THE OLD GREEK VOLUNTEER 487 



spect, either from motives of pure patriotism or as a concession to the 

 popular will and as a profitable asset for use among those who followed 

 and were to follow him. The people were so in sympathy with the old 

 soldier that the mere mention of military service by a veteran of the 

 wars was thought to have a magic influence with the jury in almost 

 any kind of a case, whatever the issue might be, and this can hardly be 

 cited as an instance of looseness of court-practise in old Greek law; 

 for our American juryman has been known to award a verdict in a con- 

 tract case to the plaintiff " who guarded our liberties," " risked his life,'* 

 etc., as Wellman, in his recent " Day in Court,'" interestingly cites. 



The liberal and complete assistance, above bestowed on the disabled 

 warrior by the little Athenian republic, stands out a conspicuous exam- 

 ple of popular gratitude and sacrifice, especially when we realize that 

 Eome, mighty mistress of militarism, granted no pension and offered 

 no financial aid to her veteran soldier or to his family till after her 

 republic came to a close and loyalty to the public weal had yielded to 

 allegiance to an emperor. 



The help, originally given in the case of wounded soldiers, was ex- 

 tended to all those infirm in body who were rendered less able to make 

 a living because of their disabilities and were, at the same time, rated 

 on the census-rolls at less than three minae — fifty-four dollars, but with 

 great purchasing power:' If the modes of appointment to both the 

 civic and military pensions were similar — as is now commonly implied 

 and quite generally admitted — we possess interesting data of the way 

 in which the people at Athens kept a patriotic yet prudent hand on the 

 situation at all stages of the administration of state-aid, including the 

 grant to the veteran citizen-soldier. The people themselves might 

 examine every case both on the original allowance and at its renewal 

 each year, so that there was but slight danger of abuse from imposition 

 on the part of the unworthy. 



Action could be brought by any citizen before the Boule or unicam- 

 eral Senate of the Five Hundred, against any suspect who was liable to 

 an annual examination by the body or the public. Lysias, the cele- 

 brated Athenian speech-writer, wrote his famous defense of "The 

 Cripple " (oration 24) for a poor but unabashed pensioner, the sling- 

 ing and stinging nature of which fits so well the subject on trial that 

 the speech is probably the best example of keen character-study ever 

 produced by an expert, and has, despite its oftentimes ludicrous utter- 

 ances, a bathos — and a pathos too — that justifies its being adjudged 

 the most typical and may be the best of Lysian achievements. The 

 virtually direct award and renewal of the grant by the people — possible 

 in a limited community, if not practical in a larger nation — with one's 



•Page 197, edition 1909. 



» Aristotle, " Resp. Ath.," 49, 4. 



