morals. Whilst they sat in judgment, they held in their hands kind of sceptre, which was the mark of their dignity, and laid it down when they withdrew. The judges' salary was different at different times. They had at first only an obolus a day, and afterwards three, at which their fee remained fixed. It was but a small matter in itself, but became in time a very great charge to the public, and exhausted the treasury without much enriching individuals. We may judge of this from what is related in Aristophanes's comedy of The Wasps, wherein that poet ridicules the fondness of the Athenians for trying causes, and their eager desire for the gain arising from it, which protracted and multiplied suits without end. In this comedy, a young Athenian who was to act the part I have mentioned, of turning the judges and trials of Athens into ridicule, from a computation which he makes of the revenues paid into the public treasury, finds their amount to be 2000 talents. He then examines how much of that sum falls to the share of the 6000 judges, with whom Athens was overrun, at three oboli a head per day. This appears to be annually, including all of them, only 150 talents.† The calculation is easy. The judges were paid only ten months in the year, the other two being employed in festivals, when all proceedings at law were prohibited. Now three oboli a day paid to 6000 men, makes fifteen talents a month, and consequently 150 in ten months. According to this calculation, the most assiduous judge gained only seventy-five livres (about three guineas) a year. What then becomes of the remainder of the 2000 talents? cries the young Athenian. What? replies his father, who was one of the judges, it goes to those but let us not expose the shame of Athens; let us always be for the people. The young Athenian goes on to insinuate that the remainder went to such as robbed the public treasury; to the orators, who incessant y flattered the people, and to those who were employed in the government and army. I have extracted this remark from the works of Father Brumoi the Jesuit, of which I have already made much use, where I have spoken of the public shows and dramatic representations. SECTION VIII. Of the Amphictyons. The famous council of the Amphictyons is introduced here, though it was not peculiar to the Athenians, but common to all Greece, because it is often mentioned in the Grecian history, and I do not know whether I shall have a more natural occasion to mention it. The assembly of the Amphictyons was in a manner the holding of a general assembly of the states of Greece. The establishment of it is attributed to Amphictyon, king of Athens, and son of Deucalion, who gave them his name. His principal view in the insti * About 280,0007, sterling. † About 70001. sterling. tution of this council, was to unite in the sacred band of amity the several people of Greece admitted into it, and to oblige them by that union to undertake the defence of each other, and be mutually vigilant for the happiness and tranquillity of their country. The Amphictyons were also created to be protectors of the oracle of Delphi, and the guardians of the prodigious riches of that temple, and also to adjudge the differences which might arise between the Delphians and those who came to consult the oracle. This council was held at Thermopylæ, and sometimes at Delphi itself. It assembled regularly twice a year, in the spring and autumn, and more frequently when affairs required. The number of people or cities which had a right to sit in this assembly is not precisely known, and varied, without doubt, at different times. When the Lacedæmonians, in order to secure to themselves alone an influence over the decrees of this council, were desirous of excluding the Thessalians, Argives, and Thebans, Themistocles,* in the speech he made to the Amphictyons to prevent that design from taking effect, seems to insinuate that there were only one-and-thirty cities at that time which had this right. Each city sent two deputies, and, consequently, had two votes in the council; and that without distinction, or the more powerful having any prerogative of honour or pre eminence over inferior states in regard to the suffrages; the liberty upon which these nations valued themselves, requiring that every thing should be equal amongst them. The Amphictyons had full power to discuss and determine finally in all differences which might arise between the Amphictyonic cities, and to fine the culpable in heavy penalties. They could employ not only the rigour of the laws in the execution of their decrees, but even raise troops, if it were necessary, to compel such as rebelled to submit to them. The three sacred wars undertaken by their order, of which I have spoken elsewhere, are an evident proof of this power. Before they were installed into this body, they took a very remarkable oath, of which Eschinest has preserved the form: it runs to this effect: I swear that I will never destroy any of the cities honoured with the right of sitting in the Amphictyonic council, nor turn their running waters out of their course either in times of war or peace. If any people shall make such an attempt, I hereby engage to carry the war into their country, to demolish their cities, towns, and villages, and to treat them in every respect as the most cruel enemies. Moreover, if at any time any person shall dare to be so impious as to steal and take away any of the rich offerings preserved in the temple of Apollo at Delphi, or abet any others in committing that crime, either by aiding or only counselling him therein, I will use my feet, hands, voice; in a word, all my powers and faculties to avenge such Plut. in Themist. p. 122. † Æschin. in Orat. περί παραπρεσβείας. sacrilege. That oath was attended with the most terrible imprecations and execrations: That if any one infringes any thing contained in the oath I have now taken, whether private person, city, or people, may that person, city, or people, be deemed accursed; and, as such, experience the whole vengeance of Apollo, Latona, Diana, and Minerva the fore-knower. May their country produce none of the fruits of the earth, and their women, instead of generating children resembling their fathers, bring forth nothing but monsters; and may their animals share in the same curse. May those sacrilegious men lose all their suits at law; may they be conquered in war, have their houses demolished, and be themselves and their children put to the sword. I am not astonished that after such terrible engagements, the holy war, undertaken by the order of the Amphictyons, should be carried on with so much rancour and fury. The religion of an oath was of great force with the ancients; and how much more regard ought to be had to it in the Christian world, which professes to be lieve that the