Aristotle
384-322 B.C.E. - Wrote in Greek
The Athenian Constitution
Written 350 B.C.E
Translated by Sir Frederic G. Kenyon
The Athenian Constitution
Section 1
Part 1
...[They were tried] by a court empanelled from among the noble families,
and sworn upon the sacrifices. The part of accuser was taken by Myron.
They were found guilty of the sacrilege, and their bodies were cast out
of their graves and their race banished for evermore. In view of this expiation,
Epimenides the Cretan performed a purification of the
city.
Part 2
After this event there was contention for a long time between the
upper classes and the populace. Not only was the constitution at this time
oligarchical in every respect, but the poorer classes, men, women, and
children, were the serfs of the rich. They were known as Pelatae and also
as Hectemori, because they cultivated the lands of the rich at the rent
thus indicated. The whole country was in the hands of a few persons, and
if the tenants failed to pay their rent they were liable to be haled into
slavery, and their children with them. All loans secured upon the debtor's
person, a custom which prevailed until the time of Solon, who was the first
to appear as the champion of the people. But the hardest and bitterest
part of the constitution in the eyes of the masses was their state of serfdom.
Not but what they were also discontented with every other feature of their
lot; for, to speak generally, they had no part nor share in
anything.
Part 3
Now the ancient constitution, as it existed before the time of
Draco, was organized as follows. The magistrates were elected according
to qualifications of birth and wealth. At first they governed for life,
but subsequently for terms of ten years. The first magistrates, both in
date and in importance, were the King, the Polemarch, and the Archon. The
earliest of these offices was that of the King, which existed from ancestral
antiquity. To this was added, secondly, the office of Polemarch, on account
of some of the kings proving feeble in war; for it was on this account
that Ion was invited to accept the post on an occasion of pressing need.
The last of the three offices was that of the Archon, which most authorities
state to have come into existence in the time of Medon. Others assign it
to the time of Acastus, and adduce as proof the fact that the nine Archons
swear to execute their oaths 'as in the days of Acastus,' which seems to
suggest that it was in his time that the descendants of Codrus retired
from the kingship in return for the prerogatives conferred upon the Archon.
Whichever way it may be, the difference in date is small; but that it was
the last of these magistracies to be created is shown by the fact that
the Archon has no part in the ancestral sacrifices, as the King and the
Polemarch have, but exclusively in those of later origin. So it is only
at a comparatively late date that the office of Archon has become of great
importance, through the dignity conferred by these later additions. The
Thesmothetae were many years afterwards, when these offices had already
become annual, with the object that they might publicly record all legal
decisions, and act as guardians of them with a view to determining the
issues between litigants. Accordingly their office, alone of those which
have been mentioned, was never of more than annual duration.
Such, then, is the relative chronological precedence of these offices.
At that time the nine Archons did not all live together. The King occupied
the building now known as the Boculium, near the Prytaneum, as may be seen
from the fact that even to the present day the marriage of the King's wife
to Dionysus takes place there. The Archon lived in the Prytaneum, the Polemarch
in the Epilyceum. The latter building was formerly called the Polemarcheum,
but after Epilycus, during his term of office as Polemarch, had rebuilt
it and fitted it up, it was called the Epilyceum. The Thesmothetae occupied
the Thesmotheteum. In the time of Solon, however, they all came together
into the Thesmotheteum. They had power to decide cases finally on their
own authority, not, as now, merely to hold a preliminary hearing. Such
then was the arrangement of the magistracies. The Council of Areopagus
had as its constitutionally assigned duty the protection of the laws; but
in point of fact it administered the greater and most important part of
the government of the state, and inflicted personal punishments and fines
summarily upon all who misbehaved themselves. This was the natural consequence
of the facts that the Archons were elected under qualifications of birth
and wealth, and that the Areopagus was composed of those who had served
as Archons; for which latter reason the membership of the Areopagus is
the only office which has continued to be a life-magistracy to the present
day.
Part 4
Such was, in outline, the first constitution, but not very long
after the events above recorded, in the archonship of Aristaichmus, Draco
enacted his ordinances. Now his constitution had the following form. The
franchise was given to all who could furnish themselves with a military
equipment. The nine Archons and the Treasurers were elected by this body
from persons possessing an unencumbered property of not less than ten minas,
the less important officials from those who could furnish themselves with
a military equipment, and the generals [Strategi] and commanders of the
cavalry [Hipparchi] from those who could show an unencumbered property
of not less than a hundred minas, and had children born in lawful wedlock
over ten years of age. These officers were required to hold to bail the
Prytanes, the Strategi, and the Hipparchi of the preceding year until their
accounts had been audited, taking four securities of the same class as
that to which the Strategi and the Hipparchi belonged. There was also to
be a Council, consisting of four hundred and one members, elected by lot
from among those who possessed the franchise. Both for this and for the
other magistracies the lot was cast among those who were over thirty years
of age; and no one might hold office twice until every one else had had
his turn, after which they were to cast the lot afresh. If any member of
the Council failed to attend when there was a sitting of the Council or
of the Assembly, he paid a fine, to the amount of three drachmas if he
was a Pentacosiomedimnus, two if he was a Knight, and One if he was a Zeugites.
The Council of Areopagus was guardian of the laws, and kept watch over
the magistrates to see that they executed their offices in accordance with
the laws. Any person who felt himself wronged might lay an information
before the Council of Areopagus, on declaring what law was broken by the
wrong done to him. But, as has been said before, loans were secured upon
the persons of the debtors, and the land was in the hands of a
few.
Part 5
Since such, then, was the organization of the constitution, and
the many were in slavery to the few, the people rose against the upper
class. The strife was keen, and for a long time the two parties were ranged
in hostile camps against one another, till at last, by common consent,
they appointed Solon to be mediator and Archon, and committed the whole
constitution to his hands. The immediate occasion of his appointment was
his poem, which begins with the words:
I behold, and within my heart deep sadness has claimed its
place,
As I mark the oldest home of the ancient Ionian
race
Slain by the sword.
In this poem he fights and disputes on behalf of each party in
turn against the other, and finally he advises them to come to terms and
put an end to the quarrel existing between them. By birth and reputation
Solon was one of the foremost men of the day, but in wealth and position
he was of the middle class, as is generally agreed, and is, indeed, established
by his own evidence in these poems, where he exhorts the wealthy not to
be grasping.
But ye who have store of good, who are sated and
overflow,
Restrain your swelling soul, and still it and keep it
low:
Let the heart that is great within you be trained a lowlier
way;
Ye shall not have all at your will, and we will not for ever
obey.
Indeed, he constantly fastens the blame of the conflict on the
rich; and accordingly at the beginning of the poem he says that he fears
'the love of wealth and an overweening mind', evidently meaning that it
was through these that the quarrel arose.
Part 6
As soon as he was at the head of affairs, Solon liberated the people
once and for all, by prohibiting all loans on the security of the debtor's
person: and in addition he made laws by which he cancelled all debts, public
and private. This measure is commonly called the Seisachtheia [= removal
of burdens], since thereby the people had their loads removed from them.
In connexion with it some persons try to traduce the character of Solon.
It so happened that, when he was about to enact the Seisachtheia, he communicated
his intention to some members of the upper class, whereupon, as the partisans
of the popular party say, his friends stole a march on him; while those
who wish to attack his character maintain that he too had a share in the
fraud himself. For these persons borrowed money and bought up a large amount
of land, and so when, a short time afterwards, all debts were cancelled,
they became wealthy; and this, they say, was the origin of the families
which were afterwards looked on as having been wealthy from primeval times.
However, the story of the popular party is by far the most probable. A
man who was so moderate and public-spirited in all his other actions, that
when it was within his power to put his fellow-citizens beneath his feet
and establish himself as tyrant, he preferred instead to incur the hostility
of both parties by placing his honour and the general welfare above his
personal aggrandisement, is not likely to have consented to defile his
hands by such a petty and palpable fraud. That he had this absolute power
is, in the first place, indicated by the desperate condition the country;
moreover, he mentions it himself repeatedly in his poems, and it is universally
admitted. We are therefore bound to consider this accusation to be
false.
Part 7
Next Solon drew up a constitution and enacted new laws; and the
ordinances of Draco ceased to be used, with the exception of those relating
to murder. The laws were inscribed on the wooden stands, and set up in
the King's Porch, and all swore to obey them; and the nine Archons made
oath upon the stone, declaring that they would dedicate a golden statue
if they should transgress any of them. This is the origin of the oath to
that effect which they take to the present day. Solon ratified his laws
for a hundred years; and the following was the fashion in which he organized
the constitution. He divided the population according to property into
four classes, just as it had been divided before, namely, Pentacosiomedimni,
Knights, Zeugitae, and Thetes. The various magistracies, namely, the nine
Archons, the Treasurers, the Commissioners for Public Contracts (Poletae),
the Eleven, and Clerks (Colacretae), he assigned to the Pentacosiomedimni,
the Knights, and the Zeugitae, giving offices to each class in proportion
to the value of their rateable property. To who ranked among the Thetes
he gave nothing but a place in the Assembly and in the juries. A man had
to rank as a Pentacosiomedimnus if he made, from his own land, five hundred
measures, whether liquid or solid. Those ranked as Knights who made three
hundred measures, or, as some say, those who were able to maintain a horse.
