Chapter IX.
§ 1. Constitutions of Argos. § 2. Epidaurus, Ægina, Cos. § 3. Rhodes. § 4. Corinth. § 5. Corcyra. § 6. Ambracia, Leucadia, Epidamnus, Apollonia. § 7. Syracuse. § 8. Gela, Agrigentum. § 9. Sicyon, Phlius. § 10. Megara. § 11. Byzantium, Chalcedon, Heraclea Pontica. § 12. Cnidos, Melos, Thera. § 13. Cyrene. § 14. Tarentum. § 15. Heraclea Sciritis. § 16. Croton. § 17. And Delphi. § 18. Aristocratic character of the constitution of Sparta.
1. It is my intention in the present chapter to collect and arrange the various accounts respecting the alterations in the constitution of those Doric states, which deviated more from their original condition than Crete and Sparta: having been more affected by the general revolutions of the Greek governments, and drawn with greater violence into the strong current of political change.
And first, with regard to Argos, I will extract the following particulars from former parts of this work. There were in this state three classes of persons; the inhabitants of the city, who were for the most part Dorians, distributed into four tribes; a class of [pg 146] Periœci, and also a class of bondslaves, named gymnesii.[623] The kings, who were at first of the Heraclide family, and afterwards of another dynasty, reigned until the time of the Persian war;[624] there were also officers named artynæ, and a senate possessing extensive powers. All these are traces which seem to prove a considerable resemblance between the constitutions of Argos and Sparta, at least they show that there was no essential difference. But this similarity was put an end to by the destruction of a large portion of the citizens, in the battle with Cleomenes, and the consequent admission of many Periœci to the rights of citizenship.[625] Soon after this period, we find Argos flourishing in population, industry, and wealth;[626] and in the enjoyment of a democratic constitution.[627] The latter, however, was ill adapted to acquire the ascendency in Peloponnesus, which Argos endeavoured to obtain after the peace of Nicias. Hence the people appointed a board of twelve men, with full powers to conclude treaties with any Greek state that was willing to join their party; but in case of Sparta or Athens proposing any such alliance, the question was to be first referred to the whole people.[628] The state also, in order to form the nucleus of an army, levied a body of well-armed men,[629] who were selected from the higher ranks.[630] It was natural that these should endanger the democracy; and after the battle of Mantinea (B.C. 418.) they overthrew it, in concert with the [pg 147] Lacedæmonians, after having put the demagogues to death.[631] Their dominion, however, only lasted for eight months, as an insurrection and battle within the city deprived them of their power, and reinstated the democracy.[632] Alcibiades the Athenian completed this change by the expulsion of many oligarchs, who were still remaining in the city;[633] afterwards he wished to overthrow the democracy by means of his friends,[634] in consequence of which they were all killed. Two parties, however, must have still continued to exist in this state. Æneas the Tactician relates, that the rich purposing to attack the people for the second time, and on a certain night having introduced many soldiers into the city, the leaders of the people hastily summoned an assembly, and ordered that every armed man should that night pass muster in his tribe,[635] by which means the rich were prevented from uniting themselves in a body. The leaders of the people (δήμου προστάται[636]) are here manifestly democratic magistrates, who rose to power during the contests between the opposite factions, and differed chiefly from the demagogues of Athens, in that their authority was official, without which they would not have been able to convene an [pg 148] assembly of the people. For although the appellation of δήμου προστάτης in the Doric states, as well as at Athens, sometimes denotes merely a person who by his character and eloquence had placed himself at the head of the people; we shall produce hereafter certain proofs, when we speak of Gela and Calymna, that it was also the title of a public officer.[637]
When, during the peace of Artaxerxes, the Lacedæmonians had ceased to possess any extensive share in the direction of public affairs in Peloponnesus, a spirit of ungovernable licentiousness and ochlocracy arose in those cities which had hitherto been under an oligarchical rule; everywhere there were vexatious accusations, banishments, and confiscations of property, especially of the property of such persons as had filled public offices under the guidance of Sparta, though, even during that period, (B.C. 374.) Argos had been a place of refuge for banished democrats.[638] But after the battle of Leuctra, when the power of Lacedæmon was completely broken, and Peloponnesus had for a certain time lost its leader, the greatest anarchy began to prevail in Argos. Demagogues stirred up the people so violently against all privileged or distinguished persons, that the latter thought themselves driven to plot the overthrow of the democracy.[639] The scheme was discovered, and the people raged with the greatest ferocity against the real or supposed conspirators. On this occasion, more than 1200 of the chief persons (many upon mere suspicion) were put to death;[640] and at length the demagogues, fearing to carry [pg 149] through the measures which themselves had originated, suffered the same fate. This state of things was called by the name of σκυταλισμὸς, or club-law; it appears to have been a time when the strongest man was the most powerful. When the Athenians heard of these transactions, they purified their market-place, thinking that the whole of Greece was polluted by such atrocities:[641] it was probably at the same time that the Argives themselves offered an expiatory sacrifice to the mild Zeus (Ζεὺς Μειλίχιος), for the free blood which had been shed.[642] Notwithstanding these proceedings, the rich and distinguished continued to be persecuted at Argos with the greatest violence;[643] for which the ostracism, a custom introduced from Athens,[644] together with other democratic institutions,[645] was the chief instrument. In times such as these, the chief and most noble features of the Doric character necessarily disappeared; the unfortunate termination of nearly all military undertakings[646] proves the decline of bravery. In so unsettled a state of public affairs, sycophancy and violence became prevalent:[647] notwithstanding which, their eagerness and attention to public speaking produced no orator, whose fame was sufficient to descend to posterity.[648]
2. In Epidaurus, on the other hand, the aristocracy continued in force, and accordingly this city [pg 150] was as much attached to the Spartans, as Argos was disinclined to them. Of the artynæ in this state, and of the senate of 180, as well as of the class of cultivators, and of the tribes, we have spoken in former parts of this work.[649]
As long as Ægina remained an independent state, the government was held by the hereditary aristocracy, whose titular dignity was probably increased by the power derived from the possession of great wealth. The insurrection of a democratic party remained fruitless. Ægina and Corinth are decisive proofs, that under an aristocratical government an active and enterprising spirit of commerce may arise and flourish.
The Epidaurian colony, Cos, without doubt, originally adopted the constitution of its mother-state. Before the 75th (probably about the 73rd or 74th) Olympiad, we find a tyrant appointed by the king of Persia reigning in this island, Cadmus, the son of Scythes of Zancle;[650] after some time, however, he quitted Cos, having established a senate, and given back the state its freedom; yet the island appears to have immediately afterwards fallen under the dominion of Artemisia.[651] At a later period, the influence of Athens opened the way to democracy, but it was overthrown by violent demagogues, who compelled the chief persons in self-defence to combine against it.[652] The senate (βουλὴ or γερουσία) of the Coans, as well as their prytanes, have been mentioned above;[653] the nominal magistrates under the Roman dominion need not be here treated of.
