350 BC
THE ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION
by Aristotle
translated by Sir Frederic G.
Kenyon
Part 1
.
.
.
[They were tried] by a court empanelled from among the noble
families, and sworn upon the sacrifices.
The part of accuser
was taken
by Myron.
They were found...
More
350 BC
THE ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION
by Aristotle
translated by Sir Frederic G.
Kenyon
Part 1
.
.
.
[They were tried] by a court empanelled from among the noble
families, and sworn upon the sacrifices.
The part of accuser
was taken
by Myron.
They were found guilty of the sacrilege, and their bodies
were cast out of their graves and their race banished for
evermore.
In
view of this expiation, Epimenides the Cretan performed a
purification
of the city.
Part 2
After this event there was contention for a long time between the
upper classes and the populace.
Not only was the constitution at
this time oligarchical in every respect, but the poorer classes,
men, women, and children, were the serfs of the rich.
They were
known as Pelatae and also as Hectemori, because they cultivated the
lands of the rich at the rent thus indicated.
The whole
country was in
the hands of a few persons, and if the tenants failed to pay their
rent they were liable to be haled into slavery, and their children
w
Less