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...[They were tried] by a court empanelled from among the noble families, and sworn upon the sacrifices. The

part of accuser was taken by Myron. They were found guilty of the sacrilege, and their bodies were cast out

of their graves and their race banished for evermore. In view of this expiation, Epimenides the Cretan

After this event there was contention for a long time between the upper classes and the populace. Not only

was the constitution at this time oligarchical in every respect, but the poorer classes, men, women, and

children, were the serfs of the rich. They were known as Pelatae and also as Hectemori, because they

cultivated the lands of the rich at the rent thus indicated. The whole country was in the hands of a few

persons, and if the tenants failed to pay their rent they were liable to be haled into slavery, and their children

with them. All loans secured upon the debtor's person, a custom which prevailed until the time of Solon, who

was the first to appear as the champion of the people. But the hardest and bitterest part of the constitution in

the eyes of the masses was their state of serfdom. Not but what they were also discontented with every other

feature of their lot; for, to speak generally, they had no part nor share in anything.

Now the ancient constitution, as it existed before the time of Draco, was organized as follows. The

magistrates were elected according to qualifications of birth and wealth. At first they governed for life, but

subsequently for terms of ten years. The first magistrates, both in date and in importance, were the King, the

Polemarch, and the Archon. The earliest of these offices was that of the King, which existed from ancestral

antiquity. To this was added, secondly, the office of Polemarch, on account of some of the kings proving

feeble in war; for it was on this account that Ion was invited to accept the post on an occasion of pressing

need. The last of the three offices was that of the Archon, which most authorities state to have come into

existence in the time of Medon. Others assign it to the time of Acastus, and adduce as proof the fact that the

nine Archons swear to execute their oaths 'as in the days of Acastus,' which seems to suggest that it was in his

time that the descendants of Codrus retired from the kingship in return for the prerogatives conferred upon

the Archon. Whichever way it may be, the difference in date is small; but that it was the last of these

magistracies to be created is shown by the fact that the Archon has no part in the ancestral sacrifices, as the

King and the Polemarch have, but exclusively in those of later origin. So it is only at a comparatively late

date that the office of Archon has become of great importance, through the dignity conferred by these later

additions. The Thesmothetae were many years afterwards, when these offices had already become annual,

with the object that they might publicly record all legal decisions, and act as guardians of them with a view to

determining the issues between litigants. Accordingly their office, alone of those which have been mentioned,

Such, then, is the relative chronological precedence of these offices. At that time the nine Archons did not all

live together. The King occupied the building now known as the Boculium, near the Prytaneum, as may be

seen from the fact that even to the present day the marriage of the King's wife to Dionysus takes place there.

The Archon lived in the Prytaneum, the Polemarch in the Epilyceum. The latter building was formerly called

the Polemarcheum, but after Epilycus, during his term of office as Polemarch, had rebuilt it and fitted it up, it

was called the Epilyceum. The Thesmothetae occupied the Thesmotheteum. In the time of Solon, however,

they all came together into the Thesmotheteum. They had power to decide cases finally on their own

authority, not, as now, merely to hold a preliminary hearing. Such then was the arrangement of the

magistracies. The Council of Areopagus had as its constitutionally assigned duty the protection of the laws;

but in point of fact it administered the greater and most important part of the government of the state, and

inflicted personal punishments and fines summarily upon all who misbehaved themselves. This was the

natural consequence of the facts that the Archons were elected under qualifications of birth and wealth, and

that the Areopagus was composed of those who had served as Archons; for which latter reason the

membership of the Areopagus is the only office which has continued to be a lifemagistracy to the present

Such was, in outline, the first constitution, but not very long after the events above recorded, in the

archonship of Aristaichmus, Draco enacted his ordinances. Now his constitution had the following form. The

franchise was given to all who could furnish themselves with a military equipment. The nine Archons and the

Treasurers were elected by this body from persons possessing an unencumbered property of not less than ten

minas, the less important officials from those who could furnish themselves with a military equipment, and

the generals [Strategi] and commanders of the cavalry [Hipparchi] from those who could show an

unencumbered property of not less than a hundred minas, and had children born in lawful wedlock over ten

years of age. These officers were required to hold to bail the Prytanes, the Strategi, and the Hipparchi of the

preceding year until their accounts had been audited, taking four securities of the same class as that to which

the Strategi and the Hipparchi belonged. There was also to be a Council, consisting of four hundred and one

members, elected by lot from among those who possessed the franchise. Both for this and for the other

magistracies the lot was cast among those who were over thirty years of age; and no one might hold office

twice until every one else had had his turn, after which they were to cast the lot afresh. If any member of the

Council failed to attend when there was a sitting of the Council or of the Assembly, he paid a fine, to the

amount of three drachmas if he was a Pentacosiomedimnus, two if he was a Knight, and One if he was a

Zeugites. The Council of Areopagus was guardian of the laws, and kept watch over the magistrates to see that

they executed their offices in accordance with the laws. Any person who felt himself wronged might lay an

information before the Council of Areopagus, on declaring what law was broken by the wrong done to him.

But, as has been said before, loans were secured upon the persons of the debtors, and the land was in the

Since such, then, was the organization of the constitution, and the many were in slavery to the few, the people

rose against the upper class. The strife was keen, and for a long time the two parties were ranged in hostile

camps against one another, till at last, by common consent, they appointed Solon to be mediator and Archon,

and committed the whole constitution to his hands. The immediate occasion of his appointment was his

In this poem he fights and disputes on behalf of each party in turn against the other, and finally he advises

them to come to terms and put an end to the quarrel existing between them. By birth and reputation Solon

was one of the foremost men of the day, but in wealth and position he was of the middle class, as is generally

agreed, and is, indeed, established by his own evidence in these poems, where he exhorts the wealthy not to

Ye shall not have all at your will, and we will not for ever obey. Indeed, he constantly fastens the blame of

the conflict on the rich; and accordingly at the beginning of the poem he says that he fears' the love of wealth

and an overweening mind', evidently meaning that it was through these that the quarrel arose.

As soon as he was at the head of affairs, Solon liberated the people once and for all, by prohibiting all loans

on the security of the debtor's person: and in addition he made laws by which he cancelled all debts, public

and private. This measure is commonly called the Seisachtheia [= removal of burdens], since thereby the

people had their loads removed from them. In connexion with it some persons try to traduce the character of

Solon. It so happened that, when he was about to enact the Seisachtheia, he communicated his intention to

some members of the upper class, whereupon, as the partisans of the popular party say, his friends stole a

march on him; while those who wish to attack his character maintain that he too had a share in the fraud

himself. For these persons borrowed money and bought up a large amount of land, and so when, a short time

afterwards, all debts were cancelled, they became wealthy; and this, they say, was the origin of the families

which were afterwards looked on as having been wealthy from primeval times. However, the story of the

popular party is by far the most probable. A man who was so moderate and publicspirited in all his other

actions, that when it was within his power to put his fellowcitizens beneath his feet and establish himself as

tyrant, he preferred instead to incur the hostility of both parties by placing his honour and the general welfare

above his personal aggrandisement, is not likely to have consented to defile his hands by such a petty and

palpable fraud. That he had this absolute power is, in the first place, indicated by the desperate condition the

country; moreover, he mentions it himself repeatedly in his poems, and it is universally admitted. We are

Next Solon drew up a constitution and enacted new laws; and the ordinances of Draco ceased to be used, with

the exception of those relating to murder. The laws were inscribed on the wooden stands, and set up in the

King's Porch, and all swore to obey them; and the nine Archons made oath upon the stone, declaring that they

would dedicate a golden statue if they should transgress any of them. This is the origin of the oath to that

effect which they take to the present day. Solon ratified his laws for a hundred years; and the following was

the fashion in which he organized the constitution. He divided the population according to property into four

classes, just as it had been divided before, namely, Pentacosiomedimni, Knights, Zeugitae, and Thetes. The

various magistracies, namely, the nine Archons, the Treasurers, the Commissioners for Public Contracts

(Poletae), the Eleven, and Clerks (Colacretae), he assigned to the Pentacosiomedimni, the Knights, and the

Zeugitae, giving offices to each class in proportion to the value of their rateable property. To who ranked

among the Thetes he gave nothing but a place in the Assembly and in the juries. A man had to rank as a

Pentacosiomedimnus if he made, from his own land, five hundred measures, whether liquid or solid. Those

ranked as Knights who made three hundred measures, or, as some say, those who were able to maintain a

horse. In support of the latter definition they adduce the name of the class, which may be supposed to be

derived from this fact, and also some votive offerings of early times; for in the Acropolis there is a votive

And a horse stands in evidence beside the man, implying that this was what was meant by belonging to the

rank of Knight. At the same time it seems reasonable to suppose that this class, like the Pentacosiomedimni,

was defined by the possession of an income of a certain number of measures. Those ranked as Zeugitae who

made two hundred measures, liquid or solid; and the rest ranked as Thetes, and were not eligible for any

office. Hence it is that even at the present day, when a candidate for any office is asked to what class he

The elections to the various offices Solon enacted should be by lot, out of candidates selected by each of the

tribes. Each tribe selected ten candidates for the nine archonships, and among these the lot was cast. Hence it

is still the custom for each tribe to choose ten candidates by lot, and then the lot is again cast among these. A

proof that Solon regulated the elections to office according to the property classes may be found in the law

still in force with regard to the Treasurers, which enacts that they shall be chosen from the

Pentacosiomedimni. Such was Solon's legislation with respect to the nine Archons; whereas in early times the

Council of Areopagus summoned suitable persons according to its own judgement and appointed them for

the year to the several offices. There were four tribes, as before, and four tribekings. Each tribe was divided

into three Trittyes [=Thirds], with twelve Naucraries in each; and the Naucraries had officers of their own,

called Naucrari, whose duty it was to superintend the current receipts and expenditure. Hence, among the

laws of Solon now obsolete, it is repeatedly written that the Naucrari are to receive and to spend out of the

Naucraric fund. Solon also appointed a Council of four hundred, a hundred from each tribe; but he assigned

to the Council of the Areopagus the duty of superintending the laws, acting as before as the guardian of the

constitution in general. It kept watch over the affairs of the state in most of the more important matters, and

corrected offenders, with full powers to inflict either fines or personal punishment. The money received in

fines it brought up into the Acropolis, without assigning the reason for the mulct. It also tried those who

conspired for the overthrow of the state, Solon having enacted a process of impeachment to deal with such

offenders. Further, since he saw the state often engaged in internal disputes, while many of the citizens from

sheer indifference accepted whatever might turn up, he made a law with express reference to such persons,

enacting that any one who, in a time civil factions, did not take up arms with either party, should lose his

Such, then, was his legislation concerning the magistracies. There are three points in the constitution of Solon

which appear to be its most democratic features: first and most important, the prohibition of loans on the

security of the debtor's person; secondly, the right of every person who so willed to claim redress on behalf of

any one to whom wrong was being done; thirdly, the institution of the appeal to the jurycourts; and it is to

this last, they say, that the masses have owed their strength most of all, since, when the democracy is master

of the votingpower, it is master of the constitution. Moreover, since the laws were not drawn up in simple

and explicit terms (but like the one concerning inheritances and wards of state), disputes inevitably occurred,

and the courts had to decide in every matter, whether public or private. Some persons in fact believe that

Solon deliberately made the laws indefinite, in order that the final decision might be in the hands of the

people. This, however, is not probable, and the reason no doubt was that it is impossible to attain ideal

perfection when framing a law in general terms; for we must judge of his intentions, not from the actual

results in the present day, but from the general tenor of the rest of his legislation.

