The present is a convenient occasion for mentioning the demiurgi, as several grammarians state that they were in particular a Doric magistracy,[614] perhaps, however, only judging from the form δαμιουργός. These magistrates were, it is true, not uncommon in Peloponnesus,[615] but they do not occur often in the Doric states. They existed among the Eleans and Mantineans,[616] the Hermioneans,[617] in the Achæan league,[618] at Argos also,[619] as well as in Thessaly;[620] officers named epidemiurgi were sent by the Corinthians to manage the government of their colony Potidæa.[621] The statements and interpretations of the grammarians afford little instruction: among the Achæans at least, their [pg 145] chief duty was to transact business with the people; which renders it probable, that at Argos they were identical with the leaders of the people;[622] of whom, as well as of some other public officers, whose functions admit of further explanation, we will speak in the following chapter.
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.