Among the Cretans, the cultivation of the mind was not entirely neglected, and care was taken to give the youth some tincture of learning. The works of Homer, of much later date than the laws of Minos, were not unknown among them, though they but lightly esteemed, and made little use of foreign poets.* They were very curious in such knowledge as is proper to form the manners; and, what is no small praise, they prided themselves upon thinking much and speaking little. The poet Epimenides, who made a voyage to Athens in the time of Solon, and was in great estimation there, was of Crete, and by some placed in the number of the seven sages.‡ One of the institutions of Minos, which Plato admires the most, was to inspire early into the youth a high respect for the maxims, customs, and laws of the state, and not to suffer them to dispute or call in question the wisdom of their institutions, but to consider them not as prescribed and imposed by men, but as emanations of the Divinity himself. Accordingly, he had industriously apprised the people, that Jupiter himself had dictated them to him. He had the same attention in regard to the magistrates and aged persons, whom he recommended to honour in a peculiar manner; and in order that nothing might prevent the respect due to them, he ordained, that if any defects were observed in them, they should never be mentioned in the presence of the youth: a wise precaution, and which would be very becoming in the ordinary practice of life!) The government of Crete was at first monarchial, of which Minos has left a perfect model to all ages. According to him, as a great and most excellent man observes, the king can do every thing over the people, but the laws every thing over him. He has an absolute power to do good; and his hands are tied up from doing evil. The laws intrust the people in his hands as the most sacred of deposits, upon condition that he shall be their common father. The same laws require that a single man, by his wisdom and moderation, shall constitute the felicity of an infinite number of subjects; and not that the subjects, by their misery and abject slavery, shall be substituted to gratify the pride and low passions of a single man. According to him, the king ought to be when abroad, the defender of his country, at the head of her armies, and when at home, the judge of his people, to render them good, wise, and happy. It is not for himself that the gods have made him king, and he is only so for the service of his people. He owes them his whole time, care and affection; and is worthy of the throne, only as he gives and devotes himself to the public good. Such is the idea which Minos had of the sovereignty; of which he was a living image in his own person, and which Hesiod has perfectly expressed in two words, by calling him "the most royal of mortal kings," Bokuratov Ovπtwy Basi Anwy; that is to say, that he possessed in a supreme degree all royal virtues, and was a king of all things. It appears, that the authority of king was not of long duration; and that it gave place to a republican government, as Minos had intended. The senate, composed of thirty persons, formed the public council. In that assembly, the public affairs were examined, and resolutions taken; but they were of no force, till the people had given them their approbation, and confirmed them by their suffrages. The magistrates, to the number of ten, established for maintaining good order in the state, and therefore called cosmi, Kocus. held the two other bodies of the state in check, and were the balance between them. In time of war, the same persons commanded the army. They were chosen by lot, but only out of certain families. Their office was for life; and they were not accountable to any for their administration. Out of this company the senators were elected.** The Cretans made the slaves and mercenaries cultivate their lands, who were obliged to pay them a certain annual sum. They were called Pericci, Plat. de Leg. 1. ii. p. 680. T Plat. in Min. p. 320. Idem. I. i. p. 641. probably from their being people in the neighbourhood, whom Minos had subjected. As they inhabited an island, and consequently a country separated from all others, the Cretans had not so much to fear from these vassals as the Lacedæmonians from the Helots, who often joined the neighbouring people against them. A custom anciently established in Crete, from whence it was adopted by the Romans, gives us reason to believe, that the vassals who cultivated the lands were treated with great kindness and favour. In the feasts of Mercury, the masters waited on their slaves at table, and did them the same offices as they received from them the rest of the year; precious remains and traces of the primitive world, in which all men were equal, that seemed to inform the masters, that their servants were of the same condition with themselves, and that to treat them with cruelty or pride, was to renounce humanity.