The words τὰ δὲ δικαστήρια μισθοφόρα κατέστησε Περικλῆς, are commonly translated, “Periklês first gave pay to the dikasteries,” wherein it is assumed that these bodies had before judged gratuitously. But it appears to me that the words ought to be translated, “Periklês first constituted the paid dikasteries:” that is, the dikasteries as well as the pay were of his introduction.
It is evident from this whole passage that Aristotle did not suppose the dikasteries, either gratuitous or paid, to have been constituted by Solon, but to have been foreign to the purpose of that lawgiver, and to have been novelties emanating from Periklês and Ephialtês, at the same time that the judicial functions of the senate of Areopagus were cut down.
[665] Deinarchus cont. Demosthen. Or. i, p. 91. φυλάττει τὰς ἀποῤῥήτους διαθήκας, ἐν αἷς τὰ τῆς πόλεως σωτήρια κεῖται, etc. So also Æschinês calls this senate τὴν σκυθρωπὸν καὶ τῶν μεγίστων κυρίαν βουλὴν (cont. Ktesiphont. c. 9, p. 373: compare also cont. Timarchum, c. 16, p. 41; Demosth. cont. Aristokrat. c. 65, p. 641). Plutarch, Solon, c. 19. τὴν ἄνω βουλὴν ἐπίσκοπον πάντων καὶ φύλακα τῶν νόμων, etc.
Ἐδίκαζον οὖν οἱ Ἀρεοπαγῖται περὶ πάντων σχεδὸν τῶν σφαλμάτων καὶ παρανομιῶν, ὡς ἅπαντά φησιν Ἀνδροτίων ἐν πρώτῃ καὶ Φιλόχορος ἐν δευτέρᾳ καὶ τρίτῃ τῶν Ἀτθίδων (Philochorus, Fr. 17-58, ed. Didot, p. 19, ed. Siebelis).
See about the Areopagus, Schömann, Antiq. Jur. Att. sect. lxvi.; K. F. Hermann, Griech. Staatsalterthümer, sect. 109.
[666] Aristotel. Politic. ii, 6, 18.
[667] Aristotle particularly indicates these two conflicting tendencies in Athens, the one immediately following the other, in a remarkable passage of his Politics (v, 3, 5).
Μεταβάλλουσι δὲ καὶ εἰς ὀλιγαρχίαν καὶ εἰς δῆμον καὶ εἰς πολιτείαν ἐκ τοῦ εὐδοκιμῆσαί τι ἢ αὐξηθῆναι ἢ ἀρχεῖον ἢ μόριον τῆς πόλεως· οἷον, ἡ ἐν Ἀρείῳ πάγῳ βουλὴ εὐδοκιμήσασα ἐν τοῖς Μηδικοῖς ἔδοξε συντονωτέραν ποιῆσαι τὴν πολιτείαν. Καὶ πάλιν ὁ ναυτικὸς ὄχλος γενόμενος αἴτιος τῆς περὶ Σαλαμῖνα νίκης καὶ διὰ ταύτης τῆς ἡγεμονίας διὰ τὴν κατὰ θάλατταν δύναμιν, τὴν δημοκρατίαν ἰσχυροτέραν ἐποίησεν.
The word συντονωτέραν (“stricter, more rigid,”) stands opposed in another passage to ἀνειμένας (iv, 3, 5).
[668] Plutarch. Reipub. Ger. Præcept. p. 805. Οὐκ ἀγνοῶ δὲ, ὅτι βουλήν τινες ἐπαχθῆ καὶ ὀλιγαρχικὴν κολούσαντες, ὥσπερ Ἐφιάλτης Ἀθήνῃσι καὶ Φορμίων παρ’ Ἠλείοις, δύναμιν ἅμα καὶ δόξαν ἔσχον.