(13) See Grote, "H. G." v. 514, 520; Machiavelli, "Disc. s. Livio," i.
7.
(14) Reading with Sauppe, {anagke toinun, ean me} (for the vulgate
{ean men oliga k.t.l.}) {oliga poiontai dikasteria, oligoi en
ekasto esontai to dikasterio}. Or, adopting Weiske's emendation,
{ean men polla poiontai dikasteria k.t.l.} Translate, "Then, if by
so doing they manage to multiply the law courts, there will be
only a few judges sitting," etc.
(15) Or, as Liddell and Scott, "to prepare all his tricks."
(16) {sundekasoi}, "to bribe in the lump." This is Schneider's happy
emendation of the MS. {sundikasai}; see Demosthenes, 1137, 1.
(17) Reading {oste}, lit. "so as to get a far less just judgment."
But besides this we cannot escape the conclusion that the Athenians have their festivals to keep, during which the courts cannot sit. (18) As a matter of fact these festivals are twice as numerous as those of any other people. But I will reckon them as merely equal to those of the state which has the fewest.
(18) Lit. "it is not possible to give judgment"; or, "for juries to
sit."
This being so, I maintain that it is not possible for business affairs at Athens to stand on any very different footing from the present, except to some slight extent, by adding here and deducting there. Any large modification is out of the question, short of damaging the democracy itself. No doubt many expedients might be discovered for improving the constitution, but if the problem be to discover some adequate means of improving the constitution, while at the same time the democracy is to remain intact, I say it is not easy to do this, except, as I have just stated, to the extent of some trifling addition here or deduction there.
There is another point in which it is sometimes felt that the Athenians are ill advised, in their adoption, namely, of the less respectable party, in a state divided by faction. But if so, they do it advisedly. If they chose the more respectable, they would be adopting those whose views and interests differ from their own, for there is no state in which the best element is friendly to the people. It is the worst element which in every state favours the democracy—on the principle that like favours like. (19) It is simple enough then. The Athenians choose what is most akin to themselves. Also on every occasion on which they have attempted to side with the better classes, it has not fared well with them, but within a short interval the democratic party has been enslaved, as for instance in Boeotia; (20) or, as when they chose the aristocrats of the Milesians, and within a short time these revolted and cut the people to pieces; or, as when they chose the Lacedaemonians as against the Messenians, and within a short time the Lacedaemonians subjugated the Messenians and went to war against Athens.
(19) I.e. "birds of a feather."
(20) The references are perhaps (1) to the events of the year 447
B.C., see Thuc. i. 113; cf. Aristot. "Pol." v. 3, 5; (2) to 440
B.C., Thuc. i. 115; Diod. xii. 27, 28; Plut. "Pericl." c. 24; (3)
to those of 464 B.C., followed by 457 B.C., Thuc. i. 102; Plut.
"Cimon," c. 16; and Thuc. i. 108.
I seem to overhear a retort, "No one, of course, is deprived of his civil rights at Athens unjustly." My answer is, that there are some who are unjustly deprived of their civil rights, though the cases are certainly rare. But it will take more than a few to attack the democracy at Athens, since you may take it as an established fact, it is not the man who has lost his civil rights justly that takes the matter to heart, but the victims, if any, of injustice. But how in the world can any one imagine that many are in a state of civil disability at Athens, where the People and the holders of office are one and the same? It is from iniquitous exercise of office, from iniquity exhibited either in speech or action, and the like circumstances, that citizens are punished with deprivation of civil rights in Athens. Due reflection on these matters will serve to dispel the notion that there is any danger at Athens from persons visited with disenfranchisement.
THE POLITY OF THE LACEDAEMONIANS
I