In support of the latter definition they adduce the name of the class,
which may be supposed to be derived from this fact, and also some votive
offerings of early times; for in the Acropolis there is a votive offering,
a statue of Diphilus, bearing this inscription:
The son of Diphilus, Athenion hight,
Raised from the Thetes and become a knight,
Did to the gods this sculptured charger bring,
For his promotion a thank-offering. And a horse stands in evidence
beside the man, implying that this was what was meant by belonging to the
rank of Knight. At the same time it seems reasonable to suppose that this
class, like the Pentacosiomedimni, was defined by the possession of an
income of a certain number of measures. Those ranked as Zeugitae who made
two hundred measures, liquid or solid; and the rest ranked as Thetes, and
were not eligible for any office. Hence it is that even at the present
day, when a candidate for any office is asked to what class he belongs,
no one would think of saying that he belonged to the
Thetes.
Part 8
The elections to the various offices Solon enacted should be by
lot, out of candidates selected by each of the tribes. Each tribe selected
ten candidates for the nine archonships, and among these the lot was cast.
Hence it is still the custom for each tribe to choose ten candidates by
lot, and then the lot is again cast among these. A proof that Solon regulated
the elections to office according to the property classes may be found
in the law still in force with regard to the Treasurers, which enacts that
they shall be chosen from the Pentacosiomedimni. Such was Solon's legislation
with respect to the nine Archons; whereas in early times the Council of
Areopagus summoned suitable persons according to its own judgement and
appointed them for the year to the several offices. There were four tribes,
as before, and four tribe-kings. Each tribe was divided into three Trittyes
[=Thirds], with twelve Naucraries in each; and the Naucraries had officers
of their own, called Naucrari, whose duty it was to superintend the current
receipts and expenditure. Hence, among the laws of Solon now obsolete,
it is repeatedly written that the Naucrari are to receive and to spend
out of the Naucraric fund. Solon also appointed a Council of four hundred,
a hundred from each tribe; but he assigned to the Council of the Areopagus
the duty of superintending the laws, acting as before as the guardian of
the constitution in general. It kept watch over the affairs of the state
in most of the more important matters, and corrected offenders, with full
powers to inflict either fines or personal punishment. The money received
in fines it brought up into the Acropolis, without assigning the reason
for the mulct. It also tried those who conspired for the overthrow of the
state, Solon having enacted a process of impeachment to deal with such
offenders. Further, since he saw the state often engaged in internal disputes,
while many of the citizens from sheer indifference accepted whatever might
turn up, he made a law with express reference to such persons, enacting
that any one who, in a time civil factions, did not take up arms with either
party, should lose his rights as a citizen and cease to have any part in
the state.
Part 9
Such, then, was his legislation concerning the magistracies. There
are three points in the constitution of Solon which appear to be its most
democratic features: first and most important, the prohibition of loans
on the security of the debtor's person; secondly, the right of every person
who so willed to claim redress on behalf of any one to whom wrong was being
done; thirdly, the institution of the appeal to the jurycourts; and it
is to this last, they say, that the masses have owed their strength most
of all, since, when the democracy is master of the voting-power, it is
master of the constitution. Moreover, since the laws were not drawn up
in simple and explicit terms (but like the one concerning inheritances
and wards of state), disputes inevitably occurred, and the courts had to
decide in every matter, whether public or private. Some persons in fact
believe that Solon deliberately made the laws indefinite, in order that
the final decision might be in the hands of the people. This, however,
is not probable, and the reason no doubt was that it is impossible to attain
ideal perfection when framing a law in general terms; for we must judge
of his intentions, not from the actual results in the present day, but
from the general tenor of the rest of his legislation.
Part 10
These seem to be the democratic features of his laws; but in addition,
before the period of his legislation, he carried through his abolition
of debts, and after it his increase in the standards of weights and measures,
and of the currency. During his administration the measures were made larger
than those of Pheidon, and the mina, which previously had a standard of
seventy drachmas, was raised to the full hundred. The standard coin in
earlier times was the two-drachma piece. He also made weights corresponding
with the coinage, sixty-three minas going to the talent; and the odd three
minas were distributed among the staters and the other
values.
Part 11
When he had completed his organization of the constitution in the
manner that has been described, he found himself beset by people coming
to him and harassing him concerning his laws, criticizing here and questioning
there, till, as he wished neither to alter what he had decided on nor yet
to be an object of ill will to every one by remaining in Athens, he set
off on a journey to Egypt, with the combined objects of trade and travel,
giving out that he should not return for ten years. He considered that
there was no call for him to expound the laws personally, but that every
one should obey them just as they were written. Moreover, his position
at this time was unpleasant. Many members of the upper class had been estranged
from him on account of his abolition of debts, and both parties were alienated
through their disappointment at the condition of things which he had created.
The mass of the people had expected him to make a complete redistribution
of all property, and the upper class hoped he would restore everything
to its former position, or, at any rate, make but a small change. Solon,
however, had resisted both classes. He might have made himself a despot
by attaching himself to whichever party he chose, but he preferred, though
at the cost of incurring the enmity of both, to be the saviour of his country
and the ideal lawgiver.
Part 12
The truth of this view of Solon's policy is established alike by
common consent, and by the mention he has himself made of the matter in
his poems. Thus:
I gave to the mass of the people such rank as befitted their
need,
I took not away their honour, and I granted naught to their
greed;
While those who were rich in power, who in wealth were glorious
and
great,
I bethought me that naught should befall them unworthy
their
splendour and state;
So I stood with my shield outstretched, and both were sale in
its
sight,
And I would not that either should triumph, when the triumph
was
not with right.
Again he declares how the mass of the people ought to be treated:
But thus will the people best the voice of their leaders obey, When neither
too slack is the rein, nor violence holdeth the sway; For indulgence breedeth
a child, the presumption that spurns control,
When riches too great are poured upon men of unbalanced
soul.
And again elsewhere he speaks about the persons who wished to redistribute
the land: So they came in search of plunder, and their cravings knew no
hound, Every one among them deeming endless wealth would here be found.
And that I with glozing smoothness hid a cruel mind within. Fondly then
and vainly dreamt they; now they raise an angry din, And they glare askance
in anger, and the light within their eyes Burns with hostile flames upon
me. Yet therein no justice lies. All I promised, fully wrought I with the
gods at hand to cheer, Naught beyond in folly ventured. Never to my soul
was dear With a tyrant's force to govern, nor to see the good and base
Side by side in equal portion share the rich home of our
race.
Once more he speaks of the abolition of debts and of those who
before were in servitude, but were released owing to the
Seisachtheia:
Of all the aims for which I summoned forth
The people, was there one I compassed not?
Thou, when slow time brings justice in its train,
O mighty mother of the Olympian gods,
Dark Earth, thou best canst witness, from whose
breast
I swept the pillars broadcast planted there,
And made thee free, who hadst been slave of yore.
And many a man whom fraud or law had sold
For from his god-built land, an outcast slave,
I brought again to Athens; yea, and some,
Exiles from home through debt's oppressive load,
Speaking no more the dear Athenian tongue,
But wandering far and wide, I brought again;
And those that here in vilest slavery
Crouched 'neath a master's frown, I set them free.
Thus might and right were yoked in harmony,
Since by the force of law I won my ends
And kept my promise. Equal laws I gave
To evil and to good, with even hand
Drawing straight justice for the lot of each.
But had another held the goad as
One in whose heart was guile and greediness,
He had not kept the people back from strife.
For had I granted, now what pleased the one,
Then what their foes devised in counterpoise,
Of many a man this state had been bereft.
Therefore I showed my might on every side,
Turning at bay like wolf among the hounds.
And again he reviles both parties for their grumblings in the times
that followed:
Nay, if one must lay blame where blame is due,
Wer't not for me, the people ne'er had set
Their eyes upon these blessings e'en in dreams:-
While greater men, the men of wealthier life,
Should praise me and should court me as their friend. For had any other
man, he says, received this exalted post,
He had not kept the people hack, nor ceased
Til he had robbed the richness of the milk.
But I stood forth a landmark in the midst,
And barred the foes from battle.
Part 13
Such then, were Solon's reasons for his departure from the country.
After his retirement the city was still torn by divisions. For four years,
indeed, they lived in peace; but in the fifth year after Solon's government
they were unable to elect an Archon on account of their dissensions, and
again four years later they elected no Archon for the same reason. Subsequently,
after a similar period had elapsed, Damasias was elected Archon; and he
governed for two years and two months, until he was forcibly expelled from
his office. After this, it was agreed, as a compromise, to elect ten Archons,
five from the Eupatridae, three from the Agroeci, and two from the Demiurgi,
and they ruled for the year following Damasias. It is clear from this that
the Archon was at the time the magistrate who possessed the greatest power,
since it is always in connexion with this office that conflicts are seen
to arise. But altogether they were in a continual state of internal disorder.
Some found the cause and justification of their discontent in the abolition
of debts, because thereby they had been reduced to poverty; others were
dissatisfied with the political constitution, because it had undergone
a revolutionary change; while with others the motive was found in personal
rivalries among themselves. The parties at this time were three in number.
First there was the party of the Shore, led by Megacles the son of Alcmeon,
which was considered to aim at a moderate form of government; then there
were the men of the Plain, who desired an oligarchy and were led by Lycurgus;
and thirdly there were the men of the Highlands, at the head of whom was
Pisistratus, who was looked on as an extreme democrat. This latter party
was reinforced by those who had been deprived of the debts due to them,
from motives of poverty, and by those who were not of pure descent, from
motives of personal apprehension. A proof of this is seen in the fact that
after the tyranny was overthrown a revision was made of the citizen-roll,
on the ground that many persons were partaking in the franchise without
having a right to it. The names given to the respective parties were derived
from the districts in which they held their lands.