* As a prince cannot do every thing alone, and is obliged to associate cooperators with himself, for whose conduct he is accountable. Minos charged his brother Rhadamanthus with a share in the administration of justice in the capital city, which is the most essential and indispensible function of sovereignty. He knew his probity, disinterestedness, ability and constancy, and had taken pains to form him for so important an office. Another minister had the care of the rest of the cities, who made a circuit three times in a year, to examine whether the laws established by the prince were duly observed, and the inferior magistrates and officers religiously acquitted themselves of their duty.f Crete, under so wise a government, changed its aspect entirely, and seemed to have become the abode of virtue, probity, and justice; as we may judge, from what fable tells us of the honour Jupiter did these three brothers, in making them judges of the other world; for every body knows, that fable is founded upon real history, though disguised under pleasing emblems and allegories, adapted to recommend truth by the ornaments of fancy. It was, according to fabulous tradition, a law established from the beginning of time, that men in departing out of this life should be judged, in order to their receiving the reward or punishment due to their good or evil actions. In the reign of Saturn, and in the first years of that of Jupiter, this judgment was pronounced at the instant preceding death, which left room for very flagrant injustice. Princes, who had been cruel and tyrannical, appearing before their judges in all the pomp and splendour of their power, and producing witnesses to depose in their favour, because, as they were still alive, they dreaded their anger; the judges, dazzled with this vain show, and deceived by such false evidence, declared these princes innocent, and dismissed them, with permission to enter into the happy abodes of the just. The same may be said in regard to the rich; but for the poor and helpless, calumny and malice pursued them even to this last tribunal, and found means to have them doomed for ever as criminals.‡ Fable adds, that upon reiterated complaints and warm remonstrances made to Jupiter upon this account, he changed the form of these trials. The time for them was fixed to be the very moment after death. Rhadamanthus and Eacus, both sons of Jove, were appointed judges; the first for the Asiatics, the second for the Europeans; and Minos over them, to decide in cases of doubt and obscurity. Their tribunal was situated in a place called "The Field of Truth," because neither falsehood nor calumny can approach it. The greatest prince was obliged to appear there, as soon as he had resigned his last breath, deprived of all his grandeur, reduced to his naked self, without defence or protection, silent and trembling for his own doom, after having made the whole world tremble for theirs. If he were found guilty of crimes which were of a nature to be expiated, he was confined in Tartarus for a certain time only, and with an assurance of being released, as soon as he should be sufficiently purified. But if his crimes were unpardonable, such as injustice, perjury, and the oppression of his people, he was cast into the same Tartarus, there to suffer Athen. 1. xiv. 632. P. Plat. in Georg. p. 523-526. In Axioch. p. 371. ↑ Plat. in Min. p. 320. 340 eternal miseries. The just, on the contrary, of whatever conditon, were conducted into the blessed abodes of peace and joy, to partake of a felicity that should have no end. Who does not see that the poets, under the cover of these fictions, ingenious indeed, but little to the honour of the gods, intended to give us the model of an accomplished prince, whose first care is to render justice to his people; and to represent the extraordinary happiness which Crete enjoyed under the wise government of Minos? This happiness did not expire with him. The laws which he established subsisted in all their vigour even in Plato's time; that is to say, more than nine hundred years after." And they were considered the effect of his long conversations for many years with Jupiter, who had condescended to become his teacher, to enter into a familiarity with him as with a friend, and to form him in the great art of reigning, with a secret complacency, as a favourite disciple, and a tenderly beloved son. It is in this manner Plato explains these words of Homer: Aiór μeyâns o agisns; the most exalted praise, according to him, that can be given to a mortal, and which that poet ascribed only to Minos.|| Notwithstanding his exalted and real merit, the theatres of Athens resounded continually with imprecations against the memory of Minos; and Socrates, in the dialogue of Plato which I have already often cited, observes upon, and gives a reason for them: but first he makes a reflection well worthy of being considered. "When either the praise or dispraise of great men is in question, it is infinitely proper," says he, to treat them with circumspection and wisdom; because upon that depends the idea which men form to themselves of virtue and vice, and the distinction they ought to make between the good and the bad. For," adds he, "God conceives a just indignation, when a person is blamed who resembles himself, as well as when another is praised who is the reverse of him. We must not believe that nothing is sacred but brass and marble; (be speaks of the statues