COMPOUXD POLITICAL HEADS. 203 



ties, we can not but infer that, in a state like that of the early Greeks, 

 the difficulty of establishing the legitimacy of general headships, con- 

 spiring with the desire to assert independence and the ability to main- 

 tain it, inevitably entailed lapse into numerous local headships. Of 

 course, under conditions varying in each locality, splittings-up of 

 wider governments into narrower went to different extents ; and, 

 naturally, too, reestablishments of wider governments or extensions 

 of narrower ones in some cases took place. But, generally, the ten- 

 dency under such conditions must have been to form small indepen- 

 dent groups, severally having the patriarchal type of organization. 

 Hence, then, the decay of such kingships as are implied in the "Iliad." 

 As Grote writes, " When we approach historical Greece, we find that 

 (with the exception of Sparta) the primitive, hereditary, unresponsible 

 monarch, uniting in himself all the functions of government, has 

 ceased to reign." * 



But now what will happen when a cluster of clans of common de- 

 scent, which have become independent and hostile, are simultaneously 

 endangrered bv enemies to whom thev are not at all akin, or but re- 

 motely akin ? Habitually, they will sink their differences and cooper- 

 ate for defense. But on what terms will they cooperate ? Even 

 among friendly groups joint action would be hindered if some claimed 

 supremacy ; and, among groups having outstanding feuds, there could 

 be no joint action save on a footing of equality. The common defense 

 would, therefore, be directed by a body formed of the heads of the 

 cooperating small societies ; and, if the cooperation for defense were 

 prolonged, or became changed by success into cooperation for offense, 

 this temporary controlling body would tend to become a permanent 

 one holding the small societies together. The sj^ecial characters of 

 this compound head would, of course, vary with the circumstances. 

 Where the traditions of the united clans agreed in identifvingr some 

 one chief as the lineal representative of the original patriarch or hero, 

 from whom all descended, precedence and some extra authority would 



* While I am writing, the just-issued third volume of Mr. Skene's " Celtic Scotland " 

 supplies me with an instructive illustration of the process above indicated. From his 

 account it appears that the original Celtic tribes which formed the earldoms of Moray, 

 Buchan, Athol, Angus, Menteith. became broken up into clans ; and hon- influential was 

 the physical character of the countiy in producing this result, we are shown by the fact 

 that this change took place in the parts of them which fell within the Highland country. 

 Describing the smaller groups which resulted, Mr. Skene says : " While the clan, viewed 

 as a single community, thus consisted of the chief, with his kinsmen to a certain limited 

 degree of relationship ; the commonalty who were of the same blood, who all bore the 

 same name, and his dependents, consisting of subordinate septs of native men, who did 

 not claim to be of the blood of the chief, but were either probably descended from the 

 more ancient occupiers of the soil, or were broken men from other clans, who had taken 

 protection with him. . . . Those kinsmen of the chief who acquired the property of their 

 land founded families. . . . The most influential of these was that of the oldest cadet in 

 the family which had been longest separated from the main stem, and usually presented 

 the appearance of a rival house little less powerful than that of the chief." 



