488 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



neighbors, friends or, may be, rivals, helping the worthy or hindering 

 the worthless, has a democratic flavor that smacks of fair play as well 

 as political thrift and popular control. So far as the ancient author- 

 ities at present reveal, the pension to the old Athenian volunteer him- 

 self was awarded solely on the basis of disability and financial need — 

 a simple yet satisfactory rule for a small nation where gratitude to the 

 patriot came to mean sacrifice on the part of the people. 



The law of the land reflected the humanity and patriotism of the 

 loyal Athenian still further by offering complete support and protec- 

 tion to the fathers and mothers and elder kindred of the dead soldier, 

 as noted in the above quotations from the funeral speeches. This 

 pension, which furnished a substantial consolation to the dying war- 

 rior and an incentive and exhortation to those left behind, was put 

 under the immediate supervision of the Archons — the highest authority 

 in the land — who were especially entrusted with the duty of watching 

 over the parents and children of those who died in war that they, above 

 all other citizens, might be free from harm and wrong. 



The nation also assumed the guardianship of the sons of veterans 

 together with the daughters of the dead soldiers of the republic of 

 Athens. These orphans were cared for during their minority and 

 were trained and educated at the public expense, and with a complete- 

 ness of compliance with the best standards of the day that the most 

 progressive military powers of our twentieth century can hardly claim 

 to have surpassed in their patriotic treatment of the survivors of the 

 defenders of their lands and laws. 



Although we can not prove the date of this Athenian regulation, 

 Aristotle's censure in his " Politics," of the scheme for support of 

 veterans' children, proposed by the engineer and reformer, Hippodamos, 

 shows that a law like this was already in force at Athens before Peri- 

 cles's day, the fifth century before Christ. In the same passage^" the 

 philosopher also claims the existence of similar legislation in other 

 cities (city-states) of Greece. It is now thought quite possible that 

 Hippodamos — who originated the rectangular system of streets in 

 Europe; occupied himself minutely with the improvement of the 

 judicial system at Athens; and possessed a legal mind of such origi- 

 nality as to present the pioneer idea in history of a supreme court of 

 appeals — was not a dilatory mover of a law already in force, Aristotle 

 to the contrary notwithstanding, but suggested new and improved pro- 

 posals in pension legislation, wliich, in its old form, had already proved 

 of great civic and patriotic value. The subject most certainly received 

 widespread and intelligent consideration. 



Tliough the offspring of citizens, who fell in the wars of freedom at 



"Aristotle's " Politics," Bk. II., 8, V., 4, and notes, p. 272, of Susemihl and 

 Hicks'g edition. 



