A T H 



and all tliofe wlio could not afcertain their Athenian defcent 

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

 thealFembly and courts of jnftice. The regulations of Solon 

 marked the utmoft attention to preferve the pure blood of 

 Athens unmixed and uncorrupted; nor could any foreigner, 

 whatever 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 

 ufeful or ingenious art, and, in both calcs, had been chofen 

 by ballot, in a full aflembly of fix thoufand 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 veflel of the 

 republic from the v.aves of popular frtnzy,iby the two firm 

 anchors of the fenate and the areopagus; tribunals ori'TJ. 

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

 which men of a certain defcription only could be received as 

 members. Solon divided the Athenians into four claffcs, 

 according to the produce of their eflates. The firft confifted 

 of thofe whofe lands annually yielded five hundred mcafiu-es 

 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 cdlmate tlie relative value 

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

 neceffary to life, to about fix hundred pounds llcriing 

 in the prefent age. The fecond clafs confilled of 

 thofe whofe eftates produced three hundred; the third two 

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

 Athenians, either poflefTed no landed property, or at lead 

 enjoyed not a revenue in land equal to twenty-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 juilice, whether civil or cri- 

 minal, which were properly fo many comm.ittees of the af- 

 fembly. But the three firil claffes were exclufivcly entitled 

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

 office of magi itracy. To thefe dignities they were clefted 

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

 countable for their admin.iftration, and by whom they might 

 be punifiied for malveifation or negligence, although they de- 

 rived no em.olument from the diligent difcharge of their duty. 

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

 its inflitution, was augmented to five hundred by CHfthenes, 

 enjoyed the important prerogatives of convoking the popular 

 affembly; previoufly examining all matters before they came 

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

 before debate in all public rcfolutions; and of making laws, 

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

 fent of the populace. Befides this general fuperintendence 

 and authority, the fenate was exclufivcly invefted with many 

 particular branches of the executive power. The prefident 

 of that council had the cuftody of the public archives and 

 treafury; the fenate alone built fhips, equipped fleets and 

 armies, feized and confined ftate criminals, examined and 

 punKhed feveral offences, which were not exprefily 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 niagiftrates in Athens were the nine ar- 

 chons. (See Archon.) Thefe ninearchons, or prefidents 

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

 giftrates, were, at the expiration of their annual office, ac- 

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

 feverc fcrutiny, appeared to merit public approbation and 



A T H 



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

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

 ipeftion over the laws and rehgion, as well as over the 

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

 emergencies, was even entitled to i'ffume dictatorial power. 

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

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

 t.ie four hundred, become two ccunterpoifes fuff.ciently 

 powerful to fecure the republic againft the ftorms from 

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

 Solon.); the former, by reprtfiing the entcrprifes of the 

 nch by Its general cenfure ; and the latter, bv re.lraining by 

 Its decrees and its prefence the excelfes of'the multitude. 

 New laws were enafted in fuppoit of thefe regulations. The 

 conftitution might be attacked either by the general fadiona 

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

 or by the ambition and intrigues of ceitain individuals. To 

 guard againft thefe danger?, Solon denounced punifhmcnt* 

 againft thofe citizens who, in time of public commotion, 

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

 m Solon.) His view, in this admirable inftitution, was to 

 •■oufs men of merit and integrity from a ftate of fatal in- 

 activity, to oppofe them to the fadious, 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 

 erect 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 magiftrates 

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

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

 to put to death a tyrant and his accomplices, but any ma. 

 giitrate who (hall continue to exercife his funftioiis after the 

 deftnictlon of the democracy. Sucli is the great outhne of 

 the conftitution eftabliflicd by Solon, according to which 

 every Athenian citizen enjoyed the ineftimable 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 tl\t people, men of pro- 

 perty and ability were alone entruftcd with the adminiltra- 

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

 lowed property, the iame expedient which fervcd to main- 

 tain a due diftincliou 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 legiilator. As a fy ftern of jurifprudence, the 

 inftitutions of Solon poffcfs extraordinary excellence. They 

 have the merit of cafily coalefcing with great variety and 

 dinimilarity of political fyilems, and are indeed Well adapted 

 to any limited government. Transfufed into the Roman 

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

 Dr. Gillies, fervcd after an interval of above fixtcen hun- 

 dred years, to abolidi the barbarous practices of the Gothic 

 nations, and to introduce juilice, fecurity, and rciinement 

 among the modern inhabitants of Europe. The laws of 

 Solon confidcr the citizen in the various relations of do- 

 meftic, civil, and political fociety. They accurately mark 

 the duties belonging to thefe relations, and prefcribc the rules 

 for direfting and enforcing the performance of them, and 

 for preventing tlieir violation. To form the citizen early to 

 the habits moll beneficial to the community, the laws of 

 Soloii defcribe the plan of his education. They recommend 

 the exti-cifes corporeal, intelleftual, and moral, which tend 

 C c 2 moll 



