The Athenian Constitution
the moment. The best statesmen at Athens, after those of early times,
seem to have been Nicias, Thucydides, and Theramenes. As to Nicias and
Thucydides, nearly every one agrees that they were not merely men of
birth and character, but also statesmen, and that they ruled the state
with paternal care. On the merits of Theramenes opinion is divided,
because it so happened that in his time public affairs were in a very
stormy state. But those who give their opinion deliberately find him,
not, as his critics falsely assert, overthrowing every kind of
constitution, but supporting every kind so long as it did not
transgress laws; thus showing that he was able, as every good citizen
should be, to live under any form of constitution, while he refused to
countenance illegality and was its constant enemy.
Part 29
So long as the fortune of the war continued even, the Athenians
preserved the democracy; but after the disaster in Sicily, when the
Lacedaemonians had gained the upper hand through their alliance with
the king of Persia, they were compelled to abolish the democracy and
establish in its place the constitution of the Four Hundred. The speech
recommending this course before the vote was made by Melobius, and the
motion was proposed by Pythodorus of Anaphlystus; but the real argument
which persuaded the majority was the belief that the king of Persia was
more likely to form an alliance with them if the constitution were on
an oligarchical basis. The motion of Pythodorus was to the following
effect. The popular Assembly was to elect twenty persons, over forty
years of age, who, in conjunction with the existing ten members of the
Committee of Public Safety, after taking an oath that they would frame
such measures as they thought best for the state, should then prepare
proposals for the public safety. In addition, any other person might
make proposals, so that of all the schemes before them the people might
choose the best. Cleitophon concurred with the motion of Pythodorus,
but moved that the committee should also investigate the ancient laws
enacted by Cleisthenes when he created the democracy, in order that
they might have these too before them and so be in a position to decide
wisely; his suggestion being that the constitution of Cleisthenes was
not really democratic, but closely akin to that of Solon. When the
committee was elected, their first proposal was that the Prytanes
should be compelled to put to the vote any motion that was offered on
behalf of the public safety. Next they abolished all indictments for
illegal proposals, all impeachments and pubic prosecutions, in order
that every Athenian should be free to give his counsel on the
situation, if he chose; and they decreed that if any person imposed a
fine on any other for his acts in this respect, or prosecuted him or
summoned him before the courts, he should, on an information being laid
against him, be summarily arrested and brought before the generals, who
should deliver him to the Eleven to be put to death. After these
preliminary measures, they drew up the constitution in the following
manner. The revenues of the state were not to be spent on any purpose
except the war. All magistrates should serve without remuneration for
the period of the war, except the nine Archons and the Prytanes for the
time being, who should each receive three obols a day. The whole of the
rest of the administration was to be committed, for the period of the
war, to those Athenians who were most capable of serving the state
personally or pecuniarily, to the number of not less than five
thousand. This body was to have full powers, to the extent even of
making treaties with whomsoever they willed; and ten representatives,
over forty years of age, were to be elected from each tribe to draw up
the list of the Five Thousand, after taking an oath on a full and
perfect sacrifice.
Part 30
These were the recommendations of the committee; and when they had been
ratified the Five Thousand elected from their own number a hundred
commissioners to draw up the constitution. They, on their appointment,
drew up and produced the following recommendations. There should be a
Council, holding office for a year, consisting of men over thirty years
of age, serving without pay. To this body should belong the Generals,
the nine Archons, the Amphictyonic Registrar (Hieromnemon), the
Taxiarchs, the Hipparchs, the Phylarch, the commanders of garrisons,
the Treasurers of Athena and the other gods, ten in number, the
Hellenic Treasurers (Hellenotamiae), the Treasurers of the other
non-sacred moneys, to the number of twenty, the ten Commissioners of
Sacrifices (Hieropoei), and the ten Superintendents of the mysteries.
All these were to be appointed by the Council from a larger number of
selected candidates, chosen from its members for the time being. The
other offices were all to be filled by lot, and not from the members of
the Council. The Hellenic Treasurers who actually administered the
funds should not sit with the Council. As regards the future, four
Councils were to be created, of men of the age already mentioned, and
one of these was to be chosen by lot to take office at once, while the
others were to receive it in turn, in the order decided by the lot. For
this purpose the hundred commissioners were to distribute themselves
and all the rest as equally as possible into four parts, and cast lots
for precedence, and the selected body should hold office for a year.
