The Political Institutions of the Ancient Greeks

CHAPTER VII.

THE ACHÆAN LEAGUE249.

The AchÆan peoples of the heroic age, when they were driven by the invading Dorians from Sparta, Messenia, Argos and Corinth, took refuge in the northern part of the Peloponnesus and there founded the AchÆan people of the historical period. The district in which they settled measures only about sixty-five English miles from east to west along the coast of the Corinthian gulf, and from twelve to twenty miles from north to south. It is cut off from the rest of the Peloponnesus by a range of lofty mountains which cannot in any part be crossed without difficulty. From this mountain range many ridges run northward, dividing the country into narrow valleys250. The past history of the AchÆans and the character of their territory made them well suited for a federal form of government; that is to say, for having a single government for some purposes and many governments for other purposes. They were impelled towards union by their common AchÆan race, by common experience of conquest by the Dorians, and by the certainty that, if an independent state were formed in each little valley, none of them would be large enough to be of any importance in Greece: but at the same time some sort of separate government in each valley was natural in a country where communications were so much interrupted by mountains. It is said that they lived for a time under a single government only—the kingly government of the descendants of their hero Orestes: but at some very early period each of the valleys must have acquired some sort of independence, since, on the abolition of the kingly government, at a time too early to be known to history, the separate cantons or cities acted for themselves and voluntarily joined together in a confederation, adopting at the same time institutions of a popular character. They acquired such a reputation for just government and good faith in their dealings that after the battle of Leuctra in 371 B.C. they were singled out from all the Greek states to act as arbitrators, on some points which were disputed, between the victorious Thebans and the defeated Spartans: and Polybius believed they had acted in the same capacity at a much earlier date in the affairs of Croton and Sybaris, two states which had been founded in southern Italy by colonists from Achaia251. For centuries they lived on, somewhat isolated from the rest of Greece and little noticed by Greek writers, but maintaining their union and their system of government. Even in the days of Philip of Macedonia and his son Alexander the Great they were left unmolested: but, after Alexander's death, some of the ambitious princes who contended for power in Greece and Macedonia contrived to sow discord among their cities: they were consequently unable to defend themselves, and some of the cities were occupied by Macedonian garrisons, while others were put under the rule of tyrants. The gradual destruction of the league which was thus brought about must, from what Polybius says, have begun at some time after 315 B.C. when Cassander came to the throne of Macedonia, and have been completed in thirty years from that date. The earlier part of the mischief was done by Cassander and Demetrius Poliorcetes, the rest by Antigonus Gonatas son of Demetrius252.

About the year 283 B.C. it chanced that the attention of Antigonus was called away from the affairs of Greece; and the AchÆans, being thus delivered from his interference, before long began to restore their federal union. At first, about 280 B.C., the renewed league consisted of only four of the cities: then it was joined by three more, and probably before long it included all the rest:—the whole number being now reduced to ten, for four had ceased to exist, and only two new ones had grown up253. For about thirty years the league did not include any cities outside Achaia: but in 251 B.C. Aratus of Sicyon, when only twenty years of age, rescued his native city out of the power of its tyrant by surprising the garrison, and, in order to provide for its future safety, induced his fellow-citizens to enrol their state as a member of the confederation. In the year 245 B.C. he was elected to the office of strategus or chief magistrate of the league: and that office he held, as a general rule, thenceforward in alternate years till his death thirty-two years later. He was most active and skilful in bringing cities into the league. In his second term of office he surprised and overpowered the Macedonian garrison which held Acrocorinthus, and thus set Corinth free. The liberated Corinthians were glad to join the AchÆans, and the league, gaining possession of the Corinthian citadel which commanded the Isthmus, was able thenceforth to protect not only its own cities but the whole of the Peloponnesus against any enemy that came by land254. After this many other cities gave in their adhesion: the most important of those that joined before 227 B.C. were Megara, Troezen, Epidaurus, CleonÆ, Mantineia, Phlius, Megalopolis, and Argos255.

The league, throughout the period of its reconstitution in Achaia and its extension outside (that is to say from 280 B.C. to 227 B.C.), was most successful in protecting a number of Greek states from Macedonian interference. But it was never joined by Sparta nor by several other Peloponnesian cities: and about the year 227 B.C. Cleomenes III., one of the two kings of Sparta, wishing at whatever cost to regain for the Spartans their old predominance in the Peloponnesus, found that the AchÆan league was an obstacle to his designs: and, having first made an alliance with the Ætolians, who might have put impediments in his way, he became engaged in a war with the AchÆans, and, in the course of it, defeated them in three important battles. Aratus and his countrymen in their distress thought it necessary to ask the aid of Antigonus DÔsÔn, who was regent in Macedonia as guardian of his nephew the young king: Antigonus readily granted their request, but required them in return to allow him to place a Macedonian garrison in the Acrocorinthus. He entered the Peloponnesus, and, in 222 or 221 B.C. at Sellasia in the north-east corner of the LacedÆmonian territory, the allied armies of Macedonia and Achaia won a great victory and destroyed the power of Cleomenes256: but the AchÆans found that, by re-admitting the Macedonian power to the Peloponnesus, they had forfeited their independence in regard to foreign policy, and must conform to the wishes of their too powerful ally. The league continued to exist "for another period of seventy-five years, retaining its internal constitution, vastly increased in territorial extent, but, in external affairs, with only a few short intervals, reduced almost to the condition of a dependent ally, first of Macedonia and then of Rome257." From the year 146 B.C. Achaia and Macedonia were both included in the dominions of the Roman republic.

We have now to examine the structure and constitution of the league of cities or cantons258, which, though it eventually succumbed to Macedonia, had in happier days been distinguished for sixty years of successful assertion of its independence. We will observe first the relation of each component state to the central government, and then proceed to inquire into the nature of the central government itself.

