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laws, I will not disguise or conceal such an enterprise, but will oppose it either alone or in conjunction with my fellow-citizens; and I will constantly adhere to the religion of my forefathers. To all which I call to witness Agraulos, Enyalius, Mars, and Jupiter. I leave the reader to his own reflections upon this august ceremony, well adapted to inspire the love of their country in the hearts of the young citizens.

The whole people at first had been divided into four tribes, and afterwards into ten. Each tribe was subdivided into several parts, which were called duo, pagi. It was by these two titles that the citizens were described in the public acts. Melitus, è tribu, Cecropide, è pago Pitthensi.

2. Of the Strangers.

I call those by that name, who, being of a foreign country, came to settle at Athens or in Attica, whether for the sake of commerce or the exercising any trade. They were termed uToixio, inquilini. They had no share in the government, nor votes in the assembly of the people, and could not be admitted into any office. They put themselves under the protection of some citizens, as we find from a passage of Terence,* and upon that account were obliged to render him certain duties and services, as the clients did at Rome to their patrons. They were bound to observe all the laws of the republic, and to conform entirely to all its customs. They paid a yearly tribute to the state of twelve drachmas;† and in default of payment were made slaves, and exposed to sale. Xenocrates, the celebrated but poor philosopher, was very near experiencing this misfortune, and was being carried to prison; but Lycurgus, the orator, having paid the tax, released him from the hands of the farmers of the public revenues; a kind of men who in all times have been very little sensible to merit, with the exception of an exceeding few of their number. That philosopher, meeting some time after the sons of his deliverer, told them: I pay your father the favour he has done me with usury, for all the world praises him upon my account.

3. Of the Servants.

These were of two kinds. The one who were free, and not able to get their bread by their work, were obliged by the bad state of their affairs to go into service, and their condition was reputable and not laborious. The service of the other was forced and constrained these were slaves who had either been taken prisoners in war, or bought of such as trafficked publicly in them. They formed part of the property of their masters, who disposed absolutely of them, but generally treated them with great humanity. Demosthenes observes, in one of his harangues, that the condition of ser

:

* Thais patri se commendavit in clientelam et fidem; Nobis dedit sese. Eunuch. Act. 5. scen. ult. Plut. in. Flamin. p. 375. Philip. 3.

† Six livres.

vants was infinitely more, gentle at Athens than any where else. There was in that city an asylum and place of refuge for slaves, where the bones of Theseus had been interred, and that asylum still subsisted in Plutarch's time. How glorious was it for Theseus, that his tomb should do that, 1200 years after his death, which he had done himself during his life, and continue the protector of the oppressed as he had been!

When the slaves were treated with too much rigour and inhumanity, they had their action against their masters, who were obliged to sell them to others, if the fact were sufficiently proved. They could ransom themselves even against their masters' consent, when they had laid up money enough for that purpose. For out of what they got by their labour, after having paid a certain proportion to their masters, they kept the remainder for themselves, and made a stock which was at their own disposal. Private persons, when they were satisfied with their services, often gave these slaves their liberty; and the same favour was often granted them by the public, when the necessity of the times obliged the state to put arms in their hands and enlist them amongst the citizens.

The humane and equitable manner in which the Athenians treated their servants and slaves, was an effect of the good temper natural to that people, and very remote from the austere and cruel severity of the Lacedæmonians towards their Helots, which often brought their republic to the very brink of destruction. Plutarch,‡ with great reason, condemns this rigour. He thinks it proper to habituate one's self always to mercy, even with regard to beasts, were it only, says he, to learn by that means to treat men well, and to serve, as it were, an apprenticeship to humanity and benevolence. He relates, upon this occasion, a very singular fact, and one well calculated to give an idea of the character of the Athenians. After having finished the temple called Hecatompedor, they set all the beasts of burden at liberty, that had been employed in the work, and assigned them fat pasturages as consecrated animals. And it was said, that one of these beasts having come to offer itself at the work, and put itself at the head of those that drew the carts.to the citadel, walking foremost, as if to exhort and encourage them, the Athenians ordained by a decree, that the creature should be maintained at the public expense till its death.

