36 INTRODUCTION. 



the same powers which their kings had enjoyed ; but after that of- 

 fice had continued three hundred and thirty-one years in the fami- 

 ly of Codrus, they endeavoured to lessen its dignity, not by abridg- 

 ing its power, but by shortening its duration. The first period as- 

 t, r signed for the continuance of the archonship in the same 

 " ' person, was three years. Afterwards, still more to reduce 

 the power of their archons, it was determined that nine an- 

 nual magistrates should be appointed under this title. These ma- 

 gistrates were not only chosen by the people, but accountable to 

 them for their conduct at the expiration of their office. These al- 

 terations were too violent not to be attended with some dangerous 

 consequences. The Athenians, intoxicated with their freedom, 

 broke out into the most unruly licentiousness. No written laws 

 had been as yet enacted in Athens ; and it was hardly possible that 

 the ancient customs of the country, which were naturally suppos- 

 ed to be in part abolished by the successive changes in the govern- 

 ment, should sufficiently restrain the tumultuous spirits of the 

 Athenians in the first paroxysm of their independence. The wiser 

 part of the state, therefore, who began to prefer any system of go- 

 vernment to their present anarchy and confusion, were induced to 

 cast their eyes on Draco, a man of an austere but virtuous disposi- 

 tion, as the fittest person for composing a system of law to bridle 

 the furious and unruly multitude. Draco undertook the office about 

 the year 628, but executed it with so much rigour, that, in the 

 words of an ancient historian, " His laws were written with blood, 

 and not with ink." Death was the indiscriminate punishment of 

 eve^y offence ; and the code of Draco proved to be a remedy worse 

 than the disease. Affairs again fell into confusion, which continued 

 till those laws were reformed in the time of Solon, about the year 

 before Christ 594. The wisdom, virtue, and amiable manners of 

 Solon recommended him to the most important of all offices, the 

 giving laws to a free people. This employment was assigned him 

 by the unanimous voice of his country ; but he long deliberated 

 whether he should undertake it. At length, however, motives of 

 public utility overcame all considerations of private ease, safety, 

 and reputation. The first step of his legislation was to abolish all 

 the laws of Draco, excepting those relative to murder. The pu- 

 nishment of this crime could not be too great; but to consider 

 other offences as equally criminal, was confounding all notions of 

 right and wrong, and rendering the law ineffectual by its severity. 

 Solon next proceeded to new-model the political law. He seems 

 to have thought, that a perfect republic, in which each citizen 

 should have an equal political importance, was a system of govern- 

 ment, beautiful indeed in theory, but not reducible to practice. He 

 diviaed the citizens therefore into four classes, according to the 

 wealth which they possessed ; and the poorest class he rendered 

 altogether incapable of any public office. They had a voice, how- 

 ever, in the general council of the nation, in which all matters of 

 principal concern were determined in the last resort. But lest this 

 assembly, which was composed of all the citizens, should, in the 

 words of Plutarch, like a ship with too many sails, be exposed to 

 the gusts of folly, tumult, and disorder, he provided for its safety 

 by the two anchors of the Senate and Areopagus. The first of 

 these courts consisted of four hundred persons, a hundred from 

 each tribe of the Athenians, who prepared all important bills that 