The component states were left free to manage their own internal affairs, each holding its own assemblies, electing its own magistrates, and making its own laws on all matters except the few that were reserved to be settled by the central government259. It is probable that they might even choose their own constitutions: but practically a state under a tyranny or a close oligarchy or even a strong kingly power like that of Cleomenes at Sparta, was excluded from membership in the league because it could not allow its citizens to take part in the general assemblies which I shall have to describe in speaking of the central government. In course of time all the cities adopted constitutions of a popular but moderate character, and in the second century B.C., when the league included the whole Peloponnesus, Polybius says that all the states employed the same laws, weights, measures, and coinage, and were all alike in their administrative, deliberative and judicial authorities, so that the whole peninsula differed from a single city only in not having all its inhabitants enclosed within a single wall260.

The central government consisted of two deliberative bodies, the assembly and the council, and of an executive officer, the strategus, with several subordinates: its business comprised the conduct of all foreign affairs, and the management of the armed forces.

The assembly or synod was attended by all citizens of any city in the league who chose to present themselves261: its business was to settle questions of foreign policy and to elect the executive officers of the league. The regular place of meeting was Ægium, a small city on the Corinthian gulf, and it seems that the assembly always met there till 218 B.C.: afterwards it sometimes came together at other cities in the territory of the league262. There were ordinary meetings every spring and every autumn263: and special meetings could at any time be summoned by the magistrates to settle important and urgent questions of foreign policy, the duration of any special meeting being limited to three days264. The votes on questions of policy were taken not by heads but by states: that is to say, each state had one vote, and its vote was given Aye or No, according as the majority of those of its citizens who were present inclined to the one side or the other265.

Of the council almost nothing is known: its meetings were held not only at the times of the federal assemblies, but at other times also: for in the year 220 B.C. king Philip had an interview with the council at Ægium about a question of foreign policy, which he would certainly have laid before the assembly if it had been possible266. The number of members in the council must have been at least a hundred and twenty, and may have been larger267. From the little evidence that we have we may perhaps gather that the council sat for a good part of the year, and acted as a committee of the assembly to prepare the business that had to be laid before it: and, at times when the assembly was not sitting, decided any questions that were not so important as to necessitate a special meeting of the assembly.

The executive officers were the strategus, and ten demiurgi or ministers:—together with a hypo-strategus or under-general and perhaps a secretary of state268. The strategus was elected each year in the spring meeting of the assembly and entered on his duties a short time after his election. His office was in its origin military, and he was by right commander in the field and controller of the armed forces: but his most important functions were to act as leader in the assembly—to expound his foreign policy and obtain authority to carry it out—and to manage negotiations with foreign powers: this last part of his work was of such moment that the symbol of his office was a seal269. It is shown by the case of Aratus that the AchÆans were more anxious that their strategus should be a good foreign minister than that he should be a good commander-in-chief: for though Aratus was a very poor general and lost many battles, his countrymen set such a value on his skill in dealing with foreign affairs that they elected him over and over again—not indeed in successive years, for the constitution forbade it—but as often as the law allowed.

The ten demiurgi were also elected by the assembly270. They acted collectively as presiding officers in the assembly and determined what questions should be put to the vote271: but they also acted as a cabinet or council of ministers to the strategus; for on one occasion a despatch was addressed by Flamininus the Roman general to the strategus and the demiurgi, and the reply to it was written in the name of the same authorities272.

The federal government of the league, which has just been described, is called by Polybius a democracy: but it was not a democracy according to the definition which Aristotle gave in stating his classification of polities; for he defined democracy as the rule of the many for the interest of the poor273. In the AchÆan league it can hardly be said that the many were the rulers: for, though no citizen was excluded by law from the assembly, the attendance was in practice limited to those who had time and money to spend in travelling to the place of meeting, and to those few who chanced to reside there. Moreover the meetings were held so seldom and lasted for so short a time that the assembly could not control the government in regard to details, and, though of course it had the supreme power in great questions and in the last resort, it practically left nearly everything in the hands of the strategus. Finally the policy of the league was conducted in the interest not of any governing class or governing person but of the community at large.

A Polity or Commonwealth was originally defined by Aristotle as the rule of the mass of the citizens for the advantage of the whole community: and he afterwards described it as a mixture of oligarchy and democracy. Hence it is clear that, on the lines of his classification, the AchÆan league was a Polity. The supreme power in it belonged in one sense to the whole of the citizens, because no citizen was legally excluded from the assembly, and thus the constitution had one of the characteristics of democracy: but in another sense power belonged to those only of the citizens who possessed a fair income and could actually attend the meetings, and in this respect the constitution was oligarchic. Moreover, though oligarchy and democracy when unmixed both belong to the perverted polities, because their governments rule selfishly, the mixture of them in the AchÆan league produced a normal polity, viz., a Polity or Commonwealth, whose governors ruled for the good of the whole people. But these were not the only elements in the constitution: the aristocratic principle was conspicuously present, and was seen in the great power and commanding influence which Aratus possessed in consequence of his high qualifications as a ruler and adviser.

The federal system of government combined many advantages. It enabled the Greeks to continue to live as members of small self-governing communities—a way of living to which the physical features of their country naturally led them, and to which they were deeply attached: it gave them, through their union, much greater security than they could have enjoyed without it: and it formed a large part of them into a community that more resembled a nation than anything else that had yet arisen in Greece. The system was tried not only by the AchÆans but also by several other divisions of the Hellenic race: by the Phocians, the Acarnanians, the Epirots, the Arcadians, and the Ætolians274: and among the Ætolians and Acarnanians it attained such a measure of success that in the later period of the Macedonian supremacy these two peoples were, after the AchÆans, the most important of the Hellenic powers.

