A T H 



and all thofe who could not afcertain their Athenian defcent, 

 both in the male and female line, were totally excluded from 

 thealTembly and courts of juftice. The regulations of Solon 

 ■marked the utmoft attention to preferve the pure blood of 

 Athens unmixed and uncorrupted; nor could any foreigner, 

 vhatever merit he might claim with the public, be admitted 

 to the rank of a citizen, unlefs he abandoned for ever his 

 native country, profefTed the knowledge of fome highly 

 lifeful or ingenious art, and, in both cafes, had been chofen 

 bv ballot, in a full aflfembly of fix tluiufand Athenians. 

 The numbers of this convention, and ftill more their im- 

 petuofity and ignorance, mull have proved inconfiftent with 

 good government, if Solon had not fecured the vcffel of the 

 republic from the waves of pnpukir frtnzy,Aby the two firm 

 anchors of the fenatc and tlie areopagus; tribunals origi- 

 nally of great dignity, and of very cxtenfive power, into 

 which men of a certain defcription only could be received as 

 members. Solon divided the Athenians into four clafles, 

 according to the produce of their eftates. The firft confided 

 of thofe whofe lands annually yielded five hundred meafures 

 of liquid, as well as dry commodities, and the minimum of 

 whofe yearly income may be calculated at fixty pounds 

 fterling, which is equivalent, if we eftimate the relative value 

 of money by the price of labour, and of the things molt 

 necefiary to life, lo about fix hundred pounds Iterling 

 in the prefent age. The fecond clafs confined of 

 thofe whofe eftates produced three hundred ; the third two 

 hundred; the fourth, and by far the moft numerous clafs of 

 Athenians, either poITefTed no landed property, or at leafl 

 enjoyed not a revenue in land equal to twciity-four pounds 

 fterling, or, agreeably to the above proportion, two hundred 

 and forty pounds of our prefent currency. All ranks of 

 citizens were alike admitted to vote in the public aflembly, 

 and to judge in the courts of juftice, whether civil or cri- 

 minal, which were properly fo many committees of the af- 

 fembly. But the three firft claftes were exclufivcly entitled 

 to fit in the fcnate, to decide in the areopagus, or to hold any 

 office of magiftracy. To thefe dignities they were elefted 

 by the free lufTrages of the people, to whom they were ac- 

 countable for their adrainiftration, and by whom they might 

 be puniflied for malverfation or negligence, although they de- 

 rived no emolument from the diligent difcharge of their duty. 

 The fenate of four hundred, which, eighty-fix years after 

 its inftitution, was augmented to five hundred by Clifthenes, 

 enjoyed the important prerogatives of convoking the popular 

 alfembly; previoufly examining all matters before they came 

 to be decided by the people, which gave them a negative 

 before debate in all public refolutionsj and of making laws, 

 which had force during a year, without requiring the con- 

 fent of the populace. Befides this general fiiperintendence 

 and authority, the fenate was exclufivcly inverted with many 

 particular branches of the executive power. The prefident 

 of that council had the cuftody of the public arcliives and 

 treafury; the fenate alone built (hips, equipped fleets and 

 armies, feized and confined ftate criminals, examined and 

 punifhed feveral offences, which were not cxprefsly for- 

 bidden by any pofitive law. The weight of fuch a 

 council, which affembled every day, except feftivals, in- 

 fufed a large mixture of ariftocracy into the Athenian 

 conftitution; this, as we (hall immediately explain, was ftill 

 farther increafed by the authority of the Areopagus. 

 The principal magiftrates in Athens were the nine ar- 

 chons. (See Archon.) Thefe nine archons, or prefidents 

 of the fcvcral courts of juftice, like all other Athenian ma- 

 giftrates, were, at the expii-ation of their annual office, ac- 

 countable to the people ; and when their condud, after a 

 feverc fcrutiny, appeared to merit public approbation and 



A T H 



gratitude, they were received, and remained for life, mem- 

 bers of the areopagus, a fenate invctltd with a general in- 

 fpeftion over the laws and religion, as well as over the 

 lives and manners of the citizens; and which, in dangerous 

 emergencies, was even entitled to iifiume dictatorial power. 