These seem to be the democratic features of his laws; but in addition, before the period of his legislation, he

carried through his abolition of debts, and after it his increase in the standards of weights and measures, and

of the currency. During his administration the measures were made larger than those of Pheidon, and the

mina, which previously had a standard of seventy drachmas, was raised to the full hundred. The standard coin

in earlier times was the twodrachma piece. He also made weights corresponding with the coinage,

sixtythree minas going to the talent; and the odd three minas were distributed among the staters and the

When he had completed his organization of the constitution in the manner that has been described, he found

himself beset by people coming to him and harassing him concerning his laws, criticizing here and

questioning there, till, as he wished neither to alter what he had decided on nor yet to be an object of ill will

to every one by remaining in Athens, he set off on a journey to Egypt, with the combined objects of trade and

travel, giving out that he should not return for ten years. He considered that there was no call for him to

expound the laws personally, but that every one should obey them just as they were written. Moreover, his

position at this time was unpleasant. Many members of the upper class had been estranged from him on

account of his abolition of debts, and both parties were alienated through their disappointment at the

condition of things which he had created. The mass of the people had expected him to make a complete

redistribution of all property, and the upper class hoped he would restore everything to its former position, or,

at any rate, make but a small change. Solon, however, had resisted both classes. He might have made himself

a despot by attaching himself to whichever party he chose, but he preferred, though at the cost of incurring

The truth of this view of Solon's policy is established alike by common consent, and by the mention he has

And again elsewhere he speaks about the persons who wished to redistribute the land:

Once more he speaks of the abolition of debts and of those who before were in servitude, but were released

And again he reviles both parties for their grumblings in the times that followed:

Such then, were Solon's reasons for his departure from the country. After his retirement the city was still torn

by divisions. For four years, indeed, they lived in peace; but in the fifth year after Solon's government they

were unable to elect an Archon on account of their dissensions, and again four years later they elected no

Archon for the same reason. Subsequently, after a similar period had elapsed, Damasias was elected Archon;

and he governed for two years and two months, until he was forcibly expelled from his office. After this, it

was agreed, as a compromise, to elect ten Archons, five from the Eupatridae, three from the Agroeci, and two

from the Demiurgi, and they ruled for the year following Damasias. It is clear from this that the Archon was

at the time the magistrate who possessed the greatest power, since it is always in connexion with this office

that conflicts are seen to arise. But altogether they were in a continual state of internal disorder. Some found

the cause and justification of their discontent in the abolition of debts, because thereby they had been reduced

to poverty; others were dissatisfied with the political constitution, because it had undergone a revolutionary

change; while with others the motive was found in personal rivalries among themselves. The parties at this

time were three in number. First there was the party of the Shore, led by Megacles the son of Alcmeon, which

was considered to aim at a moderate form of government; then there were the men of the Plain, who desired

an oligarchy and were led by Lycurgus; and thirdly there were the men of the Highlands, at the head of whom

was Pisistratus, who was looked on as an extreme democrat. This latter party was reinforced by those who

had been deprived of the debts due to them, from motives of poverty, and by those who were not of pure

descent, from motives of personal apprehension. A proof of this is seen in the fact that after the tyranny was

overthrown a revision was made of the citizenroll, on the ground that many persons were partaking in the

franchise without having a right to it. The names given to the respective parties were derived from the

Pisistratus had the reputation of being an extreme democrat, and he also had distinguished himself greatly in

the war with Megara. Taking advantage of this, he wounded himself, and by representing that his injuries had

been inflicted on him by his political rivals, he persuaded the people, through a motion proposed by Aristion,

to grant him a bodyguard. After he had got these 'clubbearers', as they were called, he made an attack with

them on the people and seized the Acropolis. This happened in the archonship of Comeas, thirtyone years

after the legislation of Solon. It is related that, when Pisistratus asked for his bodyguard, Solon opposed the

request, and declared that in so doing he proved himself wiser than half the people and braver than the

rest,wiser than those who did not see that Pisistratus designed to make himself tyrant, and braver than those

who saw it and kept silence. But when all his words availed nothing he carried forth his armour and set it up

in front of his house, saying that he had helped his country so far as lay in his power (he was already a very

old man), and that he called on all others to do the same. Solon's exhortations, however, proved fruitless, and

Pisistratus assumed the sovereignty. His administration was more like a constitutional government than the

rule of a tyrant; but before his power was firmly established, the adherents of Megacles and Lycurgus made a

coalition and drove him out. This took place in the archonship of Hegesias, five years after the first

establishment of his rule. Eleven years later Megacles, being in difficulties in a party struggle, again

openednegotiations with Pisistratus, proposing that the latter should marry his daughter; and on these terms

he brought him back to Athens, by a very primitive and simpleminded device. He first spread abroad a

rumour that Athena was bringing back Pisistratus, and then, having found a woman of great stature and

beauty, named Phye (according to Herodotus, of the deme of Paeania, but as others say a Thracian

flowerseller of the deme of Collytus), he dressed her in a garb resembling that of the goddess and brought

her into the city with Pisistratus. The latter drove in on a chariot with the woman beside him, and the

In this manner did his first return take place. He did not, however, hold his power long, for about six years

after his return he was again expelled. He refused to treat the daughter of Megacles as his wife, and being

afraid, in consequence, of a combination of the two opposing parties, he retired from the country. First he led

a colony to a place called Rhaicelus, in the region of the Thermaic gulf; and thence he passed to the country

in the neighbourhood of Mt. Pangaeus. Here he acquired wealth and hired mercenaries; and not till ten years

had elapsed did he return to Eretria and make an attempt to recover the government by force. In this he had

the assistance of many allies, notably the Thebans and Lygdamis of Naxos, and also the Knights who held the

supreme power in the constitution of Eretria. After his victory in the battle at Pallene he captured Athens, and

when he had disarmed the people he at last had his tyranny securely established, and was able to take Naxos

and set up Lygdamis as ruler there. He effected the disarmament of the people in the following manner. He

ordered a parade in full armour in the Theseum, and began to make a speech to the people. He spoke for a

short time, until the people called out that they could not hear him, whereupon he bade them come up to the

entrance of the Acropolis, in order that his voice might be better heard. Then, while he continued to speak to

them at great length, men whom he had appointed for the purpose collected the arms and locked them up in

the chambers of the Theseum hard by, and came and made a signal to him that it was done. Pisistratus

accordingly, when he had finished the rest of what he had to say, told the people also what had happened to

their arms; adding that they were not to be surprised or alarmed, but go home and attend to their private

affairs, while he would himself for the future manage all the business of the state.

Such was the origin and such the vicissitudes of the tyranny of Pisistratus. His administration was temperate,

as has been said before, and more like constitutional government than a tyranny. Not only was he in every

respect humane and mild and ready to forgive those who offended, but, in addition, he advanced money to the

poorer people to help them in their labours, so that they might make their living by agriculture. In this he had

two objects, first that they might not spend their time in the city but might be scattered over all the face of the

country, and secondly that, being moderately well off and occupied with their own business, they might have

neither the wish nor the time to attend to public affairs. At the same time his revenues were increased by the

thorough cultivation of the country, since he imposed a tax of one tenth on all the produce. For the same

reasons he instituted the local justices,' and often made expeditions in person into the country to inspect it and

to settle disputes between individuals, that they might not come into the city and neglect their farms. It was in

one of these progresses that, as the story goes, Pisistratus had his adventure with the man of Hymettus, who

was cultivating the spot afterwards known as 'Taxfree Farm'. He saw a man digging and working at a very

stony piece of ground, and being surprised he sent his attendant to ask what he got out of this plot of land.

'Aches and pains', said the man; 'and that's what Pisistratus ought to have his tenth of'. The man spoke

without knowing who his questioner was; but Pisistratus was so leased with his frank speech and his industry

that he granted him exemption from all taxes. And so in matters in general he burdened the people as little as

possible with his government, but always cultivated peace and kept them in all quietness. Hence the tyranny

of Pisistratus was often spoken of proverbially as 'the age of gold'; for when his sons succeeded him the

government became much harsher. But most important of all in this respect was his popular and kindly

disposition. In all things he was accustomed to observe the laws, without giving himself any exceptional

privileges. Once he was summoned on a charge of homicide before the Areopagus, and he appeared in person

to make his defence; but the prosecutor was afraid to present himself and abandoned the case. For these

reasons he held power long, and whenever he was expelled he regained his position easily. The majority alike

of the upper class and of the people were in his favour; the former he won by his social intercourse with

them, the latter by the assistance which he gave to their private purses, and his nature fitted him to win the

hearts of both. Moreover, the laws in reference to tyrants at that time in force at Athens were very mild,

especially the one which applies more particularly to the establishment of a tyranny. The law ran as follows:

'These are the ancestral statutes of the ATHENIANs; if any persons shall make an attempt to establish a

tyranny, or if any person shall join in setting up a tyranny, he shall lose his civic rights, both himself and his

Thus did Pisistratus grow old in the possession of power, and he died a natural death in the archonship of

Philoneos, three and thirty years from the time at which he first established himself as tyrant, during nineteen

of which he was in possession of power; the rest he spent in exile. It is evident from this that the story is mere

gossip which states that Pisistratus was the youthful favourite of Solon and commanded in the war against

Megara for the recovery of Salamis. It will not harmonize with their respective ages, as any one may see who

will reckon up the years of the life of each of them, and the dates at which they died. After the death of

Pisistratus his sons took up the government, and conducted it on the same system. He had two sons by his

first and legitimate wife, Hippias and Hipparchus, and two by his Argive consort, Iophon and Hegesistratus,

who was surnamed Thessalus. For Pisistratus took a wife from Argos, Timonassa, the daughter of a man of

Argos, named Gorgilus; she had previously been the wife of Archinus of Ambracia, one of the descendants of

Cypselus. This was the origin of his friendship with the Argives, on account of which a thousand of them

were brought over by Hegesistratus and fought on his side in the battle at Pallene. Some authorities say that

this marriage took place after his first expulsion from Athens, others while he was in possession of the

Hippias and Hipparchus assumed the control of affairs on grounds alike of standing and of age; but Hippias,

as being also naturally of a statesmanlike and shrewd disposition, was really the head of the government.

Hipparchus was youthful in disposition, amorous, and fond of literature (it was he who invited to Athens

Anacreon, Simonides, and the other poets), while Thessalus was much junior in age, and was violent and

headstrong in his behaviour. It was from his character that all the evils arose which befell the house. He

became enamoured of Harmodius, and, since he failed to win his affection, he lost all restraint upon his

passion, and in addition to other exhibitions of rage he finally prevented the sister of Harmodius from taking

the part of a basketbearer in the Panathenaic procession, alleging as his reason that Harmodius was a person

of loose life. Thereupon, in a frenzy of wrath, Harmodius and Aristogeiton did their celebrated deed, in

conjunction with a number of confederates. But while they were lying in wait for Hippias in the Acropolis at

the time of the Panathenaea (Hippias, at this moment, was awaiting the arrival of the procession, while

Hipparchus was organizing its dispatch) they saw one of the persons privy to the plot talking familiarly with

him. Thinking that he was betraying them, and desiring to do something before they were arrested, they

rushed down and made their attempt without waiting for the rest of their confederates. They succeeded in

killing Hipparchus near the Leocoreum while he was engaged in arranging the procession, but ruined the

design as a whole; of the two leaders, Harmodius was killed on the spot by the guards, while Aristogeiton

was arrested, and perished later after suffering long tortures. While under the torture he accused many

persons who belonged by birth to the most distinguished families and were also personal friends of the

tyrants. At first the government could find no clue to the conspiracy; for the current story, that Hippias made

all who were taking part in the procession leave their arms, and then detected those who were carrying secret

daggers, cannot be true, since at that time they did not bear arms in the processions, this being a custom

instituted at a later period by the democracy. According to the story of the popular party, Aristogeiton

accused the friends of the tyrants with the deliberate intention that the latter might commit an impious act,

and at the same time weaken themselves, by putting to death innocent men who were their own friends;

others say that he told no falsehood, but was betraying the actual accomplices. At last, when for all his efforts

he could not obtain release by death, he promised to give further information against a number of other

persons; and, having induced Hippias to give him his hand to confirm his word, as soon as he had hold of it

he reviled him for giving his hand to the murderer of his brother, till Hippias, in a frenzy of rage, lost control

After this event the tyranny became much harsher. In consequence of his vengeance for his brother, and of

the execution and banishment of a large number of persons, Hippias became a distrusted and an embittered

man. About three years after the death of Hipparchus, finding his position in the city insecure, he set about

fortifying Munichia, with the intention of establishing himself there. While he was still engaged on this work,

however, he was expelled by Cleomenes, king of Lacedaemon, in consequence of the Spartans being

continually incited by oracles to overthrow the tyranny. These oracles were obtained in the following way.

The Athenian exiles, headed by the Alcmeonidae, could not by their own power effect their return, but failed

continually in their attempts. Among their other failures, they fortified a post in Attica, Lipsydrium, above

Mt. Parnes, and were there joined by some partisans from the city; but they were besieged by the tyrants and

reduced to surrender. After this disaster the following became a popular drinking song:

Having failed, then, in very other method, they took the contract for rebuilding the temple at Delphi, thereby

obtaining ample funds, which they employed to secure the help of the Lacedaemonians. All this time the

Pythia kept continually enjoining on the Lacedaemonians who came to consult the oracle, that they must free

Athens; till finally she succeeded in impelling the Spartans to that step, although the house of Pisistratus was

connected with them by ties of hospitality. The resolution of the Lacedaemonians was, however, at least

equally due to the friendship which had been formed between the house of Pisistratus and Argos.