1 See Curtius, GrundzÜge der Griechischen Etymologie, under the word ????.

2 The evidence derived from comparison of the Greek, Latin and Sanskrit is taken from Mommsen, History of Rome, English translation, vol. I. p. 15: the additional evidence from German languages from Max MÜller, Chips from a German Workshop, vol. II. pp. 22, 44. Curtius, GrundzÜge der Griechischen Etymologie, has been used for verification.

3 Mommsen, Hist. Rome, vol. I. p. 16. Rendall, The Cradle of the Aryans, p. 11.

4 The classification of uncivilised peoples as hunting peoples and peoples with cattle forms part of the classification used by John Stuart Mill at the beginning of his Political Economy: and it is adopted and fully worked out by Mr Lewis Morgan in his Ancient Society.

All the statements of a general kind which I have made about uncivilised peoples have been verified by reference to Descriptive Sociology, Division I., an encyclopÆdia of facts relating to such peoples, which was designed by Mr Herbert Spencer and compiled by Professor Duncan. The advantages which uncivilised men gain from living and acting together and from having a government are explained by Mr Herbert Spencer in his Political Institutions, §§ 440-442.

My authorities for the individual peoples which have been noticed are these: for the Bushmen, Burchell, Travels (1822), and Thompson, Travels (1827): for the Esquimaux, C. F. Hall, Life with the Esquimaux (1864): for the Red Indians, H. Y. Hind, The Canadian Red River Exploring Expedition (1860). All these books are cited in Descriptive Sociology.

5 It may be objected that the Goths from about 250 A.D. were living close to the Greeks, and the Old Germans from about 50 B.C. had the Romans as their neighbours, and possibly learned the art of ploughing from these neighbours and borrowed a name for it. It seems enough, however, to answer that if the Goths had taken a word from ???e?? they would have chosen something more like the pattern word than erjan: in like manner if the Germans had borrowed from arare they would hardly have formed eren.

6 I have thought it needless in most cases to give authorities for statements of historical facts made in this chapter, because the statements are generally such that it is very easy to settle whether they are true or false. In cases where verification might be in the least degree difficult I have given references.

7 Marquardt, RÖmische Staatsverwaltung, Vol. I. pages 22-57, in the edition of 1873, comprising the section headed Italien vor der lex Julia. Mommsen, History of Rome, Vol. II., especially the Military Map of Italy at the beginning of the volume.

8 For details see Chapter VII.

9 Smith's Atlas of Ancient Geography, Map 13, contains a map of Germania Magna according to Ptolemy.

10 Spruner-Menke, Historischer Hand-Atlas, Maps 14 and 15.

11 Hallam, Middle Ages, Chapter IV.

12 Stanhope, Reign of Queen Anne, Vol. I. p. 264.

13 My statements about Frankish and early French history down to the reign of Philip II. are all based on original authorities: but see Kitchin, History of France, Vol. I., and some excellent maps (No. 57) in Droysen, Historischer Hand-Atlas.

14 Oechsli, Quellenbuch zur Schweizergeschichte, pages 49, 199-202, 261-266. The second of these passages, especially page 200, proves that so late as 1481 no Swiss Federation had been made, but each canton was an independent state, managing its foreign relations for itself: the third shows that by 1512 a central body had been established which received ambassadors sent by foreign powers to the Swiss, and settled what answers the Swiss League should give them.

15 In making this statement I have regarded Thessaly as not forming part of Hellas. Thessaly was completely cut off from the rest by two great ranges of mountains and was conquered before the beginning of Greek history by a people who were not truly Hellenic.

16 These areas of Argolis, Attica, Laconia are calculated from the maps in Smith's Atlas: the other areas referred to are taken from the Statesman's Yearbook, or the article Graecia in Smith's Dictionary of Geography.

17 Odyssey II. 30 ???e???? st?at?? ????????? (news of the host returning).

18 Odyssey II. 32 ?? t? ????? ???? p?fa?s?eta? ?d' ????e?e?; (or has he any other public business to discuss?)

19 Iliad XVIII. 497 ?e???? (a dispute).

20 Odyssey II. 1-259, Iliad XVIII. 497-508.

21 Odyssey II. 6. The Ithacan assembly was summoned by the king's son in his father's absence: but the summons was irregular, as is shown in the next paragraph.

22 Iliad XVIII. 503

?? d? ?????te?

e?at' ?p? ?est??s? ?????? ?e?? ??? ?????.

The stone seats are mentioned only in the description of a judicial assembly: but all assemblies met, there is no doubt, in the same place.

23 Odyssey II. 14 ??et? d' ?? ??et? d' ?? (????a???), ?e??a? d? ?????te? (and Telemachus sat down in his father's seat, and the elders made way for him).

24 See Grote's note in his History, Part I. ch. XX. His instances (Iliad II. 96 and Iliad XVIII. 246) are both taken from time of war: but it is not in the least likely that this detail was peculiar to assemblies held at such times.

25 Iliad II. 96

????a? d? sfea?

?????e? ????te? ???t???, e? p?t' ??t??

s???at' ????se?a? d? d??t?ef??? as?????

(and nine heralds were calling them to order, to stop clamouring and hearken to the heaven-born kings).

26 At the Ithacan assembly the suitors Antinous, Eurymachus, and Leiocritus were among the speakers. Odyssey II. 84-254.

27 Odyssey II. 25-34.

28 Iliad XVIII. 497-508.

29 Or perhaps, to him who best proved his case.

30 Iliad IX. 96-99.

31 Odyssey XXI. 16-21.

32 Iliad XVI. 38-39. Patroclus says to him, "If thou art deterred by some divine command from fighting thyself, yet let me go and give me thy people, the Myrmidons (i.e. the Phthiotians)": and Achilles (lines 49-65) replies, "I have been wronged and therefore will not fight: thou shalt wear my armour and command the Myrmidons."