Part 14
Pisistratus had the reputation of being an extreme democrat, and
he also had distinguished himself greatly in the war with Megara. Taking
advantage of this, he wounded himself, and by representing that his injuries
had been inflicted on him by his political rivals, he persuaded the people,
through a motion proposed by Aristion, to grant him a bodyguard. After
he had got these 'club-bearers', as they were called, he made an attack
with them on the people and seized the Acropolis. This happened in the
archonship of Comeas, thirty-one years after the legislation of Solon.
It is related that, when Pisistratus asked for his bodyguard, Solon opposed
the request, and declared that in so doing he proved himself wiser than
half the people and braver than the rest,-wiser than those who did not
see that Pisistratus designed to make himself tyrant, and braver than those
who saw it and kept silence. But when all his words availed nothing he
carried forth his armour and set it up in front of his house, saying that
he had helped his country so far as lay in his power (he was already a
very old man), and that he called on all others to do the same. Solon's
exhortations, however, proved fruitless, and Pisistratus assumed the sovereignty.
His administration was more like a constitutional government than the rule
of a tyrant; but before his power was firmly established, the adherents
of Megacles and Lycurgus made a coalition and drove him out. This took
place in the archonship of Hegesias, five years after the first establishment
of his rule. Eleven years later Megacles, being in difficulties in a party
struggle, again opened-negotiations with Pisistratus, proposing that the
latter should marry his daughter; and on these terms he brought him back
to Athens, by a very primitive and simple-minded device. He first spread
abroad a rumour that Athena was bringing back Pisistratus, and then, having
found a woman of great stature and beauty, named Phye (according to Herodotus,
of the deme of Paeania, but as others say a Thracian flower-seller of the
deme of Collytus), he dressed her in a garb resembling that of the goddess
and brought her into the city with Pisistratus. The latter drove in on
a chariot with the woman beside him, and the inhabitants of the city, struck
with awe, received him with adoration.
Part 15
In this manner did his first return take place. He did not, however,
hold his power long, for about six years after his return he was again
expelled. He refused to treat the daughter of Megacles as his wife, and
being afraid, in consequence, of a combination of the two opposing parties,
he retired from the country. First he led a colony to a place called Rhaicelus,
in the region of the Thermaic gulf; and thence he passed to the country
in the neighbourhood of Mt. Pangaeus. Here he acquired wealth and hired
mercenaries; and not till ten years had elapsed did he return to Eretria
and make an attempt to recover the government by force. In this he had
the assistance of many allies, notably the Thebans and Lygdamis of Naxos,
and also the Knights who held the supreme power in the constitution of
Eretria. After his victory in the battle at Pallene he captured Athens,
and when he had disarmed the people he at last had his tyranny securely
established, and was able to take Naxos and set up Lygdamis as ruler there.
He effected the disarmament of the people in the following manner. He ordered
a parade in full armour in the Theseum, and began to make a speech to the
people. He spoke for a short time, until the people called out that they
could not hear him, whereupon he bade them come up to the entrance of the
Acropolis, in order that his voice might be better heard. Then, while he
continued to speak to them at great length, men whom he had appointed for
the purpose collected the arms and locked them up in the chambers of the
Theseum hard by, and came and made a signal to him that it was done. Pisistratus
accordingly, when he had finished the rest of what he had to say, told
the people also what had happened to their arms; adding that they were
not to be surprised or alarmed, but go home and attend to their private
affairs, while he would himself for the future manage all the business
of the state.
Part 16
Such was the origin and such the vicissitudes of the tyranny of
Pisistratus. His administration was temperate, as has been said before,
and more like constitutional government than a tyranny. Not only was he
in every respect humane and mild and ready to forgive those who offended,
but, in addition, he advanced money to the poorer people to help them in
their labours, so that they might make their living by agriculture. In
this he had two objects, first that they might not spend their time in
the city but might be scattered over all the face of the country, and secondly
that, being moderately well off and occupied with their own business, they
might have neither the wish nor the time to attend to public affairs. At
the same time his revenues were increased by the thorough cultivation of
the country, since he imposed a tax of one tenth on all the produce. For
the same reasons he instituted the local justices,' and often made expeditions
in person into the country to inspect it and to settle disputes between
individuals, that they might not come into the city and neglect their farms.
It was in one of these progresses that, as the story goes, Pisistratus
had his adventure with the man of Hymettus, who was cultivating the spot
afterwards known as 'Tax-free Farm'. He saw a man digging and working at
a very stony piece of ground, and being surprised he sent his attendant
to ask what he got out of this plot of land. 'Aches and pains', said the
man; 'and that's what Pisistratus ought to have his tenth of'. The man
spoke without knowing who his questioner was; but Pisistratus was so leased
with his frank speech and his industry that he granted him exemption from
all taxes. And so in matters in general he burdened the people as little
as possible with his government, but always cultivated peace and kept them
in all quietness. Hence the tyranny of Pisistratus was often spoken of
proverbially as 'the age of gold'; for when his sons succeeded him the
government became much harsher. But most important of all in this respect
was his popular and kindly disposition. In all things he was accustomed
to observe the laws, without giving himself any exceptional privileges.
Once he was summoned on a charge of homicide before the Areopagus, and
he appeared in person to make his defence; but the prosecutor was afraid
to present himself and abandoned the case. For these reasons he held power
long, and whenever he was expelled he regained his position easily. The
majority alike of the upper class and of the people were in his favour;
the former he won by his social intercourse with them, the latter by the
assistance which he gave to their private purses, and his nature fitted
him to win the hearts of both. Moreover, the laws in reference to tyrants
at that time in force at Athens were very mild, especially the one which
applies more particularly to the establishment of a tyranny. The law ran
as follows: 'These are the ancestral statutes of the Athenians; if any
persons shall make an attempt to establish a tyranny, or if any person
shall join in setting up a tyranny, he shall lose his civic rights, both
himself and his whole house.'
Part 17
Thus did Pisistratus grow old in the possession of power, and he
died a natural death in the archonship of Philoneos, three and thirty years
from the time at which he first established himself as tyrant, during nineteen
of which he was in possession of power; the rest he spent in exile. It
is evident from this that the story is mere gossip which states that Pisistratus
was the youthful favourite of Solon and commanded in the war against Megara
for the recovery of Salamis. It will not harmonize with their respective
ages, as any one may see who will reckon up the years of the life of each
of them, and the dates at which they died. After the death of Pisistratus
his sons took up the government, and conducted it on the same system. He
had two sons by his first and legitimate wife, Hippias and Hipparchus,
and two by his Argive consort, Iophon and Hegesistratus, who was surnamed
Thessalus. For Pisistratus took a wife from Argos, Timonassa, the daughter
of a man of Argos, named Gorgilus; she had previously been the wife of
Archinus of Ambracia, one of the descendants of Cypselus. This was the
origin of his friendship with the Argives, on account of which a thousand
of them were brought over by Hegesistratus and fought on his side in the
battle at Pallene. Some authorities say that this marriage took place after
his first expulsion from Athens, others while he was in possession of the
government.
Part 18
Hippias and Hipparchus assumed the control of affairs on grounds
alike of standing and of age; but Hippias, as being also naturally of a
statesmanlike and shrewd disposition, was really the head of the government.
Hipparchus was youthful in disposition, amorous, and fond of literature
(it was he who invited to Athens Anacreon, Simonides, and the other poets),
while Thessalus was much junior in age, and was violent and headstrong
in his behaviour. It was from his character that all the evils arose which
befell the house. He became enamoured of Harmodius, and, since he failed
to win his affection, he lost all restraint upon his passion, and in addition
to other exhibitions of rage he finally prevented the sister of Harmodius
from taking the part of a basket-bearer in the Panathenaic procession,
alleging as his reason that Harmodius was a person of loose life. Thereupon,
in a frenzy of wrath, Harmodius and Aristogeiton did their celebrated deed,
in conjunction with a number of confederates. But while they were lying
in wait for Hippias in the Acropolis at the time of the Panathenaea (Hippias,
at this moment, was awaiting the arrival of the procession, while Hipparchus
was organizing its dispatch) they saw one of the persons privy to the plot
talking familiarly with him. Thinking that he was betraying them, and desiring
to do something before they were arrested, they rushed down and made their
attempt without waiting for the rest of their confederates. They succeeded
in killing Hipparchus near the Leocoreum while he was engaged in arranging
the procession, but ruined the design as a whole; of the two leaders, Harmodius
was killed on the spot by the guards, while Aristogeiton was arrested,
and perished later after suffering long tortures. While under the torture
he accused many persons who belonged by birth to the most distinguished
families and were also personal friends of the tyrants. At first the government
could find no clue to the conspiracy; for the current story, that Hippias
made all who were taking part in the procession leave their arms, and then
detected those who were carrying secret daggers, cannot be true, since
at that time they did not bear arms in the processions, this being a custom
instituted at a later period by the democracy. According to the story of
the popular party, Aristogeiton accused the friends of the tyrants with
the deliberate intention that the latter might commit an impious act, and
at the same time weaken themselves, by putting to death innocent men who
were their own friends; others say that he told no falsehood, but was betraying
the actual accomplices. At last, when for all his efforts he could not
obtain release by death, he promised to give further information against
a number of other persons; and, having induced Hippias to give him his
hand to confirm his word, as soon as he had hold of it he reviled him for
giving his hand to the murderer of his brother, till Hippias, in a frenzy
of rage, lost control of himself and snatched out his dagger and dispatched
him.