Accordingly they first sent Anchimolus by sea at the head of an army; but he was defeated and killed,

through the arrival of Cineas of Thessaly to support the sons of Pisistratus with a force of a thousand

horsemen. Then, being roused to anger by this disaster, they sent their king, Cleomenes, by land at the head

of a larger force; and he, after defeating the Thessalian cavalry when they attempted to intercept his march

into Attica, shut up Hippias within what was known as the Pelargic wall and blockaded him there with the

assistance of the Athenians. While he was sitting down before the place, it so happened that the sons of the

Pisistratidae were captured in an attempt to slip out; upon which the tyrants capitulated on condition of the

safety of their children, and surrendered the Acropolis to the Athenians, five days being first allowed them to

remove their effects. This took place in the archonship of Harpactides, after they had held the tyranny for

about seventeen years since their father's death, or in all, including the period of their father's rule, for

After the overthrow of the tyranny, the rival leaders in the state were Isagoras son of Tisander, a partisan of

the tyrants, and Cleisthenes, who belonged to the family of the Alcmeonidae. Cleisthenes, being beaten in the

political clubs, called in the people by giving the franchise to the masses. Thereupon Isagoras, finding himself

left inferior in power, invited Cleomenes, who was united to him by ties of hospitality, to return to Athens,

and persuaded him to 'drive out the pollution', a plea derived from the fact that the Alcmeonidae were

suppposed to be under the curse of pollution. On this Cleisthenes retired from the country, and Cleomenes,

entering Attica with a small force, expelled, as polluted, seven hundred Athenian families. Having effected

this, he next attempted to dissolve the Council, and to set up Isagoras and three hundred of his partisans as the

supreme power in the state. The Council, however, resisted, the populace flocked together, and Cleomenes

and Isagoras, with their adherents, took refuge in the Acropolis. Here the people sat down and besieged them

for two days; and on the third they agreed to let Cleomenes and all his followers de art, while they summoned

Cleisthenes and the other exiles back to Athens. When the people had thus obtained the command of affairs,

Cleisthenes was their chief and popular leader. And this was natural; for the Alcmeonidae were perhaps the

chief cause of the expulsion of the tyrants, and for the greater part of their rule were at perpetual war with

them. But even earlier than the attempts of the Alcmeonidae, one Cedon made an attack on the tyrants; when

The people, therefore, had good reason to place confidence in Cleisthenes. Accordingly, now that he was the

popular leader, three years after the expulsion of the tyrants, in the archonship of Isagoras, his first step was

to distribute the whole population into ten tribes in place of the existing four, with the object of intermixing

the members of the different tribes, and so securing that more persons might have a share in the franchise.

From this arose the saying 'Do not look at the tribes', addressed to those who wished to scrutinize the lists of

the old families. Next he made the Council to consist of five hundred members instead of four hundred, each

tribe now contributing fifty, whereas formerly each had sent a hundred. The reason why he did not organize

the people into twelve tribes was that he might not have to use the existing division into trittyes; for the four

tribes had twelve trittyes, so that he would not have achieved his object of redistributing the population in

fresh combinations. Further, he divided the country into thirty groups of demes, ten from the districts about

the city, ten from the coast, and ten from the interior. These he called trittyes; and he assigned three of them

by lot to each tribe, in such a way that each should have one portion in each of these three localities. All who

lived in any given deme he declared fellowdemesmen, to the end that the new citizens might not be exposed

by the habitual use of family names, but that men might be officially described by the names of their demes;

and accordingly it is by the names of their demes that the Athenians speak of one another. He also instituted

Demarchs, who had the same duties as the previously existing Naucrari,the demes being made to take the

place of the naucraries. He gave names to the demes, some from the localities to which they belonged, some

from the persons who founded them, since some of the areas no longer corresponded to localities possessing

names. On the other hand he allowed every one to retain his family and clan and religious rites according to

ancestral custom. The names given to the tribes were the ten which the Pythia appointed out of the hundred

By these reforms the constitution became much more democratic than that of Solon. The laws of Solon had

been obliterated by disuse during the period of the tyranny, while Cleisthenes substituted new ones with the

object of securing the goodwill of the masses. Among these was the law concerning ostracism. Four year

after the establishment of this system, in the archonship of Hermocreon, they first imposed upon the Council

of Five Hundred the oath which they take to the present day. Next they began to elect the generals by tribes,

one from each tribe, while the Polemarch was the commander of the whole army. Then, eleven years later, in

the archonship of Phaenippus they won the battle of Marathon; and two years after this victory, when the

people had now gained selfconfidence, they for the first time made use of the law of ostracism. This had

originally been passed as a precaution against men in high office, because Pisistratus took advantage of his

position as a popular leader and general to make himself tyrant; and the first person ostracized was one of his

relatives, Hipparchus son of Charmus, of the deme of Collytus, the very person on whose account especially

Cleisthenes had enacted the law, as he wished to get rid of him. Hitherto, however, he had escaped; for the

Athenians, with the usual leniency of the democracy, allowed all the partisans of the tyrants, who had not

joined in their evil deeds in the time of the troubles to remain in the city; and the chief and leader of these was

Hipparchus. Then in the very next year, in the archonship of Telesinus, they for the first time since the

tyranny elected, tribe by tribe, the nine Archons by lot out of the five hundred candidates selected by the

demes, all the earlier ones having been elected by vote; and in the same year Megacles son of Hippocrates, of

the deme of Alopece, was ostracized. Thus for three years they continued to ostracize the friends of the

tyrants, on whose account the law had been passed; but in the following year they began to remove others as

well, including any one who seemed to be more powerful than was expedient. The first person unconnected

with the tyrants who was ostracized was Xanthippus son of Ariphron. Two years later, in the archonship of

Nicodemus, the mines of Maroneia were discovered, and the state made a profit of a hundred talents from the

working of them. Some persons advised the people to make a distribution of the money among themselves,

but this was prevented by Themistocles. He refused to say on what he proposed to spend the money, but he

bade them lend it to the hundred richest men in Athens, one talent to each, and then, if the manner in which it

was employed pleased the people, the expenditure should be charged to the state, but otherwise the state

should receive the sum back from those to whom it was lent. On these terms he received the money and with

it he had a hundred triremes built, each of the hundred individuals building one; and it was with these ships

that they fought the battle of Salamis against the barbarians. About this time Aristides the son of Lysimachus

was ostracized. Three years later, however, in the archonship of Hypsichides, all the ostracized persons were

recalled, on account of the advance of the army of Xerxes; and it was laid down for the future that persons

under sentence of ostracism must live between Geraestus and Scyllaeum, on pain of losing their civic rights

So far, then, had the city progressed by this time, growing gradually with the growth of the democracy; but

after the Persian wars the Council of Areopagus once more developed strength and assumed the control of the

state. It did not acquire this supremacy by virtue of any formal decree, but because it had been the cause of

the battle of Salamis being fought. When the generals were utterly at a loss how to meet the crisis and made

proclamation that every one should see to his own safety, the Areopagus provided a donation of money,

distributing eight drachmas to each member of the ships' crews, and so prevailed on them to go on board. On

these grounds people bowed to its prestige; and during this period Athens was well administered. At this time

they devoted themselves to the prosecution of the war and were in high repute among the Greeks, so that the

command by sea was conferred upon them, in spite of the opposition of the Lacedaemonians. The leaders of

the people during this period were Aristides, of Lysimachus, and Themistocles, son of Lysimachus, and

Themistocles, son of Neocles, of whom the latter appeared to devote himself to the conduct of war, while the

former had the reputation of being a clever statesman and the most upright man of his time. Accordingly the

one was usually employed as general, the other as political adviser. The rebuilding of the fortifications they

conducted in combination, although they were political opponents; but it was Aristides who, seizing the

opportunity afforded by the discredit brought upon the Lacedaemonians by Pausanias, guided the public

policy in the matter of the defection of the Ionian states from the alliance with Sparta. It follows that it was he

who made the first assessment of tribute from the various allied states, two years after the battle of Salamis,

in the archonship of Timosthenes; and it was he who took the oath of offensive and defensive alliance with

After this, seeing the state growing in confidence and much wealth accumulated, he advised the people to lay

hold of the leadership of the league, and to quit the country districts and settle in the city. He pointed out to

them that all would be able to gain a living there, some by service in the army, others in the garrisons, others

by taking a part in public affairs; and in this way they would secure the leadership. This advice was taken;

and when the people had assumed the supreme control they proceeded to treat their allies in a more imperious

fashion, with the exception of the Chians, Lesbians, and Samians. These they maintained to protect their

empire, leaving their constitutions untouched, and allowing them to retain whatever dominion they then

possessed. They also secured an ample maintenance for the mass of the population in the way which

Aristides had pointed out to them. Out of the proceeds of the tributes and the taxes and the contributions of

the allies more than twenty thousand persons were maintained. There were 6,000 jurymen, 1,600 bowmen,

1,200 Knights, 500 members of the Council, 500 guards of the dockyards, besides fifty guards in the

Acropolis. There were some 700 magistrates at home, and some 700 abroad. Further, when they subsequently

went to war, there were in addition 2,500 heavyarmed troops, twenty guardships, and other ships which

collected the tributes, with crews amounting to 2,000 men, selected by lot; and besides these there were the

persons maintained at the Prytaneum, and orphans, and gaolers, since all these were supported by the state.

Such was the way in which the people earned their livelihood. The supremacy of the Areopagus lasted for

about seventeen years after the Persian wars, although gradually declining. But as the strength of the masses

increased, Ephialtes, son of Sophonides, a man with a reputation for incorruptibility and public virtue, who

had become the leader of the people, made an attack upon that Council. First of all he ruined many of its

members by bringing actions against them with reference to their administration. Then, in the archonship of

Conon, he stripped the Council of all the acquired prerogatives from which it derived its guardianship of the

constitution, and assigned some of them to the Council of Five Hundred, and others to the Assembly and the

lawcourts. In this revolution he was assisted by Themistocles, who was himself a member of the Areopagus,

but was expecting to be tried before it on a charge of treasonable dealings with Persia. This made him

anxious that it should be overthrown, and accordingly he warned Ephialtes that the Council intended to arrest

him, while at the same time he informed the Areopagites that he would reveal to them certain persons who

were conspiring to subvert the constitution. He then conducted the representatives delegated by the Council

to the residence of Ephialtes, promising to show them the conspirators who assembled there, and proceeded

to converse with them in an earnest manner. Ephialtes, seeing this, was seized with alarm and took refuge in

suppliant guise at the altar. Every one was astounded at the occurrence, and presently, when the Council of

Five Hundred met, Ephialtes and Themistocles together proceeded to denounce the Areopagus to them. This

they repeated in similar fashion in the Assembly, until they succeeded in depriving it of its power. Not long

afterwards, however, Ephialtes was assassinated by Aristodicus of Tanagra. In this way was the Council of

After this revolution the administration of the state became more and more lax, in consequence of the eager

rivalry of candidates for popular favour. During this period the moderate party, as it happened, had no real

chief, their leader being Cimon son of Miltiades, who was a comparatively young man, and had been late in

entering public life; and at the same time the general populace suffered great losses by war. The soldiers for

active service were selected at that time from the roll of citizens, and as the generals were men of no military

experience, who owed their position solely to their family standing, it continually happened that some two or

three thousand of the troops perished on an expedition; and in this way the best men alike of the lower and

the upper classes were exhausted. Consequently in most matters of administration less heed was paid to the

laws than had formerly been the case. No alteration, however, was made in the method of election of the nine

Archons, except that five years after the death of Ephialtes it was decided that the candidates to be submitted

to the lot for that office might be selected from the Zeugitae as well as from the higher classes. The first

Archon from that class was Mnesitheides. Up to this time all the Archons had been taken from the

Pentacosiomedimni and Knights, while the Zeugitae were confined to the ordinary magistracies, save where

an evasion of the law was overlooked. Four years later, in the archonship of Lysicrates, thirty 'local justices',

as they as they were called, were reestablished; and two years afterwards, in the archonship of Antidotus,

consequence of the great increase in the number of citizens, it was resolved, on the motion of Pericles, that no

one should admitted to the franchise who was not of citizen birth by both parents.

After this Pericles came forward as popular leader, having first distinguished himself while still a young man

by prosecuting Cimon on the audit of his official accounts as general. Under his auspices the constitution

became still more democratic. He took away some of the privileges of the Areopagus, and, above all, he

turned the policy of the state in the direction of sea power, which caused the masses to acquire confidence in

themselves and consequently to take the conduct of affairs more and more into their own hands. Moreover,

fortyeight years after the battle of Salamis, in the archonship of Pythodorus, the Peloponnesian war broke

out, during which the populace was shut up in the city and became accustomed to gain its livelihood by

military service, and so, partly voluntarily and partly involuntarily, determined to assume the administration

of the state itself. Pericles was also the first to institute pay for service in the lawcourts, as a bid for popular

favour to counterbalance the wealth of Cimon. The latter, having private possessions on a regal scale, not

only performed the regular public services magnificently, but also maintained a large number of his

fellowdemesmen. Any member of the deme of Laciadae could go every day to Cimon's house and there

receive a reasonable provision; while his estate was guarded by no fences, so that any one who liked might

help himself to the fruit from it. Pericles' private property was quite unequal to this magnificence and

accordingly he took the advice of Damonides of Oia (who was commonly supposed to be the person who

prompted Pericles in most of his measures, and was therefore subsequently ostracized), which was that, as he

was beaten in the matter of private possessions, he should make gifts to the people from their own property;

and accordingly he instituted pay for the members of the juries. Some critics accuse him of thereby causing a

deterioration in the character of the juries, since it was always the common people who put themselves

forward for selection as jurors, rather than the men of better position. Moreover, bribery came into existence

after this, the first person to introduce it being Anytus, after his command at Pylos. He was prosecuted by

certain individuals on account of his loss of Pylos, but escaped by bribing the jury.