33 Iliad II. 53, IX. 9-17, 89-95.

34 Odyssey XI. 489 ??te??e?.

35 Grote's Greece, octavo edition vol. I. p. 487, cabinet edition vol. II. p. 98.

36 Tac. Germ. 16. Nullas Germanorum populis urbes habitari satis notum est, ne pati quidem inter se junctas sedes. Colunt discreti ac diversi, ut fons, ut campus, ut nemus placuit.

37 Odyssey I. 424 ?a??e???te? ?a? ??????de ???ast??.

38 Odyssey II. 8 t?? d' ??e????t? ??' ??a.

39 Odyssey III. 31 ?????? ??d??? ?????? te ?a? ?d?a?.

40 Especially the scene of the death of Hector in the twenty-second book of the Iliad. Achilles having driven all the Trojans except Hector within their walls, pursued Hector thrice round the city, in the sight of the Trojans on the walls and of the host of the Greeks assembled on the plain outside the city. If any part of the city had been outside the wall, it must have been mentioned as impeding or aiding the flight of Hector, or as having been captured by the Greeks. As it is, the poet has no landmark outside the city to show how far the chase had extended except a fountain where the two springs, one hot and one cold, of the Scamander, had been built round with stone platforms on which clothing was washed by the Trojan women.

41 Odyssey IV. 68-75.

42 Odyssey II. 337-343.

43 The evidence concerning the use of the metals is collected by Grote, octavo edition vol. I. p. 493, cabinet edition vol. II. pp. 104, 105.

44 For the dealings of the Phoenicians see the story in which EumÆus the swineherd narrates how he was kidnapped as a child by Phoenician traders. Odyssey XV. 403-484.

45 Grote, Greece, octavo edition vol. I. p. 486, cabinet edition vol. II. p. 97. For the worker in gold see Odyssey III. 425.

46 Herodotus VIII. 31 in speaking of the position of Doris remarks, "This country is the mother country of the Dorians in Peloponnesus."

47 Diodorus Siculus VII. fragment 9. Diodorus wrote about 20-10 B.C.

48 Myron wrote about 220 B.C. His stories about the early Messenian kings are preserved by Pausanias in his fourth book.

49 Professor Gardner, New Chapters in Greek History, pp. 96-101.

50 Pausanias II. 16. 5.

51 Pausanias (VI. 22. 2) in speaking of this expedition assigns it to the eighth Olympiad or the year 748 B.C. I have not ventured to regard his date as trustworthy, because Professor Mahaffy (Problems in Greek History, Chapter III.) has shown reasons for doubting whether the order of the early Olympiads was correctly given in the lists which were current among the Greeks. His date however cannot well be earlier than 750 B.C., since it was after the Olympic festivals had become important: and it cannot be later than 600 B.C., because in that case clearer traditions about him would have been preserved.

52 Ephorus, who wrote about 350 B.C., records this. His words are quoted by Grote, octavo edition vol. II. p. 90, cabinet edition vol. II. p. 316, from Strabo.

53 Aristotle, Politics, V. 10. 6, in Bekker's edition (Oxford, 1837). Welldon, p. 381. Pausanias VI. 22. 2.

54 The king of Argos in 480 B.C. is noticed by Herodotus (VII. 149).

55 Thucydides II. 15. The original independence of the small communities is most fully vouched for by the festival, called t? s??????a, or the union of dwellings: and it furnishes a reason for the policy adopted by Cleisthenes of establishing popular local governments in the demes, or villages and townships, of Attica: see Chapter V.

56 Herodotus VI. 52.

57 Thucydides I. 13 ?p? ??t??? ???as? pat???a? as??e?a?.

58 Herodotus VII. 234.

59 Herodotus IX. 10, IX. 28, and IX. 11.

60 Grote, Greece, octavo edition vol. III. p. 494, cabinet edition vol. V. p. 11.

61 If they had not possessed the management of their local affairs, their communities would scarcely have been called p??e?? by Herodotus in the conversation between Xerxes and Demaratus. Herodotus VII. 234; Smith's Dict. Antiq. article Perioeci.

62 Thucydides VIII. 22 ???e t?? ?e? ? ?e????da? pe??????? (Deiniadas a Perioecus was in command of the ships).

63 These statements about the condition of the Helots are not given by either Herodotus or Thucydides, but are found in Plutarch and Pausanias. Plutarch wrote about 60-70 A.D., and Pausanias about 170-180 A.D.: but both copied authors probably of the fourth century B.C. Pausanias (III. 20. 6) speaks of the Helots as slaves belonging to the state (d????? t?? ??????: the rest comes from Plutarch, Lycurgus, ch. 8.

64 See Smith's Dict. Antiq., third edition, article Helotes.

65 The dates of the Messenian wars cannot be determined with certainty. See the note at the end of this chapter.

66 Pausanias (III. 20. 6) expressly says that those serfs who were acquired by the Spartans not in their original conquest of Laconia but subsequently (that is to say at the conquest of Messenia) were Messenian Dorians.

67 The account of the revolt and its duration are taken from Thucydides I. 101-103. The date of its beginning is given by Pausanias IV. 24. 2 as being the seventy-ninth olympiad: i.e. seventy-eight times four years after 776 B.C.: i.e. 464 B.C.

