SECTION IV.

OF THE AREOPAGUS.

THIS Council took its name from the place where it assembled, called the Quarter, or hill of Mars, because, according to some, Mars had been cited thither in judgment 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 reestablished 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 two or three hundred. 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 a commerce with them; the latter, that they might not be softened by the sight of the guilty, and might judge according to justice and the laws. It was for the same reason, the orators were not permitted to use their exordium or peroration, nor allowed to excite the passions, and were 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 past time 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 he were suffered to grow up with impunity.

The affairs of religion, as blasphemies against the gods, contempt of sacred mysteries, different species of impiety, and the introduction of new ceremonies and new divinities, were also brought before this tribunal. f 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 Areopagite; 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. 1 Senatus,i nil

h

• Nec mihi videntur Areopagitæ, cum damnaverunt puerum oculos coturnicum eruentem, aliud judicasse, quam id signum esse perniciosissimæ mentis, multisque malo futuræ si adolevisset. Quintil. I. v. c. 9. f Cohort. ad Græc.

Ad. Attic. l. i. ep. 13.

& Acts xvii. 18-20.

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 Salamin, in which Themistocles had so great a part, with the establishment of the Areopagus, that 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, mistocles 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."

The

It appears from this passage of Cicero's, that the Areopagus had a great share in the government, and I do not doubt but it was consulted upon important affairs. Cicero here perhaps may have confounded the council of the Areopagus with that of the five hundred. It is certain, however, that the Areopagita were extremely active in the public affairs,

Pericles, who could never enter the Areopagus, because chance having always been against him, he

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

had not passed through any of the employments necessary to his admission, attempted to weaken its authority, and attained his point; which is a great blot in his reputation.

SECTION V.

OF THE MAGISTRATES.

Or these a great number were established for dif ferent functions. I shall speak only of the archons who are the most known. I have observed elsewhere that they succeeded the kings, and that their authority at first continued during life. It was at length limited to ten years, and reduced at last only to one. When Solon was commissioned to reform the government, he found them upon this foot, and to the number of nine. He did not abolish their office, but he very much diminished their power.

The first of these nine magistrates was called the archon, by way of eminence, and the year denominated from him: "Under such an archon, such a battle was fought." The second was called the king, which was the remains and footsteps of the authority to which they had succeeded. The third was the polymarch, who at first commanded the armies, and always retained that name, though he had not the same authority, of which he had so long preserved some part. For we have seen, in speaking of the battle of Marathon, that the polymarch had a right to vote in the council of war, as well as the ten generals then in command.

From thence he was called Evμes.

The six other archons were called by the common name, Thesmothetæ, which implies that they had a particular superintendence over the laws, in order to their being duly observed. These nine archons had each of them a peculiar province, and were judges in certain affairs allotted to their cognizance. I do not think it necessary to enter into the particulars of their duty, nor into those of many other employments and offices, established for the administration of justice, for the levying of taxes and tributes, for the preservation of good order in the city, for supplying it with provisions, in a word, for every thing relating to commerce and civil society.

SECTION VI.

OF THE ASSEMBLIES OF THE PEOPLE.

THESE were of two sorts; the one ordinary and fixed to certain days, and for these there was no kind of summons; the other extraordinary, according to the different occasions that arose, and the people were informed of it by express proclamation.

The place for the assembly was not fixed. Sometimes it was the public market place, sometimes a part of the city near the citadel, called," and sometimes the theatre of Bacchus.

The prytanes generally assembled the people. Some days before the assembly papers were fixed up, wherein the business to be considered was set down.

All the citizens, poor as well as rich, had a right to give their suffrages. They were liable to a penalty,