DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0062
40
OV THE CIVIZ. GOVERNMENT OF ATHENS*
trade, or for other conveniences, settled themselves at Athens ; and of
these two sorts, in the time of Cecrops, it is probable there were few or
none ; because, through the scarcity of men in his new-formed govern-
ment, for the encouragement of foreigners to settle there, he was forced
to allow them the same privileges that were enjoyed by the natives. And
there is a very ancient law mentioned by the scholiast of Aristophanes^),
whereby all foreigners, who intended to live at Athens, were obliged,
after a short stay in that city, to be enrolled among the free citizens.
And for several ages after, it was no difficult matter to obtain the free-
dom of the city ; but when the Athenian power grew great, and their glo-
rious actions rendered them famous through all Greece, this privilege was
accounted a very great favour, and granted to none but men of the great-
est birth or reputation, or such as had performed some notable piece of
service for the commonwealth. Nor was it without much difficulty to be
obtained even by them. Menon the Pharsalian, who had sent the Athe-
nians a supply of two hundred horse, in the war against Eon near Am-
phipolis, desired it, and was rejected ; and Perdiccas, king of Macedonia,
after having assisted them against the Persians, could obtain no more than
a bare areXua, or immunity from tribute paid by those that sojourned
amongst them, but no right of suffrage, or other privileges common to the
free men.
And after Mardonius and the Persians were defeated at Plataea, it
was decreed, by an express law, that none but men eminent for merit
should be admitted into the number of citizens (2).
But this peremptory stiffness, which success and victory had put into
them, did not always make them so obstinate, nor hinder, but that many
worthies, though neither equal in birth nor fortune to the former,
were enrolled among the citizens ; such were Hippocrates the physician,
Eurysaces the son of Ajax, with many others, besides the whole city of
the Platajans, to which they granted freedom for their signal services
in the Persian war. But by these grants, though the number of the citi-
zens may be said to have been increased, yet nothing was added to the
number of inhabitants, which remained still the same, because the persons
thus admitted seldom made use of their privilege, and sued for it ra-
ther as a title of honour, than with a design to be anywise advantaged
by it.
This privilege could not be conferred by any besides the popular as-
sembly, whence the citizens thus admitted were called Ar)/Aewoi*<ro/, in
opposition to the free-born. Neither was the first gift of the people to
take effect, unless they thought fit to ratify it in a second assembly, where-
in six thousand citizens were required to be present. And, for fear the
authority or interest of any person should sway them to comply with
such requests against their inclinations, they gave their votes privately,
by casting little stones into urns, placed on purpose in their assemblies
by the prytanes, who were also obliged to provide a sufficient number of
stones for the suffragants ; nay farther, till all had done voting, the stran-
gers that petitioned for freedom were not permitted to come into the
place of the assembly. And after all this, if any one appeared to be un-
deserving of the honour they had conferred upon him, an appeal might
be made to a certain court, which had power to inquire into the lives
and conditions of these persons, and deprive such as they found unwor-
fl) Raoif ^S) Auctor Orationis in Neasranv
OV THE CIVIZ. GOVERNMENT OF ATHENS*
trade, or for other conveniences, settled themselves at Athens ; and of
these two sorts, in the time of Cecrops, it is probable there were few or
none ; because, through the scarcity of men in his new-formed govern-
ment, for the encouragement of foreigners to settle there, he was forced
to allow them the same privileges that were enjoyed by the natives. And
there is a very ancient law mentioned by the scholiast of Aristophanes^),
whereby all foreigners, who intended to live at Athens, were obliged,
after a short stay in that city, to be enrolled among the free citizens.
And for several ages after, it was no difficult matter to obtain the free-
dom of the city ; but when the Athenian power grew great, and their glo-
rious actions rendered them famous through all Greece, this privilege was
accounted a very great favour, and granted to none but men of the great-
est birth or reputation, or such as had performed some notable piece of
service for the commonwealth. Nor was it without much difficulty to be
obtained even by them. Menon the Pharsalian, who had sent the Athe-
nians a supply of two hundred horse, in the war against Eon near Am-
phipolis, desired it, and was rejected ; and Perdiccas, king of Macedonia,
after having assisted them against the Persians, could obtain no more than
a bare areXua, or immunity from tribute paid by those that sojourned
amongst them, but no right of suffrage, or other privileges common to the
free men.
And after Mardonius and the Persians were defeated at Plataea, it
was decreed, by an express law, that none but men eminent for merit
should be admitted into the number of citizens (2).
But this peremptory stiffness, which success and victory had put into
them, did not always make them so obstinate, nor hinder, but that many
worthies, though neither equal in birth nor fortune to the former,
were enrolled among the citizens ; such were Hippocrates the physician,
Eurysaces the son of Ajax, with many others, besides the whole city of
the Platajans, to which they granted freedom for their signal services
in the Persian war. But by these grants, though the number of the citi-
zens may be said to have been increased, yet nothing was added to the
number of inhabitants, which remained still the same, because the persons
thus admitted seldom made use of their privilege, and sued for it ra-
ther as a title of honour, than with a design to be anywise advantaged
by it.
This privilege could not be conferred by any besides the popular as-
sembly, whence the citizens thus admitted were called Ar)/Aewoi*<ro/, in
opposition to the free-born. Neither was the first gift of the people to
take effect, unless they thought fit to ratify it in a second assembly, where-
in six thousand citizens were required to be present. And, for fear the
authority or interest of any person should sway them to comply with
such requests against their inclinations, they gave their votes privately,
by casting little stones into urns, placed on purpose in their assemblies
by the prytanes, who were also obliged to provide a sufficient number of
stones for the suffragants ; nay farther, till all had done voting, the stran-
gers that petitioned for freedom were not permitted to come into the
place of the assembly. And after all this, if any one appeared to be un-
deserving of the honour they had conferred upon him, an appeal might
be made to a certain court, which had power to inquire into the lives
and conditions of these persons, and deprive such as they found unwor-
fl) Raoif ^S) Auctor Orationis in Neasranv