68 Thucydides IV. 80.

69 Xenophon De Rep. Lac. 1. § 4.

70 Xenophon De Rep. Lac. 2. § 2.

71 Xenophon De Rep. Lac. 6. § 1, § 2.

72 All these details from Xenophon De Rep. Lac. 2.

73 Xenophon De Rep. Lac. 6. § 2.

74 Xenophon De Rep. Lac. 3.

75 Xenophon De Rep. Lac. 9. § 5.

76 Xenophon De Rep. Lac. 11.

77 Xenophon De Rep. Lac. 7. § 1.

78 Xenophon De Rep. Lac. 7. § 5.

79 All this is from Thucydides V. 66 and V. 68.

80 Xenophon De Rep. Lac. 11. The description takes up the second half of the chapter.

81 Thus in Xenophon De Rep. Lac. 11 a commander of two companies is called pe?t???st?? or pe?t????t?? a captain of fifty.

82 Xenophon De Rep. Lac. 11: at the beginning of the chapter.

83 Xenophon De Rep. Lac. 11. The description of the evolutions there given is well explained in Smith, Dictionary of Antiquities, third edition, vol. I. p. 770, under the word Exercitus.

84 Xenophon De Rep. Lac. 11: at the beginning of the chapter, st???? f??????da.

85 Smith, Dict. Ant. third edition, article Tribon.

86 Smith, Dict. Ant. third edition, vol. I. p. 773.

87 Thucydides V. 68.

88 See p. 35.

89 Plutarch, Lycurgus, 6. The document, being in prose and not ambiguous, bears no resemblance to the genuine utterances of the Delphic priestess; and therefore I think not only that it is not an oracle really delivered to Lycurgus but also that it was not composed while the oracle of Delphi was active and the character of its utterances well known: that is to say, before 450 B.C. or 400 B.C. I imagine it to be the work of some antiquarian, who knew the Doric dialect extremely well: such a man might no doubt be found at Alexandria during or after the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus B.C. 285-247: for Alexandria was then the home of all sorts of learning, and was the place in which, about the year 270 B.C., Theocritus the greatest of the Doric poets wrote the best of his Idylls.

90 The text is uncertain here.

91 Plutarch, Lycurgus, 6.

92 Quoted by Pausanias (IV. 6).

93 TyrtÆus, Fragment 4. As the conquest of Messenia is a rare if not a unique example in Greece after the purely legendary age of a permanent conquest effected in spite of the obstacles interposed by a mountain range, it is worth while to take notice of the geography. The Spartans certainly did not cross Taygetus, whose lowest pass, now known as the Langada Pass, is about five thousand feet above the sea (Neuman und Partsch, Physikalische Geographie von Griechenland, p. 181 note): to the north of Taygetus they could cross without any trouble from the valley of the Eurotas to the valley of the Alpheius (see the page just referred to): but before they could reach Messenia they still had to march three or four miles up a valley with mountains on either side of it and then to cross a barren sparsely wooded ridge which unites Taygetus with Mount LycÆus. The ascent of the ridge takes an ordinary traveller half an hour, so that the height of it will be about five or six hundred feet. See BÆdeker's Greece, p. 283.

94 Plutarch, Lycurgus, 6.

95 Plutarch, Lycurgus, 6.

96 For example in 432 B.C. it was the assembly that decided on war against Athens (Thucydides I. 67 and 87). The kings however, until about 500 B.C., still had the right to engage in a foreign war, if they chose, simply on their own responsibility (Herodotus VI. 56).

97 The passages are from Plutarch, Lycurgus, 7 and Aristotle, Politics V. 11. 2, 3. Bekker, Oxf. 1837. Welldon's translation, p. 392.

98 Plutarch, Lycurgus, 26.

99 Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities, third edition, article Ephori, where proofs are given.

100 For Cleomenes, see Herodotus VI. 73-82: for Pausanias, Thucydides I. 131. 3: for the sending of the great armament, Herodotus IX. chapters 10, 11, 28: and above, page 38.

101 Aristotle, Politics II. 9. 19 ??????ta? ?? t?? d??? p??te?(they are all created from the people). Ibid. II. 9. 23 (a??et?? t?? ????? ?? ?p??t??, (the office is filled by election from the whole body).

102 Aristotle, Politics II. 10. 6.

103 Xenophon, Hellenica II. 3. §§ 9 and 10.

104 The ambassadors sent by the Athenians in their extreme distress during the occupation of Athens by Mardonius were received by the Ephors and were kept waiting ten days for an answer. Herodotus IX. 7-11.

105 For example in 432 B.C. Thucydides I. 85-87.

106 For the powers of the kings in time of peace see Herodotus VI. 57.

107 Xenophon De Rep. Lac. 13. § 5.

108 Smith, Dict. Ant., third edition, vol. I. p. 915.

109 Thucydides IV. 80.

110 Thucydides V. 34, V. 67, VII. 19, VII. 58, VIII. 5.

111 Thucydides VII. 58 d??ata? d? t? ?e?da?de? ??e??e??? ?d? e??a?.

112 Xenophon, Hellenica III. 1. 4.

113 Xenophon, Hellenica III. 3. 5 and 6.

114 Aristotle, Politics II. 9. 31 and 32. Welldon, Translation, p. 83.

115 For the harmosts see Xenophon, Hellenica III. 5. § 13.

116 Plutarch, Agis 5.

117 Aristotle, Politics II. 9. 19-24. Welldon, pp. 80, 81.

118 Herodotus V. 92. Diodorus Siculus VII. fragment 9. Diodorus wrote about 20-10 B.C.

119 Aristotle, Politics V. 5. 9, Bekker. Welldon, Translation, p. 357.

120 Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, ch. 8.

121 Plutarch, Solon, ch. 19, Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, ch. 3.

122 Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, ch. 3, calls them recorders of laws or customs for judgement. The chapter may be spurious, but the assertion is probable.

123 Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 4.

124 Mr R. Macan in Journ. of Hellenic Studies, April 1891, p. 27 notices the silence of Plutarch.

125 The description of Solon's constitution is taken from Aristotle's Constitution of Athens, ch. 5-13: except the statement that the members of the council of four hundred were selected by Solon. This is from Plutarch, Solon, ch. 19.