Part 19
After this event the tyranny became much harsher. In consequence
of his vengeance for his brother, and of the execution and banishment of
a large number of persons, Hippias became a distrusted and an embittered
man. About three years after the death of Hipparchus, finding his position
in the city insecure, he set about fortifying Munichia, with the intention
of establishing himself there. While he was still engaged on this work,
however, he was expelled by Cleomenes, king of Lacedaemon, in consequence
of the Spartans being continually incited by oracles to overthrow the tyranny.
These oracles were obtained in the following way. The Athenian exiles,
headed by the Alcmeonidae, could not by their own power effect their return,
but failed continually in their attempts. Among their other failures, they
fortified a post in Attica, Lipsydrium, above Mt. Parnes, and were there
joined by some partisans from the city; but they were besieged by the tyrants
and reduced to surrender. After this disaster the following became a popular
drinking song:
Ah! Lipsydrium, faithless friend!
Lo, what heroes to death didst send,
Nobly born and great in deed!
Well did they prove themselves at need
Of noble sires a noble seed.
Having failed, then, in very other method, they took the contract
for rebuilding the temple at Delphi, thereby obtaining ample funds, which
they employed to secure the help of the Lacedaemonians. All this time the
Pythia kept continually enjoining on the Lacedaemonians who came to consult
the oracle, that they must free Athens; till finally she succeeded in impelling
the Spartans to that step, although the house of Pisistratus was connected
with them by ties of hospitality. The resolution of the Lacedaemonians
was, however, at least equally due to the friendship which had been formed
between the house of Pisistratus and Argos. Accordingly they first sent
Anchimolus by sea at the head of an army; but he was defeated and killed,
through the arrival of Cineas of Thessaly to support the sons of Pisistratus
with a force of a thousand horsemen. Then, being roused to anger by this
disaster, they sent their king, Cleomenes, by land at the head of a larger
force; and he, after defeating the Thessalian cavalry when they attempted
to intercept his march into Attica, shut up Hippias within what was known
as the Pelargic wall and blockaded him there with the assistance of the
Athenians. While he was sitting down before the place, it so happened that
the sons of the Pisistratidae were captured in an attempt to slip out;
upon which the tyrants capitulated on condition of the safety of their
children, and surrendered the Acropolis to the Athenians, five days being
first allowed them to remove their effects. This took place in the archonship
of Harpactides, after they had held the tyranny for about seventeen years
since their father's death, or in all, including the period of their father's
rule, for nine-and-forty years.
Part 20
After the overthrow of the tyranny, the rival leaders in the state
were Isagoras son of Tisander, a partisan of the tyrants, and Cleisthenes,
who belonged to the family of the Alcmeonidae. Cleisthenes, being beaten
in the political clubs, called in the people by giving the franchise to
the masses. Thereupon Isagoras, finding himself left inferior in power,
invited Cleomenes, who was united to him by ties of hospitality, to return
to Athens, and persuaded him to 'drive out the pollution', a plea derived
from the fact that the Alcmeonidae were suppposed to be under the curse
of pollution. On this Cleisthenes retired from the country, and Cleomenes,
entering Attica with a small force, expelled, as polluted, seven hundred
Athenian families. Having effected this, he next attempted to dissolve
the Council, and to set up Isagoras and three hundred of his partisans
as the supreme power in the state. The Council, however, resisted, the
populace flocked together, and Cleomenes and Isagoras, with their adherents,
took refuge in the Acropolis. Here the people sat down and besieged them
for two days; and on the third they agreed to let Cleomenes and all his
followers de art, while they summoned Cleisthenes and the other exiles
back to Athens. When the people had thus obtained the command of affairs,
Cleisthenes was their chief and popular leader. And this was natural; for
the Alcmeonidae were perhaps the chief cause of the expulsion of the tyrants,
and for the greater part of their rule were at perpetual war with them.
But even earlier than the attempts of the Alcmeonidae, one Cedon made an
attack on the tyrants; when there came another popular drinking song, addressed
to him:
Pour a health yet again, boy, to Cedon; forget not this duty to
do,
If a health is an honour befitting the name of a good man and
true.
Part 21
The people, therefore, had good reason to place confidence in Cleisthenes.
Accordingly, now that he was the popular leader, three years after the
expulsion of the tyrants, in the archonship of Isagoras, his first step
was to distribute the whole population into ten tribes in place of the
existing four, with the object of intermixing the members of the different
tribes, and so securing that more persons might have a share in the franchise.
From this arose the saying 'Do not look at the tribes', addressed to those
who wished to scrutinize the lists of the old families. Next he made the
Council to consist of five hundred members instead of four hundred, each
tribe now contributing fifty, whereas formerly each had sent a hundred.
The reason why he did not organize the people into twelve tribes was that
he might not have to use the existing division into trittyes; for the four
tribes had twelve trittyes, so that he would not have achieved his object
of redistributing the population in fresh combinations. Further, he divided
the country into thirty groups of demes, ten from the districts about the
city, ten from the coast, and ten from the interior. These he called trittyes;
and he assigned three of them by lot to each tribe, in such a way that
each should have one portion in each of these three localities. All who
lived in any given deme he declared fellow-demesmen, to the end that the
new citizens might not be exposed by the habitual use of family names,
but that men might be officially described by the names of their demes;
and accordingly it is by the names of their demes that the Athenians speak
of one another. He also instituted Demarchs, who had the same duties as
the previously existing Naucrari,-the demes being made to take the place
of the naucraries. He gave names to the demes, some from the localities
to which they belonged, some from the persons who founded them, since some
of the areas no longer corresponded to localities possessing names. On
the other hand he allowed every one to retain his family and clan and religious
rites according to ancestral custom. The names given to the tribes were
the ten which the Pythia appointed out of the hundred selected national
heroes.
Part 22
By these reforms the constitution became much more democratic than
that of Solon. The laws of Solon had been obliterated by disuse during
the period of the tyranny, while Cleisthenes substituted new ones with
the object of securing the goodwill of the masses. Among these was the
law concerning ostracism. Four year after the establishment of this system,
in the archonship of Hermocreon, they first imposed upon the Council of
Five Hundred the oath which they take to the present day. Next they began
to elect the generals by tribes, one from each tribe, while the Polemarch
was the commander of the whole army. Then, eleven years later, in the archonship
of Phaenippus they won the battle of Marathon; and two years after this
victory, when the people had now gained self-confidence, they for the first
time made use of the law of ostracism. This had originally been passed
as a precaution against men in high office, because Pisistratus took advantage
of his position as a popular leader and general to make himself tyrant;
and the first person ostracized was one of his relatives, Hipparchus son
of Charmus, of the deme of Collytus, the very person on whose account especially
Cleisthenes had enacted the law, as he wished to get rid of him. Hitherto,
however, he had escaped; for the Athenians, with the usual leniency of
the democracy, allowed all the partisans of the tyrants, who had not joined
in their evil deeds in the time of the troubles to remain in the city;
and the chief and leader of these was Hipparchus. Then in the very next
year, in the archonship of Telesinus, they for the first time since the
tyranny elected, tribe by tribe, the nine Archons by lot out of the five
hundred candidates selected by the demes, all the earlier ones having been
elected by vote; and in the same year Megacles son of Hippocrates, of the
deme of Alopece, was ostracized. Thus for three years they continued to
ostracize the friends of the tyrants, on whose account the law had been
passed; but in the following year they began to remove others as well,
including any one who seemed to be more powerful than was expedient. The
first person unconnected with the tyrants who was ostracized was Xanthippus
son of Ariphron. Two years later, in the archonship of Nicodemus, the mines
of Maroneia were discovered, and the state made a profit of a hundred talents
from the working of them. Some persons advised the people to make a distribution
of the money among themselves, but this was prevented by Themistocles.
He refused to say on what he proposed to spend the money, but he bade them
lend it to the hundred richest men in Athens, one talent to each, and then,
if the manner in which it was employed pleased the people, the expenditure
should be charged to the state, but otherwise the state should receive
the sum back from those to whom it was lent. On these terms he received
the money and with it he had a hundred triremes built, each of the hundred
individuals building one; and it was with these ships that they fought
the battle of Salamis against the barbarians. About this time Aristides
the son of Lysimachus was ostracized. Three years later, however, in the
archonship of Hypsichides, all the ostracized persons were recalled, on
account of the advance of the army of Xerxes; and it was laid down for
the future that persons under sentence of ostracism must live between Geraestus
and Scyllaeum, on pain of losing their civic rights
irrevocably.
The Athenian Constitution
By Aristotle
Section 2
Part 23
So far, then, had the city progressed by this time, growing gradually with
the growth of the democracy; but after the Persian wars the Council of
Areopagus once more developed strength and assumed the control of the state.
