Chapter 30

ARISTOCRATIC GOVERNMENT.--The early kings were obeyed as much for their personal qualities, such as valor and strength of body, as for their hereditary title. By degrees the noble families about the king took control, and the kingship thus gave way to the rule of an aristocracy. The priestly office, which required special knowledge, remained in particular families, as the _Eumolpidae_e at Athens,--families to whom was ascribed the gift of the seer, and to whom were known the _Eleusinian mysteries_. The nobles were landholders, with dependent farmers who paid rent. The nobles held sway over tillers of the soil, artisans and seamen, who constituted the people (the "demos"), and who had no share in political power. This state of things continued until the lower class gained more property and more knowledge; and the example of the colonial settlements, where there was greater equality, re-acted on the parent state. The struggle of the lower ranks for freedom was of long continuance. In all Greek cities, there were _Metoeci_, or resident foreigners without political rights, and also slaves from abroad. Free-born Greeks busied themselves with occupations connected with the fine arts, or with trade and commerce on an extended scale. They commonly eschewed all other employments, and especially menial labor.

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE LYCURGUS.--According to the legend, disorders in Sparta following the Dorian conquest, and strife between the victors and the conquered, moved _Lycurgus_, a man of regal descent, to retire to Crete, where the old Dorian customs were still observed. On his return he gave to the citizens a constitution, which was held in reverence by the generations after him. To him, also, laws and customs which were really of later date, came to be ascribed. The Spartan population consisted (1) of the _Spartiatæ_, who had full rights, and those of less means,--both comprising the Dorian conquerors. They were divided into three Phylæ, or tribes, each composed of ten divisions (Obæ); (2) the _Periæci_, Achaeans who paid tribute on the land which they held, were bound to military service, but had no political rights; (3) the _Helots_, serfs of the State, who were divided among the Spartiatæ by lot, and cultivated their lands, paying to them a certain fraction of the harvest. The form of government established by Lycurgus was an aristocratic republic. The Council of Elders, twenty-eight in number, chosen for life by the Phylæ, were presided over by two hereditary kings, who had little power in time of peace, but unlimited command of the forces in war. The popular assembly, composed of all Spartiatæ of thirty years of age or upwards, could only decide questions without debate. Five _Ephors_, chosen yearly by the Phylæ, acquired more and more authority. Lycurgus is said to have divided the land into nine thousand equal lots for the families of the Spartiatæ, and thirty thousand for the Periceci. To keep down the helots required constant vigilance, and often occasioned measures of extreme cruelty. The _Crypteia_ was an organized guard of young Spartans, whose business it was to prevent insurrection.

LAWS AND CUSTOMS.--The Spartan state was thus aristocratic and military. It took into its own hands the education of the young. Weak and deformed children were left to perish in a ravine of Taygetus, or thrust down among the Periceci. Healthy children at the age of seven were taken from their homes, to be reared under the supervision of the State. They had some literary instruction, but their chief training was in gymnastics. They were exercised in hunting and in drills; took their meals together in the _syssitia_ (the public mess), where the fare was rough and scanty; slept in dormitories together; and by every means were disciplined for a soldier's life. The Spartan men likewise fed at public tables, and slept in barracks, only making occasional visits to their own houses. No money was in circulation except iron: no one was permitted to possess gold or silver. Girls were separately drilled in gymnastic exercises and made to be as hardy as boys. Marriage was regulated by the State. There was more purity, and women had a higher standing, in Sparta than in other parts of Greece. The strength of the Spartan army was in the _hoplites_, or heavy-armed infantry. In battle, messmates stood together. Cowardice was treated with the utmost contempt. The rigorous subordination of the young to their elders was maintained in war as in peace. The legend held, that after this constitution of Lycurgus had been approved by the Delphian oracle, he made the citizens swear to observe it until he should return from a projected journey. He then went to Crete, and stayed there until his death.