126 Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 13.

127 Aristotle, Politics V. 12. 13. Welldon, p. 405.

128 Politics V. 5. 9.

129 Solon, ch. 13.

130 Etymol. Mag., under the word e?pat??da?.

131 Aristotle, Pol. V. 5. 9. Welldon, p. 357.

132 Above, pages 34, 35.

133 Herodotus V. 92 and III. 48-53.

134 Thucydides VI. 54.

135 Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, ch. 19.

136 The stories of Pisistratus and Hippias are told by Herodotus (I. 59-64 and V. 62): see also Aristotle, Const. Ath. 14, and Plutarch, Solon 30. The temple of Delphi was burnt in 548 B.C. Pausanias X. 5. 5, '??????e?d?? ?????t??.

137 Grote, Part II. ch. XLIII.

138 Aristotle, Politics V. 10. 4; and V. 6. 1. Bekker. Welldon, pp. 381, 382, 358.

139 Ibid. V. 10. 6. Bekker. Welldon, pp. 381, 382.

140 Aristotle, Politics III. 14. 7. Welldon, p. 145.

141 For Pittacus see Aristotle, Politics III. 14. 9. Welldon, p. 146.

142 Aristotle, Politics V. 12. 1. Welldon, p. 402.

143 Herodotus V. 92.

144 The composition of the four Ionic tribes is from Pollux, 8. 111 (in Dindorf's or Bekker's edition). Pollux delivered his work in the form of lectures at Athens in the reign of Marcus Aurelius who died 180 A.D.

145 Aristotle, Politics III. 2. 3, p?????? ?f???te?se ?????? ?a? d?????? et??????. Probably the text is not quite correct, but the general meaning is clear.

146 For the geographical scattering of each tribe see Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, ch. 21.

147 Herodotus V. 78. ?s??????.

148 Herodotus VI. 111, whence the words are taken. Ar. Const. Ath. ch. 22.

149 Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, ch. 2.

150 Plutarch, S?p?s?a?? p????ata I. 10.

151 For the process of Ostracism see Grote, octavo edition, vol. III. p. 133, cabinet edition, vol. IV. p. 83.

152 See Smith, Dictionary of Antiquities, third edition, 1891, article Naucraria. Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, ch. 20 ?at?st?se d? ?a? d??????? t?? a?t?? ????ta? ?p???e?a? t??? p??te??? ?a????????? ?a? ??? t??? d???? ??t? t?? ?a???a???? ?p???se?.

153 See p. 35.

154 Thucydides II. 14, 16.

155 Aristophanes, Acharnians, the whole play.

156 Thucydides II. 14, d?? t? e?????a? t??? p?????? ?? t??? ?????? d?a?t?s?a?.

157 Smith, Dictionary of Antiquities, third edition, article Demus.

158 Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 22.

159 Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 23. The drachma contained the same weight of silver as a modern franc.

160 For the effects of Salamis see Aristotle, Politics V. 4. 8. Welldon, p. 353.

161 The Areopagus was deprived of power in the archonship of Conon, i.e. 463-2 B.C. Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 25.

162 Plutarch (Aristides, 22) says that Aristides proposed to the assembly a resolution that the archonship should be thrown open to all Athenian citizens: and he seems to imply that the resolution was passed, and that thenceforth any Athenian citizen, whether he was a Pentacosiomedimnus, a Hippeus, a Zeugites, or a ThÊs, was legally qualified to hold the office. It is however certain that no such extensive change in the constitution was made in the lifetime of Aristides: for Aristides died about 468 B.C. (see Clinton, Fasti Hellenici under the years 469, 468, 429), and Aristotle, in his Constitution of Athens, chapter 26, tells us that it was not till 457 B.C. that the ZeugitÆ were admitted to the archonship. If then Aristides carried any resolution that altered the law, it did not go beyond throwing open the office to the Hippeis or Horsemen. The ThÊtes or Labourers were never formally declared eligible: but in Aristotle's time there was nothing to prevent a ThÊs from becoming an archon, provided that on announcing his candidature he did not declare that he belonged to the class of ThÊtes. Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, chapter 7.

163 Pericles proposed and passed the payment of dicasts, during the lifetime of Cimon, probably about 450 B.C. Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 27.

164 Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 24.

165 The place of meeting is proved by Aristophanes, Acharnians, line 20, ? p??? a?t??, Knights, line 42, ???? p????t??and many other passages: the number of ordinary meetings by Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 43.

166 I do not know any evidence which proves directly that this rule was in force at the time of the Peloponnesian war. But we have already seen (page 60) that the rule was made by Solon, and it was certainly in force in the time of Demosthenes (366 B.C.-322 B.C.): see Demosthenes, contra Androtionem, p. 594, and contra Timocratem, p. 715, especially the words p??t?? ?? ... p??? t?? ?????, e?ta t? d??. Smith, Dictionary of Antiquities, article BoulÊ.

167 The events of 411 B.C. prove clearly that the procedure by GraphÊ ParanomÔn was then an established part of the Athenian constitution: see Thucydides VIII. 67, Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 29: and further on in the present chapter, p. 93.

168 The details about the five hundred are from Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 43. An inscription of the date 410-409 B.C. printed in Clinton, Fasti Hellenici (vol. II. p. 345), shows how important the prytaneis then were.

169 Thucydides II. 65.

170 Smith, Dictionary of Antiquities, article Strategus.

171 Smith, Dictionary of Antiquities, article Archon.

172 Demosthenes, Meidias p. 585, asks: "What is it that gives power and authority to any body of jurors sitting in judgement, whether they be two hundred or a thousand or any number you will?"

