Mr. Wyse. 
 
 - i.e., by Inducing them not to press their charges. It appears 
 that originally, if no accusation was brought before the Council, 
 the examination by the law-court was a mere formality, a single 
 member voting for the whole jury. But it was found that can- 
 didates sometimes escaped an accusation before the Council by 
 "squaring" their accusers; and to meet this the law-court 
 was made to examine and vote independently. 
 
 5* Reading 8<p' ^' t« to/xjcx Jo-tjv. 
 
CH. 56.3 A THEN I A N CONSTITU TION. 103 
 
 and not to receive presents m Respect of the 
 performance of tEeir (Hities^jor^ if^ they__do, to 
 d edicate a golden statue. When they have 
 taken this oath they proceed to the Acropolis, 
 and there they repeat it ; after this they enter 
 upon their office. 
 
 56. The Archon, the King, and the Polemarch 
 have each two assessors; they appoint whomso- 
 ever they please to the post, but the nominees 
 are examined in the law-court before they begin 
 to act, and give in accounts on each occasion of 
 their acting. 
 
 As soon as the Archon enters office, he begins 
 by issuing a proclamation that whatever anyone 
 possessed before he entered into office, that he 
 shall possess and hold until the end of his term. 
 Next he assigns Choregi to the tragic^pgeis, 
 choosing three ^ of the richest persons out of the 
 whole body of Athenians. Formerly he used 
 also to assign five Choregi to the comic poets, 
 but now the tribes provide the Choregi for this 
 purpose. Then he receives the Choregi who 
 have been appointed by the tribes for the 
 men's and boys' choruses ^ and the comic poets 
 
 1 Only three tragic poets might contend at the festivals, and it 
 was the duty of the Archon to decide what poets should be ad- 
 mitted to the honour. In Comedy, as stated below, five compe- 
 titors were allowed, but this number applies only to the fourth 
 century, before which time the number was limited to three. 
 The duty of the Choregus was_to defray the expense of training, 
 maintaining, and equipping the chorus^ required for a play or 
 a dithyrambrc contest. 
 
 2 These are dithyrambic choruses, which were quite uncon- 
 
104 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 56. 
 
 at the Dionysia, and for the men's and boys' 
 choruses at the Thargelia (at the Dionysia there 
 is a chorus for each tribe, but at the ThargeHa 
 one between two tribes, each tribe bearing its 
 share in providing it), and transacts the ex- 
 changes of properties,^ and reports any excuses 
 that are tendered, if anyone ^ says that he has 
 already borne this burden, or that he is exempt 
 because he has borne a similar burden and the 
 period of his exemption has not yet expired, 
 or that he is not forty years of age ; since 
 the Choregus of a boys' chorus must be over 
 fbrty^years of age. He also appoints Choregi 
 for the Testival at Delos, and chiefs of the 
 mission ^ for the thirty-oar boat which conveys 
 the youths thither. He also superintends sacred 
 processions, both that in honour of Asclepius, 
 when the initiated keep house, and that of the 
 great Dionysia, — the latter in conjunction with 
 the Superintendents of that festival. These 
 officers, ten in number, were formerly elected 
 
 nected with the dramatic representations, and in which the 
 several tribes competed against one another. 
 
 1 If any person considered that he had been unduly saddled 
 with one of the burdens which rich men were called upon to bear 
 for the state (such as the equipment of a chorus or a trireme), he 
 might require anyone on whom he thought the burden should 
 rather have been laid either to undertake it, or else to submit to 
 an exchange of properties. 
 
 2 The following passage is mutilated in the MS., but the 
 restoration here given is believed to be in accordance with the 
 remains in the MS. 
 
 3 i.e., chiefs of the sacred deputation sent from Athens to the 
 Delian festival. The reading suggested by Mr. Torr, apx«^^'*'F°^f> 
 is adopted. 
 
CH. 56.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 105 
 
 by open vote in the Assembly, and used to pro- 
 vide for the expenses of the procession out of 
 their private means ; but now one is elected by 
 lot from each tribe, and the state contributes a 
 hundred minas for the expenses. The Archon 
 also superintends the procession at theThargelia, 
 and that in honour of Zeus the Saviour. He 
 also manages the contests at the Dionysia and 
 the Thargelia. 
 
 These, then, are the festivals which he superin- 
 tends. The suits and indictments which come 
 before him, and which he, after a preliminary 
 inquiry, brings up before the law-courts, are as 
 follows. Injury to parents ^ (for bringing these ac- 
 tions the prosecutor cannot suffer any penalty) ;^ 
 injury to orphans (these actions lie against their 
 guardians) ; injury to a ward of state (these 
 lie against their guardians or their husbands) f 
 injury to an orphan's house (these too lie against 
 the guardians) ; mental derangement, where a 
 party charges another with destroying his own 
 property through unsoundness of mind ; for ap- 
 pointment of liquidators, where a party refuses 
 to divide property in which others have a share ; 
 for constituting a wardship ; for determining 
 between rival claims to a wardship, where more 
 persons than one wish to be enrolled as guar- 
 
 1 Reading yovewv, as suggested by Mr. Wyse and Dr. Sandys. 
 
 2 In most cases the prosecutor was subject to penalties if he 
 failed to receive a fifth part of the votes of the jury. 
 
 3 The state still continued its protection of heiresses even 
 after they were married. Its care only ceased when they had 
 children capable of inheriting the property. 
 
xo6 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 56. 
 
 dian of the same ward ; and for determining 
 disputes as to inheritances and wards of state. 
 The Archon also has the care of orphans and 
 wards of state, and of women who, on the death 
 of their husband, declare themselves to be with 
 child ; and he has power to inflict a fine on those 
 who offend against the persons under his charge, 
 or to bring the case before the law-courts. He 
 also leases out the houses of orphans and wards 
 of state .... and takes mortgages on them ; 
 and if the guardians fail to provide the necessary- 
 food for the children under their charge, he 
 exacts it from them.^ Such are the duties of 
 the Archon. 
 