3. In the Argive colony of Rhodes, it may be supposed [pg 151] that an ancient Doric constitution existed; for there were kings of the Heraclide family, and probably also a council with the same powers as the Spartan gerusia. The royalty expired after the 30th Olympiad (660 B.C.); but the ancient family of the Eratidæ at Ialysus, retained a considerable share in the government; probably exercising nearly the powers of a prytanis. Pindar shows that the frame of justice belonged to this once royal family,[654] when he says, “Give, O father Zeus, to Diagoras favour both with citizens and with strangers, since he walks constantly in the way opposed to violence, knowing well what the just minds of noble ancestors have inspired in him. Destroy not the common progeny of Callianax. At the solemnities for the victory of the Eratidæ, the whole city rejoices in banquets. Yet in a moment of time many winds meet from many quarters.” Pindar thus early (464 B.C.) predicts the dangers that then awaited the ancient family, to which Rhodes owed so much, from the growing influence of Athens;[655] throughout the whole ode he cautions the citizens against precipitate innovation, and prays for the continuance of the ancient firmly-seated constitution.[656] Both prophecies were fulfilled. The sons of Diagoras were condemned to death, and banished by the Athenians, as heads of the aristocracy; but the hero Dorieus returned to his country from Thurii, with Thurian ships, and fought with them against the enemies of his family, as a faithful [pg 152] partisan of the Spartans. He was taken by the Athenians in the year 405 B.C., who, when about to condemn him, were moved by the appearance of the noble son of Diagoras (whose boldness of spirit corresponded with the size and beauty peculiar to his family), to release him from imprisonment and death.[657] The ancient fortune of the Rhodians, which was owing to their strict adherence to the Doric customs, and to their great commercial activity, was interrupted by the troubles of the Peloponnesian war, in which the alternation of the Athenian and Lacedæmonian influence by turns introduced democracy and aristocracy. At the time of the Sicilian expedition, Rhodes was under the power of Athens;[658] but the Spartans having in 412 B.C. obtained the superiority in this island,[659] and Dorieus having been recalled by them (413 B.C.) in order to suppress internal dissensions, the governing power again reverted to the nobles: these latter having been compelled to unite against the people by the demagogues, who, while they distributed the public money among the people in the shape of salaries, had not repaid the sums due to the trierarchs, and at the same time vexed them by continual lawsuits.[660] Soon [pg 153] after this period (408 B.C.),[661] the large city of Rhodes was founded, by collecting to one spot the inhabitants of the three small cities of the island, Lindus, Ialysus, and Camirus. But in 396 B.C. Rhodes was again recovered by Conon to Athens, and became democratical;[662] yet in five years (391 B.C.) the Spartan party was again victorious;[663] and the Social War finally put an end to the influence of the Athenians. From this time the interference of the Carian rulers, Mausolus and Artemisia, commenced, by which the oligarchy was greatly raised, and the democratical party driven out; to restore which, and to regard rather the cause of popular freedom in Greece, than the injuries received from the Rhodians, was the advice of Demosthenes to the Athenians.[664] At that time a Carian garrison was in the Acropolis of Rhodes. Out of these troubles and dissensions a constitution arose, in which, as far as we are able to ascertain, democracy prevailed, although the small number and extensive powers of the prytanes prove that it was not unmixed with aristocratical elements. According to the description which Cicero puts in the mouth of the younger Scipio, at this time all the members of the [pg 154] senate belonged (in the same year) to the public assembly, and sat in alternate months (probably periods of six months, like the prytanes) in the senate and among the people; in both capacities they received pay (conventicium): the same persons also sometimes sat as judges among the people in the theatre, sometimes in the senate in criminal and other cases.[665] These statements cannot be easily reconciled with Strabo's view of the constitution, and yet there can be no doubt that he, as well as Cicero, speaks of the time preceding Cassius' conquest of Rhodes. “The Rhodians,” he says, “though not under a democratic government, took great care of the people; in order to support the number of poor in the state, they provided them with corn, and the rich maintained the poor according to an ancient custom; there were also liturgies, by which the people were furnished with meat, &c.”[666] Notwithstanding the democratic institution of the senate, many offices, those perhaps in particular which were connected with the administration, such for example as the superintendence of the marine, were managed on oligarchical principles; the internal quiet of Rhodes at this period is also a proof against the existence of an unmixed democracy. Accordingly, the true Doric characteristics were here retained for a longer time than in most other Doric states; viz., courage, constancy, patriotism, with a haughty sternness [pg 155] of manners, and a certain temperance, which was indeed in some manner contrasted with their magnificence in meals, buildings, and all arts.[667]
4. Corinth, delivered by Sparta from its tyrants, had again reverted to its former constitution, which however was not so oligarchical as the hereditary aristocracy of the Bacchiadæ. Some noble families, as the Oligæthidæ,[668] had a priority, probably the gerusia was composed of them; and the public assembly was restricted in a manner similar to that of Sparta. But at the same time Pindar celebrates Corinth as “the city in which Eunomia (or good government) dwells, and her sisters, the firm supports of cities, Justice and Peace, the bestowers of riches, who know how to keep off Violence, the bold mother of Arrogance.” From these words it may also be conjectured, that the aristocratical party was compelled to resist the endeavours made by the people to extend their power: it remained, however, unshaken up to the date of the Peloponnesian war, and Corinth, with the exception of a short time, continued the faithful ally of Sparta, and foe of Athens.[669] At a later period, a democratic party, which relied upon Argos, rose in Corinth, by the assistance of Persian money: this at first obtained the supreme power, and afterwards attacked the Lacedæmonian party, consisting of the noble families, at the festival of the Euclea; and at last proceeded so far, as to wish to abolish the independence of Corinth, and to [pg 156] incorporate it completely with Argos (B.C. 395 and 394.)[670] The banished aristocrats, supported by some Lacedæmonians who were quartered at Sicyon, continued nevertheless to keep up a contest, and maintained themselves at Lechæum;[671] after this they must have returned and restored the ancient constitution: for we find Corinth again true to the Lacedæmonian alliance.[672] In the time of Dion (356 B.C.) Corinth was under a government nearly oligarchical, little business being transacted in the popular assembly:[673] and although this body sent Timoleon as general of the state to Sicily (B.C. 345.), there was then in existence a gerusia (a name completely aristocratic), which not only treated with foreign ambassadors, but also, which is very remarkable, exercised a criminal jurisdiction.[674] The tyranny of Timophanes, who was slain by Timoleon, was, according to Aristotle, a short interruption of the oligarchy.[675]