So long, however, as Pericles was leader of the people, things went tolerably well with the state; but when he

was dead there was a great change for the worse. Then for the first time did the people choose a leader who

was of no reputation among men of good standing, whereas up to this time such men had always been found

as leaders of the democracy. The first leader of the people, in the very beginning of things, was Solon, and

the second was Pisistratus, both of them men of birth and position. After the overthrow of the tyrants there

was Cleisthenes, a member of the house of the Alcmeonidae; and he had no rival opposed to him after the

expulsion of the party of Isagoras. After this Xanthippus was the leader of the people, and Miltiades of the

upper class. Then came Themistocles and Aristides, and after them Ephialtes as leader of the people, and

Cimon son of Miltiades of the wealthier class. Pericles followed as leader of the people, and Thucydides, who

was connected by marriage with Cimon, of the opposition. After the death of Pericles, Nicias, who

subsequently fell in Sicily, appeared as leader of the aristocracy, and Cleon son of Cleaenetus of the people.

The latter seems, more than any one else, to have been the cause of the corruption of the democracy by his

wild undertakings; and he was the first to use unseemly shouting and coarse abuse on the Bema, and to

harangue the people with his cloak girt up short about him, whereas all his predecessors had spoken decently

and in order. These were succeeded by Theramenes son of Hagnon as leader of the one party, and the

lyremaker Cleophon of the people. It was Cleophon who first granted the twoobol donation for the theatrical

performances, and for some time it continued to be given; but then Callicrates of Paeania ousted him by

promising to add a third obol to the sum. Both of these persons were subsequently condemned to death; for

the people, even if they are deceived for a time, in the end generally come to detest those who have beguiled

them into any unworthy action. After Cleophon the popular leadership was occupied successively by the men

who chose to talk the biggest and pander the most to the tastes of the majority, with their eyes fixed only on

the interests of the moment. The best statesmen at Athens, after those of early times, seem to have been

Nicias, Thucydides, and Theramenes. As to Nicias and Thucydides, nearly every one agrees that they were

not merely men of birth and character, but also statesmen, and that they ruled the state with paternal care. On

the merits of Theramenes opinion is divided, because it so happened that in his time public affairs were in a

very stormy state. But those who give their opinion deliberately find him, not, as his critics falsely assert,

overthrowing every kind of constitution, but supporting every kind so long as it did not transgress laws; thus

showing that he was able, as every good citizen should be, to live under any form of constitution, while he

So long as the fortune of the war continued even, the Athenians preserved the democracy; but after the

disaster in Sicily, when the Lacedaemonians had gained the upper hand through their alliance with the king of

Persia, they were compelled to abolish the democracy and establish in its place the constitution of the Four

Hundred. The speech recommending this course before the vote was made by Melobius, and the motion was

proposed by Pythodorus of Anaphlystus; but the real argument which persuaded the majority was the belief

that the king of Persia was more likely to form an alliance with them if the constitution were on an

oligarchical basis. The motion of Pythodorus was to the following effect. The popular Assembly was to elect

twenty persons, over forty years of age, who, in conjunction with the existing ten members of the Committee

of Public Safety, after taking an oath that they would frame such measures as they thought best for the state,

should then prepare proposals for the public. safety. In addition, any other person might make proposals, so

that of all the schemes before them the people might choose the best. Cleitophon concurred with the motion

of Pythodorus, but moved that the committee should also investigate the ancient laws enacted by Cleisthenes

when he created the democracy, in order that they might have these too before them and so be in a position to

decide wisely; his suggestion being that the constitution of Cleisthenes was not really democratic, but closely

akin to that of Solon. When the committee was elected, their first proposal was that the Prytanes should be

compelled to put to the vote any motion that was offered on behalf of the public safety. Next they abolished

all indictments for illegal proposals, all impeachments and pubic prosecutions, in order that every Athenian

should be free to give his counsel on the situation, if he chose; and they decreed that if any person imposed a

fine on any other for his acts in this respect, or prosecuted him or summoned him before the courts, he

should, on an information being laid against him, be summarily arrested and brought before the generals, who

should deliver him to the Eleven to be put to death. After these preliminary measures, they drew up the

constitution in the following manner. The revenues of the state were not to be spent on any purpose except

the war. All magistrates should serve without remuneration for the period of the war, except the nine Archons

and the Prytanes for the time being, who should each receive three obols a day. The whole of the rest of the

administration was to be committed, for the period of the war, to those Athenians who were most capable of

serving the state personally or pecuniarily, to the number of not less than five thousand. This body was to

have full powers, to the extent even of making treaties with whomsoever they willed; and ten representatives,

over forty years of age, were to be elected from each tribe to draw up the list of the Five Thousand, after

These were the recommendations of the committee; and when they had been ratified the Five Thousand

elected from their own number a hundred commissioners to draw up the constitution. They, on their

appointment, drew up and produced the following recommendations. There should be a Council, holding

office for a year, consisting of men over thirty years of age, serving without pay. To this body should belong

the Generals, the nine Archons, the Amphictyonic Registrar (Hieromnemon), the Taxiarchs, the Hipparchs,

the Phylarch, the commanders of garrisons, the Treasurers of Athena and the other gods, ten in number, the

Hellenic Treasurers (Hellenotamiae), the Treasurers of the other nonsacred moneys, to the number of

twenty, the ten Commissioners of Sacrifices (Hieropoei), and the ten Superintendents of the mysteries. All

these were to be appointed by the Council from a larger number of selected candidates, chosen from its

members for the time being. The other offices were all to be filled by lot, and not from the members of the

Council. The Hellenic Treasurers who actually administered the funds should not sit with the Council. As

regards the future, four Councils were to be created, of men of the age already mentioned, and one of these

was to be chosen by lot to take office at once, while the others were to receive it in turn, in the order decided

by the lot. For this purpose the hundred commissioners were to distribute themselves and all the rest as

equally as possible into four parts, and cast lots for precedence, and the selected body should hold office for a

year. They were to administer that office as seemed to them best, both with reference to the safe custody and

due expenditure of the finances, and generally with regard to all other matters to the best of their ability. If

they desired to take a larger number of persons into counsel, each member might call in one assistant of his

own choice, subject to the same qualification of age. The Council was to sit once every five days, unless there

was any special need for more frequent sittings. The casting of the lot for the Council was to be held by the

nine Archons; votes on divisions were to be counted by five tellers chosen by lot from the members of the

Council, and of these one was to be selected by lot every day to act as president. These five persons were to

cast lots for precedence between the parties wishing to appear before the Council, giving the first place to

sacred matters, the second to heralds, the third to embassies, and the fourth to all other subjects; but matters

concerning the war might be dealt with, on the motion of the generals, whenever there was need, without

balloting. Any member of the Council who did not enter the Councilhouse at the time named should be

fined a drachma for each day, unless he was away on leave of absence from the Council.

Such was the constitution which they drew up for the time to come, but for the immediate present they

devised the following scheme. There should be a Council of Four Hundred, as in the ancient constitution,

forty from each tribe, chosen out of candidates of more than thirty years of age, selected by the members of

the tribes. This Council should appoint the magistrates and draw up the form of oath which they were to take;

and in all that concerned the laws, in the examination of official accounts, and in other matters generally, they

might act according to their discretion. They must, however, observe the laws that might be enacted with

reference to the constitution of the state, and had no power to alter them nor to pass others. The generals

should be provisionally elected from the whole body of the Five Thousand, but so soon as the Council came

into existence it was to hold an examination of military equipments, and thereon elect ten persons, together

with a secretary, and the persons thus elected should hold office during the coming year with full powers, and

should have the right, whenever they desired it, of joining in the deliberations of the Council. The Five

thousand was also to elect a single Hipparch and ten Phylarchs; but for the future the Council was to elect

these officers according to the regulations above laid down. No office, except those of member of the Council

and of general, might be held more than once, either by the first occupants or by their successors. With

reference to the future distribution of the Four Hundred into the four successive sections, the hundred

commissioners must divide them whenever the time comes for the citizens to join in the Council along with

The hundred commissioners appointed by the Five Thousand drew up the constitution as just stated; and after

it had been ratified by the people, under the presidency of Aristomachus, the existing Council, that of the year

of Callias, was dissolved before it had completed its term of office. It was dissolved on the fourteenth day of

the month Thargelion, and the Four Hundred entered into office on the twentyfirst; whereas the regular

Council, elected by lot, ought to have entered into office on the fourteenth of Scirophorion. Thus was the

oligarchy established, in the archonship of Callias, just about a hundred years after the expulsion of the

tyrants. The chief promoters of the revolution were Pisander, Antiphon, and Theramenes, all of them men of

good birth and with high reputations for ability and judgement. When, however, this constitution had been

established, the Five Thousand were only nominally selected, and the Four Hundred, together with the ten

officers on whom full powers had been conferred, occupied the Councilhouse and really administered the

government. They began by sending ambassadors to the Lacedaemonians proposing a cessation of the war on

the basis of the existing Position; but as the Lacedaemonians refused to listen to them unless they would also

For about four months the constitution of the Four Hundred lasted, and Mnasilochus held office as Archon of

their nomination for two months of the year of Theopompus, who was Archon for the remaining ten. On the

loss of the naval battle of Eretria, however, and the revolt of the whole of Euboea except Oreum, the

indignation of the people was greater than at any of the earlier disasters, since they drew far more supplies at

this time from Euboea than from Attica itself. Accordingly they deposed the Four Hundred and committed

the management of affairs to the Five Thousand, consisting of persons Possessing a military equipment. At

the same time they voted that pay should not be given for any public office. The persons chiefly responsible

for the revolution were Aristocrates and Theramenes, who disapproved of the action of the Four Hundred in

retaining the direction of affairs entirely in their own hands, and referring nothing to the Five Thousand.

During this period the constitution of the state seems to have been admirable, since it was a time of war and

The people, however, in a very short time deprived the Five Thousand of their monopoly of the government.

Then, six years after the overthrow of the Four Hundred, in the archonship of Callias of Angele, battle of

Arginusae took place, of which the results were, first, that the ten generals who had gained the victory were

all condemned by a single decision, owing to the people being led astray by persons who aroused their

indignation; though, as a matter of fact, some of the generals had actually taken no part in the battle, and

others were themselves picked up by other vessels. Secondly, when the Lacedaemonians proposed to

evacuate Decelea and make peace on the basis of the existing position, although some of the Athenians

supported this proposal, the majority refused to listen to them. In this they were led astray by Cleophon, who

appeared in the Assembly drunk and wearing his breastplate, and prevented peace being made, declaring that

he would never accept peace unless the Lacedaemoniof the whole of Euboea except Oreum, the indignation

of the peoans abandoned their claims on all the cities allied with them. They mismanaged their opportunity

then, and in a very short time they learnt their mistake. The next year, in the archonship of Alexias, they

suffered the disaster of Aegospotami, the consequence of which was that Lysander became master of the city,

and set up the Thirty as its governors. He did so in the following manner. One of the terms of peace stipulated

that the state should be governed according to 'the ancient constitution'. Accordingly the popular party tried to

preserve the democracy, while that part of the upper class which belonged to the political clubs, together with

the exiles who had returned since the peace, aimed at an oligarchy, and those who were not members of any

club, though in other respects they considered themselves as good as any other citizens, were anxious to

restore the ancient constitution. The latter class included Archinus, Anytus, Cleitophon, Phormisius, and

many others, but their most prominent leader was Theramenes. Lysander, however, threw his influence on the

side of the oligarchical party, and the popular Assembly was compelled by sheer intimidation to pass a vote

establishing the oligarchy. The motion to this effect was proposed by Dracontides of Aphidna.

In this way were the Thirty established in power, in the archonship of Pythodorus. As soon, however, as they

were masters of the city, they ignored all the resolutions which had been passed relating to the organization of

the constitution, but after appointing a Council of Five Hundred and the other magistrates out of a thousand

selected candidates, and associating with themselves ten Archons in Piraeus, eleven superintendents of the

prison, and three hundred 'lashbearers' as attendants, with the help of these they kept the city under their

own control. At first, indeed, they behaved with moderation towards the citizens and pretended to administer

the state according to the ancient constitution. In pursuance of this policy they took down from the hill of

Areopagus the laws of Ephialtes and Archestratus relating to the Areopagite Council; they also repealed such

of the statutes of Solon as were obscure, and abolished the supreme power of the lawcourts. In this they

claimed to be restoring the constitution and freeing it from obscurities; as, for instance, by making the testator

free once for all to leave his property as he pleased, and abolishing the existing limitations in cases of

insanity, old age, and undue female influence, in order that no opening might be left for professional

accusers. In other matters also their conduct was similar. At first, then, they acted on these lines, and they

destroyed the professional accusers and those mischievous and evilminded persons who, to the great

detriment of the democracy, had attached themselves to it in order to curry favour with it. With all of this the

city was much pleased, and thought that the Thirty were doing it with the best of motives. But so soon as they

had got a firmer hold on the city, they spared no class of citizens, but put to death any persons who were

eminent for wealth or birth or character. Herein they aimed at removing all whom they had reason to fear,

while they also wished to lay hands on their possessions; and in a short time they put to death not less than

Theramenes, however, seeing the city thus falling into ruin, was displeased with their proceedings, and

counselled them to cease such unprincipled conduct and let the better classes have a share in the government.

