Constitution of Athens and Related Texts

Aristotle

• Publisher: Free Press
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9780028404202
• eBook ISBN: 9781439119617
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosophy History & Theory

A refreshing approach to the study of major Western philosophers. Introductory essays by noted scholars enliven each volume with insights into the human side of the great thinkers, and provide authoritative discussions of the historical background, evolution and importance of their ideas. Highly recommended as stimulating classroom text.

The Constitution of Athens

The Constitution of Athens

1.…WITH MYRON acting as accuser, a court, selected from the nobility and sworn in upon the sacrifices, passed a verdict to the effect that a sacrilege had been committed.¹ Thereupon, the bodies of the guilty were removed from the tombs, and their family was exiled forever. On account of these events, Epimenides of Crete purified the city.²

2. After that,^a there was civil strife for a long time between 2 the nobility and the common people. For the whole political setup was oligarchical, and, in particular, the poor together with their wives and children were serfs of the rich. They were called Pelatae^b and Hectemori [“sixth-parters” ], for it was at this rent^c that they cultivated the land of the wealthy. All the land was in the hands of a few, and if the serfs did not pay their rent, they and their children could be sold into slavery. All loans were contracted upon the person of the debtor, until the time of 3 Solon, who was the first to become a leader^d of the people. The hardest and most hateful feature of the political situation as far as the many were concerned was their serfdom. But they also nursed grievances in all other respects, for they had, so to speak, no share in anything.

3. The ancient political order that existed before Draco was as follows:³ The magistrates were selected from the noble and the wealthy. At first, they governed for life; later, for periods 2 of ten years. The most important and the earliest offices were those of the King, the Polemarch, and the Archon.⁴ Of these, the office of the King was the earliest, for it had come down from ancestral times. Secondly, there was introduced the office of the Polemarch, which was added because some of the kings turned out unfit for war; this, by the way, is why Ion was sent 3 for in an emergency. Last was the office of the Archon. Most authorities say that this office was introduced under Medon, but some say under Acastus. They offer as evidence the fact that the nine archons swear to execute the oaths“as under Acastus,” which seems to indicate that under his rule the descendants of Codrus gave up the kingship in return for the prerogatives given to the Archon.⁵ Whichever of the two accounts is true, the chronological difference is not very great. At any rate, that the office of the Archon came last is indicated by the fact that the Archon is not, like the King and the Polemarch, in charge of any of the ancestral functions, but only of those that were added later. And this is the reason why the archonship became great only in more recent times, having been increased in importance by these added functions.⁶

4 The Thesmothetae were not elected until many years later, when the elections to the magistracy already had become annual. The Thesmothetae had as their duty to record the laws and to keep them for cases of litigation. This office, having been introduced at a comparatively late date, was the only one of the chief magistracies which was never held for more than one year.

5 Chronologically, then, this order of precedence the magistracies had over one another. Not all the nine Archons had their official residence together. The King occupied what is now called the Bucolium, near the Prytaneum (as indicated by the fact that even now the union and the marriage of the King’s wife with the god Dionysus^a takes place in that building), while the Archon resided in the Prytaneum and the Polemarch in the Epilyceum. The latter building had originally been called Polemarcheum, but, after Epilycus, during his polemarchy, had rebuilt it and fitted it out, it was called Epilyceum. The Thesmothetae lived in the Thesmotheteum. However, at the time of Solon, all the Archons came together in the Thesmotheteum. Then also, the Archons passed the final judgment in lawsuits and did not, as now, hold only the preliminary hearings. Such was the established order in regard to the magistracy. The Council of the Areopagus had the task of watching over the laws; in fact, it controlled the greater and most important part of the life of the community⁷ as the only and final authority in regard to the punishment of public offenders and the imposition of fines. It must be observed that the selection of the Archons was based on considerations of birth and wealth, and that the Areopagus consisted of former Archons. This fact explains also why this^b is the only office which has continued to be held for life down to the present day.