5. From the moderate and well-balanced constitution, which Corinth had upon the whole the good fortune to possess, its colony Corcyra had at an early period departed. Founded under the guidance of Chersicrates, a Bacchiad, it was for a time governed by the Corinthian families, which had first taken possession of the colony. At the same time, however, a popular party was formed, which obtained a greater power by the violent disruption of Corcyra from its [pg 157] mother-country, and the hostile relation in which the two states were thus placed. In addition to these differences, the connexion between Corcyra and the Peloponnesian league had been relaxed, and was replaced by a closer intimacy with Athens; so that while the aristocratic party had lost its hold, the democratic influence had taken a deep root. The people also strengthened themselves by the union of a numerous class of slaves.[676] By means of this combined force, the aristocratical party was overthrown, whose expulsion was attended with such scenes of blood and atrocity, as were hardly known in any other state of Greece.[677] But even before these occurrences the constitution had been democratical.[678] The popular assembly had the supreme power; and although the senate had perhaps a greater authority than at Athens,[679] it was manifestly only a part of the demus:[680] leaders of the people appear to have been in this, as well as in other states, a regular office.[681] From this time the most unbounded freedom prevailed at Corcyra, of which the Greek proverb says coarsely indeed, but expressively, Ἑλευθέρα Κόρκυρα, χέζ᾽ ὅπου θέλεις.[682] The Corcyreans were active, industrious, and enterprising, good sailors, and active merchants; but they had entirely lost the stability and noble features of the Doric character. In absence of all modesty they even exceeded the Athenians, among whom the very dogs, as a certain philosopher said, were more [pg 158] impudent than in any other place: fabulous reports were circulated in Greece, respecting the excessive luxury of the successors of the Phæacians.[683] Yet even in this state an antidemocratic party, inclined to the Lacedæmonians, was never entirely expelled; and it frequently rose against the people without success,[684] but in the time of Chares with a fortunate result,[685] The four or five[686] prytanes, who were at a later period the chief magistrates of Corcyra, seem not to have been entirely democratic magistrates, although the government was democratical; besides these officers, there occur in an important monument,[687] πρόδικοι βουλᾶς, who appear as accusers in a lawsuit which has reference to the administration; also πρόβουλοι[688] with a προστάτης, who brings a lawsuit of the same description before the courts; besides which we learn, that from time to time revisions (διορθώσεις) of the laws took place, for which certain persons named διορθωτῆρες were appointed; and that a ταμίας and a διοικητὴς were among the financial authorities.
6. Another colony of Corinth, Ambracia, had been ruled by a tyrant of the family of the Cypselidæ, named Gorgus (Gorgias), who was succeeded by Periander, evidently a member of the same [pg 159] house:[689] this latter tyrant, having insulted one of the subjects of his illicit pleasures, was put to death by the relations of the latter.[690] The people had taken a share in the insurrection, and obtained the supreme power:[691] the first change having, however, been into a government founded on property, which insensibly passed into a democracy, on account of the low rate of property which qualified a person for public offices.[692]
In the Corinthian colony of Leucadia, the large estates were originally inalienable, and in the possession of the nobles: when the inalienability was abolished, a certain amount of property was no longer required for the holding of public offices, by which the government became democratic.[693]
Epidamnus was founded by Corinthians and Corcyæeans, and a Heraclide, Phalias, from the mother-country, was leader of the colony. It cannot be doubted that the founders took possession of the best lands, and assumed the powers of government, only [pg 160] admitting persons of the same race to a share. A single magistrate, similar to the cosmopolis at Opus, was at the head of the administration;[694] the phylarchs composed a species of council. But in the second period of the constitution, the phylarchs were replaced by a senate (βουλὴ), chosen on democratic principles: a remnant, however, of the early constitution was preserved, in the regulation that all magistrates, who were chosen from the ancient citizens (the proper πολίτευμα), were compelled to be present in the public assembly, if a magistrate required it;[695] the highest archon also alone remained.[696] The Peloponnesian war was occasioned by a contest between the popular party at Epidamnus, and the nobles, in which the Corinthians, from jealousy against Corcyra, unmindful of their true interests, supported the former: of the issue of this contest we are not informed. The number of resident and industrious foreigners was very great:[697] besides this class of persons, none but public slaves were employed in mechanical labour, and never any citizen.[698]
Of all the Corinthian settlements, Apollonia kept the nearest to the original colonial constitution,[699] upon which its fame for justice is probably founded.[700] The government remained almost exclusively in the hands of the noble families and [pg 161] descendants of the first colonists, to whom the large estates doubtless belonged.[701] Perhaps Apollonia was indebted for the stability of its government to the Xenelasia;[702] an institution which was of the first importance for the preservation of ancient Greek customs, to a state closely bordering on barbarous nations.