At first they resisted his advice, but when his proposals came to be known abroad, and the masses began to

associate themselves with him, they were seized with alarm lest he should make himself the leader of the

people and destroy their despotic power. Accordingly they drew up a list of three thousand citizens, to whom

they announced that they would give a share in the constitution. Theramenes, however, criticized this scheme

also, first on the ground that, while proposing to give all respectable citizens a share in the constitution, they

were actually giving it only to three thousand persons, as though all merit were confined within that number;

and secondly because they were doing two inconsistent things, since they made the government rest on the

basis of force, and yet made the governors inferior in strength to the governed. However, they took no notice

of his criticisms, and for a long time put off the publication of the list of the Three Thousand and kept to

themselves the names of those who had been placed upon it; and every time they did decide to publish it they

proceeded to strike out some of those who had been included in it, and insert others who had been omitted.

Now when winter had set in, Thrasybulus and the exiles occupied Phyle, and the force which the Thirty led

out to attack them met with a reverse. Thereupon the Thirty decided to disarm the bulk of the population and

to get rid of Theramenes; which they did in the following way. They introduced two laws into the Council,

which they commanded it to pass; the first of them gave the Thirty absolute power to put to death any citizen

who was not included in the list of the Three Thousand, while the second disqualified all persons from

participation in the franchise who should have assisted in the demolition of the fort of Eetioneia, or have

acted in any way against the Four Hundred who had organized the previous oligarchy. Theramenes had done

both, and accordingly, when these laws were ratified, he became excluded from the franchise and the Thirty

had full power to put him to death. Theramenes having been thus removed, they disarmed all the people

except the Three Thousand, and in every respect showed a great advance in cruelty and crime. They also sent

ambassadors to Lacedaemonian to blacken the character of Theramenes and to ask for help; and the

Lacedaemonians, in answer to their appeal, sent Callibius as military governor with about seven hundred

These events were followed by the occupation of Munichia by the exiles from Phyle, and their victory over

the Thirty and their partisans. After the fight the party of the city retreated, and next day they held a meeting

in the marketplace and deposed the Thirty, and elected ten citizens with full powers to bring the war to a

termination. When, however, the Ten had taken over the government they did nothing towards the object for

which they were elected, but sent envoys to Lacedaemonian to ask for help and to borrow money. Further,

finding that the citizens who possessed the franchise were displeased at their proceedings, they were afraid

lest they should be deposed, and consequently, in order to strike terror into them (in which design they

succeeded), they arrested Demaretus, one of the most eminent citizens, and put him to death. This gave them

a firm hold on the government, and they also had the support of Callibius and his Peloponnesians, together

with several of the Knights; for some of the members of this class were the most zealous among the citizens

to prevent the return of the exiles from Phyle. When, however, the party in Piraeus and Munichia began to

gain the upper hand in the war, through the defection of the whole populace to them, the party in the city

deposed the original Ten, and elected another Ten, consisting of men of the highest repute. Under their

administration, and with their active and zealous cooperation, the treaty of reconciliation was made and the

populace returned to the city. The most prominent members of this board were Rhinon of Paeania and

Phayllus of Acherdus, who, even before the arrival of Pausanias, opened negotiations with the party in

Piraeus, and after his arrival seconded his efforts to bring about the return of the exiles. For it was Pausanias,

the king of the Lacedaemonians, who brought the peace and reconciliation to a fulfillment, in conjunction

with the ten commissioners of arbitration who arrived later from Lacedaemonian, at his own earnest request.

Rhinon and his colleagues received a vote of thanks for the goodwill shown by them to the people, and

though they received their charge under an oligarchy and handed in their accounts under a democracy, no

one, either of the party that had stayed in the city or of the exiles that had returned from the Piraeus, brought

any complaint against them. On the contrary, Rhinon was immediately elected general on account of his

This reconciliation was effected in the archonship of Eucleides, on the following terms. All persons who,

having remained in the city during the troubles, were now anxious to leave it, were to be free to settle at

Eleusis, retaining their civil rights and possessing full and independent powers of selfgovernment, and with

the free enjoyment of their own personal property. The temple at Eleusis should be common ground for both

parties, and should be under the superintendence of the Ceryces, and the Eumolpidae, according to primitive

custom. The settlers at Eleusis should not be allowed to enter Athens, nor the people of Athens to enter

Eleusis, except at the season of the mysteries, when both parties should be free from these restrictions. The

secessionists should pay their share to the fund for the common defence out of their revenues, just like all the

other Athenians. If any of the seceding party wished to take a house in Eleusis, the people would help them to

obtain the consent of the owner; but if they could not come to terms, they should appoint three valuers on

either side, and the owner should receive whatever price they should appoint. Of the inhabitants of Eleusis,

those whom the secessionists wished to remain should be allowed to do so. The list of those who desired to

secede should be made up within ten days after the taking of the oaths in the case of persons already in the

country, and their actual departure should take place within twenty days; persons at present out of the country

should have the same terms allowed to them after their return. No one who settled at Eleusis should be

capable of holding any office in Athens until he should again register himself on the roll as a resident in the

city. Trials for homicide, including all cases in which one party had either killed or wounded another, should

be conducted according to ancestral practice. There should be a general amnesty concerning past events

towards all persons except the Thirty, the Ten, the Eleven, and the magistrates in Piraeus; and these too

should be included if they should submit their accounts in the usual way. Such accounts should be given by

the magistrates in Piraeus before a court of citizens rated in Piraeus, and by the magistrates in the city before

a court of those rated in the city. On these terms those who wished to do so might secede. Each party was to

When the reconciliation had taken place on these terms, those who had fought on the side of the Thirty felt

considerable apprehensions, and a large number intended to secede. But as they put off entering their names

till the last moment, as people will do, Archinus, observing their numbers, and being anxious to retain them

as citizens, cut off the remaining days during which the list should have remained open; and in this way many

persons were compelled to remain, though they did so very unwillingly until they recovered confidence. This

is one point in which Archinus appears to have acted in a most statesmanlike manner, and another was his

subsequent prosecution of Thrasybulus on the charge of illegality, for a motion by which he proposed to

confer the franchise on all who had taken part in the return from Piraeus, although some of them were

notoriously slaves. And yet a third such action was when one of the returned exiles began to violate the

amnesty, whereupon Archinus haled him to the Council and persuaded them to execute him without trial,

telling them that now they would have to show whether they wished to preserve the democracy and abide by

the oaths they had taken; for if they let this man escape they would encourage others to imitate him, while if

they executed him they would make an example for all to learn by. And this was exactly what happened; for

after this man had been put to death no one ever again broke the amnesty. On the contrary, the Athenians

seem, both in public and in private, to have behaved in the most unprecedentedly admirable and

publicspirited way with reference to the preceding troubles. Not only did they blot out all memory of former

offences, but they even repaid to the Lacedaemonians out of the public purse the money which the Thirty had

borrowed for the war, although the treaty required each party, the party of the city and the party of Piraeus, to

pay its own debts separately. This they did because they thought it was a necessary first step in the direction

of restoring harmony; but in other states, so far from the democratic parties making advances from their own

possessions, they are rather in the habit of making a general redistribution of the land. A final reconciliation

was made with the secessionists at Eleusis two years after the secession, in the archonship of Xenaenetus.

This, however, took place at a later date; at the time of which we are speaking the people, having secured the

control of the state, established the constitution which exists at the present day. Pythodorus was Archon at the

time, but the democracy seems to have assumed the supreme power with perfect justice, since it had effected

its own return by its own exertions. This was the eleventh change which had taken place in the constitution of

Athens. The first modification of the primaeval condition of things was when Ion and his companions

brought the people together into a community, for then the people was first divided into the four tribes, and

the tribekings were created. Next, and first after this, having now some semblance of a constitution, was that

which took place in the reign of Theseus, consisting in a slight deviation from absolute monarchy. After this

came the constitution formed under Draco, when the first code of laws was drawn up. The third was that

which followed the civil war, in the time of Solon; from this the democracy took its rise. The fourth was the

tyranny of Pisistratus; the fifth the constitution of Cleisthenes, after the overthrow of the tyrants, of a more

democratic character than that of Solon. The sixth was that which followed on the Persian wars, when the

Council of Areopagus had the direction of the state. The seventh, succeeding this, was the constitution which

Aristides sketched out, and which Ephialtes brought to completion by overthrowing the Areopagite Council;

under this the nation, misled by the demagogues, made the most serious mistakes in the interest of its

maritime empire. The eighth was the establishment of the Four Hundred, followed by the ninth, the restored

democracy. The tenth was the tyranny of the Thirty and the Ten. The eleventh was that which followed the

return from Phyle and Piraeus; and this has continued from that day to this, with continual accretions of

power to the masses. The democracy has made itself master of everything and administers everything by its

votes in the Assembly and by the lawcourts, in which it holds the supreme power. Even the jurisdiction of

the Council has passed into the hands of the people at large; and this appears to be a judicious change, since

small bodies are more open to corruption, whether by actual money or influence, than large ones. At first they

refused to allow payment for attendance at the Assembly; but the result was that people did not attend.

Consequently, after the Prytanes had tried many devices in vain in order to induce the populace to come and

ratify the votes, Agyrrhius, in the first instance, made a provision of one obol a day, which Heracleides of

Clazomenae, nicknamed 'the king', increased to two obols, and Agyrrhius again to three.

The present state of the constitution is as follows. The franchise is open to all who are of citizen birth by both

parents. They are enrolled among the demesmen at the age of eighteen. On the occasion of their enrollment

the demesmen give their votes on oath, first whether the candidates appear to be of the age prescribed by the

law (if not, they are dismissed back into the ranks of the boys), and secondly whether the candidate is free

born and of such parentage as the laws require. Then if they decide that he is not a free man, he appeals to the

lawcourts, and the demesmen appoint five of their own number to act as accusers; if the court decides that

he has no right to be enrolled, he is sold by the state as a slave, but if he wins his case he has a right to be

enrolled among the demesmen without further question. After this the Council examines those who have been

enrolled, and if it comes to the conclusion that any of them is less than eighteen years of age, it fines the

demesmen who enrolled him. When the youths (Ephebi) have passed this examination, their fathers meet by

their tribes, and appoint on oath three of their fellow tribesmen, over forty years of age, who, in their opinion,

are the best and most suitable persons to have charge of the youths; and of these the Assembly elects one

from each tribe as guardian, together with a director, chosen from the general body of Athenians, to control

the while. Under the charge of these persons the youths first of all make the circuit of the temples; then they

proceed to Piraeus, and some of them garrison Munichia and some the south shore. The Assembly also elects

two trainers, with subordinate instructors, who teach them to fight in heavy armour, to use the bow and

javelin, and to discharge a catapult. The guardians receive from the state a drachma apiece for their keep, and

the youths four obols apiece. Each guardian receives the allowance for all the members of his tribe and buys

the necessary provisions for the common stock (they mess together by tribes), and generally superintends

everything. In this way they spend the first year. The next year, after giving a public display of their military

evolutions, on the occasion when the Assembly meets in the theatre, they receive a shield and spear from the

state; after which they patrol the country and spend their time in the forts. For these two years they are on

garrison duty, and wear the military cloak, and during this time they are exempt from all taxes. They also can

neither bring an action at law, nor have one brought against them, in order that they may have no excuse for

requiring leave of absence; though exception is made in cases of actions concerning inheritances and wards

of state, or of any sacrificial ceremony connected with the family. When the two years have elapsed they

thereupon take their position among the other citizens. Such is the manner of the enrollment of the citizens

All the magistrates that are concerned with the ordinary routine of administration are elected by lot, except

the Military Treasurer, the Commissioners of the Theoric fund, and the Superintendent of Springs. These are

elected by vote, and hold office from one Panathenaic festival to the next. All military officers are also

The Council of Five Hundred is elected by lot, fifty from each tribe. Each tribe holds the office of Prytanes in

turn, the order being determined by lot; the first four serve for thirtysix days each, the last six for

thirtyfive, since the reckoning is by lunar years. The Prytanes for the time being, in the first place, mess

together in the Tholus, and receive a sum of money from the state for their maintenance; and, secondly, they

convene the meetings of the Council and the Assembly. The Council they convene every day, unless it is a

holiday, the Assembly four times in each prytany. It is also their duty to draw up the programme of the

business of the Council and to decide what subjects are to be dealt with on each particular da, and where the

sitting is to be held. They also draw up the programme for the meetings of the Assembly. One of these in

each prytany is called the 'sovereign' Assembly; in this the people have to ratify the continuance of the

magistrates in office, if they are performing their duties properly, and to consider the supply of corn and the

defence of the country. On this day, too, impeachments are introduced by those who wish to do so, the lists of

property confiscated by the state are read, and also applications for inheritances and wards of state, so that

nothing may pass unclaimed without the cognizance of any person concerned. In the sixth prytany, in

addition to the business already stated, the question is put to the vote whether it is desirable to hold a vote of

ostracism or not; and complaints against professional accusers, whether Athenian or aliens domiciled in

Athens, are received, to the number of not more than three of either class, together with cases in which an

individual has made some promise to the people and has not performed it. Another Assembly in each prytany

is assigned to the hearing of petitions, and at this meeting any one is free, on depositing the petitioner's

olivebranch, to speak to the people concerning any matter, public or private. The two remaining meetings

are devoted to all other subjects, and the laws require them to deal with three questions connected with

religion, three connected with heralds and embassies, and three on secular subjects. Sometimes questions are

brought forward without a preliminary vote of the Assembly to take them into consideration.