 57. The Kin g in the first place superintends 
 the mysteries, in conjunction with the Superinten- 
 dents of Mysteries. The latter are elected in the 
 Assembly by open vote, two from the general 
 body of Athenians, one from the Eumolpidae, 
 and one from the Ceryces. Next, he superintends 
 the Lenaean Dion^^sia.^ .... On this occasion 
 the procession is ordered by the King and the 
 Superintendents in conjunction ; but the contest 
 is managed by the King alone. He also manages 
 all the contests of the torch-race ; and to 
 speak broadly, he administers all the ancestral 
 
 1 The passage is mutilated in the MS., and is here only con- 
 jecturally restored. 
 
 2 The lesser of the two chief festivals of Dionysus, held in 
 January. Many of the plays which have come down to us were 
 first performed at this festival, but it was not such a magnificent 
 occasion as the great Dionysia, at which strangers from the rest 
 of Greece were usually present in great numbers. 
 
CH. 57-] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 107 
 
 sacqfices. Indictments forjmpietycome^ejfore^ 
 him, or any disputes between parties concerning 
 priestly rites ; and he also determines all con- 
 troversies concerning the privileges of the 
 ancient clans ^ and the priests. All actions for 
 homicide come before him, and it is he that 
 makes the proclamation requiring polluted 
 persons to keep away from sacred ceremonies. 
 Actions for homicide and wounding are of the 
 following kinds. In cases of wilful homicide, the 
 offender is indicted in the Areopagus ; also in 
 cases of killing by poison, and of arson. These 
 are the only cases heard by that Council. Cases 
 of unintentional homicide, or of intent to kill, or of 
 killing a slave or a resident aHen or a foreigner, 
 are heard in the court of Palladium. When the 
 homicide is acknowledged, but legal justification 
 is pleaded, as when a man takes an adulterer in 
 the act, or kills another by mistake in battle, or 
 in an athletic contest, the prisoner is tried in the 
 court of Delphinium. If a man who is in ban- 
 ishment for a homicide which admits of recon- 
 ciliation ^ incurs a further charge of killing or 
 wounding, he is tried in Phreatto, and he makes 
 his defence sitting in a boat moored near the 
 shore. All these cases, except those which are 
 heard in the Areopagus, are tried by the Ephetae 
 
 1 See note 2, p. 80. 
 
 2 A person who committed an involuntary homicide had to 
 give pecuniary satisfaction to the relatives of the deceased, and 
 he was compelled to go into exile for a year unless they gave 
 him leave to return earlier. 
 
xo8 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 57. 
 
 on whom the lot falls. ^ The King introduces 
 them, and the hearing is held by night ^ and in 
 the open air. Whenever the King hears a case, 
 he takes off his crown. The person who is 
 subject to a charge of homicide is at all other 
 times excluded from the temples, nor ^ is he 
 allowed to enter the market-place ; but on the 
 occasion of his trial he enters the temple and 
 makes his defence. If the actual offender is 
 unknown, the writ runs against "the doer of 
 the deed." The King and the tribe-kings also 
 hear the cases in which the guilt rests_onjnani- 
 mate objects and the lower animals.* 
 i 58. The Polemarch performs the sacrifices to 
 Artemis the~lTuntress and to Enyalius,^ and 
 arranges the contest at the funeral of those who 
 have fallen in war, and makes offerings to the 
 
 1 A different punctuation of these sentences is adopted from 
 that which is given in the published text, and one lacuna is 
 supplied rather differently. The Ephetae were a very ancient 
 board of magistrates who used to hear these kinds of cases, but 
 whether they are spoken of here is doubtful, as the word in the 
 MS. is lost in a lacuna. 
 
 2 Reading o-xoraToj, as suggested by Dr. Sandys ; but it is very 
 doubtful whether the MS. will admit it. Lucian speaks of the 
 Areopagus as sitting at night, but no other mention of the 
 practice is known, and it is not the Areopagus itself that is here 
 being spoken of. 
 
 3 For the rest of this chapter, except the final sentence, the 
 readings of the MS. are doubtful. Mr. Wyse's restoration has 
 been followed. 
 
 4 This is a relic of a very primitive CTistom, by which any 
 object that had caused a man's death was put upon its trial. In 
 later times it may have served the purpose of a coroner's inquest. 
 
 5 The god of war : the name is sometimes used as an epithet 
 of Ares, sometimes as a name by itself. 
 
CH. 59.] A THENIAN CONSTITUTION. 109 
 
 memory of Hannodius and Aristogeiton. Of 
 private actions, those come before him in which 
 resident aliens, both ordinary and privileged, and 
 agents of foreign states are concerned. It is his 
 duty to receive these cases and divide them into 
 ten parts, and assign to each tribe the part which 
 comes to it by lot ; after which the magistrates 
 who introduce cases for the tribe hand them 
 over to the Arbitrators. The Polemarch, how- 
 ever, brings up in person cases in which an alien 
 is charged with deserting his patron or neglect- 
 ing to provide himself with one,* and also of 
 inheritances and wards of state where aliens are 
 concerned ; and in fact, generally, whatever the 
 Archon does for citizens, the Polemarch does 
 for aliens. 
 
 59. The Thes mothetaeJ n the first place have 
 the power of prescribing on what days the law- 
 courts are to sit, and next of assigning them to 
 the several magistrates ; for the latter must 
 follow the arrangement which the Thesmothetae 
 assign. Moreover they introd uce im peachments 
 before the Assembly, and bring up all votes for 
 removal from office, challenges of a magistrate's 
 conduct before the Assembly, indictments for 
 illegal proposals, or for proposing a law which 
 is contrary to the interests of the state, com- 
 plaints against Proedri or their president for 
 their conduct in office, and the accounts pre- 
 sented by the generals. All indictments also 
 
 1 Every alien resident in Athens was required to provide him- 
 self with a patron from among the citizens. 
 
ito ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 59. 
 
 come before them in which a deposit has to be 
 made by the prosecutor, namely, indictments 
 for concealment of foreign origin, for corrupt 
 evasion of foreign origin (when a man escapes 
 the disqualification by bribery), for black- 
 mailing accusations, bribery, false entry of 
 another as a state debtor, false testimony to 
 the service of a summons, conspiracy to enter 
 as a state debtor, corrupt omission from the list 
 of debtors, and adultery. They also bring up 
 the examinations of all magistrates,^ and the 
 rejections by the demes and the condemna- 
 tions by the Council. Moreover they bring up 
 certain private suits in cases of merchandise 
 and mines, or where a slave has slandered a 
 free man. It is they also who cast lots to assign 
 the courts to the various magistrates, whether for 
 private or public cases. They ratify agreements 
 with foreign states to regulate the decision of 
 commercial disputes, and bring up the cases 
 which arise out of such agreements ; and they 
 also bring up cases of perjury from the Areo- 
 pagus. The casting of lots for the jurors is 
 conducted by all the nine archons, with the clerk 
 to the Thesmothetae as the tenth, each perform- 
 ing the duty for his own tribe. Such are the 
 duties of the nine Archons. 
 