7. That we may not disturb the order of the Corinthian colonies, we will immediately proceed to consider the state of Syracuse. In the Syracusan constitution the following were the chief epochs. In the first, the government was in the hands of the gamori,[703] originally together with a king,[704] whose office was afterwards abolished. These we have already stated[705] to have been the original colonists, who took possession of the large estates cultivated by native bondslaves, and exercised the chief governing power. It is probable that the magistrates, and the members of the council,[706] who were leaders of the people in the assembly (ἁλία), were chosen from this body; in the same manner as the geomori of Samos formed a council, which after the subversion of the royalty governed the state.[707] Against these authorities, the people, having gradually become more pressing in their demands, at length rebelled, and expelled them, by combining with their slaves the Cyllyrii (before B.C. 492.[708]); but the democracy [pg 162] which succeeded was so irregular and lawless, that it was of very short duration;[709] the people therefore voluntarily opened the gates to Gelon, when he came to restore the gamori, and gave themselves entirely into his power,[710] in 485 B.C. The rule of Gelon, and of his successor, was, although monarchical, yet not oppressive, and upon the whole beneficial to the state: as the former allowed an extraordinary assembly of the people to decide concerning his public administration,[711] it may be perhaps supposed that he wished to be considered an Æsymnetes, to whom the city, overcome by difficulties, intrusted the unlimited disposal of its welfare. With the overthrow of this dynasty, the second period begins, during which there was upon the whole a moderate constitution, called by most writers democracy,[712] and by Aristotle distinguished from democracy as a politeia, in his peculiar sense of the word.[713] Immediately after the downfall of Thrasybulus an assembly was convened, in which it was debated concerning the constitution. The public offices were only to be filled by the ancient citizens; while those who had been admitted by Gelon from other cities, together with the naturalized mercenaries,[714] were not [pg 163] to enjoy the complete rights of citizenship:[715] measures which occasioned a war within the walls of Syracuse. Lastly, in this, as well as in the other states of Sicily, peace was re-established by the restoration of the ancient citizens, a separation of the foreigners, who found a settlement at Messana, and a new allotment of the lands,[716] in which the estates of the nobles were probably divided anew. At the same time, by the violence of these proceedings, the states of Sicily were reduced to a feeble condition, which occasioned numerous attempts to set up a tyranny. As a security against this danger, the people (in 454 B.C.) established the institution called petalism, in imitation of the ostracism of Athens; but they had sufficient discernment soon to abolish this new form of tyranny, as all distinguished and well educated men[717] were deterred by it from taking a part in public affairs. Syracuse suffered at that time, as well as Athens, by the intrigues of demagogues and cabals of sycophants.[718] In this city, at an early period, a talent for the subtleties of oratory had begun to develope itself; which owed its origin to Corax, a man employed by Hieron as a secret spy and confidant, and celebrated among the people as a powerful orator and sagacious [pg 164] councillor.[719] The naturally refined, acute, and lively temperament of the Sicilian Greeks[720] had already turned towards cunning and deceit; and in particular the young, eager after all novelty, ran counter to the temperance and severity of the ancient customs and mode of life.[721] As to the constitution at the time of the Sicilian war, we know that all public affairs of importance were decided in the popular assembly,[722] and the management of them was in great part confided to the leaders of the people (δήμου προστάται), who seem to have been regular public officers.[723] In what manner the people was led, is shown by the instance of Athenagoras, who represents the expedition of the Athenians, when already approaching the shores of Sicily, as a story invented by the oligarchs to terrify the people. To what extent a complete freedom of speaking before the people existed, is not altogether clear.[724] That persons of an aristocratic disposition still continued to possess political power, is evident from the speech of Athenagoras;[725] and it is probable from Aristotle, that they had an exclusive right to [pg 165] certain offices. The third period begins with the victory over the Athenian armament. As this was decided by the fleet of the Syracusans, the men of inferior rank, who served as sailors, obtained a large increase of importance in their own sight, and were loud in their demands for admission to the highest offices; in the very same manner as at Athens, after the battle of Salamis. In 412 B.C., upon the proposal of Diocles the demagogue,[726] a commission was appointed for the arrangement of a new constitution, in which the original contriver of the plan had himself the first place. The government was thus converted into a complete democracy, of which the first principle was, that the public offices should be filled not by election, but by lot.[727] There was formed at the same time a collection of written laws, which were very precise and explicit in the determination of punishments, and were doubtless intended, by their severity, to keep off those troubles, which the new constitution could not fail to produce. This code, which was also adopted by other Sicilian states, was written in an ancient native dialect, which seventy years afterwards (in the time of Timoleon) required an interpreter.[728] Notwithstanding these precautions, we find the democracy an Olympiad and a half later fallen into such contempt,[729] that the people, utterly incapable of protecting the city in the dangers of the time, appointed a general with unlimited power: [pg 166] which measure, though always attended with bad success, they repeatedly had recourse to. Dionysius, a man powerful as well from his talents, as from the means which his situation as demagogue afforded him of keeping the people in continual dread of the nobles,[730] soon became tyrant;[731] but he still allowed an appearance of freedom to remain in public assemblies, which he summoned, conducted, and dismissed.[732] Dion restored the democracy for a short time, and only partially;[733] for it was his real intention to introduce a Doric aristocracy upon the model of those in Sparta and Crete.[734] Timoleon with more decision abolished the democracy, and restored the former constitution,[735] as may be supposed, not without sycophants and demagogues, who were not slow to turn their arms against the founder of the new liberty.[736] A mixture of aristocracy is discernible in the office of amphipolus of the Olympian Zeus, which lasted three centuries from 343 B.C. and probably combined political influence with the highest dignity; the person who filled it gave his name to the year. Three candidates were chosen for this office from three families by vote, and one of the three was selected by lot.[737]
It may be observed, that Timoleon caused a revision of the laws to be made by Cephalus, a Corinthian, who, however, was only called an interpreter of the code of Diocles, although, as it appears, he entirely remodelled the civil law.[738] We must pass hastily over the later times, remarking in general, that a feeble democracy continued to exist, frequently contending with clubs of oligarchs,[739] and afterwards falling into the hand of tyrants who had risen from demagogues; such, for instance, as Agathocles, who undertook to bring about a redivision of the lands, and an abolition of all claims of debt.[740] Hiero II. did not suppress the council of the city, which Hieronymus never consulted; but as it again returned into existence immediately after the death of the latter prince, it appears that it could not have been a body chosen annually, but a board appointed for a considerable period.[741] The generals had at all times very large powers, especially in the popular assembly, in which, however, persons of the lowest condition had liberty to speak.[742] Another military office also, that of the hipparchs, exercised a superintendence over the internal affairs of the state, in order to guard against disturbances.[743]
8. After this account of the constitution of Syracuse, we may proceed to notice those of Gela, and its colony Agrigentum; as these cities, though deriving their origin from Rhodes, perhaps took Syracuse for their model in the formation of their government. In both states the noble and wealthy first held the ruling power; which was afterwards for a long time possessed by tyrants.[744] Agrigentum, after the overthrow of Thrasydæus in 473 B.C., received a democratic constitution:[745] we know, however, that at that time an assembly of a thousand, appointed for three years, governed the state. This assembly was suppressed by Empedocles the philosopher;[746] who obtained so large a share of popular favour that he was even offered the office of king.[747] The assembly of a thousand also occurs in Rhegium and Croton, in speaking of which city we will again mention this subject. Further than this all information fails us. Scipio established anew the senate of Agrigentum, and ordered that the number of the new colonists of Manlius should never exceed that of the ancient [pg 169] citizens.[748] The same senate, in an inscription of the Roman time,[749] is called σύγκλητος, συνέδριον, and βουλὴ, and appears to have consisted of 110 members; the day of meeting is stated: it appears that the senate then alternated every two months;[750] the decree of the senate is referred to the popular assembly (ἁλία); over which a προάγορος presided[751] (which was also the name of the supreme magistrate at Catana in the time of Cicero);[752] the Hyllean tribe has the precedency on the day of this assembly. A hierothytes gives his name to the year, corresponding to the amphipolus at Syracuse; in whose place a hierapolus[753] is mentioned in a similar decree of Gela,[754] together with whom a κατενιαύσιος, an annual magistrate (perhaps archon), is mentioned. In this state the senate (βουλὴ) appears to have been changed every half year,[755] their decrees being also confirmed by the assembly (ἁλία);[756] the assembly is led by a προστάτης, the same magistrate whom we have already met with in nearly all the democratic states of the Dorians, in Argos, Corcyra, and Syracuse.[757]
9. We now return to Peloponnesus. In Sicyon the tyrants had, as in other states, been the leaders of a democratic party;[758] but their dominion put an end [pg 170] to the times of disturbance and irregularity, which had occasioned the Pythian priestess to say, that “Sicyon needed a disciplinarian.”[759] After their overthrow an early constitution was restored, which remained unshaken during the Peloponnesian war. We are only informed that in 418 B.C. the Lacedæmonians made the constitution more oligarchical;[760] that it had not previously been entirely democratical, is shown by the fidelity with which Sicyon adhered to the head of the Peloponnesian league. After the battle of Leuctra we find that Sicyon possessed an Achæan constitution, i.e., one founded on property, in which the rich were supreme;[761] Euphron, in 369 B.C., undertook to change this into a democracy, and thus obtained the tyranny, until the party of the nobles, whom he persecuted, overthrew him.[762] Plutarch states most clearly the changes in this constitution; “after the unmixed and Doric aristocracy[763] had been destroyed, Sicyon fell from one sedition, from one tyranny into another;” until, at the time of Aratus, it adopted the almost purely democratical institutions of the Achæans.