HEGEMONY OF SPARTA.--Having thus organized the body politic, Sparta took the steps which gave it the _hegemony_ in Peloponnesus and over all Greece. First, it conquered the neighboring state of _Messenia_ in two great wars, the first ending about 725 B.C., and the second about 650 B.C. In the first of these wars, the Messenians submitted to become tributary to Sparta, after their citadel, _Ithome_, had been captured, and their defeated hero, _Aristodemus_, had slain himself. Many of the vanquished Messenians escaped from their country to Arcadia and Argolis. Some of them fled farther, and founded _Rhegium_ in Lower Italy. In the second war, the Messenians revolted against the tyrannical rule of Sparta, and at first, under _Aristomenes_, were successful, but were afterwards defeated by the Spartans, who were inspirited for the conflict by the war-songs of the Athenian poet, _Tyrtaeus_. _Aristomenes_ fled to Rhodes. Most of his people were made helots. The _Arcadians_, after long resistance, succumbed, and came under the Spartan hegemony (about 600 B.C.). _Argos_, too, was obliged to renounce its claim to this position in favor of its Spartan antagonist, after its defeat by _Cleomenes_, the Lacedaemonian king, at Thyrea (549 B.C.). The _Argive League_ was dissolved, and Sparta gained the right to command in every war that should be waged in common by the Peloponnesian states, the right, also, to determine the contingent of troops which each should furnish, and to preside in the council of the confederacy. She now began to spread her power beyond Peloponnesus, entered into negotiations with _Lydia_ (555 B.C.), and actually sent an expedition to the coast of Asia (525 B.C.). Moreover as early as 510 B.C., by interfering in the affairs of the states north of the Corinthian isthmus, and with _Attica_ in particular, she sowed among the Athenians the seeds of a lasting enmity.

GOVERNMENT IN ATHENS: DRACO.--According to the legend, _Codrus_, who died about 1068 B.C., was the last of the Athenian kings. The _Eupatrids_, the noble families, abolished monarchy, and substituted for the king an _Archon_, chosen for life by them out of the family of Codrus. The Eupatrids stood in a sort of patriarchal relation to the common people. The inhabitants were divided into four tribes. These were subdivided, first into _Brotherhoods_ and _Clans_, and secondly, into classes based on consanguinity, and classes arranged for taxation, military service, etc. The entire community comprised the _Nobles_,--in whose hands the political power was lodged,--the _Farmers_, and the _Artisans_. The farmers and the artisans might gather in the _Agora_, and express assent to public measures, or dissent. In process of time the archons came to be chosen not from the family of Codrus exclusively, but from the _Eupatrids_ generally. From 682 B.C. they were nine in number, and they served but for one year. The administration of justice was in the hands of the nobles, who were not restrained by a body of written laws. The archon _Draco_, about 621 B.C., in order to check this evil, framed a code which seemed harsh, though milder than the laws previously enforced. Later it was said of his laws that they were written in blood. This legislation was a concession to which the nobles were driven by an uprising. Their hard treatment of debtors, many of whom were deprived of their liberty, had stirred up a serious conflict between the people and their masters. A rebellion, led by _Cylon_, one of the Eupatrids, was put down, and punished by means involving treachery and sacrilege. The insurgents were slain clinging to the altars of the gods, where they had taken refuge. Not long after it became necessary to introduce other reforms at the advice of _Solon_, one of "the seven wise men of Greece." He had acquired popularity by recovering _Salamis_ from the Megarians, and in a sacred war against towns which had robbed the temple of Apollo at Delphi.

LEGISLATION OF SOLON--The design of Solon was to substitute a better system for the tyrannical oligarchy, but, at the same time, to keep power mainly in the hands of the upper class. He divided the people into four classes, according to the amount of their income. To the richest of these the archonship, and admission into the _Areopagus_, were confined. A new council was established, which had the right to initiate legislation, composed of one hundred from each of the four old tribes, and annually elected by the body of the citizens. The _Ecclesia_, or assembly of the whole people, having the right to choose the archons and councilors, was revived. _Courts of Appeal_, with jury trials, were instituted. The old council of the _Areopagus_ was clothed with high judicial and executive powers. There were laws to relieve a portion of the debtors from their burdens, and to abolish servitude for debt. Every father was required to teach his son a handicraft.

PARTIES IN ATHENS.--The legislation of Solon was a measure of compromise. It satisfied neither party. After journeys abroad, he passed his old age in Athens, and was a spectator of the rising contests between the discordant factions, which his constitution was only able for a time to curb. There were three parties,--a re-actionary party under _Lycurgus_, a progressive party led by _Pisistratus_, and a moderate or middle party under _Megacles_.

THE TYRANTS.--At this time, in almost all of the Grecian states, monarchy had given place to aristocracy. The reign of an _oligarchy_, the unbridled sway of a few, was commonly the next step. Against this the people in different states,--the _demos_,--rose in revolt. The popular leader, or "demagogue," was some conspicuous and wealthy noble, who thus acquired supreme authority. In this way, in the seventh and sixth centuries, most of the states were ruled by "tyrants,"--a term signifying absolute rulers, whether their administration was unjust and cruel, or fair and