 60. There are also ten Commissioners of 
 
 Games [Athlothetae], elected by lot, one from 
 
 , 'feachlribe. These officers, after passing an exa- 
 
 1 i.e., the examination to which all magistrates were subjected 
 Tjefore entering -•«'"ce. See ch. 55. 
 
CH. 6o.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION, iii 
 
 mination, serve for four years ; and they manage 
 the Panathenaic procession, the contest in 
 music and that in gymnastic, and the horse-race ; 
 they also, in conjunction with the Council, see 
 to the making of the robe of Athena ^ and the 
 vases,^ and they present the oil to the athletes. 
 This oil is collected from the sacred olives. The 
 archon requisitions it from the owners of the 
 farms on which the sacred olives grow, to the 
 amount of three-quarters of a pint from each 
 plant. Formerly the state used to sell the fruit 
 itself, and if anyone dug up or broke down one of 
 the sacred olives, he was tried by the Council of 
 Areopagus, and if he was condemned, the penalty 
 was death. Since, however, the oil has been 
 paid by the owner of the farm, the procedure 
 has lapsed, though the law remains. The state 
 takes the oil from the shoots, not from the stem 
 of the plants. When, then, the Archon has 
 collected the oil for his year of office, he hands 
 it over to the Treasurers to preserve in the Acro- 
 pohs, and he may not take his seat in the Areo- 
 pagus until he has paid over to the Treasurers 
 the full amount. The Treasurers keep it in 
 the Acropolis until the Panathenaea, when they 
 measure it out to the Commissioners of Games^ 
 and they again to the victorious competitors. 
 The prizes for the victors in the musical contest 
 
 1 See note i, p. 92, on ch. 49. 
 
 2 The vases given as prizes at the Panathenaea, of which a 
 considerable number still exist, as may be seen in the British 
 Museum. 
 
112 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. Co. 
 
 consist of silver and gold, for the victors in 
 manly vigour, of shields, and for the victors in 
 the gymnastic contest and the horse-race, of oil. 
 6i. All officers connected with miUtary se rvice 
 are dected b y open vote. The Generals [Stra- 
 teg^were formerly^ected one from each tribe, 
 but now they are chosen from the whole mass of 
 citizens. Their duties are as^igneTto them by 
 open vote ; one is appointed to command the 
 heavy infantry, and leads the citizens if they go 
 out to war ; one to the defence of the country, 
 who remains on the defensive, and fights if there 
 is war within the borders of the country ; two to 
 Piraeus, one of whom is assigned to Munychia, 
 and one to the south shore, and these have 
 charge of the north ^ front and of ever^'thing in 
 Piraeus ; and one to superintend the symmories,^ 
 who nominates the trierarchs ^ and arranges ex- 
 changes of properties ^ for them, and brings up 
 actions to decide on rival claims in connection 
 with them. The rest are despatched to whatever 
 business may be on hand at the moment. The 
 appointment of these officers is submitted for 
 
 1 Reading x^i^^fi ^'^ proposed by Mr. Torr, for the MS. <l>uXv5f. 
 It is the breakwater which formed the north front of Piraeus. 
 
 2 The companies into which the richer members of the com- 
 munity were formed (first in 377 B.C.) for the payment of the 
 extraordinary charges in war-time. 
 
 3 The trierarchs were the persons (chosen from the richest 
 men in the community) who were required to undertake the 
 equipment of a trireme at their own expense. Like the office of 
 Choregus (ch. 56) it was a public duty performed by private 
 individuals. 
 
 4 See note i, p. 104, on ch. 56. 
 
«?. 5i.] ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 113 
 
 confirmation in each prytany,when the question is 
 put whether they are considered to be doing their 
 duty. If any officer is rejected on this vote, he 
 is tried in the law-court, and if he is found guilty 
 the people decide what punishment or fine shall 
 be inflicted on him ; but if he is acquitted he 
 holds office for the rest of his term. The 
 Generals have full power, when on active service, 
 to arrest anyone for insubordination, or to 
 proclaim his name publicly, or to inflict a fine ; 
 the latter is, however, unusual. 
 
 There are also ten TaxmrchSj jong from each 
 tribe, elected by open vote ; and each commands 
 his own tribesmen and appoints captains of 
 companies [Lochagi], There are also two Jiip^i,.^ 
 parchsj .elected by open vote from the whole mass 
 of the citizens, who command the cavalry, each 
 taking five tribes. They have the same powers 
 as the Generals have in respect of the infantry, 
 and their appointments are also subject to con- 
 firmation. There are also Phylarchs, elected by 
 open vote, one from eachlribe, to command the 
 cavalry, as the Ta^ciardiajia the iiiiantry. There 
 is also a Hipparch for Lemnos, elected by open 
 vote, who has charge of the cavalry in Lemnos. 
 There is also a treasurer of the Paralus, and 
 another of the Ammonias.^ 
 
 1 These are the two triremes, usually known as "sacred," 
 which were used for special state services. According to the 
 grammarians the two originally so employed were the Paralus 
 and Salaminia ; e.g., it was the latter that was sent to fetch 
 Alcibiades back from Sicily to stand his trial. The Ammonias 
 appears to have taken the place of the Salaminia in the time of 
 I 
 
114 ARISTOTLE ON THE [ch. 62. 
 
 62. Of the magistrates elected by lot, in 
 former times some, including the nine Archons, 
 were elected out of the tribe as a whole, while 
 others, namely those who are now elected in the 
 Theseum, were apportioned among the demes ; 
 but since the demes used to sell the elections, 
 these magistrates too are now elected from the 
 whole tribe, except the members of the Council 
 and the guards of the dockyards, who are still 
 left to the demes. 
 