SECTION IIL

Of the council or senate of Five Hundred.

In consequence of Solon's institutions, the people of Atnens had a great share and authority in the government. Appeals might be brought to their tribunals in all cases; they had a right to cancel the old laws, and establish new ones; in a word, all important affairs,

*Plut. de superstit. p. 166. tPlaut. in Casin.

Plut. in Catone, p. 338, 339

whether relating to war or peace, were decided in their assemblies. In order that their determinations should be made with more wisdom and maturity, Solon had instituted a council, composed of 400 senators, 100 out of each tribe, which were then four in number; and they prepared and digested the affairs which were to be laid before the people, as we shall soon explain more at large. Clisthenes, about 100 years after Solon, having increased the number of tribes to ten, augmented also that of the senators to 500, each tribe supplying fifty. This was called the council, or senate, of the Five Hundred. They received their stipend out of the public treasury.

They were chosen by lot, in which they made use of black and white beans, which were mingled and shaken in an urn; and each tribe gave in the names of those who aspired to that trust, and had the revenue assigned by the laws to qualify them for it. None could be admitted under the age of thirty. After inquiry made into the manners and conduct of the candidate, he was made to take an oath, whereby he engaged to give at all times the best counsel he could to the people of Athens, and never to depart in the least from the tenor of the laws.

This senate assembled every day, except upon the days appointed for festivals. Each tribe in its turn furnished those who were to preside in it, called Prytanes,* and this rank was decided by lot. This presidency continued thirty-five days, which being reckoned ten times, amounts to the number of days, except four, of the lunar year followed at Athens. This time of the presidency, or prytanism, was divided into five weeks, regard being had to the five tens of the Prytanes, who were to preside in them, and every week seven of these ten Prytanes drawn by lot presided, each their day, and were denominated Igoedgo, that is to say, presidents. He who was so for the day,† presided in the assembly of the senators and in that of the people. He was charged with the public seal, as also with the keys of the citadel and treasury.

The senators, before they assembled, offered a sacrifice to Jupiter and Minerva, under the additional appellation of givers of good counsel, to implore from them the prudence and understanding necessary to form wise deliberations. The president proposed the business which was to be considered in the assembly. Every one gave his opinion in his turn, and always standing. After a question had been settled, it was drawn up in writing, and read with a loud voice. Each senator then gave his vote by scrutiny, by putting a bean into the urn. If the white beans carried it, the question passed, otherwise is was rejected. This sort of decree was called pioua, or Ipoßoúλevμa, as much as to say, a preparatory resolution. It was afterwards laid before the assembly of the people, where, if it was received and approved, it had the force of a law; if not, its authority * Βουλαῖος, βουλαία.

1 * · Πρυτάνεις.

† He was called 'Επιστάτης,

subsisted only one year. This shows with what wisdom Solon established this council, to inform and direct the people, to fix their inconstancy, to check their temerity, and to impart to their deliberations a prudence and maturity not to be expected in a confused and tumultuous assembly composed of a great number of citizens, most of them without education, capacity, or much zeal for the public good. The reciprocal dependency and mutual concurrence of the two bodies of the state, which were obliged to lend each other their authority, and remained equally without force when without union and a good understanding, were besides a method judiciously contrived for supporting a wise balance between the two bodies; the people not being able to enact any thing without its being first proposed and approved by the senate, nor the senate to pass any decree into a law till it had been ratified by the people.

We may judge of the importance of this council by the matters which were treated in it; the same, without any exception, as were laid before the people;-wars, taxes, maritime affairs, treaties of peace, alliances; in a word, whatever related to government; with out mentioning the account which they obliged the magistrates to give on quitting their offices, and the frequent decisions and judgments upon the most serious and important affairs.

SECTION IV.

Of the Areopagus.