As Phlius during the whole Peloponnesian war remained faithful to the interest of Sparta and hostile to Argos, it is evident that the state was under an aristocratic government.[764] In a revolution which took place before 383 B.C. the Lacedæmonian party had been expelled, but were in the same year again received by the people; the government, however, did not become democratical, until Agesilaus, introduced by the former party, conquered the city, and remodelled [pg 171] the constitution[765] (379 B.C.). Before this period the democratic assembly consisted of more than 5000 members, those who were inclined to the Lacedæmonians furnished above 1000 heavy-armed soldiers. A very regular system of government is proved to have existed, by the patience and heroism with which the Phliasians, in 372-376 B.C., defended their city and country against the attacks of the Argives, Arcadians, Eleans, and Thebans, until, without breaking their fidelity to Sparta, they concluded a peace with Thebes and Argos (366 B.C.).
10. In Megara the tyranny of Theagenes, to which he rose from a demagogue, was overthrown by Sparta, and the early constitution restored, which for a time was administered with moderation,[766] but even during the Persian war it had already been rendered more democratical by the admission of Periœci.[767] The elegiac poet Theognis shows himself about this time the zealous friend of aristocracy;[768] he dreads in particular men who stir up the populace to evil, and, as leaders of parties, cause disorder and dissension in the peaceful city; he laments the disappearance of the pride of nobility, the general eagerness for riches, and the increase of a crafty and deceitful disposition.[769] These struggles after popular [pg 172] liberty, promoted by demagogues, soon produced the greatest disturbance; the people no longer paid the interest of their debts, and even required a cession of that which had been already paid (παλιντοκία); the houses of the rich, and the very temples, were plundered; many persons were banished for the purpose of confiscating their property.[770] It was perhaps at this time that the Megarians adopted the democratic institution of ostracism.[771] The nobles, however, soon returned, conquered the people in a battle, and restored an oligarchy, which was the more oppressive, as the public offices were for a time exclusively filled by persons who had fought against the people.[772] It is probable that the consequence of this return was the revolt of Megara from Athens, in 446 B.C.;[773] in the beginning of the Peloponnesian war the Lacedæmonian party was predominant. But in the eighth year of the war the aristocratic party of Megara was in banishment at Pegæ; and when they were about to be recalled, and restored to their city, the leaders of the people preferred to have the Athenians in the town rather than the citizens whom they had driven from their walls. By the influence of Brasidas, however, they returned, upon a promise of amnesty, which they did not long observe. For having first obtained the supreme offices (to which they must therefore have had a particular claim), they brought a hundred of their chief enemies before the people, and forced [pg 173] them to pass sentence upon the accused with open votes. The people, terrified by this measure, condemned them to death. At the same time the dominant party established a close and strict oligarchy,[774] which remained in existence for a very long period.[775] In 375 B.C., we again find that democracy was the established constitution, and that the attempts of the oligarchs to change it were defeated.[776] Demosthenes[777] mentions a court of three hundred in this state, sitting in judgment on public offences; and at this time nobility and wealth were frequently united in the same persons. Of the Megarian magistrates we have already mentioned a king,[778] to which may now be added the hieromnamon, an office always held by the priest of Poseidon,[779] and probably having the same duties and privileges as the amphipolus, hierapolus, and hierothytes in the Sicilian states. The antiquity of this office is evident from its occurrence in the colonies of Megara, Byzantium and Chalcedon. In the former a hieromnamon is mentioned in a decree quoted by Demosthenes,[780] who gives his name to the year; in the latter, a decree now extant[781] mentions first a king, then a hieromnamon, then a prophet, together with three nomophylaces, all administering the public [pg 174] affairs (αἰσυμνῶντες) for the appointed term of a month. The two first we have already seen united in the very same manner at Megara; the third refers to the worship of Apollo, of the transfer of which from the mother-state to Chalcedon we have already spoken, and pointed out an oracle of Apollo which was delivered there;[782] the nomophylaces also occur at Sparta. The hieromnamon was probably priest also of Poseidon in the colonies, the worship of which god, deriving its origin from the Isthmus of Corinth, was at least more prevalent than any other.[783]
11. The constitution of Byzantium was at first royal,[784] afterwards aristocratical,[785] and the oligarchy, which soon succeeded, was, in 390 B.C., changed by Thrasybulus the Athenian into democracy.[786] Equal privileges were at the same time probably granted to the new citizens, who, on account of their demands, had been driven from the city by the ancient colonists.[787] After this, the democracy appears to have continued for a long time;[788] but on account of the duration of this form of government, and the habit of passing their [pg 175] time in the market-place and the harbour, which the people had contracted from the situation of the town, a great dissoluteness of manners existed; and this was also transferred to the neighbouring city of Chalcedon, which had adopted the Byzantine democracy, and, together with its ancient constitution, had lost the temperance and regularity for which it had been distinguished. In these times the Byzantians were frequently in great financial difficulties, from which they often endeavoured to extricate themselves by violent measures.[789] In the document quoted by Demosthenes, the senate (βωλὰ) transfers a decree in its first stage, called ῥήτρα,[790] to an individual, in order to bring it before the people in the assembly (ἁλία), nearly in the same manner as was customary at Athens; the existing constitution is called in this document ἁ πάτριος πολιτεία. The office of archon was perhaps introduced together with the democracy;[791] the civil authority of the generals existed in many states in later times. The hundreds (ἑκατοστῦς) occur apparently as a subdivision of the tribes,[792] and therefore as a species of phratriæ;[793] they were probably common to all the colonies of Megara, since we find them in Heraclea on the Pontus. In this city we know to a certainty that the hundreds were divisions of the tribes, of which there were three;[794] the rich (i.e., the [pg 176] possessors of the original lots) were all in the same hundred; but the demagogues, intending to destroy the aristocracy, divided the people into sixty new hundreds, independent of the tribes, in which rich and poor were entered without distinction: nearly the same measure as that by which Cleisthenes had so greatly raised the democracy at Athens.