that were worshipped): the just man is the most sacred, and the wicked the most detestable, of all beings in this world." After this reflection, Socrates observes, that the source and cause of the hatred of the Athenians towards Minos, was the unjust and cruel tribute he imposed upon them, in obliging them to send him, every nine years, seven young men, and as many maids, to be devoured by the Minotaur; and he could not avoid reproaching that prince, with having drawn upon himself the abhorrence of a city like Athens, abounding with learned men, and of having sharpened the tongues of the poets against him; a dangerous and formidable race of men, from the poisoned shafts which they never fail to discharge against their enemies. It appears from what I have repeated, that Plato imputes to Minos the imposition of that cruel tribute. Apollodorus, Strabo, and Plutarch, seem to be of the same opinion. Monsieur the Abbé Banier alledges and proves that they are mistaken, and confound the first Minos, of whom we speak, with a second, his grandson, who reigned after him in Crete, and, to avenge the death of his son Androgeus, killed in Attica, declared war against the Athenians, and imposed that tribute to which Theseus put an end by killing the Minotaur. It would indeed be difficult to reconcile so inhuman and barbarous a conduct with what all antiquity relates of the goodness, lenity, and equity of Minos; and with the magnificent praises it bestows upon the polity and institutions of Crete. It is true that the Cretans degenerated very much from their ancient reputa tion, which at length they absolutely lost by an entire change of their manners, becoming avaricious and self-interested, to such a degree as to think that no gain was base, enemies of labour and regularity of life, professed liars and knaves; so that to Cretise became a proverb among the Greeks, implying to *Plat. in Min. p. 321. Et Jovis arcanis Minos admissus.-Horst This poetical fiction is perhaps taken from the holy Scriptures, which say of Moses, “and the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend."-Exod. xxxiii. 11. Plat in Min. p. 319. Odyss. ver. 179. 1 Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscrip. Vol. III. lie and to deceive. Every body knows that St. Paul* cites against them as truth, the testimony of one of their ancient poets, supposed to be Epimenides, who paints them in colours much to their dishonour; but this change of manners, in whatever time it might happen, does not at all affect the probity of the ancient Cretans, nor the glory of Minos their king. The most certain proof of that legislator's wisdom, as Plato observes, is the solid and lasting happiness, which was the effect of the sole imitation of his laws by Sparta. Lycurgus had regulated the government of that city upon the plan and idea of that of Crete, and it subsisted in an uniform manner for many ages, without experiencing the vicissitudes and revolutions so common in all other states of Greece.t ARICLE II.-OF THE GOVERNMENT OF ATHENS. THE government of Athens was neither so permanent nor so uniform as that of Sparta; but suffered various alterations according to the diversity of times and circumstances. Athens, after having long been governed by kings, and afterwards by archons, assumed entire liberty, which gave place, however, for some years to the tyrannic power of the Pisistratides, but was soon after reestablished, and subsisted with splendour till the defeat in Sicily, and the taking of the city by the Lacedæmonians. These subjected them to the thirty tyrants, whose authority was not of long duration, and gave place again to liberty, which continued amid various events, during a long series of years, till the Roman power had subdued Greece, and reduced it into a province. I shall consider in this place only the popular government, and shall examine in particular five or six heads: the foundation of government according to Solon's establishment; the different parts of which the republic consisted; the council or senate of the five hundred; the assemblies of the people; the different tribunals for the administration of justice, and the revenues or finances of the republic. I shall be obliged to be more extensive upon what regards the government of Athens than I have been upon that of Sparta, because the latter is almost sufficiently known from what has been said of it in the Life of Lycurgus.‡ SECTION 1.-FOUNDATION of the government of athens. SOLON was not the first who established the popular government at Athens. Theseus long before him had traced out the plan, and began the execution of it. After having united the twelve towns into one city, he divided the inhabitants into three bodies; that of the nobility, to whom the superintendence in religious affairs and all offices were confided; the labourers or husbandmen; and artisans. He had proposed the establishment of a kind of equality between the three orders; for if the nobles were considered by their honours and dignities, the husbandmen had the advantage of their utility to the public, and the necessity there was for their labours; and the artisans had the superiority to both the other bodies in their number Athens, to speak properly, did not become a popular state till the establishment of the nine archons, whose authority continued only for one year, whereas before it was for ten; and it was not till many years after, that Solon, by the wisdom of his laws, instituted and confirmed this form of government.