 Pay is received for the following services. 
 First the members of the Assembly^ieceive a 
 drachma for the ordinaix_nieetings, and nine 
 obols for the " soyereign^' meeting. Then the 
 jurors at the law-courts receive three obols ; and 
 the membersof the 'UounciTlive^obols. The 
 Prytanes receive an allowancelor their mainte- 
 nance.^ . . . The nine Archons^ receive four obols 
 apiece for maintenance, and also keep a herald 
 anTa^flute-pTayer r and the Archon for^alamis 
 receives^ drachma a day. The Commissioners 
 for Games dine in the Prytaneum during the 
 montH~^6f Hecatombaeon in which the Panathe- 
 naic festival takes place, from the fourteenth day 
 onwards. The Amphictyonic deputies to Delos 
 receive a drachma a day from the exchequer 
 
 Alexander, when the Athenians sent sacrifices to the god Ammon 
 in it. 
 
 1 The MS. here is hoth corrupt and mutilated. 
 
 2 It is quite a new discovery that the archons received pay, 
 as it has generally been believed that the magistrates at Athens 
 served without remuneration. In the light, however, of this 
 chapter and ch. 24 this belief requires reconsideration. 
 
CH. 630 ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. 115 
 
 of Delos. Also all magistrates sent to Samos, 
 Scyros, Lemnos or Imbros receive_an allow- 
 ance for their maintenance. The military offices Vj 
 may be held any number of times, but none of 
 the other s more Jhan_ once, except the memb^ r- 
 shipof the Cou ncil, which may be held tw ice^-^ 
 
 63. The juries Jpjr the law-courts are chosen ":,'1=tA/lAjL^ 
 by lof ^y the nine Archons, each Tor their' own ^-;-^— -^""^ 
 tribe, and by the clerk to the Thesmothetae for 
 the tenth. There are ten entrances into the 
 courts, one for each tribe ; twenty vessels for 
 holding votes,^ two for each tribe ; a hundred 
 chests, ten for each tribe ; and ten other chests, 
 in which are placed the tickets of the jurors on 
 whom the lot falls.^ Also two vases and a 
 number of staves, equal to that of the jurors 
 required, are placed by the side of each entrance ; 
 and counters are put into one vase, equal in num- 
 ber to the staves. These are inscribed with letters 
 of the alphabet beginning with the eleventh 
 {lambda\ equal in number to the courts which 
 require to be filled. All pe rsons above thirty 
 years of ageare^qualified to serve as jurors, pro- 
 vided they are not debtors to the state and have 
 not lost theirciviLrights. If any unqualified per- 
 son serves as juror, an information is laid against 
 him, and he is brought before the court ;^ and, 
 
 1 Or "rooms in which the jurors are elected." 
 
 2 The use of all these appliances is not clear, but would no 
 doubt be explained if we possessed the conclusion of the work 
 mtact. 
 
 3 Reading hltixrjjcn x«» elj to 5»xa<mip*oy sirkytTcct, 
 
ii6 ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION. [ch. 63. 
 
 if he is convicted, the jurors assess the punish- 
 ment or fine which they consider him to deserve. 
 If he is condemned to a money fine, he must be 
 imprisoned until he has paid up both the original 
 debt, on account of which the information was 
 laid against him, and also the fine which the 
 court has imposed upon him. Each juror has a 
 ticket of box-wood, on which is inscribed his 
 name, with the name of his father and his deme, 
 and one of the letters of the alphabet up to 
 kappa j'^ for the jurors are divided intQ,leB~..„ 
 sections according to their tribes, with approxi- 
 mately an equal number from each tHbe ineaclL^ 
 letter. When the Thesmothetes has decided by 
 lot which letters are required to attend at the 
 courts, the servant puts up above each court 
 the letter which has been assigned to it by the 
 lot.^ .... 
 
 1 The tenth letter of the alphabet. Thus the whole body of 
 jurors was divided into ten sections, indicated by the letters 
 from alpha to kappa; and the courts for which jurors were 
 required were indicated by the requisite number of letters from 
 la^nbda onwards. Then a simple process of drawing lots 
 decided which section should sit in which court. 
 
 2 The remainder of the treatise, which was written on a 
 separate piece of papyrus, exists only in a mutilated and dis- 
 figured condition, which makes continuous decipherment hope- 
 less. It is entirely occupied with the description of the procedure 
 in the law-courts, and ends somewhat abruptly (the concluding 
 lines are quite legible) with the statement that when the business 
 of the day is finished the jurors receive the pay which is due 
 to them for their services. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 AcASTUS, king of Athens, 4. 
 
 Accounts, Examiners of offi- 
 cial, 89. 
 
 , examination of, 98, 99. 
 
 Aegospotami, battle of, 65. 
 
 Agoranomi, 93. 
 
 Agroeci, 21. 
 
 Agyrrhius, establishes pay for 
 attendance at Assembly, 77. 
 
 Alcmeonidae, family of, ex- 
 pelled from Athens for Cy- 
 lonian sacrilege, 2 ; leaders 
 of exiles against Pisistra- 
 tidae, 33-37. 
 
 Alexias, archon, 405 B.C., 77. 
 
 Aliens, resident, under juris- 
 diction of polemarch, 109. 
 
 Ammonias, sacred trireme, 
 113- 
 
 Amnesty, after expulsion of 
 the Thirty and the Ten, 73, 
 74- _ 
 
 Amphictyones, or envoys to 
 Delos, 114. 
 
 Anacreon, invited to Athens 
 by Hipparchus, 31. 
 
 Anchimolus, of Sparta, killed 
 
 in attempt to expel Pisistra- 
 tidae, 34. 
 
 Anthemion, statue of, with 
 inscription, 12, note. 
 
 Antidotus, archon, 451 B.C., 49. 
 
 Antiphon, leader of the Four 
 Hundred, 62. 
 
 Anytus, loses Pylus^ 52 ; bribes 
 the jury, ib. ; leader of 
 moderate party after fall of 
 Athens, 65. 
 
 Apodectae, 88, 89, 95. 
 
 Arbitrators, 96-98. 
 
 Archestratus, author of laws 
 respecting Council of Areo- 
 pagus, dd. 
 
 Archinus, of Ambracia, first 
 husband of Pisistratus' se- 
 cond wife, 30. 
 
 Archinus, leader of moderate 
 party after fall of Athens, 
 65 ; patriotic policy after 
 expulsion of the Thirty and 
 the Ten, 74. 
 
 Archon eponymus, origin of, 
 4 ; residence, 5 ; duties, 103- 
 106. 
 
ii8 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Archons, the nine, origin of, 3, 
 4 ; residences, 5 ; election un- 
 der pre-Draconian constitu- 
 tion, 13 ; under Draconian 
 constitution, 6 ; under Solo- 
 nian constitution, 11, 13 , 
 under Cleisthenean constitu- 
 tion, 41, 7wte ; election by lot 
 finally established, 41 ; ex- 
 tension of eligibility to Zeu- 
 gitae, 49 ; examination and 
 duties, loi-iio ; oath on 
 taking office, 11, 102, 103 ; 
 pay, 114. 
 