This Heraclea Pontica, a settlement in part of Bœotians, but chiefly from Megara,[795] had doubtless originally possessed the same constitution as other Doric colonies; and the different classes were, first, the possessors of the original lots; secondly, a demus, or popular party, who had settled either at the same time or subsequently; and, thirdly, the bondslaves, the Mariandynians.[796] Although we are not able to give any detailed account of the changes in the government of this state, it may be observed, that for a time the citizens alone had political power (the πολίτευμα); but that the people had the privilege of judging (that is, probably in civil cases), which occasioned a change in the constitution.[797] Before 364 B.C. the popular party demanded with violence an abolition of debts, and a new division of the territory; the senate, which at that time was not a body selected from the people, but from the aristocracy,[798] at length, being unable to act for itself, knew no other means than to call in the assistance of Clearchus, an exile, who immediately [pg 177] marched with a body of soldiers into the city. But, instead of protecting the dignity of those who had called him in, he became a leader of the people, and, what in fact he is already, who sets the blind fury and physical force of the multitude in action against justice and good order—a tyrant.[799] Clearchus put to death sixty of the members of the senate, whom he had seized,[800] liberated their slaves, i.e., the Mariandynians; and compelled their wives and daughters to marry these bondsmen, unquestionably the best means of extirpating an hereditary aristocracy; but the pride of noble descent was so strong in the breasts of these women, that the greater number freed themselves from the disgrace by suicide. It must be supposed, that a tyranny administered in so violent a spirit, and continued through several generations, destroyed every vestige of the ancient constitution.[801]
12. In the Spartan colony of Cnidos the government was a close aristocracy. At the head of the state was a council of sixty members, who were chosen from among the nobles. Its powers were precisely the same as those of the Spartan gerusia, from which its number is also copied. It debated concerning all [pg 178] public affairs, previously to their being laid before the assembly of the people, and had the superintendence of manners. The office lasted for life, and was subject to no responsibility.[802] The members were styled ἀμνήμονες, and the president was called ἀφεστὴρ, who inquired the opinion of each councillor. Only one person from each family was eligible to the council and public offices, younger brothers being excluded. This occasioned dissensions between members of the same family; those who were not admitted joined the popular party, and the oligarchy was overthrown.[803] This event probably took place a short time before the life of Aristotle. Eudoxus the philosopher, and Archias, a person of whom little is known, are mentioned as legislators of the Cnidians.[804]
In the Spartan island of Melos we find nothing remarkable, except that the power of the magistrates was at least greater than at Athens,[805] Of the ancient constitution of Thera, and of its ephors, we have already spoken.[806]
13. The changes in the government of Cyrene we pointed out when speaking of the Periœci. Originally the constitution was perhaps nearly similar to that of Sparta. Afterwards the ancient rights of the colonists came into collision with the claims of the later settlers, and at the same time the kings obtained an unconstitutional and nearly tyrannical power. It appears that they were stimulated by their connexion, both by friendship and marriage, with the sovereigns of Egypt, to change the ancient [pg 179] royalty into an oriental despotism. Hence, in the reign of Battus III., Demonax the Mantinean, who was called in to frame a constitution for this city, restored the supremacy of the community; he likewise gave to the new colonists equal rights of citizenship with the ancient citizens, although the latter doubtless still retained many privileges. The power of the kings was limited within the narrowest bounds; and they were only permitted to enjoy the revenues flowing from the sacerdotal office and their own lands,[807] whereas they had before claimed possession of the whole property of the state;[808] they had, like the Spartan kings, a seat and vote in the council, and probably presided over it, which duties were performed by Pheretime, the mother of Arcesilaus III., during the absence of her son.[809] These restrictions were, however, violently opposed by the princes just mentioned, as well as by their successors, who thus drew upon themselves their own ruin. Arcesilaus also, to whom Pindar addressed an ode, the fourth of the name, ruled with harshness, and protected his power by foreign mercenaries:[810] and the poet doubtless advised him with good reason, although without success, “not to destroy with sharp axe the branches of the great oak (the nobles of the state), and disfigure its beautiful form; for that, even when deprived of its vigour, it gives proof of its power, when the destructive [pg 180] fire of winter (of insurrection) snatches it; or, having left its own place desolate, serves a wretched servitude, supporting with the other columns the roof of the royal palace” (i.e., if the people in despair throws itself under the dominion of a foreign king).[811] But the soothing hand with which the poet advises that the wounds of the state should be treated was not that of Arcesilaus, celebrated only for his boldness and valour. For these reasons he was the last in the line of the princes of Cyrene (after 457 B.C.), and a democratical government succeeded. His son Battus took refuge in the islands of the Hesperides, where he died; and the head of his corpse was thrown by these republicans into the sea.[812] The new form of government obtained stability and duration by an entire change; the number of the tribes and phratrias was increased, the political union of the houses destroyed, the family rites were incorporated in the public worship,[813] &c. Some element of disturbance and revolution must, however, have been still left in the constitution,[814] if the Cyrenæans requested Plato to contrive for them a temperate and well-ordered government, which the philosopher is said to have declined, on the ground that they seemed too prosperous to themselves. At a later period, Lucullus the Roman [pg 181] is said to have restored the city to tranquillity, after many wars and tyrannies.[815]
14. In the constitution of the Lacedæmonian colony of Tarentum there were two chief periods. In the first we must infer, from the analogy of the other Doric colonies, that there was the same division of ranks, viz., noble citizens, governing the state under a king;[816] the people, to whom few and limited powers were allowed; and aboriginal bondsmen, chiefly residing upon the lands of the highest class.[817] This constitution must, however, have been gradually relaxed; for Aristotle calls it a politeia in the limited sense, which, as he informs us, lasted over the Persian war, and did not pass into a democracy until a large part of the nobles had been slain in a bloody battle against the Iapygians (474 B.C.)[818] The transition was introduced without any violent revolution, by some measures, in which the aristocracy submitted to the claims of the people. First of all, according to Aristotle,[819] they [pg 182] divided the public property among the poorer classes; but only gave them the use of it; i.e., apparently the public lands were apportioned out to them; but at the payment of a small rent, in token that they had not the absolute property in the soil. Besides this popular measure, the number of all the public offices was doubled; and one half was filled by election, the other by lot; in order, by the latter mode of nomination, to open a way to their attainment by the lower orders. This democracy at first promoted to a great degree the prosperity and power of the state,[820] while persons of character and dignity were at the head of the government; for example, one of the first men of the time, Archytas the Pythagorean, a man of singular vigour and wisdom, who, as well as all adherents of the Pythagorean league (of which he could not then have been a member), was of an aristocratical disposition.[821] He was general seven times, although it was prohibited by law that the same person should hold this office more than once,[822] and never suffered a defeat:[823] the people with a noble confidence entrusted to him for a [pg 183] considerable time the entire management of public affairs.[824] At a subsequent period, however, as there were no longer any men of this stamp to carry on the government, and the corruption of manners, caused by the natural fruitfulness of the country, and restrained by no strict laws, was continually on the increase, the state of Tarentum was so entirely changed, that every trace of the ancient Doric character, and particularly of the mother-country, disappeared; hence, although externally powerful and wealthy, it was from its real internal debility, in the end, necessarily overthrown, particularly when the insolent violence of the people became a fresh source of weakness.[825]
15. On the constitution of the Tarentine colony Heraclea (433 B.C.) the monuments extant, although important in other respects, afford little information. In the well-known inscription of this city, an ephor gives his name to the year, five chosen surveyors (ὁρισταὶ) are to value the sacred lands of Bacchus, and to measure it according to the rules of Etruscan agrimensores, upon the decree of the public assembly,[826] in order to ascertain what had been lost in the course of time, and to secure the remainder. After this, the state, two polianomi, and the horistæ, let the sacred land according to a decree of the Heracleans, and state the conditions; in which certain officers named σιταγερταὶ [pg 184] are mentioned as inspectors of the public corn-magazine. The annual polianomi are bound to take care that the contracts of lease shall be observed; they carry on inquiries upon this subject jointly with ten sworn colleagues, elected by the people, in case of any breach of contract, collect the appointed fines, and refer, in cases of singular importance, to the public assembly, they themselves being subject to the responsibility.