They were to administer that office as seemed to them best, both with
reference to the safe custody and due expenditure of the finances, and
generally with regard to all other matters to the best of their
ability. If they desired to take a larger number of persons into
counsel, each member might call in one assistant of his own choice,
subject to the same qualification of age. The Council was to sit once
every five days, unless there was any special need for more frequent
sittings. The casting of the lot for the Council was to be held by the
nine Archons; votes on divisions were to be counted by five tellers
chosen by lot from the members of the Council, and of these one was to
be selected by lot every day to act as president. These five persons
were to cast lots for precedence between the parties wishing to appear
before the Council, giving the first place to sacred matters, the
second to heralds, the third to embassies, and the fourth to all other
subjects; but matters concerning the war might be dealt with, on the
motion of the generals, whenever there was need, without balloting.
Any member of the Council who did not enter the Council-house at the
time named should be fined a drachma for each day, unless he was away
on leave of absence from the Council.
Part 31
Such was the constitution which they drew up for the time to come, but
for the immediate present they devised the following scheme. There
should be a Council of Four Hundred, as in the ancient constitution,
forty from each tribe, chosen out of candidates of more than thirty
years of age, selected by the members of the tribes. This Council
should appoint the magistrates and draw up the form of oath which they
were to take; and in all that concerned the laws, in the examination of
official accounts, and in other matters generally, they might act
according to their discretion. They must, however, observe the laws
that might be enacted with reference to the constitution of the state,
and had no power to alter them nor to pass others. The generals should
be provisionally elected from the whole body of the Five Thousand, but
so soon as the Council came into existence it was to hold an
examination of military equipments, and thereon elect ten persons,
together with a secretary, and the persons thus elected should hold
office during the coming year with full powers, and should have the
right, whenever they desired it, of joining in the deliberations of the
Council. The Five thousand was also to elect a single Hipparch and ten
Phylarchs; but for the future the Council was to elect these officers
according to the regulations above laid down. No office, except those
of member of the Council and of general, might be held more than once,
either by the first occupants or by their successors. With reference to
the future distribution of the Four Hundred into the four successive
sections, the hundred commissioners must divide them whenever the time
comes for the citizens to join in the Council along with the rest.
Part 32
The hundred commissioners appointed by the Five Thousand drew up the
constitution as just stated; and after it had been ratified by the
people, under the presidency of Aristomachus, the existing Council,
that of the year of Callias, was dissolved before it had completed its
term of office. It was dissolved on the fourteenth day of the month
Thargelion, and the Four Hundred entered into office on the
twenty-first; whereas the regular Council, elected by lot, ought to
have entered into office on the fourteenth of Scirophorion. Thus was
the oligarchy established, in the archonship of Callias, just about a
hundred years after the expulsion of the tyrants. The chief promoters
of the revolution were Pisander, Antiphon, and Theramenes, all of them
men of good birth and with high reputations for ability and judgement.
When, however, this constitution had been established, the Five
Thousand were only nominally selected, and the Four Hundred, together
with the ten officers on whom full powers had been conferred, occupied
the Council-house and really administered the government. They began by
sending ambassadors to the Lacedaemonians proposing a cessation of the
war on the basis of the existing position; but as the Lacedaemonians
refused to listen to them unless they would also abandon the command of
the sea, they broke off the negotiations.
Part 33
For about four months the constitution of the Four Hundred lasted, and
Mnasilochus held office as Archon of their nomination for two months of
the year of Theopompus, who was Archon for the remaining ten. On the
loss of the naval battle of Eretria, however, and the revolt of the
whole of Euboea except Oreum, the indignation of the people was greater
than at any of the earlier disasters, since they drew far more supplies
at this time from Euboea than from Attica itself. Accordingly they
deposed the Four Hundred and committed the management of affairs to the
Five Thousand, consisting of persons possessing a military equipment.
At the same time they voted that pay should not be given for any public
office. The persons chiefly responsible for the revolution were
Aristocrates and Theramenes, who disapproved of the action of the Four
Hundred in retaining the direction of affairs entirely in their own
hands, and referring nothing to the Five Thousand. During this period
the constitution of the state seems to have been admirable, since it
was a time of war and the franchise was in the hands of those who
possessed a military equipment.
Part 34
The people, however, in a very short time deprived the Five Thousand of
their monopoly of the government. Then, six years after the overthrow
of the Four Hundred, in the archonship of Callias of Angele, the battle
of Arginusae took place, of which the results were, first, that the ten
generals who had gained the victory were all condemned by a single
decision, owing to the people being led astray by persons who aroused
their indignation; though, as a matter of fact, some of the generals
had actually taken no part in the battle, and others were themselves
picked up by other vessels. Secondly, when the Lacedaemonians proposed
to evacuate Decelea and make peace on the basis of the existing