 Areopagus, Council of, before 
 Draco, 5, 6; under Draco- 
 nian constitution, 7, 8 ; 
 under Solonian constitution, 
 14 ; revival of power after 
 Salamis, 43, 44; its supre- 
 macy then the sixth change 
 in Athenian constitution, 
 76 ; overthrown by Ephi- 
 altes, 46-48 ; tries cases of 
 wilful homicide and arson, 
 107. 
 
 Arginusae, battle of, 63 ; trial 
 of the victorious generals, 
 63, 64. 
 
 Argos, assists Pisistratus to 
 recover tyranny, 30 ; its 
 alliance with Athens a 
 cause of jealousy to Sparta, 
 
 34- 
 
 Aristaichmes, archon, circ. 
 621 B.C., 6. 
 
 Aristides, ostracised, 43 ; re- 
 called, ib. ; leader of the 
 people, 44 ; his policy, 44- 
 46 ; his reforms the seventh 
 change in Athenian consti- 
 tution, 76. 
 
 Aristion, proposes bodyguard 
 for Pisistratus, 23. 
 
 Aristocrates, assists to over- 
 throw the Four Hundred, 
 63. 
 
 Aristodicus. of Tanagra, mur- 
 derer of Ephialtes, 48. 
 
 Aristogeiton, conspiracy of, 
 against Pisistratidae, 31-33- 
 
 Aristomachus, president of 
 Assembly which establishes 
 the Four Hundred, 61. 
 
 Asclepius, sacred procession 
 of, 104. 
 
 Assembly, popular, in Draco- 
 nian constitution, 7 ; pay 
 for attendance at, 77 ; num- 
 ber of meetings of, 81 ; busi- 
 ness at each meeting, 82, 83. 
 
 Astynomi, 93. 
 
 Athlothetae, no, in. 
 
 Auditors, 89, 98, 99. 
 
 Brauronia, festival of, 100. 
 Bucolium, official residence 
 
 of King-archon in early 
 
 times, 5. 
 Buildings, plans for public, 
 
 inspection of, 92. 
 
 Callias, archon, 412 B.C., 61. 
 
 , archon, 406 B.C., 63. 
 
 Callibius, harmost of Spartan 
 
 garrison in Athens, 69, 70. 
 Callicrates, increases amount 
 
 of theatrical donation, 54 ; 
 
 executed, ib. 
 Catalogeis, 91. 
 Cavalry, inspection of, by the 
 
 Council, 91. 
 Cedon, leader of attack on 
 
 Pisistratidae, 37. 
 
INDEX, 
 
 119 
 
 Cephisophon, archon, 329 B.C., 
 
 lOO. 
 
 Ceryces, priestly family of, 72, 
 106. 
 
 Choregi, 103, 104. 
 
 Cimon, son of Miltiades, 
 leader of aristocratical 
 party, 48 ; his munificence, 
 
 51- 
 
 Cineas, of Thessaly, assists 
 Pisistratidae against Spar- 
 tan invasion, 34. 
 
 Citizenship, qualification for, 
 50, 78 ; examination of can- 
 didates, 78. 
 
 City Commissioners, 93. 
 
 Cleisthenes, Alcmeonid, party 
 leader, 35 ; leader of the 
 people, 52 ; his constitution, 
 37-40 ; the fifth change in 
 Athenian constitution, 76. 
 
 Cleitophon, motion on insti- 
 tution of the Four Hundred, 
 55 ; leader of moderate 
 party after fall of Athens,65, 
 
 Cleomenes, king of Sparta, 
 expels Pisistratidae, 33-35 ; 
 attempts to restore Isagoras, 
 
 35. 36- 
 Cleon, leader of the people, 
 
 53. 
 
 Cleophon, leader of the peo- 
 ple, 53 ; institutes theatrical 
 donation, ib. ; opposes peace 
 after Arginusae, 64. 
 
 Clerk to the Thesmothetae, 
 loi, no. 
 
 Clerks, various classes of, 99. 
 
 Colacretae, 11. 
 
 Comeas, archon, 560 b. c. , 24. 
 
 Comedy, choregi appointed 
 for, 103. 
 
 Conon, archon, 462 B.C., 47. 
 
 Contracts, commissioners for 
 public, II, 87, 95- 
 
 Corn- laws, 94. 
 
 Council, of Four Hundred, 
 under Draconian constitu- 
 tion, 7 ; under Solonian 
 constitution, 14. 
 
 , of Five Hundred, insti- 
 tuted by Cleisthenes, 38-; 
 elected by lot, 81 ; liability 
 to corruption, 77 ; summary 
 jurisdiction of, 84 ; appeals 
 from its jurisdiction, 85 ; 
 reviews business to be sub- 
 mitted to Assembly, ib. ; 
 superintends ship-building, 
 86 ; also public buildings, 
 ib. ; miscellaneous duties in 
 connection with various ma- 
 gistrates, 86-92 ; payment 
 of its members, 114. 
 
 Couriers, examination of, gi. 
 
 Cylon, conspiracy of, i. 
 
 Damasias, attempts to esta- 
 blish a tyranny, 21. 
 
 Damonides, adviser of Pe- 
 ricles, 51. 
 
 Delos, festival at, 100, 104. 
 
 Delphi, temple of, rebuilt by 
 Alcmeonidae, 34. 
 
 Delphinium, court of, tries 
 cases of justifiable homicide, 
 107. 
 
 Demagogues, character of, 
 52-54 ; disastrous naval po- 
 licy, 76. 
 
 Demes, division of, among 
 tribes in Cleisthenean con- 
 stitution, 38-39. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Demiurgi, early division of 
 Athenian people, 21. 
 
 Democracy, re-establishment 
 of, after the Four Hundred, 
 the ninth change in Athe- 
 nian constitution, 76 ; its 
 re-establishment after ex- 
 pulsion of the Thirty and 
 the Ten, 71-73 ; the eleventh 
 change in Athenian consti- 
 tution, 76 ; subsequent de- 
 velopment, 77. 
 
 Diaetetae, see Arbitrators. 
 
 Dionysia, festival of, 104, 105 ; 
 Superintendents of, 104. 
 