Heralds and envoys appear first before the Prytanes, and the bearers of dispatches also deliver them to the

There is a single President of the Prytanes, elected by lot, who presides for a night and a day; he may not hold

the office for more than that time, nor may the same individual hold it twice. He keeps the keys of the

sanctuaries in which the treasures and public records of the state are preserved, and also the public seal; and

he is bound to remain in the Tholus, together with onethird of the Prytanes, named by himself. Whenever

the Prytanes convene a meeting of the Council or Assembly, he appoints by lot nine Proedri, one from each

tribe except that which holds the office of Prytanes for the time being; and out of these nine he similarly

appoints one as President, and hands over the programme for the meeting to them. They take it and see to the

preservation of order, put forward the various subjects which are to be considered, decide the results of the

votings, and direct the proceedings generally. They also have power to dismiss the meeting. No one may act

as President more than once in the year, but he may be a Proedrus once in each prytany.

Elections to the offices of General and Hipparch and all other military commands are held in the Assembly,

in such manner as the people decide; they are held after the sixth prytany by the first board of Prytanes in

whose term of office the omens are favourable. There has, however, to be a preliminary consideration by the

In former times the Council had full powers to inflict fines and imprisonment and death; but when it had

consigned Lysimachus to the executioner, and he was sitting in the immediate expectation of death,

Eumelides of Alopece rescued him from its hands, maintaining that no citizen ought to be put to death except

on the decision of a court of law. Accordingly a trial was held in a lawcourt, and Lysimachus was acquitted,

receiving henceforth the nickname of 'the man from the drumhead'; and the people deprived the Council

thenceforward of the power to inflict death or imprisonment or fine, passing a law that if the Council

condemn any person for an offence or inflict a fine, the Thesmothetae shall bring the sentence or fine before

the lawcourt, and the decision of the jurors shall be the final judgement in the matter.

The Council passes judgement on nearly all magistrates, especially those who have the control of money; its

judgement, however, is not final, but is subject to an appeal to the lawcourts. Private individuals, also, may

lay an information against any magistrate they please for not obeying the laws, but here too there is an appeal

to the lawcourts if the Council declare the charge proved. The Council also examines those who are to be its

members for the ensuing year, and likewise the nine Archons. Formerly the Council had full power to reject

candidates for office as unsuitable, but now they have an appeal to the lawcourts. In all these matters,

therefore, the Council has no final jurisdiction. It takes, however, preliminary cognizance of all matters

brought before the Assembly, and the Assembly cannot vote on any question unless it has first been

considered by the Council and placed on the programme by the Prytanes; since a person who carries a motion

The Council also superintends the triremes that are already in existence, with their tackle and sheds, and

builds new triremes or quadriremes, whichever the Assembly votes, with tackle and sheds to match. The

Assembly appoints masterbuilders for the ships by vote; and if they do not hand them over completed to the

next Council, the old Council cannot receive the customary donationthat being normally given to it during

its successor's term of office. For the building of the triremes it appoints ten commissioners, chosen from its

own members. The Council also inspects all public buildings, and if it is of opinion that the state is being

defrauded, it reports the culprit to the Assembly, and on condemnation hands him over to the lawcourts.

The Council also cooperates with other magistrates in most of their duties. First there are the treasurers of

Athena, ten in number, elected by lot, one from each tribe. According to the law of Solonwhich is still in

forcethey must be Pentacosiomedimni, but in point of fact the person on whom the lot falls holds the office

even though he be quite a poor man. These officers take over charge of the statue of Athena, the figures of

Victory, and all the other ornaments of the temple, together with the money, in the presence of the Council.

Then there are the Commissioners for Public Contracts (Poletae), ten in number, one chosen by lot from each

tribe, who farm out the public contracts. They lease the mines and taxes, in conjunction with the Military

Treasurer and the Commissioners of the Theoric fund, in the presence of the Council, and grant, to the

persons indicated by the vote of the Council, the mines which are let out by the state, including both the

workable ones, which are let for three years, and those which are let under special agreements years. They

also sell, in the presence of the Council, the property of those who have gone into exile from the court of the

Areopagus, and of others whose goods have been confiscated, and the nine Archons ratify the contracts. They

also hand over to the Council lists of the taxes which are farmed out for the year, entering on whitened tablets

the name of the lessee and the amount paid. They make separate lists, first of those who have to pay their

instalments in each prytany, on ten several tablets, next of those who pay thrice in the year, with a separate

tablet for each instalment, and finally of those who pay in the ninth prytany. They also draw up a list of farms

and dwellings which have been confiscated and sold by order of the courts; for these too come within their

province. In the case of dwellings the value must be paid up in five years, and in that of farms, in ten. The

instalments are paid in the ninth prytany. Further, the Kingarchon brings before the Council the leases of the

sacred enclosures, written on whitened tablets. These too are leased for ten years, and the instalments are paid

in the prytany; consequently it is in this prytany that the greatest amount of money is collected. The tablets

containing the lists of the instalments are carried into the Council, and the public clerk takes charge of them.

Whenever a payment of instalments is to be made he takes from the pigeonholes the precise list of the sums

which are to be paid and struck off on that day, and delivers it to the ReceiversGeneral. The rest are kept

There are ten ReceiversGeneral (Apodectae), elected by lot, one from each tribe. These officers receive the

tablets, and strike off the instalments as they are paid, in the presence of the Council in the Councilchamber,

and give the tablets back to the public clerk. If any one fails to pay his instalment, a note is made of it on the

tablet; and he is bound to pay double the amount of the deficiency, or, in default, to be imprisoned. The

Council has full power by the laws to exact these payments and to inflict this imprisonment. They receive all

the instalments, therefore, on one day, and portion the money out among the magistrates; and on the next day

they bring up the report of the apportionment, written on a wooden noticeboard, and read it out in the

Councilchamber, after which they ask publicly in the Council whether any one knows of any malpractice in

reference to the apportionment, on the part of either a magistrate or a private individual, and if any one is

The Council also elects ten Auditors (Logistae) by lot from its own members, to audit the accounts of the

magistrates for each prytany. They also elect one Examiner of Accounts (Euthunus) by lot from each tribe,

with two assessors (Paredri) for each examiner, whose duty it is to sit at the ordinary market hours, each

opposite the statue of the eponymous hero of his tribe; and if any one wishes to prefer a charge, on either

public or private grounds, against any magistrate who has passed his audit before the lawcourts, within three

days of his having so passed, he enters on a whitened tablet his own name and that of the magistrate

prosecuted, together with the malpractice that is alleged against him. He also appends his claim for a penalty

of such amount as seems to him fitting, and gives in the record to the Examiner. The latter takes it, and if

after reading it he considers it proved he hands it over, if a private case, to the local justices who introduce

cases for the tribe concerned, while if it is a public case he enters it on the register of the Thesmothetae. Then,

if the Thesmothetae accept it, they bring the accounts of this magistrate once more before the lawcourt, and

The Council also inspects the horses belonging to the state. If a man who has a good horse is found to keep it

in bad condition, he is mulcted in his allowance of corn; while those which cannot keep up or which shy and

will not stand steady, it brands with a wheel on the jaw, and the horse so marked is disqualified for service. It

also inspects those who appear to be fit for service as scouts, and any one whom it rejects is deprived of his

horse. It also examines the infantry who serve among the cavalry, and any one whom it rejects ceases to

receive his pay. The roll of the cavalry is drawn up by the Commissioners of Enrolment (Catalogeis), ten in

number, elected by the Assembly by open vote. They hand over to the Hipparchs and Phylarchs the list of

those whom they have enrolled, and these officers take it and bring it up before the Council, and there open

the sealed tablet containing the names of the cavalry. If any of those who have been on the roll previously

make affidavit that they are physically incapable of cavalry service, they strike them out; then they call up the

persons newly enrolled, and if any one makes affidavit that he is either physically or pecuniarily incapable of

cavalry service they dismiss him, but if no such affidavit is made the Council vote whether the individual in

question is suitable for the purpose or not. If they vote in the affirmative his name is entered on the tablet; if

Formerly the Council used to decide on the plans for public buildings and the contract for making the robe of

Athena; but now this work is done by a jury in the lawcourts appointed by lot, since the Council was

considered to have shown favouritism in its decisions. The Council also shares with the Military Treasurer

the superintendence of the manufacture of the images of Victory and the prizes at the Panathenaic festival.

The Council also examines infirm paupers; for there is a law which provides that persons possessing less than

three minas, who are so crippled as to be unable to do any work, are, after examination by the Council, to

receive two obols a day from the state for their support. A treasurer is appointed by lot to attend to them.

The Council also, speaking broadly, cooperates in most of the duties of all the other magistrates; and this

There are ten Commissioners for Repairs of Temples, elected by lot, who receive a sum of thirty minas from

the ReceiversGeneral, and therewith carry out the most necessary repairs in the temples.

There are also ten City Commissioners (Astynomi), of whom five hold office in Piraeus and five in the city.

Their duty is to see that female fluteand harpand luteplayers are not hired at more than two drachmas,

and if more than one person is anxious to hire the same girl, they cast lots and hire her out to the person to

whom the lot falls. They also provide that no collector of sewage shall shoot any of his sewage within ten

stradia of the walls; they prevent people from blocking up the streets by building, or stretching barriers across

them, or making drainpipes in midair with a discharge into the street, or having doors which open

outwards; they also remove the corpses of those who die in the streets, for which purpose they have a body of

Market Commissioners (Agoranomi) are elected by lot, five for Piraeus, five for the city. Their statutory duty

is to see that all articles offered for sale in the market are pure and unadulterated.

Commissioners of Weights and Measures (Metronomi) are elected by lot, five for the city, and five for

Formerly there were ten Corn Commissioners (Sitophylaces), elected by lot, five for Piraeus, and five for the

city; but now there are twenty for the city and fifteen for Piraeus. Their duties are, first, to see that the

unprepared corn in the market is offered for sale at reasonable prices, and secondly, to see that the millers sell

barley meal at a price proportionate to that of barley, and that the bakers sell their loaves at a price

proportionate to that of wheat, and of such weight as the Commissioners may appoint; for the law requires

There are ten Superintendents of the Mart, elected by lot, whose duty is to superintend the Mart, and to

compel merchants to bring up into the city twothirds of the corn which is brought by sea to the Corn Mart.

The Eleven also are appointed by lot to take care of the prisoners in the state gaol. Thieves, kidnappers, and

pickpockets are brought to them, and if they plead guilty they are executed, but if they deny the charge the

Eleven bring the case before the lawcourts; if the prisoners are acquitted, they release them, but if not, they

then execute them. They also bring up before the lawcourts the list of farms and houses claimed as

stateproperty; and if it is decided that they are so, they deliver them to the Commissioners for Public

Contracts. The Eleven also bring up informations laid against magistrates alleged to be disqualified; this

function comes within their province, but some such cases are brought up by the Thesmothetae.