violation of it shall be punished with eternal torments: and yet how many are there amongst us who make a jest of break ing through the most solemn oaths? The authority of the Amphictyons had always been of great weight in Greece, but it began to decline exceedingly from the mo ment they condescended to admit l'hilip of Macedon into their body For that prince, enjoying by this means all their rights and privileges, soon knew how to set himself above all law, and to abuse his power so far as to preside by proxy both in this illustrious assembly and in the Pythian games; of which games the Amphictyons were judges and agonothetæ in virtue of their office. With this Demosthenes reproaches him in his third Philippic: When he does not deign, says he, to honour us with his presence, he sends his slaves to preside over us. An odious but emphatical term, and highly characteristic of Grecian liberty, by which the Athenian orator designates the base and abject subjection of the greatest lords in Philip's court. If the reader desires a more intimate knowledge of what relates to the Amphictyons, the dissertations of Monsieur Valois may be consulted, in the Memoirs of the Academy of Belles Lettres,* wherein this subject is treated with great extent and erudition. SECTION IX. Of the revenues of Athens. The revenues, according to the passage of Aristophanes, which I have cited above, and consequently as they stood in the time of the Peloponnesian war, amounted to 2000 talents; that is to say, to 6,000,000 of livres. They are generally classed under four heads. 1. The first relates to the revenues arising from agriculture, the sale of woods, the produce of the silver mines, and other funds of † Τέλη. Vol. iii. a like nature, appertaining to the public. Amongst these may be included the duties upon the import and export of merchandise, and the taxes levied upon the inhabitants of the city, as well natives as strangers. In the history of Athens mention is often made of the silver mines of Laurium, which was a mountain situate between the Pæeus and Cape Sunium, and those of Thrace, from whence many persons drew immense riches. Xenophon,* in a treatise wherein he considers this subject at large, demonstrates how much the public might gain by industriously working these mines, from the example of many individuals who had been enriched by them. Hipponicust let his mines and 600 slaves to an undertaker, who paid him an ololust a day for each slave, clear of all charges, which amounted to a mina per day, about 21. 5s. Nicias, who was killed in Sicily, farmed out his mines and 1000 slaves in the same manner, and with the same profit in proportion to that number. 2. The second species of revenue were the contributions paid to the Athenians by the allies for the common expenses of the war. At first, under Aristides they amounted to only 460 talents. Pericles augmented them almost a third, and raised them to 600, and some time after they were run up to 1300. Taxes, which in the beginning were moderate and necessary, became thus in a little time excessive and exorbitant, notwithstanding all the protestations to the contrary made to the allies, and the most solemn engagements entered into with them. 3. A third sort of revenue were the extraordinary capitation taxes, levied upon the inhabitants of the country, as well natives as strangers, in pressing occasions and emergencies of the state. 4. The fines laid upon persons by the judges for different misdemeanours, were applied to the uses of the public, and laid up in the treasury, with the exception of the tenth part of them, which was consecrated to Minerva, and a fiftieth to the other divinities. The most natural ai.d legitimate application of these different revenues of the republic, was in paying the troops both by sea and land, building and fitting out fleets, keeping up and repairing the public buildings, temples, walls, ports, and citadels. But the greatest part of them, especially after Pericles's time, was misapplied to unnecessary uses, and often consumed in frivolous expenses; games, feasts, and shows, which cost immense sunis, and were of no manner of utility to the state. *De ration. redi uum. ↑ Page 925. Six oboli made a drachma, 100 drachmas a mina, and sixty minæ a talent G 2 SECTION X. Of the education of the youth. I place this article under the head of government, because all the most celebrated legislators have with reason believed that the education of youth was an essential part of it. The exercises that served to form either the bodies or minds of the young Athenians (and as much may be said of almost all the Feople of Greece,) were dancing, music, hunting, fencing, riding, polite learning, and philosophy. It is clear, that I only skim over, and treat very slightly, these several articles. 1. Dancing. Music. Dancing is one of those bodily exercises which was cultivated by the Greeks with great attention. It made a part of what the an cients called the Gymnastic, divided according to Plato,* into two kinds, the Orchestic, which takes its name from dancing, and the Palæstric, so called from a Greek word which signifies wrestling The exercises of the latter kind principally conduced to form the body for the fatigues of war, navigation, agriculture, and the other uses of society. Dancing had another end, and taught such rules of motion as were most proper to render the shape free and easy; to give the body a just proportion, and the whole person an unconstrained, noble, and graceful air; in a word, an external politeness, if we may be allowed to use the expression, which never fails to prepossess people in favour of those who have been formed to it early. Music was cultivated with no less application and success. The ancients ascribed wonderful effects to it. They believed it well calculated to calm the passions, soften the manners, and even hu manize nations naturally savage and barbarous. Polybius, a grave and serious historian, who is certainly worthy of belief, attributes the extreme difference between two nations of Arcadia, the one infinitely beloved and esteemed for the elegance of their manners, their benevolent inclinations, humanity to strangers, and piety to the gods; the other, on the contrary, generally reproached and hated for their malignity, brutality, and irreligion: Polybius, I say, ascribes this difference to the study of music (I mean, says he, the true and genuine music,) industriously cultivated by the one, and absolutely neglected by the other nation. After this it is not surprising that the Greeks should have considered music as an essential part in the education of youth. Socrates himself, in a very advanced age, was not ashamed of learning to * Πάλη. • Ορχεσθαι, saltarc. 1 Polyb. 1. iv. p. 236-291. Socrates, jam senex, institui lyrâ non crubescebat. Quintil. §. I. c. 10. |