It did not acquire this supremacy by virtue of any formal decree, but because
it had been the cause of the battle of Salamis being fought. When the generals
were utterly at a loss how to meet the crisis and made proclamation that
every one should see to his own safety, the Areopagus provided a donation
of money, distributing eight drachmas to each member of the ships' crews,
and so prevailed on them to go on board. On these grounds people bowed
to its prestige; and during this period Athens was well administered. At
this time they devoted themselves to the prosecution of the war and were
in high repute among the Greeks, so that the command by sea was conferred
upon them, in spite of the opposition of the Lacedaemonians. The leaders
of the people during this period were Aristides, of Lysimachus, and Themistocles,
son of Lysimachus, and Themistocles, son of Neocles, of whom the latter
appeared to devote himself to the conduct of war, while the former had
the reputation of being a clever statesman and the most upright man of
his time. Accordingly the one was usually employed as general, the other
as political adviser. The rebuilding of the fortifications they conducted
in combination, although they were political opponents; but it was Aristides
who, seizing the opportunity afforded by the discredit brought upon the
Lacedaemonians by Pausanias, guided the public policy in the matter of
the defection of the Ionian states from the alliance with Sparta. It follows
that it was he who made the first assessment of tribute from the various
allied states, two years after the battle of Salamis, in the archonship
of Timosthenes; and it was he who took the oath of offensive and defensive
alliance with the Ionians, on which occasion they cast the masses of iron
into the sea.
Part 24
After this, seeing the state growing in confidence and much wealth
accumulated, he advised the people to lay hold of the leadership of the
league, and to quit the country districts and settle in the city. He pointed
out to them that all would be able to gain a living there, some by service
in the army, others in the garrisons, others by taking a part in public
affairs; and in this way they would secure the leadership. This advice
was taken; and when the people had assumed the supreme control they proceeded
to treat their allies in a more imperious fashion, with the exception of
the Chians, Lesbians, and Samians. These they maintained to protect their
empire, leaving their constitutions untouched, and allowing them to retain
whatever dominion they then possessed. They also secured an ample maintenance
for the mass of the population in the way which Aristides had pointed out
to them. Out of the proceeds of the tributes and the taxes and the contributions
of the allies more than twenty thousand persons were maintained. There
were 6,000 jurymen, 1,600 bowmen, 1,200 Knights, 500 members of the Council,
500 guards of the dockyards, besides fifty guards in the Acropolis. There
were some 700 magistrates at home, and some 700 abroad. Further, when they
subsequently went to war, there were in addition 2,500 heavy-armed troops,
twenty guard-ships, and other ships which collected the tributes, with
crews amounting to 2,000 men, selected by lot; and besides these there
were the persons maintained at the Prytaneum, and orphans, and gaolers,
since all these were supported by the state.
Part 25
Such was the way in which the people earned their livelihood. The
supremacy of the Areopagus lasted for about seventeen years after the Persian
wars, although gradually declining. But as the strength of the masses increased,
Ephialtes, son of Sophonides, a man with a reputation for incorruptibility
and public virtue, who had become the leader of the people, made an attack
upon that Council. First of all he ruined many of its members by bringing
actions against them with reference to their administration. Then, in the
archonship of Conon, he stripped the Council of all the acquired prerogatives
from which it derived its guardianship of the constitution, and assigned
some of them to the Council of Five Hundred, and others to the Assembly
and the law-courts. In this revolution he was assisted by Themistocles,
who was himself a member of the Areopagus, but was expecting to be tried
before it on a charge of treasonable dealings with Persia. This made him
anxious that it should be overthrown, and accordingly he warned Ephialtes
that the Council intended to arrest him, while at the same time he informed
the Areopagites that he would reveal to them certain persons who were conspiring
to subvert the constitution. He then conducted the representatives delegated
by the Council to the residence of Ephialtes, promising to show them the
conspirators who assembled there, and proceeded to converse with them in
an earnest manner. Ephialtes, seeing this, was seized with alarm and took
refuge in suppliant guise at the altar. Every one was astounded at the
occurrence, and presently, when the Council of Five Hundred met, Ephialtes
and Themistocles together proceeded to denounce the Areopagus to them.
This they repeated in similar fashion in the Assembly, until they succeeded
in depriving it of its power. Not long afterwards, however, Ephialtes was
assassinated by Aristodicus of Tanagra. In this way was the Council of
Areopagus deprived of its guardianship of the state.
Part 26
After this revolution the administration of the state became more
and more lax, in consequence of the eager rivalry of candidates for popular
favour. During this period the moderate party, as it happened, had no real
chief, their leader being Cimon son of Miltiades, who was a comparatively
young man, and had been late in entering public life; and at the same time
the general populace suffered great losses by war. The soldiers for active
service were selected at that time from the roll of citizens, and as the
generals were men of no military experience, who owed their position solely
to their family standing, it continually happened that some two or three
thousand of the troops perished on an expedition; and in this way the best
men alike of the lower and the upper classes were exhausted. Consequently
in most matters of administration less heed was paid to the laws than had
formerly been the case. No alteration, however, was made in the method
of election of the nine Archons, except that five years after the death
of Ephialtes it was decided that the candidates to be submitted to the
lot for that office might be selected from the Zeugitae as well as from
the higher classes. The first Archon from that class was Mnesitheides.
Up to this time all the Archons had been taken from the Pentacosiomedimni
and Knights, while the Zeugitae were confined to the ordinary magistracies,
save where an evasion of the law was overlooked. Four years later, in the
archonship of Lysicrates, thirty 'local justices', as they as they were
called, were re-established; and two years afterwards, in the archonship
of Antidotus, consequence of the great increase in the number of citizens,
it was resolved, on the motion of Pericles, that no one should admitted
to the franchise who was not of citizen birth by both
parents.
Part 27
After this Pericles came forward as popular leader, having first
distinguished himself while still a young man by prosecuting Cimon on the
audit of his official accounts as general. Under his auspices the constitution
became still more democratic. He took away some of the privileges of the
Areopagus, and, above all, he turned the policy of the state in the direction
of sea power, which caused the masses to acquire confidence in themselves
and consequently to take the conduct of affairs more and more into their
own hands. Moreover, forty-eight years after the battle of Salamis, in
the archonship of Pythodorus, the Peloponnesian war broke out, during which
the populace was shut up in the city and became accustomed to gain its
livelihood by military service, and so, partly voluntarily and partly involuntarily,
determined to assume the administration of the state itself. Pericles was
also the first to institute pay for service in the law-courts, as a bid
for popular favour to counterbalance the wealth of Cimon. The latter, having
private possessions on a regal scale, not only performed the regular public
services magnificently, but also maintained a large number of his fellow-demesmen.
Any member of the deme of Laciadae could go every day to Cimon's house
and there receive a reasonable provision; while his estate was guarded
by no fences, so that any one who liked might help himself to the fruit
from it. Pericles' private property was quite unequal to this magnificence
and accordingly he took the advice of Damonides of Oia (who was commonly
supposed to be the person who prompted Pericles in most of his measures,
and was therefore subsequently ostracized), which was that, as he was beaten
in the matter of private possessions, he should make gifts to the people
from their own property; and accordingly he instituted pay for the members
of the juries. Some critics accuse him of thereby causing a deterioration
in the character of the juries, since it was always the common people who
put themselves forward for selection as jurors, rather than the men of
better position. Moreover, bribery came into existence after this, the
first person to introduce it being Anytus, after his command at Pylos.
He was prosecuted by certain individuals on account of his loss of Pylos,
but escaped by bribing the jury.
Part 28
So long, however, as Pericles was leader of the people, things
went tolerably well with the state; but when he was dead there was a great
change for the worse. Then for the first time did the people choose a leader
who was of no reputation among men of good standing, whereas up to this
time such men had always been found as leaders of the democracy. The first
leader of the people, in the very beginning of things, was Solon, and the
second was Pisistratus, both of them men of birth and position. After the
overthrow of the tyrants there was Cleisthenes, a member of the house of
the Alcmeonidae; and he had no rival opposed to him after the expulsion
of the party of Isagoras. After this Xanthippus was the leader of the people,
and Miltiades of the upper class. Then came Themistocles and Aristides,
and after them Ephialtes as leader of the people, and Cimon son of Miltiades
of the wealthier class. Pericles followed as leader of the people, and
Thucydides, who was connected by marriage with Cimon, of the opposition.
After the death of Pericles, Nicias, who subsequently fell in Sicily, appeared
as leader of the aristocracy, and Cleon son of Cleaenetus of the people.
The latter seems, more than any one else, to have been the cause of the
corruption of the democracy by his wild undertakings; and he was the first
to use unseemly shouting and coarse abuse on the Bema, and to harangue
the people with his cloak girt up short about him, whereas all his predecessors
had spoken decently and in order. These were succeeded by Theramenes son
of Hagnon as leader of the one party, and the lyre-maker Cleophon of the
people. It was Cleophon who first granted the twoobol donation for the
theatrical performances, and for some time it continued to be given; but
then Callicrates of Paeania ousted him by promising to add a third obol
to the sum. Both of these persons were subsequently condemned to death;
for the people, even if they are deceived for a time, in the end generally
come to detest those who have beguiled them into any unworthy action. After
Cleophon the popular leadership was occupied successively by the men who
chose to talk the biggest and pander the most to the tastes of the majority,
with their eyes fixed only on the interests of the moment. The best statesmen
at Athens, after those of early times, seem to have been Nicias, Thucydides,
and Theramenes. As to Nicias and Thucydides, nearly every one agrees that
they were not merely men of birth and character, but also statesmen, and
that they ruled the state with paternal care. On the merits of Theramenes
opinion is divided, because it so happened that in his time public affairs
were in a very stormy state. But those who give their opinion deliberately
find him, not, as his critics falsely assert, overthrowing every kind of
constitution, but supporting every kind so long as it did not transgress
laws; thus showing that he was able, as every good citizen should be, to
live under any form of constitution, while he refused to countenance illegality
and was its constant enemy.
