DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0147
OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF ATHENS.
J 25
The first that gave laws to the Athenians after Theseus's time, was
Draco, who was archon in the first year of the 39th olympiad.
His laws iElian (1) tells us, are properly called ©£3>o}, but are re-
markable for nothing but their unreasonable severity ; for by them every
little offence was punished with death, and he that stole an apple was
proceeded against with no less rigour than he that had betrayed his coun-
try. But these extremities could not last long ; the people soon grew
weary of them, and therefore, though they were not abrogated, yet by a
tacit consent they were laid asleep, till Solon, the next lawgiver, repeal-
ed them all, except those which concerned murder, called (pwntot vo/woi;
and having received from the people power to make what alterations he
thought necessary, new-modelled the commonwealth, and instituted a
great many useful and excellent laws, which, to distinguish them from
Draco's ©etffW, were called Nopu. And lest, through the connivance of
the magistrates, they should in time be neglected, like those of his pre-
decessor, he caused the senate to take a solemn oath to observe them ;
and every one of the thesmothetae vowed, that if he violated any of the
statutes, he would dedicate a golden statue as big as himself to the Del-
phian Apollo ; and the people he obliged to observe them for a hundred
years(2).
But all this care was not sufficient to preserve his laws from the inno-
vations of lawless and ambitious men ; for shortly after, Pisistratus so
far insinuated himself into the people's favour, that the democracy insti-
tuted by Solon was dissolved, and himself invested with sovereign power,
which, at his death, he left in the possession of his sons, who maintained
it for some years ; and though'Pisistratus himself, as Plutarch reports (3),
and his sons after him, in a great measure governed according to Solon's
directions, yet they followed them not as laws, to which they were oblig-
ed to conform their actions, but rather seem to have used them as wise
and prudent counsels, and varied from them whenever they found them
to interfere with their interest or inclinations.
Pisistratus's family being driven out of Attica, Clisthenes took upon
him to restore Solon's constitutions, and enacted many new laws (4),
which continued in force till the Peloponnesian war, in which the form
of government was changed, first by the four hundred, and then by the
thirty tyrants. These storms being over, the ancient laws were again
restored in the archonship of Euclides, and others established at the in-
stance of Diocles, Aristophon, and other leading men of the city. Last
of all, Demetrius the Phalerean, being entrusted with the government of
Athens by the Macedonians was the author of many new, but very bene-
ficial and laudable constitutions (5). These seem to have been the chief
legislators of Athens, before they submitted to the Roman yoke ; two
others are mentioned by Suidas, viz. Thales and iEschylus.
Beside these, the Athenians had a great many other laws, enacted upon
particular exigencies by the suffrages of the people ; for 1 shall not in
this place speak of ^^iV^aTa <rj?s ByXij's, the decrees enacted by the au-
thority of the senators, whose power being only annual, their decrees
lost all their force and obligation when their offices expired. The man-
ner of making a law was thus : when any man had contrived any thing,
(1) Var. Hist. iib. viii. cap. 10. (4) Herodotus, Plutarch. Pericle, IsoCrat,
(2) Plutarch, Solone, Diogen. Laertius, iElian. Areopasr.
loc. cit. (3) Solone. (5) Piiit. Aristide.
J 25
The first that gave laws to the Athenians after Theseus's time, was
Draco, who was archon in the first year of the 39th olympiad.
His laws iElian (1) tells us, are properly called ©£3>o}, but are re-
markable for nothing but their unreasonable severity ; for by them every
little offence was punished with death, and he that stole an apple was
proceeded against with no less rigour than he that had betrayed his coun-
try. But these extremities could not last long ; the people soon grew
weary of them, and therefore, though they were not abrogated, yet by a
tacit consent they were laid asleep, till Solon, the next lawgiver, repeal-
ed them all, except those which concerned murder, called (pwntot vo/woi;
and having received from the people power to make what alterations he
thought necessary, new-modelled the commonwealth, and instituted a
great many useful and excellent laws, which, to distinguish them from
Draco's ©etffW, were called Nopu. And lest, through the connivance of
the magistrates, they should in time be neglected, like those of his pre-
decessor, he caused the senate to take a solemn oath to observe them ;
and every one of the thesmothetae vowed, that if he violated any of the
statutes, he would dedicate a golden statue as big as himself to the Del-
phian Apollo ; and the people he obliged to observe them for a hundred
years(2).
But all this care was not sufficient to preserve his laws from the inno-
vations of lawless and ambitious men ; for shortly after, Pisistratus so
far insinuated himself into the people's favour, that the democracy insti-
tuted by Solon was dissolved, and himself invested with sovereign power,
which, at his death, he left in the possession of his sons, who maintained
it for some years ; and though'Pisistratus himself, as Plutarch reports (3),
and his sons after him, in a great measure governed according to Solon's
directions, yet they followed them not as laws, to which they were oblig-
ed to conform their actions, but rather seem to have used them as wise
and prudent counsels, and varied from them whenever they found them
to interfere with their interest or inclinations.
Pisistratus's family being driven out of Attica, Clisthenes took upon
him to restore Solon's constitutions, and enacted many new laws (4),
which continued in force till the Peloponnesian war, in which the form
of government was changed, first by the four hundred, and then by the
thirty tyrants. These storms being over, the ancient laws were again
restored in the archonship of Euclides, and others established at the in-
stance of Diocles, Aristophon, and other leading men of the city. Last
of all, Demetrius the Phalerean, being entrusted with the government of
Athens by the Macedonians was the author of many new, but very bene-
ficial and laudable constitutions (5). These seem to have been the chief
legislators of Athens, before they submitted to the Roman yoke ; two
others are mentioned by Suidas, viz. Thales and iEschylus.
Beside these, the Athenians had a great many other laws, enacted upon
particular exigencies by the suffrages of the people ; for 1 shall not in
this place speak of ^^iV^aTa <rj?s ByXij's, the decrees enacted by the au-
thority of the senators, whose power being only annual, their decrees
lost all their force and obligation when their offices expired. The man-
ner of making a law was thus : when any man had contrived any thing,
(1) Var. Hist. iib. viii. cap. 10. (4) Herodotus, Plutarch. Pericle, IsoCrat,
(2) Plutarch, Solone, Diogen. Laertius, iElian. Areopasr.
loc. cit. (3) Solone. (5) Piiit. Aristide.