COMPOUND POLITICAL HEADS. 391 



supreme power; but acquired popularity, especially in a 

 militant nation, places him in a position which makes it 

 relatively easy to do this. Neither their own experience nor 

 the experiences of other nations throughout the past, pre 

 vented the French from lately making Marshal Macmahon 

 executive head ; and even the Americans, in more than once 

 choosing General Grant for President, proved that, predomi 

 nantly industrial though their society is, militant activity 

 promptly caused an incipient change towards the militant 

 type, of which an essential trait is the union of civil headship 

 with military headship. 



From the influences which narrow compound political 

 headships, or change them into single ones, let us pass to the 

 influences which widen them. The case of Athens is, of 

 course, the first to be considered. To understand this we 

 must remember that up to the time of Solon, democratic 

 government did not exist in Greece. The only actual forms 

 were the oligarchic and the despotic ; and in those early days, 

 before political speculation began, it is unlikely that there 

 was recognized in theory, a social form entirely unknown in 

 practice. We have, therefore, to exclude the notion that 

 popular government arose in Athens under the guidance of 

 any preconceived idea. As having the same implication 

 should be added the fact that (Athens being governed by an 

 oligarchy at the time) the Solonian legislation served but to 

 qualify and broaden the oligarchy and remove crying in 

 justices. In seeking the causes of change which 

 worked through Solon, and also made practicable the re-orga 

 nization he initiated, we shall find them to lie in the direct and 

 indirect influences of trade. Grote comments on &quot; the anxiety, 

 both of Solon and of Drake, to enforce among their fellow- 

 citizens industrious and self-maintaining habits :&quot; a proof 

 that, even before Solon s time, there was in Attica littlu or no 

 reprobation of &quot; sedentary industry, which in most other parts 

 of Greece was regarded as comparatively dishonourable.&quot; 

 Moreover, So I en was himself in early life a trader; and his 