Part 29
So long as the fortune of the war continued even, the Athenians
preserved the democracy; but after the disaster in Sicily, when the Lacedaemonians
had gained the upper hand through their alliance with the king of Persia,
they were compelled to abolish the democracy and establish in its place
the constitution of the Four Hundred. The speech recommending this course
before the vote was made by Melobius, and the motion was proposed by Pythodorus
of Anaphlystus; but the real argument which persuaded the majority was
the belief that the king of Persia was more likely to form an alliance
with them if the constitution were on an oligarchical basis. The motion
of Pythodorus was to the following effect. The popular Assembly was to
elect twenty persons, over forty years of age, who, in conjunction with
the existing ten members of the Committee of Public Safety, after taking
an oath that they would frame such measures as they thought best for the
state, should then prepare proposals for the public. safety. In addition,
any other person might make proposals, so that of all the schemes before
them the people might choose the best. Cleitophon concurred with the motion
of Pythodorus, but moved that the committee should also investigate the
ancient laws enacted by Cleisthenes when he created the democracy, in order
that they might have these too before them and so be in a position to decide
wisely; his suggestion being that the constitution of Cleisthenes was not
really democratic, but closely akin to that of Solon. When the committee
was elected, their first proposal was that the Prytanes should be compelled
to put to the vote any motion that was offered on behalf of the public
safety. Next they abolished all indictments for illegal proposals, all
impeachments and pubic prosecutions, in order that every Athenian should
be free to give his counsel on the situation, if he chose; and they decreed
that if any person imposed a fine on any other for his acts in this respect,
or prosecuted him or summoned him before the courts, he should, on an information
being laid against him, be summarily arrested and brought before the generals,
who should deliver him to the Eleven to be put to death. After these preliminary
measures, they drew up the constitution in the following manner. The revenues
of the state were not to be spent on any purpose except the war. All magistrates
should serve without remuneration for the period of the war, except the
nine Archons and the Prytanes for the time being, who should each receive
three obols a day. The whole of the rest of the administration was to be
committed, for the period of the war, to those Athenians who were most
capable of serving the state personally or pecuniarily, to the number of
not less than five thousand. This body was to have full powers, to the
extent even of making treaties with whomsoever they willed; and ten representatives,
over forty years of age, were to be elected from each tribe to draw up
the list of the Five Thousand, after taking an oath on a full and perfect
sacrifice.
Part 30
These were the recommendations of the committee; and when they
had been ratified the Five Thousand elected from their own number a hundred
commissioners to draw up the constitution. They, on their appointment,
drew up and produced the following recommendations. There should be a Council,
holding office for a year, consisting of men over thirty years of age,
serving without pay. To this body should belong the Generals, the nine
Archons, the Amphictyonic Registrar (Hieromnemon), the Taxiarchs, the Hipparchs,
the Phylarch, the commanders of garrisons, the Treasurers of Athena and
the other gods, ten in number, the Hellenic Treasurers (Hellenotamiae),
the Treasurers of the other non-sacred moneys, to the number of twenty,
the ten Commissioners of Sacrifices (Hieropoei), and the ten Superintendents
of the mysteries. All these were to be appointed by the Council from a
larger number of selected candidates, chosen from its members for the time
being. The other offices were all to be filled by lot, and not from the
members of the Council. The Hellenic Treasurers who actually administered
the funds should not sit with the Council. As regards the future, four
Councils were to be created, of men of the age already mentioned, and one
of these was to be chosen by lot to take office at once, while the others
were to receive it in turn, in the order decided by the lot. For this purpose
the hundred commissioners were to distribute themselves and all the rest
as equally as possible into four parts, and cast lots for precedence, and
the selected body should hold office for a year. They were to administer
that office as seemed to them best, both with reference to the safe custody
and due expenditure of the finances, and generally with regard to all other
matters to the best of their ability. If they desired to take a larger
number of persons into counsel, each member might call in one assistant
of his own choice, subject to the same qualification of age. The Council
was to sit once every five days, unless there was any special need for
more frequent sittings. The casting of the lot for the Council was to be
held by the nine Archons; votes on divisions were to be counted by five
tellers chosen by lot from the members of the Council, and of these one
was to be selected by lot every day to act as president. These five persons
were to cast lots for precedence between the parties wishing to appear
before the Council, giving the first place to sacred matters, the second
to heralds, the third to embassies, and the fourth to all other subjects;
but matters concerning the war might be dealt with, on the motion of the
generals, whenever there was need, without balloting. Any member of the
Council who did not enter the Council-house at the time named should be
fined a drachma for each day, unless he was away on leave of absence from
the Council.
Part 31
Such was the constitution which they drew up for the time to come,
but for the immediate present they devised the following scheme. There
should be a Council of Four Hundred, as in the ancient constitution, forty
from each tribe, chosen out of candidates of more than thirty years of
age, selected by the members of the tribes. This Council should appoint
the magistrates and draw up the form of oath which they were to take; and
in all that concerned the laws, in the examination of official accounts,
and in other matters generally, they might act according to their discretion.
They must, however, observe the laws that might be enacted with reference
to the constitution of the state, and had no power to alter them nor to
pass others. The generals should be provisionally elected from the whole
body of the Five Thousand, but so soon as the Council came into existence
it was to hold an examination of military equipments, and thereon elect
ten persons, together with a secretary, and the persons thus elected should
hold office during the coming year with full powers, and should have the
right, whenever they desired it, of joining in the deliberations of the
Council. The Five thousand was also to elect a single Hipparch and ten
Phylarchs; but for the future the Council was to elect these officers according
to the regulations above laid down. No office, except those of member of
the Council and of general, might be held more than once, either by the
first occupants or by their successors. With reference to the future distribution
of the Four Hundred into the four successive sections, the hundred commissioners
must divide them whenever the time comes for the citizens to join in the
Council along with the rest.
Part 32
The hundred commissioners appointed by the Five Thousand drew up
the constitution as just stated; and after it had been ratified by the
people, under the presidency of Aristomachus, the existing Council, that
of the year of Callias, was dissolved before it had completed its term
of office. It was dissolved on the fourteenth day of the month Thargelion,
and the Four Hundred entered into office on the twenty-first; whereas the
regular Council, elected by lot, ought to have entered into office on the
fourteenth of Scirophorion. Thus was the oligarchy established, in the
archonship of Callias, just about a hundred years after the expulsion of
the tyrants. The chief promoters of the revolution were Pisander, Antiphon,
and Theramenes, all of them men of good birth and with high reputations
for ability and judgement. When, however, this constitution had been established,
the Five Thousand were only nominally selected, and the Four Hundred, together
with the ten officers on whom full powers had been conferred, occupied
the Council-house and really administered the government. They began by
sending ambassadors to the Lacedaemonians proposing a cessation of the
war on the basis of the existing Position; but as the Lacedaemonians refused
to listen to them unless they would also abandon the command of the sea,
they broke off the negotiations.
Part 33
For about four months the constitution of the Four Hundred lasted,
and Mnasilochus held office as Archon of their nomination for two months
of the year of Theopompus, who was Archon for the remaining ten. On the
loss of the naval battle of Eretria, however, and the revolt of the whole
of Euboea except Oreum, the indignation of the people was greater than
at any of the earlier disasters, since they drew far more supplies at this
time from Euboea than from Attica itself. Accordingly they deposed the
Four Hundred and committed the management of affairs to the Five Thousand,
consisting of persons Possessing a military equipment. At the same time
they voted that pay should not be given for any public office. The persons
chiefly responsible for the revolution were Aristocrates and Theramenes,
who disapproved of the action of the Four Hundred in retaining the direction
of affairs entirely in their own hands, and referring nothing to the Five
Thousand. During this period the constitution of the state seems to have
been admirable, since it was a time of war and the franchise was in the
hands of those who possessed a military equipment.
Part 34
The people, however, in a very short time deprived the Five Thousand
of their monopoly of the government. Then, six years after the overthrow
of the Four Hundred, in the archonship of Callias of Angele, battle of
Arginusae took place, of which the results were, first, that the ten generals
who had gained the victory were all condemned by a single decision, owing
to the people being led astray by persons who aroused their indignation;
though, as a matter of fact, some of the generals had actually taken no
part in the battle, and others were themselves picked up by other vessels.
Secondly, when the Lacedaemonians proposed to evacuate Decelea and make
peace on the basis of the existing position, although some of the Athenians
supported this proposal, the majority refused to listen to them. In this
they were led astray by Cleophon, who appeared in the Assembly drunk and
wearing his breastplate, and prevented peace being made, declaring that
he would never accept peace unless the Lacedaemonians abandoned their claims
on all the cities allied with them. They mismanaged their opportunity then,
and in a very short time they learnt their mistake. The next year, in the
archonship of Alexias, they suffered the disaster of Aegospotami, the consequence
of which was that Lysander became master of the city, and set up the Thirty
as its governors. He did so in the following manner. One of the terms of
peace stipulated that the state should be governed according to 'the ancient
constitution'. Accordingly the popular party tried to preserve the democracy,
while that part of the upper class which belonged to the political clubs,
together with the exiles who had returned since the peace, aimed at an
oligarchy, and those who were not members of any club, though in other
respects they considered themselves as good as any other citizens, were
anxious to restore the ancient constitution. The latter class included
Archinus, Anytus, Cleitophon, Phormisius, and many others, but their most
prominent leader was Theramenes. Lysander, however, threw his influence
on the side of the oligarchical party, and the popular Assembly was compelled
by sheer intimidation to pass a vote establishing the oligarchy. The motion
to this effect was proposed by Dracontides of Aphidna.