4. In outline, such was the first political order. Not much later,⁸ in the archonship of Aristaechmus,^a Draco enacted his 2 laws. His constitutional order⁹ was the following: Full political rights had been given to those who provided themselves with full military equipment; and these elected the nine Archons and the Treasurers from persons who possessed an unencumbered property of not less than ten minae, the minor magistrates from those who owned full military equipment, and the Generals (stralegoi) and the Commanders of the cavalry (hipparchoi) from those who declared an unencumbered property of not less than one hundred minae^b and legitimate sons over ten years old. These officers [that is, the newly elected Generals and Hipparchs] were to be held to bail by the Prytanes,¹⁰ as were the Generals and Hipparchs of the preceding year until the completion of their audit. The Prytanes were to accept as securities four citizens from the same class as that to which the Generals and 3 Hipparchs belonged.¹¹ The Council^c was to consist of four hundred and one chosen by lot from those possessing full rights of citizenship. This Council and the other magistrates^d were chosen by lot from those citizens who were more than thirty years old. The same man could not become a magistrate twice until all other citizens had had a turn. Then the whole procedure of casting lots would begin again. If anyone of the Councilmen failed to attend when there was a session of the Council or of the Assembly of the People, he had to pay a fine of three drachmae if he was a Pentacosiomedimnus,^e two drachmae if he was a 4 Knight, and one drachma if he was a Zeugites. The Council of the Areopagus was the guardian of the laws and also kept watch over the magistrates so as to take care that they ruled according to the laws. Anyone who had been wronged could file complaint with the Council of the Areopagus indicating the 5 law which had been violated by the wrong done to him. But loans were secured on the person of the debtor, and the land was in the hands of a few.

5. This being the political order and the many being serfs of 2 the few,¹² the common people rose against the upper class. When the civil discord had become violent and the two opposing parties had been set against each other for a long time, they chose, by mutual agreement, Solon as their mediator and Archon^a and entrusted the state to him. This happened after he had composed the elegy^b that begins:

I observe, and my heart is filled with grief when I look upon the oldest land of the Ionian world as it totters.¹³

In this poem he fights for both parties against both parties. He tries to distinguish the merits and demerits of the one and of the other, and, after having done so, he exhorts both of them together to end their present dispute.

3 Solon was by birth and renown one of the most distinguished men of the country, but by wealth and occupation he belonged to the middle class.¹⁴ This can be inferred from many facts and is also confirmed by Solon’s own testimony in the following passage of a poem in which he exhorts the wealthy not to set their aims too high:

You who are plunged into a surfeit of many goods restrain the strong desires in your breast, let your proud mind be set on moderate aims.

For we shall not submit to you, and not everything will turn out according to your wishes.

And, in general, he attaches the blame for the conflict to the rich; and, accordingly, he says, in the beginning of the poem, that he was always afraid of“love for money and an overbearing mind,” implying that these had been the cause of the conflict.

6. As soon as Solon had been entrusted with full powers to act, he liberated the people by prohibiting loans on the person of the debtor, both for the present and for the future. He made laws and enacted a cancellation of debts both private and pub1ic,¹⁵ a measure which is commonly called seisachtheia [the shaking-off of burdens], since in this way they shook off their 2 burdens. In regard to this measure, some people try to discredit him. For it happened that when Solon was about to enact the seisachtheia, he informed some of his acquaintances¹⁶ of his plans, and when he did so, according to the version of the adherents of the popular party, he was outmaneuvered by his friends; but, according to those who wish to slander him, he himself shared in the gain. For these people borrowed money and bought a great extent of land; and a short time afterwards, when the cancellation of debts was put through, they became very rich. It is said that this was the origin of those who later were considered 3 to be of ancient wealth. However, the version of the friends of the people appears much more trustworthy. For it is not likely that in all other respects Solon should have been so moderate and public-spirited that, when it would have been in his power to subdue all others and to set himself up as a tyrant, he preferred to incur the hostility of both parties and valued his honor and the common good of the state higher than his personal aggrandizement, and that yet he should have defiled himself by 4 such a petty and unworthy trick. Now, that he did have that opportunity [that is, of setting himself up as a tyrant) is proved by the desperate situation of the state at that time; he himself mentions the fact frequently in his poems, and it is universally admitted. Hence, one must regard the accusation as completely unfounded.

7. Solon set up a constitution and also made other la...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• CONTENTS
• SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
• The Constitution of Athens
• APPENDIX
• THE EPITOME OF HERACLEIDES
• FRAGMENTS OF THE LOST BEGINNING OF ARISTOTLE’S CONSTITUTION OF ATHENS
• FROM ARISTOTLE’S PROTREPTICUS
• FROM ARISTOTLE’S DIALOGUE POLITICUS
• FROM ARISTOTLE’S TREATISE ON KINGSHIP
• FROM ARISTOTLE’S ALEXANDER OR ON COLONIZATION
• PLATO’S SEVENTH EPISTLE
• INDEX OF NAMES AND PLACES
• GENERAL INDEX