 , at Salamis and Piraeus, 
 
 100. 
 
 Diphilus, statue of (?), with 
 inscription, 12. 
 
 Doors, legislation against 
 their opening outwards, 93. 
 
 Draco, constitution of, 6-8 ; 
 the second change in Athe- 
 nian constitution, 76. 
 
 Dracontides, proposes esta- 
 blishment of the Thirty, 65. 
 
 Eetioneia, fortification of, by 
 the Four Hundred, 69. 
 
 Eisagogeis, 95. 
 
 Elections by lot, under Dra- 
 conian constitution, 7 ; un- 
 der Solonian constitution, 
 13 ; after 487 B.C., 41 ; where 
 held, 114. 
 
 Eleusis, assigned as residence 
 for the Thirty and their 
 adherents, 72 ; the settle- 
 ment there re-absorbed into 
 Athenian community, 75 ; 
 festival at, 100. 
 
 Eleven, the, superintendents 
 of prisons, 11, 94, 95. 
 
 Enrolment, Commissioners of, 
 91. 
 
 Ephebi, enrolment of, as citi- 
 zens, 78 ; military service, 
 79- 
 
 Ephetae, judges in cases of 
 homicide, 107. 
 
 Ephialtes, leader of the peo- 
 ple, 46, 53 ; overthrows the 
 Areopagus, 46-48 ; mur- 
 dered, 48 ; his reforms part 
 of seventh change in Athe- 
 nian constitution, 'jd. 
 
 Epilyceum, official residence 
 ofPolemarch in early times, 
 
 5; 
 
 Epilycus, polemarch, 5. 
 
 Epimenides, of Crete, purifies 
 Athens after Cylonian sa- 
 crilege, 2. 
 
 Eponymi, of the tribes, 97. 
 
 , of the years of military 
 
 service, 97, 98, 
 
 Erechtheus, king of Athens, 
 4, note. 
 
 Eretria, knights of, assist 
 Pisistratus to recover ty- 
 ranny, 26 ; sea-fight off, 
 between Athenians and 
 Spartans, 62. 
 
 Euboea, revolt of, 62. 
 
 Eucleides, archon, 403 B.C., 
 72. 
 
 Eumeleides, abolishes sum- 
 mary jurisdiction of the 
 Council, 84. 
 
 Eumolpidae, priestly family 
 of, 72, io5. 
 
 Eupatridae, early division of 
 Athenian people, 21. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Euthuni, 89. 
 
 Festivals : — of Asclepius, 104 ; 
 Brauronia, 100 ; Delian, 
 100, 104 ; Dionysia, 104, 
 105 ; Dionysia at Salamis 
 and Piraeus, 100 ; Eleusi- 
 nian, 100 ; Heracleia, 100 ; 
 Lenaea, io6 ; Panathenaea, 
 100, III ; Thargelia, 104, 
 105. 
 
 Five Thousand, body of, un- 
 der constitution of the Four 
 Hundred, 56 ; government 
 by, after overthrow of the 
 Four Hundred, 63. 
 
 Forty, the, local justices, in- 
 stituted by Pisistratus, 27 ; 
 re-established, 49 ; their 
 duties, 95-97. 
 
 Four Hundred, institution of, 
 55 ; their constitution, 55-63 ; 
 the eighth change in Athe- 
 nian constitution, 76. 
 
 Gaines, Commissioners of, 
 
 110, III. 
 Generals, under Draconian 
 
 constitution, 6 ; under Cleis- 
 
 thenean constitution, 40 ; 
 
 date of election of, 84 ; 
 
 election of, 112 ; duties, ib. 
 Gorgilus, of Argos, father of 
 
 Pisistratus' second wife, 30. 
 
 Harmodius, conspiracy of, 
 against Pisistratidae, 31-33 ; 
 religious ceremonies in com- 
 memoration of, 109. 
 
 Harpactides, archon, 511 B.C., 
 35. 
 
 Hectemori, 2. 
 
 Hegesias, archon, 555 B.C., 
 24. 
 
 Hegesistratus, son of Pisis- 
 tratus, also named Thessa- 
 lus, 30 ; brings troops from 
 Argos to help his father, 
 ib. ; his character, 31. 
 
 Heiresses, see Wards of state. 
 
 Hellenotamiae, 58. 
 
 Heracleia, festival of, 100. 
 
 Heracleides, of Clazomenae, 
 increases pay for attendance 
 at Assembly, 77. 
 
 Hermoucreon, archon, 501 
 B.C., 40. 
 
 Herodotus, referred to, 25. 
 
 Hieromnemon, 57. 
 
 Hieropoei, 58, 100. 
 
 Hipparch, in command at 
 Lemnos, 113. 
 
 Hipparchs, under Draconian 
 constitution, 6 ; under the 
 Four Hundred, 57, 60 ; date 
 of election of, 84 ; duties, 
 01, 113' 
 
 Hipparchus, son of Charmus, 
 first person ostracised, 40, 
 41. 
 
 , son of Pisistratus, shares 
 
 government with Hippias, 
 30 ; his character, ib. ; mur- 
 dered, 31. 
 
 Hippias, eldest son of Pisis- 
 tratus, succeeds him in the 
 tyranny, 30 ; sole rule after 
 murder of Hipparchus, 33- 
 35 ; expelled, 35. 
 Hodopoei, 98. 
 
 Homicide, trials for, in vari- 
 ous courts, 107, 108. 
 
 Horses, examination of, 90, 
 91. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Hypsichides, archon, 481 B.C., 
 43- 
 
 Imbros, Athenian magistrates 
 at, 115. 
 
 Infirm paupers, supported by 
 the state, 92. 
 
 Inheritance, law of, altered 
 by the Thirty, dd. 
 
 Introducers of cases, 95. 
 
 Ion, first polemarch, 4 ; his 
 settlement of Attica the be- 
 ginning of the Athenian 
 constitution, 75, 
 
 lophon, son of Pisistratus, 30. 
 
 Isagoras, son of Tisander, 
 party leader, 35 ; expelled, 
 and restored by Spartans, 
 35» 36 ; expelled again, 36 ; 
 archon, 508 B.C., 37. 
 
 Justices, local, see Forty, the. 
 