Part 35
In this way were the Thirty established in power, in the archonship
of Pythodorus. As soon, however, as they were masters of the city, they
ignored all the resolutions which had been passed relating to the organization
of the constitution, but after appointing a Council of Five Hundred and
the other magistrates out of a thousand selected candidates, and associating
with themselves ten Archons in Piraeus, eleven superintendents of the prison,
and three hundred 'lash-bearers' as attendants, with the help of these
they kept the city under their own control. At first, indeed, they behaved
with moderation towards the citizens and pretended to administer the state
according to the ancient constitution. In pursuance of this policy they
took down from the hill of Areopagus the laws of Ephialtes and Archestratus
relating to the Areopagite Council; they also repealed such of the statutes
of Solon as were obscure, and abolished the supreme power of the law-courts.
In this they claimed to be restoring the constitution and freeing it from
obscurities; as, for instance, by making the testator free once for all
to leave his property as he pleased, and abolishing the existing limitations
in cases of insanity, old age, and undue female influence, in order that
no opening might be left for professional accusers. In other matters also
their conduct was similar. At first, then, they acted on these lines, and
they destroyed the professional accusers and those mischievous and evil-minded
persons who, to the great detriment of the democracy, had attached themselves
to it in order to curry favour with it. With all of this the city was much
pleased, and thought that the Thirty were doing it with the best of motives.
But so soon as they had got a firmer hold on the city, they spared no class
of citizens, but put to death any persons who were eminent for wealth or
birth or character. Herein they aimed at removing all whom they had reason
to fear, while they also wished to lay hands on their possessions; and
in a short time they put to death not less than fifteen hundred
persons.
Part 36
Theramenes, however, seeing the city thus falling into ruin, was
displeased with their proceedings, and counselled them to cease such unprincipled
conduct and let the better classes have a share in the government. At first
they resisted his advice, but when his proposals came to be known abroad,
and the masses began to associate themselves with him, they were seized
with alarm lest he should make himself the leader of the people and destroy
their despotic power. Accordingly they drew up a list of three thousand
citizens, to whom they announced that they would give a share in the constitution.
Theramenes, however, criticized this scheme also, first on the ground that,
while proposing to give all respectable citizens a share in the constitution,
they were actually giving it only to three thousand persons, as though
all merit were confined within that number; and secondly because they were
doing two inconsistent things, since they made the government rest on the
basis of force, and yet made the governors inferior in strength to the
governed. However, they took no notice of his criticisms, and for a long
time put off the publication of the list of the Three Thousand and kept
to themselves the names of those who had been placed upon it; and every
time they did decide to publish it they proceeded to strike out some of
those who had been included in it, and insert others who had been
omitted.
Part 37
Now when winter had set in, Thrasybulus and the exiles occupied
Phyle, and the force which the Thirty led out to attack them met with a
reverse. Thereupon the Thirty decided to disarm the bulk of the population
and to get rid of Theramenes; which they did in the following way. They
introduced two laws into the Council, which they commanded it to pass;
the first of them gave the Thirty absolute power to put to death any citizen
who was not included in the list of the Three Thousand, while the second
disqualified all persons from participation in the franchise who should
have assisted in the demolition of the fort of Eetioneia, or have acted
in any way against the Four Hundred who had organized the previous oligarchy.
Theramenes had done both, and accordingly, when these laws were ratified,
he became excluded from the franchise and the Thirty had full power to
put him to death. Theramenes having been thus removed, they disarmed all
the people except the Three Thousand, and in every respect showed a great
advance in cruelty and crime. They also sent ambassadors to Lacedaemonian
to blacken the character of Theramenes and to ask for help; and the Lacedaemonians,
in answer to their appeal, sent Callibius as military governor with about
seven hundred troops, who came and occupied the Acropolis.
Part 38
These events were followed by the occupation of Munichia by the
exiles from Phyle, and their victory over the Thirty and their partisans.
After the fight the party of the city retreated, and next day they held
a meeting in the marketplace and deposed the Thirty, and elected ten citizens
with full powers to bring the war to a termination. When, however, the
Ten had taken over the government they did nothing towards the object for
which they were elected, but sent envoys to Lacedaemonian to ask for help
and to borrow money. Further, finding that the citizens who possessed the
franchise were displeased at their proceedings, they were afraid lest they
should be deposed, and consequently, in order to strike terror into them
(in which design they succeeded), they arrested Demaretus, one of the most
eminent citizens, and put him to death. This gave them a firm hold on the
government, and they also had the support of Callibius and his Peloponnesians,
together with several of the Knights; for some of the members of this class
were the most zealous among the citizens to prevent the return of the exiles
from Phyle. When, however, the party in Piraeus and Munichia began to gain
the upper hand in the war, through the defection of the whole populace
to them, the party in the city deposed the original Ten, and elected another
Ten, consisting of men of the highest repute. Under their administration,
and with their active and zealous cooperation, the treaty of reconciliation
was made and the populace returned to the city. The most prominent members
of this board were Rhinon of Paeania and Phayllus of Acherdus, who, even
before the arrival of Pausanias, opened negotiations with the party in
Piraeus, and after his arrival seconded his efforts to bring about the
return of the exiles. For it was Pausanias, the king of the Lacedaemonians,
who brought the peace and reconciliation to a fulfillment, in conjunction
with the ten commissioners of arbitration who arrived later from Lacedaemonian,
at his own earnest request. Rhinon and his colleagues received a vote of
thanks for the goodwill shown by them to the people, and though they received
their charge under an oligarchy and handed in their accounts under a democracy,
no one, either of the party that had stayed in the city or of the exiles
that had returned from the Piraeus, brought any complaint against them.
On the contrary, Rhinon was immediately elected general on account of his
conduct in this office.
Part 39
This reconciliation was effected in the archonship of Eucleides,
on the following terms. All persons who, having remained in the city during
the troubles, were now anxious to leave it, were to be free to settle at
Eleusis, retaining their civil rights and possessing full and independent
powers of self-government, and with the free enjoyment of their own personal
property. The temple at Eleusis should be common ground for both parties,
and should be under the superintendence of the Ceryces, and the Eumolpidae,
according to primitive custom. The settlers at Eleusis should not be allowed
to enter Athens, nor the people of Athens to enter Eleusis, except at the
season of the mysteries, when both parties should be free from these restrictions.
The secessionists should pay their share to the fund for the common defence
out of their revenues, just like all the other Athenians. If any of the
seceding party wished to take a house in Eleusis, the people would help
them to obtain the consent of the owner; but if they could not come to
terms, they should appoint three valuers on either side, and the owner
should receive whatever price they should appoint. Of the inhabitants of
Eleusis, those whom the secessionists wished to remain should be allowed
to do so. The list of those who desired to secede should be made up within
ten days after the taking of the oaths in the case of persons already in
the country, and their actual departure should take place within twenty
days; persons at present out of the country should have the same terms
allowed to them after their return. No one who settled at Eleusis should
be capable of holding any office in Athens until he should again register
himself on the roll as a resident in the city. Trials for homicide, including
all cases in which one party had either killed or wounded another, should
be conducted according to ancestral practice. There should be a general
amnesty concerning past events towards all persons except the Thirty, the
Ten, the Eleven, and the magistrates in Piraeus; and these too should be
included if they should submit their accounts in the usual way. Such accounts
should be given by the magistrates in Piraeus before a court of citizens
rated in Piraeus, and by the magistrates in the city before a court of
those rated in the city. On these terms those who wished to do so might
secede. Each party was to repay separately the money which it had borrowed
for the war.
Part 40
When the reconciliation had taken place on these terms, those who
had fought on the side of the Thirty felt considerable apprehensions, and
a large number intended to secede. But as they put off entering their names
till the last moment, as people will do, Archinus, observing their numbers,
and being anxious to retain them as citizens, cut off the remaining days
during which the list should have remained open; and in this way many persons
were compelled to remain, though they did so very unwillingly until they
recovered confidence. This is one point in which Archinus appears to have
acted in a most statesmanlike manner, and another was his subsequent prosecution
of Thrasybulus on the charge of illegality, for a motion by which he proposed
to confer the franchise on all who had taken part in the return from Piraeus,
although some of them were notoriously slaves. And yet a third such action
was when one of the returned exiles began to violate the amnesty, whereupon
Archinus haled him to the Council and persuaded them to execute him without
trial, telling them that now they would have to show whether they wished
to preserve the democracy and abide by the oaths they had taken; for if
they let this man escape they would encourage others to imitate him, while
if they executed him they would make an example for all to learn by. And
this was exactly what happened; for after this man had been put to death
no one ever again broke the amnesty. On the contrary, the Athenians seem,
both in public and in private, to have behaved in the most unprecedentedly
admirable and public-spirited way with reference to the preceding troubles.
Not only did they blot out all memory of former offences, but they even
repaid to the Lacedaemonians out of the public purse the money which the
Thirty had borrowed for the war, although the treaty required each party,
the party of the city and the party of Piraeus, to pay its own debts separately.
This they did because they thought it was a necessary first step in the
direction of restoring harmony; but in other states, so far from the democratic
parties making advances from their own possessions, they are rather in
the habit of making a general redistribution of the land. A final reconciliation
was made with the secessionists at Eleusis two years after the secession,
in the archonship of Xenaenetus.