There are also five Introducers of Cases (Eisagogeis), elected by lot, one for each pair of tribes, who bring up

the 'monthly' cases to the lawcourts. 'Monthly' cases are these: refusal to pay up a dowry where a party is

bound to do so, refusal to pay interest on money borrowed at 12 per cent., or where a man desirous of setting

up business in the market has borrowed from another man capital to start with; also cases of slander, cases

arising out of friendly loans or partnerships, and cases concerned with slaves, cattle, and the office of

trierarch, or with banks. These are brought up as 'monthly' cases and are introduced by these officers; but the

ReceiversGeneral perform the same function in cases for or against the farmers of taxes. Those in which the

sum concerned is not more than ten drachmas they can decide summarily, but all above that amount they

The Forty are also elected by lot, four from each tribe, before whom suitors bring all other cases. Formerly

they were thirty in number, and they went on circuit through the demes to hear causes; but after the oligarchy

of the Thirty they were increased to forty. They have full powers to decide cases in which the amount at issue

does not exceed ten drachmas, but anything beyond that value they hand over to the Arbitrators. The

Arbitrators take up the case, and, if they cannot bring the parties to an agreement, they give a decision. If

their decision satisfies both parties, and they abide by it, the case is at an end; but if either of the parties

appeals to the lawcourts, the Arbitrators enclose the evidence, the pleadings, and the laws quoted in the case

in two urns, those of the plaintiff in the one, and those of the defendant in the other. These they seal up and,

having attached to them the decision of the arbitrator, written out on a tablet, place them in the custody of the

four justices whose function it is to introduce cases on behalf of the tribe of the defendant. These officers take

them and bring up the case before the lawcourt, to a jury of two hundred and one members in cases up to the

value of a thousand drachmas, or to one of four hundred and one in cases above that value. No laws or

pleadings or evidence may be used except those which were adduced before the Arbitrator, and have been

The Arbitrators are persons in the sixtieth year of their age; this appears from the schedule of the Archons and

the Eponymi. There are two classes of Eponymi, the ten who give their names to the tribes, and the fortytwo

of the years of service. The youths, on being enrolled among the citizens, were formerly registered upon

whitened tablets, and the names were appended of the Archon in whose year they were enrolled, and of the

Eponymus who had been in course in the preceding year; at the present day they are written on a bronze

pillar, which stands in front of the Councilchamber, near the Eponymi of the tribes. Then the Forty take the

last of the Eponymi of the years of service, and assign the arbitrations to the persons belonging to that year,

casting lots to determine which arbitrations each shall undertake; and every one is compelled to carry through

the arbitrations which the lot assigns to him. The law enacts that any one who does not serve as Arbitrator

when he has arrived at the necessary age shall lose his civil rights, unless he happens to be holding some

other office during that year, or to be out of the country. These are the only persons who escape the duty. Any

one who suffers injustice at the hands of the Arbitrator may appeal to the whole board of Arbitrators, and if

they find the magistrate guilty, the law enacts that he shall lose his civil rights. The persons thus condemned

have, however, in their turn an appeal. The Eponymi are also used in reference to military expeditions; when

the men of military age are despatched on service, a notice is put up stating that the men from suchand such

an Archon and Eponymus to suchand such another Archon and Eponymus are to go on the expedition.

The following magistrates also are elected by lot: Five Commissioners of Roads (Hodopoei), who, with an

assigned body of public slaves, are required to keep the roads in order: and ten Auditors, with ten assistants,

to whom all persons who have held any office must give in their accounts. These are the only officers who

audit the accounts of those who are subject to examination, and who bring them up for examination before

the lawcourts. If they detect any magistrate in embezzlement, the jury condemn him for theft, and he is

obliged to repay tenfold the sum he is declared to have misappropriated. If they charge a magistrate with

accepting bribes and the jury convict him, they fine him for corruption, and this sum too is repaid tenfold. Or

if they convict him of unfair dealing, he is fined on that charge, and the sum assessed is paid without increase,

if payment is made before the ninth prytany, but otherwise it is doubled. A tenfold fine is not doubled.

The Clerk of the prytany, as he is called, is also elected by lot. He has the charge of all public documents, and

keeps the resolutions which are passed by the Assembly, and checks the transcripts of all other official papers

and attends at the sessions of the Council. Formerly he was elected by open vote, and the most distinguished

and trustworthy persons were elected to the post, as is known from the fact that the name of this officer is

appended on the pillars recording treaties of alliance and grants of consulship and citizenship. Now, however,

he is elected by lot. There is, in addition, a Clerk of the Laws, elected by lot, who attends at the sessions of

the Council; and he too checks the transcript of all the laws. The Assembly also elects by open vote a clerk to

read documents to it and to the Council; but he has no other duty except that of reading aloud.

The Assembly also elects by lot the Commissioners of Public Worship (Hieropoei) known as the

Commissioners for Sacrifices, who offer the sacrifices appointed by oracle, and, in conjunction with the

seers, take the auspices whenever there is occasion. It also elects by lot ten others, known as Annual

Commissioners, who offer certain sacrifices and administer all the quadrennial festivals except the

Panathenaea. There are the following quadrennial festivals: first that of Delos (where there is also a sexennial

festival), secondly the Brauronia, thirdly the Heracleia, fourthly the Eleusinia, and fifthly the Panathenaea;

and no two of these are celebrated in the same place. To these the Hephaestia has now been added, in the

An Archon is also elected by lot for Salamis, and a Demarch for Piraeus. These officers celebrate the

Dionysia in these two places, and appoint Choregi. In Salamis, moreover, the name of the Archon is publicly

All the foregoing magistrates are elected by lot, and their powers are those which have been stated. To pass

on to the nine Archons, as they are called, the manner of their appointment from the earliest times has been

described already. At the present day six Thesmothetae are elected by lot, together with their clerk, and in

addition to these an Archon, a King, and a Polemarch. One is elected from each tribe. They are examined first

of all by the Council of Five Hundred, with the exception of the clerk. The latter is examined only in the

lawcourt, like other magistrates (for all magistrates, whether elected by lot or by open vote, are examined

before entering on their offices); but the nine Archons are examined both in the Council and again in the

lawcourt. Formerly no one could hold the office if the Council rejected him, but now there is an appeal to

the lawcourt, which is the final authority in the matter of the examination. When they are examined, they

are asked, first, 'Who is your father, and of what deme? who is your father's father? who is your mother? who

is your mother's father, and of what deme?' Then the candidate is asked whether he possesses an ancestral

Apollo and a household Zeus, and where their sanctuaries are; next if he possesses a family tomb, and where;

then if he treats his parents well, and pays his taxes, and has served on the required military expeditions.

When the examiner has put these questions, he proceeds, 'Call the witnesses to these facts'; and when the

candidate has produced his witnesses, he next asks, 'Does any one wish to make any accusation against this

man?' If an accuser appears, he gives the parties an opportunity of making their accusation and defence, and

then puts it to the Council to pass the candidate or not, and to the lawcourt to give the final vote. If no one

wishes to make an accusation, he proceeds at once to the vote. Formerly a single individual gave the vote, but

now all the members are obliged to vote on the candidates, so that if any unprincipled candidate has managed

to get rid of his accusers, it may still be possible for him to be disqualified before the lawcourt. When the

examination has been thus completed, they proceed to the stone on which are the pieces of the victims, and

on which the Arbitrators take oath before declaring their decisions, and witnesses swear to their testimony.

On this stone the Archons stand, and swear to execute their office uprightly and according to the laws, and

not to receive presents in respect of the performance of their duties, or, if they do, to dedicate a golden statue.

When they have taken this oath they proceed to the Acropolis, and there they repeat it; after this they enter

The Archon, the King, and the Polemarch have each two assessors, nominated by themselves. These officers

are examined in the lawcourt before they begin to act, and give in accounts on each occasion of their acting.

As soon as the Archon enters office, he begins by issuing a proclamation that whatever any one possessed

before he entered into office, that he shall possess and hold until the end of his term. Next he assigns Choregi

to the tragic poets, choosing three of the richest persons out of the whole body of Athenians. Formerly he

used also to assign five Choregi to the comic poets, but now the tribes provide the Choregi for them. Then he

receives the Choregi who have been appointed by the tribes for the men's and boys' choruses and the comic

poets at the Dionysia, and for the men's and boys' choruses at the Thargelia (at the Dionysia there is a chorus

for each tribe, but at the Thargelia one between two tribes, each tribe bearing its share in providing it); he

transacts the exchanges of properties for them, and reports any excuses that are tendered, if any one says that

he has already borne this burden, or that he is exempt because he has borne a similar burden and the period of

his exemption has not yet expired, or that he is not of the required age; since the Choregus of a boys' chorus

must be over forty years of age. He also appoints Choregi for the festival at Delos, and a chief of the mission

for the thirtyoar boat which conveys the youths thither. He also superintends sacred processions, both that in

honour of Asclepius, when the initiated keep house, and that of the great Dionysiathe latter in conjunction

with the Superintendents of that festival. These officers, ten in number, were formerly elected by open vote in

the Assembly, and used to provide for the expenses of the procession out of their private means; but now one

is elected by lot from each tribe, and the state contributes a hundred minas for the expenses. The Archon also

superintends the procession at the Thargelia, and that in honour of Zeus the Saviour. He also manages the

These, then, are the festivals which he superintends. The suits and indictments which come before him, and

which he, after a preliminary inquiry, brings up before the lawcourts, are as follows. Injury to parents (for

bringing these actions the prosecutor cannot suffer any penalty); injury to orphans (these actions lie against

their guardians); injury to a ward of state (these lie against their guardians or their husbands), injury to an

orphan's estate (these too lie against the guardians); mental derangement, where a party charges another with

destroying his own property through unsoundness of mind; for appointment of liquidators, where a party

refuses to divide property in which others have a share; for constituting a wardship; for determining between

rival claims to a wardship; for granting inspection of property to which another party lays claim; for

appointing oneself as guardian; and for determining disputes as to inheritances and wards of state. The

Archon also has the care of orphans and wards of state, and of women who, on the death of their husbands,

declare themselves to be with child; and he has power to inflict a fine on those who offend against the

persons under his charge, or to bring the case before the lawcourts. He also leases the houses of orphans and

wards of state until they reach the age of fourteen, and takes mortgages on them; and if the guardians fail to

provide the necessary food for the children under their charge, he exacts it from them. Such are the duties of

The King in the first place superintends the mysteries, in conjunction with the Superintendents of Mysteries.

The latter are elected in the Assembly by open vote, two from the general body of Athenians, one from the

Eumolpidae, and one from the Ceryces. Next, he superintends the Lenaean Dionysia, which consists of a

procession and a contest. The procession is ordered by the King and the Superintendents in conjunction; but

the contest is managed by the King alone. He also manages all the contests of the torchrace; and to speak

broadly, he administers all the ancestral sacrifices. Indictments for impiety come before him, or any disputes

between parties concerning priestly rites; and he also determines all controversies concerning sacred rites for

the ancient families and the priests. All actions for homicide come before him, and it is he that makes the

proclamation requiring polluted persons to keep away from sacred ceremonies. Actions for homicide and

wounding are heard, if the homicide or wounding be willful, in the Areopagus; so also in cases of killing by

poison, and of arson. These are the only cases heard by that Council. Cases of unintentional homicide, or of

intent to kill, or of killing a slave or a resident alien or a foreigner, are heard by the court of Palladium. When

the homicide is acknowledged, but legal justification is pleaded, as when a man takes an adulterer in the act,

or kills another by mistake in battle, or in an athletic contest, the prisoner is tried in the court of Delphinium.

If a man who is in banishment for a homicide which admits of reconcilliation incurs a further charge of

killing or wounding, he is tried in Phreatto, and he makes his defence from a boat moored near the shore. All

these cases, except those which are heard in the Areopagus, are tried by the Ephetae on whom the lot falls.

The King introduces them, and the hearing is held within sacred precincts and in the open air. Whenever the

King hears a case he takes off his crown. The person who is charged with homicide is at all other times

excluded from the temples, nor is it even lawful for him to enter the marketplace; but on the occasion of his

trial he enters the temple and makes his defence. If the actual offender is unknown, the writ runs against 'the

doer of the deed'. The King and the tribekings also hear the cases in which the guilt rests on inanimate

The Polemarch performs the sacrifices to Artemis the huntress and to Enyalius, and arranges the contest at

the funeral of those who have fallen in war, and makes offerings to the memory of Harmodius and

Aristogeiton. Only private actions come before him, namely those in which resident aliens, both ordinary and

privileged, and agents of foreign states are concerned. It is his duty to receive these cases and divide them

into ten groups, and assign to each tribe the group which comes to it by lot; after which the magistrates who

introduce cases for the tribe hand them over to the Arbitrators. The Polemarch, however, brings up in person

cases in which an alien is charged with deserting his patron or neglecting to provide himself with one, and

also of inheritances and wards of state where aliens are concerned; and in fact, generally, whatever the

The Thesmothetae in the first place have the power of prescribing on what days the lawcourts are to sit, and

next of assigning them to the several magistrates; for the latter must follow the arrangement which the

Thesmothetae assign. Moreover they introduce impeachments before the Assembly, and bring up all votes for

removal from office, challenges of a magistrate's conduct before the Assembly, indictments for illegal

proposals, or for proposing a law which is contrary to the interests of the state, complaints against Proedri or

their president for their conduct in office, and the accounts presented by the generals. All indictments also

come before them in which a deposit has to be made by the prosecutor, namely, indictments for concealment

of foreign origin, for corrupt evasion of foreign origin (when a man escapes the disqualification by bribery),

for blackmailing accusations, bribery, false entry of another as a state debtor, false testimony to the service of

a summons, conspiracy to enter a man as a state debtor, corrupt removal from the list of debtors, and adultery.