 King-archon, origin of, 3 ; 
 
 residence, 5 ; duties> 106- 
 
 108. 
 Knights, 12. 
 
 Law-courts, popular, men- 
 tioned under Solonian con- 
 stitution, 15 ; pay for service 
 in, 51, 114 ; sittings regulated 
 by Thesmothetae, 109 ; pro- 
 cedure in, 115, 116 ; see also 
 Areopagus, Delphinium, 
 Palladium, Phreatto. 
 
 Law-suits, various classes of, 
 95, 105, 106, no. 
 
 Leaders of the people, list of, 
 52-54. 
 
 Lemnos, Athenian hipparch 
 in command there, 113; 
 
 Athenian magistrates there, 
 115. 
 
 Lenaea, festival of, 106. 
 
 Leocoreum, scene of murder 
 of Hipparchus, 32. 
 
 Lipsydrion, defeat of Athe- 
 nian exiles at, by Pisistra- 
 tidae, 33 . song in memory 
 of, 34. 
 
 Logistae, elected from the 
 members of the Council, 89 ; 
 duties, 98, 99. 
 
 Lot, see Elections. 
 
 Lycurgus, leader of party of 
 the Plain, 22. 
 
 Lygdamis, of Naxos, assists 
 Pisistratus, 26 ; is made 
 tyrant of Naxos, ib. 
 
 Lysander, of Sparta, estab- 
 lishes government of the 
 Thirty, 65. 
 
 Lysicrates, archon, 453 B.C., 
 
 49; 
 
 Lysimachus, condemned to 
 death by the Council, 84. 
 
 Marathon, battle of, 40. 
 Market regulations, 93, 94. 
 Maroneia, mines of, 42. 
 Mart, Superintendents of, 94. 
 Medon, king of Athens, 3, 
 
 note, 4. 
 Medontidae, character of rule 
 
 of, 3. 4- 
 Megacles, Alcmeonid, author 
 
 of Cylonian sacrilege, i,?*^/"^. 
 Megacles, son of Alcmeon, 
 
 leader of party of the Shore, 
 
 22 ; alliance with Pisistratus, 
 
 25- 
 
 Megacles, son of Hippocrates, 
 ostracised, 42. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 123 
 
 Megara, war against, 23. 
 Melobius, partisan of the 
 
 Four Hundred, 55. 
 Metronomi, 93. 
 Miltiades, leader of the aris- 
 
 tocratical party, 53. 
 Mines, discovery of, at Ma- 
 
 roneia, 42 r farmed out by 
 
 the state, 87. 
 Mnasilochus, archon under 
 
 government of the Four 
 
 Hundred, 62. 
 Mnesitheides, archon, 457 
 
 B.C., 49. 
 Monthly cases, 95. 
 Munychia, occupied by 
 
 Thrasybulus and the exiles, 
 
 69. 
 Myron, accuser of Alcmeo- 
 
 nidae for Cylonian sacrilege, 
 
 2. 
 Mysteries, managed by king- 
 
 archon, 106. 
 , Superintendents of, 58, 
 
 106. 
 
 Naucrari, officers of Treasury, 
 
 14. 
 Neutrals, Solon's law 
 
 against, 15. 
 Nicias, leader of aristocratical 
 
 party, 53. 
 Nicodemus, archon, 483 b.c., 
 
 42. 
 
 Oil, from the sacred olives, 
 
 given as prize at the Pana- 
 
 thenaea, in, 112. 
 Orphans, under guardianship 
 
 of the Archon, 105, 106. 
 Ostracism, instituted by Cleis- 
 
 thenes, 40 ; employment of, 
 
 40-43 ; proposed in 6th 
 prytany of each year, 82. 
 
 Palladium, court of, tries 
 cases of unintentional homi- 
 cide, 107. 
 
 Pallene, battle at, between 
 Pisistratus and the Athe- 
 nians, 26. 
 
 Panathenaea, festival of, 100, 
 III. 
 
 Pangaeus, Mt., residence of 
 Pisistratus near, 26. 
 
 Paralus, sacred trireme, 113. 
 
 Paredri, of the Examiners of 
 Accounts, 89. 
 
 , of the three chief Ar- 
 
 chons, 103. 
 
 Paupers, supported by the 
 state if infirm, 92. 
 
 Pausanias, king of Sparta, 
 assists re-establishment of 
 democracy at Athens, 71. 
 
 Pay for public services, 114, 
 115 ; under government of 
 the Four Hundred, 56. 
 
 Pelatae, 2. 
 
 Peloponnesian war, outbreak 
 of, 50. 
 
 Pentacosiomedimni, 12. 
 
 Pericles, restricts citizenship, 
 50 ; accuses Cimon, ib. ; 
 leader of the people, 53; 
 his policy, 50-52. 
 
 Phaenippus, archon, 490 B.C., 
 40. 
 
 Phayllus, moderate aristocrat, 
 leaider of second board of 
 Ten, 71. 
 
 Philoneos, archon, 527 b.c, 
 29. 
 
124 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Phormisius, leader of mode- 
 rate party after fall of 
 Athens, 65. 
 
 Phreatto, court of, tries cases 
 of homicide by an exile, 107. 
 
 Phylarchs, under the Four 
 Hundred, 57, 60; duties, 
 9^, 113- 
 
 Phye, impersonates Athena at 
 first return of Pisistratus 
 from exile, 25. 
 
 Phyle, occupied by Thrasy- 
 bulus and the exiles, 68. 
 
 Pii"aeus, demarch of, 100 ; 
 Dionysia at, ib. 
 
 Pisander, leader of the Four 
 Hundred, 62. 
 
 Pisistratidae, government of, 
 30-35- 
 
 Pisistratus, leader of party of 
 the Highlands, 22 ; leader 
 of the people, 52 ; career 
 of, 23-30 ; his government 
 the fourth change in Athe- 
 nian constitution, 76. 
 
 Plans of public buildings, re- 
 moved from jurisdiction of 
 the Council, 92. 
 
 Polemarch, origin of, 3 ; resi- 
 dence, 5 ; duties, 108, 109. 
 
 Poletae, 11, 87. 
 
 President, of the Proedri, 83. 
 
 , of the Prytanes, 83. 
 
 Prisons, Superintendents of, 
 11,94, 95- 
 
 Proedri, 83, 84. 
 
 Property-qualification for poli- 
 tical office, under Draconian 
 constitution, 6 ; under Solo- 
 nian constitution, 11. 
 
 Prytaneum, official residence 
 of Archon in early times, 5. 
 