16. To these we may add Croton, since this city, founded under the authority of Sparta by a Heraclide, and therefore revering Hercules himself as its founder,[827] must be considered as belonging to the Doric race, although at a later period the more numerous Achæan portion of the population appears to have preponderated. Croton was the soil upon which Pythagoras endeavoured to realise his notions of a true aristocracy, an endeavour in which he succeeded. This, however, we cannot comprehend, unless we consider his ideal state as no airy project or phantom of the brain, but rather as founded upon national feelings, and as being even the foundation of the governments of Sparta, Crete, and the cities of Lower Italy, in which Pythagoras first appeared: and for this reason he is described as in part merely to have restored and renewed; for example, to have destroyed tyrannies, quieted the claims of the people, and re-established ancient rights,[828] &c. Croton, however, he selected as the centre of his operations, as being under the protection of Apollo, his household god;[829] and, secondly, as being the “city of the healthy,” an advantage [pg 185] which it owed to its climate, to gymnastic exercises, and to purer morals than were prevalent at least in the neighbouring cities of Tarentum and Sybaris. The government of this city was, when the philosopher came forward, in the hands of the senate of a thousand,[830] which formed a synedrion; the Crotoniats are reported to have offered to Pythagoras the presidency of this senate,[831] probably as prytanis.[832] A similar senate of a thousand existed at Agrigentum in the time of Empedocles; the same number of persons, elected according to their property, were sole governors at Rhegium.[833] This council of a thousand members also existed at Locri.[834] From this we may infer that the thousand of Croton were the most wealthy citizens: who in states of which the power is derived from the possession of land are, before the government is disturbed by revolutions, generally identical with the noble families. At Croton they had power to decide in most affairs without the ratification of the popular assembly,[835] and also possessed a judicial authority.[836] Now the council instituted by Pythagoras (which appears not to have been formed of members elected according to property, but to have been chosen on purely aristocratical principles) only contained three hundred members,[837] a number which frequently occurs under similar circumstances;[838] at the head of this council was Pythagoras himself. One of the most remarkable phenomena in the political history [pg 186] of the Greeks is, that the philosophy of order, of unison, of κόσμος, expressing, and consequently enlisting on its side, the combined endeavours of the better part of the people, obtained the management of public affairs, and held possession of it for a considerable time; so that the nature and destination of the political elements in existence being understood, and each having assigned to it its proper place, those who were qualified both by their rank and talents were placed at the head of the state; a strict self-education having in the first place been made one of their chief obligations (as it was of the φύλακες of Plato), in order by this means to prepare the way for the education of the other members of the community. At present it is generally acknowledged that the Pythagorean league was in great part of a political nature, that its object was to obtain a formal share in the administration of states, and that its influence upon them was of the most beneficial kind, which continued for many generations in Magna Græcia after the dissolution of the league itself.[839] This dissolution was caused by the natural opposers of an aristocracy of this description, the popular party and its leaders; for in this character alone could Cylon have been the author of the catastrophe which he occasioned; it is recorded, that the opposition of this order to an agrarian law, which referred to the division of the territory of the conquered Sybaris among the people, served to inflame [pg 187] their minds.[840] The opposite party demanded that the whole people should have admittance to the public assemblies and to public offices, that all magistrates at the expiration of their offices should render an account to a tribunal composed of members elected by lot,[841] that all existing debts should be cancelled, and that the lands should be newly divided:[842] from which we must infer, that the highest officers of the Pythagoreans were, according to the Spartan and Cretan principle, irresponsible, and that they considered election by vote as necessary for all such situations. How fatal to the quiet of Lower Italy were the convulsions which followed the destruction of this league (about 500 B.C.), is proved by the large share which the whole of Greece took in their pacification. This was at length effected by the Italian cities entirely giving up the Doric customs, and adopting an Achæan government and institutions;[843] which they were afterwards, first by the power of Dionysius of Syracuse, and then of the neighbouring Barbarians, compelled to surrender. Now the Achæan constitution, according to Polybius,[844] had become a democracy immediately after the overthrow of the last king Ogyges; and retained the same general character, though some subordinate parts experienced very great alterations: we also know that it was very unlike the Spartan government.[845] I cannot, however, refrain from doubting whether it could properly be termed democracy at so early a period, since Xenophon states, that in Sicyon, in 368-365 B.C., timocracy was the [pg 188] prevailing form of government, “according to the laws of the Achæans,”[846] which words cannot be referred to a mere transitory condition of that race. There also was always among the Achæans an equestrian order (ἱππεῖς), of greater consideration and influence on the government than can be reconciled with complete democracy.[847] So also at Croton, in the year of the city 637 (117 B.C.), there was a complete democracy; but (as in all the cities of the Italian Greeks at this period) a senate of nobles existed, which was frequently at open war with the people.[848]
17. Lastly, it is proper to mention the constitution of Delphi, if our supposition is admitted to be correct, that the most distinguished Delphian families were of Doric origin.[849] It was also shown that these families composed at an early period a close aristocracy; the priests were chosen from among the nobles, to whom the management of the oracle belonged; from their body was taken the Pythian court of justice (which may be compared with the Spartan gerusia, and the Athenian court of the ephetæ), as well as the chief magistrates, among whom in early times a king,[850] and afterwards a prytanis, was supreme.[851] At a later period we find mention of archons who gave their name to the year.[852] At the same time a popular party was formed (perhaps from the subjects of the temple), which in a later age at least exercised its authority in [pg 189] a public assembly.[853] The senate (βουλὴ) of Delphi was at this period, as in Gela and Rhodes (according to the hypothesis before advanced), renewed every half year; but it appears to have consisted of very few members, for only one senator (βουλεύων), or at most a few, in addition to the archon, are named in the donatory decrees of Delphi.[854] Many particulars which belong to a later date we pass over, as our only object is to point out the characteristic points of the ancient constitution.