They also bring up the examinations of all magistrates, and the rejections by the demes and the

condemnations by the Council. Moreover they bring up certain private suits in cases of merchandise and

mines, or where a slave has slandered a free man. It is they also who cast lots to assign the courts to the

various magistrates, whether for private or public cases. They ratify commercial treaties, and bring up the

cases which arise out of such treaties; and they also bring up cases of perjury from the Areopagus. The

casting of lots for the jurors is conducted by all the nine Archons, with the clerk to the Thesmothetae as the

tenth, each performing the duty for his own tribe. Such are the duties of the nine Archons.

There are also ten Commissioners of Games (Athlothetae), elected by lot, one from each tribe. These officers,

after passing an examination, serve for four years; and they manage the Panathenaic procession, the contest in

music and that in gymnastic, and the horserace; they also provide the robe of Athena and, in conjunction

with the Council, the vases, and they present the oil to the athletes. This oil is collected from the sacred

olives. The Archon requisitions it from the owners of the farms on which the sacred olives grow, at the rate of

threequarters of a pint from each plant. Formerly the state used to sell the fruit itself, and if any one dug up

or broke down one of the sacred olives, he was tried by the Council of Areopagus, and if he was condemned,

the penalty was death. Since, however, the oil has been paid by the owner of the farm, the procedure has

lapsed, though the law remains; and the oil is a state charge upon the property instead of being taken from the

individual plants. When, then, the Archon has collected the oil for his year of office, he hands it over to the

Treasurers to preserve in the Acropolis, and he may not take his seat in the Areopagus until he has paid over

to the Treasurers the full amount. The Treasurers keep it in the Acropolis until the Panathenaea, when they

measure it out to the Commissioners of Games, and they again to the victorious competitors. The prizes for

the victors in the musical contest consist of silver and gold, for the victors in manly vigour, of shields, and for

All officers connected with military service are elected by open vote. In the first place, ten Generals

(Strategi), who were formerly elected one from each tribe, but now are chosen from the whole mass of

citizens. Their duties are assigned to them by open vote; one is appointed to command the heavy infantry, and

leads them if they go out to war; one to the defence of the country, who remains on the defensive, and fights

if there is war within the borders of the country; two to Piraeus, one of whom is assigned to Munichia, and

one to the south shore, and these have charge of the defence of the Piraeus; and one to superintend the

symmories, who nominates the trierarchs arranges exchanges of properties for them, and brings up actions to

decide on rival claims in connexion with them. The rest are dispatched to whatever business may be on hand

at the moment. The appointment of these officers is submitted for confirmation in each prytany, when the

question is put whether they are considered to be doing their duty. If any officer is rejected on this vote, he is

tried in the lawcourt, and if he is found guilty the people decide what punishment or fine shall be inflicted on

him; but if he is acquitted he resumes his office. The Generals have full power, when on active service, to

arrest any one for insubordination, or to cashier him publicly, or to inflict a fine; the latter is, however,

There are also ten Taxiarchs, one from each tribe, elected by open vote; and each commands his own

tribesmen and appoints captains of companies (Lochagi). There are also two Hipparchs, elected by open vote

from the whole mass of the citizens, who command the cavalry, each taking five tribes. They have the same

powers as the Generals have in respect of the infantry, and their appointments are also subject to

confirmation. There are also ten Phylarchs, elected by open vote, one from each tribe, to command the

cavalry, as the Taxiarchs do the infantry. There is also a Hipparch for Lemnos, elected by open vote, who has

charge of the cavalry in Lemnos. There is also a treasurer of the Paralus, and another of the Ammonias,

Of the magistrates elected by lot, in former times some including the nine Archons, were elected out of the

tribe as a whole, while others, namely those who are now elected in the Theseum, were apportioned among

the demes; but since the demes used to sell the elections, these magistrates too are now elected from the

whole tribe, except the members of the Council and the guards of the dockyards, who are still left to the

Pay is received for the following services. First the members of the Assembly receive a drachma for the

ordinary meetings, and nine obols for the 'sovereign' meeting. Then the jurors at the lawcourts receive three

obols; and the members of the Council five obols. They Prytanes receive an allowance of an obol for their

maintenance. The nine Archons receive four obols apiece for maintenance, and also keep a herald and a

fluteplayer; and the Archon for Salamis receives a drachma a day. The Commissioners for Games dine in

the Prytaneum during the month of Hecatombaeon in which the Panathenaic festival takes place, from the

fourteenth day onwards. The Amphictyonic deputies to Delos receive a drachma a day from the exchequer of

Delos. Also all magistrates sent to Samos, Scyros, Lemnos, or Imbros receive an allowance for their

maintenance. The military offices may be held any number of times, but none of the others more than once,

The juries for the lawcourts are chosen by lot by the nine Archons, each for their own tribe, and by the clerk

to the Thesmothetae for the tenth. There are ten entrances into the courts, one for each tribe; twenty rooms in

which the lots are drawn, two for each tribe; a hundred chests, ten for each tribe; other chests, in which are

placed the tickets of the jurors on whom the lot falls; and two vases. Further, staves, equal in number to the

jurors required, are placed by the side of each entrance; and counters are put into one vase, equal in number

to the staves. These are inscribed with letters of the alphabet beginning with the eleventh (lambda), equal in

number to the courts which require to be filled. All persons above thirty years of age are qualified to serve as

jurors, provided they are not debtors to the state and have not lost their civil rights. If any unqualified person

serves as juror, an information is laid against him, and he is brought before the court; and, if he is convicted,

the jurors assess the punishment or fine which they consider him to deserve. If he is condemned to a money

fine, he must be imprisoned until he has paid up both the original debt, on account of which the information

was laid against him, and also the fine which the court as imposed upon him. Each juror has his ticket of

boxwood, on which is inscribed his name, with the name of his father and his deme, and one of the letters of

the alphabet up to kappa; for the jurors in their several tribes are divided into ten sections, with approximately

an equal number in each letter. When the Thesmothetes has decided by lot which letters are required to attend

at the courts, the servant puts up above each court the letter which has been assigned to it by the lot.

The ten chests above mentioned are placed in front of the entrance used by each tribe, and are inscribed with

the letters of the alphabet from alpha to kappa. The jurors cast in their tickets, each into the chest on which is

inscribed the letter which is on his ticket; then the servant shakes them all up, and the Archon draws one

ticket from each chest. The individual so selected is called the Tickethanger (Empectes), and his function is

to hang up the tickets out of his chest on the bar which bears the same letter as that on the chest. He is chosen

by lot, lest, if the Tickethanger were always the same person, he might tamper with the results. There are

five of these bars in each of the rooms assigned for the lotdrawing. Then the Archon casts in the dice and

thereby chooses the jurors from each tribe, room by room. The dice are made of brass, coloured black or

white; and according to the number of jurors required, so many white dice are put in, one for each five

tickets, while the remainder are black, in the same proportion. As the Archon draws out the dice, the crier

calls out the names of the individuals chosen. The Tickethanger is included among those selected. Each

juror, as he is chosen and answers to his name, draws a counter from the vase, and holding it out with the

letter uppermost shows it first to the presiding Archon; and he, when he has seen it, throws the ticket of the

juror into the chest on which is inscribed the letter which is on the counter, so that the juror must go into the

court assigned to him by lot, and not into one chosen by himself, and that it may be impossible for any one to

collect the jurors of his choice into any particular court. For this purpose chests are placed near the Archon, as

many in number as there are courts to be filled that day, bearing the letters of the courts on which the lot has

The juror thereupon, after showing his counter again to the attendant, passes through the barrier into the

court. The attendant gives him a staff of the same colour as the court bearing the letter which is on his

counter, so as to ensure his going into the court assigned to him by lot; since, if he were to go into any other,

he would be betrayed by the colour of his staff. Each court has a certain colour painted on the lintel of the

entrance. Accordingly the juror, bearing his staff, enters the court which has the same colour as his staff, and

the same letter as his counter. As he enters, he receives a voucher from the official to whom this duty has

been assigned by lot. So with their counters and their staves the selected jurors take their seats in the court,

having thus completed the process of admission. The unsuccessful candidates receive back their tickets from

the Tickethangers. The public servants carry the chests from each tribe, one to each court, containing the

names of the members of the tribe who are in that court, and hand them over to the officials assigned to the

duty of giving back their tickets to the jurors in each court, so that these officials may call them up by name

When all the courts are full, two ballot boxes are placed in the first court, and a number of brazen dice,

bearing the colours of the several courts, and other dice inscribed with the names of the presiding magistrates.

Then two of the Thesmothetae, selected by lot, severally throw the dice with the colours into one box, and

those with the magistrates' names into the other. The magistrate whose name is first drawn is thereupon

proclaimed by the crier as assigned for duty in the court which is first drawn, and the second in the second,

and similarly with the rest. The object of this procedure is that no one may know which court he will have,

When the jurors have come in, and have been assigned to their respective courts, the presiding magistrate in

each court draws one ticket out of each chest (making ten in all, one out of each tribe), and throws them into

another empty chest. He then draws out five of them, and assigns one to the superintendence of the

waterclock, and the other four to the telling of the votes. This is to prevent any tampering beforehand with

either the superintendent of the clock or the tellers of the votes, and to secure that there is no malpractice in

these respects. The five who have not been selected for these duties receive from them a statement of the

order in which the jurors shall receive their fees, and of the places where the several tribes shall respectively

gather in the court for this purpose when their duties are completed; the object being that the jurors may be

broken up into small groups for the reception of their pay, and not all crowd together and impede one another.

These preliminaries being concluded, the cases are called on. If it is a day for private cases, the private

litigants are called. Four cases are taken in each of the categories defined in the law, and the litigants swear to

confine their speeches to the point at issue. If it is a day for public causes, the public litigants are called, and

only one case is tried. Waterclocks are provided, having small supplytubes, into which the water is poured

by which the length of the pleadings is regulated. Ten gallons are allowed for a case in which an amount of

more than five thousand drachmas is involved, and three for the second speech on each side. When the

amount is between one and five thousand drachmas, seven gallons are allowed for the first speech and two for

the second; when it is less than one thousand, five and two. Six gallons are allowed for arbitrations between

rival claimants, in which there is no second speech. The official chosen by lot to superintend the waterclock

places his hand on the supply tube whenever the clerk is about to read a resolution or law or affidavit or

treaty. When, however, a case is conducted according to a set measurement of the day, he does not stop the

supply, but each party receives an equal allowance of water. The standard of measurement is the length of the

days in the month Poseideon.... The measured day is employed in cases when imprisonment, death, exile, loss

Most of the courts consist of 500 members...; and when it is necessary to bring public cases before a jury of

1,000 members, two courts combine for the purpose, the most important cases of all are brought 1,500 jurors,

or three courts. The ballot balls are made of brass with stems running through the centre, half of them having

the stem pierced and the other half solid. When the speeches are concluded, the officials assigned to the

taking of the votes give each juror two ballot balls, one pierced and one solid. This is done in full view of the

rival litigants, to secure that no one shall receive two pierced or two solid balls. Then the official designated

for the purpose takes away the jurors staves, in return for which each one as he records his vote receives a

brass voucher market with the numeral 3 (because he gets three obols when he gives it up). This is to ensure

that all shall vote; since no one can get a voucher unless he votes. Two urns, one of brass and the other of

wood, stand in the court, in distinct spots so that no one may surreptitiously insert ballot balls; in these the

jurors record their votes. The brazen urn is for effective votes, the wooden for unused votes; and the brazen

urn has a lid pierced so as to take only one ballot ball, in order that no one may put in two at a time.

When the jurors are about to vote, the crier demands first whether the litigants enter a protest against any of

the evidence; for no protest can be received after the voting has begun. Then he proclaims again, 'The pierced

ballot for the plaintiff, the solid for the defendant'; and the juror, taking his two ballot balls from the stand,

with his hand closed over the stem so as not to show either the pierced or the solid ballot to the litigants, casts

the one which is to count into the brazen urn, and the other into the wooden urn.

When all the jurors have voted, the attendants take the urn containing the effective votes and discharge them

on to a reckoning board having as many cavities as there are ballot balls, so that the effective votes, whether

pierced or solid, may be plainly displayed and easily counted. Then the officials assigned to the taking of the

votes tell them off on the board, the solid in one place and the pierced in another, and the crier announces the

numbers of the votes, the pierced ballots being for the prosecutor and the solid for the defendant. Whichever

has the majority is victorious; but if the votes are equal the verdict is for the defendant. Each juror receives

Then, if damages have to be awarded, they vote again in the same way, first returning their payvouchers and

receiving back their staves. Half a gallon of water is allowed to each party for the discussion of the damages.

Finally, when all has been completed in accordance with the law, the jurors receive their pay in the order