INTRODUCTION. p 



«'d to mantain and even to increase his popularity among the pea- 

 sants and artisans ; he detached, as much as possible, the different 

 tribes from the leaders who commanded them; he abolished the 

 courts which had been established in different parts of Attica, and 

 appointed one council-hail common to ail the Athenians. Theseus, 

 however, did not trust solely to the force of political regulations. 

 He cailed to his aid all the power of religious prejudices. By es- 

 tablishing common rites of religion to be performed in Athens, and 

 by inviting thither strangers from all quarters, by the prospect of 

 protection and privileges, he raised that city from an inconsiderable 

 village to a powerful metropolis. The splendor of Athens and of 

 Theseus now totally eclipsed that of the other villages and their 

 particular leaders. All the power of the state was in one city, and 

 under one sovereign. The petty chieftains, who had formerly oc- 

 casioned so much confusion, being now divested of all influence and 

 consideration, became humble and submissive ; and Attica remain- 

 ed under the peaceable government of a monarch. 



This is a rude sketch of the origin of the first monarchy of which 

 Tve have a distinct account, and may, without much variation, be ap- 

 plied to the other states of Greece. This country, however, was 

 not destined to continue long under the government of kings. A 

 new influence arose, which in a short time proved too powerful 

 both for the king and the nobles. Theseus had divided the Atheni- 

 ans into three distinct classes. ...the nobles, the artisans, and the 

 husbandmen. In order to abridge the exorbitant power of the no- 

 bles, he had bestowed many privileges on the two other ranks of 

 citizens. This plan of politics was followed by his successors ; and 

 the lower ranks of the Athenians, partly from the countenance of 

 their sovereign, and partly from the progress of arts and manufac- 

 tures which gave them an opportunity of acquiring property, be- 

 came considerable and independent. These circumstances were 

 attended with a remarkable effect. Upon the death of Codrus, a 

 prince of great merit, in the year before Christ 1070, the Athenians, 

 become weary of the regal authority under pretence that they could 

 find no one worthy of filling the throne of that monarch, who had 

 devoted himself to death for the safety of his people, abolished the 

 regal power, and proclaimed that none but Jupiter should be king of 

 Athens. 



The government of Thebes, another of the Grecian states*, 

 much about the same time, assumed the republican form. Near 

 a century before the Trojan war, Cadmus, with a colony from Phoe- 

 nicia, had founded this city, which from that time had been govern- 

 ed by kings. But the last sovereign being overcome in single 

 combat by a neighbouring prince, the Thebans abolished the regal 

 power. Till the days, however, of Pelopidas and Epaminondas (a 

 period of seven hundred years) the Thebans performed nothing 

 worthy of the republican spirit. Other cities of Greece, after the 

 example of Thebes and Athens, erected themselves into repub- 

 lics. But the revolutions of Athens and Sparta, two rival states, 

 which, by means of the superiority they acquired, gave the R p 

 tone to the manners, genius, and politics of the Greeks, de- . ' .* 

 Serve our particular attention. The Athenians, by abolish- 

 ing the name of king, on the death of Codrus, did not entirely 

 subvert the regal authority : they established a perpetual magis- 

 trate, who, under the name of Archon, was invested with almost 