 Prytanes, under Draconian 
 constitution, 6 ; duties of, 
 in later times, 81-83. 
 
 Prytanies, arrangement of, 81. 
 
 Pythodorus, archon, 432 b.c, 
 SO. 
 
 Pythodorus, proposes institu- 
 tion of the Four Hundred, 
 55 ; archon during govern- 
 ment of the Thirty, 65. 
 
 Receivers-General, 88, 89, 95. 
 
 Religion, Commissioners of, 
 100. 
 
 Rhaicelus, residence of Pisis- 
 tratus at, 26. 
 
 Rhinon, moderate aristocrat, 
 leader of second board of 
 Ten, 71. 
 
 Roads, Commissioners of, 98. 
 
 Sacrifices, Commissioners of, 
 58, 100. 
 
 Salamis, archon of, 100 ; 
 Dionysia at, ib. 
 
 , battle of, 43. 
 
 Samos, Athenian magistrates 
 at, 115. 
 
 Scyros, Athenian magistrates 
 at, 115. 
 
 Seisachtheia, the, of Solon, 9. 
 
 Ship-building, controlled by 
 the Council, 86. 
 
 SImonides, the poet, invited to 
 Athens by Hipparchus, 31. 
 
 Sitophylaces, 94. 
 
 Solon, first leader of the peo- 
 ple, 2, si ; his poetry, 8, 9, 
 18-20 ; economical reforms, 
 9 ; constitutional reforms, 
 H-16; reform of weights 
 and measures, 16, 17 ; with- 
 
INDEX. 
 
 125 
 
 draws to Egypt, 17 ; opposi- 
 tion to Pisistratus, 24 ; his 
 reforms the third change in 
 Athenian constitution, and 
 the beginning of the demo- 
 cracy, 76. 
 
 Sparta, expels Pisistratidae, 
 34, 35 ; sends garrison to 
 support the Thirty, 69. 
 
 Springs, Superintendent of, 
 80. 
 
 Strategi, see Generals. 
 
 Taxiarchs, under the Four 
 
 Hundred, 57. 
 Telesinus, archon, 487 B.C., 
 
 41- 
 Temples, Commissioners for 
 repairs of, 92. 
 
 Ten, board of, created to 
 succeed the Thirty, 70; 
 their rule, ib. ; excluded 
 from afnnesty, 73. 
 
 Ten, second board of, re-esta- 
 blish peace in Athens after 
 the anarchy, 70, 71 ; their 
 rule, 71. 
 
 Thargelia, festival of, 104, 
 105. 
 
 Theatre, donation to pay ad- 
 mission to, 80. 
 
 Thebes, assists Pisistratus to 
 regain tyranny, 26. 
 
 Themistocles, procures build- 
 ing of triremes, 42, 43 ; 
 leader of the people, 44, 53 ; 
 builds walls of Athens, 44 ; 
 accused of treachery, 47 ; 
 assists Ephialtes to over- 
 throw Areopagus, 47, 48. 
 
 Theopompus, archon, 411 B.C., 
 62. 
 
 Theoric fund, Commissioners 
 
 of, 80, 87. 
 Theramenes, leader of aristo- 
 cratical party, 53 ; character, 
 54 ; leader of the Four Hun- 
 dred, 62 ; instrumental in 
 overthrowing them, 63 ; 
 leader of moderate party 
 after fall of Athens, 65 ; op- 
 poses extreme proceedings 
 of the Thirty, 67, 68 ; exe- 
 cuted, 69. 
 Theseum, review held at, 
 by Pisistratus, 26 ; magis- 
 trates elected by lot there, 
 114. 
 Theseus, the reforms of, the 
 first change in Athenian 
 constitution, 76. 
 Thesmothetae, origin of, 4 ; 
 residence, 5 ; duties, 90, 109, 
 no. 
 Thesraotheteum, official resi- 
 dence of Archons, 5. 
 Thessalus, surname of Hege- 
 sistratus, son of Pisistratus, 
 
 30. 
 
 Thetes, 12, 13. 
 
 Thirty, government of, estab- 
 lished, 65 ; its character, 
 65-69 ; overthrown, 70 ; ex- 
 cluded from amnesty, 73 ; 
 their government the tenth 
 change in Athenian consti- 
 tution, 76. 
 
 Tholus, occupied by the Pry- 
 tanes, 81, 83. 
 
 Thrasybulus, occupies Phyle, 
 and defeats army of the 
 Thirty, 68, 69 ; prosecuted 
 by Archinus for an illegal 
 proposal, 74. 
 
126 
 
 INDEX, 
 
 Three Thousand, body of, 
 under government of the 
 Thirty, 68. 
 
 Thucydides, leader of aristo- 
 cratical party, 53. 
 
 Timonassa, of Argos, second 
 wife of Pisistratus, 30. 
 
 Timosthenes, archon, 478 
 B.C., 45. 
 
 Tragedy, choregi appointed 
 for, 103. 
 
 Treasurer, Military, 80, 92. 
 
 , of paupers, 92. 
 
 Treasurers of Athena, in Dra- 
 conian constitution, 6; in 
 Solonian constitution^ 11 ; 
 under the Four Hundred, 
 57 ; nominal property-quali- 
 fication for, 13, 87 ; duties, 
 86,87, "I- 
 
 - — , Hellenic, 58. 
 
 , of sacred triremes, 113. 
 
 Tribe-kings, 14, 76, 108. 
 
 Tribes, four, in early consti* 
 
 tutions, 14. 
 , ten, instituted by Cleis- 
 
 thenes, 37. 
 Trittyes, in primitive consti* 
 
 tution, 14 ; in Cleisthenean 
 
 constitution, 38. 
 
 Wards of state, 80, 82, 105, 
 106. 
 
 Weights and measures, re- 
 formed by Solon, 16 ; offi- 
 cial superintendence of, 93. 
 
 Widows and orphans, under 
 guardianship of Archon, 
 105, 106. 
 
 Xanthippus, son of Ariphron, 
 ostracised, 42 ; leader of the 
 people, 53. 
 
 Xenaenetus, archon, 401 B.C., 
 75. 
 
 Zeugitae, 12, 13 ; made eli- 
 gible as archons, 49. 
 
 
CHISWICK PRESS ! — C. WHITTINGHAM AND CO. 
 TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANK. 
 
V 
 
 ^^ 
 
ih^Z-l-iz. 
 
jr. 
 
/ 
 
 /