This council took its name from the place where it held its meetings called the quarter,* or hill of Mars, because, according to some, Mars had been cited thither to trial for a murder committed by him. It was believed to be as ancient as the nation. Cicero and Plutarch attribute the institution of it to Solon; but he only re-established it, by giving it more lustre and authority than it had had till then, and for that reason was looked upon as its founder. The number of the senators of the Areopagus was not fixed; at certain times they amounted to 2 or 300. Solon thought proper that only those who had borne the office of archon should be honoured with that dignity.

This senate had the care of seeing the laws duly observed, of inspecting the manners of the people, and especially of judging in criminal cases. They held their sittings in an open place, and during the night. The former very probably to avoid being under the same roof with the criminals, and not to defile themselves by such an intercourse with them; the latter that they might not be softened by the sight of the guilty, and might judge solely according to justice and the laws. It was for the same reason, that, in presence of these judges, the orators were not permitted to use any exordium or peroration, nor allowed to excite the passions, but were

* *Αρειος πάγος.

obliged to confine themselves solely to the subject matter of their cause. The severity of their judgments was exceedingly dreaded, particularly in regard to murder, and they were highly attentive to inspire their citizens with horror for that crime. They* condemned a child to be put to death for making it his pastime to put out the eyes of quails; conceiving this sanguinary inclination as the mark of a very wicked disposition, which might one day prove fatal to many, if it were suffered to grow up with impunity.

The affairs of religion, as blasphemies against the gods, contempt of the sacred mysteries, different species of impiety, and the introduction of new ceremonies and new divinities, were also brought before this tribunal. We read in Justin Martyr,† that Plato, who in his travels in Egypt had acquired great lights concerning the unity of God, when he returned to Athens, took great care to dissemble and conceal his sentiments, for fear of being obliged to appear, and give an account of them before the Areopagita; and we know that St. Paul was traduced before them, as teaching a new doctrine,‡ and endeavouring to introduce new gods.

These judges were in great reputation for their probity, equity, and prudence, and generally respected. Cicero, in writing to his friend Atticus, upon the fortitude, constancy, and wise severity of the Roman senate, thinks he makes a great encomium upon it in comparing it with the Areopagus. Senatus Agelos májos, nil constantius, nil severius, nil fortius. Cicero must have conceived a very advantageous idea of it, to speak of it as he does in the first book of his Offices. He compares the famous battle of Salamis,|| in which Themistocles had so great a part, with the establishment of the Areopagus, which he ascribes to Solon; and makes no scruple to prefer, or at least to equal, the legislator's service to that for which Athens was obliged to the general of its army. For in reality, says he, that victory was useful to the republic only for once, but the Areopagus will be so throughout all ages, as by the wisdom of that tribunal, the laws and ancient customs of the Athenian state are preserved. Themistocles did no service to the Areopagus, but the Areopagus abundantly contributed to the victory of Themistocles ; because the republic was at that time directed by the wise counsels of that august senate.

It appears from this passage of Cicero, that the Areopagus had a great share in the government, and I do not doubt but it was

*Noc mihi videntur Arcopagitæ, cùm damnaverunt puerum oculos coturnicum eraentem, aliud judicasse, quàm id signum esse perniciosissimæ mentis, multisque malo future si adolevisset. Quintil. 1. v. c. 9.

Cohort. ad Græc.

Acts xvii. 18-20.

Ad Attic. 1. i. ep. 13.

Quamvis Themistocles jure laudetur, et sit ejus nomen, quàm Solonis, illustrius, citeturque Salamis clarissimæ testis victoriæ, quæ anteponatur consilio Solonis, ei, quo primùm constituit Areopagitas: non minus præclarum hoc, quàm illud, judicandum est. Illud enim semel profuit, hoc semper proderit civitati: hoc consilio leges Atheniensium, hoe majorum instituta servantur. Et Themistocles quidem nihil dixerit, in quo ipse Arcopagum juverit: at ille adjuvit Themistoclem. Est enim bellum gestum consilio Senatus ejus, qui à Solone erat constitutus. Offic. 1. i. n. 75.

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