 See Lyfias, Ifocrates, Anacharfis, vol. i. and Gillies's Greece, 

 vol. ii. Thus did the fenate of the areopagus, and that of 

 the four hundred, become two ccunterpoifes fufficiently 

 powerful to fecure the republic agaiiift the ftorms from 

 which all ftates are inceffantly in danger (fee Plutarch, in 

 Solon.) ; the former, by reprelTing the enteq)rifcs of the 

 nch by its general cenfure ; and the latter, by rcftraining by- 

 its decrees and its prefence the exceifes of the multitude. 

 New laivs wereenafted in fupport of thefe regulations. The 

 conftitution might be attacked either by the general fadions 

 which had fo long agitated the different orders of the ftate, 

 or by the ambition and intrigues of ceitain individuals. To 

 guard againft thefe dangers, Solon denounced punifhmcnts 

 againft thofe citizens who, in time of public commotion, 

 refiifed openly to declare for one of the parties. (Plutarch, 

 in Solon.) His view, in this admirable inllitution, was to 

 roufe men of merit and integrity from a llate of fatal in- 

 activity, to oppofc them to the factious, and fave the re- 

 public by the courage and afcendency of virtue. By a 

 fecond law, every citizen convifted of having attempted to 

 make himfelf mafter of the fovereign authority, was con- 

 demned to death. Laftly, in the cafe of an attempt to 

 ereift another government on the ruins of the popular form, 

 this wife legiflator could imagine but one method to reani- 

 mate the nation ; and that was by obliging the magiftrate* 

 to refign their employments ; and hence this ftern and me- 

 macing decree : — it (hall b; lawful for every citizen, not only 

 to put to death a tyrant and his accomphces, but any ma- 

 giftrate who ftiall continue to cxercifc his funftions after the 

 deftrinftion of the democracy. Such is the great outhne of 

 the conftitution eftablidied by Solon, according to which 

 ever)' Athenian citizen enjoyed the incftimable privilege of 

 being judged by his peers, and tried by laws to which he 

 himfelf had confented. Although the legiflative and judi- 

 cial powers were thus lodged with the ptople, men of pro- 

 perty and ability were alone cntrurted with the adminillra- 

 tion of government ; and as power in fome meafure fol- 

 lowed property, the fame expedient which fervcd to main- 

 tain a due diftinftion of ranks in fociety, tended alfo to 

 promote the induftry and frugality of the multitude, that 

 they might thereby become entitled to (hare thofe honours 

 and offices to which perfons of a certain eftate only could 

 afpire. (See Gillies, vol. ii. p. 1 14.) Conformable to this 

 conftitution was the code of laws which was framed by 

 this illuftrious legiflator. As a fyftem of jurii'prudence, the 

 inftitutions of Solon polfefs extraordinaiy excellence. They 

 have the merit of eafily coalefcing with great variety and 

 diilimilarity of political (yftems, and are indeed wtll adapted 

 to anv limited government. Transfufed into the Roman 

 law, they have, in the forcible and eloquent language of 

 Dr. Gillies, ferved after an interval of above (Ixtcen hun- 

 dred years, to abolifli the barbarous practices of the Gothic 

 nations, and to introduce juftice, fecurity, and refinement 

 among the modern inhabitants of Europe. The laws of 

 Solon confider the citizen in the various relations of do- 

 meftic, civil, and political fucicty. They accurately mark 

 the duties belonging to thefe relations, and prefcribe the rules 

 for direfting and enforcing the performance of them, and 

 for preventing their violation. To form the citizen early to 

 the habits moft beneficial to the community, the laws of 

 Solon defcribe the plan of his education. They recommend 

 the excrcifcs corporeal, intelleflual, and moral, which tend 

 C c z moil 