Part 41
This, however, took place at a later date; at the time of which
we are speaking the people, having secured the control of the state, established
the constitution which exists at the present day. Pythodorus was Archon
at the time, but the democracy seems to have assumed the supreme power
with perfect justice, since it had effected its own return by its own exertions.
This was the eleventh change which had taken place in the constitution
of Athens. The first modification of the primaeval condition of things
was when Ion and his companions brought the people together into a community,
for then the people was first divided into the four tribes, and the tribe-kings
were created. Next, and first after this, having now some semblance of
a constitution, was that which took place in the reign of Theseus, consisting
in a slight deviation from absolute monarchy. After this came the constitution
formed under Draco, when the first code of laws was drawn up. The third
was that which followed the civil war, in the time of Solon; from this
the democracy took its rise. The fourth was the tyranny of Pisistratus;
the fifth the constitution of Cleisthenes, after the overthrow of the tyrants,
of a more democratic character than that of Solon. The sixth was that which
followed on the Persian wars, when the Council of Areopagus had the direction
of the state. The seventh, succeeding this, was the constitution which
Aristides sketched out, and which Ephialtes brought to completion by overthrowing
the Areopagite Council; under this the nation, misled by the demagogues,
made the most serious mistakes in the interest of its maritime empire.
The eighth was the establishment of the Four Hundred, followed by the ninth,
the restored democracy. The tenth was the tyranny of the Thirty and the
Ten. The eleventh was that which followed the return from Phyle and Piraeus;
and this has continued from that day to this, with continual accretions
of power to the masses. The democracy has made itself master of everything
and administers everything by its votes in the Assembly and by the law-courts,
in which it holds the supreme power. Even the jurisdiction of the Council
has passed into the hands of the people at large; and this appears to be
a judicious change, since small bodies are more open to corruption, whether
by actual money or influence, than large ones. At first they refused to
allow payment for attendance at the Assembly; but the result was that people
did not attend. Consequently, after the Prytanes had tried many devices
in vain in order to induce the populace to come and ratify the votes, Agyrrhius,
in the first instance, made a provision of one obol a day, which Heracleides
of Clazomenae, nicknamed 'the king', increased to two obols, and Agyrrhius
again to three.
Part 42
The present state of the constitution is as follows. The franchise
is open to all who are of citizen birth by both parents. They are enrolled
among the demesmen at the age of eighteen. On the occasion of their enrollment
the demesmen give their votes on oath, first whether the candidates appear
to be of the age prescribed by the law (if not, they are dismissed back
into the ranks of the boys), and secondly whether the candidate is free
born and of such parentage as the laws require. Then if they decide that
he is not a free man, he appeals to the law-courts, and the demesmen appoint
five of their own number to act as accusers; if the court decides that
he has no right to be enrolled, he is sold by the state as a slave, but
if he wins his case he has a right to be enrolled among the demesmen without
further question. After this the Council examines those who have been enrolled,
and if it comes to the conclusion that any of them is less than eighteen
years of age, it fines the demesmen who enrolled him. When the youths (Ephebi)
have passed this examination, their fathers meet by their tribes, and appoint
on oath three of their fellow tribesmen, over forty years of age, who,
in their opinion, are the best and most suitable persons to have charge
of the youths; and of these the Assembly elects one from each tribe as
guardian, together with a director, chosen from the general body of Athenians,
to control the while. Under the charge of these persons the youths first
of all make the circuit of the temples; then they proceed to Piraeus, and
some of them garrison Munichia and some the south shore. The Assembly also
elects two trainers, with subordinate instructors, who teach them to fight
in heavy armour, to use the bow and javelin, and to discharge a catapult.
The guardians receive from the state a drachma apiece for their keep, and
the youths four obols apiece. Each guardian receives the allowance for
all the members of his tribe and buys the necessary provisions for the
common stock (they mess together by tribes), and generally superintends
everything. In this way they spend the first year. The next year, after
giving a public display of their military evolutions, on the occasion when
the Assembly meets in the theatre, they receive a shield and spear from
the state; after which they patrol the country and spend their time in
the forts. For these two years they are on garrison duty, and wear the
military cloak, and during this time they are exempt from all taxes. They
also can neither bring an action at law, nor have one brought against them,
in order that they may have no excuse for requiring leave of absence; though
exception is made in cases of actions concerning inheritances and wards
of state, or of any sacrificial ceremony connected with the family. When
the two years have elapsed they thereupon take their position among the
other citizens. Such is the manner of the enrollment of the citizens and
the training of the youths.
Part 43
All the magistrates that are concerned with the ordinary routine
of administration are elected by lot, except the Military Treasurer, the
Commissioners of the Theoric fund, and the Superintendent of Springs. These
are elected by vote, and hold office from one Panathenaic festival to the
next. All military officers are also elected by vote.
The Council of Five Hundred is elected by lot, fifty from each
tribe. Each tribe holds the office of Prytanes in turn, the order being
determined by lot; the first four serve for thirty-six days each, the last
six for thirty-five, since the reckoning is by lunar years. The Prytanes
for the time being, in the first place, mess together in the Tholus, and
receive a sum of money from the state for their maintenance; and, secondly,
they convene the meetings of the Council and the Assembly. The Council
they convene every day, unless it is a holiday, the Assembly four times
in each prytany. It is also their duty to draw up the programme of the
business of the Council and to decide what subjects are to be dealt with
on each particular da, and where the sitting is to be held. They also draw
up the programme for the meetings of the Assembly. One of these in each
prytany is called the 'sovereign' Assembly; in this the people have to
ratify the continuance of the magistrates in office, if they are performing
their duties properly, and to consider the supply of corn and the defence
of the country. On this day, too, impeachments are introduced by those
who wish to do so, the lists of property confiscated by the state are read,
and also applications for inheritances and wards of state, so that nothing
may pass unclaimed without the cognizance of any person concerned. In the
sixth prytany, in addition to the business already stated, the question
is put to the vote whether it is desirable to hold a vote of ostracism
or not; and complaints against professional accusers, whether Athenian
or aliens domiciled in Athens, are received, to the number of not more
than three of either class, together with cases in which an individual
has made some promise to the people and has not performed it. Another Assembly
in each prytany is assigned to the hearing of petitions, and at this meeting
any one is free, on depositing the petitioner's olive-branch, to speak
to the people concerning any matter, public or private. The two remaining
meetings are devoted to all other subjects, and the laws require them to
deal with three questions connected with religion, three connected with
heralds and embassies, and three on secular subjects. Sometimes questions
are brought forward without a preliminary vote of the Assembly to take
them into consideration.
Heralds and envoys appear first before the Prytanes, and the bearers
of dispatches also deliver them to the same officials.
Part 44
There is a single President of the Prytanes, elected by lot, who
presides for a night and a day; he may not hold the office for more than
that time, nor may the same individual hold it twice. He keeps the keys
of the sanctuaries in which the treasures and public records of the state
are preserved, and also the public seal; and he is bound to remain in the
Tholus, together with one-third of the Prytanes, named by himself. Whenever
the Prytanes convene a meeting of the Council or Assembly, he appoints
by lot nine Proedri, one from each tribe except that which holds the office
of Prytanes for the time being; and out of these nine he similarly appoints
one as President, and hands over the programme for the meeting to them.
They take it and see to the preservation of order, put forward the various
subjects which are to be considered, decide the results of the votings,
and direct the proceedings generally. They also have power to dismiss the
meeting. No one may act as President more than once in the year, but he
may be a Proedrus once in each prytany.
Elections to the offices of General and Hipparch and all other
military commands are held in the Assembly, in such manner as the people
decide; they are held after the sixth prytany by the first board of Prytanes
in whose term of office the omens are favourable. There has, however, to
be a preliminary consideration by the Council in this case
also.
The Athenian Constitution
By Aristotle
Section 3
Part 45
In former times the Council had full powers to inflict fines and imprisonment
and death; but when it had consigned Lysimachus to the executioner, and
he was sitting in the immediate expectation of death, Eumelides of Alopece
rescued him from its hands, maintaining that no citizen ought to be put
to death except on the decision of a court of law. Accordingly a trial
was held in a law-court, and Lysimachus was acquitted, receiving henceforth
the nickname of 'the man from the drum-head'; and the people deprived the
Council thenceforward of the power to inflict death or imprisonment or
fine, passing a law that if the Council condemn any person for an offence
or inflict a fine, the Thesmothetae shall bring the sentence or fine before
the law-court, and the decision of the jurors shall be the final judgement
in the matter.
The Council passes judgement on nearly all magistrates, especially
those who have the control of money; its judgement, however, is not final,
but is subject to an appeal to the lawcourts. Private individuals, also,
may lay an information against any magistrate they please for not obeying
the laws, but here too there is an appeal to the law-courts if the Council
declare the charge proved. The Council also examines those who are to be
its members for the ensuing year, and likewise the nine Archons. Formerly
the Council had full power to reject candidates for office as unsuitable,
but now they have an appeal to the law-courts. In all these matters, therefore,
the Council has no final jurisdiction. It takes, however, preliminary cognizance
of all matters brought before the Assembly, and the Assembly cannot vote
on any question unless it has first been considered by the Council and
placed on the programme by the Prytanes; since a person who carries a motion
in the Assembly is liable to an action for illegal proposal on these
grounds.
Part 46
The Council also superintends the triremes that are already in
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