173 The eagerness of the citizens to act as dicasts is ridiculed all through the play of the Wasps, brought out in 422 B.C.

174 Thucydides I. 31 and 44.

175 Thucydides VI. 8.

176 Thucydides IV. 118.

177 Thucydides III. 2 and 36-49.

178 Herodotus VI. 133 and 136.

179 Xenophon, Hellenica I. 6 and 7. He names only eight admirals recalled. Grote makes the number nine.

180 The observations contained in this paragraph were suggested to me firstly by Professor Mahaffy, Problems in Greek History § 38, and secondly by Mr W. Warde Fowler, The City State of the Greeks and Romans, chapter VI.

181 The decrees granting pay for attendance at ecclesia are enumerated in Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 41. In the EcclesiazusÆ, first acted in 392 B.C., Chremes (at lines 381-2) says he had lost his three obols by being late for the assembly. For the allowance to citizens at religious festivals see Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 28.

182 See Boeckh, Public Economy of Athens, book II. ch. 13-14.

Supposing half a drachma was paid to 18000 spectators at 30 festivals, to 8000 citizens at 50 assemblies and to 4000 dicasts for 300 days, and a whole drachma to 400 councillors for 300 days, we get a sum of 1,190,000 drachmÆ, and, as there were 6000 drachmÆ in a talent, this was equal to 198-1/3 talents.

183 See Boeckh, Public Economy, book III. ch. 19.

184 Grote, octavo edition, vol. VIII. pp. 81-98, cabinet edition, vol. XI. pp. 138-157.

185 Thucydides III. 70-84. Grote, Part II. chapter LXXVIII.

186 Thucydides VIII. 1.

187 Thucydides VIII. 2.

188 Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 29, and Thucydides VIII. 47.

189 Thucydides VI. 61.

190 Thucydides VI. 26-28.

191 Thucydides VI. 53.

192 Thucydides VI. 61.

193 Thucydides VI. 89.

194 Thucydides VI. 61.

195 Thucydides VIII. 11, 12.

196 Thucydides VIII. 45.

197 Thucydides VIII. 45, 46.

198 Thucydides VIII. 47.

199 Thucydides VIII. 47.

200 Thucydides VIII. 48, 3, ?? t?? pa???t?? ??s?? t?? p???? etast?sa?.

201 Thucydides VIII. 48, 3, ? '??????d??, ?pe? ?a? ??, ??d?? ????? ????a???a? ? d????at?a? de?s?a? ?d??e? a?t?.

202 Thucydides VIII. 47.

203 Thucydides VIII. 53.

204 Thucydides VIII. 54.

205 Thucydides VIII. 56.

206 Thucydides VIII. 65, 66.

207 Thucydides VIII. 65, the last sentence. My small addition to the words of this sentence seems to be justified by ??p?ep?? p??? t??? p?e???? which occurs in the next.

208 The oligarchical government lasted four months and ended two months after new archons took office, that is to say, two months after midsummer. Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 33. Clinton, Fasti Hellenici, vol. II. pp. XV. XVI.

209 Thucydides VIII. 67. Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 29.

210 Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 29. Thucydides VIII. 67.

211 Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 31.

212 Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 31, 32.

213 Thucydides VIII. 70.

214 Thucydides VIII. 89.

215 Thucydides VIII. 90-97.

216 Thucydides VIII. 97. 1. The meaning of the words is admirably explained by Grote in a note to chapter LXII. of his History of Greece.

217 Arnold's Thucydides, note to VIII. 97. 1.

218 Grote, History of Greece, octavo edition, vol. VI. p. 152, cabinet edition, vol. VIII. p. 267.

219 Thucydides V. 26.

220 Xenophon, Hellenica I. 7. § 1, and II. 1. § 16.

221 Xenophon, Hellenica II. 1.

222 Xenophon, Hellenica II. 2.

223 Xenophon, Hellenica II. 3.

224 Especially on the famous occasion when Alexander did not dare to put his general Philotas to death till he had been condemned by the assembled chieftains and warriors. Grote, part II. chapter XCIV.

225 The latest event referred to in the treatise is the murder of king Philip in 336 B.C. Aristotle died in 322 B.C.

226 The classification is set forth in the Politics III. 6, 7. Welldon, pp. 116-120. In III. 6. 1 Aristotle defines a polity as "an ordering or arrangement of a state in respect of its offices generally and especially of the supreme office."

227 Aristotle, Politics III. 14. 2. Welldon, transl. p. 146.

228 Aristotle, Politics V. 10. 8. Welldon, p. 382.

229 Aristotle, Politics III. 14. 6. Welldon, p. 145.

230 Aristotle, Politics V. 10. 7. Bekker. Welldon, transl. p. 382. "Kingship corresponds in principle to aristocracy as it is based upon merit."

231 See p. 76.

232 Aristotle, Politics II. 11. 7, II. 12. 2. Welldon, pp. 91, 94.

233 Aristotle, IV. 13. 10, 11. Bekker. Welldon, pages 291, 292.

234 The account here given of Polity is derived from Aristotle's discussion of it in the Politics, book IV. chapters 8-13 (in Bekker's edition): Welldon, pages 274-292. Nothing has been added except a few necessary explanations.

235 Aristotle, Politics II. 12. 5. Welldon, p. 95.

236 Politics, IV. 6. 1-4. Welldon, pages 269, 270.

237 Aristotle, Politics, Bekker IV. 6. 5, 6. Welldon, pages 270, 271.

238 Aristotle, Politics, Bekker IV. 4. 25-28. Welldon, pp. 265-267. In translating, I have taken liberties with the words but I hope not with the sense of any sentence.