§ Solon's great principle was to establish as much as possible a kind of equality among his citizens, which he regarded with reason as the foundation and essential point of liberty. He resolved therefore to leave the public employments in the hands of the rich, as they had been till then, but to give the poor also some share in the government, from which they were excluded. For this reason he made an estimation of what each individual was worth. Those who were found to have an annual revenue of five hundred measures, as well in grain as liquid things, were placed in the first class, and called the pentacosiomedimni, * Κρῆτες ἀεὶ ψεύσαι, κακὰ θηρία, γαστέρες αργαί. — Tit. i. 12. Book v. Art. 8. that is, those who had a revenue of five hundred measures. The second class was composed of such as had three hundred, and could maintain a borse for war; these were called horsemen, or knights. Those who had only two hundred, were in the third class, and were called zugitæ.* Out of these three classes only, the magistrates and commanders were chosen. All the other citizens, who were below those three classes, and had less revenues, were comprised under the name of theti, hirelings, or workmen labouring with their hands. Solon did not permit them to hold any office, and granted them only the right of giving their suffrages in the assemblies and trials of the people, which at first seemed a very slight privilege, but at length was found to be a very great advantage, as will appear hereafter. I do not know whether Solon foresaw it; but he used to say that the people were never more obedient and submissive, than when they possessed neither too much nor too little liberty :† which comes very near Galba's expression, when, to incline Piso to treat the Roman people with goodness and lenity, he desires him to remember," that he was going to command men who were incapable of bearing either entire liberty or absolute subjection."§ The people of Athens, becoming more haughty after their victories over the Persians, pretended to have a right to share in all the public offices and the magistracy; and Aristides, to prevent the disorders which a too tenacious opposition might have occasioned, thought proper to give way to them in this point.! It appears however from a passage in Xenophon, that the people contented themselves with the offices from whence some profit arose, and left those which related more particularly to the government of the state in the hands of the rich.¶ The citizens of the three first classes paid every year a certain sum of money, to be laid up in the public treasury;* ;** the first a talent,ff the knights half a talent, and the zugitæ ten minæ. As the proportion of revenue determined the order of the classes, when their revenues augmented, the people were allowed to rise to a superior class. If Plutarch may be believed, Solon formed two councils, which were a kind of double limitation to check and regulate the assemblies of the people. The first was the Areopagus: but it was much more ancient than his institutions; and he only reformed it, and gave it a new lustre by augmenting its power. The second was the council of the four hundred, that is, a hundred of each tribe; for Cecrops, the first king of the Athenians, had divided the people into four tribes. Clisthenes long after him changed that order, and established ten. It was in this council of the four hundred that all affairs were considered before they were proposed to the assembly of the people, as we shall soon explain.§ I do not mention here another division of the people into three parties or factions, which till the time of Pisistratus were a continual source of troubles and seditions. One of these three parties was formed out of those who inhabited the high lands, and favoured popular government; the other out of those who lived in the plains, and they were for oligarchy; and the third out of the peo ple upon the coast, and these held the mean between both. It is necessary, for the better understanding what we have now said, to enter into a more particular account of the Athenian people. SECTION 11.-OF THE INHABITANTS OF ATHENS. THERE were three sorts of inhabitants at Athens; citizens, strangers, and ser vants. In the account taken by Demetrius Phalereus in the 116th Olympiad, their number amounted to twenty-one thousand citizens, ten thousand strangers, It is believed they were so called from their being ranked between the knights and the theti; as in the galleys those who rowed in the middle were termed zugite; their place was between the thalamite and thranite. Plut. in Solon. p. 110. Plut. in Aristid. p. 332. Tacit. Hist. l. x. c. 16. Imperaturus es hominibus, qui nec totam servitutem pati possunt, nec totam libertatem. tt About one thousand dollars. Solon. p. 88. ** Pollux. 1. viii. c. 10. Nearly one hundred dollars. A. M. 3690. Ant. J. C. 314. Athen. 1. vi. P. 972. |