Chương Chương 13 · Of Self-Government

In the beginning, all the Greeks had been equally rich and equally

poor. Every man had owned a certain number of cows and sheep. His

mud-hut had been his castle. He had been free to come and go as

he wished. Whenever it was necessary to discuss matters of public

importance, all the citizens had gathered in the market-place. One of

the older men of the village was elected chairman and it was his duty

to see that everybody had a chance to express his views. In case of

war, a particularly energetic and self-confident villager was chosen

commander-in-chief, but the same people who had voluntarily given this

man the right to be their leader, claimed an equal right to deprive him

of his job, once the danger had been averted.

But gradually the village had grown into a city. Some people had worked

hard and others had been lazy. A few had been unlucky and still others

had been just plain dishonest in dealing with their neighbours and had

gathered wealth. As a result, the city no longer consisted of a number

of men who were equally well-off. On the contrary it was inhabited by a

small class of very rich people and a large class of very poor ones.

There had been another change. The old commander-in-chief who had been

willingly recognised as “headman” or “King” because he knew how to lead

his men to victory, had disappeared from the scene. His place had been

taken by the nobles—a class of rich people who during the course of

time had got hold of an undue share of the farms and estates.

These nobles enjoyed many advantages over the common crowd of freemen.

They were able to buy the best weapons which were to be found on the

market of the eastern Mediterranean. They had much spare time in which

they could practise the art of fighting. They lived in strongly built

houses and they could hire soldiers to fight for them. They were

constantly quarrelling among each other to decide who should rule the

city. The victorious nobleman then assumed a sort of Kingship over all

his neighbours and governed the town until he in turn was killed or

driven away by still another ambitious nobleman.

[Illustration: A GREEK CITY-STATE]

Such a King, by the grace of his soldiers, was called a “Tyrant” and

during the seventh and sixth centuries before our era every Greek

city was for a time ruled by such Tyrants, many of whom, by the way,

happened to be exceedingly capable men. But in the long run, this

state of affairs became unbearable. Then attempts were made to bring

about reforms and out of these reforms grew the first democratic

government of which the world has a record.

It was early in the seventh century that the people of Athens decided

to do some housecleaning and give the large number of freemen once more

a voice in the government as they were supposed to have had in the

days of their Achæan ancestors. They asked a man by the name of Draco

to provide them with a set of laws that would protect the poor against

the aggressions of the rich. Draco set to work. Unfortunately he was

a professional lawyer and very much out of touch with ordinary life.

In his eyes a crime was a crime and when he had finished his code, the

people of Athens discovered that these Draconian laws were so severe

that they could not possibly be put into effect. There would not have

been rope enough to hang all the criminals under their new system of

jurisprudence which made the stealing of an apple a capital offence.

The Athenians looked about for a more humane reformer. At last they

found some one who could do that sort of thing better than anybody

else. His name was Solon. He belonged to a noble family and he had

travelled all over the world and had studied the forms of government

of many other countries. After a careful study of the subject, Solon

gave Athens a set of laws which bore testimony to that wonderful

principle of moderation which was part of the Greek character. He tried

to improve the condition of the peasant without however destroying the

prosperity of the nobles who were (or rather who could be) of such

great service to the state as soldiers. To protect the poorer classes

against abuse on the part of the judges (who were always elected from

the class of the nobles because they received no salary) Solon made a

provision whereby a citizen with a grievance had the right to state his

case before a jury of thirty of his fellow Athenians.

Most important of all, Solon forced the average freeman to take a

direct and personal interest in the affairs of the city. No longer

could he stay at home and say “oh, I am too busy today” or “it is

raining and I had better stay indoors.” He was expected to do his

share; to be at the meeting of the town council; and carry part of the

responsibility for the safety and the prosperity of the state.

This government by the “demos,” the people, was often far from

successful. There was too much idle talk. There were too many hateful

and spiteful scenes between rivals for official honor. But it taught

the Greek people to be independent and to rely upon themselves for

their salvation and that was a very good thing.