239 Aristotle, Politics III. 13. 15. Welldon, pages 140, 141.

240 Aristotle, Politics II. 11. 5-8. Welldon, pages 90, 91.

241 Ibid. IV. 4. 23, IV. 8. 7. Bekker. Welldon, pages 265, 275.

242 Aristotle, Politics IV. 4. 24-26, Bekker. Welldon, pages 265, 266.

243 For example, till 340 B.C., the richest citizens were allowed to contribute far less than their just share towards the trierarchies, which defrayed a large part of the cost of maintaining the navy; and the change to a fairer system was effected with difficulty: Grote, Part II. chapter XC.

The strong conservative tendency, which prevailed among the Athenians under their democratic constitution, was, I believe, first noticed by Mr W. Warde Fowler. There is a striking passage on the matter in his City-state of the Greeks and Romans (pages 170, 171).

244 Hallam, Middle Ages, chapter III.: in the cabinet edition, vol. I. pages 421-423.

245 Aristotle, Politics. Bekker IV. 5. 1-2 and IV. 6. 7-11. Welldon, pages 266-267, pages 271-272.

246 Politics III. 6. 1. Welldon, p. 116.

247 In the Politics (IV. 2. Bekker. Welldon, pp. 253, 254) Aristotle says that "speculation about the ideally best polity is nothing else than a discussion of kingship and aristocracy": and that "kingship must be a mere name and not a reality, unless it is justified by a vast superiority of the reigning king over his subjects":—a condition that can rarely if ever be fulfilled. See also Sidgwick, Elements of Politics, p. 579.

248 The descriptions of the Spartan and the Carthaginian governments are given in the Politics II. 9 and II. 11.

249 The chief modern authorities for the history of the AchÆan League are Bishop Thirlwall in the eighth volume of his History of Greece, and Professor Freeman in his History of Federal Government in Greece and Italy. I have compiled this chapter, after reading what those authors say on the subject, from the books by ancient writers which they cite.

250 Smith's Dictionary of Geography, article Achaia: and Smith's Atlas of Ancient Geography.

251 For the early history of Achaia see Polybius II. 37-41: Shuckburgh, translation, pages 134-137. The story about Croton and Sybaris may be incorrect (Grote, Part II. end of chapter XXXVII.): but it shows that Polybius believed the good government of the AchÆans had been established long before the battle of Leuctra.

252 Polybius II. 41.

253 Polybius II. 41. For the names of the cities see also Mr Shuckburgh's Introduction, pp. xlviii, xlix.

254 Polybius II. 43.

255 For a list of the cities in the league see Freeman, Federal Government, pp. 713-714.

256 Polybius II. 45-53 and 64-69.

257 Freeman, Federal Government, p. 498.

258 Most of the communities in Achaia and some of those in Arcadia were rather cantons than cities: Plutarch (Aratus, ch. 9) calls the AchÆans ????p???ta?, citizens of petty towns. Corinth, Argos and Megalopolis were great cities.

259 The component states were called p??e??, and this fact alone, in the absence of indications tending the other way, is enough to show that they managed their internal affairs. For further evidence see Freeman, Federal Government, p. 256.

260 Polybius II. 37.

261 Polybius (II. 38) emphatically calls the AchÆan system a democracy with free and equal speech.

262 Polybius (V. 1) says that in 218 B.C. the assembly met in accordance with the law at Ægium: but king Philip afterwards persuaded the magistrates to transfer it to Sicyon. The important assembly which made the alliance with Rome in 198 B.C. was also held at Sicyon: Livy XXXII. 19.

263 For example, in 224 B.C. Antigonus DÔsÔn presented himself at an assembly at Ægium in the spring and at another at the same place in the autumn (Polybius II. 54). The meeting in the spring had to elect the officers for the coming year: and the strategus entered on his duties in May, at the rising of the Pleiades (Polybius V. 1).

264 Livy (XXXII. 22) after recording the proceedings of two days in the special meeting of 198 B.C. says "Only one day was left in which the meeting could act: for the law ordered that on the third day its decision should be made."

265 Livy (XXXII. 22) says that in 198 B.C. when the magistrates were just going to take a vote, most of the states openly showed which way they would vote (omnibus fere populis ... prÆ se ferentibus quid decreturi essent): then the citizens of DymÊ and Megalopolis and some from the Argolid left the assembly: but (XXXII. 23) the rest of the states of the league, when asked in turn how they voted (ceteri populi AchÆorum, cum sententias perrogarentur), decided in a certain way.

266 Polybius IV. 26 p??se????t?? t?? as????? p??? t?? ????? ?? ?????.The business related to a question of war against the Ætolians.

267 The evidence for this is referred to by Bishop Thirlwall (History of Greece, vol. VIII. p. 92). In 187 B.C. Eumenes king of Pergamum offered to give 120 talents, on condition that the money was invested and the interest used to pay the councillors (see Polybius XXIII. 7 in Dindorf's edition: XXII. 10 in Mr Shuckburgh's translation). The yearly interest of a talent would be about 720 drachmÆ:—a large salary for a councillor. The councillors at Athens were paid about 300 drachmÆ yearly, see above, p. 51, note 1.

268 Polybius V. 94 ?p?st??t????. Strabo VIII. 7. 3 ??aate??: but this passage proves the existence of the office of secretary only for the very early days of the re-constituted league soon after 280 B.C.

269 Freeman, Federal Government, p. 299, from Polybius IV. 7.

270 Livy XXXII. 22 Magistratus (damiurgos vocant: decem numero creantur). The words magistratus and creantur indicate that they were elected.

271 Livy XXXII. 22.

272 Polybius XXIV. 5 in Bekker's and Dindorf's editions: XXIII. 5 in Mr Shuckburgh's translation.

273 Aristotle himself, as we have seen, in one passage uses the term democracy to denote any government in which a large number of citizens take part: but in doing so he departs from his original definition of it.

274 See Professor Freeman's History of Federal Government.

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