18. From these various accounts it follows, that although there was no one form of government common to the Doric race in historic times, yet in many of these states we find a constitution of nearly the same character, which preceded and caused the subsequent changes and developments; and was of unequal duration in different states. This constitution, which we, with Pindar, consider as most strongly marked in the Spartan form of government, was of a strictly aristocratic character;[855] hence Sparta was the basis and corner-stone of the Greek aristocracies, and in this country alone the nobility ever retained their original dignity and power. Hence also Sparta, during the flourishing period of her history, never had a large number of exiles on political grounds, while in the other Grecian states the constant revolutions to which they were subject generally kept one party or other of the citizens in banishment; nor did she ever experience [pg 190] any violent disturbances or changes in her constitution,[856] until the number of the genuine Spartans had nearly become extinct, and the conditions necessary for the permanence of the ancient government had in part been removed. Now I call the Spartan constitution an aristocracy, without the least hesitation, on account of its continued and predominant tendency towards governing the community by a few, who were presumed to be the best, and as it inculcated in the citizens far less independent confidence than obedience and fear of those persons whose worth was guaranteed by their family, their education, and the public voice which had called them to the offices of state. The ancients,[857] however, remark, that it might also be called a democracy, since the supreme power was always considered as residing in the people, and an entire equality of manners prevailed; that it might be called a monarchy on account of the kings;[858] and that in the power of the ephors there was even an appearance of tyranny: so that in this one constitution all forms of government were united.[859] But the animating soul of all these forms was the Doric spirit of fear and respect for ancient and established laws, and the judgment of older men, the spirit of implicit [pg 191] obedience towards the state and the constituted authorities (πειθαρχία);[860] and, lastly, the conviction that strict discipline and a wise restriction of actions are surer guides to safety, than a superabundance of strength and activity directed to no certain end.
The relation which, according to these Doric principles, existed between an inferior and a superior, between the private citizen and the magistrate, also extended to the Spartans and other states, as the former were for a long time considered as aristocrats when compared with the other Greeks. This superiority was not caused by external preponderance and compulsion, but by the internal acknowledgment that strict laws and a well-ordered discipline belonged to them above all. It is often curious to remark how great was the power of a Lacedæmonian cloak and stick (σκυτάλη καὶ τρίβων, as Plutarch says) among the other races of the Greeks:[861] how, as it were by magic, the single Gylippus, although by no means the best of his nation, brings union and stability into the people at Syracuse, and first gives all their undertakings force and effect; on more than one occasion a single Spartan was enough to unite squadrons of Æolians and Ionians of Asia, and make them act in common; and even at the times of the dissolution of the Grecian name, we see Spartans acting as the generals of mercenaries [pg 192] bound by no other law than the firm and decided will of their leaders.
Many of the noblest and best of the Athenians always considered the Spartan state nearly as an ideal theory realised in practice; and, like Cimon and Xenophon (whose decided preference for Sparta, though perhaps sometimes prejudicial to his own country, must not be called folly), joined themselves to this state with zeal and eagerness, even to the prejudice of their own interests. The preference of all the followers of Socrates for Sparta is well known;[862] and Lycurgus, the most just of financiers, united to an aristocratical disposition an admiration for the laws of Lacedæmon.[863] It is singular that men of such eminence, both in a practical and theoretical view, should express their admiration of a state,[864] which modern writers[865] have often represented to us as a horde of half savages. Nor must the judgment of the persons above mentioned, who were without doubt sufficiently acquainted with the object of it, be attributed to a morbid craving after a state of nature which the Athenians had for ever lost.
We moderns, on the other hand, on account of our preconceived notions with respect to the advancement of civilization, do not read without partiality the lessons which history affords us; we refuse to recognise the [pg 193] most profound political wisdom in an age which we believe to have been occupied in rude attempts after the formation of a settled form of government. Far otherwise the political speculators of antiquity, such as the Pythagoreans and Plato, who considered the Spartan and Cretan form of government, i.e., the ancient Dorian, as a general model of all governments; and, in fact, the ideal constitution which was realized in Sparta approaches most nearly to that which Pythagoras attempted to establish in Lower Italy, and which Plato brought forward as capable of being put in practice, viz., a close communion, nearly similar to that of a family, having for its object mutual instruction. For the regulations of Pythagoras have many things besides their aristocratic spirit in common with the Spartan form of government, such as the public tables, and in general the perpetual living in public, with the number of laws for the maintenance of public morality (disciplina morum); and the community of goods, which existed among the Pythagoreans, is nearly allied to the Doric system of equalizing the landed estates. And Plato, although he at times criticises the Spartan and Cretan constitution in a somewhat unfair manner, has evidently derived his political notions, mediately or immediately, from the consideration of that form of government:[866] for it is hardly possible that any person should speculate upon government, without proceeding upon some chosen historical basis, however he may endeavour to conceal it. But the Athenian and Ionic democracy he altogether despises, because that appeared on his principles to be an annihilation of government rather than a [pg 194] government, in which every person, striving to act as much as possible for himself, destroyed that unison and harmony in which each individual exists only as a part of the whole.
It would be interesting to know what were the opinions and judgments of Spartans of the better time concerning these relaxed forms of government. We may well suppose that they did not view them in a favourable light. The people of Athens must indeed have appeared to them in general, as a Lacedæmonian in Aristophanes[867] expresses himself, as a lawless and turbulent rabble. For this reason they refused in the Peloponnesian war to negociate with the whole community; and would only treat with a few selected individuals.[868] Upon the whole, the state of Sparta, being, in comparison with the general mutability of the Greeks after the Persian war, like the magnet, which always pointed to the pole of ancient national customs, became dissimilar, both in political and domestic usages, to the rest of Greece;[869] and for this reason the Spartans who were sent into foreign parts either gave affront by their strangeness and peculiarity, or, by their want of consistency and firmness, forfeited that confidence with which they were everywhere met.